Nuada's Silver Hand
During the battle to drive the Fir Bolgs out of Ireland, Nuada, king of the
Tuatha De Danaan, lost his arm and so was unfit to be king, since all kings
had to be perfect in form. Therefore, the people chose a new king: Bres, a
beautiful but greedy and cowardly half-Fomorian. They hoped that Bres'
mixed blood would help to forge peace between them and the Fomorians, but
this turned out not to be the case. The Fomorians formed an alliance with
Bres, taking the wealth of his people and causing them to become even more
oppressed.
Bres' royal court became a cold and cheerless place. The poets and
minstrels were silent, and the heroes and champions were pressed into menial
labor. One day, the poet Cairbre arrived at the court and was treated with
great discourtesy. Angered by this treatment, he composed Ireland's first
satirical poem and forecast Bres' downfall.
Heartened by this show of defiance the people of the Tuatha De
Danaan sought to revolt, but they wanted to replace Bres with Nuada, who was
unfit to rule. Dian Cecht, the great physician helped them by replacing
Nuada's lost arm with a silver one which was as flexible as his original,
but it was still artificial and therefore Nuada could not be king. Dian
Cecht's son, Miach, therefore set to work creating a real arm which could be
grafted onto Nuada. With this new arm, Nuada could be king again, and the
people rejoiced.
The Birth of Lugh of the Long Arm
Balor, king of the monstrous Fomorians, had a secret fear: one of his
druids had foretold that he would die at the hands of his own grandson.
Balor had only one child, a daughter named Eithlinn, so he built a tower and
shut the girl up in it with twelve women to guard her. He warned the women
that not only should Eithlinn never see a man but a man's name should never
be mentioned in her presence.
Eithlinn grew up into a beautiful woman. Her companions were kind
to her, entertained her, and taught her, but still she was lonely. As she
looked out to sea, she saw long boats with people in them unlike any she had
seen before. She asked her companions what these people were called, but
they remembered Balor's command that they not mention a man's name, so they
said nothing.
Balor, though he had enough cattle, coveted one wondrous cow in
particular, the Glas Gaibhleann, which never ran dry and belonged to man
named Cian. Balor tricked Cian so that he could steal the cow, and Cian
sought the help of a female druid called Birog. She disguised him as a
woman, and they travelled magically to Balor's island, where they took
refuge in Eithlinn's tower. After the other's had gone to sleep, Cian
discarded his disguise and went to Eithlinn's chamber. She had dreamt of
his face and recognized him, and the two made sweet love by the fire.
After that, Birog, fearing retribution by Balor, induced Cian to
flee, although he had wanted to bring Eithlinn back to Ireland with him.
Later, Eithlinn gave birth to a beautiful son whom she called Lugh, but Balor found
out about it and had him cast into the sea. Birog found the child and gave
him to a foster mother; under her care, he grew up strong, handsome, and
skillful, and, although he did not know it, he had within him the power to
slay Balor.
How The Hound Got His Name
Setanta left home at the age of 5 and travelled to Emain Macha, the fortress of his Uncle who was the King of Ulster. When he was about 10, Sentana was invited by his uncle Conor to a feast at Culain's house.
"I'm busy playing hurley" said Setanta. "Go on ahead. I'll follow your chariot tracks and catch up with you later."
When the Conor and his men arrived at Culain's house their host Culain asked if anyone else was coming because he wanted to let his guard dog loose. Forgetting about Setanta, Conor said that no one else was expected. The dog was let loose.
Setanta finally arrived, batting his hurley ball into the air with his hurley stick, throwing the stick after it, and catching them both before they fell to the ground. The dog attacked him. The men heard the commotion, remembered Sentana and hurried to get out of the house in time to save him. But Setanta hit the ball down the dog's throat and killed him.
Conor and the rest of the men were relieved that Setanta was safe, but Culain complained about the loss of his guard dog. "It took me a year to raise and train that dog. Now I'll have no guard dog to protect my house until I can train another one."
"Don't worry," said Setanta. "I'll be your guard dog until you can replace the one I killed. I'll be the Hound of Culain." And that is how CuChulain, the greatest hero in the history of Ireland, got his name.
The Birth of Finn Mac Cumhail
Cumhail Macart was a great champion in the west of Ireland, and it was prophesied of him that if ever he married he would meet death in the next battle he fought. For this reason he had no wife, and knew no woman for a long time. This is why, when a Druid told the King that his daughter's son would take the kingdom from him, the king assigned Cumhail as her bodyguard. Because everyone knew that Cumhail would die if he ever took a woman. Unfortunately, the princess was so beautiful that Cumhail forgot all fear and married her in secret. The day after their wedding news came that a battle had to be fought.
At this news Cumhail became worried for the fate of his new bride and any sons she would bear him. Before he went to the battle Cumhail told his mother of his relations with the king's daughter. He said, "I shall be killed in battle today, according to the prophecy, and I'm afraid if his daughter has a son the king will kill the child, for the prophecy is that he will lose the kingdom by the son of his own daughter. Now, if the king's daughter has a son you must hide and rear him, if you can; you will be his only hope."
Cumhail was killed in the battle, and within that year the king's daughter had a son. By command of his grandfather, the boy was thrown out of the castle window into a lake, to be drowned. The boy sank from sight; but after remaining a while under the water he rose again to the surface and came to land holding a live salmon in his hand.
The grandmother of the boy, Cumhail's mother, stood watching on the shore and said to herself as she saw this: "He is my grandson, the true son of my own child," and seizing the boy, she rushed away with him and vanished before the king's people could stop her.
This amazing lad grew up to be Finn Mac Chumhail, the fleetest and cleverest hero in all Ireland.
Finn Mac Cumhail Defends Tara
One of Finn's greatest achievements took place at the Feast of Tara, after which he gained recognition as a great warrior and was given the leadership of the Fianna.
It happened that every Samhain night for nine years a prince of the Faery Folk, the Tuatha De Danann, would come out of his sidhe mound and set fire to the King's fortress at Tara. This faery prince's name was Aillen and he would play such sweet, enchanted music that everyone at the feast would fall into a deep slumber, and therefore be doomed to die in the blaze. The High King promised that if a man came forward who could save Tara from this fate he would grant such a man whatever inheritance he claimed. With the help of his magical spear which he kept pressed to his forehead, Finn was able to withstand the musical enchantment. Aillen grew angry and shot a flame of fire from his mouth, but the brave Finn caught it in his magical cloak. Realising that here before him stood a man who could overpower him, Aillen made haste to retreat to his sidhe mound. As he entered through the doorway Fionn made a fatal cast with his spear that struck the faery prince through the heart.
