Lí Ban

Lí Ban (Template:Etymology;<ref>Carney, James, "The Earliest Bran Material", in: Bernd Naumann (ed.), Latin Script and Letters A. D. 400-900, 1976, p. 188.</ref><ref>Koch, John, Celtic Culture, ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 1608.</ref> thus 'paragon of women'<ref name="MacKillop 1998"/>) may refer to an otherworldly female figure in Irish mythology.

This Lí Ban claimed the beautiful Fand as sister, and was wife to Labraid Luathlám ar Claideb ("Labraid of the swift sword-hand"), the ruler of Magh Mell.<ref name="MacKillop 1998">Template:Citation: s.v. Fand, Lí Ban, Mag Mell, Serglige Con Culainn</ref>

She appears primarily in the Irish tale of Serglige Con Culainn (The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulainn), where she is the daughter of Áed Abrat. She appears first in the form of a sea bird, then as an otherworldly woman who inflicts the story's eponymous sickness on Cú Chulainn. In the story Lí Ban acts as messenger and mediator; she and Cú Chulainn's charioteer Láeg work together to see that Cú Chulainn is healed in exchange for his aid in Fand's battle in the Otherworld.<ref name="MacKillop 1998"/>

From this Lí Ban may have derived her namesake,<ref name="MacKillop 1998"/> a legendary Lí Ban of Lough Neagh.<ref name="MacKillop 1998"/><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

References

• Template:Cite Serglige Con Culainn
• The Sick-Bed of Cuchulain Template:Webarchive - An English translation of the above
• The Only Jealousy of Emer

Further reading

• Template:Cite encyclopedia