An Chraobh Airgid

God or goddess

Midir

Midhir · Old Irish Midir

Lord of the síd of Brí Léith, who came back for the wife he had lost.

Open it on the full site There every name opens, and a web shows who is kin to whom.

One of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and foster-father of Aengus. He lost Étaín to the jealousy of his other wife, Fuamnach, and found her again as queen of Tara. He cured her husband’s brother of love, lost to the king at fidchell when he could have won, laid a causeway over a bog by night, and won the right to hold her once in his arms. He left through the roof with her, and they were seen as two swans over Tara.

Kin and bonds

In the tales

  • The Wooing of Étaín A fly on the wind drops into a golden cup and is born again, remembering nothing. A thousand years on, her first husband comes to Tara to play for a kiss.

See also

  • Ailill Ánguba Eochaid Airem’s brother, sick with love for Étaín.
  • Brí Léith Ardagh Hill (Slieve Golry). Midir’s síd, which Eochaid Airem dug open to win back his queen.
  • Teamhair The Hill of Tara. Seat of the high kings, and of the stone that cried out.
  • Tuatha Dé Danann The old gods of Ireland.

Sources

Medieval manuscript. Written down by Irish scholars between the eighth and seventeenth centuries.

Each tale above lists the sources it is retold from. Every source the site draws on is listed on the full site.