Aife ( Old Irish ), spelled Aoife ( IPA: [?iːf??] ) in Modern Irish , is a character from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology . She appears in the sagas Tochmarc Emire ("the wooing of Emer") and Aided Oenfhir Aife ("the death of Aife's only son"). In Tochmarc Emire she lives east of a land called Alpi , usually understood to mean Alba ( Scotland ), where she is at war with a rival woman warrior , Scathach . ^[1] In Aided Oenfhir Aife she lives in Letha (the Armorican peninsula) ^{[ citation needed ]} , and is Scathach's sister as well as rival ? they are both daughters of Ard-Greimne of Lethra. ^[2]

Appearances [ edit ]

In Tochmarc Emire the Ulaid hero Cu Chulainn has come to train in arms under Scathach when a battle breaks against Aife. Scathach, fearful of Cu Chulainn's safety, gives him a sleeping potion to keep him from the battle, but a potion that would put most people to sleep for twenty-four hours only knocks him out for an hour, and he joins the fray. Aife challenges Scathach to single combat, and Cu Chulainn fights as Scathach's champion, but before the fight he asks Scathach what it is that Aife loves most, which Scathach reveals is her chariot and horses. They begin to fight, and Aife shatters Cu Chulainn's sword, at which he cries out that Aife's chariot and horses have fallen over a cliff. When Aife turns to look, he overpowers her, throws her over his shoulder, and carries her back to his side. He held his sword at her throat as she begged for her life. He chooses not to kill her, on two conditions: that she cease hostilities with Scathach and she bear him a son. ^[3]

When Cu Chulainn returns to Ireland he leaves Aife pregnant. He gives her a gold ring to give to the child, and instructs her that when he is seven he is to come to Ireland in search of him, but he must not identify himself to anyone. ^[3] The story is taken up again in Aided Oenfhir Aife , when the boy, Connla by name, comes to Ireland as Cu Chulainn had instructed, and his precocious prowess alarms the Ulaid . Because he will not identify himself, Cu Chulainn fights and kills him. ^[2] When it was too late Cu Chulainn recognised the ring; he had killed his only son. ^[4]

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Dun Sgathaich on Skye, said to stand on the site of Dun Scaith