The Persistence of Satire

What if our venerated heroes are a big joke?

There's so much more for me to learn about Irish Culture. I read the /ireland subreddit, for example, to get a slice of what younger people think of their country's current events. Even though most of the posters are young men, they've explained much that I didn't know I didn't know. Eventually I get the jokes.

For instance, I heard about an old television show called the Hardy Bucks on /ireland. My favorite episode is King of the Town, where Uncle Mick gets the boys to form a team competing for the title of King of the Town. The prize is money, glory, and a horse collar.

The events are:

Yard of Stew
The Enduro Cups
Best Pub Chat ("Mother was related to Ché Guevara")
The Sex Factor
Sex Mountain
Pint Spill Kickoff ("How many times a man will spill your pint before you blow your top.)
Something about running through tires while drinking a pint
Teams of men pulling tractors

A trad singer gives us the story of the King of the Town:

since time began
when I was young
they talk of this here day
men would come from near and far
to celebrate in May

healthy men [???? ???] fight
disappeared into the night
the tough times never got us down
the hardy bucks from Castletown

feats of strengths is how it goes
and before the sun goes down
a man will take the his title home
and be crowned king of the town

Here's the last 15 minutes of the episode.

"Feats of strength"? Where have I heard that before? The tales of Cú Chulainn! Cú Chulaine is young warrior in a pre-Christian Ireland, the hero of stories known as The Ulster Cycle.

Cú Chulainn performs feats, showing all the other young men he is the best warrior in the land.

Cúchullainn arrived without further event at Scathach's fort. There he quickly completed his training: the apple feat - juggling nine apples with never more than one in his palm; the thunder-feat; the feats of the sword-edge and sloped shield; the feats of the javelin and the rope; the body-feat; the feat of Cat and the heroic salmon-leap; the pole-throw and the leap over a poisoned stroke; the noble chariot-fighter's crouch; the gae bolga; the spurt of speed; the feat of the chariot-wheel thrown on high and the feat of the shield-rim; the breath-feat, with gold apples blown up into the air; the snapping mouth and the hero's scream; the stroke of precision; the stunning-shot and the cry-stroke; stepping on a lance in flight and straightening erect on its point; the sickle chariot; and the trussing of a warrior on the points of spears. (source)

Before watching Hardy Bucks, I would have thought these feats were the events of an Irish Iron Age Track and Field competition, but now I see the entire list is meant to be ridiculous.

Wait.

Maybe all heroic stories are meant to be more Hardy Bucks than Clash of the Titans? Maybe every ancient tale is a send up of serious story no one bothered to copy down? What about Genesis and Leviticus? What about The Book of Revelations?

Very little ancient literature came down to us. What if only the massive lies survived?