#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Both the warrior-queen #Aoife and #Scathach had raised an army & were about to fight each other. Scathach didn't mention this to #CúChulainn, for the handsome youth had become dear to her, so she gave him a sleeping draught to make him slumber through the battle, as she believed Aoife too much for any man to defeat. Although the potion would have conquered the senses of anyone else, CúChulainn lay asleep for but an hour before stirring.
Source:https://emeraldisle.ie/the-trials-of-cuchulainn
#Celtic#Mythology: #Aoife was jealous of her fostersister #Aeb, who got #Lir as a husband before her, although #Aoife loved this king dearly. And then #Aeb gave birth to the lovely #ChildrenofLir while the jealous #Aoife was barren. #Aoife could not bring herself to kill her husband's children, such as she could not have with him because of her infertility. She transformed the #ChildrenofLir into beautiful swans and left them their melodious voices.
Enchanted by Bodb Derg into an air demon, #Aoife watched over the fate of the #ChildrenofLir from the shadows.
#Aoife transformed the Children of Lir into swans, cursing them to remain so for 900 years. Even the magic of her foster father Bodb Derg was not enough to undo the damage—although he turned his foster daughter into a demon of the air (in some versions, a crane) in retaliation for her action. But the #ChildrenOfLir were left as swans with human emotions and human voices to sing of their woes.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore #FairyTaleTuesday