SOURCE: A preface to The Ancient Irish Epic Tale "Táin Bó Cúalnge," translated by Joseph Dunn, David Nutt, 1914, pp. xi-xxxi.

In the following excerpt, Dunn explores the cattleraid plot and speculates about the historical genesis of the Táin.

The Gaelic Literature of Ireland is vast in extent and rich in quality. The inedited manuscript materials, if published, would occupy several hundred large volumes. Of this mass only a small portion has as yet been explored by scholars. Nevertheless three saga-cycles stand out from the rest, distinguished for their compass, age and literary worth, those, namely, of the gods, of the demigod Cuchulain, and of Finn son of Cumhall. The Cuchulain cycle, also called the Ulster cycle—from the home of its hero in the North of Ireland—forms the core of this great mass of epic material. It is also known as the cycle of...