traditional

“ This feeling about the ancient stories pervades those poems of Sir Samuel Ferguson which are founded on Irish legends; and here, though many ideas, Christian and other, are by him introduced into the legends, we seem to breathe the spirit of the old literature far better than in the more recent versions of it, where the notion of a specially Celtic craving after magic is for ever present. Former enthusiasts have thought that Celtic held a peculiar place among languages—that Welsh was the language of Eden, that Semitic languages drew their roots from Celtic sources ”

“ Fitting for me was sorrow for you
on account of our meeting, though it came not to that.
Not less on that account my love, without lamentation
even if from you my ill luck springs.
It hurts me that you lie here
O my lad! O son of Maev!
and it hurts my own heart
the same fate that awaits you.
It was seldom for you to be without your weapons
until it had befallen you to be stiff in death.
The bright shining spear has wounded you grievously,
and another has transfixed you.
And the cruel sword has cut you to pieces,
and a rain of blood has fallen down your cheeks. ”

“ Literal translations, chiefly foreign, such as that of the present tale by Professor Windisch, have now been made of nearly all the leading romances, but many of these are not readily accessible to the general reader, being published in the transactions of learned societies, or in specialist periodicals; and they do not seem to have attracted sufficient attention among the literary public, if one may judge from the lack of interest in Irish literature, except in that part of it which has been treated in the more attractive poetic form of the modern works. ”

“ For, whatever the Irish of a later day may have become after the history of the last thousand years, and the modifications of the race by outside influences which have been made in that time, there is little doubt that if we wish to find the true Celtic ideas, untouched by foreign additions, or by Danish or later influences of race, we must go to the old tales found in the eleventh and twelfth-century manuscripts, or to those which modern scholarship finds to be undoubtedly of equally ancient origin. ”

“ The change of Apollo into the shape of Agenor [4] after he had enveloped the youth in a cloud to save him from the wrath of Achilles would certainly have been held to be an instance of "Celtic magic" if it had occurred in an Irish instead of a Greek poem, for it seems that it is hard to grasp the idea that when any race of men believed that their gods did really interest themselves in human affairs, it was perfectly natural that these gods should appear in the tales of the race. ”

“ There we find a mythology, the gods of that mythology appearing from time to time in the stories; but the supernatural is not, in general, the chief concern of the authors of the stories; their concern is with the deeds and griefs of men and of women. Transmigration or re-birth, that element of Celtic belief which drew the attention of the ancient world, is of frequent occurrence; in some tales this idea is the principal motive of the story, but in tales like The Courtship of Ferb the supernatural is a mere incident, the tone of the story is more Homeric than mystical. ”

“ As a matter of fact, if we look at the tales without preconceived opinions, we shall find that in Irish story the heroes show rather less instead of more reverence for the supernatural than is displayed by the Homeric heroes. In Homer, gods are sometimes attacked with success by men, but the men have in such cases another god to encourage and to aid them ”

“ If you it were, O Donnell Derg,
whom the Ulstermen had slain for the sake of Ferb,
so would the revenge taken for you be glorious
in the tale of Mani, the doer of great deeds.
Donnell.
Since he himself it is who is dead,
Mani Morgor with the greatness of a warrior,
I will not go westwards to my home
while any of the Ulstermen live!
Ferb.
It would be peace for my good heart,
it would be a comfort for my soul,
if all the Ulstermen were destroyed for the deed
⁠they have done,
by your violent hand, O Donnell!
XI
Sorrowful is it, O son of Maev! ”

“ A din raised by the wind, dreadful the alarm! . . .
Certain is the warning, the man shall triumph!
⁠A spear through Gerg !
The cast of the spear of the charioteer through the loins
⁠of the king, a deed with poison. ”

“ There is nothing peculiarly Celtic in the instance where, in the Irish tale, divine aid is granted. Again it is not at all certain that a great feeling of awe in presence of the supernatural is a specially Celtic characteristic. The western Irish display, we are told, much caution when speaking of the fairy folk, and seem to stand much in awe of them ”

“ In the construction of this story, as well as in the manner of its telling, a straightforward and simple character is shown, which is common to most of the older Irish romances, and must strike the reader at once. Although a supernatural being, the goddess of war, appears in the course of the tale, nothing can be found of the mystical "Celtic spirit," to which such prominence is given in some modern poems, whose incidents are taken from the old romances. ”

“ Trench's poem of Deirdre Wed, while in the other group we may place a large number of original Celtic romances, which in their present Irish form are nearly nine hundred years old, and have recently been translated into French, German, and English. From the modern poems some knowledge of the subjects of the Irish stories has been widely diffused, but the poems are really adaptations, coloured by modern ideas and by the poetic fancy of the writers, so that they seldom give a correct representation of the literature from which the subjects are drawn. ”

“ Great was the war that Gerg undertook,
a warrior (active) as a youth, white, red with weapons,
a man noble, magnificent, manly,
expert, handsome, truly wise.
Who is the hero that was better than Gerg? ”

“ Alill and Maev from the plains of Mag Ai,
they will not remain in life.
The appearance of thy cheeks is terribly changed.
I am not one who has not had a sufficiency of misery.
XII
The vision of Conor the upright,
The son of Cathba, the valiant, fair and great,
The high king of Ulster—an unhurt journey. ”

“ There is no down to your cushions.
Your springing is a springing without (footstep?) .
You have found yourselves struck by a blow over the eyes.
What army was fairer than you were,
and better for noble strife? ”

“ It does not really tend to increase the interest which is felt in Irish literature when it is represented as differing widely in its subject and its interests from all the other literatures of the world ”

“ Another apparent evidence of date, which Windisch notes in his preface, is the higher literary quality of the Connaught version. Both versions are apparently, at least, as old as the tenth century, but the Ulster or ballad version and the Egerton one, which in the main agrees with it, tell the story baldly; while the Connaught story-teller seems to have amplified several suggestions in the original tale: in the laments of Nuagel over Gerg, and of Ferb over Mani, also in the dramatic dialogues between Ferb and the two Connaught heroes, Fiannamail and Donnell the Red, much power is shown. ”

“ The original metres are not reproduced—it is as undesirable to do so as it is to reproduce Homer in hexameters—but few deviations from the sense of the original have been allowed, the few changes made being such as seemed necessary in order to clear up the meaning of passages which, when more literally rendered, seemed too obscure. ”

“ With very few changes the translation follows the German rendering of the tale as given by Professor Windisch in the Irische Texte, III. 2. 462; and some words of explanation are required for the appearance of a version which is a simple translation from the German.
The numerous works which have recently opened up for us the long hidden treasures of Irish literature fall naturally into two groups, one consisting of modern English poems founded on Irish story, such as Sir Samuel Ferguson's poems, Aubrey de Vere's Foray of Queen Maev, The Wanderings of Oisin, by Mr. W. B. Yeats, and Mr. ”

“ PEOPLE OF ULSTER
Conor, more correctly Conchobar, son of Nessa, king of Ulster.
Mugain Etanchaitrech (Moó-gen Ait-en-hai-rech) , daughter of Eocho Fedlech (Yeo-ho Fay-lla) ; Conor's queen. Niall the fair-headed (Neell) , sons of Conor. Feradach the long-handed (Fér-da) ,
Cuchulainn (Cu-hoo-lin) , prime hero of Ulster, a boy at the time of the tale. Brod (Brōd) , charioteer to Conor. Cathba (Cah-ba) , chief druid of Ulster. Imrinn, a druid, son of Cathba. ”

“ J. MacDougall.; with an Introduction by Alfred Nutt. 8vo. Net, 7s. 6d.
The Fians; or, Stories, Poems, and Traditions of Fionn and his Warrior Band. Collected entirely from Oral Sources by the Rev. J. G. Campbell; with Introduction and Bibliographical Notes by Alfred Nutt. 8vo. Net, 7s. 6d.
The Voyage of Bran, Son of Febal, to the Land of the Living. An old Irish Saga, now first Edited, with Translation, Notes, and Glossary by Kuno Meyer. With an Essay upon the Irish Vision of the Happy Otherworld, and the Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth, by Alfred Nutt.
⁠Vol. I. The Happy Otherworld. 1895. ”

“ I. King and Hermit. A Colloquy between King Guaire of Aidne and his Brother Marban. An Irish Poem of the Tenth Century. Demy 8vo. 1901. Net, 2s. 6d.
II. Liadain and Cuirither. An Irish Love-Story of the Ninth Century, 1902. Net, 1s. 6d. ”