Bile Tortan
The
Metrical Dindsenchas
Ultan.
Fallen is the Tree of Tortu, whose skirts conquered many a
storm: . . . even so would they disperse.
Mochuma.
The Tree
of Tortu looks down on strife: name ye among the wise him
who writes of it! here it stands from the time that it was
green till the season of its decay.
Mochua.
Sad are all the men of Tortu, mourning for that single
tree; dearer to them is the thing they see than all things
that are gone from us.
Coin
Galma. When the
men of Tortu used to meet together round the huge
conspicuous tree, the pelting of the storms did not reach
them, until the day when it was decayed.
Colum
Cille. Though
it is withered now, it had not an early end: long has it
been on earth: the King who created its form has brought it
low again.
Ultan
of Tech Tua. Fifty
cubits is the thickness of the tree that overpowered the
array of the forest: three hundred cubits, famous count,
was the full height of its timber.
Mochuma.
Three
landmarks of Erin, thou seest, are shorn of their strength,
the Tree of Ross, the mighty Tree of Mugna, and the
red-sided Tree of Tortu.
Mochua.
Deep was
the sound of the Tree of Tortu in the storm's fierce
torment: the moaning of the wind on winter nights has torn
from it here many a swarm of leaves.
Utan.
It found an abode over strong Tortu from the time of the
sons of mighty Mil, until its colour faded and it fell, in
the time of the sons of Aed Slane.
Croin
Galma. A wind
laid the Tree low--none that is not hard of heart can bear
the loss--and it crushed thrice fifty victims of the
Conaille, at their fair.
Sinche.
Beldame, though thou breakest faggots from its bole on thy
hearth, there was many a fair youth that has slept under
its bright branches.
Ultan
of Tech Tua. The
woman who loosed their fair locks, many a trim sandal hath
she loosed: gleefully she laughed at the felling of Tortu's
Tree.
Croin
Galma. All that
meet the eye must fall: they joined in stubborn conflict:
the wind withdrew not its hand until it brought down the
Tree's pride.
Mochua.
To all
things comes decay: all men in the world go toward death:
they are but red earth and lifeless clay, all folk that
gathered round the Tree.
Ultan.
The
plain of Tortu is a plain without a ruler since it lost its
noble tree: two parts of its prosperity are gone since the
Tree fell.
Torannan.
Adam's transgression of old hath undone the children of the
free people: such is the lot in store for us since their
mighty Tree withered.
Colum
Cille. Deserted
is Ochann, and noble Tlachtga, since Ailill, son of Nathi,
is gone, the chief of strong troops, that rode through
Meath: a death not like that of any other Tree.
Mochua.
I am Mochua: I bid Croin not to grieve excessively: from
the roots of the illustrious Tree many a tree might spring.
Colum
Cille. On a
certain summer's day I was in the wood of tufted leafage,
having an errand to perform: the crown of Tortu's Tree gave
me shelter.
Mochuma.
No comfort have I, though the winds stir the treetops of
the wood to laughter: to-day a solitary housewife breaks
faggots from the Tree of Tortu.
Ultan.
Though
the wind made rough sport with it, it could not break the
Tree while it was young; but it brings to the ground all
that is old: this I know by the Tree of Tortu.