An Chraobh Airgid
On a spring morning the boy Sétanta runs out across the green plain of Muirthemne, shield on his back, his toy spear flying ahead, a ring-fort and the Cooleys behind.

Ulaid · Ulster

Mag Muirthemne

The plain of Muirthemne · Co. Louth

The plain where Cú Chulainn grew up.

Open it on the full site There it is marked on the map of the five fifths, where the road of a tale can be traced.

The low country of north Louth, around Dundalk. Here, the Táin says, the boy Sétanta was reared by his mother and father, and from here he set out alone for Emain Macha. When he took the place of Culann’s hound, he promised to guard it so that no herd or beast would be taken out of it. When Lady Gregory retold his life in 1902, she named her book after this plain.

In the tales

  • The Boyhood Deeds of Cú Chulainn A small boy walks alone to Emain Macha, kills a smith’s hound and takes its place, and on a day of prophecy chooses fame over a long life.
  • The Cattle Raid of Cooley An argument in bed over who is richer ends in a war for a brown bull, and one young man holding a ford against all Ireland.
  • The Adventure of Nera On Samhain night a man goes out in the dark to tie a withe round a hanged man’s foot, and follows the host of the sídhe into the cave of Cruachan.

See also

  • Cú Chulainn The Hound of Culann: the great hero of the Ulster tales.
  • Culann The smith whose hound gave Cú Chulainn his name.
  • Emain Macha Navan Fort. Royal seat of the Ulstermen, named for Macha’s twins.

Sources

Each tale above lists the sources it is retold from. Every source the site draws on is listed on the full site.