The first recession begins with Ailill and Medb assembling their army in Cruachan, the purpose of this military build-up taken for granted. The second recession adds a prologue in which Ailill and Medb compare their respective wealth whereby we find that the only thing that distinguishes them is Ailill's possession of the amazingly fertile bull Finnbhennach, who had been born into Medb's herd but …show more content…
She successfully negotiates with the bull's owner, Dáire mac Fiachna, to rent the animal for a year until her messengers, drunk, reveal that they would have taken the bull by force even if they had not been allowed to borrow it. The deal breaks down, and Medb raises an army, including Ulster exiles led by Fergus mac Róich and other allies, and sets out to capture Donn Cuailnge.
In the second recession men of Ulster are disabled by an apparent illness although it lasts several months while a separate tale explains this as the curse of the goddess Macha, who imposed it after being forced by the king of Ulster to race against a chariot while heavily pregnant while in the first recession there is not any apparent illness and any type of curse involved In the second recession the only person fit to defend Ulster is seventeen-year-old Cú Chulainn, and he lets the army take Ulster by surprise because he's off on a tryst when he should be watching the border although he is unable to prevent Medb from capturing the bull while in the fist recession everyone was involved and no particular person was needed to conduct