Introduction

The one extant copy of this tale is a conflation of two versions, generally referred to as ‘A’ and ‘B.’ This results in duplications in the text, as will be apparent from the summary below. Version ‘A’ appears to be based on version ‘B,’ as well as taking material from Tain Bo Cuailgne (TBC [Carey, “Uses” 81]).

The story as we have it begins at Cú Chulainn's territory Mag Muirthemne, at the festival of Samain. Cú Chulainn refuses to allow the assembly to be convened until his foster brother and foster father have arrived. While they are waiting, a flock of beautiful birds settles on the lake, and every woman wants a pair to decorate her shoulders. Cú Chulainn is able to obtain a pair for each woman except his own wife (whose name at this point in the story is given as Eithne Ingubai), so he promises her that if birds come to the area again, the most beautiful pair will be hers. Shortly thereafter, two birds bound by a gold chain fly over the lake. Cú Chulainn attempts to shoot them down for his wife, despite her entreaty not to do so on the basis that these birds evidently possess some kind of power. After some unsuccessful attempts, he succeeds in wounding one before they fly beneath the lake. Despondent because his shot missed, he goes to sleep by a stone. While he sleeps, two women come to Cú Chulainn in a vision and beat him senseless with horsewhips. He regains consciousness, but is unable to speak and is confined to his bed for the next year. After that time, he is visited by a man who identifies himself as Óengus son of Áed Abrat, the brother of his attackers, whom we now learn to have been the sisters Lí Ban and Fand, from the Otherworld region of Mag Mell. He tells Cú Chulainn that his sisters would heal him if he were their friend, and that his sister Fand is in love with him, having been deserted by her husband, Manannán. Óengus promises to send Lí Ban to Cú Chulainn at Samain. Cú Chulainn is then able to sit up and speak. He goes to the stone where he had his vision the year before, and Lí Ban comes and tells him that he can be healed.