#the tain

[gay-laeg]

Despite having so many fathers, Cu chulainn is still unsupervised at all times

[denndrawings]

Finished reading The Táin, bon appetit.

As always credits to @sissiarte for the design muack 💙

[soni-dragon]

Reading Beowulf and then The Táin back to back for my myth class is giving me this vibe

[sissiarte]

Cú Chulainn went over to Láeg. “Put a blackberry beard on me. This warrior won’t fight unless I have a beard.” This was done for him.

So this is how this scene went, right?

[amylouioc]

Cú Chulainn, the nation’s babygirl

[pagan-stitches]

The Tain is an EP by The Decemberists released in 2004 by Acuarela Discos and in 2005 by Kill Rock Stars. The single 18-plus minute track, in five parts, is named after the Irish mythological epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, often simply called The Táin.

The Táin or less commonly as The Cattle Raid of Cooley, is an epic from Irish mythology. It is often called "the Irish Iliad", although like most other early Irish literature, the Táin is written in prosimetrum, i.e. prose with periodic additions of verse composed by the characters. The Táin tells of a war against Ulster by Queen Medb of Connacht and her husband King Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge.

Video directed by Andy Smetanka

Lyrics:

[part 1]

[Crone]

Here upon this pillow

Made of reed and willow

You're a fickle little twister

Are you sweet on your sister?

Your fallow won't leave you alone

And granted for their pleasure

Possessions laid to measure

She's a salty little pisser

With your cock in her kisser

But now she's a will of her own

[PART II]

[Husband]

Damn your ankles and eyes wide

From you fingernails to your ponytails too

King of the insects and the m-5

Over Charlemagne in a motorcade too

And baby needs a new prize

Baby needs a new and shiny prize

[Captain]

In this place called heavenly

You were born here

This place called heavenly

You were born here

You were born here

[Husband]

And now all the marchers descend from high

I will dedicate all of my awakenings to this

And damn all the angles that oppress my sight

I will bleed your heart through a samovar soon

Baby needs a new prize

Baby needs a new and shiny prize

[Captain]

In this place called heavenly

You were born here

This place called heavenly

You were born here

You were born here

You were born here

[PART III]

[Soldier]

They settled dust in your hair

To watch you shake and shout it out

With our armaments bared

We shed our bags and travel-alls

From the lee of the wall

He comes in the chang and chariot

And all his eunuchs in thrall

Can scarce lift his line and lariat

Here come loose the hounds

To blow me down

[Chorus Of Waifs]

Blow me down

[Soldier]

On this stretch of ground

I'll lay me down

[Chorus Of Waifs]

Lay me down

[Soldier]

To sleep

[Chaplain]

And now stricken with pangs

That tear at our backs like thistle down

The mirror's soft silver tain

Reflects our last and birthing hour

[Soldier]

Here come loose the hounds

To blow me down

[Chorus Of Waifs]

Blow me down

[Soldier]

On this stretch of ground

I'll lay me down

[Chorus Of Waifs]

Lay me down

[Soldier]

Here come loose the hounds

To blow me down

[Chorus Of Waifs]

Blow me down

[Soldier]

On this stretch of ground

I'll lay me down

[Chorus Of Waifs]

Lay me down

[Soldier]

To sleep

[PART IV]

[Widow]

O the wind is blowing, it hurts your skin

As you climb up hillside, forest and fen

Your arms full of lullabies, orchids and wine

Your memories wrapped within paper and twine

The room that you lie in is dusty and hard

Sleeping soft babies on piles of yards

Of gingham, taffeta, cotton and silk

Your dry hungry mouths cry for your mother's milk

When the dawn comes to greet you, you'll rise with clothes on

And advance with the others, singing old songs

Of cattle and maidens and withered old queens

Let the music carry you on

The room that you lie in is dusty and hard

Sleeping soft babies on piles of yards

Of gingham, taffeta, cotton and silk

Your dry hungry mouths cry for your mother's milk

[PART V]

[Woman]

Darling dear what have you done?

Your clothes are torn, your make-up runs

[Daughter]

I ran through brambles, blooming thistle

I washed my face in the river when you whistled me on

[Woman]

Darling dear, what have you done?

Your hands and face are smeared with blood

[Daughter]

The chaplain came and called me out

To beat and to butcher his mother's sow

[Woman]

But darling dear, they found him dead

This morning on the riverbed

But hush now darling, don't you cry

Your reward's in the sweet by-and-by

Hush now baby, don't you cry

Your reward's in the sweet by-and-by

[Crone]

And now we've seen your powers

Softly stretch the hours

You're a fickle little twister

Are you sweet on your sister?

As now you go wandering home

[cu-riogach]

The Boiling-Away of Young Cú Chulainn's Wrath

"He was placed in three vats of cold water to extinguish his wrath; and the first vat into which he was put burst its staves and its hoops like the cracking of nuts around him. The next vat into which he went boiled with bubbles as big as fists therefrom. The third vat into which he went, some men might endure it and others might not. Then the boy's wrath went down" (Dunn verses 77-79). An old sketch of the young Cú Chulainn sitting miserably in the boiling vat which drowned his wrath. One day I would like to produce a high-quality illustrated edition of the Táin Bó Cúailgne after the fashion of an Arthur Rackham gift-book. Rather an ambitious project.

[finnlongman]

An Táin Bot prompted some off-the-cuff TBC analysis just now, so I figured I'd paste the thread below so that it's backed up if Twitter disappears, and so youse can read it regardless of whether or not you're on the bird app. This is mostly exactly as it is on Twitter, except that I added the bit about O'Rahilly's translation, since I had space to do so:

'Daltán' is a diminutive of 'daltae': pupil, disciple, foster-child, ward, etc. So eDIL translates it as 'A little foster-child, a pupil; a term of endearment'. Why would Cú Chulainn use this term for Láeg, who is probably older than him?

Remember, this is the same recension of the Táin where Cú Chulainn repeatedly calls Láeg 'a phopa', a term of respect and endearment derived from 'father', usually used for an elder or a social superior.

(I talked about this a bit in my Oidheadh Con Culainn article.)

In this scene, Láeg has just described an Otherworldly being approaching them (Lug, in Recension 1, but he's not named in the Book of Leinster), and gone, "It's kinda weird, it's like nobody can see him even though he's walking straight past them."

Cú Chulainn responds with the line above -- essentially, "Yep, that would be because he's from the Otherworld." In O'Rahilly's translation, this is a little clearer as the meaning, I think: ‘That is true, my fosterling,’ said he. ‘That is one of my friends from the fairy mounds coming to commiserate with me.’ ('That is true' rather than 'In sooth' sounds both more like something an actual human would say, and also makes it clearer that he's agreeing with Láeg's understanding of events.)

So maybe the use of daltán is sarcastic, because he's pointing out something that seems obvious to him. Or it's genuine -- he's explaining something (Otherworld beings are only visible to the people they choose to show themselves to and/or you're a freak with the ability to see through their illusions, Láeg), so he's positioning himself as a teacher. Watch and learn, kid!

Dunno. Láeg's age is never confirmed, but he's almost certainly Cú Chulainn's elder, whether by a few months or by several years. That might be why Cú Chulainn calls him 'a phopa', possibly evoking an 'older brother' type fosterage relationship -- big bro Láeg.

(Again: I briefly discussed the evidence for considering Láeg to be Cú Chulainn's foster brother in my Oidheadh Con Culainn article, although I hope to write about that at more length some day. That's the article published in Quaestio Insularis, ftr.)

The use of 'a phopa' is still unusual, since it's usually used for a social superior, which Láeg certainly isn't. 'A daltán', in that regard, cleaves more to the expected hierarchies, but in the context of their wider relationship in this text, I feel it has to be sarcastic.

In fact, in Recension 1, Láeg takes on more of an advisory/teacher role himself, including giving legal advice to Cú Chulainn. I have an article about THAT coming eventually too, though it's still in peer review right now.

Regardless of the exact meaning or the vibes here, I think that it's definitely a term of endearment, as eDIL says. These two are always calling each other by nicknames and diminutives, and it's one of the reasons I find their relationship so interesting to explore.

This has been: off-the-cuff medieval Irish discussions with your host, Finn Longman. Tune in next time An Táin Bot shows up on my feed with a line that I have feelings about, for more unsolicited opinions.

[misneachsblr]

The Táin rebound as a hardback book

The Táin Bó Cuailgne (TBC) is an 8th Century Old Irish story. It is considered the closest thing in early Irish literature to a "national epic". It's central to the Ulster Cycle body of stories. The story centres on a war between the kingdoms of Connacht and Ulster over the Donn Cuailgne, a bull which seems to have magical or supernatural significance.

My old paperback copy was getting pretty worn from being read over and over! I decided to make a new hardback binding for it. Paperback books will never have the same lifespan as hardbacks unfortunately, but this should make the book last longer too. This edition is the famous Thomas Kinsella translation of 1969. I decided that it should be bound in red, white and black, as these appear several times in the text. This is most notable in the story of the Sons of Uisliu:

I copied the image on the cover from the original arrwork by Louis LeBrocquy. It depicts the Morrigan in crow form. She is a war goddess who manipulates other characters to her own ends throughout the story.

The title design on the spine is a bit abstract; the T and N are supposed to resemble bulls. This reflects one of the last episodes in the story, in which the Donn Cuailnge fights his Connacht counterpart, Findbennach.

The back cover contains a quote from the prophet Fedelm. She prophesies the outcome of the war to the Connacht queen Medb; needless to say, her prediction of disaster comes true. The quote is in both the original Old Irish and in English translation.

I also made homemade headbands and a ribbon bookmark.

[gay-laeg]

Cu Chúlainn is having a really bad day

Bonus (Conall’s Horse)

um

horses aren’t supposed to have a hounds head wth sharp teeth and ave the ability to kill people

[denndrawings]

*point at him* My son in law, Cú Chulainn. Be careful, he bites.

(shamelessly copied the design from @sissiarte that has this gorgeous visdev project going on and put all the work and research into it go take a look!! I just added an eyebrow slit because I just felt Iike it)

[deadgiants]

In contrast to the Hound; Candlelit Tales is doing an absolutely spectacular (so far, only a few episodes in) retelling of the Táin from multiple perspectives. I think the writing of these mythic figures is done really well without changing how the story is fundamentally built. I think it does a great job of presenting how a group of people, or an individual, not very dissimilar from how we are now, would behave in the situation. The multiple perspective for different parts of the story really lets them showcase a wide range of thoughts, feelings, and actions.

I don't remember who I saw on here mention it, but damn I'm glad I actually took the time to check it out.

[sissiarte]

Back at it with the Cú Chulainn/Ferdia agenda bc I'm reading The Hound of Ulster and my god... this happens like I didn't came up with it this is literally a scene in there my god...

[15pantheons]

Cú Chulainn: *falls down the stairs*  Ferdiad: Are you okay?  Emer: Stop falling down the stairs!  Morrigan: How’d the ground taste? 

[amylouioc]