“Several authors over different periods purported to synchronize myths, legends and genealogies from early Ireland with the framework of Biblical exegesis. Patrick K. Ford (1977) calls the Lebor Gabála a ‘masterpiece of muddled medieval miscellany.’”

1. The arrival of Cessair (a woman and relative of Noah) with three men and fifty women.

2. The Fomorians (arrived at least 200 years before the Partholanians)

3. The coming of Partholan into Ireland (and the defeat of the evil, giant Fomorians)

4. The coming of Nemed (from Greece) into Ireland; fought with the Fomorians

5. The coming of the Firbolg into Ireland. The Firbolg were a pre-Celtic people who had once been slaves in Greece. Fir = men; bolg = bag.

6. 37 years later, the invasion of the Tuatha Dé Danaan (People of Danu), a race of gods who migrated to Ireland from the northern islands where they had become proficient in occult lore and magical or druidic skills. After landing their great fleet in Ireland just before Bealtaine, they burned their boats: “The smoke and the mist which came from the ships filled the land and the air which was near them, causing an eclipse.” They set up court at Tara.

7. 297 years later, the Milesians, mortal equivalents of the Irish people, arrive

---

The Book of Invasions Scripts

Group #1 (3 people):  Cessair

Cast

• Narrator
• Bith, Cessair’s father
• Fintan, the flood survivor poet who narrates the story
• Cessair
• Ladra, the pilot
• Noe (Noah)

Narrator: Wouldst thou know of the adventure of Cessair into the land of Ireland? Prophets of God and His messenger had said unto Noe [Noah] son of Lamech: Make thee an ark, of light timbers, for the Flood shall come, and every living thing shall be submerged by reason of the great kin-murder which Cain son of Adam wrought upon his own brother, Abel son of Adam. And not a man of the seed of Adam shall escape without falling in that catastrophe, save only thou and thy wife and thy three sons and thy three daughters, the wives of thy sons; for ye did not company with the children of Cain.

Bith: “I, what shall I do?”

Noe: I know not, for it is not permitted to me to suffer thee into the ark, for the greatness of thy sinfulness.

Fintan, son of Lamech: “I, what shall I do?”

Noe: “We would not stoop to the Powers to suffer thee into the Ark. ”

Ladra, son of Bith: “I, what shall I do?”

Noe: “I know not, for it is not permitted to let thee into the Ark.”

Cessair: “I, what shall I do?”

Noe: “I know not, for I have no permission to let thee into the Ark. For me, this ship is no ship of thieves, no den of robbers.”

Narrator: Thereafter Bith came into counsel with Fintan and Ladra and Cessair, and they said. . . .

Bith, Fintan, and Ladra: “What shall we do for this counsel? For it is final that the Flood shall come over the earth, and how shall we make us ready?”

Cessair: “Easy! Give submission to me, and I shall give you a manner of counsel.”

Bith, Fintan, and Ladra: “Thou shalt have that.”

Cessair: “Take then to yourself an idol. Worship it, and sunder you from the God of Noe.”

Narrator: So they took a god unto themselves, and this is the counsel that it gave them: “Make ye a voyage and embark upon the sea.” Fifty women and three men arrive at Dún na mBarc on Bantry Bay in County Cork, forty days before the biblical Flood. The flood came, drowning all creatures great and small, excepting Noah and his ark, and Cessair and her party. Eventually, two men die, including Bith, leaving only Fintan to populate Ireland and tell the story. Fintan flees in the form of a salmon. Left alone, Cessair dies of a broken heart.

Ireland will wait for many years before new settlers arrive.

Fintan:

Flood overtook Bith in his Mountain,

It is no secret;

Cessair in her Nook.

But as for me, He buried me,

I had a year under the Flood

In strong Tul Tuinde;

I found nothing for my sustenance,

An unbroken sleep were best.

A long life fell to my lot.

I am Fintan the white son of Bochna,

I shall not conceal it;

After the Flood here I am

A noble great sage.

---

Group #2 (3 people): The First Battle of Magh Tuireadh /Moy Tura

Cast:

• Narrator
• Bres
• The Firbolg
• King Nuada
• The Dagda
• Fir Bolg warrior Sreng mac Sengainn
• Narrator: The Tuatha Dé Danaan arrive in Ireland in 300 ships. Bres, half Tuatha de Danaan and half Fomorian, as well as King Nuada, make their demands of the Firbolg.

King Nuada:  Firbolg, either give battle or cede half of Ireland to the Tuatha de Danaan.

The Firbolg: We choose battle.

Narrator: They fight for four days, during which the Fir Bolg warrior Sreng son of Sengainn hits heavy blows toward King Nuada until Sreng’s sword cuts through Nuada’s arm. The sword handle was now firmly lodged in this shoulder. As Nuada fell to his knees, Sreng pushed his foot hard on the sword hilt, completely cutting off Nuada’s right arm. A bloody-faced Dagda leaped in front of Nuada, to stop the killing. Fifty of the Tuatha Dé lifted and surrounded their king and carried him off the battlefield as his blood poured over them.

Bres: You have three options: leave Ireland, share the land with the Tuatha de Danaan, or continue the battle.

The Firbolg: We choose battle.

Narrator: The Tuatha de Danaan give Connacht to the Firbolg, and the two sides make peace. Because the king must be physically perfect, Bres replaces Nuada as king.

Group #2: The Bad King Bres

The cast:

• The narrator
• The Tuatha Dé Danaan
• Bres

The Tuatha Dé Danaan (multiple): Among his maternal kinsmen the Tuatha De Daana, Bres [half Tuatha de Danaan and half Fomorian] is not respected. Our knives are not greased by him. However frequently they might come, our breaths do not smell of ale; and we do not see our poets nor our bards nor our satirists nor our harpists nor our pipers nor our horn blowers nor our jugglers nor our fools entertaining us in the household. We do not go to contests of those pre-eminent in the arts, nor do we see our warriors proving their skill at arms before the king.”

The narrator: Although Bres manages to negotiate a temporary reprieve with the Tuatha De Danaan, he has indeed lost the sovereignty of Ireland and in true Celtic fashion he has lost it three times over: by pronouncing in public a false judgement, a sin against the King’s Truth: by being justly satirized by a poet, as a result of which Bres’ prosperity no longer exists; and by his persistent breaking of the reciprocal relationship between king and people, leading to their refusal of client support rent and tribute.

---

Group #3 (2 people): Nuada becomes the TDD king . . .again & The Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh (Moytura)

Cast:

• Narrator
• Dian Cécht
• Nuada
• The Dagda
• The Fomorian Princess
• The Morrigan

Narrator: Since no one who was not perfect in body could be king among the Irish, the physician Dian Cécht made for Nuada a new hand out of silver that moved as if he were born with it. Nuada then gathered together all his warriors on the royal hill of Tara for a great feast.

The Dagda has sex with the daughter of the Fomorian king Indech, and she agrees to assist the Tuatha De Danann in their fight against the Fomorians:

Fomorian princess: I will hinder the Fomorians, and I will sing spells against them, and I will practice the deadly art of the wand against them; and I alone will take on a ninth part of the host.”

Narrator:  Then the Dagda has sex with the Morrigan at Samhain.

The Morrigan: The Fomorians will land at Mag Ceidne, and I will destroy Indech mac De Domnann, the King of the Fomorians. I will take from him the blood of his heart and the kidneys of his valor.

Narrator: Later the Morrigan gives two handfuls of Indech’s blood to the hosts waiting at Mag Ceidne. She is loyal to the Tuatha De Danaan.

Group #3: The Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh (Moytura)

The Cast:

• The Narrator
• Lugh
• The Morrigan

The Narrator: On the Hill of Uisnech, the Fomorians were approaching to demand their taxes. Lugh was ready; neither he nor the Tuatha would take any more.

The Morrigan to Lugh: it is time to take your kingdom back by storm.

Group #4 (3 people): The Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh (Moytura): Lugh addressing the Tuatha de Danaan before battle

The Cast:

• The Narrator
• Lugh
• Goibniu
• Dían Cécht
• Crédne
• Luchta
• Ogma
• Morrigan
• Sorcerors
• Cupbearers
• Druids
• Witches

The Narrator: In order to protect him, the men of Ireland had agreed to keep Lugh from the battle. His nine foster fathers came to guard him. They feared an early death for the warrior because of the great number of his arts. For that reason they did not let him go to the battle. Then the men of rank among the Túatha Dé were assembled around Lugh.

Lugh to his smith, Goibniu: what power will you wield?

Goibniu: Not hard to say. Even if the men of Ireland continue the battle for seven years, for every spear that separates from its shaft or sword that will break in battle, I will provide a new weapon in its place. No spearpoint which my hand forges will make a missing cast. No skin which it pierces will taste life afterward. Dolb, the Fomorian smith, cannot do that. I am now concerned with my preparation for the battle of Mag Tuired.”

Lugh: And you, Dían Cécht. What power do you wield?”

Dían Cécht: Not hard to say. Any man who will be wounded there, unless his head is cut off, or the membrane of his brain or his spinal cord is severed, I will make him perfectly whole in the battle on the next day.“

Lugh: And you, Crédne. What is your power in the battle?“

Crédne: Not hard to answer. I will supply them all with rivets for their spears and hilts for their swords and bosses and rims for their shields.”

Lugh: And you, Luchta, the carpenter. What power would you attain in the battle?”

Luchta: Not hard to answer. I will supply them all with whatever shields and spearshafts they need.”

Lugh: And you, Ogma. What is your power in the battle?“

Ogma: Not hard to say. Being a match for the king and holding my own against twenty-seven of his friends, while winning a third of the battle for the men of Ireland.

Lugh: And you, Morrígan. What power?“

Morrigan: Not hard to say. I have stood fast; I shall pursue what was watched; I will be able to kill; I will be able to destroy those who might be subdued.

Lugh: And you, sorcerers. What power?“

Sorcerors: Not hard to say. Their white soles will be visible after they have been overthrown by our craft, so that they can easily be killed; and we will take two-thirds of their strength from them and prevent them from urinating.”

Lugh: And you, cupbearers. What power?“

Cupbearers: Not hard to say. We will bring a great thirst upon them, and they will not find drink to quench it.“

Lugh: And you, druids. What power?“

Druids: Not hard to say. We will bring showers of fire upon the faces of the Fomoire so that they cannot look up, and the warriors contending with them can use their force to kill them.”

Lugh: And you, witches. What power?“

Two witches (Be Chuille and Diannan): Not hard to say.  We will enchant the trees and the stones and the sods of the earth so that they will be a host under arms against them; and they will scatter in flight terrified and trembling.

Narrator: Then in this way Lugh addressed each of them in turn concerning their arts, strengthening them and addressing them in such a way that every man had the courage of a king or great lord.

Group #4: Balor of the Evil Eye (Fomorian) fights Lugh (Tuatha de Danaan)

Cast:

• The Narrator
• The Fomorians
• Balor (Lugh’s grandpa)
• Lugh
• The Morrigan

Narrator: Balor has already killed Nuada Silverhand, the reigning king of the Tuatha De Danaan, which, according to accepted custom, would mean the defeat of his people. Lugh confronts his maternal grandfather.

Balor: Open my evil eye so that the warriors of the Tuatha De who look on it shall become helpless.

Narrator: Before this can happen, Lugh casts a sling stone at the eye which drives it through Balor’s head so that there is the treble effect on the enemy: the paralyzing effect of the evil eye; the death of twenty-seven of the Fomorian warriors under his giant’s body; and the damaging effect on the Fomorian king: when Balor’s head struck his breast, a gush of blood spouted over Balor’s lips.

The Morrigan: In accordance with our promise to the Dagda, I will take from Balor the blood of his heart and the kidneys of his valour.

Narrator: When the Fomorians are finally driven into the sea, the Morrigan chants her encouragement to the Tuatha De Danaan. Lugh succeeds Nuada to become King of the Tuatha de Danaan

---

Group #5 (2 people): The Milesians Are Coming!

Cast:

• Narrator
• Amairgen

PPT slides / sound effects (?)

Narrator:  As Milesian poet Amairgen set his right foot upon the shore of Ireland, he recites this poem:

Amairgen: 

I am the Wind upon the Sea,

I am an Ocean Wave,

I am a Powerful Ox

I am a Hawk on a Cliff,

I am a dew-drop in the Sun,

I am Fairest among Herbs,

I am a Boar for Valour,

I am Salmon in a Pool,

I am a Lake on a Plain,

I am a Hill of Poetry,

I am a Word of Skill,

I am the Point of a Weapon (that pours forth combat),
(I am) a Song on a Spear,

an Enchantments of Wind.

Group #5: St. Patrick’s “Breastplate”

St. Patrick:

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.

I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rock.

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.