The Raid for Dartaid's Cattle
Egerton
MS. 1782
The Yellow Book of Lecan
The
Passages that occur only in the Yellow Book (Y.B.L.) are
indicated by being placed in square brackets.
--Lehey
EOCHO BEC, the son of Corpre, king of Cliu, dwelt in the
Dun of Cuillne,[1]
and with
him were forty fosterlings, all sons of the kings of
Munster; he had also forty milch-cows for their sustenance.
By Ailill and Medb messengers were sent, asking him to come
to a conference. "[In a week,"][2]
said
Eocho, "I will go to that conference;" and the messengers
departed from him.
One night Eocho lay there in his sleep, when he saw
something approach him; a woman, and a young man in her
attendance. "Ye are welcome!" said Eocho. ["Knowest thou
us?"] said she, "Where hast thou learned to know us?" "It
seems to me as if I had been near to you." "I think that we
have been very near to one another, though we have not seen
each other face to face!" "In what place do ye dwell?" said
Eocho. "Yonder in Sid Cuillne (the fairy mound of
Cuillne)," said she. "And, wherefore have ye come?" "In
order to give thee counsel," said she. For what purpose is
the counsel," said he, "that thou givest me?"
"Something," she said, "that will bring thee honour and
renown on thy journey at home and abroad. A stately troop
shall be round thee, and goodly foreign horses shall be
under thee."[3]
"With
how many shall I go?" said Eocho. "Fifty horsemen is the
number that is suitable for thee," she answered.
"To-morrow in the morning fifty black horses, furnished
with bridles of gold and silver, shall come to thee from
me; and with them fifty sets of equipment of the equipment
of the Sidé; and all of thy foster-children shall go with
thee; well it becomes us to help thee, because thou art
valiant in the defence of our country and our soil." Then
the woman left him.
Early in the morning they arise, there they see something:
the fifty black horses, furnished with bridles of gold and
silver tied fast to the gate of the castle, also fifty
breeches of silver with embellishment of gold; and fifty
youths' garments with their edges of spun gold, and fifty
white horses with red ears and long tails, purple-red were
all their tails and their manes, with silver bits
(?)[4]
and
foot-chains of brass upon each horse; there were also fifty
whips of white bronze (findruine), with end pieces of gold
that thereby they might be taken into
hands.[5]
Then
King Eocho arises, and prepares himself (for the journey):
they depart with this equipment to Cruachan
Ai:[6]
and the
people were well-nigh overcome with their consequence and
appearance: their troop was great, goodly, splendid,
compact: [fifty heroes, all with that appearance that has
just been related. "How is that man named?" said Ailill.
"Not hard, Eocho Bec, the king of Cliu." They entered the
Liss (outer court), and the royal house; welcome was given
to them, he remained there three days and three nights at
the feasting.] "Wherefore have I have been invited to
come?" said Eocho to Ailill: "To learn if I can obtain a
gift from thee," said Ailill; "for a heavy need weighs upon
me, even the sustenance of the men of Ireland for the
bringing of the cattle from Cualgne." "What manner of gift
is it that thou desirest?" said Eocho. "Nothing less than a
gift of milking-kine," said Ailill. "There is no
superfluity of these in my land," said Eocho; "I have forty
fosterlings, sons of the kings of Munster, to bring them up
(to manhood); they are here in My company, there are forty
cows to supply the needs of these, to supply my own needs
are seven times twenty milch-cows [there are fifty men for
this cause watching over them]. "Let me have from thee,"
said Ailill, "one cow from each farmer who is under thy
lordship as my share; moreover I will yield thee assistance
if at any time thou art oppressed by superior might." "Thus
let it be as thou sayest," said Eocho; "moreover, they
shall come to thee this very day." For three days and three
nights they were hospitably entertained by Ailill and Medb,
and then they departed homewards, till they met the sons of
Glaschu, who came from Irross Donnan (the peninsula of
Donnan, now Mayo); the number of those who met them was
seven times twenty men, And they set themselves to attack
each other, and to strive with each other in combat, and
[at the island of O'Conchada (Inse Ua Conchada)] they
fought together. In that place fell the forty sons of kings
round Eocho Bec, and that news was spread abroad over all
the land of Ireland, so that four times twenty kings' sons,
of the youths of Munster, died, sorrowing for the deaths of
these princes. On another night, as Ailill lay in his
sleep, upon his bed, he saw some thing, a young man and a
woman, the fairest that could be found in Ireland. "Who are
ye?" said Ailill. "Victory and Defeat are our names," she
said. "Victory indeed is welcome to me, but not so Defeat,"
said Ailill. "Victory shall be thine in each form!" said
she. ["What is the next thing after this that awaits us?"
said Ailill. "Not hard to tell thee," said she] "let men
march out from thy palace in the morning, that thou mayest
win for thyself the cattle of Dartaid, the daughter of
Eocho. Forty is the number of her milch-cows, it is thine
own son, Orlam mac Ailill, whom she loves. Let Orlam
prepare for his journey with a stately troop of valiant
men, also forty sons of those kings who dwell in the land
of Connaught; and by me shall be given to them the same
equipment that the other youths had who fell in yon fight,
bridles and garments and brooches; [early in the morning
shall count of the treasure be made, and now we go to our
own land," said she]. Then they depart from him, and
forthwith they go to [Corp[7]
Liath
(the Gray),] who was the son of Tassach. His castle was on
the bank of the river Nemain, upon the northern side, he
was a champion of renown for the guarding of the men of
Munster; longer than his hand is the evil he hath wrought.
To this man also they appeared, and "What are your names?"
said he: "Tecmall and Coscrad (Gathering of Hosts, and
Destruction)," said they. "Gathering of Hosts is indeed
good," said Corp Liath, "an evil thing is destruction":
"There will be no destruction for thee, and thou shalt
destroy the sons of kings and nobles": "And what," said
Corp Liath, "is the next thing to be done?" "That is easy
to say," they said;[8]
"each
son of a king and a queen, and each heir of a king that is
in Connaught, is now coming upon you to bear off cows from
your country, for that the sons of your kings and queens
have fallen by the hand of the men of Connaught. To-morrow
morning, at the ninth hour they will come, and small is
their troop; so if valiant warriors go thither to meet
them, the honour of Munster shall be preserved; if indeed
thine adventure shall meet with success." "With what number
should I go?" he said. "Seven times twenty heroes thou
shouldest take with thee," she replied, ["and seven times
twenty warriors besides"]: "And now" said the woman, "we
depart to meet thee to-morrow at the ninth hour." At the
time (appointed), when morning had come, the men of
Connaught saw the horses and the raiment of which we have
spoken, at the gate of the fort of Croghan, [even as she
(the fairy) had foretold, and as we have told, so that at
that gate was all she had promised, and all that had been
seen on the sons of kings aforetime], and there was a doubt
among the people whether they should go on that quest or
not. "It is shame," said Ailill, "to refuse a thing that is
good"; and upon that Orlam departed [till[9] he came to the
house of Dartaid, the daughter of Eocho, in Cliu Classach
(Cliu the Moated), on the Shannon upon the south (bank).
There they halted], and the maiden rejoiced at their
coming: "Three of the kine are missing." "We cannot wait
for these; let the men take provision on their horses, [for
rightly should we be afraid in the midst of Munster. Wilt
thou depart with me, O maiden?" said he. "I will indeed go
with thee," said she]. "Come then thou," said he, "and with
thee all of thy cows." [Then the young men go away with the
cows in the midst, and the maiden was with them; but Corp
Liath, the son of Tassach, met them with seven times twenty
warriors to oppose their march. A battle was fought], and
in that place fell the sons of the kings of Connaught,
together with the warriors who had gone with them, all
except Orlam and eight others,[10] who carried away with
them the kine, even the forty milch-cows, and fifty
heifers, [so that they came into the land of Connaught];
but the maiden fell at the beginning of the fight. Hence is
that place called Imlech Dartaid. (the Lake Shore of
Darta), in the land of Cliu, [where Dartaid, the daughter
of Eocho, the son of Corpre, fell: and for this reason this
story is called the Tain bo Dartae, it is one of the
preludes to the Tain bo Cualnge].
1.
The
eleventh century MS., the Leabhar na h-Uidhri, which gives
the first four lines of this tale as a fragment, adds here
as a note: "this is in the land of the O'Cuanach":
apparently the O'Briens of Cuanach.
2.
At
Samhuin day (Egerton).
3.
Y.B.L.
adds a passage that Windisch does not translate: it seems
to run thus: "Unknown to thee is the half of what thou hast
met: it seems to us that foreign may be thy splendour"(?)]
4.
co
m-belgib (?) Windisch translates "bridles," the same as
cona srianaib above.
5.
Y.B.L.
adds, "Through wizardry was all that thing: it was recited
(?) how great a thing had appeared, and he told his dream
to his people."
6.
Egerton
here gives "Ailill and Medb made them welcome;" it omits
the long passage in square brackets.]
7.
The
Egerton MS. gives the name, Corb Cliach.
8.
Y.B.L.
gives the passage thus: "Assemble with you the sons of
kings, and heirs of kings, that you may destroy the sons of
kings and heirs of kings." "Who are they?" said Corp Liath.
"A noble youth it is from Connaught: he comes to yon to
drive your cows before him, after that your young men were
yesterday destroyed by him, at the ninth hour of the
morning they will come to take away the cows of Darta, the
daughter of Eocho."]
9.
Egerton
Version has only "towards Chu till he came to the home of
Dartaid, the daughter of Eocho: the maiden rejoiced,"
&c. From this point to the end the version in the
Yellow Book is much fuller.
10.
Y.B.L.
inserts Dartaid's death at this point: "and Dartaid fell at
the beginning of the fight, together with the stately sons
of Connaught."]
SOURCES
Heroic
Romances of Ireland, Volume II ed. and
trans. A.H. Leahy. London: David Nutt, 1906.