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The Birth of Bran – Irish Fairy Tale

The Birth of Bran is an Irish folk tale published and by James Stephens in his collection Irish Fairy Tale.

Irish folk tales are generally Celtic tales, meant to teach moral lessons and inspire. It has been reckoned that they generated from real facts or real people.

The plot of James Stephens collected tales is set in medieval Ireland and it is mainly built around the Fianna - semi-independent warrior bands in Irish mythology – and their head leader, Fionn mac Uail.

What looks more like an Animal Tales Category in ATU Classification is actually a combination of The Quest for the Bride and Supernatural Adversaries. Why? Because we have a missing wife and the interference of fairies.

The initial situation presents us in CHAPTER I the characters of the tale: Fergus Fionnliath, a fierce dog hater, Fionn - “the son of Uail” and a “great captain”, a lover of dogs, Muirne - Fionn’s mother, Tuirne - his ever-so-beautiful aunt and Iollan Eachtach – “an Ulster gentleman”, who ultimately conquered beautiful Tuirne’s heart. Fionn made Iollan promise that if Tuirne were ever o be unhappy, he should return her.There are also mentioned Caelte mac Ronan, Goll mac Morna, and Lugaidh , Tuirne’s pretendeds, the last one having given her away at the alter, then wrote the poem beginning with "There is no more light in the sky--",poem which was soon learnt by hear by hundreds of people.

CHAPTER II begins by presenting Iollan’s past, this is where the intrigue really takes over. Before having fallen for Turne, he had been in love with Uct Dealv (Fair Breast), a fairy of Faery, “the Land of Ever Young”. They had been “sweethearts” for years, although her sister of Shi’ tried to prove her otherwise: “they (people) feel other things”. One day her sister’s predictions came true, for Iollan never returned.

This fairy tale takes double function of Propp’s classification and switches turns at this point, because in Faery there is an ABSENTATION, whereas in the world of men we have the initial situation. We could regard Uct Dealv’s sister’s prevention as an INTERDICTION. The VIOLATION of INTERDICTION come forward when the fairy doesn’t listen to her sister. Of course when the fairy finds out why Iollan doesn’t return, we can speak of RECONNAISSANCE “when Uct Dealv heard that news her heart ceased to beat for a moment, and she closed her eyes.”

This is the moment when Uac Dealv becomes jealous and seeks revenge, turning into the VILLAIN, although we could have named the Iollan the same so far. Another interesting switch of roles, isn’t it?

We find ourselves at the DELIVERY stage now, when Uac Dealv changes herself into Iollan’s female runner – message carrier - who pretends to “inform” him about captain Fionn’s visit. Having deceived Iollan with this false information, she pretends to also have a message for his wife, whom she then puts a spell on, changing her into a hound. This is the moment of ABSENTATION in the men world,combined with TRICKERY, COMPLICITY and VILLAINY at the same time.

In CHAPTER III, the mean vengeful fairy takes the hound to well-known and cruel the dog hater, Fergus Fionnliath, in hope of having somebody else get rid of the dog. Fergus Fionnliath even paid his servants to chase away or kill dogs, so the fairy knew that the hound never stood a chance. She also deceived Fergus, lying to him that captain Fionn had sent him the dog to be cared for until he himself comes for her. We assist now at a duplication of Propp’s functions of with TRICKERY, COMPLICITY and VILLAINY.

In CHAPTER IV the dog hater orders his servant to take good care of the hound, that is shivering of fear. In Fergus’s case, we now assist at an inner STRUGGLE, he eventually likes the dog, the tables turn and orders his men to stop cruelty to dogs, in fear of not harming “the Queen of Creatures, the Pulse of his Heart, and the Apple of his Eye” as he eventually called the hound.
CHAPTER V returns us to the previous story, where Fionn found out about his aunt’s disappearance and ordered Iollan to answer for his deeds. Iollan now turns into the HERO proceeding to the QUEST and after passing the MEDIATION function, he decides to visit Uac Dealv once again and to counter-act (BEGINNING OF THE COUNTER-ACTION and DEPARTURE).

As Iollan enters the world of fairies, it is his turn to face the STRUGGLE, the meeting with his previous sweetheart, who has him promise to keep her as his sweetheart “until the end of life and time”(the DIFFICULT TASK function) in return for Tuirne’s appearance and initial shape. Iollan brings the SOLLUTION to the task, by accepting the deal: “ I give that pledge”. We may also regard this as the PUNISHMENT of IOLLAN the VILLAIN, having to sacrifice the love he bares for Tuirne in redeeming his LACKING of honour towards Uac Dealv.

Uac Dealv returns to the world of men to release Tuirne of her spell. But surprise! The hound had two whelps, and, unfortunately for them, the spell couldn’t be broken, they remained as hounds (maybe Tourine’s PUNISHMENT for staling the fairy’s sweetheart) and were send to Fionn. One of them was Bran, the other was Sceo’lan. It is only now that we are given the full understanding of the title.

Tuirne eventually marries Lugaidh, who again wrote a poem that was to be learnt by heart by everybody, beginning with "Lovely the day. Dear is the eye of the dawn--"

The tale finishes with Fionn having sent Fergus a hound pup that has become “the Star of Fortune and the very Pulse of his Heart”, for Fergus had fallen to bed with blighted affection for a year.

This folk tale plays with functions, it is intriguing to the reader and the moral is easy to depict: don’t play with someone else’s heart, you may lose! Be it a person or an animal! Every soul feels, every bad deed is punished, even the one made unwillingly (like in Turine’s case)!

Gyorfi (Hotea) Erica - Gabriela