1. ÉTAíN Tochmarc Etaine Yellow Book of Lecan (Trinity College, Dublin)
Manuscript sources:
Lebor na hUidre: Book of the Dun Cow (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin)
Yellow Book of Lecan (Trinity College, Dublin)
Egerton (British Library)
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2. Etain Echrade
This is the story of Etain (Eadaoin) Echrade (‘horse-riding’).The association with horse-riding connects her probably with other goddesses such as Rhiannon (*Rigantona) of Celtic Britain and the famous Epona (divine horse-woman) of ancient Gaul (France 2000 years ago).
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3. Etain-fantasy lit.
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4. Etain Echrade
References to her stunning beauty are made in this narrative and others:
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5. Étaín Descriptions of Étaín:
In the dindsheanchas (traditions about Irish placenames) she is described as having golden tresses, but no description is more elaborate than that given in the sequel The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel’ , pp
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6. ÉTAíN Three distinct tales bearing this title have been handed down.
They were transcribed into the Lebor na hUidre (c1100), where however owing to loss of pages, only the second part is preserved in its entirity.
The first part lacks the beginning, and the third the middle and end portions.
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7. ÉTAíN
It seemed that the complete text had been irretrievably lost until another copy came to light in the 1930s (Egerton) which was complete.
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8. Structure of Étaín saga
There are three interlocked sections:
Regeneration theme of rival lovers: Elcmar and Dagdae compete for Boand.
Echu and Ailill as rival claimants; Ailill’s love-sickness. Etain.
Mider and Echu compete for Étaín
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9. The main characters: Echu Ollathair (Dagdae) Elcmar (Nuadhu)
Eithne (Bóand)
Óengus (Macc Óc)
Mider
Fúamnach
Echu Airem (Eochaid)
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10. Lesser characters Tríath (of the Fir Bolg) Dían Cecht (the physician)
Lug (of the TDD*)
Ogmae (of the TDD)
Ailill Angubae (falls in love with Étaín)
Echu Feidlech
Eterscélae
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11. Etain
Because of the slightly fragmented form of the reunited text, several questions arise as to the original form of the myth.
As Gantz notes, the three sections which make up the story almost seem like separate tales, except for the underlying theme of the love-story between Midir and Etain.
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12. Section One
The first section is chronologically situated in the time when the Tuatha De Danann controlled Ireland (in the Book of Invasions version of early Irish history).
We see the Irish deities and their interaction.
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13. Section One
Alternate names: this is a feature of this narrative (and a small number of others).
Dagda (Echu Ollathir), Boand (Eithne), Macc Oc (Oengus), Etain (Be Find), Elcmar (Nuadhu, Nuadu).
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14. Section One
Two of these names are known also in Iron Age Celtic civilisation:
Nuadhu=Nodens, Nodent- (W Britain). In Wales=Nudd.
Macc Oc= Maponos (known later in Wales as Mabon).
Boand from an early form *bou-winda.
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15. Section One
Boand is a river name (Boyne today, in Modern Irish Bóinn).
The Brittonic myth of Mabon also has a connection with a river goddess Modron (=Matrona).
Undoubtedly this first part of the narrative preserves a very ancient myth which explained the conception and birth of a god called *makkwonos. (in Irish Macc Oc).
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16. Section One
Bru na Boinde is the Irish name for the great archaeological site of Newgrange, built by pre-Celtic speaking peoples of the early Bronze Age but subsumed into the mythology of early Celtic Ireland.
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17. Bru na Boinde-Newgrange
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18. Newgrange today:c3200-2600BC) Newgrange (Bru na Boinde)- great passage grave
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19. Inside Newgrange
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20. Newgrange
In the mythology of Ireland, Newgrange becomes the major residence of the sidh or Otherword inhabitants, and especially the god of poetry Macc Oc (Oengus).
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21. Section One
Something of the nature of the Tuatha De Danann is reflected throughout this narrative but especially this early section where we see Dagda manipulate Elcmar’s sense of time.
In fact, the TDD seem to have a very poetic sense of how time passes.
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22. Section One
For Elcmar, nine months pass like a single day to allow for Boand to give birth to Dagda’s child.
This unusual manipulation of time also occurs in the famous phrase ‘it is in days and nights that the world passes’. Metaphorically a day and a night represent all time.
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23. Section One
Although we are dealing with deities, the social structure presented in the narrative is very much one that reflects the customs of the day (ie c8th century in Ireland).
Fostering for instance.
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24. Fostering
Dagda sends his son Macc Oc to be fostered by Mider who owns the Sidh of Bri Leith.
So, Oengus alias the Macc Oc: ‘young the son who is conceived at dawn and born before dusk’.
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25. Section One
During his fosterage we are reminded of the previous people who controlled Ireland (for a short period) namely the fir bolg. Triath of the Fir Bolg is described as ‘the son of a slave’. But Macc Oc does not know who his own parents are.
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26. Section One
The acknowledgment by the father of the son (Dagda and his son Oengus) obviously reflects a social reality. Compare Caesar’s comments on the Gauls.
Oengus the teenager/young man wants a home and land.
Dagda will give him Elcmar (Nuadu)’s sidh (Bru na Boinde=Newgrange).
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27. Section One
The mention of Samuin (Hallowe’en) is significant since major events in the Irish mythological world take place at that time.
The reference to the day and the night (=eternity), should be compared to the single day (=nine months).
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28. Section One
Samuin is also mentioned as the time when Mider visits his foster-son and is wounded in the eye (mythological connection with the eye?).
This brings up the concept of shame and blemish which in early Irish terms is associated with kingship (Mider is king of his sidh at Bri Leith, in Co Longford).
His sidh is guarded by Three Magical Cranes.
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29. More about the Sidh (shee)
See MacKillop pp
The word probably meant ‘abode of divinities’ originally, but later often refered to the inhabitants themselves.
They were abodes which were also routes to the Otherworld.
They were seen as independent ‘kingdoms’ under the ground.
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30. The Sidh
The sidh is not an abode of the dead (Tech Duinn) but the palace of otherworld dignitaries.
Hundreds of these residencies are known from Old Irish literature.
Bri Leith, Femen, Uamain, Clettig.
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31. Section One
The early Irish social system (law) is also invoked after Mider has been healed (Dian Cecht).
He is entitled to demand reparation for a physical wound. Because of his very high status, he can ask for almost anything. He asks for the most beautiful woman in Ireland (he is married already).
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32. Section One
This brings Etain Echrade into the story. Her father is Ailill ( a very common name in early Ireland). Mider already knew of her.
Ailill seems not to be of the TDD.
The transfer of Etain from her family to Mider reflects the extremely patriarchal nature of early Ireland, especially on the elite level.
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33. Section One Payment must be made to the father.
However the demands made rather reflect again the nature of the early Irish deities.
They are frequently (as in all Indo-European mythologies) associated with the creation and laying out of the land (mountains, rivers, pathways).
The goddess Macha is described as performing such actions, for example.
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34. Section One
Clearly the TDD were imagined as having also perfomed such deeds. This is integrated into the story as part of the payment for Etain.
The Dagda is described clearing land, diverting rivers, draining the land in one night).
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35. Section One
Much of the magical side of the TDD is shown in the following episodes when Mider brings his bride back home to Bri Leith, where he already has a wife- the powerful druidess Fuamnach.
This would not have been shocking to most in early medieval Ireland (or before). A certain degree of polygamy existed especially amongst the Gaelic aristocracy.
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36. Section One
One of the first examples of ‘shape-shifting’ in the narrative takes place here. This is a very common feature of early Celtic narratives.
Fuamnach is protected by three gods when she confronts Mider. (Lug, Ogma, and Dagda himself).
Her comment that ‘she preferred being good to herself than to other people’ is again an interesting reflection on the nature of the Irish TDD.
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37. Section One
Time again plays a role in this part of the narrative when she magically causes another wind to blow Etain away north to Ulster.
A mythic form of conception takes place (compare the conception of Cu Chulainn), whereby Etain is reborn after 1012 years.
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38. Section One
She grows up not apparently aware of her previous life amongst the TDD.
As a young woman she is approached by a rider in green from the Sidh who recites a poem about her and her life before.
Meanwhile Oengus takes revenge in the domain of the TDD agains Fuamnach.
This brings the first section to a close.
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39. SectionTwo
Time has passed, and we are now in the post TDD period. The Sons of Mil (Gaels) have now taken over the island and the TDD exiled in their sidh abodes under the earth.
(Remember that Dagda held court in Tara-)
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40. SectionTwo
That same site is now occupied by a mortal king known as Echu Airem.
Early Irish literature often mentions the Feast of Tara (Da Derga’s Feast etc). This too had deeply mythic origins.
The concept of the sovereignty (ie land) goddess was very much associated with that ritual and ceremony. The king would be united with the land goddess in order to rule. Etain as sovereignty goddess.
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41. SectionTwo
This concept survives in this narrative but instead of referring to a land goddess we hear that the people will not accept the new high-king without a wife.
They are obliged to seek out the most beautiful woman in Ireland (guess who!).
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42. Section Two
The king in Tara is described as being the son of Find son of Findlug.
The two later names both belong to the fragmented world of Irish mythology (deities). Find (Finn) was an ancient seer god. The name Findlug is an amalgam of Finn and Lug. So we have not entirely left the world of deities.
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43. Section Two The brothers of Echu are Echu Feidlech and Ailill Angubae.
The latter falls hopelessly in love with Etain at the wedding feast (feis) and becomes sick with lust and infatuation.
They reach the point where they are preparing for A Angubae’s funeral, the grave, preparations for the slaughter of his cattle.
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44. Section Two
Only Etain seemingly can heal him back to life. She acquiesces to a love-affair with him to heal him.
At this point we have another notable example of shape-shifting. Midir at the crucial point causes AA to sleep whilst he meets Etain on the hillside.
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45. Section Two
The ‘narrator’ mentions that he had come the previous year to woo Etain but had been unsuccessful. Was this the otherworld man in green in Section One?
Midir reminds Etain of her previous life, and the pleasures of the Otherworld (Sidh) are described in the poem he recited before..
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46. Section Three
The high-king sits on the ramparts of Tara (Temuir). He is Echu Airem. The high-king was normally restricted to a life in and around Tara.
The rider who approaches is the ageless young rider Mider (TDD). He has come to play the aristocratic game of fidchell. (Played only by kings, pinces and deities).
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47. Section Three
They play three games with increasing wagers and forfaits.
Midir lets Echu win the first two and accepts the forfaits. Echu’s foster-father is suspicious and warns his son.
Echu gives Midir super-human tasks (worthy of a deity).The people of the Sidh take part in the work.
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48. Section Three
Now Mider is angry. The final game is played and won by Mider. The wager was that if Mider won as he did, he would demand ‘my arms around Etain and a kiss from her’. Mider is told to return in a month’s time.
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49. Section Three
Another poem that Mider had recited a year previously. P55.
The description of the Otherworld, or sidh.
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50. Section Three
Midir is able to relocate himself at will, and appears in the feasting hall of Tara despite how well the site has been guarded against him.
Etain is willing to go if her husband sells her.
The escape through the skylight is of course very poetic, and again introduces the theme of shape-shifting. Birds as sidh people (comp. The Wasting Sickness of Cu Chulainn).
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51. Section Three
Echu follows them to the sidh called Sidh Ban Find, but Etain is returned to Echu.
The fifty serving girls all identical to Etain.
Echu takes his ‘wife’ back to Tara. Mider appears and tells him that he has in fact taken his own daughter from Etain as wife. The real Etain remained with Mider.
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52. Section Three
The theme of royal incest is developed her. Echu’s daughter (now his wife) gives birth to a girl.
Eventually she will become the mother of the legendary King Conaire Mor, the subject of Da Derga’s Hostel.
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53. PLACES MENTIONED IN THE TEXT
BRÚIG NA BÓINDE
BRÍ LEITH
UISNEACH MÍDE
TARA (TEMUIR)
SÍD AR FEMUIN
NEWGRANGE
ARDAGH, CO. LONGFORD
HILL OF UISNEACH
TARA
SLIABH FEMEN
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54. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN
Time
‘Young the son who is conceived at dawn and born before dusk’.
‘It is in days and nights that the world passes’ (Samuin at Brú na Bóinde)
1012 years pass between the conception of Etain and her rebirth as Etain Echrade.
‘My arms around Etain’…Mider’s right to keep Etain for eternity.
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55. MORE THEMES:
Regeneration theme (rival lovers and return to original lover). See intro to book.
Shapeshifting
Etain goes from pool of water to worm to fly; is also reborn
Mider takes the form of Ailill Angubae
Mider and Etain escape in the form of swans from Echu Airem
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56. MORE THEMES Magical conception (rebirth of Etain)
Compare conception tale of Cú Chulaind
Description of the Otherworld (Inis Fáil) p. 55
Other descriptions in The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulaind
Tasks given to supplicant
Dagdae clears large tracts of land (p 43)
Mider must clear Mide of stones, laying of the causeway of Móin Lamrige (p 53)
Compare Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen.
Wasting-sickness theme
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57. MORE THEMES LEGAL MATTERS COMPENSATION (LOSS OF AN EYE) POLYGAMY
LAW ON INJURY (Bretha Dein Checht)
POLYGAMY
Permitted, probably widespread
Grades of wife: cétmuinter; adaltrach/dormun
BRIDE-PRICE (COIBCHE)
SELLING OF WIFE
GARANTEES/PLEDGES/SURETIES
INCEST AND DISPOSAL OF CHILD
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58. CONNECTIONS
THE ETAIN TALE LEADS NATURALLY TO THE FOLLOWING TALE FROM THE KINGS’ CYCLE ABOUT THE ILL-FATED KING CONARE -DA DERGA’S HOSTEL
THE DREAM OF OENGUS CAN ALSO BE SEEN AS AN EPISODE IN THE YOUTH STORY OF OENGUS WHICH DEVELOPS NATURALLY FROM THE FIRST SECTION OF ETAIN.
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59. Place-name lore Also known as Dindshenchas.
Mainly 12th century traditions.
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60. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN Abduction
In a section devoted to Rath Essa, it is
mentioned that Étaín’s daughter was
called Esa (mistakenly chosen by Echu).
In this section we are given the story
again of the abduction of Étaín by Mider
with less sympathy than we find in the
prose version.
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61. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN Abduction
The focus is not on the long term
romantic relationship between Mider and
Etain but rather on Mider as a raider from
the west of Ireland who abducts Etain,
‘queen’ of Tara, wife of Echu.
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62. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN Abduction
In the section devoted to Rath Cruachan (the
home of Ailill and Medb) in Connacht, the story
is reduced mainly to a tale of abduction, in
which Midir is seen as the culprit, and Echu (or
Eochaid) the victim.
Etain and her hand-maiden (Crochen) are seen
as booty seized by Echu’r enemy Midir.
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63. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN Abduction
The abduction of Étaín can be seen as a threat to Tara and the high-king. The Tara king is a mortal, Mider a member of the Otherworld sidh.
Attacks on Tara by the Otherworld powers are often alluded to in Early Irish Literature. One of the most famous being the Fenian tale about the Otherworld character Aillén who on each Samhain eve burns down Tara until Fionn Mac Cumhaill defeats him.
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64. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN Abduction
In the Dindsheanchas, Étaín is described as ‘the bright indolent lady, whitely radiant whom he bore off by force from Fremainn’. Compare with descriptions of Rhiannon.
Echu goes then to attack Bri Leith at the instigation of his druid, to find his wife and to take her back ‘with her consent or by force’.
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65. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN Abduction
This can be compared to the abduction tales associated with Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere, the wife of Arthur). Earlier versions of this Celtic British tale also have otherworld abductors, but later medieval tales (post 12th century) tend to make the abductor a mortal, and claimant to the throne.
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66. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN Incest
The final episode in the Étaín myth concerns the incestuous relationship between a father and his daughter unbeknownst to the father.
In this myth, the child is disposed of in the most crude way, thrown to the animals.
In Irish law of the 7-8th century, mention is made of incest:
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67. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN Incest
The single mention of such occurances indicates that one reaction was to place the new-born child of such relationships in a leather ‘shrine’ which was put to sea ‘as far as a white shield is visible’.
If the child washed ashore, his life is spared, but he is reared to be a servant to his kin.
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68. THEMES AND MOTIFS IN ÉTAÍN Sovereignty
Another way of viewing the basic Étaín
tale is to consider Étaín as a sovereignty
goddess in origin who the high-king
ritually marries (in this case Echu).
Tales of her abduction then become tales
about the competition for the high-
kingship.
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69. The Character Étaín
Unlike many of the major women of early Celtic literature in Ireland and Wales, Étaín does not seem to take things into her own hands as do Medb, Rhiannon and Macha.
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70. The Character Étaín
The suggestions in the rider’s verses (it is of course Mider who speaks) are tantalizing.
We are told she healed a king’s eye (but the only eye was that of Mider himself) so Étaín as a healer
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71. The Character Étaín
She is also fated to cause the death of the king’s two horses in the lake (Loch Da Airbech)
Worse still she is fated to be the cause of fighting against Echu (the high-king).
She was once called Be Find.
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72. The Character Étaín
Her comments to Echu display a different character.
Unlike her persona in The Wooing of Étaín, she is more in control of her fate. She states that she loves the king: It is you I wish to have.
In this version Echu Feidlech seems to die soon after.
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73. The Character Étaín
The verse pronounced by the ‘rider’ who approaches Etain and her entourage (in Ulster) seem to imply that other episodes existed in the myth which our redactor has chosen to ignore.
Such verse sections in early myth and saga were frequently of more archaic origin and least likely to be remoulded for new audiences.
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