Cuchulain, the Hound of Ulster

by Eleanor Hull

“You seem not so gay as when you set out, O Trendorn,” said the King; “what has happened to thee, and hast thou seen Deirdre?” “I have seen her, indeed; I have seen Deirdre, and but that Naisi drove out mine eye I should have been looking at her still, for of all the women of the world, Deirdre is the fairest and the best.” When Conor heard that, he rose up and called his followers together and without a moment’s delay they set forward for the house of the Red Branch. For he was filled with jealousy and envy, and he thought the time long until he should get back Deirdre for himself.

“The pursuit is coming,” said Deirdre; “I hear sounds without.” “I will go out and meet them,” said Naisi. “Nay,” said Buinne the Ruthless Red, “it was in my hands that my father Fergus placed the sons of Usna to guard them, and it is I who will go forth and fight for them.” “It seems to me,” said Deirdre, “that thy father hath betrayed the sons of Usna, and it is likely that thou wilt do as thy father hath done, O Buinne.” “If my father has been treacherous to you,” said Buinne, “it is not I who will do as he has done.” Then he went out and met the warriors of Conor, and put a host of them to the sword. “Who is this man who is destroying my hosts?” said Conor. “Buinne the Ruthless Red, the son of Fergus,” say they. “We bought his father to our side and we must buy the son,” said Conor. He called Buinne and said to him, “I gave a free gift of land to thy father Fergus, and I will give a free gift of land to thee; come over to my side to-night.” “I will do that,” said Buinne, and he went over to the side of the King. “Buinne hath deserted you, O sons of Usna, and the son is like the father,” Deirdre said. “He has gone,” said Naisi, “but he performed warrior-like deeds before he went.”

Then Conor sent fresh warriors down to attack the house. “The pursuit is coming,” said Deirdre. “I will go out and meet them,” said Naisi. “It is not thou who must go, it is I,” said Illan the Fair, son of Fergus, “for to me my father left the charge of you.” “I think the son will be like the father,” said Deirdre. “I am not like to forsake the sons of Usna so long as this hard sword is in my hand,” said Illan the Fair. And the fresh, noble, young hero went out in his battle-array, and valiantly he attacked the host of Conor and made a red rout of them round the house. “Who is that young warrior who is smiting down my hosts?” said Conor. “Illan the Fair, son of Fergus,” they reply. “We will buy him to our side, as his brother was bought,” said wily Conor. So he called Illan and said, “We gave a possession of land to thy father, and another to thy brother, and we will give an equal share to thee; come over to our side.” But the princely young hero answered: “Thy offer, O Conor, will I not accept; for better to me is it to return to my father and tell him that I have kept the charge he laid upon me, than to accept any offer from thee, O King.” Then Conor was wroth, and he commanded his own son to attack Illan, and furiously the two fought together, until Illan was sore wounded, and he flung his arms into the house, and called on Naisi to do valiantly, for he himself was slain by a son of Conor. “Illan has fallen, and you are left alone,” said Deirdre, “O sons of Usna.” “He is fallen indeed,” said Naisi, “but gallant were the deeds that he performed before he died.”

Then the warriors and mercenaries of Conor drew closer round the house, and they took lighted torches and flung them into the house, and set it on fire. And Naisi lifted Deirdre on his shoulders and raised her on high, and with his brothers on either side, their swords drawn in their hands, they issued forth to fight their way through the press of their enemies. And so terrible were the deeds wrought by those heroes, that Conor feared they would destroy his host. He called his Druids, and said to them, “Work enchantment upon the sons of Usna and turn them back, for no longer do I intend evil against them, but I would bring them home in peace. Noble are the deeds that they have wrought, and I would have them as my servants for ever.” The Druids believed the wily King and they set to work to weave spells to turn the sons of Usna back to Emain Macha.

They made a great thick wood before them, through which they thought no man could pass. But without ever stopping to consider their way, the sons of Usna went straight through the wood turning neither to the right hand or the left. “Good is your enchantment, but it will not avail,” said Conor; “the sons of Usna are passing through without the turning of a step, or the bending of a foot. Try some other spell.” Then the Druids made a grey stormy sea before the sons of Usna on the green plain. The three heroes tied their clothing behind their heads, and Naisi set Deirdre again upon his shoulder and went straight on without flinching, without turning back, through the grey shaggy sea, lifting Deirdre on high lest she should wet her feet.

“Thy spell is good,” said Conor, “yet it sufficeth not. The sons of Usna escape my hands. Try another spell.”

Then the Druids froze the grey uneven sea into jagged hard lumps of rugged ice, like the sharpness of swords on one side of them and like the stinging of serpents on the other side. Then Arden cried out that he was becoming exhausted and must fain give up. “Come thou, Arden, and rest against my shoulder,” said Naisi, “and I will support you.” Arden did so, but it was not long before he died; but though he was dead, Naisi held him up still. Then Ainle cried out that he could go no longer, for his strength had left him. When Naisi heard that, he heaved a heavy sigh as of one dying of fatigue, but he told Ainle to hold on to him, and he would bring him soon to land. But not long after, the weakness of death came upon Ainle, and his hold relaxed. Naisi looked on either hand and when he saw that his two brothers were dead, he cared not whether he himself should live or die. He heaved a sigh, sore as the sigh of the dying, and his heart broke and he fell dead.

“The sons of Usna are dead now,” said the Druids; “but they turned not back.”

“Lift up thy enchantment,” said Conor, “that I now may see the sons of Usna.” Then the Druids lifted the enchantment, and there were the three sons of Usna lying dead, and Deirdre fluttering hither and thither from one to another, weeping bitter heartrending tears. And Conor would have taken her away, but she would not be parted from the sons of Usna, and when their tomb was being dug, Deirdre sat on the edge of the grave, calling on the diggers to dig the pit very broad and smooth. They had dug the pit for three only, and they lowered the bodies of the three heroes into the grave, side by side. But when Deirdre saw that, she called aloud to the sons of Usna, to make space for her between them, for she was following them. Then the body of Ainle, that was at Naisi’s right hand, moved a little apart, and a space was made for Deirdre close at Naisi’s side, where she was wont to be, and Deirdre leapt into the tomb, and placed her arm round the neck of Naisi, her own love, and she kissed him, and her heart broke within her and she died; and together in the one tomb the three sons of Usna and Deirdre were buried. And all the men of Ulster who stood by wept aloud.