BRAN, SON OF FEBAL

IRELAND

Bran was out walking one day when he was overwhelmed by the sound of music that was so sweet that he could not stay awake. When he woke up, he found a silver branch covered with white apple-blossom in his hand. He carried it back to his fort.

When all his people were gathered round him, a woman in strange costume suddenly appeared in front of him, singing a song about Emhain, the Island of Women: a place without want, winter, or grief, where the golden horses of Manannan cantered on the beach and games went on ceaselessly. She urged Bran to sail to that island and the silver branch leapt from his hand into hers.

The next day, Bran and his company set off in a fleet of curraghs, rowing far out across the sea. They met a warrior driving a chariot across the waves as if it had been the land. He told Bran that he was Manannan, son of Lir, and sang about the Island of Women, inviting Bran to visit.

On the way to Emhain, Bran’s curraghs passed the Island of Delight, but when they tried to hail the inhabitants, they could get no reply beyond pointing and laughter. Bran landed one of his men on the island, but he too started laughing.

Soon they reached the Island of Women, where they enjoyed all the pleasures of the island.

After they had been there for what seemed like a year, they decided it was time to return home; they pined for Ireland.

Bran approached the Irish coast at a place called Srub Bruin. People on the shore called out to him. When he told them his name, they said that no man of that name was alive, though they did have a very old story that told how a man named Bran, son of Febal, had sailed away to look for the Island of Women.

When one of Bran’s companions, Nechtan, heard this, he leapt out of his curragh and waded ashore through the surf. But the moment he stepped up onto the beach, all his mortal years came upon him all at once and he crumbled into a handful of dust.

Bran stayed awhile, still in his curragh, to tell his countrymen all of his experiences. Then he turned his fleet away from the shore and rowed away He and his companions were never seen in Ireland again. (See Religion: Otherworld; Symbols: Isles of the Blessed.)