An Chraobh Airgid

Person

Mochaomhóg

Mochaomhóg

The holy man whose bell ended the swans’ enchantment.

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

His name is a pet form of Caomh, “gentle”. He sheltered the swans on Inis Gluaire, linked them with two silver chains, and baptised them when their feathers fell. Joyce’s English calls him Kemoc. Local lore on the island names the saint as Brendan.

Kin and bonds

In the tales

  • The Children of Lir A jealous stepmother, a druid’s wand, and four children who must live nine hundred years as swans.

See also

  • Inis Gluaire Inishglora, off Erris. The western edge, where the swans’ enchantment ended.

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.