Song of Ireland

by Juilene Osborne-McKnight

  In the doorway, Amergin raised his hand to them, his heart thundering in his chest. “I am afraid and I am joyful!” he called.

  “Send word with Bile!” Airioch cried. “And tell Banba to come and see me!”

  Amergin laughed aloud. “Remember me!” he called.

  “Ceolas will remember,” said Colpa, lifting the harp into his arms.

  With a shaking hand, Amergin pressed his triangle to the depression in the stone. There was a flash of blue light and he felt himself shrink and expand suddenly.

  Then he was standing in the archway, exactly where he had been a moment before. Airioch and Colpa were nowhere to be seen.

  He stepped from beneath the portal. The forest was the same forest. He ran down the path to the headland. Below him, the hills stretched gently to the sea. No village of Inver Skena scattered itself along the river and down toward the waiting sea. Amergin turned around, confused. He walked back to the portal, walked through it, walked around.

  A soft pathway seemed to weave itself away from the portal toward the forest, and he began to follow it. He came through a patch of trees; glistening in the distance was a city of crystal towers and buildings of rich turquoise and coral hue. He began to run.

  And then he saw them.

  Bile and Illyn were coming over the hill on horseback, their white garments shimmering in the light. Behind them were Banba, Fodla, Eriu; before Eriu on the saddle was a tiny child with curling auburn hair. And behind her, hundreds of the Danu.

  They were singing. The Children of the Danu were singing him home.

  Amergin ran then. He ran toward his child. He ran toward his beloved. He ran toward the people of the Danu. He ran, at last, toward belonging.

  EPILOGUE

  CEOLAS REMEMBERS

  Among us once was a Poet

  Beloved of his people

  Bard of the Galaeci

  Amergin the Voyager

  Who has gone among the Other.

  In Harpsong we remember,

  Poet of the Braid.

  “Tell us again, Skena,” said the three boys.

  The beautiful woman with the flowing auburn hair laughed aloud. “They are Da’s people and they are your people. And when you go among them for the first time, you must say, ‘We are the children of Amergin, Poet of the Galaeci, and of Eriu, mother of the land of Eire.’”

  “And they will know us?”

  The door slid back softly and a tiny woman entered.

  “They will know of you, Airioch,” Eriu said softly. “All who knew your father in that time are gone now. But those who dwell beyond the portals are their children. And their children’s children. They will know of you. They will remember your father in their stories and their songs.”

  “So some of them are older than Skena?” asked the dark-haired boy called Airioch. He blinked his huge grey eyes at his sister Skena.

  “Oh, ancient. Older than I if that is possible,” said Skena. She ruffled his hair. “Now listen, you three.”

  The three boys looked up attentively.

  “Airioch, Ith, Colpa.”

  “No,” said Ith. “I am Ith and he is Colpa. You would think that you could tell us apart; you are our sister, after all.”

  “It’s not so easy,” said Skena to the three dark-haired boys. “Even for your mother.” She pointed at Eriu. “And she gave birth to your triad!”

  “Aither could tell us apart,” said Colpa.

  “Aither could do everything well,” said Skena softly. “And besides, you look like Amergin, except that your eyes are Eriu’s.”

  Eriu crossed to the woman; although Skena was almost double her height, Eriu hugged her hard at the waist. “I miss him too,” she whispered.

  “I know, Little Mother,” Skena said softly.

  The door slid open again.

  “Uncle Bile!”

  The tall dark-haired man swung into the room. “Are we ready for our first visit then? Illyn awaits us at the portal. You are seven years of age; you are to be on your best behavior.”

  “That is what we say? That we are seven?”

  “That is how you will look to the villagers of Inver Skena.”

  “And how do we call ourselves?” asked Airioch. “Do we say that we are the people of the Danu? Or do we say that we are the sons of Mil?”

  Eriu blinked. “You are neither. You are both. You go into the land of Eire, the land your father named.”

  Skena smiled. “You are the Eireann,” she said softly. “That is what you say. Wherever you go in the world. Wherever you carry Amergin’s songs. Wherever you carry Eriu’s magic. You are the people of song and magic. You are the Children of the Braid.

  “You are Eireann.”

  GLOSSARY AND PRONUNCIATIONS

  A DANU CHARACTER AND PLACE-NAME GLOSSARY

  Airmid (Air vid) Daughter of Dian Cecht in the ancient Celtic myths. He was so angry over her restoration of Nuada’s arm that, in the myths, he destroyed her herb gardens, which would have healed all the illnesses of the world.

  Bres (Bresh) half Fomorian, half Danu king, called “the Beautiful” for his physical appearance. One of the original traitors in Irish mythology.

  Dagda (as spelled) Called the “good god” in later versions of the myth, “good” meaning provider. In many versions of the myth, Dagda is a giant who drags a huge club behind him and possesses a giant cauldron sunk into the earth and constantly replenished with food so that the Danu will never go hungry.

  Danu (Da noo) This is the tribe of the goddess Danu. They are also called the Danaan of the Tuatha de Danaan (Too a ha day dan an), or the tribe of the Danaan. They became both the panoply of gods in ancient Celtic Ireland and the sidhe (shee), or “others,” who are also called the “little people.”

  Dian Cecht (Deean Kecht) Original physician of the Danu, he killed his son Miach and destroyed the herb garden of his daughter Airmid in his anger over their restoration of Nuada’s biological arm.

  Fir Bolg (as spelled) One of the five original races of Ireland, supposedly a Stone Age hunter-gatherer people who were the ancestors of Con-nachtsmen.

  Fomor (Fovor) Also Fomorians. Supposedly these dark and terrifying sea raiders had their stronghold on an island off the coast of Ireland called Tor Mor (Great Rock) or Tober Mor. No one knows who they were.

  Lugh (Loo) Lugh is the son of the Sun, the all-powerful male god figure of the Danaan myths. His origins are unclear; some versions of the myth have him as the son of the Dagda, others of a half-human, half-Danaan liaison. Lamfhada (Lam fa da) is his “Long-Arm” designator, evidently from his skill with a spear. Ildanach (Ill da nok) is his “All-Craftsman” appellation, from the myth in which he wins over the Danaan by being good at everything.

  Mag Tuiread (Moy Teera) Three battles take place on the Plains of Mag Tuiread, and a variety of places in Ireland claim themselves as the location. (See “Historical and Mythological Background”). Wherever these battles took place, there must have been multiple monoliths and sarsen circles there, because the name means Many Towers.

  Miach (mee ak) Son of Dian Cecht and a physician himself, he restores Nuada’s biological arm. Some versions of the myths say that his father killed him because he was jealous of his son’s higher medical skills.

  Morrigu (Mor ee goo) The Morrigu is a triad, a form that seemed to be essential to the ancient Celtic myths. Each of the three sisters of this triad performs a specific function.

  Macha (Ma ha) is the shape-shifter and evidently the intellect of the triad.

  Banbh (Ban ev) is the carrion crow. She encourages war so that she can feed on the dead from the battlefield.

  Nemhain (Nev in or Ne whain) She is the sower of chaos and panic.

  Nuada Argetlamh (Noo a da Ar get lav) First “king” of the Danu, his arm was hacked off in battle with the Fir Bolg, replaced by a Silver Arm, and restored as a biological arm in time for the battle with the Fomor in which Nuada was killed.

  The Three Sisters In the ancient myths, pr
e—Milesian Ireland was ruled over by triads, first three men—Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht, and Mac Grene—and then three sisters—Banba (as spelled), Fodla (as spelled), and Eriu (air ee oo). The sisters encounter the sons of Mil; Eriu predicts that they will rule in Ireland forever, the sons of Mil name the island Eire in honor of her.

  A GALAECI CHARACTER AND PLACE-NAME GLOSSARY

  An Scail (an skel) While it means the Shadow or the Ghost, An Scail represents the druidic presence among the ancient Celts. Druids were highly learned professorial characters who kept the history, knowledge, and theology of the tribes. Many sources say that druids existed at three levels: those who were essentially priests, those who were what we would term professors, and those who served as poets or bards, keeping, telling, and passing the history of the tribes from one generation to another. At any of these levels, druids could be considered ollamh (ol lam) or master. Once the Milesians were settled in Ireland, poets possessed particularly high status, second only to that of the king.

  Breogam (broc em) The ancestor of the sons of Mil, who built the first lighthouse on the seacoast of Galicia in Spain. Although a Roman tower stands in this location now, Breogam was supposedly the founder of the Celtic city of Brigantia, that is now called La Coruña, on the northwest coast of Spain.

  Galaeci/Galicia The Galaeci were a tribe, clan, or collection of clans in northwestern Celtic Spain, around 500 BC. That region, known today as Galicia, is still Celtic in its topography, archaeology, climate, and mind-set.

  Inisfail (as spelled) The Galaeci name for Ireland; they translate it as Isle of Destiny. In actual translation from the Irish it means something like Island of Getting or Finding.

  Ith (as spelled) In the legends, Ith is the brother (or uncle) of Mil, who serves as the scouting party for the Milesians on the first trip to Ireland.

  Skena (skee na) Supposedly the first wife of Amergin; she drowned en route to Ireland.

  Sons of Mil Mil is variously known as Milesios, Mile Easpain, and Golamh (his original Galician Celtic name). He was married first to Seang, with whom he had two sons, and later to Scota, daughter of the pharaoh of Egypt, with whom he had five to seven sons. These legendary travelers are the Jason and the Argonauts of Celtic mythology. Some versions of the legend list them as nine sons, some as seven.

  Amergin (A ver geen) Probably originally spelled Amhairghin. The most famous of the sons of Mil, he was bard, poet, or ol-

  lamh (master). To be ollamh (ol lam) in a Celtic tribe was to be master of the word. Such a person had tremendous power in the tribe and could rule on matters of war and battle. There are hundreds of translations of his poems, of which we have two or possibly three, depending on the translations.

  Airioch Feabhruadh (Air ee ok Fev roo ahd) Mentioned in some of the versions of the myth as being one of the two sons of Mil by his first wife, Seang of Scythia.

  Bile (Beel ya) In some of the myths listed as a son of Mil, in others, variously, as Mil’s brother, uncle, father, or grandfather.

  Colpa (as spelled).

  Eber Donn (Ever Don) Son of Mil by his first wife, Seang of Scythia.

  Eber Finn (Ever Fin) In the legends, went to war against his brother Eremon because his wife wanted Eremon’s land.

  Eremon (Air e mon) First king of Ireland, who supposedly began the construction of the Hill of Tara, although, in terms of artifacts, the hill probably dates to about 95 BC.

  Ir (eer).

  GAELIC TERMINOLOGY

  Aither (a her) father.

  An Corr (as spelled) Also called the corrguinecht (cor gwee nect), it means the “crane-wounding.” Evidently it is some kind of martial art in which the warrior stands on a single leg and then launches forward.

  Buiochas le cruthú (bwee e has le croo hoo) Blessed be Creation.

  Ceolas (kee yol as) Music maker or song maker.

  Coracle (as spelled) A round boat made of hide stretched on a wickerwork frame. Extremely difficult to maneuver because it is round.

  Curragh (cur a) Long hide boats still used in Ireland today.

  Eistigi (esh te gi) The command form of Listen!

  Erbe ndruad (as spelled) A druid fence. Once pronounced by a poet, this imaginary fence could not be crossed, even in battle.

  Fanacht le solas (as spelled) Wait upon the light. Ancient Celtic myth is replete with references to the light, sometimes as in the Sun, sometimes in a much larger concept that seems to signify the All-Good or the All-Knowing or the Source.

  Fidchell (fid kell) Ancient Celtic chess.

  Fulacht fiadh (foo lact fee ahd) A pit lined with hot stones in which the ancient Celts cooked both meat and fish. Remnants of these pits have been found in many Celtic locations, including Ireland.

  Gaeilge (gale ge) There are six Gaelic languages: Irish, Scots, and Manx, called q-Goidelic and believed to be the older form of Gaelic; and Welsh, Cornish, and Breton, called p-Goidelic, or Brythonic Gaelic and believed to be a later alteration of the language. There was, of course, an original Proto-Celtic language, and many scholars now see links between that language and Proto—Indo—European or Italic, the precursor to Latin. Other scholars claim links between Celtic and ancient Hindu-Sanskrit.

  Gaimred (gaiv roo) Cold season, November 1 to May 1.

  Gaita (ga ta or guy ta) Spanish bagpipes. Listen to Carlos Nunez.

  Gutruatri (goo troo a tree) A Milesian Celtic druid who is a singer of praise to God.

  Keltoi (kel toy) This is the Greek name for the ancient Celts. The Romans called them the Gauls or the Gaels.

  Lughnasa (loo na sa) The Celtic summer festival, which took place on August 1. A celebration of the warm season, of crops being in the ground, of life in general. This festival may actually have been named for Lugh.

  Maither (ma her) mother.

  Mo ghra (mow graw) my beloved.

  Na biodh eagla ort (Na viod egla ort) Be not afraid.

  Ogham (om) The Ancient Celtic stick language. It consists of a horizontal or vertical bar over which sticks are incised in various combinations. Evidently, it was a language used primarily by initiates, i.e., druids.

  Ollamh (ol lam) master. Used to refer to a variety of druids, also physicians, judges, and lawyers who had achieved the top of their profession.

  Samhain (sau win) The evening of October 31, the turning from the warm part of the year to the cold season. This was considered the beginning of the New Year and was an extremely dangerous time in the Celtic world because, the Celts believed, the doorway between this world and the otherworld is very thin on this night. Samhain eventually became All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween.

  Samhradh (sau roo) The warm season, May 1 to November 1. Summer.

  Tir Nan Og (teer na nog) Variously called Mag Mell, the Island of the Ever Young, the Country of the Young, and in later myths, Avalon. This concept pervades the Celtic world; ships of light will carry the departing soul into the west, where he will be young and happy in a place of feasting and music, until he is ready to return, or is asked to return.

  Forge Books by Juilene Osborne-McKnight

  Daughter of Ireland

  I Am of Irelaunde

  Bright Sword of Ireland

  Song of Ireland

  HISTORICAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

  The next time you are at the movies, munching on a huge tub of buttery popcorn, consider myths, legends, folklore. Why? Because mythology is popcorn; inside each fluffy, buttery, rich, and multifaceted puff of corn is a hard kernel. You know this; you have bitten down on those hard nuggets, and you know that they do not yield. The puffs are stories, i.e., myth and legend; the kernels are history, i.e., verifiable truth.

  An incident in history becomes a myth or a legend because something happened, something awesome, something memorable, something which carried deep significance for those people in that time, deep significance on the journey toward understanding. That incident is captured in story, elaborated and decorated, passed down through generations.

  Myth and legend embellish
upon history because human beings seem to need patterns—archetypes, if you will. The archetype of the wisdom keepers, the archetype of the hero, the archetype of the villain, the archetype of the journey, the archetype of the grailquest. Story seems to be one of the essential, even necessary, ways for human beings to learn the world and our purpose in it. You might say that we come “hardwired” for story.

  This book weaves together a complex myth and an ancient legend over a repeating thread of real history.

  The myth of the Tuatha de Danaan, the tribe of the Danu, is, as all myths should be, large and metaphysical, incomprehensible and strange. It is one of the oldest and most pervasive of the Irish myths, so much so that the perception of the “little people” or “An Sidhe”—the Other—of Ireland continues even in our day. What is its kernel? We do not know, but we have numerous clues.

  Let us begin, however, in “real” history. The legend of the sons of Mil and their journey to Ireland comes to us from an ancient Irish text, the Lebhor Gabhala, the Book of Invasions.

  Written by the early Christian monks, possibly in the eleventh century, the Lebhor Gabhala posits five “races” of creatures—not all human—who inhabited Ireland: the Partholon, the Nemedians, the Fir Bolg, the Fomorians, and the Tuatha de Danaan. By the time of our story, the Partholon and Nemedians had vanished from the Irish landscape and the Tuatha de Danaan had negotiated a peace with the Fir Bolg and banished the Fomor. Sometime around 500 BC, this chain of residence was capped by the arrival of a huge (more than sixty-five ships and forty chieftains, according to the legend) invasion force of ships from Spain bearing the Celts of the sons of Mil (descendants, according to the Book of Invasions, of Japheth, the son of Noah of flood fame; this is most likely an attempt by the monks to give Mil and his lineage a Judeo-Christian ancestry). This force landed in Kerry on Beltaine, the first of May, in the Bay of Kenmare, at the place called Inber Scene, named after the drowned wife of Amergin the bard.