by Jules Watson
I came up with quite different reasons for the war; however, I did retain a thread about the sacred bulls.
Central to “The Táin” is the defection of a large number of Red Branch warriors, led by Fergus mac Roy, from the Ulster side to the Connacht side, due to Conor’s treatment of Deirdre and Naisi (portrayed in The Swan Maiden).
Ferdia and Cúchulainn are shown in the myths as best friends, foster brothers, and soul mates. Cúchulainn was King Conor’s nephew, and did stay with the king when the other Red Branch defected to Maeve. Ferdia, however, could not serve Conor any longer and went with Fergus. This device leaves Ferdia and Cúchulainn—the two greatest warriors of Erin—on opposite sides, and heading for a heartbreaking and inevitable showdown.
The myth of the goddess Macha includes an episode where the Red Branch warriors heartlessly force her to race the king’s horses. She ends up giving birth to twins on the racetrack in great travail. She curses the men of Ulster, that in their time of greatest need they, too, will be struck down by the “pangs.” It is these so-called birth pangs that incapacitate the Red Branch in “The Táin” and allow Maeve’s army to attack.
In the original myth, Cúchulainn does not suffer the pangs, which is why he is forced to defend Ulster alone at the ford while the other Red Branch are bedridden.
I decided on a nonmystical reason for the pangs—the special Alban ale that Conor gives his new Red Branch warriors at the feast is contaminated with the ergot fungus, which grows on barley and causes illness, hallucinations, burning in the limbs, and eventually death if enough is imbibed.
This is why I made Ferdia originally teetotal, and Cúchulainn a drinker. After Conor’s actions part Ferdia and Cúchulainn, Cúchulainn stops drinking out of respect for his friend. This prevents Cúchulainn from imbibing Conor’s ale, which is when he throws the cup against the roof pillar. He is therefore able to go on to defend his kingdom in single combat.
Maeve was said to have had a voracious sexual appetite, including bedding Fergus mac Roy. Ailill therefore did grow jealous of Fergus, and he did kill him, though in the tales this takes place after the events of “The Táin” and in a different manner.
In the myth, Cúchulainn does hold the ford by himself and challenges the Connacht army to single combat. Days of fighting ensue, but Ferdia will not at first fight his friend. Maeve does offer Finn to him, and in the myth, this eventually makes him fight, whereas I have it that he decides he would rather die at Cúchulainn’s hand than live as he is.
Ferdia and Cúchulainn fight for days, and eventually Cúchulainn uses the gae bolga on his friend, slaying Ferdia. This heartbreaking series of events is one of the most famous duels in the ancient world. It has been portrayed in many stories, in painting, and in song. To me, it encapsulates the tragedy of the Celts. Honor—which the Celts revered above all else—weaves a fateful trap that destroys one of the “great loves” of Irish myth.
In “The Táin,” Maeve is eventually incapacitated by a “gush of blood,” which is often translated as menstruation—a possible attempt by medieval scribes to scupper Maeve’s power by inflicting a female “weakness” upon her. I changed this to a possible miscarriage. At this point the two sides do make peace, neither actually “winning”; though the suggestion is that Connacht surrenders.
Maeve besting Cúchulainn is my own invention, as is Conor’s death at Finn’s hand (he does not die then in the original). Cúchulainn does outlive “The Táin,” but in a later myth is attacked by a group of enemies. Wounded, he straps himself to a standing stone in order to fight to the bitter end, and is eventually slain. A poignant statue portraying his death—the crow goddess hovering over him—can be found outside the main post office in Dublin, Ireland.
The lake sanctuary at the end is sited on Lough Erne, a large two-part lake in County Fermanagh. In myth it is named after “Erna,” a handmaiden of Maeve’s. It is scattered with many small islands. One of them is Boa Island, where a tiny cemetery contains two enigmatic and undatable stone statues. The largest statue bears a face on each side, one “male” and one “female.” The smaller figure is of an old woman. This is the first place I went to when I researched this book, though it relates to the end.
I like to think that memories of Ruán’s wood carvings eventually made their way into stone, just as Maeve and Ruán also made their way into local myth, and then into some now-forgotten memory.
HISTORY/ARCHAEOLOGY
I have set Maeve’s tale in the Irish Iron Age, in the first century BC.
Thomas Kinsella takes his translation of The Táin from the twelfth-century AD Book of Leinster, although the language of the prose is eighth century, and the verse sections sixth century. Back further, we disappear into the mists of time.
That is why there was once a belief that the Ulster Cycle preserved a “window” into the Iron Age in Ireland in the last few centuries BC. Modern scholars don’t like this idea, and think these stories merely reflect the medieval period in which they were written down.
Since they were transcribed by Christian monks, no one knows how faithfully these tales of Celtic pagans have been copied and whether the bias of the writers means that events were changed or even left out.
However, many of the aspects of these tales—feasting, cattle raiding, boastfulness and courage of warriors, single combat of champions, taking of enemy heads, riding in chariots—tie in with what Roman writers observed firsthand about the Celts, as well as archaeology in France and Britain.
I have therefore grounded the story in the archaeology of Ireland, Britain, and Gaul, and the writings of the Romans about the Celts, with regard to weapons, dress, food, and houses.
This has been mixed in with the original myths. For example, Iron Age swords found in Ireland are not very big, yet those in the myths are described as large hacking swords—the sort in use when the stories were written down in medieval times. Chariots are also described in the tales. They have never been found in Ireland, but are known from Iron Age graves in England, France, and Switzerland, and there are wooden trackways in Ireland made for wheeled vehicles.
Conor’s fort at Emain Macha has been identified as present-day Navan Fort in Armagh. Excavations have shown that a large roofed building (my “temple of Macha”) was destroyed in a great burning in about 95 BC. I used this for the idea of Conor burning the temple down in a fit of madness.
These excavations also found the skull of a Barbary Ape, which was native to North Africa, buried at Emain Macha. This suggests that Irish kings of this period did enjoy trade links with the Mediterranean, and probably had a little access to wine, table-ware, furniture, oils, and other luxury items from Greece, Rome, Egypt, and the Near East.
Other archaeological finds back up some elements of the myths. Great cauldrons, drinking vessels, and pits of animal bones suggest that large-scale feasting was a vital part of Celtic life.
Cattle were obviously important, evidenced by sacred deposits of cow bones as well as depictions of cattle in art. The mass of decorated bridle bits and rings for reins show that nobles were riding around on horses, showing off their wealth.
Jewelry is of highly skilled workmanship, and the amount of gold, other metals, and enamel found in Iron Age excavations fits in with the boastful and showy warrior culture described in the Irish myths.
The four festivals of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasa, and Samhain appear in the myths, and they are also named in a bronze “calendar” found in Coligny in France dating to this very period.
Evidence from Irish bog bodies suggests that warriors stiffened their hair with a paste made from pine resin and herbs imported from the Continent. Many bog bodies show evidence of ritual death, often a triple death of strangulation, stabbing, and drowning.
Iron Age trackways have indeed been found in Ireland. Stretches of oak planks form extensive road networks that could have carried chariots and great carts across the vast expanses of wetlands.
PLACES
King Conor’s fort
of Emain Macha has been identified as the present-day site of Navan Fort, near Armagh. There is a wonderful museum there all about the Ulster Cycle of tales.
Queen Maeve’s stronghold of Cruachan has been identified as Rathcroghan near Tulsk, Roscommon. Dun Ailinne in Laigin is the name of the modern site (though this is a ritual site, not a residential fort), and the Hill of Uisneach is supposedly sacred because it is in the center of Ireland.
The Aran Islands (the “Stone Islands”) are off the west coast of Galway. The largest island, Inishmór, is the site of Dún Aengus, an enormous stone fort perched on the western edge of the cliffs.
The Sinand is the River Shannon, which connects many of the lakes and bogs to the east of Cruachan.
There is a statue of Cúchulainn carrying a dead Ferdia at Ardee, which lays claim to being the site of the battle at the ford (its name comes from Áth Fhirdia, the Ford of Ferdia). However, I sited the fight beneath the slopes of Slieve Gullion, Sliabh gCuillinn in the Irish, which means “Cullen’s Hill” and is related to Cúchulainn in the old myths.
The little cave where Maeve has her baby is called the Cave of the Cats and is beneath the ground near Tulsk—go to the museum in Tulsk and ask for directions. A stone was found in this cave that in old ogham writing mentioned the names of both Maeve and Fraech.
On the coast of County Sligo stands Cnoc na Rí, the Hill of the King (Knocknarea in English). At its foot is the Carrowmore cemetery of passage graves. Such ancient stone tombs were seen by Irish people of the past few centuries as the dwelling places of the sídhe, the “people of the mounds.”
Maeve is supposed to be buried beneath the great cairn on the top of Cnoc na Rí. She is reputed to be standing up in all her war regalia—facing the north, and her great enemy, Conor of Ulster.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JULES WATSON was born in Western Australia to English parents. After gaining degrees in archaeology and public relations, she worked as a freelance writer in both Australia and England. Jules and her Scottish husband divided their time between the UK and Australia before finally settling in the wild highlands of Scotland. She is the author of the Dalriada trilogy—The White Mare, The Dawn Stag, and The Song of the North (U.S. title)—a series of historical epics set in ancient Scotland about the wars between the Celts and the invading Romans. Kirkus Reviews named The White Mare in the top ten Science Fiction / Fantasy releases of 2005, and The Song of the North was featured as a “Hot Read” in the April 2008 Kirkus special Science Fiction / Fantasy edition.
www.juleswatson.com
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Contents
Map
Character, Place, and Pronunciation Guide
Chapter 1 - Leaf-Fall
Chapter 2 - Leaf-Bud
Chapter 3 - Leaf-Fall
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15 - Leaf-Bud
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20 - Sun-Season
Chapter 21
Chapter 22 - Sun-Season
Chapter 23
Chapter 24 - Leaf-Fall
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41 - Sun-Season
Note on Mythology and History
About the Author