A Swan Uncarved: Russian and Irish Heroes Breaking the Table Etiquette
Nina Chekhonadskaya
Moscow State University
Abstract
The quarrels at feasts were a common topic in heroic poetry in many countries and ages. The feast was a convenient occasion for a public display of one’s status and wealth and a handy opportunity of its re-establishing and re-evaluation. A number of Irish tales contains the motive of the quarrel at a feast. Among the most important texts are Scéla mucce meic Dathó and Fled Bricrend. The carving of the Pig in the SMMD is the crucial point of the tale. The fact that the Pig is left uncarved and the Ulster hero Conall Cernach eventually swallows most of its meat leads to a bloody fight. The relative standing of the two tribes — Ulaid and Connachta — depended on the distribution of meat which, in fact, did not take place because of the absence or/and improper behaviour of the Pig’s owner. A number of Russian bylinas describing quarrels at feasts offer some interesting and enlightening parallels to the SMMD. The main course is not a pig, but a swan — a traditional Russian specialty. The swallowing of the Pig by Conall is represented in the Ulster cycle in a totally favourable light (pace K. McCone). In the Russian epic the situation is reversed.
The person who can swallow the uncarved swan (sometimes a bull) is represented as a stranger and eventually an enemy. His rudeness, bad manners and foreignness are strongly emphasized. The fact that the swan (and often a loaf of bread) is left uncarved is sometimes ascribed merely to the guest’s gluttony, but most often to foul play: the hostess is the stranger’s lover and intentionally tries to avoid distributing the proper portions. As a result, the stranger swallows the whole swan (often accompanied by a loaf and a vat of wine). This gluttony becomes the subject for an open derision: the hero compares the stranger with an old mare or/and an old dog who died from gluttony. In the ensuing fight the stranger is defeated and killed.
In Russian stories as well as in Irish, the carving of the main course at a feast becomes a way to assess and appreciate the relative standing of the two or more competing heroes and, eventually, the two societies (tribes). Both stories suppose lack of scruple or trickery from the host’s side. But the outcome is entirely different. In the Russian story the adversary is defeated and the young hero thereby asserts his right to be a full member of the heroic elite. In the SMMD the situation remains indecisive and the quarrel leads to a permanent rift in the Ulaid-Connachta relationships.