Crumby Ovate on The Adventures of Etain

Red is correct and so is Rayetta in my opinion. Mider was a coward early on in his career, but down the road, acquired some gumption. Early on he was just scared of his wife and her family, but Oegnus fixed that for him. I have to wonder though, what happened to Oegnus. There sure enough had to be payback for the killing he did. I need to scout that out. Maybe Dr. Swineherd knows.

Anyhow, in addition to the capability of levitating to great heights while toting an undetermined, but potentially significant mass, Mider was fairly clever. Those attributes, levitational skills and cleverness are bound to increase intrepitude and decrease cowardice, or they would in me if I possessed those attributes. Plus he could turn himself into a swan and even turn Etain into a swan. I can turn myself into some kinds of birds much smaller than swans, but I can't turn other people into even dickie birds. Nevertheless, I consider myself close on that point with Mider.

In any event, Mider thoroughly outsmarted Echu and got his heart's desire, Etain. Not only that, Mider managed to really embarrass Echu (Echu was embarrassed!!!) by tricking him into sleeping with his own daughter, which as you possibly know by now, was Etain's and Echu's daughter that Echu picked out from the 50 serving ladies. Etain wasn't even included in the 50, just her daughter. That's a pretty good trick. Sending those 50 ladies and, of course, Echu would pick the one he thought most resembled Etain.

Echu got tricked out of Etain, but also is credited with the "invention" of the ox yoke. Ray will have more to say on that anon, since oxen are one of Ray's favorite organisms.

Alas, this story is still confusing, ethically, to me. But what I do get, from it, is that Druids need to be clever. That I get, fer sure.