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« The Táin

Chapters of the Táin

The story in the order the book tells it: the pre-tales first, then the Táin itself.

Before the Táin

• How the Táin Bó Cuailnge was Found Again Also known as: Dofallsigud Tána Bó Cuailnge
  The poets of Ireland have lost most of the Táin, and the dead Fergus mac Roich comes out of his grave to recite it.
• How Conchobor was Begotten, and how he took the Kingship of Ulster Also known as: Compert Conchoboir, Scéla Conchoboir maic Nessa
  Nes sleeps with the druid Cathbad for a son, then trades herself to Fergus mac Roich for a year of the kingship of Ulster, and her son keeps it.
• The Pangs of Ulster Also known as: Noinden Ulad
  A pregnant woman is forced to race the king's horses, and curses every man of Ulster with the pangs of childbirth.
• Exile of the Sons of Uisliu Also known as: Longes mac n-Uislenn
  Derdriu, prophesied to bring evil to Ulster, runs off with Noisiu and his brothers, and Conchobor has them killed on their return, which sends Fergus mac Roich and the Ulster exiles to Connacht.
• How Cúchulainn was Begotten Also known as: Compert ConCulainn
  A flock of birds draws the Ulstermen to a house at the Brug, where a boy is born, dies, and is born again to Deichtine, with three men credited as his father and six offering to rear him.
• Cúchulainn's Courtship of Emer, and his Training in Arms Also known as: Tochmarc Emire
  Cúchulainn woos Emer, is sent to Alba by her father, learns the craft of arms from Scáthach, fathers a son on Aife, and returns to storm Forgall's fort.
• The Death of Aife's One Son Also known as: Aided Oenfir Aife
  Seven years after Cúchulainn left Aife, a boy in a bronze boat beats the champions of Ulster at the strand, and Cúchulainn kills him with the gae bolga.
• The Quarrel of the Two Pig-keepers, and how the Bulls were Begotten Also known as: De chophur in dá muccida
  Two friends who keep pigs for rival síd kings fall out over whose power is greater, pass through seven shapes, and end as maggots swallowed by two cows, who bear the White-horned and the Brown Bull.

The Táin

• Chapter I: The Pillow Talk
  Ailill and Medb count their wealth in bed, find it equal, and start a war over one bull.
• Chapter II: The Táin Bó Cuailnge Begins
  The four provinces muster at Cruachan, the poet Fedelm sees the host crimson, and the route to Cuailnge is set down.
• Chapter III: The Army Encounters Cúchulainn
  The army marches into Ulster, finds Cúchulainn's challenge at the fords, and hears from Fergus who he is.
• Chapter IV: Cúchulainn's Boyhood Deeds
  Fergus, Conall Cernach and Fiacha tell the army how a boy got his name, his arms, his chariot and his first three heads.
• Chapter V: ‘Death death!’
  Cúchulainn kills Fraech in a river, beheads Orlám, hits Medb's squirrel and Ailill's bird with sling-stones, and the Morrígan warns the Brown Bull.
• Chapter VI: From Finnabair Chuailnge to Conaille
  Two versions of the march from Cuailnge to Conaille: the bull is hunted and the rivers rise, or Ailill steals Fergus's sword and Cúchulainn sets the Cronn against the army.
• Chapter VII: Single Combat
  Cúchulainn proposes one fight a day at the ford, splits Etarcomol to the navel, and kills Nadcranntail with a spear thrown straight up.
• Chapter VIII: The Bull is Found. Further Single Combats. Cúchulainn and the Morrígan
  The bull is taken, Cúchulainn kills Ferbaeth with a holly splinter, crushes Láréne, and wins a hard fight against Lóch with the Morrígan against him.
• Chapter IX: The Pact is Broken: The Great Carnage Also known as: Seisrech Bresligi, The Sixfold Slaughter
  Medb breaks the truce and the single combats with trick after trick, and Cúchulainn answers with a three-day sleep, a monstrous fit of fury and a ring of dead around the whole army.
• Chapter X: Combat with Fergus and Others
  Cúchulainn shows himself in daylight, Ulster's exiles quarrel with Connacht, and Fergus gets drunk enough to fight his foster-son, who runs into a swamp.
• Chapter XI: Combat of Ferdia and Cúchulainn
  Medb tricks Cúchulainn's foster-brother Ferdia into fighting him at the ford, and they fight for four days until the gae bolga kills him.
• Chapter XII: Ulster Rises from its Pangs Also known as: Rochad's Bloodless Fight, Sualdam's Repeated Warning, The Combat of Munremur and Cúroi
  Cúchulainn's wounded ally Cethern kills healers by the dozen, a naked old man fills a trench with bones, and Sualdam's head raises Ulster.
• Chapter XIII: The Companies Advance
  Mac Roth scouts the plain and reports the companies of Ulster gathering at Slemain Midi, and Fergus names their leaders one by one.
• Chapter XIV: The Last Battle
  The armies meet at Gáirech and Irgairech, Fergus is held back from Conchobor, Cúchulainn breaks out of his bindings, Medb gets her gush of blood, and the two bulls fight.