Echtra Condla (the adventure or expedition of Conle) is an Old Irish text known in two variants from eight manuscripts, the earliest of which has been dated to c. 1100. Nevertheless, the tale may have been written down first as early as the seventh century, which would make it one of the oldest vernacular Irish texts known. The two variants do not diverge sharply from one another, so that a single summary suffices for both.
Contents
Summary
Echtra Condla opens at the Hill of Uisneach, where the tale's eponymous hero, Conle, is sitting with his father, Conn of the Hundred Battles, and their company. A mysterious woman appears, dressed "in unfamiliar clothing." She explains that she belongs to the Aos Sí, the people of the Otherworld, and invites Conle to join her in a paradisical Otherworld where Conle can remain forever joyful and youthful. Though Conle can both see and hear her, everyone else can only hear her. Alarmed, the king asks his druid to prevent Conle from going with the síd woman, and the druid "sang against the voice of the woman,"<Oskamp, 226; cf. McCone, line 45> which forces her to depart. As she is being driven away, however, she tosses an apple to Conle.
Conle survives off of this fruit for an entire month, eschewing all other food and drink. Underlining the Otherworldly nature of this apple, it never diminishes, despite Conle's month-long meal. Moreover, at the end of the month, "a longing came upon Conle for the woman he had seen," and the woman reappeared, this time on the plain of Arcommin. Again only Conle could see her, and after a brief exchange between the woman and Conn, she describes in fuller detail the paradise that awaits Conle should he go with her. This time the druid does not seem to be present, and "Conle sprang away from them, so that he was in the ship of crystal.". The ship, apparently, is visible to the remaining company, but sails out of sight, taking the woman and Conle away forever. In three manuscripts, a sort of postscript follows, explaining that Art mac Cuinn was also called Art Óenfer (Art the Solitary) because after Conle's departure he was Conn's only son.
Analysis
Little has been written specifically on Echtra Condla beyond the analysis provided by Hans Oskamp alongside his edition and translation of the text. There, Oskamp insists that we understand the text as a literary production of the twelfth century, whatever older strata of tradition may have informed it. There is a clear Christian message in this text, for when the síd woman speaks to Conn she warns him:
“O Conn of the Hundred Battles, do not love druidry. It is in a little while that the Great High King’s righteous (and) decent one will reach your judgements with many wondrous followers. His law will soon come to you. He will destroy the spells of the druids of base teaching in front of the black, bewitching Devil."
Though the "Great High King" might refer to God and his "righteous one" to Jesus Christ, it is also possible that—as Oskamp argues—Jesus is the Great High King and the "righteous one" is Saint Patrick. Such a Christian message may suggest that the eternally joyful Otherworld to which the woman whisks Conle is the Christian heaven.
This text must also be understood in the context of early Irish literature, and specifically in the genres of echtra and immram, adventures and voyages, respectively. Curiously, although most echtra concern themselves primarily with events in the Otherworld itself, Echtra Condla has virtually no action in the Otherworld at all. Furthermore, though the text names Conle's final journey as an immram, nothing of the journey is described as in other immrama like the Voyage of Bran. Consequently, it is difficult to identify how the medieval Irish would have understood the literary nature of this text.