by Irish Myths
to judge between truth and falsehood among the Gael. But it was
not left in Ireland after the night of Cormac's death, as Manannan
had foretold him.
1 29
CHAPTER XII.
CLIODNA'.S WAVE
And it was in the time of the Fianna of Ireland that Ciabhan of the
Curling Hair, the king of Ulster's son, went to Manannan's country.
Ciabhan now was the most beautiful of the young men of the
world at that time , and he was as far beyond all other kings'
sons as the moon is beyond the stars. And Finn liked him well,
but the rest of the Fianna got to be tired of him because there was
not a woman of their women, wed or unwed, but gave him her
love. And Finn had to send him away at the last, for he was in
dread of the men of the Fianna because of the greatness of their
jealousy.
So Ciabhan went on till he came to the Strand of the Cairn,
that is called now the Strand of the Strong Man, between Dun
Sobairce and the sea. And there he saw a curragh, and it having a
narrow stem of copper. And Ciabhan got into the curragh, and
his people said: "Is it to leave Ireland you have a mind, Ciabhan? "
"It is indeed," he said, "for in Ireland I get neither shelter or protection. " He bade farewell to his people then, and he left them very sorrowful after him, for to part with him was like the parting
of life from the body.
And Ciabhan went on in the curragh, and great white shouting waves rose up about him, every one of them the size of a mountain; and the beautiful speckled salmon that are used to stop
in the sand and the shingle rose up to the sides of the curragh, till
great dread came on Ciabhan, and he said: "By my word, if it was
on land I was I could make a better fight for myself. "
And he was in this danger till he saw a rider coming towards
him on a dark grey horse having a golden bridle, and he would be
under the sea for the length of nine waves, and he would rise with
the tenth wave, and no wet on him at all. And he said: "What
reward would you give to whoever would bring you out of this
great danger? " " Is there anything in my hand worth offering
you?" said Ciabhan. "There is," said the rider, "that you would
1 30
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
give your service to whoever would give you his help." Ciabhan
agreed to that, and he put his hand into the rider's hand.
With that the rider drew him on to the horse, and the curragh
came on beside them till they reached to the shore of Tir Taimgaire, the land of Promise. They got off the horse there, and came to Loch Luchra, the Lake of the Dwarfs, and to Manannan's
city, and a feast was after being made ready there, and comely
serving-boys were going round with smooth horns, and playing on sweet-sounding harps till the whole house was filled with the music.
Then there came in clowns, long-snouted, long-heeled, lean
and bald and red, that used to be doing tricks in Manannan's
house. And one of these tricks was, a man of them to take nine
straight willow rods, and to throw them up to the rafters of the
house, and to catch them again as they came down, and he standing on one leg, and having but one hand free. And they thought no one could do that trick but themselves, and they were used to
ask strangers to do it, the way they could see them fail.
So this night when one of them had done the trick, he came
up to Ciabhan, that was beyond all the Men of Dea or the Sons of
the Gael that were in the house, in shape and in walk and in
name, and he put the nine rods in his hand. And Ciabhan stood
up and he did the feat before them all, the same as if he had never
learned to do any other thing.
Now Gebann, that was a chief Druid in Manannan's country,
had a daughter, Cliodna of the Fair Hair, that had never given her
love to any man. But when she saw Ciabhan she gave him her
love, and she agreed to go away with him on the morrow.
And they went down to the landing-place and got into a curragh, and they went on till they came to Teite's Strand in the southern part of Ireland. It was from Teite Bree the Freckled the
strand got its name, that went there one time for a wave game,
and three times fifty young girls with her, and they were all
drowned in that place.
And as to Ciabhan, he came on shore, and went looking for
THE EVER-LIVING LIVING ONES
1 3 1
deer, as was right, under the thick branches of the wood; and he
left the young girl in the boat on the strand.
But the people of Manannan's house came after them, having
forty ships. And Iuchnu, that was in the curragh with Cliodna,
did treachery, and he played music to her till she lay down in the
boat and fell asleep. And then a great wave came up on the strand
and swept her away.
And the wave got its name from Cliodna of the Fair Hair, that
will be long remembered.
CHAPTER XIII.
HIS CALL TO CONNLA
And it is likely it was Manannan sent his messenger for Connla of
the Red Hair the time he went away out of Ireland, for it is to his
country Connla was brought; and this is the way he got the call.
It chanced one day he was with his fa ther, Conn, King of
Teamhair, on the Hill of Uisnach, and he saw a woman having
wonderful clothing coming towards him. "Where is it you come
from?" he asked her. "I come," she said, "from Tir-nam-Beo, the
Land of the Ever-Living Ones, where no death comes. We use
feasts that are lasting," she said, "and we do every kind thing
without quarrelling, and we are called the people of the Sidhe. "
"Who are you speaking to, boy?" said Conn to him then, for no
one saw the strange woman but only Connla. "He is speaking to a
high woman that death or old age will never come to," she said.
"I am asking him to come to Magh Mell, the Pleasant Plain where
the triumphant king is living, and there he will be a king for ever
without sorrow or fret. Come with me, Connla of the Red Hair,"
she said, "of the fair freckled neck and of the ruddy cheek; come
with me, and your body will not wither from its youth and its
comeliness for ever."
They could all hear the woman's words then, though they
could not see her, and it is what Conn said to Coran his Druid:
1 32
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
"Help me, Coran, you that sing spells of the great arts. There is an
attack made on me that is beyond my wisdom and beyond my
power, I never knew so strong an attack since the first day I was a
king. There is an unseen figure fighting with me; she is using her
strength against me to bring away my beautiful son; the call of a
woman is bringing him away from the hands of the king. "
Then Coran, the Druid, began singing spells against the woman
of the Sidhe, the way no one would hear her voice, and Connla
could not see her any more. But when she was being driven away
by the spells of the Druid, she threw an apple to Connla.
And through the length of a month from that time, Connla
used no other food nor drink but that apple, for he thought no
other food or drink worth the using. And for all he ate of it, the
ap
ple grew no smaller, but was whole all the while. And there was
great trouble on Connla on account of the woman he had seen.
And at the end of a month Connla was at his father's side in
Magh Archomnim, and he saw the same woman coming towards
him, and it is what she said: "It is a high place indeed Connla has
among dying people, and death before him. But the Ever-Living
Living Ones," she said, "are asking you to take the sway over the
people of Tethra, for they are looking at you every day in the gatherings of your country among your dear friends."
When Conn, the king, heard her voice, he said to his people:
"Call Coran, the Druid to me, for I hear the sound of the woman's
voice again." But on that she said: "O Conn, fighter of a hundred,
it is little love and little respect the wonderful tribes of Traig Mor,
the Great Strand, have for Druids; and where its law comes, it
scatters the spells on their lips. "
Then Conn looked to his son Connla to see what he would
say, and Connla said: "My own people are dearer to me than any
other thing, yet sorrow has taken hold of me because of this
woman." Then the woman spoke to him again, and it is what she
said: "Come now into my shining ship, if you will come to the
Plain of Victory. There is another country it would not be worse
for you to look for; though the bright sun is going down, we shall
THE EVER-LIVING LIVI N G ONES
1 33
reach to that country before night. That is the country that delights the mind of every one that turns to me. There is no living race in it but women and girls only. "
And when the woman had ended her song, Connla made a leap
from his people into the shining boat, and they saw him sailing
away from them far off and as if in a mist, as far as their eyes could
see. It is away across the sea they went, and they have never come
back again, and only the gods know where was it they went.
CHAPTER XIV.
TADG IN MANANNAN'S ISLANDS
And another that went to the Land of the Ever-Living Ones, but
that came back again, was Tadg, son of Cian, son of Olioll; and
this is the way that happened.
It was one time Tadg was going his next heir's round, into the
west of Munster, and his two brothers, Aimelach and Eoghan,
along with him. And Cathmann, son of Tabam, that was king of
the beautiful country of Fresen that lay to the south-east of the
Great Plain, was searching the sea for what he could find just at
that time, and nine of his ships with him. And they landed at
Beire do Bhunadas, to the west of Munster, and the country had
no stir in it, and so they slipped ashore, and no one took notice of
them till all were surrounded, both men and cattle. And Tadg's
wife Liban, daughter of Conchubar Abratrudh of the Red Brows,
and his two brothers, and a great many of the people of Munster,
were taken by the foreigners and brought away to the coasts of
Fresen. And Cathmann took Liban to be his own wife, and he put
hardship on Tadg's two brothers: Eoghan he put to work a common ferry across a channel of the coast, and Aimelach to cut firing and to keep up fires for all the people; and all the food they
got was barley seed and muddy water.
And as to Tadg himself, it was only by his courage and the use
of his sword he made his escape, but there was great grief and
1 34
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
discouragement on him, his wife and his brothers to have been
brought away. But he had forty of his fighting men left that had
each killed a man of the foreigners; and they had brought one in
alive. And this man told them news of the country he came from.
And when Tadg heard that, he made a plan in his own head, and
he gave orders for a curragh to be built that would be fit for a long
voyage. Very strong it was, and forty ox-hides on it of hard red
leather, that was after being soaked in bark. And it was well fitted
with masts, and oars, and pitch, and everything that was wanting.
And they put every sort of meat, and drink, and of clothes in it,
that would last them through the length of a year.
When all was ready, and the curragh out in the tide, Tadg said
to his people: "Let us set out now on the high seas, looking for
our own people that are away from us this long time. "
They set out then over the stormy, heavy flood, till a t last they
saw no land before them or behind them, but only the hillsides of
the great sea. And farther on again they heard the singing of a
great flock of unknown birds; and pleasant white-bellied salmon
were leaping about the curragh on every side, and seals, very big
and dark, were coming after them, breaking through the shining
wash of the oars; and great whales after them again, so that the
young men liked to be looking at them, for they were not used to
see the like before.
They went on rowing through twenty days and twenty nights,
and at the end of that time they got sight of a high land, having a
smooth coast. And when they reached it they all landed, and they
pulled up the curragh and lit their fires, and food was given out to
them, and they were not long making an end of it. They made
beds for themselves then on the beautiful green grass, and enjoyed their sleep till the rising of the sun on the morrow.
Tadg rose up then and put on his arms, and went out, and
thirty of his men along with him, to search the whole island.
They went all through it, but they found no living thing on it,
man or beast, but only flocks of sheep. And the size of the sheep
was past all telling, as big as horses they were, and the whole
THE EVER-LIVING LIVING ONES
1 35
island was filled with their wool. And there was one great flock
beyond all the others, all of very big rams, and one of them was
biggest of all, nine horns he had, and he charged on Tadg's chief
men, attacking them and butting at them.
There was vexation on them then, and they attacked him
again, and there was a struggle between them. And at the first the
ram broke through five of their shields. But Tadg took his spear
that there was no escape from, and made a lucky cast at the ram
and killed him. And they brought the ram to the curragh and
made it ready for the young men to eat, and they stopped three
nights on the island, and every night it was a sheep they had for
their food. And they gathered a good share of the wool and put it
in the curragh because of the wonder and the beauty of it. And
they found the bones of very big men on the island, but whether
they died of sickness or were killed by the rams they did not know.
They left that island then and went forward till they found two
strange islands where there were great flocks of wonderful birds,
like blackbirds, and some of them the size of eagles or of cranes,
and they red with green heads on them, and the eggs they had
were blue and pure crimson. And some of the men began eating
the eggs, and on the moment feathers began to grow out on them.
But they went bathing after that, and the feathers dropped off
them
again as quick as they came.
It was the foreigner they had with them gave them the course
up to this time, for he had been on the same track before. But now
they went on through the length of six weeks and never saw land,
and he said then, "We are astray on the great ocean that has no
boundaries. " Then the wind with its sharp voice began to rise,
and there was a noise like the tramping of feet in the sea, and it
rose up into great mountains hard to climb, and there was great
fear on Tadg's people, for they had never seen the like. But he
began to stir them up and to rouse them, and he bade them to
meet the sea like men. "Do bravery," he said, "young men of Munster, and fight for your lives against the waves that are rising up and coming at the sides of the curragh. " Tadg took one side of the
l 36
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
curragh then and his men took the other side, and he was able to
pull it round against the whole twenty-nine of them, and to bale it
out and keep it dry along with that. And after a while they got a
fair wind and put up their sail, the way less water came into the
curragh, and then the sea went down and lay flat and calm, and
there were strange birds of many shapes singing around them in
every part. They saw land before them then, with a good coast,
and with that courage and gladness came on them.
And when they came nearer to the land they found a beautiful
inver, a river's mouth, with green hills about it, and the bottom of
it sandy and as bright as silver, and red-speckled salmon in it, and
pleasant woods with purple tree-tops edging the stream. "It is a
beautiful country this is," said Tadg, "and it would be happy for
him that would be always in it; and let you pull up the ship now,"
he said, "and dry it out."
A score of them went forward then into the country, and a
score stopped to mind the curragh. And for all the cold and discouragement and bad weather they had gone through, they felt no wish at all for food or for fire, but the sweet smell of the crimson branches in the place they were come to satisfied them. They went on through the wood, and after a while they came to an
apple garden having red apples in it, and leafy oak-trees, and
hazels yellow with nuts. "It is a wonder to me," said Tadg, "to
find summer here, and it winter time in our own country."
