Ellén Trechend

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{{Culture of Ireland}}

The Ellén Trechend is a three-headed monster referred to in Irish mythology. It is mentioned in the text Cath Maige Mucrama (The Battle of Mag Mucrima) as having emerged from the cave of Cruachan (Rathcroghan, County Roscommon) and laid waste to Ireland until it was killed by the Ulaid poet and hero Amergin.R. I. Best and M. A. O'Brien (eds.), Book of Leinster Vol. 5, pp. 1251-1261

Its name is difficult to interpret: trechend means "three-headed", but ellén is an obscure word. One translator interprets it as a "swarm of three-headed creatures";[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/mucrama.html "The Battle of Mag Mucrama"], translator unknown, para 34 Whitley Stokes offered a "monstrous triple-headed bird" (Old Irish én, "bird");Whitley Stokes (ed. & tr.), "The Battle of Mag Mucrime", Revue Celtique 13, 1892, pp. 426-474 while T. F. O'Rahilly identifies it with Aillén, the fire-breathing monster fought by Fionn mac Cumhaill.T. F. O'Rahilly, Early Irish History and Mythology, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946, p. 300

In P.W. Joyce's A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland he tells how the Sidhe of Cruachan opened on Samhain and a crowd of horrible goblins rushed out, along with a flock of copper-red birds who were led by a monstrous three-headed vulture.[http://www.libraryireland.com/SocialHistoryAncientIreland/II-V-9.php] P. W. Joyce, "A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland", 1906 It is very possible that the vulture is the Ellen Trechend as the copper-red birds are also mentioned in Cath Maige Mucrama.