Cúchulainn

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In Irish mythology Cúchulainn (also spelled Cú Chulainn) is the pre-eminent boy hero of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle. His mother was Dechtere, sister of king Conchobar mac Nessa; his father was either the god Lugh, or Dechtere's mortal husband Sualtam, and his foster-father was Fergus mac Róich.

His childhood name was Sétanta, but he gained the name Cú Chulainn ("Culann's Hound") when as a child he killed (in self-defence) the fierce watchdog of Culann the smith, and offered to take its place while a replacement was reared. He took arms when, at the age of seven, he heard the druid Cathbad prophesy that anyone who took arms that day would have everlasting fame, although his life would be short - one of the reasons he is compared to the Greek hero Achilles.

Before he could marry Emer, Cú Chulainn was sent to learn the arts of war from the warrior-woman Scáthach in Scotland. She taught him to use the Gae Bulg, a terrible, barbed spear. While there he slept with Scáthach's rival Aífe and left her pregnant. Seven years later their son, Connla, came to Ireland in search of his father, but Cú Chulainn killed him when he refused to identify himself.

At the age of seventeen, Cú Chulainn single-handedly defended Ulster from the army of Connacht in Táin Bó Cúailnge (the Cattle Raid of Cooley). The men of Ulster were disabled by a curse, so Cú Chulainn prevented Medb's army from advancing by invoking the right of single combat at fords. He defeated champion after champion in a stand-off lasting months. When Fergus was sent to face him he agreed to yield, so long as Fergus agreed to return the compliment the next time they met. Finally, he fought a gruelling three day duel with his best friend and foster-brother, Ferdiad. The Ulstermen eventually roused, and the final battle began. Fergus kept his side of the bargain and yielded to Cú Chulainn, pulling his forces off the field. Connacht's other allies panicked and Medb was forced to retreat.

In another adventure, the fairy woman Fand was married to Manannan, the sea god. Manannan left her and she was attacked by three Fomorians who wanted to control the Irish Sea. Cúchulainn agreed to help defend her as long as she married him. She agreed reluctantly, but then fell in love with him when she met him, as did he and her.

Manannan knew their relationship was doomed because Cúchulainn was mortal and Fand was a fairy; Cúchulainn's presence would destroy the fairies. Manannan then erased both Fand's and Cúchulainn's memory of each other by shaking his cloak between them.

Cúchulainn was almost undefeatable in battle due to his spear (which sang for the blood of its enemies) and his warrior frenzy. It is described in Thomas Kinsella's translation of The Táin this way:

"The Warp-Spasm overtook him : it seemed each hair was hammered into his head, so sharply they shot upright. You would swear a fire-speck tipped each hair. He squeezed one eye narrower than the eye of a needle; he opened the other wider than the mouth of a goblet. He bared his jaws to the ear; he peeled back his lips to the eye-teeth till his gullet showed. The hero-halo rose up from the crown of his head."

This frenzy causes him to turn about in his skin, his eyes to draw back into his head, and his hair to stand on end, capped with drops of blood. In this fearsome state he attacks indiscriminately. The warp spasm of Slaine in the comic book 2000 AD is based on this description.

In Dublin, a statue of Cúchulainn outside the General Post Office shows his demise. Medb conspired with the sons of various people Cú Chulainn had killed to draw him out to his death. Cúchulainn's fate was sealed by his breaking of the geasa upon him. In Cúchulainn's case, his geasa included both a obligation to accept any meal offered to him, and a ban against eating dog meat. His enemies contrived to force him to break one of these geasa by the simple approach of offering him a meal of dog meat. In this way he was spiritually weakened for the fight ahead of him. Mortally wounded, Cú Chulainn tied himself to a pillar-stone in order to remain standing. Only when a crow landed on his shoulder did his enemies believe he was dead. They cut off his hand, and when that got no response, took his head. Conall Cernach had sworn that if Cú Chulainn died before him he would avenge him before sunset, and he kept his promise.

References

The Tain, translated by Thomas Kinsella from the Táin Bó Cuailnge, Oxford University Press, 1969; ISBN 0192810901
Simon James, The World of the Celts, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1993; ISBN 0500050678

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