by Irish Myths
after a pig that was destroying the whole country, and making a
desert of it. And they followed it till they came to a lake, and there
it turned on them, and no hound of them escaped alive, but they
were all drowned or maimed. And the pig made for an island
then, that got the name of Muc-inis, the Pigs Island afterwards;
and the lake got the name of Loch Conn, the Lake of the Hounds.
And it was through Manannan the wave of Tuaig, one of the
three great waves of Ireland, got its name, and this is the way
it happened.
There was a young girl of the name of Tuag, a fosterling of
Conaire the High King, was reared in Teamhair, and a great company of the daughters of the kings of Ireland were put about her to protect her, the way she would be kept for a king's asking. But
Manannan sent Fer Ferdiad, of the Tuatha de Danaan, that was a
pupil of his own and a Druid, in the shape of a woman of his own
household, and he went where Tuag was, and sang a sleep-spell
over her, and brought her away to Inver Glas. And there he laid
her down while he went looking for a boat, that he might bring
her away in her sleep to the Land of the Ever-Living Women. But
a wave of the flood-tide came over the girl, and she was drowned,
and Manannan killed Fer Ferdiad in his anger.
And one time Manannan's cows came up out of the sea at Baile
Cronin, three of them, a red, and a white, and a black, and the
people that were there saw them standing on the strand for a
while, as if thinking, and then they all walked up together, side by
side, from the strand. And at that time there were no roads in Ireland, and there was great wonder on the people when they saw a
1 1 4
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
good wide road ready before the three cows to walk on. And
when they got about a mile from the sea they parted; the white
cow went to the north-west, towards Luimnech, and the red
cow went to the south-west, and on round the coast of Ireland,
and the black cow went to the north-east, towards Lis Mor, in the
district of Portlairge, and a road opened before each of them, that
is to be seen to this day.
And some say it was Manannan went to Finn and the Fianna
in the form of the Gilla Decair, the Bad Servant, and brought them
away to Land-under-Wave. Anyway, he used often to go hunting
with them on Cnoc Aine, and sometimes he came to their help.
CHAPTER IX.
MANANNAN AT PLAY
And it was he went playing tricks through Ireland a long time
after that again, the time he got the name of O'Donnell's Kem.
And it is the way it happened, Aodh Dubh O'Donnell was holding
a feast one time in Bel-atha Senaig, and his people were boasting
of the goodness of his house and of his musicians.
And while they were talking, they saw a clown coming
towards them, old striped clothes he had, and puddle water
splashing in his shoes, and his sword sticking out naked behind
him , and his ears through the old cloak that was over his
head, and in his hand he had three spears of hollywood scorched
and blackened.
He wished O'Donnell good health, and O'Donnell did the
same to him, and asked where did he come from. "It is where I
am," he said, "I slept last night at Dun Monaidhe, of the King of
Alban; I am a day in Ile, a day in Cionn-tire, a day in Rachlainn, a
day in the Watchman's Seat in Slieve Fuad; a pleasant, rambling,
wandering man I am, and it is with yourself I am now, O'Donnell , " he said . "Let the gate-keeper be brought to me , " said O'Donnell. And when the gate-keeper came, he asked was it he
THE EVER-LIVING LIVING ONES
l l 5
let in this man, and the gate-keeper said he did not, and that he
never saw him before. "Let him off, O'Donnell," said the stranger,
"for it was as easy for me to come in, as it will be to me to go out
again. " There was wonder on them all then, any man to have
come into the house without passing the gate.
The musicians began playing their music then, and all the best
musicians of the country were there at the time, and they played
very sweet tunes on their harps. But the strange man called out:
"By my word, O'Donnell, there was never a noise of hammers
beating on iron in any bad place was so bad to listen to as this
noise your people are making."
With that he took a harp, and he made music that would put
women in their pains and wounded men after a battle into a
sweet sleep, and it is what O'Donnell said: "Since I first heard talk
of the music of the Sidhe that is played in the hills and under the
earth below us, I never heard better music than your own. And it
is a very sweet player you are," he said. "One day I am sweet,
another day I am sour," said the clown.
Then O'Donnell bade his people to bring him up to sit near
himself. "I have no mind to do that," he said; "I would sooner be
as I am, an ugly clown, making sport for high-up people. " Then
O'Donnell sent him down clothes, a hat and a striped shirt and a
coat, but he would not have them. "I have no mind," he said, "to
let high-up people be making a boast of giving them to me. "
They were afraid then he might go from them, and they put
twenty armed horsemen and twenty men on foot to hold him
back from leaving the house, and as many more outside at the
gate, for they knew him not to be a man of this world. "What are
these men for? " said he. "They are to keep you here," said O'Donnell. "By my word, it is not with you I will be eating my supper to-morrow," he said, "but at Cnoc Aine, where Seaghan, Son of
the Earl is, in Desmumain. " "If I find you giving one stir out of
yourself, between this and morning, I will knock you into a
round lump there on the ground," said O'Donnell.
But at that the stranger took up the harp again, and he made
1 16
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
the same sweet music as before. And when they were all listening
to him, he called out to the men outside: "Here I am coming, and
watch me well now or you will lose me. " When the men that
were watching the gate heard that, they lifted up their axes to
strike at him, but in their haste it was at one another they struck,
till they were all lying stretched in blood. Then the clown said to
the gate-keeper: "Let you ask twenty cows and a hundred of free
land of O'Donnell as a fee for bringing his people back to life. And
take this herb," he said, "and rub it in the mouth of each man
of them, and he will rise up whole and well again." So the gatekeeper did that, and he got the cows and the land from O'Donnell, and he brought all the people to life again.
Now at that time Seaghan, Son of the Earl, was holding a gathering on the green in front of his dun, and he saw the same man coming towards him, and dressed in the same way, and the water
splashing in his shoes. But when he asked who was he, he gave
himself the name of a very learned man, Duartane O'Duartane, and
he said it was by Ess Ruadh he was come, and by Ceiscorainn and
from that to Corrslieve, and to Magh Lorg of the Dagda, and into
the district of Hy'Conaill Gabhra, "till I came
to yourself," he said,
"by Cruachan of Magh Ai." So they brought him into the house,
and gave him wine for drinking and water for washing his feet, and
he slept till the rising of the sun on the morrow. And at that time
Seaghan, Son of the Earl, came to visit him, and he said: "It is a
long sleep you had, and there is no wonder in that, and your journey so long yesterday. But I often heard of your learning in books and of your skill on the harp, and I would like to hear you this
morning," he said. "I am good in those arts indeed," said the
stranger. So they brought him a book, but he could not read a word
of it, and then they brought him a harp, and he could not play any
tune. "It is likely your reading and your music are gone from you,"
said Seaghan; and he made a little rann on him, saying it was a
strange thing Duartane O'Duartane that had such a great name not
to be able to read a line of a book, or even to remember one. But
when the stranger heard how he was being mocked at, he took up
THE EVER-LIVING LIVING ONES
1 1 7
the book, and read from the top to the bottom of the page very well
and in a sweet-sounding voice. And after that he took the harp and
played and sang the same way he did at O'Donnells house the day
before. "It is a very sweet man of learning you are," said Seaghan.
"One day I am sweet, another day I am sour," said the stranger.
They walked out together then on Cnoc Aine, but while they
were talking there, the stranger was gone all of a minute, and
Seaghan, Son of the Earl, could not see where he went.
And after that he went on, and he reached Sligach just at the
time O'Conchubar was setting out with the men of Connacht to
avenge the Connacht hag's basket on the hag of Munster. And this
time he gave himself the name of the Gilla Decair, the Bad Servant. And he joined with the men of Connacht, and they went over the Sionnan westward into Munster, and there they hunted
and drove every creature that could be made travel, cattle and
horses and flocks, into one place, till they got the hornless bull of
the Munster hag and her two speckled cows, and O'Conchubar
brought them away to give to the Connacht hag in satisfaction for
her basket.
But the men of Munster made an attack on them as they were
going back; and the Gilla Decair asked O'Conchubar would he
sooner have the cows driven, or have the Munster men checked,
and he said he would sooner have the Munster men checked. So
the Gilla Decair turned on them, and with his bow and twentyfour arrows he kept them back till O'Conchubar and his people were safe out of their reach in Connacht.
But he took some offence then, on account of O'Conchubar
taking the first drink himself when they came to his house, and
not giving it to him, that had done so much, and he took his leave
and went from them on the moment.
After that he went to where Tadg O'Cealaigh was, and having
his old striped clothes and his old shoes as before. And when they
asked him what art he had, he said: "I am good at tricks. And if
you will give me five marks I will show you a trick," he said. "I
will give that," said Tadg.
1 18
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
With that the stranger put three rushes on the palm of his
hand. "I will blow away the middle rush now," he said, "and the
other two will stop as they are." So they told him to do that, and
he put the tops of two of his fingers on the two outside rushes,
and blew the middle one away. "There is a trick now for you,
Tadg O'Cealaigh," he said then. "By my word, that is not a bad
trick,"said O'Cealaigh. But one of his men said: "That there may
be no good luck with him that did it. And give me the half of that
money now, Tadg," he said, "and I will do the same trick for you
myself." "I will give you the half of what I got if you will do it,"
said the stranger. So the other put the rushes on his hand, but if
he did, when he tried to do the trick, his two finger-tips went
through the palm of his hand. "Ob-Ob-Ob ! " said the stranger,
" that is not the way I did the trick. But as you have lost the
money," he said, "I will heal you again."
"I could do another trick for you," he said; " I could wag the ear
on one side of my head and the ear on the other side would stay
still." "Do it then," said O'Cealaigh. So the man of tricks took hold of
one of his ears and wagged it up and down. "That is a good trick indeed," said O'Cealaigh. "I will show you another one now," he said.
With that he took from his bag a thread of silk, and gave a cast
of it up into the air, that it was made fast to a cloud. And then he
took a hare out of the same bag, and it ran up the thread; and
then took out a little dog and laid it on after the hare, and it followed yelping on its track; and after that again he brought out a little serving-boy and bade him to follow dog and hare up the
thread. Then out of another bag he had with him he brought out
a beautiful, well-dressed young woman, and bade her to follow
after the hound and the boy, and to take care and not let the hare
be tom by the dog. She went up then quickly after them, and it
was a delight to Tadg O'Cealaigh to be looking at them and to be
listening to the sound of the hunt going on in the air.
All was quiet then for a long time, and then the man of tricks
said: "I am afraid there is some bad work going on up there."
"What is that? " said O'Cealaigh. "I am thinking," said he, "the
THE EVER-LIVING LIVING ONES
1 1 9
hound might be eating the hare, and the serving-boy courting the
girl." "It is likely enough they are," said O'Cealaigh. With that the
stranger drew in the thread, and it is what he found, the boy making love to the girl and the hound chewing the bones of the hare.
There was great anger on the man of tricks when he saw that, and
he took his sword and struck the head off the boy. "I do not like
a thing of that sort to be done in my presence , " said Tadg
O'Cealaigh. "If it did not please you, I can set all right again," said
the stranger. And with that he took up the head and made a cast
of it at the body, and it joined to it, and the young man stood up,
but if he did his face was turned backwards. "It would be better
for him to be dead than to be living like that," said O'Cealaigh.
When the man of tricks heard that, he took hold of the boy and
twisted his head straight, and he was as well as before.
And with that the man of tricks vanished, and no one saw
where was he gone.
That is the way Manannan used to be going round Ireland, doing tricks and wonders. And no one could keep him in any place, and if he was put on a gallows itself, he would be found safe in
the house after, and some other man on the gallows in his place.
But he did no harm, and those that would be put to death by him,
he would bring them to life again with a herb out of his bag.
And all the food he would use would be a vessel of sour milk
and a few crab-apples. And there never was any music sweeter
than the music he used to be playing.
CHAPTER X.
HIS CALL TO BRAN
And there were some that went to Manannans country beyond
the sea, and that gave an account of it afterwards.
One time Bran, son of Febal, was out by himself near his dun,
and he heard music behind him. And it kept always after him,
and at last he fell asleep with the sweetness of the sound. And
1 20
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
when he awoke from his sleep he saw beside him a branch of silver, and it having white blossoms, and the whiteness of the silver was the same as the whiteness of the blossoms.
And he brought the branch in his hand into the royal house,
and when all his people were with him they saw a woman with
strange clothing standing in the house.
And she began to make a song for Bran, and all the people
were looking at her and listening to her, and it is what she said:
"I bring a branch of the apple-tree from Emhain, from the far
island around which are the shining horses of the Son of Lir. A
delight of the eyes is the plain where the hosts hold their games;
curragh racing against chariot in the White Silver Plain to the south.
"There are feet of white bronze under it, shining through life
and time; a comely level land through the length of the world's
age, and many blossoms falling on it.
"There is an old tree there with blossoms, and birds calling
from among them; every colour is shining there, delight is common, and music, in the Gentle-Voiced Plain, in the Silver Cloud Plain to the south.
"Keening is not used, or treachery, in the tilled familiar land;
there is nothing hard or rough, but sweet music striking on the ear.
"To be without grief, without sorrow, without death, without
any sickness, without weakness; that is the sign of Emhain; it is
not common wonder that is.
"There is nothing to liken its mists to, the sea washes the wave
against the land; brightness falls from its lair.
"There are riches, there are treasures of every colour in the
Gentle Land, the Bountiful Land. Sweet music to be listening to;
the best of wine to drink.
"Golden chariots in the Plain of the Sea, rising up to the sun
with the tide; silver chariots and bronze chariots on the Plain
of Sports.
"Gold-yellow horses on the strand, and crimson horses, and
others with wool on their backs, blue like the colour of the sky.
