Lyrics - The Story by Horslips

One night in bed, the promiscuous
Connacht
Queen,
Maeve, quarrels with herhusband
Ailill.
They argue over who has the most wealth.
Ailill doesn'tlike the suggestion that he's a kept man. "
Her words were sharp; they cuthim deep, in a war between the sheets".
Ailill's magnificent
White
Bull isthe deciding factor in their subsequent measuring of possessions.
Maeve'sa bad loser.
Mac
Roth, her messenger, goes to
Cooley to rent the famed
Brown
Bull for a year, thus giving
Maeve the decider. "
I once told her whereshe could find her dream".
The
Bull's owner is agreeable until
Mac
Roth andhis party get very drunk and reveal that had they not been allowed to borrowthe bull they would have taken it by force.
The deal breaks down.
They gohome emptyhanded.
Maeve decides on war.
Having marshalled all her warriors, and allies from
Munster and
Tara, andwith
Ailill's six brothers and their armies standing by
Maeve receivesfavourable omens from her
Druids.
The long march to
Cooley begins. "
Thechampions and the
Seven
Sons are come to take away the
Donn".
However, asorceress appears and warns
Maeve of impending defeat at the hand of
Dearg
Doom,
Cu
Chulainn. "
Saw the host stained red in war, saw the hero-lightaround the head of a dragon-boy".
The warning is ignored.
Meanwhile, the men of
Ulster are ill with labour pains - the legacy of acurse put on them for their inhuman treatment of a pregnant woman.
The oneman exempt from this curse is
Cu
Chulainn, whose very birth is shrouded inmystery.
Singlehandedly he takes on the defence of
Ulster, harassing
Maeve'ssoldiers, "
And like a hawk
I'll swoop and swoop again", beheading those whostray from the main force. "
You can hear me shout 'two heads are better thannone.
One hundred heads are so much better than one'".
Cu
Chulainn is ahard man.
Originally called
Setanta, he became known as
Cu
Chulainn, the
Hound of
Culann, because of his savagery.
As the
Connacht losses growgreater, the deposed
King of
Ulster,
Fergus
Mac
Roich, who is having a secretaffair with
Maeve, meets
Cu
Chulainn and arranges a treaty.
Cu
Chulainnagrees to singlehanded combat with any
Connacht champion provided
Maeve'sarmy does not advance.
One by one, day after day he defeats each warrioruntil eventually he faces his old foster-brother and close friend
Ferdia.
Cu
Chulainn pleads with
Ferdia to leave. "
But
Ferdia just laughed and shookhis golden head and then they fell to battle again".
For three days theyfight at a ford and appear evenly matched until on the third day
Cu
Chulainnflies into a rage and lets loose his supernatural javelin, the terrible
Gae
Bolga, which destroys his friend.
As
Ferdia falls
Cu
Chulainn catches himand carries him to the riverbank, lamenting. "
Life was a game,
Now
I missyour name; your golden hair".
Then overcome by despair
Cu
Chulainn abandonsthe fight.
Maeve's army moves south with the stolen bull.
The
Ulster men rally andwith
Cu
Chulainn in their ranks they give chase. "
But before you hit off,let me say this time you bit off more than you can chew".
The
Morrigan,
Queen of
Demons, who has been encouraging slaughter all along, prophesiesthe outcome.
In the battle which follows the
Connacht army is routed."
It seems our fortunes lied despite our gain.
Our tears fall like ourpride".
Maeve's life is spared by
Cu
Chulainn.
As the
Ulstermen are takingthe
Brown
Bull home, they meet
Ailill's
Bull, the
White-
Horned one.
The
Donnimmediately attacks the
White. "
You can fool them alright but can you foolthe beast"?
All day and night they are locked in combat.
Morning sees the
Donn victorious.
The armies consider destroying him, the cause of all theirsuffering, but leave him as, dying, he staggers homewards.

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