The most celebrated of all these tales is what is called the _Tain_ or "Cattle spoil" of Quelna or Cooley.[53-1] Queen Maive, having some cause of quarrel with an Ulster chief, set out with her army for the north on a plundering expedition, attended by all the great heroes of Connaught. During the march northwards, the queen, as the story tells us, had nine splendid chariots for herself and her attendant chiefs, her own in the centre, with two abreast in front, two behind, and two on each side, right and left; and--in the words of the old tale--"the reason for this order was, lest the clods from the hoofs of the horses, or the foam-flakes from their mouths, or the dust raised by that mighty host, should strike and tarnish the golden diadem on the head of the queen."
[53-1] Quelna or Cooley, the ancient name of the hilly peninsula lying between the bays of Carlingford and Dundalk: the name Cooley is still retained.
The invading army entered Quelna, which was then a part of Ulster and belonged to Cuculainn. It happened just then that the men of Ulster were under a spell of feebleness, all but Cuculainn, who had to defend single-handed the several fords and passes, in a series of combats against Maive's best champions, in all of which he was victorious. But, in spite of what he could do, Queen Maive carried off nearly all the best cattle of Quelna, and, at their head, a great brown bull which indeed was what she chiefly came for. At length the Ulstermen, having been freed from the spell, attacked and routed the Connaught army. The battles, single combats, and other incidents of this war are related in the Tain, which consists of one main story, with about thirty minor tales grouped round it. Another Red Branch story is the Fate of the Sons of Usna, which has been always a favourite with Irish story-tellers, and with the Irish people in general, and which is now given here, translated in full.
[Illustration: A "Cromlech," an ancient Irish tomb: still to be seen in its place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. This is rather a small one, the covering stone being only about 6-1/2 feet long. Some cromlechs are very large: one at Kilternan near Dublin has a covering stone 23-1/2 feet long, 17 feet broad, and 6-1/2 feet thick: and no one can tell how the people of old lifted it up.]