LIBAN THE MERROW
The majority of the western-world population has great difficulty in accepting the possibility of mortal humans' with Daoine Sidhe ancestry and inherent abilities; when they primarily find it hard to accept the real existence of the fairy race.
An equally difficult inter-race possibility to accept, is that of the human-sea fairy unity - the Mermaid; although they have often been sanctified and frequently occur on church carvings amid angels. One such person was Liban the sanctified Mermaid. She was baptized by the name of Murgen, or "sea-born" by the Bishop St Comgall, and accounted as one of the Holy Virgins. The church of Teo-da-Beoc in Ireland is accredited as her final resting place.The Murdhuacha, or theMerrows, as they are called in Ireland are of the Good People race. Their general characteristics are clear and well defined, they date from the times of great antiquity and mythology and their physical appearances have been retained unaltered to the present day.
The Mermaids are like beautiful maidens from the waist upwards, but they have the tail of a fish. They have been reported on rocks beside the sea and singing with irresistible sweetness; in this way they are said to lure men to their death, and their appearance is ominous of storms and disasters. According to this set of beliefs, Mermaids are not only ominous of misfortunes but actually provoke them, and are avid for human lives, either by drowning men or devouring them.
Some early Celtic descriptions have them of monstrous size, like that recorded with some detail in "The Annals of the Four Masters": - "She was 160 feet (48.77 metres) in length, her hair 18 feet (5.49 metres), her fingers were 7 feet (2.1 metres) in length, and so was her nose. These exact measurements were possible because she was cast up by the sea." This was said to have happened in about A.D.887.
The Merrows are said to be more gentler than most Mermaids, and often fall in love with mortal fishermen; although, they are dreaded because they often appear just before storms. The offspring of these marriages are sometimes said to be covered with scales, and like their mother, have little webs between their fingers. At times they are said to come ashore in the form of little hornless cattle, but in their proper shape they wear red feather caps, by means of which they propel themselves through the water. If these are stolen or lost they cannot ever return to the sea again.
The female Merrows are a lovely sight, with their flowing hair and their white, gleaming arms and their dark eyes. While the female Merrows are beautiful, the males are very ugly indeed, with green faces and bodies, green hair and teeth; a red, sharp nose and little pig's eyes, and short arms more like flippers than any human arm. They do seem to be generally amiable and jovial characters and have very little interest in mankind. The Scandinavian Merman, or Havmaand, is reported as a handsome creature with a green or black beard, living on cliffs and shore hills as well as in the sea; and is said to be regarded as a beneficent creature.
The story of Liban is very intriguing, the story of a mortal woman turned into a Mermaid. She is briefly mentioned in "The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters". A history compiled in the seventeenth century and covering the time from the creation of the world down to the year 1616. The year 558 is given as the one in which Liban was caught in a net on the strand of Ollarbha - but so is the year 390, in other texts.
Her personal history goes back some three-hundred years earlier, as the daughter of Eochaid and Etain. Eochaid the Firbolg King, and Etain the captured bride of Midhir of the Tuatha de Danann, whose involvement sparked the dreadful war of the two races. Should this be true, then it would clearly show that Liban was not a mortal human. Bewildered by these discrepancies of an otherwise entirely credible historical account, I requested substantiation from my friend Shamus.
"The story of Liban is inextricably interwoven with the formation of Lough Neagh. Seek the legends of Lough Neagh and you will discover the truth of Liban," he quietly answered my query for the real story.Lough Neagh is one of the largest and most beautiful bodies of water on the island of Ireland. The waters of the lake are transparently blue, and even small pebbles on the bottom can be seen at a considerable depth. Near the southern end, a survey of the bottom revealed stones laid in a regular man-made like order. Careful observations have traced regular walls of structures of considerable dimensions. Traditions say it was a castle, surrounded by the usual village. In ancient times the castle stood by the bank of the lake, on an elevated promontory. Down deep, under the water of the lake, can still be seen the columns and walls of the beautiful palace once inhabited by the Daoine Sidhe race when they were the gods of the Earth.
Giraldus Cambrensis states in his accredited manuscript, that in his time, the tops of towers - "built after the fashion of the country, are distinctly visible in calm, clear weather, under the surface of the lough; and still the Sidhe haunt the ruins of their former splendour, and hold festivals beneath the waters when the full moon is shining; for the boatmen coming home late at night have often heard sweet music rising up from beneath the waves and the sound of laughter, and seen glimmering lights far down under the water, where the ancient Sidhe palaces are supposed to be."
Mysterious influences still haunt the locality all around Lough Neagh; boatmen know that the Good People are out for a pleasure trip when soft music is heard as they pass by at night from island to shore Many a time it has been reported of seeing tiny men all dressed in green, and the ladies in silver gossamer in or about the lake. There has been those who are so taken by these little folk, that they leave a little poteen" for them in a bottle when they are on the island in the lake. In return, these boatmen always had good luck in fishing, and in all else. Never a poacher or thief came near their place while protected by the Good People. In fact many a would-be thief became hopelessly lost in the bogs, and suffered other discomforts. Thus, the lake and the island developed many legends of hauntings and sinister occurrences to those who strayed there with questionable intent.
Wonderful tales are related about the formation of Lough Neagh. One of the more romantic, affirms that the great Fionn Mac Cumhal of the Fianna, being in a rage one day, took up a handful of earth and flung it into the sea. The handful was of such a size that where it fell it formed the Isle of Man, and the hollow caused by its removal became the basin of the present day Lough Neagh.
Another legend is that a holy well once existed in the locality, sanctified and charged with miraculous powers of healing; provided that every patient on leaving after cure, carefully closed the wicket-gate that shut in the well; and displayed due courtesy and respect to the gods who created the well. But once however, a woman forgot this information, and left the gate open. Instantly the indignant waters sprang from their bed and pursued the offender, who fled in terror of the advancing waves. The waters closed over her and she was seen no more. Along the track of her flight the waters remained, and formed a great lake that now exists, which is exactly the length the woman traversed in her flight from the angry spirit of the well.
It was the year A.D.90 that the sacred well overflowed. The woman responsible for the catastrophe was Aynia, the wife of the noble Lord Cian son of Labraid. All the people of the village were overwhelmed and drowned, except for their two sons and daughter who miraculously survived to tell of the event - Conang and Curman, and the daughter Liban.
Liban's story begins in the year 90. No one ever went to the sacred well unless the three cup-bearers of Cianwent with them, for it was believed that no one came back from the well without a blemish unless so accompanied. But Aynia went down out of pride and overbearing, vowing that nothing could spoil her shape or put a blemish on her. She walked anti-clockwise three times around the well to mock its powers, drank heartedly, and ignored the open wicket-gate. Enormous waves broke from the well, bruising her severely and damaging her right eye. In fright she ran to escape, wherever she ran the water followed after her until it finally engulfed her completely.
Conang and Curman successfully fled to higher ground and safety, to tell of the annihilation of the village of Segain. Liban was indeed swept away by the waters, but she and her pet dog were supernaturally preserved and carried into a subaqueous cave secreted below the sea, where she spent a year in her bower with no company except her little dog.
She grew weary of her isolation and constantly prayed to the Goddess Dana - who the ancients say was the Mother of all Gods, embodying both the male and female principle - that she might be turned into a salmon, and swim around with the shoals of fish that passed her enclosure. Dana granted the prayer and gave her the tail of a salmon, but from the waist upwards she retained her beautiful mortal human shape. Her dog was turned into an otter, and the two swam together for three-hundred years.
In this time Ireland had become Christian and St Comgall had become Bishop of Bangor. One day Comgall dispatched one of his clergy, Beoc, to sail to Rome to consult Pope Gregory about some matters of order and rule. As they sailed they were accompanied by an extremely sweet voice singing from under the water. It was so sweet that Beoc concluded that it must be an angels voice. At that Liban spoke from beneath the waves and said - "It is I who am singing. I am no angel, but Liban, and for three-hundred years I have been swimming the seas, and I implore you to meet me, with the holy men of Bangor, at Inver Ollarba. I pray you tell St Comgall what I have said, and let them come all with nets and boats and draw me from out of the sea before the last day of this year."
Beoc promised to do as she asked, and pressed on his errand. Before the year 390 was over he had returned from Rome, in time to tell St Comgall of Liban's request. On the appointed day a fleet of boats was there at Inver Ollarba, and Liban was drawn out of the water by Beoan, son of Inli. They half filled the boat in which she was caught with water, and crowds of people came to see her swimming around. A dispute arose as to who had the right to her. St Comgall thought she was his as she was caught in his diocese. Beoc claimed her because she had made her appeal to him in the first instance. Even the man Beoan who had drawn her out of the sea staked his claim. To avoid dissention all the saints of Bangor embarked on a night of fasting and prayer. In the morning they said that an angel spoke to them and said that on that morning a yoke of two oxen would come to them. They were to put Liban into a chariot and harness the oxen to it; wherever they stopped, that was the territory for Liban. This was a method employed in many saints' legends to settle the place where a church should be erected. The expedient did not fail this time.
The oxen drew the chariot undoubtedly to Beoc's church, the Teo-da-Beoc. There, by the authority of the heads of the churches, she was given a choice whether to die immediately and ascend at once to heaven; or stay on Earth, as long as she lived in the sea, and ascend to heaven after three-hundred more years.
She chose immediate death. St Comgall baptized her by the name of Murgen, or sea-born, and it is said that she made her entry into heaven. She was accounted one of the Holy Virgins, and signs and wonders were done through her means in the Teo-da-Beoc. Carvings and paintings of her exist in the church to this day.
Anyone who wishes to study this long and complicated subject of Mermaids and Mermen, might well start by reading "Sea Enchantress" by Benwell and Waugh, which, starting with fish-tailed gods and working through classical myths and early zoology, comes down to the most recent beliefs in Mermaids and other water creatures and embaces the beliefs of almost all nations.
