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 THE SHIELD OF MANANNAN

centuries ago there came to Ireland a wise race of beings called the Tuatha de Danann. How and whence they came is a mystery: the very earliest legends say they came on the wings of the wind from an unknown world, or else they came out of the heavens. The same legendary history says that when the Tuatha de Danann—who were the people of light and goodness—arrived they found Ireland populated by a gigantic and dark race of beings; this was the race of the Fomorians, who were the people of evil, and naturally the enemies of the Tuatha de Danann. The king of the Fomorians was the great giant, Balor of the Death-giving Eye, so called because he had an eye in the centre of his forehead, which dealt death to whoever he looked at. When he wished to slay an