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all the adventures Brían plays a leading role. But in fulfilling the tasks, the brothers, returning to Ireland, meet their doom.
[W] He stands guard over the sleeping Myrddin on Bardsey Island.
[I] Known as Bricriu Nemthenga—of the Poisoned Tongue, he was an Ulster champion known for his bitter tongue and desire to cause trouble. In many ways he is the Irish equivalent of the Welsh Efnisien. He caused strife between Cúchulainn and the other Red Branch warriors. In the famous tale “Fled Bricriu,” eight warriors had to guard him from his angry companions. He is also the creator of trouble in the “Tale of Mac Da Thó’s Boar.” However, when he is asked to judge the contest between the Brown Bull of Cuailgne and the White Horned Bull of Connacht on the Plain of Aeí, he is trampled to death by the fighting bulls.
“The High One,” tutelary goddess of the Brigantes of Britain and cognate with the goddess Brigid, regarded as one of the principal Celtic goddesses. Her name also survives in the river and place-name Brent in England and in the Braint in Ynys Mon in Wales. She might be the source of Caesar’s Celtic “Minerva,” and she may well have been the model for Britannia.
[I] A triune goddess who appears as a goddess of healing, a goddess of smiths, and, more popularly, a goddess of fertility and poetry. Seemingly cognate with Brigantia in Britain, she is the daughter of the Dagda. For a while she was the wife of Bres, the half Fomorii ruler of the Dé Danaan. She had three sons by Tuireann. In many tales she appears to be the counterpart of Dana, mother of the gods. The festival of Imbolg (February 1) was sacred to her as this was the fertility festival, marking the coming into milk of the ewes.
A Christian saint, known as “Mary of the Gaels,” not only takes Brigid’s name but many of her traditions. St. Brigid was born in Faughart in a.d. 450 and died in Kildare in a.d. 523. As an Irish saint she is second only to St. Patrick. Numerous written accounts of her life began to circulate and her cult became widespread after her death, doubtless helped by the confusing of the tradition of the goddess with her. Many ceremonies and stories associated with the goddess were ascribed to the Christian saint; not the least is the fact that February 1 is now her feast day. R. A. S. Mac Alistair put
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