Máel Dúin
Encyclopedia
Máel Dúin is the protagonist of Immram Maele Dúin or the Voyage of Máel Dúin, a Christian tale written in Old Irish
around the end of the first millennium. He is the son of Ailill Edge-of-Battle, whose murder provides the initial impetus for the tale.
Máel Dúin is the son of a warrior and chieftan. His mother is a nun. His mother had given him to the queen of Eoganacht to be raised as a foster son. Máel Dúin grew up as an attractive warrior who was "victorious over everyone in every game they used to play, both in running and leaping and spear casting and casting stones and racing horses." A jealous youth exposed him to the truth of his unknown kindred. Prior to this knowledge he thought he was the son of the king and queen. He inquired this information from the queen. She gave him to his biological mother who told him about the death of his father, Ailill Ochair Aghra of the Eugnacht of Ninuss.
Máel Dúin traveled to where his kinsmen were and finds out his father was slain by Marauders from Leix, who burned the church named Dubcluain upon him. Máel Dúin seeks the advice of a druid
named Nuca at Corcomroe who tells him how to get there and in what manner. Máel Dúin follows the druid's advice up to a point, except that he allows his foster brothers to join him, thus exceeding the number of people the druid stipulated should be allowed accompany him on his immram
. Because of this Máel Dúin is blown off course and into a great voyage where he has a number of peculiar experiences both from within his boat, where generally he sees fantastic things, and on a series of islands he and his crewmen elect to visit.
This begins the journey. He first encounters two bare islands with forts on them. From the forts could be heard, "noise and the outcry of drunkenness." Máel Dúin then hears one man say, "It was I who slew Ailill Ochair of Agha and burned Dubcluain on him and no evil has been done to mefor it yet by his kindred..." Máel Dúin and his crew cannot venture to the island due to wind. Máel Dúin suggested that God will bring the boat where it needs to go.However, the boats sails to the limitless ocean. Blame is to be held on the foster brothers as well for joining the crew after the druid gave specific orders for the allotted crewmen.
Máel Dúin and his crewmen encounter many various islands as follows:
The crew voyaged on and came across a sea like a green crystal. Here, there were no monster but only rocks. They continued on and came to a sea of clouds with underwater fortresses and monsters.
They find a man in the sea from Tory. He was cast there as punishment. He asks them to throw their wealth into the ocean. He prophesizes that they will "reach their country, it will be sage thus; though you will meet your enemies, you will not slay them."
They finally make it back to the original island they were on where there was talk of murdering Ailill. Máel Dúin expresses the marvels that God has revealed to them on their journey. They all make peace.
During his immram
, Máel Dúin has a Christian conversion experience. He also loses his three foster brothers at different points along the way, allowing him to finally reach the marauders who killed his father and whom he initially set out to kill in revenge. However, as he has incorporated a new, Christian element into his personality he does not kill them but instead forgives them before returning home.
The text exists in an 11th century redaction, by a certain Aed the Fair, described as the "chief sage of Ireland
," but it may be gathered from internal evidence that the tale itself dates back to the 8th century. It belongs to the group of Irish romance, the Navigations (Imrama), the common type of which was possibly imitated from the classical tales of the wanderings of Jason
, Ulysses
, and Aeneas
.
Imram Curaig Mailduin is preserved, in each case imperfectly, in the Lebor na hUidre
, a manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy
, Dublin; and in the Yellow Book of Lecan
, MS. H. 216 in the Trinity College
Library, Dublin; fragments are in Harleian MS. 5280 and Egerton MS. 1782
in the British Museum
. There are translations by Patrick Joyce, Old Celtic Romances (1879), by Whitley Stokes (a more critical version, printed together with the text) in Revue celtique, vols. ix and x (1888–1889). See H. Zimmer, "Brendan's Meer-fahrt" in Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum, vol. xxxiii (1889). Tennyson
's Voyage of Maeldune, suggested by the Irish romance, borrows little more than its framework.
Oskamp, H. P. A. The Voyage of Mael Dunn Wolters-Noordhoff Publishing Compant Groningen. 1970. pp. 99–179.
The Immran Máel Dúin may be compared with a passage in the Rāma-ayana.
Irish writer Patricia Aakhus
wrote a novel recounting the story in 1990, entitled, The Voyage of Mael Duin's Curragh.
A Celtic Odyssey by Michael Scott
is a modern retelling of this story.
Old Irish language
Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Goidelic languages for which extensive written texts are extant. It was used from the 6th to the 10th centuries, by which time it had developed into Middle Irish....
around the end of the first millennium. He is the son of Ailill Edge-of-Battle, whose murder provides the initial impetus for the tale.
Máel Dúin is the son of a warrior and chieftan. His mother is a nun. His mother had given him to the queen of Eoganacht to be raised as a foster son. Máel Dúin grew up as an attractive warrior who was "victorious over everyone in every game they used to play, both in running and leaping and spear casting and casting stones and racing horses." A jealous youth exposed him to the truth of his unknown kindred. Prior to this knowledge he thought he was the son of the king and queen. He inquired this information from the queen. She gave him to his biological mother who told him about the death of his father, Ailill Ochair Aghra of the Eugnacht of Ninuss.
Máel Dúin traveled to where his kinsmen were and finds out his father was slain by Marauders from Leix, who burned the church named Dubcluain upon him. Máel Dúin seeks the advice of a druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
named Nuca at Corcomroe who tells him how to get there and in what manner. Máel Dúin follows the druid's advice up to a point, except that he allows his foster brothers to join him, thus exceeding the number of people the druid stipulated should be allowed accompany him on his immram
Immram
An immram is a class of Old Irish tales concerning a hero's sea journey to the Otherworld . Written in the Christian era and essentially Christian in aspect, they preserve elements of Irish mythology....
. Because of this Máel Dúin is blown off course and into a great voyage where he has a number of peculiar experiences both from within his boat, where generally he sees fantastic things, and on a series of islands he and his crewmen elect to visit.
This begins the journey. He first encounters two bare islands with forts on them. From the forts could be heard, "noise and the outcry of drunkenness." Máel Dúin then hears one man say, "It was I who slew Ailill Ochair of Agha and burned Dubcluain on him and no evil has been done to mefor it yet by his kindred..." Máel Dúin and his crew cannot venture to the island due to wind. Máel Dúin suggested that God will bring the boat where it needs to go.However, the boats sails to the limitless ocean. Blame is to be held on the foster brothers as well for joining the crew after the druid gave specific orders for the allotted crewmen.
Máel Dúin and his crewmen encounter many various islands as follows:
- The island of ants, from which the men flee because the ants' intention is to eat their boat
- The island of tame birds
- The island of the horse-like beast who pelts the crew with the beach
- The island of horses and demons
- The island of salmon, where they find an empty house filled with a feast and they all ate, drank, and gave thanks to God
- The island with the branch of an apple tree, where they are fed with apples for 40 nights
- The island of the "Revolving Beast", a creature that would shift its form by manipulating its bones, muscles and loose skin; it cast stones at the escaping crew and one pierces the keel of the boat
- The island where animals bite each other and blood is everywhere
- The island of apples, pigs, and birds
- The island with the great fort/pillars/cats where one of the foster brothers steals a necklet and is burned to ashes by the cat
- The island of black and white sheep, where sheep change colors as they cross the fence; the crewmen do not go aboard this island in fear of changing color
- The island of the pigherd, which contained an acidic river and hornless oxen
- The island of the ugly mill and miller who were "wrinkled, rude, and bareheaded"
- The island of lamenting men and wailing sorrows, where they had to retrieve a crewmen who entered the island and became one of the lamenting men; they saved him by grabbing him while holding their breath
- The island with maidens and intoxicating drink
- The island with forts and the crystal bridge, where there is a maiden who is propositioned to sleep with Máel Dúin
- The island of colorful birds singing like psalms
- The island with the psalm singing old man with noble monastic words
- The island with the golden wall around it
- The island of angry Smiths (Blacksmiths)
The crew voyaged on and came across a sea like a green crystal. Here, there were no monster but only rocks. They continued on and came to a sea of clouds with underwater fortresses and monsters.
- The island with a woman pelting them with nuts
- The island with a river sky that was raining salmon
- The island on a pedestal
- The island with eternal youth
- The island with red fruits that were made as a sleeping elixir
- The island with monks of Brendan Birr, where they were blessed
- The island with eternal laughter, where they lost a crewman
- The island of the fire people
They find a man in the sea from Tory. He was cast there as punishment. He asks them to throw their wealth into the ocean. He prophesizes that they will "reach their country, it will be sage thus; though you will meet your enemies, you will not slay them."
- The island of cattle, oxen, and sheep
They finally make it back to the original island they were on where there was talk of murdering Ailill. Máel Dúin expresses the marvels that God has revealed to them on their journey. They all make peace.
During his immram
Immram
An immram is a class of Old Irish tales concerning a hero's sea journey to the Otherworld . Written in the Christian era and essentially Christian in aspect, they preserve elements of Irish mythology....
, Máel Dúin has a Christian conversion experience. He also loses his three foster brothers at different points along the way, allowing him to finally reach the marauders who killed his father and whom he initially set out to kill in revenge. However, as he has incorporated a new, Christian element into his personality he does not kill them but instead forgives them before returning home.
The text exists in an 11th century redaction, by a certain Aed the Fair, described as the "chief sage of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
," but it may be gathered from internal evidence that the tale itself dates back to the 8th century. It belongs to the group of Irish romance, the Navigations (Imrama), the common type of which was possibly imitated from the classical tales of the wanderings of Jason
Jason
Jason was a late ancient Greek mythological hero from the late 10th Century BC, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus...
, Ulysses
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
, and Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
.
Imram Curaig Mailduin is preserved, in each case imperfectly, in the Lebor na hUidre
Lebor na hUidre
Lebor na hUidre or the Book of the Dun Cow is an Irish vellum manuscript dating to the 12th century. It is the oldest extant manuscript in Irish. It is held in the Royal Irish Academy and is badly damaged: only 67 leaves remain and many of the texts are incomplete...
, a manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy , based in Dublin, is an all-Ireland, independent, academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is one of Ireland's premier learned societies and cultural institutions and currently has around 420 Members, elected in...
, Dublin; and in the Yellow Book of Lecan
Yellow Book of Lecan
The Yellow Book of Lecan , or TCD MS 1318 , is a medieval Irish manuscript written no later than the dawn of the 15th century. It is currently housed at Trinity College, Dublin and should not be confused with the Great Book of Lecan.-Overview:The manuscript is written on vellum and contains 344...
, MS. H. 216 in the Trinity College
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
Library, Dublin; fragments are in Harleian MS. 5280 and Egerton MS. 1782
Egerton 1782
MS Egerton 1782 is the index title of an early sixteenth-century Irish vellum manuscript housed in the Egerton Collection of the British Library, London.-Overview:The compilation dates from c...
in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. There are translations by Patrick Joyce, Old Celtic Romances (1879), by Whitley Stokes (a more critical version, printed together with the text) in Revue celtique, vols. ix and x (1888–1889). See H. Zimmer, "Brendan's Meer-fahrt" in Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum, vol. xxxiii (1889). Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
's Voyage of Maeldune, suggested by the Irish romance, borrows little more than its framework.
Oskamp, H. P. A. The Voyage of Mael Dunn Wolters-Noordhoff Publishing Compant Groningen. 1970. pp. 99–179.
The Immran Máel Dúin may be compared with a passage in the Rāma-ayana.
Irish writer Patricia Aakhus
Patricia Aakhus
Patricia Aakhus , also known by the pseudonym Patricia McDowell, is an Irish novelist and the director of International Studies at the University of Southern Indiana. She won Readercon's Best Imaginative Literature Award in 1990 and the Cahill Award for The Voyage of Mael Duin's Curragh...
wrote a novel recounting the story in 1990, entitled, The Voyage of Mael Duin's Curragh.
A Celtic Odyssey by Michael Scott
Michael Scott (Irish author)
Michael Scott is an Irish author.Michael Scott is a seasoned and prolific writer of over 100 books during his 25 plus years of writing thus far...
is a modern retelling of this story.