Morgan le Fay

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Morgan le Fay

Sister of King Arthur and wife of King Urien of Gore. Arthur gave into her keeping the scabbard of his sword Excalibur, but she gave it to Sir Accolon whom she loved and had a forged scabbard made. Arthur, however, recovered the real sheath, but was again deceived by her.

Morgan le Fay seems to have derived from the Celtic deities Morrigan, Macha, and Modron (a divine mother). She figured as a queen of the Land of Faerie and as such appears in French and Italian romance. She first appeared in the Arthurian legends in Geiffrey of Manmouth's twelfth-century volume, Vita Merlini. It was she who, on one occasion, threw Excalibur into a lake. She usually presented her favorites with a ring and retained them by her side as did Venus in Tannhäuser. Her myth is a parallel of that of Eos and Tithonus and is possibly derived from a sun and dawn myth.

Sources:

Lacy, J. Lacy, ed. The Arturian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, 1986.

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