Historic Ulster. 67 



of Cuchullin," and Aubrey de Vere's " Foray of Queen Meave," 

 if read in the order named, will give the substance of the bardic 

 tales in modern poetic form. 



Of great interest also is the lost epic of Ireland, the Tain-bo 

 Colney. The original composition had been lost when in the 

 1 2th century the substance of the poem was written down in 

 prose form with occasional verse passages, in a MS. which is 

 preserved in the Royal Irish Academy. The subject of the 

 Tain was the invasion of Ulster by Meave, the Queen of Con- 

 naught, at a period when the warriors of Ulster had fallen 

 under a magic spell, which prevented their defending the 

 province. King Connor MacNessa and his band of Red Branch 

 chivalry remained in a state of semi-insanity, unconscious of 

 approaching danger in the palace at Emania, and when the 

 invading host came to the ford of the Boyne one man alone 

 barred their path. This was the youngest of the knights, 

 Cuchullin, the impersonation of boyish valour and patriotism. 

 King Connor had been guilty of a great treachery, which was, 

 indeed, the cause of Queen Meave's invasion, but Cuchullin, 

 though he blamed the King's crime, knew that the safety of 

 Ulla depended on his own loyalty. He made a compact with 

 Queen Meave, that not till he was slain would the invading 

 host cross the Boyne into the Northern province. She sent the 

 greatest champions against him, and one by one they were 

 overthrown. She bribed Fardia, his dearest friend, to challenge 

 him, thinking Cuchullin would refuse the combat, but for the 

 sake of Ulla he slew his friend. The knights at length awoke 

 from their stupor and came down from Emania, and the story 

 ends with the total route of the Western host. The banner of 

 Ulla, the Red Hand on a white ground, was the symbol which 

 on this occasion " led the Red Branch Knights to danger." 

 The death of Cuchullin, which occurred in a later war, was 

 worthy of Ulster's representative hero. He was fatally wounded 

 in a great battle in the County of Louth whilst repelling the 

 invaders, and tying himself to a tall pillar-stone that he might 

 die standing, he sent his charioteer to Emania with his last 



