--- title: Opening, part 16 — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · full text with trees description: Opening, part 16, «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: So ends the _Tain_: Not less, in mirth or spleen, that legend old Primeval battle-chaunt of Erin’s race, Ad --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/16/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The foray of Queen Meave, and other le…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/) / Opening, part 16 # Opening, part 16 Opening, part 16 of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere: the whole text, 167 sentences and 1671 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. So ends the \_Tain\_: Not less, in mirth or spleen, that legend old Primeval battle-chaunt of Erin’s race, Adds yet a second close.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") Cuchullain led That host Ulidian home; while Meave made oath Northward to send, and range round Eman’s walls Her spoil, the war’s sole triumph, countless flocks, The herds milk-yielding of the large-eyed kine, The horses, and the asses, and the goats, The household stuffs, rich vests, and precious dyes, The hinds laborious, and the men age-bent, And maidens skilled in work; but, first, and chief That sable Bull, the cause of all the war.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Fulfilled were all these pledges save the last; For Meave upon that fatal day, while hung Doubtful the battle-scales, had given command To lead the Donn to Cruachan.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") Ill-pleased He on his keepers turning slew a score, Yet peaceful paced at last betwixt their ranks, At each side fifty spears.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") Next day, far south, Forth rolled the roar of Ailill’s Bull snow-white, Fionbannah.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") Bursting through his guard, the Donn Rushed t’ward the sound.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") Upon the midway plain The rivals met.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") All day that battle raged While wood to wood thunder on thunder hurled, And all the bulls of Erin sent reply.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") Shepherds, through wood-skirts peering, saw the end, The Donn, at sunset, rushing t’ward the north, And, on his conqueror’s back--their horns entwined-- Fionbannah dead\![9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") All night that conqueror rushed O’er hill and plain and prone morass.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") When dawn Looked coldly forth through mist along the meads Far off he kenned a rock: that rock he deemed A second bull: collecting all his might Thereon he hurled his giant bulk, and died.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") Northward thus marched from Cruachan the kings; Then back.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") The Foray of Queen Meave thus far.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") NOTES.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") PREFACE[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 1:[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History\_, p. 41.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 2:[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History\_, p. 30.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 3:[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish\_, vol. iii. p. 403.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 4:[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") Author of \_The Collegians\_.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 5:[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") More correctly written Uisnach.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") See \_Loch Etive and the Sons of Uisnach\_, Macmillan & Co.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 6:[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") Advertisement to ‘Inisfail,’ p. 52.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 7:[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") 1.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") Lays of the Western Gael.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") 2.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") Congal.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") 3.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") Poems.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") By Sir Samuel Ferguson.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") Bell and Sons.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") THE SONS OF USNACH[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 8:[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") Ulster.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 9:[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") Eman, also called Emania, stood nearly on the present site of Armagh.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 10:[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 9.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") \_He taught her all the Ogham Signs to read.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The Ogham characters are a species of alphabet, or as some call them cypher, cut upon stones, or wooden staves.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") They are found in many parts of Ireland; and much has been written on them by the most learned Irish antiquarians of recent times, especially by Bishop Graves.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 11:[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") The Irish, originally ‘Scoti,’ were so called from Scota.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 12:[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") Ballyshannon.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 13:[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") Howth.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 14:[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 38.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") \_By Geisa bound.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ These \_Gesa\_, or \_Geisa\_, often as trivial in character as they were rigidly enforced, have a large place in the legends of the Irish pre-Christian times.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") Sometimes they applied to particular individuals alone: thus, in the case of Cuchullain, it was a \_Gesa\_ that no one should wake him out of his sleep.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") Sometimes they were self-imposed: thus Fergus Mac Roy and Cuchullain also, had bound themselves in youth never to refuse an invitation to the feast of a good man, however humble.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") The most remarkable illustrations of the \_Gesa\_ will be found in ‘Conary,’ the noble poem of my friend, Sir Samuel Ferguson, who speaks of them as ‘certain sacred injunctions, the violation of which was attended with temporal punishment.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") The agents in inflicting such retribution appear in the form of Fairies.’[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") (Poems by Sir Samuel Ferguson, p. 61.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") McGee, Dublin; George Bell, London.)[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 15:[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 39.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Deirdré and he were playing chess together\_: Chess was a favourite game with the Irish, and is frequently alluded to in the earliest tales.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") THE CHILDREN OF LIR[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 16:[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 73.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") \_The ‘Lia Fail,’ and Ogham lore revered.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The ‘Lia Fail,’ or ‘Stone of Destiny,’ was the stone on which the Irish ‘Chief Kings,’ or Ard-Righs, were crowned at Tara.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") It was subsequently used for the same purpose during many centuries in Scotland, to which it had been brought by the Dalriad Irish recorded by Bede, at the coronation of her Kings of Irish race.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") It was removed by Edward the First from Scone to Westminster Abbey, where it still supports the chair of Edward the Confessor.[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") (See ‘Hist. of Scotland’ by Sir Walter Scott, vol. i. p. 34.)[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 17:[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") Bamba, Fodhla, and Eire.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 18:[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") The current running between Cantire, in Scotland, and the northern coast of Ireland.[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 19:[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") Achill Island, on the coast of Connaught.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 20:[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") The ‘Tonsured One,’ \_i.e.\_ St. Patrick.[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 21:[83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") ‘The term \_Mael\_, Mull (or Moyle, as Moore calls it), does not properly apply to the current itself, but to the \_Mael\_, or bald headland by which it runs.’--\_Professor Eugene O’Curry.[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 22:[85](85/ "tree and pragmatics") ‘They met a young man of good family whose name was Aibhric, and his attention was often attracted to the birds, and their singing was sweet to him, so that he came to love them greatly, and that they loved him; and it was this young man that afterwards arranged in order and narrated all their adventures.’--\_The Fate of the Children of Lir\_, prose version by Professor O’Curry.[86](86/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 23:[87](87/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 105.[88](88/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Or Acaill\_; Now Achill Head.[89](89/ "tree and pragmatics") THE FORAY OF QUEEN MEAVE[90](90/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 24:[91](91/ "tree and pragmatics") Now Connaught.[92](92/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 25:[93](93/ "tree and pragmatics") Now Ulster.[94](94/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 26:[95](95/ "tree and pragmatics") Chief King.[96](96/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 27:[97](97/ "tree and pragmatics") Now Dundalk.[98](98/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 28:[99](99/ "tree and pragmatics") Armagh.[100](100/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 29:[101](101/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Cu\_ in Irish means hound.[102](102/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 30:[103](103/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 146.[104](104/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Hail Eric just.[105](105/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The fine exacted for various offences by the Brehon law.[106](106/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 31:[107](107/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 151.[108](108/ "tree and pragmatics") \_The dread Mor Reega.[109](109/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The War Goddess of the ancient Irish.[110](110/ "tree and pragmatics") An account of this divinity will be found in the admirable essay contributed to the ‘Revue Celtique’ (May 1870), by W. M. Hennessy, Esq.[111](111/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 32:[112](112/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 153.[113](113/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Among the Sidils.[114](114/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The Fairy Hills.[115](115/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 33:[116](116/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 181.[117](117/ "tree and pragmatics") \_There shone the torque of Meave.[118](118/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ ‘Take off his armour that I may see the Brooch for the sake of which he undertook the combat.[119](119/ "tree and pragmatics") Leagh came, and stripped Ferdīa....[120](120/ "tree and pragmatics") Cuchullain saw the brooch; and he began to lament and moan for him.’[121](121/ "tree and pragmatics") (MS. translation, by Professor O’Looney.)[122](122/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 34:[123](123/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 191.[124](124/ "tree and pragmatics") \_And, southward next, that lake.[125](125/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Lough Derg in Donegal, a place of pilgrimage still frequented.[126](126/ "tree and pragmatics") To this island properly belongs the legend illustrated by Calderon in his ‘Purgatory of St. Patrick,’ so admirably presented to the English reader by my lamented friend, the late Denis Florence MacCarthy.[127](127/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 35:[128](128/ "tree and pragmatics") The Shannon.[129](129/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 36:[130](130/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 201.[131](131/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Beside Ath-Luain.[132](132/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Now Athlone.[133](133/ "tree and pragmatics") Footnote 37:[134](134/ "tree and pragmatics") Page 226.[135](135/ "tree and pragmatics") \_From Caiseal’s crested rock.[136](136/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Now Cashel.[137](137/ "tree and pragmatics") LONDON: PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET[138](138/ "tree and pragmatics") Transcriber’s Notes[139](139/ "tree and pragmatics") This file uses \_underscores\_ to indicate italic text.[140](140/ "tree and pragmatics") New original cover art included with this ebook is granted to the public domain.[141](141/ "tree and pragmatics") The original printed book included both footnotes and endnotes.[142](142/ "tree and pragmatics") In this edition, all notes have been converted to sequentially numbered endnotes.[143](143/ "tree and pragmatics") De Vere consistently spells the Irish title “ollamh” as “ollamb”; this and other non-standard spellings of Irish words have not been corrected.[144](144/ "tree and pragmatics") There are some errors and inconsistencies in the rendering of single and double quotation marks in nested dialogue, especially in the long narration by Fergus starting on page 138.[145](145/ "tree and pragmatics") These have been silently corrected.[146](146/ "tree and pragmatics") The following changes and corrections have been made:[147](147/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. vi: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “a famous scribe named Maelmire, who was killed there in 1106.”[148](148/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 1: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “goodlier is this child / Than e’er till now on proudest parent smiled!”[149](149/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 16: Added opening single quotation mark before phrase “Ever at Uladh’s feasts the clansmen say,” change internal opening single quotation mark in this stanza to double quotation mark, and add closing double quotation mark to end of stanza.[150](150/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 17: Added opening single quotation mark before phrase “Their singing is the best all Uladh boasts” and at the start of the following stanza.[151](151/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 28: Added opening single quotation mark before phrase “Lay first that head, and march we hence this night!”[152](152/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 69: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “A woman’s hand one day shall strike him dead!”[153](153/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 78: Replaced “Finōla” with “Finola” in phrase “Finola paced the high-arched alleys green.”[154](154/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 80: Added period and closing single quotation mark after phrase “if not--my hate.”[155](155/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 81: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “Their voices too are voices of the Gael!”[156](156/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 89: Added exclamation mark and closing single quotation mark after phrase “Farewell, my little Conn!”[157](157/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 90: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “Thou hear’st the charge: how makest thou reply?”[158](158/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 114: Added period after phrase “Through Faith the birthright, though the younger son.”[159](159/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 145: Changed “bou” to “boughs” in phrase “Bird-song by autumn chilled, that brake through boughs.”[160](160/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 153: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “My strength must lessen day by day.”[161](161/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 155: Changed “o er” to “o’er” in phrase “o’er the axle bent.”[162](162/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 164: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “this Island should be theirs!”[163](163/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 190: Changed “Fionbannagh” to “Fionbannah” in phrase “the Bulls that shake this day our land, / Fionbannah, and the Donn.”[164](164/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 203: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “Is past since northward to the war we marched.”[165](165/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 227: Added closing single quotation mark after phrase “One day I shared her feast: she shall not die!”[166](166/ "tree and pragmatics") • p. 228: Added comma after phrase “The household stuffs, rich vests, and precious dyes.”[167](167/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [Opening, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/15/) - ↑ back to [The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/)