Táin Bó Cúailgne Comprehension Questions 2

Táin Bó Cúailgne Comprehension Questions 2 Q-1 • What overheard comment prompts the boy Cú Chulainn to present himself to King Conchobar and make a request to “take arms”? Who made the comment? Whose two spears suit Cú Chulainn as he takes arms? Q-2 • Immediately upon taking arms, the boy Cú Chulainn travels with an Ulster warrior, Ibar mac Riangabra, from Conchobar’s palace-complex at Emain to Áth na Foraire (“the ford of watching”). There, another Ulster warrior, Conall Cernach mac Amargin, guards a section of the province’s southern border. Cú Chulainn’s desire is to gain knowledge of the strategic geography of Ulster, a territory that he will have to defend against the “men of Ireland” (i.e. Ireland’s other provinces). How and why does Cú Chulainn cause Conall’s shoulder to become dislocated? Q-3 • According to the boy Cú Chulainn, what boast do the three sons of Nechta (Fóill, Túachall, and Faindle) make? Also: What does Cú Chulainn do with the pillar-stone (exhibiting an iron “ring of heroic deeds”) that he encounters on the green outside their fortress? Q-4 • What is the nature of the deil cliss, the weapon that Cú Chulainn uses in his encounter with Fóill, one of the sons of Nechta? What fatal injury does the weapon inflict on Fóill? Q-5 • After his killing of the three sons of Neachta, the seven-year-old Cú Chulainn returns to Emain, carrying their heads in his chariot. As he approaches that palace-complex, Leborcham, a wise old woman, perceives him. What two types of wild creature does she identify as part of his entourage? Also: What plan involving young women and three vats of water do Leborcham and Conchobar devise to deal with the returning Cú Chulainn? Q-6 • What two pets, belonging to Medb, does Cú Chulainn kill, and where is each when its killing occurs? Q-7 • Who or what is the Morrígu, and what advice does that being give to Donn Cúailnge, the brown bull that Medb seeks? Q-8 • Why did Medb order the creation of what became known as Bernais Tána Bó Cúailnge? Also: how did the River Sechair acquire a new name, Glaiss Gatlaing (“willow river”)? 1 Q-9 • According to the narrative, what was the “most scornful and insulting speech” articulated during the Táin Bó Cúailnge? Who delivered it to Cú Chulainn— and on whose orders? Q-10 • What purpose is served by the 27 waxed shirts that Cú Chulainn wears? Q-11 • What reason does Cú Chulainn give for rejecting the offer of “all that are base-born” among the captives secured by Maeb and Ailill? The offer is conveyed to Cú Chulainn by Medb’s principal messenger, Mac Roth, and it constitutes an effort by Maeb and Ailill to end Cú Chulainn’s attacks on their warriors — attacks that Mac Roth characterizes as “thunder feat[s].” Q-12 • Fergus knows the terms that Cú Chulainn will accept in order to desist from his nighty killing of a hundred of the warriors in Medb’s coalition army. In addition to being “fed and clothed” by Medb for the duration of Táin Bó Cúailnge, what arrangement is critical for Cú Chulainn? Medb is prepared to agree to Cú Chulainn’s terms, even though her husband characterizes them as “grievous.” Q-13 • The youth named Etarcumul, an aspiring warrior in Medb’s household, accompanies Fergus on his mission to discuss combat-terms with Cú Chulainn. How dies Etarcumul return to Medb and Ailill’s camp after encountering Cú Chulainn? Q-14 • What reason does Cú Chulainn give for not having engaged in combat with Nath Crantail when that warrior, a member of Medb’s household, first came to fight him? Q-15 • What was Cú Chulainn doing at present-day Athboy (a village in County Meath) that permitted the occurrence of “the greatest reproach and grief” that affected him during the Táin Bó Cúailnge? What was that reproach or grief? Q-16 • Medb convinces Cúr, son of Da Lóth, to engage in single combat against Cú Chulainn. Why would Cúr’s death not grieve his fellow warriors in Medb’s army? Q-17 • After Cú Chulainn’s slaying of Cúr, by what means does Medb persuade Fer Báeth, son of Fir Bend, to fight Cú Chulainn? (In the event, Cú Chulainn kills Fer Báeth, one of his foster-brothers, not in direct combat but almost by accident, using a “holly shoot.”) Q-18 • During the Táin Bó Cúailnge, just one warrior survives single-combat against Cú Chulainn. Who is that man, and what is his relationship to Lugaid mac Naoise (also spelled “mac Nóis”), characterized by Cú Chulainn as the only member of Medb’s army “who keeps faith and friendship with me”? What action does Cú Chulainn perform upon the warrior in question so that he subsequently experiences chronic discomfort, including diarrhea? Q-19 • What physical alteration do Medb’s women-folk tell Cú Chulainn to make to his body such that Lóch mac Mo Febis is prepared to engage in combat with him? What weapon does Cú Chulainn deploy to kill Lóch, whose dying wish is to “fall facing the east” — that is, towards Cú Chulainn? Q-20 • At the end of the fight against Lóch mac Mo Febis, Cú Chulainn admits that he is not invincible. He expresses desire that Conchobar and the other Ulster warriors come to his aid. His injuries in the confrontation with Lóch came partially from that individual, but also partially from what other entity? In what three animal forms did the entity appear? ••• 2 .

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