First version of the text of Conchobar Mac Nessa (facsimile of the Book of Leinster, published by MR Atkinson, 1880). The version of the text contained in the Book of Leinster is more literary than that which appears in the Book of the Brown Cow.
Conchobar Mac Nessa
Conchobar, son of Ness Irish MacNessal], was a wonderfully eminent man. This is the opinion of the Ulates [i.e. people of the kingdom of Ulster]. He is called son of Ness [Mac Nessal], after his mother's name. Indeed, Ness, daughter of Echaid Salbé, king of Munster, was mother of Conchobar. This is why she was given the name Ness. His education was entrusted by Echaid Salbé to twelve tutors. Assa, meaning Easy, was the name they first gave her, because she was very easy to raise. There was in Ireland, at that time, a cruel warrior. Cathba, son of Ross, was his name. Indeed, Cathba was not only a druid, he was a warrior. Once, therefore, he went on a warlike expedition into the territory of Munster. So he went to the house of the guardians of Echaid's daughter. In a single night, he killed the twelve guardians of the daughter of Echaid, and it is not known who was the author of this massacre. Then the daughter of Echaid went to war fully armed. With three times nine companions, she traveled through Ireland, and, wanting to know who had massacred her guardians, she killed people. This is why she killed them all: it was because they did not know the description of the murderers of her guardians; and each one said: This woman will not be easy [in Irish Ni assal]; this is why it was called Niassa [which, in the mind of the author, is shortened to Nessa, genitive of Ness, in the nickname of Conchobar, son of Ness, mac Nessal. Her warlike expedition led her to the country of the Ulates. There, one day, she went alone to bathe. At the bath, she met the warrior who had killed her guardians, that druid Cathba mentioned above. Peace was made between them… Then came the mutual affection; she had a son by him. This son was Conchobar, and his father was Cathba. He was therefore of high birth, this Conchobar.
It must be said at what time this birth took place. The hour when Christ was born is the hour when Conchobar was born. Four prophets announced it seven years in advance. They predicted that a marvelous child would be born at the same moment as Christ, on the stone where Conchobar was born, and that his name would be illustrious in Ireland.
Conchobar's dignity was great seven years after his birth. It was then that he became King of Ulster. Here is the reason: Ness, daughter of Echaid Salbé, her mother, was not married. Fergus, son of Ross, was King of Ulster; he wanted to marry Ness. “I will not consent to it,” she said, “without a dower, and this dower will be a year's reign for my son, so that later my son will be called the son of a king. – “Give her what she asks for,” said all the Ulates. “You will remain our king, whoever is proclaimed and given the name of king. So Ness married Fergus, and Conchobar was proclaimed King of Ulster. Ness took possession of his dower, with his son, with his son's tutor, and with his family. Fergus was stripped in favor of Conchobar. Ness seized the gold and silver from Fergus, and distributed it to the warriors of Ulster in the name of his son.
The end of the agreed time came after a year. Fergus asked his sureties to return the kingship to him. “We will talk about it among ourselves,” said the Ulates. They discussed it in an assembly. "It must be," they thought, "that Fergus despised us greatly for giving us as dower." On the contrary, they owed Conchobar gratitude for his fine presents. They therefore concluded that Fergus had lost what he had given and that Conchobar would keep what he had acquired. This is how Fergus lost the kingship and how the supreme dignity, in one of the five great provinces of Ireland, passed from Fergus to Conchobar, son of Cathba.
The Ulates gave great honor to Conchobar. This is what this honor consisted of. Every man in Ulster would give his adult daughter to Conchobar to sleep with him the first night, so that he would be her husband. There was no man on earth who was wiser nor who made better judgments than he. No one outweighed him, for he never made false judgments, and his gifts had no measure. You couldn't say how high the esteem they had for him was. There was no stronger hero on earth. He rushed forward in the middle of the danger. Leaving the chamber of the royal children, he was going to place himself face to face with the heroes, the old warriors and the brave, in combats and battles, without believing in danger. Every Ulster man gave him hospitality one night and made him sleep with his wife that night. Three hundred and sixty-five men formed the staff of the house of Conchobar. In other words, the number of days which is in the year is the number of men who formed the personnel of the house of Conchobar. There was an association between them. Each night, one of them was in charge of the meal. The one who had presided over the meal one night became president again after a year. This meal was no small thing: a pig, an ox and a vat [of beer] for each man. There were, by exception, men to whom this was not given. Such was Fergus, son of Roeg, as the story goes. He really was a tall man. The seventh of the person of this Fergus exceeded the whole person of any other. There were seven feet between his ear and his mouth; seven human hands would have held between his two eyes, as many along the length of his nose, as many across the width of his mouth. To wet his head and wash it well, we needed water to fill a tub in which a large sack of barley would have held; it took seven human hands to cover the tracks of his feet…. and seven women to take care of him if Flidas did not come; he needed seven pigs a day, seven vats of beer and seven oxen to feed and quench his thirst; he had the strength of seven hundred men; we had to let him direct the meals of the whole house for a week, on his own.
But it was Conchobar himself who took charge of the meals at Samhain's feast, because of the great crowds. The congregation he had to attend to at this festival was bound to be large, for any man from Ulster who did not come on Samhain night to Emain, the capital, immediately lost his mind; that very morning they dug his grave, and on the tomb stood the funeral stone. Conchobar therefore had much to do. The custom was that on the three days before Samain and the three days after Samain, the Ulates were assembled and ate in the palace of Conchobar. It was pretty, this palace; it comprised three main buildings: the Rameau-Royal, the Château-Aux-Couleurs-Variées and the Rameau-Rouge. In Rameau-Rouge, the heads and arms of vanquished enemies were kept; in the Rameau-Royal, the kings were lodged, and it was because of them that it was called royal; in the Castle-of-Varied-Colors were stored the spears, shields and swords of the warriors of Ulster. The varied colors seen therein were due to the gold hilts of the swords, the shining green spears, trimmed with gold and silver circles and rings, the gold and silver adorning the fields and borders of shields, to the brilliance of pots and drinking horns.
This is why the warriors of Ulster collected their weapons in a house specially intended for this purpose: none of the warriors of Ulster could hear an insulting word without immediately wanting revenge; then he rose up to fight, struck his head and his shield against the head and shield of his adversary to break them, and the battle was fought in the very hall of the feast. To prevent these fights, the arms had been brought together in the Château-Aux-Couleurs-Variées. There was the shield of Conchobar, with the four borders of gold around it; there the shields of Cúchulainn, of Conall the triumphant, of Flidas, of Furbaide, of Causeradé, of Amorgen, of Condairé, of Nuadu, of Fergus, of Dubthach, of Ergi, of Noisé, of Loégairé, of Cormac, of Sencha, of Celtchar and the rest. We stop here an enumeration which would be too long.
The dignity, brilliance, glory and celebrity of the heroes who formed the house of Conchobar were great.
We pass over in silence a crowd of brave men and heroes. But we will talk about Fergus, son of Roeg. He certainly had enough bravery, the man to whom the three opprobriums of Midé arrived, at the battle of Garg, during the expedition made to carry off the cows of Cûalngé. Angered by Conchobar, he knocked three times on the ground; these blows caused three hills to spring up, and these hills will last forever.
We will say nothing of the brave; but we will cite Conall the triumphant, son of iron-haired Amorgen. He certainly had enough ardor in combat. From the hour when, for the first time, he took the spear in his hand, he never let a day pass without wounding, a night without killing an inhabitant of Connaught, and he did not fall asleep without having his head cut off. a Connaughter under his knee. There was not, in Ireland, land of minor noble where Conall the triumphant would have killed a man. It was Connall the triumphant who shared MacDatho's pig, winning the prize for bravery ahead of Ireland's greatest heroes; it was he who avenged the men of Ulster, whom the other Irishmen have killed or will kill henceforth.
Since Conall the triumphant had taken the spear in his hand, no one equaled him, except the famous young man whose triumphal march all the Irish escort: Cuchulainn, son of Sualdam; his grandfather was from the country of the side (of the gods); his father's brother was called Dolb. Ethné Ingubé, wife of Elcmaire, from the side country, was Sualdam's sister. Dechtiré, daughter of Cathba, was the mother of Cûchulainn [we remember that Cathba was the druid, father of Conchobar, of whom Dechtiré was the sister, consequently Cûchulainn was the king's nephew]. The exploits of this young man were very formidable; he was terrible, especially when he got angry: the quickness of his feet was strange; his hair became more prickly than a point of white thorn; there was a drop of blood on each of his hair; one of his eyes went into his head, the other stuck out the length of a foot; he no longer recognized either beauty or friendship; he also struck behind his back and in front of his face. He surpassed all the men of Ireland in the military talents he had brought back from the teachings of Scathach Buana in Great Britain… , the salmon jump, etc … ]
It would take too long to enumerate here the men who composed the house of Conchobar; it would also take too long to describe his palace. His palace contained three times fifty rooms, and three couples were lodged in each of these rooms; the palace and the chambers were built of red yew, bound with good copper. Conchobar's chamber was on the ground floor, surrounded by facades of bronze, the upper parts of which were of silver, surmounted by birds of gold, and in the heads of these birds shone precious stones. Above Conchobar rose a rod of silver surmounted by three apples of gold; from this rod he gave warnings to the crowd; when he waved his rod or when he himself raised his voice, the crowd was silent: he would have thrown a needle on the ground, the sound of it would have been heard, so great was the respectful silence! Thirty warriors could drink together in Conchobar's chamber. Gerg's vat, called 'coal drink,' 0l n-guala, was on the floor of the palace, always full; it had been brought from the valley of Gerg, when Gerg was slain by Conchobar.
There was in the palace of Conchobar a man who was to make great preparations one day; it was Bricriu, son of Carbad Oll. Nine sons of Carbad 0ll were in the palace; they were: Glainé and Gormainech, Mané, Min, Scoth and Ailill, Dureis and Ret, finally Bricriu, Bricriu the poisonous man with a bad tongue. In his heart, there was no lack of poison. When his evil thoughts secretly stirred in his mind, a red pimple on his forehead grew bigger and bigger than a man's fist, so that addressing the king, "My pimple," said -he, "went battle this night, O Conchobar"
So there were many wonderful people in the palace of Conchobar, King of Ulster.
Second edition of the same account (Manuscript Stowe, 992, end of the 14th century, at the Library from the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin).
There was a king in Ulster: it was Eochu Salbuidhé, son of Loeg. A daughter was born to him; it was: Ness, daughter of Eochu Salbuidhé, and twelve guardians received this daughter to bring her up. Assa ["easy"] was her name at first, because she was of an easy character, and gentle to bring up. It was at this time that a hero came from southern Ulster on a heroic expedition through Ireland and three times nine men composed his party: Cathba, the druid of great renown, was the name of this hero. So he was a man of great learning, a skillful druid, a brave hero, and he had his origin in Ulster, although he was absent from it.
So, Cathba arrived in a desert with her three men's novenas. Behold, there came in the same desert another hero with three other novenas of men. Then they immediately began to fight with each other, so that they were weary, and they made peace at last: for they would all have succumbed, if they had not made peace, since they were equal in number. Then Cathba and her people, and the other hero and her people, went to Ulster and slew the maiden's twelve guardians, for these were all in a house feasting; no one was able to escape except the young girl, and it was not known who had carried out this murder. Immediately, with loud cries, she went to find her father. The father told her that he could not avenge her, since it was not known who had carried out the murder. She was very angry.
Then, the young girl left on a heroic expedition, with a troop of three times nine men, to avenge her guardians. Then it struck and devastated each territory successively. Assa ["easy"] had been her name up to that point, because she was soft. Nihassa ["difficult"] was then his name thereafter, because of the harshness (andsatu = an-assatu) of his bravery and fearlessness. She used to ask every stranger she met for the story of the heroes to find out if he knew the name of the man who killed her guardians.
Once, therefore, she was in a desert, and her people prepared food. So she went ahead alone and explored the desert as she used to explore every desert she went to. As she stood there, she saw a pure and beautiful lake spring in the middle of the desert. So she went into the water to bathe and left her weapon and her garment on the ground. Now, Cathba came to explore the same desert, and he arrived at the source where the young girl was bathing. Cathba then came and placed herself between her, her garment and her weapon, then he drew his sword and raised it above the girl's head. "Spare me, then," cried Ness. “Grant me my three requests,” replied Cathba. “You will get them,” Ness continued. – "What came to my mind is to put you under my protection," said Cathba, "that is to say that there will be peace between us, alliance between us and that you will be my only woman for a long time. – “It is better for me than to be killed by you, since I have not my weapon,” said the young girl. They then gathered themselves and their people in a
only place. Then Cathba, at the favorable moment, went to Ulster and to Ness's father. He welcomed them and gave them land. It was Raith Cathbad, in the land of Picts, in the neighborhood of the river which bears the name of Conchobar, in Crich Rois.
But a very great thirst seized Cathba for one night. So Ness went all over the castle to get him a drink and found nothing to give him. Then she went to the Conchobar, that is to say, to the river, filtered water in the cup through her veil, and then brought it to Cathba. “Let's turn on a light,” said Cathba, “to see the water. Now there were two worms in the water. So Cathba drew her sword and raised it to her head to kill her. “So drink yourself,” said Cathba, “what you wanted me to drink, or else you will die if you do not drink this water. So Ness takes two sips of water and swallows a worm with each sip. Then she was fat while every woman is fat, and it was from these verses that she was fat, according to some. But Fachtna Fathachl [king of Ulster] was the lover of Ness, and it was he who made her pregnant, it was not Cathba, the noble druid.
Cathba once went to speak with the king, that is to say with Fachtna Fathach, son of Rudraige, and he arrived with his wife at Mag Inis. Pains take Ness on a journey. “If it were in your power, O woman,” said Cathba, “do not bring forth the child that is in your womb until tomorrow, for then your son will be king of Ulster or of all Ireland, and his name will remain in Ireland forever: it is indeed on the anniversary of the same day that the illustrious child will be born whose glory and power have spread over the world, that is to say, Jesus Christ, son of the ever-living God. “I'll do it at the appointed time,” answered Ness; and unless the child comes out my side, he will not come out elsewhere until that time comes. "
It was then that Ness went to the meadow which was on the bank of the river which bore the name of Conchobar; she sat down on a stone that was on the bank of the river, and thus came to her the pains of childbirth. It is then also that Cathba predicts in these verses the birth of Conchobar; he spoke as follows:
0 Ness, you're in danger!
May everyone get up in front of your childbirth
We can't find anything to calm your pain
Beautiful is the color of your hand;
0 girl deochu Buidhé!
Do not lament, o woman
He will be the leader of hundreds of men and armies
Of the world, your son.
They will have the same prosperity and the same advantage
And he and the king of the world.
Everyone will praise them
Until the day of judgment.
The same night they will be born.
The heroes will not dare to attack them;
As hostages they will not be taken,
Neither he nor Christ.
In Mag-Inis you will give birth to it
On the stone, in the meadow.
Glorious will be its history.
He will be the gracious king,
He will be the hound of Ulster,
Who will take the hostages of the heroes.
Great will be the shame,
If he falls...
Conchobar will be his name,
For whoever will call it.
Red will be his weapons,
And he will stand out in the great carnage.
Then he will find death,
By avenging the God worthy of pity.
Visible will be the trace of his sword,
On the sloping plain of Laim.
He will not be Cathba's son,
Handsome and industrious man.
However he is loved by me,
Because…
He will be the son of Fachtna Fathach.
As Scathach knows,
He will often take hostages
North and south. 0 Ness
0 Ness, you're in danger!
May everyone get up in front of your childbirth
We can't find anything to calm your pain
Beautiful is the color of your hand
0 girl deochu Buidhé!
Do not lament, o woman
He will be the leader of hundreds of men and armies
Of the world, your son.
It was then that Ness gave birth to the child that was in her womb, that is to say, the illustrious, renowned child, the promised child whose glory spread over Ireland; and the stone on which he was born still remains: it is opposite Airgdig, to the west. Here then is how this son was born: he had a worm in each hand, he fell backwards into the river which is called Conchobar; the tide passed over him until Cathba managed to grab hold of him. He was named after the name of the river, he was called Con chobar, son of Fachtna. Cathba took the child to her bosom, gave thanks for his birth, and made a prophecy about him, singing the following poem
Welcome the guest who has arrived here,
As we told you,
Lejeune son of the noble Cathba
He will be a power full of grace.
Lejeune son of the noble Cathba
And Ness the strong
Dominate by its power the hills of Ireland.
My son, my little child
My son, my little child,
Soon ornament of the world
He will be a king full of grace
He will be a poet, he will be generous.
He will be a poet, he will be generous
He will be the leader of the warriors on the sea,
And of my troop on the shore,
My little cat, darling head!
Welcome the guest who arrives here,
As we told you,
Lejeune son of the noble Cathba
He will be a power full of grace.
This child was then brought up by Cathba; wherefore he was called Conchobar son of Cathba. After this Conchobar became king of Ulster by right of his mother and father, for Fachtna Fathach son of Rudraighe, king of Ireland, was his father, and it was he who begat Conchobar in place of Cathba. And it was by the force of the valor and the magic' of this man, that is to say of Cathba, that the famous and terrible battle of Forgarach and Ilgarach was won over Ailill and Medb, when the cows of Cualngé were removed from the province of Ulster. End.
