Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER III: THE IRISH INVASION MYTHS 87The Firbolgs, however, were not impressed with thesuperiority of the Danaans, and decided to refuse their offer.The battle was joined on the Plain of Moytura, 81 in the south of [107]Co. Mayo, near the spot now called Cong. The Firbolgs wereled by their king, mac Erc, and the Danaans by Nuada of theSilver Hand, who got his name from an incident in this battle.His hand, it is said, was cut off in the fight, and one of theskilful artificers who abounded in the ranks of the Danaans madehim a new one of silver. By their magical and healing arts theDanaans gained the victory, and the Firbolg king was slain. Buta reasonable agreement followed: the Firbolgs were allotted theprovince of Connacht for their territory, while the Danaans tookthe rest of Ireland. So late as the seventeenth century the annalistMac Firbis discovered that many of the inhabitants of Connachttraced their descent to these same Firbolgs. Probably they werea veritable historic race, and the conflict between them and thePeople of Dana may be a piece of actual history invested withsome of the features of a myth.The Expulsion of King BresNuada of the Silver Hand should now have been ruler of theDanaans, but his mutilation forbade it, for no blemished manmight be a king in Ireland. The Danaans therefore chose Bres,who was the son of a Danaan woman named Eri, but whosefather was unknown, to reign over them instead. This wasanother Bres, not the envoy who had treated with the Firbolgsand who was slain in the battle of Moytura. Now Bres, althoughstrong and beautiful to look on, had no gift of kingship, for henot only allowed the enemy of Ireland, the Fomorians, to renewtheir oppression and taxation in the land, but he himself taxedhis subjects heavily too; and was so niggardly that he gave nohospitality to chiefs and nobles and harpers. Lack of generosityand hospitality was always reckoned the worst of vices in an [108]81 “Moytura” means “The Plain of the Towers”—i.e., sepulchral monuments.