- Bodb Derg
In
Irish mythology , Bodb Derg (Old Irish: IPA|/ˈboðβ ˈdʲeɾg/ Bodb-the-Red; Middle and Modern Irish Bodhbh Dearg IPA|/ˈboːβ ˈdʲaɾəg/) was a son ofEochaid Garb . ["Lebor Gabála Érenn ", edited by R. A. Stewart Macalister. 1941. Irish Texts Society, Dublin. Part IV, § VII, ¶316 (p.131).] or theDagda ,"The Children of Lir". P.W. Joyce (translator). 1879. "Old Irish Romances." C. Kegan Paul & Co.] and the Dagda's successor as King of theTuatha Dé Danann .Aengus asks for his brother Bodb's help in finding the woman of his dreams in "Aislinge Óenguso" (the Dream of Aengus). At the time, Bodb is king of the "síde " ofMunster . Bodb successfully identifies the woman asCaer Ibormeith . ["The Dream of Óengus". Jeffrey Gantz (translator). 1982. "Early Irish Myths and Sagas." Penguin. The [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G300001/index.html Irish text] is available at the Corpus of Electronic Texts.]Following the Tuatha Dé Danann's defeat in the battle of
Tailtiu , Bodb is elected king of the Tuatha Dé Danann in the "Children of Lir", just as the Tuatha Dé are going underground to dwell in the "síde ". He subsequently fathered many deities. Bodb's election is recognised by all of his rivals, save onlyLir , who refuses him homage. Bodb, however, counsels his followers to forbear from punishing Lir; later, Bodb will successively offer two of his own daughters in marriage to Lir to placate him. Both marriages, however, end unhappily.As king of the Munster "síde", Bodb Sída ar Femen ('of the Mound on Femen') plays a role in an important prefatory tale to "
Táin Bó Cuailnge ," for it is his swineherd who quarrels with that of the king of the Connacht "síde"; the swineherds are later swallowed and reborn as the magical bullsDonn Cuailnge and Finnbennach, of which the former was the object of the great cattle-raid. ["De Chopur in dá Muccida", the "Quarrel of the Two Swineherds". The [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G800011E/text003.html Irish text] is available at the Corpus of Electronic Texts. An English translation was included in Thomas Kinsella's "The Tain" (Oxford Paperbacks, 1970), ISBN 0-19-281090-1.]In one Fenian tale, Bodb leads the Tuatha Dé Danann to the aid of the
Fianna at theBattle of Ventry . ["Cath Finntrágha", the "Battle of Ventry". The [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G303002/index.html Irish text] is available at the Corpus of Electronic Texts.]The name Bodb could be a cognate of "bádhbh"Fact|date=February 2007 as it has a similar pronunciation; Bodb Derg would then mean "Red Crow". Given the fluidity of Old Irish scribal practice, the name of the female mythological character
Badb was occasionally spelled Bodb as well. [An example of this occurs in the Third Redaction of "Lebor Gabála Érenn, op. cit.", Part IV, § VII, ¶368 (p.188).]References
External links
* [http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/danann.html#BodbDerg Bodb Derg/Tuatha Dé Danann]
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