Name
Cían means "enduring one"; ''cían'' signifying "long, enduring, far, distant". Scal BalbGenealogy
In the saga '' Cath Maige Tuired'', Cían's union with Ethniu is a dynastic marriage following an alliance between theDeath and revenge
Cían's demise, and the consequent revenge by his son, Lugh, forcing on the perpetrators the impossible quest for treasures is told in '' idheadh Chloinne Tuireann'' (ACT or OCT, "The Fate of the Children of Tuireann"), the full romance of which only survives in late manuscripts (16th century), though synopses of the tale survive in medieval redactions of the '' LGE''. In the story, Cían was killed by the sons of Tuireann —Brian,Marriage
There may have been a fuller account of Cían's bridal quest in medieval tradition, but they have only survived in orally transmitted folktales. The folktale concerns the magical cowCian's names in folklore
The name of the hero should be Cian mac Cáinte in proper Irish, but is phonetically transcribed as Kian mac Kontje in the tale "The Gloss Gavlen", collected by Larminie. The hero's name corrupted to Mac Cinnfhaelaidh (Mac Kineely, MacKineely or MacKenealy) in a different version of the tale printed in footnote bySynopsis of O'Donovan's version
The synopsis of the cow tale as printed by O'Donovan is as follows; the tale has also been retold byIn a place called Druim na Teine or "Fiery Ridge" (Drumnatinny,Co. Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconnel ...) where a forge was kept, there lived three brothers, Gavida, Mac Samthainn and Mac Cinnfhaelaidh. Across the sea onTory Island Tory Island, or simply Tory (officially known by its Irish name ''Toraigh''),Toraigh/Tory Island
Balor In Irish mythology, Balor or Balar was a leader of the Fomorians, a group of malevolent supernatural beings. He is often described as a giant with a large eye that wreaks destruction when opened. Balor takes part in the Battle of Mag Tuired, a ..., with one eye in the middle of the forehead, and another eye with a basilisk-like power in the back of his head. Balor learns from a druid's prophecy that he will be killed by his own grandson. To prevent this he imprisons his only daughter Ethnea in the tower which stands on a tall rock formation called the Tor Mór, or "Great Tower". Mac Kineely (=Cian) owns a prolific milch-cow called "Glos Gavlin" (''recté'' ga, Glas Gaibhnenn), which is coveted by everyone including Balor. While the cow is in the care of Mac Kineely's brother Mac Samthainn, Balor appears in the form of a little red-haired boy and tricks him into handing him the cow. Mac Kineely=Cian wishes to reclaim the cow, but is advised that he can only succeed when Balor is dead. Cian then consults Biroge (Biróg Biróg (Biroge of the Mountain, Birog), in Irish folklore is the ''leanan sídhe'' or the female familiar spirit of Cian who aids him in the folktale about his wooing of Balor's daughter Eithne. She is reinvented as a druidess in Lady Gregory an ...) of the Mountain, who is his ''leanan sídhe The ' (; gd, leannan sìth, gv, lhiannan shee; ) is a figure from Irish Folklore. She is depicted as a beautiful woman of the ''Aos Sí'' ("people of the barrows") who takes a human lover. Lovers of the ''leannán sídhe'' are said to live brie ...'' orfamiliar spirit In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars (sometimes referred to as familiar spirits) were believed to be supernatural entities that would assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. According to re ...and a banshee and she transports him by magic to the top of Balor's tower, where he seduces Ehnea. In time, Ethnea gives birth to triplets, which Balor gathers up in a sheet and sends out to be drowned in a whirlpool. The messenger drowns two of the babies but unwittingly drops one child (unnamed in the original telling, but Lugh in Lady Gregory's version) into the harbour, where he is rescued by Biróg. She takes the baby to his father, who gives him to his brother, Gavida the smith, in fosterage. As noted, Cían's offspring is not explicitly called "Lugh" in O'Donovan's version of the cow folktale, but the boy is called "Dul Dauna" in Larminie's collected folktale. The name Dul Dauna taken at face value is glossed as "the blind stubborn" (< ') by Larminie and "black surly one" (< '?) by Westropp, but is also thought to be a corruption of Lugh's byname ''Ildanach'' "master of all knowledge". However, the boy is called by something close to the god's name, namely Lui Lavada (Lui Longhand) in two tales collected by Curtin.
Synopsis of Bentley's version
The synopsis of the tale as printed by Richard Bentley is as follows:Ballar is a Danish giant and the most ancient king of Torry Island. He possesses a third eye in the back of his head that is concealed with a curatin. Ballar possesses one beautiful daughter, and a prophecy is made that unless he is killed by his daughter's son, he will live forever. He finds Torry Island and deems it suitably removed, and there he builds a castle for himself and a prison for his daughter, which is guarded by twelve virgins. Ballar's nearest neighbors are Gabshegonal and Kien Mac Caunthca. Gabshegonal possesses a famous white heifer ''Glassdhablecana'' that "is a dairy unto herself," while Kien Mac Caunthca has two sons. Ballar demands tributes from his vassals on the mainland, including Glassdhablecana, but Gabshegonal refuses to give her over. Therefore Ballar intends to obtain her "by fraud what force could not effect," and sends his servants Mool and Mullock to retrieve her. Gabshegonal, discerning Ballar's intentions, calls the sons of Kien to watch over his cow in exchange for swords that he will make for them. When it is the turn of the younger of Kien's sons to watch the cow, he is negligent in his duties, and Mool and Mullock soon kidnap Glassdhablecana. Enraged, the smith holds Kien's oldest son hostage and threatens to behead him if the younger does not return Glassdhablecana. Kien's younger son runs off in despair and meets a red-bearded dwarf, who offers to help. They climb a nearby mountain, and the boy stands on the dwarf's hand and is carried invisibly on the wind to Ballar's castle. There, the young Mac Caunthca meets the princess and spends a night with her. The next morning, the red dwarf returns the boy to the mainland. Nine months later the red dwarf takes Kien's younger son back to Ballar's castle, where he finds he is the father of 13 children - one son by the princess and one by each of the virgin guards. The new father gathers the children into sheets and carries them into a currach, which he sails toward the mainland. Along the way, a storm arises, and all but his son by the princess are lost at sea. When father and son return to shore, the red dwarf offers to raise the babe for the first seven years as his fosterling, then return to his father for the next seven, and again raise the boy for his final seven years. Kien's son agrees. When the boy grows to manhood, he meets his grandfather Ballar at a wedding feast; there he insults Ballar and divulges their relationship. Thereupon Ballar pursues his grandson, and the boy pierces Ballar through the eye with hot steel from Gabshegonal's forge. Finally, the story ends with the happy marriage of the princess and Kien's young son and the release of Kien's older son from the hostage of Gabshegonal.The people of Torry Island believe themselves to be descendants of the Danish princess and her son who slew Ballar.
Cian's death by Balor
In Donovan's version, Mac Kineely=Cian does not succeed in regaining the magic cow in his lifetime (or rather, he himself is killed before the destruction of Balor, which was the prophesied prerequisite for the regaining of the cow). It is told that Mac Kineely's head was struck off by Balor, and a piece of white stone was permanently tainted with the blood, running in the form of red veins. The supposed veined marble was propped on a pillar and became a local monument known as "Clogh-an-Neely" (reconstructed ga, cloch Chinnfhaolaidh).
Welsh counterpart
Some scholars argue that the Welsh deityGwydion Gwydion fab Dôn () is a magician, hero and trickster of Welsh mythology, appearing most prominently in the Fourth Branch of the ''Mabinogi'', which focuses largely on his relationship with his young nephew, Lleu Llaw Gyffes. He also appears ...is the counterpart to Cian/Cían. The story of the birth of Lleu Llaw Gyffes, the Welsh incarnation of Lugh, occurs in the Mabinogi tale of '' Math fab Mathonwy (branch)''. Although the tale does not explicitly identify Lleu's father, it has been asserted that Lleu was Gwydion's "incestuously begotten son", thus making Gwydion the Welsh equivalent of Cian/Cían. The emphasis of study is the parallel between Gwydion and Cian=MacKineely of Irish folktale (rather than Cian of the mythological tracts or ''OCT'') in the case of Welsh scholarJohn Rhys John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...has pursued. One parallel is that the newborn are unwanted by their forebears and condemned to die, but survive.. Rhys does not state this directly as a parallel between the Mabinogi tale ''Math'' (pp. 307–308) and the Irish folktales of the Cow (p. 317), because he introduces additional tales that he deems to be cognate or related, namely the legends surrounding Cairbre Músc (pp. 308–309) andCairbre Cinnchait Cairbre Cinnchait or Caitchenn ("cat-head" or "hard head") was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. There is considerable differences in the sources over his ancestry and his place in the traditio ...(p. 310). The explicit comparison (p. 317) is between "Lug" (son of CianMackineely) and Moran, son of Cairbre Cinnchait. And the paralleling theme is recognizable as the ubiquitous one of "King and His Prophesied Death" according to other scholars. And certainly the prophecy of death by the hand of one's child or grandchild occurs in the Cian-Balor folktale as well as the Greek stories ofPerseus In Greek mythology, Perseus (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus ...andOedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' ( grc, Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. Originally, to the ancient Gr ....
Explanatory notes
References
;Citations ;Bibliography * * * * * * * * * ¶304–¶377 pp. 106–211; Verses LIII–LXVI pp. 212–291; Notes pp. 292– * * * * {{Irish mythology (mythological) Mythological cycle Irish gods Irish-language masculine given names