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General >> Project Goliath - The History of The Sling >> Battle of Ventry
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Message started by slingbadger on Oct 11th, 2007 at 12:58pm

Title: Battle of Ventry
Post by slingbadger on Oct 11th, 2007 at 12:58pm
This is a passage from the Cath Finntraga, or the Battle of Ventry. Part of the Fenian cycle of Ireland

"And 2 foreigners were set against them that day. And Conncrither seized his long sided sling ( an tabhaill) and put a straight even stone in it, and gave it a straight well directed cast, so that it went into the forehead of his adversary, and took the brain as a lump of blood out the back of the head."

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by Steven on Oct 11th, 2007 at 1:39pm
eww... :P...yuck .... nasty ..... nice cite. Good literary find.

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by slingbadger on Oct 12th, 2007 at 11:24am
Interestingly enough, this fits in with something. Seems the Museum of Ireland has leather pieces. They are diamond shaped, but the long ends are stretched out. (Long sided sling). Other than that, they are exactly the same as a regular pouch.

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by curious_aardvark on Oct 16th, 2007 at 11:59am
good throw :-)

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by Africa_Slinger on Oct 17th, 2007 at 9:50am
Nice!!!


Quote:
Posted by: curious_aardvark Posted on: Yesterday at 11:59am
good throw :-)  


Yes, and then possibly followed by a great chuck  :-[

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by funda_iucunda on Oct 18th, 2007 at 4:27pm
Is it realistic that a shot goes streight through the head or is it just "splatter poetry"?

funda iucunda

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by Dravonk on Oct 19th, 2007 at 4:38am
When you shoot at something that is filled with water the water will transfer the impact in all directions as water cannot compress. So I guess his head could have exploded if the stone managed to crack through the skull and hit the brain with enough speed. But I doubt that the shot would go through the back.

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by DesertPilot on Oct 19th, 2007 at 11:38am
If it did leave holes on both sides of the target, wouldn't that let air in, which would make them...

...Ventrylation holes?


Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by bigkahuna on Oct 19th, 2007 at 9:06pm
:P

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by slingbadger on Oct 20th, 2007 at 10:41am
Like most heroic sagas, there is exaggeration to make the hero look good. It,s the same in the aenied, where thehero launches a glande so fast that it melts in mid air.

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by curious_aardvark on Oct 20th, 2007 at 6:00pm
depending on range, slinger power and stone shape - yes it could happen.
Mostly you would expect the stone to lodge in the head - but there is no reason a sufficiently powerful throw could not penetrate with a through and through.

If I can throw a golf ball through half an inch of plywood then a professional career slinger can certainly put a hole in a skull. bear in mind that lead bullets tend to deform on impact and a stone would not, thus retaining a lot more energy than a lead bullet. So yep, it's doable :-)

And no I am not standing still while larry bray tries it on me (just thought I'd get that in ;-)

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by bigkahuna on Oct 20th, 2007 at 10:22pm
We've had folks here who could put a stone through a cinderblock, so a skull shouldn't be much of a problem. Plus , with the hydrostatic shock of the strike you could get a lot of brain matter out of the exit wound.

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by winkleried on Oct 21st, 2007 at 10:12pm
Hey Badger, Sorry so late on this reply. This seems to be a semi-running thread inIrish folklore.

In the article "Magic Weapons of Celtic Legends" the author quotes

While most sling-balls were naturally shaped stones, some of them
were artificially made and even composed of weird material. Cuchulain
overcomes Foil1 by hurling an iron ball in Foill's " foreheads midst ".4
The blood of toads, hears, and viper.; was mixed with sea-sand and hardened.
j
A ball formed of lime and the brain of the dead champion Mes Gegra,
was kept among the trophies in Emain Macha. One day Cet carries this
ball off ; later he adjusts it in the sling and throws it so that it hit the
crown of Conchobar's head, causing after long illness the death of the
king.6

Magic Weapons in Celtic Legends
E. Ettlinger
Folklore, Vol. 56, No. 3. (Sep., 1945), pp. 295-307.

Marc Adkins

slingbadger wrote on Oct 11th, 2007 at 12:58pm:
This is a passage from the Cath Finntraga, or the Battle of Ventry. Part of the Fenian cycle of Ireland

"And 2 foreigners were set against them that day. And Conncrither seized his long sided sling ( an tabhaill) and put a straight even stone in it, and gave it a straight well directed cast, so that it went into the forehead of his adversary, and took the brain as a lump of blood out the back of the head."


Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by slingbadger on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 10:59am
Right Winklereid. Supposedly the Celts would soak the brains of the enemy in lime to shrink and harden it. They called it a tathlum.
 This also shows up in another story, where Cochober gets one stuck in his head. It cannot be removed without killing him. For the rest of his life he cannot be angry, lest it pop out and kill him.
P.S. If anyone is willing, I would really like to see if is possible to make a tathlum.

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by curious_aardvark on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 11:05am
hmm, well you could try it with a sheeps brain and bottle of lime juice from wallmart :-)

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by OrangeDuck on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 8:08pm

Curious Aardvark wrote on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 11:05am:
hmm, well you could try it with a sheeps brain and bottle of lime juice from wallmart :-)


Oh, but C_A, I think we all agree that you demonstrated it best by standing in front of Larry Bray's slinging, it's not enough just to watch, you've got to be involved! I think you've found yourself a volunteer, slingbadger  :P ;D

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by winkleried on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 9:43pm
Somehow I doubt that is the type of lime he was talking about :) and which wal-mart carries sheep brains????

Marc Adkins


Curious Aardvark wrote on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 11:05am:
hmm, well you could try it with a sheeps brain and bottle of lime juice from wallmart :-)


Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by DesertPilot on Oct 24th, 2007 at 8:58pm

winkleried wrote on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 9:43pm:
Somehow I doubt that is the type of lime he was talking about :)


No?  Why, surely you remember that old song, Sheep's Brains, by Harry Nilsson!

Brother bought a sheep's brain, he bought it for a dime
His sister had another one, she paid it for the lime

She put the lime in the sheep's brain, she drank 'em both up
She put the lime in the sheep's brain, she drank 'em both up
She put the lime in the sheep's brain, she drank 'em both up
Put the lime in the sheep's brain, she called the doctor, woke him up, and said

Doctor, ain't there nothin' I can take, I said
Doctor, to relieve this bellyache, I said
Doctor, ain't there nothin' I can take, I said
Doctor, to relieve this bellyache


Et cetera... :)

Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by winkleried on Oct 26th, 2007 at 12:19am
Thanks, I needed that laugh  ;D

Marc Adkins


DesertPilot wrote on Oct 24th, 2007 at 8:58pm:

winkleried wrote on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 9:43pm:
Somehow I doubt that is the type of lime he was talking about :)


No?  Why, surely you remember that old song, Sheep's Brains, by Harry Nilsson!

Brother bought a sheep's brain, he bought it for a dime
His sister had another one, she paid it for the lime

She put the lime in the sheep's brain, she drank 'em both up
She put the lime in the sheep's brain, she drank 'em both up
She put the lime in the sheep's brain, she drank 'em both up
Put the lime in the sheep's brain, she called the doctor, woke him up, and said

Doctor, ain't there nothin' I can take, I said
Doctor, to relieve this bellyache, I said
Doctor, ain't there nothin' I can take, I said
Doctor, to relieve this bellyache


Et cetera... :)


Title: Re: Battle of Ventry
Post by funda_iucunda on Oct 26th, 2007 at 4:11pm
Conclusion: even splatter poetry is not necessarely a product of mere phantasy.

funda

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