Episode 3: The Boyhood of Fionn Part 1

The Fenian cycle starts here….

We dip a toe into the vast lake of Irish Mythology with the beginnings of the Fenian cycle, a King called Conn, a warrior called Cumhaill and a boy called Fionn.

Set in an untamed Ireland where clans war against each other, invaders threaten from across the sea and the threatening and alluring presence of the Sídhe is never far away.

This is the very start of the Fenian Cycle, one of the vast corpuses of Irish Mythology, and here we get introduced to characters who appear in a great many more tales to come.

Featured Folklorist: Lady Augusta Gregory

Lady Augusta Gregory

“The Nationalist playwright” – Lady Gregory and the translations of the Ulster and Fenian Cycle

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And now the continuation….

Episode 4: The Boyhood of Fionn Part 2

This episode continues the podcast’s look into the beginnings of the Fenian cycle. There’s a grisly plot item, a definitive answer to the question of…

Selected Sources

• Gods and Fighting men – Lady Augusta Gregory at Sacredtexts.org
• The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn at Mary Jones
• Silva Gadelca – Translated by Standish O’Grady at archive.org
• Oral and Literary Fenian Tales – Alan Bruford at Jstor
• Duanaire Finn = The Book of the lays of Fionn : Part III – Gerard Murphy at archive.org
• Irish Faerie Tales – James Stephens
  

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