Fadó, fadó, Connacht was ruled by Queen Maeve and her husband, Ailill. They always boasted to each other about all of the fine things that they had. Ailill then boasted about his white bull, Finnbhennach, and Queen

Maeve realised that she had no bull as great as Finnbhennach in her herds. She was very jealous.

Queen Maeve asked her druid for help: “How can I get a bull like Finnbhennach?”

The druid told Queen Maeve that the bull she needed was in Ulster. It was a great brown bull and was owned by a man called Daire Mac Fiacha, who lived in Cooley. Maeve sent her messengers to Cooley to speak to Daire. In return for loaning her his bull, Daire was promised

fifty heifers. Daire was thrilled and arranged a feast for the messengers before they left Cooley.

At the feast, one of the messengers teased Daire. He said that if Daire had not agreed to give the bull to Queen Maeve, they would have taken it anyway. Daire was furious! He banished Queen Maeve’s messengers

from Cooley and kept the bull.

Maeve was certain that she would have the bull. She gathered her army and sent them to Ulster. When the army reached Ulster,

they met with Cú Chulainn and the boys of the Red Branch, who defended Ulster.

Cú Chulainn met Queen Maeve and agreed that everyday he would fight one member

of her army. Each day that passed, Cú Chullainn won.

After some time, Cú Chulainn asked the boys of the Red Branch to fight against Queen Maeve’s army and defend Ulster. Cú Chulainn then laid down and fell into a deep sleep. Queen Maeve

seized her opportunity. During the battle, she sent some of her men to take the bull.

When Cú Chulainn woke up, he found that most

of the Red Branch had been killed by Queen Maeve’s army. She went to her castle and ordered

that the bull would be put in a big pen for safekeeping.

When Ailill’s bull, Finnbhennach, heard the brown bull of Cooley, it became very angry. It rushed to fight the brown bull. Finnbhennach

charged at the brown bull of Cooley but the brown bull killed Finnbhennach immediately. The brown bull then charged home but

when he arrived, his heart burst and he died.

In the end, a war had been fought. Despite all of their boasting, neither Queen Maeve nor Ailill had a bull. They were even at last.