Cormac mac Ailpin

“ Then Manannan mac Lir, lord of the fairy Cavalcade, appeared before him in his own true form, and said thus:
"I it was, Cormac, who bore away these three from thee. I it was who gave thee this branch, all that I might bring thee here. Eat now and drink."
"I would do so," said Cormac, "could I learn the meaning of the wonders I saw to-day."
"Thou shalt learn them," said Manannan. "The horsemen thatching the roof with feathers are a likeness of people [208] who go forth into the world to seek riches and fortune; when they return their houses are bare, and so they go on for ever. ”

“ The assembly was the focus of the people's life. Kuno Meyer has published and translated into English an ancient tract called Tecosc Cormaic, "King Cormac's Instruction to his Son." Every student of early Irish institutions ought to read it. Many who read it will be surprised to find how modern was the mind of antiquity. One of the321 maxims which the king gives to his son is this: Vested interests are shameless. There is a truth in that for all peoples of all times, that has never elsewhere been so pithily expressed. ”

“ Both Finn and Cormac were already dead. It is Oscar, Finn’s grandson, and Cairbré, Cormac’s son, who fight and slay each other. And again, just as Arthur was thought by many not to have really died, but to have passed to “the island valley of Avilion”, so a Scottish legend tells us how, ages after the Fenians, a man, landing by chance upon a mysterious western island, met and spoke with Finn mac Coul. Even the alternative legend, which makes Arthur and his warriors wait under the earth in a magic sleep for the return of their triumph, is also told of the Fenians. ”

“ The Migration of the Déisi is an evident sequel of the conquest of Tara and eastern Meath under Cormac. Déisi means "vassal communities." These particular vassal communities dwelt around Tara, and were possibly identical with the Luaighni, who formed the chief fighting force of North Leinster in Cú Chulainn's time. They quarrelled with Cormac, we are told, and he drove them, or a large part of them, out of Meath. They migrated in two bodies. One body crossed the sea and settled in southern Wales where the descendants of their princes still held sway in the eighth century. ”

“ The next stage in the growth of the Connacht power brings us to the overthrow of the Ulster kingdom and the conquest of the greater part of Ulster. In the century after Cormac, his descendant Muiredach Tireach becomes king of Tara. Muiredach, we are told, in his youth took command for his father, Fiacha Sroibhtine, king of Tara, and was successful in establishing his father's authority in southern Ireland. His uncles, the three Collas, became jealous of his success. The young prince, they said, will be chosen king when his father dies, and we shall be shut out from the succession. ”

“ The Rosses and Mathesons are brought from his son Cristin, and the Mackenzies from another son, Gilleon Og, father of Cainig or Kenneth, the eponymus of the clan. Gilleon na hAirde is made grandson of Loarn, son of Fearchar, son of Cormac mac Airbertach, and the usual calculation would place Cormac in the tenth century; but his father Airbertach is made son of Feradach, and brother of Fearchar Fada, 345who died in 697. To this group may be added the Clan Duibsithe or Macduffys of Lochaber and Colonsay, who are brought from Fearchar, son of Cormac ”

“ It was the very scene to appeal to the hearts of the people. Cormac was recognised, in spite of his shrouding cloak. Cry after cry to his honour rang through the room. Weapons flashed, and clashed aloft.
“The Black Horse!” they cried, “Cormac of Fail! Cormac and Ethne! Children of Tuathal! Twigs from the tree of Tara! All hail! All hail!” ”

“ After these things the brothers turned back to Norway, and Thorvald the Tinker made his way to Iceland. But the brothers went warfaring round about Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland, and they were reckoned to be the most famous of men. It was they who first built the castle of Scarborough; they made raids into Scotland, and achieved many great feats, and led a mighty host; and in all that host none was like Cormac in strength and courage.
Once upon a time, after a battle, Cormac was driving the flying foe before him while the rest of his host had gone back aboard ship. ”

“ Once upon a time when they had gone ashore with the king, a great host came against him, and as the armies met, Cormac made this song:—
(53) “I dread not a death from the foemen, Though we dash at them, buckler to buckler, While our prince in the power of his warriors Is proud of me foremost in battle. But the glimpse of a glory comes o'er me Like the gleam of the moon on the skerry, And I faint and I fail for my longing, For the fair one at home in the North.”
“Ye never get into danger,” said Thorgils, “but ye think of Steingerd!” ”

“ That half-witted hero should get him A heart made of clay for his carcase, Though the mate of the may with the necklace Is more of a fool than his fere!”
“Now,” said Cormac, “I bid Thorvard anew to the holmgang, if he can be called in his right mind. Let him be every man's nithing if he come not!” ”

“ Of Fionn’s people eleven hundred of men and women were dead, while of Goll’s people eleven men and fifty women were dead. But it was through fright the women died, for not one of them had a wound or a bruise or a mark.
CHAPTER III AT the end of a fortnight Fionn and Goll and the chief men of the Fianna attended at Tara. The king, his son and daughter, with Flahri, Feehal, and Fintan mac Bocna sat in the place of judgement, and Cormac called on the witnesses for evidence. ”

“ How it sprang, everywhere, even roofs of the little wattled cotes of the hamlets; how the bards would lie and sing their melodies into it, and all the tiny blades would carry the music from one to another—thus spreading their songs over all Hibernia. There were a thousand pretty fancies of a like kind in the old tales and songs. Cormac noticed how much greener and richer it was than the grass of Britain; unspoilt by frost, bright and fresh from constant showers.
In the deep, rich pasture hundreds of horses lived lives of joy—untouched by the hand of man. ”

“ Cormac used to be barbarously spelt Cormick and Cormuck, and the MacCarthy family have substituted Charles for it. There is a long Icelandic poem on a hero named Kormak, who, though his parents and brothers have Norse names, evidently had Milesian blood as well as name, for he is described as having dark eyes and hair, with a fair skin. He was an admirable warrior and poet, but was the victim of hopeless love for a lady named Steingerda. ”

“ According to the ancient laws, the king of Ireland could not have a blemish upon his person, and Cormac was obliged to abdicate power and authority and retire to the top of the Hill of Skreen, across the valley from the Hill of Tara, because his left eye was put out by an arrow shot by Ængus, a rebellious chieftain, who is believed to have been under the influence of Druid priests, to punish Cormac for accepting Christianity. ”

“ At the time at which this monarch lived and reigned, the mist of sixteen centuries hangs between us and the history of Ireland, but through this mist there shine a few great and sunlike figures whose glory cannot be altogether hidden, and of these figures Cormac is the greatest and the brightest. Much that is told about him may be true, and much is certainly fable, but the fables themselves are a witness to his greatness; they are like forms seen in the mist when a great light is shining behind it, and we cannot always say when we are looking at the true light and when at the reflected glory. ”

“ From the half-closed hand lying on the sack-cloth robe the tiny head and bright eyes of a little wren were peeping. As Cormac gazed at the great man he realised what was meant when men said that Columba lived in a kingdom of love. Yet he was a wild and fearless warrior, too, gaining repute on the isles and mainland of savage Caledonia.
The saint suddenly addressed the young man.
“You are better, my son. Your wounds were slight, though they were many—you will soon be at the head of your bards again.”
Cormac frowned.
“Never again! I will lead men—not cowards and deceivers.” ”

“ Cormac drew deep breaths of rapture as he rode by Ethne’s side. It was good to feel a horse under him once more, to feel the wind on his face and hear the saddle creak beneath him. It was pleasant, too, to ride beside Ethne whom he loved; to laugh and talk; to be sure his wounds and weakness were a thing of the past; to cherish wild hopes of future war and victory—that seemed near and possible on this bright summer morning. He was a man now, he told himself; he had left boyhood behind him; a man and a leader of men—with a woman at his side. ”

“ Then the king, even Eochaid Feidlech, dies, leaving one daughter named, like her mother, Etáin, and wedded to Cormac, king of Ulaid.
After the end of a time Cormac, king of Ulaid, "the man of the three gifts," forsakes Eochaid's daughter, because she was barren save for one daughter that she had borne to Cormac after the making of the pottage which her mother--the woman from the elfmounds--gave her. Then she said to her mother: "Bad is what thou hast given me: it will be a daughter that I shall bear."
"That will not be good," says her mother; "a king's pursuit will be on her." ”

“ Here is the Avenger! Here is the Black Horse! And though Britain lies white with the cold ash of the White Horse she shall be blackened, in time, by the scorch of the Black!”
The tumult was so great, after this, that although Cormac was seen to speak, his voice could not be heard.
Again he walked up and down with the easy, spirited motion that reminded Elgiva so irresistibly of the fleet mountain steeds. Often had she seen such springing, quivering movements as she had watched them, eager for the race. ”

“ The whole of Ireland was in a state of ferment over the boroim, or cow-tribute, which King Aedh insisted on exacting from his tributary kings. Cormac knew that in Leinster Saint Kevin had inveighed against it, and that the great Saint, Columba, was at present on a visit to Aedh endeavouring to arrange matters peaceably between him and his fellow-kings. And Cormac knew also, with a sense of pride, that Columba had another matter at heart—the welfare of the bards. It pleased the youth to think that the great man was so deeply interested in the men whom he hoped to make [Pg 99] his followers. ”

“ Delight and amusement to the full was it to listen to the music of that branch, for men sore wounded, or women in child-bed, or folk in sickness, would fall asleep at the melody when that branch was shaken.’ And the warrior tells Cormac that he has come from a land where only truth is known, where there is ‘neither age nor decay nor gloom nor sadness nor envy nor jealousy nor hatred nor haughtiness’. On his promising the unknown warrior any three boons that he shall ask, Cormac is given the magic branch. ”

“ She pointed gravely to the hills beyond.
“Forests and mountains stretch between us and our refuge,” she said. “We have crossed the barrier that earth herself has built between us and our enemies.”
“Fair mother-earth helped us in our need with hill and forest,” said Cormac. “Then [Pg 164] were we the vanquished, now are we the victors. Is not Cutha slain and Ceawlin loathed and detested by the Saxons themselves?”
He was smiling and triumphant, as his eye swept the scene of the river-banks before him—the motley array of Kymry, who owned him for their leader. ”

“ Good is the hero who is among them, even Cormac Condlongas. I swear what my tribe swears, nine times ten will fall by Cormac in his first onset, and nine times ten will fall by his people, besides a man for each of their weapons, and a man for each of themselves. And Cormac will share prowess with any man before the Hostel, and he will boast of victory over a king or crown-prince or noble of the reavers; and he himself will chance to escape, though all his people be wounded."
"Woe to him who shall wreak this Destruction!" ”

“ On the boat she makes glad in its gliding She is gone from me, reft from me, ravished! O shame, that we linger to save her, Too sweet for the prey of the raven!
They took their horses and rode round the head of the firth. They met Vali and asked about Bersi; he said that Bersi had come to Muli and gathered men to him,—“A many men.”
“Then we are too late,” said Cormac, “if they have got men together.”
Thorgils begged Cormac to let them turn back, saying there was little honour to be got; but Cormac said he must see Steingerd. ”

“ Nay, scarce can I smile, O thou glittering In silk like the goddess of Baldur, Since thy father handfasted and pledged thee, So famed as thou art, to a coward.”
“In such words,” answered Steingerd, “an ill will is plain to hear. I shall tell Thorvald of this ribaldry: no man would sit still under such insults.”
Then sang Cormac:—
(51) “What gain is to get if he threatens, White goddess in raiment of beauty, The scorn that the Skidings may bear me? I'll set them a weft for their weaving! I'll rhyme you the roystering caitiffs Till rocks go afloat on the water ”

“ The one who was wounded should pay three marks of silver to be set free.
So the hide was taken and spread under their feet. Thorgils held his brother's shield, and Thord Arndisarson that of Bersi. Bersi struck the first blow, and cleft Cormac's shield; Cormac struck at Bersi to the like peril. Each of them cut up and spoilt three shields of the other's. Then it was Cormac's turn. He struck at Bersi, who parried with Whitting. Skofnung cut the point off Whitting in front of the ridge. The sword-point flew upon Cormac's hand, and he was wounded in the thumb. ”