The Bull Raid

These epic Irish stories have many of the qualities wanted of great tales of heroes and heroines: courage, honour and pride, battles, many deaths, cunning and deceit and cowardice. While the tales lead towards the battle that the title refers to, there is so much that we have to know before that: such as why the men of Connacht suffered birth pains as soon as their land was invaded, why Cuchulainn alone could resist the invaders, why he had such powers and what pride and love had added to the ingredients. It is grand stuff. Once into its stride it has all the drama we could want and, in these retellings, a great deal of gore with bits of grey brain flying through the air. Despite some clunky dialogue and awkward shifts of plot, the telling makes the drama and the deeds come alive, particularly in the grand finale where we register every blow that the heroes trade. Like Beowulf and Arthur, the end is sadly inevitable and we can marvel that such things have been possible (just see Cuchulainn beat the wily bridge on the Isle of Scathach).