An Chraobh Airgid
On an autumn afternoon the Hill of Tara, ringed by banks and palisades, holds two thatched halls, the Lia Fáil pillar and small figures, with golden plains beyond.

Mide · Meath

Teamhair

The Hill of Tara · Co. Meath

Say it: TYOW-ir /ˈtʲãuwəɾʲ/

Seat of the high kings, and of the stone that cried out.

Open it on the full site There it is marked on the map of the five fifths, where the road of a tale can be traced.

The Lia Fáil, brought from the city of Falias, roared under every rightful king. In the tales Tara is the seat of kings, of Cormac mac Airt above all. Every Samhain for twenty-three years Aillén of the sídhe played its people to sleep and burned it, until the young Fionn stayed awake. In Irish the Hill of Tara is Cnoc na Teamhrach.

In the tales

  • The Fate of the Children of Tuireann Three brothers stone Lugh’s father to death. His price sounds small: three apples, a pigskin, a spear, a hound’s whelp, and three shouts on a hill.
  • The Coming of the Tuatha Dé Danann They burned their ships on the shore, and for three days a druid’s mist hid them. Then they sent word to the people who held Ireland: half the land, or a battle.
  • The Second Battle of Mag Tuired A beautiful king who gives nothing, a stranger with every art, an eye no army can face, and a harp that plays sorrow, laughter and sleep.
  • The Song of Amairgen A poet sets his right foot on Ireland and sings that he is the wind on the sea. Three queens of the old gods meet him, and each asks for the island’s name.
  • 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.
  • The Boyhood Deeds of Cú Chulainn A small boy walks alone to Emain Macha, kills a smith’s hound and takes its place, and on a day of prophecy chooses fame over a long life.
  • The Colloquy of the Ancients The last two of the Fianna part in tears. One goes into a hill to his mother; the other finds Patrick blessing Fionn’s old fort, and tells him the story of every hill.
  • The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne Promised to the ageing Fionn, Gráinne puts the feast to sleep and lays a geis on Diarmuid to take her away. Fionn hunts them for sixteen years.
  • Fionn and the Burning of Tara For twenty-three years a man of the sídhe has played Tara to sleep at Samhain and burned it. Then a boy of ten, an outlaw, offers to keep it till morning.
  • Cormac and the Silver Branch A grey-haired stranger brings Cormac a silver branch whose music puts every sorrow to sleep. The price: his daughter, his son and his wife.
  • The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel A king bound by geasa breaks them one by one on the road, and knows exactly what it means.
  • Niall and the Hag at the Well Five brothers go looking for water. Only Niall comes back with it. The hag who guards the well is Sovereignty.

See also

  • Ailill Ánguba Eochaid Airem’s brother, sick with love for Étaín.
  • Aillén mac Midgna The musician of the sídhe who burned Tara every Samhain, until the boy Fionn stayed awake.
  • Amairgen The poet of the sons of Míl.
  • Cairenn Niall’s mother, made to draw the water of Tara.
  • Conaire Mór King of Tara, begotten by a man who came as a bird, whose golden reign ended at Da Derga’s Hostel.
  • Conn of the Hundred Battles King of Ireland, whose son Connla went away in a boat of crystal.
  • Cormac mac Airt The wise king of Tara.
  • Eochaid Airem King of Tara, husband of Étaín: the Ploughman.
  • Eochaid mac Eirc The king of the Fir Bolg when the Tuatha Dé Danann came, who dreamed of black birds.
  • Fionn mac Cumhaill Leader of the Fianna: poet, hunter and seer. In later folklore, a giant.
  • Gráinne Cormac’s daughter, who would not marry a man older than her father.
  • Inbhear Scéine The Kenmare River. The long sea inlet where Amairgen set his right foot on Ireland.
  • Lugh The god of many skills.
  • Mess Buachalla The cowherds’ foster-child: cast out as a baby, and mother of Conaire Mór.
  • Midir Lord of the síd of Brí Léith, who came back for the wife he had lost.
  • Mongfind Eochaid’s queen, who hated Niall and set his mother to draw the water of Tara.
  • Némglan King of the birds of Conaire’s father, who sent Conaire naked to Tara.
  • Niall of the Nine Hostages King of Tara, from whom the Uí Néill took their name and their claim to the kingship.
  • Nuada of the Silver Hand King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who lost a hand in battle and was given one of silver.
  • Ogma Champion of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and brother of the Dagda.
  • Samhain The start of winter. The night the mounds stand open.
  • The sons of Míl The last invaders in the Book of Invasions: the Gaels.
  • The sons of Tuireann Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba, who killed Lugh’s father and paid for it.
  • The Stone of Fál The stone at Tara that cried out under a true king.
  • Torna The poet who found the newborn Niall on the green of Tara and fostered him.

Sources

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