Abarta
Abarta ( Irish : "doer of deeds") is a legendary figure of the Celtic mythology of Ireland belonging to the Túatha Dé Danann .
mythology
After the Tuatha Dé Danann of the Milesians in the otherworld were expelled, they were only occasionally towards humans in appearance. This is what Abarta once did to play a trick on the hero Finn MacCool . He went with his warriors, the Fianna , and Abarta offered himself to him as a servant. Finn accepted the offer and gave him the nickname Gialla Decair (Irish: "Lazy servant"). As a trust-building gift, Abarta brought a huge gray horse with her. The warriors only managed to harness the horse with great difficulty, and then it refused to move even a hoof when a rider got up. It was only when fourteen of the Fianna were mounted that it made tentative moves. But as soon as Abarta had jumped up as the fifteenth rider, the horse sped away at a wild gallop, despite the fact that there was still another warrior sharpening its tail. Abarta brought the warriors to the Otherworld in this way, as was the purpose of his appearance on earth.
The Fianna who stayed behind followed the horse in a magic ship and thanks to their best tracker Foltor, a warrior of Finn MacCool, they managed to find the fugitives in the Otherworld. Abarta was forced to release the prisoners, he himself had to let himself be pulled to Ireland by the tail of the horse, for the sake of hurtful honor, before peace could be restored.
See also
literature
- Patricia Monaghan: The Encyclopedia Celtic Mythology and Folklore. Facts On File, New York 2004, ISBN 0-8160-4524-0 , p. 1.
- Arthur Cotterell: The Encyclopedia of Mythology. Edition XXL GmbH, Reichelsheim 1999, ISBN 3-89736-300-3 , p. 96.