Early Irish Myths and Sagas by Jeffrey Gantz Read Free Book Online Page B

built a fort there, and the Mace Óc remained in the Bruig.
    One year after that, Mider went to the Bruig to visit his foster-son, and he found the Mace Óc on the mound of the Bruig, it being Samuin, with two groups of boys playing before him and Elcmar watching from the mound of Cletech to the south. A quarrel broke out among the boys in the Bruig, and Mider said ‘Do not trouble yourself – otherwise Elcmar may come to the plain. I will go and make peace among them.’ Mider went, then, but it was not easy for him to part them; moreover, a sprig of holly was hurled at him, and it put out one of his eyes. Mider returned to the Mace Óc, his eye in his hand, and said ‘Would that I had never come to seek news of you, for I have been shamed: with this blemish, I can neither see the land I have come to nor return to the land I have left.’ ‘Not at all,’ answered the Mace Óc, ‘for I will go to Dían Cécht, and he will come and heal you. Your own land will be yours again, and this land will be yours also, and your eye will be healed, without shame or blemish.’
    The Mace Óc went to Dían Cécht and asked him to come and save his foster-father, who had been injured in the Bruig on Samuin; and Dían Cécht came and tended to Mider until the latter was well. Mider said, then, ‘Since I have been healed, it would please me to leave now.’ ‘Well that,’ said the Mace Óc. ‘But stay for a year and see my warriorsand my people and my household and my land.’ ‘I will not stay,’ answered Mider, ‘unless I have a reward.’ ‘What sort of reward?’ asked the Mace Óc. ‘Not difficult that,’ answered Mider. ‘A chariot worth seven cumals and clothing appropriate to my rank and the fairest woman in Ériu.’ 4 ‘I have the chariot and the clothing,’ said the Mace Óc, whereupon Mider said ‘I know of the woman whose beauty surpasses that of every other woman in Ériu.’ ‘Where is she?’ asked the Mace Óc. ‘She is of the Ulaid,’ answered Mider, ‘daughter of Ailill, king of the north-eastern part of Ériu; Étaín Echrade is her name, and she is the fairest and gentlest and most beautiful woman in Ériu.’
    The Mace Óc went to seek Étaín, then, at the house of Ailill in Mag nInis, where he was welcomed and where he spent three nights. He announced himself and told of his race and his people and said that he had come to ask for Étaín. ‘I will not give her to you,’ said Ailill, ‘for there is no profit in it. The nobility of your family and the extent of your power and your father’s is so great that, if you were to shame my daughter, I would have no recourse.’ ‘Not at all,’ replied the Mace Óc, ‘for I will buy her from you here and now.’ ‘You will have that,’ answered Ailill. ‘Tell me what you want.’ said the Mace Óc. ‘Not difficult that,’ replied Ailill. ‘Twelve lands of mine that are nothing but desert and forest are to be cleared so that cattle may graze on them and men dwell there at all times, so that they may be suitable for games and assemblies and meetings and fortifications.’ ‘That will be done for you.’ said the Mace Óc. He went home, then, and complained of his predicament to the Dagdae; the latter, however, cleared twelve plains in Ailill’s land in a single night: Mag Machae, Mag Lemna, Mag nltha, Mag Tochair, Mag nDula, Mag Techt, Mag Lí, Mag Line, Mag Muirthemni.
    The task having been accomplished, the Mace Óc returnedto Ailill and demanded Étaín. ‘You will not have her,’ said Ailill, ‘until you divert from the land towards the sea twelve great rivers that are in springs and bogs and moors: the fruits of the sea will be brought to all peoples and families, thus, and the land will be drained.’ The Mace Óc went to the Dagdae and again bewailed his predicament, and the Dagdae in a single night caused the twelve great rivers to run towards the sea, where they had never before been seen. These were the rivers: Findi, Modornn,