| Tain Bo Cuailnge meaning the Cattle Raid of | | | | battlefield and the final conflict occurs in which |
| Cooley is a legendary epic from early Irish | | | | Medb's armies are routed, however she manages |
| literature. The Táin Bó Cuailnge represents the | | | | in hauling the Brown Bull of Cuailnge back to |
| oldest vernacular tale of Western Europe, | | | | Conaught where he fights her white bull, |
| predating both Beowulf and Homer's Odyssey. It | | | | Finnbheannach. The Brown Bull kills him but is |
| describes the invasion of Ulster by the armies of | | | | mortally wounded, it wanders around Ireland |
| Queen Medb of Connaught and her husband Ailill | | | | creating place names before returning home to |
| intending to steal the Brown Bull of Cuailnge. They | | | | die of exhaustion. |
| are faced only by the boy warrior Cuchulainn, the | | | | The world portrayed in the Tain is an essentially |
| rest of the men of Ulster being incapacitated by | | | | pre-Christian heroic age. War is conducted |
| an ancient curse placed by the ancient Celtic | | | | between warriors armed with swords and spears |
| goddess of war, Macha. Cuchulainn is young | | | | and mounted in chariots with drivers. Interestingly, |
| enough to be free of the curse, he manages to | | | | it is also a world in which a queen may possess |
| hold off the invading armies until the Ulstermen | | | | wealth independently of her husband and, indeed, |
| are free of the curse. Aided only by his charioteer | | | | compete with him and raise an army. The Tain Bo |
| Laeg he wages a guerrilla campaign against the | | | | Cuailnge has survived in two main recensions, the |
| invading hordes. However Medb succeeds in | | | | first is contained in the Lebor na hUidre, an |
| capturing the bull but Cuchulainn prevents her | | | | eleventh century text compiled in Clonmacnoise |
| from returning to Connaught by invoking the right | | | | and in the fourteenth century Yellow Book of |
| of single combat at fords. For months Cuchulainn | | | | Lecan. A complete text can be compiled by |
| challenges and defeats warrior after warrior. The | | | | combining these two sources. The second |
| greatest of these fights is against his foster | | | | recension can be found in the twelfth century |
| brother and best friend Ferdiad, a fierce contest | | | | Book of Leinster. |
| rages for three days, Cuchulainn eventually killing | | | | Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring |
| his opponent with the mighty spear called the Gae | | | | Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, |
| Bulg. Eventually the Ulstermen are freed from | | | | private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and |
| their curse and one by one they appear on the | | | | independent self drive tours of Ireland. |