An Chraobh Airgid

Person

Torna

Torna Éigeas · Middle Irish Torna Éices

The poet who found the newborn Niall on the green of Tara and fostered him.

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He came across the green of Tara and saw the child lying alone with the birds attacking him, and when he took him up, all that was to come was shown to him. He welcomed the child as Niall of the Nine Hostages and foretold his reign, and fostered him until he was fit to be king. When Mongfind’s sons quarrelled to draw Niall in and kill him, Torna held him back: let the sons of Mongfind be at peace, he said, and that became a proverb. The Irish calls him Torna éices, which Whitley Stokes translated “Torna the Poet”.

Kin and bonds

In the tales

See also

  • Cairenn Niall’s mother, made to draw the water of Tara.
  • Mongfind Eochaid’s queen, who hated Niall and set his mother to draw the water of Tara.
  • Teamhair The Hill of Tara. Seat of the high kings, and of the stone that cried out.

Sources

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

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