Kings: C

Ceadda (King of Herrings) Cedd, Cédric (Bountiful) | Ciad (Identical Ones) | Chad, Ceud (First) Mith-Ceud (Humble-First)

Mo-chean do theacht, a scadáin;
druid liom, a dhaltáin uasail;
do chéad beathas’s do shláinte,
do thuillis fáilte uaimse.

Dar láimh m’athar, a scadáin,
gé maith bradáin na Bóinne,
duit do dhealbhas an dainse
ós tú is uaisle ’s is óige.

A fhir is comhghlan colann
nach ndéanann comann bréige,
cara mar thú ní bhfuaras;
ná biom suarach fá chéile.

Dá bhféachdaois uaisle Banbha.
cia is mó tarbha den triúrsa:
is rí ar gach iasc an scadán
idir bhradán is liúsa.

Is é ar bhféachain gach cósta
go crích bhóchna na Gréige,
iasc is uaisle ná an scadán
ní bhfuair Canán Chinn tSléibhe.

A scadáin shéimhe shúgaigh,
a chinn chumhdaigh an Charghais,
a mhic ghrádhaigh mo charad,
liom is fada go dtángais..

Gé mór do thuit a-nuraidh
ded ghaol bhunaidh fán méis-se,
ná cuimhnigh fíoch ná fala,
ós tú cara na cléire.

A scadáin shailltigh shoilbhir
nach bíonn go doilbhir dúinte,
liomsa do theacht ní hanait,
súil ar charaid an tsúilse.

I dtús an Charghais chéasta,
a fhir lé ndéantar comhól,
ortsa, go teacht na Cásca,
is mór mo ghrása ’s is romhór.

Hail, herring! You’ve come!
My noble son, come close;
Your health! a hundred greetings!
You well deserve our welcome.

By my father’s hand, herring,
though Boyne salmon are fine
I made this poem for you,
most noble and most fresh.

Sir, whose wholesome body
gives no lying promise,
I have found no friend like you;
let nothing mean divide us.

Let Banba’s best consider
the worthiest of these three
over salmon, over pike,
Herring is the king of fish.

When he studied every coast
to the Greek land’s ocean edge
Canán Cinn tSléibhe could not find
a nobler fish than the herring.

Herring, gentle and jovial,
our mainstay in time of Lent,
my friends’s favorite son,
it was long until you came.

Though many of your close kin
fell last year across this plate,
brood not in anger or spite,
you, that are friend to poets.

Herring, salty, serene,
not shut in self or sour,
your coming causes no pang!
My eye rests on a friend.

As tormented Lent begins,
Sir (with whom we drink).
for you until Easter comes
my love is great and growing! (158)

St.Chad, Bishop of Mercia. Brother St Cedd, Bishop of London; both were variants of the pagan god, Ceadda, a magic and healing spring god. In The Adventures of Ciad, Ciad, Ceud, and Mith-Ceud, sons of the King of Lochlann, meet Dark Eye, daughter of the King of France who is cursed by her stepmother to wander the seas of the world until she finds the Ioca: Ointment of Health that cures wounds and restores the dead to life owned by the Queen of the Island of the Riches of the World. They meet the Giant of the Great Seas, who disappears into the mist at sunset, and he directs them to the island. The giant kills two brothers and Ciad, the lone survivor, meets the Queen [who strikes her staff on the hearthstone and nine hags identical to her appear, then nine maidens.] She feeds him rabbit tongue and he sleeps in a heather bed with an old black cat. She tells him the ointment was stolen from her by Feach an Chric: Terrible Man of the Hill two hundred years ago. He follows her small red fish to the Third Part of The World and learns that Feac an Cuill: Terrible Man of the Wood has it. A wolf leads him to Feach an Cuill who tells him the king of Persia stole the ointment and it is now guarded by Seven Wizards. Ciad journeys to the Plain of Dead Men and picks up his cousin Swift Sword of Spain [who has a golden boot]. At the Lake of the Singing Shore they give the blessing of Crom to the Persian King’s daughter, Pearl Mouth. Each scale she throws into the fire from her staff turns into a white pigeon. She promises the ointment if they rescue her husband Blue Gold, son of the King of Africa, from Mountain of Fierceness, son of the King of Greece. They go to India to get the buaidh– oak branch from Soul of Steel. In Africa, Mountain of Fierceness is marrying the Queen of the Indies and he tells them Blue Gold is trapped as a pigeon in the Eastern Skies. The Well of the World’s end has nine magical grains of wheat that can turn Blue Gold back into human form. With the golden net of the Druids they capture Blue Gold and feed him the grain. They use the Ioca: Ointment of Health to revive the two brothers and Ciad marries Dark Eye. The feasting lasts 99 days and nights. The last night better than the first. (71, 138) Blue Gold is fresh water in Chad, Africa. The Blue Nile Falls ‘Meskel’ flower turns entire hills and fields to gold. Sacred Blue Lily of the Nile: Caerulea: Blue Lotus represented in ancient Egyptian art. cynt, formerly, cyntaf, first, Breton kent, kenta (do.), Gaulish Cintu-, *kentu-; allied to Welsh cann. Sanskrit kaná, young; A. Watkins The Old Straight Track tells of wiches: salt-springs where ysgadan: herring fisheries extract salt from a mixture of sea water & peat. Yarmouth Herring Fair has a red herring [scadan dearg: smoked] and a white herring [broit scadan: salt-brine / sardine] on its coats of arms. The salt pans operate from the 1st of May until Martinmas. The wallers gather salt with wooden rakes from the bottom of barrels & put it in wicker sieves called maois / mwys: salt barrows. (205)

[French Ministry of Education Site: Centre national de documentation pédagogique]