The Ulaid had close links with the Irish colony in Scotland, and part of Cú Chulainn's training takes place in that colony.

* Gae Bolga, the Irish legendary hero Cú Chulainn's similar magic spear

Eventually Cú Chulainn's father, Sualtam, comes to Conchobar at Emain Macha to warn him of the devastation the Connacht army is creating and demand he raise his army before it's too late.

He swears allegiance to Conchobar and is given Cú Chulainn's daughter Fínscoth in marriage.

Having followed news of Cú Chulainn's sustained success in single-handedly opposing the Connacht army, Cú Roí once again appears on the scene, this time to fight Cú Chulainn directly.

Cú Roí's death by Cú Chulainn's hand is the subject of the tale Aided Con Roi, which survives in two versions.

There are a number of versions of the story of Cú Chulainn's birth.

The stories of Cú Chulainn's childhood are told in a flashback sequence in Táin Bó Cúailnge.

In Cú Chulainn's youth he is so beautiful the Ulstermen worry that, without a wife of his own, he will steal their wives and ruin their daughters.

His fellow trainees include Ferdiad, who becomes Cú Chulainn's best friend and foster-brother.

Scáthach, knowing Aífe's prowess, fears for Cú Chulainn's life and gives him a powerful sleeping potion to keep him from the battle.

However, because of Cú Chulainn's great strength, it only puts him to sleep for an hour, and he soon joins the fray.

He is afraid of Cú Chulainn's reaction if he exercises it in this case, but is equally afraid of losing his authority if he does not.

Eight years later, Connla, Cú Chulainn's son by Aífe, comes to Ireland in search of his father, but Cú Chulainn takes him as an intruder and kills him when he refuses to identify himself.

Manannán knows their relationship is doomed because Cú Chulainn is mortal and Fand is a fairy ; Cú Chulainn's presence would destroy the fairies.

With the first he kills Cú Chulainn's charioteer Láeg, king of chariot drivers.

With the second he kills Cú Chulainn's horse, Liath Macha, king of horses.

Cú Chulainn's appearance is occasionally remarked on in the texts.

Modern novels which retell Cú Chulainn's story include Rosemary Sutcliff's 1963 children's novel The Hound of Ulster and Morgan Llywelyn's 1989 historical novel Red Branch, The legends of Cú Chulainn also appear occasionally in Frank McCourt's bestselling 1996 memoir Angela's Ashes.

When he returns to Ireland, Cú Chulainn requests that his son be sent to him when he comes of age, but puts three geasa on him.

Cú Roí appears in the side-tale " Comlond Munremair & Con Roi " (" The combat of Munremar and Cú Roí ") included in Recension I of Táin bó Cúailnge.

Cú Chulainn fights a series of single combats against Connacht champions, hoping to give the Ulstermen time to recover and take the field.

In Tochmarc Emire the Ulaid hero Cú Chulainn has come to train in arms under Scáthach when a battle breaks against Aífe.

It tells of a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, opposed only by the teenage Ulster hero Cú Chulainn.

Cú Chulainn, assisted by his charioteer Láeg, wages a guerrilla campaign against the advancing army, then halts it by invoking the right of single combat at fords, defeating champion after champion in a stand-off lasting months.

Her beauty and charm are the driving force which not only lead to the death of hundreds of men, but cause Fer Diad, beloved foster-brother and best friend of Cú Chulainn, to fight against him, and eventually die by Cú Chulainn's Gáe Bulg.

In the early centuries AD, Munster was the domain of the Iverni and the legendary Clanna Dedad led by Cú Roí and to whom the celebrated Conaire Mór also belonged.

Scáthach's instruction of the young hero Cú Chulainn notably appears in Tochmarc Emire ( The Wooing of Emer ), an early Irish foretale to the great epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, in which Cú Chulainn is honour-bound to perform a number of tasks before he is found worthy to marry his beloved Emer, daughter of the chieftain Forgall Monach.

The image of Cú Chulainn dying, tied to a post so that even in death he might face his enemies standing, a pose which was adopted by early 20th century Irish republicans, does not come from the Táin but from a later story.

It consists of a group of heroic tales dealing with the lives of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, the great hero Cú Chulainn, the son of Lug, and of their friends, lovers, and enemies. These are the Ulaid, or people of the North-Eastern corner of Ireland and the action of the stories centres round the royal court at Emain Macha ( known in English as Navan Fort ), close to the modern town of Armagh.

When Medb raises an army from four of the five provinces of Ireland and launches an invasion of Ulster to steal the bull Donn Cúailnge in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, Conchobar, like all the Ulstermen but Cú Chulainn, is unable to fight, disabled by the curse of Macha.

Lugaid goes on to become High King of Ireland, but the Lia Fáil ( stone of destiny ), fails to cry out when he stands on it, so Cú Chulainn splits it in two with his sword.

The Ulstermen searched all over Ireland for a suitable wife for Cú Chulainn, but he would have none but Emer.

When Aífe's son Connla came to Ireland in search of his father, Emer realised who he was and tried to persuade Cú Chulainn not to kill him, but to no avail.

When Cú Chulainn returns to Ireland he leaves Aífe pregnant.

The story is taken up again in Aided Óenfhir Aífe, when the boy, Connla by name, comes to Ireland as Cú Chulainn had instructed, and his precocious prowess alarms the Ulaid.

In another version Cú Roí takes Bláthnat to the fort and keeps her captive there.

The first water-gate was built around 1580 by Cú Chonnacht Maguire, though subsequent lowering of the level of the lough has left it without water.

First, Cú Roí explains his refusal to fight Cú Chulainn not only by pointing out the inequality between a physically healthy and an injured warrior, but also by saying that a victory would not be his, seeing as it was Fer Diad who had laid low his opponent.

Cú Roí, however, was determined to persist " till the day of doom " ( co brunni brátha ) unless Amairgin agreed to stop.

( When the matter was settled and Cú Roí returned to his country, Amairgin resumed his attacks on the invading army, explaining that his agreement was with Cú Roí only.

In one version of the story, Cú Roí's soul was hidden in an apple in the belly of a salmon which lived in a stream in the Slieve Mish Mountains, and only surfaced once every seven years ; Bláthnat discovered the secret and told Cú Chulainn, who killed the fish, enabling him to kill Cú Roí.

Cú Roí's uncle ( or brother or nephew ), Conganchnes (" Horn-skinned "), tried to avenge him, but was killed by Celtchar.

The figure of Cú Chulainn was used to commemorate the Easter Rising on the Irish ten shilling coin | ten shilling coin

The story is told that when Saint Patrick was trying to convert king Lóegaire to Christianity, the ghost of Cú Chulainn appeared in his chariot, warning him of the torments of hell.

In Irish folklore, Cú Chulainn ( usually spelled Cuhullin ) was later reimagined as an evil giant at odds with Fionn mac Cumhaill ( or Finn McCool ).

He is often described as dark: in The Wooing of Emer and Bricriu's Feast he is " a dark, sad man, comeliest of the men of Erin ", in The Intoxication of the Ulstermen he is a " little, black-browed man ", and in The Phantom Chariot of Cú Chulainn " is hair was thick and black, and smooth as though a cow had licked it ... in his head his eyes gleamed swift and grey "; yet the prophetess Fedelm in the Táin Bó Cúailnge describes him as blond.

A sculpture by Martin Heron, entitled " For the Love of Emer ", depicting Cú Chulainn balancing on a tilting 20-foot pole, representing the feat of balancing on the butt of a spear he learned from Scáthach, was installed in Armagh in 2010.

In Irish mythology, Deichtine or Deichtire was the sister of Conchobar mac Nessa and the mother of Cú Chulainn.

Her husband was Sualtam, but Cú Chulainn's real father may have been Lug of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

He was afraid of Cú Chulainn's reaction if he exercised it in this case, but would lose his authority if he didn't.

Though Cú Chulainn had many lovers, Emer's only jealousy came when he was entranced into love with Fand, wife of Manannán mac Lir, the king of the great sea, as recounted in the narrative Serglige Con Culainn (" The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulainn ").