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    Celtic Magic Tales
    Celtic Magic Tales
    Celtic Magic Tales
    Ebook87 pages1 hour

    Celtic Magic Tales

    By Liam Mac Uistin and Maria A Negrin

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    About this ebook

    Four magical legends from Ireland's Celtic past vividly told - heroic quests, great deeds, fantasy and fun.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe O'Brien Press
    Release dateSep 7, 2015
    ISBN9781847178251
    Celtic Magic Tales
    Author

    Liam Mac Uistin

    Liam Mac Uistin was a well-known author and playwright. His versions of ancient Irish stories and legends have been published in the Irish language by An Gúm. His plays for stage, television and radio have been produced in many European countries and in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. His television play The Glory and the Dream won the Radio Telefís Éireann award. His stage plays have been produced at the Abbey and Peacock theatres in Dublin. His stories and plays have received many literary awards. Liam Mac Uistin is the author of The Táin, (O'Brien Press) a hugely popular book for the young reader on this great Celtic epic. He died in 2018.

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      Book preview

      Celtic Magic Tales - Liam Mac Uistin

      Prologue

      For centuries the Celts were the greatest people in Europe. When their power was at its height their territory stretched from Ireland to Asia. Their world was rich in mythology and belief in magic and the supernatural. These myths and stories form a vivid colourful realm of the imagination. People in Mediterranean lands spoke of the Celts and their traditions as ‘beyond the setting sun, remote from our world’.

      Of all the Celtic countries Ireland has preserved the richest store of stories from that mythology. These were passed on in Gaelic from one generation to another. Later, with the coming of Christianity, they were written down by the scribes in the monasteries.

      The stories also tell us how the Celtic people were as subject as any human beings to love, hate, jealousy, honour, betrayal, joy and sorrow.

      But above all they show how important the other world of magic and superstition was in the ancient Celtic culture. In that other world magic can be used for good or evil. Thus in ‘The Quest for Aideen’ magical powers are used to get people into and out of trouble.

      This story of Mir and Aideen is one of the oldest and loveliest of the traditional stories. ‘The Fabulous Deeds of the Sons of Tuireann’ is one of the three stories known in the Gaelic tradition as Trí Trua na Scéalaíochta, or ‘The Three Sorrows of Storytelling’. The story of Deirdre is one of the other two.

      ‘Cuchulainn and the Feast of Bricriu’ is part of the Ulster cycle of storytelling known in Gaelic as An Rúraíocht. In that story Cuchulainn, Conor mac Nessa, Queen Maeve and others who played prominent roles in the Táin reappear. On this occasion, however, instead of being at one another’s throats they are involved in the humorous events connected with the contest for the curad-mír or hero’s portion at the feast organised by the devious Bricriu.

      One of the grander themes of traditional Gaelic storytelling is the notion of love that brings tragedy to the lovers. This theme is fully explored in ‘Deirdre and the Sons of Usnach’ which is one of the earliest examples of tragic love in European literature. It is an epic story of bravery, loyalty and honour intermingled with jealousy, betrayal and death.

      As in my telling of the Táin, my aim in these stories is to make them accessible and enjoyable to the reader while remaining faithful to the original Gaelic material on which they are based.

      Liam Mac Uistin

      The Quest for Aideen

      ‘This is a beautiful land,’ Aideen whispered to Mir as they stood in the valley and admired the waterfall tumbling down over glistening rocks into the river below.

      ‘Yes,’ Mir nodded. ‘It was great good fortune that led our people here.’

      On they walked along a sunlit path that curved up the side of a hill. All at once a dark shadow fell over them and they heard a sudden sharp scream. Looking up, they saw an eagle plummeting towards them, its great menacing talons spread open and its cruel beak thrust forward.

      Frightened, Mir and Aideen fell to their knees. The eagle swooped close over their heads and glided away into the distance.

      Mir and Aideen rose to their feet, trembling. Mir’s face was ashen and his eyes had a haunted look.

      ‘Aideen, I have seen that bird before,’ he said in a low strained voice.

      ‘When?’ she asked.

      ‘In a terrible dream I had. A dream that still frightens me.’

      ‘Tell me,’ Aideen said, taking his hand in hers.

      ‘I dreamt that a fierce bloodthirsty race came over the sea and tried to destroy our people, the Tuatha de Dannan. The sails of their ships bore the emblem of that eagle. Our people were driven underground to live in the Otherworld where there is no spring or summer or singing of birds.’

      Mir shivered and tightened his grip on Aideen’s hand. ‘But the worst part of the dream was that you and I were separated and I never saw you again.’

      The colour ebbed from Aideen’s lovely face. ‘That can never be!’ she cried. ‘I shall never leave you, Mir. Never!’

      ‘Perhaps this dream is a warning,’ she declared, after a moment’s anxious thought. ‘The Tuatha de Dannan must be in danger. We must return to the palace and tell the king.’

      ‘It may be too late, Aideen. Look!’ Mir pointed out to sea.

      A long line of ships stood out on the horizon. There were close to fifty ships in all and as the sails drew nearer Mir and Aideen saw that each bore the image of a huge eagle with outstretched talons and beak. The sun glinted on the swords and spears of a host of fierce-looking warriors on the decks.

      ‘Those are the warriors I saw in my dream!’ Mir exclaimed.

      ‘Quick!’ Aideen said. ‘We must warn the king.’

      They ran back to the gleaming white palace of the Tuatha de Dannan and burst into the throne room where King Cormac was in council.

      ‘What is the meaning of this?’ he demanded angrily.

      But the anger faded from his eyes as Mir and Aideen told him of the warlike strangers approaching their shores. He heaved a deep sigh and stroked his beard.

      ‘I was afraid that this might happen someday,’ he said. ‘Many years ago it was foretold that a race called the Milesians would come over the sea, take this beautiful land of Banba away from us and force us to live underground.’

      ‘We shall drive them back into the sea!’ Mir declared in a voice that echoed round the room.

      The old king sighed again. ‘We have been so long at peace that I fear we may not possess the skill to defeat them

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