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[I] Sometimes Oes. People or folk. Áes sidhe, “the people of the hills,” or áes dana, a learned class that included poets, judges, doctors of medicine, metalworkers, and woodworkers.
[W] One of two hunting dogs in the saga of Culhwch and Olwen that can only be held by Cyledyr. The other is Aned.
[W] “Utter darkness.” The most ill-favoured man in the world. Son of Tegid Foel of Penllyn and Ceridwen. To compensate for his ill looks his mother boils a cauldron of inspiration and science so that her son will become learned and know the mysteries of the world. The kettle has to be boiled for a year and a day. Ceridwen puts Gwion Bach in charge of stirring it while Morda, a blind man, is to supply the firewood. Things go wrong and Afagddu is denied this gift. See Gwion Bach. Afagddu has a brother, Morfan, who is a warrior with Arthur and who is so ugly that when he fought at the battle of Camluan no man would engage in combat with him, fearing he was a devil.
[W] See Avalon.
[I] Fleadh Áise. One of the annual festivals of the Tuatha Dé Danaan held at each of their palaces in rotation.
[I] Father of Nemed who led his people from Scythia to Ireland but who had to fight with the Fomorii.
British goddess of slaughter, found in the river named Aeron (Wales), cognate with the Mórrígán. There is a “Washer at the Ford” legend surviving here that tends to confirm the idea that the two goddesses of death and battle may be cognate.
[I] Sometimes given as Aoi Mac Ollamain. The poet of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. When his mother was pregnant the house was rocked by a great wind and a druid foretold that he would have wonderful powers. The king ordered the child to be slain but his father, Olloman, saved him and he fulfilled the prophecy.
[I] Sometimes Aiobhell. She ruled a sídhe in north Munster but little is known of her before she was relegated in popular folklore to the status of a “fairy.” She became the guardian spirit of the Dál gCais, the Dalcassians or Ó Bríen clan. Her dwelling was at Craig Liath, the grey rock, near Killaloe. Her name means “beautiful.” She possessed a magic harp, but those who heard its music did not live long afterwards.
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