TO
SEAGHAN

THE COMING OF LUGH

Mananaan Mac Lir who rules theocean took the little Sun-God, Lugh,in his arms and held him up so thathe could see the whole of Ireland withthe waves whispering about it everywhere.

“Say farewell to the mountains andrivers and the big trees and the flowersin the grass, O Lugh, for you are comingaway with me.”

The child stretched out his handsand cried—

“Good-bye, mountains and flowersand rivers; some day I will come backto you.”

Then Mananaan wrapped Lugh inhis cloak and stepped into his boat,the Ocean-Sweeper, and without oaror sail they journeyed over the seatill they crossed the waters at theedge of the world and came to thecountry of Mananaan—a beautifulcountry shining With the colours ofthe dawn.

Lugh stayed in that country withMananaan. He raced the waves alongthe strand; he gathered apples sweeterthan honey from trees with crimsonblossoms, and wonderful birds came toplay with him. Mananaan’s daughter,Niav, took him through woods wherethere were milk-white deer with hornsof gold, and black-maned lions andspotted panthers, and unicorns thatshone like silver, and strange beaststhat no one ever heard of; and all theanimals were glad to see him, and heplayed with them and called them bytheir names. Every day he grew tallerand stronger and more beautiful, buthe did not any day ask Mananaan totake him back to Ireland.

Every night when darkness had comeinto the sky, Mananaan wrapped himselfin his mantle of power and crossedthe sea and walked all round Ireland,stepping from rock to rock. No onesaw him, because his mantle made himinvisible, but he saw everything andknew that trouble had found the DeDanaanans. The ugly, misshapen folkof the Fomor had come into Irelandand spread themselves over the countrylike a pestilence. They had stolen theCauldron of Plenty and carried it awayto their own land, where Balor of theEvil Eye reigned. They had taken theSpear of Victory also, and the onlyone of the four great Jewels ofSovereignity remaining to the DeDanaanans was the Stone of Destiny.It was hidden deep in the earth ofIreland, and because of it the Fomorianscould not altogether conquer thecountry, nor could they destroy theDe Danaanans, though they drovethem from their pleasant palaces andhunted them through the glens andvalleys like outlaws.

Mananaan himself had the fourthJewel, the Sword of Light: he kept itand waited.

When Lugh was full grown Mananaansaid to him—

“It is three times seven years asmortals count time since I broughtyou to Tir-nan-oge, and in all thattime I have never given you a gift.To-day I will give you a gift.”

He brought out the Sword of Lightand gave it to Lugh, and when Lughtook it in his hand he remembered howhe had cried to t

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