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O (ô) (Irish) A grandson, descendant. Plural: ui. # 166 O CEALAIGH (o kyal-eye) OAK Few trees have been so widely revered as the oak. The classic composition
of the Dianic grove or Nemeton, the residence of the heaven-god who
controlled thunder and lightning, the deity of druids and dryads, the oak was
duir (D) in the druidic alphabet and represented power. Irish churches
used to be called Dairthech, 'oakhouse,' an old druidic name for the
sacred grove. # 701 p 468 OAKMEN There are scattered references to oakmen in the North of England, though
very few folktales about them: there is no doubt that the oak was regarded as
a sacred and potent tree. Most people know the rhyming proverb 'Fairy folks
are in old oaks'; 'The Gospel Oak' or 'The King's Oak' in every considerable
forest had probably a traditional sacredness from unremembered times, and an
oak coppice in which the young saplings had sprung from the stumps of felled
trees was thought to be an uncanny place after sunset; but the references to
'oakmen' are scanty. Beatrix Potter in THE FAIRY CARAVAN gives some
description of the Oakmen, squat, dwarfish people with red toadstool caps and
red noses who tempt intruders into their copse with disguised food made of
fungi. The fairy wood in which they lurk is thrice-cut copse and is full of
bluebells. THE FAIRY CARAVAN is her only long book, and is scattered with
folktales and beliefs. It is probable that her Oakmen are founded on genuine
traditions. In Ruth Tongue's FORGOTTEN FOLK TALES OF THE ENGLISH COUNTIES
there is a story from Cumberland, 'The Vixen and the Oakmen', in which the
Oakmen figure as guardians of animals. This rests on a single tradition, a
story brought back by a soldier from the Lake District in 1948, and may well
have been subject to some sophistication, but these two together make it worth
while to be alert for other examples. # 100 - 674 OBERON # 156: 1. King of the fairies. According to HUON DE BORDEAUX, he was the
son of Julius Caesar and Morgan Le Fay, naming his Faery kingdom Momur.
Elsewhere it is stated that he was originally an extremely ugly dwarf named
Tronc, but the fairies took pity on him, removed his ugliness and gave him a
kingdom. He is also called Auberon and is believed to be associated with the
dwarf Alberich from German mythology. He was a companion of Ysaie the Sad,
Tristan's son who resigned his kingdom to Huon of Bordeaux. Arthur, who had
removed to fairyland after his earthly sojourn, protested, as he had expected
to receive the crown, but Oberon's treat to turn him into a werewolf was
sufficient to silence him. Oberon died shortly afterwards. We are told that
Oberon was the father of Robin Goodfellow by a human girl. Spencer makes him
the father of Gloriana, with whom Arthur fell in love. In A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S
DREAM Oberon's wife is called Titania. She does not often appear in medieval
Arthurian literature, though she does occur in two modern works, Richard
Hovey's THE QUEST OF MERLIN (1891) and Reginald Heber's THE MASQUE OF
GWENDOLEN (1816). 2. A brother of Morgan in OGIER LE DANOIS (a non-Arthurian French medieval
romance. See: OGIER. # 100 - 156 - 202 - 322 OCEAN SWEEPER Manannan's magical boat. # 562 OCHALL (o-hal) OCTA See: OSLA BIG-KNIFE. OCTRIALLACH He was a Fomorian who discovered how Diancecht had been able to bring the
dead to life by means of the Well of Slaine. Octriallach showed his tribe the
place and they filled in the spring. He was killed by Ogma. # 208 -
454 ODBRICHT The King of Norway who supported Arthur in his final battle at Camlann and
died there. # 156 - 243 ODGAR The King of Ireland when Arthur went there seeking the cauldron belonging
to Diwrnach, the King's supervisor. See: AEDD. # 156 ODHRAN, SAINT # 454: (d 563) He was one of Columba's companions in his exile on Iona.
Legend tells that the monastery of Iona was hampered when the monks attempted
to build the first church. Columba had a vision in which it was shown to him
that devils were hindering the work and that the building would not remain
standing unless a human victim was buried in the foundation. Odhran offered
himself and was buried alive in the foundations. After three days Columba dug
him up. Odhran was still alive and said: 'There is no wonder in death and Hell
is not what it is reported to be.' Columba ordered the earth replaced over
Odhran, saying: 'Earth, earth, on the mouth of Odhran, that he may blab no
more.' The cemetery was indeed called Reilig Orain (Odhran's Crypt). His
feast-day is 27 October. # 678: When Columcille (the dove of the church), the Latin rendering of his
name is Columba, arrived on Iona, he found a Christian monastery there,
directed by Odhran. This first settler appears to have joined the community
founded by Columcille, who told his companions that whoever among them would
be the first to die would confirm the Irish right to the island and be assured
of an easy passage to heaven. Odhran, weary of the world, apparently consented
to be the victim, and Columcille promised that in future years all
intercessions must be made through him. The fact that Odhran was buried at the
place where Columcille built his abbey is in keeping with that aspect of
folklore which demands that a corpse (be it only that of a mummified cat) must
be buried in the walls of any new building to ensure good fortune. # 454 - 466
- 678 ODIN WODEN It seems likely that Odin was the original leader of the Wild Hunt in
England, as he was until recent times in Scandinavia, where, however, he
chased the harmless little wood-wives instead of the souls of damned men. It
was common for Satan to take over the role of any influential god, and Odin,
as the leader and chooser of the dead, had a special right to play the Devil's
part. Brian Branston, in THE LOST GODS OF ENGLAND, devotes a chapter to Woden
and maintains his right to serve as the first leader of the Wild Hunt, the
Devil's Dandy Dogs and other sinister routs of the same kind. See also: WODEN.
# 91 - 100 ODRAN According to the life of Patrick written by Jocelyn, Odran drove the cart
in which the saint travelled. Realizing that there were threats against the
life of his master and that enemies were lying in ambush for him, Odran begged
Patrick to drive the horses, while he took the saint's place in the cart. So
it was, and the murderers deceived by the change, thrust their spears into
Odran, whose soul, Patrick saw, was carried by angels into heaven. Because of
the similarity of the name some people have identified Odran with Odhran
(q.v.). There is a link in the fact that both men voluntarily sacrificed
themselves in order to clear the way so that the work of a greater saint could
be carried out. His feast-day is 19 February. # 678 ODYAR FRANC The steward at Arthur's court. # 156 - 346 OENGHUS OENGUS MAC OG (engus) The Irish equivalent of Maponus is Oenghus. He is son of the Dagda,
the greatest Irish god, born of a secret union with Boann, the river goddess.
He was called 'in Mac Óc ('the Young Son') for his mother said: 'Young is the
son who was begotten at break of day and born betwixt it and evening.' After a
playmate had called him a hireling whose father and mother were unknown,
Midir, his fosterfather, brought him to the Dagda, who acknowledged him as his
son and instructed him how to take possession of Elcmar's lands. He is said to
dwell in the prehistoric mound of the Bruigh na Boinne, which he tricked away
from his father. Although Oenghus is a bright young god, born of primal
powers, he is not associated with therapeutic springs. Oenghus is a figure of
great beauty, wit and charm, and is also associated with fatal love in Irish
legends. The Scottish poet William Sharp (writing as Fiona Macleod in the
nineteenth century with a profound knowledge of Celtic mythology and language)
rightly described Oenghus as 'Lord of Love and Death'. In this last context we
may see once again a link with the primal Apollo, whose bolt could bless or
blast. # 628 p 110 OENGUS, THE DREAM OF 'The Dream of Oengus' is a continuation of the opening episode of 'The
Wooing of Etain', wherein Boand and the Dagdae sleep together and Oengus is
born. Although the story survives only in a relatively late source, the
fifteenth-century Egerton 1782 manuscript, it is mentioned in the Book of
Leinster, in a list of preliminary tales to 'The Cattle Raid of Cuailnge'.
Even so, 'The Dream of Oengus' does not appear to be especially old. The
themes are familiar to Celtic literature: love before first sight (as in the
Welsh tale 'How Culhwch Won Olwen'), the initiative of the otherworld woman
(as by Rhiannon in 'Pwyll Lord of Dyved' and by Macha in 'The Labour Pains of
the Ulaid'), the wasting away of the mortal lover (Gilvaethwy in 'Math Son of
Mathonwy', Ailill Angubae in 'The Wooing of Etain'), the unwillingness of the
woman's father (as in 'Culhwch and Olwen' and 'The Wooing of Etain') and the
transformation of the lovers into swans (Mider and Etain). And Boand and the
Dagdae are scarcely recognizable as people of the Sidhe: Boand is unable to
help her son at all, and the Dagdae has to ask assistance from the king of the
Sidhe of Mumu. The meeting and transformation of Oengus and Caer Ibormeith at
Samhain, a time of changes, does evince a genuinely ancient Celtic motif; and
the tone of the story, while romantic, is still restrained. The link to 'The
Cattle Raid of Cuailnge', however, is pure artifice. One puzzling feature of this story is Oengus' failure to reveal the cause
of his illness. In the Welsh story 'Math Son of Mathonwy', Gilvaethwy falls in
love with Math's virgin footholder; in the second section of 'The Wooing of
Etain', Ailill falls in love with his brother's wife. Both men fall ill from
love, but neither will reveal his guilty secret, and it may be that this idea
of silence was transferred. Inappropriately (since Oengus has no cause for
guilt), as part of the overall theme of wasting sickness. 'The Dream of
Oengus' is the ultimate source of Yeats's poem 'The Dream of Wandering
Aengus'. See also: ANGUS MAC OG. # 236 OENOCHOE Celtic wine pitchers. # 730 OESC A King of Kent, said to be the son or grandson of Hengist, ruler in the
traditional Arthurian period. # 156 OGHAM (OGAMIC) The secret fifth has its counterpart in the fifth of the five 'families'
(or groups) of five signs each which constitute the Ogham alphabet. The
first three groups of five stand for the different consonants, the fourt group
for vowels. The fifth set of five, called the 'supplementary family', is said,
in the medieval tracts, to denote diphtongs. Early Irish stories contain
several references to the use of Ogham to convey secret messages or for
divinatory purposes. In one case four sticks are used, in another a four-sided
stick. Vendryes, in L'ÉCRITURE OGAMIQUE ET SES ORIGINES in ÉTUDES CELTIQUES,
notes the importance of twenty in the Celtic numerical system, and the five
'supplementary letters' (forfeda) are dismissed as a later addition,
just as the fifth province has been accounted a later addition. The signs in
this fifth group are different in character from those of the four other
groups. But are we to consider it an accident that each of the five characters
of the fifth group is formed by a cross (single, double or quadruple), a
diamond or circular enclosure, or a rudimentary spiral - all apt symbols of
the mystic centre? Several hundred Ogamic inscriptions have been found on
stones in England and Ireland, most of them in the southwest of the latter
country. It has been possible to decipher them thanks to Irish manuscripts of
the Middle Ages, such as the Book of Leinster and the Book of Ballymoore,
which contains the 'Ogham tract', an exposé of about seventy varieties of
Ogamic writing. The name itself is derived, according to some, from the Greek
'ogmos' (furrow), while according to others it comes from Heracles'
alternative Celtic name, Ogmios. Ogamic writing has also been found on stones
in Spain and North America but it is difficult to date the stones. See also
TREE ALPHABET. # 768: The origin of the Ogham alphabet is ascribed in the BOOK OF
BALLYMOTE to Ogma, one of the learned men of the mythical Tuatha De Danaan
race, and in a manuscript in the British Museum (Add. 47830) Breas mac Elathan
is said to have been the inventor. Oghams are continually referred to in the
Irish manuscripts, such as the BOOKS OF LEINSTER, BALLYMOTE, LISMORE, and the
LEABHSAR na UIDRE, generally as being carved on sepulcral monuments, but
sometimes on objects of metal. The inscriptions on the Ogham pillars, and the
nature of localities in which they are found, prove conclusively that they
were originally erected to commemorate the dead. The point we have now to
determine is how far they are Christian. Two of the authorities who have written on the subject come to
diametrically opposite conclusions. Sir S. Ferguson, in 'Ogham Inscriptions'
says, "I shall be able, I think, to show reasonable grounds for believing that
the bulk, if not all, of our Ogham monuments are Christian; that some of them
represent, perhaps, as old a Christianity as has been claimed for the Church
in either island." Mr. R. Rolt Brash believes that the Ogham alphabet is of
pagan origin, and that most of the stones inscribed with this form of letter
belong to the pre-Christian period. # 548 - 730 - 768 OGIER A hero of Carolingian romance who was the son of Godfrey, a Danish duke. He
features in the romance OGIER LE DANOIS. His historical prototype may have
been Otker, advocate of Liège in Charlemagne's time. At Ogier's birth, Morgan
Le Fay said she would eventually take him to Avalon, which she did. He stayed
there for 200 years and then returned to aid assailed Christendom, finally
going back to Avalon. He and Morgan had a son called Meurvin. The Danes
regarded Ogier as a Danish hero named Holger. He was given the sword of
Tristan by Charlemagne and he called it Curetana. Other traditions are that he
slept with his men in a cave in Denmark or that he perpetually wandered about
in the Ardennes. According to Mandeville's TRAVELS (1356-57) he was an
ancestor of Prester John. # 156 OGMA (og'ma) A distinguished warrior and strong man of Nuada of the Silver Hand.
He was the son of Dagda, to whom Dagda gave one of his Brughs when he was
forced to take refuge underground before the advance of the invading
Milesians. The whole incident is to be found in the LEBOR GEBAR (Book of
Battles), which is one of the ancient books of Ireland. Ogma was the husband
of Etain, and father of Tuirenn. He was oppressed by Bres and the Fomorians
whom he overcame in battle, as leader of the Tuatha de Danaan. He captures the
speaking sword of the Fomorian King Tethra. He is credited with inventing the
ogham alphabet which the Irish used in inscriptions, but not for writing. (The
druidic prohibition on writing down knowledge persisted until very late in
Ireland's history: its professional teachers, poets and judges all conned
their art by heart.) Analogous to Gaulish god Ogmios. See also: OGMIOS. # 100
- 264 - 265 - 454 - 709 OGMIOS Ogmios was an old man, bald and wrinkled, and in Romano-Celtic carvings,
carrying a club and a bow. The latter to show his strenght in his field which
was eloquence. He was the god of the binding strenght of poetry, of the power
of the poetic word, charm, incantation or image. In Ireland the god Oghma is
the equivalent of Ogmios. Oghma is significantly credited with the invention
of Ogham, the Celtic alphabet, but he is also a strong champion. A Gaulish
god. There is a native inscription to him as 'Ogmia' where he appears wielding
the whip of the Invincible Sun and with his hair raying out in the manner of a
sun-god. There are likely connections here with the native cults of
Maponus/Apollo. See also: OGMA and, TREE ALPHABET. # 265 - 454 - 563 - 628 p
122 ff - # 709 OGO'R DINAS A cave near Llandebie. See: CRAIG-Y-DINAS. # 156 OGOF LANCIAU ERYRI The cave in North Wales where Arthur's men were said to be awaiting his
return. A shepherd was thought to have seen him there. # 156 -
554 OIMELC IMBOLC The coming of Brighid, Feile Bhride, or Brigit's feast - that was
springlambing (Oimelc means 'sheep's milk') and the combat between the
Caillech of Winter and her rival, the Spring Maiden. Celebrated on 1 February.
It is told in an obscure text how Brigit's lamb fought against the Cailleach's
dragon. Scottish Gaelic regions still celebrate her feast in remembrance of a
gentle mystery cycle about Brigit's imminent appearance, while in Ireland,
people make Bride's Crosses woven of rushes or withies and in the shape of a
three or four-armed cross. This custom may derive from an earlier fireceremony
in which this cross would have been ignited and cast into the winterskies of
February to hasten the coming spring. The combat of Brigit with the Cailleach
can still be traced in some extant folkstories. # 438 -
454 OISIN (ush'een) Otherwise Little Fawn. Son of Finn and Sadbh; greatest poet of
the Gael; father of Oscar; the only hero, apart from Caoilte, to survive the
Battle of Gabhre, at which most of the Fianna died; Keelta and Oisin resolve
to part, and together they bury Oscar; loved by Niamh of the Golden Hair who,
during the battle lured him into Tir na n'Og (Land of the Youth, the
Otherworld where time doesn't exist), where he intended to stay only for a
short time, however, it was first after 300 years has passed in earthly time
he was satiate and became homesick. Niamh gave him a steed to go and see
Ireland once more, telling him not to touch the ground with his foot, but when
he met people who needed his helping hand he forgot the geise and became
instantly an aged man. St Patrick attempted to baptize him, and obtained from
him the history of the Fianna so that it might be recorded for later ages. See
also: NIAMH. # 267 - 454 - 504 - 562 OISIN IN THE LAND OF YOUTH The story of the visit of Oisin son of Finn to Fairyland, the Happy
Otherworld of the ancient Irish, belongs less definitely to the heroic
tradition than the other Finn tales printed in this group. The central motif,
of course, belongs to the oldest period (cf. THE ADVENTURES OF CONNLA THE
FAIR,) and CORMACH'S ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF PROMISE, but the form present
in Cross and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES dates only from the eighteenth
century, when it was written by the poet Michael Comyn. The dialogue form in
which Patrick acts as interlocutor shows the influence of THE COLLOQUY OF THE
OLD MEN. The translation, which is very free, aims to reproduce the
complicated system of alliteration and internal rhyme used in Irish bardic
poetry. The events of the story are supposed to have taken place just after
the celebrated battle of Gabra, in which Finn's band met its final defeat, but
the introduction of the Rip Van Winckle motif carries the action through many
years to a period long after the decline and ruin of the celebrated fian. The
story furnishes an explanation of the tradition that Oisin survived Finn and
the rest of the fian long enough to converse with St Patrick, as in THE
COLLOQUY OF THE OLD MEN. The fact that the return of Oisin is used as a basis
for parts of THE COLLOQUY OF THE OLD MEN is an indication of the antiquity of
the theme. See also: OISIN - and - COLLOQUY OF THE OLD MEN, THE #
166 OLD ENGLISH Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) did not write in Old English. Nor did Sir
Thomas Malory, the fifteenth-century compiler of the stories of King Arthur
and his Round Table in LE MORTE D'ARTHUR, write Old English. Certainly William
Shakespeare did not write in Old English; both he AND Malory, in fact, wrote
in modern English. Nor are the various illustrated (or 'illuminated')
manuscript pages or imitations thereof often sold in gift shops Old English. -
Old English is, in fact, a language completely different from Chaucer's, or
that of anyone else mentioned in the preceding paragraph. It's a foreign
language in spite of its name; Chaucer himself probably could not read it,
though Chaucer was a proficient enough linguist to write in French and to
translate from Latin and Italian. A student setting out to learn Old English
today would expect to spend at least as much time mastering it as if he were
to train himself to read German or Russian. - Scolars divide the history of
the English language into three broad periods: Old English (AD 450-1100);
Middle English, the language of Chaucer (1100-1500); and modern English (1500
to present). The language of Malory is often called Early Modern English,
sometimes abbreviated eMnE. The dates are approximate; the historical factors
which determine them are the invasion of England by the Angles, Saxons and
Jutes, who brought their Germanic tongue with them, usually dated AD 449; the
Norman Conquest, which occurred in 1066; and the introduction of printing to
England by William Caxton in 1476. The only manuscript of any length that survives from the real Old English
period is that of BEOWULF- and it is sheer luck that it does survive, since it
was very nearly destroyed by a fire in the library of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton,
a well-to-do antiquarian and collector of Shakespeare's time. One can still
see the charred edges of the manuscript today. That Old English bears little
resemblance in the popular conception is amply demonstrated by the original
text from that manuscript. A literal translation of a highly inflected (or, as linguists say,
'synthtic') language like Old English into an 'analytic', or noninflected
language like modern English is almost impossible. But at least it will show
how very different Old English is from the YE OLDE GIFTE SHOPPE variety so
often miscalled Old English. Transliterated into ordinary modern type without
utilizing any special characters, following are all but the last few words of
the first four lines of the 'Beowulf' manuscript, with translation. Beowulf
mathelode bearn ecgtheowes [Beowulf spoke, son (of) Ecgteow:] hwaet we the
thas saelec sunu healfdenes [Lo,we(to) you this seabooty, son (of) Healfdene,]
leod scyldinga lustrum brothon tires [Lord (of the) Scyldings (with) joy
(have; brought; of glories] to tacne the thu her to locast... [As token which
you here at-look (i.e.,look at)...] - Put very briefly, the reason Old English
is so unlike today's-or for that matter, Chaucer's Malory's or
Shakespeare's-language is that following the Norman Conquest, England
officially became a French-speaking nation - and remained so for several
centuries. The profound influence of Norman French, the language of William
the Conqueror, upon the 'native' Old English brought by the Germanic
Anglo-Saxons when they themselves invaded Britain about AD 450, is responsible
for the radical alterations which took place in English between BEOWULF and
THE CANTERBURY TALES. In any event, what practically everyone calls Old English today is really
Middle English or even Early Modern English. # 118 OLD LADY OF THE ELDER TREE, THE Of all the sacred and fairy trees of England, the surviving traditions of
the elder tree seem to be the most lively. Sometimes they are closely
associated with witches, sometimes with fairies, and sometimes they have an
independent life as a dryad or goddess. These traditions are not now generally
believed, but they are still known to some of the country people. Formerly the
belief was more lively. Mrs Gutch in COUNTY FOLK LORE, VOL. V, quotes from a
paper given by R. M. Heanley to the Viking Club in 1901: Hearing one day that
a baby in a cottage close to my own was ill, I went across to see what was the
matter. Baby appeared right enough, and I said so; but its mother promptly
explained: 'It were all along of my master's thick 'ed; it were in this how:
T' rocker cummed off t' cradle, an' he hedn't no more gumption than to mak a
new 'un out on illerwood without axing the Old Lady's leave, an' in coorse she
didn't like that, an' she came and pinched t' wean that outrageous he were a'
most black i' t' face; but I bashed 'un off, an' putten an' esh 'un on, an'
t'wean is as gallus as owt agin.' This was something quite new to me, and the
clue seemed worth following up. So going home I went straight down to my
backyard, where old Johnny Holmes was cutting up firewood - 'chopping
kindling,' as he would have said. Watching the opportunity, I put a knot of
elder-wood in the way and said, 'You are not feared of chopping that, are
you?' 'Nay,' he replied at once, 'I bain't feared of chopping him, he bain't
wick (alive); but if he were wick I dussn't, not without axin' the Old Gal's
leave, not if it were ever so.' ...(The words to be used are): 'Oh, them's
slape enuff.' You just says, 'Owd Gal, give me of thy wood, an Oi will give
some of moine, when I graws inter a tree.' See also: ELDER. # 100 -
276 OLD PEOPLE, THE One of the Cornish euphemistic names for the fairies. It was founded on the
belief that the Small People of Cornwall were the souls of the heathen people
of the old times, who had died before the days of Christianity and were too
good for Hell and too bad for Heaven. They were therefore pendulous till the
Day of Judgement between Hell and Heaven. This belief was found by Evans Wentz
in the early twentieth century to be held by a proportion of the population in
most of the Celtic countries which he explored. # 100 OLD TABLE The Round Table was originally King Uther's and he too used it to seat
knights, fifty in all. There may have been many romances about this original
table of warriors in Italian literature where it is mentioned, but, if so,
most have not survived. One of the best knights of the Old Table was Brunor. #
156 - 238 OLD WOMEN OF THE MOUNTAINS, THE An individual member of the Gwyllion of Wales. Her special function seems
to be to lead travellers astray. Both Wirt Sikes and Rhys mention the Gwyllion
in some detail. # 100 - 554 - 596 OLLAM (ô'lav) A learned man of the highest rank. # 166 OLLAV FOLA Ollav (a royal person) was a term applied to a certain Druidic rank; it
meant a learned man - a master of science. It is a characteristic trait that
the Ollav is endowed with a distinction equal to that of a king. The most
distinguished Ollav of Ireland was also a king, the celebrated Ollav Fola, who
is supposed to have been eighteenth from Eremon and to have reigned about 1000
BC. He was the Lycurgus or Solon of Ireland, giving to the country a code of
legislature, and also subdividing it, under the High King at Tara, among the
provincial chiefs, to each of whom his proper rights and obligations were
alloted. But whether the Milesian king had any more objective reality than the
other more obviously mythical figures it is hard to say. He is supposed to
have been buried in the great tumulus at Loughcrew, in Westmeath. #
562 OLWEN She was daughter of the giant Yspaddaden. She is described in one of those
pictorial passages in which the Celtic passion for beauty has found such
exquisite utterance: 'The maiden was clothed in a robe of flame-coloured silk,
and about her neck was a collar of ruddy gold on which were precious emeralds
and rubies. More yellow was her head than the flower of the broom, and her
skin was whiter than the foam of the wave, and fairer were her hands and her
fingers than the blossoms of the wood-anemone amidst the spray of the meadow
fountain. The eye of the trained hawk, the glance of the three-mewed falcon,
was not brighter than hers. Her bosom was more snowy than the breast of the
white swan, her cheek was redder than the reddest roses. Whose beheld her was
filled with her love. Four white trefoils sprang up whereever she trod. And
therefore she was called Olwen. Her name means 'She of the White Track'. She
was the object of Culhwch's love and could not be won from her father without
her future husband fulfilling numerous impossible tasks. Although she shares
all the usual attributes of a giant's daughter - courage, resourcefulness and
beauty - she does not, however, enable Culhwch to fulfil his tasks in
accordance with most folk-stories. Whoever she weds will cause the death of
her father, and thus it happens, when Culhwch eventually wins her. It is
interesting to compare the story of CULHWCH AND OLWEN with the Welsh folktale
EINION AND OLWEN, recorded by Evans Wentz, in which Einion, a shepherd, went
to the Otherworld to marry Olwen. Their son was called Taliesin. See: WRNACH.
# 156 - 272 - 346 - 439 - 454 - 562 - 711 OLYROUN A fairy king, the father-in-law of Lanval. He lived on an enchanted island.
# 156 OONAGH (oona) According to Lady Wilde in her ANCIENT LEGENDS OF IRELAND, Oonagh is
the wife of Finvarra, the king of the western fairies and of the dead. She
says: Finvarra the King is still believed to rule over all the fairies of the
west, and Oonagh is the fairy queen. Her golden hair sweeps the ground, and
she is robed in silver gossamer all glittering as if with diamonds, but they
are dew-drops that sparkle over it. The queen is more beautiful than any woman
of earth, yet Finvarra loves the mortal women best, and wiles them down to his
fairy palace by the subtle charm of his fairy music. Nuala is also said to be Finvarra's wife, but perhaps it is not surprising
that so amorous a fairy should have several wives. # 100 -
728 OPTIMA See: ALDAN. ORC TRIATH This boar was the possession of Brigit, the Dagda's daughter. It is
synonymous with Twrch Trwyth. One commentary gives it as the name for a king,
possibly indicating that the boar was a kingly totem to aspire to. #
454 ORCADES An alternative name for Morgause found in DIU CRôNE. It comes from Orcades,
the Latin name for the Orkneys, ruled by Morgause's husband, Lot. #
156 ORCANT The ruler of Orkney who had been converted to Christianity by Petrus, a
follower of Joseph of Arimathea. # 30 - 156 ORFEO The native form of Orpheus. In Scottish folk-story, Orfeo goes in search of
his queen, Isabel, and plays his pipes (or harp) to good effect in the
Underworld, thus releasing his lady. The same story is told in a
Middle-English text; Orfeo goes in search of Meroudys or Herodis. The same
story appears in native tradition in the story of PWYLL and RHIANNON, and of
MIDIR and ETAIN. # 150 - 454 - 762 ORGUELLEUSE A proud lady who maintained that persistence in courtship and deeds of
derring-do were the only things that could lead to fulfilment in courtly love.
She is mentioned by both Chrétien and Wolfram, the latter suggesting she had
an affair with Amfortas, culminating in his receiving his wound. She
eventually gave her love to Gawain. She had once been spurned by Perceval. #
156 ORIANT The son of Meurvin, grandson of Morgan Le Fay by Ogier the Dane and nephew
of Arthur. # 156 ORIGIN OF FAIRIES Those inhabitants of Britain who used to believe in the fairies, and that
small number who still believe in them, have various notions about their
origin, and this variety is not purely regional but is partly founded on
theological differences. Folklorists and students of fairy-lore who have not
committed themselves to personal beliefs also put forth a selection of
Theories of Fairy Origins, which for the sake of clarity can be examined
separately. A valuable work of research on the beliefs held about fairy
origins among the Celts was published by Evans Wentz under the title THE
FAIRY-FAITH IN CELTIC COUNTRIES (1911). In the course of his work he travelled
in Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall and
Brittany, interviewing first eminent scolars, such as Douglas Hyde in Ireland
and Alexander Carmichael in the Highlands, and also people of all classes and
types who were believed to have information about the fairies. He found that,
among the older people, many of the opinions of the 17th and 18th centuries
still prevailed. There seemed to be some trace of the prehistoric beliefs
left, though these were not so explicit as the beliefs in the fairies as the
dead, or as fallen angels, or occasionally as astral or elemental spirits.
Sometimes the particular class of the dead is specified. The Sluagh or fairy
Hosts are the evil dead, according to Highland belief. Finvarra's following in
Ireland seem to comprise the dead who have recently died as well as the
ancient dead; but they are almost as sinister as the Sluagh. In Cornwall the
Small People are the souls of the heathen dead, who died before Christianity
and were not good enough for Heaven nor bad enough for Hell, and therefore
lingered on, gradually shrinking until they became as small as ants, and
disappeared all together out of the world. The Fairy Dwelling on Selena Moor
gives a good account of this theory. In Cornwall and Devon too the souls of
unchristened babies were called Piskies, and appeared at twilight in the form
of little white moths. The Knockers in the tin mines were souls of the dead
too, but of the Jews who had been transported there for their part in the
Crucifixion. In Wales the belief in the fairies as the dead does not seem to
have been so common. They were often described as a race of 'beings half-way
between something material and spiritual, who were rarely seen', or 'a real
race of invisible or spiritual beings living in an invisible world of their
own'(Wentz). In the Isle of Man a passage on the 'Nature of Fairies' is
something the same: 'The fairies are spirits, I think they are in this country
yet: A man below here forgot his cow, and at a late hour went to look for her,
and saw that crowds of fairies like little boys were with him. Saint Paul said
that spirits are thick in the air, if only we could see them; and we call
spirits fairies. I think the old people here in the island thought of fairies
in the same way.' (Wentz). The belief in the fairies as the dead may well come from preChristian
times, but with the fairies as fallen angels we come into the post-Christian
period. In Ireland, in spite of the lively belief in Finvarra and his host,
there is also an explicit belief in the fairies as fallen angels. Lady Wilde
contradicts the ususal trend of her testimony in one chapter of her ANCIENT
LEGENDS OF IRELAND VOL I, 'The Fairies As Fallen Angels': The Islanders, like
all the Irish, believe that the fairies are the fallen angels who were cast
down by the Lord God out of heaven for their sinful pride. And some fall into
the sea, and some on the dry land, and some fell deep down into hell, and the
devil gives to these knowledge and power, and sends them on earth where they
work much evil. But the fairies of the earth and the sea are mostly gentle and
beautiful creatures, who will do no harm if they are let alone, and allowed to
dance on the fairy raths in the moonlight to their own sweet music,
undisturbed by the presence of mortals. From the Highlands, Evans Wentz quotes a lively account of the story behind
this, given to him by Alexander Carmichael, who heard it in Barra in company
with J. F. Campbell: 'The Proud Angel fomented a rebellion among the angels of
heaven, where he had been a leading light. He declared that he would go and
found a kingdom for himself. When going out at the door of heaven the Proud
Angel brought prickly lightning and biting lightning out of the doorstep with
his heels. Many angels followed him - so many that at last the Son called out,
'Father! Father! the city is being emptied!' whereupon the Father ordered that
the gates of heaven and the gates of hell should be closed. This was instantly
done. And those who were in were in, and those who were out were out; while
the hosts who had left heaven and had not reached hell flew into the holes of
the earth, like the stormy petrels.' - The greater part of these angels were
thought of, like the Cornish Muryans, as 'too good for Hell and too bad for
Heaven', but with the growth of Puritanism the view of the fairies became
darker and the fallen angels began to be regarded as downright devils, with no
miti-gating feature. We find this in 17th century England. William Warner in
ALBION'S ENGLAND goes so far as to deny all performance of house-hold tasks to
Robin Goodfellow, saying ingeniously that he got the housewives up in their
sleep to clean their houses. Robin got the credit of the work, and the poor
housewife got up in the morning more tired than she had gone to bed. This is
to deprive the fairy character of all benevolence. On the other hand, two of
the Puritan divines of the same period allow the fairies to be a kind of
spiritual animal of a middle nature between man and spirit. It is clear that
there was no lack of diversity between those who believed in the real
existence of fairies. # 100 - 711 - 728 ORKNEY In Malory, the Orkney Islands form part of the realm of Lot. This seems a
late development. In Geoffrey, Lot is the King of Lothian who becomes King of
Norway. In the Middle Ages the Orkney Islands had many Norse associations and
these probably led to their being regarded as part of Lot's domain. Geoffrey
gives them a separate king, Gunphar, who voluntarily submitted to Arthur. In
the sixth century the Orkneys seem to have been organized into some sort of
kingdom, itself subject to one of the Pictish kings, for Adamnan's VITA
COLUMBAE mentions a petty king (regulus) of the Orkneys. #
156 ORLAM Son of Ailill and Maeve, slain by CuChulain. # 562 OSCAR OSGAR The son of Oisin. He and the High King of Ireland, Cairbry, met in single
combat, and each of them slew the other. Oscar dies and Oisin and Keelta raise
him on a bier of spears and carry him off under his banner, 'The terrible
Sheaf,' for burial on the field where he died, and where a great green burial
mound is still associated with his name. His death was prophesied by the
Washer at the Ford. He was a reconciler of enemies but was fearless in battle.
# 267 - 454 - 504 OSLA BIG-KNIFE A Saxon, possibly in origin Octa, the son or grandson of Hengist. His
knife, Bronllavyn Short Broad, could be used as a bridge and, when he was
amongst Arthur's men hunting the boar Twrch Trwyth, the water filled his
sheath and he was dragged underneath. THE DREAM OF RHONABWY says he was an
adversary of Arthur at Badon. # 156 - 346 OSSETES See: SARMATIANS. OSSIAN (isheen) 'Ossian' has been the usual Highland spelling of the Irish Oisin
since the time of James Macpherson's poem OSSIAN, loosely founded in the
Highland Ossianic legends. J. F. Campbell, in his discussion of the Scottish
Ossianic legends in his POPULAR TALES OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS, VOL. IV, well
establishes the widespread knowledge of the Ossianic poems and ballads in
18th-century Scotland and of the Fingalian legends. All over the Highlands,
Ossian was known as the great poet and singer of the Feinn, who survived them
all and kept the memory of them alive by his songs. Many of the Fenian legends
survived in these songs, and in such early manuscripts as THE BOOK OF
LEINSTER. 'The Death of Diarmid' and other tragic stories of the last days of
the Feinn were deeply remembered and the tragic plight of Ossian, old, blind
and mighty, is the most vivid of all. What is not recorded in the Highlands is
his visit to Tir na n' Og and the happy centuries he passed with Niamh
of the Golden Hair. # 100 - 130 OSWALD 1. In Dryden's KING ARTHUR, the King of Kent who opposed Arthur and who,
like Arthur, loved Emmeline. Arthur defeated him and expelled him from
Britain. No King Oswald of Kent is known to history. 2. (d. 642) King of
Northumbria. He became a Christian while in exile on Iona. When reinstated as
king, after the death of Edwin the Usurper, Oswald gave Lindisfarne to Saint
Aidan. He united Bernicia and Deira, but was killed at the Battle of
Maserfield. Aidan had once prayed that the king's generous hand never become
corrupted. Indeed, his body was mutilated on the orders of pagan King Penda
who ordered Oswald's head, arms and hands to be displayed on stakes. He was
buried at Oswestry (Oswald's Tree) but his relics were scattered throughout
Christendom - the remaining incorrupt. His feast-day is 5 October. # 156 -
454 OTHERWORLD The Otherworld is subtle described in some of the Celtic knotwork. The
Celts of old never tired of producing it. For them, the design represented the
essential nature of earthly existence. Two bands this world and the Otherworld
- entwined in dynamic, moving harmony, each band dependant upon the other, and
each complimenting and completing the other. The ancient Celts didn't distinguish between the 'real' and the
'imaginary'. The material and the spiritual were not separate or self-limited
states: both were equally manifest at all times. An oak grove might be an oak
grove, or it might be the home of a god or both simultaneously. Such was their
way of looking at the universe. And it inspired a great appreciation and
respect for all created things. A respect born of a deep and abiding belief.
The concept of one object or entity being somehow more real, simply because it
possessed a material presence, would not have occurred to them. And they were seeing bridges or gateways from the manifest world to the
other world at hollow mounds, caves or at a sea-shore where standing in the
waves at the shore you actually are in two worlds. At land and at sea at the
same time. - They were very much aware of the great ocean which contains
mountains and valleys, and there the mountain top rises above the water, at
our isles, they saw the places where the Otherworld pokes through into our
world, and whenever they discovered such 'isles' or openings they marked them
with cairns, stone circles, standing stones, mounds, and other enduring
markers. But they marked the doorways so that people would stay away from them
much the same way as we mark thin ice or quicksand. Danger. Keep out! The
ancients wanted these places to be distinguished clearly, because they knew
that only the true initiate may pass between the worlds safely. Stories abound
of unsuspecting travellers stumbling into the Otherworld served to warn the
unprepared to avoid the unknown. Such 'unaware travellers' have only come out again if they exercise
courtesy and carry iron, the metal inimical to Fairies. The Fairies themselves
are fond of musicians and poets, and will willingly entertain such artists,
teaching them new skills, tunes and rhymes. Those who have returned often find
that time has slipped by in the mundane world, while they may have enjoyed
only a couple of days in Faery. - The Otherworld is a sort of Supernature, a
separate, invisible OTHER nature, the Form of forms, from which all earthly or
natural forms derived. It is from the Otherworld all our thoughtsparks are
kindled into higher consciousness or imagination. Its the source of the REAL
Archetypes. Its the storehouse of archetypes that inform and shape our own
phenomenal world. Take the trees that grow all around us in our own world: in
the Otherworld they grow perfectly, without blight or frost to kill them. They
have a luminous life, which is stronger and 'more real'. # 774: Before the coming of Christianity, the Celtic peoples of Western
Europe had strong and singular beliefs about the future life. In fact, it was
their preoccupation with the beyond, which extended even to the making of
loans to be settled in the 'other world,' which the Romans regarded as their
most striking feature. In the fourth century AD, Procopus wrote that on the
coast opposite the Island of Britain there were many villages whose
inhabitants grew crops, but were also fishermen. Subject to the Francs, they
were free from payment of tribute because a certain service which, they said,
they had been performing since ancient times. This service, they claimed, was
the transport of souls. At night, they would suddenly be awakened by a loud
knocking at the door, and a voice outside would call them to their task. They
would get up in haste and a mysterious force would drag them from their homes
towards the beach, even against their will. There would be boats there, not
their own, but others. They would look empty but, in reality, they would be
loaded almost to the point of sinking and the water would be up to the
gunnels. They would climb in and take the oars. An hour later, despite the
invisible passengers' weight, they would reach the Island (of Britain)
although the voyage would normally have taken a day and a half. Scarcely had
they touched the coast than the boats would rise up without their seeing the
passengers disembark, and the same voice that had called them would be heard.
It was that of the conductor of souls presenting the dead one by one to those
qualified to receive them, calling the men by their father's names, women, if
there were any, by their husbands' names, and describing what they did when
they were alive. The above is a summary of the story given by Procopus; it is the most
complete account of the Celtic legend of the dead that we have from the
writings of Classical Antiquity. There can be little doubt that many of the
beliefs, practices and customs associated with the Celtic cult of the dead
passed into early Celtic Christianity. In Ireland, for example, so many
Christian monasteries appeared so quickly after the conversion by Saint
Patrick, as to imply the wholesale conversion of Druidic colleges. # 383 p 88
ff - # 437 p 11 ff - # 774 OTKER See: OGIER. OTTER # 161: In Celtic art Cernunnos, as Lord of Animals, is depicted as
accompanied by an otter, bear and wolf. # 454: The otter is a strange magical animal whose genus totally baffled
Celtic clerics who were always arguing whether it was flesh or fish and
therefore edible during Lent. Anciently, the otter or waterdog was a
transformatory beast. It is one of the guises which Ceridwen assumes when she
chases Gwion (Taliesin). In the many wondervoyages or 'immrama' which
Maelduin, Brendan and others take, they usually meet with a helpful otter who
provides food for them or which performs this service for a hermit. Otter-skin
bags also served as waterproof covering for harps in Ireland.
#161-454 OUPH An Elizabethan variant of ELF. It does not appear to be in common use now,
but is to be found in literature. # 100 OWAIN Son of Urien of Rheged and Modron (Morgan). A historical character, (in
French: Yvain) he succeeded Urien and fought on the side of the northern
British against the Angles which he defeated about AD 593. Although he lived
later than the traditional Arthurian period, he and his father were drawn into
the sagas around Arthur in which he is the son of Urien by his wife, Morgan Le
Fay, Arthur's sister. He was the hero of THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN and THE
DREAM OF RHONABWY, in the latter while Arthur and Owain were playing
Gwyddbwyll (a board game), Owain's ravens fought with Arthur's men and were
nearly defeated until Owain ordered his flag to be raised and they set on
their attackers with renewed vigour. As his mother, Modron (identical with
Morrigan) often assumes the shape of a raven and promises to aid Urien and his
family when they are in need in this shape, we can assume that the Ravens are
not warriors, but in fact otherworld women in the form of ravens. In later
medieval versions of this story, YVAIN by Chrétien we learn how Owain, hearing
of a wondrous spring in the Forest of Broceliande, went thither and defeated
the knight Esclados who defended it. He chased him home to his castle where he
died from his wound. As Owain was trying to enter the castle, he became
ensnared between the portcullises, but was rescued by Lunete, the sister of
Laudine the widow of the slain knight. Owain fell in love with Laudine, and
Lunete persuaded her to marry him. When Arthur and his followers arrived,
Owain went with him, but promised his wife that he would return in a year at
the latest. He did not keep an eye on the time, failed to honour his promise
and Laudine rejected him. He became a madman in the forest and it took a
certain ointment to cure him. He went to the aid of a lion fighting a serpent
and the lion became his companion - hence his nickname, the Knight of the
Lion. Welsh tradition made Owain the husband of Penarwan and Denw, the latter
being Arthur's niece. # 104 - 152 - 156 - 243 - 272 - 346 - 439 - 453 - 454 -
604 OWAIN THE BASTARD The half-brother of Owain, whom Urien begot on the wife of his senechal. He
was a sensible character and a Knight of the Round Table. He was killed in a
joust with Gawain who had not recognized him. # 156 -
434 OWEL Foster-son of Manannan and a Druid, father of Ainé. #
562 OWEN Son of Duracht; slays Naisi and other sons of Usna. #
562 OWEN GLYNDWR Despite his close links with the English monarchy, Owen Glyndwr rebelled
against Henry IV and started consolidating treaties with neighbouring barons
which might well have set up a separate Welsh state if he had succeeded. A
long drawn-out border-war swept the Marches of Wales and England. However,
having shown himself a capable commander and man of foresight, Owen found his
forces defeated, his family imprisoned and his hopes deferred. He remains one
of the greatest of Welsh heroes who attempted to draw together the shattered
links of British pride once more. He was credited with magical powers and,
like Arthur, his death was obscure so as to give foundation to myths of his
returning to aid the Cymru once again. # 454-735 OWENS OF ARAN Ailill derives from the sept of Owens of Aran. Maelduin goes to dwell with
Owens of Aran. # 562 OWL # 161: The owl is prominent in Celtic lore, being a sacred, magic bird; it
appears in early times as an owl-goddess and is depicted frequently in La Tène
figures, preceding the cult of Athene. It is chthonic, the 'night hag' and
'corpse bird', and is an attribute of Gwyan or Gwynn, God of the Underworld,
who ruled over the souls of warriors slain in battle. 454: It has long been considered to be a bird of ill-omen, especially if
sighted during the day. Blodeuwedd's transformation into an owl, effected by
Gwydion, is a punishment for having betrayed her husband, Llew; the
story-teller comments that this is why owls bear the unlikely name of
'flower-face', which is the meaning of Blodeuwedd's name. In Scottish Gaelic,
the owl is called 'cailleach', or the old woman, and shows it to a bird under
her protection. # 161 - 226 - 454 OWL OF CWM CAWLWYD One of the very old beasts who help Culhwch in his tasks in CULHWCH AND
OLWEN. # 562 OYSTER-CATCHER # 161: Among the Gaels this bird is an emblem of St. Bride, who carried one
in each hand. It bears the form of a cross on its plumage as it once covered
Christ with sea-weed when his enemies pursued him. # 454: It is called
Brid-eun, 'Bride's Bird' or Bigein-Bride, 'Bride's Boy', in Gaelic. # 161 -
225 - 454