unless naked women go to him.”
If you're in fear of being slaughtered, unleash the naked women.
14 Matching Annotations
- Jan 2020
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earlybritishlit.pressbooks.com earlybritishlit.pressbooks.com
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the wild deer behind his chariot, and the flock of swans flying over it, and the three heads in his chariot.
Quite the epic return.
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“to have them dead or alive?”
Symbolic repetition of this phrase-he aims to please & impress.
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”Here is the javelin for him to confuse him, so that it may make a red-sieve of him,”
A javelin is a spear meant for throwing, in this case a weapon meant to put a hole in his opponent-hence "red-sieve"
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and his head.
Taking the head of an opponent as a trophy and proof of victory is a common theme in stories of this era.
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“for unless you reach him in the first thrust, you will not reach him till evening.”
He is in for a long battle unless he is able to immediately kill him on his first attempt.
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for this was a breach of geis
A breach of contract.
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“To try my hand and the straightness of my throw,” said Cuchulainn;
Cuchulainn is an expert hurler.
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He broke twelve chariots in this way.
Emphasizing Cuchulainn's great strength.
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“provided I be famous, I am content though I were but one day in the world.”
A modernized euphemism of this could be thought of as, "fifteen minutes of fame"
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learning magic from him.
Magic is a concept often emphasized in early British Literature, with particular Irish influence, (i.e, Merlin)
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Connacht.
Connacht is a province of West Ireland.
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after killing Culann’s fierce guard-dog in self-defense and offered to take its place until a replacement could be reared.
Culann was a smith in Irish Mythology and was friends with (Setanta)'s Uncle, the king of Ulster Conchobor mac Nessa. During a feast between the two, Setanta was outside playing & when the two men realized they'd forgotten about him, Culann released his watchdog which Setanta killed in self-defense. For this he was renamed Cu Chulainn-"Culann's hound".
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pressbooks.pub pressbooks.pub
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where he has to fight off a knight that he cannot seem to kill and fight off the many advances of a married lady that he cannot seem to quell
Is this in reference to Sir Gawain & The Green Knight, perhaps?
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