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The Táin Bó Cúailnge, or Cattle Raid of Cooley, is the central tale in the Ulster Cycle, one of the four great cycles that make up the surviving corpus of Irish mythology. It is recorded in the Old Irish language, and is written mainly in prose, with some verse sections, especially at moments of heightened tension or emotion. The tale relates a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, and the efforts of the teenage Ulster hero Cú Chulainn to oppose them.
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The text
The Táin Bó Cúailnge has survived in two distinct recensions. The first consists of a partial text in the Lebor na hUidre (the Book of the Dun Cow), a late 11th/early 12th century manuscript compiled in the monastery at Clonmacnoise and another partial text of the same version in the 14th century manuscript called the Yellow Book of Lecan. These two sources overlap, and a complete text can be reconstructed by combining them. The text itself is a compilation of two or more earlier versions, indicated by the number of duplicated episodes and references to other versions. Many of the episodes are superb, written in the characteristic terse prose of the best Old Irish literature, but the whole remains rather disjointed. Parts of this recension, especially the verse, can be dated from linguistic evidence to the eight century, and there is reason to suspect that the Táin had a considerable oral history before any of it was committed to writing.
The second recension is found in the 12th century manuscript known as the Book of Leinster. This appears to have been a syncretic exercise by a scribe who brought together the Lebor na hUidre materials and unknown sources for the Yellow Book of Lecan materials to create a coherent version of the epic. While the result is a satisfactory narrative whole, the language has been modernised into a much more florid style, with all of the spareness of expression of the earlier recension lost in the process.
The Book of Leinster version ends with a colophon in Latin which says:
- But I who have written this history, or rather this fable, give no creedence to certain things in this history or fable. Some things in it are the trickery of demons; some are poetic figments; some seem true, some not; and some are for the amusement of idiots.
Summary of the story
The Táin is preceded by a number of pre-tales which provide background on the main characters and explain the presence of some of the leading men of Ulster in the Connacht camp, the curse that causes the temporary inability of the remaining Ulstermen to fight and the magic origins of the bulls Donn Cuailnge and Finnbhennach.
The story proper begins with Ailill and Medb, king and queen of Connacht, assembling their army in Cruachan, their capital. In the first recension the purpose of this military build-up is taken for granted. The second recension adds a prologue in which Ailill and Medb compare their respective wealths and find that the only thing that distinguishes them is Ailill's possession of the phenomenally fertile bull Finnbhennach, who had been born into Medb's herd but scorned being owned by a woman so decided to transfer himself to Ailill's. Medb determines to get the equally potent Donn Cuailnge to balance the books with her husband. After unsuccessfully attempting to borrow the bull, she raises an army, including Ulster exiles led by Fergus mac Róich and other allies, and sets out to capture him.
The men of Ulster are disabled by a curse. The only person fit to defend Ulster is seventeen-year-old Cú Chulainn, and he lets the army take Ulster by surprise because he's off on a tryst when he should be watching the border. Medb takes the bull, but Cú Chulainn prevents her from taking him back to Connacht by invoking the right of single combat at fords. He defeats champion after champion in a stand-off lasting months. When Fergus, his foster-father, is set to face him, Cú Chulainn agrees to yield to him on the condition that Fergus yields the next time they meet. Finally there is a physically and emotionally gruelling three-day duel between the hero and his foster-brother and best friend, Ferdiad.
Eventually the Ulstermen start to rouse, one by one at first, then en masse, and the final battle begins. It ends after Fergus makes good on his promise and yields to Cú Chulainn, pulling his forces off the field. Connacht's other allies panic and Medb is forced to retreat. She does, however, manage bring Donn Cuailnge back to Connacht, where he fights Finnbhennach, kills him, but, mortally wounded himself, wanders around Ireland creating placenames before finally returning home to die of exhaustion.
The world of the Táin
The world portrayed in the Táin is an essentially pre-Christian heroic age. War is a matter of single combat between warriors armed with swords and spears and mounted in chariots with drivers. The main source of wealth is cattle. Interestingly, it is also a world in which a queen may possess wealth independently of her husband and, indeed, compete with him and raise an army.
The Táin in translation
The most accessible and readily available translation is the poet Thomas Kinsella's version The Tain (1969), based primarily on the first recension with passages added from the second, along with a selection of fore-tales. Cecile O'Rahilly has published academic editions/translations of both recensions, Táin Bó Cúailnge from the Book of Leinster (1967) and Táin Bó Cúailnge Recension 1 (1976), as well as an edition of the later Stowe Version (1984), a variant version of recension 2 in more modern language, with a few extra passages. Winifred Faraday's The Cattle-Raid of Cualnge (1904) translates the first recension, and Joseph Dunn's The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúailnge (1914) translates the second, with passages added from the first recension and the Stowe version.
The story also inspired a concept album called The Tain (1973) by Irish folk/glam rock band Horslips. Additionally, the story inspired a single of the same name by the indie rock band The Decemberists (2004). Terry Riley's Chanting the Light of Foresight is a programmatic depiction of the epic commissioned by Rova.
Online translations
- Winifred Faraday's version (http://vassun.vassar.edu/~sttaylor/Cooley/Faraday/Contents.html)
- Joseph Dunn's version (http://vassun.vassar.edu/~sttaylor/Cooley/)
- Another source for Joseph Dunn's version ()
- Another source for Joseph Dunn's version (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/cool/)
- Cecile O'Rahilly's version (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T301035/index.html)
- A modern version by Patrick Brown (http://www.paddybrown.co.uk/ulstercycle/tain.html)
External links
- The Book of Leinster recension (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G301035/index.html)
- Timeless Myths - Ulster Cycle (http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/ulster.html)