Connla
Also spelled: Conlaí, Conlaoch, Conla
Aife's one son, who sails to Ulster seven years after Cúchulainn leaves her and is killed by his father.
Overview
Cúchulainn leaves Aife with a gold thumb-ring for the unborn boy, the name Connla, and three orders: tell no man his name, make way for no man, refuse no man combat. Seven years to the day he comes over the sea in a bronze boat with gilt oars, stuns sea birds with his sling, and ties Conall Cernach up in his own shield-strap, while Condere gets nowhere with him. Cúchulainn kills him anyway, after Connla has thrust him three times between two standing stones and held him under twice, by sending the gae bolga over the water. Connla then salutes each Ulsterman in turn and dies, and for three days and nights no calf in Ulster is let go to its cow.
If only I had five years among you I would slaughter the warriors of the world for you.
Connections
Related characters
- Aife (his mother)
- Conall Cernach (knocked down and tied up by him)
- Condere mac Echach (sent to turn him back, fails)
- Cúchulainn (his father, who kills him in the water)
- Emer (begs Cúchulainn not to fight him)
Connected to
- Scáthach (Cúchulainn's son, killed with the gae bolga she taught to no one else)
Places
- Tracht Esi (where he lands, fights and dies)
Appears in chapters
Appears in
- Seven years to the day after Cúchulainn left Aife, the men of Ulster are gathered at Tracht Esi when a boy comes toward them over the ocean in a little boat of bronze with gilt oars. At Tracht Esi. In The Death of Aife's One Son.
- The boy stuns the sea birds with his sling and lets them go, then brings them down a second time with his voice, and Conchobor says someone must go out and not let him ashore. At Tracht Esi. In The Death of Aife's One Son.
- Condere mac Echach meets the boy on the strand and begs him to give his name, and the boy refuses and tells Condere to go back and say he will fight them singly or together. At Tracht Esi. In The Death of Aife's One Son.
- 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.
- Emer begs Cúchulainn not to kill his own son, and he tells her to be quiet and goes down to meet the boy for the honour of Ulster. At Tracht Esi. In The Death of Aife's One Son.
- The boy climbs onto two standing stones and thrusts Cúchulainn three times between them, his feet sinking into the stone, and the place gets its name from the mark. At Tracht Esi. In The Death of Aife's One Son.
- In the sea Cúchulainn kills the boy with the gae bolga, carries him ashore, and names him as his son before the people of Ulster. At Tracht Esi. In The Death of Aife's One Son.
- The boy salutes each man in turn, saluting his father last, and dies, and no calf in Ulster is let go to its cow for three days and nights. At Tracht Esi. In The Death of Aife's One Son.