Celtic · Old and Middle Irish · c. 1100, from older material
Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)
Anonymous; Recension I, Book of the Dun Cow and the Yellow Book of Lecan
The long Ulster epic, and the text in which the Morrígan behaves like a goddess rather than being listed as one: she propositions Cú Chulainn, is refused, and attacks him in the shape of an eel, a wolf and a heifer in turn. A figure the genealogies give a name and a parentage is here a personality with a grudge, which is the difference between a catalogue entry and evidence.
Read Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) in full at the linked edition →What this text attests · 1
| Name here | Rank given | # | Powers described |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | The full personality: she offers herself to Cú Chulainn, is turned down, and attacks him as an eel round his legs, a wolf at the cattle and a heifer leading the stampede, taking a wound in each shape. She then appears as an old woman milking a cow and is healed by his blessings, given unwittingly. Refusal, revenge and a reconciliation obtained by trickery, all in one figure. |
