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Queens Cliodhna |
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Name: Cliodhna / Cleena / Cliodna / Clíona
Race: Tuatha Dé Danann
Father: Gebann (Chief Druid)
Associated Sites:
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| Tonn Cliodhna 'The Wave of Cliodhna' near Glandore, Co. Cork, | Carraig Cliodhna near Mallow, Co. Cork. |
Province: Munster
Stone: The Blarney Stone, Co. Cork.
Bean Sidhe of: The O'Keefe clan.
Associated Deities: Manannan Mac Lír
Cliodhna was a beautiful maiden of the Tuatha Dé Danann who fell in love with a mortal man Caoimhín of the Curling Locks.
Caoimhín had been thrown out of the Fianna for immorality, but Cliodhna did not bother about that and they ran off together.
Unfortunately Cliodhna was swept home to her own country by a magical wave off the coast of Cork. She became known as the Fairy Queen of Munster.
In the 15th century she was called on by Cormac Mac Carthy the builder of Blarney Castle, for help in a lawsuit.
Cliodhna told him to kiss the first stone he saw in the morning. Cormac did so and argued his case with such dazzling rhetoric that he won the suit.
Concerned that the powers of the stone would turn Ireland into a nation of glib liars, Cormac hid it away in a wall of his castle where it is regularly kissed to this day mainly by American visitors to Ireland.
Cliodhna had three brightly coloured birds which fed on the apples of the otherworld tree and sang so sweetly that they could soothe the sick to sleep.
Stories, Myths and Legends associated with Cliodhna
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