Sources for The Mermaid Saint (below)

From medieval manuscripts to 19th century retellings.

I have found this story in four books, two of which are translations of medieval Irish manuscripts and the other two are 19th century retellings. (All of them are in the public domain.)

In addition to these sources, I colored my version with elements from other stories of the genre: tragic deaths unintentionally accomplished by the lovers themselves, travels to surreal islands, and a supernatural precognition of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.

Annals of the Four Masters

A chronicle of Irish history, spanning from 1519 B.C. to 1616 A.D., though the first entry was probably written in 550 A.D. It was actually a compilation of chronicles from different sources, collected in 1632-1636 and written in Irish by Franciscan monks. (link to Wikipedia) The annals contains a very short entry about the event.

M558.2 (second entry for the year 558 A.D.)

In this year was taken the Mermaid, i.e. Liban, the daughter of Eochaidh, son of Muireadh, on the strand of Ollarbha, in the net of Beoan, son of Inli, the fisherman of Comhgall of Beannchair.

Book of the Dun Cow

A collection of historical stories and legends written on the hide of a dun (a type of cow) in Irish. The oldest surviving copy dates from the 12th century. (link to Wikipedia) It meanders like old texts often do, as though they were written off the top of the author’s head, with no consideration for the flow of the story.

A good king that ruled over Munster: Mairid son of Cairid. He had two sons: Eochaid and Ribh. Guaire’s daughter Eibhliu, from the brugh of the mac óg, ’tis she was wife to Mairid. Upon his son, on Eochaid, she pitched her fancy (now from this Eibhliu it is that slaibh Eibhlinne or “Eibhliu’s mountain” is named). For a long time she solicited the young man, and at last pressed him hard that privily he should fly with her. Ribh told his brother that rather than disgrace himself he ought to carry off the woman, and that he would himself quit the country with him.

With Eibhliu therefore Eochaid eloped, and Ribh went with them. Ten hundred was their complement of men, and the manner of their travel was with bringing of flocks and herds. Their soothsayers told them that not in the one place it was fated for them to effect a landed settlement, and they parted accordingly at bealach dá liag or “the way of two flagstones.”

Ribh went westwards to “the country of Midir’s game with the mac óg, “otherwise magh finn” or “the white plain.” Here Midir, who previously had killed their horses, came to them leading by the halter one that bore a pack-saddle. On him they loaded all their stuff, and he conveyed it to Airbthiu’s plain: the place where loch Ree is to-day. At this point the garran lay down with them, then stood up again, and in that spot burst forth a spring which in the event overwhelmed and drowned them all: the same is lock Rí or “loch Ree.”

Eochaid on the other hand went on till he reached the brugh of the mac óg. A tall man came to them and would have turned them out of the country, but they went not for him. That night the man killed all their horses. On the morrow he returned to them and said: “unless ye quit the land on which ye stand, to­night I will slay all your people.” Eochaid answered: “great mis­chief hast thou wrought us already, to have killed all our horses; without which we could not, even though we desired it, depart.” Angus [or the mac óg, for he it was] gave them a great horse, and on him they clap all their gear; he enjoined them moreover not to unload the horse [on the way], nor [at any time] to let him make a halt, lest where he stood there happened that which should be to them an occasion of their death. Upon a Sunday then in “mid-harvest month,” or September, they set out and so to liathmuine or “grey bramble-bush” in Ulidia, where the whole of them gather to the horse and with one motion relieve him of all their impedimenta, but never a one of them turned his head back along the way by which they were come. The animal stood with them therefore, and here too there was a spring well. Over this Eochaid had a house made, with a flap to cover the well and a woman to tend it continually; and against Muiredach son of Fiacha he in the sequel made good his claim to the half- rule of Ulidia.

But once on a time that the woman had not shut down the well, linn muine or “the bramble-bush water” rose and covered liathmuine above; there Eochaid was drowned with his children, all but Liban and Conaing, and Curnan the half-wit from whom are the dál mBuain and the dál Saline, which latter indeed ever and anon had foretold to them how that the loch would overrun them, saying:

Come ye, come ye, grasp edged tools and hew you vessels out: with a grey flood linn muine shall whelm liathrnuine; in the broad water Aire and Conaing shall be drowned; swim east and west and up and down through every sea!

And this was true for him; for by the space of three hundred years Liban ranged the sea, with her lap-dog in form of an otter close after her whichever way she went and never parting from her at all. Herself it was that to Beoan son of Innle when he caught her in his nets told all her fortunes, on which occasion she chanted these words which follow:

Beneath loch nEchach I have my dwelling now: high above me is the once solid surface which troops of horses trod; under ships’ rounded hulls is my appointed place; the wave it is my roof, the shore my wall…

This then was what most contributed to disperse the Ulidians throughout Ireland: the eruption of lock nEchach or “loch Neagh” namely. After her baptism another name was conferred on Liban: muirghein or “sea-birth,” that is to say [a compound meaning] gem mara or “birth of the sea.” As for one half of her ’tis a salmon it was, the other being human; and for her it was that the sennachie sang these quatrains:

A sea-birth that is a birth fraught with special virtues the daughter of haughty Eochaidh is…

Liban and Airiu were Eochaidh Finn’s two daughters; Airiu wife of Curnan was drowned there, and he died of grief for her: hence carn Curndin or “Curnan’s cairn” has its name, and that is “the invention of Curnan.”

Now for a full year Liban had been in her bower beneath the loch and her lap-dog with her there, God preserving her the while from the waters of loch Neagh, when she said one day: “O Lord, happy the one that should be in the salmon’s shape, scouring the sea and swimming even as they do!” Then she was turned into salmon’s form, and her lap-dog into an otter’s, so that whatever the course she took, and into what airt soever, he was immediately in her wake under the waters and the seas. In which wise she continued from the time of Mairid’s son Eochaid to that of Comgall of Bennackar or “Bangor.”

From tigh Dabheoc the same Comgall despatched Beoan mac Innle to have speech of Gregory and to bring back canonical order and rule. As Beoan’s people therefore navigated the sea, from under the currach they heard a chant as of angels and Beoan qnestioned, “whence this song?”

“It is I that make it,” answered Liban.

“Who art thou?” Beoan pursued.

“Liban daughter of Mairid’s son Eochaid am I.”

“And what causes thee to be in this fashion?”

She said, “for now three hundred years I am beneath the sea, and the purpose for which I am come is to tell thee that I will go westwards to meet thee at innbher Oiorba. On this very day twelvemonth then, and forsake of the saints of Dalaradia, be my tryst kept by you; all which tell thou to Comgall and to the other saints as well.”

“That will I not unless its price be paid me,” said Beoan.

“What is the price thou askest?”

“That I have thee buried in mine own monastery.”

“Verily thou shalt have that,” she replied.

Beoan subsequently returned from the eastward, and to Comgall with the rest of the clergy told all the story of the muirgheilt or mermaid.

Thus the year ran out; [at the place appointed on the coast] the nets were made ready, and she was taken in that of Fergus from Meelick. She was brought to land, her form and her whole description being wonderful. Numbers came to view her and she in a vessel with water round about her.

Like every one else the chief of the úi Chonaing was there, and he wore a crimson mantle. This she eyed persistently, and the warrior as it were enquired of her, saying, “if it be that thy mind is bent on the mantle it shall be thine.”

“Nay,” she answered, “by no means is it to that end I observe it, but because on the day in which he was drowned it was a crimson mantle that Eochaid wore. Nevertheless,” she added, “in guerdon of this thine offer to me good luck be upon thee and on ‘the man of thy place’ [i.e. thy successor]; neither in any convention where he shall find himself be it ever needful to ask which is thy repre­sentative.”

There came up a great swart larech, uncouth of aspect, and killed her lap-dog. To him and to his ribe she bequeathed that never should they triumph over any but ignoblest foes nor, till such time as they should fast at her shrine, avail to take vengeance for ills done to them. Hereupon the óglaech made genuflexion to her.

Now arose a contest for her possession: Comgall saying that, since it was in his country she was caught, she was his; Fergus maintaining that, since it was into his net she had chanced, she must be his; while Beoan again affirmed her to be his property, for that so she herself had promised to him. Accordingly those saints fasted all, in order that concerning this their dispute God should deliver judgment as between them.

To a certain man there an angel said, “from ‘cam Airenn’ or ‘Airiu’s cairn’ will come two stags; upon these yoke ye the chariot [in which she is], and whatever be the direction in which they carry her let them be.”

On the morrow the deer came as the angel had proclaimed, and bore her away to tech Dabheoc. Then the clergy gave her her choice: whether to be baptised and then and there presently go to Heaven; or to be continued in life for the same length of time again [300 years], and so to go to Heaven after life prolonged beyond many ages. The election she made was to depart then. Comgall baptised her, and the name that he conferred on her was Muirghein or “sea-birth,” as before; or perhaps Muirgheilt, i.e. “sea-prodigy,” that is to say, “geilt in mhara” or “the prodigy of the sea.” Fuinche too was another name for her.

In that place wonders and miracles are wrought through her, and there she (after the manner of every other sainted virgin) enjoys honour and reverence even as God hath bestowed them on her in Heaven.

Old Celtic Romances,

by P.W. Joyce

This book, published in 1879, is a collection of legends translated into English with the intention of proving that Irish mythology is as fascinating and epic in scope as Greek mythology. The language is therefore intentionally grand and stiff. The chapter called, “The overflowing of Lough Neagh, and the Story of Liban the Mermaid,” is a smoother version of the Dun cow story above.

In the days of old a good king ruled over Mumha, whose name was Marid Mac Carido. He had two sons, Ecca and Rib. Ecca was restless and unruly, and in many ways displeased the king; and he told his brother Rib that he had made up his mind to leave his home, and win lands for himself in some far off part of the country. Rib tried hard to dissuade him; but though this delayed his departure for a while, he was none the less bent on going.

At last, Ecca, being wrought upon by his stepmother Ebliu (from whom Slieve Eblinne (Slieve Eblinne, now Slieve Eelim or Slieve Phelim, in Tipperary, sometimes called the Twelve Hills of Evlinn. “Eblinne” is the genitive of “Ebliu.”) was afterwards named), did a grievous wrong to his father, and fled from Mumha with all his people; and his brother Rib and his stepmother Ebliu went with him. Ten hundred men they were in all, besides women and children; and they turned their faces toward the north.

After they had traveled for some time, their druids told them that it was not fated for them to settle in the same place; and accordingly, when they had come to the Pass of the two Pillar Stones, they parted.

Rib and his people turned to the west, and they journeyed till they came to the plain of Arbthenn. And there the water of a fountain burst forth over the land, and drowned them all; and a great lake was formed, which to this day is called the Lake of Rib (Now Lough Ree, on the Shannon.)

Ecca continued his journey northwards; and he and his people fared slowly on till they came near to Brugh of the Boyne, the palace of Mac Indoc, where they were fain to rest. No sooner had they halted, than a tall man came forth from the palace, namely, Angus Mac Indoc of the Brugh, son of the Dagda, and commanded them to leave the place without delay. But they, being spent with the toil of travel, heeded not his words, and, pitching their tents, they rested on the plain before the palace. Whereupon, Angus being wroth that his commands were unheeded, killed all their horses that night.

Next day, he came forth again, and he said to the, “Your horses I slew last night; and now, unless ye depart from this place, I will slay your people to-night.”

And Ecca said to him, “Much evil hast thou done to us already, for thou hast killed all our horses. And now we cannot go, even though we desire it, for without horses we cannot travel.”

Then Angus brought to them a very large horse in full harness, and they put all their goods on him. And when they were about to go, he said to them—

Beware that ye keep this great steed walking continually; not even a moment’s rest shall ye give him, otherwise he will certainly be the cause of your death.

After this they set out again, one Sunday in the mid-month of autumn, and traveled on till they reached the Plain of the Grey Copse (The Plain of the Grey Copse, according to the legend, was the name of the plain now covered by Lough Neagh.), where they intended to abide. They gathered then round the great steed to take their baggage off him, and each was busy seeing after his own property, so that they forgot to keep the horse moving. And the moment he stood still, a magic well sprang up beneath his feet.

Now Ecca, when he saw the well spring up, was troubled, remembering Angus’s warning. And he caused a house to be built round it, and near it he built his palace, for the better security. And he chose a woman to take care of the well, charging her strictly to keep the door locked, except when the people of the palace came for water.

After that the King of Ulaidh (i.e. Ulster.), that is to say, Muridach, the son of Fiaca Findamnas (who was grandson of Cornal Carna of the Red Branch (look up Connor Mac Nessa)) came against Ecca to drive him forth from Ulaidh. But Ecca made a stout fight, so that he won the lordship of half of Ulaidh from Muridach. And after that his people settled down on the Plain of the Grey Copse.

Now Ecca had two daughters, Ariu and Liban, of whom Ariu was the wife of Curnan the Simpleton. And Curnan went about among the people, foretelling that a lake would flow over them from the well, and urging them earnestly to make ready their boats.

Come forth, come forth, ye valiant men; build boats, and build ye fast!
I see the water surging out, a torrent deep and vast;
I see our chief and all his host o’erwhelmed beneath the wave;
And Ariu, too, my best beloved, alas! I cannot save.
But Liban east and west shall swim
Long ages on the ocean’s rim,
By mystic shores and islets dim,
And down in the deep sea cave!

And he ceased not to warn all he met, repeating this verse continually; but the people gave no heed to the words of the Simpleton.

Now the woman who had charge of the well, on a certain occasion forgot to close the door, so that the spell was free to work evil. And immediately the water burst forth over the plain, and formed a great lake, namely the Lake of the Copse. And Ecca and all his family and all his folk were drowned, save only his daughter Liban, and Conang, and Curnan the Simpleton. And they buried Ariu, and raised a mound over her, which is called from her Carn-Arenn.

Of Conang nothing more is told. But as to Curnan, he died of grief after his wife Ariu; and he was buried in a mound, which is called Carn-Curnan to this day in memory of him.

And thus the great Lake of the Copse was formed, which is now called Lough Necca (now Lough Neagh), in memory of Ecca, the son of Marid. And it was the overflow of this lake which, more than all other causes, scattered the Ultonians over Erin.

Now as to Liban. She also was swept away like the others; but she was not drowned. She lived for a whole year with her lap-dog, in her chamber beneath the lake, and God protected her from the water. At the end of the year she was weary; and when he saw the speckled salmon swimming and playing all round her, she prayed and said—

O my Lord, I wish I were a salmon, that I might swim with the others through the clear green sea!

And at the words she took the shape of a salmon, except her face and breast, which did not change. And her lap-dog was changed to an otter, and attended her afterwards whithersoever she went, as long as she lived in the sea.

And so she remained swimming about from sea to sea for three hundred years; that is to say, from the time of Ecca, the son of Marid, to the time of Comgall of Bangor.

Now on one occasion, Comgall sent Beoc, the son of Indli, from Bangor to Rome, to talk with Gregory concerning some matters of order and rule. And when Beoc’s curragh [boat] was sailing over the sea, he and his crew heard sweet singing in the waters beneath them, as it were the chanting of angels.

And Beoc, having listened for a while, looked down into the water, and asked what the chant was for, and who it was that sang.

And Liban answered, “I am Liban, the daughter of Ecca, son of Marid; and it is I who sang the chant thou hast heard.”

“Why art thou here?” asked Beoc.

And she replied, “Lo, I have lived for three hundred years beneath the sea; and I have come hither to fix a day and a place of meeting with thee. I shall now go westward; and I beseech thee, for the sake of the holy men of Dalriada [the old name of a territory which included the southern half of the county Antrim and a part of Down], to come to Inver Ollarba [the inver, or mouth of the river Ollarba, which was the ancient name of the Larne Water, in Antrim], to meet me, on this same day at the end of a year. Say also to Comgall and to the other holy men of Bangor, all that I say to thee. Come with thy boats and thy fishing-nets, and thou shalt take me from the waters in which I have lived.”

“I shall not grant thee the boon thou askest,” said Beoc, “unless you give me a reward.”

“What reward dost thou seek?” asked Liban.

“That thou be buried in one grave with me in my own monastery,” answered Beoc.

“That shall be granted to thee,” said Liban.

Beoc then went on his way to Rome. And when he had returned, he related to Comgall and to the other saints of the monastery at Bangor, the story of the mermaid. And now the end of the year was nigh.

Then they made ready their nets, and on the day appointed they went in their boats to Inver Ollarba, a goodly company of the saints of Erin. And Liban was caught in the net of Fergus of Miluc [or Meelick, the name of an ancient ecclesiastical establishment in the county Antrim]: and her head and shoulders were those of a maiden, but she had the body of a fish.

Now the boat in which she was brought to land was kept half-full of sea water, in which she remained swimming about. And many came to see her; and all were filled with wonder when they saw her strange shape and heard her story.

Among the rest came the chief of the tribe of Hua-Conang, wearing a purple cloak; and she kept gazing at him earnestly. The young chief, seeing this, said to her—

Dost thou wish to have this cloak? If so, I will give it to thee willingly.

But she answered, “Not so: I desire not thy cloak. But it brings to my mind my father Ecca; for on the day he was drowned, he wore a cloak of purple like thine. But may good luck be on thee for thy gentleness, and on him who shall come after thee in thy place; and in every assembly where thy successor sits, may he be known to all without inquiry.”

After that there came a large-bodied, dark-visaged, fierce hero, and killed her lap-dog. Whereupon she was grieved; and she told him that the heroism of himself and his tribe should be stained by the baseness of their minds, and that they should not be able to defend themselves against injuries till they should do penance, by fasting, for her sake.

Then the warrior repented what he had done, and humbled himself before her.

And now there arose a contention about her, as to whom she should belong. Comgall said she was his, forasmuch as she was caught in his territory. But Fergus urged that she belonged to him by right, as it was in his net she was taken. And Beoc said he had the best right of all to her, on account of the promise she had made to him.

And as no one could settle the dispute, these three saints fasted and prayed that God would give a judgment between them, to show who should own Liban.

And an angel said to one of the company: “Two wild oxen will come hither to-morrow from Carn-Arenn, that is to say, from the grave-mound of Liban’s sister, Ariu. Yoke a chariot to them, and place the mermaid in it; and into whatsoever territory they shall bring her, she shall remain with the owner thereof.”

The oxen came on the morrow, as the angel had foretold. And when they were yoked, and when Liban was placed in the chariot, they brought her straightway to Beoc’s church, namely to Tec-Da-Beoc.

Then the saints gave her a choice— either to die immediately after baptism, and go to heaven; or to live on earth as long as she had lived in the sea, and then to go to heaven after these long ages. And the choice she took was to die immediately. Whereupon Comgall baptized her; and he gave her the name of Murgen, that is, “Sea-born”, or Murgelt, that is, “Mermaid.”

And she is counted among the holy virgins, and held in honor and reverence, as God ordained for her in heaven; and wonders and miracles are performed through her means at Tec-Da-Beoc.

A book of Saints and Wonders,

by Lady Augusta Gregory

This version, written in 1906, includes additional episodes and details. In the preface, the author explains that her stories were “put down here according to the old writings and the memory of the people of Ireland.”

The time Angus Og sent from the plain of Bregia that was his playing ground, he gave them the loan of a very big horse to carry all they had northward. And Eochaid went on with the horse till he came to the Grey Thornbush in Ulster; and a well broke out where he stopped, and he made his dwelling-house beside it, and he made a cover for the well and put a woman to mind it. But one time she did not shut down the cover, and the water rose up and covered the Grey Thornbush, and Eochaid was drowned with his children; and the water spread out into a great lake that has the name of Loch Neach to this day.

But Liban that was one of Eochaid’s daughters was not drowned, but she was in her sunny-house under the lake and her little dog with her for a full year, and God protected her from the waters. And one day she said, ‘O Lord, it would be well to be in the shape of a salmon, to be going through the sea the way they do.’ Then the one half of her took the shape of a salmon and the other half kept the shape of a woman; and she went swimming the sea, and her little dog following her in the shape of an otter and never leaving her or parting from her at all.

And one time Caoilte was out at a hunting near Beinn Boirche with the King of Ulster, and they came to the shore of the sea. And when they looked out over it they saw a young girl on the waves, and she swimming with the side-stroke and the foot-stroke. And when she came opposite them she sat up on a wave, as anyone would sit upon a stone or a hillock and she lifted her head and said, “Is not that Caolite Son of Ronan?”

“It is myself surely,” said he.

“It is many a day,” she said, “we saw you upon that rock, and the best man of Ireland or of Scotland with you, that was Finn son of Cumhal.”

“Who are you so girl?” said Coalite.

“I am Liban daughter of Eochaid, and I never showed my face to anyone since the going away of the King of the Fianna to this day. And it is what led me to lift my head to-day,” she said, “was to see yourself Caolite.”

Just then the deer that were running before the hounds made for the sea and swam out into it. “Your spear to me Caolite!” said Liban.

Then he put the spear into her hand and she killed the deer with it, and sent them back to him where he was with the King of Ulster; and then she threw him back the spear and with that she went away.

And that is the way she was until the time Beoan son of Innle was sent by Comgall to Rome, to have talk with Gregory and to bring back rules and orders. And when he and his people were going over the sea they heard what was like the singing of angels under the curragh [boat].

“What is that song?” said Beoan.

“It is I myself am making it,” said Liban.

“Who are you?” said Beoan.

“I am Liban daughter of Eochaid son of Mairid, and I am going through the sea these three hundred years.” Then she told him all her story, and how it was under the round hulls of ships she had her dwelling-place, and the waves were the roofing of her house, and the strands its walls. “And it is what I am come for now,” she said, “to tell you that I will come to meet you on this day twelve-month at Inver Ollorba; and do not fail to meet me there for the sake of all the saints of Dalaradia.”

And at the year’s end the nets were spread along the coast where she said she would come, and it was in the net of Fergus from Miluic she was taken. And the clerks gave her her choice either to be baptized and go then and there to heaven, or to stay living through another three hundred years and at the end of that time to go to heaven; and the choice she made was to die. Then Comgall baptized her and the name he gave her was Muirgheis, the Birth of the Sea. So she died, and the messengers that came and that carried her to her burying place, were horned deer that were sent by the angels of God.

On the web

I have found several references to this story online.

• Liban the Merrow: a retelling of the story which is part-essay, part-narrative. (direct link)
• A scholarly list of references
• The wikipedia entry
• A detailed discussion in Spanish, and the Google translation