Flidas is mentioned in the
Metrical Dindshenchas as mother of
Fand, and in the
Lebor Gabála Érenn as the mother of Argoen,
Bé Téite, Dinand and
Bé Chuille. Dinand and
Bé Chuille are mentioned as "she-farmers" in a passage about Dian Cecht in Lebor Gabála Érenn and as witches in the Second Battle of Moytura, where they agree to enchant the trees, stones, and sods of the earth to become a host under arms. In the
Middle Irish glossary
Cóir Anmann ("Fitness of Names") Flidas is said to be the wife of the legendary High King
Adamair and the mother of
Nia Segamain. The
Ulster Cycle tale "The Tidings of Conchobar" says that it took seven women to satisfy Fergus, unless he could have Flidais. Her affair with Fergus is the subject of oral tradition in
County Mayo.
Cattle raid epics The myths relating to Fliodhais overwhelmingly focus on cattle. Flidais is a central figure in
Táin Bó Flidhais ("The Driving-off of Flidais's Cattle"), an
Ulster Cycle work, where she is the lover of
Fergus mac Róich and the owner of a magical herd of cattle. The story, set in
Erris,
County Mayo tells how Fergus carried her and her cattle away from her husband, Ailill Finn. During the
Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) she slept in the tent of
Ailill mac Máta, king of Connacht, and every seven days her herd supplied milk for the entire army. In
Táin Bó Flidhais she has a favoured white cow known as "The Maol" which can feed 300 men from one night's milking.
Outdated interpretations In the recent past Flidais was popularly rendered as a woodland goddess similar to the Greek
Artemis and Roman
Diana. Scholars now believe this to be incorrect. Her son,
Nia Segamain, was able to milk wild deer as if they were cows by power received from his mother. This indirect association with deer, and her consequent attribution as a woodland goddess is based on an unlikely medieval folk etymology of her name as
flid ois or "wetness of a faun". This etymology may have been an effort to conflate Flidais with the deer maiden,
Sadhbh from the
Fenian Cycle; however, Fliodhais' mythology overwhelmingly focuses only on domestic cattle and milking. ==References==