Comparison Of The Epic Of 'Táin Bó Cuailnge'

Táin Bó Cuailnge

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an epic is ‘a long poem that tells the story of a hero's adventures’ or ‘a long book, movie, etc., that usually tells a story about exciting events or adventures’.
Comparable to The Iliad, The Odyssey and The Aeneid or The Ramayana, Táin Bó Cuailnge is Ireland’s greatest epic, and is a rich source of mythology. It is part of the Ulster Cycle of tales and contains the story of the two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Ulster and the Kingdom of Connacht and the heroic deeds of Cu Chulainn.
Táin Bó Cuailnge begins with the story of Queen Medb and King Ailill who are lying in bed one night. Talking about their marriage, King Ailill suggests that Medb was the one who gained the most from the
Her husband bragged in front of the king that his wife could run faster than any of his horses so Macha had to race them even if she was nine months pregnant at the time. At the finish line she threw a curse upon the kingdom of Ulster that in the hour of their greatest need, all the warriors would feel the pain of childbirth.
Medb’s army started marching to Ulster in order to capture the brown bull. Because of Macha’s curse, the only one that could fight for Ulster was Cu Chulainn, a fearless 17 years old man who was raised as the foster son the king of Ulster. He got his name (lit. “Culann’s hound”) after he killed the hound of Culann the smith with his bare hands, offering to take up on the job himself until another hound would be found to replace the old one.
The army got to Ulster without much trouble, but once they were there, Cu Chulainn started killing hundreds of them by slingshot. He killed even more in combat. Medb tried to do everything she could to stop Cu Chulainn from slaughtering even more of her soldiers: she offered him riches, women, land but the warrior couldn’t be persuaded. Alternatively, he swore to stop harassing the queen’s men if she sent one warrior to fight him every day. In her turn, until he would be beaten, Medb was not to take any cattle or advance further into the