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survived through the good will of a god. The story of Noah, the most famous of these tales, is predated by the Babylonian tale of Utnapishtim, told in the epic of Gilgamesh. In Hindu mythology, Vishnu appears to Manu, the first man, and warns him of the coming flood. In Greek myth, the story of Deucalion, son of Prometheus, parallels that of Noah, with Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, being saved to repopulate the world. In Irish myth we also find a story of a deluge. It has been argued that Christian missionaries were responsible for introducing the story into Irish tradition. Certainly they embellished the story, but it is arguable whether we have simply another parallel flood tale. The Irish story does have some unique qualities in that it lists four survivors outside of the Hebrew Ark who escape the flood. Most notable is Fintan, who turns himself into a salmon to escape destruction.
[I] Daughter of a king of Lochlann. She is given to the Fomorii in lieu of tribute, but Cúchulainn rescues her and she falls in love with him. She follows him adoringly in the shape of a swan. Cúchulainn is out hunting with a companion, Laoghaire, when swans fly overhead. Laoghaire casts a slingshot that brings down Derbhorgill. Cúchulainn sucks the stone out of the wound and heals her, but now united by blood, he and Derbhorgill cannot wed. Cúchulainn gives her to Laoghaire to wed.
[I] Sometimes given as the decies. A clan of Bregia in the province of Mide. The clan features in the tale “The Expulsion of the Dési,” which is stylistically dated to the third century by Professor Kuno Meyer. For disfiguring Cormac Mac Art, Aonghus of the Terrible Spear and his tribe, the Dési, are expelled from their lands. Some settle in Munster, the rest are pursued from Ireland and, after a voyage of many adventures, settle in Dyfed in Wales. The Dési settlement is a historical one. There is an Ogham inscription, surviving in the Carmarthen Museum, dated to the sixth century a.d. It is to Voteocorigas, a Dési ruler, who is believed to be the Voterporius whom Gildas attacks as a tyrant.
[I] The god of medicine. After Nuada lost his hand at the first battle of Magh Tuireadh, Dian Cécht supplied him with a silver hand. Miach, Dian Cécht’s son, proved a better physician by eventually supplying Nuada with a flesh and blood hand. Miach actually did an eye transplant, replacing a human eye with that of a cat. In
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