Fráech

In the medieval Ulster Cycle narratives Fráech is presented as son of Idath and Bébinn (Béfínd) 'from the Side', making him kin to Sidhe figures and described in the prose headings as nephew of Boann. The tale known as Táin Bó Fraích contains two principal parts (a love/romance element and a cattle-raid/recovery episode); scholars note the earliest manuscript witness is the 12th-century Book of Leinster and that the narrative shows compositional layers (per A. H. Leahy as cited in the prose editions).

The sources describe Fráech as exceptionally handsome—repeatedly called 'the most beautiful that was of the men of Eriu and of Alba'—and as a richly-gifted aristocratic figure in narrative gift-lists (mantles, spears, horses, hounds, jeweled weapons). In one episode he is badly wounded after fighting a river‑monster and is later borne away by maidens of the Sidhe, returning apparently restored and 'without a single blemish.'

Fráech is portrayed as a renowned warrior and swimmer: he fights and beheads a water‑serpent or river‑monster and is said to be an excellent swimmer in the tale. He participates in long-range recoveries of cattle and family members (at one point travelling with Conall Cernach) and engages in the social economy of gift-exchange and bride-price central to Táin narratives. His semi-divine maternal kinship to Sidhe figures enables narrative episodes in which otherworldly maidens carry him to the burial caverns of Cruachan and his body is restored, indicating interaction with the otherworld rather than intrinsic cosmic powers.