Early Irish Myths and Sagas

by Jeffrey Gantz

  Medb then went to the outer door of the courtyard, and she took with her three fifties of women and three vats of cold water with which to cool the ardour of the three heroes who were advancing before the host. The heroes were offered one house each or one house for the three of them. ‘A house for each of us,’ Cú Chulaind said, so magnificent bedding was brought into the houses, and the heroes were given their choice of the three fifties of girls, but Findabair was taken by Cú Chulaind into his own house.

  The rest of the Ulaid arrived later; Ailill and Medb and their entire household went to greet the visitors, and Senchae son of Ailill replied ‘We are content.’ The Ulaid entered the fort, then, and the royal house was given over to them. There were façades of bronze and partitions of red yew, and three strips of bronze in the vault of the roof. The house itself was of oak and was covered with shingles, and there was glass for each of the twelve windows. The apartments of Ailill and Medb were in the centre of the house and had silver façades and strips of bronze; Ailill’s façade had in it a silver wand that extended to the rafters of the house, and he used this to chastise the household. The warriors of Ulaid went round the house, from one door to the next, and the musicians played while everything was being prepared. The house was so large that there was room for all the Ulaid to gather round Conchubur; Conchubur himself, however, and Fergus son of Roech and nine other Ulaid warriors gathered round Ailill’s couch. A great feast was set out, and the visitors stayed three days and three nights.

  Thereafter, Ailill inquired of Conchubur and the Ulaid why they had come, and Senchae explained the problem that had brought them: the rivalry of the three heroes for the champion’s portion, the contention of the women over being first in to the feast, and how they would not suffer being judged by anyone but Ailill. Ailill fell silent at hearing that, and he was not happy. ‘It would not be proper for me to give a judgement here,’ he said, ‘unless I were to do it out of hatred.’ ‘But no one is better qualified than you,’ said Senchae. ‘I would need time to ponder the matter,’ said Ailill. ‘I expect three days and three nights would be enough.’ ‘No loss of friendship for that much time,’ said Senchae.

  Being satisfied, the Ulaid said farewell and took their leave of Ailill and Medb; they cursed Bricriu, for he had brought about the contention, and they returned to their own land, leaving behind Lóegure and Conall and Cú Chulaind to be judged by Ailill. That night, as the three heroes were being given their food, three cats, three druidic beasts, were loosed from the cave of Crúachu. Lóegure and Conall left their food to the beasts and fled to the rafters of the house, and they remained there all night. Cú Chulaind did not budge when the beasts approached him; when one beast stretched its neck out to eat, Cú Chulaind dealt it a blow on the head, but his sword glided off as if the creature were made of stone. The cat settled itself, then, and Cú Chulaind neither ate nor slept until morning. At dawn, the cats left, and the heroes were found where they had spent the night. ‘Does this contest not suffice for judgement?’ Ailill said. ‘Not at all,’ replied Lóegure and Conall, ‘for it is not beasts that we fight but men.’

  Ailill went to his chamber, then, and put his back against the wall, and he was troubled in his mind. The problem that had been brought to him was so perplexing that for three days and three nights he neither ate nor slept; finally, Medb said to him ‘You are a weakling. If you are a judge, then judge.’ ‘It is difficult to judge them,’ replied Ailill, ‘and wretched he who must.’ ‘It is not difficult at all,’ said Medb, ‘for Lóegure and Conall are as different as bronze and white gold, and Conall and Cú Chulaind are as different as white gold and red gold.’

  Medb thought over her advice after that, whereupon she summoned Lóegure Búadach to her and said ‘Welcome, Lóegure! You deserve the champion’s portion, and so we make you king over the warriors of Ériu from this time forth, and we give you the champion’s portion and this bronze cup, with a bird of white gold at the bottom, to bear before all as a token of our judgement. Let no one see it until you appear in Conchubur’s Cráebrúad at the end of the day, and then, when the champion’s portion is set out, display your cup to the chiefs of Ulaid. The champion’s portion will be yours, and no other Ulaid warrior will challenge you for it, for your cup will be a token of recognition to the Ulaid.’ Then the cup, filled with undiluted wine, was given to Lóegure, and there, in the centre of the royal house, he drained it at a swallow. ‘Now yours is the feast of a champion,’ said Medb, ‘and may you enjoy it one-hundred-fold foe one hundred years before the youths of all Ulaid.’

  Lóegure bade farewell, then, and Conall was called to the centre of the royal house in the same way. ‘Welcome, Conall,’ Medb said. ‘You deserve the champion’s portion’, and she went on as she had with Lóegure, except that she gave him a cup of white gold with a golden bird at the bottom. It was filled with undiluted wine and given to Conall, and he drained it at a swallow, and Medb wished him the champion’s portion of all Ulaid for one hundred years.

  Conall bade farewell, then, and Cú Chulaind was summoned; a messenger went to him and said ‘Come and speak with the king and queen.’ At the time, Cú Chulaind was playing fidchell with Lóeg. ‘You mock me,’ he said to the messenger. ‘Try your lies on another fool’, and he threw a fidchell piece at the man so that it entered his brain; the messenger returned to Ailill and Medb and fell dead between them. ‘Alas! Cú Chulaind will slaughter us if he is aroused,’ said Medb. She rose, then, and went to Cú Chulaind and put her arms round his neck. ‘Try another lie,’ he said. ‘Glorious lad of Ulaid, flame of the warriors of Ériu, we tell you no lies,’ Medb replied. ‘Were the choice of the warriors of Ériu to come, it is to you we would grant precedence, for the men of Ériu acknowledge your superiority, and that by reason of your youth and beauty, your courage and valour, your fame and renown.’

  Cú Chulaind rose, then, and accompanied Medb to the royal house, and Ailill welcomed him warmly. He was given a cup of red gold with a bird of precious stone at the bottom, and it was filled with excellent wine; moreover, he was given the equivalent of two dragon’s eyes. ‘Now yours is the feast of a champion,’ said Medb, ‘and may you enjoy it one-hundred-fold for one hundred years before the youths of all Ulaid.’ Ailill and Medb added ‘It is our judgement, moreover, that, just as no Ulaid youth is your equal, so no Ulaid woman is the equal of your wife, and it is our pleasure that Emer always be the first woman of Ulaid to enter the drinking house.’ Cú Chulaind drained the cup at one swallow, bade farewell to king and queen and household, and followed Lóegure and Conall.

  ‘My plan now,’ Medb said to Ailill, ‘is to keep the three heroes with us tonight, in order to test them further.’ ‘Do as you like,’ replied Ailill. The heroes were detained, then; their horses were unyoked, and they were taken to Crúachu. They were given a choice of food for their horses: Lóegure and Conall chose two-year-old oats, but Cú Chulaind asked for barley. The heroes slept at Crúachu that night, and the women were apportioned among them: Findabair and her fifty women were taken to Cú Chulaind’s house, Sadb Sulbair (the other daughter of Ailill and Medb) and her fifty women were taken to Conall, and Conchend daughter of Cet son of Mágu and her fifty women were taken to Lóegure.

  The next morning, the heroes rose early and went to the house where the lads were performing the wheel feat. Lóegure took the wheel and threw it halfway up the wall of the house; the lads laughed and smiled in mockery, but it seemed to Lóegure that they had raised a shout of victory. Conall then lifted the wheel from the floor and threw it up to the ridge pole of the royal house; the lads raised a shout of mockery, but Conall thought it a shout of applause and triumph. Cú Chulaind, however, caught the wheel in mid-air and threw it so high that it knocked the ridge pole from the house and sank into the ground outside the length of a man’s arm; the lads raised a shout of praise and victory, but Cú Chulaind thought it a laugh of scorn and ridicule. After that, he went to the women and took their needles from them, and he threw the three fift
ies of needles into the air one after another; each needle went into the eye of the next, so that they all formed a chain. After-wards, he returned each needle to its owner, and the lads praised him for that.

  The three heroes then bade farewell to the king and the queen and the rest of the household. ‘Go to the house of my foster-father and foster-mother, Ercol and Garmuin,’ said Medb, ‘and be their guests tonight.’ The three left after the horse-racing at the fair of Crúachu, where Cú Chulaind was victorious three times; they arrived at the house of Ercol and Garmuin and were welcomed. ‘Why have you come?’ Ercol asked. ‘That you might judge us,’ they replied. ‘Go to the house of Samera, for it is he who will judge you,’ Ercol said.

  They left and were directed to Samera, and he welcomed them. Moreover, his daughter Búan fell in love with Cú Chulaind. They told Samera that they had come to him for judgement, and he sent them out, one by one, to the spectres of the air. Lóegure went first, but he left his weapons and his clothing and fled. Conall went out in the same fashion, but he left his spears and his sword behind. Cú Chulaind went the third night. The spectres screeched at him and attacked; they shattered his spear and broke his shield and tore his clothing, and they bound and subdued him. ‘Shame, Cú Chulaind,’ said Lóeg, ‘hapless weakling, one-eyed stripling, where are your skill and valour when spectres can destroy you?’ At that, Cú Chulaind’s ríastarthae overcame him, and he turned against the spectres; he tore them apart and crushed them, so that the air was full of their blood. Then he took their military cloaks and their weapons and returned triumphant to the house of Samera. Samera welcomed him and said ‘It is my judgement that the champion’s portion should go to Cú Chulaind, that his wife should enter before all the women of Ulaid, and that his weapons should hang above the weapons of all others save those of Conchubur.’

  After that, the three heroes returned to the house of Ercol, and he welcomed them, and they slept there that night. Ercol then announced that they would face himself and his horse. Lóegure and his horse went first: Ercol’s gelding killed Lóegure’s horse, and Ercol likewise prevailed over Lóegure, who fled, taking the road over Ess Rúaid to Emuin and reporting there that Ercol had killed his two companions. Conall fled in the same way after his horse had been killed by Ercol’s gelding; en route to Emuin he crossed Snám Rathaind, and there his lad, Rathand, drowned in the river, and that is why the place is called Snám Rathaind.

  The Líath Machae, however, killed Ercol’s gelding, while Cú Chulaind overcame Ercol and bound him behind his chariot and drove off to Emuin Machae. Búan daughter of Samera followed the three chariots; she recognized the track of Cú Chulaind’s chariot, for it left no narrow trail and moreover dug up walls and extended itself to leap over chasms. The girl made a fearful spring after the chariot; she struck her head against a rock and died, and thereafter the place was called Úaig Búana.1 In time, Conall and Cú Chulaind reached Emuin Machae, and they found the Ulaid in mourning, for, according to the report that Lóegure had brought back, the two of them had been killed. They related their news and adventures to Conchubur and the chieftains of Ulaid, and everyone reproached Lóegure for the false report he had brought back.

  The youths left off their talk and their chatter, then, for their feast was set out, and that night it was Cú Chulaind’s father himself, Súaltaim son of Roech, who served them. Their food was brought to them, and the distributors began to distribute, but first they set the champion’s portion aside. ‘Why not give the champion’s portion to one of the other heroes?’ asked Dubthach Dóeltenga. ‘After all, the three yonder would not have returned from Crúachu without some token showing that the champion’s portion should be awarded to one of them.’ At that, Lóegure Búadach rose and brandished his bronze cup with the silver bird at the bottom and said ‘Mine the champion’s portion – therefore, let no one challenge me for it.’ ‘Not yours at all,’ said Conall Cernach, ‘for our tokens are not alike: you have brought a cup of bronze, but I have brought a cup of white gold. It is clear from the difference between them that the champion’s portion is mine.’ ‘It belongs to neither of you,’ said Cú Chulaind, and he rose and said ‘You have brought no token that merits the champion’s portion. The king and queen of Crúachu were reluctant to arouse further hostility among us; nevertheless, you received from them only what you deserved. The champion’s portion is mine, for it is I who have brought the most distinguished token.’

  Cú Chulaind then brandished his cup of red gold with its bird of precious stone at the bottom, and he showed his equivalent of two dragon’s eyes so that all the chieftains gathered round Conchubur could see. ‘If there is any justice, it is I who should receive the champion’s portion,’ he concluded. ‘We award it to you,’ said Conchubur and Fergus and the other chieftains, ‘for the champion’s portion is yours, by the judgement of Ailill and Medb.’ ‘I swear by what my people swear by,’ said Lóegure, ‘that cup that you have brought was bought with jewels and treasures. You purchased your cup from Ailill and Medb so that you might not be disgraced and so that the champion’s portion might not be given to anyone else.’ ‘I swear by the god my people swear by,’ said Conall Cernach, ‘the judgement you have brought back is no judgement, and the champion’s portion will not be yours.’ At that, each of the three rose up with naked swords; Conchubur and Fergus stepped between them, then, and they sheathed their swords at once and sat down. ‘Let my will prevail,’ said Senchae. ‘We agree to that,’ they said. ‘Then go to the ford of Bude son of Bain, and he will judge you,’ said Senchae.

  The three went to the house of Bude, then, and told him of the contention over which they had come and of their wish for a judgement. ‘Was a judgement not given you by Ailill and Medb at Crúachu?’ Bude asked. ‘Indeed, it was, but yonder men did not accept it,’ said Cú Chulaind. ‘Indeed, we do not,’ said Lóegure and Conall, ‘for the judgement that was given is no judgement at all.’ ‘Not easy for anyone to judge those who will not accept the judgement of Ailill and Medb,’ said Bude. ‘But I have someone who will undertake to judge you – Úath son of Imoman, who lives by the lake. Go to him, and he will decide.’ This Úath son of Imoman was a man of great power: he could change into any form he wished, and he could perform druidry and discharge claims of mutual obligation. He was the spectre after which Belach Muni in tSiriti was named, and he was called a spectre because of his ability to transform himself into any shape.

  The heroes went to Úath’s lake, then, and Bude accompanied them as a witness. They told Úath why they had come; he replied that he would undertake to judge them but that they would have to accept his judgement. They agreed to accept it, and he took their pledges. Then he said ‘I will propose a bargain, and he who fulfils it with me is he who will bear off the champion’s portion.’ ‘What sort of bargain?’ they asked. ‘I have an axe,’ he replied. ‘Let one of you take it in his hand and cut off my head today, and I will cut off his head tomorrow.’

  Lóegure and Conall said that they would not undertake that bargain, for, though he might have the power to remain alive after being beheaded, they did not. Thus, they refused the bargain. (Other books say, however, that they accepted the proposal: Lóegure cut the man’s head off the first day but avoided him thereafter, and Conall did the same.) Cú Chulaind, however, said that he would undertake the bargain so that the champion’s portion might be his. Lóegure and Conall said that, if he fulfilled that bargain with Úath, they would not contest his right to the champion’s portion, and he accepted their pledges. Then he pledged to fulfill the bargain. Oath stretched his neck out on a stone (after first casting spells in the edge of the blade), and Cú Chulaind took the axe and cut off his head. Úath rose, took his axe, put his head on his chest and returned to his lake.

  The following day, Úath reappeared, and Cú Chulaind stretched his neck out on the stone. Three times Úath drew the axe down on Cú Chulaind’s neck, and each time the blade was reversed. ‘Rise, Cú Chulaind,’ he said, then, ‘for you are king of the
warriors of Ériu, and the champion’s portion is yours, without contest.’ The three heroes returned to Emuin after that, but Lóegure and Conall did not accept the judgement that had been given to Cú Chulaind, and so the same strife arose regarding the champion’s portion. It was the advice of the Ulaid that the three go to Cú Ruí for judgement, and they agreed to that.

  The following morning, then, the three heroes went to Cú Ruí’s stronghold; they unyoked their chariots at the entrance and went into the royal house and were welcomed by Bláthnait daughter of Mend, for she was Cú Ruí’s wife. Cú Ruí himself was not there that night, but he had known that they were coming, and he had instructed his wife what to do with the heroes until he returned from Scythia. From the time that he took arms until his death, Cú Ruí never reddened his sword in Ériu, and the food of Ériu did not pass his lips once he had reached the age of seven, for Ériu could not contain his strength and valour and courage and pride and fame and supremacy. Bláthnait followed his instructions in washing and bathing the heroes, in serving them intoxicating drink and in providing them excellent beds; and the three men were greatly pleased. When it came time to go to bed, she said that one of them would have to watch over the stronghold each night until Cú Ruí returned and that Cú Ruí had said that the watch should be taken in order of age. Whatever part of the world Cú Ruí might be in, he sang a spell over his stronghold each night; it would then revolve as swiftly as a mill wheel turns, so that its entrance was never found after sunset.

  Lóegure Búadach went to watch the first night, for he was the eldest of the three. Towards morning, he saw a giant approaching out of the ocean from the west, from as far away as the eye could see. This giant was huge and ugly and terrifying; it seemed to Lóegure that he was as tall as the sky and that the glimmer of the sea was visible between his legs. He came towards Lóegure, and his fists were full of stripped oak trunks; each would have been a burden for a team of Oxen, and they had not been cut with repeated blows, either – each trunk had been severed with just one blow of a sword. The giant cast a trunk, but Lóegure let it go by; two or three more trunks were cast, but they did not even strike Lóegure’s shield, much less Lóegure himself. Lóegure in turn cast his spear at the giant and also failed. After that, the giant stretched out his hand towards Lóegure; the hand was so large that it spanned the three ridges that had been between the combatants when they were casting at each other, and it seized Lóegure. For all Lóegure’s size and excellence, he fitted in the giant’s grip like a one-year-old child, and the giant ground him between his palms the way a fidchell piece would be ground by mill stones. When Lóegure was half dead, the giant dropped him over the stronghold wall and into the ditch at the entrance to the royal house. Since there was no entrance into the stronghold, Conall Cernach and Cú Chulaind and the people inside thought that Lóegure had leapt over the stronghold wall as a challenge to the other heroes.