CHAPTER I.
BOVE DERG CHOSEN KING OF THE DEDANNANS.
After the battle of Tailltenn,[VII.] the Dedannans[1][VIII.] of the five provinces of Erin a.s.sembled in one place of meeting, to consider on their state, and to choose a king. For their chiefs said it was better for them to have one king over all, than to be divided, as they were, serving sundry lords and princes.
Now of those who expected the sovereignty for themselves, the following chiefs were the n.o.blest, namely:--Bove Derg,[IX.] son of the Dagda; his brother Angus, of Bruga on the Boyne, who, however, had no earnest wish to become king, preferring to remain as he was; Ilbrec of a.s.saroe; Lir of Shee Finnaha; and Midir the Haughty of Bri-Leth.[1]
Then the chief people went into council, all except the five above named; and the decision they came to was to elect Bove Derg, son of the Dagda, king over the whole of the Dedannan race. When the election was made known, none of those who were disappointed took the matter to heart except Lir of Shee Finnaha alone. And when Lir found that the chiefs had chosen Bove Derg, he was greatly offended, and straightway left the a.s.sembly in anger, without taking leave of any one, and without showing any mark of respect or obedience to the new king.
When the chiefs heard this, they were wroth; and they said they would follow him to Shee Finnaha,[X.] and slay him with spear and sword, and burn his house, because he did not yield obedience to the king they had elected in lawful council.
But Bove Derg would not permit them to do so. "This man," he said, "will defend his territory, and many will be slain; and I am none the less your king, although he has not submitted to me."
Matters remained so for a long time. But at last a great misfortune happened to Lir, for his wife died after an illness of three days. This weighed heavily on him, and his heart was weary with sorrow after her.
Her death, moreover, was a great event at that time, and was much spoken of throughout Erin.
When the tidings reached the mansion of Bove Derg, where the chief men of the Dedannans were then a.s.sembled, the king said--
"As Lir"s wife is now dead, my friendship would be of service to him, if he were willing to accept it. For I have in my house three maidens, the most beautiful and the best instructed in all Erin, namely, Eve, Eva, and Alva, my own foster children, and daughters of Allil of Ara."[XI.]
The Dedannans agreed to this, and said that their king had spoken wisely and truly.
Messengers were accordingly sent to Lir, and they were told to say to him--
"If thou art willing to submit to the king, he will give thee for a wife one of his three foster children; and thou shalt have his friendship for ever."
It was pleasing to Lir to make this alliance; and accordingly he set out next day from Shee Finnaha with a company of fifty chariots; and they never halted or turned aside till they reached the palace of Bove Derg, on the sh.o.r.e of the Great Lake.[XII.] Their arrival gave much joy and happiness to the king and his household; for although Lir did not submit at first to Bove Derg, he was a good man, and was greatly beloved by the king himself and by all his subjects. So Lir and his followers got a kindly welcome; and they were supplied with everything necessary, and were well attended to that night.
Next day, the three daughters of Allil of Ara sat on the same couch with the queen their foster mother; and the king said to Lir--
"Take thy choice of the three maidens, and whichever thou choosest, she shall be thy wife."
"They are all beautiful," said Lir, "and I cannot tell which of them is best; but I will take the eldest, for she must be the n.o.blest of the three."
Then the king said, "Eve is the eldest, and she shall be given to thee if it be thy wish."
So Lir chose Eve for his wife, and they were wedded that day.
Lir remained a fortnight in the king"s palace, and then departed with his wife to his own house, Shee Finnaha, where he celebrated his marriage by a great royal wedding feast.
FOOTNOTES:
[VII.] Now Teltown, on the river Blackwater, between Kells and Navan, in Meath. (See note 1 at the end, for this battle.)
[VIII.] The numbers refer to the notes at the end of the book.
[IX.] At the end of the book will be found an alphabetical list of all the names of persons and places mentioned through the volume, with their Gaelic forms, and, in many cases, their meanings.
[X.] Shee Finnaha, Lir"s residence, is thought to have been situated near the boundary of Armagh and Monaghan, not far from Newtown Hamilton.
[XI.] Ara, the islands of Aran, in Galway Bay.
[XII.] The Great Lake, _i.e._ Lough Derg, on the Shannon, above Killaloe.
CHAPTER II.
THE CHILDREN OF LIR.
In course of time, Lir"s wife bore him two children at a birth, a daughter and a son, whose names were Finola and Aed. A second time she brought forth twins, two sons, who were named Ficra and Conn: and she died in giving them birth. This was a cause of great anguish to Lir; and he would almost have died of grief, only that his mind was turned from his sorrow by his great love for his four little children.
When the news of Eve"s death reached the mansion of Bove Derg, the king was in deep grief, and the people of his household raised three great cries of lamentation for her. And when their mourning was ended, the king said--
"We grieve for our foster child, both on her own account, and for the sake of the good man to whom we gave her; for we are thankful for his alliance and his friendship. But our acquaintance shall not be ended, and our alliance shall not be broken; for I will give him her sister to wife, my second foster child, Eva."
Messengers were sent to Lir to Shee Finnaha, to tell him of this; and he consented. So after some time he came to the king"s house to espouse her, and they were united; and he brought her home with him to his own house.
The four children grew up under Eva"s care. She nursed them with great tenderness, and her love for them increased every day. They slept near their father; and he would often rise from his own bed at the dawn of morning, and go to their beds, to talk with them and to fondle them.
The king, Bove Derg, loved them almost as well as did their father. He went many times every year to Shee Finnaha to see them; and he used to bring them often to his palace, where he kept them as long as he could on each occasion, and he always felt sad when he sent them home.
At this time, too, the Dedannans used to celebrate the Feast of Age[2]
at the houses of their chiefs by turns; and whenever it happened that the festival was held at Shee Finnaha, these children were the delight and joy of the Dedannans. For nowhere could four lovelier children be found; so that those who saw them were always delighted with their beauty and their gentleness, and could not help loving them with their whole heart.
CHAPTER III.
THE FOUR CHILDREN OF LIR ARE TURNED INTO FOUR WHITE SWANS BY THEIR STEPMOTHER.
Now when Eva saw that the children of Lir received such attention and affection from their father, and from all others that came to his house, she fancied she was neglected on their account; and a poisonous dart of jealousy entered her heart, which turned her love to hatred; and she began to have feelings of bitter enmity for her sister"s children.
Her jealousy so preyed on her that she feigned illness, and lay in bed for nearly a year, filled with gall and brooding mischief; and at the end of that time she committed a foul and cruel deed of treachery on the children of Lir.
One day she ordered her horses to be yoked to her chariot, and she set out for the palace of Bove Derg, bringing the four children with her.
Finola did not wish to go, for it was revealed to her darkly in a dream that Eva was bent on some dreadful deed of fratricide;[XIII.] and she knew well that her stepmother intended to kill her and her brothers that day, or in some other way to bring ruin on them. But she was not able to avoid the fate that awaited her.
When they had gone some distance from Shee Finnaha on their way to the palace, Eva tried to persuade her attendants to kill the children. "Kill them, and you shall be rewarded with all the worldly wealth you may desire; for their father loves me no longer, and has neglected and forsaken me on account of his great love for these children."
But they heard her with horror, and refused, saying, "We will not kill them. Fearful is the deed thou hast contemplated, O Eva; and evil will surely befall thee for having even thought of killing them."
Then she took the sword to slay them herself; but her woman"s weakness prevented her, and she was not able to strike them.