An Chraobh Airgid

Being of the sídhe

The Woman of Síd Cruachan

Nera’s wife in the síd of Cruachan, who showed him how to save his people.

Open it on the full site There every name opens, and a web shows who is kin to whom.

On Samhain night the king of the síd sent Nera to her house, and she made him welcome. She told him that the fall of Cruachan he had seen would come true unless he warned his people, promised that Ailill and Medb would destroy the síd and carry off the crown of Brión, and gave him the fruits of summer to prove where he had been. She bore him a son, Aingene, and for a year she carried Nera’s firewood up to the king in his place, telling the king he was sick. When the síd was plundered, Nera stayed on in it with his people.

Kin and bonds

In the tales

  • The Adventure of Nera On Samhain night a man goes out in the dark to tie a withe round a hanged man’s foot, and follows the host of the sídhe into the cave of Cruachan.

See also

  • Ailill mac Máta King of Connacht, Medb’s husband.
  • The Crown of Brión A diadem of gold kept in a well in the síd of Cruachan: one of the three wonders of Ireland.
  • Medb Queen of Connacht, who went to war for the Brown Bull of Cúailnge.
  • Ráth Cruachan Rathcroghan and Oweynagat. Queen Medb’s royal seat, and a cave called the gate of hell.
  • Samhain The start of winter. The night the mounds stand open.

Sources

Medieval manuscript. Written down by Irish scholars between the eighth and seventeenth centuries.

Each tale above lists the sources it is retold from. Every source the site draws on is listed on the full site.