by Anna Heusaff

A short book with a simple title, Bláthnaid is a story whose origins date back well over a thousand years. It belongs to a genre championed by publisher Leabhar Breac, that of retellings and reimaginings in today’s Irish of stories from our deep tradition of mythological and heroic literature. Other titles in the genre published in the past ten years include Deirdre, Éadaoin, Conaire Mór, Tuatha Dé Danann, Mé Suibhne and, most famous of all, Táin Bó Cuailgne.

Bláthnaid’s story is one of love, kidnap and deadly rivalry

Most people in Ireland are familiar with children’s versions of such well-worn legends as Oisín and Niamh in Tír na nÓg, the pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne by Fionn and the banishment of Children of Lir. We may know the outline of our greatest epic, the Táin, in which the armies of Queen Maeve of Connacht battle it out with Cúchulainn and the Ulstermen for the status-symbolic bull of Cooley. We may have an inkling that the tragedy of Deirdre and her lover Naoise is one of the ‘pre-tales’ of the Táin. And some of us remember another intriguing pre-tale, whereby the Ulster warriors are cursed and disabled by the pains of childbirth by the goddess Macha, whose name lives on in Ard Mhacha, or Armagh, because in her human form she is forced to run a chariot-race while heavily pregnant. But until Leabhar Breac went to work, very few of those stories had been published in Modern Irish for adult readers; others lay in medieval manuscripts, unknown or inaccessible to most of us.

Bláthnaid’s story is one of love, kidnap and deadly rivalry. The drama takes off from the first page. Bláthnaid’s father is Meann, king of the Isle of Man, who welcomes a group of visiting poets from Ulster with great hospitality. As they extol the virtues of their leading warriors, Bláthnaid falls in love with Cú Chulainn before she has ever set eyes on him: ar chlos chur síos na bhfilí di ar an tréanlaoch Ultach Cú Chulainn, thug sí gean is grá dó. Back home, the poets in turn extol Bláthnaid’s beauty to their king Conchúr and his nephew Cú Chulainn. Next day, a flock of magical birds leads Conchúr and company to the sea, whereupon they decide – so much for his hospitality – to raid Meann’s fort. But they find the fort protected by walls, snakes and magic. A masked man offers to help them on condition that he will be given his pick of the booty. When they are back in Ulster dividing the spoils, however, the masked helper reveals that his choice is Bláthnaid herself, whom he bears off to Kerry along with a magical cauldron.

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The story is told in a style that is both crisp and elegant, and rich in language while being highly readable. Bláthnaid has to marry her kidnapper, Cú Raoi, who is king of south Munster and chief sorcerer of Ireland. He is as bloodthirsty as the warriors of heroic literature the world over: Agus deirtí freisin gur bheag deargadh a rinne sé ar a chlaíomh in Éirinn ón uair a ghabh sé gaisce, mar nach raibh Éire go léir sách mór dó chun taispeántas a dhéanamh dá neart is dá chalmacht. (It was said too that he had rarely reddened his sword in Ireland from the time he had taken arms, because all of Ireland was not large enough for him to show off his strength and his bravery).  But Bláthnaid is a woman who will not submit quietly and when Cú Raoi is off abroad on a fighting expedition, she plays a few tricks of her own to bring Cú Chulainn to Cathair Con Raoi – anglicised today as Caherconree in the Slieve Mish mountain range west of Tralee. A few of the plot twists that follow are perhaps a little too convenient, but the drama continues unabated until we learn at the very end what becomes of her.

until Leabhar Breac went to work, very few of those stories had been published in Modern Irish for adult readers

Bláthnaid is a short book, beautifully produced by Leabhar Breac with many evocative illustrations by Ukrainian artist Anastasia Melynkova, in her very individual take on both early Irish and fantasy literature art. It is written by Darach Ó Scolaí, a prolific and award-winning novelist and translator as well as publisher of Leabhar Breac’s output. Most of the books in this genre are longer and a somewhat more demanding read, but equally recommended. The late Feargal Ó Béarra, scholar, lecturer and translator, had received the Irish language book of the year award, Gradam Uí Shúilleabháin, for the first of his two books, An Tromdhámh, before his untimely death in 2022. Major awards also went to Diarmuid Johnson for his ‘Tara trilogy’ of Conaire Mór, Tuatha Dé Danann and Éadaoin. As a scholar, poet and travel memoirist fluent in numerous languages, he has recreated the succinct brilliance and adjectival flamboyance of the Old and Middle Irish sources in a natural, flowing style that is all his own.

Remaking tales first written down before the centuries of conquest shattered much of our indigenous culture brought many challenges for these writers. Stories may be in fragments in different manuscripts, or told in different versions that do not match each other. And while Leabhar Breac publishes books for children, those mentioned here are aimed at adult readers. As well as the richness of language, and the casual blood and gore of the Táin among others, there’s a delight in sexual frankness not generally found in abridged editions.

The very first paragraph of Éadaoin, for example, tells us that the Daghda (the great god of the Tuatha Dé Danann) has the hots for the goddess Bóinn (who gave her name to our river Boyne). He wants to have sex with her, that sparring of limbs and joyous joining of genitalia. His desire is strong, his mind tormented and he neither sleeps nor snores as his lust beats secretly in his bloodstream. Mian a tharla don Daghda – cairdeas sliasta a dhéanamh le Bóinn, aithne chollaí a chur uirthi, comhrac na ngéag a dhéanamh léi, agus cumann an dá ghabhal. A mhian ba láidir, a aigne ba chráite, ba mhinic gan suan é, gan suan gan srann, óir bhí rún na drúise ag dordán ina chuisle agus ina chroí.

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Anna Heussaff is a novelist writing in Irish for adults and for young teens. Her latest crime novel, Sa Pholl Báite (CIC) was shortlisted for the An Post Irish language Book of the Year Award.