THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland E-Book

Anon E. Mouse

• Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Herein you will find 20 tales, from the Emerald Isle. There are seven bardic romances like, The Children of Lir, The Secret Of Labra, The Vengeance Of Mesgedra and five more besides. Also contained herein are thirteen legends, each a tale in itself, tracing the life of Finn mac Cumhal from boyhood through adulthood including the The Birth Of Oisín and his Visit To The Land Of Youth only to return to find that his father, Finn, had fallen at the battle of Brea three hundred years before. Lastly, The History Of King Cormac is recounted from the time of his birth, his judgement, marriage, disappearance and his death.

The 16 Georgian style, color plates by Stephen Reid (1873 – 1948) portray scenes from these tales and are exquisite and sumptuous in their color and detail.

The two most conspicuous figures in ancient Irish legend are Cuchulain, who lived in the reign of Conor mac Nessa immediately before the Christian era, and Finn son of Cumhal, who appears in literature as the captain of a military order devoted to the service of the High King of Ireland during the 3rd century. As such, this volume is mainly concerned with the exploits of Fin mac Cumhal and the Fianna of Erinn.
The romantic tales retold here belong neither to the category of folk-lore nor of myth, although most contain elements of both. They belong to the bardic literature of ancient Ireland, a literature written with an artistic purpose by men who possessed in the highest degree the native culture of their land and time.

Once again, you’re invited to curl up with a unique piece of ancient Irish folklore and let the Gift of the Irish enchant and captivate you. This volume has not been seen in print for over one hundred years—don’t miss this golden opportunity.
 

Leseprobe

THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN

AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND

BY

T. W. ROLLESTON

With an Introductionby Stopford A. Brooke M.A. LL.D.

andwith sixteen illustrationsBy Stephen Reid

Originally published by

Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, New York

Resurrected by

Abela Publishing, London

[2013]

THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN

AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND

Typographical arrangement of this edition

© Abela Publishing 2017

This book may not be reproduced in its current format in any manner in any media, or transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, or mechanical ( including photocopy, file or video recording, internet web sites, blogs, wikis, or any other information storage and retrieval system) except as permitted by law without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Abela Publishing,

London

United Kingdom

2010

ISBN-13: 978-8-822802-64-4

Email

[email protected]

Website

www.AbelaPublishing.com

"Dermot took the horn and would have filled it"

AR CRAOIBH CONNARTHA NA GAEDHILGE I NGLEANN FHAIDHLE BRONNAIM AN LEABHAR SEO: BEANNACHT AGUS BUAIDH LIBHSE GO DEO

THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN

Contents

The High Deeds Of Finn

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Introduction

Cois Na Teineadh (By The Fireside.)

Bardic Romances

Chapter I The Story Of The Children Of Lir

Chapter II The Quest Of The Sons Of Turenn

Chapter III The Secret Of Labra

Chapter IV King Iubdan And King Fergus

Chapter V The Carving Of Mac Datho's Boar

Chapter VI The Vengeance Of Mesgedra

Chapter VII The Story Of Etain And Midir

Chapter VII How Ethne Quitted Fairyland

The High Deeds Of Finn

Chapter IX The Boyhood Of Finn MacCumhal

Chapter X The Coming Of Finn

Chapter XI Finn's Chief Men

Chapter XII The Tale Of Vivionn The Giantess

Chapter XIII The Chase Of The Gilla Dacar

Chapter XIV The Birth Of Oisín

Chapter XV Oisín In The Land Of Youth

Chapter XVI The History Of King Cormac

I The Birth Of Cormac

II The Judgement Of Cormac

III The Marriage Of King Cormac

IV The Instructions Of The King

V Cormac Sets Up The First Mill In Erinn

VI A Pleasant Story Of Cormac's Brehon

VII The Judgement Concerning Cormac's

Sword

VIII The Disappearance Of Cormac

IX Description Of Cormac

X The Death And Burial Of Cormac

Notes On The Sources

Pronouncing Index

Footnotes

Illustrations

"Dermot took the horn and would have filled it"

"There Sat The Three Maidens With The Queen"

"They Made An Encampment And The Swans Sang To Them"

"Bear Us Swiftly, Boat Of Mananan, To The Garden Of The Hesperides"

"There Dwelt The Red-Haired Ocean-Nymphs"

"They All Trooped Out, Lords And Ladies, To View The Wee Man"

"Fergus Goes Down Into The Lake"

"A Mighty Shout Of Exultation Arose From The Ulstermen"

"They Rose Up In The Air"

"She Heard Her Own Name Called Again And Again"

"And That Night There Was Feasting And Joy In The Lonely Hut"

“Finn heard far off, the first notes of the fairy harp.”

"They Ran Him By Hill And Plain"

"Dermot Took The Horn And Would Have Filled It"

"'Follow Me Now To The Hill Of Allen'"

"They Rode Up To A Stately Palace"

"The White Steed Had Vanished From Their Eyes Like A Wreath Of Mist"

Preface

The romantic tales here retold for the English reader belong neither to the category of folk-lore nor of myth, although most of them contain elements of both. They belong, like the tales of Cuchulain, which have been similarly presented by Miss Hull,[1] to the bardic literature of ancient Ireland, a literature written with an artistic purpose by men who possessed in the highest degree the native culture of their land and time. The aim with which these men wrote is also that which has been adopted by their present interpreter. I have not tried, in this volume, to offer to the scholar materials for the study of Celtic myth or folk-lore. My aim, however I may have fulfilled it, has been artistic, not scientific. I have tried, while carefully preserving the main outline of each story, to treat it exactly as the ancient bard treated his own material, or as Tennyson treated the stories of the MORT D'ARTHUR, that is to say, to present it as a fresh work of poetic imagination. In some cases, as in the story of the Children of Lir, or that of mac Datho's Boar, or the enchanting tale of King Iubdan and King Fergus, I have done little more than retell the bardic legend with merely a little compression; but in others a certain amount of reshaping has seemed desirable. The object in all cases has been the same, to bring out as clearly as possible for modern readers the beauty and interest which are either manifest or implicit in the Gaelic original.

For stories which are only found in MSS. written in the older forms of the language, I have been largely indebted to the translations published by various scholars. Chief among these (so far as the present work is concerned) must be named Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady—whose wonderful treasure-house of Gaelic legend, SILVA GADELICA, can never be mentioned by the student of these matters without an expression of admiration and of gratitude; Mr A.H. Leahy, author of HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND; Dr Whitly Stokes, Professor Kuno Meyer, and M. d'Arbois de Jubainville, whose invaluable CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS has been much in my hands, both in the original and in the excellent English translation of Mr R.I. Best. Particulars of the source of each story will be found in the Notes on the Sources at the end of this volume. In the same place will also be found a pronouncing-index of proper names. I have endeavoured, in the text, to avoid or to modify any names which in their original form would baffle the English reader, but there remain some on the pronunciation of which he may be glad to have a little light.

The two most conspicuous figures in ancient Irish legend are Cuchulain, who lived—if he has any historical reality—in the reign of Conor mac Nessa immediately before the Christian era, and Finn son of Cumhal, who appears in literature as the captain of a kind of military order devoted to the service of the High King of Ireland during the third century A.D. Miss Hull's volume has been named after Cuchulain, and it is appropriate that mine should bear the name of Finn, as it is mainly devoted to his period; though, as will be seen, several stories belonging to other cycles of legend, which did not fall within the scope of Miss Hull's work, have been included here.[2] All the tales have been arranged roughly in chronological order. This does not mean according to the date of their composition, which in most cases is quite indiscoverable, and still less, according to the dates of the MSS. in which they are contained. The order is given by the position, in real or mythical history, of the events they deal with. Of course it is not practicable to dovetail them into one another with perfect accuracy. Where a story, like that of the Children of Lir, extends over nearly a thousand years, beginning with the mythical People of Dana and ending in the period of Christian monasticism, one can only decide on its place by considering where it will throw most light on those which come nearest to it. In this, as in the selection and treatment of the tales, there is of course room for much difference of opinion. I can only ask the critic to believe that nothing has been done in the framing of this collection of Gaelic romances without the consideration and care which the value of the material demands and which the writer's love of it has inspired.

T. W. Rolleston

Introduction

Many years have passed by since, delivering the Inaugural Lecture of the Irish Literary Society in London, I advocated as one of its chief aims the recasting into modern form and in literary English of the old Irish legends, preserving the atmosphere of the original tales as much as possible, but clearing them from repetitions, redundant expressions, idioms interesting in Irish but repellent in English, and, above all, from absurdities, such as the sensational fancy of the later editors and bards added to the simplicities of the original tales.

Long before I spoke of this, it had been done by P.W. Joyce in his OLD CELTIC ROMANCES, and by Standish O'Grady for the whole story of Cuchulain, but in this case with so large an imitation of the Homeric manner that the Celtic spirit of the story was in danger of being lost. This was the fault I had to find with that inspiring book,[3] but it was a fault which had its own attraction.

Since then, a number of writers have translated into literary English a host of the Irish tales, and have done this with a just reverence for their originals. Being, in nearly every case, Irish themselves, they have tried, with varying success, to make their readers realize the wild scenery of Ireland, her vital union with the sea and the great ocean to the West, those changing dramatic skies, that mystic weather, the wizard woods and streams which form the constant background of these stories; nor have they failed to allure their listeners to breathe the spiritual air of Ireland, to feel its pathetic, heroic, imaginative thrill.

They have largely succeeded in their effort. The Irish bardic tales have now become a part of English literature and belong not only to grown up persons interested in early poetry, in mythology and folk-customs, but to the children of Ireland and England. Our new imaginative stories are now told in nurseries, listened to at evening when the children assemble in the fire-light to hear tales from their parents, and eagerly read by boys at school. A fresh world of story-telling has been opened to the imagination of the young.