by Rev. Jean “Drum” Pagano
After the 1st Battle of Mag Tuired, Bres, a Fomorian, became the King of the Tuatha de Danann. Nuada, the former King, was no longer able to rule, since he had lost an arm in the battle and because he was no longer “whole”. One of the reasons that Bres became king was that he had knowledge of agriculture that the Tuatha de Danann lacked.
The ascension of Bres to the throne was a hardship for the Gods of the Tuatha de Danann. Ogma was reduced to carrying firewood and the Dagda was a rath builder. These are tasks beneath those of the Gods and certainly beneath the victors of the recent battle.
Bres himself was less than hospitable and caused additional issues with the Tuatha de Danann. According to the text of the 2nd Battle of Mag Tuired “But the chiefs of the Tuath Dé murmured greatly against him, for their knives were not greased by him, and however often they visited him their breaths did not smell of ale. Moreover, they saw not their poets or their bards or their lampooners or their harpers or their pipers or their horn blowers or their jugglers or their fools amusing them in the household. They did not go to the contests of their athletes.” (Stokes) It was customary that a host, upon receiving a guest, would not only feed them, but offer them ale as well. Bres did neither, thus gaining himself the label of “inhospitable”.
Due to the lack of food, the Gods found themselves weakened and hungry. Ogma would bring firewood from the Clew Bay islands and he was so weak that two thirds of his bundle would be washed away. Inhospitality reflects poorly on the host, yet, from the story here presented, one can also see that there are consequences for those who are treated inhospitably as well.
Corpre, the son of Etain and poet of the Tuatha de Danann, came visiting Bres and he was greeted by a cabin that was dark and black, with neither bed nor furniture nor fire. Three small cakes, which were dry, were brought to him on a small plate. This caused Corpre to utter the first satire ever:
Without food quickly on a dish:
without a cow’s milk whereon a calf grows:
without a man’s abode under the (gloom) of night:
without paying a company of story-tellers, let that be Bres’ condition. (Stokes)
So great was the power of satire that Bres was forced to rescind his inhospitable ways.
Works Cited
Stokes, W. (. (n.d.). The Second Battle of Moytura. Web. Retrieved 12 15, 2011, from www.maryjones.us: https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T300011.html
