Mac Roth
Ireland's chief messenger, who carries Medb's offers to Dáire and Cúchulainn and scouts the Ulster companies for the army.
Overview
Mac Roth is Ireland's chief messenger. He carries Medb's offer for the Donn Cuailnge to Dáire, comes home with Dáire's refusal, and later brings Connacht's offers to Cúchulainn at Delga, who turns every one of them down. Kinsella adds that he could circle the whole of Ireland in one day, and the army uses him as a scout until he is tired of describing the Ulster companies.
what messengers say into your food and drink hardly deserves your notice. You can’t blame Ailill and Medb.
Connections
Related characters
- Cúchulainn (carries Connacht's offers to him in the snow)
- Dáire mac Fiachna (refuses him the Donn Cuailnge, then lets him go unharmed)
- Fergus mac Roich (explains to him what he saw on the plain)
- Medb (sends him to Dáire and to Cúchulainn)
Connected to
- Ailill (messenger, sent by Ailill to look for the Ulster companies)
- Cethern son of Fintan (saw him coming and described him to the camp)
- Donn Cuailnge (messenger sent to ask for the loan)
- Laeg mac Riangabra (herald who asks Laeg whose servant in arms he is)
Places
- Ai Plain
- Ath Firdia
- Connacht
- Cruachan (where he reports Dáire's refusal to Medb)
- Cuailnge
- Cuib
- Delga
- Ochaine
- Slemain Midi
- Sliab Fuait
Appears in chapters
Appears in
- Medb tells Mac Roth to offer Dáire mac Fiachna a portion of the Plain of Ai if Dáire himself brings the bull. At Ai Plain. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- Ailill has Mac Roth take Cúchulainn an offer of a part of Ai Plain equal to the plain of Murtheimne. At Ai Plain. In Chapter VII: Single Combat.
- Mac Roth tells Ailill and Fergus that his eye travelled from Ferdia's Ford to Slemain Midi and found men and horses instead of hills and slopes. At Ath Firdia. In Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance.
- Ailill, Medb and Fergus take counsel and send Mac Roth to see whether the men of Ulster have reached the plain. At Connacht. In Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance.
- Mac Roth comes back from Dáire's house with the news that the bull will not be given, and Medb says it will be taken by force. At Cruachan. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- Mac Roth tells Medb that the best bull in Ireland is in Dáire mac Fiachna's house in Cuailnge, goes there, and is made welcome. At Cuailnge. In Chapter I: The Pillow Talk.
- Mac Roth sees three princes of Roth at Slemain Midi, and Fergus names them as Fiachna's three sons, three fiery torches from Cuib and Midluachair, who have come to recover the bull. At Cuib. In Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance.
- Mac Roth sets out for Delga with Ailill and Medb's offer, because Fergus thinks Cúchulainn can be found there. At Delga. In Chapter VII: Single Combat.
- Ailill, seeing the army melting away, sends Mac Roth to offer Cúchulainn land, a chariot and bondmaids if he will take service under him. At Ochaine. In Chapter VII: Single Combat.
- Mac Roth goes up to the Ulster encampment on the smooth plain of Slemain Midi and brings back news to Ailill, Medb and Fergus. At Slemain Midi. In Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance.
- 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.
- Mac Roth goes north to Sliab Fuait to see if anyone is following the army, and comes back reporting a single chariot. At Sliab Fuait. In Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs.
- Mac Roth looks out from the Sliab Fuait road and sees the wild animals leaving the forest, then fog filling the valleys. At Sliab Fuait. In Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance.