true or not, it, together with all the varied work contained in this
collection, with the possible exception of the short extract from the
Glenn Masain "Deirdre," is in the actual form that we have it, older
than the Norman Conquest of Ireland, older than the Norse Sagas. Its
manuscript authority is older than that of the Volsunga Saga; its
present form precedes the birth of Chretien de Troyes, the first
considerable name in French literature, and, in a form not much unlike
that in which we have it, it is probably centuries older than its
actual manuscript date. The whole thing stands at the very beginning
of the literature of Modern Europe, and compares by no means
unfavourably with that which came after, and may, in part, have been
inspired by it. Surely it deserves to be raised from its present
position as a study known only to a few specialists, and to form part
of the mental equipment of every man who is for its own sake interested
in and a lover of literature.




INTRODUCTION IN VERSE



'Tis hard an audience now to win
For lore that Ireland's tales can teach;
And faintly, 'mid the modern din,
Is heard the old heroic speech.

For long the tales in silence slept;
The ancient tomes by few were read;