Luyện nghe bài hát The Story

One in bed, the promiscuous Connacht Queen, Maeve, quarrels with her
husband Ailill. They over who has the most wealth. Ailill doesn't
the suggestion that he's a kept man. "Her words were sharp; they cut
him deep, in a war between the sheets". magnificent White Bull is
the deciding in their subsequent measuring of possessions. Maeve's
a bad loser. Mac Roth, her messenger, goes to Cooley to the famed
Brown Bull for a year, thus giving Maeve the decider. "I once told her
she could find her dream". The owner is agreeable until Mac Roth and
his party get very drunk and reveal that had they not been to borrow
the bull they would have taken it by force. The breaks down. They go
home emptyhanded. decides on war.
Having marshalled all her warriors, and allies Munster and Tara, and
with Ailill's six brothers and their standing by Maeve receives
favourable omens from her Druids. The long march to begins. "The
and the Seven Sons are come to take away the Donn". However, a
sorceress appears and Maeve of impending defeat at the hand of Dearg
Doom, Cu Chulainn. "Saw the host red in war, saw the hero-light
around the of a dragon-boy". The warning is ignored.
Meanwhile, the men of Ulster are ill with pains - the legacy of a
curse put on for their inhuman treatment of a pregnant woman. The one
man exempt from this is Cu Chulainn, whose very birth is shrouded in
mystery. Singlehandedly he takes on the defence of Ulster, harassing
soldiers, "And like a hawk I'll swoop and swoop again", beheading who
stray from the main force. "You can hear me shout 'two are better than
none. One hundred heads are so much better than one'". Cu is a
hard man. called Setanta, he became known as Cu Chulainn, the
of Culann, because of his savagery. As the Connacht losses grow
greater, the King of Ulster, Fergus MacRoich, who is having a secret
affair Maeve, meets Cu Chulainn and arranges a treaty. Cu Chulainn
agrees to singlehanded combat with any Connacht champion Maeve's
army does not advance. One by one, day after day he defeats warrior
until eventually he faces his old foster-brother and close Ferdia.
Cu Chulainn pleads with Ferdia to leave. "But Ferdia laughed and shook
his golden head and they fell to battle again". For three days they
fight at a ford and evenly matched until on the third day Cu Chulainn
flies into a rage and lets loose his javelin, the terrible Gae
Bolga, which destroys his friend. As Ferdia falls Cu catches him
and him to the riverbank, lamenting. "Life was a game, Now I miss
name; your golden hair". Then overcome by despair Cu Chulainn abandons
the fight.
Maeve's moves south with the stolen bull. The Ulster men rally and
with Cu Chulainn in their they give chase. "But before you hit off,
let me say this you bit off more than you can chew". The Morrigan,
Queen of Demons, who has been encouraging all along, prophesies
the outcome. In the battle follows the Connacht army is routed.
"It seems our fortunes despite our gain. Our tears fall like our
pride". Maeve's is spared by Cu Chulainn. As the Ulstermen are taking
the Brown Bull home, they meet Ailill's Bull, the White-Horned one. The
immediately attacks the White. "You can fool alright but can you fool
the beast"? All day and night are locked in combat. Morning sees the
Donn victorious. The armies destroying him, the cause of all their
suffering, but leave him as, dying, he homewards.