The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Tain Bo Cualnge

Book excerpt: Tin B Cailnge ("the driving-off of cows of Cooley," more usually rendered The Cattle Raid of Cooley or The Tin) is the central tale in the Ulster Cycle, one of the four great cycles that make up the surviving corpus of Irish mythology. It is recorded in Old and Middle Irish, and is written mainly in prose, with some verse sections, especially at moments of heightened tension or emotion. The tale relates a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, and the efforts of the teenage Ulster hero Cchulainn to oppose them.