Fer Diad
Fer Diad [ fʲer 'dʲiað ], also Ferdiad , Ferdia , Fear Diadh , is a legendary warrior from the Táin Bó Cuailnge ("The Cow Robbery of Cooley ") in the Celtic mythology of Ireland .
mythology
Fer Diad is Cú Chulainn's partner in training with the warrior sorceress Scáthach . He is considered invulnerable because of his cornea, but only Cú Chulainn receives the deadly Gae Bolga spear from Scathach . When the Connachters under Ailill mac Máta and Medb go to war against Ulster , Medb tries to persuade him to fight his former brother in arms. Fer Diad refuses at first, but finally agrees, as Medb accuses him of cowardice and threatens him with abusive verses ( Glám dícenn ) recited by a druid . When she offers him her daughter Findabair , he goes into a duel. The fight takes place at the ford Áth Fir Diad, later named after him (now Ardee in County Louth ). Fer Diad tries to irritate Cú Chulainn:
- For the first time you will be defeated.
- Forget that we were foster brothers.
- Squinty eyed, you're done.
This unsuccessfully invokes their friendship and they begin the fight. The battle lasts four days, in the evening they separate each time and treat each other's wounds. The decision is only made on the last day. Before that, Cú Chulainn asks his charioteer Loeg mac Riangabra to incite him if he slacks off. When Fer Diad gains the upper hand, Loeg mocks his master and at the same time hands him the death spear Gae Bolga . In the distortion of anger, Cú Chulainn kills his opponent and friend, but refrains from chopping off his head as the winner and sings a lament for him.
Since Cú Chulainn himself is seriously wounded after the fight and cannot continue fighting for the time being, the old hero Cethern mac Fintain steps in and is also fatally injured.
See also
literature
- Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. 2nd, corrected and enlarged edition. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
- Ingeborg Clarus : Celtic Myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter, Düsseldorf et al. 1991, ISBN 3-530-70014-2 , pp. 290 ff. (2nd edition. Patmos, Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 ).
- Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
- Jan de Vries : Germanic and Celtic Heroic Traditions . In: Saga-Book 16 (1962-65), pp. 22-40.
Web links
- Joseph Dunn: The Cattle Raid Of Cooley . Kessinger Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1-4191-5621-7 , pp. 117 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).