There may be, and there probably are, older copies, in Trinity College,
in the British Museum, or elsewhere, if we knew only where to find them.
And this observation applies to several of the tales that follow, of
which we have at hand only modern copies.
THE FATE OF THE CHILDREN OF TURENN.
In the Book of Lecan (folio 28), which was compiled by the Mac Firbises,
about A.D. 1416, is a short account, partly in prose and partly in
verse, of the celebrated eric-fine imposed on the three sons of Turenn,
by Luga of the Long Arms, for killing his father Kian; but this old book
does not give the story of the quest for the fine. The full tale, text
and literal translation, has been published by O'Curry in the
_Atlantis_. There are several good copies in the Royal Irish Academy:
one in 23. G. 10, transcribed by Patrick Brown of the county Clare, in
1805; another in 23. E. 16, written out by Michael Oge O'Longan, in
1797; and a third (imperfect) in 23. M. 47, copied by Andrew Mac Curtin,
in 1734.
There are references to these three sons of Turenn, and to the manner of
their death, in two very old authorities, viz., Cormac's "Glossary"
(about A.D. 900); and a poem by Flann of Monaster-boice (who died A.D.
1056), a copy of which is in the Book of Leinster, written about A.D.
1130.
In the older references to the sons of Turenn, they are called Brian,
Iuchar, Iucharba; but in some comparatively modern copies of the tale
the names are a little different--for instance, Peter O'Connell calls
them Uar, Iuchar, and Iucharba; and they vary still further in other
copies. I have taken advantage of this variety to give the names in a
more pronounceable form in my translation.
In the original, this tale is introduced by an anecdote of Nuada of the
Silver Hand and the two great Dedannan leeches, Midac and Armedda (see
page 92, _infra_), which has nothing whatever to do with the story, and
which I have omitted.
THE OVERFLOWING OF LOUGH NEAGH.
"Leabhar na h-Uidhre," or "The Book of the Dun Cow," from which this and
the two following tales are taken, is the oldest manuscript of
miscellaneous Gaelic literature we possess. It was transcribed from
older books by Maelmuire Mac Ceilechair, who died A.D. 1106; and it is
now deposited in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin--or rather, I should
say, a large fragment of it, for the book has suffered much mutilation.
This venerable book may now be said to be in the hands of the public, as
it has been lately reproduced in lithograph fac-simile, and published by
the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, at the Government expense.
The story of "The Overflowing of Lough Neagh" (called in the original
"The Destruction of Eocho Mac Mairedo") has been published, with text
and literal translation, by the late J. O'Beirne Crowe, in the Kilkenny
Archæological Journal volume for 1870-1.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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