The Story lyrics

Artist  : Horslips 
Song : The Story



 Send "The Story" Ringtone to your Cell 

 One night in bed, the promiscuous Connacht Queen,
Maeve, quarrels with her
husband Ailill.  They
argue over who has the most wealth.  Ailill
doesn't
like the suggestion that he's a kept
man.  "Her words were sharp; they cut
him
deep, in a war between the sheets".  Ailill's
magnificent White Bull is
the deciding factor
in their subsequent measuring of possessions. 
Maeve's
a bad loser.  Mac Roth, her messenger,
goes to Cooley to rent the famed
Brown Bull for
a year, thus giving Maeve the decider.  "I once
told her where
she could find her dream".  The
Bull's owner is agreeable until Mac Roth
and
his party get very drunk and reveal that
had they not been allowed to borrow
the bull
they would have taken it by force.  The deal
breaks down.  They go
home emptyhanded.  Maeve
decides on war.
   Having marshalled all her
warriors, and allies from Munster and Tara,
and
with Ailill's six brothers and their
armies standing by Maeve receives
favourable
omens from her Druids.  The long march to Cooley
begins.  "The
champions and the Seven Sons are
come to take away the Donn".  However,
a
sorceress appears and warns Maeve of
impending defeat at the hand of Dearg
Doom, Cu
Chulainn.  "Saw the host stained red in war, saw
the hero-light
around the head of a
dragon-boy".  The warning is ignored.
  
Meanwhile, the men of Ulster are ill with labour
pains - the legacy of a
curse put on them for
their inhuman treatment of a pregnant woman.  The
one
man exempt from this curse is Cu Chulainn,
whose very birth is shrouded in
mystery. 
Singlehandedly he takes on the defence of Ulster,
harassing Maeve's
soldiers, "And like a hawk
I'll swoop and swoop again", beheading those
who
stray from the main force.  "You can hear
me shout 'two heads are better than
none.  One
hundred heads are so much better than one'".  Cu
Chulainn is a
hard man.  Originally called
Setanta, he became known as Cu Chulainn,
the
Hound of Culann, because of his savagery. 
As the Connacht losses grow
greater, the
deposed King of Ulster, Fergus MacRoich, who is
having a secret
affair with Maeve, meets Cu
Chulainn and arranges a treaty.  Cu
Chulainn
agrees to singlehanded combat with
any Connacht champion provided Maeve's
army
does not advance.  One by one, day after day he
defeats each warrior
until eventually he faces
his old foster-brother and close friend
Ferdia.
Cu Chulainn pleads with Ferdia to
leave.  "But Ferdia just laughed and shook
his
golden head and then they fell to battle again". 
For three days they
fight at a ford and appear
evenly matched until on the third day Cu
Chulainn
flies into a rage and lets loose his
supernatural javelin, the terrible Gae
Bolga,
which destroys his friend.  As Ferdia falls Cu
Chulainn catches him
and carries him to the
riverbank, lamenting.  "Life was a game, Now I
miss
your name; your golden hair".  Then
overcome by despair Cu Chulainn abandons
the
fight.
   Maeve's army moves south with the
stolen bull.  The Ulster men rally and
with Cu
Chulainn in their ranks they give chase.  "But
before you hit off,
let me say this time you
bit off more than you can chew".  The
Morrigan,
Queen of Demons, who has been
encouraging slaughter all along,
prophesies
the outcome.  In the battle which
follows the Connacht army is routed.
"It seems
our fortunes lied despite our gain.  Our tears
fall like our
pride".  Maeve's life is spared
by Cu Chulainn.  As the Ulstermen are
taking
the Brown Bull home, they meet Ailill's
Bull, the White-Horned one.  The
Donn
immediately attacks the White.  "You can
fool them alright but can you fool
the beast"?
 All day and night they are locked in combat. 
Morning sees the
Donn victorious.  The armies
consider destroying him, the cause of all
their
suffering, but leave him as, dying, he
staggers homewards.