Five tales from Irish Mythology
In this informative article, Averie highlights some of the most famous myths of Ireland.
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Five tales from Irish Mythology
Five tales from Irish Mythology
By Averie Black
By Averie Black
March 17 is the one day a year the Leprechaun comes out to play, but Irish mythology contains much more than just leprechauns, rainbows, and pots of gold. Irish mythology dates back to the late 11th century and spans from warriors to vampires. These are just a few of the famous myths of Ireland.
The Children of Lir
The Children of Lir
The story begins with King Lir and his wife Eva. They had four children: Aodh, Fiachra, Conn, and their only daughter, Fionnula. When the children were young, their mother passed away and their father was remarried to a woman named Aoife. King Lir was an attentive father and loved his children, but his second wife grew jealous. She wanted all of the attention her husband was giving the kids for herself. Although Aoife loathed how much time King Lir spent with his children, she could not find it in herself to kill them. Instead, she cursed them to turn into swans for nine-hundred years, only to be released at the ring of St. Patrick's bell. They would be forced to spend three-hundred years at Lake of Derravaragh, three-hundred years at The Sea of Moyle, and three-hundred years at Inis Glora.
Though the swans could not speak, they could sing. As their father went out to search for them, his four kids swam to the edge of the pond and sang to him what had happened. The first three-hundred years at the lake were eye-opening for the siblings, who began to appreciate being swans. Meanwhile, King Lir punished Aoife for her wrongdoings. In the words of Matt Keough, a writer for Irish Central, a site dedicated to educating people about Ireland, it is noted that “Lir eventually found out and turned Aoife into an air demon for eternity.” After their time at Lake of Derravaragh came to an end, they moved to The Sea of Moyle, where a much more unpleasant experience awaited them.
Harsh hurricanes and sea storms overtook them, and the siblings were separated for most of the three-hundred years. At last, they found themselves at Inis Glora, where they flew towards the heavenly church bells of St. Patrick. Upon arrival, they met a man named Caomhog, who promised to take care of them for the remainder of their lives. Eventually, the siblings heard the true bell of St. Patrick and transformed back to their human forms, though they were aging rapidly. Caomhog quickly christened the children before they met their inevitable end.
Sculpture of the Children of Lir, image by Andy Hay on Flickr
Dearg Due: The Irish vampire
Dearg Due: The Irish vampire
There once was a woman who was a great beauty. She had every man praying to be her suitor. Though she was in love with a humble farmer, and they planned on being wed, the woman’s father discovered his daughter’s relationship and instead married her off to a wealthy brute in exchange for riches. Soon enough, the woman discovered that her husband was more barbaric than anyone knew. He chained her up and kept her like a prize. The woman tried to hold out hope that perhaps someone would rescue her, but nobody came. Eventually, she stopped eating and perished. There was a small burial for her, but soon her husband remarried and her father was too busy with his new-found wealth to care that his daughter had passed.
The only one that seemed to grieve her loss was her true love, the farmer, who visited her grave often and whose tongue tasted bitter with sorrow. In the words of Keith O’Hara, an Irish man who grew up hearing these stories, “So, the spirit of the woman was so filled with rage that it forced her out of the grave, lusting for vengeance.” The first place she went was to her father’s room, where she quickly killed him in his sleep. The second place she went was to the home of her husband, who she found in bed with another woman and no sadness for what he had done to her. The woman felt a special kind of hatred for the man– so much so that she lunged and killed him, sucking all of the blood from his body.
The taste of blood sent her into a frenzy, wanting more and more every time she drank. She continued her murdering streak, luring men into dark corners with her beauty and devoured their blood. The woman eventually disappeared, and no one knows where she went or what happened to her tortured soul.
Changlings and Faeries
Changlings and Faeries
Painting of a Changeling, Image from B on Flickr
Irish faeries are mischievous creatures that often cause trouble in human lives. One of the cruelest tricks they would play is switching out a human child for a faerie. These are called changelings. The changeling could be an unwanted, unruly, sickly child or elderly faerie looking to be coddled before death. Faeries would take human children for a variety of reasons: love, servantship, or malicious intent. It was not uncommon for them to take adult humans, as well. According to Your Irish Culture, a website created by Irish people to enlighten their American friends, “...the Faeries see humans as a stronger and healthier race and try to enhance their own bloodline by breeding with humans.” Changelings were often disobedient and rowdy children with deformities and other strange features. They were also commonly sick as babies.
Luckily, there were a variety of ways to get the baby back. The Irish believed that placing the changeling in a fireplace and doing a chant would cause the changeling to crawl up the chimney and return the human child. In other cases, the parents could nurture and care for ill changeling back to health, which would change the faerie parents’ mind about leaving their baby and switch the kids back themselves. Sometimes, faeries would not switch one of their own in, but a piece of enchanted wood that would perish before the parents’ eyes. In the case of adult kidnappings, men were often taken for mating, and women for housekeeping or babysitting for the queen. Adults that did return to the human realm, tended to have some sort of supernatural ability or mastery of plant-based or magical knowledge.
The warrior Princesses
The warrior Princesses
Aífe and Scathach were the daughters of King Airdgeimm. Both sisters were amazing warriors, but they were constantly bickering with each other. Scarhach was not only a warrior, but a teacher, as well, and her star pupil was a man named Cú Chulainn, one of the most famous warriors in Irish mythology. In the midst of a war between the sisters, Aífe challenged Cú Chulainn to a duel. Having been trained by Aífe’s sister, Aífe and Cú Chulainn were at the same skill level. Before the fight, Scarhach’s student asked her one question: “What is your sister’s most valuable possession?” Aífe’s sister replied: “Her chariot and horses.” When they finally came face-to-face, their fight went on for hours. According to Peter Merrigan, someone who has vigorously studied Irish culture for his book series, “...during the fight, Aoife swung and shattered Cú Chulainn’s sword. Fallen, he can only watch as Aoife raises her weapon for her final blow.” As she prepared to strike, he cried out that her chariot had been stolen. Distracted, Cú Chulainn rose and knocked her off her feet, putting a shard of his sword to her throat.
Aífe braced for death, but, instead, he made her a deal. If she promised to end the war with her sister and bear him a child, then he would let her live. Aífe agreed, and months later she was pregnant with Cú Chulainn’s son. The great warrior had to continue his journey, though he left his unborn son with a gift, a golden ring. Many years later, Connla, their son, wanted to leave home. Aífe had taught him everything she knew, from the martial arts to swordplay, but she had one last thing to give him– the golden ring. Connla left home with his mother’s voice ringing in his ear to never turn down a fight. So when he got into town, he challenged a man to a duel. As they fought, Connla was slaughtered, neither realizing Cú Chulainn was the one he challenged. Once Cú Chulainn saw the ring and realized what he had done, he mourned the loss of his only son.
SAlmon of knowledge
SAlmon of knowledge
An elderly poet and his young guest were lounging by the River Boyne. The poet, Finegas, told his guest, Fionn, the legend of the Salmon of Knowledge that lives in that river. There once was an enchanted hazelnut tree with nuts that held all of the wisdom in the universe. One day, the nuts fell into the river and a salmon ate them, absorbing all knowledge of the world. Whoever takes the first taste of the salmon will then be transferred all of the wisdom. Finegas had tried to hunt the fish for seven years, but with the murky waters of the river, he had never caught it. While Fingas and Fionn sat by the water’s edge, Fingas caught a glimpse of the shining scales and dived in after the fish. The old poet quickly gave the salmon to Fionn, telling him to cook the salmon while he got something from his home, but he was to under no circumstances taste the fish.
Fionn did as he was told and began to cook the fish over a flame, but as he flipped the salmon, according to Keith O’Hara, “It burned painfully and Fionn, without thinking, stuck his thumb into his mouth to ease the pain. He realised his mistake only when it was too late.” He tried to keep it a secret, but when Fingas returned, he knew something was wrong. His guest recalled the events of cooking the salmon, unable to hide it from the poet. After a moment of dejection, the poet urged Fionn to eat the fish to see if he would gain the endless knowledge the legend had promised. Fionn feasted on the fish, gaining the wisdom of the universe, and going on to become one of Irish mythology's greatest warriors.
Salmon of Knowledge Sculpture, Image from William Murphy on Flickr
Irish mythology spans across many genres and there are many interpretations of each tall tale. There are even warrior princesses and blood-sucking vampires. Celtic culture has many more stories to share than just St. Patrick.
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