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Wurra-Wurra

Chapter 2: FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
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About This Book

The narrative recounts a saint's campaign to displace entrenched pagan worship at Tara, where he miraculously topples a great idol and its smaller images, yet the people call out for another shrine located in the western country. A strong companion in the saint's train, troubled when a member of the household joins the lament, resolves to journey westward to confront the western idol using a famed handstone, setting off a sequence of encounters with wizards, rival priests, and local customs. The tale mixes episodes of religious conflict, folklore, personal loyalty, and illustrated reconstructions to explore conversion, magic, and communal ritual.

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

Grotto and Image of Wurra-Wurra Frontispiece
Facing page
Patrick casting down Cromm Cruach and the twelve smaller idols 12
Keth, Patrick’s Strong Man, describing to Finola the virtues of his handstone 20
Keth Mac Maragh in the bog, beset by the wizard spells of Lochru 38
Keth recites the Brehon Law to Dubthach Mac na Lugair and his debtor 44
Dubthach, the Royal Shanachy, driving home the price of his poems 48
Far down Glanngalt Keth sees the torches flaming about the Grotto of Wurra-Wurra 52
With his mighty handstone, defying Lochru, Keth shatters the idol Wurra-Wurra 62
Finola runs to Keth and delivers an urgent message from Patrick 64
Keth, in the shattered idol’s place, hears Finola’s great worry 76
Patrick marries and blesses Keth and Finola of the White Shoulder 78