Old Celtic Romances Part 64

NOTE 7.--_Luga of the Long Arms: The Ildana._

Luga of the Long Arms was the son of Ethlenn, daughter of the Fomorian king, Balor of the Mighty Blows (see note 9). His father, Kian (who was slain by the three sons of Turenn), was a Dedannan; so that Luga was half Fomorian and half Dedannan. But he always took the side of the Dedannans against the Fomorians.

Luga is often called The Ildana, the Man of many sciences, to signify his accomplishments as a warrior and a man of general knowledge.

It had been foretold that Balor would be slain by his own grandson.

Accordingly, when Luga was born, Balor sent him off to be drowned. But Luga escaped, and lived to revenge the unnatural conduct of his grandfather, whom he slew in the second battle of Moytura (see note 11), after Balor had slain the Dedannan king, Nuada of the Silver Hand. Luga succeeded Nuada as king of Ireland, and reigned, according to the chronology of the Four Masters, from A.M. 3330 to 3370.

It was by Luga that the celebrated yearly a.s.sembly of Tailltenn was inst.i.tuted, in honour of his foster mother _Taillte_, after whom the place was called. (See note page 93, _supra._)

NOTE 8.--_The Land of Promise: Fairyland._

In ancient Gaelic romantic tales, mention is often made of _Tir Tairrngire_, the Land of Promise, Fairyland, as being one of the chief dwelling-places of the Dedannans or fairy host. In many pa.s.sages this Land of Promise is identified with _Inis-Manann_, or the Isle of Man, which was ruled over by Mannanan Mac Lir, the sea-G.o.d, and named from him.

NOTE 9.--_Balor of the Mighty Blows._

Balor was king of the Fomorians from Lochlann in the north; his wife was Kethlenda; and his son, Bres. Balor is often called Balor of the Mighty Blows; and also Balor of the Evil Eye, for he had one eye which would strike people dead or turn them into stone, so that he kept it covered, except when he wished to use it against his enemies. Balor is remembered very vividly in tradition by the peasantry of Ireland, especially in Donegal and in Tory Island, where a very high, tower-like rock is called to this day Balor's Castle.

NOTE 10.--_Eric._

The eric was a fine paid as compensation for murder or homicide. The friends of the murdered person might accept an eric, or they might refuse it and seek instead the death of the murderer. An eric was often paid for other crimes or injuries against the individual, as well as for homicide.

NOTE 11.--_Battle of Moytura._

There were two great battles, each called the battle of Moytura.

_First Battle of Moytura._ When the Dedannans came to invade Erin, they found the country occupied by the Firbolgs, who were by no means inclined to give up quiet possession to the newcomers. After some parleying and manoeuvring, a great battle was fought between them, A.M. 3303, at Moytura, near Cong, in Mayo, lasting for four days, in which the Firbolgs were defeated with great slaughter, and their king slain; after which the Dedannans took possession of the country, leaving Connaught, however, to a powerful remnant of the Firbolgs who survived the battle. This is called the First Battle of Moytura, or the Battle of the Southern Moytura. On the plain where it was fought, there are still great numbers of mounds, cromlechs, and other sepulchral monuments. (See Sir William Wilde's "Lough Corrib," page 210.)

_Second Battle of Moytura._ King Nuada, who led the Dedannans in the first battle of Moytura, had his arm cut off by Sreng, one of the Firbolg champions. He was under cure for seven years; during which time Bres, the son of Elatha, who was a Fomorian by his father and a Dedannan by his mother, ruled Ireland as regent. But at the end of the seven years, Bres had to retire in favour of Nuada. Whereupon he repaired in anger to his father in Lochlann; and at his instigation an army of Fomorians was raised, after some years, for the invasion of Ireland, and placed under the command of Balor of the Mighty Blows.

Luga of the Long Arms seems to have foreseen this invasion. He knew that Bres would have to abdicate whenever Nuada's arm came to be healed, and he conjectured truly that he would not resign the sovereignty without a struggle. But the old tales would lead to the inference that Luga had some preternatural foreknowledge of the battle. Anyhow, the legend says that for many years he made preparations for the coming struggle; and it was with this intention that he imposed the celebrated eric-fine on the sons of Turenn.

The Fomorians landed, and were met by the Dedannan army at the Northern Moytura, or, as it is often called, Moytura of the Fomorians, situated in the parish of Kilmactranny, barony of Tirerrill, county Sligo. The battle was fought on the eve of Samin, _i.e._ on the last day of October, A.M. 3330; and the Fomorians were defeated with the slaughter of their princ.i.p.al men and the best part of their army. In the course of the battle, Nuada of the Silver Hand, the Dedannan king, was slain by Balor; but soon after, Balor himself was killed by his grandson, Luga.

Luga, we are told, flung a stone at him from a crann-tavall or sling (see note, page 240), and struck him in the evil eye with so much force that the stone went clean through his head and out at the back.

The site of this battle, like that of the Southern Moytura, abounds to this day in sepulchral monuments.

These two battles of Moytura form the subjects of two historic tales, which are still in existence, though they have never been published.

NOTE 12.--_Gesa._

"Gesa" (p.r.o.nounced _gessa_, the _g_ hard, as in _get_) is plural: singular _geis_, plural _geasa_ or _gesa_. Gesa means solemn vows, conjurations, injunctions, prohibitions. "I put you under gesa" means, I adjure you solemnly, so solemnly that you dare not disobey. It would appear that individuals were often under gesa or solemn vows to observe, or to refrain from, certain lines of conduct--the vows being either taken on themselves voluntarily, or imposed on them, with their consent, by others. Thus Dermat O'Dyna was under gesa never to pa.s.s through a wicket gate when entering or leaving a palace (page 282); Finn was under gesa not to sleep at Allen more than nine nights in succession (page 337); Dermat put Oisin under gesa not to loose any one whom he bound (page 312). It would appear, also, that if one person went through the form of putting another under gesa to grant any reasonable request, the abjured person could not refuse without loss of honour and reputation.

Thus Midac places Finn under gesa to come to the banquet in the Fairy Palace of the Quicken Trees (page 189); and the witch-lady places gesa on Finn to search for the ring in the lake (page 354). And sometimes, on very solemn or urgent occasions, the gesa seem to have been imposed with spells, so as to draw down ill luck as well as loss of honour on the person who disregarded the injunction (page 281).

Geis or gesa also means a charm or spell.

NOTE 13.--_Tir-fa-tonn._

The Gaelic tales abound in allusions to a beautiful country situated under the sea--an enchanted land sunk at some remote time, and still held under spell. In some romantic writings it is called _Tir-fa-tonn_, the land beneath the wave; and occasionally one or more of the heroes find their way to it, and meet with many strange adventures (page 253).

Sometimes it is _O'Brasil_, that dim land which appears over the water once every seven years--"on the verge of the azure sea"--and which would be freed from the spell, and would remain permanently over water, if any one could succeed in throwing fire on it. (See Gerald Griffin's beautiful ballad, "O'Brasil, the Isle of the Blest.") The Island of Fincara (page 87), and the beautiful country seen beneath the waves by Maildun (page 147), are remnants of the same superst.i.tion.

This very old Celtic tradition is obviously the same as the legend of the continent of Atlantis, mentioned by Plato, which at some remote time was overwhelmed and sunk under the Atlantic Ocean. And it would seem that they have the same shadowy tradition in the East; for in "Lalla Rookh" Moore makes the Peri say, in her soliloquy:

"I know where the Isles of Perfume are, Many a fathom down in the sea, To the south of sun-bright Araby."

NOTE 14.--_The Enchanted Well._

Res autem sic revera evenit. c.u.m Angus magus equum giganteum Eochaidio et popularibus traderet, monebat homines nec stabulandi neque omnino requiescendi copiam equo faciendam; ne forte quiescendo urinam demitteret, quod si fieret exitio omnibus fore. Postea vero quam at Planitiem Silvulae Cinereae pervenissent, intenti adeo sarcinis ingentis equi dorso detrahendis inc.u.mbebant, ut monitorum Angi obliviscerentur; rest.i.tit autem equus, et subinde urinam demisit. Extemplo hinc fons ortus; qui c.u.m scaturiisset, submersit omnes, sicuti in historia narratur.

NOTE 15.--_Conal Carna of the Red Branch._

The Red Branch Knights of Ulster, a sort of militia in the service of the monarch, much like the Fena of later date (see note 23), flourished in the first century of the Christian era. Their home was the palace of Emania, near the city of Armagh; and they received their name from one of the houses of the palace in which they resided, which was called _Craebh-ruadh_, or Red Branch. They attained their greatest glory in the reign of Conor Mac Nessa, king of Ulster in the first century; and Conal Carna, mentioned in the story of "Liban the Mermaid," was one of their most ill.u.s.trious champions.

NOTE 16.--_Ecca the Son of Marid: Comgall of Bangor._

This Marid was king of Munster about the beginning of the second century of the Christian era. St. Comgall, one of the greatest saints of the early Irish Church, flourished in the sixth century, and was the founder of the celebrated monastery of Bangor in the county of Down.

NOTE 17.--_Curragh._

It would appear that in Ireland, and indeed in England and Scotland as well, navigation was carried on in ancient times chiefly by means of curraghs. The curragh was a boat or canoe, consisting of a light framework of wood, covered over with the skins of animals. Curraghs are still used on many parts of the western coast of Ireland; but they are now covered with tarred canvas instead of skins.

NOTE 18.--_Conn the Hundred-fighter._

Conn Ced-cathach or Conn the Fighter of a Hundred (not Conn of the Hundred Battles, as the name is generally translated), was king of Ireland from A.D. 123 to 158.

NOTE 19.--_Land of the Living: Land of Life, etc._

The ancient Irish had a sort of dim, vague belief that there was a land where people were always youthful, and free from care and trouble, suffered no disease, and lived for ever. This country they called by various names:--_Tir-na-mbeo_, the land of the [ever-]living; _Tir-na-nog_, the land of the [ever-]youthful; _Moy-Mell_, the plain of pleasure, etc. It had its own inhabitants--fairies; but mortals were sometimes brought there; and while they lived in it, were gifted with the everlasting youth and beauty of the fairy people themselves, and partook of their pleasures. As to the exact place where Tirnanoge was situated, the references are shadowy and variable, but they often place it far out in the Atlantic Ocean, as far as the eye can reach from the high cliffs of the western coast. And here it is identical with O'Brasil, of which mention has been made in note 13.

I have already remarked (see note 1) that the fairies were also supposed to live in palaces in the interior of pleasant green hills, and that they were hence called Aes-shee or Deena-shee, i.e. people of the _shee_ or fairy hills; and hence also the word "banshee" _i.e._ a woman (_bean_) of the fairy hills. Tirnanoge was often regarded as identical with these bright, subterranean palaces. In my boyhood days, the peasantry believed that the great limestone cavern near Mitchelstown, in the county Cork, was one of the entrances to Tirnanoge.

NOTE 20.--_St. Brendan of Birra._

I have already, in the preface (page xiii.), spoken of the celebrated voyage of St. Brendan of Birra (Birr, in King's County), undertaken in the sixth century. He set out from near Brandon Mountain, in Kerry, sailing westwards into the Atlantic Ocean, and, according to the belief of some, landed on the sh.o.r.e of America. He had many imitators, who ventured out on the great ocean in their curraghs as pilgrims; but none were so enterprising as himself, or met with such a variety of strange lands, if we except Maildun and the three sons of O'Corra, whose adventures are quite as surprising as those of Brendan.