The Adventure of Nera
Also known as: Echtrae Neraí, Echtra Nerai, Nera's Adventure
On Samain at Cruachan, the warrior Nera accepts a perilous challenge involving a hanged man, follows an otherworldly host into a síd, and learns of a looming threat. Warned by his fairy wife, he returns to foretell disaster and reveal the gate between worlds.
Description
Set at Samain in the court of Ailill and Medb at Cruachan (Rathcroghan), the tale follows Nera, who alone succeeds in placing a withy on a hanged man’s ankle. The corpse begs for water, and Nera’s errand leads him into uncanny encounters and a vision of Cruachan in flames with heads taken. Drawn along the síd road into the mound, he receives hospitality and a wife from the Otherworld. She reveals that the burning he saw is a portent, not yet fulfilled, and instructs him how to move safely between realms and to time his return. After a period that passes differently across worlds, Nera comes back to Ailill and Medb with proof of the síd’s reality and intelligence about a future raid. The story weaves seasonal liminality, head-taking, and the permeability of boundaries, linking royal sovereignty at Cruachan with the dangerous blessings of the Otherworld.
Historiography
Preserved in late medieval compilations such as the Yellow Book of Lecan and the Book of Ballymote, the tale belongs to the echtrae genre, emphasizing a venture into the Otherworld at Samain. Though transmitted in fourteenth-century manuscripts, its diction and motifs point to earlier composition. The narrative is associated with the Connacht royal site of Rathcroghan (Cruachan) and the nearby cave Oweynagat, a traditional Otherworld portal. Later antiquarian and scholarly treatments situate it within the Ulster Cycle orbit due to the presence of Ailill and Medb.
Date Notes
An early Irish prose tale (echtrae) likely formed in oral tradition before its preservation in later medieval manuscripts; the extant versions are late but retain archaic features.
Symbols
Major Characters
- Nera
- Ailill
- Medb
- The Dead Man
- Queen of the Síd
Myths
- Samhain Journey to the Otherworld
- Binding of the Dead Prisoner
- Vision of the Fall of Ailill’s House
Facts
- The tale is set at Samain, the liminal festival when the Otherworld is nearest.
- Nera alone succeeds in placing a withy on a hanged man’s ankle.
- A vision of Cruachan burning foreshadows a future raid.
- The narrative explicitly locates the Otherworld entrance at Cruachan in Connacht.
- Nera marries a woman from the síd and fathers a child there.
- Time flows differently in the síd compared to the human realm.
- Head-taking imagery aligns the tale with broader Ulster Cycle motifs.
- The piece exemplifies the echtrae genre—an adventure into the Otherworld.
- Manuscript witnesses are late-medieval, though the story preserves archaic elements.
- Ailill and Medb appear as reigning monarchs of Connacht, anchoring the tale in their court.