Editing Boann (section)

=== Buan ===

According to the story "Cormac's Adventure in the Land of Promise", there is a well in [[Tír na nÓg]] surrounded by nine purple hazel trees. Called the Well of Knowledge, it yields five streams that [[Manannán mac Lir]] later explains are the five senses from which knowledge is apprehended. The hazels, which drop nuts into a pool of five salmon, are called the hazels of ''Buan''.<ref>[https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T302000/index.html  ''Cormac's Adventure in the Land of Promise'']</ref> The combination of the well, hazels, salmon and the name Buan (meaning "enduring" or "persevering") likely points to a common origin with the story of Boand and the [[Wells in the Irish Dindsenchas|Well of Segais]].<ref>[[wiktionary:buan|Wiktionary "buan"]]</ref><ref name="dolmens">{{cite book |last1=Borlase |first1=William Copeland |title=The Dolmens of Ireland |date=1897 |publisher=Chapman and Hall |location=Indiana University |page=1165 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wvJMAAAAMAAJ&dq=scal+balb&pg=PA802 |access-date=6 August 2019}}</ref>

Another tale relates the fate of the only son of "White Buan," here identified as a male. Buan's son is named as Baile, loved by both men and women, who falls in love with Ailinn, daughter of Lugaid, son of Fergus of the Sea. The two lovers arrange a tryst, but before they can meet, Baile rests his chariot and releases his horses to graze. There he is intercepted by an unnamed character (likely [[Manannán mac Lir|Manannán]] in his trickster guise), described as a horrible apparition, approaching fitfully with the speed of a hawk or the wind from the green sea. When Baile asks the trickster from whence he comes and the reason for his haste, the trickster lies and tells Baile that he brings news of the death of Ailinn, who was killed by the warriors of Leinster and that she and her lover will only be reunited in death. With that news Baile drops dead on the spot, and a yew grows on his grave with the form of Baile's head at its top. The trickster moves on to intercept Ailinn, whom he tells of the death of Baile. With that news, Ailinn drops dead on the spot, and an apple tree grows on her grave with the form of her head at its top. The two trees are eventually cut down, turned into tablets, and inscribed with poems. On Halloween there was a poet's competition in Cormac's court, and the two tablets were brought together. When they met, they sprang together and intertwined as woodbine around a branch.<ref>[https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T301042/index.html ''Scél Baili Binnbérlaig'']</ref>

Another Buan, named the wife of the one-armed King [[Mesgegra]] of Leinster, dies of grief after [[Conall Cernach]] beheads her husband. A hazel tree then grows through her grave.<ref>[http://toddmcompton.com/siege.htm ''The Siege of Howth'']</ref>