How the Celtic Women became the Wisest Creatures in the Land

 The Story of How Women Received Wisdom

Told by Sharon Blackie “If Women Rose Rooted”

Once upon a time, inside a hill like this, Celtic women were transformed into the wisest creatures in the land. In the Otherworld, wisdom is largely possessed by women, since they are the ones who hold the Cup. The Queen of the Aos Sí decided one day to bestow that gift on human women too, and so she sent out an invitation to all the women of the land, asking them to come to her great hall beneath the hill on a certain date, and at a certain time. The news was carried on the winds and the waves, by the birds and the fish; even the leaves of the trees whispered of it. Soon, women from all over the country began to set out on their journey. Some traveled alone, some came together; and when the appointed day dawned, the doors to the Otherworld opened. The women streamed inside the hill – and gasped to find themselves in a beautiful hall that was draped with bright cloths woven from nettles and dyed with the blood of shellfish and the sap of plants. Soft animal skins covered the floors and seats, and a feast was laid out on tables of wood and stone, set on plates of pearly shell. A soft green light pervaded the vast hall. When everyone was inside and the watchers saw no more coracles on the water, no more women climbing up the slope of the hill, the doors to the outside world were closed. Into the hall then came the Queen, bearing herself with kindly dignity, her face shining with a strange but lovely light. She carried a large golden Cup in her hand, bright with unusual marks and carvings; eight fairy women followed behind, each carrying a golden flagon of sparkling liquid which they used to continually fill the Cup. The Queen passed through the hall, offering a drink from the Cup to each of the women who were present. The Cup held the distilled wisdom of the world through all the ages past, and as each woman drank, she suddenly grew wise and understood many things she had never known before. Some were able to see much, some were able to see little – but every one of them benefited. And then the women feasted, and the next morning they went back out into the world again, filled with the wisdom and knowledge of the Otherworld.

In addition to this story is sometimes told: Just as the ceremony ended and the feast began, there came a hammering on the walls and doors of the hall. The fairy folk looked out and saw the hill covered with latecomers who had arrived after the doors were closed. They had been unable to enter and were now too late to receive the gift of wisdom. There is still a saying in Gaelic about a foolish woman: ‘She was out on the hill when the wisdom was distributed.’