The Irish epic Tain Bo Cualnge has been translated into English several times during the twentieth century. In 1996 Athena Segada undertook a comparative study of these translations. Ms. Segada was intrigued by the widely different ways translators handled relatively minimal manuscript sources. The following materials present some of her comparative analysis explicitly. The majority of her comparative insights, however, have been poured into her reworking of the tale. A Shade of Tain is not a new translation from the Irish; it is based on previous translations. It is, however, a new and vigorous retelling of a worthwhile tale.

Ms. Segada wrote A Shade of Tain as a hypertext. The text and conceptualization of links is hers. Her faculty sponsor, Thomas E. Kinsella (not the Thomas Kinsella of poetic and Gaelic translating fame), reworked her materials using Asymetrix ToolBook II.