Ness ingen Echdach

Notes: Ness (Irish: Neasa, Nessa; Old Irish: Neas, Ness), also called Nessa, is a princess of the Ulaid and the mother of Conchobar mac Nessa in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Her father is HRM King Eochaid Sálbuide, King of the Ulaid. According to one version of the legend, she asks the Druid, Cathbad, what that day is a good day for, and he replies that it is a good day to conceive a king. There are no other men around, so HRM Queen Consort Ness takes Cathbad to bed, and HRH Prince Conchobar is conceived. In other versions, HRH Princess Ness was brought up by twelve foster-fathers, and was originally called Assa ("easy, gentle"), because she was such a pleasure to foster. Cathbad, who is a leader of a band of Fianna (landless warriors) as well as a Druid in this version, attacks her foster-fathers' house, killing them all. Because the culprit cannot be identified, HRM King Eochaid is powerless to do anything about it, so HRH Princess Ness forms her own band of 27 Fianna to track him down, and becomes known as Ní-assa ("not easy, not gentle"), or Ness. However, one day, when she goes off on her own to bathe, Cathbad comes upon her alone and unarmed and demands her as his wife. She has no choice but to agree. HRM King Eochaid gives the couple land in Crích Rois (a region covering parts of the modern counties of Louth, Monaghan and Meath), near the river Conchobar. One night Cathbad is thirsty, and HRH Princess Ness brings him a drink of water from the river, but when he sees two worms floating in it he makes HRH Princess Ness drink it. Although the story specifically denies this is what makes her pregnant, there are many Irish stories in which significant characters are conceived when their mothers swallowed a tiny creature in a drink. Here, the father of her child is said to be HRM High King Fachtna Fáthach, the High King of Ireland, who is HRH Princess Ness's lover in spite of Cathbad. Whilst HRH Princess Ness and Cathbad are travelling to visit Fachtna, HRH Princess Ness goes into labour on the bank of the river Conchobar. Cathbad prophesies that if she can wait until the following day before giving birth, her son will share a birthday with Jesus Christ. She sits on a flagstone by the river, and the following day gives birth to a son, who is named HRH Prince Conchobar after the river. The baby tumbles backwards into the river, and Cathbad lifts him out. Cathbad makes a prophecy in verse of his future glory, in which he refers to him as "my son and my grandson", suggesting there was once a tradition that Cathbad was HRH Princess Ness's father, and that Conchobar was born of incest between them. By the time HRH Prince Conchobar is seven, HRM King Fergus mac Róich is King of Ulster, and he falls in love with HRH Princess Ness. She consents to marry him on one condition -- that he abdicate his kingship for a year in favour of HRH Prince Conchobar, so that his sons will be able to call themselves the sons of a king. HRM King Fergus consults with his nobles, and they advise him that the boy will be king in name only, so he agreed. But HRH Prince Conchobar, advised by his mother, is so crafty at distributing wealth and gifts that when the year is up, the Ulstermen won't have HRM King Fergus back, and HRM KIng Conchobar keeps the kingship. According to some traditions, HRM Queen Consort Ness is the mother of Cormac Cond Longas by incest with HRM King Conchobar (although in other traditions, HRM King Cormac's mother is HRM King Conchobar's wife, HRM Queen Consort Clothru). She is also the mother of HRM King Conchobar's sisters, HRH Princess Deichtine and HRH Princess Findchóem. References: Thomas Kinsella (trans.), The Táin, 1969, p. 3 Whitley Stokes (ed. & trans.), "Tidings of Conchobar son of Ness." Ériu 2, 1908; Kuno Meyer, "Anecdota from the Stowe MS No 992", Revue Celtique 6, 1883-1885, pp. 171 – 186. Joseph O'Neill, "Cath Boinde", Ériu 2, 1905, pp. 173 – 185. The Ulster Cycle: Ness, webcomic by Patrick Brown. Source: http://www.wikipedia.org