She appears in the great epic Táin Bó Cuailnge, in which she foretells the armies of Medb and Ailill mac Máta will face against the Ulaid and their greatest champion, Cú Chulainn.
Just when they set out, they are met on the road by Fedelm, a young woman of blonde hair and beautiful appearance, who is armed, carries a weaver's beam and rides in a chariot.
[2] She identifies herself as a banfhili (female poet) from Connacht and claims to have come from Alba, where she had learnt the art of prophecy to the extent that she could now boast the skill of imbas forosnai, or all-encompassing illuminating knowledge.
[1] The transmitted text, preserved only in the 16th-century (London, British Library, Harley MS 5280), is imperfect and the translations attempted by Vernam Hull and John Carey therefore differ on a number of counts.
The search for imbas would be appropriate as in early Irish narrative, the banks of rivers could serve as liminal places subject to the risk of flooding and in a positive sense, to the attainment of poetic wisdom.
[7] On the opposite bank stands Fedelm and her husband Elcmaire, who notice the intruders and their chariot laden with items of fidchell and búanbach and with Cú Chulainn's catch of birds.