Setanta

Not to be confused for Cuchulainn.

Setanta or Cuchulain was a legendary Fianna.

Overview

If you know no other legends of the Fianna, save of course the tales of Fionn mac Cumhail, then learn this one, and learn it well, young cub, because ‘til this day, there’s never been a man alive who could beast the Hound of Ulster, Cuchulain.

It was a time long ago, when King Conchubar ruled Ulster from his court in the palace of Emain Macha. One night, after a great feast to celebrate the wedding of his sister Dectire to Saultim mac Roig, Dectire fell into an enchanted sleep. During the night as she slept, she was carried off by a Kami spirit who served Lugh.

A year later later, during another feast, a flock of birds led by the Corax came to Emain Macha and devoured all the food, inciting the men of Ulster to anger. They pursued the birds across the land. Finally, night fell, and the men encountered a cottage, where a young man offered them his hospitality. He was the Kami of Lugh. During the night, the men heard the screams of a woman. In the morning, they discovered Dectire and her newborn son. She told them that she had sent the birds to call them so that they would return her and her child to Emain Macha. After they returned, King Conchubar decided that the child would remain with Dectire and her husband Saultim until he was of age. Dectire named her son Setanta.

One day, as Conchubar was setting out to attend the feast of the great smith, Culain, he saw a group of boys playing on the green of Emain Macha. One boy played against “three fifties of boys,” and the boys and discovered that the boy was Setanta, his nephew. The king asked the boy to come with him to the feast, but Setanta wanted to finish playing. Setanta told the king that he would follow the chariot tracks later. Conchubar laughed and set out for the house of Culain.

After the king arrived, Culain the smith asked him if any more were to follow. Conchubar answered no, forgetting Setanta. Culain let loose his great hound, one of the last dire wolves of Ireland, and renowned throughout the land for its savagery and cruelty.

Young Setanta finished playing and followed the chariot tracks to Culain’s home. The wolf heard him approach, and rushed to attack the intruder, howling loudly. It leaped upon Setanta and tried to devour him.

According to the human stories, Setanta threw his game ball with enough force that it entered the wolf’s mouth and passed through its body. What really happened was that Setanta underwent his First Change as the wolf leaped upon him. Suddenly, Setanta was a Crinos, filled with Rage. He tore into the wolf, splitting the beast open and smashing it to the ground.

Hearing the sounds of the savage combat, the feasters came running. King Conchubar and his men found the boy, seemingly unhurt, next to the bloody body of the wolf. The men asked Setanta what had happened, but he wasn’t sure. He told the men that he only remembered throwing the ball at the beast. Luckily for Setanta, one of the guests, a druid named Cathbad, was a Fianna himself and quickly recognized the potential of the young Ahroun.

When Culain the smith saw his hound dead, he exploded with anger. He ordered Setanta to leave his house. Setanta quickly promised Culain that he would find a pup replace the dead hound, and until he did, he would guard Culain’s home himself.

Conchubar and his men agreed that the youth’s promise was fair. Before anyone else could speak, Cathbad the Druid named the boy Cuchulain, the Hound of Culain. And that was how the great hero received his name.

Cathbad secretly took Cuchulain to his sept, and there taught the boy the ways of the Fianna. Cuchulain went on to become one of the greatest heroes ever seen by man or Garou, feared by all on the battlefield for his transformations and Rage. This is but the beginning of the tales of the hero of the Red Branch, the Hound of Ulster.

References

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