Got this from Wikipedia.
Fand ('tear') or Fann ('weak, helpless person') is an otherworldly woman in Irish mythology.
The two forms of her name are not phonetic variants, but two different
words of different meaning, and the history of her name is debated.
Fand appears most prominently in the Ulster Cycle tale, Serglige Con Culainn (The Sickbed of Cúchulainn) as the daughter of Áed Abrat, sister of Lí Ban and one Angus, and wife of Manannán.[2]
She enters the story in the form of an otherworldly
sea bird. In her sea bird form, she flies with a flock of enchanted
birds, with each pair joined together by a silver chain. Fand, flying
with her sister Lí Ban, stands out from the rest as they are connected by a gold chain.
The hero Cúchulainn
hurls stones at the seabirds, one of which passes through Fand's wing
feathers. Later, Fand and Lí Ban return in the form of "Otherworldly
women" and confront him on the shore of the lake. They beat Cúchulainn
with horsewhips until he falls ill and lies abed for a year, unable to
rise.
Cúchulainn eventually regains his health by the favor of Fand when, via negotiators (Lí Ban, and Cúchulainn's charioteer, Láeg),
Cúchulainn reluctantly agrees to travel to the Fand's otherworld island
and help her in a battle against her foes. Cúchulainn and Fand then
become lovers.
The relationship does not last, as Cúchulainn's wife, Emer
is very jealous and comes to attack the couple with a troop of women
armed with knives. Fand sees that Emer is worthy of Cúchulainn, and
obviously upset by their affair, so Fand chooses to leave him. She
chants a poem, and then returns to her husband Manannán,
who shakes his magical cloak of mists between Fand and Cúchulainn, that
they may never meet again. Cúchulainn and Emer then drink a drink of
forgetfulness, provided by the druids.
Other appearances in Early Literature
According to MacKillop, 'her mother is sometimes given as Flidais, the woodland deity. In variant texts she is described as the wife of Eochaid Iúil, one of Labraid's enemies vanquished by Cúchulainn'.[3]
The goddess or otherworldly woman, Niamh
of the Golden Hair, is said to be a daughter of Manannán. As Niamh and
Fand share some of the same characteristics, it is possible Niamh is
also the daughter of Fand. Some sources mention another possible
daughter of Manannán, Cliodna, but as Manannán is known to have partnered with a number of goddesses and mortal women, her connection with Fand is unclear.
Appearance in Modern Literature
Fand inspired William Larminie's Fand and Other Poems (Dublin, 1892) and Arnold Bax's tone poem The Garden of Fand (1916).[4]
Fand has also appeared as a recurring character in Kevin Hearne's The Iron Druid Chronicles series.
No comments:
Post a Comment