Outside, their enemies were holding a council. ‘Who should speak with them and be the first to go inside?’ asked a youth. ‘I will go,’ said Lopán. Lopán went inside, then, taking nine men with him, and he said ‘A warrior’s deed, warriors.’ ‘Man against man – that is a warrior’s deed,’ said Triscoth. ‘True enough. Triscoth as spokesman for the Ulaid? No other worthy spokesman?’ said Lopán. But Triscoth looked balefully at him, and the soles of Lopán’s feet turned deathly white.
After that, Fer Calliu came into the house with nine men. ‘A warrior’s deed, warriors!’ he said. ‘Man against man – that is a warrior’s deed,’ said Triscoth, and he looked bale-fully at Fer Calliu until the soles of the latter’s feet turned deathly white.
After that, Míanach Anaidgned entered the house with nine men. ‘Those on the floor seem pale to us,’ he said. Triscoth looked at him, but Míanach said ‘Look at me and see if I die.’ Triscoth seized him, then, and hurled him against the three nines that had entered the house, and not one of those men left alive.
After that, the host gathered about the house to take it from the Ulaid, and the Ulaid overturned the house so that it fell upon three hundred of the host. The fighting broke out, then, and it lasted until the middle of the following day; and the Ulaid were, routed, for they were few in number. Ailill watched this from his dwelling in the fort, and he said ‘The tales of the Ulaid were tales to be told until today. I was told that there were no youths in Ériu to equal them, but today I see in them nothing but shame. It is an old proverb that no battle is fought without a king; a battle fought round me, however, would not long endure. But I may not fight them, for that would violate my honour.’
With that, Cú Chulaind bounded through the troop and attacked them three times. Furbude Fer Bend son of Con-chubur also assailed them, but his enemies would not strike at him because of his great beauty. ‘Why do you not attack him?’ said one man. ‘Not pleasing the little games of this magnificent fellow. I swear by what my people swear by, if he had a head of gold, I would still slay the man who slew my brother.’ But Furbude cast his spear at the man and killed him. Thereafter, the Erainn were routed, so that only three of them escaped; the Ulaid plundered the fort, but they spared Ailill and his seven sons, none of whom had fought. Since that time, Temuir Lúachra has not been inhabited.
Crumthand Níad Náir, of the Erainn, escaped. To the west, at the Lemuin, he encountered the female satirist Riches, who was his foster-mother. ‘Was my son left?’ she asked. ‘He was,’ Crumthand replied. ‘Come with me, and I will avenge him,’ she said. ‘How will you do that?’ Crumthand asked. ‘You will slay Cú Chulaind in return,’ Riches said. ‘How will I do that?’ Crumthand asked. ‘Not difficult that,’ she said. ‘If you can use your two hands you will need nothing else, for you will find him all ready for you.’
Riches went out after the host, then, and she found Cú Chulaind up ahead at a ford in Crích Úaithne. She took her clothes off in front of Cú Chulaind, and he turned his face to the ground that he might not see her nakedness. ‘Attack now, Crumthand,’ she said. ‘There is a man coming at you,’ said Lóeg. ‘Indeed not,’ said Cú Chulaind, ‘for, while the woman is in that state, I may not rise.’ Lóeg took a stone from the chariot and hurled it at Riches so that it broke her back and slew her. Cú Chulaind rose, then, and met Crumthand; they fought, and Cú Chulaind took his head and his gear.
Cú Chulaind and Lóeg followed the host, then, until they reached Cú Chulaind’s fort, and they slept there. Cú Chulaind entertained the Ulaid for forty nights with one feast; after that, they departed and left their blessing with him. Ailill, moreover, came north to Ulaid to visit. He was given the width of his face in gold and silver and seven cumals for each of his sons; then he returned to his own land, in peace and harmony with the Ulaid. Thereafter, Conchubur’s kingship was unimpaired for as long as he lived.
Bricriu’s Feast
Introduction
‘Bricriu’s Feast’, perhaps the most characteristic Ulster Cycle story, has just about everything: a mythic subtext, a heroic competition, visits to and from the otherworld, elements of humour and parody and a rambling, patchwork structure. The mythic subtext comprises the beheading sequence known to English literature from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; but there, even though the tale is of later date, the regeneration theme is clearer because the ritual slaying takes place at New Year (the English equivalent of Samuin) and because the earth-goddess figure (the Green Knight’s wife) is present. Irish tradition frequently presents otherworld judges as large, ugly churls in rough, drab clothing; one might also compare Cú Ruí’s appearance with that of Arawn at the outset of ‘Pwyll Lord of Dyved’. As for the Green Knight’s colour, which has led some to identify him as a vegetation figure, grey and green are not always clearly distinguished in Irish – the word glass, for example, might signify either colour.
The actual text, or theme, of ‘Bricriu’s Feast’ is much simpler: the contest among Lóegure Búadach, Conall Cernach and Cú Chulaind for the champion’s portion – that is, for the biggest and best serving at feasts and for the privilege of sitting at Conchubur’s right. The competition takes the folktale form wherein each of three brothers attempts a feat (Cú Chulaind, of course, is the youngest).
Bricriu, whose sobriquet Nemthenga means ‘poison tongue’, is a mischief-maker, an Irish Lóki; yet he seldom perpetrates any permanent or serious damage (such as the death of Baldur). ‘Bricriu’s Feast’ is, in fact, comic as well as heroic. Although Bricriu threatens to turn the Ulaid against one another, to set father against son and mother against daughter, it is not until he threatens to set the breasts of each Ulaid women beating against each other that the chieftains agree to attend his feast. The risibility of Fedelm, Lendabair and Emer racing each other to the drinking house, their suspicions raised as high as their skirts, cannot have escaped the storyteller; neither can the spectacle of Bricriu’s beautiful house left lopsided, nor that of Bricriu himself thrown down on to the garbage heap and reappearing at the door so filthy with dirt and mud that the Ulaid do not recognize him.
The structure of ‘Bricriu’s Feast’ leaves something to be desired. Doubtless the storyteller has stretched his material (and his host’s hospitality), and perhaps he has tried to reconcile conflicting traditions; still, the resultant repetitions and duplications must have sounded better in a chieftain’s banquet hall than they look in print, and it is also fair to presume some degree of deterioration in both transmission and transcription.
‘Bricriu’s Feast’ is the ultimate source for Yeats’s play The Green Helmet.
Bricriu’s Feast
Bricriu Nemthenga prepared a great feast for Conchubut son of Ness and all of Ulaid. He spent an entire year preparing this feast: he had an ornamented mansion built for the guests, and he had it erected at Dún Rudrige. Bricriu’s house was built in the likeness of the Cráebrúad at Emuin Machae, but his house surpassed the Cráebrúad as to materials and workmanship, beauty and decoration, pillars and façades, carvings and lintels, radiance and beauty, comeliness and excellence – in short, it surpassed every house of that time. It was constructed on the plan of the Tech Midchúarta: there were nine apartments between the hearth and the wall, and each façade was thirty feet high and made of bronze, and there was gold ornamentation everywhere. A royal apartment for Conchubur was erected at the front of the royal house, high above the other couches, and it was ornamented with carbuncle and other precious things; it shone with the radiance of gold and silver and carbuncle and every colour, so that it was as bright by night as by day. Round this apartment were built twelve apartments, for the twelve warriors of Ulaid. The workmanship of this house was as good as the materials used to build it: a team of oxen was required to draw each pillar, and seven of the strongest men of Ulaid to fix each pillar: and thirty of the chief seers of Ériu came to place and arrange everything.
Bricriu also had built, for himself, a bower, and it was as high as Conchubur’s apar
tment and those of his warriors. This bower was decorated with marvellous embroideries and hangings, and glass windows were set in on every side. And one of these windows was set over Bricriu’s couch, in order that he might see what was going on, for he knew that the Ulaid would not allow him inside the house.
When all was ready – the great house, and the bower, and their provisioning with plaids and coverlets and quilts and pillows and food and drink – and when nothing was wanting as to furnishings and materials for the feast, Bricriu went off to Emuin Machae to see Conchubur and the chieftains of Ulaid. The Ulaid were holding a fair at Emuin that day; Bricriu was welcomed and placed at Conchubur’s shoulder, and he said to Conchubur and to the chieftains ‘Come and enjoy my feast with me.’ ‘I am willing if the Ulaid are,’ Conchubur answered, but Fergus son of Roech and the other chieftains said ‘We will not go. If we go to his feast, he will incite us against each other, and our dead will outnumber our living.’ ‘I will do worse than that if you do not come,’ said Bricriu. ‘What will you do?’ asked Conchubur. ‘I will incite the kings and the chiefs and the warriors and the young warriors,’ said Bricriu, ‘so that you will all kill one other unless you come to drink at my feast.’ ‘We will not go to avoid that,’ said Conchubur. ‘Then I will set son against father and incite them to kill each other,’ said Bricriu. ‘If that is not enough, I will set daughter against mother. And if that is not enough, I will incite the two breasts of every Ulaid woman to beat against each other and become foul and putrid.’ ‘In that case, it would be better to go,’ said Fergus. ‘Let a few chieftains form a council, if that seems right,’ said Senchae son of Ailill, and Conchubur agreed, saying ‘Evil will come of our not adopting some plan.’
The chieftains formed a council, then, and, as they discussed the matter, Senchae gave the following advice: ‘Since you must go with Bricriu, require him to give hostages, and, as soon as he has set out the feast, send eight swordsmen to escort him from the house.’ Furbude son of Conchubur took that decision to Bricriu, and Bricriu replied ‘I will be happy to abide by that.’ Thus the Ulaid set out from Emuin Machae, each band with its king, each troop with its leader, each host with its chieftain – a marvellously handsome procession it was, with the warriors and the men of might making for the royal house.
Bricriu, meanwhile, began to think how he might incite the Ulaid once he had given them their hostages; and when he had given the matter considerable thought, he went to Lóegure Búadach son of Connad son of Iliu. ‘Well met, Lóegure Búadach,’ he said, ‘mighty blow of Brega, seething blow of Mide, bearer of red flame, victor over the youth of Ulaid! Why should you not always have the champion’s portion at Emuin?’ ‘Indeed, it is mine if I want it,’ said Lóegure. ‘I will make you king over all the warriors of Ériu if you follow my advice,’ said Bricriu. ‘Then I will follow it,’ said Lóegure. ‘Once the champion’s portion is yours at my house,’ Bricriu continued, ‘it will be yours at Emuin for ever. And the champion’s portion at my house will be worth contesting, for it is not the portion of a fool. I have a cauldron that would hold three of the warriors of Ulaid, and it has been filled with undiluted wine. I have a seven-year-old boar that since it was a piglet has eaten nothing but gruel and meal and fresh milk in spring, curds and sweet milk in summer, nuts and wheat in autumn and meat and broth in winter. I have a lordly cow that is also seven years old, and, since it was a calf, it has eaten nothing but heather and twigs and fresh milk and herbs and meadow grass and corn. I have one hundred wheat cakes cooked in honey; twenty-five bushels of wheat were brought for these cakes, so that each bushel made just four cakes. That is what the champion’s portion is like at my house. Since you are the best warrior in Ulaid, it is yours by right, and I intend that you should have it. Once the feast has been set out, at the end of the day, have your charioteer rise, and the champion’s portion will be given to him.’ ‘Indeed, it will,’ said Lóegure, ‘or blood will flow.’ Bricriu laughed at that and was content.
When he had finished with Lóegure Búadach, Bricriu went to the host of Conall Cernach. ‘Well met, Conall,’ he began, ‘for you are a warrior of combats and victories – already you have earned great triumphs over the youths of Ulaid. When the Ulaid venture out to the borders of enemy lands, you are three days and three nights ahead of them in crossing fords; and, when they return, you protect their rear – no enemy slips past them or through them or round them. Is there any reason why you should not have the champion’s portion at Emuin Machae for ever?’ If Bricriu was treacherous in dealing with Lóegure, he was twice as deceitful when he spoke with Conall. And after he had induced Conall to agree with him, he went to the host of Cú Chulaind. ‘Well met, Cú Chulaind,’ he began, ‘battle victor of Brega, bright flag of the Life, darling of Emuin, sweetheart of the women and the young girls. Today, Cú Chulaind is no nickname, for you are the great boaster of Ulaid. You defend us from great onslaughts and attacks, you seek the rights of everyone in Ulaid, and where everyone else attempts, you succeed. All Ériu acknowledges your bravery and valour and high deeds. Why, then, should you leave the champion’s portion to anyone else in Ulaid when there is not a man in Ériu capable of meeting you in combat?’ ‘Indeed! I swear by what my people swear by,’ said Cú Chulaind, ‘the man who comes to fight me will be a man without a head!’ After that, Bricriu left the three heroes and mingled with the hosts as if he had done no mischief at all.
The Ulaid arrived at Bricriu’s house, and each man settled into his apartment in the royal dwelling, king and prince and chieftain and young lord and young warrior. On one side of the house, the heroes of Ulaid gathered round Conchubur, while, on the other side, the women of Ulaid assembled round Conchubur’s wife, Mugain daughter of Echu Feidlech. The heroes who gathered round Conchubur in the front of the house included Fergus son of Roech, Celtchair son of Uthechar, Éogan son of Durthacht, the king’s two sons Fíachu and Fíachach, Fergnae son of Findchóem, Fergus son of Léti, Cúscraid Mend Machae son of Conchubur, Senchae son of Ailill, Fíachu’s three sons Rus and Dáre and Imchad, Muinremur son of Gerrgend, Errge Echbél, Amorgen son of Ecet, Mend son of Salchad, Dubthach Dóeltenga, Feradach Find Fechtnach, Fedilmid Chilair Chétach, Furbude Fer Bend, Rochad son of Fathemon, Lóegure Búadach, Conall Cernach, Cú Chulaind, Connad son of Mornae, Erc son of Fedilmid, Illand son of Fergus, Findtan son of Níall, Cethernd son of Findtan, Fachtna son of Senchad, Condlae Sáeb, Ailill Miltenga, Bricriu himself and the choicest warriors of Ulaid, together with the youths and the entertainers.
The musicians and the players performed while the feast was being set out, and when everything was in place, Bricriu was ordered to leave the house, as a consequence of the hostages he had given. The hostages rose, naked swords in hand, to expel Bricriu from the house, and so he left, with his household, and repaired to the bower. But, as he was about to leave the royal house, he said to the gathering ‘Yonder you see the champion’s portion, and it is no portion from the house of a fool; therefore, let it be given to the best warrior in Ulaid.’ With that, he left.
Thereupon, the servers rose to do their work, and there rose also the charioteer of Lóegure Búadach, Sedlang son of Ríangabur, and he said to the distributors ‘Bring that champion’s portion over here, to Lóegure Búadach, for he is the most deserving of it in Ulaid.’ Id son of Ríangabur, Conall Cernach’s charioteer, rose and said the same about Conall. And Lóeg son of Ríangabur, Cú Chulaind’s charioteer, said to the distributors ‘Bring the champion’s portion to Cú Chulaind – no shame for the Ulaid to give it to him, for he is the most accomplished warrior here.’ ‘Not true that,’ said Lóegure Búadach and Conall Cernach, and, at that, the three heroes rose out into the middle of the house with their spears and swords and shields; and they so slashed at each other that half the house was a fire of swords and glittering spear edges, while the other half was a pure-white bird flock of shield enamel. A great alarm went up in the royal house, and the valiant warriors of Ulaid trembled; Conchubur and Fergus son of Roech were f
urious at seeing the unfair and unconscionable attack of two against one, Lóegure and Conall attacking Cú Chulaind. Not a man of the Ulaid dared separate them, however, until Senchae said to Conchubur ‘Part the men’, for Senchae was the earthly god among the Ulaid in the time of Conchubur.
Conchubur and Fergus stepped between the combatants, then, and the men at once dropped their hands to their sides. ‘Let my will prevail,’ said Senchae. ‘We agree,’ said the men. ‘It is my will,’ said Senchae, ‘that the champion’s portion be divided among the host tonight and that tomorrow the dispute be submitted to Ailill son of Mégu, since it is bad luck for the Ulaid to settle an argument without a judgement from Crúachu.’ The food and drink were shared out, then, and everyone formed a circle round the fire, and the assembly grew drunken and merry.
Bricriu, meanwhile, was in his bower with his queen, and he could see from his couch how matters stood in the royal house. He pondered how he might incite the women as he had incited the men, and, just as he finished his meditation, Fedelm Noíchride and her fifty women emerged from the royal house after some heavy drinking. Bricriu perceived her going past and said ‘Well met tonight, wife of Lóegure Búadach! Fedelm Noíchride is not just a nickname, not considering your form and your intelligence and your lineage. Conchubur, a provincial king of Ériu, is your father, Lóegure Búadach is your husband, and it would hardly be to your honour if any woman of Ulaid were to precede you into the Tech Midchúarta – rather, the women of all Ulaid should follow upon your heel. If you enter the house first tonight, you will always be first among the women of Ulaid.’ Thereupon Fedelm went out to the third ridge from the house.
Early Irish Myths and Sagas Page 21
