The Book of Invasions

Miach, Nuada and Bres

The Restoring of Nuada’s Arm and Hand

Now Miach, the son of Dian Cecht, was the cleverest and most skilled of all his children and a better physician than his father. Dian Cecht had many children and they were all among the cleverest of all the gods. There was his son Cú of whom it was said, “He is a greater and more skilled physician than his father.” There was his son Cethen of whom it was said “He is the most knowledgeable of all the Tuatha de Danaan.” There was his son Cian of whom it was said, “He is not only a great physician but is also a great draoithe.” There was his daughter Etan of whom it was said, “She is the greatest poetess of all the Tuatha de Danaan.” There was his daughter Airmed of whom it was said, “She is the best and most knowledgeable healer of all the Tuatha de Danaan.” Yet all these children paled before the brilliance of Miach

Miach was an inventor with ideas unlimited by mere knowledge and he had done many things that showed his genius. For instance he had once met a young man, having but one eye, at Teamhair, who said: "If you are a good physician you must put an eye in the place of the eye I lost." "I could put the eye of that cat in your lap in its place," said Miach. "I would like that well," said the young man. So Miach put the cat's eye in his head; but he would as soon have been without it. For when he wanted to sleep and take his rest, it is then the eye would start at the squeaking of the mice, or the flight of the birds, or the movement of the rushes; and when he was wanting to watch an army or a gathering, it is then it was sure to be in a deep sleep.

Miach was not satisfied with what his father had done for the king. When Maich looked at Nuada he felt what the king was feeling and it seemed to him that the king would not feel like a whole man again until his arm was fully restored. Miach knew that he could repair the damage done. It was time for him to step out of the shadows, and let his true genius shine. He had searched every day among the corpses of the recently dead seeking to find an arm that would be compatible with Nuada, Many things he realized would be necessary for the arm to be suitable. It had to match his blood and many other things. Ideally it should be a close family relative. He had first looked on the battlfield where the arm had been lost and found nothing suitable.

So he looked and looked at every dead body that could not be brought back from the dead. It took him seven years but finally he found an arm that was compatible with Nuada. The arm that he found belonged to a simple man though it appeared a perfect mirror of Nuada’s arm. Maich went unto Nuada, and explained what he could do, and Nuada readily agreed to the procedure.

First he removed the silver arm from Nuada and unscrewed the nail that had been driven into the bone of Nuada’s upper arm. He removed the flesh from the dead man’s upper arm so it started where Nuada’s upper arm finished. He sharpened the bone so it would slide into Nuada’s bone from where the nail had been removed. Finally he pushed the bone inside the other bone and stiched the dead arm to Nuada’s upper arm.

The healing lasted three times three nights and days. "Joint to joint of it, and sinew to sinew," Miach chanted. He bandaged Nuadu's arm with gauze that had been dipped in a thick white paste which dried and solidified into a casting to hold the whole arm rigid. He put the whole arm in a sling suspended from his neck and bound to his middle for the first seventy two hours. The arm grew together unseen within the casting. "Muscle to muscle of it, and vessel to vessel," sang he, enlivening the king's arm and hand for the next seventy-two hours, and everything was then joined all flesh, nerve, tendon and bone of it. "Strength to strength of it, and habit to habit," chanted Miach, showing Nuada exercises to teach his new arm how to act just like the old one. Finally he cut off the casting by which the arm had been held fast. Nuada began to move the arm and hand and then perform the exercises that Maich had showed him. By the end of another seventy-two hours Nuada was delighted to have a well-muscled and coordinated arm, needing only a bit of sun to look just like the other one.

Octriallach and Goll are Sent to Kill Miach

When the Formorians learned what Miach had done they sent one of their own called Octriallach to kill Miach in the night. Octriallach came into the house of Dian Cecht and he threw his sword at Miach’s head, and it pierced his flesh, but the Miach healed the wound by means of his skill. Then he threw it a second time, and it reached down to his bone, but still Miach was able to cure the wound. Then he struck him a third time with his sword cutting off Miach’s arm and still Miach picked up the arm and was able to reattach it and cure himself. Octriallach fled into the night.

However, there also came into the house of Dian Cecht another of the Fomorian race called Goll disguised as one of the Tuatha de Danaan and he poured wine for Miach. But little did Miach know that in the wine Goll had put three tiny worms, that none could behold. Goll quickly departed the house and fled back to a Fomorian ship. But Miach drank down the wine and these worms made their way through Miach’s body and embedded themselves in his heart. As soon as this had happened Miach became very ill and Dian Cecht came to diagnose what was wrong. As he looked at his brilliant son he saw that something dreadful was lurking in Maich’s heart. It seemed to him that something truly evil was growing there. So he called all his clever children to come and consult with him as to what should be done.

He also called unto him all the great seers of the Tuatha de Danaan and asked them to predict the prognosis of the many treatments he was considering. They came and all predicted doom no matter what treatment was applied. They explained to him that there was a horrific plague growing in his son’s heart that if left unchecked and continued to grow it would burst out of Maich’s chest wall killing him and then would annihilate them all. Dian Cecht cried and tears rolled down his face, for he knew what he must do. Dian Cecht spoke with his son and explained what he would have to do. “I shall have to remove your heart and destroy it before it slays us all,” he said. Maich begged his father to find another heart to replace his own. But Dian Cecht explained that there was not time enough and that to get a good match they would have to kill someone. Finally, convinced there was no way to avoid his doom, Maich steeled himself and submitted to his fate. So Dian Cecht cut out Miach’s heart, for he knew no physician could cure him of the terrible plague growing in his heart. Maich died, and his whole family buried him. Meanwhile his heart was blasted to ashes in the fires of Goibniu the God Smith.

Herbs grew up from Maich’s grave, to the number of his joints and sinews, three hundred and sixty-five. Airmed, his sister, came and spread out her cloak and laid out the herbs in it, according to their virtue. Even in death Maich would continue to heal the sick and injured.

The Dethroning of Bres and Reinstatement of Nuada

Then when the Tuatha de Danaan saw Nuada as well as he was before, they gathered together to Teamhair, where Bres was, and they bade him give up the kingship, for he had held the position too long and the Tuatha de Danaan were well sick of his rule. So he had to give it up, even though he was not very willing, and Nuada was re-crowned on the Lia Fail the stone of destiny. The people were well pleased with his return.

There was great vexation on Bres then, and he puzzled how he could be avenged on those that had subverted his rule. “How can I gather an army against them?”’ he asked himself. So he went to his mother, Eriu, daughter of Delbaith, and bade her tell him what the race of his father was. "I know that well," she said; and she told him then that his father was a king of the Fomorians called Elathan. “He came to me one time over a level sea in a great vessel that seemed to be of silver. Though I could not see its shape, he seemed awesome far more than a mere god. He had the appearance of a young man with golden hair, and his clothes sewed with gold, and five rings of gold about his neck. I, who had refused the love of all the young gods gave him my love, and I cried when he left me. He gave me a ring from his hand, and bade me give it only to the one whose finger it would fit, and he went away then the same way as he had come.”

Bres Journeys to find his Forbears

She brought out the ring then and gave it to Bres, and he put it round his middle finger, and it fitted him well. They went then together down to the strand, and she and Bres and his people set out for the country of the Fomorians.

When they came to that country they found a great plain with many gatherings of people on it, and they went to the gathering that looked the best, and the people asked where did they come from, and they said they were come from Inis Fail. “Have you hounds with you?” they asked them then, for it was the custom at that time, when strangers came to a gathering, to give them some friendly challenge. “We have hounds,” said Bres. So the hounds were matched against one another, and the hounds of the Tuatha de Danaan were better than the hounds of the Fomorians. “Have you horses for a race?” they asked then. “We have,” said Bres. The horses of the Tuatha de Danaan beat the horses of the Fomorians.

Then they asked was any one among them a good hand with the sword, and they said Bres was the best. But when he put his hand to his sword, Elathan, his father, that was among them, beheld and recognized the ring, and he asked, “who is this young man?” Then his mother answered him and told the whole story, and that Bres was his own son.

Now Elathan was still a handsome one and looked somewhat out of place among the many ugly forms of the Fomorians, although by this time many of the Fomorians looked much like normal people. There was sorrow on his father’s face then, and he said: “What was it that drove you out of the country you were king over?” “Nothing drove me out but my own injustice and my own hardness,” Bress replied, “I took away their treasures from the people, and their jewels, and their food itself. There were never taxes put on them before I was their king.”

"That is bad," said his father; "You had a duty to consider their their prosperity before you thought of your own kingship. Their good-will would have been better than their curses. I had hoped my son would have been better than we Fomorians,” he said. “And what have you come to look for here?” “I have come to look for fighting men,” said Bres, “that I may take Inis Fail by force.” “You have no right to get it by injustice when you could not keep it by justice,” said his father. “What would you advise me to do then father?” asked Bres.

"I have no advice for you save that you might go an speak to one who wants war," said Elathan. "go and speak with Balor of the evil eye. He is the chief king of the Fomorians and has been thinking of a war with the new people of Inis Fail for a while. He may well lend you a friendly ear. Click here to continue.

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