Irish Folklore: The Sick-Bed of Cú Chulainn* And this is how the great hero was faerie-struck. Manannán Mac Lir, tired of his wife Fand, had deserted her, and so she, wishing to marry Cú Chulainn, went to Ireland wither her sister Liban. Taking the form of two birds bound together by a chain of red gold, Fand and Liban rested on a lake in Ulster where Cú Chulainn should see them as he was hunting. To catch the two birds, Cú Chulainn cast a javelin at them, but they escaped, though injured. Disappointed at a failure like this, which for him was most unusual, Cú Chulainn went away to a menhir where he sat down and fell asleep. Then he saw two women, one in green and the other in a crimson cloak; and the woman in green came up to him and struck him with a whip-like object. The woman in crimson did likewise, and alternately the two women kept striking him till they left him almost dead. And straightaway, the mighty hero of the Red Branch Knights took to his bed with a strange malady for which no Druid or doctor in all of Ireland could cure. Until the end of the year, Cú Chulainn lay on his sick-bed at Emain Macha without speaking to anyone. Then, on the day before Samhain, there came to him a singing messenger who promised him a cure if he would accept the invitation of the daughters of Aed Abrat to visit them in The Otherworld. After singing his message, the Bard disappeared. Thereupon Cú Chulainn went to the place where the malady had been put upon him, and there appeared to him again the woman in the green cloak. She let it be known that she was Liban and that she was longing for him to go with her to the Plain of Delight to fight against Labraid's enemies. And she promised Cú Chulainn as a reward that he would get Fand as his wife. But Cú Chulainn would not accept the invitation without knowing to what country he was called. So he sent his charioteer Laeg to bring back from there a report. Laeg went with the faerie woman in a bronze boat and returned to tell Cú Chulainn the wonderful glories of the Otherworld of the Sidhe; and Cú Chulainn willingly set out for it. After Cú Chulainn had overthrown Labraid's enemies and had been in the Otherworld a month with the faerie woman Fand, he returned to Ireland. Although afterwards, in a place agreed upon, Fand joined him. Emer, the wife of Cú Chulainn was overcome with jealously and she schemed to kill Fand. Fand, aware of the situation, returned to her husband Manannán Mac Lir and he received her back. When she was gone, Cú Chulainn could not be consoled; but Emer obtained from the Druids a magic drink for Cú Chulainn, which made him forget about the Otherworld and the faerie woman Fand. Emer then forgot all of her jealousy; and Manannán Mac Lir came and shook his mantle between Cú Chulainn and Fand to prevent the two ever meeting again. And thus it was that the Sidhe-women failed to steal away the great Cú Chulainn. The magic of the Druids and the power of the Tuatha de Danaan king triumphed; and Cú Chulainn, the Champion of Ulster, did not go to the Otherworld until he met a natural death. Notes: * Source: Summarised from The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries by Y.W. Evans-Wentz. Kensington Publishing. New York: 1990. The Conception of Cú Chulainn is one of the foretales to The Cattle Raid of Cooley.  See Also: The Conception of Cú Chulainn The Salmon and Cú Chulainn The Sick-Bed of Cú Chulainn The Ulster Cycle Page last updated 9 Mar 2006 Website Design and Myths & Magic logo by Míchealín Ní Dhochartaigh Copyright © 2006 Ireland's OWN All Rights Reserved.