| Table of contents |
|
2 Summary of the Story 3 The World of the Tain 4 The Tain in Translation 5 Online Translations 6 Other External links |
The Táin Bó Cúailnge has survived in two distinct recensions. The first consists of a partial text in the Lebor na hUidre, a late eleventh/early twelfth century manuscript compiled in the monastery at Clonmacnoise and another partial text of the same version in the fourteenth century manuscript called the Yellow Book of Lecan. These two sources overlap in places. Parts of this recension, especially the verse, can be dated from linguistic evidence to the eight century, and there is reason to suspect that the Tain had a considerable oral history before any of it was committed to writing.
The second recension is found in the twelfth century manuscript known as The Book of Leinster. This appears to have been a syncretic exercise by a scribe who brought together the Lebor na hUidre materials and unknown sources for the Yellow Book of Lecan materials to create a coherent version of the epic. While the result is a satisfactory narrative whole, the language has been modernised into a much more florid style, with all of the spareness of expression of the earlier recension lost in the process.
After a number of pre-tales that relate the early lives of Conchobor, king of Ulster and Cuchulain and explain the presence of some of the leading men of Ulster in the Connaught camp, the curse that causes the temporary inability of the remaining Ulstermen to fight and the magic origins of the White Bull of Connaught and the Brown Bull of Ulster, the story begins with a conversation between Ailill and Medb, king and queen of Connaught. The couple are comparing their respective wealths and find that the only thing that distinguishes them is Ailill's possession of the White Bull, which had been born into Medb's herd but scorned being owned by a woman so decided to transfer itself to Ailill's.
Medb determines to get the Brown Bull to balance the books with her husband. After unsuccessfully attempting to borrow the Brown Bull, she raises the army Of Connaught and the Ulster exiles and sets out to capture it. There follow a series of single combats between Cuchulain, the only Ulster hero not affected by the curse, and Medb's champions including a three-day duel between the hero and his foster-brother, Ferdia. Medb takes advantage of the fighting to capture the Brown Bull and sets off to return to Connaught with it. Finally, the men of Ulster are roused, fall on Medb's army and rout them. The Brown Bull escapes, kills the White Bull, and generally wreaks havoc until it dies of exhaustion.
The world portrayed in the Tain is an essentially pre-Christian heroic age. War is a matter of single combat between warriors armed with swords and spears and mounted in chariots with drivers. The main source of wealth is cattle. Interestingly, it is also a world in which a queen may possess wealth independently of her husband and, indeed, compete with him and raise an army.
The main published translations into English of the Táin Bó Cúailnge are Winifred Faraday's The Cattle-Raid of Cualnge (1904) based on the Yellow Book of Lecan text, with a fair number of omissions, Joseph Dunn's The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúailnge (1914), with many omissions, Cecile O'Rahilly's Táin Bó Cúailnge from the Book of Leinster (1967) Cecile O'Rahilly's Táin Bó Cúailnge Recension 1" 1976, and Cecile O'Rahilly's Táin Bó Cúailnge from the Book Stow 1984, and the poet Thomas Kinsella's version The Tain (1969). The story also inspired a concept album called The Tain'' (1973) by Irish folk/glam rock band Horslips.
The Text
Summary of the Story
The World of the Tain
The Tain in Translation
Online Translations
Other External links