All decided to make ready for a war, and to give the direction of it to Lugh.
CHAPTER VIII
THE GAELIC ARGONAUTS
The preparations for this war are said to have lasted seven years. It was during the interval that there befel an episode which might almost be called the “Argonautica” of the Gaelic mythology.[[115]]
In spite of the dethronement of Bress, the Fomors still claimed their annual tribute from the tribe of the goddess Danu, and sent their tax-gatherers, nine times nine in number, to “Balor’s Hill” to collect it. But, while they waited for the gods to come to tender their submission and their subsidy, they saw a young man approaching them. He was riding upon “Splendid Mane”, the horse of Manannán son of Lêr, and was dressed in Manannán’s breastplate and helmet, through which no weapon could wound their wearer, and he was armed with sword and shield and poisoned darts. “Like to the setting sun”, says the story, “was the splendour of his countenance and his forehead, and they were not able to look in his face for the greatness of his splendour.” And no wonder! for he was Lugh the Far-shooter, the new-come sun-god of the Gaels. He fell upon the Fomorian tax-gatherers, killing all but nine of them, and these he only spared that they might go back to their kinsmen and tell how the gods had received them.
There was consternation in the under-sea country. “Who can this terrible warrior be?” asked Balor. “I know,” said Balor’s wife; “he must be the son of our daughter Ethniu; and I foretell that, since he has cast in his lot with his father’s people, we shall never bear rule in Erin again.”
The chiefs of the Fomors saw that this slaughter of their tax-gatherers signified that the Tuatha Dé Danann meant fighting. They held a council to debate on it. There came to it Elathan and Tethra and Indech, kings of the Fomors; Bress himself, and Balor of the stout blows; Cethlenn the crooked tooth, Balor’s wife; Balor’s twelve white-mouthed sons; and all the chief Fomorian warriors and druids.
Meanwhile, upon earth, Lugh was sending messengers all over Erin to assemble the Tuatha Dé Danann. Upon this errand went Lugh’s father Cian, who seems to have been a kind of lesser solar deity,[[116]] son of Diancecht, the god of medicine. As Cian was going over the plain of Muirthemne,[[117]] he saw three armed warriors approaching him, and, when they got nearer, he recognized them as the three sons of Tuirenn, son of Ogma, whose names were Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba. Between these three and Cian, with his brothers Cethé and Cu, there was, for some reason, a private enmity. Cian saw that he was now at a disadvantage. “If my brothers were with me,” he said to himself, “what a fight we would make; but, as I am alone, it will be best for me to conceal myself.” Looking round, he saw a herd of pigs feeding on the plain. Like all the gods, he had the faculty of shape-shifting; so, striking himself with a magic wand, he changed himself into a pig, joined the herd, and began feeding with them.
But he had been seen by the sons of Tuirenn. “What has become of the warrior who was walking on the plain a moment ago?” said Brian to his brothers. “We saw him then,” they replied, “but we do not know where he is now.” “Then you have not used the proper vigilance which is needed in time of war,” said the elder brother. “However, I know what has become of him. He has struck himself with a druidical wand, and changed himself into a pig, and there he is, in that herd, rooting up the ground, just like all the other pigs. I can also tell you who he is. His name is Cian, and you know that he is no friend of ours.”
“It is a pity that he has taken refuge among the pigs,” they replied, “for they belong to some one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and, even if we were to kill them all, Cian might still escape us.”