Celtic fairy traditions
Tuan mac Cairill
The account describes Tuan first as the son of Starn and later as the son of Cairell. His extended existence allows the history of Ireland to be carried through a sequence of lives. A scribal version fills the interval with stag, boar, eagle, and salmon forms. Evans-Wentz disputes a literal transmigration reading and substitutes his own esoteric explanation of bodily matter and conscious identity.
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In the sources
Principal account
ReportedThe account describes Tuan first as the son of Starn and later as the son of Cairell. His extended existence allows the history of Ireland to be carried through a sequence of lives.
Further detail
ReportedA scribal version fills the interval with stag, boar, eagle, and salmon forms. Evans-Wentz disputes a literal transmigration reading and substitutes his own esoteric explanation of bodily matter and conscious identity.
Context & interpretation
Evans-Wentz combines named informants, manuscript narratives, and his own psychical theory in a 1911 survey. This entry preserves those distinctions: collected belief and literary tradition do not establish the physical existence of an Otherworld.
Original passages
Source 1
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
after two hundred and twenty years, was re-born as the son of Cairell. This story in its oldest form is preserved in the Book of the DunOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 408
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0408
- Original scan leaf
- 409
- Recorded leaf number
- 409
- Current Reader position
- 404
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
making him pass eighty years as a stagOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 408
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0408
- Original scan leaf
- 409
- Recorded leaf number
- 409
- Current Reader position
- 404
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Connla
Prince invited into a deathless land by a fairy woman.
Same subject and traditionCú Chulainn
Ulster hero drawn into the conflicts and affections of the Sidhe.
Same subject and traditionFionn mac Cumhaill
Leader of the Fenians whose adventures connect hunting, fairy halls, and rebirth.
Same subject and traditionMongan
King whose concealed identity as Finn is exposed in a wager.