From Tocmarc Étaine, “The Wooing of Étain” Edited O. Bergin & R. I. Best, Translated with endnotes by Isolde Carmody. Terms with related notes are in bold. View Bergin & Best’s edition on CELT While this text is included here in relation to “Tales of Eithliu”, we dealt with the whole of Tocmarc Étaíne in…
Category: Articles
Supporting articles, texts and translations and related materials for each episode
The Birth Of Lugh
The air was rippled with watery sunshine. But through one small round window shone a bright brave sunbeam, clear and golden, cutting its way into the dim glow of the room. And in its cutting sat Ethlinn. She sat still, facing the window, facing the clear light, the fresh air; and a tear flowed down…
Beidh Aenach Amárach…
The Fairs of Early Irish Society The óenach, sometimes translated as “Fair”, was an important regular feature of early Irish society. There were several kinds of public gathering, including slógadh, “hosting”, where a lord would gather his able tennants for military activity, and airecht, “court”, which was a gathering of freemen for legal purposes. But…
More Stories of Macha
FROM THE METRICAL DINDSHENCHAS VOL 4: ed. Edward Gwynn translated by Isolde Carmody, based on Gwynn’s work. The complete edition by Gwynn can be found here
Noínden Ulad – The Story of Macha
Edited by Vernam Hull, Celtica 8 (1968), pp 1-42. Translation by Isolde Carmody. Annotated terms are marked in bold, with the notes at the end of the text. §1 Cid dia mboí in ces for Ultaib? Ni ansae From what [cause] was the debility on the Ulstermen? Not hard.
The Story of Macha
Near Armagh is the green mound of mysterious Emain Macha. This is the story of its naming. In my mind I still hear the rhythmic drumming of many hooves, the thrumming of the autumn rain. The soughing of breathing beasts, wind in the pasture grass. Flashes of colour, the crimson and gold of my goods…
Poetry on the Shannon
I have used the story of Sinann to inspire creative writing, especially poetry and drama, in groups of primary age children (9 to 11 years in this case). The story sparked observation and a wide variety of poetic styles. Here are a couple of examples from a school situated close to the river.
The Shannon Pot
The Shannon is the longest river in Ireland and the UK with a length of 280km. The river flows from its source in the Cuilcagh Mountains to its estuary below Limerick. This important river and its tributaries drain some 15,500 sq km or about one fifth of the island of Ireland. The traditional source of…
How Long Can A Story Last?
Defining the longevity of information passed orally from group to group, and from generation to generation, is hard to quantify. Stories change and grow. Their sources become lost in the mists of time, and yet they continue to have significance. Back in 1998, “The Year of The French”, commemorating the bicentennial of the political events…
Stories of Creation
Virtually all cultures have creation stories… There are two main types of creation myth: the cosmogenic, which is about the creation of the universe or the world; and those that concern the creation of human beings. The stories of the creation of humans often comes in the same package as that of the creation of…