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language: Old Gaelic (tr. Elizabeth Gray)
country: Ireland
year: medieval
form: saga
genre(s): fantasy
dates read: 11.9.23
Cath Maige Tuired, translated by Elizabeth Gray, has been my favorite medieval Gaelic narrative for a long time, originally just because it was the basis of Diane Duane’s A Wizard Abroad, my favorite of the Young Wizards books, and latterly because it’s just so elusive and suggestive.
it’s a bit oddly constructed, jumping back and forth between the Fomorian and Tuatha Dé Danann narrative strands, but I like that Lug’s approach to inspiring his subjects before the battle is to ask each of them in turn what their contribution will be, opening the door to other kinds of heroism than simply killing a lot of people on the battle field — we could instead by Coirpre mac Étaíne, composing satires against our enemies, or the cupbearers, who will torment them with thirst, or Luchta the carpenter who (with the other craftsmen) will help secure the army’s supply chain. it’s a nice little touch!
and, most importantly, I love the unanswered questions raised by the opening: where are the four cities of the Tuatha Dé Danann and why did they leave them, bringing with them the fis, eólas, and díabuldánacht they learned there? what were they running from that made them burn their boats when they landed in Ireland so that they could never go home?
moods: adventurous, challenging