Lady Augusta Gregory
Page 5
It was on the first day of Beltaine, that is called now May Day,
the Tuatha de Danaan came, and it was to the north-west of Connacht they landed. But the Firbolgs, the Men of the Bag, that were in Ireland before them, and that had come from the South, saw
nothing but a mist, and it lying on the hills.
Eochaid, son of Ere, was king of the Firbolgs at that time, and
messengers came to him at Teamhair, and told him there was a
new race of people come into Ireland, but whether from the earth
or the skies or on the wind was not known, and that they had settled themselves at Magh Rein.
They thought there would be wonder on Eochaid when he
heard that news; but there was no wonder on him, for a dream
had come to him in the night, and when he asked his Druids the
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meaning of the dream, it is what they said, that it would not be
long till there would be a strong enemy coming against him.
Then King Eochaid took counsel with his chief advisers, and it
is what they agreed, to send a good champion of their own to see
the strangers and to speak with them. So they chose out Sreng,
that was a great fighting man, and he rose up and took his strong
red-brown shield, and his two thick-handled spears, and his
sword, and his head-covering, and his thick iron club, and he set
out from Teamhair, and went on towards the place the strangers
were, at Magh Rein.
But before he reached it, the watchers of the Tuatha de Danaan
got sight of him, and they sent out one of their own champions,
Bres, with his shield and his sword and his two spears, to meet
him and to talk with him.
So the two champions went one towards the other slowly, and
keeping a good watch on one another, and wondering at one
another's arms, till they came near enough for talking; and then
they stopped, and each put his shield before his body and struck
it hard into the ground, and they looked at one another over the
rim. Bres was the first to speak, and when Sreng heard it was Irish
he was talking, his own tongue, he was less uneasy, and they drew
nearer, and asked questions as to one another's family and race.
And after a while they put their shields away, and it was what
Sreng said, that he had raised his in dread of the thin, sharp
spears Bres had in his hand. And Bres said he himself was in
dread of the thick-handled spears he saw with Sreng, and he
asked were all the arms of the Firbolgs of the same sort. And
Sreng took off the tyings of his spears to show them better, and
Bres wondered at them, being so strong and so heavy, and so
sharp at the sides though they had no points. And Sreng told him
the name of those spears was Craisech, and that they would break
through shields and crush flesh and bones, so that their thrust
was death or wounds that never healed. And then he looked at
the sharp, thin, hard-pointed spears that were with Bres. And in
the end they made an exchange of spears, the way the fighters on
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29
each side would see the weapons the others were used to. And it
is the message Bres sent to the Firbolgs, that if they would give up
one half of Ireland, his people would be content to take it in
peace; but if they would not give up that much, there should be a
battle. And he and Sreng said to one another that whatever might
happen in the future, they themselves would be friends.
Sreng went back then to Teamhair and gave the message and
showed the spear; and it is what he advised his people, to share
the country and not to go into battle with a people that had weapons so much better than their own. But Eochaid and his chief men consulted together, and they said in the end: "We will not
give up the half of the country to these strangers; for if we do,"
they said, "they will soon take the whole."
Now as to the Men of Dea, when Bres went back to them, and
showed them the heavy spear, and told them of the strong, fierce
man he had got it from, and how sturdy he was and well armed,
they thought it likely there would soon be a battle. And they went
back from where they were to a better place, farther west in Connacht, and there they settled themselves, and made walls and ditches on the plain of Magh Nia, where they had the great mountain, Belgata, in their rear. And while they were moving there and putting up their walls, three queens of them, Badb and Macha
and the Morrigu, went to Teamhair where the Firbolgs were making their plans. And by the power of their enchantments they brought mists and clouds of darkness over the whole place, and
they sent showers of fire and of blood over the people, the way
they could not see or speak with one another through the length
of three days. But at the end of that time, the three Druids of
the Firbolgs, Cesam and Gnathach and Ingnathach, broke the
enchantment.
The Firbolgs gathered their men together then, and they came
with their eleven battalions and took their stand at the eastern
end of the plain of Magh Nia.
And Nuada, king of the Men of Dea, sent his poets to make
the same offer he made before, to be content with the half of the
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
country if it was given up to him. King Eochaid bade the poets to
ask an answer of his chief men that were gathered there; and when
they heard the offer they would not consent. So the messengers
asked them when would they begin the battle. "We must have a
delay," they said; "for we want time to put our spears and our
armour in order, and to brighten our helmets and to sharpen our
swords, and to have spears made like the ones you have. And as
to yourselves," they said, "you will be wanting to have spears like
our Craisechs made for you." So they agreed then to make a delay
of a quarter of a year for preparation.
It was on a Midsummer day they began the battle. Three times
nine hurlers of the Tuatha de Danaan went out against three times
nine hurlers of the Firbolgs, and they were beaten, and every one
of them was killed. And the king, Eochaid, sent a messenger to
ask would they have the battle every day or every second day.
And it is what Nuada answered that they would have it every day,
but there should be just the same number of men fighting on
each side. Eochaid agreed to that, but he was not well pleased, for
there were more men of the Firbolgs than of the Men of Dea.
So the battle went on for four days, and there were great feats
done on each side, and a great many champions came to their
death. But for those that were alive at evening, the physicians on
each side used to make a bath of healing, with every sort of healing plant or herb in it, the way they would be strong and sound for the next day's fight.
And on the fourth day the Men of Dea got the upper hand, and
the Firbolgs were driven back. And a great thirst came on
Eochaid, their king, in the battle, and he went off the field looking
for a drink, and three fifties of his men protecting him; but three
fifties of the Tuatha de Danaan followed after them till they came
to the
strand that is called Traigh Eothaile, and they had a fierce
fight there, and at last the King Eochaid fell, and they buried him
there, and they raised a great heap of stones over his grave.
And when there were but three hundred men left of the eleven
battalions of the Firbolgs, and Sreng at the head of them, Nuada
THE COMING OF THE TUATHA DE DANAAN
3 1
offered them peace, and their choice among the five provinces of
Ireland. And Sreng said they would take Connacht; and he and
his people lived there and their children after them. It is of them
Ferdiad came afterwards that made such a good fight against
Cuchulain, and Ere, son of Cairbre, that gave him his death. And
that battle, that was the first fought in Ireland by the Men of Dea,
was called by some the first battle of Magh Tuireadh.
And the Tuatha de Danaan took possession of Teamhair, that
was sometimes called Druim Cain, the Beautiful Ridge, and Liathdruim, the Grey Ridge, and Druim na Descan, the Ridge of the Outlook, all those names were given to Teamhair. And from that
time it was above all other places, for its king was the High King
over all Ireland. The king's rath lay to the north, and the Hill of
the Hostages to the north-east of the High Seat, and the Green of
Teamhair to the west of the Hill of the Hostages. And to the
north-east, in the Hill of the Sidhe, was a well called Nemnach,
and out of it there flowed a stream called Nith, and on that stream
the first mill was built in Ireland.
And to the north of the Hill of the Hostages was the stone, the
Lia Fail, and it used to roar under the feet of every king that
would take possession of Ireland. And the Wall of the Three
Whispers was near the House of the Women that had seven doors
to the east, and seven doors to the west; and it is in that house the
feasts of Teamhair used to be held. And there was the Great
House of a Thousand Soldiers, and near it, to the south, the little
Hill of the Woman Soldiers.
CHAPTER II.
THE REIGN OF BRES
But if Nuada won the battle, he lost his own arm in it, that was
struck off by Sreng; and by that loss there came troubles and vexation on his people.
For it was a law with the Tuatha de Danaan that no man that
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
was not perfect in shape should be king. And after Nuada had lost
the battle he was put out of the kingship on that account.
And the king they chose in his place was Bres, that was the most
beautiful of all their young men, so that if a person wanted to praise
any beautiful thing, whether it was a plain, or a dun, or ale, or a
flame, or a woman, or a man, or a horse, it is what he would say, "It
is as beautiful as Bres. " And he was the son of a woman of the
Tuatha de Danaan, but who his father was no one knew but herself.
But in spite of Bres being so beautiful, his reign brought no
great good luck to his people; for the Fomor, whose dwellingplace was beyond the sea, or as some say below the sea westward, began putting tribute on them, the way they would get them
under their own rule.
It was a long time before that the Fomor came first to Ireland;
dreadful they were to look at, and maimed, having but one foot or
one hand, and they under the leadership of a giant and his
mother. There never came to Ireland an army more horrible or
more dreadful than that army of the Fomor. And they were
friendly with the Firbolgs and content to leave Ireland to them,
but there was jealously between them and the Men of Dea.
And it was a hard tax they put on them, a third part of their
com they asked, and a third part of their milk, and a third part of
their children, so that there was not smoke rising from a roof in
Ireland but was under tribute to them. And Bres made no stand
against them, but let them get their way.
And as to Bres himself, he put a tax on every house in Ireland of
the milk of hornless dun cows, or of the milk of cows of some
other single colour, enough for a hundred men. And one time, to
deceive him, Nechtan singed all the cows of Ireland in a fire of fem,
and then he smeared them with the ashes of flax seed, the way they
were all dark brown. He did that by the advice of the Druid Findgoll, son of Findemas. And another time they made three hundred cows of wood with dark brown pails in place of udders, and the
pails were filled with black bog stuff. Then Bres came to look at the
cows, and to see them milked before him, and Cian, father of
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33
Lugh, was there. And when they were milked it was the bog stuff
that was squeezed out; and Bres took a drink of it thinking it to be
milk, and he was not the better of it for a long time.
And there was another thing against Bres; he was no way openhanded, and the chief men of the Tuatha de Danaan grumbled against him, for their knives were never greased in his house, and
however often they might visit him there was no smell of ale on
their breath. And there was no sort of pleasure or merriment in his
house, and no call for their poets, or singers, or harpers, or pipers,
or horn-blowers, or jugglers, or fools. And as to the trials of
strength they were used to see between their champions, the only
use their strength was put to now was to be doing work for the
king. Ogma himself, the shining poet, was under orders to bring
firing to the palace every day for the whole army from the Islands
of Mod; and he so weak for want of food that the sea would sweep
away two-thirds of his bundle every day. And as to the Dagda, he
was put to build raths, for he was a good builder, and he made a
trench round Rath Brese. And he used often to be tired at the
work, and one time he nearly gave in altogether for want of food,
and this is the way that happened. He used to meet in the house an
idle blind man, Cridenbel his name was, that had a sharp tongue,
and that coveted the Dagda's share of food, for he thought his own
to be small beside it. So he said to him: "For the sake of your good
name let the three best bits of your share be given to me." And the
Dagda gave in to that every night; but he was the worse of it, for
what the blind man called a bit would be the size of a good pig,
and with his three bits he would take a full third of the whole.
But one day, as the Dagda was in the trench, he saw his son,
Angus Og, coming to him. "That is a good meeting," said Angus;
"but what is on you, for you have no good appearance to-day?"
"There is a reason for that," said the Dagda, "for every evening,
Cridenbel, the blind man, makes a demand for the three best bits
of my share of food, and takes them from me. " "I will give you an
advice," said Angus. He put his hand in his bag then, and took
out three pieces of gold and gave them to him.
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
"Put these pieces of gold into the three bits you will give this
evening to Cridenbel," he said, "and they will be the best bits
in the dish, and the gold will tum within him the way he will die."
So in the evening
the Dagda did that; and no sooner had
Cridenbel swallowed down the gold than he died. Some of the
people said then to the king: "The Dagda has killed Cridenbel,
giving him some deadly herb." The king believed that, and there
was anger on him against Dagda, and he gave orders he should be
put to death. But the Dagda said: "You are not giving the right
judgment of a prince." And he told all that had happened, and
how Cridenbel used to say, "Give me the three best bits before
you, for my own share is not good to-night. " "And on this night,"
he said, "the three pieces of gold were the best things before me,
and I gave them to him, and he died."
The king gave orders then to have the body cut open. And
they found the gold inside it, and they knew it was the truth the
Dagda had told.
And Angus came to him again the next day, and he said: "Your
work will soon be done, and when you are given your wages, take
nothing they may offer you till the cattle of Ireland are brought
before you, and choose out a heifer then, black and black-maned,
that I will tell you the signs of. "
So when the Dagda had brought his work to an end, and they
asked him what reward he wanted, he did as Angus had bidden
him. And that seemed folly to Bres; he thought the Dagda would
have asked more than a heifer of him.
There came a day at last when a poet came to look for hospitality at the king's house, Corpre, son of Etain, poet of the Tuatha de Danaan. And it is how he was treated, he was put in a little
dark narrow house where there was no fire, or furniture, or bed;
and for a feast three small cakes, and they dry, were brought to
him on a little dish. When he rose up on the morrow he was no
way thankful, and as he was going across the green, it is what he
said: "Without food ready on a dish; without milk enough for a
calf to grow on; without shelter; without light in the darkness of
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35
night; without enough to pay a story-teller; may that be the prosperity of Bres. "
And from that day there was no good luck with Bres, but i t is
going down he was for ever after. And that was the first satire ever
made in Ireland.
Now as to Nuada: after his arm being struck off, he was in his
sickness for a while, and then Diancecht, the healer, made an arm