Publisher's Synopsis
Tain Bo Cuailnge "the driving-off of cows of Cooley," more usually rendered The Cattle Raid of Cooley or The Tain) is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse. It tells of a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, opposed only by the teenage Ulster hero Cu Chulainn. A similar tale set in the West of Ireland is Tain Bo Flidhais. Traditionally set in the 1st century AD in an essentially pre-Christian heroic age, the Tain is the central text of a group of tales known as the Ulster Cycle. It survives in two main written versions or "recensions" in 12th century manuscripts, the first a compilation largely written in Old Irish, the second a more consistent work in Middle Irish.
