Nera (mythology) facts for kids

Nera (also spelled Neara) is a brave warrior from Connacht, a region in ancient Ireland. He is a famous character in the Ulster Cycle, which is a collection of old Irish stories about heroes and legends. Nera's story is told in a tale from the 10th century called Echtra Nerai.

Nera's Spooky Challenge

One night, during the ancient festival of Samhain, the warriors of Cruachan were having a big feast. Samhain was a special time when people believed the world of the living and the world of the dead were very close. King Ailill offered a prize to anyone brave enough to put a wicker band around the ankle of a hanged body. Because it was Samhain, this was a very scary task. Only Nera was courageous enough to try.

When Nera put the band on the body, it moved! The corpse then asked Nera for water. Nera, showing his bravery, allowed the body to climb onto his back. He carried it to a house, but as they got close, flames appeared around the building. They tried a second house, but this one was suddenly surrounded by water. On their third try, they finally managed to enter a house. The corpse drank three cups of water. It then spat the last cup out, and the people living in the house died.

A Vision of Danger

Nera took the body back to the gallows. When he returned to the court, he found a terrible sight. The hall was on fire, and all the people inside had been killed. Nera thought he saw an army entering the Hill of Cruachan, so he followed them.

Inside the hill, Nera met a woman from the sidhe. The sidhe were magical beings, sometimes called fairies or spirits, who lived in hills and mounds. The woman told Nera that the destruction he had seen was only a vision. It was a warning of what would happen on the next Samhain night. She said that this terrible event would happen unless the warriors of Queen Medb and King Ailill destroyed the Hill of Cruachan. They also had to defeat the sidhe army hidden inside.

Warning the King and Queen

Nera returned to tell Medb and Ailill what he had learned. To his surprise, no time had passed since he left the hall to put the band on the corpse. Nera quickly warned the people of Cruachan about the danger. After giving his warning, Nera escaped with the sidhe woman. Soon after, Medb and Ailill called on the hero Fergus mac Roich to destroy the Hill of Cruachan.

In some versions of this old story, Nera actually spends a whole year living inside the magical hill. To convince Medb and Ailill that his story was true, he brought them summer flowers. This proved he had been gone for a long time and had truly visited the magical world.

See also

• Nera (disambiguation)

Sources

• Samhain Myths
• Cruachan