An Chraobh Airgid

Person

Nera

Nera

The man who followed the sídhe into the cave of Cruachan.

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On Samhain night at Ráth Cruachan he won Ailill’s gold-hilted sword by putting a withe round a hanged man’s foot, carried the dead man off to find him a drink, and followed a host of the síd into the cave. He took a wife in the síd, and warned Ailill and Medb that its host would come to destroy Cruachan at the next Samhain, so that the men of Connacht went in and destroyed the síd first. The bull calf of his son’s cow, beaten on the plain by the Whitehorn, set Medb on seeing the two great bulls fight. Nera stayed in the síd with his people, and the tale says he will not come out till Doom.

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.
  • Finnbennach The White-horned: the bull of Ailill’s herd, who would not belong to a woman.
  • 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.

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