Perhaps more to the point, though (as Kelly also notes), the fact that the apple was so highly valued also explains why this tree was so prominent throughout the myths and the literature as a whole. More often than not, the tree is depicted as having close associations with the otherworld, with perhaps the most obvious example here being Emain Ablach, the legendary ‘Emain of the Apple-Trees’ (where emain can refer to a fairy fort or region), an otherworldly region that’s described in idyllic terms in the story of Immram Brain (‘The Voyage of Bran’), and said to be ‘the Tara of Manann[án], without disgrace,’ in a seventeenth century poem that also insists:
The apple Emhain of the yews,
Smooth, top-coloured are its trees;
A new place under the black thorn,
In which was nursed Lugh, descendant of the poet.
These traditions clearly suggest that Manannán is the ruler of this realm, where the idea that Emain Ablach was also home to Lug as a child is referring to a tradition (that developed at a relatively late period) whereby Manannán was his foster-father.
— A Guide to Ogam Divination by Marissa Hegarty.
