Pictish Mystic · Lore · Red Branch
The Colloquy of the Two Sages
A beardless young poet, a beard made of grass, and a battle of words for the chief poet's chair at Emain Macha, in the time of Conchobar.
Young Néde son of Adnae was studying in Scotland when he heard a wave wailing on the shore. He cast a spell on the wave, and it told him his father was dead. Adnae's robe had been given to Ferchertne the poet, who took the ollaveship in his place. So Néde set out for Emain, with a silver branch above him.
On the green he met Bricriu, who took a purple tunic as his price and told him to sit in the ollave's place. Bricriu said Ferchertne was dead, though he was alive, teaching his pupils north of Emain. “No beardless man receives the ollaveship in Emain,” Bricriu warned. So Néde cast a spell on a handful of grass, so that all would think it was a beard, and sat in the ollave's chair.
Then Bricriu went to Ferchertne, and Ferchertne entered the palace in wrath. “Whence hast thou come?” asked Ferchertne. “From the heel of a sage, from a confluence of wisdom,” answered Néde. And so the colloquy went on between the two sages, question and answer.
At last Néde said, “I know that Ferchertne is a great poet and a prophet,” and knelt to him. He flung off the poet's robe and rose from the poet's seat. And Ferchertne said, “Mayst thou be the glory of Emain!”
Sources
- The Colloquy of the Two Sages (Immacallam in dá Thuarad), Book of Leinster, translated by Whitley Stokes, on Mary Jones's Celtic Literature Collective: https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/colloquy.html
Story told by John.
These are legends from medieval manuscripts, not recorded history.
First shared on X @dalriada36963 and TikTok @johnshaw333.
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