in Ireland.

And to the north of the Hill of the Hostages was the stone, the Lia
Fail, and it used to roar under the feet of every king that would take
possession of Ireland. And the Wall of the Three Whispers was near the
House of the Women that had seven doors to the east, and seven doors to
the west; and it is in that house the feasts of Teamhair used to be
held. And there was the Great House of a Thousand Soldiers, and near it,
to the south, the little Hill of the Woman Soldiers.

CHAPTER II. THE REIGN OF BRES

But if Nuada won the battle, he lost his own arm in it, that was struck
off by Sreng; and by that loss there came troubles and vexation on his
people.

For it was a law with the Tuatha de Danaan that no man that was not
perfect in shape should be king. And after Nuada had lost the battle he
was put out of the kingship on that account.

And the king they chose in his place was Bres, that was the most
beautiful of all their young men, so that if a person wanted to praise
any beautiful thing, whether it was a plain, or a dun, or ale, or a
flame, or a woman, or a man, or a horse, it is what he would say, "It is
as beautiful as Bres." And he was the son of a woman of the Tuatha de
Danaan, but who his father was no one knew but herself.

But in spite of Bres being so beautiful, his reign brought no great good
luck to his people; for the Fomor, whose dwelling-place was beyond the
sea, or as some say below the sea westward, began putting tribute on
them, the way they would get them under their own rule.

It was a long time before that the Fomor came first to Ireland; dreadful
they were to look at, and maimed, having but one foot or one hand, and
they under the leadership of a giant and his mother. There never came to
Ireland an army more horrible or more dreadful than that army of the
Fomor. And they were friendly with the Firbolgs and content to leave
Ireland to them, but there was jealousy between them and the Men of Dea.

And it was a hard tax they put on them, a third part of their corn they
asked, and a third part of their milk, and a third part of their
children, so that there was not smoke rising from a roof in Ireland but
was under tribute to them. And Bres made no stand against them, but let
them get their way.

And as to Bres himself, he put a tax on every house in Ireland of the
milk of hornless dun cows, or of the milk of cows of some other single
colour, enough for a hundred men. And on