Coire Sois, The Cauldron of Knowledge: A Companion to Early Irish Saga

6. Curse and Satire

6 Curse and Satire ( 1 9 8 6 ) Old Irish maldacht ‘curse’is a loan from Latin, and can broadly be taken as the ecclesiastical equivalent of native áer ‘satire.’ The precise range of the two words, and the extent to which they may overlap, remain to be determined . In an appendix to his valuable study of satire,1 Robert C. Elliott discusses the curse. He finds it impossible to distinguish formally between magical satire and the curse,2 and suggests that“perhaps the best approach is to look at both curse and satire as relatively undifferentiated responses to the threats and possibilities of a hostile environment. Behind them both is the will to attack, to do harm, to kill—in some negative way to control one’s world.”3 One of the items discussed by Elliott in this context is the account of how St. Patrick cursed Bécán: “Patrick . . . uses the formula ‘I ordain ’ and winds a spell around the name of a victim in a fashion indistinguishable from that of the magician-satirists.”4 This curse of Patrick’s is 95 96 THEMES recounted in an anecdote in Acallam na Senórach,5 and the purpose of the present note is to juxtapose that anecdote with the one in Cath Maige Tuired which deals with “the first satire that was made in Ireland,” in which the fili Cairbre son of Étaín similarly winds a spell around the name of his victim, Bres.6 We shall see that Patrick’s curse and Cairbre’s satire are effective instruments , which are used to bring about the deposal of an unrighteous king. We may begin with a summary of the Patrician anecdote. Patrick and his companions were approached by a young man who deposited a lapful of nuts and apples at Patrick’s feet. The young man was questioned by Patrick and declared himself to be Falartach son of Fergus; he said that his heritage was the kingship of Brega, Mide and Déisi Temrach, but that he was engaged in plunder and marauding upon his brother Bécán. (From this we are apparently to understand that Bécán has usurped Falartach’s heritage; this inference finds support later on in the anecdote.)7 Patrick promises to restore Falartach’s heritage to him within the year. The discussion then turns to Ros mic Treoin, from which Falartach has brought the fruit, and which is the subject of a poem here delivered by Caílte. As night approaches, Patrick enquires about supper, and Falartach tells him that he could get supper at the house of Falartach’s brother, Bécán, in the túatha of Brega and Mide. Some clerics go ahead to Bécán’s house, but, although he has a hundred and twenty milch herds, Bécán refuses to give them any food. When Patrick hears of this, he utters an imprecation, ordaining that not one of Bécán’s cattle or people shall remain alive on the morrow. And that came to pass, ut dixit Patricius: Bécán, ní rab ilar a tredan! Oiret rabh grian ar deiseal, ní rabh seiser d’óibh Bécán! ——— (Bécán, / may there not be many of his fastings! / As long as the sun travels right-handwise, / may there not be six descendants of Bécán!)8 Then all at once the earth swallows up Bécán and his people, and all his wealth, both animal and human. Falartach then offers to provide supper for Patrick that night from the twenty-nine cows which have served to feed the band of fighters whom he has hitherto employed in plunder and marauding . Patrick promises to grant the kingship from midday on the morrow to Falartach, and to his descendants after him until such time as they will oppose the church. And in that way Bécán is consigned to the earth, and Patrick bestows kingship on Falartach. The context for Cairbre’s satire in Cath Maige Tuired begins with a dispute which arose among the Túatha Dé Danann as to who should be king in succession to Núadu, who has become ineligible to retain the office owing to the loss of an arm in battle. The womenfolk among them succeed in having the kingship bestowed upon Bres, whose mother was of...