The Deaths of Lugaid and Derbforgaill

• Characters
• Derbforgaill - daughter of King of Norway
• handmaiden - accompanies Derbforgaill
• Cuchulainn - epic hero?
• Lugaid - foster-brother of Cuchulainn
• Plot
• Derbforgaill, with her handmaiden, sets out to meet Cuchulian by transforming into swans and flying to him. Unfortunately, Cuchulainn throws a stone at the birds, striking Derbforgaill, passing through her ribs and into her womb. This wound dispells their transformation, turning the swans back to their human forms. Derbforgaill complains to Cuchulian of his cruelty. Repenting, Cuchulian uses his mouth to suck the stone out, saving her. Having been saved and now back in love, Derbforgaill tells Cuchulainn that she had came to see him. But do to his oral surgery, he says he cannot be with her. She says, "Fine, I will be with whoever you want me to be with." So Cuchulainn tells her to be with the noble Lugaid. She consents, satisfied that she will still be able to see Cuchulainn, and bears Lugaid his children.
• In winter, there is a little game. The men build pillars of snow and the woman are tested to see who can pee through the snow. Of course, the woman who accomplishes this task the best is the most desirable. All the women fail. Derbforgaill thinks the game is silly, but she is made to participate. When she succeeds brilliantly, the other women are jealous. They proceed to rip her eyes, nose, ears, and hair off. Only after the great urinating Derbforgaill is disfigured will the other women have a chance with the men. The jealous mob take the tortured Derbforgaill back to her house.
• Cuchuliann, who is with Lugaid off in the distance, finds it suspicious that Derbforgaill's house is covered with snow. Lugaid concludes Derbforgaill must be dying, if her house is covered by snow, perhaps some sort of terrible omen. They rush to the house. Hearing them arrive, Derbforgaill locks them out, not wanting them to see the horrible sight the jealous mob turned her into. She wants them to remember her how they last saw her. Derbforgaill dies. When they enter, Lugaid holds her corpse, and dies himself in his anguish. Cuchulainn expresses his anger more outwardly, tracking down and killing 150 women from the mob. (After all, "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.") Cuchulainn buries Derbforgaill and Lugaid together.
• Metaphors
• We were asked to read this tale metaphorically. We'll give it an attempt:
• Derbforgaill and her handmaiden don't literaly turn to swans. Instead, they travel in disguise in the most innocent manner. Think Rhaenyra sneaking into King's Landing dressed as Septa Unella. The great hero Cuchuliann does not literally throw a stone into Derbforgaill's womb. Instead, he impregnates her. Ashamed of his relations with this innocent woman, he provides for her an abortion.
• While the rest of the story is silly, it does not have these magical elements. My preference, therefore, is to read them more literally. As I mentioned above, I like the Eddard Stark style of justice.