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(c. 1650-1705) The wife of Francois de la Motte, Comte d'Aulnoy, Madama d'Aulnoy followed closely on the heels of the fashion for fairy stories initiated by Charles Perrault, but while Perrault's stories were true folk-tales only adorned by the admirable style in which they were told, her fairy stories were the undisciplined product of her own lively imagination. She indeed knew something of folk traditions, but used them in an arbitrary way. For instance, the theme of the bartered bed and the magic nuts is used in 'The Blue Bird', but the fairies are entirely unconvincing, a piece of arbitrary machinery. The stories have the quality of engaging attention, but the style is purely literary. They are forerunners of the CABINET DES FÉES, that monstrous collection in which the voice of tradition grows fainter almost with each successive tale, and the style increasingly flatulent.
# 100
A Leinster lord at whose hostel Conary seeks hospitality. Conary's retinue at Da Derga. Ingcel and his own sons attack the hostel.
# 562
One of the longest and most pathetic Irish sagas. It is among the few complete narratives of any great extent preserved from ancient Irish literature. The oldest manuscript was copied about the year 1100, but the saga existed in written form as early as the eighth or ninth century. According to the annals, Conaire was high-king of Ireland about the beginning of the Christian era.
Da Derga's Hostel was situated among the hills overlooking the village of Bray near Dublin, and was built over the Dodder, a little stream that flows through Donnybrook and empties into Dublin Bay. The story, though rambling and disconnected in spots, is told with real power and contains some of the finest descriptive passages in early Irish literature. After giving an account of Conaire's antecedents and birth, the story goes on to tell how the youthful king met his tragic and untimely death. He is represented as the grandson of the beautiful and unfortunate Etain, whose life history is recorded in 'The Wooing of Etain'. Like numerous other characters in early Irish fiction, he is subject to certain gesa, or taboos, which he violates only at the peril of his life. The fairy folk, in revenge for the injury which Conaire's grandfather had done them in destroying their mound, bring it about that Conaire breaks his taboos and so falls a victim to the perfidy of his own foster-brothers and of the British pirates who act as their allies. Though dealing primarily with one of the traditional kings of Ireland, the story is being mentioned here because of its connection with 'The Wooing of Etain,' to which it forms a natural sequel. (The story in full is brought in Cross and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES, and in Jeffrey Gantz's EARLY IRISH MYTHS AND SAGAS).
#236: 'The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel' is part impacted myth, part heroic saga and part literary tour de force. The name of the hosteller in the title is uncertain: some texts give Da Dergae (the nephew of the red goddess) instead of Da Derga (the red god). In either case, the red deity is chthonic; and the mythic subtext deals with the slaying of a king, in a house of death, at Samuin (Samhain). Although there is no mention of an iron house, the raiders' attempts to burn the hostel suggests that it is related to the iron houses in 'The Intoxication of the Ulaid' and 'The Destruction of Dind Rig'. Curiously, although Conare is slain - and that is the point of the tale- the hostel is never actually destroyed. The opening episode, which describes the wooing of Etain by Echu Feidlech, expands upon the story in the second section of 'The Wooing of Etain'. At the point where Echu dies, however, something appears to be missing, even though there is no evidence of a lacuna. What follows in the manuscripts is very confused, even as to syntax, but it appears to be a garbled version of the incest episode at the end of 'The Wooing of Etain', and we can probably assume that, originally, the child is abandoned because it is the offspring of the king's inadvertent union with his own daughter. The conception of Conare Mar, like that of the Ulaid hero CuChulain, is duple, the storyteller in both cases attempting to reconcile traditions of divine paternity with those of ordinary mortal fatherhood. Once Conare has been installed as king, the tale begins to edge into a kind of history - perhaps it recalls a significant battle or raid in Irish tribal warfare.
Throughout 'The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel', Conare appears doomed: doomed to break his gessa (taboos), doomed to die for being the offspring of incest. Yet he is not entirely guiltless: the story suggests that he has shown poor judgement in excusing his foster-brothers from hanging and in interfering in the quarrel between his two clients. The structure of the tale is idiosyncratic; some may find the catalogue section tedious and the climax disappointingly perfunctory. Irish stories, in manuscript, do tend to become 'unbalanced': descriptive passages flower into luxuriant growths out of all proportion to their narrative importance (perhaps owing to the storyteller's showing off), while conclusions seem casually, even indifferently, thrown away (perhaps owing to the storyteller's or scribe's growing tired). But it is also true that descriptive catalogues of this sort were important to the Celts - both as literary set-pieces and as a matter of record - and that, in this case at least, the lack of attention given to the dénouement underlines its inevitability.
# 166 - 236
# 562 (dôh-da) Dagda 'The Good' or possibly = DOCTUS, 'The Wise.' God and supreme head of the People of Dana, father of Brigit (Dana); the Cauldron of the Dagda, one of the treasures of the Danaans; father and chief of the People of Dana; Kings MacCuill, MacCehct, and MacGrené grandsons of Dagda; portions out spiritual Ireland between the Danaans. Dagda Samildanac means: The Goodly-Wise Many-Gifted One.
# 628: The greatest of the Irish gods seems to have been the Dagda. His name meant the 'Good God', and he was also known as the 'Great Father' and the 'Mighty One of Knowledge'. He seems to have been specifically associated with Druidism as the god of Wisdom, a primal father deity of tremendous power. Two of the potent Celtic magical and spiritual symbols were the special attributes of the Dagda; the cauldron and the club or staff; in Irish Druidic tradition they were primal and pagan magical implements.
# 166: A powerful chieftain of the TUATHA DE DANAAN. Son of Ethliu; father of Angus Og.
# 454: Bres ordered him to build forts but would give him little food. Together with Lugh and Ogma, he planned to attack the Fomorians. He mated with the Morrigan over a river and she prophesied his success. Attired as a rustic fool, he entered the enemy strong-hold where he discovered the disposition of the Fomorians. His harp was called 'the Oak of Two Greens' and the 'Four-Angled Music'. With it he was able to play three kinds of music: the sorrow-strain, the laugh-strain and the sleep-strain. It was with the latter that he was able to subdue those Fomorians who had abducted his harper. He was the guardian of the cauldron which satisfied all hunger, brought from Murias. (See HALLOWS) His name means 'Good God', but his other names or titles are Eochaid Ollathair (All-Father) and Ruad Rofessa (Lord of Great Knowledge) indicating his similarity to the Wild Herdsman. He resembles the earlier Greek conception of Hercules.
# 100: Dagda was the High King of the Tuatha Da Danann, the immortal fairy people of Ireland, who were conquered by the Milesians, the human invaders who forced the Danaans to take refuge under the hollow hills. Though in hiding, they were still powerful over the growth of the land, and they destroyed all the wheat and milk of the Milesians, for whom neither grass nor grain grew until they had concluded a treaty with Dagda. Dagda had four great palaces in the depths of the earth and under the hollow hills, and he made a distribution of them to his sons. To Lug son of Ethne he gave one and Ogme another, and he kept two for himself, and the chief of these was Brugh na Boinne, which was very great and full of wonders, but Angus Mac Og got this from him by the help of Manannan son of Lir. For Angus had been away when Dagda distributed his palaces, and he was angry to find himself left out. But Manannan advised him to ask for Brugh na Boinne for a day and a night, and he would work a magic so that Dagda could not refuse it. Dagda gave him the Brugh for a day and a night, but when the time was over Angus said that it had been given him for ever, for all time consisted of a day and a night following each other for ever. Dagda rendered it up to him, for though he was High King of the great race of Danu, he could be conquered by cunning. Dagda had another and greater sorrow to bear, for he had another son Aedh, who had the same mother as Angus; and this son went with his father to his other palace near Tara. It happened that a great man of Connacht, Corrgenn, came to visit him and brought his wife with him. It seemed to Corrgenn that there was more between Aedh and his wife than there should have been, and he struck Aedh down and killed him before his father's eyes. Everyone accepted that Dagda would kill Corrgenn for this, but Dagda said that if Corrgenn was not mistaken he had reason for what he did, so he would not kill him; but he put a geasa on him that was worse than death. He had to carry the body of Aedh with him until he found a stone exact size to cover him, and then he must dig a grave on the nearest hill and bury Aedh and put the stone over him. It was many a long mile that Corrgenn walked until he found a stone on the shore of Loch Feabhail. On the hill nearby he dug the grave, and laid Dagda's son there and carried the stone to cover him. The great labour was too much for him and his heart burst and he died. Dagda had a wall built round the tomb and the hill has been called the Hill of Aileac, that is, the Hill of Sighs, ever since. It is not certain whether Corrgenn was a mortal man, but it is certain that Aedh was an immortal and the son of immortals, but he could be killed in battle, and this is true of all the Tuatha Da Danann unless they have some special magic that revives them.
# 100 - 166 - 410 - 454 - 548 - 562 - 628 p 125
Arthur's fool or jester, whom Arthur himself made a knight as a joke, but who later shows his bravery in several tournaments. His wit and unorthodox behaviour enliven the more tedious passages of Malory's Book of TRISTAN.
# 156 - 418 - 454
See: MORGAN.
A Pictish king, father of the Otherworld woman Ailleann.
# 156
(da'i re moc fee'àh na) An Ulster chieftain; owner of the Dun Bull of Cooley over which the Cattle-Raid of Cooley was fought.
# 166
Daughter of Bobh Dearg who desired Fionn to become her husband with her as sole wife for one year. When he refused, she gave him poison so that in his madness the Fianna deserted him. It was Daireann's sister, Sadbh who became the mother of Oisin.
# 454
A Druid who discovers to Eochy that Etain has been carried to mound of Bri-Leith.
# 562
Queen of Partholan.
# 562
The Firbolg, father of Ferdia.
# 562
A magician killed by Betis. After this feat, Beti's name was changed to Perceforest.
# 156
A proud knight who used to trap other knights and make his brother, Sir Ontzlake, fight them. Arthur put a stop to this practice.
# 156 - 418
Hindu legend, compared with story of Etain.
# 562
# 562: (thana) The People of Dana are Nemedian survivors who return to Ireland; These People are by far the most interesting and important of the mythical invaders and colonisers of Ireland. The name, Tuatha De Danaan q.v. (or Danann), means literally 'the folk of the god whose mother is Dana', equivalent Brigit; name of 'gods' given to the People of Dana by Tuan mac Carell; Milesians conquer the People of Dana. Origin of People of Dana according to Tuan mac Carell; cities of Falias, Gorias, Finias and Murias; treasures of the People of Dana; the gift of Faëry (i.e. skill in music) the prerogative of Dana; daughter of the Dagda and the greatest of Danaan goddesses; Brian (ancient form Brenos), Iuchar, and Iucharba, her sons; equivalent Dôn, Cymric mother-goddess.
# 100: She is one of the Mother Goddesses of early Ireland, the ancestress of the Tuatha De Danann, who later dwindled to the Daoine Sidhe, the fairies of Ireland. Lady Gregory begins her book GODS AND FIGHTING MEN with an account of how the Tuatha De Danann came to Ireland, led by Nuada, and fought with the Firbolgs under their king Eochaid. Among the goddesses who fought under Nuada she mentions Badb and Macha and the Morrigu, Eire and Fodla and Banba, the daughters of Dagda, and Eadon and Brigit, the two goddesses of the poets, and she adds, 'And among the other women there were many shadow-forms and great queens; but Dana, that was called the Mother of the Gods, was beyond them all.'
# 100 - 267 - 562
Send to Balor refusing tribute; the Fomorians bring on their champion, Balor, before the glance of whose terrible eye Nuada of the Silver Hand and others of the Danaans go down But Lugh, seizing an opportunity when the eyelid drooped through weariness, approached close to Balor, and as it began to lift once more he hurled into the eye a great stone which sank into the brain, and Balor lay dead, as the prophecy had foretold, at the hand of his grandson. The Fomorians were then totally routed, and it is not recorded that they ever again gained any authority or committed any extensive depredations in Ireland; power of Danaan's, exercised by spell of music; account of principal gods and attributes of Danaan's; reference to their displacement in Ireland by Milesians; Ireland ruled by three kings, MacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGrené; and all three of them welcomed Ith to Ireland. A great battle between the Danaans and the Milesians at Telltown follows. The three kings and three queens of the Danaans, with many of their people, are slain. But the People of Dana do not withdraw. By their magic art they cast over themselves a veil of invisibility, which they can put on or off as they choose. There are two Irelands henceforward, the spiritual and the earthly. The Danaans dwell in the spiritual Ireland; the Danaans represents the power of light; relation of the Church with Dana very cordial. See also: DANA and TUATHA DE DANANN, and DANAI DE DANAAN.
# 562
It is somewhat strange that antiquarians have failed to recognize how nearly intertwined are the legends of the Danai and the De Danaan, in such a form as leads to the logical deduction that the hero Perseus, under the name Lugh (Light), may be acclaimed the true founder of the Erse nation, indeed that his name Perseus explains the origin of the word Erse, omitting the first letter 'P', which, as Rolleston shows, was not used in the ancient Erse tongue. Analogies relating to Perseus and Lugh are appended here with parallel numbers [1 and 1A, and so forth, as 1 will show the Danai (Greek) and 1 A the De Danaan (Erse)].
1. Acrisius, king of Argos, warned by an oracle that his grandson would destroy him, determined that his daughter Danaë should never know a man. He placed her in a fortress in the care of priestesses where she grew up innocent of the fact that males existed.
1 A. Balor, king of the FoMori, warned by a Druid prophecy that his daughter Danu would give birth to a son who would slay him, confined the princess in a convent on Tory Island, attended by Druidesses, and unaware of man's existence.
2. Zeus visited Danaë as a ray of sunshine and she duly gave birth to the hero Perseus.
2 A. A god or hero, Kian, (Cian, the Mighty) disguised as a Druidess, obtained access to Danu, who gave birth to the Erse hero Lugh or Lug.
3. Acrisius ordered Danaë and her babe to be placed in a boat and cast adrift in the sea. She was rescued at the island of Seriphus and Perseus was duly brought up by Polydectes.
3 A. Balor caused Danu and her infant to be put in a coracle and left to the mercy of the waves. They were rescued, and Lugh was reared by Goban, the Smith.
4. Polydectes sent Perseus on a desparate mission to obtain the Medusa's Head which turned everything into a stone with a glance. He reached the Gorgon's island at farthest extreme of Ocean, by the aid of Hermes and Athene, rescued Andromeda, married her, and captured Meru, the capital of the Ethiopians.
4 A. Lugh was instructed in magic arts by Goban, the Smith. He eventually returned to Ireland or the Hebrides, taking with him his magic sword, the Sword of Light, a 'tathlum', and other magical possessions.
5. Acrisius, on Perseus return, fled to Larissa (or Argos), to escape his grandson, who followed him and slew his grandparent with a discus at a gymnastic meeting, hence fulfilling the oracle. He established the dynasty of the Perseids, called the Danai, from whom descended the Heracleids.
5 A. Lugh, on his return, found his grandfather, Balor, who opposed his entry. A great battle was fought with magic used by both parties, but Lugh finally slew Balor with his magic tathlum, freed his people from the FoMori and established the De Danaan or Erse as ruling race. See also: BRITAIN, THE RIDDLE OF PREHISTORIC.
# 59 - 562
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