As an aid in the elucidation of the text, every effort has been made to furnish an accurate modern English prose translation; but complete accuracy, especially in the verse portions and in the rhetorics, has not been always feasible. Words of doubtful or uncertain meaning, therefore, are provided with question marks and are discussed in the notes. Often these notes, too, supply a more literal rendering than is consonant with good idiomatic English. In order to enhance the readability of the translation, the constant shifting to and fro in the tenses, which is a characteristic trait of Irish narrative style, has been obviated in that on such occasions the past tense has been substituted for the historic present tense. Finally, so as to eliminate every possibility of confusion the orthography of some of the proper names, such as Derdriu and Noisiu, has been normalized, even if the spelling is not recorded in the MSS.