Táins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Táins, or cattle raids, are one of the genres within the Ulster Cycle of ancient Irish literature.^[1]

Rather than being organized as such by later authorities, these genres were recognized by the authors and are delineated explicitly as such within the corpus. Voyages, feasts, wooings, births and deaths are among the other genres they recognized.

Táin Bó Cúailnge, or simply The Táin, is by far the táin best known to modern audiences. Likewise this was the táin best known to this literature's audience from the 11th to the 14th century and is the central story of the Ulster Cycle. Its likely this story had a similar prominence in the endemic oral literature before medieval Christian redactors put them in written form.

There was also a plethora of lesser táin. Some of these are known only by name, but most of them are extant and have been translated into English. Among these lesser táins are the following.

Táin Bó Aingen
Táin Bó Dartada
Táin Bó Ere

Táin Bó Flidais
Táin Bó Fráech
Táin Bó Froích

Táin Bó Munad
Táin Bó Regamna
Táin Bó Regamon

Táin Bó Ros
Táin Bó Ruanadh
Táin Bó Sailin

It seems to have been customary in ancient Ireland to precede the recital of "The Great Táin" and other very long tales with a number of shorter stories. These preludes, or remscéla, are sometimes incorrectly regarded as a part of the Táin Bó Cúailnge due to the static nature of printed and bound materials. This misconception is enforced by the fact that the Thomas Kinsella translation, which contains eight remscéla chosen by the translator, has been popular for three decades.

Many of the lesser táins were well-suited to serve as remscéla as these could be framed as preludes to the epic events at Cúailnge. For example, a surviving recension of Táin Bó Fráech ends with the segue:

They brought their cows over it thither. It is there they flung their horns from them...Fraech goes away then to his territory after, and his wife, and his sons, and his cows with him, until he goes with Ailill and Medb for the Spoil of the Cows from Cualnge.^[2]

Similarly, the Táin Bó Regamna ends with:

A treaty was then made between them on account of the fair young men who had carried off the cattle, and on account of the fair maidens who had gone with them, by whose means the herd escaped. Restitution of the herd was awarded to Regamon, and the maidens abode with the sons of Ailill and Medb; and seven times twenty milch-cows were given up, as a dowry for the maidens, and for the maintenance of the men of Ireland on the occasion of the assembly for the Tain bo Cualnge; so that this tale is called the Tain bo Regamon, and it is a prelude to the tale of the Tain bo Cualnge. Finit, amen.^[3]

Besides these lesser táins, many stories from among the other genres are well connected with the Táin Bó Cúailnge through shared characters and would be suited for preludes as well. The birth tales of characters such as Conchobar and Conall suit this purpose, as does any tale featuring Cúchulainn, ranging from his birth tale to the Wooing of Emer.