“We have an excellent harpist already.” “I am a warrior renowned for skilfulness rather than for mere strength.” “We already have a man like that.” “I am a poet and tale-teller,” said Lugh. “We have no need of such. We have a most accomplished poet and tale-teller.” “I am a sorcerer,” said Lugh. “We do not want one. We have numberless sorcerers and druids.” “I am a physician,” said Lugh. “Diancecht is our physician.” “I am a cup-bearer,” said Lugh. “We already have nine of them.” “I am a worker in bronze.” “We have no need of you. We already have a worker in bronze. His name is Credné.” “Then ask the king,” said Lugh, “if he has with him a man who is master of all these crafts at once, for, if he has, there is no need for me to come to Tara.” So the door-keeper went inside, and told the king that a man had come who called himself Lugh the _Ioldanach_[111], or the “Master of all Arts”, and that he claimed to know everything. The king sent out his best chess-player to play against the stranger. Lugh won, inventing a new move called “Lugh’s enclosure”. Then Nuada invited him in. Lugh entered, and sat down upon the chair called the “sage’s seat”, kept for the wisest man. Ogma, the champion, was showing off his strength. Upon the floor was a flagstone so large that fourscore yokes of oxen would have been needed to move it. Ogma pushed it before him along the hall, and out at the door. Then Lugh rose from his chair, and pushed it back again. But this stone, huge as it was, was only a portion broken from a still greater rock outside the palace. Lugh picked it up, and put it back into its place. The Tuatha Dé Danann asked him to play the harp to them. So he played the “sleep-tune”, and the king and all his court fell asleep, and did not wake until the same hour of the following day. Next he played a plaintive air, and they all wept. Lastly, he played a measure which sent them into transports of joy. When Nuada had seen all these numerous talents of Lugh, he began to wonder whether one so gifted would not be of great help against the Fomors. He took counsel with the others, and, by their advice, lent his throne to Lugh for thirteen days, taking the “sage’s seat” at his side. Lugh summoned all the Tuatha Dé Danann to a council. “The Fomors are certainly going to make war on us,” he said. “What can each of you do to help?” Diancecht the Physician said: “I will completely cure everyone who is wounded, provided his head is not cut off, or his brain or spinal marrow hurt.” “I,” said Goibniu the Smith, “will replace every broken lance and sword with a new one, even though the war last seven years. And I will make the lances so well that they shall never miss their mark, or fail to kill. Dulb, the smith of the Fomors, cannot do as much as that. The fate of the fighting will be decided by my lances.”