How Cúchulainn got his Name

Long ago Ulster was ruled by King Conor Mac Neasa. His palace was at Eamhain Macha. King Conor had a group of famous warriors called the Red Branch Knights and also a group of younger boys, the Macra, who hoped to join the Red Branch Knights when they were older. But first they had to train very, very hard and grow up to be fierce and brave.

King Conor's sister had a son called Setanta. Setanta wanted to join the Macra. When Setanta was about nine our ten, he set off for Eamhai n Macha. He took with him his hurley and his sliotar, a small sword and a javelin. As he went along, he would strike the sliotar with his hurley. Then, he would run very fast and catch the sliotar before it fell to the ground.

When Setanta reached the palace, the other boys were playing hurling outside and Setanta joined in. The boys didn't want him to play because he was new. King Conor was in the palace and he came out and saw the young boy beating all the other boys. He was delighted to hear that Setant a was his nephew and allowed him join the Macra.

Soon after, the King was going to a great feast being held by a famous blacksmith called Culann and he wanted Setanta to go, too. Setanta asked "Could I finish my game of hurling?" "Right!" said King Conor.

When Setanta reached the party, a guard dog belonging to Culann came and attacked him. But Setanta had his sliotar and his hurley and slammed the ball into the dog's mouth and killed him.

King Conor came out and was very sad but Setanta said he would take the guard dogs place until they got a new dog. So from then on Setanta was called Cúchulainn which is the Irish for "The Hound of Culann".

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