Ferdia- Celtic HeroHero"Champion of Connacht"

Training Under Scáthach

Ferdia was a warrior of the Fír Bolg who trained in the martial arts under the warrior-woman Scáthach in her fortress in Alba. There he and Cú Chulainn became foster-brothers and close companions, learning the feats of arms together and fighting side by side. Ferdia possessed a skin of horn, a magical hide that no weapon could pierce. When his training was complete, he entered the service of Connacht and became one of Queen Medb's champions.

The Ford

During the Táin Bó Cúailnge, when the men of Ulster lay stricken by Macha's curse and Cú Chulainn alone defended the province through single combat at the ford, Medb needed a champion capable of defeating him. She turned to Ferdia. He refused at first, unwilling to fight his foster-brother, but Medb promised land and wealth, offered the hand of her daughter Finnabair, and sent satirists to shame him publicly. At last Ferdia agreed and went to the ford.

The Four Days of Combat

The combat between Ferdia and Cú Chulainn lasted four days, and each day they fought with different weapons, testing each other with increasing ferocity. At the end of each day's fighting they sent each other food and healing herbs, honouring their bond even as they tried to kill one another. On the fourth day, with both men exhausted and wounded, Cú Chulainn resorted to the Gáe Bolga, the barbed spear he had learned to use from Scáthach. He cast it with his foot into the water of the ford, and it struck Ferdia beneath his horn skin, tearing through his body. Ferdia fell, and Cú Chulainn caught him and carried him to the Ulster side of the ford so that he would not die among his enemies.

Cú Chulainn's Lament

After Ferdia's death, Cú Chulainn delivered a lament over his foster-brother's body. He praised Ferdia's courage and beauty, mourned the bond they had shared since their youth under Scáthach, and cursed Medb for having forced the contest: "All was play, all was sport, until Ferdia came to the ford." The killing left Cú Chulainn so weakened in body and spirit that his father Lugh came from the Otherworld to heal his wounds while he slept.