by Irish Myths
broken. And it was the sons of Tuireann did this thing," he said,
"and there will grief and anguish fall on them from it, and on
their children after them. And it is no lying story I am telling
you," he said; "and it is a pity the way I am, and my heart is broken in my breast since Cian, the brave man, is not living. "
Then he bade his people to go before him to Teamhair, "But do
not tell the story till I tell it myself," he said.
And when Lugh came to Teamhair he sat in the high seat of
the king, and he looked about him and he saw the three sons of
Tuireann. And those were the three that were beyond all others at
Teamhair at that time for quickness and skill, for a good hand in
battle, for beauty and an honourable name.
LUGH OF THE LONG HAND
5 1
Then Lugh bade his people to shake the chain of silence, and
they did so, and they all listened. And Lugh said: "What are your
minds fixed on at this time, Men of Dea? " "On yourself indeed,"
said they. "I have a question to ask of you," he said. "What is the
vengeance each one of you would take on the man that would kill
your father? "
There was great wonder on them when they heard that, and
one of the chief men among them said: "Tell us was it your own
father that was killed? " "It was indeed," said Lugh; "and I see
now in this house," he said, "the men that killed him, and they
know themselves what way they killed him better than I know
it." Then the king said: "It is not a death of one day only I would
give the man that had killed my father, if he was in my power, but
to cut off one of his limbs from day to day till I would make an
end of him. " All the chief men said the same, and the sons of
Tuireann like the rest.
"There are making that answer," said Lugh, "the three men
that killed my father; and let them pay the fine for him now, since
you are all together in the one place. And if they will not," he
said, "I will not break the protection of the king's house, but they
must make no attempt to quit this house till they have settled
with me."
"If it was I myself had killed your father," said the king, "I
would be well content you to take a fine from me for him."
"It is at us Lugh is saying all this," said the sons of Tuireann
among themselves. "Let us acknowledge the killing of his father
to him," said Iuchar and Iucharba. "I am in dread," said Brian,
"that it is wanting an acknowledgment from us he is, in the presence of all the rest, and that he will not let us off with a fine afterwards. " "It is best to acknowledge it," said the others; "and
let you speak it out since you are the eldest. "
Then Brian, son of Tuireann, said: "It is at us you are speaking,
Lugh, for you are thinking we went against the sons of Cainte
before now; and we did not kill your father," he said, "but we will
pay the fine for him the same as if we did kill him. " "I will take a
52
IRISH �nTHS A."0 LEGE!'DS
fine from you that you do not think of," said Lugh, "and I will say
here what it is, and if it is too much for you, I will let you off a
share of it.,, "Let us hear it from you," said they. .. Here it is," said
Lugh; "three apples, and the skin of a pig, and a spear, and two
horses, and a chariot, and seven pigs, and a dogs whelp, and a
cooking-spit, and three shouts on a hill. That is the fine I am asking,,, he said; "and if it is too much for you, a pan of it will be taken off you presently, and if you do not think it too much, then pay it"
"It is not too much," said Brian, .. or a hundred times of it
would not be too much. And we think it likely," he said, "because
of its smallness that you have some treachery towards us behind
it." "I do not think it too little of a fine," said Lugh; "and I give
you the guarantee of the Tuatha de Danaan I will ask no other
thing, and I will be faithful to you, and let you give the same
pledge to me." "It is a pity you to ask that," said Brian, "for our
own pledge is as good as any pledge in the world." "Your own
pledge is not enough," said Lugh, "for it is often the like of you
promised to pay a fine in this way, and would try to back out of
it after."
So then the sons of Tuireann bound themselves by the King of
Ireland, and by Bodb Dearg, son of the Dagcla, and by the chief men
of the Tuatha de Danaan, that they would pay that fine to Lugh.
"It would be well for me now," said Lugh, "to give you better
knowledge of the fine." "It would be well indeed," said they.
"This is the way of it then," said Lugh. "The three apples I
asked of you are the three apples from the Garden in the East of
the World, and no other apples will do but these, for they are the
most beautiful and have the most virtue in them of the apples of
the whole world. And it is what they are like, they are of the
colour of burned gold, and they are the size of the head of a child
a month old, and there is the taste of honey on them, and they do
not leave the pain of wounds or the vexation of sickness on any
one that eats them, and they do not lessen by being eaten for ever.
And the skin I asked of you," he said, "is the pig skin of Tuis,
King of Greece, and it heals all the wounds and all the sickness of
LUGH OF THE LONG HAND
53
the world, and whatever danger a man may be in, if it can but
overtake the life in him, it will cure him; and it is the way it was
with that pig, every stream of water it would go through would be
turned into wine to the end of nine days after, and every wound it
touched was healed; and it is what the Druids of Greece said, that
it is not in itself this virtue was, but in the skin, and they skinned
it, and the skin is there ever since. And I think, too, it will not be
easy for you to get it, with or without leave. "
"And do you know what is the spear I am asking o f you?" he
said. "We do not," said they. "It is a very deadly spear belonging
to the King of Persia, the Luin it is called, and every choice thing
is done by it, and its head is kept steeped in a vessel of water, the
way it will not bum down the place where it is, and it will be hard
to get it. And do you know what two horses and what chariot I
am asking of you? They are the chariot and the two wonderful
horses of Dobar, King of Siogair, and the sea is the same as land to
them, and there are no faster horses than themselves, and there is
no chariot equal to that one in shape and in strength.
"And do you know what are the seven pigs I asked of you?
They are the pigs of Easal, King of the Golden Pillars; and though
they are killed every night, they are found alive again the next
day, and there will be no disease or no sickness on any person
that will eat a share of them.
"And the whelp I asked of you is Fail-Inis, the whelp belonging to the King of Ioruaidh, the Cold Country. And all the wild beasts of the world would fall down at the sight of her, and she is
more beautiful than the sun in his fiery wheels, and it will be hard
to get her.
"And the cooking-spit I aske
d of you is a spit of the spits of the
women of Inis Cenn-fhinne, the Island of Caer of the Fair Hair.
And the three shouts you are to give on a hill must be given on
the Hill of Miochaoin in the north of Lochlann. And Miochaoin
and his sons are under bonds not to allow any shouts to be given
on that hill; and it was with them my father got his learning, and
if I would forgive you his death, they would not forgive you. And
54
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
if you get through all your other voyages before you reach to
them, it is my opinion they themselves will avenge him on you.
And that is the fine I have asked of you," said Lugh.
There was silence and darkness on the sons of Tuireann when
they heard that. And they went to where their father was, and told
him the fine that had been put on them. "It is bad news that is,"
said Tuireann; "and it is to your death and your destruction you
will be going, looking for those things. But for all that, if Lugh
himself had a mind to help you, you could work out the fine, and
all the men of the world could not do it but by the power of Manannan or of Lugh. Go then and ask the loan of Manannan's horse, the Aonbharr, from Lugh, and if he has any wish to get the fine,
he will give it to you; but if he does not wish it he will say the
horse is not his, and that he would not give the loan of a loan.
Ask him then for the loan of Manannan's curragh, the Scuabtuinne, the Sweeper of the Waves. And he will give that, for he is under bonds not to refuse a second request, and the curragh is
better for you than the horse," he said.
So the sons of Tuireann went to where Lugh was, and they
saluted him, and they said they could not bring him the fine without his own help, and for that reason it would be well for them to get a loan of the Aonbharr. "I have that horse only on loan myself," said Lugh, "and I will not give a loan of a loan. "
"If that is so, give us the loan of Manannan's curragh," said
Brian. "I will give that," said Lugh. "What place is it? " said they.
"At Brugh na Boinn," said Lugh.
Then they went back again to where Tuireann was, and his
daughter Ethne, their sister, with him, and they told him they had
got the curragh. "It is not much the better you will be for it," said
Tuireann, "although Lugh would like well to get every part of this
fine he could make use of before the battle with the Fomor. But
he would like yourselves to come to your death looking for it. "
Then they went away, and they left Tuireann sorrowful and
lamenting, and Ethne went with them to where the curragh was.
And Brian got into it, and he said: "There is place but for one
LUGH OF THE LONG HAND
S S
other person along with me here . " And he began to find fault
with its narrowness. "You ought not to be faulting the curragh,"
said Ethne; "and 0 my dear brother," she said, "it was a bad thing
you did, to kill the father of Lugh of the Long Hand; and whatever harm may come to you from it, it is but just. " "Do not say that, Ethne," they said, "for we are in good heart, and we will do
brave deeds. And we would sooner be killed a hundred times
over," they said, "than to meet with the death of cowards. " "My
grief," said Ethne, "there is nothing more sorrowful than this, to
see you driven out from your own country. "
Then the three pushed out their curragh from the beautiful
clear-bayed shore of Ireland. "What course shall we take first? "
said they. "We will go look for the apples," said Brian, "as they
were the first thing we were bade bring. And so we ask of you,
curragh of Manannan that is under us, to sail to the Garden in the
East of the World."
And the curragh did not neglect that order, but it sailed forward over the green-sided waves and deep places till it came to its harbour in the east of the world.
And then Brian asked his brothers: "What way have you a
mind to get into the garden? for I think," he said, "the king's
champions and the fighting men of the country are always guarding it, and the king himself is chief over them." "What should we do," said his brothers, "but to make straight at them and attack
them, and bring away the apples or fall ourselves since we cannot
escape from these dangers that are before us without meeting our
death in some place. " "It would be better," said Brian, "the story
of our bravery and our craftiness to be told and to live after us,
than folly and cowardice to be told of us. And what is best for us
to do now," he said, "is to go in the shape of swift hawks into the
garden, and the watchers have but their light spears to throw at
us, and let you take good care to keep out of their reach; and after
they have thrown them all, make a quick flight to the apples and
let each of you bring away an apple of them in your claws, and I
will bring away the third."
56
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
They said that was a good advice, and Brian struck himself
and the others with his Druid rod, and changed them into beautiful hawks. And they flew towards the garden, and the watchers took notice of them and shouted on every side of them, and
threw showers of spears and darts, but the hawks kept out of
their reach as Brian had bade them, till all the spears were spent,
and then they swept down bravely on the apples, and brought
them away with them, without so much as a wound.
And the news went through the city and the whole district,
and the king had three wise, crafty daughters, and they put themselves into the shape of three ospreys, and they followed the hawks to the sea, and sent flashes of lightning before them and
after them, that scorched them greatly.
"It is a pity the way we are now," said the sons of Tuireann,
"for we will be burned through and through with this lightning if
we do not get some relief." "If I can give you relief I will do it,"
said Brian. With that he struck himself and his brothers with the
Druid rod, and they were turned into three swans, and they went
down quickly into the sea, and the ospreys went away from them
then, and the sons of Tuireann went into their boat.
After that they consulted together, and it is what they agreed,
to go to Greece and to bring away the skin of the pig, with or
without leave. So they went forward till they came near to the
court of the King of Greece.
"What appearance should we put on us going in here?" said
Brian. "What appearance should we go in with but our own? "
said the others. "That is not what I think best," said Brian; "but to
go in with the appearance of poets from Ireland, the way the high
people of Greece will hold us in respect and in honour. " "It would
be hard for us to do that," they said, "and we without a poem,
and it is little we know how to make one."
However, they put the poet's tie on their hair, and they knocked
at the door of the court, and the door-keeper asked who was in it.
"We are poets of Ireland," said Brian, "and we are come with a
poem to the king. "
LUGH OF THE LONG HAND
57
The door-keeper went in and told the king that there were
poets from Ireland at the door . .. Let them in," said
the king, "for it
is in search of a good man they came so far from their own country." And the king gave orders that everything should be well set out in the court, the way they would say they had seen no place
so grand in all their travels.
The sons of Tuireann were let in then, having the appearance
of poets, and they fell to drinking and pleasure without delay; and
they thought they had never seen, and there was not in the world,
a court so good as that or so large a household, or a place where
they had met with better treatment.
Then the king's poets got up to give out their poems and
songs. And then Brian, son of Tuireann, bade his brothers to say a
poem for the king. "We have no poem," said they; "and do not
ask any poem of us, but the one we know before, and that is to
take what we want by the strength of our hand if we are the
strongest, or to fall by those that are against us if they are the
strongest." "That is not a good way to make a poem," said Brian.
And with that he rose up himself and asked a hearing. And they
all listened to him, and it is what he said:
"O Tuis, we do not hide your fame; we praise you as the oak
among kings; the skin of a pig, bounty without hardness, this is
the reward I ask for it.
"The war of a neighbour against an ear; the fair ear of his
neighbour will be against him; he who gives us what he owns, his
court will not be the scarcer for it.
.. A raging army and a sudden sea are. a danger to whoever goes
against them. The skin of a pig, bounty without hardness, this is
the reward I ask, 0 Tuis."
"That is a good poem," said the king; "but I do not know a
word of its meaning. " "I will tell you its meaning," said Brian. " 'O
Tuis, we do not hide your fame; we praise you as the oak above
the kings.' That is, as the oak is beyond the kingly trees of the
wood, so are you beyond the kings of the world for open-handedness and for grandeur.
58
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
" 'The skin of a pig, bounty without hardness.' That is, the skin
of a pig you own is what I would wish to get from you as a reward
for my poem.
" 'The war of a neighbour against an ear, the fair ear of his
neighbour will be against him.' That is, you and I will be by the
ears about the skin, unless I get it with your consent.