A hedge of trees surrounds me: a blackbird’s lay sings to me—praise which I will not hide—
above my booklet the lined one the trilling of the birds sings to me.
In a gray mantle the cuckoo’s beautiful chant sings to me from the tops of bushes:
may the Lord protect me from Doomf! I write well under the greenwood.
Take thy corner in the prison: thou shalt reach neither down nor pallet:
sad is that, thou servant of the rods, the packsaddle of ill-luck has stuck to thee.
a: MS. ǒa loth lind, the gen. sg. Laithlinne Ann. Ult. 847, Laithlinde ib. 852. The nom. sg. must have been Lothlind or Lothlend, later Lochlann ‘Norway’
b: cf. do-don-fairci Fél. Jan. 26, forc[th]ae ‘fenced’ YBL. p. 433, l. 22. Idg. F. xii. 191
c: ind is the article: cf. doráith a aithig in trúaig, Brocc. h. 61, is e a chorp in taitneamach rit anall, YBL. p. 207a26, and see infra p. 293, note b
d: meadhair .i. caint no urlabhra, O’Cl.: a sister-form medar, Mart. Gorm. May 6, Nov. 26
1. Ad(co)ndarc alaill innocht · ba ingnad Hum etarport
f(er)scal fiadam …. ba · duluith frigualamnada.
2. (Dalim) rugenair iarsin · cenmathir cenathargein
teuir oenaidchi fobrú · ba cunda(il)a sem immurgu.
3. Gabsusa iar f… mnert · fert maith foraṡliuchtairechtb
macc firc as duild emnithae · dochuindchid á altrama.
4. Indalim ba brathir dam · mathirse amathirsemf
mu nóidenán menman mais · ní dúthrais a bithingnais.
5. Huar hirogénair amne · nichelt (in) macc sochuideg
ni centrichet airmh imbá · ocdeicsin a lámnada.
6. Ba lán ortain indalimm · armaccani brigach barrfind
ba mían ṅingen ocus ban · ba mór meld a acaldam.
7. Ariced gor cáich lasin · bá : : r : : : sk do anchortib
cial bam nóidenán aráes · nilil la(macc)u ingaes.
8. Amalbatoich adé bi · ba macc athar ointindi
bá ortán márn cid in macc · du cach oen nar buo fordarccp.
1. I have seen another thing to-night. Strange I deemed it ….q
a man before me … came to false parturitions.
2. Methought he was born afterwards without mother without father:
three nights (were passed) in the womb: he was sage however.
3. I took …………………………… a goodly miracle after it.
the son of a man ……… to seek his nurture.
4. Methought he was my brother, his mother my father:
my babe of goodly mind, thou wouldst not desire his perpetual absence.
5. At the time when he was thus born, a multitude did not hide the son (?):
not without three hundred was the place in which I was, beholding his parturition.
6. Methought our vigorous white-headed lad was full of dignity:
he was the darling of girls and women: his converse was very delightful.
7. He used to find …. of all therewith: he was … to anchorites:
though he was a babe in years, he clave not with boys in wisdom.
8. As was right, O living God, he was the son of a father of one…
even the lad was a great honour to every one who was not manifest (?).
a: in the photograph the word is almost illegible
b: sliuchtainecht Zeuss; in the photograph the word is very indistinct, but it seems to be r rather than nc: in the photograph there are traces of f and r; the preceding macc is illegible
d: it might be read dail; macc fir as duilem might mean ‘the Son of the Man who is Creator’
e: in the photograph this seems tolerably certain
f: se and ama are written under
g: but the aspiration of chelt seems to point to some such rendering as ‘the son of a multitude did not hide it,’ J.S.
h: amm, Zeuss; in the photograph the word is illegible
i: the letters after macc are not clear; maccan seems most probable
k: amer, Zeuss. In the photograph r is visible preceded by indistinct letters; some illegible letters seem to follow, the last is pretty clearly sl: indistinct
m: bu, Zeuss; but the photograph shews rather an: más? in the photograph the word is indistinct
o: in the photograph the word is indistinct
p: do rig nél ba fordarc, Fél. Oeng. May 11
q: cf. vol. i. 387 note e
a: So Zeuss; in the photograph what follows is is not clear
b: from the photograph this reading seems very doubtful; the two first letters seem to be de
1. I have seen a house to-day: none could be more shapely (?)l
…………its form is clear: no fool understands it.
2. Often is there mention of it with numbers of companies:
though it is not very small, it is not very large.
………………………………has been made……
3. Four sides ………………… have been put to protect it:
three………………… ……………………………………
4. A bower…………………………………………………
though it is naked, it is the fairer of that: not a single drop showers:
5. …………………………… in every weather……………
there has not remained in it hitherto storm nor rain nor snow.
6. ’Tis a fair house—sound has been heard—in which there is only one door:
’tis a house of good men—the colour that thou seest—; not unlovely are its doorkeepers.
7. From above is the coming into the house………………
beneath afterwards—fair the fame—is the coming out, however.
8. That then—it matters not that ye do not increase it—
is the lovely form, where it is, of the house which I have seen.
c: the letters following cruth are not clear in the photograph
d: not clear in the photograph
e: not clear in the photograph; the last two letters look like llf: cf. diánaich LL. 292b36
g: the last letters are not clear; it is obviously some form of cethirh: more probably inna than isnai: cf. Rev. Celt. xi. 457, Ann. Ul. 783, Laws vi. 240
k: cf. Wb. 29d8
l: badacrichidiu seems = bad-da-crichidiu, cf. bes-idn-isle, bes-adn-nuaisliu ‘who is lower than he,’ ‘who is higher than he,’ YBL. 261a14, 15, bes-da-nesom ‘which is nearest to them’ Laws iv. 162. For crichid cf. LU. 58b2, 127b25, LL. 60, l. 23, 61a28, 120a33, 161b, CZ. iv. 234, also di-chrichide SP. ii. 6. The sense may be (1) ‘limited,’ (2) ‘symmetrical’
I wish the wood of Allabair and Argatbran (?) between fire and wall.
I wish the three meagre boars….. with corn and milk……[1]
If this…… may it be corn and milk that I see. If it be not…. may it be wolves and deer and wandering on the mountain and warriors of the Féni that I see.
7. Cia beimmi amin nach ré, · ni derban cách a chele
maith laa cechtar nár a dán, · subaigthius a óenurán.
8. He fesin as choimsid dáu · in muid dungní cach oenláu
du thabairt doraid du glé · for mu mud cein am messe.
1. I and Pangur Bán, each of us two at his special art:
his mind is at hunting (mice), my own mind is in my special craft.
2. I love to rest—better than any fame—at my booklet with diligent science:
not envious of me is Pangur Bán: he himself loves his childish art.
3. When we are—tale without tedium—in our house, we two alone,
we have—unlimited (is) feat-sport—something to which to apply our acuteness.
4. It is customary at times by feats of valour, that a mouse sticks in his net,
and for me there falls into my net a difficult dictum[3] with hard[4] meaning.
5. His eye, this glancing full one, he points against the wall-fence:
I myself against the keenness of science point my clear eye, though it is very feeble.
6. He is joyous with speedy going[5] where a mouse sticks in his sharp claw:
I too am joyous, where I understand a difficult dear question.
7. Though we are thus always, neither hinders the other:
each of us two likes his art, amuses himselfb alone.
8. He himself is master of the work which he does every day:
while I am at my own work, (which is) to bring difficulty to clearnessc.
1. My little oratory in Tuaim Inbirg, it is not a full house that is…
with its stars last night, with its sun, with its moon.
2. Gobbanh hath built that—that its story may be told to you—
my heartlet, God from heaven, He is the thatcher who hath thatched it.
3. A house wherein wet rain pours not, a place wherein thou fearest not spearpoints,
bright as though in a garden, and it without a fence around it.
d: bith seems to be the acc. of the infinitive governed by soilsidir, cf. Trans. Phil. Soc. 1899–1901, p. 81, further ⁊ ba bindithir la cach nduine in Ére guth araile bedis teda menncrott, Rev. Celt. xv. 277
e: for lubgurtf: see as to him the Battle of Moira ed. O’Donovan, p. 230
g: an abbey in the west of Meath, Fél. Oeng. Dec. 2: Four Masters, a.d. 916 note k. The gloss barr edin seems to mean ‘crown of the ivy’ (edenn), with which the abbey was covered
h: Gobban saer a famous wright, Laws iii. 226, 25: O’Curry M. and C., iii. 34
1. Is én immoniada sás · is nau tholl dianteslinn guas
is lestar fás is crann crín · nad déni thoil ind ríg thuas.
2. Is ór nglan is nem im grein · is lestar narggit cu fín
is son is alaind is noeb · each oen dugní toil ind ríg.
1. He is a bird round which a trap closes, he is a leaky ship to which peril is dangerous,
he is an empty vessel, he is a withered tree, whoso doth not the will of the King above.
2. He is pure gold, he is the skyk round the sun, he is a vessel of silver with wine,
he is happy, is beautiful, is holy, whoso doth the will of the King.
i: generally spelt Molling. But according to LL. 284b32, the verses were uttered by the Devil in reply to the Saint
k: is nem = ném later niam ‘radiance’? The old form might have been kept by the scribe from confusion with nem ‘heaven,’ J.S.
1. Aed oll fri anduda nane · Aed fonn fri fuiltedb féle
in deil delgnaidec as choemem · di dindgnaib Roerennd rede.
2. In chlí comras cond credail · ollmas fu thocaid tugaib
du farclu sech cach ndíne · di Moisten míne mrugaib.
3. Mac Diarmata dil damsa · cid iarfachta ni insa
a molad maissiu máenib · lúaidfidir láedib limmsae.
4. Inmain nainm nítat nuabla · Aeda nad airdlig dígna
in cruth glan clú nad chlithe · dian duthoigf Liphe lígda.
5. Aue Muiredaich centhaing · all togu fri orddain úallann
aue ni fríth nach ammailh · na ríg di chlandaib Cualann.
6. Ind flaith issed a orbbae · cach maith do dé no arddaei
in gas fine cen dídail · di rígaib massaib Marggae.
7. Is bun cruinn mair miad soerda · fri báig is búnad prímda
is gasne arggait arddbrig · di chlaind chéit rig ceit rignæ.
8. Oc cormaim gaibtir dúana · drengaitir dreppak dáenal
arbeittet bairtni bindi · tri laith linni ainm nAeda.
1. Aed great at kindling of brilliance. Aed joyous at increase of hospitality:
the … rod that is dearest of the heights (chieftains) of level Roeriu.
2. The mighty balk … great (and) good under roofs of fortune,
to be chosen beyond any generation of the marches of smooth Moistiu.
3. Son of Diarmait dear to me, though it be to be asked, it is easy,
his praise is more beautiful than treasures, it will be sung in lays by me.
4. Beloved the name—they are no new fames—of Aed who deserves not reproach:
the pure form—renown that is not hidden—to whom lovely Liffey belongs.
5. Descendant of Muredach at every time, rock of choice for noble dignity:
a descendant—no evil person was found, of the kings of the clans of Cualu.
6. The lordship, this is his heritage, every good to him of gods or ungods:
the scion of a family without reproachm, of the handsome kings of Marg.
7. He is the bole of a great tree—noble dignity: for battle he is a pre-eminent stock:
he is the sapling of silver—high worth—of the children of a hundred kings, of a hundred queens.
8. At ale poems are chanted: fine (genealogical) ladders are climbed:
melodious bardisms modulate through pools of liquor the name of Aed.
a: cf. andud indbais Ann. Ul. 920
b: = fo-lethad, cf. Laws vi. 393
c: cf. LU. 133 l. 4, Salt. Rann. 760, 845
d: leg. Roerene: luaithfe moltu Hy. vi. 17
f: i.e. diand duthoig, dianid duthoigg: leg. cech thain which is translated
h: ammail from am-baili: leg. anddae, which is translated, and cf. bennacht dé ⁊ ande fort LU. 77a40, and the Vedic adeva ‘Nichtgott in der Verbindung: Gott und Nichtgott,’ Grassmann
k: cf. dreppa óir Imr. Brain 40, Mod. Ir. dreapaim, dreapairel: cf. Abrait duib dáin LU. 55b1
m: cf. conécsem cen didail do gnímaib síl Eogain LL. 182a24
b: According to Prof. Bernard (The Academy, Feb. 23, 1895, p. 172) these verses refer to two incidents in the legend of S. Brigit. See Lismore Lives, p. 335, and Fél. Oeng. May 3, note
Ailbe umal Patric Muman mó cach rád
Declan Patric na nDéise, in Déisi oc Declan cobrátha.
[ 297 ]Let humble Ailbeb be the Patrick of Munster, greater than every saying: let Declanc be the Patrick of the Déisid, let the Déisi be with Declan till doom.
a: Thus given by Usher Works, ed. Elrington, vol. vi. p. 428 Ailbe umhal, Patric Mumhan, mó gach rath Declan Patric Nandeisi nadeisi ag Declan go brath
b: Ailbe of Imlech Ibair, now Emly, co. Tipperary: his day is Sep. 12. See Fél. Oeng. ccxxxvii., cxlv. and Mart. Gorm. pp. 174, 330
c: Declan of Ardmore in the Dési of Munster: his day is July 24. See Fél. Oeng. pp. cxii., cxx. Mart. Gorm. pp. 142, 352.
d: now the Decies in Munster: see Book of Rights, pp. 49, 50, note k.
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