THERE WAS WAR IN ULSTER
“Each spake words of high disdain
And insult to his heart’s best brother,
They parted ne’er to meet again.”
--COLERIDGE
It was on account of this that there arose at first that dissidence
and divergence of opinion in the great Council at Emain Macha between
Concobar Mac Nessa and Fergus Mac Roy, Concobar standing for the law
which he had been sworn to safeguard and to execute, and Fergus casting
over the lovers the shield of his name and fame, his authority and his
strength, and the singular affection with which he was regarded by all
the Ultonians.
After Fergus had made that speech in disparagement and contempt of the
solemn enactment and decree in accordance with which Deirdre had been
immured, Concobar did not immediately answer, for he knew that he was
heated both on account of the abduction and on account of the words of
Fergus. Then he said--
“The valour of the Red Branch, whereby we flourish so conspicuously
herein the North, doth not spring out of itself, and doth not come by
discipline, teaching, and example. It has its root in a virtue of which
the bards indeed, for bardic reasons, make little mention though it hold
a firm place in the laws of the Ultonians both ancient and recent. This,
our valour, and the famous kindred virtues through which we are strong
and irresistible, so that the world has today nothing anywhere of
equal glory and power, spring from the chastity of our women, which is
conspicuous and clear-shining, and in the modesty and shamefastness of
our young heroes, and the extreme rarity of lawless relations between
men and women in Ulla, the servile tribes excepted, of whom no man
maketh any account. Against such lawlessness our wise ancestors have
decreed terrible punishments. According to the laws of the Ultonians,
those who offend in this respect are burned alive in the place of the
burnings, and over their ashes are thrown the three throws of dishonour.
And well I know that these laws ofttimes to the unthinking and to those
who judge by their affections merely, seem harsh and unnatural. Yea
truly, were I not high King, I could weep, seeing gentle youths and
maidens, and men and women, whom the singing of Angus Ogue’s birds have
made mad, led away by my orders to be devoured by flame. But so it is
best, for without chastity valour faileth in a nation, and lawlessness
in this respect begetteth sure and rapid decay, and I give not this
forth as an opinion but as a thing that I know, seeing it as clearly
with my mind, O Fergus, as I see with my eyes thy countenance and form
and the foldings of thy fuan [Footnote: Mantle.] and the shape and
ornamentation of the wheel-brooch upon thy breast. Without chastity
there is no enduring valour in a nation. And thou, too, O Fergus,
sitting there in the champion’s throne, hast more than once or twice
heard me pronounce the dread sentence without word of protest or
dissent. But now, because it toucheth thee thyself, strongly and
fiercely thy voice of protest is lifted up, and unless I and this
Council can over-persuade thee, this thy rebellious purpose will be thy
own undoing or that of the Red Branch. Are the sons of Usna dear only to
thee? I say they are dearer to me, but the Red Branch is still dearer,
and it is the destruction of the Red Branch which unwittingly thou
wouldst Compass. Nor was that law concerning the inviolable virginity
of the child of Felim foolish or unwise, for it was made solemnly by the
Ultonians in obedience to the united voice of the Druids of Ulla,
men who see deeply into the hidden causes of things and the obscure
relations of events, of which we men of war have no perception.”
So spoke Concobar, not threateningly like a sovereign king, but
pleadingly. On the other hand Fergus Mac Roy, rearing his huge form,
stood upon his feet, and said--
“To answer fine reasonings I have no skill, but I swear by the sun and
the wind and the earth and by my own right hand, which is a stronger
oath than any, that I will bring back the sons of Usna into Ireland, and
that they shall live and flourish in their place and sit honourably in
this great hall of the Clanna Rury, whether it be pleasing to thee or
displeasing. For I take the Clan Usna under my protection from this day
forth, and well I know that there is not in Erin or in Alba a man
born of a woman, no nor the Tuatha De Danan themselves, who will break
through that protection!”
“I will break through it,” said the King.
After that Fergus departed from Emain Macha and went away with his
people into the east to his own country. There he debated and considered
for a long time, but at last, so great was his affection for the
Clan Usna, that he went over the Moyle in ships to the country of the
Albanagh and brought home the sons of Usna, and they were slain by
Concobar Mac Nessa, according as he had promised by the word of
his mouth. Then Fergus rebelled against Concobar, drawing after him
two-thirds of the Red Branch, and amongst them Duvac Dael Ulla and
Cormac Conlingas, Concobar’s own son, and many other great men, but
the chiefest and best and most renowned of the Ultonians adhered to
the King. The whole province was shaken with war and there was great
shedding of blood, but in the end Concobar prevailed and drove out
Fergus Mac Roy. After that expulsion Fergus and three thousand of the
Red Branch fled across the Shannon and came to Rath Cruhane, and entered
into military service with Meave who was the queen of all the country
west of the Shannon.
There is nothing told about Cuculain in connection with this war. It is
hard to imagine him taking any side in such a war. But, in fact, he
was still a schoolboy under tutors and governors and could not lawfully
appear in arms, seeing that he was not yet knighted. He was either with
the smiths or, having procured a worthy hound to take his place, he had
gone back to the royal school at Emain Macha. But the time when Cuculain
should be knighted, that is to say, invested with arms, and solemnly
received into the Red Branch as man to the high King of all Ulla, now
drew on, and such a knighting as that, and under such signs, omens,
and portents, has never been recorded anywhere in the history of the
nations.
In the meantime, Fergus and his exiles served Queen Meave and were
subduing all the rest of Ireland under her authority, so that Meave,
Queen of Connaught, became very great and proud, and in the end
meditated the overthrow of Ulster and the conquest of the Red Branch.
Queen Meave and Fergus leading the joined host of the four remaining
provinces, Meath, Connaught, Munster, and Leinster, certain of success
owing to a strange lethargy which then fell on the Ultonians, did invade
Ulster. But as they drew nigh to the mearings they found the in-gate
of the province barred by one man. It is needless to mention that man’s
name. It was Dethcaen’s nursling, the ex-pupil of Fergus Mac Roy, the
little boy Setanta grown into a terrible and irresistible hero. It was
by his defence of Ulster on that occasion against Fergus and Meave
and the four provinces, that Cuculain acquired his deathless glory and
became the chief hero of the north-west of the world. So these chapters
which relate to the abduction of Deirdre and the rebellion and expulsion
of Fergus, are a vital portion of the whole story of Cuculain. We must
now return to the hero’s schoolboy days which, however, are drawing to a
memorable conclusion.