Celtic Stories
Queen Meadbh
Deidre of the Sorrows
King Conchubar Mac Neasa came to power as a young man. He took the kingship from his foster-father Fergus Mac Roich, for a year, but he showed such wisdom during that year, that the people of Ulster decided he should stay on as king at the end of it. When he was newly come to his throne, he and his warriors of the Red Branch were invited to a feast in the house of Felimid the Harper. Felimid was in high spirits on this night, because his wife was about to give birth to their first child, and he was very excited. He asked if Conchubar’s druid, Cathbad, would make a prophecy to tell him what was in store for his baby. Cathbad placed his hands on the Felimid’s wife’s womb and said that the child was going to be a girl, and her name would be Deirdre, and that she would grow up to be the most beautiful woman who ever lived.
CúChulainn and Ferdia
When Connaught invaded Ulster so that Maeve could try to steal the Brown Bull of Cooley, Cuchulainn was the only man able to stand against him. All the great warriors of the Red Branch were writhing in birth pains, brought about by the curse of Macha.
Cuchulainn harried the army for many days, raiding their supply lines and ambushing the Connaught men by night, and this was wreaking havoc and costing far too many lives. So Maeve negotiated with Cuchulainn: she would halt the army by the ford over the river, if he would agree to fight one champion of Connaught each day.
Setanta becomes CúChulainn
Now, when Setanta had been in the Boy’s Troop for about a year, a smith called Cullan came to Emain Macha and invited Conchubar to a feast at his house. Cullan was a great smith and a skilled craftsman who lived some way outside of Emain Macha. When he gave his invitation, Cullen begged Conchubar not to bring along a great number of guests, because he was not wealthy enough to entertain all of Conchubar’s men properly, but he was eager to give a wonderful feast to his king and a few of his companions. Conchubar agreed not to abuse Cullan’s hospitality, and set off with a small retinue. On the way to Cullan’s house, he passed by a field where the Boy’s Troop were at play.
Death of CúChulainn
Tir Na Óg - The Land of Eternal Youth
The Salmon of Knowledge
Long ago when Finn was young he went to study with an old Druid called Aengus, who had dedicated the last seven years of his life to fishing, and nothing but fishing. He was trying to catch the Salmon of Knowledge. Every year, the salmon of knowledge swam into the Otherworld, ate a berry from the tree of life there, and swam back to this world again. The berries from the tree of life gave him all the knowledge of the world, and it meant that whoever ate this salmon would then have access to all knowledge, of this world and the otherworld. After seven years crouched over his fishing pole, Aengus was crooked and gnarled by the time Finn came to him, and he was skin and bone, because he neglected to do anything that would take him away from his fishing. Finn offered to stay with him, and hunt and cook for him, in exchange for Aengus taking him on as his pupil.