Folklore: Dearg Due

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There is a  tragic tale in Celtic folklore that ends in revenge. The woman of this tale's name is long gone, but she is now known as Dearg Due. It's a tale of "Hell Hath no fury like a woman scorned". 

In life, Dearg Due was a woman who was born and raised in Ireland. She was said to be kind and sweet. She even fell in love with a local peasant who was similar as he was kind and handsome. Her father was cruel and greedy. He was lucky his daughter was so beautiful, and that a rich man wanted her. This was a time when arranged marriages were commonplace. 

She would then be sold into marriage and separated from her love and her father got richer. Her husband was a cruel older man who would place his hands on her and verbally berate her. Her husband seemed to love doing this to her. 

Knowing that she had a lover waiting for her outside he would lock her up in a tower. She was isolated as those she used to know would never see her again after the wedding. She would wait and pray for her love to come and save her, but he never was able to. She would begin to waste away as she refused to eat and drink. This would eventually die from this.She is buried in a small churchyard, near “Strongbow’s Tree,” in the County of Waterford in Southeast Ireland

Her husband and father did not grieve her death. Everyone else grieved her, especially her lover. He would visit the grave every night crying and talking to her. Her husband was said to have remarried quickly after. Her lover was filled with regret and rage at how her life had been ruined. 

Dearg Due was also filled with rage. She craved retribution so much that she was able to crawl out of her grave. The first person she visited was in the home she grew up in. She would stand next to her father and watch as he slept. The cruel man would sleep as if his daughter did not have a cruel fate. She would place her lips on his and suck the life out of him. 

She would then go to the home she would die in. She would find her husband surrounded by women. He also did not care about what he put her through. The women were fulfilling his lustful desires and she would stand there watching. Rage would fill her and she would throw herself at her husband and draw his life. Her fury was so harsh that not only did she take his last breath but all his blood. 

She would meet her love again. Even though his love and rage brought her back to life she did not feel love anymore. She would also make the man a victim of hers. 

It said that she only hunts on the night of her death. She then kills men on that night. 

SOURCES:

Irish Central

Got Ireland

Myth and Folklore Wiki

Irish Road Trip