The Tale of Mac Da Thó's Pig

The dispute is ultimately resolved through the plan of the king of Leinster, Mac Da Thó, to hold a feast at his hostel, at which a fight breaks out over the assignment of the curadmír or champion's portion.

Although apparently the quintessential Ulster Cycle story in many respects, the tale's composition also displays a sophisticated satiric quality as a parody of the genre.

[3][13] The scene of the story, and its familiarity with the area of modern County Kildare, suggests a Leinster authorship; though it appears that the south-west of Ireland was also not unknown to the author.

[15] Linguistically, the text of Rawlinson B 512 is similar to Harley 5280, especially at the beginning; and there are also innovations in common with the Book of Leinster, showing that the redactor clearly had more than one manuscript at his disposal.

[15] In spite of some miscomprehension of the story on the part of the revisionist scribe, the literary style as a whole is somewhat smoother than in the earlier version, which Rudolf Thurneysen points out is of help for the understanding of the tale.

[31] Mac Da Thó, on his wife's advice, decides to deal with the conundrum by promising the dog to both parties, and letting them fight over it.

[32][e] Mac Da Thó has his pig slaughtered for the feast – an animal which had been nourished by 60 milch cows for seven years and which had 40 oxen spread across it for its enormous size.

[33] The pig immediately attracts the attention of the Ulaid (Ulstermen) and Connachta (Conachtmen), who must decide over how it is to be divided up, and to whom shall be awarded the curadmír or "hero's portion".

The dog itself is decapitated by Aillil's charioteer Fer Loga at Mag nAilbi (present-day Moynalvy, County Meath),[g] and gave it its name, meaning "Plain of Ailbe".

[44][46] As the hosts sweep westward across Mide, Fer Loga hides in the heather and leaps into the chariot of Conchobar as it passes, seizing the king's head from behind.

A year later, at the end of the tale, Fer Loga rides westward across Ath Luain with two of Conchobar's horses and golden bridles for them both.

[42][failed verification] Considerably more details are given in the prose version of the Rennes Dindsenchas,;[27] Chadwick (1959), p. 91 which adds that Mac Da Thó's wife was named Maine Athrai.

The pig was wanted for Mac Da Thó's feast, and 50 swine were offered in exchange by Lena's mother, but he refused the barter.

[60] In the assessment of medievalist Nora Chadwick, "the tale is told with brilliant narrative power": its terseness, humour and laconic brevity is reminiscent of the best of the Icelandic sagas.

[61] The events of the narrative are expressed with swift movement, aiming to arouse and excite the interest and attention of the hearer rather than to stimulate the thought of the reader.

He seeks to impress by rapid crescendo to a startling climax, and a shock"; as when Cet first reluctantly yields to Conall Cernach in the absence of Ánluan, then is unexpectedly and abruptly shamed in full view of the warriors of Ireland, by Conall suddenly hurling the head-trophy of Ánluan "at the breast of his opponent with such violence that a gush of blood burst through Cet's lips".

Without a touch of romance, without the glamour of magic or of the supernatural, almost without antiquarian elements, it holds us throughout by its swift unflagging narrative, the rapid pitch and toss of its dialogue, the brilliant quality of the dramatic presentation.

[66] Similarly, in the 1st century BC, the Greek ethnographer Diodorus Siculus describes in detail how the Gauls "honour distinguished men with the best portions of the meat", and how disputes often lead to challenges in which "they set about glorifying the valour of their forefathers and boasting of their own prowess; and at the same time they deride and belittle their opponent, and try by their speeches to rob him of the courage he has in his heart".

[68] He turns both provinces to ridicule by the cunning of Mac Da Thó, King of Leinster; in particular, the author's political sympathies favour Connacht and remain hostile to Ulster to the end.

[71] However, it is apparent that by the time of the tale's composition, even the story-teller does not take the political issues very seriously, using the theme instead as a vehicle for a good story.

[30] In "an imitable passage of compressed humour", Mac Da Thó promises the dog to both parties, then feigns ignorance when both arrive on the same day.

[63] The tale's composition in the early period of the Viking Age in Ireland "may have done something to substitute laconic humour and a spirit of ripe burlesque for the dignity and poetical beauty" of other treasures of the Irish sagas.

[3] To call the tale a parody would not be entirely accurate; instead, it seems "that a literary genius has presented us with a well-preserved heroic tradition, seen through the prismatic lens of a later age.

[64] In the original version of the story, Mac Da Thó's pig may have been protagonist, showing parallels with the wild boar hunts of Arthurian legend.

[76] This is subject to contention, because Edward J. Gwynn translated torc as "chieftain richly clad", referring to the owner, not the pig,[52] but Thurneysen argued this was indeed a 'boar', and its well-cladness was "in regard to skin and fat", contrasted with imnocht ('stark naked') that occurs in the subsequent line.