Stories of the Tuatha de Denann were passed down through the ages into legend via the ancient oral tradition of Ireland’s poets. Later, Christian monks began assembling and recording them in an effort to produce a history for Ireland. Inevitably, these texts were influenced by their beliefs and doctrines, their translation skills (or lack of), and the desire to please their patrons. What we are left with is impossible to distil into fact and fiction.

These myths are so fantastic, so bizarre, that no scholar or historian worth his salt would ever entertain them as anything other than pure fantasy. But I am not a scholar, and I don’t have to worry about academic reputation, and I say there is no smoke without fire.

Tuatha de Denann (pronounced Thoo-a day Du-non) is translated as ‘tribe of Danu’. Scholars are agreed that Danu was the name of their Goddess, most probably…