Monaghan Patricia. The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore

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Gáe Bulga (Bolga, Bolg) Irish mythic

weapon. The famous weapon of the Irish hero

CÚCHULAINN was given him by his teacher, the

WARRIOR WOMAN of the Isle of Skye, SCÁTHACH.

The Gáe Bulga seems to have been a spear or

javelin (gáe) that could slice through flesh, thus

giving its bearer an immense advantage in battle.

Cúchulainn used it to kill the two men most dear

to him: his son CONNLA and his foster brother

FERDIAD. Some scholars have derived the second

part of the spear’s name from the FIR BOLG, one

of the ancient mythic races of Ireland.

Gaheris (Gaheris of Orkney) Arthurian

hero. One of the sons of king LOT of Orkney and

MORGAUSE, the half-sister of king ARTHUR who

also gave birth to Arthur’s illegitimate son and

implacable enemy, MORDRED. Gaheris was one

of those whom LANCELOT killed as he rescued

queen GUINEVERE from execution by burning.

Gahmuret Arthurian hero. According to one

text, the man who was later to be the father of

the pure knight PERCIVAL joined the army of the

Caliph of Baghdad, where he single-handedly

rescued a besieged queen, Belkane of Zazamanc,

from two armies. Entranced with her savior,

Belkane married him and bore a son, Feirefiz,

but even the glories of her realm could not keep

the warrior from returning to Wales, where he

found another woman ready to be won through

battle: the fair HERZELOYDE, who became

Percival’s mother.

Gaiar Irish hero. In some texts, this otherwise

obscure figure is the son of the doomed lovers

DEIRDRE and NOISÍU.

Gaiblín See GAVIDA.

Gáilióin See FIR BOLG.

Gaine Irish heroine. In the place-poems of

ancient Ireland, the DINDSHENCHAS, this other-

wise unknown woman is named as “learned and

a seer and a chief DRUID,” although how she

composed and prophesied is unclear, because she

never spoke a word. Yet it was Gaine who named

the central hill of the land UISNEACH, “over

somewhat,” because her student, the powerful

druid MIDE, had cut off the tongues of Ireland’s

other druids, buried them on the hillside, and sat

over them.

Source: Gwynn, Edward. The Metrical Dindshenchas.

Part II. Vol. IX. Royal Irish Academy, Todd

Lecture Series. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, and Co.,

Ltd., 1906–1924.

Galahad (Gwalchafed) Arthurian hero. One

of the chief knights of the ROUND TABLE,

Galahad was the illegitimate son of LANCELOT

and ELAINE of Corbenic. The young Galahad

was king ARTHUR’s perfect representative: the

most pure, the most loyal, the most chaste of all

his knights. As such, he offers a foil to the human

and imperfect Arthur as well as to the noble but

flawed Lancelot. Thus Galahad, in many

Arthurian tales, became the one who found the

mystical chalice called the GRAIL, after which the

knight was never seen again; apparently, the con-

tact of his pure soul with the powerful vessel sent

him instantly to heaven. Although his name may

have Celtic roots, suggesting a falcon of battle,

and despite his FAIRY heritage as the foster son of

the LADY OF THE LAKE and the son of Elaine,

scholars agree there is no true Celtic analogue

for this saintly figure; rather, Galahad seems a

post-Christian invention grafted onto the leg-

end’s pagan rootstock.

Source: Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy-Faith in

Celtic Countries. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe

Humanities Press, 1911, pp. 315 ff.

Galahaut (The Haute Prince) Arthurian

hero. A minor figure in the story of king ARTHUR

and his knights of the ROUND TABLE, Galahaut

was at first Arthur’s enemy but, when the brave

204 Gáe Bulga

LANCELOT defeated him, converted to the side of

CAMELOT. So devoted was Galahaut to his erst-

while opponent that he died of grief when he

heard that Lancelot had died.

Galatia Ancient Celtic land. This area of cen-

tral Anatolia (now Turkey), settled by Celts in

the third century B.C.E., was mentioned by the

Christian St. Paul in his epistles to the residents

of the region.

Galehodin Arthurian hero. The most out-

standing knight of the ROUND TABLE,

LANCELOT, had only one brother, Galehodin,

who is otherwise obscure. A number of figures

who surround Lancelot have similar names

(GALAHAD, GALAHAUT), which may indicate that

they derive from the same original.

Galióin (Gailioin, Gálian, Galioin) Irish

mythological race. This tribe of Irish settlers of

unclear heritage appears in two important

mythological texts: the quasi-historical, the BOOK

OF INVASIONS and the epic TÁIN BÓ CUAILNGE. In

the former they are described as part of the

invading FIR BOLG people; in the latter, their

fierceness so intimidates queen MEDB that she

considers having them killed rather than risk

keeping them as allies, but her lover

FERGUS mac

Róich convinces her that, separated and spread

among the troops, they would be an invaluable

asset, as they prove to be. They are thought to

represent an early Celtic tribal group.

Gallizenae Breton folkloric figures. These

historical DRUID women lived off the west coast

of Brittany, on the Isle de Sein (Sena) near

Pointe de Raz, at a site usually connected to leg-

ends of the dissolute pagan princess DAHUT and

her city of YS. They are believed to have been a

college of priestesses rather like the one thought

to have served the Irish BRIGIT, practicing DIV-

INATION and other forms of MAGIC without

intercourse, social or otherwise, with men.

Galvia Irish mythological figure. The name of

the contemporary county of Galway derives

from this obscure figure, said to have been a

princess drowned in the RIVER that bears her

name. As the same story is told of two goddesses,

SÍNANN and BÓAND, it is likely that Galvia was

once an important goddess of the watershed.

Gamh (Gam) Irish mythological site. In

Ireland’s Co. Sligo, a holy WELL was known in

medieval times as one of the Mirabilia Hiberia,

Ireland’s wonders. On the side of the hill of

Tullaghan, opposite a sheer precipice, a half-

salt, half-sweet well rises from a space among

THREE flagstones. The well is now dedicated to

ST. PATRICK, and the story is told that it sprang

up when the saint, pursuing the demon called

variously the DEVIL’S MOTHER and CAORANACH,

became thirsty and prayed for water, where-

upon the well broke through the rock. Patrick

then hid nearby until the demon, also thirsty,

came to drink; her blood caused the well’s bit-

terness. The well’s pagan history can still be

found in the common tale that it harbors sacred

SALMON, which, if caught and eaten, will

nonetheless be seen frisking about the well the

very next day.

The DINDSHENCHAS, Ireland’s place-name

poetry, name the region around the well Sliab

Gamh, the mountains of Gamh, after a servant

of the

MILESIAN invader ÉREMÓN. Gamh was

beheaded, but whether in battle or as punish-

ment for some wrongdoing is not clear; the cor-

rupted text seems to indicate that Gamh was

killed because of failure to observe agricultural

rituals. His head, thrown into the well, caused its

sweet water to turn salty part of each day.

Sources: Gwynn, Edward. The Metrical Dindshenchas.

Part II. Vol. IX. Royal Irish Academy, Todd

Lecture Series. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, and

Co., Ltd., 1906–1924, p. 22; MacNeill, Máire.

The Festival of Lughnasa, Parts I and II. Dublin:

Comhairle Bhéaloideas Éireann, 1982,

pp. 113–114.

Gamh 205

ganconer (gean-cannah, gan-ceann, gean-

canach, love-talker) Scottish and Irish folkloric

figure. Maidens in Scotland were traditionally

advised to stay away from lonely country roads,

especially those in mountain areas, for they

might meet this handsome fairy—readily recog-

nizable by his clay pipe—who would make them

promises so sweet that, after he evaporated from

sight, the girl was left to pine away and die. The

ganconer was the male version of the much more

commonly found FAIRY LOVER or mistress.

The same figure was found in Ireland, where

he was called the geancanach and was said to

especially favor milkmaids. The Irish poet Ethna

Carbery wrote of him: “Who meets the Love-

Talker must weave her shroud soon,” for his love

was destructive. The word used to be applied to

human men who were excessively boastful about

their sexual prowess.

Ganore Occasional name for GUINEVERE.

Garaid Irish hero. In the FENIAN CYCLE, we

learn of this old warrior who the women of

FIONN MAC CUMHAILL’s court feared might make

advances to them; therefore they tied his beard

and hair to the walls of their home while he

slept. Awaking with a start, Garaid tore off his

scalp trying to free himself and then exploded

with fury, burning the house—at Drumcree,

near Mullingar—with all the women in it and

laughing sadistically as they died.

Garb Mac Stairn Scottish folkloric figure.

This Scottish GIANT appears in a legend of the

Irish hero CÚCHULAINN. Desirous of a BULL that

the hero owned, Garb traveled to Ireland but,

reaching Cúchulainn’s house, found only a ser-

vant who claimed the house was empty except

for his sick mistress. Nonetheless Garb

demanded access to the house’s owner and

pushed his way into the sickroom. There he

found the woman, lying wanly, suckling a large

babe. The giant poked his finger into the baby’s

mouth and Cúchulainn—for the large baby was

he—bit down so hard he struck bone. Garb and

Cúchulainn then began to fight to the death, and

it took a week for the superhuman hero to win

against the fierce Scottish giant. A similar story

is told of FINN MCCOOL, the folkloric version of

the hero FIONN MAC CUMHAILL.

Gareth (Gareth of Orkney, Beaumains,

Gaheriet) Arthurian hero. A minor hero of

Arthurian romance, he was the nephew of king

ARTHUR, son of his half-sister MORGAUSE and

king LOT of Orkney. Because of his most notable

physical trait, KAY named him Beaumains, “beau-

tiful hands.” Gareth was accidentally killed by

his best friend LANCELOT, who was desperately

struggling to save queen GUINEVERE from the

executioner’s flames.

Gargantua Continental Celtic god. The great

French satirist Rabelais based the most famous

GIANT in French literature upon this obscure old

Celtic god, perhaps originally named Gurgiunt

or Gargam. A resident of the OTHERWORLD, he

burst through occasionally to create landscapes

by tossing around rocks or opening a cask so that

floodwaters covered the earth.

Garland Sunday (Garden Sunday, Garlic

Sunday) See LUGHNASA.

Garravogue (Carravogue, Garbhóg, Gheara-

gáin, Garrawog, Garragh-Maw) Irish folkloric

figure. Two similarly named HAG-like beings

appear in Irish oral folklore, both of whom may

descend from the ancient goddess called the

CAILLEACH. In Co. Sligo, the River Garravogue

was said to be named for a WITCH who fell into it

and drowned; the same story is told of the

maiden GILE, whose drowning formed Lough

Gill, so the two may have originally been the

same figure in maiden and hag form.

In Co. Meath, and nearby Co. Cavan, the

woman Garrawog broke the Sabbath by eating

blackberries on the way to church, was turned

206 ganconer

into a giant SERPENT or cannibal, and dissolved

when ST. PATRICK threw holy water at her. In

other versions of the tale, Patrick threw his apos-

tolic staff at her, whereupon she split into four

pieces, one going up into the air, two off to the

sides into LAKES, and the final piece disappearing

underground beneath a large rock.

The fact that the hag split into pieces that

travel to the four DIRECTIONS argues that

Garravogue was an ancient goddess figure sup-

pressed by Christian apologists, for cosmic god-

desses whose bodies form the tangible world are

often described in myth in this way. That the hag

goddess was not entirely suppressed under

Christianity is evidenced by the legend that

Garrawog will rise again when enough people

bearing her surname (Gargan or Garraghans)

walk over her grave. A carved head in nearby

Clannaphillip, once in the church but now

installed behind the grotto of the Virgin Mary, is

said to represent Garrawog.

Sources: Gwynn, Edward. The Metrical Dindshenchas.

Part II. Vol. IX. Royal Irish Academy, Todd

Lecture Series. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, and

Co., Ltd., 1906, p. 18; MacNeill, Máire. The

Festival of Lughnasa, Parts I and II. Dublin:

Comhairle Bhéaloideas Éireann, 1982, pp.

400–401, 517–522.

Gaul Ancient Celtic land. The Celtic lands

now generally contiguous with the nation of

France, as well as adjoining lands now part of the

nations Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland,

were brought under Roman domination by

Julius Caesar, who wrote of them in his Gallic

Wars. It is from Caesar that we learn much of

what is known about the culture and religion of

the continental Celts. But as Caesar sought

political domination over the Celts, it is difficult

to evaluate his truthfulness. What we do know is

that the people Caesar called Gauls were not a

single tribe but many disparate tribal peoples

who shared a common language and roughly

common beliefs and customs.

As with other Celtic peoples, the Gauls are

believed to have mixed and mingled with the

people who inhabited their lands before them,

probably Old Europeans. They later moved on

to the islands off the coast, so that Britain and

Ireland received a culture already changed by

encounters with the indigenous peoples of Gaul.

In addition, the Germanic tribes slightly to the

north are not easily separable geographically

from the Celts of Gaul, so that religion and cul-

ture on the Continent were both complex and

dynamic. Much of that richness has been lost

through the reinterpretation of continental

Celtic or Gaulish divinities into Roman cate-

gories and the application of Roman names to

them in a process known as the INTERPRETATIO

ROMANA. Thus we have MERCURY listed as the

chief of gods and MINERVA following shortly

after. In some cases, the original Celtic name of

the divinity in question became a surname, but

in many others, the original was lost.

Gavida (Gaiblín, Gaibhleen, Goibhleann)

Irish hero. Brother of CIAN and uncle of the hero

LUGH, Gavida fostered his nephew until he was

old enough to meet his fate as the killer of his

monstrous grandfather BALOR of the Evil Eye.

Sometimes this figure is said to be identical to

the SMITH god GOIBNIU.

Gavrinis (Gavr’inis) Breton mythological

site. In the center of a small harbor off the coast

of Morbihan in southern Brittany is an island

upon which the fabulously engraved ritual

chamber of Gavrinis is found. Far predating the

Celts, the CAVE is linked by its SPIRAL iconogra-

phy—deeply incised carvings decorating more

than a score of enormous granite uprights—to

Ireland’s BRÚ NA BÓINNE and by its megalithic

rock architecture to Britain’s STONEHENGE.

Although it is not possible to know for what pur-

pose they were intended, such monuments are

typically oriented toward some astronomical

point; in the case of Gavrinis, the winter SOLSTICE

sunrise, toward which it is oriented precisely.

Gavrinis 207

Some have theorized that the rising SUN, as it

begins its rebirth toward summer on that day,

may have been thought to revivify the bones

placed within, of which traces have been found.

Like other monuments of the MEGALITHIC

CIVILIZATION, Gavrinis was probably known by

the local Celtic peoples and may have been a rit-

ual site for them, some 3,000 years after it was

built. Other Breton megalithic sites appear in

folklore as the place of

OTHERWORLD happen-

ings, so as was the case in Ireland, superstitious

local lore may have protected such monuments

long after their meaning was forgotten.

Source: Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy-Faith in

Celtic Countries. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe

Humanities Press, 1911, pp. 409 ff.

Gawain (Gawain of Orkney, Gawayne, Gavin,

Gauvain, Gwalchmei) Arthurian hero. Gawain

is one of the best known of the knights of the

ROUND TABLE who served the great king

ARTHUR. He was Arthur’s nephew, son of his

half-sister MORGAUSE and king LOT of Orkney,

and was one of Arthur’s first supporters.

Hero of a famous early English romance, Sir

Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1370 C.E.) by

“the Pearl Poet,” which like other Arthurian lit-

erature draws heavily on Celtic themes, Gawain

was challenged by a monstrous Green Knight.

The hero fought fiercely and beheaded the

stranger, but the Green Knight returned for the

combat exactly one year later. Meanwhile, the

wife of his host Bercilak had attempted three

times to seduce the chaste Gawain, with no suc-

cess save that she left her girdle with him.

Inexplicably, instead of returning the incriminat-

ing piece of underwear, Gawain hid it.

When the beheaded and reheaded giant

Green Knight reappeared, he struck three times

at Gawain, the third one a crippling wound as

retaliation for hiding the girdle. Several Celtic

themes are found in the romance, especially

beheading (see HEAD) and triplicity (see THREE).

Some scholars have interpreted Gawain as a late

version of the Celtic SMITH god GOIBNIU, the

Green Knight may be a literary counterpart to

the British folkloric figure, the GREENMAN.

Gawain is also known from the tale of RAG-

NELL, a woman who had been bewitched so that

she appeared ominously ugly. Beneath that terri-

fying exterior, however, Ragnell was a pure spirit

who gained Gawain’s love. Upon their marriage,

she confided her secret to him, telling him that

she could only appear as a young maiden for part

of each day. Did he prefer, she asked, that she be

a beautiful woman in the daytime, when his

friends could admire her, or at night, when he

could enjoy her charms? Gawain wisely offered

the choice back to her, whereupon she revealed

the solution to the riddle, “What do women

want?,” which he had been charged with answer-

ing. Women, she told him, want to be given the

chance to choose their own life. The spell that

held her captive was then broken, she became a

beautiful young woman again, and Ragnell and

Gawain lived happily together thereafter.

Source: Turner, R. C. “Boggarts, Bogles and Sir

Gawain and the Green Knight: Lindow Man

and the Oral Tradition.” In Stead, I. M., J. B.

Bourke, and Don Brothwell. The Lindow Man:

The Body in the Bog. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell

University Press, 1986, pp. 170–176.

Geali Dianvir Irish hero. He was the eldest

son of the king of the FIR BOLG, Irish invaders

who may be mythological memories of early

Celtic arrivals; his people were defeated by

BALOR, king of the evil FOMORIANS, who simi-

larly may reflect historical indigenous peoples.

After the battle, the defeated Fir Bolg sailed

away from Ireland, returning to the mysterious

land of Gallowna, where they attempted to

recoup their strength.

From Gallowna, Geali Dianvir was sent back

to repair the damage to his people’s reputation

that Balor had dealt. When he arrived in Bantry,

in western Co. Cork in the southwestern

PROVINCE of MUNSTER, Geali Dianvir found the

208 Gawain

Formorian queen surrounded by Balor’s men,

who every night applied venom to their swords

so that they were unbeatable in battle. The

venom was obtained from a WELL into which the

warriors plunged their weapons; the Fir Bolg

hero decided to eliminate their advantage by

turning it from poison to clear water. To do this,

he poured 20 measures of the MILK of the magi-

cal COW of abundance, the GLAS GHAIBHLEANN,

into the well. The Fir Bolg hero was then able to

gain the advantage over Balor’s men and drive

them to the outer reaches of the land.

Source: Curtin, Jeremiah. Hero-Tales of Ireland.

New York: Benjamin Blom, 1894, p. 298.

Gebann Irish god. This obscure god is known

only as the father of the beautiful goddess

CLÍDNA and as the chief DRUID of the sea god,

MANANNÁN MAC LIR.

Gebrinius Continental Celtic god. Identified

by the Romans with their warrior divinity MARS,

this god appears in several inscriptions in lands

inhabited both by Celts and by Germans, so it is

unclear which culture gave rise to him.

geis (geas, geiss, ges; pl., geasa, gessa) Irish ritual

vow. Magical vows or pledges were often

required of kings and other heroes in Irish

literature, apparently reflecting a real religious

custom. In some cases, the reason for the geis is

given, as when the king of TARA, CONAIRE, is

instructed not to eat the flesh of birds, because

his mother had been enchanted into that form at

one point, making him kin to the birds. But

more often the geasa seem frivolous, as with

Conaire’s vow not to ride around Tara with his

right shoulder to the sea, nor to let THREE RED

horsemen ride past him to the hostel of a red

man, nor to be away from Tara more than eight

consecutive nights.

Sometimes geasa are extraordinarily compli-

cated, even exaggerated, as with DIARMAIT’s vow

never to refuse a woman who came to him nei-

ther in the day nor at night, neither on horseback

nor on foot, neither clothed nor naked. Comic as

they may seem, the geasa were deeply serious, so

much so that breaking such a vow meant death.

Geasa were not chosen by the man making the

vow—for it was invariably a man—but were

imposed by DRUIDS or by women, the latter often

substituting for the goddess of

SOVEREIGNTY.

Kings were especially subject to sacred geasa,

which provided a mechanism to evaluate their

integrity (see KINGSHIP). The land’s FERTILITY

depended upon the king’s righteousness; thus a

king who broke his geasa as Conaire did caused

privation when the land became sterile. Heroes

too were pledged to avoid taboo places, people,

and foods, or to satisfy certain peculiar demands,

their strength and even continued life depending

upon their performance. Geasa are wound into the

plot of many ancient Celtic legends and romances.

Sources: Dillon, Myles. There Was a King in Ireland:

Five Tales from Oral Tradition. Texas Folklore

Society. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971,

p. 21; Joyce, P. W. Ancient Celtic Romances.

London: Parkgate Books, 1997, pp. 433–434.

Gelorwydd Welsh hero. This obscure figure

is named in some texts as a warrior who bathed

the dying on battlefields with his own blood,

bringing them great peace.

generosity Cosmological concept. An ancient

Celtic king faced many requirements or sacred

vows (see GEIS), but the most important was gen-

erosity. An ungenerous king, such as the half-

FOMORIAN BRES turned out to be, would be

driven from his throne by SATIRES and might

even die miserably in punishment for his greed

and stinginess. The traditional expectation of

royal generosity was translated in Celtic lands

into a general requirement of hospitality, espe-

cially to strangers. In post-Celtic times, belief

that the FAIRIES would punish the ungenerous

kept alive the priority given to this value.

generosity 209

genius cucullatus (pl., genii cucullati) Conti-

nental and British Celtic god(s). Named for a

hood (in Latin, cucullus) attached to a cloak,

these “hooded spirits” are found across Celtic

lands on the Continent and in Britain; in the

former, they appear singularly, while in Britain

the cucullati are invariably triplets. Although

their exact function and meaning is not estab-

lished, their form suggests that they were spirits

of FERTILITY, for they look like a group of small

phalluses; in some sculptures, indeed, removing

the hood reveals not the head of a man but that

of a phallus.

In Britain the genii cucullati were depicted as

DWARFS holding EGGS, further emphasizing their

connection to fertility. The distribution pattern

of these sculptures is identical to that of the

mother goddesses called the DEAE MATRES, with

whom they often appear; sometimes the goddess

they accompany is named CUDA.

genius loci (pl., genii locii) Continental Celtic

and British god(s). This Latin phrase, meaning

“spirit of the place,” refers to the divinities that

embody and are embodied within special

natural places: mountains, WELLS, waterfalls,

even prominent glacial boulders. The Celts saw

NATURE as filled with divinity, each god or

goddess being connected with a specific site; for

this reason, few divine names are found in the

Celtic world more than once.

RIVERS and MOUN-

TAINS tended to be seen as goddesses; ancient

TREES and some watercourses as gods.

Such place-deities had multiple functions,

guiding

FERTILITY, prosperity, and death within

their region. With Roman settlement, names of

the invading gods were affixed to the native

ones—or, in some cases, the now-unnamed

native divinity was subsumed into the Roman

god (see INTERPRETATIO ROMANA). APOLLO and

MINERVA and MERCURY stood in for dozens, even

hundreds, of specific place-identified Celtic

nature gods and goddesses. Because altars to

unnamed deities of place were simply carved with

“genius loci,” many specific names have been lost.

Such altars typically bore emblems of abundance

and fertility like the CORNUCOPIA, the turret

crown, and the PATERA or offering plate.

Sources: Green, Miranda. Symbol and Image in

Celtic Religious Art. London: Routledge, 1989,

p. 99; Ross, Anne. Pagan Celtic Britain: Studies

in Iconography and Tradition. London: Routledge

& Kegan Paul, 1967, p. 30.

Gentle Annie (Gentle Annis) Scottish folk-

loric figure. A supernatural HAG with blue-black

skin, Gentle Annie was the weather spirit who

brought raw winds down Cromarthy Firth in

Scotland. Her name, which is clearly a flattering

and mollifying one, has been connected to the

ancient goddess name ANU; her appearance and

personality resemble the CAILLEACH.

gentry See FAIRY.

Geodruisge Irish folkloric figure. This GIANT

from Co. Mayo had his palace on Downpatrick

Head, locally called Dún Geodruisge. He stole

CATTLE from a powerful WITCH who cursed him,

so that his palace broke off from the mainland,

sending the thieving giant out to sea.

George See ST. GEORGE.

Gereint (Keraint, Gereint fab Erbin) Welsh

hero. With his wife ENID, this Welsh hero is

described as presenting the perfect model of the

loving couple. Yet their legend is convoluted at

best and their relationship hardly seems ideal.

Described as cousin to king ARTHUR, Gereint

won Enid’s hand through service to her kingly

father. After their marriage, he devoted himself

to leisurely pursuits with her, neglecting his

kingdom until both his subjects and Enid herself

began to complain. Rather than listening to the

criticism, Gereint punished Enid cruelly for

repeating comments about his unworthiness to

210 genius cucullatus

rule, even suspecting that her actions were an

indication that she had been unfaithful.

Gereint then set out to prove the rumors

wrong, almost dying in an attempt to prove his

manly strength. He dragged Enid along,

demanding that she remain completely silent.

She did not, for she kept seeing disasters on the

horizon; he ignored her, causing himself great

trouble. Finally, however, they came to the castle

of OWEIN. There, ignoring not only Enid’s warn-

ings but those of his host, he attempted to win at

an enchanted game, held in a court surrounded

by severed HEADS. Approaching a maiden sitting

within the court, Gereint was assaulted by her

protector, a fierce knight. In the ensuing fight,

Gereint proved himself, killing the knight and

ending the violent games forever. Thereafter, he

reconciled with his loyal wife Enid.

Geróid Iarla (Gerald, Earl of Desmond; the

Red Earl) Irish hero. When Maurice, the Earl

of Desmond in southwestern MUNSTER, saw the

beautiful fairy queen ÁINE swimming in the form

of a SWAN at the mouth of the River Comóg that

flows into enchanted LOUGH GUR, he fell hope-

lessly in love with her. The only way to claim

such a SWAN MAIDEN was to steal her cloak, which

Maurice did. Thus did Áine come to live with

him and to bear their child, the next earl, Geróid.

Maintaining a relationship with a FAIRY

BRIDE, however, meant living with the prohibi-

tions and taboos she set down. Áine required

that Maurice never show surprise at anything

their son might do, but the earl forgot himself

when, at a banquet, Geróid leaped into a bottle

and out again. The boy and his mother immedi-

ately disappeared into the LAKE—or perhaps

Geróid transformed himself into the GOOSE that

swam by at that moment. Every seven years on a

moonlit night, Geróid rides forth from Lough

Gur on a white HORSE.

Source: Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy-Faith in

Celtic Countries. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe

Humanities Press, 1911, p. 79.

ghost Folkloric figure. Because the OTHER-

WORLD and the land of the dead blend together

in the Celtic mind, it is difficult to distinguish

the ghosts of dead humans from those dimin-

ished divinities called the FAIRIES. Often the two

groups of beings were described as frequenting

the same magical parts of the landscape (BOGS,

LAKES, and ISLANDS); they had roughly the same

habits of life; and ghosts, like fairies, could take

humans away with them to the Otherworld.

Not all people became ghosts, but only those

who suffered an interruption of the normal

course of life, such as a young mother who died

in childbirth and was concerned for the safety of

her child; such an unsettled soul could come back

to haunt house and family. Elders who died after

a full life sometimes returned as well, however,

taking a pipe by the fireside and otherwise keep-

ing up the activities of a long settled life; this

seems to be stirred more by habit than by desire

to affect the lives of the living.

Those who died violent deaths could some-

times be seen haunting the location of their

demise, as was the case when a headless ghost

appeared in a small west Mayo town; such ghosts

could be sent away with holy water or blessed

candles. Ghosts appeared not only singly but en

masse, as when the entire crew of a ship that

went down at sea appeared just before another

storm to warn their erstwhile fellows. Such gen-

tle ghosts were the exception; more commonly,

ghosts attempted to lure the living into the grave

with them.

Sources: Jones, T. Gwynn. Welsh Folklore and Folk-

Custom. London: Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1930,

pp. 32–50; Ó Catháin, Séamus, and Patrick

O’Flanagan. The Living Landscape: Kilgallian,

Erris, County Mayo. Dublin: Comhairle

Bhéaloideas Éireann, 1975, pp. 102, 119.

Gialla Deacair (Gilla Dacker) See ABARTA.

giant (giantess) Folkloric figure. The fact that

huge rocks, bigger than anything that could be

giant 211

readily moved by humans, were deposited across

the islands of Ireland and Britain by retreating

glaciers meant that the landscape suggested

huge beings powerful enough to build the other

landscape features. Common tales tell of gigan-

tic women who drop boulders from their aprons

and of feuding giants who throw the boulders at

each other.

Giant figures of men and animals are found

carved into the chalk hills of southern England;

sites like the

LONG MAN of Wilmington and the

CERNE ABBAS GIANT in Dorset that show large

male figures are locally said to be the outlines

drawn around giants killed on the hillsides. The

date of origin of these figures is unknown, so it

is difficult to say whether this represents a sur-

vival of a Celtic belief. Other English folklore

similarly refers to giants who had to be slain in

order to make the countryside safe for settle-

ment; the hero Tom Hickathrift of the Norfolk

marshes was said to have killed the Giant of

Smeeth. Although most giants were threatening

to humans, some of the race had positive quali-

ties; Jack o’ Legs from Herefordshire was a

ROBIN HOOD character who redistributed the

wealth of the local rich to the area’s poor.

In Scotland the Great Cave (or Cave of

Raitts) in Inverness was said to have been built

by a giantess who carved the 70-foot cavern

from the hillside while her companion giants

quarried the stone used to prop up the cave’s

sides. Such landscape-forming legends are fre-

quent in Scotland, where we find the story of

giants who sought to marry the daughters of a

human knight; the girls were saved by men who

fought with a giant HAG who had the power to

turn them to stone. Her curses could be lifted

and the petrified returned to life, however, with

the water from a WELL on the Island of the Big

Women, a mythical land that appears in many

Scottish folktales, apparently a specifically giant-

occupied part of the OTHERWORLD.

In Wales we find the giantess Mol Walbee,

who found a pebble in her shoe and tossed it to

the ground, where it still stands as a huge boul-

der in a churchyard. She seems to be a form of

the pre-Celtic CAILLEACH, credited throughout

the islands as the creator of landscapes. A woman

of gigantic proportions, the Cailleach formed

mountains whenever she let slip pebbles from

her apron. Not all earth-forming giants were

female, however; in Cornwall there are stories of

hurling matches between groups of male giants,

their thrown pebbles forming mountains. In

Ireland too we find the

GIANT’S CAUSEWAY, a

monumental series of basalt slabs that form what

seem to be steps out to sea, said to be the cre-

ation of giant carvers.

The connection of giants with the formation

of the landscape, as well as texts that describe

them as resident before human occupation in

various Celtic lands, suggests that they are recol-

lections of ancient divinities displaced by later

invaders or immigrants. Similarly, the naming of

prominent hills for such non-Celtic divinities as

the Cailleach suggests that she and her giant kin

were honored by pre-Celtic people whose reli-

gious visions were accommodated and absorbed

by the Celts.

Invaders often describe the divinities of the

conquered as monstrous, and giants like the

FOMORIANS of Ireland were said to occupy lands

desired by historical people, who had to elimi-

nate them in order to gain access to the land’s

wealth. In his History of the Kings of Britain,

Geoffrey of Monmouth said that the first king of

Britain (then called Albion), Brutus, arrived to

find only a few inhabitants, all of them giants,

including the monstrous GOG, who was defeated

by the heroic wrestler Corineus; an image of the

battle can still be seen in London’s Guildhall,

where the figures are inaccurately named Gog

and Magog.

The most famous literary vestige of this

Celtic folkloric tradition is Jonathan Swift’s

Gulliver’s Travels, in which the eponymous hero

finds himself variously a giant among tiny people

and a mite among giants.

Sources: Briggs, Katherine M., and Ruth L.

Tongue. Folktales of Britain. London: Routledge

& Kegan Paul, 1965, pp. 68 ff; Campbell, J. F.

212 giant

Popular Tales of the West Highlands. Vol. III.

Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1862, pp.

1 ff; Curran, Bob. Complete Guide to Celtic

Mythology. Belfast: Appletree, 2000, pp. 94 ff;

Dillon, Myles. Ther

e Was a King in Ireland: Five

Tales from Oral Tradition. T

exas Folklore Society.

Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971, p. 39;

Grinsell, Leslie V

. Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in

Britain. London: David & Charles, 1976, p. 27;

MacKenzie, Donald A. Scottish Folk-Lore and

Folk Life: Studies in Race, Cultur

e and Tradition.

Glasgow: Blackie & Sons, Ltd., 1935, pp.

99–117; McKay, John G. More W

est Highland

Tales. Vol. 2. Scottish Anthropological and

Folklore Society. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd,

1969, p. 28; Spence, Lewis. The Minor Traditions

of British Mythology. New York: Benjamin Blom,

Inc., 1972, p. 71.

Giant’s Causeway Irish mythological site.

One of the great natural wonders of the

PROVINCE of ULSTER is a strangely shaped mass

of basalt rocks near Portrush, Co. Coleraine.

Folklore claims that FINN MCCOOL, the dimin-

ished version of the great mythological hero

FIONN MAC CUMHAILL, killed the Scottish GIANT

who built the step-shaped rocks as a first step in

his invasion of Ireland.

Giants’ Dance British mythological site. This

name is given to STONEHENGE in the geographi-

cal commentary of Geoffrey of Monmouth in

1136 C.E. According to many legends, STONE

CIRCLES were formed when WITCHES or other

supernatural creatures danced on a Christian

holiday (often Sunday) and were turned to stone

for such frivolity; the enormity of the trilithons

of Stonehenge may have given rise to the idea

that the petrified beings were giants.

Sources: Grinsell, Leslie V. Folklore of Prehistoric

Sites in Britain. London: David & Charles,

1976, p. 28; Spence, Lewis. The Minor

Traditions of British Mythology. New Y

ork:

Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1972, p. 84.

Gile (Gilla) Irish heroine or goddess. The

LAKE beside the small and picturesque western

Irish city of Sligo, Lough Gill, is named for this

princess or diminished goddess, daughter of an

otherwise unknown father named Romra. Gile

was bathing in the waters of a spring when

Omra, apparently her lover, approached. Unable

to bear his looking upon her nakedness, Gile

ducked her head under the water and acciden-

tally drowned.

Her foster mother, finding the girl’s body,

began to weep so vigorously that the spring and

her tears joined to form the “vast and stormy

lake,” as the place-name poetry, the DINDSHEN-

CHAS, describes Lough Gill. Romra and Omra

then fell into battle, each killing the other; bur-

ial CAIRNS are said to have been erected over

them, although the text is unclear as to whether

those are the renowned ones atop nearby Carns

Hill. Given that the names of father and lover

differ only by one letter, they may be connected

figures or TWINS. Like much of Ireland’s place-

name poetry, the story of Lough Gill seems a

fragmentary myth dislodged from its explana-

tory context.

Source: Gwynn, Edward. The Metrical Dindshenchas.

Royal Irish Academy, Todd Lecture Series.

Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, and Co., Ltd.,

1906–1924, p. 18.

Gilfaethwy (Gilvaethwy) Welsh hero. Violent

brother of the Welsh poet-hero GWYDION and

son of the mother goddess DÔN, Gilfaethwy con-

ceived a lust for the virgin GOEWIN who served his

uncle, king MATH, as ceremonial footholder.

According to the Welsh compilation of mythol-

ogy, the MABINOGION, Goewin did not respond to

Gilfaethwy’s desire. Refusing to attend to her

refusal, he assaulted and raped Goewin. In pun-

ishment Gilfaethwy was turned into a DEER, PIG,

and WOLF, consecutively.

Gillagréine (Giolla Gréine) Irish goddess or

heroine. Although relatively obscure, this ancient

Gillagréine 213