translation, for the sake of readability. Hence the page numbers are
not sequential--JBH} PREFACE TO VOL. II It seems to have been customary in ancient Ireland to precede by
shorter stories the recital of the Great Tain, the central story of the
Irish Heroic Age. A list of fourteen of these "lesser Tains," three of
which are lost, is given in Miss Hull's "Cuchullin Saga"; those
preserved are the Tain bo Aingen, Dartada, Flidais, Fraich, Munad,
Regamon, Regamna, Ros, Ruanadh, Sailin, and Ere. Of these, five only
have been edited, viz. the Tain bo Dartada, Flidais, Fraich, Regamon,
and Regamna; all these five are given in this volume. The last four tales are all short, and perhaps are more truly
"preludes" (remscela) than the Tain bo Fraich, which has indeed enough
of interest in itself to make it an independent tale, and is as long as
the four put together. All the five tales have been rendered into
verse, with a prose literal translation opposite to the verse
rendering, for reasons already given in the preface to the first
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