This is the story my grandmother's grandmother told her when she was a girl and became the one she used to tell me......

 

Once upon a time, when there was no time, and no gods and no man walked the surface of the land, there was the sea. And , in the place where the sea met the land, a mare was born, snow white and made of sea-foam.

  Her name was Eiocha.

On the land, near where the land met the sea, a tree grew. A tall, strong and sturdy oak. On the oak, grew a plant whose seeds looked liked white berries and were formed of the foam tears of the sea.

 Eiocha, as she wandered, grew hungry and ate the seeds. Those white berries transformed within her. Slowly Eiocha grew heavy with child and gave birth to the god, Cernunnos. So great was her pain in childbirth that she ripped bark from the one tree and hurled it into the sea. The bark was transformed by the sea and became the giants of the deep.

Even though he was a god, Cernunnos was lonely. He saw the giants of the deep were numerous, so he coupled with Eiocha and of their union came the gods: Maponos, Tauranis, and Teutates, and the goddess Epona.

  Eiocha soon tired of the land, being a creature of sea-foam, and she returned the sea, where she was transformed into Tethra, goddess of the deep water, sometimes called Tethys.

The gods and goddess were lonely for they had none to command nor none to worship them so they took wood from the one oak tree and fashioned the first man and the first woman.

Cernunnos also made other animals from the one oak tree; the deer, the hound, the boar and the raven, the hare and the snake. He was god of the animals, and he commanded the oak tree to spread and grow, to be come a forest home for his children.

Epona also made animals, but she made only the horse, mare and stallion alike, in remembrance of Eiocha who was no more.

Teutates took limbs from the one tree, and fashioned a bow, arrows, and a club.

Tauranis took limbs from the one tree, and fashioned thunderbolts made of fire and noise. He would leap to the top of the tallest trees and hurl his weapon at the ground. Whenever he did so, the ground would shake, the grass would burn, and the animals would run in fear.

Maponos also took limbs from the one tree, but he fashioned not a weapon but a harp. He stretched strings of the winds from its limbs and spent his days in Cernunnos' forest. The winds would join in the melodies, and the birds as well, creating music sweeter than any ever heard. And all Cernunnos' animals would come from near and far to hear Maponos play.

The giants of the deep saw how happy the gods and goddess happy on the land had become and grew jealous, for they had none to command nor none to worship them. So the giants plotted against the gods; they would overwhelm them with the sea and take the land under the water.
 

But Tethra, deep in her sea, heard the murmuring and the plots of the giants. She remembered her days as Eiocha and so she warned her sons and daughter. Thus the gods were prepared the day the giants came against them.

The gods took refuge in the one oak tree. Tauranis hurled his thunderbolt and split the land, and the sea overflowed its boundaries. Maponos broke the sky and hurled it at the giants. Teutates' deadly aim with the bow and arrows from the one oak tree cut down many of the giants.

But the giants of the deep were not without weapons; they had the strength of the waves and fought back. Towering waves crashed on the shore, threatening the one tree holding the gods. The gods would not lose this battle and everything that they had created and overwhelmed the giants, but could not destroy them

 After many terrible battles, the giants of the deep were driven back into the sea, where Tethra bound them in the deep waters. But a few escaped Tethra and fled far from her reach. They called themselves the Fomor, and built a life on the outer edges of the world.  The Fomor dreamed of conquest, and vowed to once again take the land from the gods. (Of their later battles, our histories tell us much.)

The  battle over and the giants banished, the sea returned to its bed and Maponos repaired the sky. Once they were finished, the gods looked for Epona who had been not been present for the victory. They found her waiting deep in Cernunnos' forest. Epona had rescued one man and one woman from the watery and fiery destruction, and the three of them waited in Cernunnos' forest until the battle was over.( From this man and this woman Epona saved would come a mighty people- the Celts.)

The gods and the goddess left the deep of Cernunnos' forest and returned to their home near the one tree of oak which still stood strong and sturdy, and the sacred berries where still white as sea foam. Once they returned, they saw that the fiery pieces of the heavens Maponos had torn from the sky had mingled with the waters of the sea and had given birth to new gods. Belenus and his sister Danu came from where the heavenly fire had been barely quenched. The god Lir sprang from where the waters of the sea had almost quenched the fire of heaven.

These gods in turn would make more gods and goddesses. From Lir, as the histories tell, there would come the mighty Manannan, the beautiful Branwen, the wise Bran. But from Danu many children would come, the Dagda, Nuadha of the Silver Hand, the wise Dienceght, the smith Goihbhio, the fearsome Morrigan, the gentle Brighid.

The Children of Danu and the Children of Lir are the two mighty races our songs tell of, ever opposite. But that is another story.

Submitted By Kestrel