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Editions

• K. Meyer (ed), 'Scēla Eogain in so 7 Cormaic', ZCP viii (1912) 309-312.
  
• T. Ó Cathasaigh, The Heroic Biography of Cormac mac Airt (Dublin 1977) 119-127.
  
• M. O Daly (ed. & tr.), Cath Maige Mucrama: The Battle of Mag Mucrama (Dublin 1975) 64-73.
  

Manuscripts

• Laud 610 (96r^a 35ff.)
• T.C.D. H. 3. 17
  

Date

• Eighth century  (Ó Cathasaigh 116)
  

Characters

• Mac Con, the son of Luigith and king of Ireland from an Érainn people known as the Dáirine (prehistoric ancestors of the Corco Loígde)
• Éogan Mór, son of Ailill Ólomm, king of southern Ireland from Clanna Dergthened (prehistoric ancestors of the Éoganachta)
• Art mac Cuinn, son of Conn and king of Ireland from Dál Cuinn (prehistoric ancestors of the Connachta and Uí Néill)
  
• Fíachu Muillethan, son of Éogan Mór and ancestor of the Éoganachta
• Cormac mac Airt, son of Art and king of Ireland after Mac Con
• Moncha, daughter of Tréth moccu Creccai and mother of Fíachu Muillethan
• Achtán, daughter of Olc Aiche and mother of Cormac
• Luigne Fer Trí, a trapper and the foster-father of Cormac for a year
  
• Fíachna Cassán, foster-father of Art and of Cormac (same as Fíachra Cassán of Airgialla?  See Ó Cathasaigh 57.)

Notes

• This text is part of the Éogan-Art-Mac Con Cycle.
• The events of this saga are also told (with many differences) in Cath Maige Mucrama, Genemuin Cormaic, and *Compert Fiachach Muillethain.

The night before he dies at the battle of Mag Mucrama, Éogan Mór sleeps with Monchae, the daughter of Tréth moccu Creccai.  She becomes pregnant with Fíachu.  However, on the day she goes into labor, a druid tells her that if the child is born on the morrow, his descendants will be great kings.  Otherwise, he will be the chief-jester of Ireland (rígdrúth).  To delay the birth until the auspicious time, Monchae straddles a stone in the River Suir.  When the child is born on the morrow, it has a broad head and is dubbed Fíachu Muillethan (“having a flat-topped head”).

Also on the night before the battle of Mag Mucrama, Art mac Cuinn comes upon Achtán, the daughter of the druid Olc Aiche, as she is milking her cattle.  Art asks for a drink, and she gives him the draught reserved for her father.  Olc Aiche tells her to sleep with Art for their children will be kings of Ireland forever.  That night she becomes pregnant with Cormac and Art gives her his sword, thumb-ring, and festival clothing.  The next day, Art is killed alongside Éogan by the forces of Mac Con.

When Cormac is born, Olc Aiche puts protective spells on him.  However, one day, a she-wolf takes him away while his mother is asleep and nurses him.  The infant Cormac is found by Luigne Fer Trí, who rears him for a year before Achtán discovers his whereabouts.  Achtán then takes Cormac to Fíachnae Cassán, Art’s foster-father, to protect him from Mac Con.

After thirty years, Cormac is given his heirlooms and sent to Tara.  There he sees a woman crying and asks the steward Nechtan why.  He tells Cormac that Mac Con has declared her sheep forfeit for eating the queen’s woad.  Cormac responds by saying one shearing for another would be a more fitting judgment.

When Mac Con is told of Cormac’s words, he knows that the young man will succeed him and welcomes him into Tara under his protection.  Mac Con plans to leave for Munster with Cormac in his stead. [The text breaks off here.]