The Death of Aife's One Son

Summary

The boat of bronze

The tale opens by asking what caused Cúchulainn to kill his own son, and says it is soon told. Seven years to the day after Cúchulainn left Aife, the boy comes looking for his father. The men of Ulster are gathered at Tracht Esi, the Strand where the Mark is, when he arrives. They see him coming toward them over the ocean in a little boat of bronze, with gilt oars in his hands.

There is a pile of stones beside him in the boat. He puts a stone in his sling and sends it humming at the sea birds, and stuns them without killing them. Then he lets them escape into the air. He does a feat with his jaws, between his hands, faster than the eye can follow, and tunes his voice to bring the birds down a second time. Then he rouses them again.

Conchobor says he pities the country that boy is heading for. If one of their young boys can do that, their grown men can grind the Ulstermen into dust. He tells someone to go out and not let the boy ashore, and names Condere mac Echach, because where there is a need for good sense and eloquence, Condere is the right person.

Condere

Condere meets the boy as he reaches the strand and tells him he has come far enough until they find out where he comes from and who his people are. The boy says he will give his name to no man and will make way for no man. Condere says he cannot land without giving his name. The boy says he is going where he is going.

Condere speaks in verse. He tells the boy to come to Conchobor, to Sencha, to Cethern, to Amargin, to Cúscraid and to Conall Cernach, and warns that Blai Briuga would dislike it if the boy pushed past him. Then he says he has sworn to oppose a beardless, unfledged boy if he will not heed the men of Ulster.

The boy answers in verse that he tuned his voice and sent a straight shot from little jaws, and that he had no need of his hero's salmon-leap. He tells Condere to go back to Ulster and say he will fight them singly or together. He adds that Condere could not hold him back even with the strength of a hundred men. Condere goes back and tells the men of Ulster.

Conall

Conall Cernach says no one makes little of Ulster's honour while he lives. He goes out and says those were pretty games, boy. The boy says they will work just as nicely on him. He sets a stone in his sling and sends it into the sky in a stunning-shot. The roar of its thunder as it rises reaches Conall and knocks him headlong. Before he can rise, the boy has the shield-strap tied around Conall's arms. Conall calls for someone else to be sent out, and the whole army is put to shame.

Cúchulainn and Emer

Cúchulainn advances on the boy, performing his feats as he comes. Emer puts her arm around his neck and speaks in verse. She tells him not to go down, that it is his own son there, and to remember Scáthach's strict warning. She says that if Connla has dared them he has justified it, and that they know his name if he is really Connla. She ends by saying the boy is Aife's one son.

Cúchulainn answers in verse, telling his wife to be quiet. He does not need a woman now to hold him back, and wants no woman's help with his work. Then he says that no matter who the boy is, he must kill him for the honour of Ulster. He goes down and says those were pretty games, boy. The boy says they are prettier than the games he is finding here, and that two of them have come down and he still has not named himself. Cúchulainn tells him to name himself or die.

The fight

The boy cuts Cúchulainn bald-headed with his sword in the stroke of precision. Cúchulainn says the joking has come to a head and they will wrestle. The boy says he cannot reach up to his belt, so he climbs onto two standing stones. Without moving a foot he thrusts Cúchulainn three times between the two stones. His feet sink into the stone up to the ankle. The marks of his feet are there still, which is why the people of Ulster call the place Tráig, or Tracht, Esi, the Strand of the Mark.

They go down into the sea to drown each other, and the boy submerges Cúchulainn twice. Then Cúchulainn plays the boy foul in the water with the gae bolga, which Scáthach taught to no one but him. He sends it speeding over the water and brings the boy's bowels down around his feet. The boy says there is something Scáthach did not teach him, and that Cúchulainn has wounded him woefully. Cúchulainn says he has.

The death

Cúchulainn takes the boy in his arms, carries him from the water and lays him down before the people of Ulster. He says that this is his son, and that here he is. All Ulster cries out in grief. The boy says it is the truth, and says that with five years among them he would have ruled as far as Rome. He asks to be shown the famous men around him so that he can salute them. He puts his arms around the neck of each man in turn, salutes his father, and dies.

A loud lament is raised for him. His grave is made and the gravestone set. For the space of three days and nights no calf in Ulster is let go to its cow on account of his death.

The tale gives the boy's name only through Emer. Aife had told Cúchulainn to leave a name for him, and in the previous tale the name Cúchulainn left was Connla, with the order that he reveal it to no man, make way for no man and refuse no man combat.