When you are passing through the General Post Office on O'Connell Street in Dublin, you might notice there's a bronze statue of a guy and a bird on his shoulder. Seems like another piece of statue like all the other statue's along O'Connell street but this guy is in fact the greatest ever Irish Warior. His name is Cuchulain (pronounce as Coo-Hoo-Lin). He is,as we put the same as the our beloved legendary 'takkan melayu hilan di dunia' Hang Tuah or the vommiteating warrior Badang in Malay folkfore or some researchers say the same as Achilles of Troy (in fact Cuchulain is also given the nickname of Achilles of Erin).
Cuchulain had a different named when he was a boy, he was name Setanta. In the mythology he is the son of god Lugh and Deichtine, sister of the King of Ulster. He grew up in Ireland in County Antrim. Setanta had a stick and ball and one day while playing around, he hit the ball and it went into the mouth of a big dog that belong to Culain(random guy) and choked the poor dog. Culain was angry and wondered who's going to guard his house and his beautiful wife and his ten small children as well as numerous pigs, hens, sheep(wow he must have acres of land!)?
Setanta apologized and vowed to guard Culain house with his stick and ball and changed his name to Cuchulain which means 'The Hound of Culain'. He guarded the house and regions beyond and became a great hero far better/stronger/faster/super than Hercules or Achilles. The Irish brags that Cuchulain can take on King Arthur and all his knights in a fair fight,but of course with the Englishman you will never had a fair fight. Hmm wonder who would win if he fight with our Hang Tuah with the Taming Sari of his.
Lough Neagh, the largest lake of Ireland was where Cuchulain would swim after his battles. Cuchulain would get so hot that when he jumped into Lough Neagh it boiled over and warmed the surrounding countryside for days(free heating service!). He will catch the eels with his barehands from the lough and swallow them because in the myth raw eels will give you powers beyond doubt.
Cuchulain was killed by Lugaid with a magical spear. Being wounded he tied himself to a stone so that he can face his enemy even when he is dead. You can find this stone at Knockbrigde, County Louth which is call The Standing Stone of Cuchulain and it is still standing!
Cuchulain enemies were still afraid of him that they sent a raven to his corpse and only when the raven lands on Cuchulain shoulder will the enemies believe he is dead. Lugaid then chopped Cuchulain's head off but as he did so Cuchulain's sword fall off and cut Lugaid hand(hahahaha fair play to you Sir Lugaid with your magical voodoo spear!)
I know this post it's now very very long but hang on..here's the funny part, it is about Cuchulain marriage. Cuchulain was twenty one and he had the urge to get marry like young male adults do;D He was lonely and it made him weak. All the women in Ireland were mad about Cuchulain and they wanted to marry him which is grand because he didnt mind marrying them all as he can easily beat the crap of all the irish man in Ireland so why cant he marry all the women. But the wise King, Conor MacNessa said that would make all men in Ireland lonely in far reaches of night esp. in winter when the night is very long. The King decided to organize a contest to see who shall marry Cuchulain and it is a "Pissing Contest"..yup PISSING! Imagine that guys and girls!
All the women of Ireland gather in the King Castle to see who could piss the longest and it was Emer. Emer was the Champion Pisser of Ireland and married Cuchulain. To this day Emer was called The Great Bladdered Emer!
Thats the end of Cuchulain, his statue was presented to the public in the G.P.O to commerate the people who died in the Easter Week event.
So folks! When you pass by the GPO do pay a visit to Cuchulain,and if you have a camera please do take a picture of it. Who knows it may be a great story to tell your family, children and of course your grandchildren. Hey, a cool grandpa/ma is the one who tell loads of amazing stories.
Thanks for reading this long post guys! To the final years..goodluck in your upcoming exam..hope u all have an awesome time studying! haha;D may God bless your hard work!
Stay positive..pissssss out fellas!
Cuchulain Statue in GPOReferences:
1)Angela's Ashes by Frank Mc Court
2)Wikipedia
