Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER III: THE IRISH INVASION MYTHS 109from the Tower of Bregon, in the Land of the Dead, the shoresof Ireland, or the land of the living. The phenomenon took placein winter; for winter is a sort of night; winter, like night, lowersthe barriers between the regions of Death and those of Life; likenight, winter gives to life the semblance of death, and suppresses,as it were, the dread abyss that lies between the two.”At this time, it is said, Ireland was ruled by three Danaan kings,grandsons of the Dagda. Their names were MacCuill, MacCecht,and MacGrené, and their wives were named respectively Banba,Fohla, and Eriu. The Celtic habit of conceiving divine persons intriads is here illustrated. These triads represent one person each,and the mythical character of that personage is evident from thename of one of them, MacGrené, Son of the Sun. The namesof the three goddesses have each at different times been appliedto Ireland, but that of the third, Eriu, has alone persisted, and inthe dative form, Erinn, is a poetic name for the country to thisday. That Eriu is the wife of MacGrené means, as de Jubainvilleobserves, that the Sun-god, the god of Day, Life, and Science,has wedded the land and is reigning over it.Ith, on landing, finds that the Danaan king, Neit, has just beenslain in a battle with the Fomorians, and the three sons, MacCuilland the others, are at the fortress of Aileach, in Co. Donegal,arranging for a division of the land among themselves. At firstthey welcome Ith, and ask him to settle their inheritance. Ith [133]gives his judgment, but, in concluding, his admiration for thenewly discovered country breaks out: “Act,” he says, “accordingto the laws of justice, for the country you dwell in is a good one,it is rich in fruit and honey, in wheat and in fish; and in heat andcold it is temperate.” From this panegyric the Danaans concludethat 1th has designs upon their land, and they seize him andput him to death. His companions, however, recover his bodyand bear it back with them in their ships to “Spain”; when thechildren of Miled resolve to take vengeance for the outrage andprepare to invade Ireland.