on Midsummer-day, and proved disastrous in the extreme to the Fir Bolg. Their king Echaid son of Erc was pursued and killed by three men, called Sons of Nemed, on the strand of Ballysadare, where a great cairn, raised over his body, became a well-known feature in the topography of the neighbourhood. There remained of the Fir Bolg only Sreng with three hundred men; but they were able to secure peace and possession of the province of Connaught, where descendants of Sreng were believed to live on almost to modern times.[1] In the course of the battle, Sreng clove the shield of Nuada, king of the Tuatha Dé Danaan, and cut off his arm, which compelled him to give up his office of king. It was then entrusted to Bres, who by descent was connected both with the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians. Bres held the government for seven years, during which he made himself so unpopular as to draw on himself the first satire ever made in Ireland, as was mentioned in another lecture (pp. 252-4). At last he was obliged to flee to his father Elathan the Fomorian, leaving Nuada, who had made himself eligible again by having had a silver hand made for him, to resume the kingly office. This brought on a war with the Fomori, though, according to another account, the cause was Lug's killing the tax-collectors of the Fomori, who held the country under a grievous tribute,[2] and who, after Lug's onslaught, sent an army under the leadership of Bres to ravage the western portion of the island, which was ruled by Bodb the Red, son of the Dagda. Lug successfully met Bres and forced him to make peace, as he, Lug, was preparing
- ↑ O'Curry, p. 246.
- ↑ Joyce, Old Celtic Romances, p. 37.
