In
Irish mythology
Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were ...
Tuan mac Cairill was a recluse who retains his memories from his previous incarnations, going back to
Antediluvian
The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-flood) period is the time period chronicled in the Bible between the fall of man and the Genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmology. The term was coined by Thomas Browne (1605–1682). The n ...
age. Initially a follower of
Partholon, he alone survived the plague, or the Flood, that killed the rest of his people. Through a series of animal transformations he survived into
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
times, and, in conversation with
St. Finnian of Moville told a brief history of himself and of Ireland from his people onward to the coming of
St. Patrick.
Sources
His legend is found in an 11th-century manuscript called
Lebor na hUidre (The Book of Dun Cow); in a 15th Century manuscript called Laud 610 kept at the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...
, Oxford; and in a 16th Century manuscript labeled H.3.18 at
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...
.
Summary
Tuan who was a hermit or recluse, told St. Finnan that he was born 2000 years earlier and witnessed many of the waves of invaders who came to ancient Ireland - the
Nemedians,
Fir Bolg and the
Tuatha De Dannan.
As the lone human guarding the land, he grew hairy, clawed and gray. And he witnessed the invasion of
Nemed (who he says was his father's brother), and woke up one day to find himself reborn as a vigorous young stag. The ancient stag watched the Nemedians perish, and was again reborn into a young wild boar, and became the king of the boar-herds, witnessing the taking of Ireland by Semion, leader of the Fir Bolg. Then he became a great hawk (or eagle) and saw Ireland seized by the Tuatha Dé Danann and the
Milesians. Later reincarnated into a salmon, he was caught by a fisherman serving a chieftain called Cairill, and was eaten whole by the Cairill's wife, and passed into her womb to be reborn as Tuan mac (son of) Cairill. He was eventually converted to Christianity, and conversed with
St. Patrick and
Colum Cille
Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Gaelic Ireland, Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the ...
.
See also
*
Lebor Gabála Érenn
''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' (literally "The Book of Ireland's Taking"; Modern Irish spelling: ''Leabhar Gabhála Éireann'', known in English as ''The Book of Invasions'') is a collection of poems and prose narratives in the Irish language inten ...
- compare with Tuan's shortened and truncated history of Ireland.
*
Fintan mac Bóchra - a similar figure in Irish myth
References
Sources
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External links
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* (retelling by
James Stephens)
Mythological Cycle
Characters in Irish mythology