The Tain

The Táin is Ireland's heroic fantasy of political intrigue, trickery, deceit, and feats of individual daring on a par with the Iliad. The tale's iconic hero, Cú Chulainn (Hound of Culann), a young, hot-tempered, nearly invincible warrior like Achilles, stands alone against the invading armies of Ireland protecting Ulster and the North. The story, first recorded between the sixth and eighth centuries from oral tales, is a simple one. Medb, queen of Connacht, is jealous that her husband's riches outnumber her own by one prize bull. There's a bull of equal value in neighboring Ulster. Medb and her husband, Ailill, connive to steal the bull. Although all of the warriors of Ulster are bed-ridden by an annual curse, Medb and Ailill take no chances for failure. In secret alliances, they offer their fair daughter, Finnabair, to every leader and king who'll bring an army to help them. And come they do, like the Greeks rushing to Troy for Helen. The one flaw in their plan is the seventeen-year-old Ulster hero, Cú Chulainn. Apparently, the beardless boy is too young to be afflicted by "The Curse," and he harries and stalls the invaders until the Ulster warriors recover and can join in the final battle. Cú is the prototype of superheroes from Conan to Wolverine. His rages puff him up like the Hulk that no horde can withstand. Yet he'll fight with all the chivalry of a Dumas' hero in single combat: "'It's your choice of weapons until nightfall,' said Cú, `for you were first at the ford.'" The pathos of war is particularly poignant when Cú battles his foster brother, Fer Diad. Fer Diad is tricked into fighting Cú; Mebd and Ailill tell him lies that Cú had besmirched his honor, and they offer him their daughter (as they had to nearly everyone else) as a reward. Cú and Fer Diad fight for several days, meeting each morning to let one or the other choose the weapon and fighting until night; then sharing food and succor as their horses grazed together and their charioteers shared the same fire. "For every amulet and spell and charm that was laid on Cú Chulainn's cuts and gashes, he sent the same to Fer Diad on the south side of the ford. And for every piece of food, and pleasant, wholesome and reviving drink that the men of Ireland gave Fer Diad, he sent the same to Cú Chulainn." Their battle brings to mind two modern instances: Winfield Scott Hancock and Lewis Addison Armistead, close friends and soldiers before the Civil War, bid each other tearful farewells after the fall of Ft. Sumter only to come together again on opposite sides during Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Wounded, Armistead's only concern is for his friend Hancock, and hearing that Hancock has also been wounded mournfully cries, "Not both of us on the same day." The "Christmas Truce," 1914: On Christmas eve and Christmas day, British and German troops, who had been fighting and killing each other daily, take a momentary pause from chaos. Spontaneously, along the front lines, t

The Ulster Cycle is a group of tales associated with the northeast of Ireland and the Ta/in Bo/ Cuailgne is the core of the cycle. The tales are preserved in manuscripts of the twelfth-century and later, but they look back to a pre-Christian culture dominated by warriors who counted their wealth in cows. Raiding your neighbors was one way to acquire more cows. In the Ta/in Bo/ Cuailgne, one group, the Connachta, tries to obtain a very special bull, a transformed human, by raiding another group, the Ulaid. In the process, gods, goddesses, kings, queens, seers, and heroes of every description become involved, and a raid turns into a monumental battle. This is not a retelling or a novelized version of the Ulster cycle tales. Rather this is a translation of an ancient saga equivalent to the Odyssey, Iliad, or Mahabarata. Years ago, not long after this book was first printed, I had the good fortune to hear Thomas Kinsella, an eminent modern Irish poet, describe how in translating the Ta/in, he combined his own vision with expert input from scholars of the ancient language. The voice in this translation is that of Kinsella, but it echoes the voices of all those who came before him. Having studied the ancient language and texts myself, I feel that Kinsella has produced a work of poetic art that is nevertheless faithful to the meaning and spirit of the stories. The beautiful semi-abstract images by Le Brocquy are not really illustrations but accompanying art, demonstrating how the cycle of Ulster tales, which has inspired Irish artists through various eras, continues to kindle the creative fire in those who read and hear them. If you are interested in learning about pre-Christian Irish--or Celtic--tradition, the Ta/in is indispensable reading. If you are seeking a novelized version (at one extreme) or a literal translation (at the other), you may want to look elsewhere. If you are new to Celtica, you may want to pick up some additional reading to better appreciate the text. For commentary on the mythology behind the story, see _Celtic Heritage_ by Alwyn and Brinley Rees. For more information about the culture of medieval Ireland, see Nery's Patterson's _Cattle Lords and Clansmen_. To keep all the names straight (and the Ta/in has a cast of hundreds!), get James Mac Killop's _Dictionary of Celtic Mythology_. If you are interested in modern Irish literature rather than medieval, you will still want to read the Ta/in: this saga inspired modern Irish writers from Yeats to Heaney. Even Joyce drew heavily from the Ulster cycle (see Maria Tymoczko's _The Irish Ulysses_ for details).

Kinsella does an excellent job of bringing the ancient epic to life. You can almost imagine an old Irish bard reciting the tale in front of a peat fire. Kinsella includes not only the Tain, but stories leading up to the Tain and a brief story about how the Tain was once again learned: "If this your royal rockwere your own self mac Roichhalted here with sagessearching for a roofCuailnge we'd recoverplain and perfect Fergus." The above was spoken by the poet Muirgen at Fergus's grave, and summoned the spirit of Fergus to... Oh, just buy it and read it. The epic of the Tain is starting to creep back into our lives. Only recently a software company calle Bungie included many Irish myths as a foundation for one of their most popular games to date. The Tain is also once again being performed by storytellers and it's an excellent tale either oral or written. On a side note, the pronunciation guide is a bit lacking, you'll have to do some leg work to get the proper pronuciation of some Irish words and names.

This is a literary masterpiece to match the 5th(?) century manuscript: action, adventure, deceit, love, death, life, marriage, and hurling! What more could I ask for? Kinsella manages to pull you into the past of Ireland without loosing the flavor and excitement of the original epic. No pansy 19th century Victorian mush here, Mrs. Brown. This is the raw thing, the Irish story of how a hero was created. I grew tired of reading German translations of Old Irish stories, for lack of anything worthwhile in English. Too frequently, translators spend their time getting the exact meaning of each word, only to loose the beauty and flavor of the original melange. Kinsella comes through like a mighty warrior of the Uliad out of the distant past. Slainte!

Around the time Jesus walked the Earth, a child-warrior from Ulster, named Setanta, went to a feast. King Conchubar forgot to inform his host, Cullen, that the boy was coming. The host had set his dog, the biggest and meanest in all Ireland out to protect his holdings. The dog had set upon Setanta. The child made short work of the vicious beast. When the party's host complained of the loss of his watchdog, Setanta said that he would be Cullen's hound. That became his name. A name revered in Irish Legend to this day - Cuchulain (Cullen's Hound) This translation of the Epic, by Thomas Kinsella, is the one I would say makes the most enjoyable reading. I would place the Irish Epics against Edith Hamilton's Greek Myths any day. There are other versions of this story. Plus many other heroic tales of ancient Ireland. But I think Mr. Kinsella's is the best that I've read so far.