Cú Roi is away, and his wife sets them each in turn to guard the castle walls at for a night. As the end of the night approaches, each of them in turn sees a giant coming towards him and on each occasion, the warrior throws a spear at this giant, missing him. Cú Roi then arrives back at his castle, knowing everything that has taken place. Cú Roi mac Dáire makes another attempt to test these three warriors later in the tale. He arrives as a giant man dressed like a churl at the king's fortress, where the champions are staying, He offers to cut a man's head off and then allow the man to cut off his own the next day. Obviously, nobody agrees to this bargain. So he agrees to offer his own neck first. When a blow is struck, however, he gathers up his head and rides away. Of those who accept this challenge, only Cú Chulainn turns up for the return blow the next day. He is given a token blow and proclaimed the most courageous of all the warriors. Regeneration A possibly 7th-century Old Welsh poem named Preideu Annwfyn, the spoils of the Otherworld, contains stanzas alluding to adventures involving Arthur, who is not a king in this poem but a mythological hero. The oblique nature of these allusions are such that the stories must have been well known when Preideu Annwfyn was composed. The first such stanza describes the rescue of Gwier from an Otherworld castle. Gwier is equated with another character of Welsh legend, Gwri Wallt Euryn, and the name Gwri may be a Welsh transliteration of the Irish name Cú Roi. Cú Roí mac Dáire is depicted as a shape-changer in Irish mythology and often takes on the form of a giant churl, as in his second appearance in Bricriu's Feast. It is possible that his image can be seen in a carving in Modena Cathedral, in Italy, made in about 1100, where he is the knight Carrado. Carrado is involved in the abduction of Winlogee in this scene sculptured by Breton artisans from Norman Apulia; Winlogee is Guinevere, and Carrado is being accosted by three knights, including Che (Kay) and Galvaginus (Gawain). The pagan Irish certainly had sun deities and Cú Roi mac Dáire may originally have been one of these. Cú Chulainn, as a son and reincarnation of the