The Celtic Riddle

"The stories of the Tuatha de Danaan tell of four fabulous objects that were supposed to have been brought from the four cities from which the Tuatha de came," she replied. "From Falias, one of those cities, is supposed to have come the Stone of Fal. The Stone of Fal was at Tara, seat of the High Kings of Ireland. If someone was to be that High King, he had to touch the stone. If it roared, then he was the rightful king. There really is a stone called Lia Fail at Tara to this day-I mean you can go there and see it. But most people feel that it is not the original. The real one was sent over to Scotland for use in a kingship ceremony there, and was eventually taken to Scone.

"The Stone of Scone!" Alex exclaimed. "That's the so-called Coronation Stone, isn't it, the one just recently returned from Westminster to Scotland? The one that was in the base of the British throne?"

"Exactly," she replied. "It was said that whoever had the Stone would rule Scotland, or Scotic, actually, to use an earlier term, by which we mean the Scots/Irish Milesians. That's why it's so important that it be returned to Scotland. The Scots never did take too well to the idea that the King or Queen of England was sitting on it.

"Now there are a lot of tales about that stone. Some say that the Stone in Westminster is not the real Stone of Scone, or Lia Fail, if we go back to its origins, just a plain old stone, and that the real one is hidden somewhere in Scotland. Some say it never left Ireland. What Da would say is that there was a real stone that played an important part in the choice of the High King of Ireland. He wouldn't go so far as to say it roared when touched by the chariot wheel of the true king, but he did believe there was an important stone.

"And he'd say the same thing about the other gifts, one of which was a magic cauldron belonging to the Dagda, the father god, that came from the magic city of Murias. The Dagda's cauldron was supposedly never empty, no matter how many people came to eat. Now there is no question that there were Celtic cauldrons with ritual importance. There is one called the Gun-destrup Cauldron, for example, a silver and gilt cauldron from Gundestrup in Denmark, which is thought to date to the first or second centuries B.C. It shows a horned or antlered deity of some kind, possibly Cer-nunnos. So Da would say that there really was a cult or ritual cauldron to be found in Ireland that could have been believed in those days to be the Dagda's cauldron, without its magical properties, of course."

"That's why he collected those iron cauldrons!" I said. "And the other two magical objects?"

"The Spear of Lugh, who was the Tuatha de god referred to often as Lugh the Shining, or Lugh of the Long Arm. His spear was supposed to guarantee victory. Then there was the Sword of Nuada Argat-lam, Nuada Silver Hand in Denny's story, from which no one ever escaped."

"Ah," I said. "Your father's sword and spear collection!"

"Yes," she said. "He was looking for the cult or ritual spear and sword."

"Did he think he had found them?" Alex asked.

"No, he didn't. But he kept looking. It was his passion. There was one sword, the one on the desk, that he thought might be the one, the metal equivalent of the Stone of Scone. It dates to Iron Age Ireland, so who's to say?"

"So are you saying that the treasure might be one of these things? The cauldron or another sword or spear?"

"Maybe," she replied. "Or something else, of course. He studied the myths for clues all the time, read all the ancient documents he could lay his hands on. He was a little obsessed about it, there's no question, and sometimes as his daughter, I felt as if he was more interested in his search than in me. I found it intensely irritating after a while, to be called Banba, instead of Breeta."

"Who or what is Banba?" Jennifer asked.

"One-third of the triple goddess of the Tuatha de Danaan: Banba, Fotla, and Eriu. All three were names of Ireland at some point in time, but Eriu, through an agreement with Amairgen, actually, won out in the end. Erin is a form of Eriu."

"So you and your sisters were named-nicknames, of sorts-after three goddesses."

She nodded. "It was nice at first, to be named for a goddess, but after a while, I thought it was merely a mark of my father's obsession with these mythological creatures. And who wants to be named after a goddess associated with the pig, which Banba was, particularly when you're the size I am? Anyway," she said, looking at her watch. "That's enough ancient Irish history for one night. I have to catch the bus back into Killarney."

"Why don't you stay at Second Chance?" Michael said.

"No thanks," she replied. "I'm not comfortable there anymore."

Michael had a "my place?" look in his eyes, which Breeta was ignoring.

"Speaking of Second Chance," I said, "if I were you, I'd get the tortoise, Vigs, out of there."

Breeta looked alarmed.