imb sprang apart. (According to
another, it was his ball that he threw into its mouth, and brought
out its entrails through it.)

'The Ulstermen went towards him, some over the wall, others over
the doors of the court. They put him on Conchobar's knee. A great
clamour arose among them, that the king's sister's son should have
been almost killed. Then Culann comes into the house.

'"Welcome, boy, for the sake of your mother. Would that I had not
prepared a feast! My life is a life lost, and my husbandry is a
husbandry without, without my dog. He had kept honour and life for
me," said he, "the man of my household who has been taken from me,
that is, my dog. He was defence and protection to our property and
our cattle; he was the protection of every beast to us, both field
and house."

'"It is not a great matter," said the boy; "a whelp of the same
litter shall be raised for you by me, and I will be a dog for the
defence of your cattle and for your own defence now, until that dog
grows, and until he is capable of action; and I will defend Mag
Murthemne, so that there shall not be taken away from me cattle nor
herd, unless I have ----."

'"Then your name shall be Cu-chulainn," said Cathbad.

'"I am content that it may be my name," said Cuchulainn.

'A man who did this in his seventh year, it would be no wonder that
he should have done a great deed now when his seventeen years are
completed,' said Conall Cernach.

'He did another exploit,' said Fiacha Mac Fir-Febe. 'Cathbad the
Druid was with his son, Conchobar Mac Nessa. A hundred active men
were with him, learning magic from him. That is the number that
Cathbad used to teach. A certain one of his pupils asked of him for
what this day would be good. Cathbad said a warrior should take
arms therein whose name should be over Ireland for ever, for deed
of valour, and his fame should continue for ever. Cuchulainn heard
this. He comes to Conchobar to ask for arms. Conchobar said, "Who
has instructed you?"

'"My friend Cathbad," said Cuchulainn.

'"We know indeed," said Conchobar.

'He gave him spear and shield. He brandished them in the middle of
the house, so that nothing remained of the fifteen sets of armour
that were in store in Conchobar's household against the breaking of
weapons or taking of arms by any one. Conchobar's own armour was
given to him. That withstood him, and he brandished it, and blessed
the king whose armour it was, and said, "Blessing to the