Pangur Bán
A 9th century Irish monk scribbled some verses about a beloved cat into his copy book.
?840-860
A 9th century Irish monk scribbled some verses about a beloved cat into his copy book.
?840-860
An anonymous ninth-century Irish monk – possibly Sedulius Scottus, driven onto the Continent by Vikings – penned a little poem about his cat Pangur Bán (Fuller the White) into his scrapbook, sharing the precious space with Latin hymns and noble quotations.
based on the Old Irish
I, AND Pangur Bán —
each doing what he does best:
his mind on the hunt,
mine on my own pursuits.
I love, better than fame, relaxing
with my texts, in painstaking study;
Pangur Bán does not envy me that:
he loves his own childish craft.
When at home together, just us two
(we never tire of that tale),
we hold our never-ending competition,
our test of ingenuity.
Our regular daring raids often end
with a mouse caught in his net,
or with some teasing, stubborn problem
fallen into mine.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
A ninth-century monk kept a cat. It was his constant companion.