Cú Chulainn was a strong, little boy. He often heard of the boy corps of his uncle, a group of boys whom the king trained to be warriors. When he was 7, he went to the court to join them. Upon arriving there, he entered one of their games without asking. This insulted them, and all 150 set upon him, throwing balls, small spears, and sticks. He beat back all the attacks and then knocked down 50 of them. Then king Conchobar stopped him and asked him what had taken place. Setanta explained, and the king made him a member of the corps.
One day, Conchobar came to Setanta and asked him to join the king in a visit to Culann, the smith. Setanta said he would join them later after finishing his game. The king and his party continued on, and at Culann's, they enjoyed a splendid feast. After the banquet, Culann inquired as to whether or not anyone else was coming. Forgetting about Setanta, they replied that there was no one else. So Culann unleashed his fierce guard dog. When Setanta arrived, the dog attacked him. So Setanta bashed the dog's head upon a rock and killed him. When the men inside heard the commotion, they came running out. Culann, although happy Setanta was alive, exclaimed,"Now I have no dog to guard my house!" So Setanta piped in, "I will guard your house until another dog is ready, and then I will train him to be the fiercest dog ever." Thus, Setanta became known as Cú Chulainn, or "Dog of Culann."
Perhaps the most famous story which Cú Chulainn appears in is the Cattle Raid of Cooley, or Táin Bó Cuailgne. Queen Maeve of Connaught, who was Conor Mac Nessa's first wife, was remarried several times. She and her 3rd husband, Ailill, spent a great deal of time comparing their possessions, which were exactly alike. However, Ailill found that he had a great bull, to which there was no equal in Maeve's stables. In fact, in all Ireland, only the county of Cooley had a bull which was equal to Ailill's. So Maeve sent someone to ask for the bull to be loaned and said that the chief of Cooley could stay at the Connaught court until the bull was done being loaned. The chief agreed; however, that night the emissary from Maeve became drunk and let it be known that if the request had been denied, the Queen and her army would have marched to Cooley and taken the bull anyway. Upon hearing this, the chieftain of Cooley immediately sent the emissary back, denying the request. Maeve became enraged and sent a massive army to take the bull from Cooley by force. She gathered men from all over Ireland except Ulster, since this was Conchobar's province. At the entrance to Ulster, she was met by the Cú Chulainn, the only Ulster man able to fight because he did not have a curse and that all the other men did. He challenged Maeve to send all of her army one at a time, to face him in single combat until he had defeated the entire army. And that he did, even killing one of his old friends after desperately trying to avoid a fight. This great battle made Cú Chulainn the greatest hero in all of Ireland.
There are many other stories about Cú Chulainn. There is one about how he courted his wife, Lady Emer, and won her love. There are many different stories about how he died. One is that he was tricked by three druids, sent by the goddess Morrigan, who offered him a meal of dog's flesh. Cú Chulainn had made two vows: never to deny a meal and never to eat dog's flesh. Thus he was forced to break one of them, and the druids killed him in his indescision. Another says he died on the battle field, killed by Lugain, son of Cu Roi mac Daire, one of his enemies in several stories. There are many tellings of all of these stories, and in all, it is clear that Cú Chulainn is a great hero.
