Caílte (or Modern Irish Caoilte) mac Rónáin was a nephew of Fionn mac Cumhail and a member of the fianna in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology. He could run at remarkable speed and communicate with animals, and was a great storyteller. Some poems of the Fenian Cycle are attributed to Caílte.

In the short Middle Irish tale Finn and Gráinne, his ancestry is given as "son of Oisgen or Conscen, the son of the Smith of Muscraige Dobrut; a son he of Cumall's daughter."

According to Cath Gabhra (The Battle of Gabhra), Caílte and Oisín are the only members of the fianna to survive that final battle. They are both central figure in the tale Acallam na Senórach (Colloquy of the Ancients), in which they survive into Christian times and recount tales of the Fianna to a recently arrived Saint Patrick.

[edit] Primary sources

• Finn and Gráinne, ed. and tr. Kuno Meyer, "Finn and Grainne." Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 1 (1897): 458-61. Edition and translation available from CELT.
• Cath Gabhra ("The Battle of Gabhra")

This article relating to a Celtic myth or legend is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e