Editing Cormac mac Airt (section)

==Birth and childhood==
Cormac's father was the former High King [[Art mac Cuinn]]. His mother was [[Achtan inion Olc Acha|Achtan]], daughter of Olc Acha, a smith (or [[druid]]) from [[Connacht]]. Cormac had a younger brother, Alastir.

According to the saga "The Battle of Mag Mucrama", Olc gave Art hospitality the night before the [[Battle of Maigh Mucruimhe]]. It had been prophesied that a great dignity would come from Olc's line, so he offered the High King his daughter to sleep with that night, and Cormac was conceived<ref>[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/mucrama.html "The Battle of Mag Mucrama"] (translator unknown)</ref> ([[Geoffrey Keating]] says that Achtan was Art's official mistress, to whom he had given a dowry of cattle).<ref name="FFE">[[Geoffrey Keating]], ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'' [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/text052.html 1.42], [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/text053.html 43], [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/text054.html 44], [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100055/text055.html 45], [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/text056.html 46]</ref>

The story is told that Achtan had a vision as she slept next to Art. She saw herself with her head cut off and a great tree growing out of her neck. Its branches spread all over Ireland, until the sea rose and overwhelmed it. Another tree grew from the roots of the first, but the wind blew it down. At that, she woke up and told Art what she had seen. Art explained that the head of every woman is her husband, and that she would lose her husband in battle the next day. The first tree was their son, who would be king over all Ireland, and the sea that overwhelmed it was a fishbone that he would die choking on. The second tree was his son, [[Cairbre Lifechair]], who would be king after him, and the wind that blew him down was a battle against the ''[[fianna]]'', in which he would fall. The following day Art was defeated and killed by his nephew [[Lugaid mac Con]], who became the new High King.

Cormac was carried off in infancy by a she-wolf and reared with her cubs in the caves of Kesh (Keash, Co Sligo), but a hunter found him and brought him back to his mother. Achtan then took him to Fiachrae Cassán, who had been Art's foster father. On the way, they were attacked by wolves, but wild horses protected them.<ref name="byrne">Francis J. Byrne, ''Irish Kings and High Kings'', Four Courts press, 2001, p. 65-69</ref>