The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends Read Online Free PDF Page A

it was first written down. I have incorporated into this the elements from Cath Maige Tuired (The Battle of Mag Tuired), arguably
the most important tale in the “Mythological Cycle”, in which the gods and goddesses of Danu fight with evil Fomorii (Under-Sea Dwellers). There are two early versions of this, one
surviving in a sixteenth century copy, while the second version survives in a manuscript c. 1650.
    The stories given in the Leabhar Gábhala (The Book of Invasions, often given in the old form Lebor Gabála Erenn ), which is found in the Leabhar Laignech of the
twelfth century, is the nearest to the Celtic origin myth that we have. The Leabhar Gábhala tells of the mythical invasions of Ireland, including that of the “Ever-Living
Ones”, the Children of Danu or “The Tuatha Dé Danaan”.
    In the Irish creation myth, the Christian writers made Cesair the granddaughter of the biblical Noah. Her parents are Bith and Birren and they set out in three ships to find a place which would
escape the Deluge. Only one ship survives and lands at Corca Dhuibhne, on the Dingle Peninsula in Co. Kerry. There are fifty women and three men. As well as Bith,there is Ladra
the pilot and Fionntan. When Bith and Ladra die, Fionntan, left alone with the women, feels inadequate and flees. He and the women eventually perish. Among the variants of this tale is the story
that one of the women had a magic cask which, when opened, flowed for so long that water covered the earth and drowned them.
    The Welsh Christian creation myth is found in the medieval Trioedd Ynys Prydain, a collection of triads which served as a mnemonic device for cataloguing a variety of facts and precepts.
It speaks of Llyon-Llion, the Lake of the Waves, which overflows due to Addanc, a monster who lives in the lake. He is finally disposed of by being hauled from his lair by the oxen of Hu Gadarn. In
some versions, he is killed by Peredur. However, he creates the overflow and thereby the Deluge. Indeed, he seems to be cognate with Griva who has a similar role in Hindu Deluge myth. Nefyed Naf
Nefion then builds a ship, in which Dwyvan and his wife Dwyvach escape. Nefyed is cognate to the Irish Nemed, who is said to have arrived in Ireland after the Deluge.
    While there are hints of a pre-Christian origin, especially with the story of Addanc, other sources compare more with The Churning of the Ocean in which many comparative figures to Celt
myth also appear, such as Dhanu; Surabhi, the divine cow; the Tree of Knowledge; Dhanvantari – the equivalent of the Irish Dian Cécht, the physician of the gods; and others.
    In many ways, the Leabhar Gábhala is the equivalent of the Hindu Mahabharata. It was necessary, therefore, to check other references, make comparisons with similar origin
myths in the Vedas and in other Indo-European myths, in order to clarify points which have been lost in the bowdlerisation by the Christian scribes. Thus, it was my intention to return the
story to its original pre-Christian Celtic vibrancy.
    The pre-Christian themes certainly are in evidence in the Leabhar Gábhala and also in the Dindsenchas, a collection of sagas which explain the meaning of place-names, the
oldest version being found in the Leabhar Laignech from texts first recorded from the ninth to twelfth centuries. In fact, there are three versions of the Dindsenchas, surviving in
over forty manuscripts.
    Each one of the six surviving Celtic peoples is represented here by six stories. I have prefaced each section and given some essential sources for the tales of that country.
Some of them will be familiar to some ardent followers of Celtic myth and legend but others, I hope, will not be so familiar. I have tried to seek out some new tales and new versions.
    It should be noted that seven of the stories included in this collection were first published in The Giant Book of Myths and Legends, edited by Mike Ashley, Magpie Books, London, 1995.
These stories appeared there