none who was able to band them together
and to lead them in battle against their oppressors.

Now before this it happened that one of the lords of the Danaans named
Kian had married with Ethlinn, daughter of Balor, a princess of the
Fomorians. They had a son named Lugh Lamfada, or Lugh of the Long Arm,
who grew up into a youth of surpassing beauty and strength. And if his
body was noble and mighty, no less so was his mind, for lordship and
authority grew to him by the gift of the Immortals, and whatever he
purposed that would he perform, whatever it might cost in time or
toil, in tears or in blood. Now this Lugh was not brought up in Erinn
but in a far-off isle of the western sea, where the sea-god Mananan
and the other Immortals nurtured and taught him, and made him fit
alike for warfare or for sovranty, when his day should come to work
their will on earth. Hither in due time came the report of the
grievous and dishonouring oppression wrought by the Fomorians upon the
people of Dana, and that report was heard by Lugh. Then Lugh said to
his tutors "It were a worthy deed to rescue my father and the people
of Erinn from this tyranny; let me go thither and attempt it." And
they said to him, "Go, and blessing and victory be with thee." So Lugh
armed himself and mounted his fairy steed, and called his friends and
foster-brothers about him, and across the bright and heaving surface
of the waters they rode like the wind, until they took land in Erinn.

Now the chiefs of the Danaan folk were assembled upon the Hill of
Usnach, which is upon the western side of Tara in Meath, in order to
meet there the stewards of the Fomorians and to pay them their
tribute. As they awaited the arrival of the Fomorians they became
aware of a company on horseback, coming from the west, before whom
rode a young man who seemed to command them all, and whose countenance
was as radiant as the sun upon a dry summer's day, so that the Danaans
could scarcely gaze upon it. He rode upon a white horse and was armed
with a sword, and on his head was a helmet set with precious stones.
The Danaan folk welcomed him as he came among them, and asked him of
his name and his business among them. As they were thus talking
another band drew near, numbering nine times nine persons, who were
the stewards of the Fomorians coming to demand their tribute. They
were men of a fierce and swarthy countenance, and as they came
haughtily and arrogantly forward, the Danaans all