Cuchulain

Family: Ulstermen · Role: champion · First appears: The Sick-bed of Cuchulain · Part 1

Cuchulain is named as the son of Deithchim and Sualtam; Fergus mac Rog is his foster-father, and Conall Cernach his comrade. At Murthemne Plain, he delayed the Ulster festival until Fergus and Conall arrived. He caught birds and distributed them among the women, leaving Ethne Inguba without a pair, then promised her the two most beautiful birds that might come in the future. In a vision, a woman in a green mantle and another in purple struck him with horsewhips until he was nearly dead. Carried to Tete Brecc, he remained sick and silent for a year. After waking on Samhain, he told the Ulstermen of the vision; Angus had meanwhile told them that Fand wished to meet him and that Liban would seek him.

At the Bull-Feast the source marks a break: the story resumes from another version, and the events on either side are not one continuous sequence. In the earlier thread, Laeg returned to Emain and reported what he had seen. In the second version, Cuchulain sent Laeg to tell Emer of his illness and ask her to come; her song roused him from his sickbed. He then went to Labraid the Swift, the Sword-Wielder’s island and joined him against the army, killing Eochaid Juil and Senach the Unearthly. After the fighting, he spent a month with Fand, then bade her farewell and agreed to a tryst. He told Emer, “thou dost find favour, and thou shalt find it so long as I am in life.” Later he went to Tara Luachra, where the Druids bound him and gave him a potion of forgetfulness; Manannan the Son of the Sea placed his cloak between Cuchulain and Fand so they would never meet again.

In The Combat at the Ford, Fergus mac Rog told Cuchulain that his friend and fellow pupil Ferdia was coming to fight him. They exchanged reproaches over their broken friendship and fought across several days, wounding each other in turn. Cuchulain fatally struck Ferdia with the Gae-Bulg, then carried his body across the ford to its north side; at his request, Laeg stripped Ferdia and removed the spear.

In The Apparition of the Great Queen, Cuchulain sprang into Morrigan’s chariot, placing his feet on her shoulders and his spear on her head. They parted, with Cuchulain returning to Dun Imrid and Morrigan going with her cow to Cruachan.