The most singular legends of Ireland relate to bulls and cows, and
there are hundreds of places all commencing with the word _Bo_ (one
of the most ancient words in the Irish language), which recall some
mystic or mythical story of a cow, especially of a white heifer, which
animal seems to have been an object of the greatest veneration from all
antiquity.
In old times there arose one day a maiden from the sea, a beautiful
Berooch, or mermaid, and all the people on the Western Coast of Erin
gathered round her and wondered at her beauty. And the great chief of
the land carried her home to his house, where she was treated like a
queen.
And she was very gentle and wise, and after some time she acquired the
language, and could talk to the people quite well in their own Irish
tongue, to their great delight and wonder. Then she informed them that
she had been sent to their country by a great spirit, to announce the
arrival in Ireland of the three sacred cows—_Bo-Finn_, _Bo-Ruadh_, and
_Bo-Dhu_—the white, the red, and the black cows, who were destined to
fill the land with the most splendid cattle, so that the people should
never know want while the world lasted.
This was such good news that the people in their delight carried the
sea-maiden from house to house in procession, in order that she might
tell it herself to every one; and they crowned her with flowers, while
the musicians went before her, singing to their harps.
After dwelling with them a little longer she asked to be taken back
to the sea, for she had grown sad at being away so long from her own
kindred. So, on May Eve, a great crowd accompanied her down to the
strand, where she took leave of them, telling them that on that day
year they should all assemble at the same place to await the arrival of
the three cows. Then she plunged into the sea and was seen no more.
However, on that day year all the people of Ireland assembled on the
shore to watch, as they had been directed by the beautiful sea-maiden;
and all the high cliffs and all the rocks were covered with anxious
spectators from the early dawn. Nor did they wait in vain. Exactly at
noon the waves were stirred with a mighty commotion, and three cows
rose up from the sea—a white, a red, and a black—all beautiful to
behold, with sleek skins, large soft eyes, and curved horns, white as
ivory. They stood upon the shore for a while, looking around them.
Then each one went in a different direction, by three roads; the
black went south, the red went north, and the milk-white heifer—the
_Bo-Finn_—crossed the plain of Ireland to the very centre, where stood
the king’s palace. And every place she passed was named after her, and
every well she drank at was called _Lough-na-Bo_, or _Tober-Bo-Finn_
(the well of the white cow), so her memory remains to this day.
In process of time the white heifer gave birth to twins, a male and
female calf, and from them descended a great race, still existing in
Ireland; after which the white cow disappeared into a great cave by
the sea, the entrance to which no man knows. And there she remains,
and will remain, in an enchanted sleep, until the true king of Eire,
the lord of Ireland, shall come to waken her; but the lake near the
cave is still known as _Lough-na-Bo-banna_ (the lake of the snow-white
cow). Yet some say that it was the king’s daughter was carried off
by enchantment to the cave, in the form of a cow, and she will never
regain her form until she sleeps on the summit of each of the three
highest mountains in Ireland; but only the true king of Eire can wake
her from her sleep, and bring her to “the rock of the high place,” when
she will be restored at last to her own beautiful form.
Another legend says that a red-haired woman struck the beautiful
Bo-Finn with her staff, and smote her to death; and the roar which the
white cow gave in dying was heard throughout the whole of Ireland, and
all the people trembled. This is evidently an allegory. The beautiful
Bo-Finn—the white cow—is Ireland herself; and the red-haired woman who
smote her to death was Queen Elizabeth, “in whose time, after her cruel
wars, the cry of the slaughtered people was heard all over the land,
and went up to heaven for vengeance against the enemies of Ireland;
and the kingdom was shaken as by an earthquake, by the roar of the
oppressed against the tyrant.”
The path of the white cow across Ireland is marked by small rude
stone monuments, still existing. They show the exact spot where she
rested each night and had her bed, and the adjoining lands have names
connected with the tradition—as, “The plain of the Fenian cows;”
“The hill of worship;” “The pool of the spotted ox,” called after him
because he always waited to drink till the white cow came, for they
were much attached to each other.
There are also Druid stones at one resting-place, with Ogham marks on
them. Some time ago an endeavour was made to remove and carry off the
stones of one of the monuments; but the man who first put a spade in
the ground was “struck,” and remained bedridden for seven years.
The plain of the death of the _Bo-banna_ (the white cow), where
she gave the roar that shook all Ireland is called “the plain of
lamentation.” It never was tilled, and never will be tilled. The people
hold it as a sacred spot, and until recently it was the custom to have
dances there every Sunday. But these old usages are rapidly dying out;
for though meant originally as mystic ceremonies, yet by degrees they
degenerated to such licentious revelry that the wrath of the priesthood
fell on them, and they were discontinued.
There is a holy well near “the plain of lamentation,” called
_Tobar-na-Bo_ (the well of the white cow); and these ancient names,
coming down the stream of time from the far-off Pagan era, attest the
great antiquity of the legend of the coming to Ireland of the mystic
and beautiful _Bo-Finn_.
There is another legend concerning the arrival of the three cows—the
white, the red, and the black—which is said to be taken from the Book
of Enoch.
Four cows sprang at once from the earth—two white, a red, and a
black—and one of the four went over to the white cow and taught it a
mystery. And it trembled and became a man, and this was the first man
that appeared in Erin. And the man fashioned a ship and dwelt there
with the cows while a deluge covered the earth. And when the waters
ceased, the red and the black cows went their way, but the white
remained.
The story is supposed by Bryant to be a literal rendering of some
ancient hieroglyph, descriptive of the three races of mankind, and of
the dispersion of the primal human family.