Preface
the main agrees with it, tell the story baldly; while the Connaught story-teller seems to have amplified several suggestions in the original tale: in the laments of Nuagel over Gerg, and of Ferb over Mani, also in the dramatic dialogues between Ferb and the two Connaught heroes, Fiannamail and Donnell the Red, much power is shown. The difference of tone between Nuagel's lament over a hero well tried in war and in council, and that of Ferb over a gallant youth, slain in his first fight, is well sustained; and to show the difference with as little change as possible, I have translated the two laments V and VII in the same metre.
For reasons already mentioned, I have not attempted to reproduce the Irish metres, nor have the same metres been kept throughout. The irregular metres of III, IV, and of the Druidic chant in the Egerton version are reproduced in irregular English metres, the long lines of I are reproduced by long lines, but the number of the feet does not correspond to the number in the Irish poem. The Ulster version XII, and the dialogues are all in one metre, the laments in another; and, to break the monotony of the laments, XI has a foot added to each line. The object aimed at is not to prepare a literal translation for the use of scholars, but to take a tale which was put into its present form a thousand years ago in order to interest Irish hearers, and to reproduce it in such an English form as might interest English readers at
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