Voici l’histoire de la Razzia des vaches de Fraech, de la red branch of the mythology Irish.
Raid of the Fraech cows
Fraech, fils d’Idach de Connacht, était fils de Befinn des Fées, qui était soeur de Boinn. C’était le plus beau héros des hommes d’Irlande et d’Scotland. But he did not live long.
His mother had given him ten fairy cows; they were white with red ears. He stayed at home for eight years without taking a wife. Fifty sons of kings formed his house; they were all the same age, the same appearance as him, both height and posture.
Findabair, daughter of Ailill and Mève, fell in love with him because of the reports made to him. They tell him in his house. So he decided to go talk to the girl, and discuss this matter with his people. “Go find your mother's sister to bring back some marvelous clothes and presents from the fairies. So he went to the sister, that is to say, Boinn, and entered the plain of Breg; he carried off fifty blue cloaks, each of which was like the back of a beetle and had four dark gray ears and wore a brooch of red gold, fifty white tunics with gold and silver animals; fifty silver shields with borders; a royal candle in the hand of each of the men with fifty rivets of white brass, fifty bumps of fine gold on each; at their end, carbuncle tips; precious stones at the head, which in the night shone like the rays of the sun. They had fifty swords with golden hilts, and each a soft gray horse, with a golden bit, and a silver buckle with golden bells around its neck. Fifty crimson caparisons with silver fringes, gold and silver buckles and animal heads. Fifty whips of white brass with gold hooks at the end of each. And seven hounds with silver chains and a golden apple between each; bronze leggings where no color was missing. Seven horn-blowers with golden and silver horns, robes of all colors, long golden and yellow hair, shining coats. Three Druids stood before them, with silver diadems accented with gold. Each had a shield with raised emblems, with crested hooks, with bronze ribs on the sides. Three harpists, each in royal bearing.
So they set out for Cruachan in this equipage. The watchman, from the top of the castle, saw them when they arrived at the plain of Cruachan. “I see approaching the chateau,” he said, “a numerous company; since Ailill and Mève took power, there has never come and never will come a finer and more brilliant company. As if my head was in a vat of wine is the breeze blowing over them. The tricks and games played by the young man who is among them, I have never seen the like. He throws his javelin at the distance of a litter away from him; before he reaches the ground, the seven dogs with the seven silver chains catch him. "
Thereupon the troop that was in the castle of Cruachan came to look at them; people crashed into each other so that sixteen men died looking at them. They dismounted at the castle gate. They unbridled their horses and released their dogs. These drove down seven deer to the ramparts of Cruachan and seven foxes and seven beasts of the plain and seven boars; the young men killed them in the first court of the castle. Then the dogs jump into the Bray and catch seven otters and bring them to the same mound, at the gate of the first enclosure. Then they sat down. They came to find them on behalf of the king. They were asked where they were from. They named themselves with their true lineage. “Fraech son of Idach is there,” they said. We went to tell the king and queen. “Welcome, said Ailill and Mève. "He is a noble young man," added Ailill. Let him enter the yard! They were given a quarter of the house.
Here is the description of the house: seven golden beds, from the hearth to the wall, in the house all around; a bronze pediment at each bed; partitions of prettily spotted red yew, three bands of bronze around each bed; seven copper strips, from the ox cauldron to the roof of the house. The house was of fir, covered on the outside with shingles. There were sixteen windows in the house and copper frames in each. A copper yoke across the hole in the roof. Four copper pillars at the beds of Ailill and Mève; they were all made of copper bronze and the bed was in the very center. Around it were two silver pediments covered with gold. A silver rod from the pediment joined the crosspieces of the house and surrounded it from door to door.
They hung their weapons in the house; they sat down and were warmly welcomed: "Welcome," said Ailill and Mève. "That's why we came," replied Fraech. "It wouldn't be easy to quarrel," Mève said. Then Ailill and Mève began to play chess. So Fraech begins a game of chess with a man from his household. The game was splendid: the chessboard of white bronze with four ears and elbows of gold; a precious stone candle lit it; the chess pieces were gold and silver. "Prepare food for the young men," said Ailill. “That's not what we want,” said Mève, “but I want to play chess with Fraech. “I want you to go,” said Ailill. So Mève goes to find Frâech and plays with him. During this time, the people of the house cooked the game.
'Let your harpists play us something now,' said Ailill. “So play,” said Fraech. A bag of otter skin, lined with scarlet leather, gold, and silver, surrounded each harp; in the center, the skin of a deer, as white as snow, but with dark gray eyes in the middle, and linen trimmings on the cords, as white as a swan's coat. The harps were of gold, silver and white bronze, with figures of snakes, birds and dogs in gold and silver. When the ropes were touched, these figures ran in circles around the men. So they played, and twelve men of the house of Ailill and Mève died of crying and sadness.
These three harpists were good melodists, and the laws of Uaithne were then. This famous trio consisted of three brothers: Weeping, Laughing, Endormeur. Boinn the fairy was their mother and they were named after the tunes played by Uaithné, Dagdé's harp. When their mother was in labour, the harp wept with sadness, at the first pains; she smiles, laughs and rejoices in the middle, at the birth of the first two sons; she was gently asleep at the birth of the last, which was painful. This is where the third part of the music was named. Then Boinn awoke from his sleep. – “I accept, she said, the three sons, O Uaithné full of ardor, since there will be sleep, laughter and tears on the cows and the women who will go with Mève and Ailill. Men will die who will listen to their charms. "
They then stopped playing in the palace. 'He came magnificently,' said Fergus. “Distribute us the food brought home,” said Frâech. Lothar walked around the house distributing the food. He cut every knuckle on the palm of his hand with his sword and he did not touch meat or skin. Since he was in charge of distributing the portions, his hand never wasted them.
For three days and three nights, Mève and Fraech played chess by the light of precious stones. Finally Fraech addressed himself to Mève: 'It is enough,' he said, 'that I have won you over; I don't take your bet; don't be offended. – Since you've been in this castle, said Mève, this is the day that seemed to me the longest – It's obvious, said Fraech, we've been playing chess for three days and three nights. "
Thereupon, Mève got up; she thought it shameful to have left the young people without food. She went to Ailill and said: “We made some beautiful ones! The young people who came from outside did not have to eat! “You liked playing chess better,” said Ailill. This does not preclude distributing food to people in the house. – There are three days and three nights, she said, but there is no night to count because of the sparkle of the precious stones in the house. “Tell them then,” said Ailill, “to cease their lamentations until the distribution is made to them. They were given food; they were satisfied and they continued to feast three days and three nights.
Then Fraech was called into the house by Ailill and Mève and they asked him what had brought him. "I wanted," he said, "to pay you a visit. “The household is not sorry to know you,” said Ailill; your presence is better than your absence. “So I will stay,” said Fraech, “another week with you. So they stayed in the chateau until the end of the fortnight, and every day they hunted and brought back the produce of their hunt to the chateau. The Connaciens came to visit them.
Fraech was annoyed that he hadn't had a talk with the girl, which was the motive that had brought him. One day he got up at the end of the night to wash his hands at the fountain. At the same time, she had also come with her servant to the same fountain to wash her hands. He immediately took her hands. 'Just talk to me,' he said; it is for you that we have come. “It would be good luck for me,” said the girl, “if I could, but I can't do anything for you. – Tell me, would you run away with me? said Fraech. 'I certainly wouldn't run away,' said Findabair, 'for I am the daughter of a king and a queen. Your poverty is not such that you cannot get me from my family, and I would prefer to go with you. It was you that I loved. Take this ring, said the girl, and it will be a pledge between us. My mother gave it to me to keep and I will tell you that I lost it. Then they separated from each other.
I fear, said Ailill, the flight of that young girl with Fraech. “However, we could give it to him; it wouldn't be wasted, said Mève, on condition that he came with his cattle to help us in the raid. Then Fraech came into the house to speak to them: 'Is there a secret between you? he said. "Whatever it is, you can still take part in it," said Ailill. – Will you give me your daughter? said Fraech. So people look at each other. 'We will give it to you,' said Ailill, 'if you give me the dowry I will ask of you. "You will have it," said Fraech. “I ask three scores of dark gray horses for me,” said Ailill, “with their bits of gold and silver, twelve dairy cows, each of which gives milk for fifty people, and each with a white calf with red ears; I also ask you to come with us with all your troupe and your musicians, to the Cualngé raid; my daughter will be yours, provided you come to the expedition. “I swear by my shield, by my sword, and by my arms,” said Fraech, “that I would not give such a dower, even for Mève de Cruachan. So he left them and went out of the house.
Thereupon Ailill and Mève conferred together at home. They said, "If he takes our daughter, it will hurt us with many kings and lords of Ireland." What would be better would be to jump on him and kill him on the spot, before he destroys us. “It's bad,” said Mève, “and it's a dishonor for us. 'It will not be a disgrace,' said Ailill, 'in the way I shall use. "
Ailill and Mève enter the palace. Let's go out now, said Ailill, to see the dogs hunt until noon and get tired. Then they all go to the river to bathe. "I have been told," said Ailill, "that you are good in the water, O Fraech; go into the pond, so we can see you swimming. – How is this pond? he said. 'We know of no danger there,' said Ailill, 'and they bathe there frequently. Then Fraech takes off his clothes and goes into the pond, leaving his belt on the ground. Ailill opens the purse, finds the ring there and recognizes it immediately. Come here, said Ailill, O Mève! Mève came to where Ailill was, and he presented the ring to her. "Do you recognize him? he said. "Certainly, I recognize him," said Mève. Ailill throws him into the river. But Fraech noticed it: he saw the salmon jump on it and put it in its mouth. Fraech jumps on the salmon, takes it by the gills, carries it to the ground and puts it in a hidden place on the bank. Then he began to come out of the water. Don't get out of the water, said Ailill, without bringing me a branch of that mountain ash over there, on the edge of the river. I find its berries pretty. So he goes to reach the mountain ash, breaks off a branch of the tree and, carrying it on his shoulder, crosses the water to come back. Findabair remarks that, whatever beautiful thing she had seen, she found it more beautiful to see Fraech on the Black Pond of Brei: his very white body, his very beautiful hair, his pretty face, his blue eyes, tender young man without no defects: the face narrow at the bottom, wide at the top; her flawless straight waist; the branch with its sorbs between its neck and its white face. Here is what Findabair says: “I have seen nothing which, half or a third, approached its beauty. "
Then, from the water, he threw the branches to them: “The berries are splendid and superb; bring us some more,” said Ailill. Fraech returns to the middle of the water. The Beast seizes him there: “Hand me a sword, he says, the Beast has me. But there was no man on the bank who dared give him one, for fear of Ailill and Mève. Then Findabair quickly takes off his clothes and throws himself into the water, with Fraech's sword. His father throws a five-pointed javelin at him from the distance of a staff; the javelin passes through his two braids, but Fraech catches it by the hand, and throws it towards the ground, with the Beast still at his side; he throws it with such skill that it breaks through Ailill's purple robe and tunic. Then the young people gather around Ailill. Findabair comes out of the water and leaves the sword to Fraech; this one cut off the head of the Beast; she remained on the side and he brought her back with him to the ground. From there comes the name of the Black Pond of Frâech, in Bray, on the territory of Connacht.
Then Ailill and Mève returned to their castle. – “That’s a nice deal we made! said Meve. – We repent of what we have done against this man, because he is not guilty. As for our daughter, he said, her lips will die tomorrow evening, and it will not be the fault of having brought the sword that will be imputed to her. Prepare a bath for this man! said Ailill, a fresh fatty broth of heifer cut with cleaver and ax, and bring it to him in the bath. Everything was done as he had said.
The horn-blowers, before that, went to the castle. They rang out so that thirty of Ailill's and Mève's own friends died of the plaintive charm of the music. Then Fraech entered the castle and got into the bath, and the women assembled around him near the tub to rub him and wash his head; then they took him out of the bath and made him a bed.
Then a lamentation was heard over Cruachan, in the vicinity, and three fifty women were seen in purple tunics, with green headdresses, with silver bracelets on their wrists. One sent towards them to know the history which caused their lamentation. “It is Fraech, son of Idach,” said the woman, the favorite son of the King of the Fairies of Ireland. Thereupon Fraech heard the lament. “Lift me up,” he said to his family, “it is the lamentation of my mother and the women of Boinn. Immediately, we lift him up and carry him towards them. The women surround him and carry him to Cruachan.
The next day, at nun, he was seen to return, with fifty women around him: he was cured, without injury or ill; the women were of the same age, the same height, the same beauty, with the appearance of fairies, and it was not possible to distinguish them from each other. People nearly choked on crowding around them. They left him at the courtyard door. They continued their lament as they went away so that the people in the yard went mad, and that is where the “Lament of the Fairies” comes from, among the musicians of Ireland.
Then he goes back to the castle. The whole assembly rises in front of him and welcomes him, as if he had returned from another world. Ailill and Mève rose and expressed their regret for what they had done to her; they make peace with him. Then that evening, they began to feast in the palace. Fraech calls to him a young man of his troop and says to him: “Go away to the place where I entered the water; I left a salmon there; take it to Findabair; let her prepare it and cook it well; the ring is inside. I believe it will likely be discussed tonight. Then drunkenness seized Ailill and Mève and they enjoyed the songs and the game.
Ailill said to his steward: “Bring me my jewels! So they all brought them to him and put them before him. “Wonder of wonders! says everyone in the palace. – “Call me Findabair! said Ailill. Findabair came to them with fifty daughters of kings and lords of Connacht. My daughter, said Ailill, the ring I gave you last year, do you still have it? Bring it to me for the young men to see; I'll give it to you later. “I don't know,” she said, “what we did with it. “Find him, then,” said Ailill, “you must seek him, or your soul depart from your body. "That is not right," said the young men; there are already a lot of goods here. – There is none of my jewels that I would not give for your daughter, said Fraech, because she brought me the sword to defend my life. "You have no jewel that can help her if she does not bring the ring," said Ailill. "It is not in my power to give it to you," said the girl; do with me what you will. "I swear by god my tribe swears, your lips will die, if you don't bring the ring," said Ailill. It's because it's difficult that I ask you; for I know that until those who have died since the beginning of the world return, he will not come out of the place where he was cast. “So he won't come for a treasure or a necessity,” said the girl, “the jewel you want. I'll bring it, since it's been asked many times. “You won't go,” said Ailill, “but send someone to take him. The young girl sent her servant to take him: “I swear by the god my tribe swears; if he is found, I will no longer remain under your power, even if I have no other occupation than debauchery. "I won't even stop you from going to the stable boy, if the ring is found," said Ailill. Thereupon the servant brought the dish into the palace; on it was the cooked salmon, with a honey seasoning that the girl had prepared, and the gold ring was on the salmon. Ailill and Mève considered him.
Then they looked at Fraech and he looked at his purse. "It seems to me that it is attested that I left my belt," said Fraech. By your true royalty, tell us what you did with the ring. "I won't hide it from you," said Ailill. The ring that was in your purse is mine and I knew it was Findabair who gave it to you. That's why I threw him in the Black Pond. By the truth of your honor and your life, O Fraech, tell how you were able to bring it back. "I won't hide it from you," said Fraech. The day I found the ring at the door of the court, I saw that it was a precious jewel. So I immediately put it in my purse. I heard, the day I went into the water, the girl who had lost him looking for him. I said to him: “What reward will I have from you if I find him? She told me she would give me a year of love. By chance I didn't have the ring on me; I had left it at home. We did not meet again until we found each other, at the moment when she put the sword in my hand, in the river. Then I saw you when you opened my purse and threw the ring in the water. I saw the salmon which jumped on it and took it in its mouth. So I grabbed the salmon, put it in a coat and passed it to the girl. It is this salmon that is on the dish. "
The whole household was full of surprise and admiration at this story. “I will not give my thought to a young man from Ireland but you,” said Findabair. “Pledge yourself to him,” said Ailill and Mève; come with us, with your cows, to the Razzia de Cualngé, and when you return from the East with your cows, you and Findabair will be married the same night. “I will,” said Fraech. They stayed there until the next day. Fraech and his troop equipped themselves. They bade farewell to Ailill and Mève. Then they left for their country.
Or il était arrivé que ses vaches venaient d’être volées. Sa mère vint à lui : » Il n’a pas été heureux, dit-elle, le voyage que tu as fait. Il te causera bien de l’ennui. Tes vaches ont été volées, ainsi que tes trois fils et ta femme, et sont dans la montagne des Alpes. Trois des vaches sont dans l’Écosse du Nord, chez les Picts. – Alors, que faire? dit-il à sa mère. – Tu n’iras pas les chercher; tu ne vas pas donner ta vie pour elles, dit-elle. Tu auras par moi d’autres vaches. – Non, certes, dit-il. Il est de mon honneur et de ma vie d’aller trouver Ailill et Mève, avec des vaches, pour la Razzia de Cualngé. – Tu n’obtiendras pas ce que tu cherches « , dit sa mère. Là-dessus, il la quitta.
So he set out with three novenas of men, a falcon and a leashed dog, so that he came to the territory of Ulster, and met Conall Cernach in the mountains of Boirché. He told her of his research. What you are doing, said this one, will not be lucky; you will be in a lot of trouble, whatever your intentions. “Stay with me,” Fraech said to Conall, “to come with me whenever we happen to be. "I will certainly come," said Conall.
They all three left; they crossed the sea, the north of England, the Sea of Wight, and arrived in the north of Lombardy, then in the mountains of the Alps. They saw in front of them a young girl who was herding sheep. “Let us both go,” said Conall, “O Fraech, speak to the woman yonder, and let our young people stay here! So they went to talk to him. She said to them, “Where are you from? "From Ireland," said Conall. – It will not be lucky for the men of Ireland to come to this country. My mother is also from Ireland. “Help me,” said Conall Cernach, out of friendship. Tell me a bit about our travels. What sort of country have we arrived in? he said. “In a dreadful and terrible country, with rough and cunning young warriors who go about everywhere kidnapping cows, women and clothes,” she said. – What have they taken lately? “The cows of Fraech, son of Idach, of the west of Ireland, with his three sons and his wife,” she said. His wife is here with the king, in the castle; here are his cows in the ground before you. – Will you come to our aid? said Conall. – My power is small; I only have science, she said. “Fraech is here with me,” said Conall, “and his cows, his wife, and his sons have been brought here. – Do you believe the faithful woman? she says. – We believed her to be faithful when she left our house; but she must not be faithful since her arrival here, said Fraech. “That's probably true,” she said. Go find the woman who herds the cows, tell her your business. She is of Irish race and, in particular, of Ulster. "
They immediately go to her, approach her, name themselves to her, and she welcomes them. - " What brings you? she says. "It's a great boredom that brings us here," said Conall. We are the cows and the sons and the wife that were brought to this castle, said Conall the Victorious. “It will certainly not be lucky for you,” she said, “to go in search of the woman; more difficult than anything, she says, is the snake that guards the castle. “I'm not looking for the woman,” said Fraech; I do not believe her to be faithful; we know you are not deceiving us, because we are from Ulster. – Which men of Ulster are you? 'Here is Conall the victor by my side,' said Fraech, 'Ulster's best warrior,' he said. She puts her arms around the neck of Conall the victorious: “Here is destruction, this time, said she, since you have come, O Conall; for it is you who, according to a prediction, will destroy this castle. So I'm going, she said, to my house; I will not milk the cows at all this evening and I will say that the calves are to be suckled; I will leave the yard open to you, for it is I who usually close it every evening. You will come to the castle when the young people of the castle are asleep. The only thing difficult for you is the snake that is in the castle. Many people are abandoned to him. “We'll go, come what may,” Conall said. The fortress was attacked at night time. The serpent leaped and fell asleep in Conall Cernach's belt. Immediately they plunder the castle; they then rescue the wife and three sons, taking the castle's most precious jewels with them. Conall untied the serpent from his belt without either of them harming the other.
Then they went to the country of the northern Picts and they took their three cows which were there. Then they set out for the castle of Ollach son of Brian, in Airdh-Ua n-Eachdach, beyond the sea, to the East. It was there that Bicné, son of Loégairé, son of Conall Cernach, died driving the oxen. From him comes the name "Mouth of Bicne" at Bennchur in Ulster, and it is there that they made the cows cross, and it was then that they lost their horns at the shore of Bennchur, and it is from there where does this name come from.
Fraech then left for his country with his wife, his sons and his cows, so that he went with Ailill and Mève to the Razzia de Cualngé.
