Immram Curaig Maíle Dúin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Immram Curaig Maíle Dúin [ 'imrav' kuriɣʴ 'vailʴe ðuːnʴ ] ("The Ride of the Boat of Máel Dúin") is the title of a travel story ( immram ) in the Celtic mythology of Ireland from the 10th century. The work, partly in prose, partly in verse, is completely preserved in Leabhar Buidhe Lecain ("The Yellow Book of Lecan") and in parts in Lebor na hUidre ("The Book of the Dark-Colored Cow"), as well as in two other manuscripts.

content

Mael Dúin [ mail duːnʴ ] is the son of the warrior Ailill Ochair Aghra and a nun from the monastery of Kildare . After his father is murdered by marauding marauders, he is raised at the king's court. When, years later, he learns of his family history - especially of the death of his father - he sets off with some companions in a curragh (leather boat) to avenge him.

You drive across the ocean and experience some wonderful adventures on this trip. So on islands they meet man-eating ants, birds that feed on golden apples (compare the apple island Avalon ), on the island of eternal laughter they have to leave a companion behind (see also Immram Brain , "Bran's Seafaring") and land on the Island of a princely woman. There they are treated as guests of honor for three days, but when one of the companions asks the woman whether she would like to share the camp with Mael, they are immediately banished to the open sea by a magic mist ( Fíth-fáth ). Finally, after visiting more than thirty islands with the strangest creatures, they manage to return to Ireland. Mael Dúin also finds his father's murderers, but forgives them out of Christian charity.

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 .
  • Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
  • HPA Oskamp: The Voyage of Mael Dúin. A Study in Early Irish Voyage Literature followed by an Edition of Immram Curaig Maele Dúin from the Yellow Book of Lecan, in Trinity College, Dublin. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen 1970. (Standard edition of the Irish text with commentary and English translation.)

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 844.