Over Nine Waves A Book of Irish Legends

by Heaney, Marie

• ISBN13: 9780571175185
• ISBN10: 057117518X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-07-13
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

'These legends are the action-packed stories - of ancient heroes, huge battles, attempted invasions, prophecies and spells, clashes between the underworld and the real world, abductions, love affairs and feasts - which have fascinated the Irish mind for more than 2,000 years . . . Most of them have an extraordinary, stark narrative sweep, with a marvellous sense of detail . . . Heaney writes directly and fluently . . . with great tact and skill.' Sunday Times

Author Biography

Marie Heaney was born in County Tyrone. She trained as a teacher in Belfast and began her career in schools in Northern Ireland. Married with three children, she now lives in Dublin where she works as a freelance writer, contributing to newspapers and to programmes on both RTE and BBC.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Over Nine Waves: The Mythological Cycle
The Tuatha De Danaan	p. 3
Midir and Etain	p. 22
The Children of Lir	p. 37
Over Nine Waves: the Milesians Come to Ireland	p. 50
The Voyage of Bran	p. 56
Fame Outlives Life: The Ulster Cycle
The Weakness of the Ulstermen	p. 65
The Birth of Cuchulainn	p. 69
The Boyhood Deeds of Cuchulainn	p. 73
Culann's Hound: Cuchulainn Gets His Name	p. 76
Cuchulainn Takes Up Arms	p. 80
The Wooing of Emer	p. 90
Bricriu's Feast	p. 99
The Death of Connla	p. 113
Deirdre of the Sorrows	p. 117
Cuchulainn and Ferdia's Fight at the Ford	p. 126
The Death of Cuchulainn	p. 141
The Music of What Happened: The Finn Cycle
The Boyhood Deeds of Finn	p. 155
Finn Joins the Fianna and Becomes Its Captain	p. 164
The Birth of Finn's Hounds	p. 171
The Enchanted Deer: the Birth of Oisin	p. 175
The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne	p. 180
Oisin in the Land of Youth	p. 214
Three Saints One Grave Do Fill: The Patron Saints of Ireland
Saint Patrick	p. 225
Saint Brigid	p. 230
Saint Columcille	p. 236
Pronunciation Guide	p. 243
Bibliography	p. 250
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.