front of that army, high in command over the rest; and like to the setting sun was the splendour of his countenance and his forehead; and they were not able to look in his face from the greatness of its splendour. And he was Lugh Lamh-fada, and [his army was] the Fairy Cavalcade from the Land of Promise, and his own foster-brothers, the sons of Manannan."[1] The story-teller was more correct than he knew in comparing Lug to the sun; and it was the setting of the same luminary that had given rise to the myth that Lug was brought up at the court of Manannán, one of the great chiefs of Fairy-land, here called the Land of Promise. It was thence he was sometimes represented coming in the morning, as in this instance, and as in the story of Cúchulainn when he comes to that hero's aid. Put to return to Lug's march: on the occasion of his approaching the Fomori's camp later in the day, we read in the same story the following words: "Then arose Breas, the son of Balor, and he said: It is a wonder to me that the sun should rise in the west to-day, and in the east every other day. It were better that it were so, said the druids. What else is it? said he. The radiance of the face of Lugh of the Long Arms, said they."[2] In the protracted conflict which ensued, not only were the powers of darkness routed, but Balor of the Evil Eye, which it was death to behold, was despatched by Lug sending a stone from his sling into the evil eye, so that it came out right through his head. Lug was not only surnamed from his long hands, but he was famous for his mighty blows, and his spear became
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V. THE SUN HERO.
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