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three sons, MacCuill and the others, are at the fortress of Aileach, in Co. Donegal, arranging for a division of
the land among themselves. At first they.
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welcome Ith, and ask him to settle their inheritance. Ith gives his judgment, but, in concluding, big admiration
for the newly discovered country breaks out: "Act," he says, "according to the laws of justice, for the country
you dwell in is a good one, it is rich in fruit and honey, in wheat and in fish; and in heat and cold it is
temperate." From this panegyric the Danaans conclude that Ith has designs upon their land, and they seize
him and put him to death. His companions, however, recover his body and hear it back with them in their
ships to "Spain"; when the children of Miled resolve to take vengeance for the outrage and prepare to invade
Ireland.
They were commanded by thirty-six chiefs, each having his own ship with his family and his followers. Two
of the company are said to have perished on the way. One of the sons of Miled, having climbed to the
masthead of his vessel to look out or the coast of Ireland, fell into the sea and was drowned. The other was
Skena, wife of the poet Amergin, son of Miled, who died on the way. The Milesians buried her when they
landed, and called the place "Inverskena" after her; this was the ancient name of the Kenmare River Co.
Kerry.
"It was on a Thursday, the first of May, and the seventeenth day of the moon, that the sons of Miled arrived
in Ireland. Partholan also landed in Ireland the first of May, but on a different day of the week of the moon ;
and it was on the first day of May, that the pestilence came which in the space of one destroyed utterly his
race. The first of May was sacred to Belten , one of the names of the god of Death, the god who gives life to
men and takes it away from them again. Thus it was on the feast day
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of this god that the sons of Miled began their conquest of Ireland."
[De Jubainville, "Irish Mythological Cycle," p.136. Belten is the modern Irish name for the month of May,
and is derived from an ancient root preserved in the Old Irish compound epelta, "dead".]
The Poet Amergin
When the poet Amergin set foot upon the soil of Ireland it is said that he chanted a strange and mystical lay:
I am the Wind that blows over the sea,
I am the Wave of the Ocean;
I am the Murmur of the billows;
lam the Ox ofthe Seven Combats;
lam the Vulture upon the rock;
I am a Ray of the Sun;
I am the fairest of Plants;
I am a Wild Boar in valour;
I am a Salmon in the Water;
I am a Lake in the plain;
lam the Craft of the artificer;
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Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race
I am a Word of Science;
I am the Spear-point that gives battle;
I am the god that creates in the head of man the fire of thought.
Who is it that enlightens the assembly upon the mountain, if not I?
Who telleth the ages of the moon, if not I?
Who showeth the place where the sun goes to rest, if not I?"
De Jubainville, whose translation I have in the main followed, observes upon this strange utterance:
"There is a lack of order in this composition, the ideas, fundamental and subordinate, are jumbled together
without method; but there is no doubt as to the meaning: the fil [poet] is the Word of Science, he is the god
who gives to man the fire of thought; and as science is not distinct from its object, as God and Nature are but
one, the being of the fil is mingled with the
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winds and the waves, with the wild animals and the warrior's arms."
["Irish Mythological Cycle," p. 138]
Two other poems are attributed to Amergin, in which he invokes the land and physical features of Ireland to
aid him:
"I invoke the land of Ireland,
Shining, shining sea,
Fertile, fertile Mountain;
Gladed, gladed wood !
Abundant river, abundant in water !
Fish-abounding lake!"
[I have again followed de Jubainville's translation; but in connexion with this and the previous poems see also
Ossianic Society's "Transactions," vol. V.]
The Judgment of Amergin
The Milesian host, after landing, advance to Tara, where they find the three kings of the Danaans awaiting
them, and summon them to deliver up the island. The Danaans ask for three days' time to consider whether
they shall quit Ireland, or submit, or give battle; and they propose to leave the decision, upon request, to
Amergin. Amergin pronounces judgement - "the first judgment which was delivered in Ireland." He agrees
that the Milesians must not take foes by surprise - they are to withdraw the length nine waves from the shore,
and then return; if then conquer the Danaans the land is to be fairly by right of battle.
The Milesians submit to this decision and embark their ships. But no sooner have they drawn off for this
mystical distance of the nine waves than a mist and storm are raised by the sorceries of the Danaan - the
coast of Ireland is hidden from their sight, and they wander dispersed upon the ocean. To ascertain if it is
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a natural or a Druidic tempest which afflicts them, a man named Aranan is sent up to the masthead to see if
the wind is blowing there also or not He is flung from the swaying mast, but as he falls to his death he cries
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