Transcript

Nuair a chuaigh Fionn go Gleann an Smóil a sheilg casadh dó an eilit mhaol. Bhí taobh daoithe ar dhath an ghuail agus an taobh eile ba ghile ná an sneachta ar toinn, agus ba luaithe í ná an seabhac (ar coillidh). Chuaigh sí amach thar an chnoc agus thiontaigh sí agus mharbh sí an chonairt. Nuair ab fhada leo a bhí an chonairt... Fionn a bhí an chonairt ar shiúl, chuir sé an ordóg ina bhéal, chogain sé faoina dhéad go smior.

"Aoinneach dá(r) lean an eilit mhaol, ní phillfidh choíche ach Bran nár chaill ariamh buaidhe sealg'."

De ráit[1] na bhfocla tháinig sí i láthair, Bran, í sáraithe suaite fliuch. Shuigh sí síos i bhfianaisí Fhinn, a ghoil go binn, a scread go cruaidh.

"Ó, (is) cosúil, a choileáin," (is) a ráitigh[2] Fionn, "go bhfuil ár gcinn i gcontúirt chruaidh."

Ansin a tháinig an bhean ba séimhíocha[3] a bhí ag sileadh súl.

"Is maith a aithnim," arsa Fionn, "ar (dhath) do bhrat sróil gur tú a bhí romham inniu i nGleann an Smóil go daingean[4]. Fiosraim duid an maireann beo an gadhar (...) (d'fhoireann) ár gcon?"

"Ó, dar an láimh sin ort ar d'aist[5] aríst," arsa sise, "aoinneach dár lean an eilit mhaol ní phillfidh choíche ach Bran, "nár chaill ariamh buaidhe sealg'. Ní luaithe a rachainn ar toinn," arsa sise, "ná go scarfainn mur[6] gcoirp le mur gcinn, mur bhfagha mé i mo chéile ag Fionn an áigh."

Tharraing sí lann le fiuchaireacht ghéar, le (an iomad dá) fíoch ina láimh dheis, bhain sí an ceann de chaogad laoch. Nár mhór an díd[7] a rinn an bhean.

"Fóill! Fóill ort!" arsa Fionn. "Ná cuir ón tsaol a'n[8] fhear níos mó. Glacaimsa leatsa mar mhnaoi ach go bé[9] Goll caoch (na ngrágán cró).

Translation

When Fionn went to Glenasmole hunting he happened upon the hornless doe. One side of her was the colour of coal and the other was brighter than surface snow, and she was swifter than a hawk above woodlands. She went out over the hill and she turned back and killed the pack of hounds. When they thought the hounds were gone a long time... When Fionn thought the hounds were gone a long time, he put his thumb in his mouth and he gnawed down to the marrow with his tooth.

"None that followed the hornless doe will ever return except Bran, who never lost a hunt (?)."

Having said those words, Bran appeared, bothered and confused and wet. She sat down by Fionn, crying sweetly, screeching harshly.

"Oh, it seems, hound," said Fionn, "that our heads are in grave danger."

Then along came the most placid woman who ever shed a tear (?).

"I know well," said Fionn, "by the colour of your satin cloak that you were the one before me today in Glenasmole for sure. I ask you, are any of my hounds still alive?"

"Oh, by that hand by your side (?)," she said, "none that followed the hornless doe will ever return except Bran, who never lost a hunt (?). As soon as I come down," she said, "I'll behead you all if I don't get warlike Fionn as my husband."

She drew her sword with great ferocity, and with great fury in her right hand (?) she beheaded fifty warriors. What a great deed the woman did.

"Easy! Go easy!" said Fionn. "Don't kill any more men. I [would] take you as my wife if it weren't for blind Goll of the (...).

Footnotes

Commentary

This is a prose version of a Fenian lay, but it preserves many of the lines intact. It is the first part of the story, and another recording in the Doegen collection by the same informant, under the title 'Goll agus an bhean mhór', should be considered the second half. Together the two form a narrative that is usually referred to in tradition as 'Laoi na mná móire', or 'The lay of the great woman', which describes a Grecian princess who is under a spell, so she appears as a monstrous hag. She battles the Fianna, and kills many of their number before eventually being defeated. The events take place in Gleann an Smóil, which is identified as Glenasmole in county Dublin. It was a relatively popular poem in Ireland at a time when such lay poetry was commonly recited. Versions can be found in eighteenth-century manuscripts, such as the example from Mount St Joseph Abbey in Roscrea, county Tipperary. See Pádraig de Brún, 'Lámhscríbhinní Gaeilge i Ros Cré', Éigse 17:2 (1978), 215–19. Another eighteenth-century example is Gaelic Ms. 11, St Malachy's College, Belfast. A similar manuscript from county Louth formed the basis of a translation entitled The giantess, published by Matthew Graham in Belfast in 1833. See Henry Morris, 'Matthew Moore Graham', Journal of the Louth Archaeological Society 9 (1938), 117. The lay continued to be sung and chanted into the twentieth century, and was recorded and published in a collection of Celtic-language narrative song edited by Hugh Shields: Scéalamhráin Cheilteacha (Dublin, 1985). For a full example of the poem, along with a translation, see John O'Daly, 'Eachtra na mná móire thar lear', Transactions of the Ossianic Society 4 (1858), 74-101. A catalogue of manuscripts from the Royal Irish Academy and the British Library that contain the narrative can be found at http://www.volny.cz/enelen/sc.htm.