Echtra Fergusa maic Léte

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Echtra Fergusa maic Léte [ ˈextra ˈfʴerɣusʴa mak ˈleːte ] ("The Adventure of Fergus mac Léite") is the title of a story from the Ulster cycle of Irish mythology .

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The Ulster King Fergus mac Léite has the geis (taboo) never to be allowed to dive in the water of Lough Rudhraighe (Inner Dundrum Bay). When one day he is surprised in his sleep by some lúchorpáin ("small figures / body" = leprechaun , understood here as water spirits) and thrown into the water, he succeeds in holding some of them and forcing them to fulfill three wishes. One of them is the ability to breathe underwater - anywhere but Lough Rudhraighe.

When he tries to dive there anyway, he encounters a sea monster ( old Irish: muirdris ) that can contract and inflate again in a flash. Fergus is so shocked by this that his face contorts and stays that way. Although with this flaw he should no longer rule as a king, the Ulter do not tell him what he looks like and leave him in his position. All mirrors are removed from his surroundings so that he cannot see his distorted face. Only after seven years when a servant whom he whipped showed him his face in a mirror out of anger, did he realize the truth. Therefore, he returns to Lough Rudhraighe and kills the monster in a two-day fight, but also dies because he cannot breathe underwater here.

See also

literature

  • Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This is the first known mention of the leprechaun in Irish literature, see A Dictionary Of Celtic Mythology. on books.google.at
  2. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 744.
  3. ↑ DA Binchy (ed. And transl. ): The Saga of Fergus mac Léti. Ériu journal 16, 1952, pp. 33-48.