LE Aisling was named to commemorate
the centenary of the birth of Patrick Pearse and her crest bears
the arms of Galway on the upper part. This refers to Rosmuc, Galway,
which was a Pearse retreat. The lower part shows 'The fiery Sword'
or 'An Claideamh Solais', was the title of The Gaelic League newspaper,
with which Pearse was associated. It was also the symbol chosen
in 1966 to represent the 1916 rising.
The name Eithne was borne by many
characters in Irish history and mythology, but the Eithne after
whom this ship was named was the tragic heroine of an early Irish
romantic tale. She was the daughter of the one-eyed Fomorian King,
Balor and there was a prophesy about which said that Balor would
be killed by his grandson. Unlike some others, Balor was a man
who paid attention to prophesies and as he had but one child,
Eithne, so this would be an easy prophesy to circumvent. Eithne
had to be killed, but bad as Balor was, he could not bring himself
to kill the child, so instead he had her walled up in a castle
on Tory Island. There she grew up, guarded by women, for no male
was permitted on the island. The story of the beautiful princess
walled up in the castle soon spread around the country and many
warriors tried to capture her but none survived the sea and the
guards.
Illustrated by 巣田＠うぐぅ.
