An establishing shot shows Emer's quarters in the women's longhouse. We see a rough chest against a back wall of logs, a heather bed covered in furs against the wall at one side of the frame, a tapestry affording some privacy at the other. The Gae Bolg leans against the back wall next to the chest. Cuchulainn is sitting on the bed with his head in his hands, utterly dejected. Emer is kneeling in front of him, looking up at him earnestly. There is no background music.
Emer (very softly): "I'm so sorry! We ruined everything! We tried so hard, my love! We told her she could have you. And then she switched sides on us! She said we must love you the more, to give you up. Then we said we were leaving you anyway. But she wouldn't believe us, she went back to her husband, and nothing would stay her." (Her voice becomes wondering.) "How could she leave you now, with Ferdia gone?"
Cuchulainn (faintly): I've lost both of them….
A few seconds of miserable silence follow. Then Emer has an idea.
Emer (hopefully): All is not lost. Aifa bore you a son, all those years ago. One day he will come, and you will know joy again.
The scene ends in a slow fade to black. Then we fade quickly into a closeup of Emer, pacing the floor in the same room. A solo violin plays the tune of 'A’ the Week yer Man’s Awa’'.
Emer: "Who is this boy from the far northern islands who has defeated so many warriors? Why does he not give his name?"
Cuchulainn (arming himself with calm deliberation): "I must defend Uillaid. It is my geise."
He takes the Gae Bolg from against the back wall. Emer rises, putting her arms around his neck.
Emer (moans): "Don't leave, dear heart, don't leave! For the fear is in me that you go to slay your own son!"
Cuchulainn puts the Gae Bolg on the bed, where it is clearly in view.
Cuchulainn (gently removing Emer's arms from around his neck, his hands over hers): "Ach, now, we don't know who he is."
They do not let go each other's hands.
Emer (piteously): "The Gae Bolg is an evil thing. With it you killed your dearest friend. Now you will kill your child."
We see Cuchulainn on a sand beach edged by deep forest. He is almost in silhouette. The forest is at his left, and he is standing over the dead body of a red haired teenaged boy. Cuchulainn's back is to the camera, but he is turned slightly to his right as he stands with one foot on either side of the body, which is drenched in blood. The Gae Bolg is sticking out of the body.
Next we see a closeup of the bloodsoaked left hand of the boy. There is one gold ring on the middle finger. Cuchulainn's hand comes through the top of the frame, gently lifts the hand and holds it still for four seconds. There is utter silence in this scene, except for the quiet, rhythmical lapping of waves upon the shore and one seagull cry at the very beginning.
We see Cuchulainn thigh deep in Skatha's bog, holding the Gae Bolg in his right hand. We see him from behind, slightly to his right. He is toward the left side of the frame. He throws the Gae Bolg away from the camera toward his right, part way across the frame. It sinks into the bog.
Cuchulainn (shouts): "Sink to the bowels of the earth, instrument of evil, and never again cross the paths of men."
In a wide angle shot we see him from behind amid the expanse of the bog, throwing back his head, his arms hanging at his sides. He utters a cry from the heart, his voice carrying far into the still air.
"Skatha! If only I had known! The secret of the Gae Bolg! There is no victory with the Gae Bolg! No victory!"
His torso and head lean to the right in abject defeat, his arms hanging at his side. His voice cracks in despair, and his body is racked with grief.
"It will always kill those one loves."
He is almost whispering, but magically we still hear him.
"That is the secret ...of the Gae Bolg."
A closeup shows Laeg in a plain room with wooden walls. Emer is pacing behind him and his back is to her. We hear, very faint in the background, the slow strains of 'Clerk Saunders' played on a violin.
Laeg (to himself): "Where has he gone, to fight this imaginary enemy?"
The camera tracks alongside Emer in closeup as she paces back and forth.
Emer: "They told him to go for his own honour, and I convinced him it was a trick. Then they told him to go for loyalty to Eireaan, and I convinced him it was sorcery. Then they told him to go for love of me, and I could not convince him any more, for they said I was under a spell myself. And all the time I heard nothing of what they spoke. One of the Lordly Ones wishes evil on my husband. I wish I knew their magic!"
Laeg's voice (out of frame): "Cuchulainn is as much theirs as ours. He'll call on his father to help him." As he speaks Emer sits down on a bench by the bare window.
Emer (looking up in misery): "Only if he thinks the danger is from his father's world. He's convinced that Eireaan is under attack by the other island. And he'll walk into a trap. He's surrounded by illusions. He thinks an army is with him. And nobody's with him."
We look up at grey cloudy skies with golden light behind them, and hear the tune of 'She Moved Through the Fair'. The camera tilts downward to show Cuchulainn some distance away beside a still grey bog, mortally wounded, clutching his abdomen. The camera tracks to the right to keep him in centre frame as he staggers over to a standing stone.
It moves into medium range as, leaning with his back to the stone, Cuchulainn removes his cloak. He wraps it around the stone, tying it around his torso. It is so broad that it holds his whole torso in place and takes his weight. His legs are failing him and he slumps with his head to his left.
The camera then tilts upward to show a raven in that grey sky with its strange light. The music ends. The camera tilts down to the previous image of Cuchulainn, and with a rustling of wings the raven lands on top of the standing stone.
Cuchulainn is seen in extreme closeup. He does not move his head, so it is surprising when he addresses the raven since it does not appear that he had any way of knowing it was there. When he speaks it is turning his head toward the camera, eyes down, his left cheek against the stone.
Cuchulainn (through his teeth, still without moving his head): "Morigan."
Morigan's voice (out of frame, taunting): "Don't tell me. You won't die lying down. You realize it's not a Gaelic stone that keeps you from grovelling in the dirt like a dog." Her voice becomes soft with contempt. "Yet you would be their hound! Have you no pride, dog of the Gaels? You are a traitor, and your father was a traitor, and now he is no more. He passed away, never to be seen again. But I survived, and I will live forever. They all pass on, and only I remain."
Cuchulainn (hoarsely): "They turn to gold."
Morigan (with measured softness): "Well, we know only what we know." She pauses. "You really thought the men of Eireaan were beside you." There is another pause. "It was wonderful how you kept throwing them your weapons when they lost theirs, right up to the last one. And then I had you."
Cuchulainn: "You'll never have me."
Morigan's voice: "Won't I?" She pauses again. "Let me make a deal with you, Cuchulainn. How would you like to go back to Emer healed and healthy, and live a pleasant life among the people you love?"
Cuchulainn: "Is there a price?"
Morigan's voice: "Not really. You'd be living a comfortable life, and no one would be glad when you died. The world would be the same as if you had not been born." There is a pause. "A small price to pay for Emer's happiness." Her voice becomes caressingly soft. "She loves you, you know. How can you be cruel to her? It's a wrong thing."
Cuchulainn: "The man she loves is not that kind of man. She wants me back, not another."
Morigan's voice: "Consider the alternative. You'll die here, and I will be the first to pick out your eyes before you are even gone. Aren't you afraid to die, Cuchulainn? It's a wretched end for so mighty a warrior. And all for nothing. Two nations so different in character can never live in peace. Didn't you know it was impossible?"
There is silence. She continues, her voice suddenly louder.
"All my magic can't change people's opinions. I'd spread slander about you throughout Eireaan if I could, but no one would believe me."
She pauses again, then continues tauntingly.
"So that is what you want. To be an inspiration to future ages, a shining example of what a man can be. Oh, don't tell me. The great Cuchulainn, Champion of Eireaan, whose memory will support them in the final hour." Her voice becomes bitter. "The dead Cuchulainn, you mean. What can it avail you if you're dead anyway? You won't even be here to see it, so who cares? Have a sense of reality."
Cuchulainn still does not speak.
"So, Champion of Eireaan, I give you a choice. Be Champion of Eireaan, with all it'll do for you in the next five minutes. And may it be a comfort to you in those five minutes you have left before you die. Or give up your hollow dream of greatness and return to Emer, and live a comfortable life. A nice life. A life anyone would want."
Cuchulainn (fainting): "I choose to be Champion of Eireaan."
Morigan's voice: "Then you are a fool."
There is a rustling sound. The camera tracks upward along the stone, then tilts to look up at the raven, which flaps its wings and flies up into the strange, overcast sky.
A wide angle shot shows Cuchulainn dying at the standing stone, utterly alone –an enduring symbol of the Gael eternally bound to Faery legacy. The breeze runs through his hair and clothing.
The narrator from the beginning is heard in a voiceover, sounding very close by. The soliloquy is accompanied by the distant sound of 'How Can I Keep from Singing', played on the Uillean pipes. It takes up about half of the tune. The second half continues into the silence, and the scene ends with a slow fade.
"We have moved on, Cuchulainn. You belong to an age that has passed into memory.
"Yet each day of our lives we carry in our hearts the gift that you brought to our people–
"Between two races as different as night and day, a love that can never die...
"Because in that time, so very long ago,
"You were Champion of Eireaan."
illustration courtesy of Phillip Bernhardt-House
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