Ballad of Breitha

The Ballad of Breitha, also known as Breitha the Tiller's Daughter, is an epic poem, usually sung, of the fír suthr which recounts the tale of a young peasant woman who rose to become the rídh of Tír Skjold after successfully leading a revolt against Madds the Mad, that island's former rídh sometime in the early Third Epoch.

The tale itself is a blend of humour and heroism, designed to elevate the character of Breitha and satirise Madds the Mad.

Alas, as the anu also serve as the bards of the islands, none of this is written down, instead memorised to be sung. In this way, the anu preserve the long histories of the fír suthr. It does mean, however, that there is no real way to verify if the ballad is based in truth, or nothing more than a legend conjured to amuse the masses. Such is the fate of all the histories of the people of the Southern Archipelago. There simply is no real way to distinguish truth from myth.

As an aside, dealing with the anu is frustrating to the extreme. They are reticent to share their knowledge, and what is shared is so cryptic as to be almost useless.**

** Having dealt with the anu in the past, I can, in fact, verify this.