Cúchulainn to combat and Cúchulainn slew him. In reparation Cúchulainn had to accept Cochar Crufe’s duties as guardian of Dún Scáthach. Uathach became Cúchulainn’s mistress.

Uath Mac Imoman

[I] “Horror, son of Terror.” During the story of “Bricriu’s Feast,” Cúchulainn, Laoghaire, and Conall are sent to Oath’s Lake, where Uath dwelt, so that he should judge which of them was the greatest warrior in Ireland. Uath is said to have been able to transform himself into any shape that pleased him. Uath asked the warriors to submit to a test. They could take his axe and cut off his head, provided that he could cut theirs off the next day in turn. This is also the basic theme of the tale of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and may well be the source for the later Welsh version. In the Red Branch Cycle, Cú Roí also makes the same challenge. In the Uath tale there are two versions as to what happens. In one, both Laoghaire and Conall refuse on the grounds that they had not the power to remain alive when Uath cut their heads off, but they knew that Uath, being a sirite (elfman), had such power. The other version says that they did cut off Uath’s head, but when he picked it up and replaced it, they refused to return the next day to receive Uath’s stroke.

In both versions only Cúchulainn agreed to the conditions. When Uath came to cut off Cúchulainn’s head, the blade of the axe reversed, whereupon Uath hailed him as the true champion of Ireland. Laoghaire and Conall refuse to accept the judgment. There are other variants of the tale apart from the Uath and Cú Roí versions, including one in which a nameless churl presents himself at Bricriu’s hall and challenges all the warriors of Ulster along the same lines. This, of course, is much closer to the story recounted in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (ca. 1370), in which a green giant bursts into Arthur’s court on horseback and dares the knights to chop off his head on the condition that one year later he be allowed to return the blow. Gawain takes the role of Cúchulainn.

Ugaine Mor

[I] Sometimes given as Ugony Mór. A High King in the sixth century b.c. His rule is reported to have included all of Ireland and also Gaul. He married Cesair, a Gaulish princess, and their children were Laoghaire Lorc and Cobhthach. On his death Ireland was divided into 25 parts among his children, and that division of Ireland lasted three hundred years. The number 25 frequently appears in the myths; there are 25 battalions of the