Heroic Romances of Ireland | Page 6

these translations being much more exact than the
translations in the first volume, as the object in this case is to show the
literal Irish form, not its literal English equivalent, which is in this case

the verse. The "Tain bo Fraich" is also, in a sense, a "fore-tale" to the
Great Raid, but is of a different character to the others. It consists of
two parts, the second of which is not unlike the four that have just been
mentioned, but the first part is of a much higher order, containing
brilliant descriptions, and at least one highly poetic passage although its
Irish form is prose. Fraech has been treated like the other fore-tales, and
rendered in verse with literal prose opposite to the verse for the purpose
of comparison. The notes to all the five Tana in the second volume
accompany the text; in the first volume all the notes to the different
romances are collected together, and placed at the end of the volume.
The second volume also includes a transcript from the facsimile of that
part of the Irish text of the tale of Etain which has not before been
published, together with an interlinear literal translation. It is hoped that
this arrangement may assist some who are not Middle Irish scholars to
realise what the original romances are.
The manuscript authorities for the eleven different romances (counting
as two the two versions of "Etain") are all old; seven are either in the
Leabhar na h-Uidhri, an eleventh-century manuscript, or in the Book of
Leinster, a twelfth-century one; three of the others are in the
fourteenth-century Yellow Book of Lecan, which is often, in the case of
texts preserved both in it and the Leabhar na h-Uidhri, regarded as the
better authority of the two; and the remaining one, the second version
of "Etain," is in the fifteenth-century manuscript known as Egerton,
1782, which gives in an accurate form so many texts preserved in the
older manuscripts that it is very nearly as good an authority as they.
The sources used in making the translations are also stated in the
special introductions, but it may be mentioned as a summary that the
four "Preludes," the Tana of Dartaid, Regamon, Flidais, and Regamna,
are taken from the text printed with accompanying German translations
by Windisch in Irische Texte, vol. ii.; Windisch's renderings being
followed in those portions of the text that he translates; for the "Tain bo
Fraich" and the "Combat at the Ford" the Irish as given by O'Beirne
Crowe and by O'Curry, with not very trustworthy English translations,
has been followed; in the case of the fragment of the Glenn Masain
version of "Deirdre" little reference has been made to the Irish, the
literal translation followed being that given by Whitley Stokes. The
remaining five romances, the "Boar of Mac Datho," the Leinster

version of "Deirdre," the "Sick-bed of Cuchulain," the Egerton version
of "Etain," and the greater part of the Leabbar na h-Uidhri version of
the same, are taken from the Irish text printed without translation in
Irische Texte, vol. i., the end of the Leabhar na h-Uidhri version
omitted by Windisch being taken from the facsimile of the manuscript
published by the Royal Irish Academy.
I have to acknowledge with gratitude many corrections to O'Beirne
Crowe's translation of the "Tain bo Fraich" kindly given me by
Professor Kuno Meyer; in the case of O'Curry's translation of the
"Combat at the Ford," similar help kindly given me by Mr. E. J.
Quiggin; and in the case of the two versions of "Etain," more especially
for the part taken direct from the facsimile, I have to express gratitude
for the kind and ready help given to me by Professor Strachan.
Professor Strachan has not only revised my transcript from the
facsimile, and supplied me with translations of the many difficult
passages in this of which I could make no sense, but has revised all the
translation which was made by the help of Windisch's glossary to the
Irische Texte of both the versions of "Etain," so that the translations
given of these two romances should be especially reliable, although of
course I may have made some errors which have escaped Professor
Strachan's notice. The three other romances which have been translated
from the Irish in Irische Texte have not been similarly revised, but all
passages about which there appeared to be doubt have been referred to
in the notes to the individual romances.
It remains to add some remarks upon the general character of the tales,
which, as may be seen after a very cursory examination, are very
different both in tone and merit, as might indeed be expected if we
remember that we are probably dealing with the works of men who
were separated from each