The Táin (TAWN) is an ancient Irish tale. People passed it on by word of mouth for a very long time before anyone wrote it down. They carried it in their heads, by the fire, on the road, and from one generation to the next.

So here is the question for today: what changes when a story is finally written?

Eyes on the storyteller, because this part of the story reaches you by voice and not from the page. Listen first, and picture each scene in your head as you hear it.

Three moments to hold on to while you listen:

1. An army marches for a great brown bull
2. One boy-warrior holds a river ford alone
3. Two friends face each other across the water

Names you will hear:

• Medb (MAYV): the queen who wants the bull
• Cú Chulainn (koo HULL-in): the boy who holds the ford
• Ferdiad (fair-DEE-ad): his friend and foster-brother

After the telling: then the page

Long after people told this tale aloud, it was written down. A spoken telling can stretch or lean toward the listeners in the room. A written telling holds still, so the next reader meets nearly the same words.

Watch the placename decoder on the board, and if you are called up, tap a place and see the name split into its parts. Look for Irish roots inside names you already half-know, and notice how a story's map can still sit under today's map.