Lady Augusta Gregory Read online




  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.

  .

  .

  .

  CO NTENTS

  Preface by William Butler Yeats

  1 1

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  PART ONE: The Gods

  Book I. The Coming of the Tuatha de Danaan

  Chapter 1. The Fight with the Firbolgs

  26

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 2. The Reign of Bres

  31

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Book II. Lugh of the Long Hand

  Chapter 1. The Coming of Lugh

  38

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 2. The Sons of Tuireann

  45

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 3. The Great Battle of Magh Tuireadh

  68

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

>   .

  .

  .

  Chapter 4. The Hidden House of Lugh

  77

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Book Ill. The Coming of the Gael

  Chapter 1. The Landing

  80

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 2. The Battle of Tailltin

  84

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Book IV. The Ever-Living Living Ones

  Chapter 1. Bodb Dearg

  87

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 2. The Dagda

  91

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 3. Angus Og

  94

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 4. The Morrigu

  96

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 5. Aine

  98

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 6. Aoibhell

  99

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 7. Midhir and Etain

  100

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 8. Manannan

  111

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 9. Manannan at Play

  114

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 10. His Call to Bran

  119

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 11. His Three Calls to Cormac

  123

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .
<
br />   .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 12. Cliodna's Wave

  129

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 13. His Call to Connla

  131

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 14. Tadg in Manannan's Islands

  133

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 15. Laegaire in the Happy Plain

  141

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Book V The Fate of the Children of Lir

  145

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  PART Two: The Fianna

  Book I. Finn, Son of Cumhal

  Chapter 1. The Coming of Finn

  162

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 2. Finn's Household

  170

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 3. Birth of Bran

  173

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Chapter 4. Oisin's Mother

  175

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .