Early Irish Myths and Sagas - Jeffrey Gantz [55]
They set upon the courtyard. The serpent leapt into Conall Cernach’s belt. They destroyed the fort at once; they freed the woman and the three sons, and they carried off the best treasures of the fort. Conall let the serpent out of his belt, and neither did the other any harm.
After that, they came to the land of the Cruithnig and bore off three cows from the cattle there. They went west past Dún Ollaich maicc Bríuin across the sea to Ard Úa nEchach. It is there that Conall’s servant, Bicne son of Lóegure, died while driving the cows, so that there is an Indber mBicne at Bendchor. They drove the cows across, and the cows threw their horns, so that the place is called Trácht mBendchoir.
Fróech returned to his own land, then, with his wife and his three sons and his cattle, and he went with Ailill and Medb to drive the cattle from Cúailnge.
The Labour Pains of the Ulaid & The Twins of Macha
Introduction
Although ‘The Labour Pains of the Ulaid’ purports to be history, it has been erected upon a foundation of myth. Macha, like Rhiannon in the Welsh ‘Pwyll Lord of Dyved’, is a euhemerized horse goddess, another insular version of the continental deity Epona, whose name means ‘great horse’. Like Rhiannon, Macha appears seemingly out of nowhere; like Rhiannon, she selects a mortal husband and brings him great prosperity; like Rhiannon, she is associated with great equine speed. Rhiannon, however, is more thoroughly euhemerized, for she merely rides a horse that is faster (like those of the three Reds in ‘The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel’) than any other; Macha actually runs faster than any horse.
On the narrative level, this story answers the question ‘How did Emuin Machae get its name?’ According to this version, the word emuin means ‘twins’, so that the name means ‘The Twins of Macha’; according to another tradition, however, the word means ‘brooch’ and the name ‘The Brooch of Macha’, because Macha measures out the confines of Emuin Machae with her brooch.
The story also explains why it was necessary for Cú Chulaind to stand alone against the Connachta during the initial stages of ‘The Cattle Raid of Cúailnge’. To the storyteller, of course, the inaction of Conchubur and the Ulaid merely afforded additional opportunities to elaborate on Cú Chulaind’s heroism; but some explanation had to be offered. Perhaps the idea of a general weakness originated in some kind of couvade ceremony.
Although ‘The Labour Pains of the Ulaid’ is grouped with the tales of the Ulster Cycle, the name Crunniuc does not appear elsewhere; and the king and his people are not named at all. It may be that the story’s association with the Ulster Cycle is not early – in any case, it has not been well integrated.
The Labour Pains of the Ulaid
&
The Twins of Macha
Crunniuc son of Agnoman of the Ulaid was a hospitaller with many lands. He lived in the wildernesses and the mountains, and his sons lived with him; his wife was dead. One day, when he was alone in his house, he saw a woman coming towards him, and she seemed beautiful to him. She settled in at once and went to her tasks, just as if she had always been there, and, when evening came, she set the household in order without being asked. That night, she slept with Crunniuc. She was with him a long time after that, and there was no prosperity that she did not bring him, no want of food or clothing or wealth.
Not long afterwards, the Ulaid held