be stated as follows: A version of the _Tain_ goes back to the
early eighth, or seventh century, and is preserved under the YBL
text; an opinion based on linguistic evidence, but coinciding
with the tradition which ascribes the 'Recovery of the _Tain_' to
Senchan Torpeist, a bard of the later seventh century. This version
continued to be copied down to the eleventh century, gradually
changing as the language changed. Meanwhile, varying accounts of
parts of the story came into existence, and some time in the
eleventh century a new redaction was made, the oldest representative
of which is the LL text. Parts of this were embodied in or added
to the older version; hence the interpolations in LU.


THE FER DIAD EPISODE

There is much difference between the two versions of this episode.
In YBL, the introductory portion is long and full, the actual fight
very short, while in LL the fight is long-drawn-out, and much more
stress is laid on the pathetic aspect of the situation. Hence it is
generally assumed that LL preserves an old version of the episode,
and that the scribe of the Yellow Book has compressed the latter
part. It is not, however, usual, in primitive story-telling, to
linger over scenes of pathos. Such lingering is, like the painted
tears of late Italian masters, invariably a sign of decadence. It
is one of the marks of romance, which recognises tragedy only when
it is voluble, and prodigal of lamentation. The older version of
the _Tain_ is throughout singularly free from pathos of the feebler
sort; the humorous side is always uppermost, and the tragic
suggestions interwoven with it.