Lady Augusta Gregory

by Irish Myths

  troop coming towards them from the east, over the plain; and

  there was a young man in front of the troop, in command over

  the rest, and the brightness of his face was like the setting sun, so

  that they were not able to look at him because of its brightness.

  And when he came nearer they knew it was Lugh Lamh-Fada,

  of the Long Hand, that had come back to them, and along with

  him were the Riders of the Sidhe from the Land of Promise, and

  his own foster-brothers, the sons of Manannan, Sgoith Gleigeil,

  the White Flower, and Goitne Gorm-Shuileach, the Blue-eyed

  Spear, and Sine Sindearg, of the Red Ring, and Donall Donn­

  Ruadh, of the Red-brown Hair. And it is the way Lugh was, he

  had Manannan's horse, the Aonbharr, of the One Mane, under

  him, that was as swift as the naked cold wind of spring, and the

  sea was the same as dry land to her, and the rider was never killed

  off her back. And he had Manannan's breast-plate on him, that

  kept whoever was wearing it from wounds, and a helmet on his

  head with two beautiful precious stones set in the front of it and

  one at the back, and when he took it off, his forehead was like the

  sun on a dry summer day. And he had Manannan's sword, the

  Freagarthach, the Answerer, at his side, and no one that was

  wounded by it would ever get away alive; and when that sword

  was bared in a battle, no man that saw it coming against him had

  any more strength than a woman in child-birth.

  And the troop came to where the King of Ireland was with the

  Tuatha de Danaan, and they welcomed one another.

  And they were not long there till they saw a surly, slovenly

  troop coming towards them, nine times nine of the messengers of

  the Fomor, that were coming to ask rent and taxes from the men

  of Ireland; and the names of the four that were the hardest and

  the most cruel were Eine and Eathfaigh and Coron and Compar;

  and there was such great dread of these four on the Tuatha de

  Danaan, that not one of them would so much as punish his own

  son or his foster-son without leave from them.

  They came up then to where the King of Ireland was with the

  IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  Riders of the Sidhe, and the king and all the Tuatha de Danaan

  stood up before them. And Lugh of the Long Hand said: "Why do

  you rise up before that surly, slovenly troop, when you did not

  rise up before us? "

  "It is needful for us to do it," said the king; "for if there was

  but a child of us sitting before them, they would not think that

  too small a cause for killing him . " "By my word," said Lugh,

  "there is a great desire coming on me to kill themselves." "That is

  a thing would bring harm on us," said the king, "for we would

  meet our own death and destruction through it." "It is too long a

  time you have been under this oppression," said Lugh. And with

  that he started up and made an attack on the Fomor, killing and

  wounding them, till he had made an end of eight nines of them,

  but he let the last nine go under the protection of Nuada the king.

  "And I would kill you along with the others," he said, "but I

  would sooner see you go with messages to your own country

  than my own people, for fear they might get any ill-treatment."

  So the nine went back then till they came to Lochlann, where

  the men of the Fomor were, and they told them the story from

  beginning to end, and how a young well-featured lad had come

  into Ireland and had killed all the tax-gatherers but themselves,

  "and it is the reason he let us off," they said, "that we might tell

  you the story ourselves. "

  "Do you know who is the young man?" said Balor of the Evil

  Eye then.

  "I know well," said Ceithlenn, his wife; "he is the son of your

  daughter and mine. And it was foretold," she said, "that from the

  time he would come into Ireland, we would never have power

  there again for ever. "

  Then the chief men of the Fomor went into a council, Eab,

  son of Neid, and Seanchab, grandson of Neid, and Sital Salmhor,

  and Liath, son of Lobais, and the nine poets of the Fomor that

  had learning and the gift of foreknowledge, and Lobais the Druid,

  and Balor himself, and his twelve white-mouthed sons , and

  Ceithlenn of the Crooked Teeth, his queen.

  LUGH OF THE LONG HAND

  45

  And it was just at that time Bres and his father Elathan were

  come to ask help of the Fomor, and Bres said: "I myself will go to

  Ireland, and seven great battalions of the Riders of the Fomor

  along with me, and I will give battle to this Ilclanach, this master

  of all arts, and I will strike his head off and bring it here to you, to

  the green of Berbhe. " "It would be a fitting thing for you to do,"

  said they all. "Let my ships be made ready for me," said Bres, "and

  let food and provisions be put in them. "

  So they made no delay, but went and got the ships ready, and

  they put plenty of food and drink in them, and the two swift

  Luaths were sent out to gather the army to Bres. And when they

  were all gathered, they made ready their armour and their weapons, and they set out for Ireland.

  And Balor the king followed them to the harbour, and he said:

  "Give battle to that Ilclanach, and strike off his head; and tie that

  island that is called Ireland to the back of your ships, and let the

  destroying water take its place, and put it on the north side of

  Lochlann, and not one of the Men of Dea will follow it there to

  the end of life and time."

  Then they pushed out their ships and put up their painted

  sails, and went out from the harbour on the untilled country, on

  the ridges of the wide-lying sea, and they never turned from their

  course till they came to the harbour of Eas Dara. And from that

  they sent out an army through West Connacht and destroyed it

  altogether, through and through. And the King of Connacht at

  that time was Bodb Dearg, son of the Dagda.

  CHAPTER II.

  THE SONS OF TUIREANN

  And Lugh of the Long Hand was at that time at Teamhair with the

  King of Ireland, and it was showed to him that the Fomor were

  after landing at Eas Dara. And when he knew that, he made ready

  Manannan's horse, the Aonbharr, at the time of the battle of the

  IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  day and night; and he went where Nuada the king was, and told

  him how the Fomor had landed at Eas Dara and had spoiled Bodb

  Dearg's country; "and it is what I want," he said, "to get help from

  you to give battle to them." But Nuada was not minded to avenge

  the destruction that was done on Bodb Dearg and not on himself,

  and Lugh was not well pleased with his answer, and he went riding out of Teamhair westward. And presently he saw three armed men coming towards him, his own father Cian, with his brothers

  Cu and Ceithen, that were the three sons of Cainte, and they

  saluted him. "What is the cause of your early rising?" they said.

  "It is good cause I have for it," said Lugh, "for the Fomor are

  come into Ireland and have robbed Bodb Dearg; and what help

  will you give me agai
nst them?" he said.

  "Each one of us will keep off a hundred from you in the battle," said they. "That is a good help," said Lugh; "but there is a help I would sooner have from you than that: to gather the Riders

  of the Sidhe to me from every place where they are."

  So Cu and Ceithen went towards the south, and Cian set out

  northward, and he did not stop till he reached the Plain of

  Muirthemne. And as he was going across the plain he saw three

  armed men before him, that were the three sons of Tuireann, son

  of Ogma. And it is the way it was between the three sons of Tuireann and the three sons of Cainte, they were in hatred and enmity towards one another, so that whenever they met there was sure to

  be fighting among them.

  Then Cian said: "If my two brothers had been here it is a brave

  fight we would make; but since they are not, it is best for me to

  fall back. " Then he saw a great herd of pigs near him, and he

  struck himself with a Druid rod that put on him the shape of a

  pig of the herd, and he began rooting up the ground like the rest.

  Then Brian, one of the sons of Tuireann, said to his brothers:

  "Did you see that armed man that was walking the plain a while

  ago?" "We did see him," said they. "Do you know what was it

  took him away?" said Brian. "We do not know that," said they. "It

  is a pity you not to be keeping a better watch over the plains of

  LUGH OF THE LONG HAND

  47

  the open country in time of war," said Brian; "and I know well

  what happened him, for he struck himself with his Druid rod into

  the shape of a pig of these pigs, and he is rooting up the ground

  now like any one of them; and whoever he is, he is no friend to

  us." "That is bad for us," said the other two, "for the pigs belong

  to some one of the Tuatha de Danaan, and even if we kill them all,

  the Druid pig might chance to escape us in the end."

  "It is badly you got your learning in the city of learning," said

  Brian, "when you cannot tell an enchanted beast from a natural

  beast." And while he was saying that, he struck his two brothers

  with his Druid rod, and he turned them into two thin, fast hounds,

  and they began to yelp sharply on the track of the enchanted pig.

  And it was not long before the pig fell out from among the others, and not one of the others made away but only itself, and it made for a wood, and at the edge of the wood Brian gave a cast of

  his spear that went through its body. And the pig cried out, and it

  said: "It is a bad thing you have done to have made a cast at me

  when you knew me." "It seems to me you have the talk of a man,"

  said Brian. "I was a man indeed," said he; "I am Cian, son of

  Cainte, and give me your protection now." "I swear by the gods of

  the air," said Brian, "that if the life came back seven times to you, I

  would take it from you every time. " "If that is so," said Cian, "give

  me one request: let me go into my own shape again. " "We will do

  that," said Brian, "for it is easier to me to kill a man than a pig."

  So Cian took his own shape then, and he said: "Give me mercy

  now." "We will not give it," said Brian. "Well, I have got the better

  of you for all that," said Cian; "for if it was in the shape of a pig

  you had killed me there would only be the blood money for a pig

  on me; but as it is in my own shape you will kill me, there never

  was and never will be any person killed for whose sake a heavier

  fine will be paid than for myself. And the arms I am killed with,"

  he said, "it is they will tell the deed to my son."

  "It is not with weapons you will be killed, but with the stones

  lying on the ground," said Brian. And with that they pelted him

  with stones, fiercely and roughly, till all that was left of him was a

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  IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  poor, miserable, broken heap; and they buried him the depth of a

  man's body in the earth, and the earth would not receive that

  murder from them, but cast it up again. Brian said it should go

  into the earth again, and they put it in the second time, and the

  second time the earth would not take it. And six times the sons of

  Tuireann buried the body, and six times it was cast up again; but

  the seventh time it was put underground the earth kept it. And

  then they went on to join Lugh of the Long Hand for the battle.

  Now as to Lugh; upon parting with his father he went forward

  from Teamhair westward, to the hills that were called afterwards

  Gairech and Ilgairech, and to the ford of the Shannon that is now

  called Athluain, and to Bearna nah-Eadargana, the Gap of Separation, and over Magh Luirg, the Plain of Following, and to Corr Slieve na Seaghsa, the Round Mountain of the Poet's Spring, and

  to the head of Sean-Slieve, and through the place of the brightfaced Corann, and from that to Magh Mor an Aonaigh, the Great Plain of the Fair, where the Fomor were, and the spoils of Connacht with them.

  It is then Bres, son of Elathan, rose up and said: "It is a wonder

  to me the sun to be rising in the west to-day, and it rising in the

  east every other day." "It would be better for us it to be the sun,"

  said the Druids. "What else is it?" said he. "It is the shining of the

  face of Lugh, son of Ethlinn," said they.

  Lugh came up to them then and saluted them. "Why do you

  come like a friend to us? " said they. "There is good cause for

  that," he said, "for there is but one half of me of the Tuatha de

  Danaan, and the other half of yourselves. And give me back now

  the milch cows of the men of Ireland," he said. "May early good

  luck not come to you till you get either a dry or a milch cow

  here," said a man of them, and anger on him.

  But Lugh stopped near them for three days and three nights,

  and at the end of that time the Riders of the Sidhe came to him.

  And Bodb Dearg, son of the Dagda, came with twenty-nine hundred men, and he said: "What is the cause of your delay in giving battle?" "Waiting for you I was," said Lugh.

  LUGH OF THE LONG HAND

  49

  Then the kings and chief men of the men of Ireland took their

  armour on them, and they raised the points of their spears over

  their heads, and they made close fences of their shields. And they

  attacked their enemies on Magh Mor an Aonaigh, and their enemies answered them, and they threw their whining spears at one another, and when their spears were broken they drew their

  swords from their blue-bordered sheaths and began to strike at

  one another, and thickets of brown flames rose above them from

  the bitterness of their many-edged weapons.

  And Lugh saw the battle pen where Bres, son of Elathan, was,

  and he made a fierce attack on him and on the men that were

  guarding him, till he had made an end of two hundred of them.

  When Bres saw that, he gave himself up to Lugh's protection.

  "Give me my life this time," he said, "and I will bring the whole

  race of the Fomor to fight it out with you in a great battle; and I

  bind myself to that, by the sun and the moon, the sea and the

  land," he said.

  On that Lugh gave him his life, and then the Druids that were

  with him asked his protection for themselves. "By my work," said

  Lugh, "if the whole race of the Fomor went under m
y protection

  they would not be destroyed by me." So then Bres and the Druids

  set out for their own country.

  Now as to Lugh and the sons of Tuireann. After the battle of

  Magh Mor an Aonaigh, he met two of his kinsmen and asked

  them did they see his father in the fight. "We did not," said they.

  "I am sure he is not living," said Lugh; "and I give my word," he

  said, "there will no food or drink go into my mouth till I get

  knowledge by what death my father died."

  Then he set out, and the Riders of the Sidhe after him, till they

  came to the place where he and his father parted from one

  another, and from that to the place where his father went into the

  shape of a pig when he saw the sons of Tuireann.

  And when Lugh came to that place the earth spoke to him,

  and it said: "It is in great danger your father was here, Lugh, when

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  IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  he saw the sons of Tuireann before him, and it is into the shape

  of a pig he had to go, but it is in his own shape they killed him. "

  Then Lugh told that to his people, and he found the spot

  where his father was buried, and he bade them dig there, the way

  he would know by what death the sons of Tuireann had made an

  end of him.

  Then they raised the body out of the grave and looked at it, and

  it was all one bed of wounds. And Lugh said: "It was the death of an

  enemy the sons of Tuireann gave my dear father." And he gave him

  three kisses, and it is what he said: "It is bad the way I am myself

  after this death, for I can hear nothing with my ears, and I can see

  nothing with my eyes, and there is not a living pulse in my heart,

  with grief after my father. And you gods I worship," he said, "it is a

  pity I not to have come here the time this thing was done. And it is

  a great thing that has been done here," he said, "the people of the

  gods of Dana to have done treachery on one another, and it is long

  they will be under loss by it and be weakened by it. And Ireland will

  never be free from trouble from this out, east and west," he said.

  Then they put Cian under the earth again, and after that there

  was keening made over his grave, and a stone was raised on it,

  and his name was written in Ogham. And Lugh said: "This hill

  will take its name from Cian, although he himself is stripped and