There are many great warriors in Celtic mythology, but Cú Chulainn often stands out as the wisest and fiercest. In the Táin Bó Cúailnge, an epic first passed down orally and later written around 600 AD in Ireland, he single-handedly defeats an entire army. Echoes of this story appear in Scottish folklore, and parallels in Welsh mythology imply a more ancient and widespread origin. In the Irish manuscripts, Cú Chulainn defends Ulster during a royal cattle raid as Queen Medb seeks to steal a power