Queens: S

Smirgat (Marrow)
Goddess and one of the wives of Fionn Mac Cumhaill. She prophesied that if he drank from a horn he would die. He was careful not to do this. At Tara, she is the Lady of Winter Burning, and takes the form of a tall woman in a moon-colored tunic, cloak, with holes where her eyes, nose, and mouth are supposed to be. Her hair is strands of skin that move. The strands become glowing snakes when they hit the ground. She is a huge gout of flame that rolls across the foor charring planks and foundations. Fionn decapitates her by throwing the harp of Tara, Daghda’s, harp at her. (58, 151)

I come to burn. I am she who comes by night to parch all moist ideas of youth, to devour honor and courage and all their ornaments and implements, and finally, most cruel to incinerate hope itself by my punctuality. For men know that I must come and come again upon the night, and no matter what they do or what they say or how they grieve or how they pray, they cannot stay my coming. Queen of Crones am I, marrow of death, come to teach the nature of flame. What is it, young man? You like riddles. What is flame? Give me its name. – The Winter Burning, The Green Hero.

[French Ministry of Education Site: Centre national de documentation pédagogique]