Ulster

Stories tagged Ulster:

• The O’Neill Banshee Aug 13, 2025

  

  There are banshees who howl like broken weather and banshees who keen like a thread drawn through cloth. The O’Neills knew theirs by the latter sound—a soft lament that ran under the wind like a river under ice.

  On the night the old lord took to his bed, a milk-grey mist wandered up from the fields and a hawthorn at the gate grew suddenly white with bloom though it was not spring. The keen began just before the lamps were lit: three notes and a fall, three notes and a fall, as if someone were teaching sorrow to count.

• The Prophecy of the Morrígan Aug 13, 2025

  

  On the bend of a cold river the Morrígan came like weather. The reeds leaned when she stepped; a heron lifted and forgot to cry. Cú Chulainn—young yet, with the hunger of deeds on him—washed his spearhead and pretended not to watch.

  “You’ll be hurt,” said the woman whose eyes were storm-bell dark.

• The Story of Cúchulainn Aug 11, 2025

  

  Long ago, in the time when the ancient heroes walked the emerald hills of Ireland, there was born a child who would become the greatest warrior the world has ever known. This is the story of Cúchulainn, the Hound of Ulster, whose name still echoes through the ages like thunder across the mountains.

  The Birth of a Hero

  In the royal court of King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster, there lived a beautiful maiden named Dechtire, the king’s own sister. She was known throughout the land for her wisdom, her kindness, and her radiant beauty that seemed to carry the light of the sun itself.

• The Curse of Macha (Noínden Ulad) Aug 11, 2025

  

  In the ancient days when the warriors of Ulster were renowned throughout all of Ireland for their strength and courage, there came among them a woman whose beauty was matched only by the mystery that surrounded her. This is the tale of Macha, wife to Cruinniuc the farmer, and the terrible curse that would bring low the mightiest warriors in all the land - a curse born not of malice, but of a woman’s pain and a people’s cruelty.

• The Story of Deirdre (Exile of the Sons of Uisliu) Aug 11, 2025

  

  In the ancient days when the Red Branch Knights rode forth from Emain Macha and King Conchobar mac Nessa ruled Ulster with wisdom and strength, there was born a child whose beauty would bring both wonder and woe to all of Ireland. This is the tale of Deirdre of the Sorrows, whose very name became synonymous with love, loss, and the cruel hand of fate.

  The Prophecy of Doom

  On a wild night when the wind howled through the halls of Ulster and lightning split the sky above Emain Macha, a daughter was born to Fedlimid, the king’s chief storyteller. But even as the child drew her first breath, the court druid Cathbad felt a chill of foreboding that had nothing to do with the storm raging outside.

• The Red Hand of Ulster Aug 11, 2025

  

  Long, long ago, in the mists of ancient Ireland when the land was young and the kingdoms were still being carved from the wild places, there lived two great chiefs who both claimed the right to rule the northern province that would one day be called Ulster. Their rivalry would lead to a contest of such desperate determination that it would create the most famous symbol in all of Irish heraldry – the Red Hand of Ulster.