An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 39 prophesied to be 'praised in the mouths of all men'; Cú Chulainn – the Hound of Culann. Having grown into a noble youth and in need of military training, Cú Chulainn travelled to the Isle of Skye off the coast of Scotland, where he learned wonderful feats and arts of combat from the warrior woman, Scáthach. At the end of his appren- ticeship, she gave him the dreaded Gae Bolga, an awful barbed spear, thrown with the foot. Cú Chulainn is further described as having darts, a straight sword, a razor-sharp, dark-red shield, and a helmet surrounded by demons and spirits who screamed above and around him as he went into battle in his chariot (itself bristling with lancelets and spears, and manned by his faithful charioteer, Láeg). In the Táin Cú Chulainn is famed for single-handedly defend- ing Ulster from the advancing armies of Connacht's Queen Meadhbh and her husband Aillil, who set forth in order to steal Ulster's famed Brown Bull of Cooley. It is in the midst of this battle that the hero had his riastradh (twisting-fit), a spasmodic frenzy that caused him to change into a bewildering and terrible form. He became awful to behold; one eye gulped down into his head while the other sprang out upon his cheek, and the loud clap of his beating heart was heard as thunder on the battle- field. His hair bristled and stood on end, and the heroic 'champi- on's light' shone around him, while a thick spout of blood arose from the crown of his head, 'so that a black fog of witchery was made thereof'. 'Witchery' and the supernatural abound in the Táin and it is by such powers that Cú Chulainn is eventually undone, when magic and trickery is used by his enemies to bring a horror upon the royal hero's mind. Duly afflicted, he begins to see phan- tasms of armed battalions marching against him out of the undergrowth and leaves of the forest, and is tormented by the smoke of burning dwellings that he imagines rising on every side. Coming to a stream, he sees a woman washing military costume and armour in the waters. Weeping, she raises a bloodied vest from the water. Cú Chulainn recognises it as his own, whereupon she vanishes from sight. Cú Chulainn is eventually struck by a spear that disembowels him. Never one to do things the easy way, he gathers up his innards and goes to a lakeside to bathe himself and drink of its waters, before returning to a tall, westward facing pillar stone to die. It is over this stone that Cú Chulainn slings his girdle in order that he might die standing to face his enemies, who, de- spite vanquishing their foe, are fearful of approaching him until a crow alights upon his shoulder – a sign that the life force has ebbed from him entirely. According to local lore, this stone stands today in a field in Knockbridge, Co Louth, and at over three metres in height is aptly named Clochafamore (Cloch an Fear Mór/Stone of the Big Man). It is this final scene; that of the slain champion still standing against his enemies even in defeat, that we see reflected in the bronze statue that rests quietly in the foyer of the GPO. A noble figure embodying the values of honour, courage, and duty, Cú Chulainn is one who paid the ultimate price in defence of his people. It is this heroic sacrifice, this undaunted valour that, true to the prophecy, causes his deeds to be recounted to this very day; deeds that we would do well to know and learn, that we might instil some aspect of them in our own lives. Oliver Sheppard's 'The Death of Cú Chulainn', in the foyer of the General Post Office on Dublin's O'Connell Street. Image courtesy of An Post Portrayal of the Death of Cú Chulainn on Desmond Kinney's 'Táin Wall', Nassau Street, Dublin City, 1974. Image courtesy of Richard Marsh Clochafarmore Standing Stone, Knockbridge, Co Louth. The site where Cú Chulainn is said to have tied himself in his dying moments. Image courtesy of Richard Marsh

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