Cian

[4] By most accounts, Lug's mother is the Fomorian princess Ethniu,[5] but according to an interpolated text the LGE, Cían is also known by the name Ethlend (Ethlenn).

[9] In the Lebor Gabála Érenn (LGE, "The Book of Invasions"), Cían gives the boy Lugh to Tailtiu, queen of the Fir Bolg, in fosterage.

[11][c] Cían's demise, and the consequent revenge by his son, Lugh, forcing on the perpetrators the impossible quest for treasures is told in [A]Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann (ACT or OCT, "The Fate of the Children of Tuireann"),[13][14] the full romance of which only survives in late manuscripts (16th century),[15] though synopses of the tale survive in medieval redactions of the LGE.

In the story, Cían was killed by the sons of Tuireann —Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba — after trying unsuccessfully to escape from them in the form of a pig (actually a "lapdog", Irish: oircce in older tradition, e.g. the LGE).

[28] The hero is Fin MacKinealy in "Balor on Tory Island" collected by Curtin, and echoed as Fionn mac Cionnfhaolaidh in its Irish version edited by Lloyd (Seosamh Laoide).

[k] Mac Kineely (=Cian) owns a prolific milch-cow called "Glos Gavlin" (recté Irish: Glas Gaibhnenn), which is coveted by everyone including Balor.

Cian then consults Biroge (Biróg[25]) of the Mountain, who is his leanan sídhe or familiar spirit and a banshee[l] and she transports him by magic to the top of Balor's tower, where he seduces Ethnea.

The messenger drowns two of the babies but unwittingly drops one child (unnamed in the original telling, but Lugh in Lady Gregory's version) into the harbour, where he is rescued by Biróg.

The name Dul Dauna taken at face value is glossed as "the blind stubborn" (< dall) by Larminie and "black surly one" (< doilbh?)

He finds Torry Island and deems it suitably removed, and there he builds a castle for himself and a prison for his daughter, which is guarded by twelve virgins.

It is told that Mac Kineely's head was struck off by Balor, and a piece of white stone was permanently tainted with the blood, running in the form of red veins.

[27] The supposed veined marble was propped on a pillar and became a local monument known as "Clogh-an-Neely" (reconstructed Irish: cloch Chinnfhaolaidh).

The story of the birth of Lleu Llaw Gyffes, the Welsh incarnation of Lugh, occurs in the Mabinogi tale of Math fab Mathonwy (branch).

The emphasis of study is the parallel between Gwydion and Cian=MacKineely of Irish folktale (rather than Cian of the mythological tracts or OCT) in the case of Welsh scholar John Rhys has pursued.

And certainly the prophecy of death by the hand of one's child or grandchild occurs in the Cian-Balor folktale as well as the Greek stories of Perseus and Oedipus Rex.