This is a much longer chapter and there's a lot in it of note. Foremost we see the arrogance of Setanta and his unswerving faith in his own abilities. When he arrives at Emain Macha he tackles 150 of the finest boy warriors in a game of hurling (incidentally the same number of naked women that are sent to cool his anger at the end of the chapter) and bests them. But it is not enough that he is recognised and put under their protection, he continues to fight them until they are placed under his protection and acknowledge him as their equal or indeed their superior. There is also a class system evident. They have disdain for him because they think him to be only the boy of some "common fighting man". His noble birth is a large factor in their acceptance of him.
The tale of how Setanta became Cuchulain is one of the most famous in Irish legend. There are various different versions to the tale, but all agree that he set out alone after a Hurling match to follow on the the feast at the house of Chulainn and that he found the hall already shut and the great hound released. In most tales he had nothing to defend himself with except his hurley and sliotar (hurling ball). In this version of the tale the sliotar is made of silver but in many versions it is a simple leather sliotar and he kills the hound by driving the sliotar into the throut of the hound, choking it. The version here is more dramatic but sticks to the basic essentials that Setanta as a child defended himself against a great hound with only a Hurley and Sliotar. Having killed the hound, Setanta set himself in service to the Chieftan Chulainn until such time as a whelp of the breed would be raised to replace him. He recieved his name in this way, "The Hound of Chulainn" or "Cú Chulainn". This was his name ever after, and also earned him the title "The Hound of Ulster" as the champion of Ulster in later days.
For background, Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland. Ulster comprises the Northern counties of Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry (or Derry), Monaghan and Tyrone. Only 6 of the counties of Ulster now remain under English rule. The remainder are part of the Irish Republic. Of course at the time of the stories writing all of Ireland was under English rule and at the time the stories are set there was no English rule. At the time, Ireland was under the rule of Chieftans nominally answerable to the Kings who were little more than chieftains themselves. It was not until the time of Brian Boru that Ireland was united under a single king. In this respect Brian Boru is like an Irish King Arthur, but he does not enter into this story.
Finding Tolkien parallels in this chapter is difficult and in some ways pointless because the style is so different to Tolkiens. What we do have is one notable juxtaposition of elements in the tales of Huan and Cuchulain. Where Huan could only die after meeting the greatest wolf ever to live, similarly Cuchulains first two triumphs were against foes who had similar prophecies applied to them. For Foill "neither point of spear or edge of sword can harm him" and for Tuachel "if he is not killed by the first stroke, or the first cast, or the first thrust, he cannot be killed at all". In both cases Cuchulainn defeats them in accordance with the prophecies. Also, Setanta took arms on the day he did because of a prophecy that told of the man who took arms on that day that "his name will be greater than any other name in Ireland. But his span of life will be short". There is a great weight given to prophecy both in Irish Mythology and in Tolkiens Mythology.
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