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jealousy, Dian Cécht slew his son. Among the Brehon law tracts is one called “The Judgments of Dian Cécht,” relating to the practise of medicine, which Professor Binchey dates as early as the sixth century a.d. [Eriu, Vol. XX].
[I] There are three notable Diarmuids in Irish myth: a king whose wife, Bec Fola, visits the Otherworld; a son of Fergus Cearbaill who is cursed by St. Ronán; and, lastly, most famous of all, is Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (Of the Love Spot), the most handsome warrior of the Fianna. Gráinne, who is about to wed Fionn Mac Cumhail, persuades Diarmuid to elope with her and thus begins the most famous chase, “The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne,” which lasts sixteen years. While Diarmuid is not exactly in love with Gráinne at the start, he does grow to love this capricious woman of the myths. When the love god Aonghus Óg and the High King eventually persuade Fionn Mac Cumhail to make his peace with them, Fionn still nurses a grudge.
Out hunting on Ben Bulben, Diarmuid meets his fate in the form of a magic boar. This is the child of Roc, Aonghus Óg’s steward, by Diarmuid’s own mother. Diarmuid’s father, Donn, learning of his wife’s affair with Roc and discovering the child, kills it. Roc, however, transforms the dead child into a great boar and orders it to bring about the death of Donn’s son, Diarmuid. The boar now fulfils its destiny by goring Diarmuid. Mortally wounded, only Fionn can save him. But he does not and Diarmuid dies.
Diarmuid’s grandfather, the love god Aonghus Óg, takes the body to Bruigh na Boinne and each day he sends a soul into the body so that he might talk with Diarmuid. But this “resurrection” is only for a few moments each day.
Fionn eventually succeeds in his ambition to marry Gráinne.
[W] A hill fort at Bedgelert associated with Vortigern, according to Nennius. The fort is named after Emrys (Ambrosius), who overthrew Vortigern. Certainly, although mainly constructed in the pre-Roman period, defences were built here in the fifth and sixth centuries a.d. It is now dominated by a twelfth century tower.
[I] “The lore of prominent places.” A comprehensive topography of Ireland and a guide to geographical mythology. It is contained in the twelfth century Book of Leinster.
[W] The land over which Lleu and Blodeuwedd ruled.
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