Glas Gaibhnenn
[20] The folk-tale plot has been made familiar through retellings of Irish mythology, notably by Lady Gregory,[21] but also others[22] where we learn that Cian mounts on a quest to recover the magic cow, has a romantic encounter with Balor's daughter, fathering the child who is to become Lugh.
Lady Gregory's reworked version[21] can be summarized as follows: Balor of the Strong Blows (or the Evil Eye) learns from his druids that he is fated to be slain by his own grandson.
[a] Around this time, at a place called Druim na Teine ("the Ridge of the Fire") lived three brothers,[b] Goibniu the smith, Samthainn,[c] and Cian together with the wonderful cow Glas Gaibhnenn.
Cian, seeks help from a druidess (and member of the Tuatha De Danann) named "Birog of the Mountain" who informs him that the cow could never be recovered while Balor was alive.
[3] Larminie's version has two parts,[24] and begins with a carpenter named Gobaun Seer (Gobán Saor, "Goban the Builder"[25][26]) hired to build a fine castle for Balar Beimann ("Balor of the Mighty Blows"[27]) to boast.
Gobaun survives, thanks to the warnings from Balar's daughter, and now proclaims he cannot perfect his work without his three specially named tools, which he makes Balor's son fetch from his home.
Gaivnin Gow in another version;[15] Irish: gobha, gabha 'smith'[28]) to do the ironworks for the castle, and advises the blacksmith to refuse all rewards except "the Gloss", the cow which can fill twenty barrels.
[29] In this latter half of the tale, "Kian son of Contje" (Irish: Cian mac Cáinte[3]) takes the offer to obtain his sword, but by carelessness allows the cow to wander off.
At the shore, he finds waiting "Mananaun son of Lir" in a coracle, ready to ferry him off to the whereabouts of the cow, in exchange for half of whatever Kian profits from the quest.
When the girl bears him a son, Kian begs leave from Balor's service, and taking the infant and the byre rope, boards Mananaun's coracle.
Mac Kineely (who corresponds to Cian) was a lord of some districts and owned the coveted cow, the Glas Gaivlen, which produced milk aplenty.
On the wings of a storm she brought Mac Kineeley, dressed in woman's guise, into the tower where Balor's daughter lived trapped, attended by twelve matrons.
The apprentice, pretending to slave away at the forge, awaited his chance and "taking a glowing rod from the furnace, thrust it through the Basilisk eye of Balor," thus exacting his revenge.
[32] In the same county lies Slieve-n-glaise (Slievenaglasha) and one dolmen in particular erected on its slope was called Carrick-na-glaise, reputedly the abode of Lon mac Liomhtha the smith.
[7] He had an extra pectoral arm for holding his tong[7] ("Two of the hands were in the usual position, and the third, with which he turned the iron of the anvil, while he hammered with the other two, grew from the middle of his breast.
Two women wagering on whether a vessel could be found to outsize her capacity, and when a sieve was produced, the cow's milk caused seven overflooding streams to pour forth.
[40] And in Ballyoran townland (near Fermoy) is a "Gownach Well" i.e., the well of Gamhnach, a yearling heifer which may be a reference to the legendary Glas Gaibhnenn[41][g] There are three versions of this tale type in one anthology by Curtin.
