Picture: Deirdre of the Sorrows by Steven Brown
This was a very long weekend, since I didn’t work on Friday and it was followed by a Holiday on Monday. Everything was supposed to be perfect, except for the fact that I was in a place I didn’t want to be, and apparently alone. (Even though there were some people walking around).
In these moments I always tend to think “how could people live apart from their loved ones in ancient times?”, I think it was not easy, imagine your beloved travelled… It used to take days, months, if not years, and no internet, nor phone! Letters could take ages. I would never be able to live in such anxiety.
I think I would adopt desperate measures just like any other Heroine from famous romances.
Yes, I bet you thought of Romeo and Juliet, or maybe going a bit further Tristan and Iseult. But I want to go EVEN further… I always think of the Lady of Shalott and Lancelot, or the Celtic Myth of Deirdre.
Deirdre or Derdriu is the most tragic heroine in Irish mythology and pointed to be the inspiration to many other modern love stories (including Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet).
Deirdre was the daughter of the royal storyteller Fedlimid mac Daill. When she was born, Cathbad the druid prophesied that she would be the most beautiful woman in land, and that kings and lords would go to war over her, and Ulster’s three greatest warriors would be forced into exile because of her.
Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, decided to hide Deirdre in a place only Leabharcham, an old woman would know, so he could marry her when she was old enough. However, she fell in love with Naoise, a handsome young warrior, hunter and singer, who was accompanied by his two brothers—the sons of Uisnech. He and his brother run away to Scotland, but wherever they went the local king would try to kill Naoise and his brothers so he could have Deirdre. Eventually they ended up on a remote island, where Conchobar tracked them down.
He sent Fergus mac Róich to them with a message of safe conduct home, but on the way back to Emain Macha Fergus was waylaid, forced by his personal geis (a kind of curse) to accept any offer of hospitality. He sent them on to Emain Macha with his son to protect them. After they had arrived, Conchobar sent Leabharcham to spy on Deirdre, to see whether or not she had lost her beauty in her long years of travel.
Leabharcham, trying still to protect Deirdre from a marriage to Conchobar, told him she had lost all her beauty. However, Conchobar had sent another spy, Trendhorn, who told him that Deirdre was as beautiful as ever. The next day, Naoise and his brothers, Ardan and Ainle, faced Conchobar, aided by a few Red Branch Knights, before Conchobar evoked their oath of loyalty to him and had Deirdre dragged to his side. At this point, Éogan mac Durthacht threw a spear, killing Naoise, and his brothers were killed shortly after.
Frustrated by Deirdre’s lack of love for him, Conchobar offered her to Éogan mac Durthacht, the man who’d murdered Naoise.
She committed suicide by leaning out of her chariot and dashing her head against a rock. In some versions of the story, she died of grief.
The End
Well, I am certainly not going to jump out of the bus, but I have to admit she was quite brave to do that.
Although it’s a very ancient myth, this story inspired many authors such as Yeats to write plays about it.
There are four plays based on Deirdre’s story: George William Russell’s Deirdre (1902), William Butler Yeats’ Deirdre (1907), J.M. Synge’s Deirdre of the Sorrows (1910), and Vincent Woods’ A Cry from Heaven (2005). There are also two books: Deirdre (1923) by James Stephens and The Celts (1988) by Elona Malterre.
But if you would like to take a look into the complete story, here are some very good versions:
http://www.luminarium.org/mythology/ireland/deirdre.htm
http://www.dreamsofdeirdre.org/name.html
on a next post I’ll be writing more about Tistan and Iseult and the Lady of Shalott
