by Irish Myths
"It is a day of lasting weather, silver is dropping on the land;
THE EVER-LIVING LIVING ONES
1 2 1
a pure white cliff on the edge of the sea, getting its warmth from
the sun.
"The host race over the Plain of Sports; it is beautiful and not
weak their game is; death or the ebbing of the tide will not come
to them in the Many-Coloured Land.
"There will come at sunrise a fair man, lighting up the level
lands; he rides upon the plain that is ·beaten by the waves, he stirs
the sea till it is like blood.
"An army will come over the clear sea, rowing to the stone
that is in sight, that a hundred sounds of music come from.
"It sings a song to the army; it is not sad through the length of
time; it increases music with hundreds singing together; they do
not look for death or the ebb-tide.
"There are three times fifty far islands in the ocean to the
west of us, and every one of them twice or three times more than
Ireland.
"It is not to all of you I am speaking, though I have made all
these wonders known. Let Bran listen from the crowd of the
world to all the wisdom that has been told him.
"Do not fall upon a bed of sloth; do not be overcome by drunkenness; set out on your voyage over the clear sea, and you may chance to come to the Land of Women."
With that the woman went from them, and they did not know
where she went. And she brought away her branch with her, for it
leaped into her hand from Bran's hand, and he had not the
strength to hold it.
Then on the morrow Bran set out upon the sea, and three
companies of nine along with him; and one of his foster-brothers
and comrades was set over each company of nine.
And when they had been rowing for two days and two nights,
they saw a man coming towards them in a chariot, over the sea.
And the man made himself known to them, and he said that he
was Manannan, son of Lir.
And then Manannan spoke to him in a song, and it is what
he said:
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
"It is what Bran thinks, he is going in his curragh over the
wonderful, beautiful clear sea; but to me, from far off in my chariot, it is a flowery plain he is riding on.
"What is a clear sea to the good boat Bran is in, is a happy
plain with many flowers to me in my two-wheeled chariot.
"It is what Bran sees, many waves beating across the clear sea;
it is what I myself see, red flowers without any fault.
"The sea-horses are bright in summer-time, as far as Bran's
eyes can reach; there is a wood of beautiful acorns under the head
of your little boat.
"A wood with blossom and with fruit, that has the smell of
wine; a wood without fault, without withering, with leaves of the
colour of gold.
"Let Bran row on steadily, it is not far to the Land of Women;
before the setting of the sun you will reach Emhain, of manycoloured hospitality. "
With that Bran went from him; and after a while he saw an
island, and he rowed around it, and there was a crowd on it, wondering at them, and laughing; and they were all looking at Bran and at his people, but they would not stop to talk with them, but
went on giving out gusts of laughter. Bran put one of his men on
the island then, but he joined with the others, and began to stare
the same way as the men of the island. And Bran went on rowing
round about the island; and whenever they went past his own
man, his comrades would speak to him, but he would not answer
them, but would only stare and wonder at them. So they went
away and left him on that island that is called the Island of joy.
It was not long after that they reached to the Land of Women.
And they saw the chief one of the women at the landing-place,
and it is what she said: "Come hither to land, Bran, son of Febal,
it is welcome your coming is. " But Bran did not dare to go on
shore. Then the woman threw a ball of thread straight to him, and
he caught it in his hand, and it held fast to his palm, and the
woman kept the thread in her own hand, and she pulled the curragh to the landing-place.
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On that they went into a grand house, where there was a bed
for every couple, three times nine beds. And the food that was put
on every dish never came to an end, and they had every sort of
food and of drink they wished for.
And it seemed to them they were only a year there when
the desire of home took hold on one of them. Nechtan, son of
Collbrain, and his kinsmen were begging and praying Bran to go
back with them to Ireland. The woman said there would be
repentance on them if they went; but in spite of that they set out
in the end. And the woman said to them not to touch the land
when they would come to Ireland, and she bade them to visit and
to bring with them the man they left in the Island of joy.
So they went on towards Ireland till they came to a place called
Srub Bruin. And there were people on the strand that asked them
who they were that were coming over the sea. And Bran said: "I
am Bran, son of Febal. " But the people said: "We know of no such
man, though the voyage of Bran is in our very old stories."
Then Nechtan, son of Collbrain, made a leap out of the curragh, and no sooner did he touch the shore of Ireland than he was a heap of ashes, the same as if he had been in the earth through
hundreds of years.
And then Bran told the whole story of his wanderings to the
people, from the beginning. And after that he bade them farewell,
and his wanderings from that time are not known.
CHAPTER XI.
HIS THREE CALLS TO CORMAC
And another that went to Manannans country was Cormac, grandson of Conn, King of Teamhair, and this is the way it happened.
He was by himself in Teamhair one time, and he saw an armed
man coming towards him, quiet, with high looks, and having grey
hair; a shirt ribbed with gold thread next to his skin, broad shoes
of white bronze between his feet and the ground, a shining
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branch, having nine apples of red gold, on his shoulder. And it is
delightful the sound of that branch was, and no one on earth
would keep in mind any want, or trouble, or tiredness, when that
branch was shaken for him; and whatever trouble there might be
on him, he would forget it at the sound.
Then Cormac and the armed man saluted one another, and
Cormac asked where did he come from. "I come," he said, "from
a country where there is nothing but truth, and where there is
neither age nor withering away, nor heaviness, nor sadness, nor
jealousy nor envy, nor pride." "That is not so with us," said Cormac, "and I would be well pleased to have your friendship," he said. "I am well pleased to give it," said the stranger. "Give me
your branch along with it," said Cormac. "I will give it," said the
stranger, "if you will give me the three gifts I ask in return. " "I will
give them to you indeed," said Cormac.
Then the strange man left the branch and went away, and Cormac did not know where was
he gone to.
He went back then into the royal house, and there was wonder
on all the people when they saw the branch. And he shook it at
them, and it put them all asleep from that day to the same time
on the morrow.
At the end of a year the strange man came back again, and he
asked for the first of his three requests. "You will get it," said Cormac. "I will take your daughter, Aille, to-day," said the stranger.
So he brought away the girl with him, and the women of Ireland gave three loud cries after the king's daughter. But Comiac shook the branch at them, until it put away sorrow from them,
and put them all into their sleep.
That day month the stranger came again, and he brought Cormac's son, Carpre Lifecar, away with him. There was crying and lamenting without end in Teamhair after the boy, and on that
night no one ate or slept, and they were all under grief and very
down-hearted. But when Cormac shook the branch their sorrow
went from them.
Then the stranger came the third time, and Cormac asked him
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what did he want. "It is your wife, Ethne, I am asking this time,"
he said. And he went away then, bringing Ethne, the queen, along
with him.
But Connac would not bear that, and he went after them, and
all his people were following him. But in the middle of the Plain
of the Wall, a thick mist came on them, and when it was gone,
Connac found himself alone on a great plain. And he saw a great
dun in the middle of the plain, with a wall of bronze around it,
and in the dun a house of white silver, and it half thatched with
the white wings of birds. And there was a great troop of the Riders
of the Sidhe all about the house, and their arms full of white birds'
wings for thatching. But as soon as they would put on the thatch,
a blast of wind would come and carry it away again.
Then he saw a man kindling a fire, and he used to throw a
thick oak-tree upon it. And when he would come back with a second tree, the first one would be burned out. "I will be looking at you no longer," Connac said then, "for there is no one here to tell
me your story, and I think I could find good sense in your meanings if I understood them," he said.
Then he went on to where there was another dun, very large
and royal, and another wall of bronze around it, and four houses
within it. And he went in and saw a great king's house, having
beams of bronze and walls of silver, and its thatch of the wings of
white birds. And then he saw on the green a shining well, and five
streams flowing from it, and the armies drinking water in tum,
and the nine lasting purple hazels of Buan growing over it. And
they were dropping their nuts into the water, and the five salmon
would catch them and send their husks floating down the
streams. And the sound of the flowing of those streams is sweeter
than any music that men sing.
Then he went into the palace, and he found there waiting for
him a man and a woman, very tall, and having clothes of many
colours. The man was beautiful as to shape, and his face wonderful to look at; and as to the young woman that was with him, she was the loveliest of all the women of the world, and she having
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IRISH MITHS AND LEGENDS
yellow hair and a golden helmet. And there was a bath there, and
heated stones going in and out of the water of themselves, and
Cormac bathed himself in it.
"Rise up, man of the house," the woman said after that, "for
this is a comely traveller is come to us; and if you have one kind
of food or meat better than another, let it be brought in. " The man
rose up then and he said: "I have but seven pigs, but I could feed
the whole world with them, for the pig that is killed and eaten today, you will find it alive again to-morrow. "
Another man came into the house then, having an axe in his
right hand, and a log in his left hand, and a pig behind him.
"It is time to make ready," said the man of the house, "for we
have a high guest with us to-day."
Then the man struck the pig and killed it, and he cut the logs
and made a fire and put the pig on it in a cauldron. "It is time for
you to tum it," said the master of the house after a while. "There
would be no use doing that," said the man, "for never and never
will the pig be boiled until a truth is told for every quarter of it. "
"Then let you tell yours first," said the master of the house. "One
day," said the man, "I found another man's cows in my land, and I
brought them with me into a cattle pound. The owner of the
cows followed me, and he said he would give me a reward to let
the cows go free. So I gave them back to him, and he gave me an
axe, and when a pig is to be killed, it is with the axe it is killed,
and the log is cut with it, and there is enough wood to boil the
pig, and enough for the palace besides. And that is not all, for the
log is found whole again in the morning. And from that time till
now, that is the way they are."
"It is true indeed that story is," said the man of the house.
They turned the pig in the cauldron then, and but one quarter
of it was found to be cooked. "Let us tell another true story," they
said. "I will tell one," said the master of the house. "Ploughing
time had come, and when we had a mind to plough that field outside, it is the way we found it, ploughed, and harrowed, and sowed with wheat. When we had a mind to reap it, the wheat was
THE EVER-LIVING LIVING ONES
1 27
found in the haggard, all in one thatched rick. We have been
using it from that day to this, and it is no bigger and no less. "
Then they turned the pig, and another quarter was found to be
ready. "It is my tum now," said the woman. "I have seven cows,"
she said, "and seven sheep. And the milk of the seven cows would
satisfy the whole of the men of the world, if they were in the plain
drinking it, and it is enough for all the people of the Land of
Promise, and it is from the wool of the seven sheep all the clothes
they wear are made." And at that story the third quarter of the pig
was boiled.
"If these stories are true," said Cormac to the man of the house,
"you are Manannan, and this is Manannan's wife; for no one on
the whole ridge of the world owns these treasures but himself. It
was to the land of Promise he went to look for that woman, and
he got those seven cows with her. "
They said to Cormac that it was his tum now So Cormac told
them how his wife, and his son, and his daughter, had been
brought away from him, and how he himself had followed them
till he came to that place.
And with that the whole pig was boiled, and they cut it up,
and Cormac's share was put before him. "I never used a meal yet,"
said he, "having two persons only in my company. " The man of
the house began singing to him then, and put him asleep. And
when he awoke, he saw fifty armed men, and his son, and his
wife, and his daughter, along with them. There was great gladness
and courage on him then, and ale and food were given out to
them all. And there was a gol
d cup put in the hand of the master
of the house, and Cormac was wondering at it, for the number of
the shapes on it, and for the strangeness of the work. "There is a
stranger thing yet about it," the man said; "let three lying words
be spoken under it, and it will break into three, and then let three
true words be spoken under it, and it will be as good as before."
So he said three lying words under it, and it broke in three pieces.
"It is best to speak truth now under it," he said, "and to mend it.
And I give my word, Cormac," he said, "that until to-day neither
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
your wife or your daughter has seen the face of a man since they
were brought away from you out of Teamhair, and that your son
has never seen the face of a woman. " And with that the cup was
whole again on the moment. "Bring away your wife and your
children with you now," he said, "and this cup along with them,
the way you will have it for judging between truth and untruth.
And I will leave the branch with you for music and delight, but
on the day of your death they will be taken from you again. "And
I myself," he said, "am Manannan, son of Lir, King of the Land of
Promise, and I brought you here by enchantments that you might
be with me to-night in friendship.
"And the Riders you saw thatching the house," he said, "are
the men of art and poets, and all that look for a fortune in Ireland, putting together cattle and riches. For when they go out, all that they leave in their houses goes to nothing, and so they go on
for ever.
"And the man you saw kindling the fire," he said, "is a young
lord that is more liberal than he can afford, and every one else is
served while he is getting the feast ready, and every one else profiting by it.
"And the well you saw is the Well of Knowledge, and the
streams are the five streams through which all knowledge goes.
And no one will have knowledge who does not drink a draught
out of the well itself or out of the streams. And the people of
many arts are those who drink from them all."
And on the morning of the morrow, when Cormac rose up, he
found himself on the green of Teamhair, and his wife, and his son,
and his daughter, along with him, and he having his branch and
his cup. And it was given the name of Cormac's Cup, and it used
