Mythology
The Heroic and Magic Myths
She was not just a wife of an invader or a peasant but a worrior queen in her own right, forcing the sons of her enemies to build the fortifications of the capital of Ulster, Emain Macha. Macha thus joins the pantheon of women worriors such as Boudicca ( or Boadicea) , queen of the Iceni tribe in Britain, queen Medb, or the amazon of classical legend. Macha had super-natural powers and could change her shape, and was often described as being in league with two other worrior goddesses. For a race which spent much of its time fighting, stories of this indomitable trio were no doubt popular.
Unquestionably the early enhabitants of Ireland were a fearless race, and one of the reasons was the existance of an attractive other world, the other world of faeries, the mounds Tuatha rested, the paradise visited by Cuchulinn, the lands described by poets as " the land under the waves " . "the land of youth" , or "the field of hapiness", where everything was perfection , lands rich in food, music, and where lovemaking and fighting could be indulged in without saitity. All were immortal, wounds accrued in battle healed, and those who were unfortunate enough to get themselves slaughtered were restored to life on the following day. It was attractive enough for men to force or wheedle their way into the other world to steal some of the god's magic treasures, especially the cauldron which never emptied and the cows which gave limitless milk . Nevertheless it was not an appropriate place for heroes, who by their nature have to have something to be heroic about. There was consequently an alternative otherworld, a mirror-image, full of unnamed horrors, deamons, and phantoms, the domain of giants with such names Ysbaddaden, in which heroes would have plenty of oportunities to prove themselves against unlimated ghastliness. There are curious legends such as the beheading game where the participants take it in turn to chop off each others heads, with few indications whether this is real or, as is common in myth, the heads rejoin the body the following day. More straightforward is the story of the Fomorian king Balor, who was told by the Druids that he would be killed by his grandson. To cancel out this prophecy , Balor had his only child, his infant daughter Ethlinn, imprisoned in a high tower in charge of twelve matrons so that she would be unaware of any sex but her own.
On the mainland were three brothers. One of them, Kian, had a magical cow producing unlimited milk, and Balor determined to aquire it, which he did in the guise of a small red-headed boy, sending Kian off on a fool's errand while he stole the cow. Kian reve -nged himself on Belor by dressing himself in a womans clothes and with a Druidess named Birog magicaly arrived at the high tower, pretending to be two noble ladies cast upon the shore and seeking shelter. Birog put the twelve matrons to sleep with magic, and Kian seduced Ethlinn and made her pregnant. The matrons, fearful of the conse- quences if Balor found out, told Ethlinn it was all a dream. Alas, it was not, and she bore three sons, news of which reached Balor who commanded that the three babies be drowned in a whirlpool off the Irish coast. The messenger rolled up the children in a sheet, but the pin of the sheet came out and one of the children fell into a bay, known to this day as Port na Delig, the haven of the pin. The other two children drowned, but the Druidess wafted the saved baby to Kian, the father. The child eventully grew up to be Lug, the god. Kian is the leading character/hero figure from another story. He is sent north by Lug to summon fighting troops, and on the way he meets a group of brothers who are blood/tribal enemies.He changes himself into a pig, joining a herd rooting for food. One of the brothers detects him, and spears and mortally wounds him. Kian, knowing he is about to die , begs to be allowed to change back into human form before he dies. " I would as soon kill a man as a pig! " says the leader, Brian (known in myths as Bran, Ban, Bron or Bran-dua), and Kian stands before them in human form, blood trickling from his breast, boasting that he had outwitted them, that the eric ( Blood - fine) of a pig is much less than the eric of a man, especially him, the father of a great god. And the spears will tell the tale to the avenger of blood. So Brian and his compan- ions stoned him to death. When Kian's son Lug passes that way the stones on the plain cry out ( a familiar feature in myth ) and tell him of the murder. Lug approaches the high king. The murderers can either be executed or a blood fine will be paid. Lug chose the blood fine. He demands three apples, the skin of a pig, a spear, a chariot with two horses, seven swine, a hound, a cooking spit, and finally three shouts on a hill. The murderers, no doubt thinking that they have got off lightly, and possibly mystified by the array of penalties, agree to pay the fine. But things are not what they seem, as they rarely are in myth. The apples are those which grow in the Garden of the Sun, the pig-skin heals all wounds and is difficult to aquire, The spear is a magic spear owned my the king of Persia, The pigs can be eaten and are yet whole the next day, the spit belongs to an underwater spirit, and the shouts are to be delivered on the hill of a fierce warrior who with his sons are under a vow to prevent any man raising his voice on the hill.