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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2023
Though they seem to be more numerous in the older tales, Otherworld women are not alone in acting as intermediaries between the worlds; male supernatural figures also act in this capacity. Their modus operandi tend to vary, so for the sake of brevity I will confine my attention here to three major categories: those offering guidance to the hero of a tale, those asking him for help, and those confirming the sovereignty of a king.
We have already explored Manannán's prophecy regarding the birth of his own son, Mongán, and the coming of Christ. We have also looked at his description of the Otherworld. It is the latter, along with his injunction “[s] teadily let Bran row … you will reach [the Land of Women] before the setting of the sun” (Fossad air sin imrad Bran … ricfe [Tir inna mBan] re fuiniud ngrene), which I wish to examine here (Mac Mathúna, Immram 43 & 56). Initially, it might seem strange to think of Manannán's observation of the differences between his perception of the sea and Bran's as constituting guidance. However, taken together with his explanation of Otherworldly immortality and the above exhortation, such a reading becomes much more plausible.
As described above, Manannán tells Bran that what he (Bran) sees as a “clear sea” (muir nglan) is, to Manannán's eyes, a “flowery plain” (mag scothach [39 & 52]). The “speckled salmon” (ich bricc) leaping beside Bran's boat are actually, he says, “calves, they are lovely-coloured lambs” (loig, it uain co ndagdath [39 & 52]). He further says that Bran is actually sailing over the top of a golden-leaved wood, which has both flowers and fruit, and which does not decay (Fid co mblath ocus torad/fors-mbi fine firbolad,/ fid cen erchra[e] cen esbad/fors-fil du(i)lli co n-ordath [40 & 53]). Manannán immediately follows his description of the sea/plain with an explanation of why the people of the Otherworld are as comely and ageless as they are:
We do not expect lack of strength through
decay the sin has not reached us.
Bad the omen when the serpent came to
the father in his city,
it perverted him, moreover, in this world
so that there came about an ebbing which was not original.
Ni-frescam de mbeth
anguss, nin-taraill int
immarbuss.
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