The Tales of Cú Chulainn

Before you read

Ulster, in the heroic age

Cú Chulainn is the central hero of the Ulster Cycle, the stories of the warriors of King Conchobar mac Nessa, who ruled the Ulaid from Emain Macha, near modern Armagh. His tales were written down from the 8th century onwards, and the greatest of them is the Táin Bó Cúailnge, which we read in the next lesson.

As a boy, Sétanta joined the boys’ troop at Emain Macha and beat them all at hurling. Invited to a feast at the house of Culann the smith, he arrived late, when the great guard dog had already been let loose, and killed it as it attacked him. Seeing Culann’s sorrow, he offered to raise a new hound and to guard the house himself until it was grown, and so he was called Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Culann. Later, hearing the druid Cathbad say that whoever took up arms that day would be famous for ever but would live only a short time, he asked the king for weapons at once.

He went to Alba (Scotland) to train with the warrior-woman Scáthach, who taught him feats no one else knew and gave him the terrible spear Gáe Bulg. In battle he was seized by a frenzy, the ríastrad, which twisted his body into a monstrous shape. His story is full of sorrow: he killed his own son, Connla, without knowing him, and died young, tied to a standing stone, as the prophecy had said. Since 1935, a statue of the dying Cú Chulainn has stood in the General Post Office in Dublin, in memory of the Easter Rising.

Glory is real, but so is the price.

The story

Retold for this lesson from “The Boyhood Deeds of Cú Chulainn” in the Táin Bó Cúailnge.

When Sétanta was a small boy, he heard about the boys’ troop of King Conchobar at Emain Macha, and set off alone to join them, hitting his hurling ball in front of him and running to catch it before it landed. When he arrived, the hundred and fifty boys of the troop attacked him for not asking permission, and he beat them all, one after another, until the king himself made peace.

One day, Culann the smith invited the king to a feast. Conchobar asked Sétanta to come too, but the boy was busy with a game and said he would follow later. The king forgot. When the guests were inside, Culann let loose his guard dog, a hound so fierce that it needed three chains and three men to hold it. Then Sétanta came up the road, playing with his ball. The hound rushed at him. The boy threw his ball down its throat and dashed it against a stone, and it died.

Culann came out and looked at his dead hound. “You are welcome, boy, for your father’s sake,” he said, “but my house and my cattle will have no protection now.” “Then I will raise a pup of the same breed,” said Sétanta, “and until it is grown, I will be your hound and guard your house myself.” And the druid Cathbad said: “From now on your name will be Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Culann.”

Some time later, the boy heard Cathbad teaching his pupils. “Whoever takes up arms today,” said the druid, “will be the greatest warrior in Ireland, and his name will live for ever. But his life will be short.” Cú Chulainn went straight to the king and asked for weapons. He broke fifteen sets of arms just by testing them, until Conchobar gave him his own. When Cathbad warned him again, the boy answered: “I would rather live only one day and be famous for ever, than live long and be forgotten.”

Talk and write

Discussion and writing

The choice. Would you rather have a long, quiet life or a short, famous one? In pairs, argue each side with conditionals and would rather.

Discuss. 1. Why did Cú Chulainn and Achilles choose glory? 2. Why do you think Irish rebels chose Cú Chulainn as their symbol in 1916? 3. What makes a hero?

Write (120–150 words). The druid’s prophecy. You hear a prophecy about your own future. Write what you would do, using first and second conditionals and would rather.