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The Curse of Macha: Many years later, after her death, Macha returned to Ulster as a supernatural being, appearing in the dwelling of Crundchu, a wealthy Ulster farmer and taking on the duties of mistress of the household they lived as husband and wife. There was an assembly of the Ultonians, who reigned Ulster at that time, an occasion of feasting, music and horse-racing, which Crundchu was going to attend but Macha begged him not to go. He however insisted so Macha asked that he did not speak of her, because she told him she could only remain so long as she was never spoken of to others. Crundchu agreed and left for the festivities, where upon the King’s 2 horses won all the horse racing events and the cry went up that "there is not in Ireland a swifter than the King’s pair of horses, and Crundchu in a moment of forgetfulness claimed that he had a wife at home who could run quicker than the horses. Crundchu was seized and the angry King summoned Macha before the assembly to race with his horses. Macha was heavily pregnant with twins and pleaded with the king for mercy, begging for pardon that in her condition she could not race. However, the King was hearing none of it and Macha said "Then bring up the horses, and because you have no pity a heavier infamy shall fall upon you". Macha raced the 2 horses and outran them but at the end of the race she went into labour, gave birth to twins but she died as a result. However, as she was in labour, so too did the spectators feel her pain and Macha prophesised "From this hour the shame you have wrought on me will fall upon each man of Ulster. In the hours of your greatest need ye shall be weak and helpless as women in childbirth, and this shall endure for 5 days and 4 nights, to the 9th generation the curse shall be upon you."
This is a sad tale of Macha’s plight as avenger of wrongdoings. She knew it was her destiny to return to Ulster and place the curse on the land, as she had watched how the Ultonians were reigning terror on the people, the same terror she managed to avert when Dithorba was next in line to the sovernity. The Ultonians were treating women as lesser individuals and indulging in the power of being in control of the Kingdom, a land where people, men and women were being treated unfairly and ruled in terror of their King. Macha begged the King for mercy, as she was a merciful person and tried to avert having to lay down the curse on the land - her land and her people. But she knew she had a mission to fulfil and that she had to try to make right the wrongs that were happening to her Ulster, her Ireland. Macha too wanted to show to the men who were treating women unfairly, that without women, mankind cannot exist, women were needed to ensure the continuum of the race of man. And women did have warlike qualities, like Macha proved when she outran the kings horses but they also had a dual purpose in that they were providers of life, and that it was wrong to treat women unfairly and unjustly. Women had an equal place in the kingdom and their qualities were very valuable, and necessary
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