The Essential Tain Bo Cuailnge and Other Stories from the Ulster Cycle

Táin Bó Cúailnge (“TOYN boh KOOL-nyuh”), “The Cattle-Raid of Cooley,” frequently referred to as the Táin, is one of the most important works of medieval Irish literature and has been called the national epic of Ireland. Preserved in different versions in a series of manuscripts dating back to the twelfth century but with roots that stretch back centuries earlier, and set in a still earlier era before the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, the Táin tells how Queen Maeve of Connacht, the western province of Ireland, leads an invasion of Ulster, the northern province, in order to capture an extraordinary brown bull, and how her invasion is almost single-handedly opposed by Ulster’s foremost hero, the demigod Cú Chulainn. As it narrates the ensuing war, the Táin both exemplifies and probes the limits of some of the central values and institutions of early Irish society.

This new, judiciously abridged translation of the Táin includes most of Recension 1, the earliest version of the work, as well as some of the most significant and well-known passages of Recension 2. The translation renders the text of the Táin in an approachable and even colloquial style, particularly aimed at university students and non-academic readers in North America, that nevertheless maintains enough accuracy to support close reading. This edition also contextualizes the Táin itself with more selections from the rest of the so-called Ulster Cycle—the related body of legends about the characters of the Táin, including accounts of their origins and their deaths—than any competing edition of the epic. Also included are a full introduction; extensive footnotes, drawing on the most recent scholarship on the Táin, that provide clarifications, explanations, and background information; four maps showing the route of Maeve’s invasion and the site of major events in the epic; a series of character trees to help readers keep track of the Táin’s large cast of characters and their often complex interrelationships; a glossary of key terms and concepts; and a guide to Old Irish spelling and pronunciation.