Connla The Fair Analysis

At only three pages in length, the ancient Irish tale, “The Adventures of Connla the Fair,” presents its readers with a seemingly straightforward account. Here, a king’s son defies his father’s wishes by abandoning his homeland alongside a beautiful woman. However, as the story’s introduction in Ancient Irish Tales warns, focusing merely on the surface story leaves readers in “danger of mistaking the economy and terseness of this story for barrenness of imagination” (Cross and Slover, 488). Upon closer examination, a more compelling and multidimensional metaphorical aspect of the story emerges, as the role of its mysterious female figure comes into question. Considering her substantial contribution to the story’s magical nature and the metaphysical
By dictating a king’s right to rule, the goddess figure is effectively in full control of a mortal’s elevation achieved by becoming a rightful ruler. This mediation between royal authority and the divine by a woman figure is well explained in the “Transcendence for All” chapter of Goddesses Who Rule, which states that “the goddess of sovereignty then bestows her gifts on all who are worthy, transforming what is limited, mortal, and human into what is beyond death, blessed, god-like” (Benard, 258). A key aspect of the sovereignty goddess is the great power associated with her volition. In this story, the mere act of her choosing Connla has significant consequences for his mortal existence. After having had only two brief encounters with the mystical female visitor, Connla claims that “longing for the woman has seized” him (490). The true extent of the power associated with her decision appears when Connla chooses to abandon all that is known to him as a result. Moreover, the language she uses to describe Connla makes the royal aspect of his being salient, and thus suggests that sovereignty forms the basis for her particular choice. As evidence for this, she states that, “the fair crown that sits above thy ruddy countenance is a token of thy royalty” (489). Thus far, all of the evidence discussed seems to point the woman’s association with deciding rightful sovereignty as an example of her facilitation in the process of transcendence. However, by stating that she speaks for the immortals who “call on” Connla and “summon [him] to the people of Tethra” (489), the un-named woman suggests that she carries out the will of these divine beings. Thus, the idea of this woman as the goddess of sovereignty in this story