History Literature / TheVoyageOfMaelDuin

** The voyagers refrain from landing on several islands they discover because the islands are occupied by large monsters whose behavior suggests that they want to eat the voyagers. On island no. 4, there is a huge creature looking like a horse with claws; on island no. 8, there is a bizarre "twisting beast" fenced in by a stone wall going around the island; both of these monsters hurl stones at the voyagers as they are leaving. There is also an island with hungry giant ants, and one with hostile giants who forge iron, and who try to sink them with a mass of glowing iron.

* IsleOfGiantHorrors: Exploring island no. 5, the voyagers discover a large plain with many hoof marks, and each mark is "as large as the sail of a ship". They also see nut shells of unusual size and a lot of "plunder". They become scared and go back to their ship; as they sail away, they observe a crowd of gigantic people approaching the island over the sea, who proceed to put on a horse-race (with equally gigantic horses) on the island. There is no explanation for these happenings, except that the voyagers feel sure that the giants are demons, and accordingly make off as fast as they can.

* WalkOnWater: The hermit from Tory relates that he took up his life of penitence because one day, on a pleasure cruise in his boat, he was blown into the open sea and encountered the spirit of a saintly monk „sitting on the waves“. The monk chastised him for his sins and enjoined him to spend the rest of his life as a hermit on a small rock in the sea.

* KarmicDeath: Under attack by a band of sea-raiders, Ailill Aca Ocar takes refuge in a church, but the raiders burn the church with him inside. This detail is a hint that Ailill's death was a divine punishment for the rape of the prioress: That the house of God fails to protect Ailill suggests that God wants him dead; the raiders do not respect the sanctity of the building, just as Ailill did not respect the sanctity of the prioress.

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''The Voyage of Máel Dúin'' (''Immram Maele Dúin'') is a medieval {{Irish mytholog|y}}ical romance from around the late 10th century or older. The original consists of both prose and verse parts. The name of the hero may also be spelled as Maelduin, Maeldune, Maildun, or Mailduin.

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You can read this work online as [[http://sejh.pagesperso-orange.fr/keltia/immrama/maeldun_en.html a non-bowdlerized prose translation]], a [[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38041/38041-h/38041-h.htm#THE_VOYAGE_OF_MAILDUN bowdlerized translation with verses]], or [[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Wonder_Voyages/The_Voyage_of_Maelduin retold for children]] by Creator/JosephJacobs.

''The Voyage of Máel Dúin'' (''Immram Maele Dúin'') is a medieval {{Irish mytholog|y}}ical romance from around the late 10th century or older. The original consists of both prose and verse parts.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: The translation by P. W. Joyce and the retelling by Creator/JosephJacobs omit that Mael Duin is the product of a rape. This loses the finer points of the original, namely, that Ailill was no better than the pirates that killed him, and that Mael Duin's perceived duty to avenge his father to restore the family honor is rather questionable to begin with.

* {{Forgiveness}}: When Mael Duin finally finds his way back to Ireland and returns to the pirate fort, he forgives the men who killed his father.

* KillerRabbit: The Palace of the Kitten is only inhabited by a playful kitten. But when one of Mael Duin's companions tries to steal a necklace from the treasure piled up in the palace, the kitten jumps at him and burns him into a heap of ashes in a matter of seconds. Then it goes right back to his play.
* OurMonstersAreWeird: On their voyage, Mael Duin and his crew meet giant ants, a monstrous dog-horse hybrid, and herds of carnivorous horses and burning pigs; but none of the creatures they encounter is more bizarre than the Twisting Beast of island #9--a huge monster "with a hide like an elephant" that spends his time alternately running in circles and engaging in some really strange exercises:

* {{Bowdlerize}}: The translation by P. W. Joyce and the retelling by Creator/JosephJacobs omit the fact that Mael Duin is the product of a rape. This loses the finer points of the original, namely, that Ailill was no better than the pirates that killed him, and that Mael Duin's perceived duty to restore his family's honor was rather questionable to begin with.

* GiantFlier: At the island of the magical lake, the voyagers see a bird so large they initially think it's a cloud, and which carries in its beak a twig as large as an oak tree.

''The Voyage of Máel Dúin'' (''Immram Maele Dúin'') is a medieval {{Irish mytholog|y}}ical romance from around the late 10th century or older.

* {{Revenge}}: Máel Dúin sets out to sea to avenge his father. Things do not go as smooth as planned.

''The Voyage of Maelduin'' (''Immram Maele Dúin'') is a medieval {{Irish mytholog|y}}ical romance from around the late 10th century or older.

The warrior Ailill Aca Oga, a noble of the clan Eoganacht of Ninus, partakes in a raid on another clan's territory. On this raid, he rapes a young prioress. Not long after, Ailill is killed by a band of pirates. The prioress gives birth to a boy. As it is not appropriate for a nun to raise a child, the boy is adopted by the local king and queen, who raise him as one of their own sons.

When the boy, Maelduin, is a teenager, he learns that the king and the queen are not his real parents. He leaves to meet his father's family, who joyfully receive him. Before long it occurs to Maelduin that it is his duty to avenge his father.

With a ship and crew, Maelduin goes after the pirates and tracks down their island base. Revenge seems close at hand, when a storm arises, casting the seafarers far off into the unknown Western Ocean. A most extraordinary odyssey awaits Maelduin and his companions.

''The Voyage of Maelduin'' is an ''immram'' or sea-voyage, a genre specific to Irish mythology which tells of sailing expeditions into the otherworldly reaches that supposedly lie west of UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}. ''Immrama'' involve adventures with enchanted islands and encounters with bizarre creatures, phenomena that defy the laws of nature, supernatural people, wise hermit, and much much more.

Various translations and adaptions of ''The Voyage of Maelduin'' exist, although several of them have omitted the detail that Maelduin is born of a rape, thereby creating {{plothole}}s and obscuring the philosophical themes of the tale.