The Courtship of Ferb/Notes
NOTES
Page 2.—The celebrated Queen Maev.—Maev, the queen of Connaught, the Irish Semiramis as she has been called, is one of the few personages in the romances of the Heroic Age of Ireland who has claims to be regarded as a historical character. She is described as the daughter of Eochaidh Feidlech (Yeo-hay Faylla), who was high-king over all Ireland, and should not be confounded with his successor, Eochaidh Airem, the hero of the tale of the "Courtship of Etain." The first husband of Maev was Conor (or Conachar), king of Ulster, from whom she soon separated; and at the period of the tale of the "Courtship of Ferb," she was the wife of Ailill, a prince of Connaught, who is associated with his wife in the tales which describe her long warfare with Conor, and plays the part of a king-consort. In most of the romances connected with the Heroic Age, a general knowledge is assumed of the state of open or concealed warfare between Connaught under Maev and Ailill, and the kingdom of Ulster under Conor, supported by the celebrated heroes of the Red Branch, who are alluded to in the poem marked II. line 6: "As the lord of heroes known." An extant Ogham inscription to "Fraech, son of Medb,"[1] found on the site of her traditional palace, has been supposed to refer to this queen; and, in later times, she was regarded by the Irish peasantry as the queen of the fairies; so that she has finally become the Queen Mab of Spenser's "Faerie Queene," and of Mercutio's speech in "Romeo and Juliet."
Page 5.—Yoked to a chariot of white bronze.—The metal, whose name findruine is translated usually as "white bronze," was of unknown composition, but it appears to have stood next to silver in value—far superior to bronze.
Page 8.—Said Briccriu.—Briccriu of the Poison Tongue occurs several times in the tales of this period, and is a leading character in the story called the "Feast of Briccriu." He is sometimes found at the court of Connaught, sometimes in Ulster; always with the same character of mischief-maker and scoffer. Though he is not a prominent character in the "Courtship of Ferb," his few appearances are in full keeping with his traditional character.
Page 11.—Badb shall destroy.—The Badb (Bahb), who furnishes the tale of the "Courtship of Ferb" with its supernatural element, was one of the three Irish Valkyr maidens or goddesses of war. Her sisters were Macha and the Morrigu, wife of the Dagda; all three of the sisters appear prominently in the tales. Appearances like that of the Badb to Conor (p. 12) and to Maev (p. 25) in order to excite war are found elsewhere, e.g. in the Tain bo Dartada or "The Cattle Raid of Dairt."
Page 12.—Shall the Raid of the Kine of Cualgne be accomplished.—The Tain bo Cualgne ("The Cattle Raid of Kell-ny") has been called the Irish Iliad. It is by far the longest and most important of the Irish romances, and like many others contains both prose and verse. Its subject is the attack made upon Conor and his kingdom of Ulster by the remaining provinces of Ireland, led by Maev and Ailill. In the course of this epic Maev over-runs all Ulster, but is finally defeated at the battle of Gairech and Ilgairech. Between twenty and thirty tales belonging to the Heroic Age, including the "Courtship of Ferb," are prologues to the Tain bo Cualgne, which may be regarded as central in that cycle of story, for few of the tales are without a reference to it of some kind. The hero of the epic is Cuchulainn.
Page 14.—For the love that she bore to Cuchulainn.—Cuchulainn (Cu-hoolin), mentioned in the last note, is said to have been seventeen only at the time of the Tain. If, as stated in the passage last referred to, this took place seven years after the events mentioned in the "Courtship of Ferb," Cuchulainn must have been a boy at the time; but this visit of the Spanish Amazon to Ulster "for the love that she bore him" may be a survival of the conception of Cuchulainn as a divine character, which he is supposed to have been in the original form of the story.
Page 15.—Who came of the race of the Fomorians.—This name denotes in Irish mediaeval legend a race of prehistoric pirates who had a fortress at Tory Island off the north-western coast of Donegal. The name occurs in the accounts of more than one race which is recorded to have dwelt in Ireland before the Celts arrived there; and the prehistoric tale of the "Second Battle of Moytura" relates a defeat of the Fomorians, led by the giant Balor of the Mighty Blows. The name of Fomorians was generally applied to pirates who appeared as late as the heroic period; and in our tale Conor is, in his attack on the house of Gerg, supported by[2] the Fomorians only, not by the warriors of Ulster. A poet, who sympathised with the defeated men of Connaught, could therefore with safety show his sympathy without any fear of wounding the susceptibilities of the ruling race of Ulster, provided he did full justice to the valour of the Ulster king who employed the pirate warriors. The Ulstermen, apart from Conor and his two servants, do not appear in fight until the conflict with Fiannamail, after all the Fomorians had been slain.
Page 46.—Bright hostage, Finnabar the fair.—Finnabar, the beautiful daughter of Maev, was offered in marriage to several warriors in succession during the Tain bo Cualgne, on condition that they would meet Cuchulainn in fight; and she may have been regarded as a hostage for the fidelity of these warriors. The literal translation is "Finnabar of the fair hostages"; and Windisch, in a note to this passage, says that he is unable to give any reason for this epithet. If Finnabar can be reckoned as a hostage herself, the above explanation is obvious; but I am not at all certain that the Irish na n-glangiall will bear this meaning, na n- being the genitive plural of the article.
Page 50.—On her silken braided hair.—The original is "Silken stripes upon her head"; the stripes may simply mean her hair, or may mean that, like the Roman deities, her hair was in fillets (vittæ) to show her divine origin. The verse translation gives both meanings.
Page 56.—Thirty fell by Fergus' side.— Of the eleven warriors mentioned here, Windisch, from grammatical reasons, considers that Fergus, Donnell, Corpre, and Angus belonged to Ulster, the rest to Connaught. This does not, however, agree with the Egerton version (p. 60), where Donnell and Angus are, as pointed out by Windisch, immediate followers of Gerg. All the men in each group of thirty appear to have had the same name; this is shown in the literal translation placed at the end of the book; but in the verse translation I have merely represented the thirty Donnells, &c., as surrounding a chief called Donnell to whose clan they may be supposed to belong, and no other indication is given that the thirty had the same name. As there seems to be some doubt as to the respective sides of the warriors, nothing is said in either translation to indicate any difference.
Page 58.—Shall the White One lay waste all the land.—The White One and the Dark One are the two bulls; the White Bull of Connaught, and the Dark Bull of Cualgne, whose capture was the ostensible cause of the Raid. The two bulls were supernatural—two rival magicians called Friuch and Rucht of prehistoric times being incarnated in their bodies; and in one of the mythological explanations of the story of the Raid of Cualgne these bulls are supposed to signify the powers of Day and Night. A full account of the two magicians and of their numerous transformations is given in the Chophur in da muccida, the Begetting of the two Swineherds.
Page 59.—Mumain Aitenchaitrech.—This lady is called Mugain (Moogen) in the Book of Leinster version; also in the "Feast of Briccriu," where she appears as Conor's wife. In the tale called the "Sick Bed of Cuchulainn," the name of Conor's wife is Ethne Aitencaithrech, apparently the same lady. She was sister to Maev, and the tale of her death in the river Eithne, which was named after her, is given in the ancient compilation of the Coir Anmann or "Fitness of Names," a sort of classical dictionary for names occurring in Irish romance. The story is also in the Dinnshenchas, a mediaeval Irish collection of legends of places. These two works, the Coir Anmann and the Diniishenchas, are in effect a summary of the entire body of Irish legend, arranged according to persons or places.
Page 60.—Buan his wife.—The wife of Gerg is called Nuagel in the longer version. Another variation of names occurs in the name of Gerg's dwelling, Rath Ini, which in the Egerton version is called Raith Imbuee.
Page 62.—Fergus and the exiles of Ulster.—This is Fergus MacRoy, formerly king of Ulster, one of the most picturesque figures in this cycle of romance, and the reputed author of the Tain bo Cualgne. The cause of his exile can be found in the well-known tale of the "Death of the Sons of Usnech."
Page 63.—Loch Guala which is now in Daminis.—Daim-inis, or the island of the Ox, is the name given in early Irish records to Devenish Island in Lough Erne near Enniskillen. There is a priory on the island, and other remains including a Round Tower; the founder of the ecclesiastical establishment on the island is said to have been St. Molaise, who lived in the sixth century. There are other islands called "Daim-inis," in Mayo, Roscommon, and Galway; from a passage in the Dinn-shenchas it would seem that there was another in Wexford; but the island here spoken of would appear to be the island in Lough Erne; though Lough Guala has not yet been identified.