So what exactly is the Korrigan and
what are its roots?
Much of what I include in the
stories of Zeke Proper are references to Norse mythology. Sort of a retelling
of the stories with slightly different characters and circumstances. The
Korrigan, however, finds its beginnings in Celtic mythology. Originally found
in Irish literature, most of us are probably aware of references to banshees,
which actually means "woman of fairy mound" or just simply as
"fairy woman". Ban or bean meaning "woman".
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| (c) Wikipedia Commons |
In Irish and Scottish Gaelic
folklore traditions the banshee came to mean a female wraith or spirit,
whose terrifying howls foretell the death of a particular person in a specific
household. This banshee was tied to a person or family, sort of like an attendant
fairy. (Note how this coincides with the Proper Family).
In my telling of Odin’s Light, I
have taken the myth of the Banshee and combined her with the Breton fairy woman
known as the Korrigan, a type of banshee that not only foretells a death, but
also causes it. Then, I took this a step further, relating the banshee to the
Washer or Washer-woman at the Ford, known in Scottish folklore as “bean nighe”.
"Bean nighe” was a Scottish Gaelic
name for the Washer at the Ford. The Washer or Washerwoman can be found
in almost every Celtic culture. In the Scottish Gaelic tradition, the washer is
the harbinger of death.
According to the Scottish Gaelic
tradition, the bean nighe was a woman who died at child birth. She was
described as a woman dressed in green, but can be recognized by her webbed feet
standing next to a stream or lake, washing bloodstained clothes of those who
would die.
Of course there are Celtic myths
that surround these creatures and they carry with them the same kind of
foreboding that the Korrigan in Odin’s Light carries with it. In this
retelling, I take my information from www.timelessmyths.com.
The most common female fairies in
the Breton tradition are the korrigans that resided in the woods, especially at
Broceliande, often near a stream, spring or fountain. She was a fairy that
seeks a mortal lover.
The korrigan was probably a pagan
druidess originally. She was equated with gwragedd annwn – the Welsh
fairies of the lake and streams.
She tried to seduce mortal men who
would drink from her water. Finding them unawares she would attempt to lure a
weary traveler to sleep with her. If the man refused her advance or seduction,
she would angrily curse him to a doom. This is what happened to the Seigneur of
Nann.
The Seigneur was married to a woman
whom he loved. One day, his wife asked for some May-blossoms from the forest.
The Seigneur rode out, but during his ride, he became thirsty and drank the
water from a nearby fountain. Here, the Seigneur encountered the Korrigan who
demanded that he sleep with her. But the Seigneur angrily refused because he
was faithful to his wife and rode away after hearing that he would die in three
days. He turned and rode from the woodland as a man possessed. As he drew
homeward he was overshadowed by a sense of coming ill. At the gate of his
château stood his mother, anxious to greet him with good news of his bride and
the child she would soon bear him. But with averted eyes he addressed her in
the refrain so familiar to the folk-poetry of all lands:
"My good mother, if you
love me, make my bed. I am sick unto death. Say not a word to my bride. For
within three days I shall be laid in the grave. A Korrigan has done me
evil."
The priest, his mother and other
people kept the secret of his fate from his wife. Three days later, the
Seigneur's mother finally told her daughter-in-law the truth. The wife died of
broken heart and was buried beside the Seigneur.
The tragedy that surrounds the evil
summons of the Breton Korrigan is also the kind of tragedy that encompasses the
lives of Zeke and the rest of his family in Odin’s Light. As you read on
in the books that follow in the Zeke Proper Chronicles, you will
discover that the appearance of the Korrigan is only the beginning of a very
long and arduous journey for the story’s hero.
-Brad
