The Dagda

The Fomorians and the Tuatha Dé Danann advanced across the plain of Mag Tuired for battle. Lugh gathered the Tuatha Dé and asked how they would defeat their enemy. Goibniu promised to provide a new weapon for every broken one, even if the battle lasted seven years. Dian Cécht promised to heal every wounded warrior unless his head had been cut off. Ogma promised to kill a third of the Fomorians. Coirpre promised to shame and satirise them so that they could not stand against the Tuatha Dé. Bé Chuille and Dianann promised to enchant the trees and rocks against them.

Lugh asked the Dagda what he would do. The Dagda answered that he would fight for the men of Ireland with power and destruction. He would crush the Fomorians' bones with his club like hail beneath horses' feet on the plain. Nuada had seen what Lugh could do, held an assembly, and gave him power over the Tuatha Dé in the fight against Bres and the Fomorians. Lugh accepted the command. With the Dagda and Ogma beside him, he summoned the druids, sorcerers, charioteers, smiths, physicians, and warriors. They pledged their loyalty and skills for the defeat of Bres and the Fomorians. The sorcerers promised to shake the roots of the mountains so that the Fomorians would think the land of Ireland itself opposed them. The Mórrígan also pledged herself to Lugh and urged him to fight those who oppressed Ireland.

A week before Samain, Lugh sent the Dagda to spy on the Fomorian camp. The Dagda entered under a flag of truce and waited to be fed according to the rules of hospitality. In another telling, the Dagda met the Mórrígan at the River Unshin before the battle. She washed the clothes of those who were about to die, with one foot on each bank. The Dagda and the Mórrígan had intercourse, and she agreed to support the Tuatha Dé in the coming battle by singing magical chants from the sidelines.

The Dagda fought for Lugh and the Tuatha Dé Danann on the plain of Mag Tuired. The Tuatha Dé defeated the Fomorians and drove them from Ireland. In one telling, the Dagda died in the battle. Cethlion, the wife of the Fomorian king Balor, killed him although he fought valiantly.

Lugh killed Cermait, the Dagda’s son. The reason for the killing remained unstated, and no place was named for it. The killing had no described weapon, and it was not said whether Cermait died in battle or in a private encounter.

The Dagda grieved for his son. He took Cermait’s body and carried it through Ireland while he sought a magical means of restoring him to life. No remedy was named. No druid, physician, god, object, spell, or place was connected with the attempt. The search did not reveal whether the Dagda found the means he sought, and it remained unknown whether Cermait returned to life.

Another story concerned Áed Minbhrec, another son of the Dagda. Corgenn killed Áed in a jealous rage. The Dagda could not revive him, despite his power. Instead, he placed a sacred vow on Corgenn. The vow compelled Corgenn to carry Áed’s body on his back until he found a stone that had the same size and weight as the dead man. Corgenn then hauled the body around Ireland. He eventually found a place for it at Grianán Aileach in County Donegal, and only then could he rest. That story did not identify Áed with Cermait, Lugh with Corgenn, or Corgenn’s burden with the Dagda’s search for a way to restore Cermait.

The Dagda went to Eithne and lay with her. She bore a son named Óengus. The Dagda took the child to Midir's house at Brí Léith to be fostered. Óengus was raised there for nine years among three times fifty boys and the same number of girls. He became the greatest among the youths and Midir's favourite because of his beauty and nobility. His mother called him Mac Óg, the young son, because she said that he was conceived at the beginning of the day and born that same evening.

When Óengus sought recognition from his father, he also asked for land. The Dagda acknowledged him as his son, but said that the land he wished to give him was occupied. Elcmar lived at the Bruig na Bóinne, on the north side of the Boyne. The Dagda had wronged Elcmar by sleeping with his wife and fathering Óengus, so he did not wish to remove him from his land by force.

The Dagda told Óengus to go to the Bruig at Samain with weapons. Peace held across the land that day, so Elcmar went unarmed. He stood on his síd mound with a forked hazel stick and a golden brooch on his cloak. Óengus went there, and Elcmar yielded to fear. He granted the young man possession of the Bruig for one day and one night.

Óengus treated the agreement as a grant of the land forever. The Dagda held an assembly and ruled that the Bruig was Óengus's land. He gave Elcmar other lands across the river in recompense. Óengus became ruler of the Bruig na Bóinne and of all the people who lived near it. A year later, Midir returned to the Bruig at Samain and found Óengus standing on the síd mound, watching boys play on the plain below. Elcmar watched from the southern bank of the river.

Corgenn killed Áed Minbhrec in a jealous rage. Áed was a beloved son of the Dagda. His death caused the Dagda great grief. Although the Dagda possessed great power, he could not bring Áed back to life. The dead son remained beyond his power to restore, and the killer had to bear the consequence of what he had done.

The Dagda placed a sacred vow, or geis, on Corgenn. The vow forced him to carry Áed’s body on his back. Corgenn could not rest while he carried the corpse. He had to continue until he found a stone that matched the dead man exactly in size and weight. Only that stone could release him from the burden and allow him to rest.

Corgenn carried Áed’s body around Ireland. He bore the corpse from place to place while he searched for the stone required by the vow. At last, he reached Grianán Aileach, the ancient hillfort in County Donegal. There he found the place and the stone that fulfilled the Dagda’s condition. Only then did Corgenn rest, after carrying Áed Minbhrec’s body until the sacred vow had been satisfied.