Cailitin

Cailitin, Calatin, Calatín. Irish wizard or druid, perhaps of Fomorian origin, friendly to Medb, who does battle with and is defeated by Cúchulainn. Cailitin travels with his twenty-seven offspring, and may be called ‘Clan Cailitin’, but insists on being regarded as a single warrior as all have sprung from a single body. They study sorcery in Alba [Scotland] and make every throw of their poisoned spears a direct, lethal hit. Each is mutilated, with the left hand and right foot missing. They almost succeed in drowning Cúchulainn, before the Connacht warrior Fiachu mac Fir Fhebe rescues him. Later Cúchulainn dispatches him/them, but Cailitin's widow shortly afterwards gives birth to sextuplets, three sons and three daughters, all hideous and pernicious-looking. Among the children is Badb, who is sometimes called a child of Ernmas. Medb has the children trained in the black arts so that they may wreak vengeance on Cúchulainn. This they do by assuming different shapes and luring the hero into danger, including the battle in which he is slain. Cailitin is a character in W. B. Yeats's play. The Countess Cathleen (1892).