Ailill Anglonnach

Also known as: Ailill Anguba / Ailill of the Single Stain · Role: Eochaid Airemm's brother · First appears: The Courtship of Etain · Egerton Version · Part 1

At the Festival of Tara, Ailill Anglonnach—also called Ailill of the Single Stain—fell in love with Etain, his brother Eochaid Airemm’s wife. He was one of the sons of Finn, alongside Eochaid Airemm and Eochaid; the Leabhar na h-Uidhri version names the brothers as Eochaid Fedlech, Eochaid Airemm and Ailill Anguba. In the Egerton version, Ailill’s wife, the daughter of Luchta of the Red Hand, noticed his gaze on Etain.

After the Tara feast, Ailill became sick with envy and desire and was taken to Fremain in Tethba. In the Egerton account, Eochaid Airemm learned of his brother’s illness after a year, and Fachtna said it was caused by envy or love. When Eochaid Airemm left on a royal progress, he placed Etain in Ailill’s care; she tended him, and Mider later revealed that he had caused Ailill’s love and kept him from reaching a tryst with Etain. Ailill said, “It hath happened well for us both,” explaining that he was cured and her honour unharmed.

The Leabhar na h-Uidhri version tells a separate account: Ailill Anguba fell in love with Etain after her marriage to Eochaid, concealed the cause of his illness, and was left at Fremain to die. Etain cared for him, and after three weeks he recovered, telling her that he was cured and her honour had not been stained.