In consequence[FN#102] of all this Flidais went with Fergus to his home, and he received the lordship of a part of Ulster, even Mag Murthemni (the plain of Murthemne), together with that which had been in the hands of Cuchulain, the son of Sualtam.  So Flidais died after some time at Trag Bàli (the shore of Bali), and the state of Fergus’ household was none the better for that.  For she used to supply all Fergus’ needs whatsoever they might be (lit. she used to provide for Fergus every outfit that he desired for himself).  Fergus died after some time in the land of Connaught, after the death of his wife, after he had gone there to obtain knowledge of a story.  For, in order to cheer himself, and to fetch home a grant of cows from Ailill and Medb, he had gone westwards to Cruachan, so that it was in consequence of this journey that he found his death in the west, through the jealousy of Ailill.

[FN#102] L.L. and Egerton give “thereafter,” adopted in verse translation.

This, then, is the story of the Tain bo Flidais; it[FN#103] is among the preludes of the Tain bo Cualnge.

[FN#103] This sentence does not occur in the Leabhar na h-Uidhri.  It is given as in the Egerton version:  the Book of Leinster gives “it is among the preludes of the Tain.”

THE APPARITION OF THE GREAT QUEEN TO CUCHULAIN

(TAIN BO REGAMNA)

INTRODUCTION

This tale is given by the same two manuscripts that give the Tain bo Dartada and the Tain bo Regamon; namely the Yellow Book of Lecan, and Egerton 1782.  The text of both is given by Windisch, Irische Texte, ii. pp. 239-254; he gives a translation of the version in the Yellow Book, with a few insertions from the Egerton Ms., where the version in Y.B.L. is apparently corrupt:  Miss Hull gives an English translation of Windisch’s rendering, in the Cuchullin Saga, pages 103 to 107.  The prose version given here is a little closer to the Irish than Miss Hull’s, and differs very little from that of Windisch.  The song sung by the Morrigan to Cuchulain is given in the Irish of both versions by Windisch; he gives no rendering, as it is difficult and corrupt:  I can make nothing of it, except that it is a jeering account of the War of Cualgne.

The title Tain bo Regamna is not connected with anything in the tale, as given; Windisch conjectures “Tain bo Morrigna,” the Driving of the Cow of the Great Queen (Morrigan); as the woman is called at the end of the Egerton version.  The Morrigan, one of the three goddesses of war, was the chief of them:  they were Morrigan, Badb, and Macha.  She is also the wife of the Dagda, the chief god of the pagan Irish.  The Yellow Book version calls her Badb in this tale, but the account in the Tain bo Cualnge (Leabhar na h-Uidhri facsimile, pp. 74 and 77), where the prophecies are fulfilled, agrees with the Egerton version in calling the woman of this tale the Morrigan or the Great Queen.