The Death of Celtchar mac Uthechair

This is the story of the Death of Celtchar mac Uthechair from the red branch of the mythology Irish.

The Death of Celtchar mac Uthechair

1. Where did the tragic death of Celtchar mac Uthechar come from?
It's not hard to tell. There was a famous man among the men of Ulster, Blái Briuga himself, the Hospitaller. He had seven herds of cattle, seven hundred beasts in each herd, and a couple of oxen to plow in each herd. He also ran an inn. Now it was a geis to him that a woman in a company should not enter his house without him sleeping with her, unless her husband was in that company. So Brig Brethach, Celtchar's wife, went to her house. "It's not right what you did, woman," said Blái the Hospitable. “To come to me as you came is a geis to me. "He's a miserable man," said the woman, "one who violates his own gessa. " " It's true. I'm an old man and besides you provoke me, ”he said. That night he slept with her.

2. Celtchar knew it; and he went to fetch his wife. Blái the Hospitaller left until he was next to Conchobar in the Royal House. Celtchar also left until he was on the floor of the Royal Household. There were Conchobar and Cuchulainn playing Fidchell's game; and Blái the Hospitable’s chest was between them, above the game board. the spear a drop (of blood) fell on the tray.

3. “Truly, Cuchulainn! Said Conchobar. "Truly, indeed, Conchobar!" Said Cuchulainn. The game board is measured from the drop here and there to see which of the two was closer. In fact, the drop was closer to Conchobar and he took the longest to take revenge. Blái l'Hospitalier, however, died. Celtchar escaped until he was in Deisi territory of Munster to the south.

4. “This is bad, Conchobar! Said the Ulster men. “It means the death of two men. It is enough that we have to lose the man who died, let Celtchar return to his land, ”said the men of Ulster. "Let him come, then," said Conchobar; "And may his son go and find him and be his safeguard." At that time, among the men of Ulster, the crime of a father did not fall on his son, nor the crime of the son on the father. So he went until he was in the south to summon him.

5. "What is your reason for coming, my son?" Celtchar said. "To get you back to your land," the boy said. »What is my backup? "Me," the boy said. “Really,” he said. "Subtle is the betrayal the men of Ulster practice on me, which I have to go with my son's guarantee." "-" Subtle will be his name and the name of his descendants, "said the druid. “Stay [here], boy,” said Celtchar, “and I'll go there. "

6. This is accomplished, hence Semuine comes into the land of the Deisi.

7. However, here is the price that was demanded for the death of Blái the Hospitaller, to deliver them from the three worst plagues that would come to Ulster in his time.

8. Then Conganchness mac Dedad came to avenge his brother, Curoi son of Daire mac Dedad himself, on the men of Ulster. It devastated Ulster enormously. The spears or swords did not hurt him, but bounced off him like the horn.

9. "Free us from this plague, Celtchar!" Said Conchobar. "Surely I will," said Celtchar. And on a certain day he went to converse with Conganchness to deceive him, promising him his daughter, namely Niam daughter of Celtchar, as well as the provision of a percent dinner each afternoon. Then the woman deceived him, asking him, “Tell me,” she said, “how you can be killed. "-" We must push red-hot iron spikes through my soles and shins. So she told her father that he should do two big spikes, and put a sleeping spell on him, and that he should gather a big army with him. And so was done. And they went on his stomach, and the spears were thrust into his soles with hammers and right into his marrow, so that he (Conganchness) fell because of him (Celtchar). And Celtchar cut off his head, on which a cairn was raised, namely, a stone was placed by every man that came there.

10. And here is the second plague, that is, the Brown Mouse, namely, a pug which the widow's son had found in the hollow of an oak tree, and which the widow had raised until let it be tall. Finally he attacked the widow's sheep, and he killed her cows, and her son, and killed her herself, and then went to the Glen of the Great Trough. Every night he laid waste to a home in Ulster, and every day he slept. "Free us from him, Celtchar!" Said Conchobar. And Celtchar went into a wood, and took out an alder stalk, and a hole was dug in him about the length of his arms, and he boiled it in fragrant herbs, in honey, and in fat, until 'it is tender and resistant. Celtchar went to the cave the Brown Mouse used to sleep in and entered the cave early before the Brown Mouse returned after his murders. She came back and her muzzle rose high in the air at the smell of wood. And Celtchar pushed the wood towards her in the cave. The dog took it in its jaws and planted its fangs in it, and the fangs clung to the hardwood. Celtchar drew the wood towards him; and the dog pulled to the other side; and Celtchar put his arm through the log (inside) and pulled his heart out through his jaws so that he had it in his hand. And he took his head with him.

11. And that day, at the end of the following year, some cowherds came by the side of the cairn of Conganchness, and heard the cries of puppies in the cairn. And they dug in the cairn and found there three puppies, namely, a fawn dog, and a dog with little spots, and a black dog. The dog with the small spots was given as a present to Mac Datho of Leinster, and because of him many Irish men died in Mac Datho's house and Ailbe was the dog's name. And it was Culann the blacksmith that the fawn dog was given, and the black dog was Celtchar's own dog, Dóelchú. He wouldn't let anyone near him except Celtchar. Once Celtchar was not at home, and the dog was out, and the people of his house could not catch him, and he preyed on the cattle and the herds, and at the end he preyed on himself to a living being every night in Ulster.

12. "Free us from this plague, Celtchar!" Said Conchobar. Celtchar walked towards the valley in which the dog was, with a hundred warriors, and three times he called the dog until they saw him coming towards them, going straight to Celtchar where he came to lick the feet. “It’s sorry, in truth, what the dog does,” they all said. "I don't want to be blamed anymore because of you!" Said Celtchar, giving him a Luin Celtchar kick.⁶, so that he tore out his heart, after which he died. " Misfortune! Everyone shouted. “That's right,” he said, while lifting the spear, when a drop of the dog's blood ran down the spear and passed through him to the ground, so he died of it. And they made his lamentation, and his stone and his tomb were erected there. It is therefore the tragic death of Blai l'Hospitalier, and of Conganchness, and of Celtchar the son of Uthechar.