Cú Chulainn Cú Chulainn was an ancient Gaelic hero warrior who was gifted with superhuman strength, speed and skill. Setanta was his name as a young boy and his parents were Dechtire and Lugh (an important Celtic God)

Fadó Fadó …. Long Long ago.... Long ago, a king Conor MacNessa had warriors called the Red Branch Knights. He trained them to be strong men. Setanta was his nephew who wanted to be a Red Branch Knight. One night he said to his mother, “I want to be a Red Branch Knight.” But she said he was too young.

Hurley Setanta was a happy child who played the game of hurling - the national sport of Ireland which is like field hockey. Setanta was so good that his team always won.

Too Young… When Setanta was ten he said to his father, “I want to join the Red Branch Knights.” His father said he was still too young. So he stayed on milking cows, carrying water to his house and chopping wood.

Escape….. One night a man came to the house to tell stories. He told lots about King Conor and his knights. That night, while everyone was asleep, Setanta got his hurling stick and ball and left for King Conor’s castle.

King Conor It was a long trip but when he got there, a hurling match was on. Setanta joined in and the other boys did not like it because he was such a good hurler. He went to meet King Conor and King Conor said he could stay. Some days later, the king said to Setanta, “I am going to a party at Culain’s, do you want to come?” Setanta replied, “I will come later as I am playing a hurling match”.

Culain’s Hound Later that night he set off. It was a long trip. He got to the fort and found a wolfhound guarding the fort. The dog was going to attack him so Setanta hit the ball and killed Culain’s hound. Culain asked who is going to guard my house now?” “I’ll be your guard dog until you can replace the one I killed. I’ll be the “Hound of Culain” [“CuChulain”],” said Setanta.

Cu Chuliann and Emer As Cú Chulainn gets older, he decides he would like to take Emer, daughter of Forgall Monach as a wife. However, Forgall is against this, and tells Cú Chulainn that he should train with Scottish warrior- woman, Scáthach. Forgall hopes that Cú Chulainn will be killed when he is with Scáthach.

Scáthach Scáthach teaches Cú Chulainn new skills for battle. In his class was Ferdia who becomes Cú Chulainn's best friend and foster-brother. They both learnt new skills for fighting.

Cú Chulainn leaves Scotland, and returns to his love Emer, but Forgall still refuses to allow the marriage. Mad, Cú Chulainn storms Forgall’s castle, kills twenty-four of his men, takes Emer, and steals Forgall’s treasure. Forgall falls to his death.

Queen Maeve was queen of a place in Ireland called Connacht. She was a fierce and powerful woman. She was jealous of her husband Ailill. She was always fighting about who had more riches, herself or her husband. There was one thing that her husband had that she wanted…It was a fierce bull called the white bull of Connacht and it belonged to Ailill. Queen Maeve

Brown Bull of Cooley Ailill was boasting about this mighty bull, so Queen Maeve asked one of her knights was there any other bulls like the white bull anywhere in Ireland. One Knight said that there was a bull called the Brown Bull of Cooley which was to be found in Ulster. So she sent out a messenger to Ulster.

Army to get Brown Bull The messenger asked the owner, an old man, if Queen Maeve could have the bull for one year. The messenger said "If you don't give the bull to her she will take it by force anyway". So the old man said "I'm not going to give you the bull". Queen Maeve was raging and set off to Ulster with her army to get the brown bull.

Magic Spell Queen Maeve cast a spell on the Red Branch army which made them go into a deep sleep but Cú Chulainn was not under the spell because his father was a member of the fairylike Tuatha De Danann. So Cú Chulainn was the only warrior left to fight against Queen Maeve’s men.

Cú Chulainn And Queen Maeve’s Army One by one Maeve's army went out to fight Cú Chulainn and one by one Cú Chulainn killed them. In the end there was one man left and that was Cú Chulainn's friend Ferdia.

They fought for 3 days and at the end of each day they hugged each other and wept. In the end Cú Chulainn killed Ferdia. Cu Chulainn was very badly injured and he tied himself to a huge stone on the battlefield. So that his enemies would not see him lying down – he was still standing in battle even though he was dying. The other warriors were in fear of him and they didn’t know he was dead until a raven came and sat on his shoulder.

Cú Chulainn’s Stone in County Louth

Cú Chulainn and his friend Ferdia at the end of their battle.