Pangur Bán: The Scholar and the Cat (early 9th century) - English translation by Robin Flower

      Messe ocus Pangur Bán

Messe ocus Pangur bán,
cechtar nathar fria shaindán:
bíth a menmasam fri seilgg,
mu menma céin im shaincheirdd.

Caraimse fos, ferr cach clú
oc mu lebrán, léir ingnu;
ní foirmtech frimm Pangur bán:
caraid cesin a maccdán.

Ó ru biam, scél cen scís,
innar tegdais, ar n-óendís,
táithiunn, díchríchide clius,
ní fris tarddam ar n-áthius.

Gnáth, húaraib, ar gressaib gal
glenaid luch inna línsam;
os mé, du-fuit im lín chéin
dliged ndoraid cu ndronchéill.

Fúachaidsem fri frega fál
a rosc, a nglése comlán;
fúachimm chéin fri fégi fis
mu rosc réil, cesu imdis.

Fáelidsem cu ndéne dul
hi nglen luch inna gérchrub;
hi tucu cheist ndoraid ndil
os mé chene am fáelid.

Cia beimmi a-min nach ré
ní derban cách a chéle:
maith la cechtar nár a dán;
subaigthius a óenurán.

Hé fesin as choimsid dáu
in muid du-ngní cach óenláu;
du thabairt doraid du glé
for mu mud céin am messe.

The Scholar and the Cat

I and Pangur Bán, my cat
'Tis a like task we are at;
Hunting mice is his delight
Hunting words I sit all night.

Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will,
He too plies his simple skill.

'Tis a merry thing to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.

Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur's way:
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.

'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.

When a mouse darts from its den,
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!

So in peace our tasks we ply,
Pangur Bán, my cat, and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine and he has his.

Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.

Translated by Robin Flower

[Traducción al irlandés moderno]

[versión de D. Brown]

[Traducción castellana]

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• Robin Flower (1881–1946): en Internet.
• Otras traducciones al inglés: James Marchand, Seamus Heaney, Frank O'Connor y Eavan Boland.

The Book of Kells (ca 800), Ms. 58 (A.16), fol. 48r [detalle].
"The disc being nibbled by the mice ... stands for both the eucharist and the moon, symbols for the mystical body of Christ. The moon is also a reference to Christ's resurrection. The cats which have caught the two mice holding the wafer/moon [see the "Chi-Rho page"] would be creatures familiar to the monks. But they also may have reminded them of St Augustine's reference to the cross as the devil's mousetrap, Christ's death being the bait by which the devil was caught. Relating the Chi/cross to the mousetrap and the cats to the act of ensnarement would express the mystery of the Incarnation and Resurrection which was completed through disguises and the deception of the devil." (Michael W. Herren - Shirley Ann Brown, Christ in Celtic Christianity: Britain and Ireland from the fifth to the tenth century, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2002, p. 230).


No obstante las razones que anteceden (p. 229s),
resulta forzado ver aquí el simbolismo de la luna:
oblea y luna no son intercambiables, porque el pan
eucarístico no es considerado un mero símbolo,
sino un símbolo sacramental [ver aquí].

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