Now Medb’s armies were ready to invade, but separate tragedies had befallen Ulster. The men of Ulster had been crippled by an ancient curse laid by the goddess Macha, wife of Cruinniuc. The curse was laid after Macha was forced by the king of Ulster to race on foot against a chariot while heavily pregnant, and went that the men of Ulster would suffer though the pains of pregnancy in their greatest time of need. Also, many of the greatest Ulaid heroes had defected, abandoning Ulster to join Connaught because of the treachery of Conchobar mac Nessa and his betrayal of the lovers Naoise [P] and Deirdre. This left the defense of Ulster to Cú Chulainn alone. The seventeen-year-old hero was immune to the Curse because he was born in in Meath which lay in Leinster, not Ulster.
Medb’s armies crossed in to Ulster, raiding and pillaging, because Cú Chulainn was trysting instead of watching the borders, but he soon joined the fray, making a series of counter-raids, waging guerrilla warfare, with the aid of his charioteer, Láeg [P]. However, Medb still managed to capture the Donn Cúailnge. Many gods and supernatural beings assisted or assailed Cú Chulainn during his battles, the main party being The Morrígan, who took extra-special offense as The Hound of Chulainn rejected her love. She interfered with his fights, in different forms and using different tricks, but still he prevailed, though terribly wounded. Next was the mighty god, Lugh [P], who revealed himself as the true father of Cú Chulainn, whom the hero was also an incarnation of. The god put Cú Chulainn to sleep for three days and healed him of all his wounds.
While this occured, The Boy Troop of Ulster, unaffected by the Curse because they are still beardless youths, decided to aid the pressed-upon hero. They approached the field with their hurling sticks, as they didn’t yet have real weapons, but were met by a force of Connachta and slaughtered. When Cú Chulainn awoke and learned of the massacre, he fell into a violent Ríastrad [P], a distortion or warp spasm, that transformed him into a berserk monster, knowing neither friend nor foe. He avenged the boy-troop “sixfold,” and slew many Connaught heroes and entire troops of fighting men.
Eventually the battle resumed in a series of single combats, even his foster father, Fergus mac Róich [P],and foster brother Ferdiad [P] were sent against him. While Fergus and Cú Chulainn made a pact and parted in peace, Ferdiad was pushed on by Medb, who offered him her daughter’s hand and had her poets ready to mock him as a coward, should he still refuse to fight. After a three-day duel, Cú Chulainn slew his foster-brother with the Gáe Bulg [P], or “belly spear.” But The Hound of Chulainn was, again, too wounded to continue the fight and was carried away to be healed once more…
In Part Four we’ll see the conclusion of this story.
