Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

94 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[115][116]but now ye shall pay the eric of a man; never was greater ericthan that which ye shall pay; and the weapons ye slay me withshall tell the tale to the avenger of blood.”“Then you shall be slain with no weapons at all,” says Brian,and he and the brothers stone him to death and bury him in theground as deep as the height of a man.But when Lugh shortly afterwards passes that way the stoneson the plain cry out and tell him of his father's murder at thehands of the sons of Turenn. He uncovers the body, and, vowingvengeance, returns to Tara. Here he accuses the sons of Turennbefore the High King, and is permitted to have them executed,or to name the eric he will accept in remission of that sentence.Lugh chooses to have the eric, and he names it as follows,concealing things of vast price, and involving unheard-of toils,under the names of common objects: Three apples, the skin ofa pig, a spear, a chariot with two horses, seven swine, a hound,a cooking-spit, and, finally, to give three shouts on a hill. Thebrothers bind themselves to pay the fine, and Lugh then declaresthe meaning of it. The three apples are those which grow in theGarden of the Sun; the pig-skin is a magical skin which healsevery wound and sickness if it can be laid on the sufferer, andit is a possession of the King of Greece; the spear is a magicalweapon owned by the King of Persia (these names, of course,are mere fanciful appellations for places in the mysterious worldof Faëry); the seven swine belong to King Asal of the GoldenPillars, and may be killed and eaten every night and yet be foundwhole next day; the spit belongs to the sea-nymphs of the sunkenIsland of Finchory; and the three shouts are to be given on thehill of a fierce warrior, Mochaen, who, with his sons, are undervows to prevent any man from raising his voice on that hill. Tofulfil any one of these enterprises would be an all but impossibletask, and the brothers must accomplish them all before they canclear themselves of the guilt and penalty of Kian's death.The story then goes on to tell how with infinite daring and