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Esnada Tige Buchet
"The Songs
of Buchet's House"
Editions
- M. Byrnes (ed. & tr.), Esnada Tige
Buchet: an Edition. Unpublished M.A. Thesis (UCD 1997).
- D. Greene (ed.), Fingal Rónáin and
Other Stories (Dublin 1975) 27-44.
- M. Hayden (ed. & tr.), 'The Songs of Buchet's House', ZCP viii (1912)
261-73 (Edition and translation of the metrical version)
- W. Stokes (ed. & tr.), 'The Songs of Buchet's House', RC xxv (1904)
18-38, 224-7.
Manuscripts
- The Book of Leinster, 270a45-271a46
- The Yellow Book of Lecan, 113a-114b4
- H. 2. 17, 463-4
- Rawlinson B 512, fo. 122ra8-122vb15; fo. 144b2
(an incomplete copy of some fifteen lines)
- Rawlinson B 502, fo. 73rb31-73va49 (shorter
prose version that omits the rhetorics); fo. 50ra1 (metrical
version)
Date
- Dillon (Cycles 25) dates the
story to the tenth century, but Greene believes it is earlier (27).
Characters
- Cormac mac Airt, king of Tara from Dál Cuinn (prehistoric ancestors of
the Connachta and Uí Néill).
- Cathaír Már, king of Leinster and ancestor of many Laigin peoples
including the Uí Dúnlainge and Uí Cheinnselaig.
- Buchet, a Leinster hospitaller and foster father of Eithne.
- Eithne, daughter of Cathaír Már.
- Odrán, owner of the land upon which Cormac builds Tara. He is from
the Déisi of Mag Breg.
Notes
- This saga belongs to the Cycle of Cormac mac Airt.
- Three versions of this tale survive: a long version (LL, YBL, H. 2.
17, Rawl. B 512); a short version (Rawl. B 502), and a metrical version (Rawl.
B 502).
- According to Greene, the metrical version of the story in Rawl. B 502
derives from the prose (27).
- Eithne in this story represents sovereignty.
- All three versions include the Dindsenchas of Odra, which is an
alternate version of the origin of Tara myth.
Summary
During the reign of Cathaír Már, king of Leinster, there was a wealthy
hospitaller named Buchet who managed a guest house (tech
n-óeged) where he and his wife fostered the king’s daughter Eithne.
However, when Eithne’s many brothers came to visit her, they would demand
gifts from Buchet, so many that over time Buchet’s wealth diminished till he
had “only seven cows and a bull” remaining. But when Buchet went to Cathaír
to complain about his sons, the decrepit king told him that he was too old
to control his boys and Buchet would have to fend for himself. With no
other choice, Buchet, his wife, and their foster daughter fled Leinster in
secret and set up a small hut at Kells.
At the time they arrived, Cormac mac Airt was also living at Kells. He had
not yet obtained the kingship, nor had he built the earthworks at Tara.
After he became king, he built the ráth
of Tara on land belonging to Odrán, a serf of the Déisi Breg. At first,
Odrán was upset that the king would just take his land, but when confronted
by Odrán, Cormac compensated him handsomely, giving him silver, provisions,
and the land known as Odra Temrach.
One day before all this happened, Cormac happened to see Eithne gathering
rushes, milk, and water; the choice portions of each, she told Cormac, she
reserved for Buchet, so that he might receive honor even in his impoverished
state. Impressed by her dutifulness, Cormac asked Buchet for her hand, but
he told him that only Cathaír has the power to grant Eithne in marriage.
However, that night, Cormac had Eithne abducted. She quickly escaped home,
but not before conceiving a child by Cormac—the boy to be known as Cairpre
Liphechair.
Some time later, the Leinstermen returned Eithne and Cairpre to Cormac, and
the king paid Buchet a handsome bride-price, so that he might live out his
days in prosperity. And from then on, Buchet’s house was filled with the
songs (esnada) of fifty warriors,
fifty maidens, and fifty harpers, hence the name of the story ‘the songs of
Buchet’s house’.
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