Everything Irish-Blog Marathon

Long ago, and I'm not sure how long ago...for the purpose of the story lets just say a long times ago king Conor MacNessa and warriors the Red Branch Knights were trained strong men. King Conor had a nephew called Setanta longed to be a Red Branch Knight. From a young lad he showed superhuman qualities including wisdom, magic warefare and poetry. He told his mother about his dream but she said he was too young.

Setanta had a happy childhood which involved playing hurling [the national sport of Ireland - kind of like lacrosse or field hockey] with his friends. His team always won. When Setanta was ten he told his father that he wanted to join the Red Branch Knightsbut his father also said he too young. So he stayed milking cows, carrying water and chopping wood.

One night a man came to the house to tell stories. He told lots about King Conor and his knights. That night, while everyone was asleep, Setanta got his hurling stick and ball and left for King Conor's castle.

Some days later, the king (who had welcomed him) said to Setanta, "I am going to a party at Culain's, do you want to come?" Setanta replied, "I will come later as I am playing a hurling match."

He got to the fort some time after the match and found a wolfhound guarding the fort. He hit the ball and killed Culain's hound. The man heard the dog's cry and ran out. The man said "who is going to guard my fort now?" To which Setanta replied that he would until he could replace the one he killed. "I'll be the "Hound of Culain" ["CuChulain"]," said Setanta.

So that's how Cuchulainn got his name. Soon he joined the knights and became the best guard of all. He was the best Red Branch Knight ever.

Ah nothing like a game of hurling, yeh!!! To find our more about the game click here.

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