Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER III: THE IRISH INVASION MYTHS 101of Ben Bulben, Angus revives him and carries him off to sharehis immortality in his fairy palace.Len of KillarneyOf Bōv the Red, brother of the Dagda, we have already heard.He had, it is said, a goldsmith named Len, who “gave theirancient name to the Lakes of Killarney, once known as LochaLein, the Lakes of Len of the Many Hammers. Here by thelake he wrought, surrounded by rainbows and showers of fierydew.” 92LughLugh has already been described. 93 He has more distinctlysolar attributes than any other Celtic deity; and, as we know,his worship was spread widely over Continental Celtica. In thetale of the Quest of the Sons of Turenn we are told that Lughapproached the Fomorians from the west. Then Bres, son ofBalor, arose and said: “I wonder that the sun is rising in the westto-day, and in the east every other day.” “Would it were so,” saidhis Druids. “Why, what else but the sun is it?” said Bres. “It isthe radiance of the face of Lugh of the Long Arm,” they replied.Lugh was the father, by the Milesian maiden Dectera, ofCuchulain, the most heroic figure in Irish legend, in whose storythere is evidently a strong element of the solar myth. 94 [124]Midir the ProudMidir the Proud is a son of the Dagda. His fairy palace isat Bri Leith, or Slieve Callary, in Co. Longford. He frequentlyappears in legends dealing partly with human, partly with Danaanpersonages, and is always represented as a type of splendour inhis apparel and in personal beauty. When he appears to KingEochy on the Hill of Tara he is thus described: 9592 O'Grady, loc. cit.93 See p. 112.94Miss Hull has discussed this subject fully in the introduction to herinvaluable work, “The Cuchullin Saga.”95 See the tale of “Etain and Midir,” in Chap. IV.