Pagan Ireland.

by Eleanor Hull

The Firblog

1923

PAGAN IRELAND

It is from one of these escaped chiefs of the second colony that the third body of settlers are supposed to be descended. Simeon Breac, son of Starn, went to Greece, and his descendants became so numerous that they were enslaved by the Greeks out of terror of their increasing power. They were called Firbolg, or " men of the bags " or leather wallets. This name Fearly was given to them because the Greeks compelled them to carry bags of rich soil from the valleys up to the stony heights, in order to turn them into gardens.

At last they could endure their slavery no longer, and it is said that they either made boats of the leather bags with which they had toiled, or stole some Greek ships and escaped. They turned towards the distant island from which their ancestor had come, and two hundred and seventeen years after he left Ireland, they set foot on its shores. Their five leaders partitioned the kingdom into five provinces. The Firbolg did not bear a very good character in Ireland, for people who have been long enslaved often become degraded.

One old writer says that every one who was " a tatler, guileful, tale- bearing, noisy, contemptible; every mean, wretched, unsteady, harsh and inhospitable person," was sure to be a Firbolg; but we must remember that this was the opinion of their enemies, who conquered and oppressed them, and there are proofs that this opinion was not a true one. Ferdiadh (Ferdia), the friend who was also the opponent of Cuchulain, and who was almost as great a warrior and quite as brave and noble a man as he, was a Firbolg; and in the great war of the Tdin Bo Cuailnge, or " Cattle-raid of Cooley," this race was specially noted for its quickness and cleverness. They were then known as the three tribes of the Fir Domhnann, Fir Gaileon, and Fir Bolg, and they formed part of the army of Leinster.

It is specially noted that they had pitched their tents and lighted their fires before the rest of the troops had even reached the camping ground. Tuatha De Danann. The dominion of the Firbolg was not long in Ireland. For when thirty-six years were ended, a fresh enemy appeared to dispute the kingdom with them. This was the mysterious race called the Tuatha De Danann, who were supposed to possess all sorts of magical power, and who were afterwards looked upon as great gods, the deities of the pagan Irish.

The people who came after them believed that they could invoke magic mists to bewilder the enemy; that they could raise the dead to life, and do all sorts of miraculous things. What really seems to have been true is that they were more learned and clever in all sorts of arts and in the knowledge of natural things than the races with whom they mingled, so that these more ignorant people thought that they possessed supernatural powers.

They brought with them to Ireland the knowledge cf medicine, of building, of making cups and weapons of brass and other metals; besides the skill in harp-playing for which the Irish afterwards became so famous. There is a story told of one of their leaders, Lugh the Long-handed (who afterwards became the god of light or of the sun), which shows how accomplished some of these people were. It is said that he came one day to the door of Tara, the Palace of the King, and asked admittance. The door-keeper replied, " What art dost thou practise? For no one who is not master of an art or trade can enter Tara." He said: "Question me, then: I am a wright." "We need thee not," said the door-keeper, " we have a wright already." He said again: "Question me: I am a smith." "We need thee not," said the door-keeper, " we have a smith who is perfect in three new processes." " I am also a champion in battle," said the visitor. "We need thee not," said the porter, "we have already a most famous warrior, a master in all the arts of war." And so the conversation went on, Lugh protesting that he was a skilled harper, a hero, a poet and historian, a magician, a doctor, a worker in brass, and a cupbearer.

When he was refused on ah these counts, he bade the porter go and demand of the king whether he had in his service anyone who was equal master of all these arts at once; if so, he would not ask to enter Tara. The king said that he should be put to one test, namely, whether, in addition to all else, he was a good chess-player. The chess-boards were brought out, and Lugh won all the stakes, after which he could no longer be refused.

This story is interesting, as it shows us not only what arts the early races practised, but how much importance was attached to the knowledge of a trade. No idler, it appears, was permitted to enter the king's palace. These wise and clever people seem also to have come from Greece, and they landed on the North West coast of Ireland in a thick mist, which lasted for three days, and which they are said to have raised to hide their advance from the Firbolg. They marched unseen to Sliabh-an-Iarainn, or the Iron Mountain, in Co. Leitrim. Then they sent an embassy to the chiefs of the Firbolg at Tara, demanding the kingdom, or challenging them to battle.

The Firbolg chose to fight for their rights, and the two armies marched to a place called Southern Moytura, or Moytura Cong, in the Co. Mayo, near Cong and on the shore of Lough Mask. Here a furious battle was fought during four days, in which the Firbolg were utterly beaten, and an immense number were slain. Even at the present day, the district over which this great battle is said to have been fought is covered with memorials of it.

It extends over about five or six miles of country opposite the village of Cong, and on this piece of ground there are five groups of stone circles, three of which are over 54 feet in diameter, besides six or seven large cairns of stone. One of these cairns has always been known as the " Cairn of the One Man "; it was opened some years ago, and in it was found a single urn, in which the bones of a man had been interred. The urn is now in the Royal Irish Academy's collection at Kildare Street, Dublin. There is an incident in the old tale of the battle which exactly explains this.

On the morning- of the second day of the battle, the King of the Firbolg, King Eocliaid, or Eochy, retired to the only well in the neighbourhood to refresh himself with a bath. The place is a well-known opening in the rock, beneath which the river channel runs from Lough Mask to Lough Corrib : the river there flowing nearly all the way underground. While he was bathing, three of the enemy passed by, saw the king, and demanded his surrender. They were still talking when a brave body- servant of the king came up behind, attacked the three men, and killed them all. He was, however, so covered with wounds that he died immediately after. The king had him interred with great honour in the cairn, which has been ever since called the " Cairn of the One Man." From agreements such as this, we may learn that the old tales are not all invention, while they frequently help to explain the monuments which we find scattered about the country.

King Eochaid was killed on the last day of the fight. It was mid-summer day, hot and dusty, and after the defeat of his army, the king, with a guard of 100 faithful men, left the battle-field to go in search of water to allay their burning thirst. They reached the shore near Ballysadare, in Sligo, and here made a last stand against a large body of the enemy, who had followed them. The king was killed after a fierce conflict, in which the three leaders of the enemy also fell. The King- of the Tuatha De Danann lost his hand in this battle, and seven years afterwards his people made for him a silver hand, so that he was known as Nuada of the Silver Hand.

After the battle, the Firbolg who escaped fled to the Western Isles of Aran, Rathlin, and the Hebrides, and here they are said to have built immense forts on the borders of the ocean, in which they defended themselves. Some of the forts ascribed to them remain to the present day, and are the most remarkable and stupendous relics we have of the pagan times. Afterwards some of them returned to Ireland, and the King of Leinster gave them lands. Others settled in Connaught. They remained quite distinct from the other inhabitants, and were remarkable for their activity and bravery.

It is certain that there are still, on the west coast of Ireland, mixed with the ordinary population, a small, black-haired people, which corresponds exactly with the description given of the Firbolg by the old writers. Dun Argus, in Aran, stands on the edge of the precipitous cliff and its walls are of immense thickness and strength. On the land side, from which an attack might be made, huge masses of stones are piled or stand out of the ground. This would render a sudden oniush of the enemy impossible.