Findabair

Also known as: Find-abair / Findabar / Finnabar · Family: Connaught · Role: daughter of Maev · First appears: The Combat at the Ford · Part 1

In The Combat at the Ford, Maev promised Ferdia Findabair as his wife among the rewards for fighting Cuchulain. In Táin Bó Fraích, Findabair, daughter of Ailill and Maev, fell in love with Fraech through stories about him. At the stream, she refused to elope, saying, “I will not elope,” but gave him her ring as a token and said she would choose to go to him.

In Part 2, Ailill offered Findabair to Fraech if he paid the demanded dowry and aided the Spoil. Findabair brought Fraech a sword in the river so he could fight the monster. When Ailill demanded the ring back and threatened her, the broiled salmon bearing it was brought into the palace; Ailill then admitted he had thrown Fraech’s ring into the Dark Pool because he knew Findabair had given it to him. In Part 3, Fraech gave a different account, saying he found the ring before meeting the maiden at the river, and that she promised him a year’s love for finding it; this differs from Part 1, where Findabair gives him the ring. Findabair said she would not set her mind on another youth after Fraech, and they agreed to wed when he returned with his cows from the East.