Mis, daughter of Dáire Dóidgheal, goes mad after her father dies in battle and she drinks his blood. She races from the field in madness, and goes into the wilderness. Her hair grows long and she grows a coat of fur or feathers. She becomes a menace, killing animals and humans, so that the area where she lives became a wasteland. Despite this, the King of Munster orders that she not be killed, but offered a great reward for her capture.

Dubh Ruis, harper to the king, takes up the quest. He attracts her with his music, and succeeds in beginning to reawaken memories of her father and past life. They make love, and gradually Dubh Ruis begins to reintroduce her to civilised ways of eating, sleeping, and bathing. In two months, her reason was restored, the coat had fallen from her, and he took her home and married her. She bore him four children, and became one of the most beautiful and accomplished women in Munster. Sadly, Dubh Ruis is later killed while collecting rents, and Mis composed a song over his body.

The tale is contained in two copies, both in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. The first, Murphy MS. 58, pp. 50-57, was written in 1769 by Piaras Mac Gearailt, the second in 1818 by Mícheál Óg Ó Longáin.²⁸

I have generally referred to Brian Ó Cuív's synopsis for the "broad strokes" of the text, and his edition of the text²⁹ has been used for translation purposes where there was a need to go into greater narrative detail. I will note where my translation varies from the synopsis given by Ó Cuív.

Mac Cana thought the traditions contained in the tale were considerably older then the MS. extant, dating back to the tenth century.³⁰ He connects them to tales relating to the king and the goddess of the land. The tale appears in the tale lists Mac Cana refers to as LL, H, R and H1, in The Learned Tales of Medieval Ireland. Mis and Dubh Ruis also appear in various other early Irish sources, such as the Dindshenchas.³¹

I tend to agree with Mac Cana that this text represents an older tradition. Various features of the tale, such as her cannibalism, and the sexual, musical, and other means used to return her to human life, do not seem like later Christian writing. They also bear strong resemblance to shamanic rites of initiation and initiatory illness.

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Footnotes