Ní lassamain cech n-óenchrand.

Ní lassamain cech n-óenchrand.

(not * inflammable * each * one log)

A single log does not catch fire.

This is one of a series of images, found in a poem in the LL Táin, that Cú Chulainn, weary and dejected, uses to lament the strain of carrying on the fight against the invaders single-handed. The image of trying to light a fire with just one log as a metaphor for the difficulty of trying to go it alone in the world is found eslewhere in the literature. Suibne Geilt says that living without a wife is like rowing a boat with one oar (see “Tigedhus do bheith gan mnaoi”). He ends the quatrain by comparing his condition to “adúdh re hénoires” (= igniting a fire with one faggot).

See also in this collection: “Noco modmar…” and “Cuit in tslóig…”

Topics: Proverbial Sayings