|
|
| Home | Search | Contact the IWAI | Join the IWAI |
| The Shannon Guide: Contents <<< Previous Page | Next Page >>> |
The legend of the Shannon's originThe noble name of Sinann seek ye from me, Its bare recital would not be pleasant, Not alike now are its action and noise As when Sinann herself was free and alive. 
Sinann was the daughter of the earned
Lodan, who was the son of Lear, the great
sea-king of the Tuatha De Danann colony
of Erinn, from whose son and successor,
Manannan, the Isle of Man derives its name
and ancient celebrity. In those very early
times there was a certain mystical fountain
which was called Connla's Well (situated,
so far as we can gather, in Lower Ormond).
As to who this Connla was, from whom
the well had its name, we are not told; but
the well itself appears to have been regarded as another Helicon by the ancient Irish
poets. Over this well there grew, according
to the legend, nine beautiful hazel-trees,
which annually send forth their blossoms
and fruits simultaneously. The nuts were of
the richest crimson colour, and teemed
with the knowledge of all that was refined
in literature, poetry and art. No sooner,
however, were the beautiful nuts produced
on the trees, than they always dropped into
the well, raising by their fall a succession of
shining red bubbles. Now during this time
the water was always full of salmon; and
no sooner did the bubbles appear than
these salmon darted to the surface and ate
the nuts, after which they made their way
to the river. The eating of the nuts produced brilliant crimson spots on the bellies
of these salmon; and to catch and eat
these salmon became an object of more
than mere gastronomic interest among
those who were distinguished in the arts
and in literature without being at the pains
and the delay of long study: for the fish
was supposed to have become filled with
the knowledge which was contained in the
nuts, which, it was believed, would be
transferred in full to those who had the
good fortune to catch and eat them.
From On rhe Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish by Eugene O'Curry. |
It was forbidden to women to
come within the precincts of Connla's wonderful well; but the beautiful Lady Sinann,
who possessed above every maiden of her
time all the accomplishments of her sex,
longed to have also those more solid and
masculine acquirements which were accessible at Connla's well to the other sex only.
To possess herself of these she went secretly to the mystical fountain; but as soon as
she approached its brink, the water rose up
violently, burst forth over its banks, and
rushed towards the great river now called
the Shannon, overwhelming the Lady
Sinann in their course, whose dead body
was carried down by the torrent, and at
last cast up on the land at the confluence
of two streams. After this the well became
dry for ever; and the stream which issued
from it was that originally known by the
name of the Lady Sinann or Shannon; but
having fallen into the great succession of
lakes which runs nearly through the centre
of Ireland, the course of lakes subsequently
appropriated the name to itself, which it
still retains, whilst the original stream is
now unknown. The original Sinann is, however, believed to have fallen into the present Shannon, near the head of Lough
Derg, not far from Portumna.