Stories have been past down from generation to generation to help past the time and retell history. How much of history is actually recorded is a mystery considering the amount of magic incorporated within each story. Magic could be real, but more often than not it is used to enhance a story and help teach a lesson to the listener. It is not easy learning lessons the hard way, so hearing about the hard lessons when it happens to someone else, even fictional people, makes it a more laid-back and better to listen to. Magic comes in all kinds of forms like magical spells or gifts. It can also be in the way a story is told, or it can be as complicated as love. Magic helps to enhance a story and it makes the story memorable so that is will be retold over centuries to help preserve history and ideas.
Medieval Celtic literature is long standing in its history and its incorporation of magic within in their stories. It has helped shaped cultures and beliefs that have lasted the years. Celtic literature can be traced all the way back to 1000 BC. The original stories are lost because word of mouth is not the most reliable form of record keeping. However, even if little details have been changed to best suite the need of the teller, the ideas have not changed over the years. Even translating these stories from their original language, the ideas and concepts have not been lost. There are 6 Celtic cultures, each have used magic has been a coupling agent for stories. Ireland is one of the countries that is famous for using magic within their stories, and it is something that the people still believe in today. The lessons learned through the use of magic can be found in Early Irish Myths and Sagas, which is a collection of Irish stories. The writers have used magical creatures, characters, events, and gifts to help relay what they wanted to say. Each story contains a plot, for the most part, to best understand what it was like to live back then and it shows the struggles of the people. The struggles are very similar to today. There were infidelity, cruelty, arrogance, chivalry, courage, and mischief, which is not unlike to days society. We also get an idea of how society was run back then. There are several examples of clans, with ruling chiefs and peasants, trying to survive against other clans. Sometimes the clans were not just clans but other magical lands where very powerful people lived.
Welsh medieval Celtic literature had a magical realm called the Otherworld. The Four Branches of Mabinogi is a collection of stories that interconnect with each other about a magical realm and how it can impact the real world. The first story sets of the bases for the rest of the stories, introducing the King from the Otherworld. He switches places with a Prince from the real world, and the story is full of honor and courage and chivalry for each took care of their respective places for a year without fail. Once they are back to the normal thrones, the King, who becomes the Ruler of the Otherworld falls in love with a maiden upon first site, emphasizing the power of love. They have a child, but the child is stolen. The next branch becomes even more magical for it involves the children of the Ocean. The son is a giant and the daughter gets married to the king of Ireland, but the joy found from their union is short lived. The people of Ireland betrayed the new queen, and once her brother caught word (from a bird she trained to listen to words) he stored Ireland and all but five women died. The history of Ireland ifs very interesting if this is truly how the country was shaped. By adding magic to theses stories and embellishing what happened captures the audience and it makes the events less horrific. The third branch involves the stolen child from the first branch and his journey to England and how he surived. He was able make a profitable business, but soon everyone became jealous by his ability to make so much stock in such a short amount of time. They abandoned their first business for another, but the same fate befell them for they were able to make mass quantities which put other business owners ot f business. They tried one more time but did not succeed for long, so they left to land they had passed on their way to England. This land was abandoned by people but plentiful in animals and crops. The fourth branch involves two men who raped a virgin who was special to the king who needed her to survive. The King turn these men into a deer and doe one year, a pic and sow the next year, and then a she-wolf and wolf the third year to punish them for their crimes. This is impossible in real life but brings the idea across. A story like this was most likely used as a bedtime story to scare children into doing the right thing, or they will have consequences brought upon them. No child wants to be turned into and animal.
Marie de France’s is a medieval Celtic authority from France that wrote a lot about consequences. There is always a consequence when it comes to love, which is the purest form of magic. Love can give strength to anyone who needs it, be to follow their heart to their true love or to look out for oneself. Marie’s collection of Lais is famous for the true love found within. Her first story ends in a happy ending, but it cannot end without magical objects thrown into the mix. A man becomes injured by a magical doe who casts a spell upon that will not allow him to heal without the love from his true love, which is not his wife. He climbs aboard a magical boat that takes him to his true love, who is trapped in a miserable marriage and island. They make a vow that they will find each other again, and to know it is truly them he ties a belt around her waist only he can untie, and she ties his coat only she will be able to untangle. After months apart they find each other and live happily ever after. Another story in the collection involves a king who falls in love with a woman who is married. They concoct a plan to kill the husband via boiling water, but their plan fails the king falls into the water and dies. The woman falls in as well and dies, revealing that betrayal and deceit will always end badly. Another story that exemplifies the consequences of betrayal involves a man who turns into a wolf for three days ands is betrayed by his wife. However, a story of true love involves a man willing to sacrifice his body for his true love. It does not work out because he ends up dying in the end because he thought his love alone can give him the strength to survive, and she dies from heartache. All of this could have been avoided is he had only taken the magic potion that would have given him the strength to live. This shows how much magic, which is only herbs and plants, was believed to help those in need back then. Love can make people do crazy things and it should not be taken advantage of, but if magic is involved it might help someone live long enough to live out their love. The moral of these stories is that love is consuming, and it can be overwhelming and can be confusing, but it should never be taken advantage of. Although these three cultures are not the only medieval Celtic cultures to have magic in their stories, their messages are very powerful. Without the use of magic the ideas and beliefs of the cultures would not have been remembered as powerfully. A person is more likely to remember an astronomical story than they are a boring mundane story. Keeping the audience captured and entertained was important back then to preserve their ideas and cultures identity. It was also a way to help pass down history to remembered years after it was told. Even though several details may have been mixed around, there is an understanding of how medieval cultures were run because of these stories. I have a better appreciation of how these cultures came about and it also makes me appreciate their history more. It is amazing and inspiring to have read stories that began so many years ago. It is hard to believe people lived that long ago, and it puts life and history into perspective. I read a lot but I always thought the authors came up with their own ideas, when in reality their ideas are from other stories and cultures that start so long ago. It makes connections
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