It was just a branch from an apple tree. It lay there beside him on the ground, shining silver in the sea-washed sunlight. Bran sat up, yawning. He stretched his arms, flexing his fingers. What a dream that had been! The music; sweet, unearthly. It had followed him as he walked alone on the sharp-grassed…
Tag: Otherworld
Dindshenchas 11: Tocmarc Étaíne 3 – A Game of Fidchell
As we reach the final section of “The Wooing of Étaín”, a game of fidchell leads to some epic gains and losses. There will be archaic poetry, incest, a War of the Worlds and some civil engineering. Join the Story Archaeologists as they encounter a tale where text and archaeology come together in an extraordinary…
Étaín, Eithliu, Vessels and Rebirth
In order to gain some insight into the significance of Étaín, her role and her manner of rebirth, we shall look at related themes as they appear in different sagas. This essay is in two parts – the second part will be published after we have reached the end of The Wooing of Étaín in…
The Ancestors and the Hollow Hills
In the podcast episode, “The Further Adventures of Nera – The Cow and the Time Machine”, we found ourselves exploring the gateway to the Irish Otherworld. It is not the first timewe have made this journey.. We only have to return to our last story, Fled Bricrenn, “Bricriu’s Feast”, where we encountered another powerful Otherworld…