The Birth of Bran
"The Birth of Bran" is a tale from the Fenian cycle of Irish mythology, recounting the origins of Fionn mac Cumhaill's beloved hounds, Bran and Sceólan. Central to the story is Fionn, a powerful chieftain leading the Fianna, a confederation of Celtic clans. The narrative begins with Fionn's aunt, Tuiren, who is taken by Iollan Eachtach, a man from Ulster, under a condition imposed by Fionn to ensure Tuiren's happiness. After being abducted by Uct Dealv, a fairy woman seeking revenge, Tuiren is transformed into a hound, leading to significant transformations for several characters, notably Fergus Fionnliath, who grows to love the hound.
The story explores themes of transformation and loyalty, highlighting how relationships between humans and animals transcend mere utility. These transformations serve as both punishment and personal growth, illustrating the complexity of love and fidelity. Ultimately, Tuiren regains her human form and returns to the Fianna, bringing with her the pups, Bran and Sceólan, who play vital roles in future tales. The tale underscores the interconnectedness of character dynamics and reflects broader themes prevalent in Celtic lore.
The Birth of Bran
Author: James Stephens
Time Period: 999 BCE–1 BCE; 1 CE–500 CE
Country or Culture: Ireland
Genre: Folktale
PLOT SUMMARY
This tale from the vast and ancient Fenian cycle describes the birth of Fionn mac Cumhaill’s beloved hounds. Fionn is a powerful chieftain who rules over the Fianna, a federation of Celtic clans.
Fionn’s mother and aunt, Muirne and Tuiren (Uirne), pay him a visit. Tuiren’s beauty inspires such admiration in the men of the Fianna that they long only to gaze upon her. Despite their adoration, Fionn’s aunt agrees to marry Iollan Eachtach, a man from neighboring Ulster. Before Fionn will consent to this match, though, he makes the Ulsterman agree to a single condition: if ever Tuiren is unhappy, then Iollan must send her back to the Fianna or lose his life. Tuiren is given away by one of Fionn’s clansmen, Lugaidh, who is also in love with her.
Iollan takes Tuiren to live among his people in Ulster. Iollan’s former lover, Uct Dealv, learns of his marriage. Uct Dealv is one of the Shí, or fairy people. Enraged by Iollan’s betrayal, she magically transforms herself to look like one of Fionn’s messengers. Thus disguised, the Shí woman approaches Iollan claiming to bear a message for Tuiren.
Leading Tuiren away from Ulster, Uct Dealv strikes her with a magic hazel stick. Tuiren assumes the form of a terrified, quivering hound. The Shí woman fastens a chain around the dog’s neck and drags her westward. As they travel, Uct Dealv chastises Tuiren for being a usurper and sweetheart thief, and promises to make miserable her remaining days by taking her to Fergus Fionnliath, a man notorious for his hatred of all dogs.
Once at his doorstep, Uct Dealv declares that the pathetic hound belongs to Fionn, who demands that Fergus take care of the dog until the Fianna chief arrives to reclaim her. Fergus orders his servant to comfort the shivering hound. The servant fails, and Fergus, who fears Fionn’s wrath should he discover his dog unhappy and ill, himself takes charge of the poor beast. Fergus hugs and kisses the hound to stop her shivering, and man and dog grow to love one another.
Eventually, Fionn learns that his aunt no longer resides in Ulster. He demands her return or Iollan’s head. The Ulsterman, suspecting that his former lover had a hand in his bride’s disappearance, confronts Uct Dealv. She admits to abducting Tuiren and agrees to return her to Fionn only if Iollan consents to be her lover. He accepts and Tuiren is transformed back into her womanly form. She returns to the Fianna with the pups born to her when she was a hound, Bran and Sceólan, and marries Lugaidh, her true love.
Fergus Fionnliath, heartsick at the loss of his beloved canine companion, spends the next year in bed. Fionn’s gift of a new puppy restores him.
SIGNIFICANCE
James Stephens was an Irish writer from Dublin whose major published work appeared in the first half of the twentieth century. His books were notable for their deep immersion in Irish folklore and mythology. Some, such as The Crock of Gold (1912), synthesized Irish themes and lore with contemporary life. Others, such as Irish Fairy Tales (1923), which includes “The Birth of Bran,” were retellings of well-known Irish stories, specifically the first half of the Fenian cycle of tales. Scottish and Manx versions of these stories also exist.
Stephens wrote during an era of intensified European and American interest in Irish culture, especially Irish language, music, literature, and drama. This renewed attention to native Irish arts grew out of wider exposure to the cause for Irish independence and people’s identification with Irish heritage. Many Irish writers, like Stephens, explored the relevance of Irish and, more broadly, Celtic interests to contemporary life.
“The Birth of Bran” exhibits the hallmarks of Stephens’s elliptical narrative style. He was renowned for writing stories that seemed to meander and stray from an expected plot, and this tale demonstrates this quality. For example, though the title refers to the birth of the legendary hound Bran, the heart of the story is the idea of transformation, both physical and emotional; Bran and Sceólan’s birth is only mentioned in passing.
Transformation is a persistent theme in Celtic lore and often serves as a punishment for mortals who offend the magical fairy people. Stephens evokes this tradition and elaborates on it in “The Birth of Bran.” While the Shí Uct Dealv magically transforms Fionn’s aunt Tuiren into a hound, Fergus Fionnliath’s hatred of dogs is transformed into love by the affection that develops between him and the queenly dog. In Stephens’s version of this myth, transformation results in both debasement as well as personal growth.
Stephens also uses this story to show that animals and people are bound by more than utility or codependence. Rather, as the relationship between Fionn, Bran, and Sceólan suggests, the affinity between them is familial and essential. Fergus Fionnliath’s change of heart toward the hound Tuiren dramatically emphasizes this point because the former dog-hater becomes ill when the queen changes back into a woman and leaves him.
Ultimately, Stephens uses the relationship between dogs and men to make a point about loyalty. The Ulsterman Iollan exhibits the changeable nature of the human heart when he turns his back on Uct Dealv to marry the beautiful Tuiren. Ironically, it is the mercurial and temperamental Shí who teaches the mortal about romantic constancy. In addition, it is out of loyalty to Fionn that Fergus comforts the quivering dog, and in so doing, he undergoes a profound change of heart.
The introduction of Bran and Sceólan to the larger narrative of Stephens’s Irish Fairy Tales marks a turning point in the plot. As indicated in “The Birth of Bran,” these hounds are loyal as dogs but are also as intelligent as human beings, and they play crucial roles in Fionn’s courtship of his bride Saeve and in the upbringing of their son, the poet Oisín.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bramsbäck, Birgit. James Stephens: A Literary and Bibliographical Study. 1959. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1977. Print.
Carrassi, Vito. The Irish Fairy Tale: A Narrative Tradition from the Middle Ages to Yeats and Stephens. Lanham: John Cabot UP, 2012. Print.
Martin, Augustine. James Stephens: A Critical Study. Totowa: Rowman, 1977. Print.
Reinhard, John R., and Vernam E. Hull. “Bran and Sceolang.” Speculum 11.1 (1936): 42–58. Print.
Richardson, H. D. “The Irish Wolf-Dog.” Irish Penny Journal 1.45 (1841): 353–55. Print.
Stephens, James. “The Birth of Bran.” Irish Fairy Tales. New York: Macmillan, 1923. 102–21. Print.
---. Introduction. The Return of the Hero. By Darrell Figgis. New York: Boni, 1930. ix–xv. Print.