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myths and legends of the celtic race
Chapter 7: The Voyage of Maldun
BESIDES the legends which cluster round great heroic names,
and have, or at least pretend to have, the character of history,
there are many others, great and small, which tell of adventures
lying purely in regions of romance) and out of earthly space and
time. As a specimen of these I give here a summary of the "Voyage of
Maeldun," a most curious and brilliant piece of invention, which is
found in the manuscript entitled the "Book of the Dun Cow" (about
1100) and other early sources, and edited, with a translation (to
which I owe the following extracts), by Dr. Whitley Stokes in the "
Revue Celtique" for 1888 and 1889. It is only one of a number of
such wonder-voyages found in ancient Irish literature, but it is
believed to have been the earliest of them all and model for the
rest, and it has had the distinction, in the abridged and modified
form given by Joyce in his "Old Celtic Romances," of having
furnished the theme for the "Voyage of Maeldune ' to Tennyson, who
made it into a wonderful creation of rhythm and colour, embodying a
kind of allegory of Irish history. It will be noticed at the end
that we are in the unusual position of knowing the name of the
author of this piece of primitive literature, though he does not
claim to have composed, but only to have "put in order," the
incidents of the "Voyage." Unfortunately we cannot tell when he
lived, but the tale as we have it probably dates from the ninth
century. Its atmosphere is entirely Christian, and it has no
mythological significance except in so far as it teaches the lesson
that the oracular injunctions of wizards should be obeyed. No
adventure or even detail, of importance is omitted in
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the following summary of the story, which is given thus fully
because the reader may take it as representing a large and important
section of Irish legendary romance. Apart from the source to which I
am indebted, the "Revue Celtique," I know no other faithful
reproduction in English of this wonderful tale.
The "Voyage of Maeldun" begins, as Irish tales often do, by
telling us of the conception of its hero.
There was a famous man of the sept of the Owens of Aran, named
Ailill Edge-of-Battle, who went with his king on a foray into
another territory. They encamped one night near a church and convent
of nuns. At midnight Ailill, who was near the church, saw a certain
nun come out to strike the bell for nocturns, and caught her by the
hand. In ancient Ireland religious persons were not much respected
in time of war, and Ailill did not respect her. When they parted,
she said to him: "Whence is thy race, and what is thy name ?" Said
the hero : "Ailill of the Edge-of~Battle's my name, and I am of the
Owenacht of Aaan, in Thomond."
Not long afterwards Ailill was slain by reavers from Leix; who
burned the church of Doocloone over his head.
In due time a son was born to the woman and she called his name
Maeldun. He was taken secretly to her friend, the queen of the
territory, and by her Maeldun was reared. "Beautiful indeed was his
form, and it is doubtful if there hath been in flesh any one so
beautiful as he. So he grew up till he was a young warrior and fit
to use weapons. Great, then was his brightness and his gaiety and
his playfulness. In his play he outwent all his comrades in throwing
balls, and in runnig and leaping and putting stones and racing
horses."
One day a proud young warrior who had been
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defeated by him taunted him with his lack of knowledge of his
kindred and descent. Maeldun went to his foster-mother, the queen,
and said : "I will not eat nor drink till thou tell me who are my
mother and my father." "I am thy mother," said the queen, "for none
ever loved her son more than I love thee." But Maeldun insisted on
knowing all, and the queen at last took him to his own mother, the
nun, who told him: "Thy father was Ailill of the Owens of Aran."
Then Maeldun went to his own kindred, and was well received by them
; and with him he took as guests his three beloved foster-brothers,
sons of the king and queen who had brought him up.
After a time Maeldun happened to be among a company of young
warriors who were contending at putting the stone in the graveyard
of the ruined church of Doocloone. Maeldun's foot was planted, as he
heaved the stone, on a scorched and blackened flagstone; and one who
was by, a monk named Briccne, [here we have evidently a reminiscence
of Briccriu of the Poisoned Tongue, the mischief-maker of the
Ultonians] said to him : "It were better for thee to avenge the man
who was burnt there than to cast stones over his burnt bones."
"Who was that?" asked Maeldun.
"Ailill, thy father," they told him.
"Who slew him?" said he.
"Reavers from Leix," they said, "and they destroyed him on this
spot."
Then Maeldun threw down the stone he was about to cast, and put
his mantle round him and went home; and he asked the way to Leix.
They told him he could only go there by sea. [the Arans are three
islands at the entrance of Galway Bay. They are a perfect museum of
mysterious ruins,]
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At the advice of a Druid he then built him a boat, or coracle, of
skins lapped threefold one over the other; and the wizard also told
him that seventeen men only must accompany him, and on what day he
must begin the boat and on what day he must put out to sea.
So when his company was ready he put out and hoisted the sail,
but had gone only a little way when his three foster-brothers came
down to the beach and entreated him to take them. "Get you home,"
said Maeldun, "for none but the number I have may go with me." But
the three youths would not be separated from Maeldun, and they flung
themselves into the sea. He turned back, lest they should be
drowned, and brought them into his boat. All, as we shall see, were
punished for this transgression, and Maeldun condemned to wandering
until expiation had been made.
Irish bardic tales excel in their openings. In this case, as
usual, the mise-en-scène is admirably contrived. The
narrative which follows tells how, after seeing his father's slayer
on an island, but being unable to land there, Maeldun and his party
are blown out to sea, where they visit a great number of islands and
have many strange adventures on them. The tale becomes, in fact, a
cento of stories and incidents, some not very interesting,
while in others, as in the adventure of the Island of the Silver
Pillar, or the Island of the Flaming Rampart, or that where the
episode of the eagle takes place, the Celtic sense of beauty,
romance, and mystery find an expression unsurpassed, perhaps, in
literature.
In the following rendering I have omitted the verses given by
Joyce at the end of each adventure. They merely recapitulate the
prose narrative, and are not found in the earliest manuscript
authorities.
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The Island of the Slayer
Maeldun and his crew had rowed all day and half the night
when they came to two small bare islands with two forts in them, and
a noise was heard from them of armed men quarrelling. "Stand off
from me, cried one of them, "for I am a better man than thou. 'Twas
I slew Ailill of the Edge-of-Battle and burned the church of
Doocloone over him, and no kinsman has avenged his death on me. And
thou hast never done the like of that."
Then Maeldun was about to land, and German [pronounced "Ghermawn
" - the "G" hard] and Diuran the Rhymer cried that God had guided
them to the spot where they would be. But a great wind arose
suddenly and blew them off into the boundless ocean, and Maeldun
said to his foster-brothers : "Ye have caused this to be, casting
yourselves on board in spite of the words of the Druid." And they
had no answer, save only to be silent for a little space.
The Island of the Ants
They drifted three days and three nights, not knowing whither to
row, when at the dawn of the third day they heard the noise of
breakers, and came to an island as soon as the sun was up. Here, ere
they could land, they met a swarm of ferocious ants, each the size
of a foal, that came down the strand and into the sea to get at them
; so they made off quickly, and saw no land for three days more.
The Island of the Great Birds
This was a terraced island, with trees all round it, and great
birds sitting on the trees. Maeldun landed first alone, and care
fully searched the island for any
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evil thing, but finding none, the rest followed him, and killed
and ate many of the birds, bringing others on board their boat.
The Island of the Fierce Beast
A great sandy island was this, and on it a beast like a horse,
but with clawed feet like a hound's. He flew at them to devour them,
but they put off in time, and were pelted by the beast with pebbles
from the shore as they rowed away.
The Island of the Giant Horses
A great, flat island, which it fell by lot to German and Diuran
to explore first. They found a vast green racecourse, on which were
the marks of horses' hoofs, each as big as the sail of a ship, and
the shells of nuts of monstrous size were lying about, and much
plunder. So they were afraid, and took ship hastily again, and from
the sea they saw a horse-race in progress and heard the shouting of
a great multitude cheering on the white horse or the brown, and saw
the giant horses running swifter than the wind. [Horse-racing was
a particular delight to the ancient Irish, and ii mentioned
in a ninth-century poem in praise of May as one of the attractions
of that month. The name of the month of May given in an ancient
Gaulish calendar means "the month of horse-racing."] So they rowed
away with all their might, thinking they had come upon an assembly
of demons.
The Island of the Stone Door
A full week passed, and then they found a great, high island with
a house standing on the shore. A door with a valve of stone opened
into the sea, and through it the sea-waves kept hurling salmon into
the house. Maeldun and his party entered, and found the house
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empty of folk, but a great bed lay ready for the chief to
whom it belonged, and a bed for each three of his company, and meat
and drink beside each bed. Maeldun and his party ate and drank their
fill, and then sailed off again.
The Island of the Apples
By the time they had come here they had been a long time
voyaging, and food had failed them, and they were hungry. This
island had precipitous sides from which a wood hung down, and as
they passed along the cliffs Maeldun broke off a twig and held it in
his hand. Three days and nights they coasted the cliff and found no
entrance to the island, but by that time a cluster of three apples
had grown on the end of Maeldun's rod, and each apple sufficed the
crew for forty days.
The Island of the Wondrous Beast
This island had a fence of stone round it, and within the fence a
huge beast that raced round and round the island. And anon it went
to the top of the island, and then performed a marvellous feat,
viz., it turned its body round and round inside its skin, the skin
remaining unmoved, while again it would revolve its skin round and
round the body. When it saw the party it rushed at them, but they
escaped, pelted with stones as they rowed away. One of the stones
pierced through Maeldun': shield and lodged in the keel of the
boat.
The Island of the Biting Horses
Here were many great beasts resembling horses, that tore
continually pieces of flesh from each other's sides, So that all the
island ran with blood. They rowed hastily away, and were now
disheartened and full of
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complaints, for they knew not where they were, nor how to find
guidance or aid in their quest.
The Island of the Fiery Swine
With great weariness, hunger, and thirst they arrived at the
tenth island, which was full of trees loaded with golden apples.
Under the trees went red beasts, like fiery swine, that kicked the
trees with their legs, when the apples fell and the beasts consumed
them. The beasts came out at morning only, when a multitude of birds
left the island, and swam out to sea till nones, when they turned
and swam inward again till vespers, and ate the apples all
night.
Maeldun and his comrades landed at night, and felt the soil hot
under their feet from the fiery swine in their caverns underground.
They collected all the apples they could, which were good both
against hunger and thirst, and loaded their boat with them and put
to sea once more, refreshed.
The Island of the Little Cat
The apples had failed them when they came hungry and thirsting to
the eleventh island. This was, as it were, a tall white tower of
chalk reaching up to the clouds, and on the rampart about it were
great houses white as snow. They entered the largest of them, and
found no man in it, but a small cat playing on four stone pillars
which were in the midst of the house, leaping from one to the other.
It looked a little on the Irish warriors, but did not cease from its
play. On the walls of the houses there were three rows of objects
hanging up one row of brooches of gold and silver, and one of'
neck-torques of gold and silver, each as big as the hoop of a cask,
and one of great swords with gold and silver hilts. Quilts and
shining garments lay in the
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room, and there, also, were a roasted ox and a flitch of bacon
and abundance of liquor. "Hath this been left for us?" said Maeldun
to the cat. It looked at him a moment, and then continued its play.
So there they ate and drank and slept, and stored up what remained
of the food. Next day, as they made to leave the house, the youngest
of Maeldun's foster-brothers took a necklace from the wall, and was
bearing it out when the cat suddenly "leaped through him like a
fiery arrow," and he fell, a heap of ashes, on the floor. Thereupon
Maeldun, who had forbidden the theft of the jewel, soothed the cat
and replaced the necklace, and they strewed the ashes of the dead
youth on the sea-shore, and put to sea again.
The Island of the Black and the White Sheep
This had a brazen palisade dividing it in two, and a flock of
black sheep on one side and of white sheep on the other. Between
them was a big man who tended the flocks, and sometimes he put a
white sheep among the black, when it became black at once, or a
black sheep among the white, when it immediately turned white. [the
same phenomenon is recorded as being witnessed by Peredur in the
Welsh tale of that name in the "Mabinogion,"] By way of an
experiment Maeldun flung a peeled white wand on the side of the
black sheep. It at once turned black, whereat they left the place in
terror, and without landing.
The Island of the Giant Cattle
A great and wide island with a herd of huge swine on it. They
killed a small pig and roasted it on the spot, as it was too great
to carry on board. The island rose up into a very high mountain, and
Diuran and German went to view the country from the top of it.
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On their way they met a broad river. To try the depth of the
water German dipped in the haft of his spear, which at once was
consumed as with liquid fire. On the other bank was a huge man
guarding what seemed a herd of oxen. He called to them not to
disturb the calves, so they went no further and speedily sailed
away.
The Island of the Mill
Here they found a great and grim-looking mill, and a giant miller
grinding corn in it. "Half the corn of your country, he said, "is
ground here. Here comes to be ground all that men begrudge to each
other." Heavy and many were the loads they saw going to it, and all
that was ground in it was carried away west wards. So they crossed
themselves and sailed away.
The Island of the Black Mourners
An island full of black people continually weeping and lamenting.
One of the two remaining foster-brothers landed on it, and
immediately turned black and fell to weeping like the rest. Two
others went to fetch him; the same fate befell them. Four others
then went with their heads wrapped in cloths, that they should not
look on the land or breathe the air of the place, and they seized
two of the lost ones and brought them away perforce, but not the
foster-brother. The two rescued ones could not explain their conduct
except by saying that they had to do as they saw others doing about
them.
The Island of the Four Fences
Four fences of gold, silver, brass, and crystal divided this
island into our parts, kings in one, queens in another, warriors in
a third, maidens in the fourth.
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On landing, a maiden gave them food like cheese, that tasted to
each man as he wished it to be, and an Intoxicating liquor that put
them asleep for three days. When they awoke they were at sea in
their boat, and of the island and its inhabitants nothing was to be
seen.
The Island of the Glass Bridge
Here we come to one of the most elaborately wrought and
picturesque of all the incidents of the voyage. The island they now
reached had on it a fortress with a brazen door, and a bridge of
glass leading to it. When they sought to cross the bridge it threw
them backward. [like the bridge to Skatha's dūn, p. 188] A woman
came out of the fortress with a pail in her hand, and lifting from
the bridge a slab of glass she let down her pail into the water
beneath, and returned to the fortress. They struck on the brazen
portcullis before them to gain admittance, but the melody given
forth by the smitten metal plunged them in slumber till the morrow
morn. Thrice over this happened, the woman each time making an
ironical speech about Maeldun. On the fourth day, however, she came
out to them over the bridge, wearing a white mantle with a circlet
of gold on her hair, two silver sandals on her rosy feet, and a
filmy silken smock next her skin.
"My welcome to thee, O Maeldun," she said, and she welcomed each
man of the crew by his own name. Then she took them into the great
house and allotted a couch to the chief, and one for each three of
his men. She gave them abundance of food and drink, all out of her
one pail, each man finding in it what he most desired. When she had
departed they asked Maeldun if they should woo the maiden for him.
"How would
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it hurt you to speak with her?" says Maeldun. They do so, and she
replies: "I know not, nor have ever known, what sin is. Twice over
this is repeated. "To-morrow," she says at last, "you shall have
your answer." When the morning breaks, however, they find themselves
once more at sea, with no sign of the island or fortress or
lady.
The Island of the Shouting Birds
They hear from afar a great cry and chanting, as it were a
singing of psalms, and rowing for a day and night they come at last
to an island full of birds, black, brown, and speckled, all shouting
and speaking. They sail away without landing.
The Island of the Anchorite
Here they found a wooded island full of birds, and on it a
solitary man, whose only clothing was his hair. They asked him of
his country and kin. He tells them that he was a man of Ireland who
had put to sea [probably we are to understand that he was an
anchorite seeking for an islet on which to dwell in solitude and
contemplation. The western islands of Ireland abound in the ruins of
hut, and oratories built by single monks or little communities.]
with a sod of his native country under his feet. God had turned the
sod into an island, adding a foot's breadth to it and one tree for
every year. The birds are his kith and kin, and they all wait there
till Doomsday, miraculously nourished by angels. He entertained them
for three nights, and then they sailed away.
The Island of the Miraculous Fountain
This island had a golden rampart, and a soft white soil like
down. In it they found another anchorite clothed only in his hair.
There was a fountain in it
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which yields whey or water on Fridays and Wednesdays, milk on
Sundays and feasts of martyrs, and ale and wine on the feasts of
Apostles, of Mary, of John the Baptist, and on the high tides of the
year.
The Island of the Smithy
As they approached this they heard from afar as it were the
clanging of a tremendous smithy, and heard men talking of
themselves. " Little boys they seem, said one, "in a little trough
yonder." They rowed hastily away, but did not turn their boat, so as
not to seem to be flying ; but after a while a giant smith came out
of the forge holding in his tongs a huge mass of glowing iron, which
he cast after them, and all the sea boiled round it, as it fell
astern of their boat.
The Sea of Clear Glass
After that they voyaged until they entered a sea that resembled
green glass. Such was its purity that the gravel and the sand of the
sea were clearly visible through it; and they saw no monsters or
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. [Tennyson has been
particularly happy in his description of these undersea islands]
The Undersea Island
They next found themselves in a sea, thin like mist, that seemed
as if it would not support their boat. In the depths they saw roofed
fortresses, and a fair land around them. A monstrous beast lodged in
a tree there, with droves of cattle about it, and beneath it an
armed warrior. In spite of the warrior, the beast ever and
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anon stretched down a long neck and seized one of the cattle and
devoured it. Much dreading lest they should sink through that
mist-like sea, they sailed over it and away.
The Island of the Prophecy
When they arrived here they found the water rising in high cliffs
round the island, and, looking down, saw on it a crowd of people,
who screamed at them, " It is they, it is they," till they were out
of breath. Then came a woman and pelted them from below with large
nuts, which they gathered and took with them. As they went they
heard the folk crying to each other:
"Where are they now?" "They are gone away. "They are not." " It
is likely," says the tale, "that there was some one concerning whom
the islanders had a prophecy that he would ruin their country and
expel them from their land."
The Island of the Spouting Waters
Here a great stream spouted out of one side of the island and
arched over it like a rainbow, falling on the strand at the further
side. And when they thrust their spears into the stream above them
they brought out salmon from it as much as they could and the island
was filled with the stench of those they could not carry away.
The Island of the Silvern Column
The next wonder to which they came forms one of the most striking
and imaginative episodes of the voyage. It was a great silvern
column, four-square, rising from the sea. Each of its four sides was
as wide as two oar-strokes of the boat. Not a sod of earth was at
its foot, but it rose from the boundless
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ocean and its summit was lost in the sky. From that summit a huge
silver net was flung far away into the sea, and through a mesh of
that net they sailed. As they did so Diuran hacked away a piece of
the net.
"Destroy it not," said Maeldun, "for what we see is the work of
mighty men. Diuran said: "For the praise of God's name I do this,
that our tale may be believed, and if I reach Ireland again this
piece of silver shall be offered by me on the high altar of Armagh."
Two ounces and a half it weighed when it was measured afterwards in
Armagh.
"And then they heard a voice from the summit of yonder pillar,
mighty, clear, and distinct. But they knew not the tongue it spake,
or the words it uttered."
The Island of the Pedestal
The next island stood on a foot, or pedestal, which rose from the
sea, and they could find no way of access to it. In the base of the
pedestal was a door, closed and locked, which they could not open,
so they sailed away, having seen and spoken with no one.
The Island of the Women
Here they found the rampart of a mighty dūn, enclosing a mansion.
They landed to look on it, and sat on a hillock near by. Within the
dūn they saw seventeen maidens busy at preparing a great bath. In a
little while a rider, richly clad, came up swiftly on a racehorse,
and lighted down and went inside, one of the girls taking the horse.
The rider then went into the bath, when they saw that it was a
woman. Shortly after that one of the maidens came out and invited
them to enter, saying: "The Queen invites you. They went into the
fort and bathed, and then sat down to meat, each man with a maiden
over against him, and
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Maeldun opposite to the queen. And Maeldun was wedded to the
queen, and each of the maidens to one of his men, and at nightfall
canopied chambers were allotted to each of them. On the morrow morn
they made ready to depart, but the queen would not have them go, and
said: "Stay here, and old age will never fall on you, but ye shall
remain as ye are now for ever and ever, and what ye had last night
ye shall have always. And be no longer a-wandering from island to
island on the ocean."
She then told Maeldun that she was the mother of the seventeen
girls they had seen, and her husband had been king of the island. He
was now dead, and she reigned in his place. Each day she went into
the great plain in the interior of the island to judge the folk, and
returned to the dūn at night.
So they remained there for three months of winter; but at the end
of that time it seemed they had been there three years, and the men
wearied of it, and longed to set forth for their own country.
"What shall we find there," said Maeldun, "that is better than
this?"
But still the people murmured and complained, and at last they
said: "Great is the love which Maeldun has for his woman. Let him
stay with her alone if he will, but we will go to our own country."
But Maeldnn would not be left after them, and at last one day, when
the queen was away judging the folk, they went on board their bark
and put out to sea. Before they had gone far, however, the queen
came riding up with a clew of twine in her hand, and she flung it
after them. Maeldun caught it in his hand, and it clung to his hand
so that he could not free himself and the queen, holding the other
end, drew them back to land. And they stayed on the island another
three months.
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Twice again the same thing happened, and at last the
people averred that Maeldun held the clew on purpose, so great was
his love for the woman. So the next time another man caught the
clew, but it clung to his hand as before; so Diuran smote 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,
wailing and shrieking." And thus they escaped from the Island of the
Women.
The Island of the Red Berries
On this island were trees with great red berries which yielded an
intoxicating and slumbrous juice. They mingled it with water to
moderate its power, and filled their casks with it, and sailed
away.
The Island of the Eagle
A large island, with woods of oak and yew on one side of it, and
on the other a plain, whereon were herds of sheep, and a little lake
in it ; and there also they found a small church and a fort, and an
ancient grey cleric, clad only in his hair. Maeldun asked him who he
was.
"I am the fifteenth man of the monks of St. Brennan of Birr," he
said. "We went on our pilgrimage into the ocean, and they have all
died save me alone.' He showed them the tablet (?calendar) of the
Holy Brennan, and they prostrated themselves before it, and Maeldun
kissed it. They stayed there for a season, feeding on the sheep of
the island.
One day they saw what seemed to be a cloud coming up from the
south-west. As it drew near, however, they saw the waving of
pinions, and perceived that it was an enormous bird. It came into
the island, and, alighting very wearily on a hill near the lake, it
began
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eating the red berries, like grapes, which grew on a huge
tree-branch as big as a full-grown oak, that it had brought with it,
and the juice and fragments of the berries fell into the lake,
reddening all the water. Fearful that it would seize them in its
talons and bear them out to sea, they lay hid in the woods and
watched it. After a while, however, Maeldun went out to the foot
of the hill, but the bird did him no harm, and then the rest
followed cautiously behind their shields, and one of them gathered
the berries off the branch which the bird held in its talons, but it
did them no evil, and regarded them not at all. And they saw that it
was very old, and its plumage dull and decayed.
At the hour of noon two eagles came up from the south-west and
alit in front of the great bird, and after resting awhile they set
to work picking off the insects that infested its jaws and eyes and
ears. This they continued till vespers, when all three ate of the
berries again. At last, on the following day, when the great bird
had been completely cleansed, it plunged into the lake, and again
the two eagles picked and cleansed it. Till the third day the great
bird remained preening and shaking its pinions, and its feathers
became glossy and abundant, and then, soaring upwards, it flew
thrice round the island, and away to the quarter whence it had come,
and its flight was now swift and strong; whence it was manifest to
them that this had been its renewal from old age to youth, according
as the prophet said, Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
[Ps. Ciii, 5]
Then Diuran said : "Let us bathe in that lake and renew ourselves
where the bird hath been renewed." "Nay," said another, "for the
bird hath left his venom in it." But Diuran plunged in and drank of
the water. From that time so long as he lived his eyes were
strong
[326]
and keen, and not a tooth fell from his jaw nor a hair from his
head, and he never knew illness or infirmity.
Thereafter they bade farewell to the anchorite, and fared forth
on the ocean once more.
The Island of the Laughing Folk
Here they found a great company of men laughing and playing
incessantly. They drew lots as to who should enter and explore it,
and it fell to Maeldun's foster-brother. But when he set foot on it
he at once began to laugh and play with the others, and could not
leave off; nor would he come back to his comrades. So they left him
and sailed away. [this disposes of the last of the foster-brothers,
who should not have joined the party.]
The Island of the Flaming Rampart
They now came in sight of an island which was not large, and it
had about it a rampart of flame that circled round and round it
continually. In one part of the rampart there was an opening, and
when this opening came opposite to them they saw through it the
whole island, and saw those who dwelt therein, even men and women,
beautiful, many, and wearing adorned garments, with vessels of gold
in their hands. And the festal music which they made came to the
ears of the wanderers. For a long time they lingered there, watching
this marvel, "and they deemed it delightful to behold."
The Island of the Monk of Tory
Far off among the waves they saw what they took to be a white
bird on the water. Drawing near to it they found it to be an aged
man clad only in the white hair
[327]
of his body, and he was throwing himself in prostrations on a
broad rock.
"From Torach [Tory Island, off the Donegal coast. There was there
a monastery and a church dedicated to St. Columba] have come
hither," he said, "and there I was reared. I was cook in the
monastery there, and the food of the Church I used to sell for
myself, so that I had at last much treasure of raiment and brazen
vessels and gold-bound books and all that man desires. Great was my
pride and arrogance.
"One day as I dug a grave in which to bury a churl who had been
brought on to the island, a voice came from below where a holy man
lay buried, and he said: 'Put not the corpse of a sinner on me, a
holy, pious person !' "
After a dispute the monk buried the corpse elsewhere, and was
promised an eternal reward for doing so. Not long thereafter he put
to sea in a boat with all his accumulated treasures, meaning
apparently to escape from the island with his plunder. A great wind
blew him far out to sea, and when he was out of sight of land the
boat stood still in one place. He saw near him a man (angel) sitting
on the wave. "Whither goest thou?" said the man. "On a pleasant way,
whither I am now looking," said the monk. "It would not be pleasant
to thee if thou knewest what is around thee," said the man. " So far
as eye can see there is one crowd of demons all gathered around
thee, because of thy covetousness and pride, and theft, and other
evil deeds. Thy boat hath stopped, nor will it move until thou do my
will, and the fires of hell shall get hold of thee."
He came near to the boat, and laid his hand on the arm of the
fugitive, who promised to do his will.
"Fling into the sea," he said, "all the wealth that is in thy
boat."
[328]
" It is a pity," said the monk, " that it should go to loss."
"It shall in nowise go to loss. There will be one man whom thou
wilt profit."
The monk thereupon flung everything into the sea save one little
wooden cup, and he cast away oars and rudder. The man gave him a
provision of whey and seven cakes, and bade him abide wherever his
boat should stop. The wind and waves carried him hither and thither
till at last the boat came to rest upon the rock where the wanderers
found him. There was nothing there but the bare rock, but
remembering what he was bidden he stepped out upon a little ledge
over which the waves washed, and the boat immediately left him, and
the rock was enlarged for him. There he remained seven years,
nourished by otters which brought him salmon out of the sea, and
even flaming firewood on which to cook them, and his cup was filled
with good liquor every day. "And neither wet nor heat nor cold
affects me in this place."
At the noon hour miraculous nourishment was brought for the whole
crew, and thereafter the ancient man said to them :
"Ye will all reach your country, and the man that slew thy
father, O Maeldun, ye 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 him farewell and went on their accustomed way.
The Island of the Falcon
This is uninhabited save for herds of sheep and oxen. They land
on it and eat their fill, and one of them sees there a large falcon.
"This falcon," he says, " is
[329]
like the falcons of Ireland." "Watch it," says Maddun, "and see
how it will go from us." It flew off to the south-east, and they
rowed after it all day till vespers.
The Home-corning
At nightfall they sighted a land like Ireland ; and soon came to
a small island, where they ran their prow ashore. It was the island
where dwelt the man who had slain Ailill.
They went up to the dūn that was on the island, and heard men
talking within it as they sat at meat. One man said :
"It would be ill for us if we saw Maeldun now."
"That Maeldun has been drowned," said another.
"Maybe it is he who shall waken you from sleep to-night," said a
third.
"If he should come now," said a fourth, "what should we do?"
"Not hard to answer that," said the chief of them.
"Great welcome should he have if he were to come, for he hath
been a long space in great tribulation."
Then Maeldun smote with the wooden clapper against the door. "Who
is there?" asked the door-keeper.
" Maeldun is here," said he.
They entered the house in peace, and great welcome was made for
them, and they were arrayed in new garments. And then they told the
story of all the marvels that God had shown them, according to the
words of the "sacred poet," who said, Haec olim meminisse
juvabit. ["One day we shall delight in the remembrance of these
things." The quotation is from Vergil, " Aen." i 203 "Sacred poet"
is a translation of the vates sacer, of Horace.]
[330]
Then Maeldun went to his own home and kindred, and Diuran the
Rhymer took with him the piece of silver that he had hewn from the
net of the pillar, and laid it on the high altar of Armagh in
triumph and exultation at the miracles that God had wrought for
them. And they told again the story of all that had befallen them,
and all the marvels they had seen by sea and land) and the perils
they had endured.
The story ends with the following words :
"Now Aed the Fair [Aed Finn [This sage and poet has nor been
identified from any other record. Praise and thanks to him, whoever
he may have been.]], chief sage of Ireland, arranged this story as
it standeth here ; and he did so for a delight to the mind, and for
the folks of Ireland after him."
[331]
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THE CELTS