Autumn_Heather 
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RE:Immram curaig Maile Duin - The Voyage of Meal Duin's Boat
(Date Posted:02/08/2009 23:41 PM)
| | | | | | I
That
day till vespers they were a-rowing, and the night after it till
midnight, when they found two small bare islands, with two forts in
them; and then they heard out of the forts the noise and outcry of
intoxication, and the soldiers, and the trophies. And this was what one
man said to the other: ‘Stand off from me’, saith he, ‘for I am a
better hero than thou, for it, is I that
slew Ailill of the Edge
of Battle, and burnt Dubcluain on him and no evil hath hitherto been
done to me therefor by his kindred;and thou hast never done the like of
that! ‘We have the victory in our hands’, saith Germán, and saith
Diurán the
Rhymer: ‘God hath brought us direct and God hath guided
our barque. Let us go and wreck these two forts, since God hath
revealed to us our enemies in them!’ As they were saying these words, a
great wind came upon, them, so that they were driven (over the sea,
all) that night until morning. And even after morning they saw nor
earth nor land, and they knew not whither they were going. Then said
Máel Dúin: ‘Leave the boat still, without rowing and whithersoever it
shall please God to bring it, bring’. Then they entered the great,
endless ocean; and Máel Dúin afterwards said to his foster-brothers:
‘Ye have caused this to us, casting yourselves upon us in the boat in
spite of the word of the enchanter and wizard, who told us that on
board the boat we should go only the number that we were before you
came’
.
They had no answer, save only to be silent for a little space.
II
Three
days and three nights were they, and they found neither land nor
ground. Then on the morning of the third day they heard a sound from
the north-east. ‘This is the voice of a wave against a shore’, said
Máel Dúin. Now when the day was bright they made towards land. As they
were casting lots to see which of them should go on shore, there came a
great swarm of ants each of them the size of a foal, down to the strand
towards them, and into the sea. What the ants desired was to eat the
crew and their boat: so the sailors fled for three days and three
nights; and they saw nor land nor ground.
III
On
the morning of the third day the heard the sound of a wave against the
beach, and with the daylight they saw an island high and great; and
terraces all round about it. Lower was each of them than the other, and
there was a row of trees around it, and many great birds on these
trees. And they were taking counsel as to who should go to explore the
island and see whether the birds were gentle. ‘I will go’, saith Máel
Dúin. So Máel Dúin went, and warily searched the, island, and found
nothing evil therein. And they ate their fill of the birds and brought
some of them on board their boat.
IV
Three days
thereafter, and three nights were they at sea. But on the morning of
the fourth day they perceived another great island. Sandy was its soil.
When they came to the shore of the island they saw therein a beast like
a horse. The legs of a hound he had, with rough, sharp nails; and great
was his joy at seeing them. And he was prancing (?) before them, for he
longed to devour them and their boat. ‘He is not sorry to meet us,’
saith Máel Dúin; ‘let us go back from the island’. That was done; and
when the beast perceived them fleeing, he went down to the strand and,
began digging up the beach with his sharp nails, and pelting them (with
the pebbles), and they did not expect to
escape from him.
V
Thereafter
they rowed afar, and a great, flat island they see before them. Then to
Germán fell an ill lot to go and look at that island. ‘Both of us will
go,’ saith Diurán the Rhymer, ‘and thou wilt come with me some other
time into an island which it falls to my lot to explore’. So the two of
them entered the island. Great was its size and its breadth, and they
saw therein a long, great green, with vast hoof-marks of horses upon
it. As large as the sail of a ship was the mark of the hoof of each
horse. They saw, moreover, the shells of huge nuts like ... and they
saw, there, also great leavings (?) of the plunder of many men. So they
dreaded that which they saw, and they called their people to them to
see what they beheld. They were afraid then, after seeing what they
beheld, and they all, swiftly, hastily, went on board their boat.
When
they had gone a little from land, they beheld (rushing) along the sea
to the island a great multitude, which, after reaching the green of the
island, held a horse-race. And swifter than the wind was each horse,
and great was the shouting (of the multitude) and their outcry and
noise. And then the strokes of their horse-rods at the meeting were
heard by Máel Dúin, and he heard, moreover, what each of them was
saying: ‘Bring the grey steed’; ‘Drive the dun horse there’; ‘Bring the
white horse!’; ‘My steed is faster!’; ‘My horse leaps better’. When the
wanderers heard those words, they went away with all their might
for they felt sure it was a meeting of demons they beheld.
VI
A
full week were they voyaging, in hunger and in thirst, when they
discovered a great, high island with a great house therein on the
seashore and a doorway out of the house into the plain of the island
and another door (opening) into the sea, and against that door there
was a valve of stone. That valve was pierced by an aperture, through
which the sea-waves were flinging the salmon into the midst of that
house. Máel Dúin and his men entered that house, and therein they found
no one. After this they beheld a testered bed for the chief of the
house alone, and a bed for every three of his household, and food for
three before every bed, and a vessel of glass with good liquor before
every bed and a cup of glass on every vessel. So they dined off that
food and liquor and they give thanks to Almighty God, who had helped
them from their hunger.
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Autumn_Heather
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RE:Immram curaig Maile Duin - The Voyage of Meal Duin's Boat
(Date Posted:02/08/2009 23:42 PM)
| | | | | | | VII
When
they went from the island they were a long while voyaging, without
food, hungrily, till they found (another) island, with a great cliff
round it on every side, and therein was a long, narrow wood, and great
was its length and its narrowness. When Máel Dúin reached that wood he
took (from it) a rod in his hand as he passed it. Three days and three
nights the rod remained in his hand, while the boat was under sail,
coasting the cliff, and on the third day he found a cluster, of three
apples at the end of the rod. For forty nights each of these apples
sufficed them.
VIII
Thereafter,
then, they found another island, with a fence of stone around it. When
they drew near it a huge beast sprang up in the island, and raced round
about the island. To Máel Dúin it seemed swifter than the wind. And
then it went to the height of the island and there it performed (the
feat called) ‘straightening of body’, to wit, its head below and its
feet above; and thus it used to be: it turned in its skin that is, the
flesh and the bones revolved, but the skin outside was unmoved. Or at
another time the skin outside turned like a mill, the bones and the
flesh remaining still. When it had been for long in that wise, it
sprang up again and raced round about the island as it had done at
first. Then it returned to the same place; and this time the lower half
of its skin was unmoved, and the other half above ran round and round
like a millstone. That, then, was its practice when it was going round
the island. Máel Dúin and his people fled with all their might, and the
beast perceived them fleeing and it went into the beach to seize them,
and began to smite them, and it cast and lashed after them with stones
of the harbour. Now one of these stones came into their boat, and
pierced through Máel Dúin’s shield, and lodged in the keel of the
curragh.
IX
Now not
long after that they found another lofty island, and it was delightful,
and therein were many great animals like unto horses. Each of them
would take a piece out of another’s side, and carry it away with its
skin and its flesh, so that out of their sides streams of crimson blood
were breaking, and thereof the ground was full. So they left that
island swiftly, madly, hastily (and they were) sad, complaining,
feeble; and they knew nothing whither in the world they were going and
in what stead they should find aidance or land or ground.
X
Now
they came to another great island, after great weariness of hunger and
thirsting and they sad and sighing, having lost all hope of aidance. In
that island were many trees: full-fruited were they, with great golden
apples upon them. Red short animals like swine were under those trees.
Now, they used to go to those trees and strike them with their
hind-legs, so that the apples would fall from the trees, and then they
would consume them. From dawn to sunset the animals did not appear at
all, but they used to stay in the caverns of the ground. Round about
that island many birds were swimming out on the waves. From Matins to
None further and further they used to swim from the island. But from
None to Vespers nearer and nearer they used to come to the island, and
arrive therein after sunset. Then they used to strip off the apples and
eat them. ‘Let us go’, saith Máel Dúin, ‘into the island wherein the
birds are. Not harder for us (to do so) than for the birds’. One of the
crew went to see the island, and he called his comrade to him on shore.
Hot was the ground under their feet, and they could not dwell there for
its warmth, because it was a fiery land, and the animals used to heat
the ground above them. On the first day they brought with them a few of
the apples which they were eating in their boat. When the morning was
bright the birds went from the island swimming to sea. With that the
fiery animals were up-raising their heads out of the, caves, and kept
eating the apples till sundown. When they were put back into their
caves the birds use to come in place of them, to eat the apples. Then
Máel Dúin went with his people, and they collected all the apples were
there that night. Alike did the apples forbid hunger and thirst from
them. So then they filled their boat with the apples as seemed good to
them, and went again to sea.
XI
Now
when those apples failed and their hunger and thirst were great and
when their mouths and their noses were full of the stench of the sea,
they sighted an island which was not large, and therein (stood) a fort
surrounded by, a white, high rampart as if it were built of burnt lime,
or as if it were all one rock of chalk. Great was its height from the
sea: it all but reached the clouds. The fort was open wide. Round the
rampart were great, snow-white houses. When they entered the largest of
these they saw no one there, save a small cat which was in the midst of
the house playing on the four stone pillars that were there. It was
leaping, from each pillar to the other. It looked a little at the men,
and did not stop itself from its play. After that, they saw three rows
on the wall of the house round about, from one door post to the other.
A row there, first, of brooches of gold and of silver, with their pins
in the wall, and a row of neck-torques of gold and of silver: like
hoops of a vat was each of them. The third row (was) of great swords,
with hilts of gold and of silver, The rooms were full of white quilts
and shining garments. A roasted ox moreover, and a flitch in the midst
of the house, and great vessels with good intoxicating liquor. ‘Hath
this been left for us?’ saith Máel Dúin to the cat. It looked at him
suddenly and began to play again. Then Máel Dúin recognised that it was
for them that the dinner had been left. So they dined and drank and
slept. They put the leavings(?) of the liquor into the pots and stored
up the leavings(?) of the food. Now when they proposed to go, Máel
Dúin’s third foster-brother said: ‘Shall I take with me a necklace of
these necklaces?’ ‘Nay,’ saith Máel Dúin, ‘not without guard is the
house’. Howbeith he took it as far as the middle of the enclosure. The
cat followed them, and leapt through him (the foster-brother) like a
fiery arrow, and burnt him so that he became ashes, and (then) went
back till it was on its pillar. Then Máel Dúin soothed the cat with his
words, and set the necklace in its place and cleansed the ashes from
the floor of the enclosure, and cast them on the shore of the sea. Then
they went on board their boat, praising and, magnifying the Lord.
XII
Early
on the morning of the third day after that they espy another island,
with a brazen palisade over the midst of it which divided the island in
two, and they espied great flocks of sheep therein, even a black flock
on this side of the fence and a white flock on the far side. And they
saw a big man separating the flocks. When he used to fling a white
sheep over the fence from this side to the black sheep it became black
at once. So, when he used to cast a black sheep over the fence to the
far side, it became white at once. The men were adread at seeing that.
‘This were well for us (to do)’ saith Máel Dúin: ‘let us cast two rods
into the island. If they change colour we (also) shall change if we
land on it’. So they flung a rod with black bark on the side wherein
were the white sheep, and it became white at once. Then they flung a
peeled white rod on the side wherein were the black sheep and it became
black at once. ‘Not fortunate(?) was that experiment,’ saith Máel Dúin.
‘Let us not land on the island. Doubtless ours colour would not have
fared better than the rods’.
They went back from the island in
terror. On the third day afterwards they perceived another island great
and wide, with a herd of beautiful swine. therein. Of these they killed
a small pig. Then they were unable to carry it to be roasted so they
all came round, it. They cooked it and bore it into their boat. Then
they saw a great mountain in the island, and they proposed to go and
view the island from it. Now when Diurán the Rhymer and Germán went to
visit the mountain they found before them a broad river which was not
deep. Into this river Germán dipped the handle of his spear and at once
it was consumed as if fire had burnt it. And (so) they went no further.
Then, too, they saw, on the other side of the river, great hornless
oxen lying down, and a huge man sitting by them. Germán after this
struck his spear-shaft against his shield. to frighten the oxen. ‘Why
dost thou frighten the silly calves?’ saith that huge herdsman. ‘Where
are the dams of these calves’ saith Germán. ‘They are on the other side
of yonder mountain,’ saith he Diurán and Germán return to their
comrades, and tell them the tidings. So thence they (all) went.
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Autumn_Heather
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RE:Immram curaig Maile Duin - The Voyage of Meal Duin's Boat
(Date Posted:02/08/2009 23:42 PM)
| | | | | | | XIV
Not
long thereafter they found an island, with a great hideous mill,
wherein was a miller huge ... hideous. They asked him ‘what mill is
this?’. ‘Not. . . indeed’, saith he ... asks what ye shall not know’.
‘Nay’ say they. ‘Half the corn of your country,’ saith he, ‘is ground
here. Every thing which is begrudged is ground in this mill saith he.
With that they see the heavy, countless loads on horses, and, human
beings (going) to the mill and from it, again; only that what was
brought from it was carried westward. Again they asked: ‘What is the
name of this mill? Inber Tre-cenand,’ saith the miller. Then after this
they signed themselves with the
sign of Christ’s cross. When they heard and saw all these things they went on their way, into their boat.
XV
Now
when they went from that island of the mill they found a large island,
and a great multitude of human beings therein. Black were these, both
in bodies and raiment. Fillets round their heads, and they rested not
from wailing. An unlucky lot fell to one of Máel Dúin’s two
foster-brothers to land on the island. When he went to the people who
were wailing he at once became a comrade of theirs and began to weep
along with them. Two were sent to bring him
thence, and they did
not recognise him amongst the others (and) they themselves turned to
lament. Then said Máel Dúin: ‘Let four (of you)’ saith he, ‘go with
your weapons, and bring ye the men perforce, and look not at the, land
nor the air, and put your garments round your noses and round your
mouths, and breathe not, the air of the land, and take not your eyes
off your own men The four went, and brought back with them perforce the
other two When
they were asked what they had seen in the land,
they would say: ‘Verily, we know not, say they; ‘but what we saw
(others doing)’we did Thereafter they came rapidly from the island.
XVI
Thereafter
they come to another lofty island, wherein were four fences, which
divided it into four parts. A fence of gold, first: another of silver:
the third fence of brass: and the fourth of crystal. Kings in the
fourth division, queens in a another, warriors in another, maidens in
the other. A maiden went to meet them and brought them on land, and
gave them food. They likened it to cheese; and whatever taster was
pleasing to anyone he would find it therein. And she dealt (liquor) to
them out of a little vessel, so that they, slept an intoxication of
three days and three nights. All this time the maiden was tending them.
When they awoke on the third day they were in their boat at sea.
Nowhere did they see their island or their maiden. Then they rowed
away.
XVII
Thereafter
they found another island which was not large. Therein was a fortress
with a brazen door and brazen fastenings thereon. A bridge of glass
(rose) by the portal. When they used to go up on the bridge they would
fall down backwards. With that they espy a woman coming out from the
fortress, with a pail in her hand. Out of the lower part of the bridge
she lifts a slab of glass, and she filled the pail out of the fountain
which flowed beneath the
bridge, and went again into the fortress.
‘A housekeeper comes for Máel Dúin!’ saith Germán. ‘Máel Dúin indeed’,
saith she, closing the door behind her. After this they were striking
the brazen fastenings and the brazen net that was before them, and then
the sound which they made was a sweet and soothing music, which sent
them to sleep till the morrow morning.
When they awoke they saw
the same woman (coming) out of the fortress, with her pail in her hand
and she fills (it) under the same slab. ‘But a housekeeper comes to
meet Máel Dúin! saith Germán. ‘Marvellously valuable do I deem Máel
Dúin!’ saith she, shutting the
enclosure after her. The same
melody lays them low then till the morrow. Three days and three nights
were they in that wise. On the fourth day thereafter the woman went to
them. Beautiful, verily, came she there. She wore a white mantle, with
a circlet of gold round her hair. Golden hair she had. Two sandals of
silver on her rosy feet. A brooch of silver with studs of gold in her
mantle, and a filmy, silken smock next her white skin. ‘My welcome to
thee, O Máel Dúin!’ saith she; and she named each man (of the crew)
apart, by his own name. ‘It is long since your coming here hath been
known and understood. Then she takes (them) with her into a great house
that stood near the sea, and hauls up their boat on shore. Then they
saw before them in the house a couch for Máel Dúin alone, and a couch
for every three of his people. She brought them in one pannier food
like unto cheese or táth. Sheer gave a share to
every three. Every
savour that each desired this he would find therein. There she tended
Máel Dúin apart. And she filled her pail under the same slab, and dealt
liquor to them. A turn for every three she had. Then she knew when they
had enough. She rested from dealing to them.
‘A fitting wife for
Máel Dúin were this woman,’ saith every man of his people. Then she
went away from them, with her one vessel and with her pail. Said his
people to Máel Dúin: ‘Shall we say to her, would she, perchance, sleep
with thee?’ How would it hurt you,’ saith he, ‘to speak to her? She
comes on the morrow. They said to her: ‘Wilt thou shew affection to
Máel Dúin, and sleep with him? and why not stay here tonight?’ She said
she knew no sin, had never known, what sin was. Then she went from’
them to her house; and on the morrow, at
the same hour, comes with her tendance to them. And when they were drunken and sated, they say the same words to her.
‘Tomorrow’
saith she, an answer concerning that will be given to you. Then she
went to her house, and they sleep on their couches. When they awoke
they were in their boat on a crag and they saw not the island, nor the
fortress, nor the lady, nor the place wherein they had been.
XVIII
As
they went from that place they heard in the north-east a great cry and
chant as it were a singing of psalms. That night and the next day till
none they were rowing that they might know what cry or what chant they
heard. They behold a high, mountainous island, full of birds, black and
dun and speckled, shouting and speaking loudly.
They rowed a
little from that island, and found an island which was not large.
Therein were many trees and on them many birds. And after that they saw
in the island a man whose clothing was his hair. So they asked him who
he was, and whence his kindred. ‘Of the men of Ireland am I’, saith he.
‘I went on my pilgrimage in a small: boat, and when I had gone a little
from land my boat split under me’. I went again to land,’ saith he,
‘and I put under my feet
sod from my country, and on it I gat me
up to sea and the LORD stablishedthat sod for me in this place,’ saith
he, ‘and God addeth a foot to its breadth every year from that to this,
and a tree every year to grow therein. The birds which thou beholdest
in the trees,’ saith he, ‘are the souls of my children and my kindred,
both women and men, who are yonder awaiting Doomsday. Half a cake, and
a slice of fish, and the liquor of the well God hath given me.
That
cometh to me daily,’ saith he, ‘by the ministry of angels At the hour
of none, moreover, another half-cake and slice of fish come to every
man yonder and to every woman, and liquor of the well, as is enough for
everyone’.
When their three nights of guesting were complete; thy
bade (the pilgrim) farewell, and he said to them: ‘Ye shall all,’ saith
he, ‘reach your country save one man’.
XX
On the third day
after that they find another island, with a golden rampart around it
and the midst of it white like down. They see therein a man, and this
was his raiment the hair of his own body. Then they asked him what
sustenance he used. Verily’, saith he, ‘there is here a fountain in
this island. On Friday and on Wednesday whey or water is yielded by it.
On Sundays, however, and on feasts of martyrs good milk is yielded by
it. But on the feasts of
apostles, and of Mary and of John Baptist
and also on the hightides (of theyear), it is ale and wine that are
yielded by it’. At none, then, there came to every man of them half a
cake and a piece of fish; and they drank their fill of the liquor which
was yielded to them out of the fountain of the island. And it cast them
into a heavy sleep, from that hour till the morrow. When they had
passed three nights of guesting, the cleric ordered, them to go. So
then they went forth on their way, and afterwards bade him farewell.
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Autumn_Heather
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RE:Immram curaig Maile Duin - The Voyage of Meal Duin's Boat
(Date Posted:02/08/2009 23:43 PM)
| | | | | | | XXI
Now
when they had, been long avoyaging on the waves they saw far from them
an island, and as they approached it, they heard the noise of the
smiths smiting a mass (of iron) on the anvil with sledges, like the
smiting of three or; of four. Now when they had drawn near it they
heard one man asking of another: ‘Are they close at hand?’ saith he.
‘Yea saith the other. ‘Who’, saith another man, ‘are these ye say are
coining there?’ ‘Little boys they seem in a
little trough yonder’,
saith he. When Máel Dúin heard what the smiths said, he saith: ‘Let us
retreat’, saith he, ‘and let us not turn the boat, but let her sterns
be foremost, so that they may not perceive that we are fleeing Then
they rowed away, with the boat stern-foremost. Again the same man who
was biding in the forge asked: ‘Are they now near the harbour?’ saith
he. ‘
They are at rest’, saith the watchman: ‘they come not here and
they go not there’. Not long thereafter he asked again: ‘what are they
doing now?’ saith he. ‘I think’, saith the look-out man, ‘that they are
running away; meseems they are further from the port now than they were
some time ago’, Then the smith came out of the forge, holding in the
tongs a huge mass (of glowing iron), and he cast that mass after the
boat into the sea; and all the sea boiled; but he
did not; for they fled with all their warriors’ might, swiftly hurried forth into the great ocean.
XXII
After
that they voyaged till they entered a sea which resembled green glass.
Such was its purity that the gravel and the sand of that sea were
clearly visible through it; and they saw no monsters nor beasts therein
among the crags, but only the _pure gravel and the green sand. For a
long space of the day they were voyaging in that sea, and great was its
splendour and its beauty. They afterwards put forth into another sea
like a cloud and it seemed to them that it would not support them or
the boat. Then they beheld under the sea down below them roofed
strongholds and a beautiful country. And they see a beast huge, awful,
monstrous, in a tree there, and a drove of herds and the tree, and
flocks round about the tree and beside the tree an armed man, with
shield and spear and sword. When he beheld yon huge beast that abode in
the tree he goeth thence in and flight. The beast stretched forth his
neck out of the tree and sets his head into the back of the largest ox
of the herd and dragged it into the tree, and anon devours it in the
twinkling of an eye. The flocks and the herdsmen flee away, at once.
and when Máel Dúin and his people saw that greater terror and fear
seize them, for they supposed that they would never cross that sea
without falling down through it, by reason of its tenuity
like mist. So after much danger, they pass over it.
XXIV
Thereafter
they found another island, and up around it rose the sea making vast
cliffs (of water) all about it. As the people of that country perceived
them, they set to screaming at them and saying: ‘tis they! It is
they!’, till they were out of breath. Then Máel Dúin and his men beheld
many human beings, and great herds of cattle, and troops of horses and
many flocks of sheep. Then there was a woman from below with large nuts
which remained floating on the sea, waves above by them, Much of those
nuts they gathered and took with them. (Then) they went back from the
island and thereat the screams ceased.‘Where are they now’, saith the
man who was after them at the scream. ‘They have gone away’ saith
another ‘band, of them’. ‘They are not so,’ saith another band. Now it
is likely that there was someone concerning whom they (the islanders)
had a prophecy that he would ruin their country and expel them from
theirland.
XXV
They
gat them to another island, wherein a strange thing was shewn to them,
to wit, a great stream rose up out of the strand of the island and
went, like a rainbow, over the whole island, and descended into the
other strand of the island on the other side thereof. And they were
lying, under it (the stream) below without being wet. And they were
piercing (with their spears) the stream above; and (them) great,
enormous salmon were tumbling from above out of the stream down upon
the soil of the island. And all the island was full of the stench (of
the fish), for there was no one who could finish gathering them because
of their abundance. From Sunday eventide to Monday forenoon that stream
did not move, but remained at rest in its sea round about the island.
Then they bring into one place the largest of the salmon, and they
filled their boat with them, and went back from that island still on
the ocean.
XXVI
Thereafter
they voyaged till they found a great silvern column. It had four sides,
and the width of each of these sides was two oar-strokes of a the boat,
so that in its whole circumference there were eight oar-strokes of the
boat. And not a single sod of earth was about it, but (only) the
boundless ocean. And they saw not how its base was below, or because of
its height how its summit was above. Out of its summit came a silvern
net far away from it; and the boat went under sail through a mesh of
that net. And Diurán gave a blow of the edge of his spear over the
mesh. ‘Destroy not the net’, saith Máel Dúin, ‘for what we see is the
work of mighty men. For the praise of God’s name’, saith Diurán, ‘I do
this, so that my tidings may be the more believed; and provided I reach
Ireland (this piece of the mesh) shall be offered by me on the altar of
Armagh’. Two ounces and a half was its weight when measured
(afterwards) in Armagh. And then they heard a voice from the summit of
yonder pillar, mighty, and clear, and distinct. But they knew not the
tongue it spake, or the words it uttered.
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RE:Immram curaig Maile Duin - The Voyage of Meal Duin's Boat
(Date Posted:02/08/2009 23:43 PM)
| | | | | XXVII
Then
they see another island (standing) on a single pedestal, to wit, one
foot supporting it. And they rowed round it to select way into it, and
they found no way thereinto; but they saw down in the base of the
pedestal, closed door under lock. They understood that that was the way
by which the island was entered. And they saw a crowd on the top of the
island; but they held speech with no one, and no one held speech with
them. They (then) go away back (to sea).
XXVIII
After
that they came to a island, and there was a great plain therein, and on
this a great tableland heatherless, but grassy and smooth. They saw in
that island near the sea, a fortress, large, high and strong and a
great house therein adorned and with good couches. Seventeen grown-up
girls were there preparing a bath. And they (Máel Dúin and his men)
landed on that island and sat on a hillock before the fort. Máel Dúin
said this: ‘We are sure that yonder, bath is getting ready for us’. Now
at the hour of none they beheld a rider on a race-horse (coming) to the
fortress. A good, adorned horse-cloth under her seat: she wore a hood,
blue and she wore a bordered purple mantle. Gloves with gold embroidery
or, her hands; and on her feet, adorned sandals. As she alighted, a
girl of the girls at once ok the horse. Then she entered the
fortress
and went into the bath. Then they saw that it was a woman that had
alighted from’ the horse, and not long afterwards came a, girl of the
girls unto them. ‘Welcome is your arrival!’ saith she. ‘Come into the
fort: the queen invites you’. So they entered the fort and they all
bathed. The queen sat on one side of the house, and her seventeen girls
about her. Máel Dúin. sat on the other side, over against the queen,
with his seventeen men around him. Then a platter with good
food thereon was brought to Máel Dúin, and along with it avessel of
glass full of good liquor; and (there was) a platter for every three
and a vessel for every three of his people. When they had eaten their
dinner the queen said this How will the guests sleep? saith she. ‘As
thou shalt say’, saith Máel Dúin. Your going from the island’, saith
she, ‘Let each of you take his woman, even her who is over against him,
and let him go into the chamber behind her’. For there were seventeen
canopied chambers in the house with good beds set. So the seventeen men
and the seventeen grown-up girls slept together, and Máel Dúin slept
with the queen. After this they slumbered till the morrow morning.
Then’ after morning they arose (to depart). ‘Stay here’, saith the
queen, and age will not fall on you, but the age that ye have attained.
And lasting, life ye shall have always and what came to you last night
shall come to you every night without any labour. And be no longer
awandering from island to island on the ocean! ‘Tell us’, saith Máel
Dúin, ‘how thou art here’ ‘Not hard (to say), indeed’, she saith.
‘There dwelt a good man in this island, the king of the island. To him
I bore yon seventeen girls, and I was their mother. Then their father
died, and left no heir. So I took the kinship of. this island after
him. Every day’, she saith, ‘I go into the great plain there is in the
island, to judge the folk and to decide (their disputes)’. ‘But why
dost thou leave us today?’ saith Máel Dúin. ‘Unless I go’, she saith,
‘what happened to us last night will not come to. us (again). ‘Only
stay’, she saith, ‘in your house, and ye need not labour. I will go to
judge the folk for sake of you’. So they abode in that island for the
three months of winter; and it seemed to them that (those months) were
three years. ‘It is long were here’, saith one of his people to Máel
Dúin. ‘Why do we not fare to our country?’ saith he. ‘What you say is
not good’, saith Máel Dúin’ for we shall not find in our own country
aught better than that which we find here’. (But) his people began to
murmur greatly against Máel Dúin, and they said this great is the love
which Máel Dúin hath for his woman. ‘Let him, then, stay with her if he
desires’, saith the people. ‘We will go to our country’. ‘I will not
stay after you’, saith Máel Dúin.
One day, then, the queen
went to the judging where into she used to go every day. When she had
gone. they went on board their boat. Then she comes on her horse, and
flings a clew after them, and Máel Dúin catches it, and it clung to his
hand. A thread of the clew was in her band, and she draws the boat unto
her, by means of the thread, back to the harbour. So then they stayed
with her thrice three months. Then they came to (this) counsel. ‘Of
this we are sure, now,’ saith his people, ‘that great is Máel Dúin’s
love for his woman. Therefore he attends the clew, that it may cleave
to his hand and that we may be brought back to the fortress’. ‘Let some
one else attend the clew’, saith Máel Dúin, and, if it clings to his
hand, let his hand be cut off’. So they went on board their boat. (The
queen came and) flung the clew after them. Another man in the boat
catches it, and it clings to his hand. Diurán cuts off his hand, and it
fell, with the clew, (into the sea). When she saw that, she at once
began to wail and shriek, so that all the land was one cry, wail and
shrieking. So in that wise they escaped from her, out of the island.
XXIX
They
were for a very long while afterwards driven about on the waves, till
they found an island with trees upon it like willow or hazel. Thereon
were marvellous fruits thereon, great berries. So of these then they
stript a little tree, and then they cast lots to see who should prove
the fruit that had been on the tree. (The lot) fell to Máel Dúin. He
squeezed some of the berries into a vessel and drank (the juice), and
it cast him into a deep sleep from that hour to the same hour on the
morrow. And they knew not whether he was alive or dead, with the red
foam round his lips, till on the morrow he awoke. (Then) he said to
them ‘Gather ye this fruit, for great is its excellence’. So they
gathered (it), and they mingled. water with it, to moderate its power
to intoxicate and send asleep. Then they gathered all there was of it
and were squeezing it and filling (with its juice) all the vessels they
had; and (then) they rowed away from that island.
XXX
Thereafter
they land on another large island. One of it two sides was a wood with
yews and great oaks herein. The other side was a plain with a little
lake in it. Great herds of sheep were therein. They beheld there a
small church and a fortress. They went to the church. An ancient grey
cleric was in the church, and his hair clothed him altogether. Máel
Dúin asked him: ‘Whence art thou?’ saith he. ‘I am the fifteenth man of
the community of Brenainn of Birr. We went on our pilgrimage into the
ocean and came into this island. They have all died save me alone’. And
then he shewed them Brenainn’s tablet, which they the monks had taken
with them on their pilgrimage. The all prostrated themselves to the
tablet, and Máel Dúin gave it a kiss. Now’, saith the ancient man, ‘eat
your fill of the sheep, and do not consume more than sufficeth you’. So
for a season they are fed there on the flesh of the fat sheep. One day,
then, as they were looking out from the island they see (what they take
to be) a cloud coming towards them from the south-west. After a while,
as they were still looking, they perceived that it was a bird; for they
saw the pinions waving. Then it came into the island and alighted on a
hill near the lake. Then they supposed it would carry them in its
talons out to sea. Now it brought with it a branch of a great tree.
Bigger than one of the great oaks (was) the branch and large twigs grew
out of it, and a dense top was on it (covered) with fresh leaves.
Heavy, abundant fruit it bore red berries like unto grapes only they
were bigger. So (the wanderers) were in hiding, awatching what the bird
would. do. Because of its weariness, it remained for while at rest.
(Then) it began to eat some of the fruit of the tree. So Máel Dúin went
till he was at the edge of the hill on which the to see whether it
would do him any evil, and it did bird was, ato that place gone. All
his people then went after him. ‘Let one of us go’, saith Máel Dúin
‘and gather some of the fruit of the branch which is before the bird’.
So one of them went and he gathers a portion of the berries and the
bird blamed him not, and did not (even) look (at him) or make movement.
They, the eighteen men, with their shields, went behind it, and it did
no, evil to them. Now at the hour of none of the day they beheld two
great castles in the south-west, in the place whence the great bird had
come, an d they, swooped down in front of the great bird. When they had
been for a long while at rest, they began to pick and strip off the
lice that infested the upper and, lower parts of the great bird’s jaws,
and its eyes and ears. They (the two eagles) kept at this till vespers.
Then the three of them began to eat the berries and the fruit of the
branch. From the morrow morning till midday, they were picking the same
vermin out of all its body and plucking the old feathers out. of it and
picking, out completely the old scales of the mange. At midday, however
they stripped the berries from the branch, and
with their beaks
they were breaking them against the stones and then casting them into
the sea so that its foam upon it became red. After that the great bird
went into the lake and remained washing himself therein nearly. till
the close of the day. After that he went out of the lake and settled on
another lace in the same hill, lest, the lice which had been taken out
of him should
come (again). On the morrow morning the (two) birds
with their bills still picked and sleeked the plumage (of the third),
as if it were done with a comb. The kept at this till midday. Then they
rested a little, and then they went away to the quarter whence they had
come. Howbeit the great bird remained behind them preening himself and
shaking his pinions till "the end of the third day. There at the hour
of tierce on the third day he. soared and flew thrice round the island.
and alighted for a little rest on the same hill. And afterwards he
fared afar towards the quarter whence he had come. Swifter and stronger
(was) his flight at that time than (it had been) before. Wherefore it
was manifest to them all that this was his renewal from old age into
youth, according to the word of the prophet, who saith ‘Thy youth shall
be renewed like the eagle’s’. Then Diurán, seeing, that great marvel,
said: ‘Let us go into the lake to renew ourselves where the bird has
been renewed’. ‘Nay’, saith another, ‘for the bird hath left his venom
therein’. ‘Thou sayest ill’, saith Diurán, ‘I the first will go into
it’. Then he went in and bathes himself there and plunged the lips into
(the) water, and drank sups thereof. Passing strong were his eyes
thereafter so long as he remained alive; and not a tooth of him fell
(from his jaw), nor a hair from his head; and he never suffered
weakness or infirmity from that time
forth. Thereafter they bade
farewell to their ancient man; and of the sheep they took with them
provision. They set their boat on the sea, and then they seek the ocean.
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RE:Immram curaig Maile Duin - The Voyage of Meal Duin's Boat
(Date Posted:02/08/2009 23:55 PM)
| | | | | | XXXI
They
find another large island, with a great level plain therein. A great
multitude were on that plain, playing and laughing without any
cessation. Lots are cast by Máel Dúin and his men to see unto whom it
should fall to enter the island and explore it. The lot fell on the
third of Máel Dúin’s foster-brothers. When he went he at once began to
play and to laugh continually along
with the islanders as if he
had been by them all his life. His comrades stayed for a long, long
space expecting him, and he came not to them. So then they leave him.
XXXII
After
that the sight another island, which was not large; and a fiery rampart
was round about it; and that rampart used to revolve round the island.
There
was an open doorway in the side of that rampart. Now, whenever the
doorway would come (in its revolution) opposite to them, they used to
see (through it) the whole island, and all, that was therein, and all
its indwellers, even human beings beautiful, abundant, wearing adorned
garments and feasting with golden vessels in their hands. And the
wanderers heard. their ale-music. And for a long space were they seeing
the marvel they beheld, and they deemed it delightful.
XXXIII
Not
long after they had gone from that island they see far off among the
waves a shape(?) like a white bird. They turned the prow of the boat
unto it southward, to perceive what they beheld. So when they had drawn
near it in rowing. they saw that it was a human being and that he was
clothed only with the white hair of his body. He threw himself in
prostrations on a broad rock.
When they had come to him, they
entreat a blessing from him, and ask him whence he had gone to yonder
rock. ‘From Torach, verily’, saith he, ‘I have come here, and in Torach
I was reared. Then it came to pass that I was cook therein; and I was
an evil cook, for the food of the church wherein I was dwelling I used
to sell for treasures and jewels for myself: so that my house became
full of counterpanes and pillows and of raiment, both linen and wool
colour, and of brazen pails and of small brazen tellenna, and of
brooches of silver with pins of gold. Insomuch that unto my house there
was nothing wanting of all that is hoarded by man; both golden books
and book-satchels adorned with brass and gold. And I used to dig under
the houses of the church and carry many treasures out of them’.
‘Great then was my pride and my haughtiness’.
‘Now
one day I was told to dig a grave for the corpse of a peasant, which
had been brought into the island. As I was (working) at that grave I
heard.
From below me the voice out of the ground under my feet:
‘But do not dig up that place!’, saith the voice. ‘Do not put the
corpse of the sinner on me a holy pious person!’.
‘(Be it) between me and God, I will put (it)’, say I, ‘in my excessive haughtiness’.
‘Even so’, saith he. ‘If you put it on me’, saith the holy man, ‘thou
shalt perish on the third day hence, and thou shalt be an inhabitant of hell and the corpse will not remain here’.
Said I to the ancient man: ‘What good wilt thou bestow me if I shall not bury the man above you?’
‘To abide in eternal life along with God’, saith he.
‘How’, say I, ‘shall I know that?’.
‘That
is neither hard nor for thee’, saith he. ‘The grave thou art digging
will now become full of sand’. Thence, wilt not be able to but will be
manifest to thee that thou art the man above me, (even) though thou
buriest me’.
That word was not ended when. the grave became full
of the sand. So thereafter I buried the corpse in another. Now at a
certain time set a new boat with tanned hide on the sea. I went on
board my boat, and I was glad. So I looked around me: and I left in my
house nothing from small to great, that was not brought by me, with my
vats and wise lets and with my dishes while I was in that looking. at
the sea, and the sea was calm for me great winds’ come upon me, and
draw me into the main, so that I saw neither land nor soil. Here my
boat became still, and thereafter it stirred not from one stead. As I
looked round me on every side, I beheld on my right hand the man
sitting upon. the wave. ‘
Then he said to me ‘Whither goest thou’
saith he. ‘Pleasant to me say, ‘is the direction in which I am gazing
over the sea now’ It would not be pleasant to thee, if thou keepest the
band that surrounds thee. What may this band be?
’ say I. Saith he
to me: ‘So far as thy sight. reaches over sea and up to the clouds is
one, crowd of demons all around thee, because of thy covetousness and
thy pride and haughtiness, and because of thy theft and thin other evil
deeds. Knowest thou’, saith he, ‘why thy boat stops?’ ‘Verily, I know
not’
. ‘Thy boat shall not go out of the place wherein it stand
until thou do my will. ‘Mayhap I shall not endure it’, say I. ‘Then
thou wilt endure the pains of helplessness til you endure my will’. He
came me towards me then, and lays his hand on me; and duly promised to
do his will. ‘Fling’ said he, ‘into the sea all the wealth that thou
hast in the boat’. ‘It is a pity’, say I, ‘that it should go to loss’.
It shall in no wise go to loss. There will be one whom thou wilt
profit. (Then) I fling every thing into the sea, save a little cup. Go
now saith he to me, and forth the, stead in which thy boat will pause
stay therein And then he gave. me for. provision a cup of whey-water
and seven cakes. So I went’, saith the ancient man, ‘in the directions
that my boat and the wind carried me: for I had platform oars and my
rudder. As I was there then, a tossing among, the waves, I am cast upon
this rock, and then I doubted whether the boat had stopt, for I saw
neither land nor soil here. And I remembered what had been said,
namely, to sit in the’ sea where my boat should stop. So I stood up and
saw a little crag, against which the wave beat.
Then I set my
foot, on that little crag, and my boat escapes from me and the crag I
lifted me up, and the waves withdrew. Seven years am I here’, saith he
‘(living) on the seven cakes and on the cup of whey-water which was
given me by the man who sent me from him. And I had no (provision) save
only my, cup of whey-water. This still remained there. After that I was
in a three days fast’, saith he. ‘Now after my three days, at the hour
of none, an otter brought me a salmon out of the sea. I pondered in my
mind that it was not possible for me to eat a raw salmon. I threw it
again into the sea’, saith he, ‘and I was fasting for another space of
three days. At the third none, then, I saw an otter bring the salmon to
me again out of the sea, and another otter brought flaming firewood,
and set it down, and blew with his breath, so that the fire blazed
thereout. So I cooked the salmon, and for seven other years I lived in
that wise. And every day’, saith he, ‘a salmon used to come to me, with
its fire, and the crag increaseth so that (now) it is large. And on
that day seven years my salmon is not given me: (so) I remained I am
(fasting) for another space of three days. At the third none of the
three days there half a cake of wheat, and a piece of fish were cast
up. Then my cup of whey-water escapes from. me and came to me a cup of
the same size filled with good liquor which is on the crag here and it
is full every day. And neither wind, nor wet, nor heat, nor cold
affects me this place. Those are my narratives saith the ancient man..
Now when the. hour of none arrived, half a cake and a piece of fish
come to each of them all, and in the cup which stood before the cleric
on the rock was, found their fill of good liquor. Thereafter said the
ancient
man to them Ye will all reach your country, and the man a
that slew thy father, O Máel Dúin, you will find him in a fortress
before you. And slay him not, but forgive him because God hath saved
you from manifold great perils, and ye too are men deserving of death
Then they bade farewell to the ancient man and went on their accustomed
way.
XXXIV
Now after
they had gone thence they come to an island with abundant cattle, and
with oxen and kine and sheep. ‘There were no houses nor forts therein,
and so they eat the flesh of the sheep. Then said some of them seeing a
large falcon there: ‘The falcon is like the falcons of Ireland!’ That
is true indeed
’, say some of the others. ‘Watch it’ saith Máel
Dúin, and see how the bird will go from us. They saw that it flew from
them to the southeast. So they rowed after the bird, in the direction
in which it had gone from them. They rowed that day till vespers. At
nightfall they sight land like the land of Ireland. They row towards
it. They find a small island and it was from this very island that the
wind had borne them into the ocean when the first went to sea.
Then
they put their prow on shore, and they went toward the fortress that
was in the island, and they were listening, and the inhabitants of the
fortress were then dining.
They heard some of them saying: ‘It is
well for us if we should not see Máel Dúin ‘That Máel Dúin has been
drowned’, saith another man of them. ‘Mayhap it is he who will wake you
out of your sleep’, saith another man.
‘If he should come now’, saith another, ‘what should we do?’
That
were not hard (to say) saith the chief of the house: ‘great welcome to
him if he should come, for he hath been for a long space in much
tribulation’
.
Thereat Máel Dúin strikes the clapper against the door valve. ‘Who is there?’, saith the doorkeeper.
‘Máel Dúin is here’, saith he himself. ‘Then open!’ saith the chief, ‘welcome is thy coming’.
So
they entered the house, and great welcome is made to them, and new
garments are given them. Then they, declare all the marvels which God
had revealed to them according to the word of the sacred poet who saith
Haec olim meminisse iuuabit. Máel Dúin (then) went to his own district,
and Diurán the Rhymer
took, the five half-ounces (of silver) which
brought from the net, and laid them on the altar of Armagh in triumph
and in exultation at the miracles and great marvel which God had
wrought for them. And they declared their adventures from beginning to
end, and all the dangers and perils they had found on sea and land..
Now Aed the Fair, chief sage of Ireland, arranged this story as it
standeth here; and he did (so), for delighting the mind and for the
folks of Ireland after him.
The End **************************************************
Translator: Whitley Stokes
Published: Revue Celtique 9, 1888, 447-495; 10, 1889, 50-95.
Date of Translation: 1888-9 | | | | | | | | A Bee Bg |
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