The Great Heroes: The Sons of Tureen

The sources of the quoted passages (quoted text is green script) are listed in the Bibliography.


The tale of the sons of Tureen is a tragic epic about the quest undertaken by Tureen's three warrior sons as an eric for Luga of the long arms. An eric is a task undertaken as a punishment or repayment by one who has committed homicide. Luga gave the sons the eric because they had killed Cian his father in the forest while he was recruiting warriors for the war against the Formorian invaders. The sons has many difficult tasks set before them. They were to recover certain artefacts from some of the greatest kingdoms of the world.

"For the blood that we spilled,
For the hero we killed,
Toil and woe, toil and woe, till the doom is fulfilled!"

Their first task was to steal three magical healing apples form the Garden of Hesperides in the Orient. Then they were to get the skin of a boar which had the power to cure all ills from Tuas the King of the Greeks. The Spear called the destroyer was their next objective, I belonged to Pezaer the Lord of the Persians. A magical Chariot and it's horses from Sicily was the next prize they were to steal. Then they had to take the seven swine of King Aesal (they were an inexhaustible supply of food). From the King of Irouad, they were to take a whelp that would grow into such a warhound that even the Lion would follow it. These weapons were for use in the war. The last part of the eric was payable only to Luga. They were to get the cooking spit of the water maidens of the undiscovered Fioncure Island.
Luga hoped that these artefacts could aid the completed Tuath de Danann in the battle against the Formorians. Once they had the rest of their tasks in order, the sons had to climb the hill of Midcain in the land of the Formorians where Midcain and his three sons Conn, Corc and Aedh were sworn not to let any "slopes until the New voice be raised in joy or anger upon its God has come to our land" -Michael Scott, and give three cries from the top.
The Characters

The Of the brothers, Brian was the eldest and was an adept mage as well as a skilled warrior. twins Urchar and Iuchar were both younger than Brian and were both also skilled warriors. As the story progresses, Brian shows increasing remorse for all the people he and his brothers kill in their attempt to carry out the eric. Brian can not avoid slaying those who hold the treasures unless they offer them to him, and yet he is under an oath to get these treasures. "Are we to wander through these barbarous lands, killing all whom we decide...are we the handmaidens of the Morrigan?" -Brian's speech (Michael Scott, Irish Folk & Fairy tales Volume I).

The tale is a tragic one and the three brothers die together after fulfilling the eric. The three sons of Tureen were all mortally wounded by Midcan and his sons during the battle. They make the last desperate cry from on top of the hill and complete the set of tasks and use what strength they have remaining to them to climb in to the magical boat the water spite. The boat carries them home and in most versions of the story, they die at Tureen's feet after Luga refuses to give them a taste of the healing apples to farther avenge his father's death.
"Oh, pulse less is my heart this woeful hour,
My strength is gone, my joy for ever fled;
Three noble champions, Erin's pride and power,
My three fair youths, my children, cold and dead!
"Mild Ur, the fair-haired; Urchar, straight and tall;
The Kings of Banba worthy both to be;
And Brian, bravest, noblest, best of all,
Who conquered many lands beyond the sea:
"Lo, I am Tureen, your unhappy sire,
Mourning with feeble voice above your grave;
No life, no wealth, no honours I desire;
A place beside my sons is all I crave!"
Tureen's lament from ancient text, p96 Old Celtic Romances -P.W.Joyce.

When Tureen sees all three of his sons dead, he dies of grief (some versions show his sister Ethne also died of grief at the sight). Another ending to the story had the three sons of Tureen sailing away in their grievously wounded state to find Tir na Nog in an attempt to find healing there.