The Poem-Book of the Gael. Various

part iii.

[10] The Lebar Brecc gives poem x., and a prose version of portions of poems ii., iv., vi., viii., ix., xi.

THE SALTAIR NA RANN, OR PSALTER OF THE VERSES

       Table of Contents

      Attributed to Oengus the Culdee, ninth century; but the date is probably the close of the tenth century.

I. THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE

       Table of Contents

      y own King, King of the pure heavens,

       without pride, without contention,

       who didst create the folded[11] world, my King ever-living, ever victorious.

      King above the elements, surpassing the sun,

       King above the ocean depths,

       King in the South and North, in the West and East,

       with whom no contention can be made.

      King of the Mysteries, who wast and art,

       before the elements, before the ages,

       King yet eternal, comely His aspect,

       King without beginning, without end.

       King who created lustrous heaven,

       who is not arrogant, not overweening,

       and the earth, with its multitudinous delights,

       strong, powerful, stable.

      King who didst make the noble brightness,

       and the darkness, with its gloom;

       the one, the perfect day,

       the other, the very perfect night.

      King who fashioned the vast deeps

       out of the primary stuff of the elements,

       who …

       the wondrous formless mass.

      King who formed out of it each element,

       who confirmed them without restriction, a lovely mystery,

       both tempestuous and serene,

       both animate and inanimate.

      King who hewed, gloriously, with energy,

       out of the very shapely primal stuff,

       the heavy, round earth,

       with foundations, … length and breadth.[12]

      King who shaped within no narrow limits

       in the circle of the firmament

       the globe, fashioned

       like a goodly apple, truly round.

       King who formed after that with fixity

       the fresh masses about the earth;

       the very smooth currents above the world

       of the chill watery air.

      King who didst sift the cold excellent water

       on the earth-mass of the noble cliffs

       into rills, with the reservoirs[13] of the streams, according to their measures, with moderation.

      Creation of the winds with their colours

      King who ordained the eight winds

       advancing without uncertainty, full of beauty,

       the four prime winds He holds back,

       the four fierce under-winds.

      There are four other under-winds,

       as learned authors say,

       this should be the number, without any error,

       of the winds, twelve winds.

      King who fashioned the colours of the winds,

       who fixed them in safe courses,

       after their manner, in well-ordered disposition,

       with the varieties of each manifold hue.

      The white, the clear purple,

       the blue, the very strong green,

       the yellow, the red, sure the knowledge,

       in their gentle meetings wrath did not seize them.

       The black, the grey, the speckled,

       the dark and the deep brown,

       the dun, darksome hues,

       they are not light, easily controlled.

      King who ordained them over every void,

       the eight wild under-winds;

       who laid down without defect

       the bounds of the four prime winds.

      From the East, the smiling purple,

       from the South, the pure white, wondrous,

       from the North, the black blustering moaning wind,

       from the West, the babbling dun breeze.

      The red, and the yellow along with it,

       both white and purple;

       the green, the blue, it is brave,

       both dun and the pure white.

      The grey, the dark brown, hateful their harshness,

       both dun and deep black;

       the dark, the speckled easterly wind

       both black and purple.

      Rightly ordered their form,

       their disposition was ordained;

       with wise adjustments,[14] openly, according to their position and their fixed places.

       The twelve winds,

       Easterly and Westerly, Northerly and Southerly,

       the King who adjusted them, He holds them back,

       He fettered them with seven curbs.

      King who bestowed them according to their posts,

       around the world with many adjustments,

       each two winds of them about a separate curb,

       and one curb for the whole of them.

      King who arranged them in habitual harmony,

       according to their ways, without over-passing their limits;

       at one time, peaceful was the space,

       at another time, tempestuous.

Measurements of the Universe