d
by his name.[303]

Ler, whose name means "sea," and who was a god of the sea, is father of
Manannan as well as of the personages of the beautiful story called _The
Children of Lir_, from which we learn practically all that is known of
him. He resented not being made ruler of the Tuatha Dea, but was later
reconciled when the daughter of Bodb Dearg was given to him as his wife.
On her death, he married her sister, who transformed her step-children
into swans.[304] Ler is the equivalent of the Brythonic Llyr, later
immortalised by Shakespeare as King Lear.

The greatness of Manannan mac Lir, "son of the sea," is proved by the
fact that he appears in many of the heroic tales, and is still
remembered in tradition and folk-tale. He is a sea-god who has become
more prominent than the older god of the sea, and though not a supreme
god, he must have had a far-spreading cult. With Bodb Dearg he was
elected king of the Tuatha De Danann. He made the gods invisible and
immortal, gave them magical food, and assisted Oengus in driving out
Elemar from his _sid_. Later tradition spoke of four Manannans, probably
local forms of the god, as is suggested by the fact that the true name
of one of them is said to be Orbsen, son of Allot. Another, the son of
Ler, is described as a renowned trader who dwelt in the Isle of Man, the
best of pilots, weather-wise, and able to transform himself as he
pleased. The _Coir Anmann_ adds that the Britons and the men of Erin
deemed him god of the sea.[305] That position is plainly seen in many
tales, e.g. in the magnificent passage of _The Voyage of Bran_, where he
suddenly sweeps into sight, riding in a chariot across the waves from
the Land of Promise; or in the tale of _Cuchulainn's Sickness_, where
his wife Fand sees him, "the horseman of the crested sea," coming across
the waves. In the _Agallamh na Senorach_ he appears as a cavalier
breasting the waves. "For the space of nine waves he would be submerged
in the sea, but would rise on the crest of the tenth without wetting
chest or breast."[306] In one archaic tale he is identified with a great
sea wave which swept away Tuag, while the waves are sometimes called
"the son of Lir's horses"--a name still current in Ireland, or, again,
"the locks of Manannan's wife."[307] His position as god of the sea may
have given rise to the belief that he was ruler of the oversea Elysium,
and, later, of the other-world as a magical domain coterminous with this
ear