The following tale, of which a translation is here for the first time attempted, belongs to the oldest, or heroic, cycle of early Irish literature. Its central figures were the Ulster King Conchobor and Cuchulaind, the hero of his war band and of the people. Several versions have come down to us, on which see Jubainville, Catalogue de la Littérature Epique de L'Irlande, p, 227. My translation is based on the fragment in the Lebor na h-Uidre (compiled about 1050 A.D.) and on a complete version in the Stowe MS. 992 (compiled in 1300 A.D.).
The tales of the heroic cycle were written down perhaps as early as the sixth century; at any rate the literary activity of the Irish monks turned early to the preservation of their national literature. But, with the exception of three ecclesiastical MSS. and the old Irish MSS, of the Continent, the whole of this literature was destroyed by the Norse invaders of Ireland; who 'burnt and threw into the water' all MSS. that they found in the monasteries. See Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, ed. Todd, p. 139.
When, however, in the eleventh century, a period of comparative quiet followed, the monks once more set to work to resume what was left of the old literature, recovering the tattered fragments of the old MSS, and procuring copies from monasteries abroad.
Thus, although we have these tales in this later form, there is no evidence to suppose that they have been much changed. Their contents are evidence of their origin and age.
Conchobor and Cuchulaind were, I believe, historical personages, and Irish tradition and chronology were not perhaps so wild as one might think when they fixed their age at the beginning of our era. But on this, and on less startling problems, when the reader has the whole tale before him, I would like to say something.