by Irish Myths
of the treasures their father had left, and the quarrel was so hot it
seemed likely it would come to a battle in the end.
And the Sons of the Gael wondered to see them quarrelling
about such things, and they having so fruitful an island, where
the air was so wholesome, and the sun not too strong, or the cold
too bitter, and where there was such a plenty of honey and
acorns, and of milk, and of fish, and of com, and room enough
for them all.
Great grandeur they were living in, and their Druids about
them, at the palace of Teamhair. And Amergin went to them, and
it is what he said, that they must give up the kingship there and
then, or they must leave it to the chance of a battle. And he said
he asked this in revenge for the death of Ith, of the race of the
Gael, that had come to their court before that time, and that had
been killed by treachery.
When the sons of Cermait Honey-Mouth heard Amergin saying such fierce words, there was wonder on them, and it is what they said, that they were not willing to fight at that time, for their
82
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
army was not ready. "But let you make an offer to us," they said,
''for we see well you have good judgment and knowledge. But if
you make an offer that is not fair," they said, "we will destroy you
with our enchantments. "
At that Amergin bade the men that were with him to go back to
Inver Sceine, and to hurry again into their ships with the rest of the
Sons of the Gael, and to go out the length of nine waves from the
shore. And then he made his offer to the Tuatha de Danaan, that if
they could hinder his men from landing on their island, he and all
his ships would go back again to their own country, and would
never make any attempt to come again; but that if the Sons of the
Gael could land on the coast in spite of them, then the Tuatha de
Danaan should give up the kingship and be under their sway.
The Tuatha de Danaan were well pleased with that offer, for
they thought that by the powers of their enchantments over the
winds and the sea, and by their arts, they would be well able to
keep them from ever setting foot in the counny again.
So the Sons of the Gael did as Amergin bade them and they
went back into their ship and drew up their anchors, and moved
out to the length of nine waves from the shore. And as soon as the
Men of Dea saw they had left the land, they took to their enchantments and spells, and they raised a great wind that scattered the ships of the Gael, and drove them from one another. But Amergin
knew it was not a natural storm was in it, and Arranan, son of
Miled, knew that as well, and he went up in the mast of his ship
to look about him. But a great blast of wind came against him,
and he fell back into the ship and died on the moment. And there
was great confusion on the Gael, for the ships were tossed to and
fro, and had like to be lost. And the ship that Donn, son of Miled,
was in command of was parted from the others by the dint of the
storm, and was broken in pieces, and he himself and all with him
were drowned, four-and-twenty men and women in all. And Ir,
son of Miled, came to his death in the same way, and his body was
cast on the shore, and it was buried in a small island that is now
called Sceilg Michill. A brave man Ir was, leading the Sons of the
THE COMING OF THE GAEL
83
Gael to the front of every battle, and their help and their shelter in
battle, and his enemies were in dread of his name.
And Heremon, another of the sons of Miled, with his share of
the ships, was driven to the left of the island, and it is hardly he
got safe to land. And the place where he landed was called Inver
Colpa, because Colpa of the Sword, another of the sons of Miled,
was drowned there, and he trying to get to land. Five of the sons
of Miled in all were destroyed by the storm and the winds the
Men of Dea had raised by their enchantments, and there were but
three of them left, Heber, and Heremon, and Amergin.
And one of them, Donn, before he was swept into the sea,
called out: "It is treachery our knowledgeable men are doing on
us, not to put down this wind. " "There is no treachery," said Amergin, his brother. And he rose up then before them, and whatever enchantment he did on the winds and the sea, he said these
words along with it:
"That they that are tossing in the great wide food giving sea
may reach now to the land.
"That they may find a place upon its plains, its mountains, and
its valleys; in its forests that are full of nuts and of all fruits; on its
rivers and its streams, on its lakes and its great waters.
"That we may have our gatherings and our races in this land;
that there may be a king of our own in Teamhair; that it may be
the possession of our many kings.
"That the sons of Miled may be seen in this land, that their
ships and their boats may find a place there.
"This land that is now under darkness, it is for it we are asking; let our chief men, let their learned wives, ask that we may come to the noble woman, great Eriu."
After he had said this, the wind went down and the sea was
quiet again on the moment.
And those that were left of the sons of Miled and of the Sons of
the Gael landed then at Inver Sceine.
And Amergin was the first to put his foot on land, and when
he stood on the shore of Ireland, it is what he said:
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
"I am the wind on the sea;
I am the wave of the sea;
I am the bull of seven battles;
I am the eagle on the rock;
I am a flash from the sun;
I am the most beautiful of plants;
I am a strong wild boar;
I am a salmon in the water;
I am a lake in the plain;
I am the word of knowledge;
I am the head of the spear in battle;
I am the god that puts fire in the head;
Who spreads light in the gathering on the hills?
Who can tell the ages of the moon?
Who can tell the place where the sun rests?"
CHAPTER II.
THE BATTLE OF TAILLTIN
And three days after the landing of the Gael, they were attacked
by Eriu, wife of Mac Greine, Son of the Sun, and she having a
good share of men with her. And they fought a hard battle, and
many were killed on both sides. And this was the first battle
fought between the Sons of the Gael and the Men of Dea for the
kingship of Ireland.
It was in that battle Fais, wife of Un, was killed in a valley at
the foot of the mountain, and it was called after her, the Valley of
Fais. And Scota, wife of Miled, got her death in the battle, and she
was buried in a valley on the north side of the mountain near the
sea. But the Sons of the Gael lost no more than three hundred
men, and they beat back the Men of Dea and killed a thousand of
them. And Eriu was beaten back to Tailltin, and as many of her
men as she could hold together; and when she came there she
told the people how she had been worsted in the battle, and the
THE COMING OF
THE GAEL
85
best of her men had got their death. But the Gael stopped on the
battle-field, and buried their dead, and they gave a great burial to
two of their Druids, Aer and Eithis, that were killed in the fight.
And after they had rested for a while, they went on to Inver
Colpa in Leinster, and Heremon and his men joined them there.
And then they sent messengers to the three kings of Ireland, the
three sons of Cermait Honey-Mouth, and bade them to come out
and fight a battle that would settle the ownership of the country
once for all.
So they came out, and the best of the fighters of the Tuatha de
Danaan with them, to Tailltin. And there they attacked one another, and the Sons of the Gael remembered the death of Ith, and there was great anger on them, and they fell on the Men of Dea to
avenge him, and there was a fierce battle fought. And for a while
neither side got the better of the other, but at the last the Gael
broke through the army of the Men of Dea and put them to the
rout, with great slaughter, and drove them out of the place. And
their three kings were killed in the rout, and the three queens of
Ireland, Eriu and Fodhla and Banba. And when the Tuatha de
Danaan saw their leaders were dead they fell back in great disorder, and the Sons of the Gael followed after them. But in following them they lost two of their best leaders, Cuailgne, son
of Breagan, at Slieve Cuailgne, and Fuad, his brother, at Slieve
Fuad. But they were no way daunted by that, but followed the
Men of Dea so hotly that they were never able to bring their army
together again, but had to own themselves beaten, and give up
the country to the Gael.
And the leaders, the sons of Miled, divided the provinces of
Ireland between them. Heber took the two provinces of Munster,
and he gave a share of it to Amergin; and Heremon got Leinster
and Connacht for his share, and Ulster was divided between
Eimhir, son of Ir, son of Miled, and some others of their chief
men. And it was of the sons of Eimhir, that were called the Children of Rudraighe , and that lived in Emain Macha for nine hundred years, some of the best men of Ireland came; Fergus,
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
son of Rogh, was of them, and Conall Cearnach, of the Red
Branch of Ulster.
And from the sons of Ith, the first of the Gael to get his death in
Ireland, there came in the after time Fathadh Canaan, that got the
sway over the whole world from the rising to the setting sun, and
that took hostages of the streams and the birds and the languages.
And it is what the poets of Ireland used to be saying, that every
brave man, good at fighting, and every man that could do great
deeds and not be making much talk about them, was of the Sons
of the Gael; and that every skilled man that had music and that '
did enchantments secretly, was of the Tuatha de Danaan. But they
put a bad name on the Firbolgs and the men of Domnand and the
Gaileoin, for lies and for big talk and injustice. But for all that
there were good fighters among them, and Ferdiad, that made so
good a stand against Cuchulain, in the war for the Bull of Cuailgne was one of them. And the Gaileoin fought well in the same war; but the men of Ireland had no great liking for them, and
their Druids drove them out of the country afterwards.
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B O OK F O U R :
THE EVER-LIVING LIVING ONES
CHAPTER I.
BODB DEARG
But as to the Tuatha de Danaan after they were beaten, they
would not go under the sway of the sons of Miled, but they went
away by themselves. And because Manannan, son of Lir, understood all enchantments, they left it to him to find places for them where they would be safe from their enemies. So he chose out the
most beautiful of the hills and valleys of Ireland for them to settle
in; and he put hidden walls about them, that no man could see
through, but they themselves could see through them and pass
through them.
And he made the Feast of Age for them, and what they drank
at it was the ale of Goibniu the Smith, that kept whoever tasted it
from age and from sickness and from death. And for food at the
feast he gave them his own swine, that though they were killed
and eaten one day, would be alive and fit for eating again the next
day, and that would go on in that way for ever.
And after a while they said: "It would be better for us one king
to be over us, than to be scattered the way we are through the
whole of Ireland. "
Now the men among them that had the best chance o f getting
the kingship at that time were Bodb Dearg, son of the Dagda; and
Ilbrech of Ess Ruadh; and Lir of Sidhe Fionnachaidh, the Hill of
the White Field, on Slieve Fuad; and Midhir the Proud of Bri
Leith, and Angus Og, son of the Dagda; but he did not covet the
kingship at all, but would sooner be left as he was. Then all the
chief men but those five went into council together, and it is what
they agreed, to give the kingship to Bodb Dearg, for the sake of
his father, for his own sake, and because he was the eldest among
the children of the Dagda.
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
It was in Sidhe Femen Bodb Dearg had his house, and he put
great enchantments about it. Cliach, the Harper of the King of the
Three Rosses in Connacht, went one time to ask one of his
daughters in marriage, and he stayed outside the place through
the whole length of a year, playing his harp, and able to get no
nearer to Bodb or to his daughter. And he went on playing till a
lake burst up under his feet, the lake that is on the top of a mountain, Loch Bel Sead.
It was Bodbs swineherd went to Da Dergas Inn, and his squealing pig along with him, the night Conaire, the High King of Ireland, met with his death; and it was said that whatever feast that swineherd would go to, there would blood be shed before it was over.
And Bodb had three sons, Angus, and Artrach, and Aedh. And
they used often to be living among men in the time of the Fianna
afterwards. Artrach had a house with seven doors, and a free welcome for all that came, and the king's son of Ireland, and of Alban, used to be coming to Angus to learn the throwing of
spears and darts; and troops of poets from Alban and from Ireland
used to be with Aedh, that was the comeliest of Bodb's sons, so
that his place used to be called "The Rath of Aedh of the Poets."
And indeed it was a beautiful rath at that time, with golden-yellow apples in it and crimson-pointed nuts of the wood. But after the passing away of the Fianna, the three brothers went back to
the Tuatha de Danaan.
And Bodb Dearg was not always in his own place but sometimes he was with Angus at Brugh na Boinn.
Three sons of Lugaidh Menn, King of Ireland, Eochaid, and
Fiacha, and Ruide, went there one time for their father refused
them any land till they would win it for themselves. And when he
said that, they rose with the ready rising of one man, and went
and sat down on the green of Brugh na Boinn, and fasted there on
the Tuatha de Danaan, to see if they could win some good thing
from them.
And they were not long there till they saw a young man, qu
iet
and with pleasant looks, coming towards them, and he wished
THE EVER-LIVING LIVING ONES
89
them good health, and they answered him the same way. "Where
are you come from? " they asked him then. "From the rath beyond, with the many lights," he said. "And I am Bodb Dearg, son of the Dagda," he said, "and come in with me now to the rath."
So they went in, and supper was made ready for them, but
they did not use it. Bodb Dearg asked them then why was it they
were using nothing. "It is because our father has refused land to
us," said they; "and there are in Ireland but two races, the Sons of
the Gael and the Men of Dea, and when the one failed us we are
come to the other."
Then the Men of Dea consulted together. And the chief among
them was Midhir of the Yellow Hair, and it is what he said: "Let us
give a wife to every one of these three men, for it is from a wife
that good or bad fortune comes."
So they agreed to that, and Midhir's three daughters, Dairenn,
and Aife, and Aillbhe, were given to them. Then Midhir asked
Bodb to say what marriage portion should be given to them. "I will
tell you that," said Bodb. "We are three times fifty sons of kings in
this hill; let every kings son give three times fifty ounces of red
gold. And I myself," he said, "will give them along with that, three
times fifty suits of clothing of all colours." "I will give them a gift,"
said a young man of the Tuatha de Danaan, from Rachlainn in the
sea. "A horn I will give them, and a vat. And there is nothing wanting but to fill the vat with pure water, and it will tum into mead, fit to drink, and strong enough to make drunken. And into the
horn," he said, "you have but to put salt water from the sea, and it
will tum into wine on the moment. " "A gift to them from me,"
said Lir of Sidhe Fionnachaidh, "three times fifty swords, and three
times fifty well-riveted long spears." "A gift from me," said Angus
Og, son of the Dagda, "a rath and a good town with high walls,
and with bright sunny houses, and with wide houses, in whatever
place it will please them between Rath Chobtaige and Teamhair."
"A gift to them from me," said Aine, daughter of Modham, "a
woman-cook that I have, and there is geasa on her not to refuse
food to any; and according as she serves it out, her store fills up of
90
