The Apple in Early Irish Narrative Tradition: A Thoroughly Christian Symbol?

Echtrae Chonnlai is regarded as being one of the earliest extant tales in Irish, dating from the eighth or ninth century A.D. (McCone 2000, 29). It describes a meeting which takes place at the royal seat of Uisneach, between Connlae, mortal son of Conn Cétchathach and a supernatural woman who describes herself as coming from tír inna mbéo ‘the land of the living ones’. Before departing for the Otherworld, she gives him an apple which miraculously stays whole no matter how much he eats. On the woman’s departure, Connlae is filled with longing for her. When she returns, he leaves his people in order to join the woman in the supernatural realm. The tensions which existed between the indigenous pagan tradition and the nascent Christian Church in Ireland are evident in this tale. We are faced with ‘the opposition of two philosophies, the first being the native, the druidic, the doomed … The other embodies a prophecy of the coming of Christianity ’ (Carney 1969, 165). The woman’s arrival is a clear portent of the overthrow of the indigenous pagan tradition. Connlae’s decision to leave behind all that he know