The story, then, goes that Balor, the Fomorian king, heard in a Druidic prophecy that he would be slain by his…
- Date of account
- Published 1911
- Source
- Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race
- Reference
- Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race · selected passage 20
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
The story, then, goes that Balor, the Fomorian king, heard in a Druidic prophecy that he would be slain by his grandson
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyThe story, then, goes that Balor, the Fomorian king, heard in a Druidic prophecy that he would be slain by his grandson. His only child was an infant daughter named Ethlinn. To avert the doom he, like Acrisios, father of Danae, in the Greek myth, had her imprisoned in a high tower which he caused to be built on a precipitous headland, the Tor Mōr, in Tory Island. He placed the girl in charge of twelve matrons, who were strictly charged to prevent her from ever seeing the face of man, or even learning that there were any beings of a different sex from her own. In this seclusion Ethlinn grew up—as all sequestered princesses do—into a maiden of surpassing beauty.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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