Transcript

Nuair a chonaic Goll cabhlach ag teacht isteach 'na[1] chuain, "Cé a bheireas scéal ón toinn?" arsa Goll.

"Mise," arsa Caoilte.

Badh é an fear a ba lúthmhaire san Fhéinn é. Ach nuair a rabh Caoilte... sara rabh sé ag an chuan bhí an bhean mhór astoigh i dtír. Nuair a chonaic sé scéimh na mná chreathnaigh sé ó mhullach go lár ach gur fhiafraigh sé cén talamh ná cén tír arbh as den mhnaoi bhreá.

"Ó, mise níon Ardrí Gréag," arsa sise, "d'fhéachfadh comhrac le deich gcéad laoch mur buil[2] ins an Fhéinn," ar sise, "agus Goll caoch. Aithris dó mo scéal, go scriosfaidh mé firibh Fáil mur bhfagha mé i mo chéile ag Fionn an áigh."

Nuair a chuaigh Caoilte a fhad le Goll agus d'inis sé an scéal do Gholl, ghléas Goll céad fear in airm ghléasta a ghoil a chomhrac leis an mhnaoi mhóir. Nuair a chuaigh an ghrian síos faoithe bhí naoi gcéad eile fá seach. Ná... An méid eile de na fir a bhí ann, (ghaibh) siad fá Ard na Laoch. Ach chuir Goll air a chlogad agus a scéith, a chlaíomh bheairt óir a ghoil a chomhrac leis an mhnaoi mhóir. Ó, cibé a tchífeadh comhrac na beirte, chuirfeadh siad ceatha tineadh dá n-airm nimhe agus ceatha fola dá gcuid sciathacha. Cé gur mhór neartúil Goll ba bheag lorg a láimhe insa mhnaoi. Cé gur mhaith a chlogad agus a scéith is iomaí cneá a bhí aisti air ina thaobh. Tháinig Fionn a fhad leis. "Maise," arsa Fionn, "tá tú sáraithe suaití fliuch le trí hoíche agus le trí lá. An dtabharfá cead do Oscar (amhgach)," ar seisean, "a ghoil a chomhrac leis an mhnaoi mhóir?"

"Ó, níl sé aon fhear beo 'na bheathaidh," arsa Goll, "ná in Éirinn más é an t-oileán is aoibhne bláth, aon fhear ní ligfinn a chomhrac léithe go dtuitfeadh sí le mo láimh."

Ach go bhfuair ina dhéidh sin Fionn cead ó Gholl do le Oscar (amhgach) ghoil a chomhrac leis an mhnaoi mhóir. "Anois," arsa Fionn, arsa seisean, "ach cuimhnigh[3], a mhic, a fhad agus bhí tú fá ghruaim aici insa cheangal gharbh."

Thug sé léim leoin de. Chuir sé a chlaíomh go dtí cuid n-a dhoirn fríd chorp na mná móire isteach. Ar thuitim 'un talaimh don mhnaoi mhóir, "Ó, mise níon Ardrí Gréag," arsa sise, "an bhean ba séimhíocha[4] a bhí ag sileadh súl ach go b'é draoitheachta chrosta m'athara féin a chuir (ag bliantaí) fá gheasa mé. Rinneadh fios dó," arsa sise, "dá bhfaghainn mac rí, nó ceannfort slua, go mbeadh mac agam a ngéillfeadh an domhan dó agus go gcaillfeadh seisean a cheann is a choróin."

Translation

When Goll saw a fleet coming into the bay, "Who will bring news from the sea?" said Goll.

"I will," said Caoilte.

He was the fastest man of the Fianna. But when Caoilte was... before he was at the bay the big woman had landed. When he saw the woman's form he shook from head to toe until he asked what land or country the beautiful woman was from.

"Oh, I'm the daughter of the High King of Greece," she said, "come to fight with a thousand warriors of the Fianna," she said, "and blind Goll. Tell him my story, that I will destroy the men of Ireland unless I get warlike Fionn as a husband."

When Caoilte reached Goll and told him the story, Goll dressed a hundred men in armour to go and fight the big woman. When the sun set behind her, there were still nine hundred. The remaining men went(?) to Ard na Laoch. But Goll put on his helmet and his shield and his gold-handled sword to go and fight the big woman. Oh, whoever could see the two fighting, there were showers of sparks from their deadly weapons and showers of blood from their shields. Although Goll was big and strong he didn't make much of an impact on the woman. Although his helmet and shield were good, he had many wounds on his side from the woman. Fionn came up to him. "Well," said Fionn, "you have been thwarted and confused and wet for three nights and three days now. Would you allow fierce(?) Oscar," he said, "go and fight the big woman?"

"Oh, there's no man alive," said Goll, "or in Ireland if it's a beautiful bountiful island, no man I'd allow fight her before she falls by my hand."

But afterwards Fionn got permission for fierce(?) Oscar to go and fight the big woman. "Now," said Fionn, he said, "remember, son, how long she had you pinned in a rough tackle."

He leapt like a lion. He put his sword up to the hilt into the big woman's body. When the big woman fell to the ground, "Oh, I'm the daughter of the High King of Greece," she said, "the most gentle woman who ever shed a tear were it not for the foul magic of my own father, who put me under a spell for years (?). It was foretold to him," she said, "that if I found a king's son, or an army commander, that I would have a son the whole world would submit to, and that he would lose his head and crown."

Footnotes

Commentary

This is a prose version of a Fenian lay, but it preserves many of the lines intact. It is the second part of the story, and another recording in the Doegen collection by the same informant, under the title 'Gleann an Smóil' should be considered the first 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 that 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. See Pádraig de Brún, 'Lámhscríbhinní Gaeilge i Ros Cré', Éigse 17:2 (1978), 215–19. Another eighteenth-century example is Gaelic Ms. 11 at 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.

This story is transcribed also in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 114-17.