Matheson Collection > Deirdire; and, The lay of the children of Uisne

INTRODUCTORY 7
took a lay or a song with me. You
will not get the lay now from any one
in Barra unless you get it from Donald
the smith at Breubhaig; I heard that
Donald had it. And you will not get
the tale from any one in Barra now but
from myself, unless the fragments that
you got from John my brother.'
The story of Deirdire and the Chil-
dren of Uisne belongs to the Cuchulair^ "^if^H ^"^i _ _
cycle of Gaelic sagas. It is one of fCt^, ^ ' '
the ' three sorrows of story - telling/
the other two being the story of the
Children of Lir and the story of the
Children of Tuirenn.
The people of the Highlands have
retained more of the tales of the Fiann
cycle, while the people of Ireland have
retained more of the tales of the
tWof'^-n' Cù^hulain^ cycle. The present is, I
believe, the only version of this tale