The Leabhar na h-Uidhri version is defective both at the beginning and
at the end; there is also a complete column torn from the manuscript,
making the description of the chess match defective. These three gaps
have been filled up by short passages enclosed in square brackets, at
the commencement of the Prologue, on p. 28, and at the end of the L.U.
version. The two first of these insertions contain no matter that
cannot be found by allusions in the version itself; the conclusion of
the tale is drawn, partly from the "Dindshenchas" of Rath Esa, partly
from the passage in O'Curry's "Manners and Customs."
The only alteration that has been made is that, following a suggestion
in Windisch (Irische Texte, i. p. 132), the poem on page 26 has been
placed four pages earlier than the point at which it occurs in the
manuscript. Three very difficult lines (Leabhar na h-Uidhri, 132a,
lines 12 to 14) have not been attempted; there are no other omissions,
and no insertions except the three noted above. The Prologue out of
the L.U. version has been placed first, as it is essential to the
understanding of any version, then follows the Egerton version as the
longer of the two, then the L.U. version of the Courtship, properly so
called.
PROLOGUE IN FAIRYLAND
FROM THE LEABHAR NA H-UIDHRI
Etain of the Horses, the daughter of Ailill, was the wife of Mider, the
Fairy Dweller in Bri Leith.[FN#6] Now Mider had also another wife
named Fuamnach[FN#7] who was filled with jealousy against Etain, and
sought to drive her from her husband's house. And Fuamnach sought out
Bressal Etarlam the Druid and besought his aid; and by the spells of
the Druid, and the sorcery of Fuamnach, Etain was changed into the
shape of a butterfly that finds its delight among flowers. And when
Etain was in this shape she was seized by a great wind that was raised
by Fuamnach's spells; and she was borne from her husband's house by
that wind for seven years till she came to the palace of Angus Mac O'c
who was son to the Dagda, the chief god of the men of ancient Erin.
Mac O'c had been fostered by Mider, but he was at enmity with his
foster-father, and he recognised Etain, although in her transformed
shape, as she was borne towards him by the force] of the wind. And he
made a bower for Etain with clear windows for it through which she
might pass, and a veil of purple was laid upon her; and that bower was
carried about by Mac O'c wherever he went. And there each night she
slept beside him by a means that he devised, so that she became
well-nourished and fair of form; for that bower was filled with
marvellously sweet-scented shrubs, and it was upon these that she
thrived, upon the odour and blossom of the best of precious herbs.
[FN#6] Pronounced Bree Lay.
[FN#7] Pronounced Foom-na.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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