Aided Con Culainn facts for kids

Aided Chon Culainn (which means 'the violent death of Cú Chulainn') is an old Irish story. It's also known as Brislech Mór Maige Murthemne ('the great rout at Mag Murthemne'). This tale is about the famous Irish hero Cú Chulainn and how he dies in battle. You can find this story in a very old book called the Book of Leinster, which was written in the 1100s.

The Hero's Last Battle

The story begins with Medb, a powerful queen, who wants to get rid of Cú Chulainn. She teams up with Lugaid, whose father Cú Roí was killed by Cú Chulainn. She also joins forces with Erc and other sons of people Cú Chulainn had defeated. Their plan is to trick Cú Chulainn into a fight where he will surely die.

Cú Chulainn's fate is sealed because he breaks some special rules called geasa. These geasa were like sacred promises or taboos that he had to follow. If he broke them, it would bring him bad luck and weaken him. One of his geasa was that he could never eat dog meat.

However, in ancient Ireland, it was also a very strong rule that you could never refuse hospitality. One day, an old woman offered Cú Chulainn a meal, and it was dog meat. He had a tough choice: break his geis or refuse the hospitality. He chose to eat the dog meat, which broke his geis. This made him spiritually weaker for the big fight ahead.

Lugaid had three special magical spears made. It was said that a king would fall with each spear. The battle happened on a wide plain called Mag Muirthemne, which is now in County Louth.

• With the first spear, Lugaid killed Láeg, who was Cú Chulainn's charioteer and a great driver.
• With the second spear, he killed Liath Macha, Cú Chulainn's amazing horse.
• Finally, with the third spear, Lugaid hit Cú Chulainn himself, wounding him very badly.

Even though he was dying, Cú Chulainn didn't give up. He tied himself to a tall standing stone so he could die on his feet, facing his enemies bravely. He was so fierce that his enemies didn't believe he was dead until a raven landed on his shoulder.

Lugaid then came closer and cut off Cú Chulainn's head. But as he did, a bright "hero-light" glowed around Cú Chulainn. His sword fell from his hand and cut off Lugaid's hand! The light only disappeared after Cú Chulainn's right hand, his sword arm, was cut from his body.

Revenge for the Hero

Conall Cernach, another hero, had made a promise. He swore that if Cú Chulainn died before him, he would get revenge before the sun set. When Conall heard that Cú Chulainn was dead, he immediately went after Lugaid.

Since Lugaid had lost a hand, Conall fought him with one hand tucked into his belt, to make the fight fair. But he only managed to defeat Lugaid after his horse bit Lugaid's side. Conall also killed Erc. He took Erc's head back to Tara. There, Erc's sister, Achall, was so sad about her brother's death that she died of grief.