Вестница смерти – хозяйка судьбы. Образ женщины в традиционной ирландской культуре

The story of the meeting between the Connacht queen Medb and a prophetess named Feidelm occurs in the Irish epic Táin bó Cúalnge (TBC) and it is very well known. Feidelm, asked by the queen about the outcome of this expedition, gives an emblematic answer: «I see it all over in red, I see it in scarlet». Of course, this would imply a tragic ending, and, eventually, proves to be true. Why a lonely girl named Feidelm appears on the way of the Connacht army? The girl asserts that she «cares for the queen’s well-being» (LL). In the LU, she says that she’s just arrived from Britain, where she studied the art of prophecy. In the LL, she identifies herself as a «slave» of the queen and a prophetess from the Sid Chrúachna. This may mean that Feidelm comes from a tribe that was enslaved by the Connachta, and, perhaps, her real aim is to take revenge for the destruction of the Sid Chrúachna, described in Echtra Nerae as one of the remscéla of the TBC. Her prophecy of defeat is actually a curse, because in the Irish tradition a prophetess is in the same time a shaper of destiny. Feidelm can see the defeat; the seeing is equivalent for

creation. In some traditional stories warriors before the battle can perceive a visual image of the future. In Togail Bruidne Da Choca the king Cormac and his warriors meet a woman by a ford. She washes bloodstained harness – «a harness of a king, who will die». Cormac’s reply: «Your coming is the reason for great disasters» gives support to our suggestion: the future could be shaped by means of verbalization and/or visualization.

The LL Feidelm is one of those lone women, who predict defeat to kings and warriors. However, the meeting of a king and a woman not always had such fatal consequences. «The lone woman» could be a personification of Sovereignty, but in all cases she is the «mistress of his destiny». In the LU, Feidelm possesses the faculty of imbas forosnai –  a special technique of prophesy, described by the king Cormac in his 10^th

century Glossary. Medb’s question: In fil imbass forósna lat («Is there / Do you have the imbas forosnai with you») may imply that Feidelm has learned the technique in Britain, but it may also suggest, that the young woman is in the (ecstatic) state of imbas forosnai now. The form of the verb of being used here goes back to the IE root *wel- ‘to see’ and here it suggests the meaning like «I can see it = it is there now».

The perception of women as dangerous beings is a universal phenomenon. The peculiarity of the character of Feidelm is that she is portrayed not as a supernatural or quasi-supernatural being, but as a real woman, speaking to another real woman (Medb), at least, in the LU. The «real» identity of this woman may be disputed. In the world of Ulster epic, there are a number of women named Feidelm, e. g. Conchobar’s daughter and Feidelm, daughter of Elcmar. However, no one of them is endowed with prophetic abilities. The etymology of her name is also disputed. In our opinion, it is derived from the IE *w(e)id- ‘to know’ and is, in fact, a composition: * weid-wel-sam ‘to know + to see + superl. suffix’, cf.

uidluias in the Larzac inscription, a G. Pl. of *uidlua ‘the knowledgeable one’, according to [Lambert 1997]. Feidelm’s prophesies in the LU and LL TBC could be interpreted in different ways. In the LL, Feidelm is ‘a lone woman’ on the road of warriors, a harbinger of disaster, who uses the word as a weapon. The LU Feidelm is a professional prophetess, who prophesizes / creates the destiny. But in both cases she is a forerunner of tragedy.

Leborcham the great sorceress

In the stories of the Ulster cycle there is a character named Leborcham. In the story of Deirdre, Leborcham acts as a trickster, a trouble-maker. Deirdre lived in isolation and was only allowed to see a restricted number of people; nevertheless, Leborcham managed to get an access to her because ‘she was not the one to be refused’. Attracting Deirdre’s attention to Noise, she eventually causes death of both lovers and brings shame on Ulster warriors.

In other sagas, Leborcham acts as an ambassador and messenger for king Conchobar. She chooses a wife for the king (Tochmarc Luaine), on of her request Cuchulainn agrees to catch the two magic birds for the Ulster women (Serglige CoinChulaind). In the Siege of Howth (Tallaind Etair), she comes through the camp of Leinster warriors to bring some food to the besieged Ulstermen. Leborcham also prophesizes to the Ulster women the victory of their husbands: in the same time she ‘sees’ and prophesizes it: she creates the future by describing it.