Does anybody know what fé means in these two sentences?

Do chuaigh sí isteach, agus bhí Seáinín i ndeireadh na feide ag an mada rua fé seo.

Do thug sí fé.

In the story that I'm reading, the two sentences are in the order that I posted them in, i.e., the 2nd sentence immediately follows the 1st sentence.

fé is another way of writing/saying faoi (it can also occur as fo), so I assume that fé seo means "about that" or "because/due to that" in this case, as in "It/she went inside, and Johnny was at his wit's end because of that".

tabhair faoi can mean "subdue", "undertake", or even "attack". If you explain more about what's happening with the fox, someone can suggest the likeliest choice.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Thanks for the help Caoimhín!

They were using "faoi" and "faoin" throughout the book, instead of fé and fén, so that's what threw me off.

So, I think the two sentences would translate like this:

She went inside, and the fox had Seáinín at the end of his rope because of this.

She attacked him.

[In case you're curious, "she" is the mother goat, Seainín is her kid, and the fox is trying to eat Seáinín.]

Actually "fé" is the Munster form of Standard and Connachta "faoi". So "fén" is "faoin", etc.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

That's right Lughaidh.

What confused me was that they used "faoi" and "faoin" in the rest of the book, so I thought that they must have meant something else when they used fé in those two sentences. If I had known of the idiom tabhair fé, I would've been able to figure it out. Thank heavens for the Irish Language Forum!

I think faoi seo means "by now":

Do chuaigh sí isteach, agus bhí Seáinín i ndeireadh na feide ag an mada rua fé seo.
"She went inside, and the fox had Seáinín at the end of his tether by now."

Do thug sí fé.
"She attacked him."

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

That's what I thought too.

I would also agree,

Fé is used with time as "by now", as Breandán has said, such as fén am so- by this time.

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

That's it!

Thanks for helping my out with this Breandán, Scooby, and An Cionnfhaolach – Mo cheol sibh!

Good to know -- and that "Johnny" is a goat -- I was wondering about the context!

_________________
I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.