time the Tuatha de Danaan had
the sway over Ireland, and it is likely it was a long time they had it,
but they were put from it at last.

It was at Inver Slane, to the north of Leinster, the sons of Gaedhal of
the Shining Armour, the Very Gentle, that were called afterwards the
Sons of the Gael, made their first attempt to land in Ireland to avenge
Ith, one of their race that had come there one time and had met with his
death.

It is under the leadership of the sons of Miled they were, and it was
from the south they came, and their Druids had told them there was no
country for them to settle in till they would come to that island in the
west. "And if you do not get possession of it yourselves," they said,
"your children will get possession of it."

But when the Tuatha de Danaan saw the ships coming, they flocked to the
shore, and by their enchantments they cast such a cloud over the whole
island that the sons of Miled were confused, and all they could see was
some large thing that had the appearance of a pig.

And when they were hindered from landing there by enchantments, they
went sailing along the coast till at last they were able to make a
landing at Inver Sceine in the west of Munster.

From that they marched in good order as far as Slieve Mis. And there
they were met by a queen of the Tuatha de Danaan, and a train of
beautiful women attending on her, and her Druids and wise men following
her. Amergin, one of the sons of Miled, spoke to her then, and asked her
name, and she said it was Banba, wife of Mac Cuill, Son of the Hazel.

They went on then till they came to Slieve Eibhline, and there another
queen of the Tuatha de Danaan met them, and her women and her Druids
after her, and they asked her name, and she said it was Fodhla, wife of
Mac Cecht, Son of the Plough.

They went on then till they came to the hill of Uisnech, and there they
saw another woman coming towards them. And there was wonder on them
while they were looking at her, for in the one moment she would be a
wide-eyed most beautiful queen, and in another she would be a
sharp-beaked, grey-white crow. She came on to where Eremon, one of the
sons of Miled, was, and sat down before him, and he asked her who was
she, and she said: "I am Eriu, wife of Mac Greine, Son of the Sun."

And the names of those three queens were often given to Ireland in the
after time.

The Sons of the Gael went on after that to Teamhair, where the three
sons of Cermai