Cuchulain, one of the greatest heroes of Irish mythology and legend, was a warrior in the service of the king of Ulster. Best known for his single-handed defense of Ulster, Cuchulain is said to have lived in the first century B . C ., and tales about him began to be written down in the A . D . 700S in a series of tales known as the Ulster Cycle. He had several magical weapons: his sword, his visor, and his barbed spear, which inflicted wounds from which nobody ever recovered. When Cuchulain went into battle, he would go into a frenzy. His cry alone would kill a hundred warriors. His physical appearance changed completely. Cuchulain's hair stood on end, one eye bulged out while the other disappeared in his head, his legs and feet turned to face backward, his muscles swelled, and a column of blood spurted up from his head. His body became so hot that it could melt snow. When swept away in a war frenzy, Cuchulain could not distinguish between friends and enemies. On one occasion, he was so full of the lust for battle that a group of Ulster women marched out naked carrying vats of cold water to bring him to his senses. He was grabbed by warriors who threw him into three vats of cold water to calm him down. The first vat burst apart, the second boiled over, but the third merely got hot. As with all Irish heroes he died young.
In Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes", he and his brothers would get their dad to tell them stories of Cuchulain's feats.
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