Two kings of Ulster follow a fairy army into the Otherworld
The Adventure of Lóegaire is one of the echtrai — the adventure tales — of the Cycle of Kings: a story in which a mortal king crosses into the Otherworld and has to decide whether to return. It features Lóegaire mac Crimthann, king of Connacht, who is invited into the Otherworld to help a fairy king fight his enemies, and who discovers, once he arrives, that leaving is harder than entering.
The Fairy King’s Request
A man named Fiachna mac Retach came to the court of Lóegaire asking for warriors to help him fight a rival in the Otherworld. The fairy peoples fought their own wars, but the best warriors were mortals — whose quality and ferocity in battle was genuinely extraordinary from the Otherworld’s perspective. Lóegaire took fifty warriors and followed Fiachna into the fairy mound.
The Otherworld Battle
The battle in the Otherworld was fought and won with Lóegaire’s help. His warriors were magnificent. Fiachna’s enemies were defeated. Lóegaire was given a bride — a woman of the Otherworld — and lands, and every comfort that the fairy realm could provide. He was, in every sense, being offered a permanent life in the Otherworld in return for his service.
The Return
He chose to return. He went back to Ireland and to his human life — though the pull of the Otherworld, and the woman he had left behind in it, stayed with him. Some versions of the story suggest he returned to the Otherworld eventually, permanently. The echtra genre explores this question from different angles: what does a mortal owe to the world he came from, and what does he owe to the extraordinary one he has been shown?
Key facts about Adventure of Lóegaire
- Irish title: Echtra Lóegairi meic Crimthainn (“The Adventure of Lóegaire son of Crimthann”)
- King: Lóegaire mac Crimthann — king of Connacht
- The request: Fiachna mac Retach — an Otherworld king — came asking for warriors to help him fight
- What Lóegaire gained: An Otherworld bride, lands, and every comfort of the fairy realm
- His choice: Returned to Ireland — though drawn back to the Otherworld
- Genre: Echtra (adventure tale) — the genre of Irish tales about Otherworld crossings
- Thematic question: What does a mortal owe to his world versus the Otherworld he has been shown?
- Cycle: Cycle of Kings
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