Hello. My name is Oisín Ó Dubhshláine and welcome to the fourth episode of our series on the Women of Ireland. Last week we looked at Badb, the Battle Crow. This week, we’ll turn to the third sister of the Mórríghan. This is, of course, Mórrígiú.
It’s often that the Triple Goddess, the Mórríghan and Mórrígiú, the war goddess are treated as one. But there are stories where the Mórrígiú is seen on her own.
It’s easy to see why the Mórrígiú is treated this way. The two names are quite similar. In the Lebor Gabhála Erenn, the Book of Invasions, the three sisters are listed as such: “Badb and Macha and the Mórríghan, who was also called Anand.” Is Anand Mórrígiú’s true name? It’s said that there is a connection between the names Anand and Danand, and further still between Anu and Danu. Of course, Danu is an incredibly important goddess. She is the reason for the name, Tuatha Dé Danann, the people of the goddess Dana.
It’s said that the Mórríghan is the wife of the Dagda. Before the Second Battle of Maigh Tuireadh, the pair met as she stood over the Uinsinn. She had one foot on either side of the river. They spent this night, Samhain night, now known as Halloween, together. This place is now called the Bed of the Couple. It was here that Mórrígiú gave the Dagda crucial information about the battle become. The Mórrígiú had a daughter with the Dagda. Adair was her name.
As well as this, she had a son. Meche was his name. It’s not known who his father was. Mac Cécht killed Meche. Meche had three hearts and from every one of them grew a serpent. There was a prophecy that if the serpents were allowed to grow, they would be the reason for the destruction of Ireland. Mac Cécht killed him at Magh Fertaige to stop this. From this, this place was called Magh Meche, or Meche’s plain. Mac Cécht took the serpents from Meche’s body and burned them on Magh Luachaid, the Plain of Ashes. He scattered these ashes in a stream. The water boiled and every creature inside was killed until it dried up completely.
The triple goddess, the Mórríghan was seen in the First Battle of Maigh Tuireadh. The three sisters fought alongside one another, using their terrible magic. During battles, Mórrígiú raised pillars around the battlefield. She created boundaries around the warriors so that none of them could leave without dying. As such, the battle had to come to a conclusion.
Mórrígiú is an incredibly powerful druid. In the Second Battle of Maigh Tuireadh, she promised to take two handfuls of blood from the Fomorian King, Indeadch, to assist the Dagda. She promised to take the courage of his heart and the kidneys of his valour. When Lugh asked her what she would do in the battle, she answered thus:
“Not hard to say, I have stood fast. I will end those you would capture.”
Mórrígiú fought alongside the Tuatha Dé Danann against the Fomorians in the Second Battle of Maigh Tuireadh. In the end, she heartened the warrior who were left to put the last Fomorians from the land. It is she, along with Aengus, the young son, who killed the final four Fomorians on Irish land.
Mórrígiú used her magic again in the Ulster Cycle. Firstly, as she meddled with affairs, Mórrígiú brought a bull to mate with a cow. A cowherd nmed Odras owned this cow. When Mórrígiú left with her cow, Odras pursued her. She followed her to a cave in Cruachan. One night, she lay in a forest, waiting for Mórrígiú. She fell asleep and Mórrígiú came from Oweynagat. When Odras opened her eyes, the last this she saw was Mórrígiú standing over her, chanting. Mórrígiú transformed Odras into a pool of water.
Like the Dagda’s magic harp, the Mórrígiú also had a magical object. She had a cooking spit. On this spit, there was a piece of raw meat, a piece of dressed meat, and a piece of butter. As the spit roasted over a fire, the raw meat was dressed, the dressed meat never burned, and the butter never melted. One day, nine outlaws came to Mórrígiú looking for a cooking spit. She gave them a new one with nine ribs on it. During the day, the outlaws would carry a rib each. At night, they would put the ribs back on the spit. When they needed a big fire, the fire would grow as tall as they were. When they needed a small fire, they would have a fire as small as a fist. The fire never broke.
Like her sister Badb, Mórígiú had a great interest in battles. During the Battle of Magh Rath, the Mórrígiú was seen as an old woman with grey hair, flying over the battlefield. She jumped from spear point to shield rim of the warriors who would triumph.
She was seen manipulating the story of the Táin, the Cattle-Raid during the Ulster Cycle. Even before the Cattle Raid of Cooley, she was seen in the Táin Bó Regamna, the Cattle-Raid of the Imported Calf and this is how that story went.
One morning, a terrible sound woke Cú Chulainn. It was the scream of a cow. He ran from the house and met his charioteer, Laeg. On they went, following the noises. They came across a woman driving a chariot with a single horse. She was a woman with red hair, wearing a red dress with a red cloak around her. There was a red horse as well and its said that it ran with only one horse. The woman was travelling with a man who was driving a cow ahead of him.
“That cow doesn’t much like you,” Cú Chulainn said. “You shouldn’t be driving her.”
“What’s it to you? She is not your cow,” the woman said.
“It is a cow of Ulster. As such, she’s under my care,” he answered.
“This is too great a task for you, Hound,” said the woman.
“Why does this woman speak to me?” asked Cú Chulainn.
“You didn’t question the man.”
“I did, but it is you who answered.”
“H-Uar-gaeth-sceo-luachair-sceo is his name.” This is said to translate to “Cold-wind-conflict-brightness-strife”
“A great name. But since it is you I am addressing, what is your name?”
“The woman you are talking to is faebor-begbeoil-cuimdiuir-folt-scenbgairit-sceo-uath.” This is said to translate to “keen-edged-small-lipped-plain-cloaked-hair-sharp-shouting-fierceness-phantom”
“Are you mocking me?”
Cú Chulainn jumped onto the chariot and onto the woman’s shoulders, with his spear overhead.
“Don’t use sharp objects against me,” said the woman.
“Tell me your true name then.”
“I am a satirist and this man, Daire Mac Fiachna, gave me the cow in exchange for a poem.”
“Tell me the poem.”
“Get off me. The poem is sharper than the spear in your hands.”
He rose from her and she blinded him. When he could see again, he saw her as a black bird sitting on a tree.
“From here on out, this land will be called Grellach Dolluid, the Place of Evil.”
“If I had known it was you, I would not have treated you so.”
“You will suffer because of this, Hound.”
“You have no power over me,” said Cú Chulainn.
“But I do, Hound. It is I who guards your death. I brought this cow to breed with the Brown Bull of Cooley. I am here to start the Cattle Raid of Cooley.”
“But it is I who will be the glorious champion of the Táin. I will slaughter their warriors, I will break their hosts, I will survive the Táin.”
“But you will not stand against me,” said the woman.
“I swear by the Gods of Ulster, I will end you and you will not get any healing blessing from me.”
The pair went their separate ways and met once again during the Cattle Raid of Cooley. Cú Chulainn hurt the Mórrígiú as he promised. But when he came across her again as she was under disguise, he gave her three healing blessings.
The last time Mórrígiú was seen was in the Fenian Cycle. She met Diarmuid Ó Duibhne as she tried to ford a river. She was in the form of an old woman and Diarmuid carried her on his shoulders. When they reached the other side, Mórrígiú blessed him that every woman who met his gaze would fall in love with him. This is the reason for Gráinne falling for Diarmuid. As such, maybe it wasn’t such a blessing, but that’s a different story.
These are our stories on Mórrígiú. Join us next week for our last story.
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