#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: When Balor sold the Glas Gaibhneach, „he did not give Goibniu the magical halter rope to which he knew the cow was bound to return each evening. Without having the halter to restrain the cow, Goibniu employed a warrior called Cian to guard the beast. Balor distracted Cian by a ruse and when Cian took his eyes off the cow, Balor led her off quickly to his island fortress.
Cian followed in a boat owned by the powerful #Otherworld deity Manannán mac Lir. Balor had locked his daughter Eithne away from the company of men as he feared a prophecy that he would die at the hands of his own grandson. On reaching the island Cian got access to Eithne who was soon pregnant and delivered a son, Lugh. Eithne gave Cian the magical halter rope and the child and he left the island with them on Manannán’s boat along with the Enchanted Cow. Manannán fostered the child and when Lugh grew to manhood he killed Balor at the Second Battle of Moytura, thus fulfilling the prophecy.“
Source: Antiquarian Research in Co. Sligo as a Background to the Mythology and Archaeology of Moytura by Eamonn P. Kelly