Editor's Introduction
ance of these three troops was described in the tale, but in the manuscript account which we have of "The Courtship of Ferb," the first few pages are missing, so that the story commences abruptly in the middle of the account of the equipment of the second of the troops. As only a small part of the account of this second troop remains, and no part of the description of the first troop, the present translation commences with the account of the third; which we can see, from the fragment which we have of the first part of the story, was far the most magnificent of the three. The following translation, which differs very slightly from the German rendering of the Irish text made by Professor Windisch, describes the departure of the wedding party from Croghan, the capital of Connaught, and the events which followed after its arrival at Rath Ini.
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