Matheny 1st Cuchulain Ireland is well-known for its deep and rich mythology that extends far back

into the days of old. The country holds countless stories of hero and villains triumphs and tragedies but none of them are !uite so famous as the legend of Cuchulain. Many scholars view the Irish Cuchulain as an analogous figure to the "reek #chilles. $%Irish Mythology.&' (oth of these heroes were the greatest warriors of their time and both were considered descendents of gods. Cuchulain is most revered in )lster the northern most cluster of Irish counties because that was his homeland. *ike many mythological figures he is featured in many works of art such as poems and painting. #ccording to legend +,tanta which was Cuchulain-s birth name was the son of the god *ugh and the human woman .echtire the sister of Conor the /ing of )lster. +,tanta was raised by his uncle and throughout early childhood displayed exceptional talent when it came to feats of strength so much so that he was declared a warrior at the young age of seven. It was prophesied by his tutor Cathbad the .ruid that %If any young man take arms to-day his name will be greater than any other name in Ireland but his span of life will be short.0 $0Chapter I12 Cuchulain the Champion of Ireland.0' (ut +,tanta did not heed this warning and !uickly became famous. (y age seventeen he was regarded as the greatest warrior in all of Ireland. 3ne of the most remembered tales of Cuchulain is how he earned his name which when translated to 4nglish means %5ound of Culain.& $5ull' The story goes that there once was a smith named Culain who had invited /ing Conor to a ban!uet6 as it was custom to honor your leader by bringing them into your home. /ing Conor knowing that +,tanta would rise to importance in the future invited the young boy who at this time was seven or eight years old to come with him. 7anting to continue playing +,tanta told Conor that he would come later. (y the time +,tanta arrived at

Matheny 1st Culain-s home Culain had already released his guard dog. Culain-s dog was known as one of the fiercest and most viscous guard dogs around. .ue to his inhuman strength +,tanta was easily able to defeat and kill this dog. #s self punishment for killing Culain-s dog he promised to defend Culain-s home by himself until a new guard dog could be put in place. 8rom then on the name Cuchulain stuck to him. #nother famous tale of Cuchulain is that of his death. Through many of his myths Cuchulain was fighting against 9ueen Medbh $transliterated as Meave' the !ueen of Connacht. 9ueen Medbh was planning to attack )lster and therefore cast a curse that incapacitated all the warriors of )lster except Cuchulain. /ing Conchobar didn-t want Cuchulain to fight alone because he knew he would die so he tried to keep Cuchulain from going to battle. 4ventually Cuchulain disobeyed Conchobar and left to fight Medbh-s army. :arious omens appeared as he was leaving such as wine turning to blood in his mouth his horse weeping tears of blood and being forced to eat his own totem animal $a dog'. Cuchulain-s three spears were prophesied to kill three kings Medbh knew this and wanted to relieve Cuchulain of them as soon as possible so she sent three .ruids to ask for them. It was considered dishonorable to refuse a .ruid. Cuchulain %gave& his spears to the .ruids by killing them with them. +omeone threw the first spear back at Cuchulain killing his driver6 the second was thrown back by someone else killing Cuchulain-s horse6 and the third was thrown back by the first man wounding Cuchulain himself. In this the prophecy was fulfilled %for *aeg was the king of charioteers the "ray of Macha was king of the horses and Cuchulain was king of the champions.& $%The .eath of C;chulainn&' #s he was dying Cuchulain tied himself to a rock so to act like a scarecrow warding off the enemy. Medbh-s army only knew they were safe when a crow a symbol of the goddess of death landed on his shoulder.