PART TWO Return to Part One
We will first take examples of imbas forosnai. One of the most interesting and important occurs in Tain Bo Cuailnge, in connection with Fedelm the banfaid of Connact. According to LU and YBL Fedelm tells Medb that she has been in Alba learning filidect. Medh asks her if she has learnt imbas forosnai, and on hearing that she has, asks her to 'look' ( deca ) how her own (Medb's) undertaking will prosper. Fedelm 'looks,' and then proceeds to chant in strophic form and at considerable length the result of her vision.
In the account of Scathach's prophecies to CuChulainn, which is found in LU.fo. 125b9, and which almost certainly comes from the Book of Druim Snechta and was written down as early as the eighth century, we read:
'Asbert iarom Scathach friss iar sin ani arid bói diaforciund ocus arcáchain dó tria imbas forosnai,'
According to the earliest texts of the Wooing of Emer, Scathach dwelt among the 'Alps' ( Alpi ), which appears in the latest version as Albu (Albion, Scotland, or perhaps Britain). From this story, therefore, and from the passage in the Tain already cited, it would seem that according to Irish tradition the imbas forosnai was introduced into Ireland from outside, doubtless from Britain, and that in the milieu represented in the CuChulainn Cycle it was the special métier of women. The early period to which the origin and the personnel of the CuChulainn Cycle are generally ascribed invests these references with considerable interest.
Turning next to the Finn Cycle, we find that in the story of Finn and the Man in the Tree, which is believed to date from the late eighth or early ninth century, the imbas forosnai is practised by Finn on two occasions. The story is given in the version of the Senchas Mór contained in H. 3. 18, where it is quoted as an example of the practice of imbas forosnai. According to this story, when the fian are on the brink of the Suir, Culdub comes out of a sid or 'elf-mound,' and steals their food three times in succession as it is being cooked. On the third occasion Finn ua Baiscne gives chase and catches up with him, and lays hold of him as he goes into the sid. At this point a woman seems to meet him as she is coming out of the sid, with a dripping vessel in her hand, having just distributed drink, and she jams the door against the sid! Finn squeezes his finger ( mer ) between the door of the sid and the post, and then sticks it into his mouth. When he takes it out again he begins to chant ( dicetal ). The imbas enlightens him ( fortnosmen an imbas ) and he recites a series of rhetorics.
Later in the same story, when he finds a man hiding in a tree, he and his followers fail to recognise him as his fugitive servant till 'Finn puts his thumb into his mouth'. When he takes it out again, his imbas illumines him and he chants an incantation and says: '(rhetorics follow, cf, p. 11 above). (Is de dobert Finn a hordain ina beolo. Addonich as eisib afrithisi fortnosna a imbus - dichan dichetal co n-- eipert).
A variant version of the story of the death of Culdub, dating, as is believed, from the ninth century, is also published and translated by Meyer with the title, 'How Finn obtained Knowledge, and the Slaying of Cul Dub.' The concluding lines of the story relate that after Finn had trapped his thumb ( ordain ) in the door he could hear and understand the language of the Side or Sid- folk. It is clear that in this way he acquired his supernatural knowledge - his imbas - and was enabled to chant his poem, which is here referred to as dichetal. It appears that yet another version of this story is contained in MS. H. 3. 18, a summary of which is given by O'Curry.
Reference may be made to a story which is believed also to date from the ninth century, and which relates to Finn, Ailill Aulom and MacCon. In this story Finn appears as a member of Lugaid Mac Con's fian. During the hostilities between Ailill and Mac Con, Ailill sends Ferchess, an old Fian warrior and an aged member of his household, on the track of Mac COn's wandering host for the purpose of slaying Mac Con himself. As Ferchess comes on the track, Finn says, using the incantation called imbas forosnai (triasa n-imbas forosnai): 'A man on the track.' Mac Con replies that they will be the more delighted by the addition to their number. 'A man on the track,' Finn repeats: 'One man is always good sport' says Mac Con. Meanwhile, however, Ferchess chants a spell upon his spear, saying, "Rincne," etc., and casts it at Mac Con and slays him. Ultimately Ferchess is slain by Finn in vengeance for Mac Con. Finn again recites 'triasa n-imbas forosnai,' the poem already cited (p.106 above). The incident suggests that it is by means of this incantation that he has succeeded in tracking Ferchess to his abode. In this story it is clear that imbas forosnai gives to Finn the power of supernatural vision, and enables him to see the spirit world. A brief summary of the same story is given also in Cormac's Glossary s.v. Rincne. Stokes translates from the text of the Bodleian fragment as follows:
'Rincne, quasi quinque. Hence said Ferches, son of Mo Sechess, when Finn, grandson of Baiscne, was counting every five in turn of the host of Lugaid, the son of Mac-neit, to seek the champion Ferches. With that Ferches gave . . . past Finn, and cast the spear on Lugaid and killed him, and said thereat, Rincne cairincne ris (leg. rus?) rig, for that is what Finn used to say when he was numbering, every pentad in turn, Rincne, quasi quinque.'
From the two versions of the story of Finn and Culdub it is clear that Finn obtained his imbas forosnai by means of uncooked or partially cooked food which became the property of the side, and by some part of his person (thumb or finger) entering the sid -mound, and after its withdrawal being placed by Finn in his mouth. The text of the story from the Senchas Mor suggests that the reason why Finn put his finger ( mer ) into his mouth was because some of the liquid from the dripping vessel had been spilt on to it. But it is not clear whether it was because he tasted this (presumably) sid liquid, or because his finger had been in the sid -mound, or because his finger was grazed and he sucked it (i.e. as raw-red-flesh) that he acquired his revelation. It is, however, clear from this story and from the slaying of Ferchess that it was by his imbas forosnai that Finn was enabled not only to see what was invisible to physical vision - i.e., he obtained second sight, but also to hear and understand the spirits as they conversed with one another.
It will be seen that many of the elements contained in these sagas, and more especially the Slaying of Culdub, correspond to features of the Imbas forosnai as set forth for us in Cormac's Glossary. In both the uncooked or partially cooked flesh of a pig or some other animal is passed from the possession of the owner through (i.e. behind) some door (comla). It is a curious fact that in the passage in Cormac's Glossary the fili chews a mir, while in the sagas Finn chews a mer, or in later versions, ordain. Mir seems to mean a piece or morsel, but I know of no parallel in Irish literature for the eating of the flesh of cat or dog, and the passage is unconvincing. Again, it is curious that in both our passages and the stories of Finn, some object (mir, mer) is inserted in the doorway. Both Cormac's fili and Finn then proceed to chant incantations (díchetal), and the phrase in Cormac - 'chanted on his two palms' - is not remote from Finn chanting over his finger or thumb. In both our passage and the stories of Finn, these motifs precede a revelation of occult knowledge. These resemblances may lead one to suspect that the 'gods of the idols' referred to in Cormac are the side (sid-folk), and that the phrase at opair do deib idol menas "take it to (from) the side," with reference to Finn's retrieving his meat. This is mere conjecture, however, and in any case the resemblance ends there. The sagas which we have considered tell us nothing of the mantic sleep, or of those who watch over him lest he should turn over or be disturbed.
Several of these elements of the imbas forosnai in Cormac's Glossary which are not found in the sagas already considered are to be found in the story of Finn and the Phantoms, which, perhaps, also dates from the ninth century. Here Finn and his companions arrive at night at a house inhabited by misshapen phantom beings with a giant at their head. The giant slays Finn's horse, and makes pretence of cooking its flesh, which he then offers to Finn and Cailte. It is emphatically stated, both here and elsewhere in the story, that the flesh was not cooked at all - quite raw. For this reason Finn indignantly refused it. The later poem on the same subject contained in the Book of Leinster, and believed to date from the eleventh century, is more explicit. -
Str. 165 Take away thy food, O giant! For I have never devoured raw food. I will never eat it from to-day till Doom. (beir lett, a athig, do béad, uair né dúadus biad om riam, ni chathiub ondiu co bráth) :
'Alors, tout d'un coup tous partirent. Aussitôt le feu cessa de brûler ; Finn seul fut serré dans un coin pour être secoué et battu (par les fantômes). Comme des autres ne se séparient pas de Finn, ils étaient dans cette situation toute la nuit en jetant des cris. Enfin, ils tombèrent et restèrent faibles en défaillance complète. C'est ainsi qu'ils étaient comme des cadavres jusqu'au matin.
L'orsqu'ils se levèrent le lendemain de leur assoupissement, ils ne voyaient ni maison ni gens dans la pate campagne autour d'eux. Finn s'éveilla et trouva son cheval attaché à la houssine sans tache et sans défaut et sans dégât. Ils tinrent conseil ensuite pour savoir qui leur aurait fait cet outrage. Finn chanta un teinm laida et mit son pouce sur sa dent de savoir, alors le chose lui fut révélée. "Vraiment," dit-il, "les trois fantômes de Hibar-glend (la vallée des ifs) sont tombés sur nous ; ce sont eux qui nous ont fait cet outrage pour se venger sur nous de leur soeur Cuichlend au muscau large que nous avons tuée.'
'Il vit un massacre d'hommes vilandois sur las colline à droite, mais il ne vit bataille ni ordre de bataille y rangé. Puis, il apercut une flamme de feu descendant du ciel jusqu'à la terre. Enfin, il y vit une foule en costume inconnu . . . Alors Finn se réeilla du sommeil et raconta son songe à ses druides, Morna Mungairit et Ercoil Sainarma. Puis il mit son pouce sur sa dent de savoir et chants un teinm laida, et la chose lui fut découverte. "Vraiment," dit-il, "le fils de la Vie viendra ici, duquel l'Irlande sera pleine." Finn s'énonca ensuite en ces termes, en prédisant l'arrivée de Saint Ciaron, fils de Charpentier.'
1. The food of the side is uncooked; 2. To eat the food of the side involves permanent detention among them.
The story throws yet further light on a passage in Cormac's entry. In Finn and the Phantoms the scene is laid in the sid. Finn refuses to eat the raw (horse) flesh of the side. In the first of the two paragraphs just quoted there is an obscure sentence to the effect that Finn is hustled into a corner to be shaken and beaten. Stern adds the words, 'by the phantoms,' by way of explanation ; but these words are not in the text, and I am not sure that the shaking and beating is not done on Finn by his own followers to bring him out of his trance. We shall see later that there is evidence for such a practice in Welsh tradition. In any case, if I am right in thinking that the passage in Cormac has a direct relation to some version of this story, the words, however we interpret them, may well have a bearing on the obscure phrase which Stokes translates as 'people are watching over him in order that he may not turn over and in order that no one may disturb him.' We may note, also, that, like the fili, Finn (and perhaps, also his followers) are plunged in a deep sleep or trance. It is, perhaps, worth noting that it is after this trance or sleep in the house of the 'phantoms' that Finn is enabled to chant a tenm laida, and to place his thumb on his 'tooth of knowledge' and obtain revelation of the occult.
An example of the tenm laida is also quoted in another story relating to Finn hua Baiscne, which is found in Cormac's glossary s.v. orc treith. Here we are told that during Finn's absence his fool (druth), Lomna the Coward by name, is slain at the instigation of Finn's wife, and his head is taken away, while his body is left. When Finn and his followers return they are unable to identify the body, and Finn is asked to make known who the dead man is. 'Then Finn put his thumb into his mouth, and he chants by tenm laido, 'illumination of song,' and he says : 'not . . . from Lomna's head. This is Lomna's body,' says Finn. 'His enemies have taken the head from him.'
A further example of the tenm laida is found also in Cormac's Glossary s.v. mugh-éme. In this story Connla, son of Tadg, son of Cian, son of Ailill Aulom, finds the skull of the first lap-dog which has come to Ireland, and takes it to the fili Moen, son of Etna, to be identified. The fili identifies the head tre tenm laido, 'by the tenm laida.' It is curious that in both these instances the tenm laida is used as a means of identifying a head - absent in the first story, present in the second. It is no doubt the circumstance which led O'Curry to regard the tenm laida as a 'rite for the identification of dead persons.' Its occurrence in the story of Finn and the Phantoms is against this ; but its association in these two entries in Cormac's Glossary and elsewhere with severed heads and its constant association with Finn, are worth noting.
Finally, reference may be made to the story known as the Macgnimartha Find, which is assigned by Meyer to the twelfth century. Here we are told that Finn cooked and ate the salmon of Fec's pool in the Boyne, which are manifestly the salmon of wisdom associated with the boyne in the Dinnsenchas of Boand. 'It is that which gave knowledge to Finn, to wit, whenever he put his thumb into his mouth and sang through tenm laida, then whatever he had been ignorant of would be revealed to him. He learnt three things that constitute a poet, to wit, tenm laida (which Meyer translates 'illumination (?) of song'), and imbas forosna ('knowledge which illumines,' Meyer), and dichetal dichennaib ('extempore incantation,' Meyer). It is interesting to note that the song which Finn composed 'to prove his poetry' is the 'Song of Summer,' beginning
'May-day, season surpassing,'
This brief survey of some of the instances in which imbas forosnai and tenm laida figure in the sagas may serve to give some idea of the circumstances under which the art was practised. When we seek for a third rubric - dicetal di chennaib, aiseis di channaib a chname - we meet with disappointment. It has, however, been possible to gather certain data which may be briefly recapitulated here. We have seen that in the Leabhar naGabhala the fili Amargin is represented as singing a cetal do chennaib - a series of mantic verses - as he lands in Ireland. We have also seen that the sage Morann sang a laid - which is elsewhere described as cetal na haisnese - as soon as his head was released from its covering. It has also been mentioned that in the Macgnimartha Find, the youthful Finn is said to have learned dichetal di chennaib along with imbas forosnai and tenm laida as a part of his training in the art of poetry and mantic lore.
He is further shown to us chanting (dican) his dicetal in order to be able to identify his fugitive servant in the story of Finn and the Man in the Tree. We have also seen Ferchess chanting tren foachnami over his spear before casting it at Lugaid.
Referring once more to the chanting of Morann's head after it has been uncovered, and to the two instances just cited in which the tenm laida is chanted in connection with severed heads, we may suspect that such heads are sometimes associated with magical practices, and, perhaps, with the charms with which we are primarily concerned here. It may be worth while, therefore, to recall one or two stories in which severed heads play a prominent rôle.
The first which naturally occurs to us is the story related in Cormac's Glossary, s.v. Orc Treith, to which we have just referred. We have seen that Finn identifies the dismembered body of his 'fool' (druth) Lomna by chanting through tenm laida. We next hear in the same version of the story that Finn goes to seek the missing head, and finds the murderer Cairpre, in an empty house, cooking fish on a gridiron, and distributing it, and Lomna's head on a spit beside the fire. The head is reported to have been speaking rhetorics, and the storyteller specially notes the fact that no food is offered to the head, as if the omission were something unusual. The story is told more fully in one of the extracts from the laws recently published (with translations) by Myles Dillon, where the actual words spoken by the head are quoted. These words make it quite clear that the severed head has the right to expect its share of the feast, and protests against its deprivation of its mír.
The story is very much like the fate of Finn's own head, as related in a fragment of an Aided Finn story, believed by Meyer to date from the tenth century. Here we are told that Finn is killed while trying to leap across the Boyne, and his body is found by four fishermen, viz., the three sons of Urgriu, and Aiclech, the son of Dubriu. Aiclech cuts off his head ; but the sons of Urgriu slay Aiclech, and take Finn's head to an empty house, and place it before the fire, and then proceed to cut and divide their fish. A black, evil-jesting man (fer dubh docluiche) bids them give a bite (dantmír) of fish to the head. It is not explained who the black man is, but the description suggests that he is a bachlach. The sons of Urgriu, however divide the fish into two portions only. But as often as they divide the fish into two portions, three portions are found, and the head beside the fire explains to them that it is in order that it may have its portion (mír) itself that the fish have been divided into three portions.
The association of these talking heads with the cooking of food is curious. And it is interesting to find the persistence with which a head is said to have its right to a mír ,or portion. The head is evidently habitually placed beside the fire, perhaps for the purpose of smoking and drying it for preservation. Can its proximity to the fire have anything to do with the term, tenm loida, which is usually given to the songs chanted by such heads? The word tenm is generally regarded as derived from a root, tep -, 'heat.' Is it possible that in the first instance a tenm loida was the chant of a severed head beside the fire at a feast?
It is, of course, possible that the stories of the severed heads of Lomna and of Finn are not independent of one another. It is more probable,however, that the two stories are only single instances of a whole series of such stories associated with the severed heads of mantic persons which were preserved for purposes of divination. In this connection we may refer to other stories in which reference is clearly made to the presence of such heads at feasts. One of these again has reference to Finn himself, and is known as the Brudan Atha. In this story we are told that after Finn has made peace with Fothad Canainne, with whom he has been at feud, he invites him to an ale-feast. Fothad, however, replies that it is ' geis to him to drink ale without dead heads in his presence ' (Fa geis inmorro do Fothad Canainne ól corma cin chinn marbu ina fhiadnaise).
The most interesting instance of a talking head occurs in the story of the Battle of Allen, which is found in Y.B.L. and elsewhere. The story relates to a battle which took place during a raid made by Fergal, son of Maelduin, high King of Ireland, against Murchad Mac Briain, King of Leinster. In this battle was slain DonnBo, an excellent reciter of poetry and saga (as uadh budh ferr ra(i)nn espa ocus rigscela for an domhon.) It may be suspected that Donnbo possesses second-hand sight, and is aware of the impending disaster to Fergal's party, for though the story emphasisesthe excellence of his skill and of his répertoire, and the extent to which Fergal's men depend on him to amuse and distract their thoughts, yet when Fergal asks him to make minstrelsy for them on the night before the battle, he replies that he is unable to utter a word on this night, and someone else must amuse them - to-morrow evening he will make minstrelsy. In the battle which follows both Fergal and DonnBo are killed. In the feast which the victorious Leinstermen hold that night, one of their party is told to go the battlefield to fetch a man's head. Baethgalach, a valiant Munsterman, volunteers, and as he comes near to where Fergal's body lies, he hears a voice and sweet music (apparently resembling that of an orchestra). He learns that a head in a clump of rushes is addressing him: "I am DonnBo," says the head ; "I have been pledged to make music tonight for Fergal." The head consents to allow itself to be taken on condition that it is afterwards brought back to its body. Baethgalach promises, and returns to the feast with the head, which is then placed on a pillar in their midst. Baethgalach orders the head to make music for them, as it has been wont to for Fergal. But DonnBo "turns his face to the wall of the house, so that it might be dark to him;" and he sings a sweet melody, but so plaintive that the Leinstermen weep bitter tears, and presently the same warrior takes back the head of DonnBo to his body, and fits it to its trunk.
At a later stage in the same story we are told that the Leinstermen also carry Fergal's head to Cathal mac Findguini, king of Munster, as a trophy. Cathal has it washed, and plaited, and combed smooth, and a cloth of velvet put round it, and a great feast brought and placed before it (ar belaib cind Fergail). The men of Munster then 'see red' round about the head, which opens its eyes to render thanks to God for the honour and respect which has been shown to it. Then Cathal distributes the food to the poor and the neighbouring churches. The phrase ro himdergad iarsin imon ceand a feadnaisi fer Muman uili, which I understand to mean that the men of Munster see red round about the head, is translated by Stokes : 'The head blushed in the presence of all the men of Munster.' The expression derg or forderg is, however, commonly used of mantic visions, and it is to be suspected that himdergad has a similar significance here also - 'Red was revealed,' i.e., a mantic vision was revealed to the men of Munster by means of the head. For the association of derg with such visions we may refer to the phrase atciu forderg used by Fedelm of her mantic vision in the Tain, when, through Imbas forosnai, she looks (deca) by Medbs' request, an reports her mantic vision of the future of the host. Again, in the Togail Bruidne Da Derga Conaire Mor has a supernatural vision of three beings in the form of three horsemen in red riding before him.
The presence of the two talking heads at the two feasts is a striking picture. The head of DonnBo, like those of Lomna in Orc Treith, and of Finn in the fragment cited above, is manifestly the head of a mantic person. Lomna is called a druth. DonnBo is a person of not very dissimilar character himself, for when he refuses to amuse Fergal's host on the night before the battle, he suggests that Hua-Maiglinni, the rig-druth Erenn, 'the cheif druth of Ireland,' should amuse them in his stead. DunnBo, Hua-Maiglinni, Finn and Lomna all appear to practice an art which the author of our passage in the Glossary would have included i corus cherddae, 'under the heading of art.'
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