Táin Bó Flidhais

Táin Bó Flidhais ("Driving Flidais' Cattle"), also Táin Bó Flidais or Mayo Táin , is the title of a story from the Ulster cycle of Irish mythology . An old Irish , but shorter and a slightly longer version from the 15th century has survived. The older version precedes the Táin Bó Cuailnge ("The Cow Steal of Cooley "). The legend is recorded in Leabhar Buidhe Lecain ("The Yellow Book of Lecan").

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At the time of King Ailill mac Máta and Queen Medb in the Irish province of Connacht , the two of them undertook a punitive expedition to County Mayo . The beautiful Flidais , wife of King Oilill Fionn of Mayo, lives with him in the castles Dún Flidhais at the southern end of Loch na Ceathrún Móire and Dún Átha Féan west of Lough Conn near Nephin ( Néifinn ). Flidais has a wonderful white cow named Maol , who gives so much milk that 300 men with their wives and children can get enough at one time. Flidais' herds of cattle are also very large and she has four daughters, one of whom is said to have been Cú Chulainn's lover.

The trigger for the cattle robbery is the malicious Bricriu , called Nemthenga ("tongue of poison"), who describes the beauty and wealth of Flidais to Fergus mac Róich in order to quarrel with his lover Medb. Fergus then comes to Mayo with some followers and fights there with Flidais' husband Oilill Fionn. Since Ailill mac Máta replaced the sword of Fergus with an imitation wood out of jealousy, he is finally captured. When Medb learns of this, she wants to free her lover, begins a campaign and includes the castle in which Fergus von Flidais is held captive. Flidais makes her husband drunk, cheats on him with Fergus and lets the Connachter troops into the castle. In a duel, Fergus finally cuts off Oilill Fionn's head and brings it to Flidais as a present from the bride. The castles are destroyed and Fergus takes Flidais and the cow Maol as booty to Connacht. It is said that only Flidais can satisfy the insatiable sexual appetite of Fergus mac Róich, which otherwise needs seven women.

The saga Táin Bó Flidhais has several local versions in Mayo, which differ only in details. Some figures and events are also portrayed a little differently here than in the Táin Bó Cuailnge .

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• Myths and legends from Ireland

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 .

Web links

• John T. Koch: Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia, volumes 1-5 , ABC-CLIO, 2006, ISBN 978-1-85109-440-0 , p. 1647. ( limited preview in the Google book search)
• AH Leahy: Heroic Romances of Ireland: Volumes 1 & 2 , Forgotten Books, ISBN 978-1-60506-140-5 , p. 255. ( limited preview in Google book search)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tomás Ó Concheanainn: The YBL fragment of Táin Bó Flidais. In: Celtica, 13/1980, p. 56 f.
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. 573 f.