for a great battle that was to be fought with the Fomori on another Moytura.[1] The diverging versions of the story end with this battle of the northern Moytura, which came off on the last day of October, or the eve of the first day of winter. The leaders of the Fomori were Balor of the Mighty Blows, also called Balor of the Evil Eye, and Indech son of Déa Domnu, that is of the goddess Domnu or Domna. The result is usually described as a victory for the Tuatha Dé Danann; but in achieving it they lost their king, Nuada of the Silver Hand, who was killed by Balor, while this latter was only slain some time later by Lug in the manner mentioned in a previous lecture (p. 397). Besides, we read of the Dagda going to the camp of the Fomori to ask them for a truce of battle, which was granted him. It would seem, then, as if the story has made a series of struggles into one, the beginning of which was a defeat for the Tuatha Dé Danann, who lost their king, and the end a victory for them over Balor, slain by Lug, who was thereupon made king. As to the name Moytura, or Mag Tured, it is explained to mean the plain or the field of the pillars or towers, in reference to the sepulchral monuments for which both sites are remarkable:[2] the monuments mark real interments, no doubt, and they may be taken to account for the sites fixed by story for
- ↑ About fifty miles from the Moytura where they had measured swords with the Fir Bolg: the spot in question was in the parish of Kilmactranny, in the barony of Tirerrill, in the present county of Sligo (Joyce, pp. 406-7). Had it been history, one would naturally suspect the two Moytura battles of being originally one, as, in fact, they have been treated more than once; but I am by no means convinced that the suspicion is warranted in this case of mythology.
- ↑ O'Curry, MS. Materials, pp. 217, 250.
