Summary: The Saga of Cuchulainn

Once upon a land of uladov birds of an unknown breed flew and began to devour all the fruits, cereals, grass, all the greenery to the very root. Then, in order to save their livelihood, the ulas decide to equip the nine chariots and set out to hunt the birds. On the hunt go and the ruler of the Ulagi Conhobar and his sister Dekhtyre. Soon they overtake birds. They fly a huge school led by the most beautiful bird in the world. There are only nine of them, and they are divided into pairs, each of which is connected by a golden chain. Suddenly, all the birds, except the three, disappear, and it is behind them that the ulas are rushing, but then they are overtaken by the night, so that these three birds are hiding. Then the ulas unharness the chariots and send several people to seek some shelter for the night. The sent quickly find a lonely standing new house, covered with white bird feathers. He inside is not finished and nothing is removed, and there are not even poles and blankets in

it. Two owners, husband and wife, sitting in the house, affectionately welcome the newcomers. Despite the lack of food and the small size of the house, the ulas decide to go there. They enter it all, how many they were, together with horses and chariots, and it turns out that all this takes very little space in the house. They find there and plenty of food and blankets. After they settle down for the night, a beautiful young man of unusually high stature appears in the doorway. He says that it’s time for dinner, and the fact that the coffees ate before was only a snack. And then they are served with various dishes and drinks, to the taste and desire of everyone, after which they, after being full and drunk, begin to have fun. Then the husband asks Dehtyre to help his wife, giving birth at that moment in the next room. Dehtyre goes to the woman in childbirth. Soon she produces a boy. When улады in the morning wake up, there is no more a house, no owners, no birds. They return home, taking with them a newborn boy.

He is brought up under Dekhtyre, until he grows up. In adolescence, he is seriously ill and

dies. Dekhtyre is very sad about the death of his adopted son. She does not eat or drink for three days, and then she gets a strong thirst. Dehtyre is served a cup of drink, and when she brings it to her lips, it seems to her that some tiny animal wants to jump from her cup into her mouth. The rest do not notice any animal. Again, they give her a cup, and while she drinks, the animal slips into her mouth and makes her way inside. The same hour Dehtyre falls into a dream lasting until the next day. In a dream, she sees a certain husband and announces that now she conceived from him. He also says that it was he who created the birds, he created the house where the uleds slept, and created a woman who was tormented by birth. He himself took the form of a boy, who was born there and who raised and recently mourned Dekhtyre. Now he returned in the form of a small animal, penetrated into her body. Then he named his name-Long-Handed Meadow, Ettle’s son-and said that a son named Setanta would be born to him from Dehtyre. Then Dehtyre became pregnant. No one among the Ulrads can understand from whom she conceived, and begin to say even that the culprit is her brother Conhobar. After this, Sualtam, Roig’s son, wooed Dehtyre. And Conhobar gives his sister a wife. She is very ashamed to ascend to his bed, being already pregnant, and begins to beat herself on the back and hips, until – as it seemed to her – is not released from the fetus. At this moment, she regains her virginity. After that, she rises to the bed of Sultama and gives birth to his son the size of a three-year-old child. He is called Setantoy, and the Kulan-blacksmith becomes his adoptive father. Setant’s name is worn by the boy until he kills Kulan’s dog and does not serve him. From that time on, he was called Cuchulainn.

Once a year all the ulas gathered for the holiday of Samhain, and, while this holiday lasted (for seven whole days), there was nothing there except games, festivities, feasts and treats. The favorite thing of the assembled warriors was to boast of their victories and exploits. Once on such a holiday all the ulas gathered, except for Conal the Victorious and Fergus, the son of Roig. Cuchulain decides not to start without them, since Fergus is his adopted father, and Konal is a milk brother. While the audience is playing chess and listening to songs, a flock of birds flies to a lake nearby, more beautiful than anyone has seen in all of Ireland. Women embrace desire to receive them, and they argue, whose husband will be more adept at catching these birds.

One of the women on behalf of everyone asks Cuchulain to get the birds, and when he starts to swear, he reproaches him for guilty of strabismus of many lovers of the Uladian women, for he himself is one-eyed with fury during the battle, and the women are making one this is in order to be like him. Then Cuchulainus makes such a raid on birds that all their paws and wings fall into the water. Cuchulainus, with the help of his driver, Leiga, captures all birds and divides them between women. Each receives two birds, and only Inguba, the beloved Cuchulainn, remains without a gift. She promises to catch the finest birds next time.

Soon over the lake there are two birds, connected by a golden chain. They sing so sweetly that everyone falls asleep, and Cuchulainus rushes to them. Loig and Inguba warn him that the birds hide a secret power and it is better not to touch them, but Cuchulainn can not help but keep his word. He twice rocks stones at birds, but twice misses, and then pierces the wing of one of them with his spear. Birds immediately disappear, and Cuchulainus goes to a tall stone and falls asleep. In a dream, he is two women in green and purple raincoats and beat him with whips almost to death. When Cuchulain awakens, he can only ask to be moved to bed in the house. There he, without uttering a word, lies a whole year.

Exactly one year later, on the same day, Samhain, when Cuchulainn is still in bed surrounded by several oulads, a husband suddenly enters the house and sits right in front of the Cuchulov bed. He says that Cuchulain will heal the daughters of Aid Abraut – Liban and Fand in love with him, if he helps their father get rid of his enemies. After that, the husband suddenly disappears, and Cuchulain gets up from the bed and tells the ulead about everything that happened to him. On the advice of the leader of the Conhobar Ulag, he goes to the very stone where a year ago he was overtaken by the disease, and meets a woman in a green cloak. She turns out to be the daughter of Aida Abraut named Liban and says that she came to ask him for help and friendship at the request of her sister Fand, who loves Cuchulainn and will associate life with him if he helps Liban-Labradu’s wife fight against his enemies. However, Cuchulainn is unable to go with her at once and decides to first send Loig, so that he finds out everything about the country where Liban came from. Loig goes with Liban, meets with Fand, with Labrad, but if Fand is very kind with Loig and strikes him with his beauty, then Labraday is unhappy because of the difficult battle with a huge army. Labrady asks Loig to hurry for Cuchulainn, and he returns. He tells Cuchulain that he saw a lot of beautiful women and Fand, surpassing the beauty of all the others, Cuchulainus, during the story of his driver, feels that his mind clears up and strength arrives. He asks Loig to call his wife Emer. Emer, having found out what is happening to her husband, first blames for inaction ouldov who are not looking for a way to help him, and then calls on Cuchulainn to overcome himself and get out of bed. Cuchulainn shakes off his weakness and numbness and again goes to the stone, from which he had a vision. There he meets Liban and goes with her to Labrada.

Together they go to look at the enemy army, and it seems to them incalculable. Cuchulain asks Labrada to leave, and early in the morning he kills the leader of their enemies – Eohide Iula – when he goes to the stream to wash. The battle is fastened, and soon the enemy flees. But Cuchulainn can not pacify his fury. On the advice of Laig, Labriday prepares three glasses of cold water to cool the hero’s ardor. After that, Cuchulainn shares the bed with Fand and spends a month next to her, and then returns home.

Soon after his return, he again calls Fand for a love date. But Emer finds out about this, takes a knife and, accompanied by fifty women, goes to the appointed place to kill the girl. Cuchulainn, seeing Emer, stops her and forbids him to approach Fand. From this, Emer falls into great sorrow, and the stricken Cuchulaini promises never to part with it. Now it’s time to mourn Fand – she is abandoned and must return to herself. However, the husband of Fand – Manannan, who left her when she fell in love with Cuchulainn, learns about what is happening and hurries to Fand. Having met her husband, she decides to return to him. But when Cuchulainus sees that Fand is moving away from Manannan, he falls into a great tribulation and goes to the mountains where he lives without food or drink. Only sent to Conchobar leading, druids and singers manage to link Cuchulain, water it with a drink of oblivion and bring it home. The same drink is given and Emer, and Manannan shakes his cloak between the fandom and Cuchulainn, so they never met.

Cuchulainn is going to the battle, but fifty women of the royal family are blocking his path, so as not to let him on new feats. With the help of three tanks of cold water, they manage to cool his ardor and keep that day from going to battle. But other women reproach Cuchulain for inaction and call for the protection of their country. Cuchulainn equips himself and approaches his horse, but he turns to him three times with his left side, which foreshadows a great misfortune. On the night before the march, the goddess of war Morrigan smashes the chariot of Cuchulain, for he knows that he will not return home. Nevertheless, Cuchulainn is on his way. On the way, he visits his wet nurse, and then meets three curves on the left eye of old women, grilling dog meat. On Cuchulain lay a vow – not to give up food from any hearth, but not to eat dog meat. He tries to go round the old women, but they notice it and invite to taste their food, Cuchulainn eats canine meat with his left hand and puts the bones under his left thigh, from which they lose the former fortress. Then, together with his driver Loig, Cuchulainn comes to the place of battle.

In the meantime, the leader of his enemies Erk comes up with such a cunning: all their troops are moving into a single wall and on each corner they expose a couple of strongest warriors and a caster who will have to ask Cuchulain to lend him a spear that can hit the king. Approaching the enemy army, Cuchulain immediately gets involved in the battle and so works with a spear and sword that the plain becomes gray from the brains of the dead. Suddenly Cuchulainu sees on the edge of the army two fighting with each other warriors and a caster, who calls him to separate the fighting. Cuchulainer strikes everyone with such a blow that the brain protrudes through their nose and ears and they fall dead. Then the spellcaster asks for his spear, Cuchulainus refuses to give it up, but under threat to be blameless for stinginess, agrees. One of the enemy warriors – Lugaid – spears a spear in Cuchulainn and kills his driver Loig. Cuchulainn goes to another flank of the army and again sees two fighters. He separates them, throwing them in different directions with such force that they fall dead at the foot of the neighboring rock. The caster standing next to them asks for his spear again, Cuchulainus refuses, but under threat of disgracing all the Ulrads gives it back. Then Erk lights the spear in Cuchulainn, but gets into his horse named Gray from Mahi. A mortally wounded horse runs away to the Gray Lake, from where it was once Cuchulainn, carrying on its neck half a drawbar. Cuchulainn also rests his foot on the remaining half of the drawbar and once more passes through the enemy army from end to end. Again he notices two fighters fighting each other, separating them like the previous ones, and again meets the caster, who asks for his spear. This time, Cuchulainn had to give it up under threat of disgrace with his stinginess kind. Then Lugayd takes this spear, mows it and gets straight to Cuchulainn, and even so that his entrails fall on the pillow of the chariot. Mortally wounded, Cuchulainn asked the enemies around him to allow him to swim in the Black Lake, and they allow him. He hardly reaches the lake, swims, and then returns to the enemy and ties himself to a high stone, not wanting to die lying down or sitting. At this moment Gray comes from Maha to protect him, while there is still a soul in him and a ray of light from his forehead. With his teeth, he kills fifty, and each of the hoofs – for thirty soldiers. Long warriors do not dare to approach Cuchulainn, thinking that he is alive, and only when the birds sit down on his shoulders, Lugaid cuts off his head. he masks it and gets directly to Cuchulainn, and even so that his entrails fall on the pillow of the chariot. Mortally wounded, Cuchulainn asked the enemies around him to allow him to swim in the Black Lake, and they allow him. He hardly reaches the lake, swims, and then returns to the enemy and ties himself to a high stone, not wanting to die lying down or sitting. At this moment Gray comes from Maha to protect him, while there is still a soul in him and a ray of light from his forehead. With his teeth, he kills fifty, and each of the hoofs – for thirty soldiers. Long warriors do not dare to approach Cuchulainn, thinking that he is alive, and only when the birds sit down on his shoulders, Lugaid cuts off his head. he masks it and gets directly to Cuchulainn, and even so that his entrails fall on the pillow of the chariot. Mortally wounded, Cuchulainn asked the enemies around him to allow him to swim in the Black Lake, and they allow him. He hardly reaches the lake, swims, and then returns to the enemy and ties himself to a high stone, not wanting to die lying down or sitting. At this moment Gray comes from Maha to protect him, while there is still a soul in him and a ray of light from his forehead. With his teeth, he kills fifty, and each of the hoofs – for thirty soldiers. Long warriors do not dare to approach Cuchulainn, thinking that he is alive, and only when the birds sit down on his shoulders, Lugaid cuts off his head. and they allow it. He hardly reaches the lake, swims, and then returns to the enemy and ties himself to a high stone, not wanting to die lying down or sitting. At this moment Gray comes from Maha to protect him, while there is still a soul in him and a ray of light from his forehead. With his teeth, he kills fifty, and each of the hoofs – for thirty soldiers. Long warriors do not dare to approach Cuchulainn, thinking that he is alive, and only when the birds sit down on his shoulders, Lugaid cuts off his head. and they allow it. He hardly reaches the lake, swims, and then returns to the enemy and ties himself to a high stone, not wanting to die lying down or sitting. At this moment Gray comes from Maha to protect him, while there is still a soul in him and a ray of light from his forehead. With his teeth, he kills fifty, and each of the hoofs – for thirty soldiers. Long warriors do not dare to approach Cuchulainn, thinking that he is alive, and only when the birds sit down on his shoulders, Lugaid cuts off his head.

Then his army goes to the south, and he remains to swim and eat fish caught by him.

At this time of the death of Cuchulainna recognizes Konal the Victorious. They once made a pact: the one who dies first will be avenged by another. Konal goes in the footsteps of the enemy troops and soon notices Lugaid. They agree on a duel and on different roads arrive at the agreed place. There Konal immediately wounded Lugaida with a spear. Nevertheless, their fight lasts for 24 hours, and only when Conal’s horse – Red Rosa – tears out a piece of meat from the body of Lugaid, Konal manages to chop off his head. Upon returning home, the ulas are not satisfied with any celebration, considering that all honors belong to Cuchulainn. He appeared to those women who kept him from going to battle: his chariot swept through the air, and Cuchulainus himself, standing on it, sings.