{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_60859/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_60859","id":"gutenberg_60859","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60859","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Folklore -- Ireland"],"text":"THE COMING OF LUGH\n                          A CELTIC WONDER-TALE\n                          RETOLD BY ELLA YOUNG\n                       ILLUSTRATED BY MAUD GONNE\n\n\n                      DUBLIN: MAUNSEL & CO., LTD.\n                         96 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET\n                                  1909\n                          All Rights Reserved\n\n\n                                   TO\n                                SEAGHAN\n\n                         [Illustration: Lugh.]\n\n\n\n\n                           THE COMING OF LUGH\n\n\nMananaan Mac Lir who rules the ocean took the little Sun-God, Lugh, in\nhis arms and held him up so that he could see the whole of Ireland with\nthe waves whispering about it everywhere.\n\n\u201cSay farewell to the mountains and rivers and the big trees and the\nflowers in the grass, O Lugh, for you are coming away with me.\u201d\n\nThe child stretched out his hands and cried\u2014\n\n\u201cGood-bye, mountains and flowers and rivers; some day I will come back\nto you.\u201d\n\nThen Mananaan wrapped Lugh in his cloak and stepped into his boat, the\nOcean-Sweeper, and without oar or sail they journeyed over the sea till\nthey crossed the waters at the edge of the world and came to the country\nof Mananaan\u2014a beautiful country shining With the colours of the dawn.\n\nLugh stayed in that country with Mananaan. He raced the waves along the\nstrand; he gathered apples sweeter than honey from trees with crimson\nblossoms, and wonderful birds came to play with him. Mananaan\u2019s\ndaughter, Niav, took him through woods where there were milk-white deer\nwith horns of gold, and black-maned lions and spotted panthers, and\nunicorns that shone like silver, and strange beasts that no one ever\nheard of; and all the animals were glad to see him, and he played with\nthem and called them by their names. Every day he grew taller and\nstronger and more beautiful, but he did not any day ask Mananaan to take\nhim back to Ireland.\n\nEvery night when darkness had come into the sky, Mananaan wrapped\nhimself in his mantle of power and crossed the sea and walked all round\nIreland, stepping from rock to rock. No one saw him, because his mantle\nmade him invisible, but he saw everything and knew that trouble had\nfound the De Danaanans. The ugly, misshapen folk of the Fomor had come\ninto Ireland and spread themselves over the country like a pestilence.\nThey had stolen the Cauldron of Plenty and carried it away to their own\nland, where Balor of the Evil Eye reigned. They had taken the Spear of\nVictory also, and the only one of the four great Jewels of Sovereignity\nremaining to the De Danaanans was the Stone of Destiny. It was hidden\ndeep in the earth of Ireland, and because of it the Fomorians could not\naltogether conquer the country, nor could they destroy the De Danaanans,\nthough they drove them from their pleasant palaces and hunted them\nthrough the glens and valleys like outlaws.\n\nMananaan himself had the fourth Jewel, the Sword of Light: he kept it\nand waited.\n\nWhen Lugh was full grown Mananaan said to him\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is three times seven years as mortals count time since I brought you\nto Tir-nan-oge, and in all that time I have never given you a gift.\nTo-day I will give you a gift.\u201d\n\nHe brought out the Sword of Light and gave it to Lugh, and when Lugh\ntook it in his hand he remembered how he had cried to the hills and\nrivers of Ireland, \u201cSome day I will come back to you,\u201d and he said to\nMananaan\u2014\n\n\u201cI want to go back to Ireland.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou will not find joyousness there, O Lugh, or the music of harp\nstrings, or feasting. The De Danaanans are shorn of their strength.\nOgmai, their champion, carries logs to warm Fomorian hearths; Angus\nwanders like an outcast; and Nuada, the King, has but one dun where\nthose who had once the lordship of the world meet in secret like hunted\nfolk.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have a good sword,\u201d said Lugh. \u201cI will go to my kinsfolk.\u201d\n\n        [Illustration: Lugh saying Farewell to the Irish Hills.]\n\n\u201cO Lugh,\u201d said Mananaan, \u201cthey have never known you. Will you leave me\nand Niav and this land where sorrow has never touched you, for the sake\nof stranger kinsfolk?\u201d\n\nLugh answered\u2014\n\n\u201cI remember the hills and the woods and the rivers of Ireland, and\nthough all my kinsfolk were gone from it and the sea covered everything\nbut the tops of the mountains, I would go back.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have the hardiness that wins victory,\u201d said Mananaan. \u201cI will set\nyou on my own white horse and give you companions as high-hearted as\nyourself. I will put my helmet on your head and my breastplate over your\nheart; you shall drive the Fomorians out of Ireland as chaff is driven\nby the wind.\u201d\n\nWhen Lugh put on the helmet of Mananaan, brightness shot into the sky as\nif a new sun had risen; when he put on the breastplate, a great wave of\nmusic swelled and sounded through Tir-nan-oge; when he mounted the white\nhorse, a mighty wind swept past him, and lo! the companions Mananaan had\npromised, rode beside him. Their horses were white like his, and\ngladness that age cannot wither shone in their faces. When they came to\nthe sea that is about Tir-nan-oge, the little crystal waves lifted\nthemselves up to look at Lugh, and when he and his comrades sped over\nthe sea as lightly as blown foam, the little waves followed them till\nthey came to Ireland, and the three great waves of Ireland thundered a\nwelcome\u2014the wave of Thoth, the wave of Rury, and the long, snow-white,\nfoaming wave of Cleena.\n\nNo one saw the Faery Host coming into Ireland. At the place where their\nhorses leaped from sea to land there was a great wood of pine trees.\n\n\u201cLet us go into the wood,\u201d said Lugh, and they rode between the tall,\nstraight tree-trunks into the silent heart of the wood.\n\n\u201cRest here,\u201d said Lugh, \u201ctill morning; I will go to the dun of Nuada and\nget news of my kinsfolk.\u201d\n\nHe put his shining armour from him and wrapped himself in a dark cloak\nand went on foot to the dun of Nuada. He struck the brazen door, and the\nGuardian of the Door spoke to him from within\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat do you seek?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy way into the dun.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo one enters here who has not his craft. What can you do?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the craft of a carpenter.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have a carpenter within; he is Luchtae, son of Luchaid.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the craft of a smith.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have a smith within, Colum of the three new ways of working.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the craft of a champion.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have a champion within, he is Ogmai himself.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the craft of a harper.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have a harper within, even Abhcan, son of Bicelmos; the Men of the\nthree Gods chose him in the faery hills.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the craft of a poet and historian.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have a poet and historian within, even En, son of Ethaman.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the craft of a wizard.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have many wizards and magicians within.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the craft of a physician.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have a physician within, even Dian Cecht.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the craft of a cupbearer.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have nine cupbearers within.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have the craft of a brazier.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have a brazier within, even Credne Cerd.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo hence and ask your king if he has within any one man who can do all\nthese things. If he has, I will not seek to enter.\u201d\n\nThe Guardian of the Door hurried in to Nuada.\n\n\u201cO King!\u201d he said, \u201cthe most wonderful youth in the world is waiting\noutside your door to-night. He seeks admittance as the Ildana, the\nMaster of every craft.\u201d\n\n                  [Illustration: Lugh in Tir-nan-oge.]\n\n\u201cLet him come in,\u201d said King Nuada.\n\nLugh came into the dun. Ogmai, the champion, took a good look at him. He\nthought him young and slender, and was minded to test him. There was a\ngreat stone before the seat of the king. It was flat and round, and\nfourscore yoke of oxen could not move it. Ogmai stooped and lifted the\nstone. He cast it through the door, so that it crossed the fosse which\nwas round the dun. That was his challenge to the Ildana.\n\n\u201cIt is a good champion-cast,\u201d said Lugh, \u201cI will better it.\u201d\n\nHe went outside. He lifted the stone and cast it back, not through the\ndoor, but through the strong wall of the dun so that it fell in the\nplace where it had lain before Ogmai lifted it.\n\n\u201cYour cast is better than mine,\u201d said Ogmai, \u201csit in the seat of the\nchampion with your face to the King.\u201d\n\nLugh drew his hand over the wall; it became whole as before. He sat in\nthe champion-seat.\n\n\u201cLet chess be brought,\u201d said the King.\n\nThey played, and Lugh won all the games, so that thereafter it passed\ninto a proverb \u201cto make the Cro of Lugh.\u201d\n\n\u201cTruly you are the Ildana,\u201d said Nuada. \u201cI would fain hear music of your\nmaking, but I have no harp to offer you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI see a kingly harp within reach of your hand,\u201d said Lugh.\n\n\u201cThat is the harp of the Dagda. No one can bring music from that harp\nbut himself: when he plays on it the four Seasons\u2014Spring, Summer, Autumn\nand Winter\u2014pass over the earth.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will play on it,\u201d said Lugh.\n\nThe harp was given to him.\n\nLugh played the music of joy, and outside the dun the birds began to\nsing as though it were morning, and wonderful crimson flowers sprang\nthrough the grass\u2014flowers that trembled with delight and swayed and\ntouched each other with a delicate, faery ringing as of silver bells.\nInside the dun a subtle sweetness of laughter filled the hearts of\neveryone: it seemed to them that they had never known gladness till that\nnight.\n\nLugh played the music of sorrow: the wind moaned outside, and where the\ngrass and flowers had been there was a dark sea of moving waters. The De\nDanaanans within the dun bowed their heads on their hands and wept as\nthey had never wept for any sorrow.\n\nLugh played the music of peace and outside there fell silently a strange\nsnow. Flake by flake it settled on the earth and changed to starry dew.\nFlake by flake the quiet of the Land of the Silver Fleece settled in the\nhearts and minds of Nuada and his people: they closed their eyes and\nslept, each in his seat.\n\nLugh put the harp from him and stole out of the dun. The snow was still\nfalling outside: it settled on his dark cloak and shone like silver\nscales; it settled on the thick curls of his hair and shone like\njewelled fire; it filled the night about him with white radiance. He\nwent back to his companions.\n\nThe sun had risen in the sky when the De Danaanans awoke in Nuada\u2019s dun.\nThey were light-hearted and joyous, and it seemed to them that they had\ndreamed over-night a strange, beautiful dream.\n\n\u201cThe Fomorians have not taken the sun out of the sky,\u201d said Nuada. \u201cLet\nus go to the Hill of Usna and send to our scattered comrades that we may\nmake a stand against our enemies.\u201d\n\nThey took their weapons and went to the Hill of Usna, and they were not\nlong upon it when a band of Fomorian devastators came on them. The\nFomorians scoffed among themselves when they saw how few the De\nDanaanans were and how ill-prepared for fighting.\n\n\u201cBehold!\u201d they cried, \u201cwhat mighty kings are to-day upon Usna, the Hill\nof Sovereignity. Come down, O Kings, and bow yourselves before your\nmasters!\u201d\n\n           [Illustration: Mananaan giving the Sword to Lugh.]\n\n\u201cWe will not bow ourselves before you,\u201d said Nuada, \u201cfor ye are ugly and\nvile, and lords neither of us nor of Ireland.\u201d\n\nWith hoarse cries the Fomorians fell on the De Danaanans, but Nuada and\nhis folk held together and withstood them as well as they were able.\nScarcely had the weapons clashed when a light appeared in the horizon\nand a sound of mighty battle-trumpets shook the air. The light was so\nwhite that no one could look at it, and great rose-red streamers shot\nfrom it into the sky.\n\n\u201cIt is a second sunrise,\u201d said the Fomorians.\n\n\u201cIt is the Deliverer!\u201d said the De Danaanans.\n\nOut of the light came the glorious company of warriors from Tir-nan-oge.\nLugh was leading them. He had the helmet of Mananaan on his head, the\nbreastplate of Mananaan over his heart, and the great white horse of\nMananaan beneath him.\n\nThe Sword of Light was bare in his hand. He fell on the Fomorians as a\nsea-eagle falls on her prey, as lightning flashes out of a clear sky.\nBefore him and his companions they were destroyed as stubble is\ndestroyed by fire. He held his hand when only nine of them remained\nalive.\n\n\u201cBow yourselves,\u201d he said, \u201cbefore the King, Nuada, and before the De\nDanaanans, for they are your Lords and the Lords of Ireland, and go\nhence to Balor of the Evil Eye and tell him and his misshapen brood that\nthe De Danaanans have taken their own again, and they will wage war\nagainst the Fomorians till there is not one left to darken the earth\nwith his shadow.\u201d\n\nThe nine Fomorians bowed themselves before the King, Nuada, and before\nthe De Danaanans, and before Lugh Lauvauda, the Ildana, and they arose\nand carried his message to Balor of the Evil Eye, King of the Fomorians.\n\n\n\n\n                          Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\n--Copyright notice provided as in the original\u2014this e-text is public\n  domain in the country of publication.\n\n--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard (or amusing)\n  spellings and dialect unchanged.\n\n--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the\n  HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)","title":"The Coming of Lugh: A Celtic Wonder-Tale Retold","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":2308}