Hello and welcome, This article, we will discuss Top 10 Irish Myths and Legends. Ireland has some beautiful mysterious countryside inspiring so much in fantasy fiction including a game of Thrones the mythology and legend from Ireland are no less fascinating with some wonderful examples to be found.
LIST OF TOP 5 IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
1. CHILDREN OF LIE
2. THE DEATH SIGN
3. POOKAS
4. FINN MCCOOL'S
5. DAGDA’S HARP
1) CHILDREN
OF LIR
Here's a very old Irish legend originally called the clan Lear. Lear was known as the Lord of the sea and was given permission to marry one of the princesses in the kingdom Eve with whom he had four children. Sadly his wife passed away and Lear went on to marry his deceased wife's sister Aoife. Aoife was jealous of her nephews and nieces and made a plot to get rid of them an opportunity presented itself on a family journey to their grandfather's house and Aoife ordered her servant to kill them after the servant refused Aoife attempted murdering them herself, but couldn't muster the courage to do so instead, she used some secret magic to turn them all into swans destined to live forever in that form unable to speak once the King EFA's father heard about this. He angrily transformed her into a mist demon never to return to the world of the living. The swan children had to live for 300 years on the king's lake 300 years in the sea of moil and another 300 years on a legendary estuary st. Patrick was said to her converted Island to Christianity. During this time one ending to this story goes that at some point. Silver chains bound the four Swan children together centuries later the Queen of Leinster greedily saw these swans and wanted to capture them. She persuaded her husband the King to attack the monastery, where they were being sheltered and in this attack, the Swans chains were broken. They all transformed back into humans ancient and withered and immediately died not quite, such a happy ending but one of the popular ones this tale is rumoured to have inspired the ballet Swan Lake so it's quite an important one in mythology and there are statues and figures of dedication all across Ireland and that's it. From all top 5 for this week, of course, I've missed out some major players in Irish mythology like the leprechaun or the banshee, but I wanted to focus on some perhaps less well-known legends had you heard of these 5 let me know in the comments just remember to be polite and considerate when talking to other people in the comments if you've enjoyed this article.
2) THE DEATH SIGN
This is an Irish myth told through a fairy tale from
hundreds of years ago. One day a female shepherd was working in the fields when she heard music following she found a group of people dancing merrily. She
turned away but behind her was a pale strange young man staring at her, she
jumped an art who he was he replied you ought to know me and ordered her to run
away before something evil happened to her. She noticed that the group of
dancers had started running at her beckoning her to them the woman and the pale
man escaped, but later he turned her face towards his and asked again, if she
knew him upon gazing into his eyes she immediately knew the face it belonged to
a man, who had drowned the previous winter whose body had never been found. She
screamed but taking the opportunity. She asked the dead man desperately have
you any news of my child my fair-haired girl she has stolen from me seven years
ago to this day. The man replied I have seen her but she will never come back.
She is with the spirits under the sea and belongs to the body and soul perhaps
you will meet here sooner than you think and he disappeared the distraught woman
returned home, but couldn't enter through the door out of pure fear she called
to her husband that a presence was there barring her entrance, as soon as her
husband arrived she fell on her face through the door and said no more she was
dead it's hard to glean a moral from this story but that only makes it the more
creepy.
3) POOKAS
The Pookas is a creature straight out of Irish folklore.
They were shape shifters that usually took the appearance of black horses but
also goats or rabbits occasionally. They would take human form though retaining
animal parts like furry ears or big long tails. It's not entirely clear as to
whether the pooka brought good or bad fortune as there seems to be evidence for
both one written account from the 1700s described pookas as wicked-minded black
looking bad things, that would come in the form of wild Colts with chains
hanging all about them and that they sought out travellers to torment, however, another tale classes them as benevolent. One day a farmer boy noticed the
presence of an invisible Pooka and offered it his coat. That night it appeared
to the boy in the mill as a bull, other Pooka came and they all worked hard at
milling. The farm-grown corn into flour for many nights the boy gave the
helpers of fine silk Kotas thanks, and when the Pooka had finished milling all
the corn they left behind a golden cup full of a liquid. That guaranteed
happiness to anyone who drank it there are some tales of Pooka being vampiric
man-eating killers roaming the Irish countryside so it's up to you what you
think of the Pookas.
4) FINN MACCOOL'S
This name is an English transcription, But it is an
official one known in Irish as Finn MacCool. He was a famous mythological
hunter also appearing in Scottish tales, His name Finn means fair or bright
referring to his brilliant white hair Finn was brought up by his aunt and a
warrior in secret in a forest. As such he learned how to hunt, fight and became
wise to the world. He took studies under a leprechaun called finis Gus. Who had
spent seven years trying to catch the salmon of knowledge and finally succeeded?
This fish was rumoured to live in a river pool eating hazelnuts fallen from a
holy tree into its pool gaining, all the knowledge in the world in the process.
Phineas asked Finn to cook the salmon for him, Finn burned his thumb and as a
reflex stuck it into his mouth. Some of the salmon had been on his thumb and he
instantly gained the Salmons knowledge and wisdom of the whole world. Vinegar
gave him the rest of the salmon after seeing this and Finn went on to the channel.
The Salmons knowledge whenever he touched his front teeth with his thumb
overcoming his enemies and getting revenge on the man who had killed his
father.
5) DAGDA’S HARP
The doctor was an important Irish God a druid chieftain
associated with fertility strength and magic amongst other things. He was
portrayed as a big man in a cloak carrying a staff that can kill with one end
and give life with the other and always fall golden and a magic harp known as
Orono or at least I think that's how it said. This harp made of oak was said to
have the power to control people's emotions and also to change the seasons, the doctor sometimes used owner to dictate the flow of battles. After one
particularly famous battle, the second battle of my Twitter the firm Orion
tribes stole Dagda’s Harp hiding it in a castle. The clever Dagda, however, had
bound the harp so that it would not make a sound for anyone, else he tracked it
down to the castle and called for it Orono. The harp lept out of the wall to
him killing nine men in the process. Dagda then played three Tunes on his newly
recovered harp the first caused the castle's women to cry the second made the
women and children laugh with glee and the third tune sent everybody to sleep
enabling Dagda to escape with or no the harp.
