Anonymous, 9th century
Note
This anonymous poem, presumably by an Irish scholar monk, was discovered in the Monastery of St Paul in Carinthia, Southern Austria. It did not include a title but has become known by the name given to the cat in the poem, Pangur Ban (“White Pangur”). The neat comparison between the respective activities of the scholar and the mouse-hunting cat, and the evident sympathy felt by the scholar for his feline companion, have made the poem famous.
- Irish
- Messe ocus Pangur Bán,
- cechtar nathar fria saindan:
- bíth a menmasam fri seilgg,
- mu memna céin im saincheirdd.
- Caraimse fos (ferr cach clu)
- oc mu lebran, leir ingnu;
- ni foirmtech frimm Pangur Bán:
- caraid cesin a maccdán.
- O ru biam (scél cen scís)
- innar tegdais, ar n-oendís,
- taithiunn, dichrichide clius,
- ni fris tarddam ar n-áthius.
- Gnáth, huaraib, ar gressaib gal
- glenaid luch inna línsam;
- os mé, du-fuit im lín chéin
- dliged ndoraid cu ndronchéill.
- Fuachaidsem fri frega fál
- a rosc, a nglése comlán;
- fuachimm chein fri fegi fis
- mu rosc reil, cesu imdis.
- Faelidsem cu ndene dul
- hi nglen luch inna gerchrub;
- hi tucu cheist ndoraid ndil
- os me chene am faelid.
- Cia beimmi a-min nach ré
- ni derban cách a chele:
- maith la cechtar nár a dán;
- subaigthius a óenurán.
- He fesin as choimsid dáu
- in muid du-ngni cach oenláu;
- du thabairt doraid du glé
- for mu mud cein am messe.
- English by Robin Flower
- I and Pangur Ban 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 task 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 task we ply,
- Pangur Ban, 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.
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