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IRISH ffi)'TH S
AND LEGENDS
B y
L A D Y
G R E G 0 R Y
WITH A PREFACE
BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
Lmyths and legends of the ancient Celts
ady Gregory's
bring to life
classic
the very retellings
roots of
of the
Ireland's
literary tradition. In this collection, Lady
Gregory's vivid translations from the original
Gaelic present the epic story of the Tuatha de
Danaan, the immortal race that invaded
ancient Ireland, and the sagas of the legendary
heroes that followed them.
Here are the tales of heroes such as N uada,
who loses his arm in battle and has a magical
new limb fashioned from silver so that he may
lead the gods against the Formorians, a demon
race; Lugh, the mighty warrior who is fated to
face his own grandfather in mortal combat;
Finn MacCumhal and his warrior tribe the
Fianna; and Oisin, son of Finn, who lives for
centuries but does not age until the day he falls
from his enchanted horse.
Lady Gregory's work inspired a generation
of writers among the Irish literary renaissance,
including playwright John Millington Synge
and Nobel Prize winner William Butler Yeats.
Both authors considered her writings the most
important versions of Irish myth and legend,
and based many of their own works on her
stories.
This collection, with a preface by Yeats, has
been faithfully reprinted from Lady Gregory's
original 1904 work, Gods and Fighting Men,
and includes a list of pronunciation keys for
character names, as well as a guide to modern
place names for Celtic mythological settings.
IRISH
myTHS
AND
BY LADY GREGORY
an imprint of
RUNNING PRESS
Philadelphia • London
© 1998 by Running Press
All rights reserved under the Pan-American and
International Copyright Conventions
Printed in the United States
T he text of this volume is reprinted from an early edition of Gods and Fighting
Men: The Story of the Tuatha de Danaan and of the Fianna of Ireland, Arranged and
Put Into English by Lady Gregory, published in 1910 by John Murray in London.
All spellings and punctuation are preserved as they appeared in the original
edition, except for obvious typographical errors.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying. recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written
permission from the publisher
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Number 97-68284
ISBN 0-7624-0281-4
Cover photograph © by Alen MacWeeney
Cover design by Toni M. Leslie
Set in ITC Berkeley Oldstyle
Published by Courage Books, an imprint of
Running Press Book Publishers
125 South Twenty-second Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-4 399
DEDICATION TO THE MEMBERS
OF THE IRISH LITERARY SOCIETY
OF NEW YORK
My Friends, those I know and those I do not know, I am glad in
the year of the birth of your Society to have this book to offer you.
It has given great courage to many workers here-working to
build up broken walls-to know you have such friendly thoughts
of them in your minds. A few of you have already come to see us,
and we begin to hope that one day the steamers across the Atlantic will not go out full, but come back full, until some of you find your real home is here, and say as some of us say, like Finn to
the woman of enchantments-
nt �4SF4m401r .41' 'O'Cft' i:&1n '0.4 t)F4:Sm401r 4n 'Oorh4n
mot' m41' '()'htee 45ur Cft'-n4-n-Os t.e1r.
"We would not give up our own country-Ireland-if we were to
get the whole world as an estate, and the Country of the Young
along with it. "
AUGUSTA GREGORY.
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CO NTENTS
Preface by William Butler Yeats
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PART ONE: The Gods
Book I. The Coming of the Tuatha de Danaan
Chapter 1. The Fight with the Firbolgs
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Chapter 2. The Reign of Bres
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Book II. Lugh of the Long Hand
Chapter 1. The Coming of Lugh
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Chapter 2. The Sons of Tuireann
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Chapter 3. The Great Battle of Magh Tuireadh
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Chapter 4. The Hidden House of Lugh
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Book Ill. The Coming of the Gael
Chapter 1. The Landing
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Chapter 2. The Battle of Tailltin
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Book IV. The Ever-Living Living Ones
Chapter 1. Bodb Dearg
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Chapter 2. The Dagda
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Chapter 3. Angus Og
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Chapter 4. The Morrigu
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Chapter 5. Aine
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Chapter 6. Aoibhell
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Chapter 7. Midhir and Etain
100
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Chapter 8. Manannan
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Chapter 9. Manannan at Play
114
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Chapter 10. His Call to Bran
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Chapter 11. His Three Calls to Cormac
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Chapter 12. Cliodna's Wave
129
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Chapter 13. His Call to Connla
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Chapter 14. Tadg in Manannan's Islands
133
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Chapter 15. Laegaire in the Happy Plain
141
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Book V The Fate of the Children of Lir
145
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PART Two: The Fianna
Book I. Finn, Son of Cumhal
Chapter 1. The Coming of Finn
162
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Chapter 2. Finn's Household
170
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Chapter 3. Birth of Bran
173
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Chapter 4. Oisin's Mother
175
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