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Edition

• C. Marstrander (ed & tr), 'How Fiachna mac Baedáin Obtained the Kingdom of Scotland', Ériu 5 (1911) 113-119.

Manuscripts

• The Yellow Book of Lecan (col. 952-53)
  
• R.I.A. Stowe MS. D. iv 2 (fol. 64b20 ff.)
  

Date

• Middle Irish period
  

Characters

• Fíachna mac Báetáin (588-626), king of Ulster from Dál nAraide and (here) king of Ireland
• The following kings are mentioned as sureties but play no part in the actual narrative:
  
• Brandub mac Echach (d. 605 / 608), king of Leinster from Uí Cheinnselaig
• Cathal mac Finguine (d. 742), king of Munster from the Éoganacht Glendamnach
• Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin (d. 663), king of Connacht from Uí Fíachrach Aidne
  

Notes

• This narrative is part of the Cycle of Fíachna mac Báetáin.

The steward (rechtaire) of the king of Scotland has a large field that he wants ploughed in one day and reaped in one day.   When the ploughing and sowing are finished, he sees a student along with a servant coming towards him.  In the servant's hand is a cup (ballán).  The student says that he will reap the field in a single day in return for enough blood to fill his cup.  The men strike a bargain and the student names his sureties, three important Irish kings.  At dawn, the student and his servant begin to reap the field, and around midday, an old woman (caillech) appears and helps them complete the work. (Some magic is obviously at work here, but the text makes no mention of it beyond a quatrain which the woman sings.  Caillech, it should be noted, can also mean "witch".)

That night, the king of Scotland (unnamed in the text) has twelve cows killed and their blood poured into the cup, but no matter how much blood is poured in, the cup cannot be filled.  Finally, the king of Scotland gives up.  The student then summons his sureties, the kings of Ireland (including Fíachna mac Báetáin), and threatens to curse them if they do not compel the Scots to fulfill their part of the contract.  At that, the men of Ireland go to war with the men of Scotland.  There is a huge battle in which the Irish are victorious, and all the blood of the slain is put into the cup.  Even so, it is not filled.