“How will you do that?” said Conchubar.
“This is how I will do it: if there is a whelp of the same breed to be had in Ireland, I will rear him and train him until he is as good a hound as the one killed; and until that time, Culain,” he said, “I myself will be your watchdog, to guard your goods and your cattle and your house.”
“You have made a fair offer,” said Conchubar.
“I could have given no better award myself,” said Cathbad the Druid. “And from this out,” he said, “your name will be Cuchulain, the Hound of Culain.”
“I am better pleased with my own name of Setanta,” said the boy.
“Do not say that,” said Cathbad, “for all the men in the whole world will some day have the name of Cuchulain in their mouths.”
“If that is so, I am content to keep it,” said the boy. And this is how he came by the name Cuchulain.
—Lady Gregory.