Background to The Cattle Raid of Cooley

The Brown Bull of Cooley and the White Bull of Connaught

The Brown Bull of Cooley and the White Bull of Connaught fought angrily all through the night, kicking with their hoofs and stabbing with their horns. Finally, the White Bull of Connaught lost the fight.

by Nicola Colton, courtesy of AskaboutIreland.ie, CC0 (no rights reserved), see https://creativecommons.org/about/cc0

The Brown Bull of Cooley and the White Bull of Connaught
by Nicola Colton, courtesy of AskaboutIreland.ie, CC0 (no rights reserved), see https://creativecommons.org/about/cc0

The Brown Bull of Cooley and the White Bull of Connaught

The Brown Bull of Cooley and the White Bull of Connaught fought angrily all through the night, kicking with their hoofs and stabbing with their horns. Finally, the White Bull of Connaught lost the fight.

by Nicola Colton, courtesy of AskaboutIreland.ie, CC0 (no rights reserved), see https://creativecommons.org/about/cc0

Enlarge image

An Táin Bo Cuailgne is the Irish for The Cattle Raid of Cooley. The Táin is part of the Ulster Cycle of mythological stories known as the Rúraíocht. Much of the story is based in the Cooley peninsula. Cooley is a mountainous area. It is near Carlingford in Co. Louth. According to the story it was home to the bull called Donn Cuailgne or Brown Bull of Cooley.

The Brown Bull was owned by Dáire Mac Fiachna. This bull was the object of Queen Maeve of Connacht’s envy. Her home was a place called Cruachan in Tulsk in County Roscommon. The story concerns Queen Maeve of Connacht and her husband Ailill and their plan to steal the bull Donn Cuailnge from Ulster.

The Táin is particularly interesting because of the sub story about fight between Cuchulainn and his best friend Ferdia. It is a story full of emotion with jealousy, anger, love, pride and revenge. Interestingly both of these locations are significant archaeological sites.

More information on the background of this story is available on the Ask about Ireland 'Looking at Places: Louth' section.

Cu Chulainn reads a message from Fergus

Fergus sent a message to Cu Chulainn,Ulster's greatest warrior. He warned him that Queen Maebh's army was marching on Ulster.

by Nicola Colton, courtesy of AskaboutIreland.ie, CC0 (no rights reserved), see https://creativecommons.org/about/cc0

Cu Chulainn reads a message from Fergus
by Nicola Colton, courtesy of AskaboutIreland.ie, CC0 (no rights reserved), see https://creativecommons.org/about/cc0

Cu Chulainn reads a message from Fergus

Fergus sent a message to Cu Chulainn,Ulster's greatest warrior. He warned him that Queen Maebh's army was marching on Ulster.

by Nicola Colton, courtesy of AskaboutIreland.ie, CC0 (no rights reserved), see https://creativecommons.org/about/cc0

Enlarge image

Cuchulainn: a superhero from long ago

Cuchulainn is a very important character in Irish mythology. He was the son of the Celtic god Lug. He is believed to have been born in the Northern Ireland at a place called Eamhain Macha, Co. Armagh. This was the Royal house of Ulster. When he was born he was called Setanta. He was brought up by the nobility of Ulster. They taught him wisdom, eloquence and justice for the weak. He trained to be a warrior by going to Scotland but he later returned to Ireland.

In his youth, Setanta becomes a very skillful hurler. He is invited to a feast hosted by Conchobar Mac Nessa who was the King of Ulster. When he arrives at the palace he is attacked by the ferocious hound of a chieftain named Culann. The hound ('cú' in Irish) was guarding the palace. He was named Cuchulainn following his killing of the hound. Cuchulainn means ‘hound of Culann’ because Setanta said to Culann that he would replace the dead guard hound.

An interesting piece of information was that he was believed to have a fierce temper. It was said that it took three vats of ice cold water to cool down him down!

A character profile (below) can be done on Cuchulainn to explain his significance as a superhero within the story.

For greater detail on Cuchulainn, see Lady Gregory's book 'Cuchulain Of Muirthemne'.

Different approaches to reading ‘The Cattle Raid of Cooley’

a) Traditional approach: The teacher reads the story ‘The Cattle raid of Cooley’ using feeling and intonation to create the variety of emotions contained in the story.  The children listen.

b) A professional storyteller approach: A storyteller tells the story with feeling and intonation.

c) An interactive reading of the book: This is an E-book which presents the story using text, pictures and audio. It is suitable for an interactive board or individual PCs, laptops or tablets.

Analysis of the story

a)  Analysis and summary of plot and key events: The teacher discusses the plot or storyline by asking the children to recall key events. By recording these key events the children can be assisted in summarising the story. A plot tracker sheet (below) can be used to guide this activity.

b) Identifying and finding examples of certain features of the story: The teacher discusses the story with the children asking them to suggest examples of the following features:

- colourful, striking or informative passages or phrases.

- examples of exaggeration.

- descriptions of ‘superhero’ type qualities in the characters.

- examples of repetition and number.

- interesting plot lines or surprising elements.

- examples of mini stories within the story.

- a moral/lesson or how good overcomes evil.

c) Following this discussion the children can work on a rubric* individually, in pairs or up to groups with each person having a specific element to identify. The rubric is available to download and print below. The features of the story listed in (b) are included in the rubric. The children find their own examples under each heading.

* Rubric: A matrix for measuring a language activity against criteria or under specific headings.

d) The individuals, pairs or groups report back giving their examples of the features of the story. The teacher compiles the results on the whiteboard using the rubric.