Cuchulainn:
(Irish)
Before his fifth birthday, when he was already as strong as a man, he heard of the "boy corps" of his uncle Conchobar and went to test them, taking his club, ball, spear, and javelin. At Emain he joined the boys at play without permission; but since this was an insult to them they set upon him, throwing at him clubs, spears, and balls, all of which he fended off, besides knocking down fifty of the boys, while his "contortion" seized him - the first reference to this curious phenomenon, which is similar to the "beserker" of Norse mythology. Conchobar interfered, but Cuchulainn would not stop until all the boys acknowleged his status. At Conchobar's court he performed extraordinary feats and defeated a band of invaders when the Ulstermen were unable to do so. He was named Setanta at birth, and got the name Cuchulainn in the following way. Culann the smith had prepared a banquet for Conchobar, who, on his way to it, saw him playing the field at ball against three hundred and fifty others; and though he bade him follow, Setanta refused to come until the play was over. While the banquet was progressing, Culann let loose his great watch-dog, which had the strength of a hundred, and when Setanta reached the fort, the beast attacked him, whereupon he thrust his ball into its mouth, and seizing its hind legs, battered it against a rock. Culann complained that the safe-guard of his flocks and herds was destroyed, but the boy said that he would act as watch-dog until a whelp of its breed was ready; and Cathbad the Druid now gave him the name Cu-Chulainn, or "Culann's Dog." This adventure took place before he was seven years old. One day Cuchulainn overheard Cathbad saying that whatever stripling assumed arms on that day would have a short life, but would be the greatest of warriors. He now demanded arms from Conchobar, but broke every set of weapons given him until he received Conchobar's own sword and shield; he also destroyed seventeen chariots, so that nothing but Conchobar's own chariot sufficed him. Cuchulainn made the charioteer drive fast and far until they reached the home of the sons of Nechtan, each of whom he fought and slew, cutting off their heads; while on his return he killed two huge stags and then captured twenty-four wild swans, fastening all these to the chariot. From afar Levarcham, the prophetess, saw the strange cavalcade approaching Emain and bade all be on their guard, else the warrior would slay them; but Conchobar alone knew who he was and recognized the danger from a youth whose appetite for slaughter had been whetted. A stratagem was adopted, based upon Cuchulainn's well-known modesty. A hundred and fifty women with uncovered breasts were sent to meet him, and while he averted his face, he was seized and plunged into vessels of cold water. The first burst asunder; the water of the second boiled with the heat from his body; that of the third became warm; and thus his rage was calmed.