Niall of the Nine Hostages

Niall of the Nine Hostages was born to the second wife of the High King Eochaid but, terrified of his jealous first wife Mongfind, she abandoned her baby in the forest where he was found by a poet who took him home and reared him. Then he went back to Tara where his father lived. Mongfind then demanded that Eochaid name the next High King, thinking it will be one of her four sons. But Eochaid gives the task to a druid, Sithchenn, who set up a contest between the brothers, shutting them in a burning forge, telling them to save what they can, and judging them on which objects they choose to save. And this is just the beginning of Niall’s struggle to win the kingship!