DA APOSTL. DECC NA HÉRENN
SETTING THE SCENE: LOTS ARE CAST
1The twelve apostles of Erin were in Clonard studying with Finnian; and Finnian made a feast to the apostles and to the other saints of Erin. When their enjoyment of the feast was at its height, they saw an indescribably large flower come to them as a token of the Land of Promise [Tíre Tairngire]. Then they held earnest counsel as to going in search of the land of the flower [tíre na scoithi]. No one of them was before another in undertaking the journey thither; so lots were cast between them, that is between each pair of them; and the lot fell on the two Brendans to go. The two Brendans then cast lots between themselves, (to see) to which of them it would fall to go and seek for the Land of Promise. And the lot fell on Brendan of Birr to go.
2Then all the saints of Erin became silent and troubled out of concern that it should have fallen to the Senior, that is to the eldest of the saints of Erin, and to the prophetic sage, to venture into the jaws of the sea and mighty ocean.
Then said Brendan, the son of Findlug: "I am the younger; it is I who will venture on the ocean."
And thereof one composed this lay:
4Then was made by Brendan an excellent coracle for size and fullness of the crew; forty-five and seventy-three, that was the number that embarked in the coracle.
THE JOURNEY
5Then Brendan son of Findlug set sail on the roar of the rough-crested sea, and on the noise of the green-sloped waves, and on the hissing, deep-blue brine, and into the jaws of the unknown ocean with its many creatures, wherein they found many marine monsters. And there too they would discover islands strange and beautiful, but they would not tarry longer in them.
IASCONIUS
6They were then a year on the voyage, and Easter was then drawing near. So his company were saying to Brendan, that they must land in order to celebrate Easter.
"God is able," said Brendan, "to give us land in any place that he pleases."
When Easter came therefore, the great beast (whale) raised its shoulders aloft out of the sea, and it formed an even, firm, settled, broad, level, beautiful land. They disembarked on it, and celebrated Easter there. One day and two nights they remained in the place, till they had accomplished the ritual of Easter; after which they embarked in their coracle, and the great beast plunged under the sea. Each year, as Easter drew near, the great beast would raise its back above the sea, forming firm dry ground.
THE WHIRLPOOL
7Once as they were on the ocean they saw vast eddies. The storm drew them against their will to the edge of the whirlpool. Then great fear seized them because of the force of the storm. Each of them began to gaze in Brendan's face, for the danger in which they were was exceeding great.
Brendan then raised his voice on high and said: "Enough for thee, O mighty sea, said he, to drown me; therefore release this company."
Then the sea grew calm at once, and the ebullitions (?) of the whirlpool abated thenceforth, and never harmed any one again.
BRENDAN'S ENCOUNTER WITH THE DEVIL
8Another day when they were on the sea, the devil came to them in an enchanted, most horrible, impure, and hellish form, and settled on the mast of the ship in the presence of Brendan alone. No one else of them saw him, but only Brendan.
Brendan asked the devil why he had come from hell before his proper time, that is before the time of the great resurrection.
"It is for this I am come indeed," said the devil, "to be tortured in the deep prisons of this black dark sea. "
Brendan asked him: "What and where is that hellish place?"
"Alas!" said the devil, "no one can see it, and survive."
THE GATE OF HELL
9Then the devil showed the door of hell to Brendan, and then Brendan saw the hard dark prison, full of stench, full of flame, full of filth, full of camps of poisonous devils, full of weeping, and shrieking and woe, of wretched cries and loud lamentations, of mourning and wringing of hands by the sinful people, and the life of grief and sorrow in the heart of pain, in fiery prisons, in currents of ever-blazing streams, in the cup of lasting sorrow and of never-ending unceasing death, in dark sloughs, in seats of fierce flame, in abounding grief and death, and tortures, and chains, and heavy helpless struggles, amid the horrible screams of the poisonous demons, in the night ever dark, ever cold, ever fetid, ever foul, ever melancholy, ever rough, ever long, ever stifling, fatal, destructive, gloomy, bristling with fire, of the lower freezing hideous hell; on slopes of ever-fiery hills, without rest or stay, but hosts of demons haling the sinners into prisons heavy, strong, hot, fiery, dark, deep, lonely, futile, base, black, idle, foul, lengthy, enchanted, ever stinking, ever full of strife, and quarrel and weariness, ever dying, ever living.
10Weeping sharp, fierce, stormy; lamentation shrill, querulous, loud-voiced, bitter, sharp-toned, mournful. Worms crooked, cruel, daring, huge-headed. Monsters yellow, wan, wide-mouthed. Lions fierce, nimble, ravenous. Hawks swift, mighty, towering. Dragons red, dark, broad-backed, restless (or idle). Tigers strong and treacherous, scorpions blue and hairy, griffins fierce and sharp-beaked; gnats stinging, with large mouths; gadflies crooked, hard-beaked. Strong mallets of heavy iron; flails enchanted and rough with age; sharp swords; red spears; black demons; fetid fires; poisonous streams ; stinking cataracts. 11Cats scratching, dogs tearing, hounds hunting; demons screeching. Fetid loughs, great sloughs, dark pits, deep valleys, high hills, cruel crags. Hosts of demons, foul encampment, pain unceasing, greedy swarms, frequent fighting, instant quarrel, demons tormenting, tortures innumerable, life of sorrow. 12A place in which there are streams hoarse, bitter, enchanted, ever stinking, putrid, melting, burning, bare, swift, boiling, broad; straits cruel, rocky, long, cold, deep, small, great, boggy (?), ever-hot, extended, kneaded, sad. Plains bare and burning. Hills round and hairy; valleys crooked and wormy; bogs rough and prickly; woods dark and fiery. Roads filthy and beast-haunted; seas congealed giving off foul odours. Huge iron nails. Black bitter waters. Many strange places; a foul ever-putrid company; bitter wintry winds. Frozen ever dropping snow; red fiery griddles; base blackened faces; swift mangling demons; vast and strange torments.
JUDAS ISCARIOT
13After Brendan had seen these torments, he heard a lamentation great, intolerable, unendurable, and a melancholy wretched cry, and a helpless weeping in the depth of the bottom of hell. Then a great fear seized the cleric at the horror of that misery. And then Brendan saw a huge rock, and on it was that which he had heard. And the infernal sea would wash over the huge rock on every side; a wave of black-red fire (would break) over it from in front, and a cold icy wave from behind alternately.
14And one wretched man was standing on the rock. Brendan asked him who he was.
"I am Judas Iscariot," said he, "and it was I that sold my Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, for silver, and the despicable useless riches of the world.
"And vast," said he, "is the greatness of my strange torments; and I shall be as thou seest from now till the day of doom."
Then Brendan wept for the greatness of the misery in which he saw Judas to be. And then as a memorial for Brendan Judas made these little verses:
