Book: The Cattle Raid of Cualnge (Tain Bo Cualnge)

U >> Unknown >> The Cattle Raid of Cualnge (Tain Bo Cualnge)





'Once,' said Fergus, 'when he was a youth, he used not to sleep in
Emain Macha till morning.

'"Tell me," said Conchobar to him, "why you do not sleep?"

'"I do not do it," said Cuchulainn, "unless it is equally high at
my head and my feet."

'Then a stone pillar was put by Conchobar at his head, and another
at his feet, and a bed was made for him separately between them.


'Another time a certain man went to awaken him, and he struck him
with his fist in his forehead, so that it took the front of his
forehead on to the brain, and so that he overthrew the pillar with
his arm.'

'It is known,' said Ailill, 'that it was the fist of a warrior and
that it was the arm of a hero.'

'From that time,' said Fergus, 'no one dared to waken him till he
awoke of himself.


'Another time he was playing ball in the play-field east of Emain;
he alone apart against the three fifties of boys; he used to defeat
them in every game in this way always. The boys lay hold of him
therewith, and he plied his fist upon them until fifty of them were
killed. He took to flight then, till he was under the pillow of
Conchobar's bed. All the Ulstermen rise round him, and I rise, and
Conchobar himself. Then he rose under the bed, and put the bed from
him, with the thirty heroes who were on it, till it was in the
middle of the house. The Ulstermen sit round him in the house. We
arrange and make peace then,' said Fergus, 'between the boys and
him.


'There was contention between Ulster and Eogan Mac Durtacht. The
Ulstermen went to the battle. He was left asleep. The Ulstermen
were defeated. Conchobar was left [on the field], and Cuscraid Mend
Macha, and many more beside. Their lament awoke Cuchulainn. He
stretched himself then, so that the two stones that were about him
broke; in the presence of Bricriu yonder it was done,' said Fergus.
'Then he arose. I met him in the door of the fort, and I wounded.

'"Alas! God save you, friend Fergus," said he, "where is Conchobar?"

'"I do not know," said I.

'Then he went forth. The night was dark. He made for the
battlefield. He saw a man before him, with half his head on, and
half of another man on his back.

'"Help me, O Cuchulainn," said he; "I have been wounded and I have
brought half of my brother on my back. Carry it for me a while."

'"I will not carry it," said he.

'Then he throws the burden to him; he throws it from him; they
wrestle; Cuchulainn was overthrown. I heard something, the
Badb from the corpses: "Ill the stuff of a hero that is under the
feet of a phantom." Then Cuchulainn rose against him, and strikes
his head off with his playing-club, and begins to drive his ball
before him across the plain.

'"Is my friend Conchobar in this battlefield?"

'He answered him. He goes to him, till he sees him in the trench,
and there was the earth round him on every side to hide him.

'"Why have you come into the battlefield," said Conchobar, "that
you may swoon there?"

'He lifts him out of the trench then; six of the strong men of
Ulster with us would not have brought him out more bravely.

'"Go before us to the house yonder," said Conchobar; "if a roast
pig came to me, I should live."

'"I will go and bring it," said Cuchulainn.

'He goes then, and saw a man at a cooking-hearth in the middle of
the wood; one of his two hands had his weapons in it, the other was
cooking the pig.

'The hideousness of the man was great; nevertheless he attacked him
and took his head and his pig with him. Conchobar ate the pig then.

'"Let us go to our house," said Conchobar.

'They met Cuscraid Mac Conchobair. There were sure wounds on him;
Cuchulainn took him on his back. The three of them went then to
Emain Macha.


'Another time the Ulstermen were in their weakness. There was not
among us,' said Fergus, 'weakness on women and boys, nor on any one
who was outside the country of the Ulstermen, nor on Cuchulainn and
his father. And so no one dared to shed their blood; for the
suffering springs on him who wounds them. [Gloss incorporated in
text: 'or their decay, or their shortness of life.']

'Three times nine men came to us from the Isles of Faiche. They
went over our back court when we were in our weakness. The women
screamed in the court. The boys were in the play-field; they come
at the cries. When the boys saw the dark, black men, they all take
to flight except Cuchulainn alone. He plies hand-stones and his
playing-club on them. He kills nine of them, and they leave fifty
wounds on him, and they go forth besides. A man who did these deeds
when his five years were not full, it would be no wonder that he
should have come to the edge of the boundary and that he should
have cut off the heads of yonder four.'


'We know him indeed, this boy,' said Conall Cernach, 'and we know
him none the worse that he is a fosterling of ours. It was not long
after the deed that Fcrgus has just related, when he did another
deed. When Culann the smith served a feast to Conchobar, Culann
said that it was not a multitude that should be brought to him, for
the preparation which he had made was not from land or country, but
from the fruit of his two hands and his pincers. Then Conchobar
went, and fifty chariots with him, of those who were noblest and
most eminent of the heroes. Now Conchobar visited then his
play-field. It was always his custom to visit and revisit them at
going and coming, to seek a greeting of the boys. He saw then
Cuchulainn driving his ball against the three fifties of boys, and
he gets the victory over them. When it was hole-driving that they
did, he filled the hole with his balls and they could not ward him
off. When they were all throwing into the hole, he warded them off
alone, so that not a single ball would go in it. When it was
wrestling they were doing, he overthrew the three fifties of boys
by himself, and there did not meet round him a number that could
overthrow him. When it was stripping that they did, he stripped
them all so that they were quite naked, and they could not take
from him even his brooch out of his cloak.

'Conchobar thought this wonderful. He said "Would he bring his
deeds to completion, provided the age of manhood came to them?"
Every one said: "He would bring them to completion." Conchobar said
to Cuchulainn: "Come with me," said he, "to the feast to which we
are going, because you are a guest."

'"I have not had enough of play yet, O friend Conchobar," said the
boy; "I will come after you."

'When they had all come to the feast, Culann said to Conchobar: "Do
you expect any one to follow you?" said he.

'"No," said Conchobar. He did not remember the appointment with his
foster-son who was following him.

'"I'll have a watch-dog," said Culann; "there are three chains on
him, and three men to each chain. [Gloss incorporated in text: 'He
was brought from Spain.'] Let him be let slip because of our cattle
and stock, and let the court be shut."

'Then the boy comes. The dog attacks him. He went on with his play
still: he threw his ball, and threw his club after it, so that it
struck the ball. One stroke was not greater than another; and he
threw his toy-spear after them, and he caught it before falling;
and it did not hinder his play, though the dog was approaching him.
Conchobar and his retinue ---- this, so that they could not move;
they thought they would not find him alive when they came, even
though the court were open. Now when the dog came to him, he threw
away his ball and his club, and seized the dog with his two hands;
that is, he put one of his hands to the apple of the dog's throat;
and he put the other at its back; he struck it against the pillar
that was beside him, so that every limb sprang apart. (According to
another, it was his ball that he threw into its mouth, and brought
out its entrails through it.)

'The Ulstermen went towards him, some over the wall, others over
the doors of the court. They put him on Conchobar's knee. A great
clamour arose among them, that the king's sister's son should have
been almost killed. Then Culann comes into the house.

'"Welcome, boy, for the sake of your mother. Would that I had not
prepared a feast! My life is a life lost, and my husbandry is a
husbandry without, without my dog. He had kept honour and life for
me," said he, "the man of my household who has been taken from me,
that is, my dog. He was defence and protection to our property and
our cattle; he was the protection of every beast to us, both field
and house."

'"It is not a great matter," said the boy; "a whelp of the same
litter shall be raised for you by me, and I will be a dog for the
defence of your cattle and for your own defence now, until that dog
grows, and until he is capable of action; and I will defend Mag
Murthemne, so that there shall not be taken away from me cattle nor
herd, unless I have ----."

'"Then your name shall be Cu-chulainn," said Cathbad.

'"I am content that it may be my name," said Cuchulainn.

'A man who did this in his seventh year, it would be no wonder that
he should have done a great deed now when his seventeen years are
completed,' said Conall Cernach.


'He did another exploit,' said Fiacha Mac Fir-Febe. 'Cathbad the
Druid was with his son, Conchobar Mac Nessa. A hundred active men
were with him, learning magic from him. That is the number that
Cathbad used to teach. A certain one of his pupils asked of him for
what this day would be good. Cathbad said a warrior should take
arms therein whose name should be over Ireland for ever, for deed
of valour, and his fame should continue for ever. Cuchulainn heard
this. He comes to Conchobar to ask for arms. Conchobar said, "Who
has instructed you?"

'"My friend Cathbad," said Cuchulainn.

'"We know indeed," said Conchobar.

'He gave him spear and shield. He brandished them in the middle of
the house, so that nothing remained of the fifteen sets of armour
that were in store in Conchobar's household against the breaking of
weapons or taking of arms by any one. Conchobar's own armour was
given to him. That withstood him, and he brandished it, and blessed
the king whose armour it was, and said, "Blessing to the people and
race to whom is king the man whose armour that is."

'Then Cathbad came to them, and said: "Has the boy taken arms?"
said Cathbad.

'"Yes," said Conchobar.

'"This is not lucky for the son of his mother," said he.

'"What, is it not you advised it?" said Conchobar.

'"Not I, surely," said Cathbad.

'"What advantage to you to deceive me, wild boy?" said Conchobar to
Cuchulainn.

'"O king of heroes, it is no trick," said Cuchulainn; "it is he who
taught it to his pupils this morning; and I heard him, south of
Emain, and I came to you then."

'"The day is good thus," said Cathbad; "it is certain he will be
famous and renowned, who shall take arms therein; but he will be
short-lived only."

'"A wonder of might," said Cuchulainn; "provided I be famous, I am
content though I were but one day in the world."

'Another day a certain man asked the druids what it is for which
that day was good.

'"Whoever shall go into a chariot therein," said Cathbad, "his name
shall be over Ireland for ever."

'Then Cuchulainn heard this; he comes to Conchobar and said to him:
"O friend Conchobar," said he, "give me a chariot." He gave him a
chariot. He put his hand between the two poles [Note: The _fertais_
were poles sticking out behind the chariot, as the account of the
wild deer, later, shows.] of the chariot, so that the chariot
broke. He broke twelve chariots in this way. Then Conchobar's
chariot was given to him. This withstood him. He goes then in the
chariot, and Conchobar's charioteer with him. The charioteer (Ibor
was his name) turned the chariot under him. "Come out of the
chariot now," said the charioteer.

'"The horses are fine, and I am fine, their little lad," said
Cuchulainn. "Go forward round Emain only, and you shall have a
reward for it."

'So the charioteer goes, and Cuchulainn forced him then that he
should go on the road to greet the boys "and that the boys might
bless me."

'He begged him to go on the way again. When they come, Cuchulainn
said to the charioteer: "Ply the goad on the horses," said he.

'"In what direction?" said the charioteer.

'"As long as the road shall lead us," said Cuchulainn.

'They come thence to Sliab Fuait, and find Conall Cernach there. It
fell to Conall that day to guard the province; for every hero of
Ulster was in Sliab Fuait in turn, to protect any one who should
come with poetry, or to fight against a man; so that it should be
there that there should be some one to encounter him, that no one
should go to Emain unperceived.

'"May that be for prosperity," said Conall; "may it be for victory
and triumph."

'"Go to the fort, O Conall, and leave me to watch here now," said
Cuchulainn.

'"It will be enough," said Conall, "if it is to protect any one
with poetry; if it is to fight against a man, it is early for you
yet."

'"Perhaps it may not be necessary at all," said Cuchulainn. "Let us
go meanwhile," said Cuchulainn, "to look upon the edge of Loch
Echtra. Heroes are wont to abide there."

'"I am content," said Conall.

'Then they go thence. He throws a stone from his sling, so that a
pole of Conall Cernach's chariot breaks.

'"Why have you thrown the stone, O boy?" said Conall.

"To try my hand and the straightness of my throw," said Cuchulainn;
"and it is the custom with you Ulstermen, that you do not travel
beyond your peril. Go back to Emain, O friend Conall, and leave me
here to watch."

'"Content, then," said Conall.

'Conall Cernach did not go past the place after that. Then
Cuchulainn goes forth to Loch Echtra, and they found no one there
before them. The charioteer said to Cuchulainn that they should go
to Emain, that they might be in time for the drinking there.

'"No," said Cuchulainn. "What mountain is it yonder?" said
Cuchulainn.

'"Sliab Monduirn," said the charioteer.

'"Let us go and get there," said Cuchulainn. They go then till
they reach it. When they had reached the mountain, Cuchulainn
asked: "What is the white cairn yonder on the top of the
mountain?"

'"Find Carn," said the charioteer.

'"What plain is that over there?" said Cuchulainn.

'"Mag Breg," said the charioteer. He tells him then the name of
every chief fort between Temair and Cenandas. He tells him first
their meadows and their fords, their famous places and their
dwellings, their fortresses and their high hills. He shows [Note:
Reading with YBL.] him then the fort of the three sons of Nechta
Scene; Foill, Fandall, and Tuachell were their names.

'"Is it they who say," said Cuchulainn, "that there are not more
of the Ulstermen alive than they have slain of them?"

'"It is they indeed," said the charioteer.

'"Let us go till we reach them," said Cuchulainn.

'"Indeed it is peril to us," said the charioteer.

'"Truly it is not to avoid it that we go," said Cuchulainn.

'Then they go forth and unharness their horses at the meeting of
the bog and the river, to the south above the fort of the others;
and he threw the withe that was on the pillar as far as he could
throw into the river and let it go with the stream, for this was a
breach of _geis_ to the sons of Nechta Scene. They perceive it
then, and come to them. Cuchulainn goes to sleep by the pillar
after throwing the withe at the stream; and he said to the
charioteer: "Do not waken me for few; but waken me for many."

'Now the charioteer was very frightened, and he made ready their
chariot and pulled its coverings and skins which were over
Cuchulainn; for he dared not waken him, because Cuchulainn told him
at first that he should not waken him for a few.

'Then come the sons of Nechta Scene.

'"Who is it who is there?" said one of them.

'"A little boy who has come to-day into the chariot for an
expedition," said the charioteer.

'"May it not be for his happiness," said the champion; "and may it
not be for his prosperity, his first taking of arms. Let him not be
in our land, and let the horses not graze there any more," said the
champion.

'"Their reins are in my hands," said the charioteer.


'"It should not be yours to earn hatred," said Ibar to the
champion; "and the boy is asleep."

'"I am not a boy at all," said Cuchulainn; "but it is to seek
battle with a man that the boy who is here has come."

'"That pleases me well," said the champion.

'"It will please you now in the ford yonder," said Cuchulainn.

'"It befits you," said the charioteer, "take heed of the man who
comes against you. Foill is his name," said he; "for unless you
reach him in the first thrust, you will not reach him till
evening."

'"I swear by the god by whom my people swear, he will not ply his
skill on the Ulstermen again, if the broad spear of my friend
Conchobar should reach him from my hand. It will be an outlaw's
hand to him."

'Then he cast the spear at him, so that his back broke. He took
with him his accoutrements and his head.

'"Take heed of another man," said the charioteer, "Fandall [Note:
i.e. 'Swallow.'] is his name. Not more heavily does he traverse(?)
the water than swan or swallow."

'"I swear that he will not ply that feat again on the Ulstermen,"
said Cuchulainn. "You have seen," said he, "the way I travel the
pool at Emain."

'They meet then in the ford. Cuchulainn kills that man, and took
his head and his arms.

'"Take heed of another man who comes towards you," said the
charioteer. "Tuachell [Note: i.e. 'Cunning.'] is his name. It is no
misname for him, for he does not fall by arms at all."

'"Here is the javelin for him to confuse him, so that it may make
a red-sieve of him," said Cuchulainn.

'He cast the spear at him, so that it reached him in his ----. Then
He went to him and cut off his head. Cuchulainn gave his head and
his accoutrements to his own charioteer. He heard then the cry of
their mother, Nechta Scene, behind them.

'He puts their spoils and the three heads in his chariot with him,
and said: "I will not leave my triumph," said he, "till I reach
Emain Macha." 'then they set out with his triumph.

'Then Cuchulainn said to the charioteer: "You promised us a good
run," said he, "and we need it now because of the strife and the
pursuit that is behind us." They go on to Sliab Fuait; and such was
the speed of the run that they made over Breg after the spurring of
the charioteer, that the horses of the chariot overtook the wind
and the birds in flight, and that Cuchulainn caught the throw that
he sent from his sling before it reached the ground.

'When they reached Sliab Fuait, they found a herd of wild deer
there before them.

'"What are those cattle yonder so active?" said Cuchulainn.

'"Wild deer," said the charioteer.

'"Which would the Ulstermen think best," said Cuchulainn, "to bring
them dead or alive?"

'"It is more wonderful alive," said the charioteer; "it is not
every one who can do it so. Dead, there is not one of them who
cannot do it. You cannot do this, to carry off any of them alive,"
said the charioteer.

'"I can indeed," said Cuchulainn. "Ply the goad on the horses into
the bog."

'The charioteer does this. The horses stick in the bog. Cuchulainn
sprang down and seized the deer that was nearest, and that was the
finest of them. He lashed the horses through the bog, and overcame
the deer at once, and bound it between the two poles of the chariot.

'They saw something again before them, a flock of swans.

'"Which would the Ulstermen think best," said Cuchulainn, "to have
them dead or alive?"

'"All the most vigorous and finest(?) bring them alive," said the
charioteer.

'Then Cuchulainn aims a small stone at the birds, so that he struck
eight of the birds. He threw again a large stone, so that he struck
twelve of them. All that was done by his return stroke.

"Collect the birds for us," said Cuchulainn to his charioteer. "If
it is I who go to take them," said he, "the wild deer will spring
upon you."

'"It is not easy for me to go to them," said the charioteer. "The
horses have become wild so that I cannot go past them. I cannot go
past the two iron tyres [Interlinear gloss, _fonnod_. The _fonnod_
was some part of the rim of the wheel apparently.] of the chariot,
because of their sharpness; and I cannot go past the deer, for his
horn has filled all the space between the two poles of the chariot."

'"Step from its horn," said Cuchulainn. "I swear by the god by whom
the Ulstermen swear, the bending with which I will bend my head on
him, and the eye that I will make at him, he will not turn his head
on you, and he will not dare to move."


'That was done then. Cuchulainn made fast the reins, and the
charioteer collects the birds. Then Cuchulainn bound the birds from
the strings and thongs of the chariot; so that it was thus he went
to Emain Macha: the wild deer behind his chariot, and the flock of
swans flying over it, and the three heads in his chariot. Then they
come to Emain.

"A man in a chariot is coming to you," said the watchman in Emain
Macha; "he will shed the blood of every man who is in the court,
unless heed is taken, and unless naked women go to him."

'Then he turned the left side of his chariot towards Emain, and
that was a _geis_ [Note: i.e. it was an insult.] to it; and
Cuchulainn said: "I swear by the god by whom the Ulstermen swear,
unless a man is found to fight with me, I will shed the blood of
every one who is in the fort."

'"Naked women to meet him!" said Conchobar.

'Then the women of Emain go to meet him with Mugain, the wife of
Conchobar Mac Nessa, and bare their breasts before him. "These are
the warriors who will meet you to-day," said Mugain.

'He covers his face; then the heroes of Emain seize him and throw
him into a vessel of cold water. That vessel bursts round him. The
second vessel into which he was thrown boiled with bubbles as big
as the fist therefrom. The third vessel into which he went, he
warmed it so that its heat and its cold were rightly tempered. Then
he comes out; and the queen, Mugain, puts a blue mantle on him, and
a silver brooch therein, and a hooded tunic; and he sits at
Conchobar's knee, and that was his couch always after that. The man
who did this in his seventh year,' said Fiacha Mac Fir-Febe, 'it
were not wonderful though he should rout an overwhelming force, and
though he should exhaust (?) an equal force, when his seventeen
years are complete to-day.'


(What follows is a separate version [Note: The next episode, the
Death of Fraech, is not given in LL.] to the death of Orlam.)

'Let us go forth now,' said Ailill.

Then they reached Mag Mucceda. Cuchulainn cut an oak before them
there, and wrote an ogam in its side. It is this that was therein:
that no one should go past it till a warrior should leap it with
one chariot. They pitch their tents there, and come to leap over it
in their chariots. There fall thereat thirty horses, and thirty
chariots are broken. Belach n-Ane, that is the name of that place
for ever.


_The Death of Fraech_

They are there till next morning; then Fraech is summoned to them.
'Help us, O Fraech,' said Medb. 'Remove from us the strait that is
on us. Go before Cuchulainn for us, if perchance you shall fight
with him.'

He set out early in the morning with nine men, till he reached Ath
Fuait. He saw the warrior bathing in the river.

'Wait here,' said Fraech to his retinue, 'till I come to the man
yonder; not good is the water,' said he.

He took off his clothes, and goes into the water to him.

'Do not come to me,' said Cuchulainn. 'You will die from it, and I
should be sorry to kill you.'

'I shall come indeed,' said Fraech, 'that we may meet in the water;
and let your play with me be fair.'

'Settle it as you like,' said Cuchulainn.

'The hand of each of us round the other,' said Fraech.

They set to wrestling for a long time on the water, and Fraech was
submerged. Cuchulainn lifted him up again.

'This time,' said Cuchulainn, 'will you yield and accept your
life?' [Note: Lit. 'will you acknowledge your saving?']

'I will not suffer it,' said Fraech.

Cuchulainn put him under it again, until Fraech was killed. He
comes to land; his retinue carry his body to the camp. Ath Fraich,
that was the name of that ford for ever. All the host lamented
Fraech. They saw a troop of women in green tunics [Note: Fraech was
descended from the people of the Sid, his mother Bebind being a
fairy woman. Her sister was Boinn (the river Boyne).] on the body
of Fraech Mac Idaid; they drew him from them into the mound. Sid
Fraich was the name of that mound afterwards.

Fergus springs over the oak in his chariot. They go till they reach
Ath Taiten; Cuchulainn destroys six of them there: that is, the six
Dungals of Irress.

Then they go on to Fornocht. Medb had a whelp named Baiscne.
Cuchulainn throws a cast at him, and took his head off. Druim was
the name of that place henceforth.

'Great is the mockery to you,' said Medb, 'not to hunt the deer
of misfortune yonder that is killing you.'

Then they start hunting him, till they broke the shafts of their
chariots thereat.

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