Deichtine
Also spelled: Deichtire, Dechtire
Conchobor's sister, mother of Cúchulainn, who swallows a tiny creature in her drink.
Overview
Deichtine drives the chariot for her brother Conchobor when the Ulstermen chase the birds, and at the Brug she helps a woman in her birth-pangs bear a son, whom she nurses and grieves for when he dies. She then swallows a tiny creature that slips into her cup, and dreams that Lug mac Ethnenn is the child's father and that it is to be called Sétanta. Conchobor gives her in marriage to Sualdam mac Roich, and the child spills from her in sickness, but she becomes pregnant again and bears a son called Sétanta. When he grows into Cúchulainn he tells Conchobor, at Emain, that he is the son of Sualdam and of Conchobor's sister Deichtine.
Connections
Related characters
- Conchobor (brother, whose chariot she drives)
- Cúchulainn (son)
- Lug mac Ethnenn (tells her in a dream that he is the father)
- Sualdam (husband)
Places
- Brug (where the Ulstermen shelter and she helps the woman bear a son)
- Emain Macha
- Sliab Fuait
Appears in chapters
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.
- Deichtine helps the woman bear a son, a mare at the door foals twice, and the Ulstermen take the baby and the foals, and Deichtine nurses him. At Brug. In How Cúchulainn was Begotten.
- Deichtine dreams that a man tells her he brought her to Brug to sleep with her there, and that he is Lug mac Ethnenn. At Brug. In How Cúchulainn was Begotten.
- The people of Ulster say the father might have been Conchobor himself, in his drunkenness, on the night she stayed with him at Brug. 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.
- 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.