Connla or Conlaoch is a character in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, the son of the Ulster champion Cú Chulainn and the Scottishwarrior womanAífe. He was raised alone by his mother in Scotland. He appears in the story Aided Óenfhir Aífe, a pre-tale to the great epic Táin Bó Cúailnge.
Story
Connla was the son of Cú Chulainn and Aífe Ardgeimm, identified in this text as the sister of his teacher Scáthach. Leaving to return to Ireland, Cú Chulainn gives Aífe a gold thumb-ring, telling her that when his son is old enough to wear it, he should be sent to Ireland. However, he imposes three geasa or prohibitions on him. Connla cannot turn back once he starts his journey, he must not refuse a challenge, and must never tell anyone his name. Connla comes ashore at Tracht Eisi, where he practises his martial feats. The Ulaid, observing these, recognise his skill as a warrior, and Conchobar observes that any land which produces young boys of such skill must be home to warriors who would 'pound to dust'. They send Condere son of Echu to encounter him, and Condere asks Connla for his name and lineage, which he refuses to give. Condere then welcomes Connla, complimenting his skill as a warrior and inviting him to meet the Ulaid. But Connla only asks whether the Ulaid would like to fight him in single combat, or as a group, telling Condere that he is not worth fighting. Condere returns to the Ulaid, and Conall Cernach goes out to meet Connla, saying, "The Ulaid will not be shamed while I am alive." Connla strikes Conall with a stone from his slingshot that knocks him off his feet, and then disarms him. Conall returns shamed to the rest of the Ulaid. Cú Chulainn then approaches Connla, but Emer, his wife, warns him not to fight him, identifying the boy as "Conla, the only son of Aífe". Cú Chulainn rebukes her, saying that heroic deeds "are not performed with a woman's assistance", and that for the sake of the Ulaid, he would fight any intruder no matter who they were. He asks Connla to identify himself, warning him that he will die if he does not, but Connla refuses. They wrestle in the water, with Connla gaining the upper hand, until Cú Chulainn resorts to the gae bolga, a weapon whose use Scáthach taught only to him, and Connla is fatally wounded. Cú Chulainn carries Connla to the shore and identifies him to the Ulaid as his son. Connla greets each of the heroes of the Ulaid in turn before bidding his father farewell and dying. He is grieved, and a marker is raised for his grave, "and for three days not a calf of the cattle of the Ulaid was left alive after him".
Versions and Date
There are two versions of Aided Óenfhir Aífe. The earliest is a late Old Irish text, found in the Yellow Book of Lecan, which is the most well-known version and the source of the narrative above. It has been dated to the 9th or 10th century. There is also a later version in TCD 1336, appended with legal commentary about accountability and compensation. Versions of the story also appear in the dinnsenchas of Lechtán Óenfhir Aífe, Geoffrey Keating's History of Ireland, and in an Early Modern Irish version, entitled Oidheadh Chonlaoich.
In Literature
The story of Connla's death by his father's hand is related in the WB Yeats poem "Cuchulain's Fight with the Sea," first published in 1892. The poetic retelling differs in several respects from the original myth, including portraying Connla as the son of Emer and not Aífe.
