Conán mac Morna

Conán mac Morna. The better-known of the two Conáns in the Fenian Cycle. He is often cited with the agnomen Máel or Maol, which is usually translated as ‘the Bald’. OIr. máel and ModIr. maol usually mean ‘bald’ but may also mean ‘shorn’. In OIr. máel often implied servility, as servants would have their hair shorn or cropped. When applied to things, máel and maol imply bluntness.

Within the Fenian Cycle, Conán is often portrayed as the most comic figure, although he is not often a buffoon. His character has something in common with Thersites of the Tale of Troy, in that he is filled with bluster; in her retelling of the Fenian stories Lady Gregory called him ‘Conan of the Bitter Tongue’. In that he is also a trouble-maker, he has something in common with Loki of Norse mythology. As he is fat and sometimes foolish, he has been compared with Shakespeare's Falstaff, except that he never runs from a fight. Mean and greedy, he is often detested by the bulk of the Fenians, but once he allies himself with Fionn the two of them are often seen together, sometimes almost as a team. Although bald, Conán has the fleece of a black sheep running down his back. Some stories describe him as wearing a black fleece as a wig. Often seen as the brother of Goll mac Morna. In Feis Tighe Chonáin [A Feast at Conán's House], Fionn is entertained at Conán's house and tells many tales of the adventures of the Fenians. Ed. M. Joynt (Dublin, 1936).