[FN#13] Pronounced Kell-ny.
And when with kine from out the east
Ye reach our western land;
That night shall be thy marriage feast;
And thine our daughter's hand."
"Now that oath will I take," answered back to them Fraech, "and the
task ye have asked will do!"
So he tarried that night till the morning's light; and they feasted the
whole night through;
And then homewards bound, with his comrades round, rode Fraech when the
night was spent,
And to Ailill and Maev an adieu he gave, and away to their land they
went.
TAIN BO FRAICH
Part I
LITERAL TRANSLATION
FRAECH, son of Idath of the men of Connaught, a son he to Befind from the Side: a sister she to Boand. He is the hero who is the most beautiful that was of the men of Eriu and of Alba, but he was not long-lived. His mother gave him twelve cows out of the Sid (the fairy mound), they are white-eared. He had a good housekeeping till the end of eight years without the taking of a wife. Fifty sons of kings, this was the number of his household, co-aged, co-similar to him all between form and instruction. Findabair, daughter of Ailill and Medb, loves him for the great stories about him. It is declared to him at his house. Eriu and Alba were full of his renown and the stories about him.
To Fraech[FN#14] was Idath[FN#15] father,
A Connaught man was he:
And well we know his mother
Who dwells among the Shee;[FN#16]
Befind they call her, sister
To Boand,[FN#17] the Fairy Queen;
And Alba ne'er, nor Erin,
Such grace as Fraech's hath seen.
Yet wondrous though that hero's grace,
His fairy lineage high,
For years but few his lovely face
Was seen by human eye.
[FN#14] Pronounced Fraych.
[FN#15] Pronounced Eeda.