Leborcham
Leborcham [ 'Lʲevorxam ], also Leabharcham ("crooked book" or "dishonest book"), is the name of a female legend from the Ulster cycle of Celtic mythology in Ireland .
mythology
Leborcham is particularly portrayed in the story Longas mac nUislenn (“The Exile of the Sons of Uislius”) as an ugly old woman at the court of King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster in Emain Macha . She is feared by everyone because of her malicious mocking poems ( Glám dícenn ), but is often needed because of her useful services as messenger and the like. In the story mentioned, she is the educator and protector of Deirdre , who she helps to win Naoise as a lover and to escape Conchobar's reenactments for some time.
A continuation of this story is Tochmarc Luaine acus aided Athirni ("Luaines' advertisement and Athirne's death").
Leborcham is said to come from a slave family, has the knowledge and magical abilities of a sorceress and is described as both kind-hearted and malicious. She is said to have given Cu Chulainn a final warning on the day of his death. So she can be considered the predecessor of the similarly described Grail messenger Cundrie la Surziere in the Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach .
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 Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf 2000, 2nd edition, 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 .