ANCIENT IRISH AND SCOTTISH
THE MYSTERY OF AMERGIN.
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Of this strange pantheistical fragment, Dr Douglas Hyde writes:—“The first poem written in Ireland is said to have been the work of Amergin, who was brother of Evir, Ir, and Eremon, the first Milesian princes who colonised Ireland many hundred of years before Christ. The three short pieces of verse ascribed to Amergin are certainly very ancient and very strange. But, as the whole story of the Milesian invasion is wrapped in mystery and is quite possibly only a rationalised account of early Irish mythology (in which the Tuatha De Danann, Firbolgs, and possibly Milesians, are nothing but the gods of the early Irish euhemerised into men), no faith can be placed in the alleged date or genuineness of Amergin’s verses. They are, however, of interest, because as Irish tradition has always represented them as being the first verses made in Ireland, so it may very well be that they actually do present the oldest surviving lines in any vernacular tongue in Europe except Greek.”
THE SONG OF FIONN.
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“The Song of Finn MacCool, composed after his eating of the Salmon of Knowledge.” This, if not the earliest, is almost the earliest authentic fragment of Erse poetry. The translation is after O’Donovan and Dr Douglas Hyde.
CREDHE’S LAMENT.
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From The Colloquy of the Ancients (called also “The Dialogue of the Sages,” and by other analogues), translated by Standish Hayes O’Grady (vide The Book of Lismore; Silva Gadelica; etc.). See specific mention in Introduction.
CUCHULLIN IN HIS CHARIOT.
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(Source: Hector MacLean’s Ultonian Hero Ballads. See Introduction.)
DEIRDRE’S LAMENT FOR THE SONS OF USNACH.
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Of the many Irish-Gaelic and Scottish-Gaelic and English translations and paraphrases, I have selected the rendering of Sir Samuel Ferguson. The original Erse is of unknown antiquity. (See Introduction.)
THE LAMENT OF QUEEN MAEV.
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This admirable translation is by Mr T. W. Rolleston (vide Note to p. 166), after the original in The Book of Leinster.
THE MARCH OF THE FAERIE HOST.
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This striking poem is given as translated by Professor Kuno Meyer. It and other verses are to be found, in the original, in The Book of Lismore (15th century). The particular narrative therein deals with the visit of Laegaire mac Crimthainn to the land of Faerie. The episodic portion of this narrative has been translated and edited by Mr Standish Hayes O’Grady (see Silva Gadelica); but the general reader may be more interested in the brief and lucid commentary of Professor Kuno Meyer (see The Voyage of Bran—with Essay on the Celtic Elysium, by Mr Alfred Nutt—recently published by D. Nutt). Professor Meyer considers this and the other verses of “Laegaire mac Crimthainn” to be as old as the 10th century period. “The Faerie Host,” as here given, is fragmentary, being part of an episode; but I have further curtailed it by three lines, for the sake of effect and unity of impression. The other three lines are—
“At all times melodious are they,
Quick-witted in song-making,
Skilled at playing fiachell.”
VISION OF A FAIR WOMAN.
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This characteristic Scoto-Celtic poem is supposed by some scholars to be very ancient. The Gaelic version permits of some doubt on the conjecture, but the text is not in this instance conclusive. The “Aisling” will be found in Smith’s Collection of Ancient Poems, from the Gaelic of Ossian, Ullin, Orran, and others (1780)—the reputed originals of which were published in 1787. See, for easier reference, Nigel MacNeil’s Literature of the Highlanders, p. 218.
THE FIAN BANNERS.
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This paraphrase of an ancient poem is modern. The original is supposed to relate to the Scoto-Celtic and Viking wars of the 11th century. (See Nigel MacNeil’s Literature of the Highlanders, p. 117.)
THE RUNE OF ST PATRICK (“THE FAEDH; OR, THE CRY OF THE DEER”).
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This translation of the “Faedh,” from The Book of Hymns (11th century), is by Charles Mangan.
COLUMCILLE CECENIT.
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The version of Colum’s Hymn here given is the translation of Dr Douglas Hyde, himself a poet, and one of the foremost living Irish folk-lorists. All students of Celtic literature should see his fascinating volume of metrical renderings of the old Erse, The Three Sorrows of Story-Telling. (Vide Notes to p. 126.)
COLUMCILLE FECIT.
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This well-known poem is given as translated by Michael O’Curry, from an Irish MS. in the Burgundian Library of Brussels.
THE SONG OF MURDOCH THE MONK.
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This “Monastic Shaving Song” is the version of Professor Blackie, as translated from Bishop Ewing’s Book.
DOMHNULL MAC FHIONNLAIDH. “THE AGED BARD’S WISH.”
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Although this undoubtedly old Gaelic poem is attributed by its translators, Charles Edward Stuart and John Sobieski, to the early bard Domhnull Mac Fhionnlaidh, there is no certainty (as they admit) either as to authorship or date. This version is taken from Ballads and Songs by Charles Edward Stuart and John Sobieski.
“OSSIAN SANG.”
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The original was jotted down in phonetic Gaelic by Dean Macgregor some 380 years ago.
FINGAL AND ROS-CRANA.
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This is not part of the text of Macpherson’s Ossian though the Englishing is by Macpherson, who attributes the original to Colgan, an ancient Scoto-Irish bard. It will be found in the Notes to Temora. (See Introduction.)
THE NIGHT-SONG OF THE BARDS.
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Macpherson “translated” this, he avers, from an old Gaelic original. His version is to be found in the Notes to Croma.
OSSIAN. “COMALA.”
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I have selected this short poem as representative of the semi-mythical Ossian of Macpherson. It is undoubtedly ancient substantially.
THE DEATH-SONG OF OSSIAN.
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The close of “The Songs of Selma.” (See foregoing Note.)