The translation of this manuscript is at present being made in the
Celtic Review by Professor Mackinnon; the version it gives of the story
is much longer and fuller than that in the Leabhar na h-Uidhri, and its
accompanying manuscripts. The translation as printed in the Celtic
Review is not as yet (July 1905) completed, but, through Professor
Mackinnon's kindness, an abstract of the general features of the end of
the story may be given here.
The Glenn Masain version makes Bricriu, who is a subordinate character
in the older version, one of the principal actors, and explains many of
the allusions which are difficult to understand in the shorter version;
but it is not possible to regard the older version as an abridgment of
that preserved in the Glenn Masain MS., for the end of the story in
this manuscript is absolutely different from that in the older ones,
and the romance appears to be unique in Irish in that it has versions
which give two quite different endings, like the two versions of
Kipling's The Light that Failed.
The Glenn Masain version commences with a feast held at Cruachan, when
Fergus and his exiles had joined their forces with Connaught as a
result of the murder of the Sons of Usnach, as told in the earlier part
of the manuscript. At this feast Bricriu. engages in conversation with
Fergus, reproaching him for his broken promises to the Ulstermen who
had joined him, and for his dalliance with Queen Maev. Bricriu, who in
other romances is a mere buffoon, here appears as a distinguished poet,
and a chief ollave; his satire remains bitter, but by no means
scurrilous, and the verses put into his mouth, although far beneath the
standard of the verses given to Deirdre in the earlier part of the
manuscript, show a certain amount of dignity and poetic power. As an
example, the following satire on Fergus's inability to keep his
promises may be cited:--
Fergus, hear thy friend lamenting!
Blunted is thy lofty mind;
Thou, for hire, to Maev consenting,
Hast thy valour's pride resigned.
Ere another year's arriving,
Should thy comrades, thou didst vow,
Three-score chariots fair be driving,
Shields and weapons have enow!
When thy ladies, bent on pleasure,
Crowd towards the banquet-hall,
Thou of gold a goodly measure
Promised hast to grant to all!
Ill to-night thy friends are faring,
Naught hath Fergus to bestow;
He a poor man's look is wearing,
Never yet was greater woe!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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