Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race Part 12

*Death of Conary*

The king, who is perishing of thirst, asks mac Cecht to procure him a drink, and mac Cecht turns to Conall and asks him whether he will get the drink for the king or stay to protect him while mac Cecht does it. Leave the defence of the king to us, says Conall, and go thou to seek the drink, for of thee it is demanded. Mac Cecht then, taking Conarys golden cup, rushes forth, bursting through the surrounding host, and goes to seek for water. Then Conall, and Cormac of Ulster, and the other champions, issue forth in turn, slaying mult.i.tudes of the enemy; some return wounded and weary to the little band in the Hostel, while others cut their way through the ring of foes. Conall, Sencha, and Duftach stand by Conary till the end; but mac Cecht is long in returning, Conary perishes of thirst, and the three heroes then fight their way out and escape, wounded, broken, and maimed.

Meantime mac Cecht has rushed over Ireland in frantic search for the water. But the Fairy Folk, who are here manifestly elemental powers controlling the forces of nature, have sealed all the sources against him.

He tries the Well of Kesair in Wicklow in vain; he goes to the great rivers, Shannon and Slayney, Bann and Barrowthey all hide away at his approach; the lakes deny him also; at last he finds a lake, Loch Gara in Roscommon, which failed to hide itself in time, and thereat he fills his cup. In the morning he returned to the Hostel with the precious and hard-won draught, but found the defenders all dead or fled, and two of the reavers in the act of striking off the head of Conary. Mac Cecht struck off the head of one of them, and hurled a huge pillar stone after the other, who was escaping with Conarys head. The reaver fell dead on the spot, and mac Cecht, taking up his masters head, poured the water into its mouth. Thereupon the head spoke, and praised and thanked him for the deed.

*Mac Cechts Wound*

A woman then came by and saw mac Cecht lying exhausted and wounded on the field.

Come hither, O woman, says mac Cecht.

I dare not go there, says the woman, for horror and fear of thee.

But he persuades her to come, and says: I know not whether it is a fly or gnat or an ant that nips me in the wound.

The woman looked and saw a hairy wolf buried as far as the two shoulders in the wound. She seized it by the tail and dragged it forth, and it took the full of its jaws out of him.

Truly, says the woman, this is an ant of the Ancient Land.

And mac Cecht took it by the throat and smote it on the forehead, so that it died.

***Is thy Lord Alive?***

The tale ends in a truly heroic strain. Conall of the Victories, as we have seen, had cut his way out after the kings death, and made his way to Teltin, where he found his father, Amorgin, in the garth before his dun.

Conalls shield-arm had been wounded by thrice fifty spears, and he reached Teltin now with half a shield, and his sword, and the fragments of his two spears.

Swift are the wolves that have hunted thee, my son, said his father.

Tis this that has wounded us, old hero, an evil conflict with warriors, Conall replied.

Is thy lord alive? asked Amorgin.

He is _not_ alive, says Conall.

I swear to G.o.d what the great tribes of Ulster swear: he is a coward who goes out of a fight alive having left his lord with his foes in death.

My wounds are not white, old hero, says Conall. He showed him his shield-arm, whereon were thrice fifty spear-wounds. The sword-arm, which the shield had not guarded, was mangled and maimed and wounded and pierced, save that the sinews kept it to the body without separation.

That arm fought to-night, my son, says Amorgin.

True is that, old hero, says Conall of the Victories. Many are they to whom it gave drinks of death to-night in front of the Hostel.

So ends the story of Etain, and of the overthrow of Fairyland and the fairy vengeance wrought on the great-grandson of Eochy the High King.

CHAPTER V: TALES OF THE ULTONIAN CYCLE

*The Curse of Macha*

The centre of interest in Irish legend now shifts from Tara to Ulster, and a mult.i.tude of heroic tales gather round the Ulster king Conor mac Nessa, round Cuchulain,(132) his great va.s.sal, and the Red Branch Order of chivalry, which had its seat in Emain Macha.

The legend of the foundation of Emain Macha has already been told.(133) But Macha, who was no mere woman, but a supernatural being, appears again in connexion with the history of Ulster in a very curious tale which was supposed to account for the strange debility or helplessness that at critical moments sometimes fell, it was believed, upon the warriors of the province.

The legend tells that a wealthy Ulster farmer named Crundchu, son of Agnoman, dwelling in a solitary place among the hills, found one day in his dun a young woman of great beauty and in splendid array, whom he had never seen before. Crundchu, we are told, was a widower, his wife having died after bearing him four sons. The strange woman, without a word, set herself to do the houshold tasks, prepared dinner, milked the cow, and took on herself all the duties of the mistress of the household. At night she lay down at Crundchus side, and thereafter dwelt with him as his wife; and they loved each other dearly. Her name was Macha.

One day Crundchu prepared himself to go to a great fair or a.s.sembly of the Ultonians, where there would be feasting and horse-racing, tournaments and music, and merrymaking of all kinds. Macha begged her husband not to go.

He persisted. Then, she said, at least do not speak of me in the a.s.sembly, for I may dwell with you only so long as I am not spoken of.

It has been observed that we have here the earliest appearance in post-cla.s.sical European literature of the well-known motive of the fairy bride who can stay with her mortal lover only so long as certain conditions are observed, such as that he shall not spy upon her, ill-treat her, or ask of her origin.

Crundchu promised to obey the injunction, and went to the festival. Here the two horses of the king carried off prize after prize in the racing, and the people cried: There is not in Ireland a swifter than the Kings pair of horses.

I have a wife at home, said Crundchu, in a moment of forgetfulness, who can run quicker than these horses.

Seize that man, said the angry king, and hold him till his wife be brought to the contest.

So messengers went for Macha, and she was brought before the a.s.sembly; and she was with child. The king bade her prepare for the race. She pleaded her condition. I am close upon my hour, she said. Then hew her man in pieces, said the king to his guards. Macha turned to the bystanders.

Help me, she cried, for a mother hath borne each of you! Give me but a short delay till I am delivered. But the king and all the crowd in their savage l.u.s.t for sport would hear of no delay. Then bring up the horses, said Macha, and because you have no pity a heavier infamy shall fall upon you. So she raced against the horses, and outran them, but as she came to the goal she gave a great cry, and her travail seized her, and she gave birth to twin children. As she uttered that cry, however, all the spectators felt themselves seized with pangs like her own and had no more strength than a woman in her travail. And Macha prophesied: From this hour the shame you have wrought on me will fall upon each man of Ulster.

In the hours of your greatest need ye shall be weak and helpless as women in childbirth, and this shall endure for five days and four nightsto the ninth generation the curse shall be upon you. And so it came to pa.s.s; and this is the cause of the Debility of the Ultonians that was wont to afflict the warriors of the province.

*Conor mac Nessa*

The chief occasion on which this Debility was manifested was when Maev, Queen of Connacht, made the famous Cattle-raid of Quelgny (_Tain Bo Cuailgn_), which forms the subject of the greatest tale in Irish literature. We have now to relate the preliminary history leading up to this epic tale and introducing its chief characters.

Fachtna the Giant, King of Ulster, had to wife Nessa, daughter of Echid Yellow-heel, and she bore him a son named Conor. But when Fachtna died Fergus son of Roy, his half-brother, succeeded him, Conor being then but a youth. Now Fergus loved Nessa, and would have wedded her, but she made conditions. Let my son Conor reign one year, she said, so that his posterity may be the descendants of a king, and I consent. Fergus agreed, and young Conor took the throne. But so wise and prosperous was his rule and so sagacious his judgments that, at the years end, the people,as Nessa foresaw, would have him remain king; and Fergus, who loved the feast and the chase better than the toils of kingship, was content to have it so, and remained at Conors court for a time, great, honoured, and happy, but king no longer.

*The Red Branch*

In his time was the glory of the Red Branch in Ulster, who were the offspring of Ross the Red, King of Ulster, with collateral relatives and allies, forming ultimately a kind of warlike Order. Most of the Red Branch heroes appear in the Ultonian Cycle of legend, so that a statement of their names and relationships may be usefully placed here before we proceed to speak of their doings. It is noticeable that they have a partly supernatural ancestry. Ross the Red, it is said, wedded a Danaan woman, Maga, daughter of Angus Og.(134) As a second wife he wedded a maiden named Roy. His descendants are as follows:

Maga === Ross the Red === Roy +-----+ Fachtna === Nessa Fergus mac Roy the Giant Conor mac Nessa

But Maga was also wedded to the Druid Cathbad, and by him had three daughters, whose descendants played a notable part in the Ultonian legendary cycle.

Cathbad === Maga +--------------------+-----+-------------+ Dectera[*] === Lugh Elva === Usna Finchoom === Amorgin +-----+-----+ Cuchulain Naisi Ainl Ardan Conall of the Victories

[*]Dectera also had a mortal husband, Sualtam, who pa.s.sed as Cuchulains father.

*Birth of Cuchulain*