67 pages • 2 hours read
Transl. Thomas KinsellaThe Tain
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Parts 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 4 Summary: “Cúchulainn’s Boyhood Deeds”
Fergus tells stories of Cúchulainn’s childhood. In the first story Cúchulainn hears of a group of 150 boys who are always playing in Emain and insists on joining the boy troop against his mother’s wishes. He runs up to the boys, unaware he must first get “a promise of safety” (77), and his approach is seen as a challenge. They all attack him, and he fends them off with his toy weapons and child’s body, until a superhuman “Warp Spasm” (77) overtakes his body and he becomes too dangerous. Conchobor and Fergus are playing fidchell together, and their game is disrupted by flying bodies. Conchobor intervenes, stopping Cúchulainn by explaining why the boys attacked him and promising him his protection; in turn, Cúchulainn promises his own protection to the boys.
In the second story Cúchulainn cannot sleep unless he has the same level under his head and feet, which Conchobor resolves by creating a level bed for him to sleep on. When some man comes to wake the boy, Cúchulainn drives his fist through his head, and it is remarked upon that “it was a warrior’s fist, the arm of a prodigy” (79). From then on, no one tries to wake the boy.
In the third anecdote Cúchulainn, who always wins games against the boys, loses control while being restrained during a game, knocking out 50 boys. All of Ulster comes after him, and he hides under Conchobor’s bed but then fends off the men. They all make peace.
In the fourth anecdote Ulster is attacked and defeated by Eogan mac Durthacht while Cúchulainn is left asleep. The boy is awakened by their wailing, and he goes to the battlefield, refusing to help some of the wounded, even using a head as a ball. He searches for Conchobor, digs him out of a trench, carries him to a house, and lights a fire. He cooks a pig, and Conchobor swallows it whole. They return to Emain Macha with Cúscraid, Conchobor’s son.
In the fifth story the men of Ulster are in their pangs. When 27 marauders attack while the men are debilitated, the boys run away in fear, but Cúchulainn attacks them with sticks and stones, driving them away. He is less than five years old.
After Conall Cernach confirms these stories, Fergus continues with the sixth anecdote, which tells how Sétanta was named Cúchulainn. Conchobor is so impressed with the boy’s victories against the boy troops that he invites Cúchulainn on a trip to visit Culann the Smith. Cúchulainn says he will come later after the games are done, but when Conchobor arrives at Culann’s, he forgets to mention Cúchulainn is arriving later and they shut the gates. When Cúchulainn arrives, he is tossing his ball and hurling-stick, seemingly unaware that Culann’s guard-dog is rushing toward him to attack. Just before the dog reaches him, Cúchulainn grabs it and smashes it against a pillar, killing the dog, and everyone from Ulster is relieved. However, the host is upset to lose his dog and complains, “My life is a waste, and my household like a desert, with the loss of my hound! He guarded my life and my honor” (83). Cúchulainn promises “I will be your hound” (84) until a new one can be reared, and here Cathbad gives him the name Cúchulainn—the “Hound of Culann” (84).
Fiacha mac Fir Febe tells a tale where Cathbad predicts that if a warrior took up arms for the first time that day, he would achieve fame and greatness. Cúchulainn hears this and demands arms from Conchobor, who provides his own (after the boy breaks the first 15 sets with his strength). Cathbad witnesses this and warns him, revealing that he will achieve fame but also an early death. Cúchulainn accepts this as a fair trade for fame.
Cathbad also predicts that whoever mounts his first chariot that day, “his name will live forever in Ireland” (85). Cúchulainn takes Conchobor’s chariot (after breaking the first 12 with his strength) and rides out to a boundary checkpoint where he meets Conall Cernach, who doubts the boy is ready to defend the border. Cúchulainn destroys his chariot so Conall must return to Emain, and with a view of the landscape, the charioteer teaches Cúchulainn all the landmarks and their significance.
Cúchulainn issues a challenge to an old enemy of Ulster, the three sons of Nechta Scéne. When they arrive, Cúchulainn kills the first brother with his spear, kills the second brother in a ford, and kills the third brother with his del chliss spear. After that they rush home, capturing a live deer and 20 swans on the way. Their arrival is so spectacular, with a stag behind the chariot and the swan-flock flying above, that Conchobor must send out naked women to diffuse Cúchulainn’s hyper-aggression, as the boy is still looking for a battle. Cúchulainn hides his face, and he is plunged into vats of cold water until he is pacified. He is robed and seated next to Conchobor, now his permanent seat.
Part 5 Summary: “death, death!”
Ailill and Medb’s army resume its journey. Cúchulainn cuts down an oak tree and leaves a challenge: No one is to pass the oak until a warrior leaps it in his chariot on the first try. No one is successful, so Medb sends Fraech mac Fidaig to confront him directly. Fraech challenges him in the water, and when Cúchulainn gains control over him, he asks, “Will you let me spare you?” (93). Fraech refuses and is drowned. The camp mourns him, and women in green tunics appear to carry him away into the síd. Fergus leaps the oak tree in his chariot.
Cúchulainn kills others on the journey, including Medb’s dog Baiscne, and places are named for the dead as they pursue the boy. The charioteer of Orlíam, son of Medb and Ailill, unknowingly comes across Cúchulainn as he is trying to fix his chariot. When the boy helps him strip the trees through his clutched fist, the charioteer realizes it is Cúchulainn, who then follows the charioteer to Orlíam and kills him. Cúchilainn places Orlíam’s head on the charioteer’s back and tells him to carry it to camp exactly like that or he will be shot with a sling, which he does when the charioteer removes the head to tell Medb and Ailill his story.
In vengeance, the three sons of Gárach and three charioteers attack Cúchulainn, but all are slain. Cúchulainn swears an oath that whenever he sees Medb and Ailill, he will hurl a sling-stone at them. As such, he kills the squirrel perched near Medb’s neck and the bird perched close to Ailill’s neck, explaining why that place is called “Squirrel Neck” and “Bird Neck Ford” (96). Cúchulainn kills Maenén the jester for mocking him, and Ailill warns the rest to avoid mocking Cúchulainn or face his own wrath. They continue toward Cuailnge and are visited by magical harpers, or druids, but they are driven away because they are mistaken for Ulster spies. Lethan is another man killed by Cúchulainn, as “he sent men continually to their graves” (98).
The Morrígan, a goddess of war, takes a bird shape and speaks to the Brown Bull, warning that the soft, wavelike fair fields covered in flowers will soon be home to war, the slaughter of kinsmen and warriors, and that death is coming. The Brown Bull then moves to Sliab Cuilinn with his 50 heifers, throwing off the boy troop that played on his back and tearing a trench in the land. Cúchulainn then kills one of Medb’s maids by accident, mistaking her for the queen.
Parts 4-5 Analysis
The anecdotes from Cúchulainn’s childhood set the boy up for greatness, demonstrating his potential but also foreshadowing his early death. The stories illustrate how exceptional he is—the narrator describes the childhood games he plays with himself and other boys, which often involve superhuman strength or speed, and these games easily slip from entertainment to battle. In fact, his ignorance of social rules, such as asking the boy troop for protection in the first story, allows him to demonstrate his exceptional strength, which might otherwise be unacceptable.
Indeed, in each of these childhood anecdotes Cúchulainn is pushing the limits and boundaries of his society and himself. Being a young child, he does not have a full understanding of social norms, but he has exceptional strength, so he is quite destructive and troublesome for Ulster. Conchobor must defend him, teach him the power of social contracts over physical dominance (such as oaths and promises), and invite him to social gatherings, such as the trip to visit Culann, to try to socialize the child.
Like a ball of raw, chaotic potential, the child Cúchulainn becomes hyper-aggressive when threatened, seeking to prove himself at every encounter, and he often needs to be pacified by Conchobor, his king. For example, he seeks out powerful, old enemies of Ulster in the three sons of Nechta Scéne, defeats them, then seeks to impress the people of Ulster even more by capturing wild animals. While he defeats the warriors and harnesses the power of wild animals, he cannot yet master his own wild energy. Indeed, he returns home ready for battle against his own people, and only naked women and vats of cold water can bring him back and “rebalance” his energy. He is finally “diffused” in lukewarm water that is not too hot, not too cold. In these tales there is an ongoing negotiation between Cúchulainn as a chaotic and powerful force of nature, and the needs of the community; his power needs to be harnessed so it does not backfire on the people he will eventually protect.
While the stories illustrate his exceptional power, they also demonstrate his loyalty and his ability to nurture his king and people. In the fourth anecdote he saves Conchobor after a devastating battle, shelters him, and nurses him back to health (79-81). Later, he is dubbed with the name “Cúchulainn […] the Hound of Culann” (84) not simply for his strength but for his loyalty and protection, as he promises, “I will be your hound, and guard yourself and your beasts. And I will guard all Murtheimne Plain. No herd or flock will leave my care unknown to me” (84). Cúchulainn becomes the guard dog, and the “herds” and “flocks” here might apply to the people as much as livestock—he is valued as a loyal defender of the people, their homes, their resources. Storytellers conclude by marveling that if he is so gifted at six, his potential as an adult must be enormous. Episodes involving Cathbad the druid foreshadow his successes and his early death, along with the boy’s fearless search for fame and glory.
In “death, death!” Cúchulainn engages with the approaching army individually, never facing them directly but picking off warriors one by one as they continue toward Cuailnge. His superhuman strength gives him the advantage every time. The boy attempts to show mercy against some of his adversaries. For example, he asks Fraech if he will let Cúchulainn spare him, but Fraech refuses. Likewise, Cúchulainn does not wish to kill charioteers but will do so when they do wrong, as with the charioteer who does not follow his instructions.
These brief anecdotes have a dual function: They illustrate Cúchulainn’s exceptional strength and foreshadow the coming battle, but they also provide an origin story for the names of local places, rooting the land in mythological events. Premodern Irish audiences would have recognized many of these place-names, and these stories would give them a shared history and sense of identity associated with the heroes of The Táin. Supernatural encounters along the way heighten this sense of connection to the pre-Christian divine, from encounters with druids and women who carry away the dead into the síd, to the interaction between the Morrígan and the enormous Brown Bull that alters the landscape. The “unknown” mystery of the natural world can be explained through these encounters and infuse the mundane with a sense of wonder and purpose.
Indeed, functioning on a parallel plane from the troops crossing the land is the war-spirit Morrígan, taking a bird’s shape, and the larger-than-life Brown Bull, who is part of the landscape on which the people live and play. Their interaction is expressed in verse, which obscures meaning through its very nature but brings a sense of foreboding for the coming battles and the mystical forces at play.
