The Dust of 100 Dogs - A. S. King [15]
“Wasn’t Cuchulain a warrior? Didn’t he fight in a war?”
“Yes. The War of the Brown Bull.”
“Didn’t he fight on a pole?”
“Yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“What sort of pole?”
“No mind what sort of pole. I’m getting to the bit where Emer joins the story.”
“But how could he fight tied to a pole?”
“Well, actually he died on that pole. But that doesn’t matter because many years before the War of the Brown Bull, he met Emer.”
“I knew he couldn’t fight tied to a pole.”
Mairead smiled. “So, it was known across the land that Emer possessed the six gifts of womanhood. With these traits and some untold others, she had her pick of a great many suitors. It seemed, though, that once Cuchulain had it in his mind to marry Emer, all the other suitors were too afraid to take her. And Emer, though she loved Cuchulain, refused to marry him until he proved, through his deeds, his honor. This made her father angry, because he didn’t like Cuchulain. He tried many times to trick the warrior and sell Emer to various other suitors, but in the end, Cuchulain stormed her house and took her away to marry.”
“So I was named after the wife of a hero?” Emer sounded disappointed.
“She was more than just a wife. She was a very good woman to have around for a feared, half-god hero like her husband. For if everyone feared him, how would they get things done? If no one dared cross him, where could they go without challenges and troubles to follow? You see, Emer had the gift of sweet speech and wisdom. She could raise her voice up high, and gain whatever they needed by simply asking. Her beauty was unsurpassable and ravishing. This was a great strength, as beauty can often cut through the hearts of the heartless. Most importantly, she was modest and chaste and—”
“What does that mean?”
“Chaste? It means she was pure and honest. Like you tonight when I told you that lie. Like Emer, you made me tell you the truth.”
“Oh.”
“It was a combination of all these gifts, and the way Emer used them to get what she and Cuchulain needed, that made her a hero as well. And there was one other thing, which is very important. Emer was a master with a needle. With her skilled hands, she could sew most anything and decorate it with the finest of needlework. Like you, she had a talent for making plain things beautiful.”
“But she didn’t become king or anything, did she?”
“No. Of course not.”
“And she didn’t fight in battles?”
“I don’t know. There is a part in the story where another woman falls in love with Cuchulain and Emer ventures out to kill her, but instead, after much talk and thought, they find a solution in which none of them need die. After that, she and Cuchulain were never meddled with again.”
Emer sat and thought about the story. Was this some sort of lesson her mother was trying to teach her so she’d stop fighting with Padraig? Was she serious at all? “Does anyone else know about Emer?” she asked.
“The story of Cuchulain has lasted many centuries, pet. I am sure many know when they look at you why you are also named Emer.”
“Because I’m so beautiful?”
“Yes. And the rest.”
“Will you and Daddy sell me off to some man like her father did?”
“No. But you have to understand that girls have a different reason for living than boys do. Girls can have babies and can cook and sew and keep the stock and the yard and the house. Girls can do far more things than boys can. But it doesn’t make us better than them, it just makes us a better pair.”
“A better pair?”
“Like shoes.” Mairead took the worn cowhide slipper from her foot. “If you wear one shoe, it wouldn’t really work, would it?”
“No.”
“Well, a man without a woman is like wearing one shoe.”
“What about Miss Mary? She’s a woman and she doesn’t have a man.”