The Celtic Riddle

YOU were asking me about the gifts of the gods. Let me tell you about Lugh. There's many a fine tale about that one, sometimes called Samildan-ach for his many talents, of which I'm planning to tell you more, or Lamfada, Long arm, for his prowess with spear and sling. 'Tis Lugh we are celebrating, whether we remember it or not, at the August harvest festival of Lughnasa.

'Twas Lugh who convinced Nuada Argat-lam, king of the Tuatha de Danaan, to throw off the yoke of the oppressors, those Fomorians, demons that they were, who were exacting great hardship on the Tuatha de, so much so that even the great Dagda was doing service for them. But first Lugh had to get into Nuada's royal court, a mighty feat in itself.

But to go back to his beginnings: Lugh was part Fomorian, believe it or not. His mother was Eithne, daughter ofBalor of the Evil Eye, a vile giant who was king of the Fomorians. Balor got his name because one glance of his eye would kill you dead on the spot. Now Balor was living up in the north of Ireland on Tory Island, and he kept Eithne locked up in a tower because of a prophecy that he would be killed by his grandson. Balor, you can understand, was determined there wouldn 't be one. But Kian of the Tuatha de held a grudge against Balor and, dressed as a woman, got into Eithne's tower. Just what you might expect happened: Eithne bore triplets. The dreadful Balor had them thrown over a cliff to be drowned.

But one didn't die and grew up to be a man, quite unlike any other, a god really, of formidable strength and talents: Lugh Lamfada. Lugh presented himself at the court of Nuada Argat-lam, Nuada Silver Arm, and asked to be in service to the king. The doorkeeper wouldn't let him in. "I'm a carpenter," says Lugh. "We already have one of those," says the doorkeeper. "I'm a smith," says Lugh. "We've one of those already too." And so it went, weaver, poet, harper, man of science, and many more. And to each the doorkeeper said, "We have one of those. "

"But do you have one who is all of these?" Lugh countered at last, and Nuada let him in. And a good thing it was, too, for it was Lugh as much as anyone led the victory against the Formorians.

As for the gifts of the gods: Lugh had one of them, the spear from the magic city of Gorias, a spear against which no battle was ever won.

Second Chance went up for sale. There were no unseemly signs stuck into the beautifully manicured lawns, which were, quite frankly, beginning to show the lack of Michael's attention. Instead, there was a discreet notice in the local paper suggesting interested parties direct their enquiries to McCafferty and Mc-Glynn, Solicitors, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin.