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Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

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Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

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Fairlie

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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostThu Jun 02, 2016 5:20 pm

Stories, Myths & Legends
The Fate of the Children of Turenn

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 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 Cethe, 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 against 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 Cethe 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 Turenn, son of Ogma. And it is the way it was between the three Sons of Turenn 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 Turenn, 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 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 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 Turenn 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 Ath Luain, and to Bearna na h-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 bright-faced Corann, and from that to Magh Mór 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.

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 Moran 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 word," said Lugh, "if the whole race of the Fomor went under my 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 Turenn. After the battle of Magh Mór 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 be 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 Turenn.

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 he saw the sons of Turenn 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 Turenn 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 Turenn gave my dear father." And he gave him three kisses, and it is what he said: "It is bad the way l 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 broken. And it was the sons of Turenn 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 Turenn. 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.

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 Turenn 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 Turenn 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 acknowledgement 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 Turenn, 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 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 dog’s 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 part 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 Turenn bound themselves by the King of Ireland, and by Bodb Dearg, son of the Dagda, 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 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 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 of 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 burn 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 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 asked 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 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 Turenn 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 Turenn; "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 Turenn 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 Turenn 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 Turenn, "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 Turenn 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 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 O 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."

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 Turenn, "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 Turenn 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."

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 Turenn 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 Turenn, 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, O 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.

"‘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.

"And that is the meaning of the poem," said Brian.

"I would praise your poem," said the king, "if there was not so much about my pig-skin in it; and you have no good sense, man of poetry," he said, "to be asking that thing of me, and I would not give it to all the poets and the learned men and the great men of the world, since they could not take it away without my consent.

But I will give you three times the full of the skin of gold as the price of your
poem," he said.

"May good be with you, king," said Brian, "and I know well it was no easy thing 1 was asking, but I knew I would get a good ransom for it. And I am that covetous," he said, "I will not be satisfied without seeing the gold measured myself into the skin."

The king sent his servants with them then to the treasure-house to measure the gold. "Measure out the full of it to my brothers first," said Brian, "and then give good measure to myself, since it was I made the poem."

But when the skin was brought out, Brian made a quick sudden snatch at it with his left hand, and drew his sword and made a stroke at the man nearest him, and made two halves of him. And then he kept a hold of the skin and put it about himself, and the three of them rushed out of the court, cutting down every armed man before them, so that not one escaped death or wounding.

And then Brian went to where the king himself was, and the king made no delay in attacking him, and they made a hard fight of it, and at the end the King of Greece fell by the hand of Brian, son of Turenn.

The three brothers rested for a while after that, and then they said they would go and look for some other part of the fine. "We will go to Pisear, King of Persia," said Brian, "and ask him for the spear."

So they went into their boat, and they left the blue streams of the coast of Greece, and they said: "We are well on when we have the apples and the skin." And they stopped nowhere till they came to the borders of Persia.

"Let us go to the court with the appearance of poets," said Brian, "the same as we went to the King of Greece." "We are content to do that," said the others, "as all turned out so well the last time we took to poetry; not that it is easy for us to take to a calling that does not belong to us."

So they put the poet’s tie on their hair, and they were as well treated as they were at the other court; and when the time came for poems Brian rose up, and it is what he said:

"It is little any spear looks to Pisear;

the battle of enemies are broken, it is not too much for Pisear to
wound every one of them.

"A yew, the most beautiful of the wood, it is called a king, it is not bulky.

May the spear drive on the
whole crowd to their wounds of death."

"That is a good poem," said the king, "but I do not understand why my own spear is brought into it, O Man of Poetry from Ireland."

"It is because it is that spear of your own I would wish to get as the reward of my poem," said Brian.


"It is little sense you have to be asking that of me," said the king; "and the people of my court never showed greater respect for poetry than now, when they did not put you to death on the spot."

When Brian heard that talk from the king, he thought of the apple that was in his hand, and he made a straight cast and hit him in the forehead, so that his brains were put out at the back of his head, and he bared the sword and made an attack on the people about him.

And the other two did not fail to do the same, and they gave him their help bravely till they had made an end of all they met of the people of the court. And then they found the spear, and its head in a cauldron of water, the way it would not set fire to the place.

And after a while they said it was time for them to go and look for the rest of the great fine that was on them, and they asked one another what way should they go.

"We will go to the King of the Island of Siogair," said Brian, "for it is with him are the two horses and the chariot the Ildánach asked of us."

They went forward then and brought the spear with them, and it is proud the three champions were after all they had done. And they went on till they were come to the court of the King of Siogair.

"It is what we will do this time," said Brian, "we will go in with the appearance of paid soldiers from Ireland, and we will make friends with the king, the way we will get to know in what place the horses and the chariot are kept."

And when they had settled on that they went forward to the lawn before the
king’s house.

The king and the chief men that were with him rose up and came through the fair that was going on there, and they saluted the king, and he asked who were they. "We are trained fighting men from Ireland," they said, "and we are earning wages from the kings of the world."

"Is it your wish to stop with me for a while?" said the king. "That is what we are wanting," said they. So then they made an agreement and took service with him.

They stopped in the court a fortnight and a month, and they never saw the horses through that time. Then Brian said: "This is a bad way we are in, to have no more news of the horses now than the first day we came to the place."

"What is best for us to do now?" said his brothers. "Let us do this," said
Brian, "let us take our arms and gather our things together, and go to the king and tell him we will leave the country and this part of the world unless he will show us those horses."

So they went to the king that very day, and he asked them what did they mean by getting themselves ready for a journey. "You will hear that, high king," said Brian; "it is because trained fighting men from Ireland, like ourselves, have always trust put in them by the kings they guard, and we are used to be told the secrets and the whispers of any person we are with, and that is not the way you have treated us since we came to you. For you have two horses and a chariot that are the best in the world, as we have been told, and we have not been given a sight of them yet."

"It would be a pity you ‘to go on that account," said the king, "when I would have showed them to you the first day, if I had known you had a wish to see them. And if you have a mind to see them now," he said, "you may see them; for I think there never came soldiers from Ireland to this place that were thought more of by myself and by my people than yourselves."

He sent for the horses then, and they were yoked to the chariot, and their going was as fast as the cold spring wind, and the sea was the same as the land to them. And Brian was watching the horses closely, and on a sudden he took hold of the chariot and took the chariot driver out and dashed him against the nearest rock, and made a leap into his place himself, and made a cast of the Persian spear at the king, that went through his heart. And then he and his brothers scattered the people before them, and brought away the chariot.

"We will go now to Easal, the King of the Golden Pillars," said Brian, "to look for the seven pigs the Ildánach bade us bring him." They sailed on then without delay or drawback to that high country. And it is the way the people of that country were, watching their harbours for fear of the sons of Turenn, for the story of them had been told in all parts, how they had been sent out of Ireland by force, and how they were bringing away with them all the gifted treasures of the whole world.

Easal came to the edge of the harbour to meet them, and he asked was it true what he heard, that the king of every country they had gone to had fallen by them. Brian said it was true, whatever he might wish to do to them for it. "What was it made you do that?" said Easal. Brian told him then it was the oppression and the hard sentence of another had put them to it; and he told him all that had happened, and how they had put down all that offered to stand against them until that time.

"What did you come to this country now for?" said the king. "For the pigs belonging to yourself," said Brian; "for to bring them away with us is a part of the fine."

"What way do you think to get them?" said the king. "If we get them with good-will," said Brian, "we are ready to take them thankfully; and if we do not, we are ready to do battle with yourself and your people on the head of them, that you may fall by us, and we may bring away the pigs in spite of you."

"If that is to be the end of it," said the king, "it would be a pity to bring my people into a battle."

"It would be a pity indeed," said Brian.

Then the king whispered and took advice with his people about the matter, and it is what they agreed, to give up the pigs of their own free will to the sons of Turenn, since they could not see that any one had been able to stand against them up to that time.

Then the sons of Turenn gave their thanks to Easal, and there was wonder on them to have got the pigs like that, when they had to fight for every other part of the fine. And more than that, they had left a share of their blood in every other place till then.

Easal brought them to his own house that night, and they were served with food, and drink, and good beds, and all they could wish for. And they rose up on the morrow and came into the king’s presence, and the pigs were given to them.

"It is well you have done by us, giving us these pigs," said Brian, "for we did not get any share of the fine without fighting but these alone." And he made a poem for the king then, praising him, and putting a great name on him for what be had done.

"What journey are you going to make now, Sons of Turenn?" said Easal. "We are going," they said, "to the country of Ioruaidh, on account of a whelp that is there."

"Give me one request," said Easal, "and that is to bring me with you to the King of Ioruaidh, for a daughter of mine is his wife, and I would wish to persuade him to give you the whelp without a battle."

"That will please us well," they said.

So the king’s ship was made ready, and we have no knowledge of what happened till they came to the delightful, wonderful coast of Ioruaidh. The people and the armies were watching the harbours and landing-places before them, and they knew them at once and shouted at them.

Then Easal went on shore peaceably, and he went to where his son-in-law, the king, was, and told him the story of the sons of Turenn from beginning to end. "What has brought them to this country?" said the King of Ioruaidh.

"To ask for the hound you have," said Easal. "It was a bad thought you had coming with them to ask it," said the king, "for the gods have not given that much luck to any three champions in the world, that they would get my hound by force or by good-will."

"It would be better for you to let them have the hound," said Easal, "since they have put down so many of the kings of the world."

But all he could say was only idleness to the king. So he went then to where the sons of Turenn were, and gave them the whole account. And when they heard the king’s answer, they made no delay, but put quick hands on their arms, and offered to give battle to the army of Ioruaidh.

And when they went, there was a brave battle fought on both sides. And as for the sons of Turenn, they began to kill and to strike at the men of Ioruaidh till they parted from one another in the fight, so that Iuchar and Iucharba chanced to be on one side, and Brian by himself on the other side.

It was a gap of danger and a breaking of ranks was before Brian in every path he took, till he came to the King of Ioruaidh in the battle pen where he was. And then the two brave champions began a fierce fight together, and they did not spare one another in it. And at the last Brian overcame the king, and bound him, and brought him through the middle of the army, till he came to the place where Easal was, and it is what he said: "There is your son-in-law for you, and I swear by my hand of valour, I would think it easier to kill him three times than to bring him to you once like this."

So then the whelp was given to the sons of Turenn, and the king was unbound, and peace was made between them. And when they had brought all this to an end, they bade farewell to Easal and to all the rest.

Now as to Lugh of the Long Hand, it was showed to him that the sons of Turenn had got all the things that were wanting to him against the battle with the Fomor; and on that he sent a Druid spell after them to put forgetfulness on them of the rest of the fine that they had not got. And he put a great desire and longing on them to go back to Ireland; so they forgot that a part of the fine was wanting to them, and they turned back again toward home.

And it is the place where Lugh was at the time, at a gathering of the people for a fair on the green outside Teamhair, and the King of Ireland along with him. And it was made known to Lugh that the sons of Turenn were landed at Brugh na Boinne.

And he went into the city of Teamhair, and shut the gate after him, and he put on Manannan’s smooth armour, and the cloak of the daughters of Flidais, and he took his own arms in his hand.

And the sons of Turenn came where the king was, and they were made welcome by him and by the Tuatha de Danaan. And the king asked them did they get the fine. "We did get it," said they; "and where is Lugh till we give it to him?" "He was here a while ago," said the king. And the whole fair was searched for him, but he was not found.

"I know the place where he is," said Brian; "for it has been made known to him that we are come to Ireland, and these deadly arms with us, and he is gone into Teamhair to avoid us."

Messengers were sent to him then, and it is the answer he gave them that he would not come, but that the fine should be given to the king.

So the sons of Turenn did that, and when the king had taken the fine they all went to the palace in Teamhair; and Lugh came out on the lawn and the fine was given to him, and it is what he said:

"There is a good payment here for any one that ever was killed or that ever will be killed. But there is something wanting to it yet that it is not lawful to leave out. And where is the cooking-spit?" he said; "and where are the three shouts on the hill that you did not give yet?"

And when the sons of Turenn heard that there came clouds of weakness on them. And they left the place and went to their fathers house that night, and they told him all they had done, and the way Lugh had treated them.

There was grief and darkness on Turenn then, and they spent the night together. And on the
morrow they went to their ship, and Ethne, their sister, with them, and she was crying and lamenting, and it is what she said:

"It is a pity, Brian of my life, it is not to Teamhair your going is, after all the troubles you have had before this, even if I could not follow you.

"O Salmon of the dumb Boinne, O Salmon of the Lifé River, since I cannot keep you here I am loath to part from you.

"O Rider of the Wave of Tuaidh, the man that stands best in the fight, if you come back again, I think it will not be pleasing to your enemy.

"Is there pity with you for the sons of Turenn leaning now on their green shields? Their going is a cause for pity, my mind is filled up with it.

"You to be to-night at Beinn Edair till, the heavy coming of the morning, you who have taken forfeits from brave men, it is you have increased our grief.

"It is a pity your journey is from Teamhair, and from the pleasant plains, and from great Uisnech of Míde; there is nothing so pitiful as this."

After that complaint they went out on the rough waves of the green sea; and they were a quarter of a year on the sea without getting any news of the island.

Then Brian put on his water dress and he made a leap, and he was a long time walking in the sea looking for the island of the Fair-Haired Women, and he found it in the end. And he went looking for the court, and when he came to it, all he found was a troop of women doing needlework and embroidering borders. And among all the other things they had with them, there was the cooking-spit.

And when Brian saw it, he took it up in his hand and he was going to bring it with him to the door. And all the women began laughing when they saw him doing that, and it is what they said:

"It is a brave deed you put your hand to; for even if your brothers were along with you, the least of the three times fifty women of us would not let the spit go with you or with them. But for all that," they said, "take a spit of the spit with you, since you had the daring to try and take it in spite of us."

Brian bade them farewell then, and went to look for the boat. And his brothers thought it was too long he was away from them, and just as they were going to leave the place they were, they saw him coming towards them, and that raised their courage greatly.

And he went into the boat, and they went on to look for the Hill of Miochaoin. And when they came there, Miochaoin, that was the guardian of the hill, came towards them; and when Brian saw him he attacked him, and the fight of those two champions was like the fight of two lions, till Miochaoin fell at the last.

And after Miochaoin had fallen, his three sons came out to fight with the three sons of Turenn. And if anyone ever came from the east of the world to look at any fight, it is to see the fight of these champions he had a right to come, for the greatness of their blows and the courage of their minds.


The names of the sons of Miochaoin were Corc and Conn and Aedh, and they drove their three spears through the bodies of the sons of Turenn, and that did not discourage them at all and they put their own three spears through the bodies of the sons of Miochaoin, so that they fell into the clouds and the faintness of death.

And then Brian said: "What way are you now, my dear brothers?" "We are near our death," said they. "Let us rise up," he said, "and give three shouts upon the hill, for I see the signs of death coming on us." "We are not able to do that," said they. Then Brian rose up and raised each of them with one hand, and he shedding blood heavily all the time, until they gave the three shouts.

After that Brian brought them with him to the boat, and they were travelling the sea for a long time, but at last Brian said: "I see Beinn Edair and our father’s dun, and Teamhair of the Kings." "We would have our fill of health if we could see that," said the others; "and for the love of your good name, brother," they said, "raise up our heads on your breast till we see Ireland again, and life or death will be the same to us after that. And O Brian," they said, "Flame of Valour without treachery, we would sooner death to bring ourselves away, than to see you with wounds upon your body, and with no physician to heal you."

Then they came to Beinn Edair, and from that they went on to their father’s house, and Brian said to Turenn: "Go, dear father, to Teamhair, and give this spit to Lugh, and bring the skin that has healing in it for our relief.

Ask it from him for the sake of friendship," he said, "for we are of the one blood, and let him not give hardness for hardness. And O dear father," he said, "do not be long on your journey, or you will not find us alive before you."

Then Turenn went to Teamhair, and he found Lugh of the Long Hand before him, and he gave him the spit, and he asked the skin of him to heal his children, and Lugh said he would not give it. And Turenn came back to them and told them he had not got the skin. And Brian said: "Bring me with you to Lugh, to see would I get it from him."

So they went to Lugh, and Brian asked the skin of him. And Lugh said he would not give it, and that if they would give him the breadth of the earth in gold for it, he would not take it from them, unless he was sure their death would come on them in satisfaction for the deed they had done.

When Brian heard that, he went to the place his two brothers were, and he lay down between them, and his life went out from him, and out from the other two at the same time.

And their father cried and lamented over his three beautiful sons, that had the making of a king of Ireland in each of them, and his strength left him and he died; and they were buried in the one grave....
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostTue Jun 07, 2016 7:32 pm

Great work Fairlie
My ipad controls my spellings not me so apologies from it in advance :) lol
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostFri Jun 17, 2016 12:26 pm

Bres Mac Elatha and the Tuatha Dé Danann



One day Ériu of the Tuatha Dé Danann was looking from her house out to sea, and she saw that it was as flat as a plank and without movement. Then a vessel of silver appeared to her, its size was very large but the shape of it was blurred, and the flow of the tide brought it to land. In it was the handsomest man, with golden hair to his shoulders, and a shirt and a cloak trimmed with gold. A brooch of gold was on his breast, five golden rings about his neck, a sword with inlays at his belt, and a pair of shining spears in the grip of his hand.

'A fine time for love-making,' said the man.

'I've made no tryst with you,' she replied.

'What need for a tryst?' said he.

So they stretched themselves down together. When the man rose, the woman wept.

'Why the tears?' he asked.

'I cry for two things,' she said, 'Firstly, that you possess me now, though the youth of the Tuatha Dé have entreated me in vain. Secondly that you are leaving.'

He drew a gold ring from his middle finger and put it into her hand saying, 'Part not with it either by sale or gift, except to one whose finger it will fit.'

'Another sorrow have I,' she said 'for I do not know who has come to me.'

'No reason for ignorance there,' he replied. 'Elatha, king of the Fomorians, has lain with you. You will bear a son and let his name be Eochu Bres, that is 'Eochu the Beautiful'. Every lovely thing to be seen in Ireland, field or fortress, ale or candle, woman or man or horse - will be judged by him, so people will say "it is a Bres."'

In time she gave birth to a boy and he was named as Elatha had said. In seven days he had made two weeks growth, and in seven years he had the growth of fourteen summers. And when the contention arose between the Tuatha Dé Danann as to who should be king because of the wounding of Nuada - he being no longer whole; They chose Bres thinking he would bring lasting peace between the Tuatha Dé and the Fomorians. His mother Ériu gave him land and the fort of Dun Brese was built on that land.

But after Bres was made king, three Fomorian kings put Ireland under tribute so that there was not smoke from the roof that was not taxed. Even the champions of Ireland were pressed into service. Oghma was forced to carry firewood, and Dagda had to build ramparts and dig trenches around the fort of Bres and it was the Dagda who built it all.

Soon Dagda was not happy with this degrading work. He would meet in the house of an old satirist named Cridenbel the Blind whose mouth grew out of his chest. Cridenbel thought his own portion was small in comparison with Dagda's and he begged 'O, Dagda on your honour, give me the three best bits of your meal!' Now a champion cannot refuse a request made on his honour and so Dagda gave a third of his meal to Cridenbel each night. But large indeed were the portions given to Cridenbel, each piece being the size of a good pig. And the appearance of Dagda was the worse for that.

One day Dagda was in the trench when he saw Mac Óg coming towards him.

'Very Good, O Dagda,' said Mac Óg.

'Even so,' said Dagda.

'But you have a bad look about you.'

'I have good reason,' replied the Dagda. 'Cridenbel the satirist, takes the three best bits of my meal every night.'

'It will not last,' said Mac Óg. 'Soon you will finish your work, but seek no payment until the cattle of Ireland are brought to you. Then choose the dark, black-maned, lively heifer.'

When the work was finished and Bres offered a payment, Dagda asked for a heifer, which seemed a foolish choice to Bres. He thought Dagda would have chosen something more.

All this time that Bres held the kingship, there was murmuring against him among the Tuatha Dé Danann, for their knives were not greased by him, and however often they visited him their breaths did not smell of ale. And there was no entertainment in the household from either poet or bard or satirist or harper or piper or hornblower or juggler or jester. They saw no races, no sporting contest, and only Oghma was there to prove his skill before the king. Yet his poor duty was only this: to bring the firewood to the fort. Each day he carried a bundle from the islands of Clew Bay, but the sea snatched two-thirds of his load, because he was weak for lack of food.

On a certain day Cairpre, poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann, came in his travels to the house of Bres. He entered a narrow, black, dark little house, with neither fire nor chair nor bed in it. Three small cakes he was given, and they were dry. On the morrow he arose, and he was not thankful. As he crossed the threshold he made this magical curse:

'Without food quickly on a dish,

Without cow's milk for a calf to grow on,

Without a man's abode under the dark of night,

Without pay for a company of storytellers -

Let that be Bres's condition.

'There's no prosperity in Bres,' he added, and that was true. There was blight on him from that hour. And this is the first poetical curse made in Ireland.

After this the Tuatha Dé met together to talk with their foster son Bres. It was agreed that he might remain king for seven years, so long as he gave proper sureties. As he was not willing to give up his kingship, Bres made this delay so that he might gather the magical warriors of the Fomorians and seize the Tuatha Dé by force.

Then he went to his mother and asked where his family was. 'I am certain about that,' said she and she gave him the ring that Elatha had left her. He put it on his middle finger and it fitted him perfectly.

Together they went to the lands of the Fomorians. The people there as was the custom put them to the test, making races and fighting in sword-play. When the dogs raced the hounds of Bres were faster, and his horses were faster too than those of the Fomorians. Then they came to sword-play. But as Bres lifted his arm to strike, Elatha recognized the ring on his finger and asked who he was, and Ériu told the whole story of his birth.

His father was sad for him, and asked 'What need brings you here from the land you ruled?'

'Nothing,' said Bres, 'but my own injustice and pride. I took their jewels and their land and their food. Until this time none had taken from them tributes or payments.' 'That is bad for the telling' said his father. 'Better their prosperity than your kingship. Better their prayers than curses. Why have you come here?'

'To ask for soldiers since I mean to keep the land by force.'

'Gain it by justice only.'

'Well then, here's a question what advice do you give me?' asked Bres.

But Elatha would not help him and sent him instead to Balor, king of the Hebrides and to Indech, one of the other kings of the Fomorians. And these kings gathered all the forces from Lochlann westward to Ireland, to impose tribute and rule by force, and they made a single bridge of ships from the Hebrides to Ireland. No host ever came to Ireland that was more terrifying than these warriors.

After Bres had departed to the Fomorians. Nuada was once more re-instated as king of the Tuatha Dé, for he had been fitted with a silver arm by Dian Cécht which was as good as any other and he was once more a whole man. So in celebration Nuada held a great feast at Tara for the Tuatha Dé Danann. And there came before the doorkeepers of Tara a warrior and a company of strangers, led by a handsome sturdy fellow with a king's diadem on his head.

'Who is there?' the doorkeepers asked the leader.

'Lugh Lonnansclech is here, son of Cian, son of Dian Cécht and of Ethnea, daughter of Balor.'

'And what is your art, no one without skill enters Tara' said the doorkeepers.

'You question me, who was named Samildánach?' asked the warrior incredulously.

'Well,' replied the doorkeepers 'speak on.'

'I am a builder, I am a smith, I am a champion, I am a harper, I am a soldier, I am a poet, I am a sorcerer.' said Lugh.

'We have a representation of all those skills and need no more' said the doorkeepers 'as for sorcerers, our druids and magicians and witches are as many as the sands on the beach.'

'I will speak further,' went on Samildánach. 'I am a physician, I am a cupbearer, I am a metalworker. Ho! doorman ask the king if he has anyone with as many arts and skills as I have. If he has I will not enter Tara.'

One of the doorkeepers went to Nuada and said, 'The warrior Samildánach has come to court. He practices all the arts and is master of every skill.'

Then the courtiers brought out the chess-boards of Tara, and Samildánach won every game. When all this was told to the king, he said 'Let him enter, for never before has a man like him come to our fort.'

And Samildánach went into the hall and sat in the seat of the wise man for he was wise in every art. And in the evening he played on the harp, playing the music of sleep and lulling the king and the court into sleep from that time until the same time next day.

When he saw this man's many powers, Nuada wondered if he might protect them from the Fomorians. So the Tuatha Dé held a council, and the next day Nuada spoke with Oghma and Dagda on Girley Hill, and the king summoned also his two kinsmen Dian Cécht and Goibniu. A full year they spent in close discussion, and then the druids of Ireland were called together, with their doctors and charioteers and smiths and landowners and lawgivers. They all spoke together secretly.

'What is your accomplishment?' the king asked Mathgen, the sorcerer, and Mathgen answered that he would shake the mountains of Ireland under the Fomorians until their summits fell to the ground. Then it would seem as if the twelve chief mountains of Ireland were fighting for the Tuatha Dé Danann.

'And I will rain three showers of fire onto the faces of the Fomorians' said the druid Figol 'Also I will take out of them two-thirds of their courage and skill and strength and I will block up the bladders in their bodies and in the bodies of their horses. And the courage of the men of Ireland will increase with every breath even if they fight for seven years they will not get tired.'

Then Dagda said 'That power that you boast, I'll wield it all by myself.' And so they all prepared for battle. Lugh, and Dagda and Oghma went to the three gods of Danu and they gave Lugh his weapons, which they had been making ready for seven years. At last everything was in place and the Tuatha heard the cry of Morrigan.

'Stir yourselves' said the blood-thirsty war monger. 'Go onwards and fight!'

And the druids answered at once 'Yes we will go to war!'

*****************************

The Fomorians advanced to Scetne. The men of Ireland were in Magh Aurfolaig. The two armies were threatening battle. 'Those Irish have a determined look,' said Bres, 'I expect they mean to fight.'

'We'll give them blow for blow' said the Fomorian king, 'so their bones will be crushed small if they don't pay tribute.'

The men of Ireland had agreed to keep Lugh from the battle as they feared his early death and the loss of all his many skills. Nine foster fathers were sent to guard him. When the guards and the chiefs of the Tuatha Dé Danann were around him, Lugh asked the smith Goibniu, 'What is the extent of your power?'

'Not hard to say,' replied Goibniu. 'Though the fight be for seven years, every splintered spear, every broken sword shall be mended by me. My forged spearpoints will not miss their mark. The skins they pierce will not taste life afterwards. Dolb the Fomorian smith cannot do as much. I am prepared for this second battle at Moytura.'

'And you physician Dian Cécht,' asked Lugh 'what is your talent?'

'Not hard to say said he. 'Any of our wounded, unless his head be off, or his brain struck open, I will make him perfectly whole by the next day.'

'And you Oghma, champion warrior,' said Lugh, 'what is your specialty?'

'Not hard to say,' said he. 'Neither the king nor twenty seven of his friends will be a match for me, I will win a third of the battle for the men of Ireland.'

'And you Morrigan, Battle Hag, what is your power?'

'Not hard to say' said she. 'I shall stand fast. I shall destroy those I have my eye on'

'And you Cairpre the poet, what can you do in battle?'

'I will make a metrical malediction against them. I will name and shame them, so by my spell they will offer no fight.'

'And you Bé Chuille and Dianann, my witches, what can you do?'

'Not hard to say' they replied. 'We will bewitch the trees and the stones and the sods of the earth so that they will appear like an army against them. And they will scatter in flight, terrified and trembling.'

'And you Dagda, what power can you use against the army of the Fomorians?'

'Not hard to say,' said the Dagda 'I will lay waste with heavy smiting and destruction and wizardry. Their bones under my club will be like hailstones under the hooves of horses.'

Thus the battle ranks were drawn up, between fierce and proud warriors.

Then the Fomorians marched out of their camp in strong indestructible battalions. There was not a soldier among them without armour against his skin, a helmet on his head, a broad spear in his hand, a sharp sword on his belt, a heavy shield on his shoulder. To attack them that day was like striking a head against a cliff, or putting a hand in a nest of vipers, or thrusting a face into the fire.

Balor and Bres led the Fomorians. On the other side, Lugh gave his guards the slip and took the forefront of the battle. In his chariot he led the Tuatha Dé Danann. He called to the men of Ireland to free themselves from the bondage of the Fomorians, for it was better to die for the land than to live and pay tribute. And to give them heart Lugh went around the warriors on one foot and with one eye closed and he chanted this spell: Arotroi cath comartan. Fo, fo. Fe, fe. Cle. Amainsi!

There was a great shout. The armies rushed together and started to hack at the one and the other. Many fine men fell in the trough of death. Great killing and grave lying was seen there. Pride and shame were side by side, anger and indignation. Thick was the stream of blood over white skin. Harsh the tumult over the field: shouts and clashes and swishing and rattling and humming and whirring, and everywhere the clanging strokes of hard blows.

They attacked each other till their fingertips and toes almost met. Blood under their feet, and they slipping and falling down. A heavy, gory, pain-inflicting, sharp, bloody battle, with shafts and blades red in the hands of enemies.

Nuada of the Silver Arm fell before the blows of Balor. Then Lugh and eye-piercing Balor met in battle. An evil eye had Balor. That eye was never allowed open save on the battlefield. Then four men would raise the eye-lid by a polished ring. Whoever looked in that eye, though they were thousands in number, were rendered helpless. It had that venomous power for this reason: once, when his father's druids were brewing magic, he looked in the window, and the fumes of the brew settled in his eye and gave it this dangerous power. Lugh and Balor came together, and Balor heard the challenge from Lugh.

'Now, men' said Balor 'raise up my eye-lid that I might see this boastful fellow.'

The lid was raised from Balor's eye. Then Lugh hurled a stone from his sling-shot at him, which drove the eye through the back of his head, and it was Balor's own army that was looking at it. Balor fell on top of his own soldiers so that twenty-seven of them died under him, and the crown of his head struck the chest of his king so that a gush of blood spouted from his lips.

Then Morrigan came into the ranks with grim words, stiffening the hearts of the Tuatha Dé Danann to fight fiercely and resolutely. In a short while the armies broke apart and the Fomorians were driven to the sea. Many called for mercy and among them was Loch Half-Green the poet of the enemy. To him Lugh replied 'Grant me my requests.'

'That I will do,' said Loch. 'I will remove forever from Ireland all invasion and plundering by the Fomorians. And in all hard cases the judgement of your tongue shall resolve the matter until the end of life.' So Loch the poet was spared, and he chanted to the Tuatha Dé 'The Decree of Fastening'.

After the battle, the Tuatha Dé wished to kill Bres for all this trouble was his fault. But he stopped their hands saying 'It is better to spare me, than to kill me.'

'How is that so?' asked Lugh.

'If I am spared, the cows of Ireland will always be in milk,' replied Bres.

'Let us consult the wise men' said Lugh.

So Lugh went to wise Maeltne, who answered, 'He shall not be spared, milk he might control but what shall he do about their age or their calving?'

'O Maeltne,' said Bres 'A bitter response you give me.'

Then Lugh asked again 'What else shall save you, Bres?'

'A harvest every quarter shall be yours, if you spare me.'

'No mercy for that' replied Maeltne. 'It is not the proper way for us. What is suitable is this: spring for ploughing and sowing, summer for the growing of the grain, autumn for the ripeness and reaping, winter for the eating.'

'That does not save you,' said Lugh.

And Bres cried out 'O Maeltne, another bitter response.'

But Lugh said, 'Less will rescue you.'

'What then?' said Bres.

'Answer, this: how shall the men of Ireland plough? How shall they sow? How shall they reap? Make these things known to them.'

'Say to them,' replied Bres 'Tuesday for their ploughing, Tuesday for their sowing, Tuesday for their reaping.'

Thus Bres was spared and released.

Now, in the battle the champion Oghma found the sword of Tethra, one of the kings of the Fomorians. Oghma unsheathed the sword and cleaned it. Then the sword told him what it had done, because swords recounted their deeds when laid bare. Therefore swords are entitled to the homage of cleaning. Many spells have been kept in swords by that means. And Loch Half-Green made a verse about that sword.

When the Fomorians retreated, Lugh and Dagda and Oghma went after them because they had carried off Dagda's harp. After hard sprinting they reached the hall where Bres and Elatha sat. There was a harp on the wall. It was the harp in which Dagda had bound the melodies, so that it would not sound until he called forth the music.

Then the harp sprang from the wall, and it killed nine men altogether and it sprang to the hand of Dagda. Quickly he played for the Fomorians the three great melodies: The Melody of Sorrow, The Melody of Joy and the Melody of Dreams. At the sorrowful music the women wept. At the joyful music the men laughed. And at the music of dreams the warriors fell asleep. So Lugh, Dagda and Oghma were able to creep away unharmed, though the Fomorians had wished to slaughter them.

As they went away Dagda gathered up the cattle the Fomorians had plundered. First he called to his dark, black-maned heifer, the one given him by Bres as wages for building the fort. Then she called for her calf, and all the cattle of Ireland followed her.

After the breaking of the battle and the cleansing of the carnage, Morrigan, war-Queen, proclaimed the triumph and victory to the royal hills of Ireland, to its spirit army, to its water and rivers and estuaries. And the great deeds are still spoken of. And Badb sister of Morrigan pronounced this blessing over Ireland:

Peace up to heaven, heaven down to Earth.

Earth beneath heaven, strength in each.

A cup very full, full of honey.

Mead in abundance, summer in winter.

Peace up to heaven.

Source: Ancient Irish Tales, ed. T.P. Cross & C.H. Slover 1936 (republished Barnes & Noble 1996)
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostFri Jun 17, 2016 12:27 pm

The Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh



The Tuatha Dé had defeated the Fir Bolg at the first Battle of Magh Tuiredh and driven them to the West of Ireland. They did not enjoy precedence for long. Soon they had to do battle with the Fomhoire (The Fomorians) who lived on the western most islands and were also very powerful in magic.

During the first battle of Magh Tuiredh, Nuada the King had lost his arm and so according to ancient custom he had to stand down as ruler as defects were not allowed in sovereigns. Bres (The Beautiful) whose father Elatha was a king of the Fomhoire but who was raised among his mother's kin the Tuatha Dé, was chosen in his stead. Soon the rule of Bres however became oppressive and the country fell in thrall to the people of the Fomhoire. The Dagda was reduced to digging and building a fort for Bres and Oghma was reduced to fetching firewood. Moreover Bres lacked what is the mark of every true king namely generosity.

The chieftains of the Tuatha Dé complained that 'their knives were not greased by him and however often they visited him their breaths did not smell of ale' There was no entertainment for them in the royal household, no poets, musicians, acrobats or buffoons. In the end retribution was hastened by a poet's verses.

When Coirbre the poet of the Tuatha Dé was received by Bres with scant hospitality he retaliated with magic tipped satire, (the first that was made in Ireland) and nothing but decay was on Bres from that hour.

The chieftains of the Tuatha Dé demanded that he renounce his kingship. So he went out to muster an army of the Fomhoire to support him.

In the meantime Nuada had been fitted with a silver arm by Dian Cécht the physician and was reinstated in the sovereignty and from that time forward he was known as Nuada Lámhairgid (of the Silver Arm). Then Lugh the long-handed arrived on the scene and as soon as Nuada had proof of his technical abilities he relinquished the throne to Lugh in the hope that he would lead the Tuatha Dé to victory against the Fomhoire.

Under Lugh's leadership preparations are got underway and each of the craftsmen and magicians of the Tuatha Dé promises his own special contribution. The craftsmen fashion wondrous weapons. The sorcerers hurl the mountains of Ireland on the Fomhoire. The cupbearer's conceal from them the waters of Ireland's lakes and streams. The druids cast down on them showers of fire, and deprive them of two-thirds of their strength and courage, and bind in their bodies the urine of men and horses.

Once the battle was joined in earnest there was great slaughter on both sides. The slain of the Fomhoire remained so, but those of the Tuatha Dé were cast into a well over which Dian Cécht and his three children sang spells and by its magic they were restored to life. Lugh also used his powers, moving around his army on one foot and with one eye he chanted an incantation to lend them strength and courage. He thus assumed the traditional posture of the sorcerer and one which was attributed to the Fomhoire.

He then had to face the dreaded Balor of the Evil Eye. Balor's eye was such that he needed four men to raise the lid of it and when uncovered its venomous gaze could disable an army. As soon as Lugh saw the eye open against him he cast a sling-stone which drove it through to the back of Balor's head so that it wrought destruction on his own followers.

The Fomhoire were routed and expelled forever from Ireland. Bres was captured and sought to save his life by promising first that the cattle in Ireland should always be in milk, and secondly that there should be a harvest in every quarter of the year. Both offers were rejected but he was finally spared in return for advice on the proper times for ploughing, sowing and reaping.

With that the Tuatha Dé prospered in Ireland for many years to come and wanted for nothing.
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostFri Jun 17, 2016 12:28 pm

The Coming of Finn

AT the time Finn was born his father Cumhal, of the sons of Baiscne, Head of the Fianna of Ireland, had been killed in battle by the sons of Morna that were fighting with him for the leadership. And his mother, that was beautiful long-haired Muirne, daughter of Tadg, son of Nuada of the Tuatha de Danaan and of Ethlinn, mother of Lugh of the Long Hand, did not dare to keep him with her; and two women, Bodhmall, the woman Druid, and Liath Luachra, came and brought him away to care for him.

It was to the woods of Slieve Bladhma they brought him, and they nursed him secretly, because of his father’s enemies, the sons of Morna, and they kept him there a long time.

And Muirne, his mother, took another husband that was king of Carraighe; but at the end of six years she came to see Finn, going through every lonely place till she came to the wood, and there she found the little hunting cabin, and the boy asleep in it, and she lifted him up in her arms and kissed him, and she sang a little sleepy song to him; and then she said farewell to the women, and she went away again.

And the two women went on caring him till he came to sensible years; and one day when he went out he saw a wild duck on the lake with her clutch, and he made a cast at her that cut the wings off her that she could not fly, and he brought her back to the cabin, and that was his first hunt.

And they gave him good training in running and leaping and swimming. One of them would run round a tree, and she having a thorn switch, and Finn after her with another switch, and each one trying to hit at the other; and they would leave him in a field, and hares along with him, and would bid him not to let the hares quit the field, but to keep before them whichever way they would go; and to teach him swimming they would throw him into the water and let him make his way out.

But after a while he went away with a troop of poets, to hide from the sons of Morna, and they hid him in the mountain of Crotta Cliach; but there was a robber in Leinster at that time, Fiacuil, son of Codhna, and he came where the poets were in Fidh Gaible and killed them all. But he spared the child and brought him to his own house, that was in a cold marsh. But the two women, Bodhmall and Liath, came looking for him after a while, and Fiacuil gave him up to them, and they brought him back to the same place he was before.

He grew up there, straight and strong and fair-haired and beautiful. And one day he was out in Slieve Bladhma, and the two women along with him, and they saw before them a herd of the wild deer of the mountain. "It is a pity," said the old women, "we not to be able to get a deer of those deer." "I will get one for you," said Finn; and with that he followed after them, and caught two stags of them and brought them home to the hunting cabin. And after that he used to be hunting for them every day. But at last they said to him:

"It is best for you to leave us now, for the sons of Morna are watching again to kill you."

So he went away then by himself, and never stopped till he came to Magh Lifé, and there he saw young lads swimming in a lake, and they called to him to swim against them. So he went into the lake, and he beat them at swimming. "Fair he is and well shaped," they said when they saw him swimming, and it was from that time he got the name of Finn, that is, Fair. But they got to be jealous of his strength, and he went away and left them.

He went on then till he came to Loch Lein, and he took service there with the King of Finntraigh; and there was no hunter like him, and the king said: "If Cumhal had left a son, you would be that son."

He went from that king after, and he went into Carraighe, and there he took service with the king, that had taken his mother Muirne for his wife. And one day they were playing chess together, and he won seven games one after another. "Who are you at all?" said the king then. "I am a son of a countryman of the Luigne of Teamhair," said Finn. "That is not so," said the king, "but you are the son that Muirne my wife bore to Cumhal. And do not stop here any longer," he said, "that you may not be killed under my protection."

From that he went into Connacht looking for his father’s brother, Crimall, son of Trenmor; and as he was going on his way he heard the crying of a lone woman. He went to her, and looked at her, and tears of blood were on her face. "Your face is red with blood, woman," he said. "I have reason for it," said she, "for my only son is after being killed by a great fighting man that came on us." And Finn followed after the big champion and fought with him and killed him. And the man he killed was the same man that had given Cumhal his first wound in the battle where he got his death, and had brought away his treasure-bag with him.

Now as to that treasure-bag, it is of a crane skin it was made, that was one time the skin of Aoife, the beautiful sweetheart of Ilbrec, son of Manannan, that was put into the shape of a crane through jealousy. And it was in Manannan’s house it used to be, and there were treasures kept in it, Manannan’s shirt and his knife, and the belt and the smith’s hook of Goibniu, and the shears of the King of Alban, and the helmet of the King of Lochlann, and a belt of the skin of a great fish, and the bones of Asal’s pig that had been brought to Ireland by the sons of Tuireann. All those treasures would be in the bag at full tide, but at the ebbing of the tide it would be empty. And it went from Manannan to Lugh, son of Ethlinn, and after that to Cumhal, that was husband to Muirne, Ethlinn’s daughter.

And Finn took the bag and brought it with him till he found Crimall, that was now an old man, living in a lonely place, and some of the old men of the Fianna were with him, and used to go hunting for him. And Finn gave him the bag, and told him his whole story.

And then he said farewell to Crimall, and went on to learn poetry from Finegas, a poet that was living at the Boinn, for the poets thought it was always on the brink of water, poetry was revealed to them. And he did not give him his own name, but he took the name of Deimne.

Seven years, now, Finegas had stopped at the Boinn, watching the salmon, for it was in the prophecy that he would eat the salmon of knowledge that would come there, and that he would have all knowledge after. And when at the last the salmon of knowledge came, he brought it to where Finn was, and bade him to roast it, but he bade him not to eat any of it.

And when Finn brought him the salmon after a while he said: "Did you eat any of it at all, boy?" "I did not," said Finn; "but I burned my thumb putting down a blister that rose on the skin, and after that, I put my thumb in my mouth." "What is your name, boy?" said Finegas. "Deimne," said he. "It is not, but it is Finn your name is, and it is to you and not to myself the salmon was given in the prophecy." With that he gave Finn the whole of the salmon, and from that time Finn had the knowledge that came from the nuts of the nine hazels of wisdom that grow beside the well that is below the sea.

And besides the wisdom he got then, there was a second wisdom came to him another time, and this is the way it happened. There was a well of the moon belonging to Beag, son of Buan, of the Tuatha de Danaan, and whoever would drink out of it would get wisdom, and after a second drink he would get the gift of foretelling.

And the three daughters of Beag, son of Buan, had charge of the well, and they would not part with a vessel of it for anything less than red gold. And one day Finn chanced to be hunting in the rushes near the well, and the three women ran out to hinder him from coming to it, and one of them that had a vessel of water in her hand, threw it at him to stop him, and a share of the water went into his mouth. And from that out he had all the knowledge that the water of that well could give.

And he learned the three ways of poetry; and this is the poem he made to show he had got his learning well: —

"It is the month of May is the pleasant time; its face is beautiful; the blackbird sings his full song, the living wood is his holding, the cuckoos are singing and ever singing; there is a welcome before the brightness of the summer.

"Summer is lessening the rivers, the swift horses are looking for the pool; the heath spreads out its long hair, the weak white bog-down grows. A wildness comes on the heart of the deer; the sad restless sea is asleep.

"Bees with their little strength carry a load reaped from the flowers; the cattle go up muddy to the mountains; the ant has a good full feast.

"The harp of the woods is playing music; there is colour on the hills, and a haze on the full lakes, and entire peace upon every sail.

"The corncrake is speaking, a loud-voiced poet; the high lonely waterfall is singing a welcome to the warm pool, the talking of the rushes has begun.

"The light swallows are darting; the loudness of music is around the hill; the fat soft mast is budding; there is grass on the trembling bogs.

"The bog is as dark as the feathers of the raven; the cuckoo makes a loud welcome; the speckled salmon is leaping; as strong is the leaping of the swift fighting man.

"The man is gaining; the girl is in her comely growing power; every wood is without fault from the top to the ground, and every wide good plain.

"It is pleasant is the colour of the time; rough winter is gone; every plentiful wood is white; summer is a joyful peace.

"A flock of birds pitches in the meadow; there are sounds in the green fields, there is in them a clear rushing stream.

"There is a hot desire on you for the racing of horses; twisted holly makes a leash for the hound; a bright spear has been shot into the earth, and the flag-flower is golden under it.

"A weak lasting little bird is singing at the top of his voice; the lark is singing clear tidings; May without fault, of beautiful colours.



"I have another story for you; the ox is lowing, the water is creeping in, the summer is gone. High and cold the wind, low the sun, cries are about us; the sea is quarrelling.

"The ferns are reddened and their shape is hidden; the cry of the wild goose is heard; the cold has caught the wings of the birds; it is the time of ice-frost, hard, unhappy."

And after that, Finn being but a young lad yet, made himself ready and went up at Samhain time to the gathering of the High King at Teamhair. And it was the law at that gathering, no one to raise a quarrel or bring out any grudge against another through the whole of the time it lasted.

And the king and his chief men, and Goll, son of Morna, that was now Head of the Fianna, and Caoilte, son of Ronan, and Conan, son of Morna, of the sharp words, were sitting at a feast in the great house of the Middle Court; and the young lad came in and took his place among them, and none of them knew who he was.

The High King looked at him then, and the horn of meetings was brought to him, and he put it into the boy’s hand, and asked him who was he.

"I am Finn, son of Cumhal," he said, "son of the man that used to be head over the Fianna, and king of Ireland; and I am come now to get your friendship, and to give you my service."

"You are son of a friend, boy," said the king, "and son of a man I trusted."

Then Finn rose up and made his agreement of service and of faithfulness to the king; and the king took him by the hand and put him sitting beside his own son, and they gave themselves to drinking and to pleasure for a while.

Every year, now, at Samhain time, for nine years, there had come a man of the Tuatha de Danaan out of Sidhe Finnachaidh in the north, and had burned up Teamhair. Aillen, son of Midhna, his name was, and it is the way he used to come, playing music of the Sidhe, and all the people that heard it would fall asleep. And when they were all in their sleep, he would let a flame of fire out of his mouth, and would blow the flame till all Teamhair was burned.

The king rose up at the feast after a while, and his smooth horn in his hand, and it is what he said: "If I could find among you, men of Ireland, any man that would keep Teamhair till the break of day to-morrow without being burned by Aillen, son of Midhna, I would give him whatever inheritance is right for him to have, whether it be much or little."

But the men of Ireland made no answer, for they knew well that at the sound of the sweet pitiful music made by that comely man of the Sidhe, even women in their pains and men that were wounded would fall asleep.

It is then Finn rose up and spoke to the King of Ireland. "Who will be your sureties that you will fulfil this?" he said. "The kings of the provinces of Ireland," said the king, "and Cithruadh with his Druids." So they gave their pledges, and Finn took in hand to keep Teamhair safe till the breaking of day on the morrow.

Now there was a fighting man among the followers of the King of Ireland, Fiacha, son of Conga, that Cumhal, Finn’s father, used to have a great liking for, and he said to Finn: "Well, boy," he said, "what reward would you give me if I would bring you a deadly spear, that no false cast was ever made with?"

"What reward are you asking of me?" said Finn. "Whatever your right hand wins at any time, the third of it to be mine," said Fiacha, "and a third of your trust and your friendship to be mine." "I will give you that," said Finn.

Then Fiacha brought him the spear, unknown to the sons of Morna or to any other person, and he said: "When you will hear the music of the Sidhe, let you strip the covering off the head of the spear and put it to your forehead, and the power of the spear will not let sleep come upon you."

Then Finn rose up before all the men of Ireland, and he made a round of the whole of Teamhair. And it was not long till he heard the sorrowful music, and he stripped the covering from the head of the spear, and he held the power of it to his forehead.

And Aillen went on playing his little harp, till he had put every one in their sleep as he was used; and then he let a flame of fire out from his mouth to burn Teamhair. And Finn held up his fringed crimson cloak against the flame, and it fell down through the air and went into the ground, bringing the four-folded cloak with it deep into the earth.

And when Aillen saw his spells were destroyed, he went back to Sidhe Finnachaidh on the top of Slieve Fuad; but Finn followed after him there, and as Aillen was going in at the door he made a cast of the spear that went through his heart. And he struck his head off then, and brought it back to Teamhair, and fixed it on a crooked pole and left it there till the rising of the sun over the heights and invers of the country.

And Aillen’s mother came to where his body was lying, and there was great grief on her, and she made this complaint: —

"Ochone! Aillen is fallen, chief of the Sidhe of Beinn Boirche; the slow clouds of death are come on him. Och! he was pleasant, Och! he was kind. Aillen, son of Midhna of Slieve Fuad.

"Nine times he burned Teamhair. It is a great name he was always looking for, Ochone, Ochone, Aillen!"

And at the breaking of day, the king and all the men of Ireland came out upon the lawn at Teamhair where Finn was. "King," said Finn, "there is the head of the man that burned Teamhair, and the pipe and the harp that made his music. And it is what I think," he said, "that Teamhair and all that is in it is saved."

Then they all came together into the place of counsel, and it is what they agreed, the headship of the Fianna of Ireland to be given to Finn. And the king said to Goll, son of Morna: "Well, Goll," he said, "is it your choice to quit Ireland or to put your hand in Finn’s hand?" "By my word, I will give Finn my hand," said Goll.

And when the charms that used to bring good luck had done their work, the chief men of the Fianna rose up and struck their hands in Finn’s hand, and Goll, son of Morna, was the first to give him his hand the way there would be less shame on the rest for doing it.

And Finn kept the headship of the Fianna until the end; and the place he lived in was Almhuin of Leinster, where the white dun was made by Nuada of the Tuatha de Danaan, that was as white as if all the lime in Ireland was put on it, and that got its name from the great herd of cattle that died fighting one time around the well, and that left their horns there, speckled horns and white.

And as to Finn himself, he was a king and a seer and a poet; a Druid and a knowledgeable man; and everything he said was sweet-sounding to his people. And a better fighting man than Finn never struck his hand into a king’s hand, and whatever any one ever said of him, he was three times better.

And of his justice it used to be said, that if his enemy and his own son had come before him to be judged, it is a fair judgment he would have given between them. And as to his generosity it used to be said, he never denied any man as long as he had a mouth to eat with, and legs to bring away what he gave him; and he left no woman without her bride-price, and no man without his pay; and he never promised at night what he would not fulfil on the morrow, and he never promised in the day what he would not fulfil at night, and he never forsook his right-hand friend.

And if he was quiet in peace he was angry in battle, and Oisin his son and Osgar his son’s son followed him in that. There was a young man of Ulster came and claimed kinship with them one time, saying they were of the one blood. "If that is so," said Oisin, "it is from the men of Ulster we took the madness and the angry heart we have in battle." "That is so indeed," said Finn.

Source: Lady Gregory - Gods and Fighting Men, first published 1904.
republished by Colin Smythe Ltd. 1970.
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostFri Jun 17, 2016 12:30 pm

Finn's Household

AND the number of the Fianna of Ireland at that time was seven score and ten chief men, every one of them having three times nine fighting men under him. And every man of them was bound to three things, to take no cattle by oppression, not to refuse any man, as to cattle or riches; no one of them to fall back before nine fighting men.

And there was no man taken into the Fianna until his tribe and his kindred would give securities for him, that even if they themselves were all killed he would not look for satisfaction for their death.

But if he himself would harm others, that harm was not to be avenged on his people. And there was no man taken into the Fianna till he knew the twelve books of poetry. And before any man was taken, he would be put into a deep hole in the ground up to his middle, and he having his shield and a hazel rod in his hand. And nine men would go the length of ten furrows from him and would cast their spears at him at the one time.

And if he got a wound from one of them, he was not thought fit to join with the Fianna. And after that again, his hair would be fastened up, and he put to run through the woods of Ireland, and the Fianna following after him to try could they wound him, and only the length of a branch between themselves and himself when they started.

And if they came up with him and wounded him, he was not let join them; or if his spears had trembled in his hand, or if a branch of a tree had undone the plaiting of his hair, or if he had cracked a dry stick under his foot, and he running. And they would not take him among them till he had made a leap over a stick the height of himself, and till he had stooped under one the height of his knee, and till he had taken a thorn out from his foot with his nail, and he running his fastest. But if he had done all these things, he was of Finn’s people.

It was good wages Finn and the Fianna got at that time; in every district a townland, in every house the fostering of a pup or a whelp from Samhain to Beltaine, and a great many things along with that. But good as the pay was, the hardships and the dangers they went through for it were greater. For they had to hinder the strangers and robbers from beyond the seas, and every bad thing, from coming into Ireland. And they had hard work enough in doing that.

And besides the fighting men, Finn had with him his five Druids, the best that ever came into the west, Cainnelsciath, of the Shining Shield, one of them was, that used to bring down knowledge from the clouds in the sky before Finn, and that could foretell battles.

And he had his five wonderful physicians, four of them belonging to Ireland, and one that came over the sea from the east. And he had his five high poets and his twelve musicians, that had among them Daighre, son of Morna, and Suanach, son of Senshenn, that was Finn’s teller of old stories, the sweetest that ever took a harp in his hand in Ireland or in Alban.

And he had his three cup-bearers and his six door-keepers and his horn-players and the stewards of his house and his huntsman, Comhrag of the five hundred hounds, and his serving-men that were under Garbhcronan, of the Rough Buzzing; and a great troop of others along with them.

And there were fifty of the best sewing-women in Ireland brought together in a rath on Magh Feman, under the charge of a daughter of the King of Britain, and they used to be making clothing for the Fianna through the whole of the year.

And three of them, that were a king’s daughters, used to be making music for the rest on a little silver harp; and there was a very great candlestick of stone in the middle of the rath, for they were not willing to kindle a fire more than three times in the year for fear the smoke and the ashes might harm the needlework.

And of all his musicians the one Finn thought most of was Cnu Deireoil, the Little Nut, that came to him from the Sidhe.

It was at Slieve-na-mBan, for hunting, Finn was the time he came to him. Sitting down he was on the turf-built grave that is there; and when he looked around him he saw a small little man about four feet in height standing on the grass. Light yellow hair he had, hanging down to his waist, and he playing music on his harp.

And the music he was making had no fault in it all, and it is much that the whole of the Fianna did not fall asleep with the sweetness of its sound. He came up then, and put his hand in Finn’s hand. "Where do you come from, little one, yourself and your sweet music?" said Finn. "I am come," he said, "out of the place of the Sidhe in Slieve-na-mBan, where ale is drunk and made; and it is to be in your company for a while I am come here."

"You will get good rewards from me, and riches and red gold," said Finn, ‘and my full friendship, for I like you well." "That is the best luck ever came to you, Finn," said all the rest of the Fianna, for they were well pleased to have him in their company. And they gave him the name of the Little Nut; and he was good in speaking, and he had so good a memory he never forgot anything he heard east or west; and there was no one but must listen to his music, and all the Fianna liked him well. And there were some said he was a son of Lugh Lamh-Fada, of the Long hand.

And the five musicians of the Fianna were brought to him, to learn the music of the Sidhe he had brought from that other place; for there was never any music heard on earth but his was better. These were the three best things Finn ever got, Bran and Sceolan that were without fault, and the Little Nut from the House of the Sidhe in Slieve-na-mBan.

Source: Lady Gregory - Gods and Fighting Men, first published 1904.
republished by Colin Smythe Ltd. 1970.
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostFri Jun 17, 2016 12:31 pm

The Fair of Tailtiu

O nobles of the land of comely Conn, hearken a while for a blessing, till I tell you the legend of the elders of the ordering of Tailtiu's Fair!

Three hundred years and three it covers, from the first Fair at Tailtiu to the birth of Christ, hearken! Tailtiu, daughter of gentle Magmor, wife of Eochu Garb son of Dui Dall, came hither leading the Fir Bolg host to Caill Chuan, after high battle.

Caill Chuan, it was a thicket of trees from Escir to Ath Drommann, from the Great Bog, a long journey, from the Sele to Ard Assuide.

Assuide, the seat of the hunt, whither gathered the red-coated deer; often was the bugle first sounded east of the wood, the second time on the edge of Clochar.

Commur, Currech, Cr’ch Linde, Ard Manai where the spears used to be; the hounds of Cairpre killed their quarry on the land of Tipra Mungairde. Great that deed that was done with the axe's help by Tailtiu, the reclaiming of meadowland from the even wood by Tailtiu daughter of Magmor.

When the fair wood was cut down by her, roots and all, out of the ground, before the year's end it became Bregmag, it became a plain blossoming with clover. Her heart burst in her body from the strain beneath her royal vest; not wholesome, truly, is a face like the coal, for the sake of woods or pride of timber.

Long was the sorrow, long the weariness of Tailtiu, in sickness after heavy toil; the men of the island of Erin to whom she was in bondage came to receive her last behest. She told them in her sickness (feeble she was but not speechless) that they should hold funeral games to lament her - zealous the deed.

About the Calends of August she died, on a Monday, on the Lugnasad of Lug; round her grave from that Monday forth is held the chief Fair of noble Erin. White-sided Tailtiu uttered in her land a true prophecy, that so long as every prince should accept her, Erin should not be without perfect song.

A fair with gold, with silver, with games, with music of chariots, with adornment of body and of soul by means of knowledge and eloquence. A fair without wounding or robbing of any man, without trouble, without dispute, without raping, without challenge of property, without suing, without law-sessions, without evasion, without arrest.

A fair without sin, without fraud, without reproach, without insult, without contention, without seizure, without theft, without redemption: No man going into the seats of the women, nor woman into the seats of the men, shining fair, but each in due order by rank in his place in the high Fair.

Unbroken truce of the fair and while through Erin and Alba alike, while men went in and came out without any rude hostility. Corn and milk in every stead, peace and fair weather for its sake, were granted to the heathen tribes of the Greeks for maintaining of justice.

From the lamentation for Tailtiu of the Sele to the reign of Loegaire mac Neill was held by the fairy host a fair every single year, By the Fir Bolg, who were there, and by the Tuatha De Danann, by the Children of Mil thereafter down to Patrick after the first coming of the Faith.

Said Patrick, 'Victorious was the proud law of nature; though it was not made in obedience to God, the Lord was magnifying it.' Till Patrick came after Christ was held the fair of Tailtiu that subdues curses; many a dead man his fate bewailed in the graveyard of the wealthy Fenians. A tomb with one door for a man of art; a tomb with two doors for a woman; graves without doors . . . over lads and maidens.

Records from pillars over graves decked with arms, bearing of candles to watch the dead, mounds over noble foreigners, and walls built over the dead of great plagues.

For ever endures the wall of Tailtiu, where numbers of women were buried, and the wall that hides many dead, where Eochu Garb was buried. On the wall of Eochu, compact of stones, twenty seats of the kings of Tara; and on the smooth wall of his wife twenty seats of their queens.

A royal chamber for mighty Munster to the left of the kinds of Tara; the three parts of Connacht, not straitened, upon the seats of the men of Olnecmacht. The warriors of Leinster, land of renown, between them and the province of Ulster; let us name them, from the right hand side:

Erin, that belonged to her king in fee, The Ulstermen, before the faith of the Cross, who came with their chariots to the first games, the Leinstermen before the men of Munster, and Connacht in well-remembered order.

The Stone of Grop, the Stone of Gar, the Stone of the Sick Men, the Leper's Stone beside the seats; the Rocks of Counting, the Wheel of Fal Fland, the Pillar of Colman, the Cairn of Conall. Forbidden for Tailtiu is a cast at random; forbidden, to ride through it without alighting; forbidden, when leaving it for a meal, to look at it over the left shoulder.

A fair green with three marvels it possessed: a man without a head walking about it, the son of a boy of seven years, held on a finger, the fall of the priest from the air. The three heinous spoils Patrick forbade in it; stealing of oxen in the yoke, slaughter of milch cows, burning of empty byres - no pristine tradition [he taught].

Patrick preached - so it is a judgement - that none who did such things should find peace, so long as Tailtiu shall stand, for ever, so long as its royal raths endure. The Eastern Rath, the Rath of the evil West, the Rath of Lugaid, the Rath of Lort, the Rath of Lorc, the Rath of Coe, the Rath of Canu - hail! the Rath of the Seed of Tadg, the triple rampart of Tailtiu.

The triple rampart of Tailtiu, famed beyond all lands, the spot where the kings used to fast, with laymen, with clerics, with hundreds of headmen, that no disease might visit the land of Erin. In the triple rampart of Tailtiu, about thence, The Gods granted to Mac Eirc to take away the three plagues from Erin - it is not unknown.

That the custom of gall-cherd should be put away, the sinking of the ships off Bregmag, and the pestilence of the sons of Aed Slaine: to Mac Eirc it was no disgrace. Though Tailtiu was a sanctuary for the flock, God gave friends to guard it, Patrick, Brigit, white Becan, Mac Eirc, Eithne, Adamnan.

Let us speak of what came next after the establishment of the faith in the Trinity; the triple bands of Tailtiu, the companies who go to make trial of the warriors' fair-green. Men on the dun, first, to visit it; men between two duns, after them; men behind the dun, to ratify the truce; those are the three chief beginnings.

Patrick whom every king invokes after traversing Tailtiu thrice; Mac Eirc, Ciaran of Carn from Mag Ai, these are its three guarantors. Five hundred fairs, turn about, that is, certain with uncertain, from the Fair of Patrick, of Macha to the Black Fair of Donchad.

Two score of kings held the fair, by four kings it was dedicated; all the noble line of kings was sprung from Niall except Ailill alone. One king from Loegaire descended, one king of the race of Cairpre, nine princes of the seed of noble Aed, seven princes of the family of Colman.

Sixteen kings out of Meath sprung from Eogan were at the Fair, and ten kings - these came from the territory of Conall, o nobles! Four score years (this is true) all but one year, Tailtiu lay deserted, alas how long! and the green of Cormac without a chariot.

Until there came in his serried array the king's comely-bearded grandson, and the son, who drinks the heady mead, of the daughter of the king who thwarted the Fair. The King of Teamhair, chosen thence, Maelsechlainn of secure Slemun, - like the River Euphrates rises on high the one champion of Europe.

The glory of the noble West of the world to my aid! a new Cormac Ua Cuinn, offspring of Domnall son of Donchad, comes hither to the princely seat. He brought the cornfield of the Gaels out of danger, he brought Erin out of shipwreck, he raised the Fair of Tailtiu from the sod; though of ancestral use, it was unknown.

Too little he counts it, what he has given us of good; little, what he has given us of corn, of milk, of malt, what of treasure, of victual, of vestment; what of gold, of silver. Too little he thinks it, all that he contrives for our profit; too little all the fish, the honey, the mast; too little, what we hold, when the corn-rick is roofed, a fair to every tribe.

Too little, he thinks, we enjoy of the enduring world; too little he thinks it, to make each of us a king; too little, each full throng that follows him, till he has brought us to the Fair of Tailtiu. He desires, though our life here should be long before going other-where, that he should bring us into the house of God after achieving his design.

Christ be with Maelsechlainn of the sages! Christ with him against misfortune, against tribulation! Christ with him to protect and prosper him against war, against battle! Kings that have not attended our meeting ought not to shun us:

Maelruanaid, Flaithbertach,, Fland, Aed, Cathal, Donnchad, Domnall. Ua Lothchain's full good wishes to you, O youths of the noble Fair! thus I greet you after a lucky strain, so long as there be observance of the Fair, o nobles!

Source: Metrical Dindsenchas, vol 4. translated by Edward Gwynn. Hodges & Figgis, Dublin 1925.
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostFri Jun 17, 2016 12:32 pm

Baile In Scáil - The Phantom's Frenzy


An Irish adventure or Echtrae narrative composed before a.d. 1056. In a preliminary Conn Cetchathach [of the Hundred Battles] was mounting the ramparts at Tara when a stone he trod upon screamed. The court poets explained, after a requested delay of fifty three days, that the stone had come from Inis Fail to Tara, that it wanted to go to Teltown where the games were held, and that any prince who did not find it on the last day of the week of the Fair at Teltown would die within the year.

The number of cries uttered under Conn’s feet signified the number of kings from his seed who would rule over Ireland, When Conn asked to know the number, his druid replied that he was not destined to tell.

Conn and some retainers set out, but were, soon surrounded by a great mist so that they lost their way. A horseman approached them, inviting Conn to his dwelling. They went to a house 30 feet long with a ridgepole of white gold. In the house, in a room full of gold, they found a damsel seated in a chair of crystal and wearing a crown of gold.

Upon a throne they saw the Phantom, whose like had never been seen in Tara. He revealed himself as Lug Lamfhota, and the damsel as the Sovereignty of Ireland, Lug’s wife, who then served Conn with enormous portions of meat; though she is not named, commentators identify the 'wife' with the goddess Eriu.

When she served the red ale, she asked to whom the cup should be given, and the Phantom answered her. He named every prince from the time of Conn onward, and then disappeared, along with his house. The gold cup and other vessels remained with Conn. None of the names mentioned in the prophecy appears in records as kings of Ireland.

An earlier text of the same story is Baile Chuind Chetchathaig.

Source: Translated by R. Thurneysen, Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie, 20 (1935), 213 – 27.
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostFri Jun 17, 2016 12:33 pm

CAT-HEADS AND DOG-HEADS

NINE of the Fianna set out one time, looking for a pup they wanted, and they searched through many places before they found it. All through Magh Leine they searched, and through the Valley of the Swords, and through the storm of Drum Cleibh, and it is pleasant the Plain of the Life looked after it; but not a pup could they find. Then they went searching through Durlass of the generous men, and great Teamhair and Dun Dobhran and Ceanntsaile, men and dogs searching the whole of Ireland, but not a pup could they find.

And while they were going from place to place, and their people with them, they saw the three armies of the sons of the King of Ruadleath coming towards them. Cat-headed one army was, and the one alongside of it was Dog-headed, and the men of the third army were White-backed.

And when the Fianna saw them coming, Finn held up his shining spear, and light-hearted Caoilte gave out a great shout that was heard in Almhuin and in Magh Leine, and in Teamhair, and in Dun Reithlein. And that shout was answered by Goll, son of Morna, and by Faolan, Finn’s son that was with him, and by the Stutterers from Burren, and by the two sons of Maith Breac, and by Iolunn of the Sharp Edge, and by Cael of the Sharp Sword, that never gave his ear to tale-bearers.

It is pleasant the sound was then of the spears and the armies and of the silken banners that were raised up in the gusty wind of the morning. And as to the banners, Finn’s banner, the Dealb-Greine, the Sun-Shape, had the likeness of the sun on it; and Goll’s banner was the Fulang Duaraidh, that was the first and last to move in a battle; and Faolan’s banner was the Coinneal Catha, the Candle of Battle; and Oisin’s banner was the Donn Nimhe, the Dark Deadly One; and Caoilte’s was the Lamh Dearg, the Red Hand; and Osgar’s was the Sguab Gabhaidh that had a Broom of rowan branches on it, and the only thing asked when the fight was at the hottest was where that Broom was; and merry Diarmuid’s banner was the Liath Loinneach, the Shining Grey; and the Craobh Fuileach, the Bloody Branch, was the banner of Lugaidh’s Son. And as to Conan, it is a briar he had on his banner, because he was always for quarrels and for trouble. And it used to be said of him be never saw a man frown without striking him, or a door left open without going in through it.

And when the Fianna had raised their banners they attacked the three armies; and first of all they killed the whole of the Cat-Heads, and then they took the Dog-Heads in hand and made an end of them, and of the White-Backs along with them.

And after that they went to a little hill to the south, having a double dun on it, and it is there they found a hound they were able to get a pup from.

And by that time they had searched through the whole of Ireland, and they did not find in the whole of it a hundred men that could match their nine.

And as well as their banners, some of the Fianna had swords that had names to them, Mac an Luin, Son of the Waves, that belonged to Finn; and Ceard-nan Gallan, the Smith of the Branches, that was Oisin’s; and Caoilte’s Cruadh-Chosgarach, the Hard Destroying One; and Diarmuid’s Liomhadoir, the Burnisher; and Osgar’s Cosgarach Mhor, the Great Triumphant One.

And it is the way they got those swords: there came one time to where Finn and Caoilte and some others of the Fianna were, a young man, very big and ugly, having but one foot and one eye; a cloak of black skins he had over his shoulders, and in his hand a blunt ploughshare that was turning to red. And he told them he was Lon, son of Liobhan, one of the three smiths of the Kings of Lochlann. And whether he thought to go away from the Fianna, or to bring them to his smithy, he started running, and they followed after him all through Ireland, to Slieve-na-Righ, and to Luimnech, and to Ath Luain, and by the right side of the Cruachan of Connacht, and to Ess Ruadh and to Beinn Edair, and so to the sea.

And wherever it was they found the smithy, they went into it, and there they found four smiths working, and every one of them having seven hands. And Finn and Caoilte and the rest stopped there watching them till the swords were made, and they brought them away with them then, and it is good use they made of them afterwards.

And besides his sword, Mac an Luin, Finn had a shield was called Sgiath Gailbhinn, the Storm Shield; and when it called out it could be heard all through Ireland.

And whether or not it was the Storm Shield, Finn had a wonderful shield that he did great deeds with, and the story of it is this:

At the time of the battle of the Great Battle of Magh Tuireadh, Lugh, after he had struck the head off Balor of the Evil Eye, hung it in the fork of a hazel-tree. And the tree split, and the leaves fell from it with the dint of the poison that dropped from the head. And through the length of fifty years that tree was a dwelling-place of crows and ravens. And at the end of that lime Manannnn, son of Lir, was passing by, and he took notice of the tree that it was split and withered, and he bade his men to dig it up. And when they began to dig, a mist of poison rose up from the roots, and nine of the men got their death from it, and another nine after them, and the third nine were blinded. And Luchtaine the Carpenter made a shield of the wood of that hazel for Manannan. And after a while Manannan gave it, and a set of chessmen along with it, to Tadg, son of Nuada; and from him it came to his grandson, Finn son of Muirne and of Cumhal.

Source: Lady Gregory - Gods and Fighting Men (1904)
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostFri Jun 17, 2016 12:34 pm

Nas (Naas)

Ruadri, son of Cailte of the flocks,
was no faint splendour swift-passing yonder;
father-in-law of Lug with tale of ships,
with prowess of feats in war and slaying of foreign foemen.
The two daughters of Ruadri, the king
of Britain, of conquering white-clad forces
[were] the two wives of Lug,–fruitfulness came to them–
Bui of the Brug and modest Nas.
Nas, mother of Ibic of the horses,
claims of right the brow and the beauty [of the spot],
since she is gone, with the noise of combat,
how should ye know at all the spot where she died?
Nas took in hand a deed unwise:
(truth and not folly) death o'erwhelmed her;
'tis from her Nas was named,
famous perpetually for stern law.
Nas of the Leinstermen, bright with splendid bounty,
'tis there the lady was buried;
from her it is called with clear certitude:
the lore of the ancient hides not this.
Her sister was at Cnogba free from ravage,
after the havoc of her shelter and her precinct:
not tardily came the death-dirge for the lady;
'tis there Bui abode, and was buried.
Cnogba is the Hill of Bui of the battles;
the pillaging violence of hosts does not wreck it;
but 'tis it that, for [repose from] fatigue of fierce deeds,
is the lofty hold of the fiery kings.
The hosts of the pure Gaels came
to bewail the women from the Brug;
from Tailtiu where he raised a fire
whence they came with Lug.
They lifted a cry of lamentation perpetually
for the women free from guilt and guile;
the game of wounds was waged by them
untimely, in no merry wise.
Thence grew the boasted gathering–
(it is not an empty lamentation with the lips)
the assembly of Taltiu with mighty preparations,
held by every hero moreover according to custom.
That was the gathering of accomplished Lug,
happy satisfaction, no small pleasure,
the lamentation of the fair-skinned vocal women of Fáil,
the keening for the daughters of Ruadri the red.
The three sons of Dorchlam (strong testimony!),
Nas Roncc and Ailestar
in the west without respite above troublous Cuan,
Taltiu extinguished them for good.
A rath in Ulster (long the law);
a rath of the province of Connacht the excellent;
a rath of the province of Leinster without weakness,
a site for Nas daughter of Ruad.

Source: Edward Gwynn - Metrical Dindsenchas, volume three, 1925.
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Re: Stories, Myth & Legends associated with Lugh:

PostSat Jun 18, 2016 2:51 am

Great reading :D
My ipad controls my spellings not me so apologies from it in advance :) lol

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