An edition and translation of ‘Finn and Mac Lesc’ including ‘Fuitt co bráth’ and ‘Tánic sam’

Abstract

This article reconsiders the well-known ‘nature’ poems ‘Fuitt co bráth’ and ‘Tánic sam’ within their manuscript and textual context. The poems form part of a prosimetric anecdote featuring Finn mac Cumaill, known as ‘Finn and Mac Lesc’ or ‘Finn and the Lazy Lad’, which survives in the Book of Leinster (s. xii), Rawlinson B 502 (ss. xi–xii) and RIA C iii 2 (s. xvi). The introduction discusses the textual clusters in which ‘Finn and Mac Lesc’ survives, manuscript layout and textual transmission. The metre of the poems is reconsidered; I argue that ‘Tánic sam’ fits a syllabic metre rather than a stressed metre. Finally, the full anecdote is edited and translated with notes on the text and its language.