Person
Sithchenn
Sithchenn
Druid, prophet and smith of Tara, who judged the sons of Eochaid by fire.
When Eochaid would not say which son should have his heritage, he left it to Sithchenn, “a wise man and a wondrous prophet” (Whitley Stokes, 1903). Sithchenn set fire to his forge with the sons inside and read them by what each one saved: Niall the anvil, Brian the sledgehammers, Fiachra the ale and the bellows, Ailill the chest of weapons, Fergus a bundle of withered wood. He made the sons their arms and put the finest into Niall’s hand, and at the end he told the brothers that the seniority they had given Niall for water was given for good.
In the tales
See also
Sources
Medieval manuscript. Written down by Irish scholars between the eighth and seventeenth centuries.
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