Preface
Contents
OLD CELTIC ROMANCES
OLDCELTIC ROMANCES
translated from the gaelic
BY
P.W. JOYCE, M.A., LL.D., T.C.D.
M.R.I.A.
One of the Commissioners for the Publication of
the Ancient Laws of Ireland
President of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland
Author of
"A SOCIAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT IRELAND"
"THE STORY OF ANCIENT IRISH CIVILISATION"
"A SHORT HISTORY OF IRELAND"
"A CHILD'S HISTORY OF IRELAND"
"IRISH NAMES OF PLACES"
"ANCIENT IRISH MUSIC"
AND OTHER WORKS RELATING TO IRELAND
"I shall tell you a pretty tale"
—Coriolanus.
DUBLIN
THE EDUCATIONAL CO.OF IRELAND, LIMITED
89 TALBOT STREET
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, ANDCOMPANY
39 PATERNOSTER ROW
1920
PREFACE.
Among the Celtic people of Ireland and the north-westof Scotland, story-telling has always been afavourite amusement. In the olden time, they hadprofessional story-tellers, variously designated accordingto rank—ollaves, shanachies, filès, bards, etc.—whoseduty it was to know by heart a number ofold tales, poems, and historical pieces, and to recitethem at festive gatherings, for the entertainment ofthe chiefs and their guests. These story-tellers werealways well received at the houses of princes andchiefs, and treated with much consideration; and onoccasions when they acquitted themselves well, so asto draw down the applause of the audience, theywere often rewarded with costly presents.
To meet the demand for this sort of entertainment,ingenious "men of learning," taking legends or historicalevents as themes, composed stories from timeto time; of which those that struck the popular fancywere caught up and remembered, and handed down[iv]from one generation of story-tellers to another. Incourse of time, a body of romantic literature grew up,consisting chiefly of prose tales, which were classified,according to subject, into Battles, Voyages, Tragedies,Military Expeditions, Cattle-Raids, Courtships, Pursuits,Adventures, Visions, etc.[I.]
Some of these tales were historical, i.e. foundedon historical events, and corresponded closely withwhat is now called the historical romance; whileothers were altogether fictitious—pure creations of theimagination. But it is to be observed that even inthe fictitious tales, the main characters are alwayshistorical, or such as were considered so. The oldollaves wove their fictions round Conor Mac Nessaand his Red Branch Knights, or Finn and his Fena,or Luga of the Long Arms and his Dedannans, or Connthe Hundred-fighter, or Cormac Mac Art; like theWelsh legends of Arthur and his Round Table, or theArabian romances of Haroun-al-Raschid and his Court.
The greater number of the tales were, as I havesaid, in prose. But some were in poetry; and inmany of the prose tales the leading characte