How far would your hero go?

I've been graced with my first (probably of many) upper respiratory crud of the winter season. *sigh* So as my decongestant wears off and before I take another one and zone out, I figgered I'd better post while I'm semi-coherent. [grin]

"Red Haired Girl From The Bog" by Patricia Monaghan is a book I keep going back to whenever I just want to disappear from this world and retreat into her engrossing search for the Goddess.

The section of the book that fell open today yielded a little nugget of legend that "spoke" to me, meaning it will probably become my next erotic novella.

The tale tells of the god of metalworkers, Goibniu, who was so busy at his forge he had no time to keep track of the sacred cow Glas as she ranged the countryside freely giving her bounty to the people. He found a herdsman named Fin and set the young man the task. The caveat - Fin had to track the never-resting cow 24/7, never any time to sleep. Well, you can imagine what eventually happens! Fin stopped for a little shut-eye, and a greedy man, Balor, stole the Glas for himself.

Under threat of death, Fin set out to retrieve the Glas for his master. On his search he came across a tall tower containing a lovely maiden. (What, don't all towers contain lovey maidens?) The maiden, Eithne, was imprisoned there because the Druids had predicted that she would someday kill her own father. The father? Yep, Balor.

So, as any lonely, red-blooded son of Ireland on a quest would do, he killed two birds with one stone. Dressing as a woman, he disguised himself as one of Eithne's handmaidens and gained access to the tower. He seduced Eithne and lived as her handmaiden until she bore his child, getting himself both a lover and getting the Glas back for his master.

So what's that old saying about "why pay for the cow when you can get the milk for free"? :) Looks to me like Fin willingly paid dearly for both!

Have a good week,
Carolan
www.carolanivey.com