A Hero Is Born
Irish and Celtic myths and legends, Irish folklore and Irish fairy tales from the Ulster Cycle
His name would echo through the ages
Queen Nessa had been known as a gentle and sweet natured woman when she was a maid, but through the hardships of the world she became cold and ruthless. Still, for all that she was still a rare beauty and an indomitable warrior, which many men find to be an irresistible combination!
And so it was with King Fergus Mac Ríoch, master of all Ulster and the northlands. He had to have her and told her as much, but she wanted Ulster for her son Conchobar, so she named as her bride-price that the King let her son rule Ulster for a year while they enjoyed themselves.
Well, she did more than enjoy herself, she made great gifts to the chieftains of Ulster and counselled her son well, so his judgements were seen to be fair and just. After the year was past, the people of Ulster muttered to themselves that Conchobar was a far better king than Fergus had ever been, and what sort of king wanders off for a year anyway!
So Fergus was deposed and stormed off in a rage, although he remained married to Nessa, and Conchobar became the new king of Ulster. He grew into a fine young man, and his sister Deichtire grew to be a fine woman, trained well by her mother in the arts of war, leading armies into battle and fearing nobody.
But the time came for her to be married, so a match was made with Sualtim, who was of noble blood and her equal in every way. But while her fifty maids prepared the bride-to-be, she took a cup of wine, and so caught up as she in the preparations that she didn't notice the mayfly she had swallowed with the same draught!
She swiftly fell into a deep sleep, and her maids along with her, and while she slept she dreamed of a tall young man with uncannily long arms, who introduced himself as Lugh, one of the Sidhe. He had been in the form of a mayfly, he said, when she had swallowed him, and he told them they had to come away with him.
With that, they transformed into a flock of white birds and spiralled above Emain Macha, flying south to the land of the Sidhe. Sualtim and Conchobar were distraught, as you might imagine, and scoured the land from coast to coast, but found no sign of Deichtre or her fifty maids.
Almost a year to the day afterwards, Conchobar was siting at a feast with his men outside the fortress, when what should they see but a great flock of birds landed before them, eating everything in sight. Trees were plucked bare, the corn was left nothing but stalks, and the green grass itself was swallowed!
Mighty vexed they were too I don't mind telling you, so they yoked up their chariots and set out after the birds, noticing that they were bound to one another by very fine silver and golden chains.
“A bag of the same gold as binds them to the man who brings me those birds!” cried Conchobar in high excitement, and they raced until the sun had set at last without catching a single one. Exhausted and exasperated, Conchobar decided to call it a night and told his men to look around for somewhere to stay.
Fergus his foster-father who was once king returned to them sayign he'd found a small hut but it would have to do. Bricriu of the bitter tongue predictably complained and said he'd go see for himself.
He found instead a tall hall with a well thatched roof, carven beams and deep walls, fresh with the smell of hay and cooking beef sizzling its drippings over the warm fire. A young man and woman came out and said he and his company were very welcome, and they were fair to look upon, and gazing deeper into the hall, what did he see but the fifty missing women!
Well he made his way back to Conchobar with all haste, and in turn the king and his men rode up to find good food and rich wine thrust into their arms by their missing maids. Great cheer was had but in the middle of the night they were roused from their rest by a shrieking wail and the sound of howling!
Conchobar sprang to his feet, afraid they were under attack, but the man of the house appeared again and said it was but the lady giving birth, so the King and his men settled down again uneasily. In the morning the man was nowhere to be found, but before them was the King's own sister Deichtire holding a newborn babe in her arms.
The men of Ulster fell to quarrelling then, arguing over who would raise him, but in the end Morann the wisest judge said that all of the men would have a hand in raising him, each teaching him their own skills, and that the child was to be called Setanta.
The birthplace of Cúchulainn, or as he was known at first Setanta, is marked here below on the map.
Further Tales from the Ulster Cycle
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War and the arts of war much occupied the people of Ireland, who became renowned for their skill with weapons and in the ways of battle. They fought one another and the many invaders who came to this land, earning not only fame for their arms and the swords and spears they carried, but for their shields as well! Some of the most legended shields ... [more]
Irish legends have this peculiar property – so long and so often have they been repeated down through the millennia that oftentimes one tale might cross into another, over and back, and leave its track behind. Some stories are far older than they might seem, and some contain shadows and echoes stretching back to the very beginning. Such is ... [more]
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Many and infamous were the weapons of the tribes of Ireland, and fierce the warriors who wielded them in battle, but few were as notorious as the spear of fire and poison, the Lúin Cheltchair, which thirsted for blood so much that it had to be kept in a cauldron of poison, held down with chains by four foreigners – for who would risk t ... [more]
Cúchulainn, although still a young man, had made many powerful enemies, but none more bitter and dark than Queen Medb of Connaught, whose armies he had routed and whose ambitions he'd thwarted. Long into the dark nights of winter, year after year she brooded on the humiliations visited upon her, for undying is the wrath of a Queen. Sh ... [more]
Queen Medb had invaded Ulster and the lands of the north, thinking it would be an easy victory since the men of Ulster were crippled with birth pangs as a result of a curse place on them, but Cúchulainn had dogged her every step savagely. Attacking her supply wagons, ambushing her men from the trees, burning tents at night, he fought sing ... [more]
Queen Nessa had been known as a gentle and sweet natured woman when she was a maid, but through the hardships of the world she became cold and ruthless. Still, for all that she was still a rare beauty and an indomitable warrior, which many men find to be an irresistible combination! And so it was with King Fergus Mac Ríoch, master of all ... [more]
They say the fury of a storm in a high tempest has nothing on the fury of a woman scorned, and few women have ever felt quite so scorned as Aoife the warrior-queen after she found out that her lover Cúchulainn had married another woman, Emer! She had borne a son for him, but in her wrath she decided to turn the child against him. She spok ... [more]
In the age of heroes, forgotten by all but the storytellers and the legend-weavers, when champions strode the land of Ireland, their halls and Duns now covered in moss, echoing to no songs but those of the blackbird and the red-breasted robin, the people of Ulster were gathered together for a great celebration at Emain Macha, the capital of Ulster. ... [more]
A quarrel arose between Queen Medb of Connacht and the King of Ulster regarding who had the most wealth, but all of his men were cursed with the pains of a pregnant woman giving birth so they couldn't ride out to meet her marching army. Only Cúchulainn who had the blood of the Sidhe running through his veins could even walk, let alone fi ... [more]
Cathbad the Druid was well known throughout the lands of Ireland for his subtle skill and cunning ways, he could make birds speak the language of men and the very stones themselves sing, it was said! But like all Druids, he could also tell the portents of the day, as the ripples may be seen from a rock cast into a still pool in the deepest forest. ... [more]
Cruinniuc was a farmer in the northern part of Ireland back in the days of legend, and often legends are told of heroes and their mighty deeds, but this tale is about humbler folk who change the path of history nonetheless. Cruinniuc wasn't a bad sort but his life had been struck with ill fortune for years – his wife had passed away an ... [more]
The chariot games in Ireland of old were a great event – the mightiest of kings, warriors, princes and champions from around the world would travel from afar to watch and join the fiercely contested races. Each man and his team of horses would thunder round the track, and the cheers of the onlookers would shake the hills. And so it was for ... [more]
It was the time of heroes in ancient Ireland, when giants walked the land, before Fionn MacCumhaill had sent the seven shadows of the Glen back to their dark and restless sleep with his flashing sword, and even before his son Oisín had slain the worm of the lakes, when Setanta was young. He it was who became one of the mightiest heroes of ... [more]
King Aillil, husband to Queen Medb whose famous cattle raid started a war with Cú Chulainn, was deep in his cups as the sun set on Samhain night, red and cloud-torn over the ancient fortress of Rathcroghan. Bothered by the whispering winds, he took a notion that it would be a good test of courage if one of his warriors would go out and put a ... [more]
Bricriu of the venomous tongue he was called, and well named indeed he was, for he loved nothing better than to cause trouble and spread rumours and half-truths to unsettle people. As such he decided to hold a great feast, although he knew that by his reputation few would be interested in attending, so he made a special effort to entice them. He ... [more]
One of the most famed legends of old is that of the war that was fought over the Brown Bull of Cualgne. Now while it might seem an odd thing for us today to think of a war fought over a bull, the matter is not so simple as it might seem, and the bull was no ordinary bull either! For it was in the time of Cú Chulainn, the hound of Chulainn, t ... [more]
