Friday, April 15, 2005
UI's Celtic Mythology - Aoifa
Aoifa, sometimes known as Aoife, was the daughter of Ard-Greimne and an Irish warrior-princess in the Land of Shadows, an otherworld kingdom. Her sister Scathach instructed the Ulster hero Cuchulainn in the arts of war. But when the sisters went to war Scathach was frightened to take the hero with her into battle in case Aoifa killed him. Undeterred by Aoifa's reputation as a fighter, Cuchulainn challenged her to single combat. Before the fight took place, Cuchulainn asked Scathach what Aoifa loved best and Scathach told him that above else she treasured her chariot. At first the combat went as expected in Aoifa's favour, but Cuchulainn distracted her attention at a critical moment by calling out that her chariot horse was in trouble. Afterwards, Aoifa became Cuchulainn's lover and bore him a son named Conlai. It was, however, the boy's fate to be killed by his own father.
# posted by United Irelander @ 12:56 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
