Conaire Mór

• Wooing of Etain

• Rise of Conaire Mór

• Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel

Wooing of Etain

Conaire Mór (Conaire Mor) was a descendant of Etain, the most beautiful woman in the world. Etain was a Danann and the second wife of Midir, son of Dagda. Midir's first wife Fuamnach became jealous of Etain's beauty and grace, turned Etain into a butterfly, and drove her away from the magic palace with a gusty wind. The wind blew the butterfly to many parts of Ireland until she arrived in Ulster. Here, the butterfly fell in the cup of Etar's wife. Etar's wife drank her cup and unknowingly swallowed the butterfly, and she later became pregnant with Etain. When Etain was born, she became mortal, without any memory of her former life as a Danann.

Eochaid Airem the high king of Ireland, seeking a wife, fell in love with the young Etain. They married and lived in Tara. Eochaid's brother Ailill also fell in love with Etain. Ailill became ill as the result of his longing for his sister-in-law. She agreed to secretly sleep with Ailill for one night, outside of Tara. Before Ailill could arrive at the appointed time, he fell into a magical slumber, causing the young man to forget his longing. The person in Ailill's guise who met Etain at the appointed place was Midir, her former husband. Disguised as Ailill, he told Etain he was no longer in love with her, before leaving.

All was well with the marriage until Midir arrived, searching for Etain. Midir told Etain that she was originally a Danann woman and his wife. She agreed to go with Midir on the condition that her husband agreed to let her go. Midir appeared to Eochaid, and challenged the king to game of chess. Every time they played they made some wagers. Eochaid always won every game they had played. Each time, Midir would pay for his losses, by clearing the forest, building bridges, and so on.

Finally Midir won the last wager against Eochaid. He asked for a single kiss from Etain. Eochaid agreed to this if Midir would return to the palace one month from now. Before the appointed time came, Eochaid had the palace surrounded by his warriors, to prevent Midir coming anywhere near his wife. Midir, however, appeared before them during a feast held by Eochaid. Placing his arm around Etain, they were transformed into swans and flew away.

In vain, Eochaid tried to find Etain. He declared war upon the Dananns. For nine years, Eochaid tried to dig the mound where Midir's palace was hidden, but the Danann easily repaired the damage to the mound. Finally, Midir agreed to return Etain to Eochaid, if Eochaid could pick out Etain from fifty other maidens who looked like his wife. Eochaid managed to pick out the real Etain when she secretly sent a small signal to him.

Etain and Eochaid returned to Tara and bore Eochaid a daughter who was also named Etain (Etain Oig).

Rise of Conaire Mór

The younger Etain (Etain Oig) married Cormac, king of Ulster. Cormac was disappointed with not fathering a son, and decided to abandoned his wife for another. He had his infant daughter exposed in a pit by two of his thralls. However, the girl was so loving and playful that the thralls could not let the girl die in the pit. They gave the girl to a cowherd of king Eterscel, who brought up the girl as their foster-child and named her Mes Buachalla.

She was brought up until Eterscel, who was the high king of Ireland, discovered her. He fell in love with her great beauty. Though Mes Buachalla was to become Eterscel's wife, she was seduced by a Danann named Nemglan. The Danann arrived in the form of a bird and seduced Mes Buachalla. She was to give birth to Conaire Mór (Conaire Mor), the future high king of Ireland. The Danann placed a geis upon his son, that he was forbidden to kill birds.

Conaire Mor was brought up by his foster-father Donn Désa, who had three grandsons named Ferlee, Fergar and Ferrogan. Conaire's foster-brothers also became his companions.

When Eterscel died, Conaire Mór was a young man. In Tara, a druid said that the next High King of Ireland would come to Tara, naked and holding a sling. Conaire Mór, who was unaware of the king's death, was driving his chariot along the road, when he came upon some beautiful birds heading towards Tara. Conaire Mór forgot his geis and pursued the birds with his sling ready. The birds transformed themselves into warriors and attacked the young man. One bird-warrior rescued him. This bird also transformed himself into human form, and told Conaire that he was his real father and that he must walk to Tara, without his clothes and carrying his sling.

When Conaire Mór arrived in Tara, the omen was fulfilled. Conaire Mór was crowned as the new Ard-Ri ("High King of Ireland").

Conaire Mór introduced new laws to Ireland. As king, he would settle disputes between clans or between men. He banned cattle raids and clan wars. Violence was not tolerated. His reign was marked by a period of peace, and all of Ireland prospered: the duns were flourishing, the weathers were kind, allowing bountiful harvest.

Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel

Allhough Conaire Mór's reign was at first peaceful and prosperous, some people reverted back to the old ways.

Conaire Mor's foster-brothers were among the culprits. Since they were his childhood companions, the king could not bring himself to punish them with death or imprisonment when they were caught. Instead, Conaire banished them from Ireland. Some people, particularly the provincial kings, became dissatisfied with his judgement. Even the Dananns frowned upon his judgement.

Conaire was also burdened with several further geis when he became king.

• He was not allowed to circle clockwise around Tara or anti-clockwise around Bergia.

• He must avoid hunting the monster of Cerna.

• He must not leave Tara every ninth night.

• He must avoid sleeping in a house that shows firelight after sunset.

• He must not interfere with a quarrel between his two thralls.

• He must prevent raids and looting during his reign.

• He must not follow three Reds to the House of Red.

• After sunset, he must not allow a man and a woman enter the house where he was staying.

By failing to prevent violence and looting and his reluctance to punish his foster-brother for their crime, Conaire Mór had broken one of his geis. By infringing one geis, he set off a chain reaction which would cause the king to break all of his other geis, which would eventually lead him to his doom.

His foster-brothers joined one of the pirates named Ingcel the One-Eyed. They raided the coastal areas of Britain and other islands. After a few years of raiding and looting, Ingcel decided to attack Ireland.

On that fateful day when Ingcel and the foster-brothers landed near Tara, Conaire Mór was lured into breaking each of his geis. The Dananns seemed determined that Conaire Mór would die that night. One by one, Conaire seemed forced to break each geis.

After sunset, Conaire and his followers encountered three red riders who were riding ahead of them, toward a house that belonged to an innkeeper named Da Derga, which means "Red", in Gaelic. No matter how fast he tried to pace his horses, he remained behind the three red riders.

Conaire Mór finally arrived at Da Derga's hostel. The king realised he had just about broken all his geis. When a man and an old woman (Morrígan) wanted to enter the hostel, at first Conaire was determined to not break last of his geis. When Morrígan rebuked him for his lack of hospitality. Conaire was resigned to his fate, and allowed the pair to enter the hostel.

Ingcel and his bandits arrived at the hostel, and they were determined to attack the hostel. He went and spied on those inside the hostel. When Ingcel returned, Conaire's foster-brothers realised that their king was there. The story went into great details, with the foster-brother identifying each of the champion in Conaire's retinue, including Conall of the Victories, Conchobar's son Cormac, and Mac Cécht (Mac Cecht), the son of Snade Teched.

Ingcel ordered his men to attack the hostel. They were repulsed with heavy causalities from Conaire and his followers. Ingcel ordered them to burn the hostel to the ground. The warriors inside put out the fire with all of the water and wine that could be found in the hostel. After hours of fighting, only less than a handful of warriors were left inside the hostel.

Conaire Mór, dying of thirst, ordered Mac Cécht to procure him drink. Mac Cécht was reluctant to leave his king, but managed to break free from Ingcel's bandits. Outside, Mac Cécht went in search for water, but the Dananns hid all the water sources from the hero with magic. Lakes and rivers seemed to dry up when Mac Cécht appeared. After hours of searching, Mac Cecht managed to fill a cup with water, and began his trek back to the hostel.

By the time Mac Cécht returned, the other champions were either dead or had fled. Mac Cécht saw two men who had severed his king's head. Mac Cécht attacked the two men, beheading his enemies with his sword. Taking up Conaire's head, Mac Cécht poured water into mouth. Conaire Mór spoke, praising Mac Cécht for his duties to his king, of fetching water for the king!