OTHER NAMES: Abartach, Abhartach
ORIGIN: Celtic [Irish]
TYPE: Irish God
INFORMATION: This minor figure in Irish mythology is one of the Formorians, an ancient and monstrous race which appears in texts devoted to the band of heroes called the Fianna. Ambitious to join the warrior elite, Abarta came to them pretending to be a lazy man in search of a job. Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the leader of the Fianna, inexplicably agreed to take him into service, calling him Gialla Deacair, or "lazy servant". Abart tricked the Fianna into mounting his apparently frail old horse and carried them away to the otherworld. There he held them hostage until Fionn, after many magical adventures and battles, located and freed them. After this crime, Fionn did not offer Abarta membership in his band.