Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. Among Celts in close contact with Ancient Rome, s...
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The daughter of Bolcán (Bolcan), the king of France, ran off to Ireland, because she fell in love with Finn Mac Cumhaill. However, she was the wife of Dáiri Donn (Dairi Donn), the self-titled "King of the World". Dáiri Donn gathered an incredible army from all over Continental Europe to retrieve his wife. A great battle took place in Ventry.
Oisín (Oisin) fought in single combat with Bolcán. However, during the fighting, Bolcán went stark raving mad, leaping about all over the battlefield, with no concern for his own safety.
The Fianna was on the verge of being defeated, when the young son of king of Ulster, arrived in Ventry with a troop of hundred boys. Although the invaders killed every single boy, they arrived in time to save the Fianna from annihilation.
The Fianna were heavily outnumbered at the beginning of the war against Dáiri Donn. When the Tuatha Dé Danann arrived to aid the Fianna, the tide of the battle began to turn. The Dananns fought for a day, while the Fian warriors were healed and fed from the magic cauldron of Tuatha Dé Danann.
On the seventeenth day, the Fianna mustered their forces against the invaders. Finn, first, killed Ógarmach (Ogarmach), a Greek Amazon warrior.
Many Fian warriors were slain by their enemies. Among the fallen, was a young Fianna warrior, named Cáel (Cael), who had fallen in love with a beautiful Danann woman, named Créd (Cred, Créde, Créidhe or Creidhe). Cáel had won Créd's love through his poetry.
It was not after they were married, when they news of invasion. Cáel joined his comrades to confront the invaders. Créd followed her husband to Ventry, where she helped with the sick and wounded Fian warriors. She brought a large number of cattle with her, so that the Fian warriors always had milk to drink. Cáel distinguished himself every single day during the battle. It was on the final day in battle, when Cáel drowned while pursuing his enemy into the sea.
Then in a single combat with Dáiri Donn, Finn defeated and slew the King Dáiri Donn. Demoralised from the loss of their king and other leaders, the Fianna defeated the invaders and drove them out of Ireland.
Finn and his companions found Cáel's body on the beach. They sadly brought Cael's body back to his wife for burial. Créd was so distraught when they saw the warriors bringing back her husband on their shoulders. When they set about put Cáel in the grave, Créd lay beside her husband and died from sorrow. Instead of celebrating a great victory, the surviving Fian warriors were saddened by the tragedy as they buried Cáel and Créd in a single grave.
In Acallam na Senórach, Caílte Mac Ronan recounted only the involvement of Cáel and Créd in the tale of the Battle of Ventry. When Caílte and St Patrick visited this hill, the hero told the saint that it was Finn who gave the name Ventry because it was a "fair hill".
