If looks could kill... They can, according to medieval Irish texts - our
richest literary inheritance in a Celtic language. The belief in evel,
angry or envious eyes casting harmful glances that destroy their target
is widespread. This is the first comprehensive study of 'the evil eye'
in medieval Ireland. We follow the trail from Balor the fearsome
one-eyed giant and other evil-eyed kings to saints casting the evil eye,
and many others. This study surveys a fascinating body of Irish
literature and also examines the evidence for belief in the evil eye in
the daily life of medieval Ireland, where people tried to protect
themselves against this purported harm by legislation, rituals, verbal
precautions and remedies. Related mythological imagery is tracked down
and a lost tale about a doomed king who follows a sinister-eyed woman
into the Otherworld is reconstructed on the basis of surviving
fragments. The edition and translation of a medieval Irish legal text by
Fergus Kelly and two sagas in English translation conclude the volume.
