Lí Ban

A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology | 2004 | 700+ words | Copyright

Lí Ban
1. Liban, Liaban, Libane [paragon of women]. Otherworldly beauty, daughter of Áed Abrat (or Eochaid (5)), sister of Fand, wife of Labraid Luathlám ar Claideb [swift sword-hand] of Mag Mell [Pleasant Plain] who comes in a green mantle as her husband's emissary in Serglige Con Culainn [The Wasting Sickness of Cúchulainn]. Lí Ban (2) may be based on her.

2. Sanctified mermaid of Lough Neagh, perhaps identical with Lí Ban (1). According to the Annals of the Four Masters, she was the daughter of an Eochaid, who none the less lived in the fresh waters of Lough Neagh. She was baptized by St Comgall, Bishop of Bangor, in the 6th century and thus came to be known as St Muirgen [sea-born]. In a variant text she was first a woman who was transformed into a salmon except for her head. Folk motifs: F420.5.1; V229.2.12.

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JAMES MacKILLOP. "Lí Ban." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JAMES MacKILLOP. "Lí Ban." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-LBan.html

JAMES MacKILLOP. "Lí Ban." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-LBan.html

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