ANST - Pre-Christian Irish poem

[jruble]

So I ran out to the car during lunch to grab the book. (It's amazing what 
SCA people have floating around their cars...)  This book is "Ancient 
Irish Tales" copyright 1936 by Henry Holt & Co., edited by Tom Peete Cross 
and Clark Harris Slover, and republished in 1996 by Barnes & Noble.  It 
doesn't give the name of the translators.  The passage is from the section 
"The Book of Invasions".

The passage is the song spoke by Amergin White-Knee, the bard whose face 
still appears on Irish money.  It was spoken on the occasion of Eremon 
landing with his thirty ships at Inber Colptha.  The sons of Mil had 
landed earlier at Inber Scene, where Amergin's wife Scene was buried, 
having died during the crossing.  They met with the Tuatha de Danann at 
Tara, and demanded a battle, or kingship, or a judgement.  The three kings 
there asked Amergin to pass judgement, and his judgement was that the land 
would be left to the Tuatha de Danaan until the sons of Mil returned to 
take it by force, having passed over nine waves.  The sons of Mil returned 
to their ships and set sail, while druids on both sides began a weather 
battle, each trying to sink or save the ships.  Amergin proved the victor 
in that battle, and they landed in two groups.  It was here that Amergin 
speaks this poem.

The translation I have is a little different than the one you quote, 
enough so that I will include part of it.

Who clears the stone-place of the mountain?
What the place in which the setting of the son lies?
Who has sought peace without fear seven times?
Who names the waterfalls?
Who brings his cattle from the house of Tethra?
What person, what god,
Forms weapons in a fort?
In a fort that nourishes satirists,
Chants a petition, divides the Ogam letters,
Separates a fleet, has sung praises?
A wise satirist.

Ulf Gunnarsson, a not-so-wise satirist...


Caley Woulfe wrote:
> >Who said this, and on what occaision?
> >(I believe the translation is by Caitlin Matthews, but am not certain)
> >
> >I am a wind on the sea,
> >I am a wave of the ocean,
> >I am a roar of the sea,
> >I am an ox of seven exiles,
> >I am a hawk on a cliff,
> >I am a tear of the sun,
> >I am a turning in a maze,
> >I am a boar in valour,
> >I am a salmon in a pool,
> >I am a lake on a plain,
> >I am a dispensing power,
> >I am a spirit of skilful gift,
> >I am a grass-blade giving decay to the earth,
> >I am a creative god giving inspiration.
> >
> >Who else clears the stones of the mountain?
> >Who is it who declaims the sun's arising?
> >Who is it who tells where the sun sets?
> >Who brings cattle from the house of Tethra?
> >Upon whom do the cattle of Tethra smile?
> >Who is this ox?
> >Who is the weaving god who mends the thatch of wounds?
> >The incantation of a spear,
> >The incantation of the wind.
> >

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