Elegy on Corroy the son of Dairy
by Taliesin, from Lyfyr Taliesin--The Book of Taliesin
I
From a broad fountain the stream is filled;
There will come a dispensing with the worth of the reckless:
I have been agitated by the death of Corroy.
If there came a man of harsh passions
More mischievous than he--not much is spoken of him:
The Son of Dairy held command on the South Sea;
Before his burial, celebrated was his praise.
II
From a broad fountain the brook is filled:
Saddling in haste will be dispensed with;
I have been agitated by the death of Corroy.
III
From a broad fountain the deep is filled;
The arrow traverses the strand pensive and angerless;
The hero was a subjugator--great was his front rank.
Towns followed after the leader;
They went fresh to the quarrel of brands.
While the demon of war heaped carnage in the mornings,
Tales were known from heaven to earth.
In the contention of Corroy and Cocholyn,
Many were the conflicts on the boundaries:
The chief of the encampment sprang from a gentle race.
A city there is kindling love; it will not fall nor tremble;
Blessed is the fortune of the soul by whom it is deserved!
Though the nineteenth century translator, Thomas Stephens, thought it was about a Welsh chieftain, it is in fact about CuRoi MacDaire, Cuchulain's opponnent in the Feast of Bricriu, an Irish tale of the Ulster Cycle. Cocholyn is in fact Cuchulain, the boy-hero of Ulster, and CuRoi is a supernatural being, "Hound King," the leader of the underworld, equivalent to the Welsh Gwyn ap Nudd. The contest between CuRoi and Cuchulain is the same as that between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, with Cuchulain in the role of Gawain (Gawain is in fact a later incarnation of Cuchulain), and CuRoi as the Green Knight who is beheaded, only to come to life again to challenge the hero to a duel in a year and a day.