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 Táin Bó Cúalnge: Prologue |
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The Story
It all begins, as stories of a man and woman sometimes do, in bed. Medb, Queen of Connacht (one of the five provinces of Ireland), gets in bed with Ailill, King-consort of Connacht, and Ailill mentions that a rich man's wife is truly a well-off woman. She, of course, agrees to this, but points out that she was well off long before they were married, as her father was the High King of Erin (Ireland) and she had plenty of wealth herself, not to mention a glorious household, to complement her beauty and positive qualities.This, of course, requires a response from Ailill that he knows of none wealthier than himself, and they call for their servant to bring in their possessions so that they may compare their worth. Their pottery and their jewelry and their treasures and their clothing was all brought forth, followed by their flocks of sheep and horses and swine, and all was judged to be equal in size and worth. When their herds of cattle were brought forth, however, Ailill gained the advantage -- while the herds were equal in size, Ailill possessed a bull of amazing quality, originally born of Medb's herd but who relocated to Ailill's herds, as it was no honor to be owned by a woman.
When Medb learned of this from macRoth the messenger, she asked him to go to Dare, in the nearby village of Cualnge, who possessed a bull of similar quality, and to request the loan of the bull for a year, with the promise of many riches in return (including her "own close friendship").
When macRoth went to Dare and delivered the request, he was overjoyed -- he even broke his bed from jumping up and down in joy. As the night passed, however, some of the runners spoke with some of the townsmen over ale, and a dispute arose regarding who the greatest man in Ulster (the province in which Dare resided) was. As a result of this dispute, Dare revoked his agreement to loan the bull, and even after attempts at reconciling the differences, macRoth was still unsuccessful. Upon returning to Medb and reporting this news, Medb was not pleased with the outcome -- she decided that, if they would not willingly give the Bull of Cualnge, they would give it up unwillingly.
To this end, Medb and Ailill (who was now involved, as his region was at war) sent messengers and gathered an army 6000 strong from all four provinces of Erin. They spent a fortnight in the town of Cruachan in Connacht, waiting for their poets and druids to receive a good omen to march.
In order to force the process into motion, Medb went to her druid to request an augury. As she asked, however, a maiden approached on a chariot. A long description of this maiden is given; from context, it can be assumed she fits the standard of beauty for the time. She's described as having a "ruddy, fair faced countenance, narrow below and broad above", "a blue-grey and laughing eye", "dark and black were her eyebrows", "red and thin were her lips", "shiny and pearly were her teeth", "as sweet as the strings of lutes...was the sound of her voice and her fair speech", "as white as snow...was the sheen of her skin", "slender and very white were her feet", and "fair-yellow, long, golden hair she wore; three braids of hair she wore, two tresses were wound around her head; the other tress from behind threw a shadow down on her calves".
Six times Medb asks Fedelm, the prophetess, for her prophecy, and six times she responds that she sees Medb's men bathed in red. After the sixth pronouncement, she then foretells the coming of Cuchulain, a hero without parallel, but tells not on which side he will fight -- from her prior prophecy, though, it can only be assumed he will fight against Medb's forces.
This ends the prologue to the tale; it is followed by the title, in which the path of the forces of four of the five provinces of Erin to the fifth is traced from Cruachan to Cualnge, with every road detailed.
After this, the true story begins, and the cattle raid proceeds in earnest; that, however, is a tale for next week.
The Commentary
The prologue to the Cattle Raid is a fine piece of work; only in Irish literature can you go from a king and queen in bed to war in 5 chapters flat. It seems obvious that this was an oral story before transcribed to text; the action jumps fairly quickly, the situations are humorous yet serious at the same time to keep attention, and the text itself repeats in a rhythmic fashion, with entire sections repeated at times. The way it reads, it seems reminiscent of a work of an Irish Homer; it's a pity it couldn't be preserved in an oral fashion on the internet.The blend of humor and seriousness evident in this work is a trend in Irish literature; near every Irish work, however dark, bears at least some humor, however dark. This longstanding trait might be seen as a trait not just of the literature, but the people; what better to explain how a people renowned for bear such hardship is also renowned for being so pleasant.
The description of the prophetess is also of note; it's not too often a beauty ideal from an era no longer accessible is preserved. It was interesting that the actual build of her body was not described, and that the majority of the description focused on color: if not her golden hair and red lips, it was her pearly teeth and pale skin. While it seems odd to not have body frame included in a description of a beauty ideal, perhaps that is simply an artifact of the times -- today, beauty ideals are based near exclusively on body frame, whereas ideals of the past may not have been. Perhaps particular color aspects were far more important for people of that region and era, and body frame was less of note.
One other point to note is the relevance of a male-female relationship to the main plot. Many an Irish tale involves the relationship between a man and a woman; romance, love, and lust are central to Irish yarns. This was noted by St. Patrick when he first went to Ireland: it was difficult to get the Irish to pay attention to the Bible, as they saw its stories to be too dry and dull, so he had to play up the connection between Christ and church as man and woman to pique their interest.
Text from Taylor at vassun.vassar.edu/~sttaylor/Cooley
Image from www.celticfolklore.com/##animals