Analecta Hiberniae, Fasciculus X

The fragment below presents certain difficulties of classification. It was found among Mythological Cycle material at Ard Macha and the hand is consistent with that provenance, but the piece lacks the genealogical apparatus conventional to the cycle and its occasion is nowhere explained. The figure of Manannán mac Lir appears here in an uncharacteristically passive role, and the present writer has not identified a parallel in the wider tradition. One is reminded, distantly, of the Homeric topos of the god who moves among men unrecognised — though here, curiously, no disguise is employed. It may be a fragment of a longer diplomatic narrative, the context for which is lost, and is of some antiquarian interest despite this difficulty. The verse, as in several related documents, is damaged. The monk's annotation is personal in nature and the present writer, after consideration, finds nothing in it that bears upon the text.

Found among Mythological Cycle materials at Ard Macha. No title. The hand is old and clear. A later hand has written below. The vellum is sound but the lower margin of the verse has been rubbed, whether by intention or by the passage of many hands across it cannot be said.

Manannán mac Lir came to the feast at the hall on the plain. He came without announcement and without the Féth Fíada and he sat down at the long table among the Tuatha Dé Danann and he was not seen.

The hall was full. The food was brought and it was plentiful. There were those who ate and rose from the table satisfied and there were those who ate other food and rose as they had sat. The noise was great. Everyone spoke and many listened but most listened only until it was their turn to speak again.

Manannán ate. He was hungry and the food was good and he was satisfied. He looked at the faces around him.

Many of the faces were turned outward. They watched who was watching them. When they laughed they looked to see who had seen them laugh. When they spoke well they looked to see who had heard. When they were given food they held it up and looked at it and then at the room and then ate it. When they were sad they shaped their faces carefully before they let the sadness show.

A woman across the table looked at Manannán. She held his gaze for a moment. Then she looked to her left to see if anyone had seen her look.

He stayed until the feast was at its height and then he rose and walked to the door. No one watched him go.

Outside the night was cold and the stars were out and they were not performing anything.

He stood for a time at the ford below the hall. The ford had no name before that night. It is called Áth na Súl now. It is a small crossing on the plain east of Teamhair. The water there runs clearly in all seasons and there is nothing in it to see.

Atát and ocus [...] Ad-cíat ocus ní [...] [...] ocus ní fil nech ann.

De Manannán et convivio. Post vesperas scripsi, in vigilia Sancti Ciaráni; nox gelida, membrana tenuis et calamus reluctans. Paganum hoc. Deus protegat. Hodie in choro cantavimus et abbas laudavit nos. Et ego cogitavi dum cantabam: videtne me aliquis? Et tunc cogitavi: quid est quod quaero? Non Deum. Nescio quid. Sed aliquem qui videat. Manannán sedit inter eos et nemo vidit eum. Ego canto et omnes vident me et tamen idem est. Domine — Et tamen idem est.

_{Footnote: The marginal annotation reads in translation:}

_{Concerning Manannán and the feast. I wrote this after vespers, on the eve of St Ciarán's feast; the night is cold, the parchment thin and the pen reluctant. This is a pagan thing. May God protect. Today in choir we sang and the abbot praised us. And I thought while singing: does anyone see me? And then I thought: what is it I am seeking? Not God. I do not know what. But someone who sees. Manannán sat among them and no one saw him. I sing and all see me and yet it is the same. Lord — And yet it is the same.}

_{The present writer, as noted, finds nothing in this annotation that bears upon the text, though one may observe that the scribe's invocation — Deus protegat, God protect — is not uncommon; copyists encountering pagan material of this primitive character not infrequently appended such formulae as a matter of procedure. The incomplete address to the Lord — Domine, with nothing following — is curious in its form, and the present writer offers no conjecture as to why the sentence was not completed. The final repetition, et tamen idem est, et tamen idem est, is similarly unusual and has no ready explanation.}

_{The ford described corresponds to no location the present writer has been able to identify with confidence; Áth na Súl does not appear in other sources, and the etymology — súil, eye — offers no clear narrative explanation in the context of this fragment.}

_{The damaged verse, unattributed in the original, is largely irrecoverable; the final surviving phrase, ocus ní fil nech ann — and there is no one there — is clear in the manuscript. The present writer confesses some difficulty in placing this piece and offers no conjecture as to its original function.}