WEBVTT - The Three-Pupiled Eye, Part 1 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:15.000 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.400 My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Joe McCormick. And 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:21.960 you know, we recently did a couple of episodes that 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:26.599 related to Irish mythology. And as we were looking through 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:33.720 these various accounts of various heroes and monsters and tales 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.440 too often to dan and and so forth, UM, I 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.440 was reminded again of of a motif that I remember 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:42.839 coming up briefly, at least when we were looking at 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:49.040 the hero Cocolin, and that is um, Irish heroes that 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:53.960 are depicted as having either multiple pupils or multiple irises 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.760 within their eyes. That is a strange detail, especially because 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.920 I can picture multiple pupils, I have a harder time 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:06.319 picturing multiple irises. So, of course, basic anatomical note, the 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.080 pupil is the black dot in the middle of your eye, 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.440 and the iris is the colored ring around that dot. 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:17.800 So multiple pupils I'm seeing, Okay, multiple dots, multiple irises. 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:21.000 I don't know that that just what like, how would 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.640 you tell where one iris began or ended? Well, I 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:26.640 guess you'd have to have like multiple irises and pupils 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.680 in that department, and and is we'll get into. One 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:31.319 of the things is that some of these accounts will 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:33.640 say pupils and other versions of that same account will 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.600 say irises. So you know, I'm not I'm not sure 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:40.160 exactly how uh you know, the term maybe gets confused 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.600 over time or it's lost in translation. Um so, but 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.119 it kind of adds to the mystery of of not 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.000 being exactly sure what we're talking about here when these 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.760 details come up. Well, so, how did these details go? 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:57.480 Like what's an example? Okay, so, um taking for example, 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.760 Coucolon since we've we've just got to him before. The 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:05.240 The Irish hero a warrior hero, a demi god uh, 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:08.760 possessed by the ability to enter the warped spasm during battle. 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:14.400 Lots of wonderful tales and about this character, and he's 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:17.840 he's prominently featured in the early Irish epic The Cattle 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.960 Raid of Coolie or the Tane as it goes sometimes called. 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.680 But one of the other you know, interesting facts about 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.040 this hero is that he's sometimes described as having seven irises, 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.640 as translated from the epic by Joseph Dunn's I believe 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:36.200 the nineteen translation quote seven jewels of the eyes brilliance 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.440 was either of his keenly eyes, seven toes to either 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.680 of his two feet, seven fingers to either of his 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.640 two hands, with the clutch of hawk's claw, with the 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:53.160 grip of hedgehog's talent in every separate one of them. 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.600 I love how that's all majestic and fierce until you 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.760 get to the hedgehog. I don't know. Hedgehog's talent sounds 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.880 pretty the intense to me, even if I can't quite 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.359 picture what that would be. Maybe I don't have enough 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.480 experience with hedgehogs though. I Also this struck me because 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:15.359 I love stories where beings have a strange, recurring, specific 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:19.680 number of body features. It reminds me of visions in 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:22.840 the Bible, like particularly the visions of the Dragon and 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.320 the Beast in the Book of Revelation. And if you're 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:28.560 not familiar, the Book of Revelation is is the last 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.440 book in the Christian New Testament. It is mostly describing 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:35.040 a vision that the author, someone named John says was 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.520 given to him by Christ. And it's a book where 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:41.440 the number seven has great significance. It's used in a 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:45.080 number of ways throughout the apocalypse, there are messages sent 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.000 to seven church congregations there and then within the vision, 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:53.040 seven seals are opened, seven trumpets are sounded, and so forth. 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.880 But they're also these wondrous beings, both great and terrible, 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:01.240 with seven of something. So, for example, in chapter twelve, 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.240 verse three, it says, and there appeared another wonder in heaven, 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.800 and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:12.080 tin horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. Uh. And 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:14.560 I always wondered if that meant okay, So he's got 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.640 seven heads and then seven crowns on his heads, but 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:19.960 does that mean seven crowns per head or just one 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.080 crown per head? I'm not sure. One of the seven 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.960 heads is wearing seven crowns, staff and top for each 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:28.320 other that had a real dick. They fight over the crowns. 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:31.880 But then later also the beast is said to have 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.400 seven heads and tin horns quote end upon his horns 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.479 tin crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.520 And so I like these these specific numbers. It's not 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.719 just like, oh, this beast has two heads. It's got 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.599 seven heads. And of course, in Jewish and Christian traditions, 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.880 seven is a very significant number. It's a holy number 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.080 and one that most of the time seems to be 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:59.520 associated with wholeness or completion or fulfillment. You know, God 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.600 rested on the seventh day in the creation story, after 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.039 creating Earth in six days, rested on the seventh, So 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:07.719 it's sort of like the finishing of a of a 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.520 good and wholesome cycle of something. Uh. Though, I guess 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:13.800 in this case it's interesting because this is a sort 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.960 of unholy seven. It's the opposite of God. And there 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.880 are other beings in Jewish literature described with various specific 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.280 numbers of features. For example, there is a vision described 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.719 in the Book of Isaiah where the prophet sees the 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:31.160 Lord sitting upon a throne and he's surrounded by angels 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.560 called seraphim, which literally means the burning ones. And the 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:38.159 Seraphim are said to each have six wings, and there's 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.520 a reason given for this. In the vision, the wings 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.680 are each doing something, so Isaiah says that with two 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.159 of the wings he covered his face, with two of 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.279 them he covered his feet, and with the other two 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.920 he did fly. Though I wonder if the number six 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:55.240 is also showing a different significance in that these beings 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.840 are sort of the second highest beings in the heavenly 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.360 hierarchy without being on the level of God himself. So 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.919 seven is holy perfection and fulfillment. Six is one level 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.400 under that. Oh wow. So first of all, I love 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:10.640 how this actually is finding way to tie back to 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.160 our recent episodes on the days of the week. Uh, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.880 you know, the seven day week, and yeah, all these 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.920 there's something about examples like this where we're dealing with 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:24.200 you know, literary motifs and symbolism and you know, mythic beings. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:29.080 But we take these non biological numbers and though they 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:34.599 sort of bleed through their imagined bodies and and we 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:39.680 instantly enter this zone of of of just of fantasy 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.279 and in myth um. You know, it's the it's the 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.120 sort of thing that I think, you know, today we 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.080 would we would classify this sort of thing is like 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.919 you know, visionary art or you know, some sort of 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:54.599 a psychedelic notion um. But but clearly we've you know, 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.000 we've been dreaming of these these things throughout human history. 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:00.520 Well yeah, yeah, and you're right to note that seven 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.320 is not a very biological number. Yeah, I mean, usually 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:07.720 in animals with bilateral symmetry, there tend to be even 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:11.680 numbers of things. There are some interesting exceptions, but that's 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.480 that's most most often the case. We'll get to one 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.000 exception within the human body later on that that I like, 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.880 But yeah, so is so. I don't know exactly why 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:23.760 you'd get these myths later on of like say, yeah, hero, 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.120 who's got seven irises in his eye or seven pupils 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:30.640 in his eye? But I would be surprised if it isn't, 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:32.800 if it isn't part of a tradition, if it isn't 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.920 all downstream from this ancient line of thinking that says, hey, 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:39.120 you know, this monster doesn't just have two heads. It 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.200 has seven heads. And not only does it have seven heads, 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.440 the fact that it has seven heads means something. This 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.800 is like the ultimate bad monster because there's seven of it. 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.160 Seven is kind of like a siren. It means whenever 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.960 there's seven or of something, it's it's incredibly meaningful. It's 0:07:55.000 --> 0:08:00.920 intensely significant. And with with with Collin's it's it's really 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.160 hard for me to to picture it, like I guess 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:05.560 I end up picturing like this just sort of ring 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.160 of pupils um and then when I try and picture 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.800 seven irises in there. It doesn't really come together for me. Uh. 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:17.320 Here a couple of other translations. Um Thomas Kinsella Translations 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.880 says seven hard heroic jewels are set in the iris 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:25.520 of Colan's eye and then done, also translating another section 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:29.800 of the work. Here from a poem prophecy quote seven 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:33.320 gyms of champions, brave deck the center of his orbs. 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.800 Naked are the spears he bears, and he hooks a 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.520 red cloak round. And I've seen the Yeah, I've seen 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.120 these described as as pupils as irises, and there's a 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:45.240 there's one version that reads, quote there were seven pupils 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.079 and k Colin's royal eye and two of these pupils 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:53.640 were squinting. The pupils were squinting, yes, And um, yeah, 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.120 this this is another area where I haven't found I 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.080 haven't found much to really you know, break down what 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.120 this means. And and that that just makes it more enticing, 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.400 Like what what to imagine looking into this, uh, this 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.600 hero's eyes and then like first of all, they're like 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.439 seven pupils in there, and then and then to make 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:13.920 things even weirder, to make that moment even weirder, two 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.840 of them are squinting. A two of the pupils are squinting. 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:19.920 But pupil I mean, so pupils do, of course contract. 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.240 We'll talk about that as we go on. That's one 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.559 of their main anatomical functions. But I don't think that's 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.559 usually what people mean with the words squinting. With squinting, 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.120 I think of squeezing of like the muscles around the 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:35.480 orbital you know, your face. Yeah, that was We'll discuss um. 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:39.640 Pupils do weird things. Uh so, so maybe by the 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:44.000 time we roll through some examples from the the animal world, 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.400 we'll have a better idea of what this could conceivably 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:49.920 look like. But cal Colin is not the only character 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:55.480 in Irish tradition who has has mysterious eyes. Uh There's 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:59.040 also a character by the name of fedom Or. I 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.679 think the modern version of this is Fidelma. And this 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:04.640 is she. She's a member of the two Offended don 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.120 and she's a prophet, a poet. She's mentioned in the 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:12.520 Ulster cycle, and I've also read that she Some um 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.680 critics and historians think that she may be connected to 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.360 later traditions of the Banshee um, which again, the Banshee 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.720 one of its whole things is that it is it 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.559 haunts a place, It wales in anticipation of death. So 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:28.840 it is it is, in its own way, a profit, 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:33.000 the profit of of one particular thing. She appears in 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.440 the Tane as well. And she has described as having 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.920 three irises in each eye, triple irises. Uh, and she 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.960 this is. This gets really interesting because she's described at length, 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.160 and I'm just going to read a part of it, 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:50.040 translated by Donne quote weaving lace was she, And in 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:54.200 her right hand was a bordering rod of silvered bronze, 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.679 with its seven strips of red gold at the sides, 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.760 A mini spotted green man toll around her, a bulging, 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.120 strong headed pin of gold in the mantle over her bosom, 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:10.080 a hooded tunic with red interweaving about her. A ruddy, 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.960 fair faced countenance. She had narrow below and broad above. 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:18.160 She had a blue, gray and laughing eye. Each eye 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.920 had three pupils. Dark and black were her eyebrows, The 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.760 soft black lashes threw a shadow to the middle of 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.400 her cheeks. Red and thin were her lips. Shiny and 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.120 pearly were her teeth. Thou wouldst believe they were showers 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:36.199 of white pearls that had rained into her head. And 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.920 I have to say, I love how I mean, it's 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:42.080 all beautiful, but the three pupils in the eye just 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.080 gets like this brief description. But then the author is like, 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.440 and let me tell you about her teeth. Right, yeah, 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.240 I had the same reaction. So then again, I'm thinking 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.559 about the historical setting from which this story would have emerged, 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.240 and maybe at that time seeing somebody with really clean 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:02.840 teeth was even more rare than I with three pupils. 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:04.600 So um, so okay, So we already have a couple 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.000 of examples here cocullen um and we have we also 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:11.199 have Fedom here, and Fedom Fedom is very much a 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:14.360 seer and she has eyes of prophecy. So it's easy 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.280 to to see where one interpretation here is that her 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:22.000 eyes are unnatural because she has unnatural vision she can 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.640 see into the future. Makes sense right, sure, But as 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.400 as several different commentators have pointed out, this is what 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.160 this is. Another level where it got even more interesting 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:35.400 is that commentators have pointed out that, um, these are 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:39.640 also signs of beauty. So think to this passage I 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.559 just read, so, uh you know, yes, again, she is 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:47.360 a seer, but she's described as as being as not 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:51.280 being beautiful but possessed with weird eyes. Her triple pupils 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.959 or iris eyes are listed as part of her beauty 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.559 um though you know undeniably this connects to her attributed 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:03.160 powers as well, so it's listed along other along other 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:07.720 things like having long, lustrous eyelashes and pearly teeth, things 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.040 that in a lot of other literature would be just 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:14.360 clear markers that are supposed to mean beauty. And here 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.079 it's also like and three people died. That is one 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.920 of those things, right, we all know that thing. Yeah, yeah, 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:21.480 And this is this is I think something that makes 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:25.160 it so fascinating to read as a modern uh reader 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.160 of the text because obviously, if you had, you know, 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.120 a modern work of fiction that was referring to a 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:32.760 character like this, everything would go in reverse, right, you 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:34.720 would have all that you would say, oh, she was beautiful, 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:39.400 and she looked totally human, a beautiful human, except woe 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:41.720 those eyes, three pupils in each one. It was a 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.920 bit weird. So one of the sources that I was 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:49.480 looking at about this is Jacqueline Boors the Evil Eye 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:53.720 in early Irish literature and Law two thousand three published 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:58.160 in Um Celtica twenty four. It provides a lot of 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:01.920 of insight into the literary mote of the eye in 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:05.880 Irish literature. Uh. So she brings up, first of all, 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:10.079 a different creature with a unique eye, and that is 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:14.320 the one eyed giant Ngsil Case or eng Sol the Terrible, 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.400 who is described as this great giant, uh something of 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:22.280 a pirate I think with possible like English origins of 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.040 the time. So you know, into the in this wee 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.040 get like the idea that maybe if there is some 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.440 sort of historical basis for this figure, maybe he was 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:30.640 just some sort of a pirate rater from that region. 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.200 But in the mythic connotation he becomes this, this this 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.200 great big giant who not only has just this single 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:39.720 eye in his head. He's not only a cyclops, but 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.960 it is a solid black eye. And that solid black 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.000 eye has seven pupils within it. Uh though I've also 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.480 read descriptions where he just has three pupils. How would 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.080 it have pupils if it's solid. The pupil is the 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:56.720 black part of the eye. So that's thoroughly confusing. Yes, 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:02.080 So he's known for the destruction of Daderga hostel. Uh, 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.880 there's a whole story about this. And so the author 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:08.040 here is discussing ng Soul's I and she connects it 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.640 not only with Colin, but also with the High King 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:13.720 of Ireland, Cormac McCart who is also said to have 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.800 had seven pupils in each eye. Um, she's so again, 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.160 it's just driving home that this is a recurring motif. 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.320 It's not like a one time thing that you know it. 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:27.080 It clearly meant something and was worth repeating in the Cannon. 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:29.760 But but she points out that, uh, you know, in 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:33.440 the cases of these two heroes, quote, this is explicitly 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:37.240 qualified as a sign of beauty. And furthermore, she says 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.400 that the squinting ink Collin's pupils is also seen as 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.000 adornment rather than disfigurement. And then she also comes back 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:49.200 to Fedom, the female seer of the Tuath, to Donnan 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:52.440 and says, quote, there is no explanation offered of this 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:57.080 characteristic the triple I with with fedelm. It could be 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:58.920 a sign of beauty and it could be a sign 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:02.560 of her supernatural site. The latter is more probable because 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:06.239 the characteristic is separated from the description of her looks 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.680 by the mention of the weaver's beam, the weaver's beam 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:13.400 has been interpreted as a supernatural tool for prophecy. The 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.760 triple pupils could therefore very well be a symbol of 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.520 her clear of lance. And yeah, so I'm not if 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.560 I'm not mistaken here the weaver's beam, this is part 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:23.960 of a loom. Uh, And so we're getting into the 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:28.600 idea that like here, this, this piece of technology also 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:32.280 had mystical connotations for divination. Alright, what about ing Sol though, 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.320 the giant or pirate who has a single eye which 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:38.360 is entirely black and also has either three or seven 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:42.320 pupils in it. Well, she she's She says that, Okay, 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.160 we're gonna look at these other examples and try and 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:45.960 figure out eng Sole will say, first of all, he's 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.520 definitely not beautiful. This is not a sign of his beauty. 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.640 He's a rough and horrible monster. She she know. She 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.320 points out some of the terms that are used to 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:58.240 describe him. But his sight is described as being sharp. 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.920 He can make out every detail of the hostile at 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.560 a glance. And Boor says that he also might connect 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:08.199 to the legendary evil eye of Balor the king of 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:12.119 the Fomorians, whose great eye when opened and when his 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.640 great brow could be raised up in some accounts, two 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:17.960 warriors have to stand on either side of him. Put 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:21.280 a woman wouldn't beam beneath his big, saggy brow and 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.960 lift the brow up so that the evil eye can 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:28.119 see out an unleashed destruction on the battlefield. Um, it 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:31.159 could be connected to that ballor by the way, is 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:35.080 eventually killed by his grandson Lug of the Tifata done 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.280 and and there are multiple versions of the battor myth 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.720 as well. Sometimes his destructive eye is described, you know, 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.760 more or less like the single single eye of a cyclops, 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.600 and other times it's depicted as more of a third 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:51.080 eye in the center of the head alongside two ordinary eyes. 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:55.679 So there's just a taste of the triple or sevenfold 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.080 eye in uh in in Irish mythology and again and 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:02.560 having you know, research to the bed and and and 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:04.439 laid it out in the in the outline here, it's 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:09.120 still just overwhelmingly mysterious and on inspiring to me. And 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.840 uh we're gonna come back to some other traditions, some 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:17.480 other ancient writings that refer to mysterious eyes of this nature. 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:20.080 But at this point we're gonna we're gonna shift into 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:22.760 the scientific world and and hopefully this will be a 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.880 fun case where the science and the myth will sort 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:27.879 of play off each other and each one will make 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:37.600 the other more fabulous than Alright, well, since we're talking 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:39.639 about eyes, I think we do need to do a 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.919 quick overview of eyeball anatomy. So picture and eyeball, Robert, 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:45.919 you doing it? Can you can see that eyeball in 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.320 your mind's eye burning like the eye of sorrow. Okay, well, 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:51.520 that actually connects to something, because the eye of Saron 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.280 you picture that that that's not just floating out in space, right, 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.119 it's sitting in a tower, that's right. And so of 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:00.600 course our eyeballs needs some some structural scaff holding as well. 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:03.800 So the eyeball of humans, it's within a bony socket 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.400 called the orbit, and the outer layer of the eyeball 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.680 itself is a tough white tissue made of collagen that's 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.199 called the sclera. This this is the white part of 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.680 the eye that you can see. And then the pupil, 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:18.040 of course, is the black dot in the middle of 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:21.160 the eye, covering the pupil on the outside is a 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.639 clear layer of cells known as the cornea, which both 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:27.840 protects the eye. It protects the the iris and the pupil, 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:32.439 and it also helps to focus incoming light into the pupil. Actually, 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:35.280 there are two parts of your eyes that do focusing 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:37.760 of light rays. The cornea does the majority of it. 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:39.840 I think it does about two thirds of the focusing. 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:42.760 And that's the first layer. And actually, if you've listened 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:44.680 to our episodes on tiers that we did I think 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.600 a couple of months ago, you know there's something even 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.000 to the outside of the cornea, which is that thin 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:52.240 layer of tier film that covers the eye. It's secreted 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:56.040 by the lachrymal glands. Actually has multiple parts that the 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:59.479 the watery part of the tier film is secreted by 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.960 the lacrym mole glands, and then there's an oily part 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:04.399 of the tier film that comes from the base of 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:09.000 the eyelids. Now coming to the pupil. While it's tempting 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:12.560 to think of the pupil as a thing, the interesting 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:15.640 truth is that the pupil is really an absence. The 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:20.639 pupil is the whole or the opening through which light passes. 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:24.600 So light comes through the cornea and then is directed 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.280 through the pupil, and then is focused again a second 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.360 time after the cornea by a clear structure on the 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.240 inside of the eye, the inside of the pupil that's 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.600 called the lens. And then finally, after it is focused 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.359 through the lens, the light is reflected onto the layer 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:41.960 of sensitive cells on the back of the inside of 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.000 the eye known as the retina, and then the sensing 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:47.880 cells of the retina transmit the information about the light 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.199 via the optic nerve all the way to the visual 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.040 cortex in the back of the brain, where the information 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:55.520 is made sense of in a way that we experience 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:57.240 as sight. So I think what we should say is 0:20:57.240 --> 0:20:59.800 that sight happens in the brain, which is why there 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:02.760 are so many things that can that can affect what 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:04.480 we see when we look at the world. You know, 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:07.880 it's not just like a video camera feed. There's there's 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.720 some post processing that goes on that can be affected 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:13.919 by all kinds of things from uh, you know, from UH, 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:17.840 from biases and little little tricks of of how the 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:21.760 brain works, to drugs and so so. So sight happens 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:23.520 in the brain, but of course light has to go 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:26.080 through all these stages within the eye before it is 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:29.440 turned into the experience of vision in the visual cortex. 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:31.960 You know. I just think you were talking about how 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.760 about the pupil being an absence and not a thing, 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:38.320 and I was thinking about, um, you know, the various 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.399 there's of course the Chinese story of the magic paint brush, 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.439 and I think there are different variations on this, but 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:47.440 there's one in which the paint brush, whatever you paint 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:50.440 with it comes to life, but only after you have 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:52.720 have added the eye. So I think perhaps that the 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:56.639 uh you know, adding the pupil uh slash iris of 0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:00.920 the eye, because depending on the detail of your illustration, 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:03.360 like the people in the eye are just gonna be one, right, 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:06.040 Like if you're painting an eye, drawing an eye, you 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:08.560 create the white and then you put that black dot 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:11.320 in the middle to complete it, and it kind of 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.080 brings life to something. But on the other hand, I 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:18.800 think to the world of of miniature painting and off there. 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:21.119 If if anyone's never seen this, you should look it 0:22:21.200 --> 0:22:25.399 up because it can be hilarious. Um. When people are 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.200 just figuring out what they're doing with miniatures, they'll often 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:30.280