Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER V: TALES OF THE ULTONIAN CYCLE 151when Maev, Queen of Connacht, made the famous Cattle-raidof Quelgny (Tain Bo Cuailgné), which forms the subject ofthe greatest tale in Irish literature. We have now to relate thepreliminary history leading up to this epic tale and introducingits chief characters.Fachtna the Giant, King of Ulster, had to wife Nessa, daughterof Echid Yellow-heel, and she bore him a son named Conor.But when Fachtna died Fergus son of Roy, his half-brother,succeeded him, Conor being then but a youth. Now Fergus lovedNessa, and would have wedded her, but she made conditions.“Let my son Conor reign one year,” she said, “so that his posteritymay be the descendants of a king, and I consent.” Fergus agreed,and young Conor took the throne. But so wise and prosperouswas his rule and so sagacious his judgments that, at the year'send, the people,as Nessa foresaw, would have him remain king;and Fergus, who loved the feast and the chase better than the toilsof kingship, was content to have it so, and remained at Conor'scourt for a time, great, honoured, and happy, but king no longer. [181]The Red BranchIn his time was the glory of the “Red Branch” in Ulster, whowere the offspring of Ross the Red, King of Ulster, with collateralrelatives and allies, forming ultimately a kind of warlike Order.Most of the Red Branch heroes appear in the Ultonian Cycleof legend, so that a statement of their names and relationshipsmay be usefully placed here before we proceed to speak of theirdoings. It is noticeable that they have a partly supernaturalancestry. Ross the Red, it is said, wedded a Danaan woman,Maga, daughter of Angus Ōg. 134 As a second wife he wedded amaiden named Roy. His descendants are as follows:Maga === Ross the Red === Roy134 See pp. 121-123 for an account of this deity.