ay of the Host, 309.
XXVI The Decision of the Battle, 345.
XXVII The Battle of Garech, 348.
XXVIIa The Muster of the Men of Erin, 351.
XXVIII The Battle of the Bulls, 363.
XXIX The Account of the Brown Bull of Cualnge, 366.
Index of Place and Personal Names, 371.

* * * * *

[Illustration: FACSIMILE PAGE 55--_from Leabhar na h-Uidhri_.]

* * * * *

PREFACE

The Gaelic Literature of Ireland is vast in extent and rich in quality. The
inedited manuscript materials, if published, would occupy several hundred
large volumes. Of this mass only a small portion has as yet been explored
by scholars. Nevertheless three saga-cycles stand out from the rest,
distinguished for their compass, age and literary worth, those, namely, of
the gods, of the demigod Cuchulain, and of Finn son of Cumhall. The
Cuchulain cycle, also called the Ulster cycle--from the home of its hero in
the North of Ireland--forms the core of this great mass of epic material.
It is also known as the cycle of Conchobar, the king round whom the Ulster
warriors mustered, and, finally, it has been called the Red Branch Cycle
from the name of the banqueting hall at Emain Macha in Ulster.

Only a few of the hundred or more tales which once belonged to this cycle
have survived. There are some dozen in particular, technically known as
_Remscela_ or "Foretales," because they lead up to and explain the great
Tain, the Tain Bo Cualnge, "The Cualnge Cattle-raid," the Iliad of Ireland,
as it has been called, the queen of Irish epic tales, and the wildest and
most fascinating saga-tale, not only of the entire Celtic world, but even
of all western Europe.

The mediaeval Irish scholars catalogued their native literature under
several heads, probably as an aid to the memory of the professional poets
or story-tellers whose stock-in-trade it was, and to one of these divisions
they gave the name _Tainte_, plural of _Tain_. By this term, which is most
often followed by the genitive plural _bo_, "cows," they meant "a driving,"
or "a reaving," or even "a drove" or "herd" of cattle. It is only by
extension of meaning that this title is applied to the Tain Bo Cualnge, the
most famous representative of the class, for it is not, strictly speaking,
with the driving of cattle that it deals but with that of the Brown Bull of
Cualnge. But, since to carry off the bull implies the carrying off of