ernach, Dubthach Doeltenga,
Fiacha Mac Firfebe, and Fergus Mac Roich. These were exiled from
Ulster through a bitter quarrel with Conchobar, who had caused the
betrayal and murder of the sons of Uisnech, when they had come to
Ulster under the sworn protection of Fergus, as told in the _Exile
of the Sons of Uisnech_. [Note: 1 Text in Windisch and Stokes's
_Irische Texte_; English translation in Miss Hull's _Cuchullin
Saga_.] The Ulster mischief-maker, Bricriu of the Poison-tongue,
was also with the Connaught army. Though fighting for Connaught,
the exiles have a friendly feeling for their former comrades, and a
keen jealousy for the credit of Ulster. There is a constant
interchange of courtesies between them and their old pupil,
Cuchulainn, whom they do not scruple to exhort to fresh efforts for
Ulster's honour. An equally half-hearted warrior is Lugaid Mac Nois,
king of Munster, who was bound in friendship to the Ulstermen.

Other characters who play an important part in the story are
Findabair, daughter of Ailill and Medb, who is held out as a bribe
to various heroes to induce them to fight Cuchulainn, and is on one
occasion offered to the latter in fraud on condition that he will
give up his opposition to the host; and the war-goddess, variously
styled the Nemain, the Badb (scald-crow), and the Morrigan (great
queen), who takes part against Cuchulainn in one of his chief
fights. Findabair is the bait which induces several old comrades of
Cuchulainn's, who had been his fellow-pupils under the sorceress
Scathach, to fight him in single combat.

The tale may be divided into:--

1. Introduction: Fedelm's prophecy.

2. Cuchulainn's first feats against the host, and the several
_geis_, or taboos, which he lays on them.

3. The narration of Cuchulainn's boyish deeds, by the Ulster exiles
to the Connaught host.

4. Cuchulainn's harassing of the host.

5. The bargain and series of single combats, interrupted by
breaches of the agreement on the part of Connaught.

6. The visit of Lug Mac Ethlend.

7. The fight with Fer Diad.

8. The end: the muster of the Ulstermen.

The MSS.

The _Tain Bo Cuailnge_ survives, in whole or in part, in a
considerable number of MSS., most of which are, however, late. The
most important are three in number:--

(1) Leabhar na h-Uidhri (LU), 'The Book of the Dun Cow,' a MS.
dating from about 1100. The version here given is an old one,
though with some late additions, in late