The Ever-Living Ones
It was the time of primal chaos: a time when the Earth was new and undefined. Arid deserts and black bubbling volcanoes, covered by swirling clouds of gases, scarred the grim visage of the newborn world. It was, as yet, the time of the great void.
Then into that oblivion, from the dull, dark heavens, there came a trickle of water. First one drop, then another and another, until finally there gushed a mighty torrent down upon the earth. The divine waters from heaven flooded downwards and soaked into the arid dirt, cooled the volcanoes which turned into grey, granite mountains, and life began to spring forth across the Earth. The dark, reddened skies grew light and blue. From the darkened soil there grew a tree, tall and strong. Danu, the divine waters from heaven, nurtured and cherished this great tree which became the sacred oak named Bile. Of the conjugation of Danu and Bile, there dropped two giant acorns. The first acorn was male. From it sprang The Dagda, "The Good God". The second seed was female. From it there emerged Brigantu, or Brigid, "The Exalted One". And the The Dagda and Brigid gazed upon one another in wonder, for it was their task to wrest order from the primal chaos and to people the Earth with the Children of Danu, the Mother Goddess, whose divine waters had given them life. So there, by the divine waters of Danu, from where those waters rose and flooded through the now fertile green valleys of the Earth, eastwards towards a distant sea, The Dagda and Brigid settled. And they called the great course of eastward rushing water after the Mother Goddess, which is Danuvius, whose children still know it as the mighty Danube. And four great bright cities they built there on its broad banks, in which the Children of Danu would live and thrive. The four cities were Falias, Forias, Finias and Murias. The Dagda became their father; thus humankind call him "The Father of the Gods". And Brigid became the wise one, exalted in learning and much did she imbibe from the mighty Danu and from Bile, the sacred oak. She was hailed as the mother of healing, of craftsmanship and of poetry; indeed, she excelled in all knowledge. She showed here children that true wisdom was only to be garnered from the feel of Danu, the Mother Goddess, and so only to be found at the water's edge. Those who gathered such knowledge also paid deference to Bile, the sacred oak. Because they were not allowed to speak his holy name, they called the oak draoi and those learned in such knowledge were said to possess oak (dru) knowledge (vid) and thus were know as Druids. The knowledge of the Children of Danu grew and each of their four great cities prospered. In Falias they held a sacred stone called the Lia Fail or Stone of Destiny, which, when a righteous ruler set foot on it, would shout with joy; in Gorias, where Urias of the Noble Nature dwelt, they held a mighty sword called the "Retaliator", fashioned before the time of the Gods themselves, and which Urias presented to Lugh Lamhfada, who become the greatest warrior among the Gods; in Finias, they held a magic spear, called "The Red Javelin", which, once cast, would find its enemy no matter where he hid; and in Murias they held the "Cauldron of Plenty", from which The Dagda could feed entire nations and it still would not be emptied. For many aeons, the Children of Danu grew and prospered in their beautiful cities. The one day, The Dagda, Father of the Gods, and Brigid, the Exalted One, called their children to them. "You have tarried here ling enough. The Earth needs to be peopled and needs your wisdom to advise and direct the, so that they may lie lives of virtue and merit. Our Mother Danu, has directed you to move towards the place where the bright sun vanishes each evening." "Why should we go there?" demanded Nuada, the favorite son of The Dagda. "Because it is your destine," replied Brigid. "And you, Nuada, shall lead your brothers and sisters, and their children, and the land that you shall come to will be called Inisfail, the Island of Destiny. There shall you abide until your destiny is fulfilled." "If it is our destiny," said another of The Dagda's sons, named Ogma, "then we shall accept it." Ogma was the most handsome of the Children of Danu. From his long curly hair, the rays of the sun shone and he was called Ogma grian-aineacg, of the Sunny Countenance. To him fell the gift of honeyed words, of poetry and of languages, and he it was who devised how man could write in a form of calligraphy, which was named after him as Ogham. Brigid smiled at her eager children. "I am allowed to give you one word of warning. When you reach Inisfail, you will find another people who will claim the Island of Destiny as their own. They are the Children of Domnu, who is the sister of our Mother Danu. But beware, for Domnu is not as Danu. For each sister is the inverse of the other, as winter is to summer." "Then," Nuada siad, "should we not take something to defend ourselves with, lest the Children of Domnu fight us for the possession of Inisfail?" The Dagda gazed at them kindly and replied, "You may take the four great treasures of the cities of Falias, Forias, Finias and Murias." And the Children of Danu took the treasures and they went to the mountains overlooking the headwaters of the Danuvius, the divine waters from heaven, and ascended in a great cloud which bore them westward to Inisfail, the Island of Destiny. And among them were three beautiful young sisters, who were the wives of the sons of Ogma. Their names were Banba, Fotla and Eire and each sister nurtured an ambition that this new land of Inisfail would one day be named after her. Night wrapped here darkened mantle over Magh Tuireadh, which is called the Plain of Towers, which lay in the west of the land of Inisfail. On each side of the great plain, separated by the River Unius, myriads of small campfires glowed in the gloom. Two armies had gathered for combat. Seven years had passed since the Children of Danu had landed in their cloud on the shores of the Island of Destiny. They had fought initially with a strange race of people called the Firbolg, who challenged their right to rule in the Island of Destiny. These they had met at the Pass of Balgatan and the conflict went on for four days. And in that conflict there came forth a champion of the Firbolg, named Sreng, who challenged Nuada, the leader of the Children of Danu, to single combat. So strong andmighty was Sreng that, with one sweep of his great sword, he cut off Nuada's right hand. But the Firbolg and their king, Eochaidh, were defeated and dispersed. Dian Cecht, the God of all physicians, came to Nuada after the battle and fashioned him an artificial hand of silver, so strong and supple that it was little different from the real hand. Thus did Nuada receive his full name, Nuada Agetlamh, of the Silver Hand. Because he was maimed, the other children of Danu had to choose another of their number to lead them, for they had been told by Brigid that no one with a blemish must rule them. In shoosing a new leader, they made a disastrous choice. As an act of conciliation between themselves and the Children of Domnu, they chose Bres, son of Elatha, king of the Children of Domnu who were also know as the Fomorii, or those who dwelt beneath the sea. And to further consolidate the alliance, Dian Cecht married Ethne, the daughter of the foremost Fomorii warrior, named Balor of the One Eye. And the condition was that, if Bres did anything which displeased the Children of Danu, then he would abdicate and depart in peace. Those years marked a period of strife. Bres, being a Formorii, refused to keep his word and began to lay heavy burdens on the Children of Danu. For a while, Bres and the Children of Domnu, the children of darkness and evil, dominated the land, and the Children of Danu, the children of light and goodness, were helpless and as slaves. Then finally, Miach, the son of Dian Cecht, aided by his sister, the beautiful Airmid, fashioned a new hand of flesh and bone for Nuada. His hand replaced Dian Cecht's silver one and now, without blemish, Nuada reclaimed the leadership of the Children of Danu. So jealous was Dian Cecht of his son's achievement that he slew Miach. But that is another story. Nuada chased Bres back to the land of the Fomorii, where Bres demanded that Elatha, his father, provide him with an army to punish the Children of Danu. Thus, on the plain where ancient megaliths stood, thrusting their dark granite skywards, Magh Tuireadh, the Plain of Towers, on the evening of the Feast of Samhain (October 31), the Children of Danu faced the Children of Domnu in battle. At dawn, the battle commenced. Combats broke out all along the line as Nuada led his warriors, both male and female, against the warriors of Bres and his Fomorii. Across the battlefield, the Morrigan, Great Queen of Battles, with her sisters, Badh the Crow, Nemain the Venomous and Fea the Hateful, rushed hither and thither with their wailing cries which drove mortals to despair and death. As time passed, Indech, a Fomorii warrior, approached Bres, and pointed out that whenever the Children of Danu were slain, or their weapons broken and destroyed, they would be carried from the field and, shortly after, would appear alive and well again with their weapons intact. Bres summoned his son, Ruadan, to his side and ordered him to discover the cause of the endless supply of weapons. And he summoned the son of Indech, a warrior named Octriallach, to discover how the Children of Danu, once slain, could come alive again. Disguising himself as one of the Children of Danu, Ruadan went behind the lines of warriors and came across Goibhniu, God of smiths, who has set up a forge to one side of the Plain of Towers. With Goibhniu were Luchtaine, God of carpenters, and Credne, God of bronze workers. As each broken weapon was handed to Goibhniu, the smith-God gave it three blows of his hammer, which forged the head. Luchtaine fave the wood threes blows of his axe and the shaft was fashioned. Then Credne fixed the shaft and head together with his bronze nails so swiftly that they needed no hammering. Ruadan went back to his father and told him what he had seen. In a rage, Bres ordered his son to kill Goibhniu.
|
