3 - Echtrae Chonnlai and Immram Brain

Summary

Introduction

Because of similarities and relationships between the texts, which will become apparent during the course of this chapter, I have deemed it expedient to consider Echtrae Chonnlai (EC) and Immram Brain (IB) together. Before beginning my analysis, I will give a brief synopsis of each story.

In EC, we are presented with a protagonist, Connlae son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, king of Ireland, who is invited to a blissful Otherworldly land by a strangely dressed woman whom only he can see, though all can hear her speak. She describes some of the wonders of her home and tells him that she has come to fetch him there because of her great love for him. When Conn hears this, he calls his druid to drive her away, lest his son be taken from him by “the spells of women.” The druid chants against her, causing her to become imperceptible – but not before she tosses an apple to Connlae. This apple, and no other food, sustains him for the next month, it also induces in him a longing for the woman. A month later she appears to Connlae again – and again he is with his father – and exhorts him to come with her. Conn calls for his druid, but the latter does not seem to be at hand. The woman tells Conn he should not love druidism, and prophesies the coming of one who will overthrow the druids. Conn asks Connlae if the woman's words affect him, and Connlae replies that, though he loves his people, he longs for the woman. Finally, he jumps into the woman's crystal boat and they leave, never to be seen again (McCone, Echtrae 121–199).

IB is a considerably longer and more complicated text. When the story begins, Bran is walking alone outside his fort. He hears music behind him, and it lulls him to sleep. When he wakes, there is a silver branch lying next to him, and he takes it with him into his fort. Later, when the people are assembled in the fort, a woman in strange clothing appears among them. After describing an Otherworldly archipelago in the western ocean, she enjoins Bran to travel to the Land of Women. She then takes the branch and disappears. Bran and his company set sail the next day.