Irish Myths, Legends, Stories

Irish myths, legends, stories

Irish Myths, Legends, Stories

From Cú Chullain and the Children of Lir to the Salmon of Knowledge, Irish myths, legends, stories continue to captivate generation after generation. The nation of storytellers possesses a well of gripping tales for a modern-day global audience, with central themes as relevant as ever.

The heroes of Irish folklore overcome the most dreadful obstacles and emerge victorious from the most vicious battles. Steeped in Celtic symbolism, Irish myths blend central human themes with spirituality and spellbinding narrative flow. As a reader, you taste life and death, love and hate, and dreams and gritty realism come bounding off the pages.

Most tales introduce ghosts, fairies, leprechauns, and semi-human creatures alongside magical lands and places beyond your wildest dreams. What’s more, you get every genre, including love stories, horror, and tales of wars and victories. With a story-telling tradition deeply rooted in Irish hearts and minds, the ancient tales continue to be passed down in schools, pubs, and in front of cosy winter fires.

Many a poet and writer has developed and blended Irish mythology, kidnapped characters and transported them into new spheres and settings. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, for instance, bears traits of Irish mythology heroes, and Yeats’ Púca poem brings Irish ghosts to life.

Picking a selection of Irish myths to introduce here is no mean feat. For starters, there are too many enthralling stories to mention, and then, we wouldn’t want to frighten the wits out of you either. The medley of Irish legends below embraces the power of a good story, marrying the adventures of the most notorious protagonists to the most magical journeys and landscapes.

The Tragic Love Story of Diarmuid and Grainne

A story to rival Romeo and Juliet, Grainne and Diarmuid’s love may well blossom for a while but ends in tears nonetheless. Diarmuid, a mighty warrior of the Fianna, Fionn Mc Cool’s army, falls in love with Fionn’s bride Grainne, the most stunning young woman in Ireland. As you can imagine, Fionn is none too pleased when he discovers his bride has run off with one of his warriors. A relentless pursuit ensues, meaning the lovers cannot stay in the same place for more than a night or two. To this day, you can find Grainne and Diarmuid caves and beds across Ireland, especially in County Sligo.

The doomed couple’s story culminates on the foothills of Ben Bulben, County Sligo’s most famous mountain. Diarmuid had been told as a child that he could only be killed by a wild boar. Sure enough, one such magical beast makes a charge for the pregnant Grainne, leaving her lover no choice but to throw himself into the beast’s path to save her.

At the very same moment, Fionn Mc Cool catches up with the couple, witnessing Diarmuid’s death despite Grainne’s pleas to save her lover with his magical hands.

The Seal People – The Selkie

Selkies are familiar to Scottish and Irish people because of the many stories and sightings. In essence, selkies are like mermaids. Swimming at sea, they shed their skin when on dry land and turn into humans. If their skin goes missing, they cannot return to the sea.

One of the most well-known Selkie stories introduces clan chieftain Thady Rua O’Dowd who had trouble finding a wife. One lucky day, he encounters the beautiful Eve on the beach. Aware that she is a Selkie, Thady takes her cloak and hides it before asking him to marry her. Eve agrees and returns home to start a family, bearing many children and making a life on dry land.

But her longing for the ocean never wanes. Desperate but unable to retrieve the skin from her husband, Eve asks one of her children to fetch it. Once reunited with her skin, Eve finds herself irresistibly drawn by the sea and decides to return. She packs up her children, but cannot take them all to sea. The children she must leave behind, she turns to stone and heads for the waters with the rest of them.

The Story of Cú Chullain

Cú Chullain is perhaps the most famous Irish Celtic hero, with many stories depicting the strength of his character, fiery nature, and invincible spirit.

Born to the Celtic sun god Lugh and the king’s sister Conchobar Mac Nessa, Cú Chullain was initially called Sétanta. He is fast and ferocious, and as a result, makes it into the king’s army at the tender age of five. At a feast in honour of Cullan, the king’s spear maker, Sétanta finds himself face-to-face with Cullan’s bloodthirsty dog.

Sétanta takes his sliotar and hurley, aims at the hound and duly kills him. While his uncle the king is relieved, Cullan is less enamoured having lost his trusted companion. To atone for this loss, the boy offers to take the dog’s place until a replacement can be found. And this is how Sétanta gets the name Cú Chullain (Cullan’s dog).

Many Cú Chullain stories exist. He single-handedly defeated an army, married but had many affairs, and is infamous for the rage he embodied before every battle. As a reader, you’ve got all the elements of a great story, love, hate, war, violence, affairs, conflict, friendship, and a hero’s rise and demise.

Grace O’Malley – Ireland’s Pirate Queen

Born in 1530, Ireland’s Pirate Queen Granuaile (or Grainne Ni Mhaile / Grace O’Malley), spends her childhood on the Irish West Coast among ships and sailors. Her father owns several forts and castles in County Mayo which Granuaile would later inherit. She grows her wealth through two marriages. Much of her time, she sails the ocean in Clew Bay, with her family amassing more riches ashore and at sea through fishing, levying taxes on passing ships, and the odd bit of piracy.

But times in Ireland are changing. The newly introduced English Crown law orders that women hand control of their property to their husbands. Granuaile will not bow to this law, resolving instead to live at sea altogether. She levies every passing boat, plunders any vessel in the vicinity, and raids both unmanned and manned ships.

Having taken power during the same century, the English Crown wants to force a feudal system on the Irish clans. Granuaile’s family feel pressure to bow to the Crown as two of her sons are kidnapped for ransom. Brazenly, the Pirate Queen requests a meeting with the Queen of England to petition for their release. Having found some common ground, Granuaile promises to support the Crown with the Queen of England vowing to free her sons. But neither woman keeps her promise.

Instead, the Irish Pirate Queen continues plundering boats until her death. Her legend lives on through many tales of adventure, courage, and recklessness. Countless books, dramas, and poems eternalise Granuaile as a symbol of fearlessness, a woman inspiring generations. You can visit her birthplace and childhood home, a castle on Clare Island, and a string of forts and castles she owned.

Fairies, Púca Fairies, and Leprechauns

Even today, Irish people have a healthy respect for the Wee Folk. With stories depicting fairies as benevolent at times but mostly mischievous or downright mean, you do not want to rile up any fairy. Irish fairies are little people going about their business, using magical powers and ruling over the Irish landscape.

Irish people of old learnt to live peacefully alongside the fairies. Many stories reveal how encounters with fairies often left humans in deep trouble over fairy retribution. On a trip across Ireland, you spot many fairy forts, essentially medieval ringforts. You can also find fairies in caves and nearby lone Hawthorne trees.

While fairies left to their own devices are unlikely to cause any trouble, púca fairies do it just for fun. At will, they turn into goats, horses, donkeys, dogs, foxes, wolves or any other creature they choose. They may entice poor ignorant passersby to engage and guide them into trouble. But the púca are not all malice. Some are said to have helped farmers during the harvest or put a shoulder to the wheel on the farm. You can find púcas all across Ireland, especially around Halloween, the worldwide autumn spookfest that started in Ireland.

You likely know leprechauns from St. Patrick’s Day parades, the green tophat, the fiery red hair and beard, and the very jolly nature. What you are unlikely to know is, that the EU has officially recognised them as a people. Have a look at this:

Other Must-Read Irish Myths, Legends, Stories

Here is a list of other stories and legends you have to read:

  • Warrior Queen Maeve
  • Fionn McCool and the Giant’s Causeway
  • Éiru the Goddess
  • The Hag of Beara

As you have gathered by now, Ireland is indeed a magical place. The above selection does in no way do justice to the immeasurable riches of Irish storytelling. Any visitor to Ireland is charmed by Irish chattiness, with locals far and wide never missing an opportunity to tell a story. A night in the pub or an evening in someone’s home invariable churns out story after story, some funny, some, tragic, and most of them out-of-this-world.