Conall Cernach
Also spelled: Conall the Victorious, Conall Cernach mac Amairgin, Conall Cearnach
Cúchulainn's foster-brother and cousin, an Ulster champion who is beaten by a boy's sling stone and later calls Fergus's war a fight over a whore's backside.
Overview
Conall Cernach is the son of Amargin and Finnchaem, a chariot-warrior who practises on the spearcords at Emain and is made Cúchulainn's foster-brother by Morann's judgment. On the boy's first day in a chariot Conall holds the boundary at Sliab Fuait, is told to go home, and goes no further after Cúchulainn smashes his chariot shaft with a sling stone to test his aim. When Aife's son arrives at Tracht Esi, Conall goes out swearing no one makes little of Ulster's honour, and the boy's stunning-shot knocks him headlong and ties his arms with his own shield-strap. In the Táin his tent is pitched next to Cormac Connlongas in the Connacht camp, the text does not say how, and in the last battle he tells Fergus he is raging at his own kin for the sake of a whore's backside.
No one makes little of Ulster’s honour while I live.
Connections
Related characters
- Amargin (father, and Cúchulainn's teacher)
- Bricriu (points out that Cúchulainn is only a sister's son to Finnchaem)
- Conchobor (his king, whose honour he defends)
- Cormac Connlongas (pitched next to him in the Connacht camp)
- Cúchulainn (foster-brother and cousin)
- Fergus mac Roich (meets him in the last battle and is told he rages at his own kin)
- Finnchaem (mother, Conchobor's sister)
Connected to
- Condere mac Echach (the next man sent)
- Connla (knocked down and tied up by him)
- Laeg mac Riangabra (his own charioteer is En, who drives with Laeg)
- Laegaire Buadach (fellow chariot-warrior of Ulster)
Places
- Brug
- Emain Macha
- Midluachair road (his home in the muster)
- Slemain Midi
- Sliab Fuait (the province boundary he guards on his day)
- Tracht Esi (where Aife's son knocks him down)
Appears in chapters
- How Conchobor was Begotten, and how he took the Kingship of Ulster
- How Cúchulainn was Begotten
- Cúchulainn's Courtship of Emer, and his Training in Arms
- The Death of Aife's One Son
- Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn
- Chapter IV: Cúchulainn's Boyhood Deeds
- Chapter XI: Combat of Ferdia and Cúchulainn
- Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs
- Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance
- Chapter XIV: The Last Battle
Appears in
- The men of Ulster chase a flock of birds across Sliab Fuait, Edmonn and Breg Plain, and reach Brug on the Boann as night overtakes them. At Brug. In How Cúchulainn was Begotten.
- It snows heavily and Conchobor has the chariots unyoked, while Conall and Bricriu search and find a solitary, newly built house where a couple make them welcome. At Brug. In How Cúchulainn was Begotten.
- A flock of birds ruins the plain around Emain and Conchobor, Deichtine and the Ulster warriors chase them away in nine chariots. At Emain Macha. In How Cúchulainn was Begotten.
- The Ulstermen quarrel over who should rear the infant Sétanta, and Morann gives judgment at Emain that Conchobor should have him, with Sencha, Blai Briuga, Fergus, Amargin and Conall Cernach to help. At Emain Macha. In How Cúchulainn was Begotten.
- The Ulstermen drink from the vat Ol nguala while the chariot-warriors practise on spearcords, and the women's love for Cúchulainn makes them look for him a wife. At Emain Macha. In Cúchulainn's Courtship of Emer, and his Training in Arms.
- Mac Roth says Conall Cernach and his great company have not come, nor Conchobor's three sons with their troops, nor Cúchulainn, and that his eye travelled from Ferdia's Ford to Slemain Midi and fell on men and horses instead of hills and slopes. At Slemain Midi. In Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance.
- Conchobor, Deichtine, Conall, Laegaire and Bricriu chase a flock of enchanted birds across Sliab Fuait, Edmonn and Breg Plain. At Sliab Fuait. In How Cúchulainn was Begotten.
- Cúchulainn meets Conall Cernach on border duty there and sends him back to the fort so that he can keep watch himself. At Sliab Fuait. In Chapter IV: Cúchulainn's Boyhood Deeds.
- Conall Cernach goes out to meet the boy, and the boy knocks him headlong with the thunder of a stone sent into the sky and ties the shield-strap around his arms. At Tracht Esi. In The Death of Aife's One Son.