Chapter 5 — Page 11
This week I am obviously late. I had a hard time drawing this page, mostly due to other commitments last week (preparing for the Fall term at PCC, and sadly a funeral). But also I found drawing itself hard. It might just be that I have lost a lot of focus and my mind is preoccupied. I struggled to draw basic things like characters’ faces. It might be a good time to take a break for a week and return refreshed, after I get a few things off of my plate.
The story of Oonagh and the giant is an old one and has a lot of variations. For one thing, the story more often involves Finn MacCool, not Finvarra. But the name of the giant changes, too. Sometimes it’s Benadonner, or Benandonner, sometimes it’s Culhullin. Then the story doesn’t always feature Oonagh herself, but some other woman. And sometimes it’s not pancakes, but a loaf of bread baked around an iron skillet. One detail that remains consistent is Finvarra or Finn disguising himself as a baby and laying in a cradle (which I didn’t draw here owing to space considerations.) Anyway, no one should expect folklore to be consistent, and that goes for cartoonists, too.
POOKA: This courtyard leads to the interior courtyard that leads to the throne room.
FETCH: Are all those courtiers?
POOKA: Indeed. The realm’s most prestigious sycophants.
PANEL 2: They get in line behind a courtier in top hat and tails.
OWEN: Are we standing in line with them?
POOKA: Of course! You want to see the King and Queen, don’t you?
OWEN: Um. Do I?
FETCH: Yes, you do.
PANEL 3: Fetch explains as Finvarra and Oonagh appear over his head.
FETCH: King Finvarra and Queen Oonagh are legends.
They led the Tuathe De Dannan to the Otherworld and founded various races of leprechauns, goblins,
pixies, elves and so on. Finvarra guarantees good harvests and wealth to those he favors.
Oonagh is a powerful force of nature, so beautiful she made people speechless. and quite brilliant.
One time Finvarra angered the giant Benadonner, who was so strong he flattened a bolt of lightning into a pancake that he used as a shield. Oonagh knew Fin could not fight the giant, so she disguised her husband as their baby. When the giant came around, she fed pancakes to "The Baby" and offered some to Benadonner. but the pancakes she fed him were filled with iron. When he bit down the iron pancakes broke his teeth. the giant feared that if the "Son" of Finvarra could eat iron pancakes, the king himself was too strong to defeat.
The giant conceded defeat and ran away.
PANEL 4: Owen looks amused, Pooka interjects, Fetch grouses.
OWEN: Thanks, Mr. Wikipedia.
POOKA: Finvarra also abducts women he fancies and forces them to marry him!
FETCH: You’re not helping.
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