Heroic Romances of Ireland | Page 7

other by a gap of hundreds of years. Those
who have read the actual works of the ancient writers of the Irish
romances will not readily indulge in the generalisations about them
used by those to whom the romances are only known by abstracts or a
compilation. Perhaps the least meritorious of those in this collection are
the "Tains" of Dartaid, Regamon, and Flidais, but the tones of these
three stories are very different. Dartaid is a tale of fairy vengeance for a
breach of faith; Flidais is a direct and simple story of a raid like a
Border raid, reminding us of the "riding ballads" of the Scottish Border,

and does not seem to trouble itself much about questions of right or
wrong; Regamon is a merry tale of a foray by boys and girls; it troubles
itself with the rights of the matter even less than Flidais if possible, and
is an example of an Irish tale with what is called in modern times a
"good ending." It may be noted that these last two tales have no trace of
the supernatural element which some suppose that the Irish writers
were unable to dispense with. The "Tain bo Regamna," the shortest
piece in the collection, is a grotesque presentation of the supernatural,
and is more closely associated with the Great Tain than any of the other
fore-tales to it, the series of prophecies with which it closes exactly
following the action of the part of the Tain, to which it refers. Some of
the grotesque character of Regamna appears in the "Boar of Mac
Datho," which, however, like Regamon and Flidais, has no supernatural
element; its whole tone is archaic and savage, relieved by touches of
humour, but the style of the composition is much superior to that of the
first three stories. A romance far superior to "Mae Datho" is the
Leinster version of the well-known Deirdre story, the "Death of the
Sons of Usnach." The opening of the story is savage, the subsequent
action of the prose is very rapid, while the splendid lament at the end,
one of the best sustained laments in the language, and the restraint
shown in its account of the tragic death of Deirdre, place this version of
the story in a high position. As has been already mentioned, parts of the
fifteenth-century version of the story have been added to this version
for purposes of comparison: the character of the Deirdre of the Leinster
version would not have been in keeping with the sentiment of the
lament given to her in the later account.
The remaining five romances (treating as two the two versions of
"Etain") all show great beauty in different ways. Three of the four tales
given in them have "good endings," and the feeling expressed in them
is less primitive than that shown in the other stories, although it is an
open question whether any of them rises quite so high as Deirdre's
lament. "Fraech" has, as has been mentioned before, two quite separate
parts; the second part is of inferior quality, showing, however, an
unusual amount of knowledge of countries lying outside Celtdom, but
the first is a most graceful romance; although the hero is a demi-god,
and the fairies play a considerable part in it, the interest is essentially
human; and the plot is more involved than is the case in most of the

romances. It abounds in brilliant descriptions; the description of the
Connaught palace is of antiquarian interest; and one of the most
beautiful pieces of Celtic mythology, the parentage of the three fairy
harpers, is included in it.
The "Sick-bed of Cuchulain" and the Leabhar na h-Uidhri version of
the "Courtship of Etain" seem to have had their literary effect injured
by the personality of the compiler of the manuscript from which the
Leabhar na h-Uidhri was copied. Seemingly an antiquarian, interested
in the remains of the old Celtic religion and in old ceremonies, he has
inserted pieces of antiquarian information into several of the romances
that he has preserved for us, and though these are often of great interest
in themselves, they spoil the literary effect of the romances in which
they appear. It is possible that both the Leabhar na h-Uidhri version of
"Etain" and the "Sick-bed" might be improved by a little judicious
editing; they have, however, been left just as they stand in the
manuscript. The "Sick-bed," as is pointed out in the special
introduction to it, consists of two separate versions; the first has plainly
some of the compiler's comments added to it, but the second and longer
part seems not to have been meddled with; and, although a fragment, it
makes a stately romance, full of human interest although dealing with
supernatural beings; and its conclusion is especially