The Morrigan in Celtic Mythology 43
killed on the plain of Mag Fertaigi (which afterwards was called Mag Méchi). The ashes from his hearts were thrown into the river Berba, making the waters boil and killing every living thing in them. Ireland, however, is spared the snakes’ destruction. Méche’s story seems like a corrupted version of a Sacrificial God myth. Méche’s death may be more of a willing sacrifice than a necessity. It is also odd that snakes—an animal that represented wisdom in the Druid tradition and was sacred to the Great Goddess—would have been viewed as evil. Of course, the Irish monks transcribing these tales from oral traditions would have seen snakes in a different light, namely, as being the form the devil took in the Garden of Eden. Perhaps they altered this story to represent evil being purged from the world. The fact that Méche has three hearts and three snakes is also significant. Three is a sacred number, which indicates the divine nature of his sacrifice. Méche also bears a resemblance to Mordred, the son of Morgan le Fay, who is also killed for the welfare of the realm, after attempting to steal the crown from his father. Some have speculated that Brigid, the Irish goddess of smithcraft and fire, was a daughter of the Morrigan and Dagda. Other sources name her as the daughter of Boann, who (like the Morrigan) was associated with rivers and was the goddess of the Boyne River.