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THE MYTHOLOGY OF ALL RACES
Volume III
CELTIC
PLATE I
Brug na Boinne
The tumulus at New Grange is the largest of a
group of three at Dowth, New Grange, and Knowth,
County Meath, on the banks of the Boyne in the
plain known to Irish tales as Brug na Boinne, the
traditional burial-place of the Tuatha De Danann
and of the Kings of Tara. It was also associated
with the Tuatha De Danann as their immortal
dwelling-place, e. g. of Oengus of the Brug (see pp.
50-51, 66-67, 1 76 - 77 )- The tumuli are perhaps of
the neolithic age (for plans see Plate VI, A and B).
THE MYTHOLOGY
OF ALL RACES
IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES
LOUIS HERBERT GRAY, A.M., PH.D., Editor
GEORGE FOOT MOORE, A.M., D.D., LL.D., Consulting Editor
CELTIC
BY
JOHN ARNOTT MACCULLOCH,
HON. D. D. (ST. ANDREWS)
SLAVIC
BY
JAN MACHAL, ph.d.
WITH A CHAPTER ON BALTIC MYTHOLOGY BY
THE EDITOR
VOLUME III
BOSTON
MARSHALL JONES COMPANY
M DCCCC XVIII
mm
r-3
Copyright, 1918
By Marshall Jones Company
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
All rights reserved
plate facing page
I Brug na Boinne — Coloured Frontispiece
II Gaulish Coins 8
1. Horse and Wheel-Symbol
2. Horse, Conjoined Circles and S-Symbol
3. Man-Headed Horse and Wheel
4. Bull and S-Symbol
5. Bull
6. Sword and Warrior Dancing Before it
7-8. Swastika Composed of Two S-Symbols (?)
9-10. Bull’s Head and two S-Symbols; Bear Eating a
Serpent
11. Wolf and S-Symbols
III Gaulish Coins 14
1. Animals Opposed, and Boar and Wolf (?)
2. Man-Headed Horse and Bird, and Bull Ensign
3. Squatting Divinity, and Boar and S-Symbol or Snake
4. Horse and Bird
5. Bull and Bird
6. Boar
7. Animals Opposed
IV God with the Wheel 20
V Smertullos 40
VI A. Plan of the Brug na Boinne 50
B. Plan of the Brug na Boinne 50
VII Three-Headed God 56
VIII Squatting God 72
IX A. Altar from Saintes 86
B. Reverse Side of the same Altar 86
X Incised Stones from Scotland 94
1. The “Picardy Stone”
2. The “Newton Stone”
X
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE FACING PAGE
XI Gauls and Romans in Combat 106
XII Three-Headed God II2
XIII Sucellos jjg
XIV Dispater and Aeracura (?) 120
XV Epona 124
XVI Cernunnos .... 128
XVII Incised Stones from Scotland 134.
1. The “Crichie Stone”
2. An Incised Scottish Stone
XVIII Menhir of Kernuz 140
XIX Bulls and S-Symbols 132
1, 6. Carvings of Bulls from Burghhead
2-5. S-Symbols
XX A. Altar from Notre Dame. Esus 158
B. Altar from Notre Dame. Tarvos Trigaranos . 158
XXI Altar from Treves . . . .• 166
XXII Page of an Irish Manuscript 176
XXIII Artio 186
XXIV Boars 188
XXV Horned God 204
XXVI Sucellos 208
XXVII Zadusnica 237
XXVIII Djadek 244
XXIX Setek 244
XXX Lesni Zenka 261
XXXI Svantovit 279
XXXII Festival of Svantovit 281
XXXIII Radigast 286
XXXIV Idealizations of Slavic Divinities 288
1. Svantovit
2. Ziva
3. Cernobog and Tribog
XXXV Veles 300
XXXVI Ancient Slavic Sacrifice 305
XXXVII The Sacred Oak of Romowe. . . 305
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
BY
JOHN ARNOTT MACCULLOCH, Hon. D.D. (St. Andrews.^
RECTOR OF ST. SAVIOUR’S, BRIDGE OF ALLAN, STIRLINGSHIRE, AND HONORARY
CANON OF CUMBRAE CATHEDRAL
TO
DR. JAMES HASTINGS
Editor of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
the Dictionary of the Bible , etc.
WITH THE GRATITUDE AND RESPECT OF THE AUTHOR
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
r j a former work * I have considered at some length the re-
ligion of the ancient Celts; the present study describes those
Celtic myths which remain to us as a precious legacy from
the past, and is supplementary to the earlier book. These
myths, as I show, seldom exist as the pagan Celts knew them,
for they have been altered in various ways, since romance,
pseudo-history, and the influences of Christianity have all
affected many of them. Still they are full of interest, and it
is not difficult to perceive traces of old ideas and mythical
conceptions beneath the surface. Transformation allied to
rebirth was asserted of various Celtic divinities, and if the
myths have been transformed, enough of their old selves re-
mained for identification after romantic writers and pseudo-
historians gave them a new existence. Some mythic incidents
doubtless survive much as they were in the days of old, but
all alike witness to the many-sided character of the life and
thought of their Celtic progenitors and transmitters. Romance
and love, war and slaughter, noble deeds as well as foul, wordy
boastfulness but also delightful poetic utterance, glamour and
sordid reality, beauty if also squalid conditions of life, are found
side by side in these stories of ancient Ireland and Wales.
The illustrations are the work of my daughter, Sheila Mac-
Culloch, and I have to thank the authorities of the British
Museum for permission to copy illustrations from their publica-
tions; Mr. George Coffey for permission to copy drawings and
photographs of the Tumuli at New Grange from his book New
Grange ( Brugh na Boinne) and other Inscribed Tumuli in Ire-
land; the Librarians of Trinity College, Dublin, and the Bod-
* The Religion of the Ancient Celts, Edinburgh, 1911.
6
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
leian Library, Oxford, for permission to photograph pages
from well-known Irish MSS.; and Mr. R. J. Best for the use
of his photographs of MSS.
In writing this book it has been some relief to try to lose
oneself in it and to forget, in turning over the pages of the
past, the dark cloud which hangs over our modern life in these
sad days of the great war, sad yet noble, because of the freely
offered sacrifice of life and all that life holds dear by so many of
my countrymen and our heroic allies in defence of liberty.
J. A. MACCULLOCH.
Bridge of Allan, Scotland,
May, 16, 1916.
hi — 1
INTRODUCTION
I N all lands whither the Celts came as conquerors there was
an existing population with whom they must eventually
have made alliances. They imposed their language upon them
— the Celtic regions are or were recently regions of Celtic
speech — but just as many words of the aboriginal vernacular
must have been taken over by the conquerors, or their own
tongue modified by Celtic, so must it have been with their
mythology. Celtic and pre-Celtic folk alike had many myths,
and these were bound to intermingle, with the result that such
Celtic legends as we possess must contain remnants of the
aboriginal mythology, though it, like the descendants of
the aborigines, has become Celtic. It would be difficult, in
the existing condition of the old mythology, to say this is of
Celtic, that of non-Celtic origin, for that mythology is now
but fragmentary. The gods of the Celts were many, but of
large cantles of the Celtic race — the Celts of Gaul and of
other parts of the continent of Europe — scarcely any myths
have survived. A few sentences of Classical writers or images
of divinities or scenes depicted on monuments point to what
was once a rich mythology. These monuments, as well as in-
scriptions with names of deities, are numerous there as well as
in parts of Roman Britain, and belong to the Romano-Celtic
period. In Ireland, Wales, and north-western Scotland they
do not exist, though in Ireland and Wales there is a copious
literature based on mythology. Indeed, we may express the
condition of affairs in a formula: Of the gods of the Conti-
nental Celts many monuments and no myths; of those of the
Insular Celts many myths but no monuments.
The myths of the Continental Celts were probably never
III — 2
8
INTRODUCTION
committed to writing. They were contained in the sacred verses
taught by the Druids, but it was not lawful to write them
down ; 1 they were tabu, and doubtless their value would have
vanished if they had been set forth in script. The influences of
Roman civilization and religion were fatal to the oral mythol-
ogy taught by Druids, who were ruthlessly extirpated, while
the old religion was assimilated to that of Rome. The gods
were equated with Roman gods, who tended to take their
place; the people became Romanized and forgot their old
beliefs. Doubtless traditions survived among the folk, and
may still exist as folk-lore or fairy superstition, just as folk-
customs, the meaning of which may be uncertain to those who
practise them, are descended from the rituals of a vanished
paganism; but such existing traditions could be used only
with great caution as indexes of the older myths.
There were hundreds of Gaulish and Romano-British gods,
as an examination of the Latin inscriptions found in Gaul and
Britain 2 or of Alfred Holder’s Altceltischer Sprachschatz 3 will
show. Many are equated with the same Roman god, and most
of them were local deities with similar functions, though some
may have been more widely popular; but we can never be sure
to what aspect of the Roman divinity’s personality a parallel
was found in their functions. Moreover, though in some cases
philology shows us the meaning of their names, it would avail
little to speculate upon that meaning, tempting as this may be
— a temptation not always successfully resisted. This is also
true of the symbols depicted on monuments, though here the
function, if not the myth, is more readily suggested. Why are
some deities horned or three-headed, or why does one god carry
a wheel, a hammer, or an S-symbol? Horns may suggest divine
strength or an earlier beast-god, the wheel may be the sun, the
hammer may denote creative power. Other symbols resemble
those of Classical divinities, and here the meaning is more ob-
vious. The three Matres , or “Mothers,” with their symbols of
fertility were Earth Mothers; the horned deity with a bag of
PLATE II
Gaulish Coins
1. Coin of the Nervii, with horse and wheel-
symbol (cf. Plates III, 4, IV, XV).
2. Gaulish coin, with horse, conjoined circles,
and S-symbol (cf. Plates III, 3, IV, XIX, 2-5).
3. Coin of the Cenomani, with man-headed horse
(cf. Plate III, 2) and wheel.
4. Coin of the Remi (?), with bull (cf. Plates III,
5, IX, B, XIX, 1, 6, XX, B, XXI), and S-symbol.
5. Coin of the Turones, with bull.
6. Armorican coin, showing sword and warrior
dancing before it (exemplifying the cult of weapons;
cf. pp. 33-34).
7. 8. Gaulish coins, with swastika composed of
two S-symbols (?).
9, 10. Gaulish coin, showing bull’s head and two
S-symbols; reverse, bear (cf. Plate XXIII) eating
a serpent.
11. Coin of the Carnutes, showing wolf (cf. Plate
III, 1) and S-symbols.
9
io
ii
INTRODUCTION
9
grain was a god of plenty. Such a goddess as Epona was a
divinity of horses and mules, and she is represented as riding a
horse or feeding foals. But what myths lie behind the repre-
sentation of Esus cutting down a tree, whose branches, extend-
ing round another side of the monument, cover a bull and three
cranes — Tarvos Trigaranos? Is this the incident depicted on
another monument with a bull’s head among branches on
which two birds are perched ? 4
Glimpses of myths are seen in Classical references to Celtic
gods. Caesar, whose information (or that of his source) about
the gods of Gaul is fragmentary, writes: “They worship chiefly
the god Mercury. Of him there are many simulacra ; 5 they
make him inventor of all arts and guide of journeys and
marches, and they suppose him to have great power over the
acquiring of money and in matters of merchandise. After him
come Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. Concerning these
they hold much the same opinions as other nations — Apollo
repels diseases, Minerva teaches the beginnings of arts and
crafts, Jupiter sways celestial affairs, Mars directs wars .” 6
There is no evidence that all the Gauls worshipped a few gods.
Many local deities with similar functions but different names
is the evidence of the inscriptions, and these are grouped col-
lectively by Caesar and assimilated to Roman divinities. There
are many local Mercuries, Minervas, Apollos, and the like,
each with his Celtic name attached to that of the Roman god.
Or, again, they are nameless, as in the case of the Yorkshire
inscription, “To the god who invented roads and paths” —
an obvious Mercury. Caesar adds, “The Gauls declare that
they are descended from Dispater, and this, they say, has been
handed down by the Druids.” 7 If, as the present writer has
tried to show elsewhere , 8 Dispater is the Roman name of a
Celtic god, whether Cernunnos, or the god with the hammer,
or Esus, or all three, who ruled a rich underworld, then this
myth resembles many told elsewhere of the first men emerging
from the earth, the autochthones. The parallel Celtic myth
IO
INTRODUCTION
has not survived. In Ireland, if it ever existed there, it gave
place to stories of descent from fictitious personages, like
Mile, son of Bile, invented by the early scribes, or from Biblical
patriarchs.
Apollonius, writing in the third century b. c., reports a
Celtic myth about the waters of Eridanus. Apollo, driven by
his father’s threats from heaven because of the son whom
Karonis bore to him, fled to the land of the Hyperboreans;
and the tears which he shed on the way formed the tossing
waters . 9 Some Greek myth is here mingled with a local legend
about the origin of a stream and a Celtic god, possibly Belenos,
who had a neighbouring temple at Aquileia. In an island of the
Hyperboreans (a Celtic people dwelling beyond the Rhipaean
Mountains whence Boreas blew) was a circular temple where
Apollo was worshipped. Every year near the vernal equinox
the god appeared in the sky, harping and dancing, until the
rising of the Pleiades . 10 It is natural that this “circular temple”
should have been found in Stonehenge.
Lucian (second century a. d.) describes a Gaulish god Og-
mios, represented as an old man, bald-headed and with
wrinkled and sun-burnt skin, yet possessing the attributes of
Hercules — the lion’s skin, the club, the bow, and a sheath
hung from his shoulder. He draws a multitude by beautiful
chains of gold and amber attached to their ears, and they follow
him with joy. The other end of the chains is fixed to his tongue,
and he turns to his captives a smiling countenance. A Gaul
explained that the native god of eloquence was regarded as
Hercules, because he had accomplished his feats through elo-
quence; he was old, for speech shows itself best in old age; the
chains indicated the bond between the orator’s tongue and the
ears of enraptured listeners . 11
Lucian may have seen such a representation or heard of a
Gaulish myth of this kind, and as we shall see, an Irish god
Ogma, whose name is akin to that of Ogmios, was a divine
warrior and a god of poetry and speech. Ogma is called
INTRODUCTION
ii
grianainech (“sun-faced,” or “shining-faced”), perhaps a par-
allel to Lucian’s description of the face of Ogmios. The head of
Ogmios occurs on Gaulish coins, and from one of his eyes pro-
ceeds a ray or nail. This has suggested a parallel with the
Ulster hero Cuchulainn in his “distortion,” when the Ion laith
(? “champion’s light”) projected from his forehead thick and
long as a man’s fist. Another curious parallel occurs in the
Tain Bo Cualnge , or “Cattle-Spoil of Cualnge,” where, among
the Ulster forces, is a strong man with seven chains on his neck,
and seven men dragged along at the end of each, so that their
noses strike the ground, whereupon they reproach him. Is this
a distorted reminiscence of the myth of Ogmios ?
A British goddess Sul, equated with Minerva at Bath, is
mentioned by Solinus (third century a. d.) as presiding over
warm springs. In her temple perpetual fires burned and never
grew old, for where the fire wasted away it turned into shining
globes . 12 The latter statement is travellers’ gossip, but the
“eternal fires” recall the sacred fire of St. Brigit at Kildare,
tended by nineteen nuns in turn, a day at a time, and on the
twentieth by the dead saint herself. The fire was tabu to
males, who must not even breathe on it . 13 This breath tabu in
connexion with fire is found among Parsis, Brahmans, Slavs,
in Japan, and formerly in Rugen. The saint succeeded to the
myth or ritual of a goddess, the Irish Brigit, or the Brigindo
or Brigantia of Gaulish and British inscriptions, who was like-
wise equated with Minerva.
A tabued grove near Marseilles is mythically described by
Lucan, who wrote in the first century of our era, and doubtless
his account is based on local legends. The trees of the grove
were stained with the blood of sacrifices, and the hollow cav-
erns were heard to roar at the movement of the earth; the
yew trees bent down and rose again; flames burned but did not
consume the wood; dragons entwined surrounded the oaks.
Hence people were afraid to approach the sacred grove, and
the priest did not venture within its precincts at midnight or
12
-
INTRODUCTION
midday, lest the god should appear — “the destruction that
wasteth at noonday.” 14 In Galatia Artemis was thought to
wander with demons in the forest at midday, tormenting to
death those whom she met; while Diana in Autun was re-
garded as a midday demon who haunted cross-roads and for-
ests. Whether these divinities represent a Celtic goddess is
uncertain, and their fateful midday aspect may have been
suggested by the “midday demon” of the Septuagint version
of Psalm xc. 6. Both accounts occur in lives of saints.
Several references suggest that the gods punished the taking
of things dedicated to themselves, and therefore tabu to men.
Caesar says that this was a criminal action punished by torture
and death, 15 and Irish myth also discloses the disastrous results
of breach of tabu. The awe of the priest of the grove is par-
alleled by incidents of Celtic history. After the battle of Allia
in 390 b. c., where the Celts saw divine aid in the flight of the
Romans and stood awestruck before it, they were afraid of the
night. 16 After the battle of Delphi (279 b. c.) “madness from
a god” fell on them at night, and they attacked each other, no
longer recognizing each other’s speech. 17 Another fear based
on a myth is referred to in Classical sources, that of the future
cataclysm. The Celts did not dread earthquakes or high tides,
which, indeed, they attacked with weapons; but they feared
the fall of the sky and the day when fire and water must pre-
vail. An Irish vow perhaps refers to this: something would be
done if the sky with its showers of stars did not fall or the earth
burst or the sea submerge the world. Any untoward event
might be construed as the coming of this catastrophe or analo-
gous to it. How, then, was the sky meanwhile supported?
Perhaps on mountain-peaks like that near the source of the
Rhone, which the native population called “the column of the
sun,” and which was so lofty that it hid the northern sun from
the southern folk. 18 Gaidoz says that “the belief that the earth
rests on columns is the sole debris of ancient cosmogony of
which we know in Irish legends, but we have only the reflexion
INTRODUCTION
13
of it in a hymn and gloss of the Liber Hymnorum. In vaunting
the pre-eminence of two saints who were like great gods of old
Christian Ireland, Ultan says of Brigit that she was ‘half of
the colonnade of the kingdom (of the world) with Patrick the
eminent.’ The gloss is more explicit — ‘as there are two pillars
in the world, so are Brigit and Patrick in Ireland.’” 19 In some
of the romantic Irish voyages islands are seen resting on pillars,
and an echo of these myths is found in the Breton tradition that
the church at Kernitou stands on four columns, resting on a
congealed sea which will submerge the structure when it be-
comes liquid . 20
Divine help is often referred to in Irish myths, and a parallel
instance occurs in Justin’s allusion to the guidance of the
Segovesi by birds to the Danubian regions which they con-
quered . 21 Such myths are depicted on coins, on which a horse
appears led by a bird, which sometimes whispers in its ear.
Heroes were also inspired by birds to found towns. Birds were
objects of worship and divination with the Celts, and divinities
transformed themselves into the shape of birds, or birds formed
their symbols.
The birth of heroes from a god and a human mother occurs in
Irish myth. One Classical parallel to this is found in the ac-
count of the origin of the northern Gauls given by Diodorus.
They were descended from Hercules and the beautiful giant
daughter of the King of Celtica, and hence they were taller and
handsomer than other peoples . 22 This is perhaps the Greek
version of a native myth, which is echoed in the Irish tale of
the gigantic daughter of the king of Maidens’ Land and her
love for Fionn . 23 Again, when Diodorus speaks of Hercules as-
sembling his followers, advancing into Celtica, improving the
laws, and founding a city called Alesia, honoured ever since by
the Celts as the centre of their kingdom, he is probably giving
a native myth in terms of Greek mythology . 24 Some native
god or hero was concerned, and his story fitted that of Her-
cules, who became popular with the Celts.
14
INTRODUCTION
The Celts had beliefs resembling those of the Greeks and
Romans about incubi. Demons called dusii sought the couches
of women out of lust, a belief reported by sub-Classical authors.
The Classical evidence for Celtic belief in divine descent is also
furnished by the form of several proper names which have
been recorded, while lineage from a river or river-god is as-
sociated with the Belgic Viridomar . 25
A legend reported by Pliny concerns some natural product,
perhaps a fossil echinus , in explanation of the origin of which
this myth was current, or to it an existing serpent-myth had
been attached. Numerous serpents collected on a day in sum-
mer and, intertwining, formed a ball with the foam from their
bodies, after which their united hissings threw it into the air.
According to the Druids, he who would obtain it must catch it
on a mantle before it touched the ground and must escape
hastily, putting running water between himself and the pur-
suing serpents. The ball was used magically . 26
Classical observers cite vaguely some myths about the other-
world and they admired profoundly the Celtic belief in im-
mortality, which, if Lucan’s words are correct, was that of the
soul animating a new body there. Diodorus also affirms this,
though he compares it with the Pythagorean doctrine of trans-
migration ; 27 yet in the same passage he shows that the dead
passed to another world and were not reborn on earth. Irish
mythology tells us nothing about the world of the dead, though
it has much to say of a gods’ land or Elysium, to which the
living were sometimes invited by immortals. This Elysium
was in distant islands, in the hollow hills, or under the waters.
Plutarch, on the authority of Demetrius, who may have been a
Roman functionary in Britain, reports that round Britain are
many desert islands, named after gods and heroes. Demetrius
himself visited one island lying nearest these, inhabited by a
people whom the Britons regarded as sacred, and while he was
there, a storm arose with fiery bolts falling. This the people
explained as the passing away of one of the mighty, for when a
PLATE III
Gaulish Coins
1. Coin of the Senones, showing on one side two
animals opposed, and on the reverse a boar and a
wolf (?) opposed (cf. Plates II, n, XXIV).
2. Gaulish coin, with man-headed horse and bird,
and, below, a bull ensign (cf. Plates II, 3-5, 9, IX,
B, XIX, 1, 6, XX, B, XXI).
3. Coin of the Remi, showing squatting divinity
with a torque in the right hand (cf. Plates VIII, IX,
XXV), and on the reverse a boar and S-symbol or
snake.
4. Armorican coin, with horse and bird.
5. Coin of the Carnutes, with bull and bird.
6. Gaulish coin from Greek model, with boar.
7. Gaulish coin of the Senones, with animals
opposed.
INTRODUCTION
15
great soul died, the atmosphere was affected and pestilences
were caused. Demetrius does not say whither the soul went,
either to the islands or elsewhere, but islands named after gods
and heroes suggest the Irish divine Elysium, and this is con-
firmed by what Demetrius adds, and by what Plutarch reports
in another work. On one of the islands Kronos is imprisoned,
and Briareos keeps guard over him , 28 along with many deities
(Sadovas) who are his attendants and servants. What Celtic
divinities or heroes lurk under these names is unknown,
but the myth resembles traditions of Arthur in Avalon (Ely-
sium), or of Fionn or Arthur sleeping in a hollow hill, waiting
to start up at the hour of their country’s need. Elsewhere
Plutarch speaks of an island in which the barbarians say that
Kronos is imprisoned by Jupiter in a cavern. There Kronos
sleeps, fed by birds with ambrosia, while his son lies beside him
as if guarding him. The surrounding sea, clogged with earth, ap-
pears to be solid, and people go to the island, where they spend
thirteen years waiting on the god. Many remain, because there
is no toil or trouble there, and devote their time to sacrificing,
singing hymns, or studying legends and philosophy. The cli-
mate is exquisite, and the island is steeped in fragrance. Some-
times the god opposes their departure by appearing to them
along with those who minister to him, and these divine min-
istrants themselves prophesy or tell things which have been
revealed to them as dreams of Saturn when they visit his
cave. Plutarch’s alleged informant had waited on the god and
studied astrology and geometry, and before going to another
island he carried with him golden cups . 29 In this latter story
the supposed studies and ritual of the Druids are mingled with
some distorted tradition of Elysium, and the reference to cups
of gold carried from the island perhaps points to the myth of
things useful to man brought from the land of the gods . 30
The sixth century Byzantine historian Procopius has a
curious story about the island of “ Brittia,” which was divided
by a wall from north to south. West of the wall none could
i6
INTRODUCTION
live, so foul was the air, so many the vipers and evil beasts;
but in its inhabited part dwelt Angles, Frisians, and Britons.
The island lay between Britannia and Thule. Thule is prob-
ably Scandinavia; Britannia, which is, strictly speaking,
Britain, is confused with the region lying between Brittany
and the mouths of the Scheldt and Rhine. Brittia is Britain;
the wall is the Roman Wall, shown on Ptolemy’s map running
north and south at the present Scottish border, because Scot-
land was represented as lying at right angles to England. The
region beyond the wall, mountainous, forest-clad, and inac-
cessible, was easily conceived as a sinister place by those who
heard of it only vaguely. Procopius then says that on the coast
of the Continent fishermen and farmers are exempt from taxa-
tion because it is their duty to ferry souls over to Brittia, doing
this in turn. At midnight they hear a knocking at their door
and muffled voices calling; but when they reach the shore, they
see only empty boats, not their own. In these they set out and
presently perceive that the boats have become laden, the gun-
wale being close to the water; and within an hour Brittia is
reached, though ordinarily it would take a day and a night to
cross the sea. There the boats are invisibly unladen, and al-
though no one has been seen, a loud voice is heard asking
each soul his name and country . 31 The Roman poet Claudian,
writing toward the close of the fourth and the beginning of the
fifth century of our era, had perhaps heard such a story, though
he confuses it with that of Odysseus and the shades . 32 At the
extremity of the Gaulish coast is a place protected from the
tides, where Odysseus by sacrifice called up the shades. There
is heard the murmur of their complaint, and the inhabitants
see pale phantoms and dead forms flitting about . 33 This
strictly concerns the Homeric shades, for Classical testimony
to the Celtic other-world, as well as Irish stories of the return
of the dead, never suggests “pale phantoms.” Claudian may
have heard some story like that of Procopius, though it is by
no means certain that the latter is reporting a Celtic belief
INTRODUCTION
17
for other peoples than the Celts dwelt in his time opposite
Britain. Possibly, however, the Celts believed that the dead
went to distant islands. Even now the Bretons speak of the
“Bay of Souls” at Raz, at the extreme point of Armorica, while
folk-lore tells how the drowned are nightly conveyed by boat
from Cape Raz to the isle of Tevennec . 34 If the Celtic dead
went to an island, this may explain the title said by Pliny,
quoting Philemon (second century b. c.), to have been given
by the Cimbri to the northern sea, Morimarusam = Mortuum
Mare or possibly Mortuorum Mare (“ Sea of the Dead”) — the
sea which the dead crossed. The title may refer, however, to an
unchangeably calm sea, and such a sea has always been feared,
or to the ice-covered sea, which Strabo 35 regarded as an im-
passable spongy mixture of earth, water, and air. The sup-
posed Celtic belief in an island of the dead might also explain
why, according to Pliny, no animal or man beside the Gallic
ocean dies with a rising tide 36 — a belief still current in Brit-
tany; the dead could be carried away only by an outflowing
tide. But whether or not the Celts believed in such an island,
it is certain that no Irish story of the island Elysium connects
that with them, but associates it only with divine beings and
favoured mortals who were lured thither in their lifetime.
In Wales and Ireland, where Roman civilization was un-
known, mythology had a better chance of survival. Yet here,
as in Gaul, it was forced to contend with triumphant Chris-
tianity, which was generally hostile to paganism. Still, curi-
ously enough, Christian verity was less destructive of Celtic
myths than was Roman civilization, unless the Insular Celts
were more tenacious of myth than their Continental cousins.
Sooner or later the surviving myths, more often fragments than
finished entities, were written down; the bards and the filid
(learned poets) took pride in preserving the glories of their
race; and even learned Christian monks must have assisted in
keeping the old stories alive. Three factors, however, played
their part in corrupting and disintegrating the myths. The
i8
INTRODUCTION
first of these was the dislike of Christianity to transmit what-
ever directly preserved the memory of the old divinities. In
the surviving stories their divinity is not too closely descried;
they are made as human as possible, though they are still super-
human in power and deed; they are tolerated as a kind of
fairy-folk rather than as gods. Yet they are more than fairies
and they have none of the wretchedness of the decrepit, skin-
clad Zeus of Heine’s Gods in Exile. Side by side with this there
was another tendency, natural to a people who no longer wor-
shipped gods whose names were still more or less familiar.
They were regarded as kings and chiefs and were brought into
a genealogical scheme, while some myths were reduced to
annals of supposititious events. Myth was transmuted into
pseudo-history. This euhemerizing 37 process is found in all
decaying mythologies, but it is outstanding in that of the
ancient Irish. The third factor is the attempt of Christian
scribes to connect the mythical past and its characters with
persons and events of early Scriptural history.
These factors have obscured Irish divine legends, though
enough remains to show how rich and beautiful the mythology
had been. In the two heroic cycles — those of Cuchulainn
and Fionn respectively — the disturbance has been less, and
in these the Celtic magic and glamour are found. Some stories
of the gods escaped these destructive factors, and in them these
delectable traits are also apparent. They are romantic tales
rather than myths, though their mythical quality is obvious.
Two mythical strata exist, one older and purely pagan, in
which gods are immortal, though myth may occasionally have
spoken of their death; the other influenced by the annalistic
scheme and also by Christianity, in which, though the unlike-
ness of the gods to humankind is emphasized, yet they may be
overcome and killed by men. The literary class who rewrote
the myths had less simple ideals than even the Greek mythog-
raphers. They imagined some moving situations and majestic
episodes or borrowed these from the old myths, but they had
INTRODUCTION
19
little sense of proportion and were infected by a vicious rhetori-
cal verbosity and exaggeration. Many tales revel monoto-
nously in war and bloodshed, and the characters are spoiled by
excessive boastfulness. Yet in this later stratum the mytho-
poeic faculty is still at work, inasmuch as tales were written in
which heroes were brought into relation with the old divinities.
The main sources for the study of Irish mythology are the
documents contained in such great manuscripts as the Book
of Leinster and the Book of the Dun Cow ( Leabhar na hUidhre ), 38
written in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but based on
materials of older date. Later manuscripts also contain im-
portant stories. Floating tales and traditions, fairy- and folk-
lore, are also valuable, and much of this material has now been
published . 39
Among the British Celts, or those of them who escaped the
influence of Roman civilization, the mythological remains are
far less copious. Here, too, the euhemerizing process has been at
work, but much more has the element of romance affected the
old myths. They have become romantic tales arranged, as in
the Mabinogion, in definite groups, and the dramatis personae
are the ancient gods, though it is difficult to say whether the
incidents are myths transformed or are fresh romantic inven-
tions of a mythic kind. Still, the Welsh Mabinogion is of great
importance, as well as some parts of Arthurian romance, the
poems about Taliesin, and other fragments of Welsh literature.
The euhemerizing process is still more evident in those portions
of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History which tell of the names and
deeds of kings who were once gods.
Thus if materials for Irish and British mythology are copious,
they must be used with caution, for we cannot be certain that
any one story, however old, ever existed as such in the form of
a pagan myth. As the mountain-peaks of Ireland or Wales or
the Western Isles are often seen dimly through an enshrouding
mist, which now is dispersed in torn wisps, and now gathers
again, lending a more fantastic appearance to the shattered
20
INTRODUCTION
crags, so the gods and their doings are half-recorded and half-
hidden behind the mists of time and false history and romance.
Clear glimpses through this Celtic mist are rare. This is not to
be wondered at when we consider how much of the mythology
has been long forgotten, and how many hands have worked
upon the remainder. The stories are relics of a dead past, as
defaced and inexplicable as the battered monuments of the old
religion. Romancers, would-be historians, Christian opponents
of paganism, biographers of saints, ignorant yet half-believing
folk, have worked their will with them. Folk-tale incidents
have been wrought into the fabric, perhaps were originally
part of it. Gods figure as kings, heroes, saints, or fairies, and a
new mythical past has been created out of the debris of an older
mythology. There is little of the limpid clearness of the myths
of Hellas, and yet enough to delight those who, in our turbulent
modern life, turn a wistful eye upon the past.
-
To make matters worse, modern writers on Celtic tradition
have displayed a twofold tendency. They have resolved every
story into myths of sun, dawn, and darkness, every divinity or
hero into a sun-god or dawn-goddess or ruler of a dark world.
Or those with a touch of mysticism see traces of an esoteric
faith, of mysteries performed among the initiate. In mediaeval
Wales the “Druidic legend” — the idea of an esoteric wisdom
transmitted from old priests and philosophers — formed itself
among half-crazy enthusiasts and has been revived in our own
time by persons of a similar genus. Ireland and the West High-
lands have always been remarkably free of this nonsense,
though some Celts with a turn for agreeing with their interlocu-
tor seem to have persuaded at least one mystic that he was on
the track of esoteric beliefs and ritual there . 40 He did not know
his Celt! The truth is that the mediaeval and later Welsh
Druidists were themselves in the mythopceic stage — crude
Blakes or Swedenborgs — and invented stories of the creed of
the old Druids which had no place in it and are lacking in any
document of genuine antiquity, Welsh or Irish. This is true
PLATE IV
God with the Wheel
This deity, who carries S-symboIs as well as the
wheel, was probably a solar divinity (see p. 8; for
the wheel as a symbol cf. Plate II, i, 3, and for the
S-symbol Plates II, 2, 4, 7-9, 11, III, 3, XIX, 2-5).
The statue was found at Chatelet, Haute-Marne,
France.
INTRODUCTION
21
also of the modern “mythological” school. Not satisfied with
the beautiful or wild stories as they stand, they must mytholo-
gize them still further. Hence they have invented a pretty but
ineffectual mythology of their own, which they foist upon our
Celtic forefathers, who would have been mightily surprised to
hear of it. The Celts had clearly defined divinities of war, of
agriculture, of the chase, of poetry, of the other-world, and they
told romantic myths about them. But they did not make all
their goddesses dawn-maidens, or transform every hero into a
sun-god, or his twelve battles into the months of the solar year.
Nor is it likely that they had mystic theories of rebirth, if that
was a wide-spread Celtic belief; and existing examples of it
always concern gods and heroes, not mere mortals. They are
straightforward enough and show no esoteric mystic origin or
tendency, any more than do similar myths among savages, nor
do they set forth philosophic theories of retribution, such as were
evolved by Pythagorean and Indian philosophy. Modern inves-
tigators, themselves in the mythopoeic stage, easily reflect back
their ideas upon old Celtic tales. Just as little had the Celts an
esoteric monotheism or a secret mystery-cult; and such genu-
ine notices of their ancient religion or its priests as have reached
us know nothing of these things, which have been assumed to
exist by enthusiasts during the last two centuries.
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
CHAPTER I
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS
T HE annalistic account of the groups of people who succes-
sively came to Ireland, some to perish utterly, others to re-
main as colonists, represents the unscientific historian’s attempt
to explain the different races existing there in his time, or of
whom tradition spoke. He wrote, too, with an eye upon Biblical
story, and connected the descendants of the patriarchs with the
folk of Ireland. Three different groups of Noah’s lineage arrived
in successive waves. The first of these, headed by Noah’s grand-
daughter, Cessair, perished, with the exception of her husband.
Then came the Fomorians, descendants of Ham; and finally
the Nemedians, also of the stock of Noah, arrived. According
to one tradition, they, like Cessair’s people and another group
unconnected with Noah — the race of Partholan (Bartholo-
mew) — died to a man, although another legend says that they
returned to Spain, whence they had come. Spain figures
frequently in these annalistic stories, and a close connexion be-
tween it and Ireland is taken for granted. This may be a remi-
niscence of a link by way of trade between the two countries in
prehistoric days, of which, indeed, archaeology presents some
proof. Possibly, too, early Celtic colonists reached Ireland di-
rectly from Spain, rather than through Gaul and Britain.
Still another tradition makes Nemedian survivors wander over
the world, some of their descendants becoming the Britons,
while others returned to Ireland as a new colonizing group —
Firbolgs, Fir-Domnann, and Galioin. A third group of their
descendants who had learned magic came to Ireland — the
hi— 3
24
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
Tuatha De Danann. Finally the Milesians, the ancestors of
the Irish, arrived and conquered the Tuatha De Danann, as
these had defeated the Fomorians . 1
Little of this is actual history, but how much of it is invention,
and how much is based on mythic traditions floating down from
the past, is uncertain. What is certain is that the annalists,
partly as a result of the euhemerizing process, partly through
misunderstanding, mingled groups of gods with tribes or races
of men and regarded them as more or less human. These
various traditions are introductory to the story of the two
battles of Mag-Tured, enlarged from an earlier tale of a single
conflict. An interval of twenty-seven years elapsed between the
two battles, and they were fought in different parts of Ireland
bearing the same name, one in Mayo and the other in Sligo, the
first battle being fought against the Firbolgs, and the second
against the Fomorians, by the Tuatha De Danann.
Having reached Ireland, the Tuatha De Danann established
themselves at Mag-Rein in Connaught. The Firbolgs sent a
huge warrior, Sreng, to parley with them, and to him ap-
proached Bres, son of Elatha, of the Tuatha De Danann. The
warriors gazed long upon each other; then they mutually ad-
mired their weapons, and finally exchanged them, Bres receiv-
ing the heavy, broad-pointed spears of the Firbolg, and Sreng
the light, sharp-pointed lances of Bres. The demand of the in-
vaders was surrender of the half of Ireland, but to this the Fir-
bolgs would not agree. Meanwhile the Tuatha De Danann,
terrified at the heavy Firbolg spears, retreated to Mag-Tured,
Badb, Morrigan, and Macha, three of their women, producing
frogs, rain of fire, and streams of blood against the Firbolgs.
By mutual agreement an armistice was arranged for prepara-
tion, and some from each side even engaged in a hurling match.
Such were the tactics of the time! Each party prepared a heal-
ing well for the wounded, in which medicinal herbs were placed.
Dagda led the forces on the first day, when the Tuatha De
Danann were defeated; but under the command of Ogma,
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS
25
Midir, Bodb Dearg, Diancecht, Aengaba of Norway, Badb,
Macha, Morrigan, and Danann, they were successful on the
second day. On the third day Dagda again led, “for in me you
have an excellent god”; on the fourth day badba, bledlochtana,
and amaite aidgill (“furies,” “monsters,” “hags of doom”)
cried aloud, and their voices resounded in the rocks, waterfalls,
and hollows of the earth. Sreng severed the arm of Nuada,
king of the Tuatha De Danann; Bres was slain by Eochaid,
who, overpowered by thirst, sought water throughout Ireland,
but the wizards of the Tuatha De Danann hid all streams from
him, and he was slain. The Firbolgs, reduced to three hundred,
were still prepared to fight, but when the Tuatha De Danann
offered them peace and the province of Connaught, this was
accepted . 2
As we shall see, the Tuatha De Danann were gods, and their
strife against the Firbolgs, a non-Celtic group, is probably
based on a tradition of war between incoming Celts and abori-
gines. Meanwhile the Tuatha De Danann made alliance with
the Fomorians. Ethne, daughter of Balor, married Cian, son
of Diancecht, her son being the famous Lug. Nuada’s mutila-
tion prevented his continuing as King, for no maimed person
could reign; and the women insisted that the Fomorian Bres,
their adopted son, should receive the throne, since he was son
of Elatha, the Fomorian King. Eri, sister of Elatha, was
counted of the Tuatha De Danann, perhaps because their
mother was also of them, an instance of succession through the
female line; and this would account for Bres becoming King,
though these genealogies are doubtless inventions of the annal-
ists. Bres was son of Elatha and Eri. Such unions of brother
and sister (or half-sister) are common in mythology and were
not unknown in royal houses, e. g. in Egypt and Peru, as a
means of keeping the dynasty pure. One day Eri saw a silver
boat approaching. A noble warrior with golden locks stepped
ashore, clad in an embroidered mantle and wearing a jewelled
golden brooch, and five golden torques round his neck. He
26
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
carried two silvery pointed spears with bronze shafts, and a
golden-hilted sword inlaid with silver. Eri was so overcome by
his appearance that she easily surrendered to him and wept
bitterly when he rose to leave her. Then he drew from his
finger a golden ring and bade her not part with it save to one
whose finger it should fit. Elatha was his name, and she would
bear a son Eochaid Bres, or “the Beautiful.” At seven years
old Bres was as a boy of fourteen . 3
Bres was miserly and caused much murmuring among the
Tuatha De Danann. “Their knives were not greased by him;
and however often they visited him their breaths did not smell
of ale.” No poets, bards, or musicians were in his household,
and no champions proved their prowess, save Ogma, who had
the slavish daily task of carrying a load of fuel, two-thirds of
which were swept from him by the sea, because he was weak
through hunger . 4 Bres claimed the milk of all brown, hairless
cows, and when these proved to be few in number, he caused
the kine of Munster to pass through a fire of bracken so that
they might become hairless and brown , 6 this tale being possibly
connected with the ritual passing of cattle through fires at Bel-
tane (May-Day). Another version of the tale, however, makes
it less pleasant for Bres. He demanded a hundred men’s drink
from the milk of a hornless dun cow or a cow of some other
colour from every house in Ireland; but by the advice of Lug
and Findgoll, Nechtan, King of Munster, singed the kine in a
fire of fern and smeared them with a porridge of flax-seed.
Three hundred wooden cows with dark brown pails in lieu of
udders were made, and the pails were dipped in black bog-
stuff. When Bres inspected them, the bog-stuff was squeezed
out like milk; but since he was under geis , or tabu, to drink
whatever was milked, the result of his swallowing so much bog-
stuff was a gradual wasting away, until he died when traversing
Ireland to seek a cure. Stokes conjectures that Bres required
the milk of one-coloured cows as a means of removing his wife’s
barrenness . 6
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS
2 7
Another account of Bres’s death tells how Corpre the poet
came to his house. It was narrow, dark, and fireless, and for
food the guest received only three small unbuttered cakes.
Next morning, filled with a poet’s scorn, he chanted a satire:
“Without food quickly on a dish,
Without a cow’s milk whereon a calf grows,
Without a man’s abode under the gloom of night,
Without paying a company of story-tellers,
Let that be the condition of Bres.”
This was the first satire made in Ireland, but it had all the
effect which later belief attributed to satire, and Bres declined
from that hour. Surrendering his sovereignty and going to his
mother, he asked whence was his origin; and when she tried
the ring on his finger, she found that it fitted him. Bres and she
then went to the Fomorians’ land, where his father recognized
the ring and upbraided Bres for leaving the kingdom. Bres
acknowledged the injustice of his rule, but asked his father’s
help, whereupon Elatha sent him to Balor, grandson of Net,
the Fomorian war-god, and to Indech, who assembled a huge
force in order to impose their rule on the Tuatha De Danann . 7
Some curious incidents may be mentioned here. While Bres
ruled, the Fomorian Kings, Indech, Elatha, and TethYa, bound
tribute on Ireland and reduced some of the Tuatha De Danann
to servitude. The Fomorians had formerly exacted tribute of
the Nemedians, and it was collected by one of their women in
an iron vessel — fifty fills of corn and milk, of butter, and of
flour. This may be a memory of sacrifice. Ogma had to carry
fuel, and even Dagda was obliged to become a builder of raths,
or forts. In the house where he lived was a lampooner named
Cridenbel who demanded from him the three best bits of his
ration, and thus Dagda’s health suffered; but Oengus, Dagda’s
son, hearing of this*, gave him three gold coins to put into Cri-
denbel’s portion. These would cause his death, and Bres would
be told that Dagda had poisoned him. Then he must tell the
story to Bres, who would cause the lampooner’s stomach to be
28
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
opened; and if the gold were not found there, Dagda would
have to die. In the sequel Oengus advised Dagda to ask as
reward for his rath - building only a black-maned heifer; and
although this seemed weakness to Bres, the astuteness of Oen-
gus was seen when, after the second battle, the heifer’s lowing
brought to Dagda the cattle exacted by the Fomorians . 8
This mythical story of Bres’s sovereignty, and of the servi-
tude of beings who are gods, is probably parallel to other myths
of the temporary eclipse of deities, as when the Babylonian
high gods were afraid of Tiamat and her brood, or cowered in
terror before the flood. It may also represent an old nature
dualism — the apparent paralysis of gods of sunshine and
fruitfulness in the death and cold of winter; or it may hint at
some temporary defeat of Celtic invaders, which even their
gods seemed to share. Whatever the Fomorians be, their final
defeat was at hand.
When Bres retired, Nuada was again made King because his
hand was restored. Diancecht (a divinity of leechcraft), as-
sisted by Creidne, god of smith-work, made for him a silver
hand, but Miach, Diancecht’s son, not content with this, ob-
tained the mutilated hand and by means of such a spell as is
common to many races — “joint to joint, sinew to sinew” —
he set it to the stump, caused skin to grow, and restored the
hand. In another version he made a new arm with a swine-
herd’s arm-bone . 9 Through envy Diancecht struck Miach
four blows, three of which Miach healed, but the fourth was
fatal. His father buried him, and from his grave sprang as
many herbs as he had joints and sinews. Airmed, his sister,
separated them according to their properties, but Diancecht
confused them so that none might know their right values . 10
These incidents reflect beliefs about magico-medical skill, and
the last may be a myth of divine jealousy at man’s obtaining
knowledge. Nuada now made a feast for the gods, and as they
banqueted, a warrior, coming to the portal, bade the door-
keepers announce him as Lug, son of Cian, son of Diancecht,
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS
29
and of Ethne, Balor’s daughter. He was also known as samil-
danach (“possessing many arts”), and when asked what he
practised, he answered that he was a carpenter, only to hear
the door-keeper reply, “Already we have a carpenter.” In
succession he declared himself smith, champion, harper, hero,
poet, magician, leech, cup-bearer, and brazier, but the Tuatha
De Danann possessed each one of these. Lug, however, be-
cause he knew all these arts, gained entrance and among other
feats played the three magic harp-strains so often referred to
in Irish texts — sleep-strain, wail-strain, and laughter-strain,
which in turn caused slumber, mourning, and joy . 11
In another version of Lug’s coming, from The Children of
Tuirenn ( Aided Chlainne Tuirenn ), as he approached, “like the
setting sun was the splendour of his countenance,” and none
could gaze on it. His army was the fairy cavalcade from the
Land of Promise , 12 and with them were his foster-brothers,
Manannan’s sons. Lug rode Manannan’s steed, Enbarr,
fleet as the spring wind, and on whose back no rider could
be killed; he wore Manannan’s lorica which preserved from
wounds, his breastplate which no weapon could pierce, and his
sword, the wound of which none survived, while the strength
of all who faced it became weakness. When the Fomorians came
for tribute, Lug killed some of them, whereupon Balor’s wife,
Cethlionn, told him that this was their grandson and that it
had been prophesied that when he arrived, the power of the
Fomorians would depart. As Lug went to meet the Fomo-
rians, Bres was surprised that the sun seemed rising in the west,
but his Druids said that this was the radiance from the face of
Lug, who cast a spell on the cattle taken for tribute, so that they
returned to the Tuatha De Danann. When his fairy cavalcade
arrived, Bres begged his life on condition of bringing over the
Fomorians, while he offered sun, moon, sea, and land as guar-
antees that he would not again fight; and to this Lug agreed.
The guarantee points to an animistic view of nature, for it
means that sun, etc., would punish Bres if he was unfaithful . 13
30
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
To return to the other account, Nuada gave Lug his throne,
and for a year the gods remained in council, consulting the wiz-
ards, leeches, and smiths. Mathgen the wizard announced
that the mountains would aid them and that he would cast
them on the Fomorians; the cup-bearer said that through his
power the Fomorians would find no water in lough or river;
Figol the Druid promised to rain showers of fire on the foe and
to remove from them two-thirds of their might, while increase
of strength would come to the Tuatha De Danann, who would
not be weary if they fought seven years; Dagda said that he
would do more than all the others together. For seven years
weapons were prepared under the charge of Lug . 14
At this point comes the episode of Dagda’s assignation with
the war-goddess Morrigan, who was washing in a river, one
foot at Echumech in the north, the other at Loscuinn in the
south. This enormous size is a token of divinity in Celtic
myths, and the place where Dagda and Morrigan met was now
known as “the couple’s bed.” She bade him summon the men
of knowledge and to them she gave two handfuls of the blood
of Indech’s heart, of which she had deprived him, as well as
valour from his kidneys. These men now chanted spells
against the Fomorians — a practice invariably preceding
battle among the Celts . 15
-
Another incident shows that the Celts, like other races, could
recount irreverent stories about their gods. Dagda had been
sent to spy out the Fomorians’ camp and to ask a truce. Much
porridge was made for him, boiled with goats, sheep, and
swine, and the mess being poured into a hole in the ground, he
was bidden to eat it under pain of death. Taking a ladle big
enough for a man and woman to lie in, he began his meal and
ate it all, after which sleep overcame him, and the Fomorians
mocked his distended paunch. When he rose, uneasy was his
movement, but he bravely bore his huge branched fork or club,
dragging it till its track was like a boundary-ditch, so that men
call that “the track of Dagda’s club.” An obscene story fol-
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS 31
lows regarding his amour with Indech’s daughter, who agreed
to practise magic against her father’s army. 16
Before the battle each chief promised Lug prodigies of val-
our, craftsmanship, or magic — weapons, and armour in unfail-
ing abundance, enfeeblement and destruction of the enemy,
the power of satire upon them, magical healing of wounded or
slain. Lug’s two witches said, “We will enchant the trees and
the stones and the sods of the earth so that they shall become
a host under arms against the foe”; but Lug was prevented
from going to the fray, because “they feared an early death for
the hero owing to the multitude of his arts.” Preliminary com-
bats occurred in which the superior magic of the Tuatha De
Danann was apparent. Weapons were restored or new ones
made in a twinkling by Goibniu, Luchtine, and Creidne.
Goibniu (cf. Old Irish goba, “smith”) had promised that though
the battle lasted seven years, he would replace every broken
sword or spear-head; no spear-head forged by him would miss,
and none whom it pierced would continue in life. He kept his
promise, making weapons by three turns in his forge, and re-
newed the blunted or broken instruments of war. Elsewhere we
learn that Goibniu’s immortal ale, like nectar and soma, made
the divinities immortal, 17 so that he is the equivalent of the
Greek Hephaistos, god of craftsmen, who poured out nectar
for the gods at their banquet, and of the Vedic deity Tvastr,
who made the cup from which the gods drank. 18 Why divine
smiths should be associated with the drink of the gods is not
clear, but probably we have here different forms of a myth
common to the Indo-European peoples. Goibniu is still re-
membered in Irish folk-tales.
Creidne, the cerd, or brazier, promised to supply rivets for
the spears, hilts for the swords, and bosses and rims for the
shields; he made the rivets in three turns and cast the rings to
them. Creidne, whom euhemerizing tradition described as hav-
ing been drowned while bringing golden ore from Spain to
Ireland, may be compared with Len Linfiaclach, cerd of the
32
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
god Bodb, who lived in Loch Lein, making the bright vessels
of Fand, daughter of Flidais. Every evening he threw his
anvil eastward as far as a grave-mound at Indeoin na nDese
and it in turn cast three showers toward the grave, of water,
of fire, and of purple gems . 19
Luchta the carpenter (saer) promised to supply all the shields
and javelin-shafts required for the battle. These shafts he
made with three chippings, the third completing them and set-
ting them in the rings of the spears, or he threw them with
marvellous accuracy at the sockets of the spear-heads stuck by
Goibniu in the door-lintels, this being precisely paralleled by
the art of Caoilte, the survivor of the Feinn . 20
The mortally wounded were placed in a well over which
Diancecht and his children sang spells, or into which he put
healing herbs; and thus they became whole . 21 The Fomorians
sent Ruadan, son of Bres and of Brig, daughter of Dagda,
to discover the reason of these things; and a second time he
was sent to kill one of the divine craftsmen. He obtained one
of the magic spears and wounded Goibniu, who slew Ruadan
and then entered the healing well, while Brig bewailed her
son with the first death-keen heard in Ireland. Here, as so
often, the origin of mourning chants and runes is ascribed to
divinities . 22
Before the battle Lug escaped from his guards and heart-
ened the host by circumambulating them on one foot with one
eye closed, chanting a spell for their protection — the attitude
of the savage medicine-man, probably signifying concentra-
tion. Then came the clash of battle, “gory, shivering, crowded,
sanguineous, the river ran in corpses of foes.” Nuada and Ma-
cha were slain by Balor, who possessed an evil eye, or was a
personification of the evil eye, so much feared by the Celts.
Once when his father’s Druids were concocting magic potions,
the fumes gave his eye poisonous power, and his eyelid was
raised by four men, but only on the battle-field, where no army
could resist it. When Lug appeared, Balor desired it to be
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS
33
lifted, but Lug cast a stone at the eye, so that it was carried
through his head, blasting some of his own men . 23 In a ballad
account of this, Balor was beheaded by Lug, but asked him to
set the head upon his own and earn his blessing. Fortunately
for himself, however, Lug set it on a hazel, and it dropped
poison which split the hazel in two. The tree became the abode
of vultures and ravens for many years, until Manannan caused
it to be dug up, when a poisonous vapour from its roots killed
and wounded many of the workmen. Of the wood Luchta
made a shield for Manannan, which became one of the famous
shields of Erin. It could not be touched in battle and it always
caused utter rout. Finally it became Fionn’s shield . 24
The war-goddess Morrigan sang a magic rune to hearten
the host, and the battle became a rout for the Fomorians,
though not before Ogma and Indech had fallen in single com-
bat. Bres was found unguarded by Lug and others, and made
three offers for his life; but two of these — that Ireland’s kine
should always be in milk, and that corn would be reaped every
quarter — were rejected. Life was offered him, however, if he
would tell how the men of Erin should plough, sow, and reap;
and when Bres said that these things should always be done on
a Tuesday, he was set free . 25 In another account four Fomorians
escaped, ruining corn, milk, fruit, and sea produce; but on
November Eve (Samhain) they were expelled by Bodb, Midir,
Oengus, and the Morrigan, so that never more should their dep-
redations occur . 26 This points to the conception of the Fomo-
rians as powers of blight; that of Bres suggests rather that they
were pre-Celtic gods of fertility.
Two curious incidents, revealing the magic powers of weap-
ons, which were worshipped by the Celts, and of musical instru-
ments, occur here. Ogma captured the sword of the war-god
Tethra, and when unsheathed it told the deeds it had done,
as was the custom with swords in those days, for, as the Chris-
tian compiler adds, “the reason why demons spake from weap-
ons was because weapons were then worshipped and acted as
34
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
safe-guards.” The other incident tells how Dagda’s harp was
carried off and was found by Lug, Ogma, and Dagda in the
house where Bres and his friends were. No melody would sound
from it until Dagda uttered a charm; but then the harp came
to him, killing nine men on its way, after which he played the
three magic strains of sleep, mourning, and laughter. 27 This
harp resembles that of Teirtu in the Welsh tale of Kulhwch
and 0 liven, which played or stopped playing of itself when so
desired. 28
Thus the Tuatha De Danann conquered, and the Morrigan
proclaimed the victory to the royal heights of Ireland, its hosts
of the side, its chief waters, and its river-mouths — a reminis-
cence of the animistic view or the personalization of nature.
Then she sang of the world’s end and of the evils to come —
one of the few eschatological references in Irish mythology,
though it is most likely of Christian origin. 29
This curious story is undoubtedly based on old myths of
divine wars, but what these denoted is uncertain. Both Tuatha
De Danann and Fomorians are superhuman. Vaguely we dis-
cern behind the legend a strife of anthropomorphic figures of
summer, light, growth, and order, with powers of winter, dark-
ness, blight, and disorder. Such powers agree but ill. There
is strife between them, as, to the untutored eye, there is strife
in the parts of nature for which they stand; and this apparent
dualism is reflected on the life of the beings who represent the
powers of nature. All mythologies echo the strife. The Baby-
lonian Marduk and the gods battle with Tiamat and her brood;
gods and Titans (or Jotuns), Re‘ and ‘Apop, fight, and those
hostile to gods of light and growth, gods dear to man’s heart,
are represented in demoniac guise. If Tuatha De Danann and
Fomorians were both divine but hostile groups of the Irish
Celts, the sinister character of the latter would not be for-
gotten by the annalists, who regarded both with puzzled eyes
and sought vainly to envisage them as mortals. Or, again, the
two may be hostile sets of deities, because divinities respec-
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS
35
tively of Celts and aborigines. The Fomorians are, in fact, called
gods of the menial Firbolgs, who are undoubtedly an aborig-
inal race, while Fomorians are described in later Christian
times as ungracious and demoniac, unlike the Tuatha De
Danann; and the pagan Celts must already have regarded them
as evil. The gods of a conquering race are often regarded as
hostile to those of the aborigines, and vice versa , and now new
myths arise. In either case the close relationship in which the
groups stand by marriage or descent need not be an invention
of the compiler. Pagan mythology is inconsistent, and com-
promise is inevitable. Conquerors and conquered tend to
coalesce, and this is true of their gods; or, as different tribes of
one race now intermarry, now fight, so also may their evil and
their friendly divinities. Zeus was son of the Titan Kronos,
yet hostile to him. Vile, Ve, and Odin, father of the gods, were
sons of a giant, and the gods fought with giants. Other paral-
lels might be cited; but what is certain is that gods of an
orderly world — of growth, craftsmanship, medicine, poetry,
and eloquence, if also of magic and war — are opposed to
beings envisaged, on the whole, as harmful. In this combat
some of the gods are slain. If this were told of them in the old
myths, probably it did not affect the continuance of their cult.
Pagan gods are mortal and immortal; their life is a perennial
drama, which ever begins and ends, and is ever being renewed
— a reflexion of the life of nature itself.
In another story the strife of powers of light and growth with
those of darkness and blight is suggested, though the latter are
euhemeristically described as mortals. Three men came from
Athens with their mother Carman — Valiant, Black, and Evil,
sons of Extinction, who was son of Darkness, and he son of Ail-
ment. By her incantations Carman ruined every place where
she came, while her sons destroyed through plundering and dis-
honesty. They came to Ireland to blight the corn of the Tuatha
De Danann, who sent against them Ai, a poet, Cridenbel the
lampooner, Lugh Laebach, a wizard, and Bechuille, a witch,
36
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
some of whom have already played a part in the story of Mag-
Tured. By spells they drove the men oversea, but not until
they gave the Seven Things which they served as security that
they would not return, and left their mother as a hostage. She
died of grief, begging the gods to hold an annual festival at her
burial-place and to call it by her name; and as long as they
kept it the Leinstermen were promised plenty of corn, fruit,
milk, and fish . 30 No explanation is given as to what the
mysterious “ Seven Things ” were.
In other tales groups of gods are seen at strife with each other
and in their conflict they were sometimes not too mighty to
seek the help of heroes. An example of this occurs in the story
of Cuchulainn’s visit to Elysium. In spite of the prowess of the
god Labraid, sung by the goddesses Fand and Liban, the time
has come when he must give battle to supernatural foes —
Senach the Unearthly, Eochaid, Eol, and Eogan the Stream,
the last mentioned in the Book of Invasions ( Leabhar Gabala) as
hostile to the Tuatha De Danann . 31 These were united, appar-
ently, with Manannan, whose consort Fand, Labraid’s sister,
had left him . 32 Labraid was afraid, for the contest would be of
doubtful issue. Glad indeed would he be of the hero Cuchu-
lainn’s aid, and for that assistance he was willing to give him
his sister Fand. When Cuchulainn arrived in the gods’ domain
and was welcomed by Labraid, they gazed on the vast armies of
the foe, while two ravens, skilled in Druidic secrets, announced
the hero’s presence to the hosts. Next morning Eochaid went
to wash at a stream, when Cuchulainn slew him; and a great
fight followed between Cuchulainn and Senach, who also was
slain. Cuchulainn then put forth all his might, and so great
was the carnage that Labraid himself entreated him to end it;
and then Labraid sang:
“A mighty host, with multitudes of horses,
Attacked me on every side;
They were the people of Manannan, son of the sea,
Whom Eogan had called to his aid.”
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS
37
Another instance occurs in the story of Loegaire, son of the
King of Connaught. The people of Connaught were met in
assembly near the Loch of the Birds in the plain of Ai, when a
stranger approached them through the mist which rose from
the lake. He wore a purple cloak, and his yellow hair fell upon
his shoulders. A golden-hilted sword hung at his side; in his
right hand he carried a five-pointed spear, and on his left arm
a shield with a golden boss. Loegaire welcomed him, and he
told how he had come from the gods’ land to seek the aid of
warriors. Fiachna was his name, and he had slain his wife’s
ravisher, but had been attacked by his nephew, Goll, son of the
king of the fort of Mag Mell, and in seven battles had been
vanquished, so that in view of a new conflict he had come for
succour. He sang of the beauty of the land and of the bloody
combats fought there among the people of majestic race, and
how silver and gold awaited those who would help him. Beau-
tiful were the divine warriors, with blue eyes of powerful sight,
teeth brilliant as glass, and red lips. Mighty in conflict, in
their assemblies they sang in melodious verse of learned mat-
ters . 33 Fiachna disappeared into the lake, and now Loegaire
appealed to his men. Fifty warriors plunged with him into the
water and in the divine land under the loch joined Fiachna
against his foe, besieging the fort of Mag Mell, where his wife
was a prisoner. The defenders released her, and she followed
the vanquishers, singing of her love for Goll. Fiachna gave
his daughter, Sun Tear, to Loegaire, and each of his men also
received a wife. For a year they remained in the divine land,
until they became home-sick; and as they left him Fiachna
bade them mount on horseback and not alight on the earth if
they wished to return to him. The people of Connaught re-
joiced to see them again, for sorely had they mourned them,
but now Loegaire announced their return to the gods’ land,
nor would he remain, although his father offered him the king-
dom, its gold, and its women. The unmoved son sang of the
divine land, where beer fell in showers, and every army was of
38
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
a hundred thousand warriors, while as one went from kingdom
to kingdom, the melodious music of the gods was heard. He
told of his goddess wife and those of his comrades and of the
cauldrons and drinking-horns taken from the fort; for one
night of the nights of the sid he would not accept his father’s
kingdom. With these words he quitted the king for ever and
returned to Mag Mell, there to share the sovereignty with
Fiachna — a noble divine reward to a mortal . 34 In the heroic
cycle of Fionn other instances of heroes helping gods will be
found.
War between different divine groups is also found in the
story of Caibell and Etar, Kings of the side (divine or fairy-
folk), each of whom had a beautiful daughter. Two Kings who
sought the maidens in marriage were offered battle for them.
If, however, the combat was fought in the sid, the sid would be
polluted — an idea contrary to that of these other instances of
war in the gods’ land; and if the sid - folk were seen among
men, they would no longer be invisible at will. The fight,
therefore, took place at night, lest there should be no distinc-
tion between them and men; and the side took the form of deer.
So terrible was the struggle that four hillocks were made of the
hoofs and antlers of the slain; and to quell it, water broke
forth from a well and formed Loch Riach, into which if white
sheep are cast every seventh year at the proper hour, they
become crimson. Etar alone of the kings survived . 35
The Christian scribes were puzzled over the Tuatha De
Danann. The earliest reference to them says that because of
their knowledge they were banished from heaven, arriving in
Ireland in clouds and mists — the smoke of their burning ships,
says an euhemerizing tradition. Eochaid ua Flainn, in the tenth
century, calls them “phantoms” ( siabhra ) and asks whether
they came from heaven or earth; were they demons or men.
They were affiliated to Japhet, yet regarded as demons in the
Book of Invasions. Another tradition makes them a branch
of the descendants of Nemed who, after being in the Northern
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS
39
isles learning wizardry, returned to Ireland. The annalists
treated them more or less as men; official Christianity more or
less as demons; popular belief and romance as a kind of beau-
tiful fairy race with much of their old divine aspect.
-
D’Arbois translates Tuatha De Danann as “people of the
god whose mother is called Danu ”; 36 Stokes renders it “folk
or folks of the goddess Danu ” ; 37 Stern prefers to regard Danann
as a later addition and to take the earlier name as Tuatha De or
Fir Dea — “the divine tribe,” or “the men of the god.” 38
Three insignificant members of the group, Brian, Iuchar, and
Iucharba, are sometimes called “three gods of Danu”; and
hence also, perhaps, the whole group is designated “men of
the three gods.” Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba are also termed
tri dee dana , or “three gods of dan” i. e. “knowledge,” or
“fate.” Danand (Danu) is mentioned with Bechuille as a
separate goddess, and both are called foster-mothers of the
gods. Cormac’s Glossary knows nothing of Danu, but speaks
of a goddess Anu, mater deorum hibernensium — “ It was well she
nursed the gods” — while he refers to two hills in Kerry as “the
paps of Anu,” which a later glossary calls “the paps of Danu.”
Ireland is called lath n’Anann, and Anu is mentioned with
Macha, Morrigan, and Badb, the war-goddesses, though other
passages give Danu along with these. Possibly Danu is a mis-
take for Anu, through confusion with dan, “knowledge,”
knowledge as a function of Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba being
personified as Danu, so that they would then be called gods or
sons of Danu, though they were actually sons of Brigit. As
Stern points out, Danu can scarcely be mother of the whole
group, since she herself is daughter of Delbaeth, who was
brother of Dagda, Ogma, Bres, etc. If Anu was mother of the
group, the likeness of her name to Danu would also lead to the
mistake; and Anu as goddess is perhaps a personification of
Ireland, a kind of earth mother. On the whole, the general
relationship of the euhemerized gods evolved by the annalists
is as mythical as the pagan stories themselves.
hi— 4
40
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
In the story of The Children of Tuirenn Brian, Iuchar, and
Iucharba are sons of Tuirenn, son of Ogma. One day Cian, at
enmity with them, saw them approaching. Striking himself
with a Druidic wand, he became a pig, but Brian noticed this
and changed himself and his brothers into hounds which chased
and killed Cian with stones, because he said that weapons
would tell the deed to his son. They buried his body seven
times ere the earth ceased to reject it. Lug, Cian’s son, was
told of this deed by the earth, and he forced the children of
Tuirenn to bring many magical treasures, in getting which
danger was incurred. By their father’s advice they crossed the
sea in Manannan’s canoe and succeeded in obtaining the treas-
ures, but now had to give “three shouts on Cnoc Miodh-
chaoin,” a hill on which Miodhchaoin and his sons prohibited
all shouting. Here, then, they were wounded by these men,
and their father asked Lug for the magic pig’s skin which
healed all wounds. He refused it, even when Brian was carried
before him, and thus the murderers perished miserably . 39
Most of the names of the chief gods have already been men-
tioned — Dagda or Eochaid Ollathair, who in one place is called
an “earth god” to the Tuatha De Danann, and also their
“god of wizardry” — probably a deity of fruitfulness and fer-
tility; Oengus; Nuada; Ogma, god of poetry; Goibniu, god of
smiths; Creidne, of braziers; Diancecht, of medicine; Manan-
nan, son of Ler; Midir; Bodb Dearg; Lug, perhaps a sun-god;
and other lesser divinities. Of goddesses there are Anu or Danu ;
Brigit, goddess of poetry and primitive culture; Etain; and the
war-goddesses — Morrigan, Macha, and Neman, while Badb
constitutes a fourth or sometimes takes the place of one of the
triple group. The Tuatha De Danann had power over agri-
culture and cattle, but they had other functions, while all of
them had great magic potency. Unfortunately few myths
about these functions exist, and their precise nature must be
matter of conjecture. The mythico-magical nature of the
gods’ possessions survives even in records which regard them
• - - • . -
?
r’ '/? i • I.. ,J. • ? •-.!
? ' ; ? i-ii- • ' ;/ [ ?
' - . / '• -.'I Jjpl.n ..
.
'
’
.
PLATE V
Smertullos
This deity is perhaps a god of the underworld,
particularly as the serpent is a chthonian creature.
See p. 158. From an altar found at Notre Dame,
Paris. For other Celtic deities of Elysium see
Plates VII-IX, XII-XIV, XVI, XXV-XXVI.
THE STRIFE OF THE GODS
41
as mortals. The preface to the story of the battle of Mag-Tured
tells how from Falias was brought the stone of Fal, which
roared under every king who would assume the sovereignty.
From Gorias was brought Lug’s spear; no battle was ever won
against it or against him who bore it. From Findias came
Nuada’s sword, which none could escape when it was drawn.
From Murias came Dagda’s cauldron, from which no com-
pany ever went away unthankful . 40 Their magic food and
other possessions will be mentioned later. Some things of
which no myths remain are said to have been in the Brug na
Boinne — the bed of Dagda, the two paps of Morrigan, the
comb and casket of Dagda’s wife (i. e. two hills), the stone wall
of Oengus, the shot of Midir’s eye, and the like.
CHAPTER II
TUATHA DE DANANN AND MILESIANS
T HE annalistic account of the conquest of the Tuatha De
Danann by the Milesians cannot conceal the divinity of
the former nor the persistence of the belief in Druidic magic
and supernatural power. M. d’Arbois has shown that the
scheme which makes the Tuatha De Danann masters of Ire-
land for one hundred and sixty-nine years until the Milesians
came is the invention of Gilla Coemain, who died in 1072.
The Book of Invasions adopted it, and it assumes that the gods
reigned in succession as kings until 1700 b. c. Even in Gilla
Coemain’s time, however, this scheme was not always ac-
cepted, for Tigernach in his Annals knows no historic Irish date
before 305 b. c., while current tales showed that the gods were
still alive at a much later date, e. g. in the time of Conchobar
and Cuchulainn, alleged Irish contemporaries of Christ. 1
When the Milesians arrived, three Kings of the Tuatha De
Danann ruled — MacCuill (“Son of the Hazel”), MacCecht
(“Son of the Plough”), and MacGreine (“Son of the Sun”),
married respectively to Banba, Fotla, and Eriu, whose names
are ancient names of Ireland, the last still surviving as “Erin.”
Were these old eponymous goddesses, from whom parts of
Ireland were supposed to have taken their names, or were they
inventions of the annalists, derived from titles given to the
country? The former is suggested by an incident in the story.
The three Kings may have been gods of nature and agriculture,
and in fighting the Milesians they were respectively slain by
Eber, Airem (“Ploughman”), and Amairgen, singer of spells
and giver of judgements. The Milesians were descendants of a
TUATHA DE DANANN AND MILESIANS 43
Scythian noble expelled from Egypt, who came to Spain, where
his descendant Bregon built a tower and was father or grand-
father of Mile, whose father is sometimes called Bile. Another
son, Ith, gazing one evening from the tower, saw the coast of
Ireland. With ninety followers he sailed thither and was wel-
comed by the Kings, who begged him to settle a dispute. Very
different was his fate from that of folk-tale heroes called in to
adjust quarrels. While bidding the Kings act according to jus-
tice, he so praised the fertility of the land that they suspected
him of designs upon it and slew him. His followers carried
his body to Spain, and the chiefs of the Milesians, resolving
to avenge him, sailed to Ireland, but the Tuatha De Danann
made a magic mist, so that the island appeared like a hog’s
back — hence its name Muic-Inis, or “Pig Island.” At last
they landed, and the poet Amairgen, son of Mile, sang: —
“I am a wind at sea,
I am a wave of the sea,
I am a roaring of the sea,
I am an ox in strength,
I am a bird of prey on a cliff,
I am a ray of the sun,
I am an intelligent navigator,
I am a boar of fierceness,
I am a lake on a plain,
I am an effective artist,
I am a giant with a sharp sword hewing down an army,” etc . 2
Some see in this a species of Celtic pantheism, but if so it is
pantheism of a curious kind, for it is, rather, the vain-glorious
bombast of the Celt, to which there are parallels in Welsh
poems, where Taliesin speaks of the successive forms which
he has assumed. The comparison should not be made with the
pantheism of the Irishman Erigena, but with the bragging
utterances of savage medicine-men.
The Milesians met in succession Banba, Fotla, and Eriu,
each of whom asked that they would call the isle after her
name. The Kings then begged an armistice, ostensibly to dis-
44
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
cuss the question of battle or capitulation, but really in order
to give their Druids time to prepare incantations; while they
agreed to accept the judgement of Amairgen, save that, if it
were false, he must die. Amairgen then told the Milesians that
they must embark for the magic distance of nine waves; and
if they succeeded in returning, the land would be theirs. This
was the first judgement ever given in Ireland. The Milesians
now returned to their ships, but no sooner had they gained the
desired distance than the Druids and poets of the gods raised a
storm. Eber recognized it as a Druidic storm, which did not
rage beyond the top of the masts; and Amairgen now invoked
the aid of the natural features of Erin — an archaic animistic
rune, embedded in the later story, and one which preserves a
primitive stage of thought:
“I invoke thee, Erin,
Brilliant, brilliant sea,
Fertile, fertile hill,
Wood with valleys,
Flowing, flowing stream,” etc.
Now the storm ceased, and Eber joyfully boasted that he
would strike the people of Erin with spear and sword; but that
moment the tempest burst forth again, scattering and wreck-
ing the ships, and drowning many. The survivors landed at the
Boyne and gave battle to the Tuatha De Danann. The three
queens are said to have created a magic army which was a
delusion to the Milesians , 3 as Lug’s witches had done to the
Fomorians; but in spite of this the Tuatha De Danann were
defeated.
“We boldly gave battle
To the sprites ( siabhra ) of the isle of Banba,
Of which ten hundred fell together
By us, of the Tuatha De Danann.”
At another conflict a further rout took place, in which the
three Kings and Queens were slain; and it was now that the
survivors of the Tuatha De Danann took refuge in the under-
ground sid, the Milesians remaining masters of Ireland . 4
TUATHA DE DANANN AND MILESIANS 45
On whatever this account is based, it is not itself an ancient
pagan myth, for gods worshipped by men are not defeated by
them or by their supposititious ancestors. By the annalists,
real races, imaginary races, and divine groups were regarded
more or less from one standpoint; all were human and might
be made to fight each other. Next came the question — How
were the old gods abandoned, and why had they been, or were
even now, supposed popularly to live in the sid? It was known
that the Christianized tribes had forsaken the gods, though
these had come to be regarded by them as a kind of fairy race
living out of sight, to whom in time of need and sub rosa they
might appeal. Obviously, then, Christianity must have caused
their defeat. To this idea we may trace one source of the ac-
count just summarized. It is, in effect, what is said in the
Colloquy with the Ancients ( Acallamh na Senorach ), in which,
regardless of the annalistic scheme, the gods are powerful long
after their supposed defeat. Caoilte, survivor of the Feinn into
the days of St. Patrick, says that soon the Tuatha De Danann
will be reduced in power, for the saint “will relegate them to
the foreheads of hills and rocks, unless that now and again
thou see some poor one of them appear as transiently he re-
visits the earth,” i. e. the haunts of men. 5 Hence, perhaps, the
Colloquy elsewhere represents them as possessing not so much
land as will support themselves. 6 In St. Patrick’s Life this
victory is dramatically represented. He went to Mag Slecht,
where stood an image of Cenn Cruaich (“Head of the Mound”),
covered with gold and silver, and twelve others covered with
bronze. The chief image bowed downward when he raised his
crozier, and the earth swallowed the others, while their in-
dwelling demons, cursed by the saint, fled to the hill.
Why, then, was the defeat ascribed to the Milesians? Of
the different hostile Celtic groups dwelling in different parts of
Ireland, two at last became pre-eminent shortly before St. Pat-
rick’s time, governed by great dynastic families and reigning
respectively at Cashel and Tara. It was for their aggran-
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
46
dizement that the legend of descent from Mile and his ances-
tors was invented; but as the gods had come to be regarded as
a powerful race who had conquered earlier races in Ireland,
so it became necessary to show that the Milesians had over-
come them. This pushed the Milesians back to remote anti-
quity and showed that they had been masters of Ireland since
1700 b.c., while the Tuatha De Danann, whose power had
passed at the coming of Christianity, were now alleged to have
been conquered by them. Thus the central theory of those
mediaeval reconstructors of Irish history was “that Ireland
had been subjected to the Milesian race for ages before the
Christian era.” Later, the Ulster heroes were brought into
relationship with Mile, as at last were all the Irish aristocracy. 7
Mile (Latin miles , “soldier”) and Bile are men of straw
with no place in the older mythology, and hence the attempts
of Rhys and d’Arbois to equate Bile with Balor and with a
Celtic Dispater, as god of death and ancestor of the Celts, are
nothing but modern mythologizing. The account of the con-
quest doubtless made use of earlier conceptions of supernatural
power and magic, while still apt to consider the Tuatha De
Danann as somehow different from men ( siabhra , “sprites”),
this being the popular view and also current in literary tales
embodying older myths. The gods were a superhuman race,
the side , helping men on occasion; and this influenced the
official view, for euhemeristic documents tell how, after their
defeat, the Tuatha De Danann retired to subterranean pal-
aces, emerging now and then to help or to harm mortals. Even
the Milesians were not yet free of their power, especially that
of Dagda. Their corn and milk were being destroyed by the
Tuatha De Danann, and to prevent this in future they made
friends with Dagda, so that now these things were spared to
them. 8 This story seems to be the late form of the earlier
mythic idea that corn and milk depend on the gods, who, when
offended by men, withhold these gifts. They were also obtained
by sacrifice, e. g. by offerings of children and animal firstlings
TUATHA DE DANANN AND MILESIANS 47
to Cenn Cruaich; 9 and elsewhere we find that the Fomorians
exacted two-thirds of their corn and milk annually from the
Nemedians. 10 Perhaps there is here a mingling of the idea of
destruction by gods of blight with that of the withholding of
such gifts and with that of the offering of these things. A sur-
vival of such sacrifices occurs in the food and milk left out for
the fairies in Ireland and in the West Highlands.
The functions of some of the divinities as controllers of fer-
tility are suggested by references of this character, as well as
by the symbols on Gaulish monuments; and some folk-lore
collected by Mr. D. Fitzgerald in Limerick shows how the mem-
ory of these functions vaguely persisted under a romantic dress.
Cnoc Aine ( Knockainy , or “ Aine’s Hill”) has always been con-
sidered the dwelling of Aine, queen of the fairies of South Mun-
ster and daughter of Eogabal, of the Tuatha De Danann. Aine,
“the best-hearted woman that ever lived,” is still seen in Loch
Guirr or on Cnoc Aine. She married Lord Desmond after he
had captured her — the usual fairy bride incident — and bore
him a son. Both she and the son left him, but appeared from
time to time afterward, the son becoming Earl of Desmond in
due course. Once he spoke to his mother about the barrenness
of the hill, and next morning it was planted with pease set by
her at night — a significant hint of her functions. Remnants
of the agricultural ritual survived into last century in the form
of a procession round the hill on St. John’s Eve with clears —
bunches of straw tied on poles and lit, these being afterward
carried through fields and cattle to bring luck to both. One
year this was neglected, but a mysterious procession, with clears,
headed by Aine, was seen on the hill. On another occasion girls
who had remained after the usual procession had gone met
Aine, who thanked them for the honour done to her but begged
them to depart as “ they wanted the hill to themselves,” “ they ”
being Aine’s retinue, seen by the girls through a ring which
she produced. 11 Aine was thus obviously associated with
fertility-rites.
4 8
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
It now remains to be seen how, according to the annalistic
account, after their defeat and retirement to the hollow hills
or sid, the gods divided these among themselves, while at the
same time one of their number acted as king.
CHAPTER III
THE DIVISION OF THE SID
C ELTIC deities may have been associated in pagan times
with hills and pre-historic tumuli, especially those near
the Boyne; and within these was the subterranean land of the
gods, who also dwelt on distant islands. If this were the case,
it would help to explain why mounds were regarded as the re-
treats of the Tuatha De Danann, and why they are still sup-
posed to emerge thence as a kind of fairies. If the folk believed
that the old gods had always been associated with mounds,
it was easy for the euhemeristic writers to evolve a legend of
their having retired there after being defeated by the Milesians.
Within these hills and mounds were their gorgeous palaces,
replete with all Elysian joys. These hollow hills were known as
si d, a word possibly cognate with Latin sedes, and hence per-
haps meaning “seats of the gods”; and their divine inhabit-
ants were the aes side, fir side, mna side, “the people [or “men”
or “women”] of the sid,” or simply “the side.” These are
everywhere regarded as the Tuatha De Danann or their de-
scendants. Men used to worship the side, says St. Fiacc’s
hymn, while the daughters of King Loegaire regarded St.
Patrick and his white-robed bishops as aes side, appearing on
earth . 1 In later times the side were held to be fairies and were
called by various names, but these fairies closely resemble
the earlier side, the Tuatha De Danann, while they are not
necessarily of small stature. In this they are very like the fees
of mediaeval French belief — romantic survivals of earlier
goddesses.
In some stories the side are associated both with the sid and
-
50 CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
with the island Elysium, these being regarded as synonymous
— the goddess with whom Connla elopes is of the aes side, yet
she comes from the island overseas. The confusion may be
due to the fact that the gods were supposed to have various
dwelling-places, not necessarily to the priority of one belief
over the other. On the other hand, the Mesca Ulad , or Intoxi-
cation of the Ulstermen , says that after their defeat the Tua-
tha De Danann went underground to speak with the side , 2
although this may be only the confused notion of an annalist
who knew of the side, yet regarded the Tuatha De Danann as
human.
The mingled romantico-annalistic view was that the Tuatha
De Danann retired to the sid. An early text, The Conquest of
the Sid (De Gabail int sida ), tells how Dagda apportioned the
sid among them, his son Oengus, who was absent, being omitted.
This story is clearly based upon an earlier myth which narrates
how the chief god divided their various spheres among the
divinities, as the Babylonian Marduk prepared the mansions
of the deities and made them inhabit these as their strongholds.
Of Dagda’s sid another document says:
“ Behold the sid before your eyes,
It is manifest to you that it is a king’s mansion
Which was built by the firm Dagda;
It was a wonder, a court, an admirable hill.” 3
This was the Brug na Boinne. Oengus Mac Ind 6c, or “Son
of the Young Ones,” viz. Dagda and Boann, was then with his
foster-father Midir, but soon claimed his abode as Esau did his
blessing. The claim, however, could not be granted, whereupon
Oengus asked to spend the night in Dagda’s palace, to which his
father agreed, granting him also the next day. When this had
elapsed, Oengus was bidden to go, but refused, because, time
being composed of day and night, his tenancy must be per-
petual. Thus Dagda was dispossessed; and the sid, passing to
Oengus, took his name, Brug Maic Ind 6c. 4
In another version of this story from the Book of Fermoy , in-
'
.
PLATE VI
A AND B
Plan of the Brug na Boinne
1. General view of the tumulus.
2. Cross-section of the mound.
3. Plan of the central chamber.
4. View of the stone-work of the Brug and its
entrance, after the removal of the earth.
5. General ground-plan of the Brug.
See also Plate I and cf. pp. 66-67, 1 76—77.
4
5
THE DIVISION OF THE SID
5i
fluenced by the view that some of the Tuatha De Danann had
died as mortals, Dagda has long since passed away, and the
mounds are places of sepulture, perhaps a reflection of the fact
that kings were interred there. Yet they are apportioned by the
chief survivors, Bodb Dearg and Manannan, the latter having
the task of selecting concealed dwellings. These he found in
beautiful hills and valleys, and drew round them an invisible
and impenetrable wall, though the Tuatha De Danann them-
selves could see and pass through it. He gave them Goibniu’s
ale, which preserved them from old age, disease, and death,
and his own swine, which, killed and eaten one day, were alive
the next and fit again for use. Thus even from this euhemeris-
tic narrative the real divinity of its personages appears . 5
In this account Bodb Dearg is made sovereign of the Tuatha
De Danann, as he is also in the story of The Children of Ler
{Aided Chlainne Lir). Ler, disgusted at the choice, retired,
whereupon the others resolved to punish him, but were over-
ruled by Bodb, who gave Ler his daughter Aobh as wife, pro-
vided he would pay allegiance to him. Aobh bore him two
daughters and two sons before her death, and to comfort him
Bodb now gave him her sister Aoife who, jealous of her step-
children, transformed them into swans — a shape which they
must keep for nine hundred years, though they retained speech
and reason and the power of exquisite song. As a punishment
Bodb changed Aoife into a “demon of the air.” Not till the
time of St. Patrick and St. Mochaomhog did Ler’s children
resume their own form. Withered and old, they now accepted
the Christian faith and died, after having found their father’s
palace a roofless ruin . 6
In the version given in the Book of Fermoy Elcmar, foster-
father of Oengus, received the Brug na Boinne, and Manannan
advised Oengus to ask it from him. Through Manannan’s
magic power Elcmar was expelled, and Oengus gained the sid,
where he dwells invisibly, eating the swine and drinking the ale
of immortality. In still another version a curious account of the
52
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
origin of Oengus is given. He was a natural son of Dagda, by
Elcmar’s wife. Dagda sent Elcmar on a journey and wrought
spells, bringing darkness and “strayings” upon him, and ward-
ing off hunger and thirst from him. He obtained access to the
goddess, perhaps because, like Uther and Manannan on like
occasions, he assumed the appearance of the real husband.
Elcmar was still absent when Oengus was born, but he may
later have discovered the truth, for Oengus was taunted, as
Merlin was, with having no parents. He went in tears to the
god Midir, who took him to Dagda, and the latter acknowl-
edged him as his son, bidding him go to Elcmar’s sid and
threaten him with death if he would not promise him “the
sovereignty of a day and night in his land” — the same trick
which Oengus played on Dagda in the first version . 7 This story
is introductory to the beautiful myth of Etain, to be told later;
but here it should be noted that in a poem by the euhemerizing
monk, Flann Manistrech, Elcmar slew Midir and was himself
slain by Oengus . 8 This, however, need be no part of an earlier
myth.
Still another account is given in verse by the tenth century
poet, Cinaed ua hArtacain. Boann, Nechtain’s wife, came to
stay with her brother Elcmar, vassal of Dagda, who sought her
love in vain. His Druids advised him to send Elcmar on a
mission, but the latter bargained that it should not keep him
away over night, whereupon Dagda “kept the sun in the lofty
ridge of the heavens till the end of nine months.” Elcmar
thought that only a day had passed, but on his return he saw by
the change in the flowers how long the time had been. Mean-
while Dagda and Boann had deceived him, but now they were
afraid, and birth-pangs seized the faithless wife. They left her
child Oengus by the road-side near Midir’s sid, and there he
was brought up until his companions jeered at his unknown
origin. Taxed by Oengus, Midir told the truth, and taking him
to Dagda’s sid, obtained it for him for a day and a night, thus
tricking him . 9
THE DIVISION OF THE SID
53
Whether the earliest story told of Dagda’s or of Elcmar’s
dispossession, Oengus is a god who tricks his father or his foster-
father, and perhaps the latter was the sufferer in the primitive
form. Rhys makes Dagda an equivalent of Kronos and Oengus
of Zeus; but apart from the disinheriting incident, which is not
exactly parallel in the respective Greek and Celtic stories , 10
Dagda and Oengus have no clear traits in common with Kronos
and Zeus, nor is there the slightest evidence that Dagda, like
Kronos, ruled over the dead, either before or after his expul-
sion. The possible basis of the story, as the present writer has
suggested elsewhere, is a myth explaining why the cult of one
god came to supersede that of another . 11
CHAPTER IV
MYTHIC POWERS OF THE GODS
A S in most mythologies, the Celtic deities have powers which
reflect those supposed to be possessed by medicine-men,
as well as others peculiar to themselves. These were the subject
of myths taught by the Druids, who knew many things concern-
ing the might of the immortal gods . 1 The gods were undying,
and their abode was that of “the ever-living ones,” where none
ever died. Caoilte describes the Tuatha De Danann to St.
Patrick as beings “who are unfading, and whose duration is
perennial” in contrast with himself or men ; 2 or they are
“fairies or sprites with corporeal forms, endowed with immor-
tality.” Yet immortality is said to have been given them by
Manannan through their drinking Goibniu’s immortal beer, so
that “no disease nor sickness ever attacks them,” nor “decay
nor old age comes upon them.” 3 The daughter of Bodb Dearg
was asked by St. Patrick what it was which maintained the gods
in form and comeliness, and her answer was, “All such of us as
partook of Goibniu’s banquet, nor pain nor sickness troubles
them.” 4 Elsewhere this immortality seems to be dependent
upon the eating of certain fragrant berries, of which it is said
that “no disease attacks those who eat them, but they feel the
exhilaration of wine and old mead; and were it at the age of a
century, they would return again to be thirty years old.”
Once the Tuatha De Danann had played a match with the
Feinn and brought from the Land of Promise crimson nuts,
catkin apples, and these fragrant berries; but one of them fell
to earth, and from it grew a quicken (rowan) tree, whose ber-
ries possessed these virtues. The gods sent one of their people
MYTHIC POWERS OF THE GODS
55
to guard the tree — a savage, one-eyed giant, Searbhan Loch-
lannach, who could not be slain until struck with three blows of
his iron club; and around the tree he made a wilderness, sleep-
ing in it by night, and watching at its foot by day. Fionn
demanded as eric, or fine, from two warriors either the head
of Diarmaid or a handful of these berries; but Diarmaid over-
came them, and then asked the giant for the berries. Searbhan
refused them, but by skill and strength the hero seized his club
and slew him . 5
Yet, even in their own immortal land, gods are slain. Per-
haps this was not altogether the result of the annalistic view of
the gods, for myth may have told of their death, as it did of
gods elsewhere — Dionysus, Attis, Balder, Osiris. The anal-
ytic view did not hinder the continuance of myths, and divini-
ties whose death is recorded in the Annals are found to be alive
long after, while gods and goddesses born in pagan times ap-
pear thousands of years later to persons living in the Christian
period. In spite of this perennial duration, they remained
youthful and beautiful. Yet while the gods’ land was pic-
tured as a deathless, peaceful place, men still gave it certain of
the traits of human life. War, wounds, and death were there,
according to some stories; gods might even be slain by men;
and as gods have human passions, so they may also have
human weaknesses. Such is always the inconsistency of myth.
Invisibility was another divine power, innate, or acquired by
donning a mantle, or from Manannan’s spell, Feth Fiada , which
was known also to Druids, poets, and Christian saints, who by it
became unseen or took other forms. When the sons of Midir,
assisted by the Feinn, fought against Bodb, Midir’s son and
Caoilte went to the sid of Oengus for a physician to heal Oscar’s
wounds; and then “there arose a Feth Fiada around us, so that
we were invisible.” In one passage Dagda is invisible, and Midir
said, “We behold and are not beheld.” When Manannan
came to fetch his consort Fand, none saw him but the goddess,
and when Lug arrived to assist Cuchulainn, he was unseen by
hi— s
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
56
the hero’s foes. Divinities sometimes hid in a magic mist, as
the Tuatha De Danann did on arriving in Ireland; they could
appear to such mortals as they pleased, remaining unseen by
others. Gods were probably not regarded as spiritual beings.
Like the dead in Celtic belief, they had resplendent corporeal
forms and ate and drank; but their bodily form differed from
men’s in that it could become invisible and was not subject to
the laws of gravitation. The gods travelled through the air or
appeared above men’s heads.
How, then, did they appear when visible? Sometimes in the
magnificence of divinity, yet still in anthropomorphic form.
Sometimes they were of vast size, like the Morrigan or the Welsh
Bran, while a goddess who sought the aid of Fionn was enor-
mous compared even with the gigantic Feinn. Sometimes they
appear merely as mortals and are not recognized as gods. In-
stances of this are found in the story of Cuchulainn’s birth,
where Lug is seen, as a mortal host in a mysterious house, and
in that of Merlin’s father; invisible to all but his mother, and
later taking human shape. Sometimes a disguise was as-
sumed. Oengus and Midir appeared to Rib and Eochaid in the
shape of hospitallers, with a haltered pack-horse, and bade
them begone. Gods also took the appearance of particular
mortals, as when Midir appeared to Etain as her lover Ailill,
or Manannan as Fiachna to the latter’s wife, or as when Pwyll
and Arawn exchanged forms . 6
Animal forms were also assumed. Of these one favourite
shape was that of birds. Morrigan appeared to Cuchulainn as
a bird; so also do Devorgilla and her handmaid, the former
being in love with the hero. Llew took the form of an eagle;
Bude and his foster-brother that of birds when the former
wished to visit his paramour, whose husband Nar slew them.
Midir and Etain, Fand and Liban were seen as birds linked
together. The gods, or side, appear as deer in one story. Again,
the idea of divine shape-shifting, expressed, however, in the
well-known folk-tale formula of the “Transformation Com-
PLATE VII
Three-Headed God
This triple-headed divinity (cf. p. 8) may possibly
be another form of Cernunnos (see Plate XVI).
For another representation see Plate XII, and for a
three-headed deity of the Elbe Slavs cf. pp. 284-85
and see Plate XXXIV, 3. From a block of stone
found at Paris, now in the Musee Carnavalet in that
city.
MYTHIC POWERS OF THE GODS
57
bat,” is combined with the Celtic idea of rebirth in Welsh and
Irish tales; and the Welsh story, Hanes Taliesin , a sixteenth
century tale, is based on earlier poems in which this formula is
already prefixed to the rebirth incident. Shape-shifting is so
commonly ascribed to Taliesin that it is no wonder that the
formula was attached to his story, as it also was to the Greek
myth of Proteus and the Hindu story of Vikramaditya: In the
poem Taliesin describes his transformations and adds,
“I have been a grain discovered
Which grew on a hill . . .
A hen received me
With ruddy claws and parting comb.
I rested nine nights
In her womb a child.” 7
The Hanes Taliesin represents earlier myths about the hero
and Cerridwen, the latter being a Brythonic goddess. Cerrid-
wen, who dwelt below a lake, became hostile to Gwion Bach
because he obtained the inspiration which she had intended for
her son. The goddess pursued him, but he changed himself to
a hare, and she took the form of a greyhound, after which the
pair successively became fish and otter, bird and hawk, grain
of wheat and hen. Cerridwen as a hen swallowed the grain, and
gave birth to a beautiful child, whom she cast into the sea, but
he was rescued by Elphin and obtained the name of Taliesin . 8
In most versions of the Transformation Combat the op-
ponents are males, and therefore one cannot give birth to the
other; but by an ingenious device the compiler of the Irish
myth of The Two Swine-Herds ( Cophur in da muccida ), an in-
troductory story to the Tain Bo Cualnge , surmounted this diffi-
culty. The swine-herds were subordinate divinities — Friuch,
herd of the god Bodb, king of the sid of Munster, and Rucht,
herd of Ochall Oichni, king of the sid of Connaught. They
could take any shape, and there was friendship between them.
When there was mast in Munster, Rucht fed his swine there;
and Friuch brought his herd to Connaught in the same way.
58
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
People stirred up a quarrel between them, however, and Friuch
put spells on Rucht’s swine so that they should not eat the mast
of Munster, while Rucht did the same to Friuch’s pigs. When
the swine became thin, the gods took their office from the herds,
and Friuch and Rucht turned themselves into ravens and for a
year reviled each other in Connaught and for a year in Munster.
Resuming their own shape, they announced that there would
yet be many corpses and much wailing because of them. Now
they took the form of water-beasts and were seen for a year in
the Suir and.for another in the Shannon, devouring each other,
and appearing as large as hills, until they came ashore as men,
telling Ochall that they must still take other shapes to test their
strength. They became champions, one of Bodb’s host, the
other of Fergna, King of the sid of Nento-fo-hiuscne, their term
in this form ending with a fight which lasted three days and
nights, and in which they gave such wounds that their lungs
were visible. Next they became demons, a third of the people
dying with fright at seeing them; while in another version
transformations into stags and dragons are added. Finally
they became worms, one in a spring in Connaught, the other in
the river Cruind in Ulster. Queen Medb came one day to the
spring to draw water, and the little animal, speckled with all
colors, jumped into her dish. She spoke to it, and it told her
that it had been in many shapes, and bade her take Ailill as her
husband, after which it returned into the spring. That day
Fiachna washed in the river Cruind and was frightened at
seeing a tiny beast which told him of the luck about to befall
him, and how it was Bodb’s swine-herd. It besought Fiachna to
feed it for a year, as the other had begged of Medb, and later
it told him of a future combat with the other beast. Next day
one of Fiachna’s cows would swallow it when .drinking, as one
of Medb’s kine would swallow the other; and as a result
Medb’s cow bore Findbennach (“White-Horn”), and Fiachna’s
the Donn or Brown Bull of Cualnge. No bull dared bellow
before either, and great war was caused in Ireland on their
MYTHIC POWERS OF THE GODS
59
account . 9 The Dindsenchas speaks of seven shapes which the
swine-herds took, but describes five only — swine-herds, birds,
wolves, trout, and worms — and it also tells how a bull-calf of
the Donn’s was killed by White-Horn . 10
A folk-tale analogy to this myth occurs in a West Irish col-
lection. Two heroes at enmity fought until they were old men,
then as puppies until they were old dogs, then as young bulls,
as stallions, and as birds, until one was slain, his body falling
on the other and killing him. The rebirth incident is lacking
here . 11
-
In the story which narrates how King Mongan recovered his
wife from the King of Leinster his feats were originally those
of a divine namesake. Taking the form of a cleric, he gave
that of another cleric to his attendant and won entrance to the
King’s fort and to his wife. He kissed her, but when the at-
tendant hag cried out, he sent a magic breath at her, and what
s,he had seen was no longer clear in her mind, after which he
shaped a sharp spike on which she fell and was killed. His at-
tempt to recover his wife failed, however, and at a later time
he took the guise of Aed, son of the King of Connaught, trans-
forming a hag into the shape of Aed’s beautiful wife, Ibhell.
The King of Leinster fell in love with her.and exchanged Mon-
gan’s wife to the pretended Aed for her; but the pair escaped,
and great was the King’s disgust to find Ibhell in the form of a
hag. Mongan also made a river with a bridge over it, where
none had ever been before, and in it he set the two clerics whose
shapes he had borrowed . 12
The gods could likewise transform each other. Etain was
changed by Fuamnach into an insect, as a preliminary to her
rebirth, and we have seen how the children of Ler were trans-
formed into swans by their jealous step-mother. Ler heard
them singing, yet god though he was, he could not disenchant
them, just as Manannan was unable to change Aoife from the
shape of a crane into which the jealous Iuchra had turned her . 13
The gods remained for three hundred years listening to the
6o
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
music of the swans, which caused happiness to all who heard
it; and after many sufferings the birds met the sons of Bodb,
who spoke to them of the divinities, while Fionnghula sang of
her former happiness when she enjoyed the guileless teaching
of Manannan, the convocations of Bodb, the voice of Oengus,
and the sweetness of his kisses. We have seen how the chil-
dren, after their disenchantment, died in the Christian faith.
This old and touching myth has received a Christian ending:
how it originally told the further fate of Ler’s children is
unknown.
The gods also transformed mortals. Morrigan brought a
bull to a cow over which Odrus watched, and which followed
the bull when Morrigan went into the cave of Cruachan. Odrus
pursued through the cave to the sid within, but there she fell
asleep, and the goddess awoke her, sang spells over her, and
made of her a pool of water . 14 This is partly paralleled by
another story in which elves, or siabhra, transformed Aige into
a fawn and sent her round Ireland. Later she was killed, and
nothing remained of her but a bag of water which was thrown
into a river, thenceforward named after her . 15 A more curious
transformation is that by which the god Oengus changed his
four kisses into as many birds, in order that they might satirize
the nobles of Erin, until a Druid by a stratagem stopped
them . 16 As has been seen, the kisses of Oengus were dear to
Fionnghula. The souls of the righteous appear sometimes as
white birds, and those of the wicked as ravens, in Christian
documents — a conception which is probably of pagan origin . 17
Finally, to show how the memory of the Tuatha De Danann
and their powers survived into later centuries the story of
O'DonnelVs Kern may be cited. In this, Manannan appears
as a kern, or serving-man, at the houses of historic personages
of sixteenth century Ireland. He plays such music as never
was heard, bewitching men to slumber; he is a marvellous
conjuror, producing out of his bag hound, hare, dog-boy, and
lady, who all climb a silken thread which he tosses upward to a
MYTHIC POWERS OF THE GODS
61
cloud; he performs miracles of healing; he takes off a man’s
head and puts it on again; and from each place where he goes
he suddenly disappears from human sight, none knowing
whither he has vanished . 18 Folk-memory thus preserved much
of the old conception of the gods.
CHAPTER V
GODS HELPING MORTALS
I N Greek mythology the gods were represented as coming to
man’s help, and in Christian legend saints were seen hover-
ing above an army in battle and giving it substantial aid. So
in Celtic myth deities were often kindly disposed toward men
or assisted them, sometimes for ends of their own.
Such a myth is associated with the historic King Mongan
of Ulster in the sixth and seventh centuries. He is shown to
be son of the god Manannan by a mortal mother, and as has
been seen, he had powers of shape-shifting, and besides being
brought up in the divine land, had free access to it. He was
also regarded as a rebirth of the hero Fionn; hence the stories
told of this king of the Christian historic period must already
have been narrated of some far earlier mythic king or god,
perhaps possessed of the same name. Two of these legends nar-
rate how the god assisted Mongan’s putative father out of
desire for his wife. In the shorter story Fiachna, King of Ul-
ster, had gone to help Aedan in Scotland against Saxon hosts
who had with them a terrible warrior, and during the fight a
noble stranger appeared to Fiachna’s wife and asked her love.
She refused him with scorn, but later relented in order to save
her husband’s life, which, said the visitant, was in danger from
the terrible warrior. “Our son will be famous, and his name
will be Mongan. I shall tell thy husband our adventures, and
that thou didst send me to his help.” This the stranger did,
afterward slaying the warrior and giving victory to Fiachna;
and when Mongan was born, he was known as Manannan’s
son, for Manannan had announced his name when leaving the
Queen at dawn . 1
GODS HELPING MORTALS 63
In the longer version Fiachna had become security for the
exchange of four kine offered by the King of Lochlann to a
Black Hag for her cow, the flesh of which alone could cure his
disease. Later the hag compelled Fiachna to fight with the
King, who had broken his promise to her; but all went well
until the King of Lochlann let loose venomous sheep, before
which Fiachna’s men fell in hundreds. A warrior in a green
cloak fastened by a silver brooch, with a circlet of gold on his
head and golden sandals on his feet, appeared and asked what
reward Fiachna would give him who would drive off the sheep.
Fiachna replied that he would give anything he had, whereupon
the warrior begged his ring “as a token for me when I go to
Ireland to thy wife to sleep with her,” to which the com-
placent Fiachna assented. The stranger — Manannan — an-
nounced that he would beget a glorious child, called Mongan
Finn, or the “Fair”; “and I shall go there in thy shape, so
that thy wife shall not be defiled by it.” Fiachna would also
become King of Lochlann. Taking a venomous hound from
his cloak, Manannan launched it successfully at the sheep and
then appeared to the Queen as Fiachna. On the night of Mon-
gan’s birth the Queen’s attendant had a son, Mac an Daimh,
while the wife of Fiachna’s opponent, Fiachna the Black, bore
a daughter, Dubh Lacha, these possibly also being children of
the amorous god. When Mongan was three days old, Manan-
nan took him to the Land of Promise and brought him back
when he was sixteen. Meanwhile Fiachna Dub having killed
the other Fiachna, the Ulstermen bargained that Mongan
should retain half the province, with Dubh Lacha as his wife.
One day when he and his Queen were playing together, “a
dark, black-tufted little cleric” reproached Mongan for his
inactivity and offered to help him to regain his land. Mongan
went with him; they slew Fiachna; and ail Ulster became
Mongan’s. The cleric was Manannan, though his transforma-
tion, in this as in the other version, is the result of the revision
of the story by a Christian scribe. At a later time Mongan
64
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
exchanged Dubh Lacha for the kine of the King of Leinster,
but she, while living in the King’s house, persuaded him to
wait a year ere she was his . 2 How Mongan regained her through
his magic powers learned in the divine land has already been
described. A prophecy about Mongan is put into Manannan’s
mouth in The V oyage of Bran , where he tells Bran how he will
go to Fiachna’s Queen, that by her he will have a son who will
delight the folk of the sid, will make known secrets and take
all forms — dragon, wolf, stag, salmon, seal — and how the
god will place the valiant hero with princes and will be his
tutor.
Apart from the Christian colouring in these tales, they are
of pagan origin and reflect pagan ideas about semi-divine sons
of gods and the help given by gods to men. The late Mr. Nutt
maintained that the story of Mongan was one form of a Celtic
myth which might be fitted to any real or imaginary hero —
that of a wonder-child, born of a mortal mother and a super-
natural father, gifted magically by him, associated with him
in the divine land, and passing thence at death. He assumed
that Mongan had finally gone there, basing this assumption on
verses which mention Mongan’s wandering with Manannan
in “the land with living heart,” and his coming thence to see
St. Columba. Mongan was the hero of such a myth in Ulster;
Fionn of another local myth, later popular all over Ireland;
Arthur of a similar Brythonic myth . 3
The myth of the help given by gods to mortals is seen again
in the story of Cuchulainn, son of the god Lug, who assists him
in time of need. Cuchulainn stood alone against Medb’s hosts,
because she invaded Ulster when its men were in their periodic
sickness . 4 He had slain hundreds of them and was now distorted
with fury and in sore distress, when Loeg, his charioteer, an-
nounced that he saw a warrior approaching, fair, tall, with
yellow hair, clad in a green mantle with a silver brooch. Shield,
five-pointed spear, and javelin were in his hands. He plied
these as he came, but “no one attacks him and he attacks no
GODS HELPING MORTALS 65
one,” for he was invisible to Medb’s warriors. Cuchulainn
cried that this must be one of his friends of the side coming to
his aid, and so it turned out, for the warrior was his father
Lug from the sid. “My wounds are heavy,” said Cuchulainn,
“it is time they were healed.” Lug bade him sleep for three
days while he himself fought the hosts; and as he sang a charm,
the hero slept. Lug not only battled for him, but as he had
claimed the power of healing in the story of the battle of Mag-
Tured, so now he cured his son’s wounds with medicinal herbs;
and when Cuchulainn awoke, he was refreshed and strong. The
god, however, would not stay to help him further, lest the
fame of the deeds wrought by both should accrue to Cuchulainn;
and the hero now donned a dress of invisibility given him by
Manannan, a precious garment of the Land of Promise.
Manannan is also called his foster-father in Druidism or wiz-
ardry, 5 and Cuchulainn’s “friends of the side” may be com-
pared with the leannan sighe, fairies who befriend mortals when
human powers fail them. 6 His opponent, Ferdia, reproached
him for not telling him how his friends of the side came to his
aid when he thought of them, but Cuchulainn replied that
since the Feth fiada was shown to all by the sons of Mile, the
Tuatha De Danann could not use invisibility or work magic. 7
This passage, however, from the Stowe manuscript of the
Tain Bo Cualnge is, in its final statement, inconsistent with the
incidents of the other manuscripts.
Other heroes were helped by Manannan. In The Tragic
Death of the Sons of Usnech ( Longes mac nlJsnig) Naisi has a
sword given to him by the god, its virtue being that it leaves
no trace of stroke or blow behind it; 8 and some of his weapons
were possessed by the Feinn. Diarmaid had his crann huidhe
— a yellow-shafted spear — but its properties were less power-
ful than another magic spear with a red shaft, the gai dearg.
It could do nothing against the boar which slew Diarmaid, and
he lamented that he had not taken with him the gai dearg , as
Grainne advised. With the shafts of these spears he twice
66
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
leaped beyond the ring of his surrounding enemies and escaped
them, and he also used “Manannan’s magic staves” on an-
other occasion to leap up a precipice. Besides these he pos-
sessed the moralltach, the sword of Manannan or of Oengus . 9
Of Diarmaid it is said that “with most potent Manannan
mac Ler thou studiedst and wast brought up in the Land of
Promise and in the bay-indented coasts; with Oengus too, the
Dagda’s son, thou wast most accurately taught .” 10 Oengus
freely helped Diarmaid when he and Grainne were pursued by
Fionn. Oengus learned that they were surrounded in a wood,
and passing through the foe, unknown to the Feinn, he bade
the eloping pair come under his mantle, when he would remove
them without their pursuer’s knowledge. Diarmaid refused to
go, but asked the god to take Grainne, which Oengus did,
reaching a distant wood unseen. There Diarmaid came to
them and found a fire and a meal prepared by Oengus, who ere
he left them warned Diarmaid of the places into which he must
not go. When Diarmaid and Grainne took refuge in the
quicken-tree of Dubhros, Oengus came invisibly as before, but
now as each warrior in succession climbed the tree to take
Diarmaid’s head, he gave them the hero’s form as he threw
them down. When the Feinn cut the heads off, however, their
true form was restored, and the ruse was discovered. Oengus
would fain have carried both away, but again had to be satis-
fied with taking Grainne, bearing her invisibly in his magic
cloak to the Brug na Boinne, where Diarmaid joined them,
carrying the head of the witch whom Fionn had sent against
him. Oengus now made peace between Diarmaid and Fionn,
arranging the conditions which his foster-son demanded.
Finally, when Diarmaid’s death was caused by Fionn’s craft,
the latter advised that he and the others should escape lest
Oengus and the Tuatha De Danann should capture them.
Oengus, aware of the tragedy, arrived with the swiftness of the
wind, and seeing the body, cried: “There has never been one
night, since I took thee with me to the Brug na Boinne, at the
GODS HELPING MORTALS
67
age of nine months, that I did not watch thee and carefully
keep thee against thy foes, until last night, O Diarmaid; and
alas for the treachery that Fionn hath done thee, for all that
thou wast at peace with him.” Then he sang a lament, and
bearing the body to his Brug, he said, “Since I cannot restore
him to life, I will send a soul into him, so that he may talk to
me each day.” 11 Oengus has less power than savage medicine-
men or gods in myth, who bring the dead back to life, or than
Demeter, who gave life to Dionysos after he was dismembered
by the Titans. But the story is an almost unparalleled example
of a god’s love for a mortal. Fionn himself bears witness to the
love which Oengus had for Diarmaid as a child in his Brug,
and how when spells were put upon a boar that it should have
the same length of life as he, the god conjured him never to
hunt a boar . 12
Another interesting instance is found in the story of Fraoch,
whose mother was a goddess. When he killed a dragon, women
of the sid came and carried him there, curing him of his wounds;
and so, too, when he was slain at a ford by Cuchulainn, those
divine women, clad in green, came and lamented over him and
carried his body into the sid. Fraoch should not have gone
near water, for this was dangerous for him, and his mother’s
sister, the goddess Boann, had said, “Let him not swim Black
Water, for in it he will shed his blood.” 13 In another story the
goddess Morrigan helped Tulchainde, Conaire’s Druid, who
wished Dil, daughter of Lugmannair, to elope with him from
the Isle of Falga — the Isle of Man regarded as the divine land.
Dil loved an ox born at the same time as herself and insisted
that Tulchainde should take it with her; and the Morrigan
was friendly to him and at his wish brought it to Mag mBreg . 14
The Morrigan was both hostile and friendly to Cuchulainn,
thus resembling that supernatural but ambiguous personage,
the Lady of the Lake in Arthurian tradition, now helping, now
opposing.
CHAPTER VI
DIVINE ENMITY AND PUNISHMENT
HE gods were sometimes hostile to men, not always for
obvious reasons, as is curiously illustrated in the Echtra
Nerai , or Adventures of Nera, an introductory tale to the Tain
Bo Cualnge. Here the gods are regarded as demons appearing
with great power on Samhain Eve (Hallowe’en). King Ailill
offered a reward to anyone who on that night would tie a withe
round the foot of a captive hanged the previous day; and sev-
eral tried, but were afraid. Nera was bolder, but his withe kept
springing off the corpse until it told him to put a peg in it, after
which the dead body asked him to carry it on his back to the
nearest house for a drink, because “I was thirsty when I was
hanged.” The house was surrounded by a fiery lake, and into
it and a second, surrounded by a lake of water, they could not
enter. In a third house the corpse found water and squirted it
on the faces of the sleepers so that they died, after which Nera
carried the dead body to the gallows. This part of the story
is connected with the vampire belief. Nera returned to Ailill’s
fort, but found it burnt, and a heap of human heads lay near
it. He followed a company leaving it and thus came to the sid
of Cruachan, where its king sent him to a woman in one of its
dwellings, bidding him bring firewood daily to the royal house.
At this task he noticed a lame man carrying a blind man to a
well, and daily the blind man asked, “Is it there?” to which
the lame man answered, “It is indeed; let us go away.” The
woman told Nera that they were guardians of the king’s crown
in the well, and when he described his adventures and the de-
struction of Ailill’s fort, she explained that this was merely the
-
DIVINE ENMITY AND PUNISHMENT 69
glamour of an elfin host ( sluag siabhra ), but that it would hap-
pen, unless he warned his friends. When he returned, he would
find them as he left them — a clear proof that he was in a time-
less region. They must watch next Samhain Eve, unless they
first destroyed the sid , and as proof of his statement he must
take from the sid fruits of summer — wild garlic, primrose,
and golden fern. Before his people came to destroy the sid, he
must warn her so that she with his cattle and the child she
would bear him might not lose their lives. Nera returned and
obtained the reward, and Ailill resolved to destroy the sid.
Meanwhile the woman carried the firewood, pretending that
Nera was ill; and when he came to warn her, she bade him
watch the cattle, one of which was to be his son’s after his
birth. The goddess Morrigan stole this cow while Nera slept
and took it to the bull of Cualnge, by whom it had a calf.
Cuchulainn is now introduced pursuing Morrigan and restor-
ing the cow; and on its return the woman sent Nera back to
his people — a reduplication of the first sending back. The
rid-folk could not destroy Ailill’s fort until next Samhain Eve
when the sid would be open, and Nera now told his people of
the wonderful sid and how its dwellers were coming to attack
the fort. AiliU bade him bring anything of his own out of the
sid, and from it he fetched the cattle, including his child’s bull-
calf which now fought the famous Findbennach, or white-
horned bull. Warned to beware of its sire, the bull of Cualnge,
Medb swore by her gods that she would not rest until her bull
fought it. Meanwhile Ailill’s men destroyed the sid , taking
from it the crown, Loegaire’s mantle, and Dunlaing’s shirt;
but Nera was left in the sid and will not come thence till doom
— like other mortals, he has become an inhabitant of the
gods’ land. 1 Here also, as in the story of Etain, mortals wage
successful war with hostile divinities. Nevertheless the deities
survive, and only the outer works of their sid are destroyed.
The hostility of Morrigan to the hero Cuchulainn is seen in
the Tain Bo Regamna, or Cattle-Raid of Regamon. In his sleep
70
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
he heard a great cry, and setting off with his charioteer Loeg
to discover its meaning, they came to a chariot drawn by a
one-legged horse, the chariot-pole passing through its body and
emerging from its head. On it was a red woman, clad in red,
and near it marched a giant in a red tunic, carrying a spear
and a huge forked branch, and driving a cow. Cuchulainn
maintained that all the cows in Ulster were his, but the woman
denied this, and when he asked why she spoke for the man, she
announced that his name was Uar-gaeth-sceo Luachair-sceo.
Then the giant cried out that her name was Faebor beg-beoil
cuimdiuir folt scenbgairit sceo uath. Irritated at this gibber-
ish — an instance of the well-known concealment of divine
names — the hero leaped into the chariot, placing his feet on
the woman’s shoulders and his spear at her head, and de-
manded her true name, to which she replied that she was a
sorceress and that the cow was her reward for a poem. Cuchu-
lainn begged to hear it, and the woman consented, provided
that he would retire from the chariot. After the poem was re-
cited, Cuchulainn prepared to leap again into the chariot, when
woman, giant, cow, and chariot vanished; but on the branch
of a tree was a black bird — the woman changed to this form.
Now he recognized her as Badb or the Morrigan, the battle-
goddess, and she told him that for his conduct she would pur-
sue him with vengeance. She was carrying the cow from the
sid of Cruachan, that it might be covered by the bull of Cualnge
and when their calf was a year old, Cuchulainn would die.
She would attack him when facing his opponent at the ford
during the foray of Cualnge, and as an eej she would twine
round his feet. “I will crush thee against the stones of the
ford, and thou wilt never obtain healing from me,” answered
Cuchulainn. “As a she-wolf I will bite thy right hand and
devour thee,” she replied. “I shall strike thee with my lance
and put out an eye, and never wilt thou obtain healing from
me,” he returned. “As a white cow with red ears I will enter
the water, followed by a hundred cows. We shall dash upon
DIVINE ENMITY AND PUNISHMENT
7 1
thee. Thou wilt fall, and thy head will be taken.” “I shall
throw a sling-stone at thee, and thy heel shall be broken, and
no help wilt thou get from me,” cried Cuchulainn; and with
that Morrigan disappeared into the sid of Cruachan . 2
In a variant of this tale (where the cow-driving incident is
perhaps the one which is mentioned in the Echtra Nerai) a
different reason for this hostility is given. Morrigan appeared
as a beautiful woman offering Cuchulainn her love, her treas-
ures, and her herds, but he replied that the opportunity was
not fitting, since he was engaged in a desperate contest, and
contemptuously refused her help. She uttered threats as in
the previous version; and when he was fighting at the ford, he
was overturned by an eel which he crushed in his hand, and
again as a wolf and a heifer Morrigan was defeated. Now no
one wounded by Cuchulainn could be healed save by himself,
and Morrigan therefore appeared as a lame and blind old
woman milking a cow with three teats. Cuchulainn asked for
milk, which she gave him from each teat, and at every draught
he pronounced the blessing of “gods and not-gods ” 3 upon
her. At each benediction one of her wounds was healed, and
now she revealed herself, but wastold that, had he known, she
would never have had healing from him . 4 Perhaps because of
this healing, or because of a subsequent reconcilement, before
Cuchulainn went to the last fatal fight, the goddess broke his
chariot, “for she liked not his going to the battle, knowing
that he would not come again to Emain Macha.” 5 The story
also shows how divinities have the gift of shape-shifting,
though it does not always avail them against the prowess of a
hero.
The idea that gods punish neglect of their worship or com-
mands, or avenge other sinful actions, is found in most reli-
gions, and some stories seem to be derived from it, as when
Welsh legend knows of Nynnyaw and Peibaw transformed to
oxen for their sins by God — a probable substitution for a
pagan divinity . 6 Instances of the destruction of corn and milk
in — 6
72
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
by divinities have been cited, and these perhaps signify pun-
ishment for neglecting the gods, seeing that, in the case of the
Milesians with Dagda, this was followed by a compact made
with him — the equivalent of the fresh covenant made with
God by His careless worshippers in the Old Testament. Pos-
sibly stories like that of Aillen mac Midhna of the Tuatha De
Danann, coming out of the sid every year to burn Tara , 7 point
to the same conception. The gods even punished members of
their own group for wrongdoing, as in the case of Aoife, who
was transformed by Bodb; and Becuma was banished from
the gods’ land because of her sin with Manannan’s son. She
came to earth in a self-moving boat and by spells bound Conn,
high king of Ireland, to do her will and to banish his son Art;
but while she remained in dalliance with Conn for a year, there
was neither corn nor milk in Ireland — a direct divine punish-
ment, for it was held that an evil king’s reign was marked by
famine and destruction. The Druids told Conn that nothing
would avail save the sacrifice of “the son of a sinless couple,”
i. e. the son of the queen of a divine land, whom Conn brought
thence. To rescue the boy his mother came with a marvellous
cow, which was accepted as a sacrifice, while the queen told
Conn that he must renounce Becuma, else Ireland would lose
a third of its corn and milk. Later, when the jhf-folk stole the
chess-men with which Becuma was playing with Art, she put
spells on him not to eat until he had brought Delbchaem from
a mysterious island, intending thus to cause his death. He
sailed till he reached an Elysian island, whose fair women
taught him how to escape the dangers before him and to find
Delbchaem; but when he brought her to Tara, Becuma in
disgust left Conn for ever . 8 Punishment of a divine befog is also
seen in the story of Manannan’s slaying Fer Fedail because of
his misdeed, which resulted in the drowning of Tuag . 9 Con-
chean slew Dagda’s son Aed for seducing his wife, and though
Dagda did not kill him, he made him carry the corpse until
he found a stone as long as Aed to put upon his grave . 10
PLATE VIII
Squatting God
The deity has torques on his neck and lap, and
is encircled by two serpents with rams’ heads.
Traces of horns appear on his head. He may
possibly be a form of Cernunnos (see Plate XVI),
and would thus be a divinity of the under-
world. From an altar found at Autun, Saone-et-
Loire. For a representation on a Gaulish coin see
Plate III, 3; cf. also Plates IX, XXV.
DIVINE ENMITY AND PUNISHMENT
73
Trespass on a sacred place is implied in the story of Eochaid,
who eloped with his step-mother. Oengus, in disguise, told
him not to camp on his meadow; and when he persisted, the
god sent plagues upon him, killing his cattle and horses, and
threatening to slay his household if he would not go. Oengus
then gave him a horse on which to depart with his goods, and
the lake which was formed afterward from the bursting of an
uncovered well produced by the micturation of this horse
drowned Eochaid and all his household, save his daughter
Liban. This, as well as the similar story told of Eochaid’s
brother Rib, who trespassed on the ground of Oengus and
Midir, has affinity with tales of the bursting of a sacred well
upon the impious trespasser, as in the legend of Boann . 11
In another story Oilill pastured his cattle on the exterior of a
sid, the grass of which the sid - folk now destroyed. While
Oilill watched there with Ferchess, he saw fairy cattle leaving
the sid, followed by Eogabal, son of its King, and his daughter
Aine. Eogabal was slain by Ferchess, and Aine was outraged
by Oilill, but she struck his right ear, leaving no flesh on it,
whence his epithet “Bare Ear.” Aine promised vengeance,
which was wrought thus. Eogan, Oilill’s son, and Lugaid
mac Con heard music proceeding from a yew formed by magic
as part of the means employed for vengeance, and in it
was found a little harper, who was brought by them to Oilill.
Before he went away, however, he made contention between
Eogan and Lugaid; the latter was slain, and this caused the
battle of Mag Mucrime, where Oilill’s seven sons perished . 12
In this story gods are within men’s power, though the latter
cannot finally escape punishment. So also is it in the tale of
Macha, “sun of women-folk,” daughter of Midir, or of Sainred,
son of Ler, who came to the house of the rich peasant, Cronn-
chu, and served him, bringing him prosperity and living with
him as his wife. Cronnchu went to a feast of the Ulstermen,
but was bidden by Macha not to say an imprudent word or
mention her name. At the horse-racing, however, he boasted
74 CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
that his wife was swifter than the horses, whereupon King
Conchobar insisted that she should be sent for, and though
she was with child, forced her to run against his chariot. She
said that all who saw it would suffer for the deed, and when at
the goal she gave birth to twins, she condemned every Ulster-
man to undergo for five days and four nights each year all the
pangs which she had felt, and to have no strength during that
time. Cuchulainn alone escaped the curse. 13
The automatic working out of punishment is seen in the
tragic results of the breaking of personal tabus, e. g. in the case
of Cuchulainn and Fionn. 14 This is sometimes regarded as the
inevitable operation of fate or as divine vengeance for wrong
done to gods, not necessarily by the victim, and it receives
its most mysterious illustration in the doom of Conaire Mor in
the long tale of Da Derga’s Hostel. In some versions Conaire’s
origin is connected with incest — itself caused by a vengeful
god — while his death at the height of his prosperity is re-
garded as the consequence of injury done by his ancestor to
the god Midir, whose wife Etain was retaken from him by
Conaire’s forefather Eochaid. 15 Through a trick of Midir’s,
Eochaid had a child, Mess Buachalla, by his daughter Ess,
and Mess Buachalla was mother of Conaire. Who, then, was
Conaire’s father? One account regards him as King Eterscel,
while Mess Buachalla is here daughter of Ess and one of the
side, or of Ess and Eterscel — the latter version thus intro-
ducing the incest incident in another form. Another account
tells how Eochaid married Etain, daughter of Etar, King of
the cavalcade from the sid; and their daughter Etain became
Cormac’s wife, but was put away because she bore him no son.
Cormac ordered his infant daughter to be slain, but she smiled
so sweetly on his thralls that they took her to King Eterscel’s
cowherds, who guarded her in a hut with a roof-light, whence
her name Mess Buachalla, or “the Cowherds’ Foster-Child.”
Through the roof-light Eterscel’s people saw her when she was
grown up, and told the king of her beauty. Now it was proph-
DIVINE ENMITY AND PUNISHMENT
75
esied that he would have a son by a woman of unknown race,
but before he sent for her, a bird flew through the roof-light,
and doffing its plumage, became a man, to whom Mess Buach-
alla yielded herself. Before leaving her he told how she would
have a son, Conaire, by him, who must never hunt birds; and
Conaire was regarded as Eterscel’s child when born. At
Eterscel’s death the new king was to be selected by divination
at the “bull-feast.” A bull was killed, probably as a sacrifice,
and after the diviner had eaten its flesh, he dreamed of the
future king — - in this case a naked man with a sling coming to
Tara. Meanwhile Conaire hunted a flock of wonderful birds,
which suddenly became armed men, one of them telling him
that he was Nemglan, King of the birds, his father, and that
he was breaking his geasa (tabus) in hunting his kinsmen.
Conaire replied that he knew nothing of this gets, whereupon
Nemglan bade him go naked toward Tara, where watchers
would meet him. In this incident there is doubtless some dim
memory of clan totem-myths.
A different account of his becoming king makes Mess
Buachalla tell him for the first time who his father is, viz.
Eterscel, her own father, when he had just died. His succes-
sor must fulfil certain apparently impossible conditions, but
Conaire met the terms and became king. Mysterious hosts
brought to him by his mother stayed with him for a time and
then departed, none knew whither; they were side from Bri
Leith, Midir’s sid. 16 This appears to mean that Conaire was
divinely assisted to become king, so that the approaching dis-
aster might be all the greater.
To return to the other account, Nemglan told Conaire the
geasa which he must observe. He became king, and none ever
had a more prosperous reign; plenty abounded, and murder
and rapine were banished. At last, however, the vengeance
of the god began to work. Through a fate which he could not
resist Conaire one day settled a quarrel between two of his
serfs, thus breaking one of the geasa, and on his return he saw
76
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
the whole country in flame and smoke — a delusion of the
side. To avoid the fire he and his men went sunwise round
Tara and counter-clockwise round Bregia. These were tabued
directions; and as he went, he pursued the evil beasts of Cerna,
disobeying another tabu. Then, belated, he resolved to stay in
the hostel of Derga (“Red”), and three red-haired horsemen
clad in red and on red steeds 17 were seen preceding him to the
house of Red — another of his geasa. He sent messengers after
them begging them to fall behind, but they only went the
faster and] announced: “We ride the steeds of Donn Tet-
scorach (Midir’s son) from the sid. Though we are alive, we
are dead. Great are the signs. Destruction of life. Sating of
ravens. Feeding of crows. Strife of slaughter. Wetting of
sword-edge. Shields with broken bosses in hours after sun-
down. Lo, my son!” With this boding prophecy they van-
ished, and the gods themselves thus caused the violation of
Conaire’s geasa. After arriving at the hostel he broke yet an-
other, for there came a hideous woman who, standing on one
foot, holding up one hand, and casting an evil eye on Conaire
and his men, foretold their doom. Then she begged to be taken
in, appealing to Conaire’s generosity, and he said, “Let her
in, though it is a geis of mine.”
At this time Ingcel, whose single eye had three pupils, in-
vaded Ireland with Conaire’s foster-brothers, and they were
now on their way to attack the hostel. Ingcel is described as
going toward it to spy upon the inmates, returning with ever
fresh reports of the wonders and the people seen by him, some
of them gigantic and monstrous, with magic weapons. When
the hostel was surrounded, a terrible battle began. Conaire
was parched with thirst, but no water was to be obtained,
though his ally MacCecht sought it in all Ireland. Lakes and
rivers had been dried up, apparently by the gods, as at the first
battle of Mag-Tured, and one loch alone was reached before its
water disappeared. MacCecht returned with a draught, but
all too late. Conaire’s host was scattered and dead, and he
DIVINE ENMITY AND PUNISHMENT
77
himself was being decapitated by two of his foes, whom Mac-
Cecht slew, and then poured the water into Conaire’s mouth.
The head thanked him for his act, and thus perished Conaire,
through no fault of his own, victim of fate and of a god’s ven-
geance . 18 The story is as tragic as a Greek drama, if its art is
less consummate.
-
CHAPTER VII
THE LOVES OF THE GODS
L IKE the gods of Greece and India, the deities of the Celts
had many love adventures, and the stories concerning
these generally have a romantic aspect. An early tale of this
class records that one night, as Oengus slept, he saw a beau-
tiful maiden by his bed-side. He would have caught hold of
her, but she vanished, and until next night he was restless and
ill. Again she appeared, singing and playing on a cymbal, and
so it continued for a year till Oengus was sick of love. Fergne,
a cunning leech, diagnosed the cause of his patient’s illness
and bade Boann, Oengus’s mother, search all Ireland for the
maiden, but though she sought during a whole year, the girl
could not be found. Fergne therefore bade Boann summon
Dagda, Oengus’s father, and he advised him to ask the help
of Bodb, King of the side of Munster, famed for knowledge.
Bodb discovered the maiden, and Oengus set out to see whether
he could recognize her. By the sea they found many girls,
linked two and two by silver chains; and one, taller than the
rest, was the maiden of the vision, Caer, daughter of Ethal of
sid Uaman. Dagda, advised by Bodb, sought help from Ailill
and Medb, King and Queen of Connaught — another instance
of mortals aiding gods; but Ethal refused Ailill’s request to
give up Caer, whereupon Dagda’s army with Ailill’s forces
destroyed his sid and took him prisoner. Still he refused, be-
cause he had no power over his daughter, for every second
year she and her maidens took the form of birds at Loch Bel
Draccan (the “Lake of the Dragons’ Mouths”); and thither
Dagda bade Oengus go. At this loch, says incidental refer-
THE LOVES OF THE GODS
79
ence to the story, the maidens were wont to remain all the
year of their transformation, Caer as the most lovely of all
birds, wearing a golden necklace, from which hung an hundred
and fifty chains, each with a golden ball . 1 When Oengus saw
the birds, he called to Caer. “Who calls me?” she cried. “It
is Oengus that calls thee; come to him that he may bathe with
thee.” The bird-maiden came, and Oengus also took the form
of a bird. Together they plunged three times in the lake, and
then flew to Brug na Boinne, singing so sweetly that everyone
fell asleep for three days and nights. Caer now became Oen-
gus’s wife . 2
In this story the god Bodb is famed for knowledge, and in
the incidental reference cited he is said for a whole year to have
kept off by his magic power the harper Cliach, who sought his
daughter’s hand . 3 Possibly the shape-shifting of Caer and her
maidens was the result of a curse or spell, as in other instances,
unless — being goddesses — the power was in their own hands.
The myth uses the folk-tale formula of the Swan-Maiden,
though its main incident is lacking, viz. her capture by obtain-
ing the bird-dress, which she has doffed.
In the story of Oengus’s disinheriting Elcmar, he later ap-
pears as a suitor for Etain, daughter of Ailill, who refused her
to him; but Midir was more successful, whence there was
enmity between him and Oengus. The long tale which follows
is extant in several manuscripts and is here pieced together
mainly from the versions in the Egerton Manuscript and the
Leabhar na hJJidre. Besides Etain, Midir had another consort,
Fuamnach, who was jealous of her. With the help of a Druid’s
spells and by her own sorceries she changed Etain into an in-
sect and by a magic wind blew her about for seven years; but
Oengus found her in this state and made for her a grianan, or
bower filled with shrubs and flowers, on which she fed and
thrived. Perhaps by night she was able to resume her true
form, for Oengus slept with her; and when Fuamnach heard
of this, she caused Midir to send for Oengus, so that a recon-
8o
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
ciliation might be effected. Meanwhile, however, Fuamnach
went to the grianan and again by a magic wind ejected Etain,
who was blown upon the breeze until she fell through the roof
of Etair’s house into his wife’s golden cup. She swallowed the
insect and later gave birth to the divinity as an infant called
Etain, who, more than a thousand years before, had been born
as a goddess. When she now grew up, as she and her maidens
were bathing, a warrior appeared, singing about Etain, and
then vanished, this being Midir, or possibly Oengus, who had
discovered Fuamnach’s treachery and struck off her head.
Here, however, is interpolated a verse telling how not Oengus
but Manannan slew or burned her, as well as her grandson,
Siugmall . 4
The next section of the story exists in two forms and relates
how Etain was married by Eochaid Airem, King of Ireland.
His brother, Ailill Anglonnach, felljn love with her, and when
at last he disclosed this to Etain, she, after much persuasion,
arranged a meeting-place with him. At the appointed time
however, Ailill did not come, being hindered by sleep; but one
in his likeness appeared to Etain on successive occasions and
at last announced himself to be Midir, who had thus dealt with
Ailill, and told her how she was his consort, parted from him
by magic. Nevertheless, she refused to go with him; but
when she told Ailill, he was cured of his love. The Egerton
version then relates how Midir, appearing in hideous form,
carried off Etain and her handmaid Crochan to his sid of Bri
Leith, near the rising of the sun, first staying on the way at the
sid of his divine relative Sinech; and when Crochan com-
plained of wasting time there, Midir said that this sid would
now bear her name.
In the version given by the Leabhar na hUidre the incident of
Midir’s disclosing himself is more mythical in character. He
invited Etain to the gods’ land, “the Great Plain,” or Mag
Mor — a marvellous land, wherein is music. Its people are
graceful, and nothing is called “mine” or “thine.” The plains
THE LOVES OF THE GODS
81
of Ireland are fair, but fairer is this plain, its ale more intoxi-
cating than that of Erin! There is choice of mead and wine,
and conception is without sin or crime (hence Segda in the
story of Becuma was “son of a sinless couple”). Its people
are invisible: they see but are not seen, and none ever grows
old. The magic food of the gods’ land will be Etain’s — un-
salted pork, new milk, and mead. Midir now met Eochaid
and proposed a game of chess with him, allowing him to win,
whereupon Eochaid demanded that Midir and his folk should
perform four tasks — clear the plains of Meath, remove
rushes, cut down the forest of Breag, and build a causeway
across the moor of Lamrach. In the Dindsenchas, a topo-
graphical treatise, these tasks are an eric, or fine, on Midir for
taking Eochaid’s wife, and in performing them the divine folk
taught a new custom to the men of Erin, viz. placing the yoke
over the oxen’s shoulders instead of on their foreheads, whence
Eochaid’s cognomen, Airem (“Ploughman”). 5 In a second
game Midir won and asked that he might hold Etain and kiss
her. Eochaid would not consent until a month had passed,
and then Midir arrived in splendour for his reward, surrounded
by armies. Etain blushed when she heard his demand, but he
reminded her that by no will of hers had he won her. “Take
me then,” said she, “if Eochaid is willing to give me up.”
“For that I am not willing,” cried Eochaid, “but he may cast
his arms around thee.” So Midir took her and then rose with
her through the roof, and the assembly saw the pair as two
swans winging their way to the sid.
The Egerton version ends by telling, how through the div-
ination of a Druid, Eochaid discovered Midir’s sid, destroyed
it, and recovered Etain. The version in the Leabhar na hUidre
is defective after narrating how Eochaid and his men dug up
several sid one after another; but the Dindsenchas relates that
Ess, Etain’s daughter, brought tribute of cattle and was fos-
tered by Midir for nine years, during which Eochaid besieged
the sid, thwarted by his power. Midir brought out sixty women
82
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
in Etain’s form, among them Ess, Eochaid’s daughter; but
Eochaid mistook her for Etain and by her had a daughter
Mess Buachalla, mother of Conaire. Recognizing his mistake,
he went to Midir, who restored Etain to him; and in revenge
Siugmall, Midir’s grandson, afterwards killed Eochaid . 6
Although folk-tale formulae are found in this story, it is
based on myths of divine love and magic power and of a god-
dess’s rebirth as a mortal. Midir’s poetic description of the
gods’ land is archaic and may only later have been connected
with the underground sid. Curious, too, is the idea, which we
have noted above, of the subjection of gods to mortals —
performing tasks and permitting their abode to be spoiled or a
consort taken from them — but it may reflect the belief in
magic power to which even divinities must yield. Never-
theless, the deities get their own back: Etain’s recapture is
preceded by the incest incident; Midir is slain; and his de-
scendant, Conaire, dies because the god causes him to break
his tabus, as already described.
The story of the birth of the hero Cuchulainn is based on
the love of a god, Lug, for a mortal, Dechtere, sister of Concho-
bar, King of Ulster. It is told in two versions, one found in
two recensions, the Leabhar na hUidre and the Egerton Manu-
script; the other is also given in the Egerton Manuscript.
We follow the latter (c), noting the chief points of difference
between it and the others (a and b). Dechtere, with fifty
maidens, left Conchobar’s house for three years, at last return-
ing in the form of birds which devoured everything, so that
Conchobar organized a hunt which continued unsuccessfully
till nightfall. The other version begins with the devastation
wrought by nine flocks of mysterious birds, joined two and
two by silver chains, the leading pair in each group being
many-coloured; but these birds are not Dechtere and her
companions, for she accompanies Conchobar in his chariot on
the hunt. The next incident is obscurely told in version c, but
comparing it with the other, it is evident that the hunters en-
THE LOVES OF THE GODS
83
tered a small house where were a man and a woman, and that
it was suddenly enlarged, beautified, and filled with all desir-
able things, for it was one of the gods’ magic dwellings, which
they could produce on earth by glamour. The man was Lug,
the woman Dechtere, though this was known only to Bricriu.
Conchobar believed that they were his vassals and demanded
his right of sleeping with the woman, who escaped by saying
she was enceinte; and in the morning an infant was discovered,
the child of Dechtere by Lug, though it had the appearance of
Conchobar. The child was called Setanta, but afterward was
known as Cuchulainn.
In version b the host told his guests that his wife was in
childbed. Dechtere assisted her and took the child to foster
him; and at the same time the host’s mare gave birth to two
foals — a common folk-tale coincidence. In the morning all
had vanished, and Conchobar’s party returned home with the
child, which died soon after. When the funeral was over, Dech-
tere in drinking swallowed a mysterious tiny animal, and that
night Lug appeared, telling her that she was with child by him,
for it was he who had carried her off with her companions as
birds — an incident lacking in this version. His was the child
whom she had fostered, and now he himself had entered her
as the little animal. Her child, when born, would be called
Setanta. Here Setanta is at once Lug’s son and his rebirth;
but the two ideas are not exclusive if we take into account
ancient ideas. In early Indian belief the father became an
embryo and was reincarnated in his first-born son, whence
funeral rites were performed for the father in the fifth month
of pregnancy, and he was remarried after the birth . 7 Probably
for a similar reason, preserved in Celtic myth after it was no
longer believed of mortals, a god who had a child by a mortal
was thought to be reborn while still existing separately him-
self; and this explains why the Ulstermen sought a wife for
Cuchulainn so that “his rebirth might be of himself.” In
various texts Cuchulainn is called son of Lug.
8 4
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
When Dechtere was found to be with child, it was thought
that Conchobar himself was the father, for she slept by him
— a glimpse of primitive manners in early Ireland. Elsewhere
Cuchulainn calls Conchobar his father , 8 and this may represent
another form of the story, with Conchobar as Cuchulainn’s
parent by his sister Dechtere. Dechtere was meanwhile
affianced to Sualtam, but ashamed of her condition, she
vomited up the animal and again became a virgin; yet the
child whom she bore to Sualtam was the offspring of the three
years’ absence — Setanta or Cuchulainn. On the whole this
is a much distorted myth, but two things emerge from it —
Lug’s amour with Dechtere and his fatherhood of Setanta . 9
Another tale, with Christian interpolations, tells how
Connla, son of Conn, who reigned from 122 to 157 a . d., one
day saw a strange woman who announced that she was from
Tir na mBeo (“the Land of the Living”), where was no death,
but perpetual feasting, and her people dwelt in a great sid,
whence they were called aes side , or “people of the sid .” The
goddess was invisible to all but Connla, whence Conn asked
him with whom he spoke, to which she replied that she was
one who looked for neither death nor old age and that she
loved Connla and desired him to come to Mag Mell (“the
Pleasant Plain”), where reigned a victorious king. Conn bade
his Druid use powerful magic against her and her brichta ban ,
or “spells of women,” against which at a later time St. Patrick
made his prayer. The Druid pronounced an incantation to
hinder Connla from seeing, and all others from hearing, the
goddess, who withdrew after giving an apple to Connla. He
would eat nothing but this, nor did it ever grow less; and in a
month the love-lorn Connla saw her reappear in a boat of glass,
calling him to come, for “the ever-living ones” invited him,
so that he might escape death. Conn again called his Druid,
whereupon the goddess sang that the Druids would soon pass
away before a righteous one, St. Patrick — a Christian inter-
polation, 'post eventum ; and Conn then spoke to his son, but
THE LOVES OF THE GODS 85
the goddess sang that once on the waves Connla’s grief at leav-
ing his friends would be forgotten, and the land of joy would
soon be reached, where there were none but women. Connla
sprang into the boat, which sped across the sea into the un-
known, whence he has never returned. 10 In this tale the land
of women is obviously but a part of the divine land, since that
is ruled by a king; and there is also confusion between the
idea of an overseas region of the immortals — Mag Mell —
and that of the subterranean sid. Connla’s adventure is men-
tioned in the Coir Anmann, or Fitness of Names, where an-
other account is given, viz. that he was slain by enemies. 11 A
parallel myth, perhaps of Celtic origin, is found in one of the
Lais of Marie de France concerning the knight Lanval, with
whom a fairy fell in love. When she declared herself, he sprang
on horseback behind her and went away to Avalon, a beau-
tiful island, the Elysium of the Brythonic Celts. 12
The Land of Ever-Living Women recurs in some tales of the
imm-rama , or romantic voyage, type, e. g. in The Voyage of
Maelduin, an old pagan story reconstructed in Christian
times. Maelduin and his companions went on a quest for his
father’s murderers and met with the strangest adventures,
one of which describes their arrival at an island where they
saw seventeen girls preparing a bath. A warrior appeared who,
on bathing, proved to be a woman and sent one of the girls
to bid the men enter her house. There a splendid repast was
given them, and the woman, Queen of the isle, desired each to
take the girl who best pleased him, reserving herself for Mael-
duin. In the morning she begged all to remain. Their age
would not increase; they would be immortal; and perpetual
feasting and excessive love without toil would be theirs. She
had been wife of the King of the island, the girls were her
daughters, and now she reigned alone, so that she must leave
them each day to judge cases for the people of the isle. The
voyagers remained three months, when all but Maelduin grew
home-sick; yet he consented to go with them, and all entered
86
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
their boat in the Queen’s absence. Suddenly she appeared and
threw out a rope which Maelduin seized, with the result that
they were drawn back to the shore, where they remained three
months longer, escaping then once more. This time one of
Maelduin’s men caught the rope thrown by the Queen, but the
others severed his hand, and seeing this, she wept bitterly at
their going . 13 These women were not mortals but goddesses,
eager for the love of men.
Another myth tells of a goddess’s love for Cuchulainn. A
flock of beautiful birds appeared in Ulster, and caused all the
women to long for them. Cuchulainn, in distributing his catch
among them, omitted his mistress Ethne, and to appease her
he promised that the two most beautiful birds which next ap-
peared would be hers. Soon after, two birds linked together
flew over the lake, singing a song which made everyone but
Cuchulainn sleep. He pursued, but failing to catch them, he
rested, angry in soul, against a stone, and while sleeping saw
two women approaching, one in a green mantle, and the other
in a purple, each armed with a horse-whip with which they
attacked him. When he was all but dead, his friends found
him, and on his awaking, he remained ill for a year. Then
appeared a stranger who sang of the healing which could be
given him by Aed Abrat’s daughters, Liban and Fand, wife of
Manannan. Fand desired his love, would he but come to her
wondrous land; and had he been her friend, none of the things
seen by him in vision would have happened. The stranger,
Oengus, son of Aed Abrat, disappeared, and after the Ulster-
men had persuaded Cuchulainn to tell his vision, he was ad-
vised to return to the pillar-stone. There he found Liban, who
told him that Manannan had abandoned Fand, and she
brought him a message from her own husband, Labraid, that
he would give him Fand in return for one day’s service against
his enemies . 14 Labraid dwelt in Mag Mell, and there Cuchu-
lainn would recover his strength; but the hero desired his
charioteer Loeg first to go and report upon this land.
-
PLATE IX
A AND B
Altar from Saintes
A. The obverse shows a seated god and goddess.
The god is squatting (cf. Plates III, 3, VIII, XXV),
and holds a torque in his hand. The goddess has a
cornucopia (cf. Plates XIV, XV), and a small fe-
male figure stands beside her.
B. On the reverse is a squatting god with a purse
in his right hand; to the left is a god with a hammer
(see Plates XIII, XIV, XXVI), and to the right is
a goddess. Three bulls’ heads are shown below
(cf. Plates II, 4-5, 9, III, 5, XIX, 1, 6, XX, B, XXI).
From an altar found at Saintes, Charente-Inferieure,
France.
THE LOVES OF THE GODS
87
At this point we hear of Loeg’s visit and return, and next
follows a long passage that has nothing to do with the story,
which then continues as if from another version in which
Liban’s visit had not occurred. Cuchulainn was still ill and
sent Loeg to tell Emer, his wife, how women of the side had
destroyed his strength; but when she reproached him for his
weakness, he arose and went to the enclosure (the pillar-stone
of the first part). There Liban appeared, singing of Labraid’s
prowess and of his need for Cuchulainn, and striving to lead
the hero to the dwelling of the side or to Labraid’s home on a
lake where troops of women came and went. Cuchulainn re-
fused to go at a woman’s call, whereupon Liban proposed that
Loeg should bring tidings of Labraid’s land. The two visits of
Loeg are thus the same, but differently described-. In the first
Liban took Loeg by the shoulder, for he could not go in safety,
unless under the protection of a woman. In a bronze boat they
reached an island in a lake, and in a palace Loeg saw thrice
fifty women who welcomed him. While he spoke with Fand,
Labraid arrived, gloomy because of the approaching contest,
but Liban cheered him by announcing that Loeg was there,
and that Cuchulainn would come. Now Loeg returned to tell
of all he had seen.
The other version describes how Loeg passed with Liban to
the plain of Fidga, where dwelt Aed Abrat and his daughters.
There Fand bade him at once bring Cuchulainn, for on that
day the strife would begin; and Loeg returned, urging Cuchu-
lainn to go and recounting what he had beheld. In one house
were thrice fifty men; at the eastern gate were three purple
trees with birds singing; in the forecourt was a silver tree
with musical branches; from sixty other trees dropped food to
nourish three hundred; and there was, too, a vat of unfailing
ale. He described Fand’s marvellous beauty and still urged
Cuchulainn with accounts of the attractiveness of the land,
without any lie or injustice, and of the glory of its warriors and
its women. Cuchulainn at last went there and by his might
m— 7
88
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
quelled the enemies of the god. Fand and Liban now sang in
praise of him, and he remained for a month with Fand, after
which he bade her farewell. She appointed a tryst with him in
Erin, but Emer heard of it and with fifty women came to at-
tack Fand. Cuchulainn, however, bade Fand have no fear, and
addressing Emer he told her how the goddess was more worthy
of his love. Emer reproached him, and when she added, “If
only I could find favour in thy sight,” Cuchulainn’s love for
her returned: “Thou shalt find favour so long as I am in life.”
Then began a noble contest between Fand and Emer as to
which of them should sacrifice herself for the other, and Fand
sang a beautiful lament. At this moment Manannan became
aware of Fand’s predicament and arrived to rescue her, unseen
by all save her and Loeg. Fand again sang, describing the
coming of “the horseman of the crested sea-waves,” and told
of her former love for the god and the splendour of their es-
pousals. Now, deserted by Cuchulainn, she would return to
Manannan; but still her heart yearned for the hero, as she
told Manannan when he asked her whether she would depart
with him or no. Yet one thing weighed with her: Manannan
had no consort worthy of him, while Cuchulainn already had
Emer. So she departed; and when the hero knew it, he bounded
thrice in air and gave three leaps southward, and abode for a
long time fasting in the mountains. Emer went to Conchobar,
who sent his Druids to bind Cuchulainn; and when the hero
would have slain them, they chanted spells and fettered him,
giving him a draught of oblivion so that he remembered Fand
no more. Emer also shared in this potion and forgot her
jealousy; “and Manannan shook his mantle between Cuchu-
lainn and Fand, so that they should never meet again.” 15 In
this story Emer addresses Loeg as one who often searches the
sid, while he speaks of the divine land as well-known to him
and seems to see Manannan when he is invisible to the others,
Manannan himself was an ardent lover, and what St. Pat-
rick called “a complicated bit of romance,” was told to him
THE LOVES OF THE GODS
89
by Caoilte. Aillen, of the Tuatha De Danann, became en-
amoured of Manannan’s wife, while his sister Aine, daughter of
Eogabal, loved Manannan and was dearer to him than all
mankind. Aine asked the cause of her brother’s sadness, and
he told her that he loved the goddess Uchtdelbh (“Shapely
Bosom”). Aine accordingly bade him come with her where
the divine pair were, and taking her seat by Manannan, she
gave him passionate kisses. Meanwhile Uchtdelbh, seeing
Aillen, loved him; and Manannan gave her to him, himself
taking Aine . 16 On another occasion Manannan desired Tuag,
a maiden guarded by hosts of the King of Erin’s daughters;
and since no man might see her, Manannan sent a divine
Druid, Fer Fidail, son of Eogabal, in the form of a woman to
gain access to Tuag. He remained with her three nights and
then, singing a sleep-strain over her, he carried her to the
shore and left her slumbering while he looked for a boat wherein
to carry her asleep to the Land of Ever-Living Women, or, in
another version, to go to take counsel of Manannan. But a
wave came and drowned her, the wave in one version being
Manannan the sea-god himself — a primitive piece of person-
alization of nature. For his misdeed Fer Fidail was slain by
Manannan, and probably the cause of offence was that he had
loved Tuag , 17 this explaining why she was drowned by the
disappointed god.
A parallel myth, connected with other personages, tells how
Clidna the Shapely went from the Hill of the Two Wheels, in
the Pleasant Plain of the Land of Promise, with Iuchna Curly-
Locks to go to Oengus Mac Ind Oc. But Iuchna practised
guile upon her so that she slept in the boat of bronze through
his music; and then he turned the boat’s head, altering its
course till it reached the place called Clidna. At that time
occurred one of the three great seabursts which spread through
all the world. It caught up the boat, and Clidna was drowned;
whence this seaburst was called Clidna’s Wave . 18 The
others were Tuag’s and Rudraige’s, or Ladru’s and Baile’s.
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
The story of Crimthann Nia Nair shows that one who so-
journs in the divine land or tastes its food may not be able to
return to earth with impunity, for he has become a member of
the other-world state and is no longer fit for earth. This is
found in other Irish tales and in stories of fairyland or the world
of the dead elsewhere . 19 Crimthann was son of Lugaid Red
Stripes, of whom one of those occasional stories of incest, not
uncommon in primitive society, is told, proving that it had
at one time been common in Celtic custom, perhaps in the
royal house. Lugaid’s mother was Clothru, a sister of Medb
and Ethne. Clothru and Ethne are both said to have been
wives of Conchobar after Medb left him for Ailiil; and their
brothers, Bres, Nar, and Lothar, were called the Three Finns,
or White Ones, of Emuin. Once Clothru bewailed her childless
condition to them, and as a result of her entreaties she had a
son Lugaid by all three . 20 Clothru again bore a child to Lugaid,
Crimthann Nia Nair, or “Nar’s Man,” the hero of this story
and afterward supreme king, who fared on what is called “a
splendid adventure” with a goddess or witch called Nar. He
went to a land overseas, where he remained with her for a
month and a half; and at his departure he obtained many
love-tokens — a chariot and a golden draught-board, a sword
richly ornamented, a spear whose wounds were always mortal,
a sling which never missed its aim, two dogs worth a hundred
female slaves, and a beautiful mantle. Soon after his return,
however, he fell from his horse and died 21 — an incident per-
haps to be explained in terms of the myths of Loegaire Liban
and Oisin, who, in order to return to the divine land, were
warned not to dismount from their horses . 22 On the other
hand, Cuchulainn was able to return to Ireland from Elysium
without hurt, and so also was Aedh, son of the King of Lein-
ster, who was enticed into the sid by Bodb Dearg’s daughters.
For three years the folk of the sid cared for him while his
father mourned, not knowing whither the divine people had
taken him — into the sky or down under the earth. He and
THE LOVES OF THE GODS
9i
fifty other youths escaped, however, and Aedh met St. Pat-
rick, who restored him to his father and said that he would
eventually die as God willed, i. e. the Tuatha De Danann
would have no further power over him . 23
Sometimes mortals, or gods later envisaged as mortals,
abducted daughters of gods. Garman took Bodb’s daughter
Mesca from the sid; but she died of shame, and the plain
where her grave was dug was named after her, Mag Mesca . 24
Men of the sid, divine or semi-divine beings, but regarded as
attendants on men, also had love-affairs with goddesses.
Cliach, from sid Baine, was harper to the King of the three
Rosses and made music at the sid of Femen to attract Con-
chenn, Bodb’s daughter. For a year Bodb’s magic prevented
the lover from approaching nearer, so that he “ could do noth-
ing to the girls” in the sid; but he harped until earth opened,
and a dragon issued forth, when he died in terror. This dragon
will arise at the end of the world and afflict Ireland in ven-
geance for St. John Baptist — perhaps an altered fragment of
an old cosmogonic myth . 25 Another story has some resem-
blance to this. Liath, a young Prince of the side, loved Midir’s
daughter Bri, who went with her attendants to meet him as
he approached. But the slingers on Midir’s sid kept him back,
and their sling-stones were like “a swarm of bees on a day of
beauty.” Liath’s servant was slain, and because Liath could
not reach her, Bri turned back to the sid and died of a broken
heart . 26
Besides these, a large number of Irish and Welsh tales illus-
trate the amours of the gods, as may be seen elsewhere in this
volume.
CHAPTER VIII
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS
T HE surviving myths of the British Celts (Brythons), as
distinguished from the Irish Celts (Goidels), exist in the
form of romantic tales in the Mabinogion and similar Welsh
stories and in the Arthurian and Taliesin literature, or are re-
ferred to in the Triads and Welsh poems. Have the divinities
who there figure as kings and queens, heroes and heroines,
magicians and fairies, retained any of their original traits and
functions? The question is less easily answered than in the
case of Irish divinities subjected to the same romantic and
euhemerizing processes. With religious and social changes it
was forgotten that the gods were gods, and they became more
or less human, for the mediaeval story-teller was “pillaging
an antiquity of which he does not fully possess the secret.”
The composition of the stories of the Mabinogion, like those of
the great Irish manuscripts, dates from the tenth and eleventh
centuries, yet in both cases materials and personages are
of far older date, the supernatural element is strong, and there
is a mythical substratum surviving all changes. Further, the
Welsh tales belong to a systematized method of treating an-
cient traditions, and were the literary stock-in-trade of the
Mabinog, or aspirant to the position of a qualified bard. This
process was still further carried out in Ireland, where myths
were recast into a chronological as well as a romantic mould,
the file, or man of letters, being estimated according to the
number of his stories and his power of harmonizing and syn-
chronizing them. In Welsh literature the euhemerizing,
historical process is seen at work less in the legends than in
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS 93
the historians Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth, with
whom some gods became kings having a definite date, as in
the Irish annals.
Certain personages and incidents of Welsh story resemble
those of Irish tradition. Was there, then, once a common
mythology among the ancestors of Goidel and Brython, to
which new local myths later accrued? Or did Irish and Welsh
myths mingle because Goidels existed either as a primitive
population in Wales, conquered by Brythons, or as a later
Irish immigration? Probably we are right in assuming that
the Mabinogion literature contains the debris of Brythonic
myths, influenced more or less from Goidelic sources, as the
occasional presence of Irish names and episodes suggests. The
Arthurian and Taliesin cycles are purely Brythonic. What is
certain is that the dim divinities of the Mabinogion are local
in character and belong to specific districts in Wales, gods of
tribes settled there. Celtic divinities were apt to be local,
though some had a wider repute. Few of the many British
divinities mentioned in inscriptions are known to Welsh story.
Nodons is Nudd or Lludd; Maponos is Mabon; the Belenos
and Taranos of Continental inscriptions may be respectively
Beli or Belinus and Taran of Welsh story, while the latter sug-
gests the British idol called Heithiurun in the Dindsenchas . 1
The Mabinogi of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, 2 begins by tell-
ing why he was called Pen Annwfn , or “Head of Annwfn”
(Elysium). One day he observed a strange pack following a
deer, but when he drove them off and urged on his own hounds,
a horesman appeared, rebuking him for interfering with his
sport. Pwyll apologized, and presently he and the stranger,
Arawn, King of Annwfn, agreed to exchange their forms and
kingdoms for a year: Pwyll would have Arawn’s beautiful
wife and would fight Arawn’s rival, Havgan, giving him but
one blow, which would slay him, for a second would resusci-
tate him. All this happened satisfactorily; never had Pwyll’s
kingdom been so well ruled, and complete friendship was
94
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
effected between the monarchs. As in Irish myth, this is the
theme of a mortal helping a deity in the Other-World. Yet
Pwyll was once himself a god, as his title Pen Annzvfn denotes,
and was later euhemerized into a king, or confused with an
actual monarch called Pwyll, while Annwfn here becomes a
mere kingdom on earth.
One day Pwyll sat on a mound which had the property of
causing him who was seated on it to receive a blow or see a
prodigy. A beautiful woman rode toward him and his men,
who pursued, but could not take her. This happened again on
the morrow, but on the third day, when Pwyll himself pursued,
she stood still at his bidding. She was Rhiannon, daughter
of Heveidd Hen, and wished to marry him instead of Gwawl,
whom she detested; and in a year he must come to her father’s
court for her. When Pwyll arrived, a stranger, who in reality
was Gwawl, appeared demanding a boon of him, and on his
promising it, asked for Rhiannon. She solved the difficulty
by agreeing to be Gwawl’s wife in a year, but bade Pwyll ap-
pear then as a beggar, carrying a certain magic bag, which, in
the sequel, could not be filled with food. Gwawl was enraged,
but was told by the beggar that unless a man of lands and
riches stamped down the contents, it never could be filled.
Gwawl did so and was immediately imprisoned in the bag,
which was kicked about the hall by Pwyll’s followers until, to
escape death, he renounced his claim to Rhiannon.
The magic mound is here the equivalent of the sid, and such
hills are favourite places for the appearance of immortals or
fairies in Celtic story. Rhiannon, who suddenly appeared on
the hill, was a goddess, like Fand or Connla’s lover, and the
theme is that of the Fairy Bride.
The story now tells how Rhiannon, whose child disappeared
at birth, was accused of slaying it and was forced to sit at the
horse-block of the palace, to tell her story to each new comer,
and to offer to carry him inside. Meanwhile Teyrnon, Lord of
Gwent-is-coed, had a mare whose foals disappeared on May-
PLATE X
Incised Stones from Scotland
1. Incised stone, locally known as “the Picardy
Stone,” with double disc and Z-rod symbol, serpent
and Z-symbol, and mirror with double-disc handle.
From Insch, Aberdeenshire.
2. Incised stone with double disc and serpent
and Z-rod symbols. From Newton, Aberdeenshire.
Cf. Plate XVII.
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS 95
Eve, and this May-Eve he saw a huge claw clutching the new-
born colt. He severed it with his sword, and the intruder
vanished; but at the door-way was a new-born infant, which
Teyrnon nurtured. Like Cuchulainn and other heroes, it had
a rapid growth and was called Gwri Golden-Hair. Noticing
Gwri’s likeness to Pwyll, Teyrnon carried the boy to him,
and Rhiannon was reinstated, exclaiming that her anguish
( pryderi ) was past; whence Gwri was called Pryderi and
succeeded Pwyll as King.
Folk-tale formulae abound in this section — that of the
Abandoned Wife, found also in the Mabinogi of Branwen; and
that of an animal born the same night as the hero; while the
claw incident occurs in tales of Fionn. The importance of the
story is in Pryderi’s birth. The fact that Teyrnon’s foal dis-
appeared on the same night as Pryderi, who was found at
Teymon’s door, and the meanings of the names Teyrnon =
Tigernonos (“Great King”) or Tigernos (“Chief”), and
Rhiannon = Rigantona (“Great Queen”), may point to a
myth in which they were Pryderi’s parents. 3 Manawyddan,
who becomes Rhiannon’s husband and rescues both her and
Pryderi from the vengeance of Gwawl, may have been his
father in another myth, for a poem associates him with Pry-
deri in Caer Sidi, a part of Annwfn. In the story, however,
Pwyll, an original lord of Elysium, is Pryderi’s parent. Does
this point to a number of goddesses, bearing the name Rigan-
tona, consorts of different gods, and later fused into one as
Rhiannon? In another Mabinogi, Pryderi is despoiled of
swine sent him by Arawn, or of which, according to a Triad,
he was swineherd, Pwyll having brought them from Annwfn
and given them to Pryderi’s foster-father. Pwyll and Pryderi
are thus associated with Elysium and with animals brought
thence. A Taliesin poem tells of the magic cauldron of Pen
Annwfn, viz. Pwyll. Round it was a ridge of pearls; it would
not boil a coward’s food; voices issued from it; it was warmed
by the breath of nine maidens; and it formed part of the
-
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
96
“Spoils of Annwfn” which Arthur and others made a long
journey overseas to obtain. Gweir was imprisoned in Caer
Sidi through the spite (or messenger?) of Pwyll and Pryderi,
associated as lords and defenders of Annwfn . 4 Arawn, Lord
of Annwfn, was defeated by Amsethon, son of Don, at the
mythic battle of Cath Godeu . 5
The Mabinogi of Math, son of Mathonwy , 6 tells of Gil-
vsethwy’s love for Goewin, Math’s “foot-holder.” To help
him his brother Gwydion resolved to cause war and told Math
that swine, unknown before, had been sent to Pryderi in Dyfed
by Arawn. He and Gilvsethwy, disguised as bards, set off to the
court of Pryderi, who praised Gwydion for his songs, where-
upon the latter asked for the swine, but was told that they
must breed double their number ere they left the country.
Gwydion now obtained them in exchange for twelve stallions
and twelve greyhounds magically formed by him from fungus;
but these soon turned again to their original shape, and Pryd-
eri invaded Math’s territory, only to be defeated and slain
in single combat by Gwydion’s enchantments. Gilvsethwy
outraged Goewin during the battle, and when Math discovered
this, he transformed the brothers first into a couple of deer,
then into swine, and finally into wolves. In these forms they
had animal progeny, afterward changed to human shape by
Math. Math now found a new “foot-holder” in Arianrhod,
Gwydion’s sister, but she proved no virgin, and when Math
caused her to pass under his magic rod, she bore twins, one of
whom was taken by Math and called Dylan. When Gwydion
brought the other, who had grown rapidly, to Arianrhod’s
castle, she refused to give him a name. Disguised as a shoe-
maker, Gwydion then arrived with the boy and made shoes
for Arianrhod which did not fit. She went on board Gwyd-
ion’s ship, produced by magic, and saw the boy shoot a bird.
Not recognizing him, she cried, “With a sure hand ( llaw
gyffes) lieu shoots the bird,” whereupon Gwydion revealed
himself and said that she had named the boy, Lieu Llaw
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS 97
Gyffes. Now she refused to arm him, but once more disguised,
Gwydion with Lieu caused an enchanted fleet to appear; and
she armed both, only to be taunted with the stratagem. Again
she said that Lieu would never have a wife of the people of this
earth, but Math and Gwydion made him a bride out of flowers
and called her Blodeuwedd. She was unfaithful to Lieu, how-
ever, and advised by her lover, Gronw Pebyr, she discovered
that a javelin wrought for a year during Mass on Sundays
would kill him when standing with one foot on a buck and the
other on a bath curiously prepared by the bank of a river.
Gronw made the javelin, and when Lieu, prevailed on by
Blodeuwedd, showed her the fatal position, he was struck by
Gronw and flew off as an eagle. Soon after, Gwydion found a
pig eating worms which fell from a wasted eagle on a tree;
and as he sang three verses, at each the eagle came nearer.
When he struck it with a magic rod, it became Lieu, who now
turned Blodeuwedd into an owl; while Gronw had to submit
to a blow from a javelin which penetrated the flat stone placed
by him against his body and killed him. Lieu now recovered
his lands and ruled them happily.
These personages are associated with a dim figure called
Don, who is probably not male, but female, and is mother of
Gwydion, Gilvsethwy, Govannon, Amaethon, and Arianrhod,
who was herself mother of Dylan and Lieu. Math is Don’s
brother. Superficially this group is equivalent to the Tuatha
De Danann, and Don is parallel to Danu, while Govannon
(go/, “smith”) is the equivalent of Goibniu, the Irish smith-
god. Lieu, the reading of whose name as Llew (“Lion”) may
be abandoned, has been equated with Lug, and both names
are said to mean “light.” “Light,” however, has no sense in
the name-giving incident, and possibly, as Loth suggests, 7
there is a connexion with Irish lu, “little.” The other names
of the group have no parallels among the Tuatha De Danann.
Mythological traits are the magic powers of Math and Gwyd-
ion, their shape-shifting, and the introduction of the swine.
98
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
Math Hen, or “the Ancient,” is an old Welsh “high god,”
remembered for magic, which he taught to Gwydion; for the
fact that the winds brought to him the least whisper of a con-
versation, wherever it might be held; and for his pre-eminent
goodness to the suffering and his justice without vengeance
upon the wrongdoer. The last trait shows a high ideal of
divinity, and the second a conception of omniscience.
As a magician Gwydion is also prominent, and by magic
he governed Gwynedd. He was the cleverest of men and
possessed terrible strength, while his prophetic powers are
emphasized in a Triad , and he had supreme gifts as story-teller
and bard. His successful raid on Pryderi’s pigs which came
from Annwfn suggests that, like Cuchulainn, he is the culture
hero bringing domestic animals from the god’s land to earth,
and perhaps for this reason a Triad calls him one of the three
cowherds of Britain, guarding thousands of kine. Irish myth
also frequently speaks of cattle brought from the sid. Gwyd-
ion’s name reflects his character as an inspired bard, if it is
from a root vet , giving words meaning “saying” or “poetry,”
cognate terms being Irish faith, “prophet” or “poet,” and
Latin vates . 8 Gwydion would thus be equivalent to Ogma
and Ogmios, gods of eloquence and letters, and a late manu-
script says he first taught reading and knowledge of books to
the Gaels of Anglesey and Ireland. He is not straightforward,
however, when he pretends that his sister Arianrhod is a virgin,
for she is his mistress and mother of his sons, an incest incident
with parallels in Irish story.
Arianrhod consented to the fraud and as a further pretence
to chastity disowned Lieu; yet a Triad calls her one of the
three blessed or white ladies of Britain. Was she worshipped
as a virgin goddess, while myth gave her a different character?
Celtic goddesses, like the Matres, were connected with fertility,
and goddesses of fertility or earth are apt to possess a double
character, like the great Phrygian Mother, who was also re-
garded as a virgin . 9 Arianrhod, like Aphrodite, was lovely;
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS 99
“beauty-famed beyond summer’s dawn,” sang a poet. 10 Her
name means “silver wheel.”
Much that is said of Lieu is insignificant for mythology,
though Rhys has built a large structure of sun, dawn, and
darkness upon it. The greater part of it is a well-known folk-
tale formula attached to his name — that of the Unfaithful
Wife. It is doubtful whether Lieu really equals Lug merely
because their uncles are respectively Govannon and Gavida
(Goibniu), both meaning “smith”; for while Gavida nurtured
Lug, and Lug slew Balor, Lieu was not brought up by Govan-
non, and the latter incident has no equivalent in his story.
Moreover, Lug is prominent in connexion with the great
Celtic festival, Lugnasad (celebrated on the first of August),
but Lieu is not. Thus his mythological significance is lost
to us.
Math caused Dylan to be baptized, and then this precocious
baby made for the sea, where he swam like a fish; no billow
broke under him, and he was called “son of the wave.” The
blow which caused his death came from Govannon — one of
the three nefarious blows of Britain — but is otherwise un-
explained. The waves lamented his death, and ever, as they
press toward the land, they seek to avenge it. 11 Perhaps Dylan
was once a sea-god, regarded as identical with the waves, like
Manannan. Tradition speaks of the noise of the waters pour-
ing into the Conway as his dying groans, and, again like
Manannan, son of Ler (the sea), he is called Dylan Eil Ton
or Mor (“Son of the Wave” or “Sea”). 12 “As soon as he
entered the sea, he took its nature.”
Govannon’s functions as a smith-god are illustrated from a
reference in Kulhwch and Olzven , where his help must be gained
by Kulhwch to attend at the end of the furrows to cleanse the
iron, 13 though the meaning of this is obscure. In a Taliesin
poem he and Math are associated as artificers. 14 Amsethon’s
name suggests that his functions were connected with agricul-
ture ( amaeth , “ploughman” or “labourer”), and this is illus-
IOO
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
trated by the fact that no husbandmen can till or dress a
certain field for Kulhwch, “so wild is it, save Amaethon, son of
Don; he will not follow thee of his own free will, and thou canst
not force him .” 15 He also brought animals from the gods’
land — a roebuck, whelp, and lapwing belonging to Arawn —
and this led to the battle of Godeu, in which, aided by Gwyd-
ion, he fought Arawn. Gwydion changed trees and sedges
into combatants, as he had transformed fungus into hounds
and horses. On either side fought personages who could not
be vanquished until their names were discovered, but Gwyd-
ion affected the course of the battle by finding the name of
Arawn’s mysterious helper, Bran — a mythic instance of the
power of the hidden name, once it becomes known to another . 16
Whether as a survival from myth or from later folk-belief,
the stars are associated with some of these divinities. The
constellation of Cassiopeia is called “Don’s Court”; Arianrhod
is connected with the constellation Corona Borealis; and the
Milky Way is termed “Gwydion’s Castle,” because he fol-
lowed it in chasing Blodeuwedd across the sky — an obviously
primitive myth . 17
The Mabinogion of Branwen and of Manawyddan are con-
nected and concern the families of Pwyll and Llyr . 18 The
Llyr group consists of his sons, Bran and Manawyddan; their
sister, Branwen; and their half-brother, Nissyen and Evnissyen.
As Bran sat on a rock at Harlech, vessels arrived bearing
Matholwych, King of Ireland, as a suitor for Branwen. He
was accepted, and a feast was made for him in tents, for no
house could hold Bran. But Evnissyen the mischief-maker
mutilated Matholwych’s steeds, and the king indignantly
left, returning only when Bran gave him gifts, including a
cauldron which restored life to the dead, though they re-
mained dumb. This cauldron was obtained from two mys-
terious beings who came out of a lake in Ireland, the man
bearing the cauldron, and the woman about to give birth to
an armed warrior; but they and their descendants were so
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS ioi
troublesome that they were imprisoned in a white-hot iron
house, whence the pair escaped to Britain with their cauldron
— an incident probably borrowed from the Ulster tale of the
Mesca Ulad. Matholwych returned to Ireland with Branwen,
and there, after two years, in retaliation for Evnissyen’s con-
duct, she was placed in the kitchen, where the butcher struck
her every morning. She accordingly sent a starling to Bran
with a message, whereupon he waded over to Ireland, his
men following in ships and crossing the Shannon on his body.
The Irish came to terms and built Bran a vast house, in which
they concealed warriors in sacks; but Evnissyen discovered
this and crushed them one by one. Peace was now concluded,
but Evnissyen again caused trouble by throwing Branwen’s
child into the fire. In the fight which followed the Irish were
winning because they restored their dead in the cauldron;
but Evnissyen smashed it, though he died in the effort. Bran
was slain, and seven only of his people escaped, including
Pryderi, Manawyddan, and Taliesin. Bran bade them cut
off his head and bury it at London, looking toward France;
and they reached Anglesey with Branwen, who died there of a
broken heart. Meanwhile Caswallawn, son of Beli, had usurped
the kingdom, Bran’s son also dying of sorrow. As Bran
had advised, his head-bearers remained at Harlech for seven
years, feasting and listening to the birds of Rhiannon singing
far overhead; and at Gwales for eighty years, the head enter-
taining them in a house with a forbidden door. The years
passed as a day, until one of the men opened the door, when
their evils were remembered, and they went to London to
bury the head.
Manawyddan having lamented that he was landless, Pryd-
eri gave him land in Dyfed and his mother Rhiannon as
wife. All three, with Kicva, Pryderi’s wife, were seated on a
knoll when a thunder-clap was heard; and as the cloud which
accompanied it cleared away, they found the country desolate,
without creature or habitation. Lack of food impelled them
102
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
to seek a living as saddlers, shield-makers, and shoe-makers
successively, but they were always expelled by the regular
craftsmen. One day they pursued a boar to a strange castle,
and Pryderi entered, but trying to lift a golden cup, his hands
stuck fast to it, nor could he move his feet. Manawyddan
told Rhiannon of Pryderi’s disappearance, and when she
sought him, she met the same fate, until at another clap of
thunder the castle disappeared. Manawyddan and Kicva, as
shoe-makers, were again foiled by envious cobblers, and he
now sowed three fields, but an army of mice ate the grain.
One of these he caught and was about to hang, in spite of the
entreaties of Kicva, of a clerk, and of a priest, when a bishop
appeared, and Manawyddan bargained to give up the mouse
if the bishop released Pryderi and Rhiannon, removed the
enchantment from Dyved, and told him who and what the
mouse was. The bishop was Llwyd, a friend of Gwawl, whom
Pryderi’s father, Pwyll, had insulted. All had happened in
revenge for that: the mouse was Llwyd’s wife, the other mice
the ladies of the court. Everything was now restored; Pryderi
and Rhiannon reappeared; and Llwyd agreed to seek no fur-
ther revenge.
While the framework of Branwen is connected with Scandi-
navian and German sagas, whether borrowed by Welshmen
from their Norse allies in the ninth and tenth centuries,
as Nutt supposed , 19 or by Norsemen from Wales, its person-
ages are Celtic, and it contains many native elements. Llyr
Half-Speech and Manawyddan are the equivalents of the
Irish sea-gods Ler and Manannan, the latter of whom is also
associated with Elysium. It is uncertain whether these two
were common to Goidels and Brythons, or were borrowed by
the latter; but at all events they have a definite position in
Welsh tradition, which knows of two other Llyrs — Llyr
Marini and Llyr, father of Cordelia in Geoffrey’s History —
Shakespeare’s Lear . 20 These are probably varying present-
ments of a sea-god. Llyr is sometimes confused with Lludd
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS 103
Llaw Ereint, or “Silver-Hand.” A Triad represents Gweir,
Mabon, and Llyr as three notable prisoners of Britain; but in
Kulhwch these are Greit, Mabon, and Lludd, father of Cor-
delia. 21 Are Llyr and Lludd identical, and is an Irish Alloit,
sometimes called father of Manannan, the equivalent of
Lludd? All this is uncertain. Rhys and Loth are tempted to
correct Lludd into Nudd, an earlier Nodens Lamargentios
(“Nudd Silver-Hand”) having been changed to Lodens (Lludd)
Lamargentios by alliteration, and to equate him with the
Irish Nuada Argetlam (“Silver-Hand”); but the possibility
of such an alliterative change has been denied. Nuada is
identified with the British god Nodons; but though Llyr was
a sea-god, there is no proof that Nuada or Nodons was such,
though some symbols in the remains of the temple of Nodons
on the Severn have been thought to suggest this. 22 These,
however, are not decisive, and it is equally possible
that the god was equated with Mars rather than with
Neptune.
Manawyddan, whose name is derived from Welsh Manaiv ,
the Isle of Man, is much more humanized in Welsh story than
the divine Manannan of the Voyage of Bran; yet he has magic
powers and great superiority as a craftsman. He is associated
with Arthur in a poem and is praised for his wise counsels,
while Pryderi was instructed by him in various crafts and
aided by him, just as the Irish Diarmaid was nurtured and
taught by Manannan. Rhiannon may have been introduced
accidentally into the story — “a mere invention of the nar-
rator in order to give sequence to the narrative”; 23 but possi-
bly she is Manawyddan’s real consort, not one given him by her
son. If so, Pryderi would be Manawyddan’s son, not Pwyll’s,
and his deliverance of Rhiannon and Pryderi from his magi-
cian foe would be significant. 24 Rhiannon appears magically,
like Irish goddesses of Elysium, and she may thus have been
associated with Manawyddan in Elysium, who with Pryderi is
Lord of Annwfn in a Taliesin poem —
104
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
“ Complete is my chair in Caer Sidi;
Plague and age hurt not him who is in it,
They know Manawyddan and Pryderi;
Three organs round a fire sing before it,
And about its points are ocean’s streams.
And the abundant well above it —
Sweeter than white wine the drink of it.” 25
Rhiannon’s magic birds, whose song brought joy and oblivion
for seven years, like that of Ler’s bird-children , 26 and awoke the
dead and made the living sleep , 27 have an Elysian note and
confirm the supposition that she is an Elysian goddess. Be-
yond that we need not go, and there is nothing to connect
her with the dawn or the moon.
Branwen or Bronwen (“White Bosom”) has no definite
traits. Her marriage to Matholwych and her subsequent
sufferings recall the stories of Gudrun, Kriemhild, and Signy;
but whether she ever was connected as a goddess of fertility
with her brother’s cauldron of regeneration must remain an
ingenious conjecture, not supported by the Mabinogi. As a
sea-god’s daughter, she may be “the Venus of the northern
sea,” as Elton supposed , 28 while the Black Book of Caermar-
then calls the sea “the fountain of Venus,” 29 though this is,
perhaps, nothing more than a Classical recollection. Later
romance knew her as Brangwaine, the confidante of Tristram
and Yseult, giving the knight the love-potion which bound
him in illicit amour with Yseult.
Bran is a more obviously mythological figure, and his
gigantic size is an earlier or later method of indicating his
divinity. His buried head protected the land from invasion
— a mythical expression of actual custom — for bodies and
heads of warriors had apotropaic virtues and were sometimes
exhibited or buried in the direction whence danger was ex-
pected . 30 Hence the image of a divine head might have greater
powers, and this may explain the existence of Celtic images
of a god’s head, often in triple form. These figures, found in
Gaul, were believed by Rhys to be images of Cernunnos, a
-
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS 105
god of the Celtic underworld, which he regarded as a dark
region^ contrary to all that we can gather of it, while Bran
was the Brythonic equivalent of Cernunnos and was slain by a
sun-hero, his wading to Ireland representing his crossing the
waters to Hades, like Yama, there to reign as lord of the dead. 31
The heads, however, can be explained only conjecturally as
heads of Cernunnos. The exigencies of the story demanded
that Ireland should be brought in, and as Bran had to reach it
somehow, it was easiest to make the gigantic god wade there;
if the parallel with Yama were true, Bran should have died
before crossing the water of death. Yama’s realm was not
“dark,” but a heavenly region of light, like the Celtic other-
world, even if the latter, unlike the former, was subterranean.
Far from being “dark,” Bran is bright and cheerful and has
Elysian traits. Eighty years are as a day, and men think only
of feasting and happiness in the presence of his head, which is as
agreeable to them as he himself was in life; it produces an Elys-
ium on earth, which is lost through opening a door, exactly as
others lose it and become decrepit through contact with earth.
Thus if Bran, sitting on the rock at Harlech or existing as a
talking head afterward solemnly buried, like Orpheus’s singing
head interred in a sacred place, is the equivalent of the squat-
ting Gaulish god Cernunnos, perhaps also represented as a single
or triple head, this can only be because both were lords of a
bright other-world, whether the region of the dead or a divine
land. Bran is certainly not a dark god of blight, but rather
the reverse, since his cauldron resuscitates the dead. In cross-
ing to Ireland he carried his musicians on his back, and this
may point to his being a divinity of musicians and bards. If
so, he, as the Urdawl Ben (“Noble Head”), may be compared
to the Uthr Ben (“Wonderful Head”) of a Taliesin poem,
which boasted of being a bard, harper, and piper, and equal to
seven score professionals. 32 Arthur disinterred Bran’s head,
not wishing to owe the defence of Britain to it.
Bran was euhemerized into a British king who was confused
io6
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
with Brennus, leader of the Gauls in the sack of Rome, 390
b. c., and was transformed into a conqueror of Gaul and
Rome. 33 He also figures as a saint, Bran the Blessed, if that
was not already a pagan epithet; and remaining at Rome
seven years as hostage with his son Caradawc, he brought
Christianity thence to the Cymry. Caradawc is here the his-
toric Caratacus, who was carried prisoner to Rome, but there
is confusion with a Caradawc (“Great Arms,” or “Prince of
Combat”), son of Llyr Marini, about whom a saga may have
existed. In any case Bran was regarded as head of one of the
three saintly families of Britain. 34
In the Mabinogi of Branwen, Caswallawn, clothed in a
mantle of invisibility, destroyed the heroes of Britain and
usurped the kingdom, leaving Manawyddan landless; and
though his sister was married to Llyr, he was hostile to Llyr’s
descendants. Caswallawn, Lludd, Llevelys, and Nynnyaw
were sons of Beli, although Geoffrey makes his Lear long pre-
cede Beli or Heli as king, while he also introduces a Belinus
and confuses Caswallawn with Cassivellaunus, Caesar’s foe. 35
Beli and Belinus may represent the god Belenos, who was
equated with Apollo; and Beli is victorious champion of the
land and the preserver of its qualities in a Taliesin poem, in
which the singer implores him 36 — perhaps a reminiscence of
earlier divine traits. A Triad calls Beli father of Arianrhod,
and Rhys, assuming that this is Arianrhod, the daughter of
Don, makes Don consort of Beli, equates Don with Danu, and,
without the slightest evidence, assigns to Danu as consort the
shadowy figure Bile, father of Mile, invented by Irish annal-
ists. Beli and Bile are then equated with the Celtic Dispater,
the divine ancestor of the Celtic race, whom he assumes to
have been a “dark” god, ruling a “dark” underworld. 37 All
this is modern mythologizing.
Caswallawn is confused in the Triads with Cassivellaunus, a
warrior who may have been named after him; and he is called
“war-king,” an epithet which may recall his divine functions,
? <aO
i
PLATE XI
Gauls and Romans in Combat
Bas-relief from a sarcophagus found near Rome.
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS 107
those of a god invisibly leading armies to battle and embodied
in chiefs who bore his name. Yet the epithet might be that of
actual warriors, just as the German Emperor calls himself the
“war-lord.”
Lludd,as King, rebuilt London orCaer Ludd, and was buried
at Ludgate Hill, which thus preserves his name and points to
an earlier cult of Lludd at this place. 38 He is also said to have
been enclosed in a narrow prison — an unexplained reference
to some tale now lost. In the story of Lludd and Llevelys 39 his
country of Britain was subjected to three plagues — the Cora-
nians who heard every whisper, like Math Hen; a shriek on
May-Eve caused by a foreign dragon attacking the dragon of
the land and producing wide-spread desolation; and the mys-
terious disappearance of a year’s supply of food. Llevelys bade
Lludd bruise certain insects in water and throw the mixture
over his assembled people and the Coranians; the latter alone
would be poisoned by it. The dragons were to be made drunk
with mead and then buried. The third plague was caused by a
magician who lulled every one to sleep and then carried off the
provisions; but Lludd was to keep awake by plunging into
cold water and then to capture the giant, who would become
his vassal. This last plague recalls “the hand of glory,” the
hand of a new-born infant or a criminal, which, anointed with
grease and ignited, rendered a robber invisible and caused
every one to sleep in whatever house the thief entered. Treasure
was also discovered by its means, and as Dousterswivel in
Scott’s Antiquary said, “he who seeksh for treasuresh shall
never find none at all,” to which the Antiquary replied, “I
dare take my corporal oath of that conclusion.” Whether this
episode of the story is based on such a folk-belief is not clear.
As a whole nation suffers from the plagues, and as two of them
affect fertility and plenty, the origin of the tale may be found
in the mythical contest of divine powers with hostile potencies
of blight, as at Mag-Tured. 40 In a Triad the plague of the
Coranians is called that of March Malaen from beyond the
io8
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
sea; 41 and March suggests the Fomorian More, who taxed
the Nemedians in two-thirds of their children, corn, and milk
on November-Eve. 42 The Welsh plagues, however, occur at Bel-
tane, i. e. at the beginning of summer, rather than winter, as
might be expected. Lludd is praised for generosity in giving
meat and drink — the attribute of a kindly god. The Cora-
nians are connected with Welsh cor (“dwarf”) and are still
known as mischievous fairies.
In connexion with such dwarfs it is interesting to note that a
dwarf fairy-folk is described by Giraldus Cambrensis (1147-
1223). Two of them took the priest Elidurus, when a boy,
through subterranean passages to a delightful region, whose
people lived on milk and saffron, swore no oaths, and contemned
human ambition and inconstancy. Elidurus frequently visited
them, but being persuaded by his mother to steal their gold, he
was pursued and the gold was taken from him, after which he
never again found the way to fairy-land. 43 Save for their size,
these fairies recall the Tuatha De Danann, dwelling in the sid.
Gwyn, son of Nudd, is connected both with Annwfn and also
in later belief with fairy-land. 44 He was a great magician and a
mighty warrior — “the hope of armies” — while his horse was
also “the torment of battle”; 45 without him and a certain
steed named Du, the monster boar, the Twrch Trwyth, could
not be caught by Kulhwch. Gwyn abducted Creidylad (Cor-
delia), daughter of Lludd, who was affianced to Gwythur; but
in the fight which followed Gwyn was victor and forced one of
his foes to eat his dead father’s heart so that he became mad.
Arthur interfered, however, and ordered that Creidylad should
remain with her father, while Gwyn and Gwythur must fight
for her every day until doom, when she would be given to the
victor. 46 This story is illustrated by folk-survivals. On May-
day in the Isle of Man a girl representing the May Queen was
attended by a captain and several others; and there was also a
Queen of Winter with her company. The two bands met in
mock battle, and if the May Queen was captured, her men had
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS 109
to ransom her. 47 Ritual combats between representatives of
summer and winter occur among the folk everywhere and in
origin symbolized the defeat of winter, as well as actually
aided the gods of light and growth. The story of Creidylad is
perhaps the debris of an old myth explaining the reason of such
a contest when its real purpose was forgotten.
Another group of divine personages is found in the Hanes
Taliesin , which was written in the sixteenth or seventeenth
century, although references to incidents in it occur in far ear-
lier poems in the Book of Taliesin and presuppose its existence
in some form when they were composed. It contains mythical
elements which introduce old divinities, a culture hero or god,
Taliesin, and the conceptions of inspiration, rebirth, and shape-
shifting, the last being expressed in the folk-tale formula of the
Transformation Combat, as it already is in one of the poems. 48
Taliesin is unknown to the Mabinogion , save as a bearer of
Bran’s head, and this suggests his local character, while the
saga was probably developed in a district to the south of the
estuary of the Dyfi. 49 Before story or poem was written, three
facts concerning his mythic history must have been remem-
bered — his inspiration, his shape-shifting powers, and his
being the rebirth of Gwion. Whether or not there was an
actual poet called Taliesin living in the sixth or, as his latest
translator and commentator, Mr. J. G. Evans, thinks, in the
thirteenth century, it is certain that his poems contain many
mythical references which must once have been told of a myth-
ical being doubtless bearing the same name as himself.
Tegid the Bald lived in Lake Tegid (Bala) with his wife
Cerridwen, their beautiful daughter Creirwy, and their sons
Morvran and Avagddu, the latter the most ill-favoured of
men, although Morvran (“Sea-Crow”) is elsewhere said to
have been also of repellent aspect. Cerridwen wished to com-
pensate Avagddu by giving him knowledge, so that he might
have entry among men of standing; and with the aid of the
books of Ffergll (Vergil) she prepared a cauldron of inspiration
no
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
and science to boil for a year. While she went to gather herbs
of virtue, she set the blind Mordu to kindle the fire and Gwion
to stir the pot; but three drops from it fell on his finger, which
he put in his mouth, and he found himself master of knowledge,
which taught him to flee from Cerridwen’s rage. Here follows
the incident of the Transformation Combat, with the goddess
as a hen finally swallowing Gwion as a grain . 50 She later gave
birth to him, and wrapping him up in a hide, placed him in the
sea. At Gwydno’s weir the value of a hundred pounds was
found every first of May, and Elphin was to obtain whatever was
discovered on the next occasion, which proved to be the child.
When the package was opened, Gwydno exclaimed, “Here is
a fine or radiant brow” or “fine profit” ( tal iessin), whence
Elphin named the child Taliesin, and the infant sang and
showed how deep was his knowledge. He was nurtured by
Elphin and became one of the greatest of bards. Now Elphin
had boasted at court that he had a more virtuous wife and a
better bard than any there, whence he was imprisoned until
his claim was verified. Rhun was sent to seduce his wife, but
Taliesin put a servant in her place, and she fell victim to Rhun,
who cut off her finger with her mistress’s ring. When Elphin
was confronted with it, he showed an ingenuity equal to that
of Sherlock Holmes in proving that the finger was not his
wife’s — the ring was too tight, the finger-nail was uncut, and on
her finger some flour had remained from her baking. Now his wife
never baked; she cut her finger-nails weekly; and the ring was
loose even on her thumb. Taliesin next came forward and by
his spells made the other bards utter nonsense. He sang of his
origin — “the region of the summer stars” — his existence in
long past ages, from that of Lucifer’s fall to the days of the
Patriarchs, and his life at the Nativity and Crucifixion of
Christ, and referred to his birth from Cerridwen. Then the
castle shook; Elphin was summoned; and as Taliesin sang his
chains fell from him . 51
The latter part of tne story is purely romantic, but in poems
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS hi
ascribed to Taliesin and in a Triad his greatness as the “chief
of bards” appears —
“With me is the splendid chair,
The inspiration of fluent and urgent song.”
He has been with the gods and ranks himself as one of them,
telling how he was created and enchanted by them before he
became immortal ; 52 he has a chair not only on earth but in
the gods’ land . 53 Taliesin was the ideal bard, a god of inspira-
tion like Ogma, and, besides his reincarnation, his birth from
Cerridwen shows his divine nature. Yet, like other semi-
divine personages connected with inspiration or culture, he
obtains his powers by accident or by force. One myth, that
of the cauldron, shows the former and is parallel to the story
of Fionn and the salmon ; 54 but in another, darkly referred to
in a poem, he with Arthur and many companions goes overseas
to Caer Sidi for the spoils of Annwfn, including the cauldron
of Pen Annwfn . 55 Here, whether successfully or not, the gifts
of culture and inspiration are sought by force or craft. Are
two separate myths combined in the Hanes Taliesin , one making
Taliesin son of a goddess with an abode in the divine land; the
other viewing him as a culture hero, stealing the gifts of the
gods’ land, and therefore obnoxious to Cerridwen? And if so,
do these myths “reflect the encroachment of the cult of a god
on that of a goddess, his worshippers regarding him as her son,
her worshippers reflecting their hostility to the new god in a
myth of her enmity to him ”? 56
Taliesin was supreme in shape-shifting and rebirth. Of no
other Brythonic god or hero is the latter asserted, and several
poems obscurely enumerate various forms which he assumed
and recount his adventures in them. When, however, the poet,
speaking in his name, asserts that he has been a sword, tear,
word, book, coracle, etc., it is obvious that this is mere bardic
nonsense and not pantheism, as some have suggested. The
claims of Taliesin and of the Irish Amairgen resemble those of
the Eskimo angakok, who has the entree of the other-world and
1 12 CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
can transform himself at will ; 57 and the gift of transformation
and rebirth is then associated with inspiration in the Hanes
Taliesin. Here the equation with Fionn and Oisin, already
noted by J. G. Campbell and accepted by Rhys, is worth ob-
serving. Fionn and Gwion obtain inspiration accidentally.
Fionn is reborn, not as Oisin, but as Mongan, and Gwion as
Taliesin. Oisin and Taliesin are both bards, and Oisin’s name
is perhaps equivalent to -essin or -eisin in Taliesin. Taliesin’s
shape-shifting has no parallel with Fionn or Oisin, but Oisin’s
mother and, in one tradition, Fionn’s also became a fawn.
Thus inspiration, rebirth, and shape-shifting are attached to
different personages in different ways, showing that mythical
elements common to the Celtic race have been employed.
Tegid is a god of the world under waters, but is not other-
wise known to existing myth; though he and Cerridwen, pos-
sessor of a cauldron, are perhaps parallel to the giant pair out
of a lake with their cauldron in Bramven, Cerridwen being a
local goddess of inspiration, as her cauldron of knowledge shows.
The Celtic mythical cauldron, bestowing knowledge, plenty
(like Dagda’s), and life (like Bran’s ), 58 is recognizable as a
property of the gods’ land; but it was dangerous, and a bard
sings of his chair being defended from Cerridwen’s cauldron . 59
Cerridwen was regarded as a daughter of Ogyrven, from whose
cauldron came three muses, and who was perhaps an epony-
mous deity of the elements of language, poetry, and the letters
of the alphabet, called ogyrvens , as well as a god of bards.
Cerridwen is styled “the ogyrven of various seeds, those of
poetic harmony, the exalted spirit of the minstrel”; but
ogyrven also means “a spiritual form,” “a personified idea,”
and may here be equivalent to “goddess.” 60 Thus Cerridwen
was a deity of inspiration, like Brigit, though, like other Celtic
goddesses, her primary function may have been with fertility,
of which the cauldron, supplying plenty and giving life, is a
symbol. She is also called a “goddess of grain.” 61
Tegid’s water-world is the land under waves of Irish myth —
PLATE XII
Three-Headed God
The statue, adorned with torques, was once
horned. For another representation of this divinity,
perhaps a deity of the underworld, see Plate VII.
Found at Condat, France.
THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS 113
one aspect of Elysium, examples of which have already been
considered. Another instance occurs in the Voyage of Maelduin,
where the voyagers reach a sea, beneath which is descried a
country with castles, men, and cattle; but in a tree is a great
beast eating an ox, and the sight so terrifies them that they
sail quickly away. In another story Murough is invited to
come below the waters. He dives down and reaches the land
of King Under-Waves, whom he sees sitting on a golden throne;
a year spent there feasting seems but a few days. Welsh tradi-
tion has also many stories of water-worlds, as well as of fairy
brides, daughters of the lord of the lake, and cattle which came
thence. 62 In a Christianized Irish version of the conception a
bishop from time to time visited a monastery beneath the
waters of a lake, finally disappearing from his own monastery,
none knew whither. 63
-
CHAPTER IX
THE DIVINE LAND
E LYSIUM, called by many beautiful Celtic names, is the
gods’ land and is never associated with the dead. The
living were occasionally invited there, however, and either
remained perpetually or returned to earth, where sometimes
they found themselves decrepit and aged; time had lapsed
like a dream, because they were in the immortal land and had
tasted its immortal food. Many tales already cited have
shown different conceptions of its situation — in the sid, on
a mysterious island, or beneath the waters; or the gods create
it on earth or produce it by glamour to mortal eyes. Occa-
sionally such conceptions are mingled. These legends have
illustrated its marvellous beauty, its supernatural fruit trees
and music, its unfailing and satisfying food and drink, and
the deathless glory and youth of its people.
The tales now to be summarized will throw further light
upon its nature. The first of these, The Voyage of Bran , is an
old pagan myth retold in prose and verse in the seventh or
eighth century by a Christian editor, interested in the past.
Bran, son of Febal, one day heard music behind him produced
by a woman from unknown lands, i. e. from Elysium. Lulled
by its sweetness, he slept, and on awaking found by his side
a musical branch of silver with white blossoms. Taking it
into his royal house, he there saw the woman, who sang of
the wondrous isle whence she had brought the branch. Four
feet of white bronze upheld it, and on its plains were glisten-
ing, coloured splendours. Music swelled there; wailing,
treachery, harshness, grief, sorrow, sickness, age, and death
THE DIVINE LAND
115
were unknown. An exquisite haze hung over it, and its people
listened to the sweet music, drinking wine the while; laughter
pealed there and everlasting joy. Thrice fifty islands lay to
the west of it, each double or triple the size of Erin. The
woman then prophesied of Christ’s birth, and after she had
urged Bran to sail till he reached Tu na m-Ban (“the Land
of Women”), she disappeared, the branch leaping from Bran’s
hand into hers.
Next day Bran sailed with twenty-seven men, and on the
voyage they saw Manannan driving his chariot over the
waves. The god sang to the voyagers and told how he was
passing over a flowery plain, for what Bran saw as the sea was
to Manannan a plain. The speckled salmon in the sea were
calves and lambs, and steeds invisible to Bran were there also.
People were sitting playing and drinking wine, and making love
without crime. Bran’s coracle was not on the waves, but on
an immortal wood, yielding fruit and perfume; the folk of
that land were immortal and sinless, unlike Adam’s descend-
ants, and in it rivers poured forth honey. Finally Manannan
bade Bran row to Tir na m-Ban , which he would reach by
sunset.
Bran first came to an isle of laughter; and when one of his
men was sent ashore, he refused to leave the laughing folk of
this Isle of Joy. At the Land of Women their Queen wel-
comed Bran, throwing a ball of thread which cleaved to his
hand, and by which the boat was drawn ashore. All now went
into a house where were twenty-seven beds, one for each;
the food never grew less and for each man it had the taste
which he desired. They stayed for a year, though it was in
truth many years; but home-sickness at last seized one of
them, Nechtan, so that he and the others begged Bran to re-
turn. The Queen said they would rue this, yet as they were
bent on going, she bade them not set foot on Erin and to take
with them their comrade from the Isle of Joy. When Erin
was reached, Bran told his name to the men gathered on the
ii 6
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
shore; but they said, “We do not know him, though the voyage
of Bran is in our ancient stories.” Nechtan now leaped ashore,
but when his foot touched land, he became a heap of ashes.
Bran then told his wanderings and bade farewell to the crowd,
returning presumably to the divine land. “From that hour
his wanderings are not known.” 1
Manannan’s land overseas is the subject of a convention-
alized tale in the Colloquy of the Ancients ( Acallamh na Seno-
rach ), which contains primitive material. One of Fionn’s
men, Ciabhan, embarked with two youths, Lodan and Eolus,
sons of the Kings of India and of Greece; and during a storm
Manannan appeared riding over the waves. “For the space of
nine waves he would be submerged in the sea, but would rise
on the crest of the tenth, and that without his breast or chest
wetted.” He rescued them on condition of fealty to himself,
and drawing them on his horse, brought them to the Land of
Promise. Having passed the loch of dwarfs, they came to
Manannan’s stone fort, where food, wine, and music delighted
them; and where they saw Manannan’s folk perform many
tricks, which they themselves were able to imitate. In the
Land of Promise were three beautiful sisters, Clidna, Aeife,
and Edaein, who eloped with the visitors in two boats, Clidna
going along with Ciabhan. When he reached Erin, he went
ashore to hunt, and now a great wave, known ever after as
Clidna’s wave, rolled in and drowned her, overwhelming at
the same time Manannan’s men, Ildathach and his sons, both
in love with Clidna and following in pursuit of her. A different
account of Clidna has already been cited . 2
In the story of Bran, the queen-goddess fell in love with
him and visited him (as in the legend of Connla) to induce
him to come to her. While there are hints of other inhabitants,
women or goddesses alone exist on this island — an additional
parallel to the story of Connla, though there the island has
a king; to the incident in Maelduin; and to the name “Land
of Ever-Living Women” in the Dindsenchas of Tuag Inbir.
PLATE XIII
SUCELLOS
This divinity, characterized by a hammer (cf. p.
9), was a ruler of the underworld (cf. the represen-
tation of Dispater with a hammer, Plate XIV). A
benevolent god, his hammer is a symbol of creative
force. The artistic type (for another instance of
which see Plate XXVI) was influenced by that of
the Alexandrian Serapis and the Classical Hades-
Pluto. Cf. also Plate IX, B. The figure was found
at Premeaux, France.
THE DIVINE LAND
ii 7
Another instance occurs in a Fionn story. Fionn and his men
were hunting when there met them a huge and beautiful
woman, whose finger-rings were as thick as three ox-goads.
She was Bebhionn from Maidens’ Land in the west, where
all the inhabitants were women save their father (its king)
and his three sons; and for the third time she had escaped
from her husband, son of the King of the adjacent Isle of Men,
and had come to seek Fionn’s protection. As she sat by him
and Goll, however, her huge husband came, and slaying her,
eluded the heroes’ pursuit, vanishing overseas in a boat with
two rowers. 3
The tradition of the Isle of Women still exists in Celtic folk-
lore. Such an island was on£y a part of the divine land and
may have originated in myth from actual custom — women
living upon or going at certain periods to small islands to per-
form rites generally tabu to men, a custom to which reference
is made by Strabo and Pomponius Mela. 4
That the gods could create an Elysium on earth has been
found in the story of Lug and Dechtire, and another instance
occurs in the tale of Cormac mac Art, King of Ireland in the
third century, of whom an annalist records that he disappeared
for seven months in 248 a. d., a reference to the events of this
story. To Cormac appeared a young man with a branch from
which hung nine apples of gold; and when this was shaken,
it produced strange music, hearing which every one forgot his
troubles and fell asleep. He came from a land where there
was nought save truth, and where was no age, nor decay, nor
gloom, nor sadness, nor envy, nor jealousy, nor weeping; and
Cormac said that to possess the branch he would give what-
ever was asked, whereupon the stranger answered, “give me
then thy wife, thy son and daughter.” Cormac agreed and
now told his bargain to his wife, who, like her children, was
sorrowful that he should have preferred the branch to them.
The stranger carried off successively, daughter, son, and wife,
and all Ireland grieved, for they were much loved; but Cormac
1 1 8
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
shook the branch, and the mourning ceased. In a year desire
to see his wife and children came to the King. He set off, and
as he went, a magic mist surrounded him, and he saw a house
in the midst of a wonderful plain. After witnessing many
marvels, he reached another house where a huge and beauti-
ful man and woman offered him hospitality. Cormac bathed,
the hot stones going into the bath-water of themselves, and
the man brought in a boar, while Cormac prepared the fire
and set on a quarter of the beast. His host proposed that he
should tell a tale, at the end of which, if it were true, the meat
would be cooked, but Cormac asked him to begin first. “Well,
then,” said the host, “the pig is one of seven, and with them
I could feed the whole world. When one is eaten, I place its
bones in the sty, and next day it is alive again.” This tale
proved true, because the meat was already cooked. When a
second quarter was placed on the fire, the host told of his
corn which grew and gathered itself, and never grew less; and
thus a second quarter was cooked. A third quarter was set
on, and now the woman described the milk of her seven cows
which filled seven tubs and would satisfy the whole world.
Her tale also proved true, and now Cormac realized that he
was in presence of Manannan and his wife, because none
possessed such pigs as he, and he had brought his wife and her
cows from the Land of Promise. Cormac then told how he
had lost his wife and children — a true story, for the fourth
quarter was found cooked. Manannan bade him eat, but
when he refused, for he would never dine with two persons
only, the god opened a door and brought in his wife and chil-
dren, and great was their mutual joy. Manannan now as-
sumed his divine form and related how he had brought the
branch because he desired Cormac to come hither, and he
also explained the mystery of the wonders seen by him. When
they sat down to eat, Manannan produced a table-cloth on
which appeared whatever food was demanded, and a cup. If
one told a lie, it would break, but if truth was then spoken,
THE DIVINE LAND
119
it would be restored; and to prove this, he informed Cormac
that his lost wife had had a new husband, whereupon the cup
broke. “My husband has lied,” cried the goddess, and at her
words the cup was repaired. Manannan then said that table-
cloth, cup, and branch would be Cormac’s and that he had
wrought magic upon him in order that he might be with him
that night in friendship. In the morning, after a night’s sleep,
Cormac and his family found themselves no longer in the
divine land, but in their own palace of Tara, and beside him
were the cup, branch, and table-cloth which had covered the
board of the god . 5 Cormac’s recognition of the god through
his swine shows knowledge of the myth of the gods’ food —
the Mucca Mhanannain , “to be killed and yet to be alive for
evermore.” 6
A story told of Mongan has some resemblance to that of
Cormac. He commiserated a poor bardic scholar, bidding
him go to the sid of Lethet Oidni and bring thence a precious
stone of his, as well as a pound of silver for himself and a
pound of gold from the stream beside the sid. At two sid on
his way a noble-looking couple welcomed him as Mongan’s
messenger, and a similar pair received him at the sid of Lethet
Oidni, where was a marvellous chamber. Asking for its key,
he took thence the stone and silver, and from the river he
took the gold, returning to Mongan, who bestowed the silver
upon him . 7 Another story of Mongan relates how he, his wife,
and some others, entering a mysterious house during a storm,
found in it seven “conspicuous men,” many marvellous
quilts, wonderful jewels, and seven vats of wine. Welcome
was given to them, and Mongan became intoxicated and told
his wife his adventures, or “frenzy,” from the telling of which
he had formerly asked a respite of seven years. When they
woke next morning, they found that they had been in the
house a full year, though it seemed but a night . 8 In this in-
stance, however, the house had not disappeared. Examples
of beautiful places vanishing at daybreak are found in Fionn
hi — 9
120
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
tales and also in the Grail romances. The seeker of the Grail
finds himself no longer in the Grail castle in the morning, and
the castle itself has become invisible. Such creations of glamour
were probably suggested by dreams, whose beauty and terror
alike vanish “when one awaketh.”
Fruit-bearing, musical trees, in whose branches birds are
constantly singing, grow in the gods’ land. In the sid of
Oengus were three trees always in fruit; and there were also
two pigs, one always living, and the other always cooked and
ready for eating — the equivalent of the Mucca Mhanannain,
or “Pigs of Manannan” — and a jar of excellent beer, Goib-
niu’s ale. None ever died there . 9 The Elysian ale is doubtless
a superlative form of the Irish cuirm or braccat , made from
malt, of which the Gauls had a divinity, Braciaca ; 10 and it is
analogous to the Vedic soma and the wine of Dionysos . 11
Within the sid, or the gods’ land, were other domestic animals,
especially cows, which were sometimes brought thence by
those who left it or were stolen by heroes or by dwellers in
one sid from those of another. Where mortals steal them,
there is a reminiscence of the mythical idea that the elements
of civilization were wrested from the gods by man. Cauldrons
were used by the Celts for domestic and sacrificial as well as
other ritual purposes, and these also gave rise to myths of
wonderful divine cauldrons like Dagda’s, from which “no
company ever went unthankful.” Their contents restored the
dead or produced inspiration, and they were stolen from the
gods’ land, e. g. by Cuchulainn and by Arthur . 12 The caul-
dron rimmed with pearls which Arthur and his men sought
resembles the basin with rows of carbuncles on its edge in
which, according to another story, a fairy woman washed . 13
The inspiration of wisdom was obtained in the gods’ land,
either by drinking from a well or by eating the salmon in it;
but this knowledge was tabu even to some members of the
divine land. Such a well, called Connla’s Well, was in the
Land under Waves, and thither Sinend, grand-daughter of
PLATE XIV
Dispater and Aeracura (?)
Dispater was the great Celtic god of the under-
world (see p. 9) and is here represented holding a
hammer and a cup (for the hammer cf. the deity
Sucellos, Plates XIII, XXVI, and see Plate IX, B;
the cup suggests the magic cauldron of the Celtic
Elysium; cf. pp. 41, 95-96, 100, 109-12, 120, 1 5 1 ,
192, 203-04 and see Plates IX, B, XXV). If the
goddess beside him holding a cornucopia (cf. Plate
IX, A) is really Aeracura, she probably represents
an old earth goddess, later displaced by Dispater.
From an altar found at Oberseebach, Switzerland.
THE DIVINE LAND
1 2 1
Ler, went from the Land of Promise to behold it. Above it
grew hazels of wisdom, bearing leaves, blossoms, and nuts
together; and these fell into the water, where they were eaten
by salmon — the salmon of knowledge of other tales. From
the well sprang seven streams of wisdom, and Sinend, seek-
ing understanding, followed one of these, only to be pursued
and overwhelmed by the fount itself. Sometimes these hazels
were thought to grow at the heads of the chief rivers of Erin . 14
Such a fountain with five streams, their waters more melo-
dious than mortal music, was seen by Cormac beside Manan-
nan’s house; above it were hazels, and in it five salmon. Nuts
also formed part of the food of the gods in the story of Diar-
maid and Grainne , and in a tale from the Dindsenchas they
are said to be eaten by the “bright folk and fairy hosts of
Erin.” 15 Another secret well stood in the green of Sid Nech-
tain, and none could approach it without his eyes bursting
save Nechtan and his cup-bearers. Boann, his wife, resolved
to test its power or, in another version, to prove her chastity
after adultery with Dagda, and walked round it thrice wither-
shins; but three waves from it mutilated her, she fled, and
was drowned in the pursuing waters . 16
Goddesses sometimes took the form of birds, like the swan-
maidens of universal myth and folk- tale; and they sang
exquisite, sleep-compelling melodies. Sweet, unending bird-
music, however, was a constant note of Elysium, just as the
song of Rhiannon’s birds caused oblivion and loss of all
sense of time for eighty years. In the late story of Teigue’s
voyage to Elysium the birds which feasted on the delicious
berries of its trees are said to warble “music and minstrelsy
melodious and superlative,” causing healthful slumber; 17
while in another story the minstrel goddess of the sxd of Doon
Buidhe visited other side with the birds of the Land of Promise
which sang unequalled music . 18
The lords of the sxd Elysium were many, but the chief were
Dagda, Oengus, and Midir, as Arawn in Brythonic story was
122
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
king of Annwfn. In general, however, every sid had its own
ruler, and if this is an early tradition, it suggests a cult of a
local god on a hill within which his abode was supposed to be.
Manannan is chief, par excellence , of the island Elysium, and
it was appropriate that a marine deity should rule a divine
region including “thrice fifty isliands.” In that land he had a
stone fort with a banqueting-hall. Lug, who may be a sun-
god, was sometimes associated with the divine land, as the
solar divinity was in Greek myth, and also with Manannan;
and he with his foster-brothers, Manannan’s sons, came to
assist the Tuatha De Danann, riding Manannan’s steed before
“the fairy cavalcade from the Land of Promise.” 19 He a>lso
appeared as owner of an Elysium created by glamour on
earth’s surface, where Conn the Hundred-Fighter heard a
prophecy of his future career , 20 this prophetic, didactic tale
doubtless having an earlier mythic prototype.
The Brythonic Elysium differed little from the Irish. One
of its names, Annwfn, or “the not-world,” which was is elfydd
(“beneath the world”), was later equated with Hades or Hell,
as already in the story of Gwyn. In the Mabinogi of Pwvll it
is a region of this world, though with greater glories, and has
districts whose people fight, as in Irish tales. In other Mabino-
gion, however, as in the Taliesin poems and later folk-belief,
there is an over-sea Elysium called Annwfn or Caer Sidi —
“its points are ocean’s streams” — and a world beneath the
water — “a caer [castle] of defence under ocean’s waves.” 21
Its people are skilled in magic and shape-shifting; mortals
desire its “spoils” — domestic animals and a marvellous
cauldron; it is a deathless land, without sickness; its waters
are like wine; and with it are associated the gods. The Isle
of Avalon in Arthurian tradition shows an even closer like-
ness to the Irish Elysium . 22
-
Thus the Irish and Welsh placed Elysium in various regions
— local other-worlds — in hills, on earth’s surface, under or
oversea; and this doubtless reflects the different environments
THE DIVINE LAND
123
of the Celtic folk. With neither is it a region of the dead, nor
in any sense associated with torment or penance. This is true
also of later folk-stories of the Green Isle, now seen beneath,
now above, the waters. Its people are deathless, skilled in
magic; its waters restore life and health to mortals; there
magic apples grow; and thither mortals are lured or wander
by chance. 23 The same conception is still found in a late story
told of Dunlang O’Hartigan, who fought at Clontarf in 1014.
A fairy woman offered him two hundred years of life and
joy — “life without death, without cold, without thirst, with-
out hunger, without decay” — if he would put off combat for
a day; but he preferred death in battle to dishonour, and
“foremost fighting, fell.” 24
The parallel between Celtic and early Greek conceptions of
Elysium 25 is wonderfully close. Both are open to favoured
human beings, who are thus made immortal without death;
both are exquisitely beautiful, but sensuous and unmoral.
In both are found islands ruled by goddesses who sometimes
love mortals; both are oversea, while a parallel to the sid
Elysium underground may be found in the later Greek tradi-
tion of Elysium as a region of Hades, which may have had
roots in an earlier period. 26 The main difference is the occa-
sional Celtic view of Elysium as a place where gods are at
war. This may be due to warrior aspects of Celtic life, while
the more peaceful conception reflects settled, agricultural life;
although Norse influences have sometimes been suggested as
originating the former. 27
CHAPTER X
MYTHICAL ANIMALS AND OTHER BEINGS
T HE Celts worshipped animals or their anthropomorphic
representations — the horse, swine, stag, bull, serpent,
bear, and various birds. There was a horse-goddess Epona, a
horse-god Rudiobus, a mule-god Mullo, a swine-god Moccus,
and bear-goddesses called Artio and Andarta, dedications to or
images of these occurring in France and Britain . 1 Personal
names meaning “son of the bear” or “of the dog,” etc., sug-
gest myths of animal descent lost to us, though they find a
partial illustration in stories like that of Oisin, son of a woman
transformed to a fawn. We have seen that gods and magi-
cians assume animal forms or force these upon others; and
other stories point to the belief that domesticated animals came
from the gods’ land.
From these we turn to tales in which certain animals have a
mythic aspect, perhaps connected with a cult of them. A
divine bull or swine might readily be regarded as enormously
large or strong, or possessed of magic power, or otherwise dis-
tinguished; and these are the aspects under which such animals
appear in the stories now to be considered.
In the Irish tale of Mac Datho’s Boar ( Seel Mucci Mate
Datho ) Mac Datho, King of Leinster, had a dog famed through'
out the land. It could run round Leinster in a day and was
coveted both by Ailill and Medb of Connaught and by
Conchobar of Ulster; but Mac Datho promised it to both and
invited the monarchs and their retinues to a feast, hoping that
he would escape in the quarrel which would certainly arise
between them. The chief dish was a boar reared by Mac
PLATE XV
Epona
1. The horse-goddess Epona may have been
originally a deity of a spring or river, conceived as a
spirited steed. She is here represented as feeding
horses (for the horse see Plates II, 1-3, III, 2, 4).
From a bas-relief found at Bregenz, Tyrol.
2. The goddess is shown seated between two
foals, and the cornucopia which she holds would
characterize her as a divinity of plenty (cf. Plates
IX, A, XIV, and p. 9). From a bronze statuette
found in Wiltshire.
2
MYTHICAL ANIMALS AND OTHER BEINGS 125
Datho’s grandson, Lena, who, though buried in a trench which
the boar rooted up over him, succeeded in killing the animal
with his sword. For seven years the boar had been nurtured
on the flesh of fifty cows; sixty oxen were required to drag its
carcass; and its tail was a load for sixty men; yet Conall
Cernach sucked it entire into his mouth! 2 The story tells
nothing more of this remarkable animal, but it may commem-
orate an old ritual feast upon an animal regarded as divine and
endowed with mythic qualities.
The Mirabilia added to Nennius’s History speak of the
Porcus Troit or Twrch Trzvyth , hunted by Arthur, an episode
related in the tale of Kulhwch and Olwen. This creature, which
was a transformed knight, slaughtered many of the hunters
before it was overcome and three desirable possessions taken
from between its ears. 3 The Porcus Troit resembles the Wild
Boar of Gulban, a transformed child, hunted by Diarmaid
when the Feinn had fled before it; and tradition tells of its
great size — sixteen feet long. 4 Fionn himself chased a huge
boar which terrified every one until it was slain by his grand-
son, Oscar. It was blue-black, with rough bristles, and no
ears or tail; its teeth protruded horribly; and each flake of
foam from its mouth resembled the foam of a mighty water-
fall. 5 A closer analogy to Arthur’s hunt occurs in a story of the
Dindsenchas concerning a pig which wasted the land. Manan-
nan and Mod’s hounds pursued it, when it sprang into a lake
where it maimed or drowned the following hounds; and then
it crossed to Muic-Inis, or Pig Island, where it slew Mod with
its tusk. 6 Another hunting of magic swine concerns animals
from the cave of Cruachan, which is elsewhere associated with
divinities. Nothing grew where they went, and they destroyed
corn and milk; no one could count them accurately, and when
shot at they disappeared. Medb and Ailill hunted them, and
when one of them leaped into Medb’s chariot, she seized its
leg, but the skin broke, and the pig left it in her hand.
After that no one knew whither they went, although a variant
126
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
version says that now they were counted. From this cave
came other destructive creatures — a great three-headed bird
which wasted Erin till Amairgen killed it, and red birds which
withered everything with their breath until the Ulstermen slew
them . 7 It is strange why such animals should be associated
with this divine cave, but probably the tradition dates from
the time when it was regarded as “Ireland’s gate of hell,” so
that any evil spirit might inhabit it.
In these stories of divinities or heroes hunting fabulous swine
it is possible that the animals represent some hurtful power,
dangerous to vegetation; for the swine is apt to be regarded
in a sinister light and might well be the embodiment of
demoniac beings. On the other hand, the animal sacrificed
to a god, or of which the god is an anthropomorphic aspect,
is sometimes regarded as his enemy, slain by him. Whether
this conception lurks behind these tales is uncertain, as also
is the question whether the magic immortal swine — the food
of the gods — were originally animals sacrificed to them.
Divine swine appear in a Fionn tale. The Feinn were at a
banquet given by Oengus, when the deity said that the best
of Fionn’s hounds could not kill one of his pigs, but rather
his great pig would kill them. Fionn, on the contrary, main-
tained that his hounds, Bran and Sgeolan, could do so. A year
after, a hundred and one pigs appeared, one of them coal-
black, and each tall as a deer; but the Feinn and their dogs
killed them all, Bran slaying the black one, whereupon Oengus
complained that they had caused the death of his sons and
many of the Tuatha De Danann, for they were in the form of
the swine. A quarrel ensued, and Fionn prepared to attack
Oengus’s brug, when the god made peace . 8 In another instance
a fairy as a wild boar eluded the Feinn, but Fionn offered the
choice of the women to its slayer, and by the help of a “familiar
spirit” in love with him Caoilte “got the diabolical beast
killed.” Fionn covered the women’s heads lest Caoilte should
take his wife, but his ruse was unsuccessful . 9
MYTHICAL ANIMALS AND OTHER BEINGS 127
In still another instance Derbrenn, Oengus’s first love, had
six foster-children; but their mother changed them into swine,
and Oengus gave charge of them to Buichet, whose wife de-
sired the flesh of one of them. A hundred heroes and as many
hounds prepared to hunt them, when they fled to Oengus for
help, only to find that he could not give it until they shook
the tree of Tarbga and ate the salmon of Inver Umaill. Not
for a year were they able to do this, but now Medb hunted
them, and all were slain save one. Other huntings of these
swine, less fortunate for the hunters, are also mentioned, and
in one passage Derbrenn’s swine are said to have been fash-
ioned by magic. 10 Both in Irish and in Welsh story pigs are
associated with the gods’ land and are brought thence by
heroes or by the gods. The Tuatha De Danann are said to
have first introduced swine into Ireland or Munster. 11
The mythic bulls of the Tain Bo Cualgne were reincarna-
tions of divinities, whence enormous strength was theirs, and
the Brown Bull was of vast size. He carried a hundred and
fifty children, until one day he threw them off and killed all
but fifty; a hundred warriors were protected by his shadow
from the heat, or by his shelter from the cold. His melodious
evening lowing was such as any one would desire to hear, and
no eldritch thing dared approach him; he covered fifty heifers
daily, and each next morning had a calf. 12 Two gifts given to
Conn by a princess who was with the god Lug were a boar’s
rib and that of an ox, twenty-four feet long, forming an arch
eight feet high; but nothing further is told of the animals which
owned these huge bones. 13
Cattle were a valued possession of the gods’ land and, like
swine, were brought thence by heroes. Man easily concluded
that animals useful to him were also useful to the gods, but
he regarded these as magical. The divine mother of Fraoch
gave him cows from the sid. Flidais, “one of the tribe of the
god folk,” was wife of Ailill the Fair and had a cow which
supplied milk to three hundred men at one night’s milking;
128
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
while during the Tain another account speaks of Flidais
having several cows which fed Ailill’s army every seventh day.
Flidais loved Fergus and urged him to carry her off with her
cow 14 — a proof of its value, which is seen also in tales of the
capture of cows along with some desirable woman, divine or
human. In many Welsh instances cattle are a possession of the
fairy-folk dwelling under a lake and often come to land
to feed . 15 The cow of Flidais resembles the seven kine of
Manannan’s wife; their milk suffices the people of the entire
Land of Promise or the men of the whole world, while from the
wool of her seven sheep came all their clothing . 16
Though the waves were “the Son of Ler’s horses in a sea-
storm,” Manannan rode them on his steed Enbarr, which he
gave to Lug; and this horse was “fleet as the naked cold wind
of spring,” while its rider was never killed off its back . 17
In Elysium “a stud of steeds with grey-speckled manes and
another crimson-brown” were seen by Laeg, and similar horses
were given to carry mortals back to earth, whence, if they did
not dismount, they could return safely to Elysium. Such a
steed was brought by Gilla Decair to Fionn and his men, and
miserable-looking though it was, when placed among the
Feinn’s horses, it bit and tore them. Conan mounted it in
order to ride it to death, but it would not move; and when
thirteen others vaulted on it, the Gilla fled, followed swiftly by
the horse with its riders. Carrying them over land and sea,
with another hero holding its tail, it brought them to the Land
of Promise, whence Fionn ultimately rescued them. This forms
the first part of a late artificial tale, based upon a mythic
foundation . 18 Other mythical horses came from a water-world,
e. g. the steeds which [Cuchulainn captured, one of these being
the Grey of Macha, out of the Grey Lake. Cuchulainn slipped
behind it and wrestled with it all round Erin until it was
mastered; and when it was wounded at his death, it went into
the lake to be healed. The other was Dubsainglend of the
Marvellous Valley, which was captured in similar fashion . 19
I
PLATE XVI
Cernunnos
This horned deity with torques on his horns is
perhaps identical with the horned god shown in
Plate XXV. He was doubtless a divinity of the
underworld (see pp. 9, 104-05, 158, and for other
deities of Elysium cf. Smertullos, Plate V; the three-
headed god, Plates VII, XII, the squatting god,
Plates VIII-IX; Sucellos, Plates XIII, XXVI; and
Dispater, Plate XIV). From an altar found at
Notre Dame, Paris.
MYTHICAL ANIMALS AND OTHER BEINGS 129
Possibly the rushing stream was personified as a steed, and
the horse-goddess Epona is occasionally connected with streams,
while horses which emerge from lakes or rivers may be mythic
forms of water-divinities. In more recent folk-belief the mon-
strous water-horse of France and Scotland was capable of self-
transformation and waylaid travellers, or, assuming human
form, he made love to women, luring them to destruction.
Did such demoniac horses already exist in the pagan period,
or are they a legacy from Scandinavian belief, or are they
earlier equine water-divinities thus distorted in Christian
times? This must remain uncertain, but at all events they
were amenable to the power of Christian saints, since St.
Fechin of Fore, when one of his chariot-horses died on a
journey, compelled a water-horse to take its place, afterward
allowing it to return to the water. 20 Akin to these is the Welsh
afanc, one of which was drawn by the oxen of Hu Gadarn
from a pond, while another was slain by Peredur (Percival)
after he had obtained a jewel of invisibility which hid him
from the monster with its poisoned spear. 21
Mortals as well as side were transformed into deer, and
fairies possessed herds of those animals, while Caoilte slew
a wild three-antlered stag — “the grey one of three antlers”
— which had long eluded the hunters. 22 Three-horned animals
— bull or boar — are depicted on Gaulish monuments, and
the third horn symbolizes divinity or divine strength, the
word “horn” being often used as a synonym of might, es-
pecially divine power. On an altar discovered at Notre
Dame in Paris, the god Cernunnos (“the Horned,” from cernu-,
“horn”?) has stag’s horns; and other unnamed divinities
also show traces of antlers. Possibly these gods were anthro-
pomorphic forms of stag-divinities, like other Gaulish deities
with bull’s horns. 23
Serpents or dragons infesting lochs, sometimes generically
called peist or heist (Latin hestia, “beast”), occur in Celtic
and other mythologies and are reminiscent of earlier reptile
130
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
forms, dwelling in watery places and regarded as embodiments
of water-spirits or guardians of the waters. In later tradition
such monsters were said to have been imprisoned in lochs or
destroyed by Celtic saints. As has been seen, a dragon’s
shriek on May-Eve made the land barren till Lludd buried
it and its opponent alive after stupifying them with mead.
They were placed in a cistvaen at Dinas Emreis in Snowdon,
and long afterward Merlin got rid of them when they hin-
dered Vortigern’s building operations. Here the dragons are
embodiments of powers hostile to man and to fertility, but are
conquered by gods, Lludd and Merlin . 24
Another story of a peist occurs in the Tain Bo Fraich.
Fraoch was the most beautiful of Erin’s heroes, and his mother
was the divine Behind, her sister the goddess Boann. Finda-
bair, daughter of Ailill and Medb, loved him, but before going
to claim her he was advised to seek from Boann treasure of the
sid, which she gave him in abundance, while he was made wel-
come at Ailill’s dun. After staying there for some time, he
desired Findabair to elope with him, only to be refused, where-
upon he demanded her of Ailill, but would not give the bride-
price asked. Ailill and Medb therefore plotted his death,
fearing that if he took Findabair by force, the Kings who
sought her would attack them. While Fraoch was swimming
in the river, Ailill bade him bring a branch from a rowan-
tree growing on the bank, and swimming there, he returned
with it, Findabair meanwhile admiring the beauty of his
body. Ailill sent him for more, but the monster guardian
of the tree attacked him; and when he called for a sword,
Findabair leaped into the water with it, Ailill throwing a five-
pronged spear at her. Fraoch caught it and hurled it back;
and though the monster all the while was biting his side, with
the sword he cut off its head and brought it to land. A bath
of broth was made for him, and afterward he was laid on a bed.
Then was heard lamentation, and a hundred and fifty women of
the side, clad in crimson with green head-dresses, appeared,
MYTHICAL ANIMALS AND OTHER BEINGS 13 1
all of one age, shape, and loveliness, coming for Fraoch, the
darling of the side. They bore him off, bringing him back on
the morrow recovered of his wound, and Findabair was now
betrothed to Fraoch on his promising to assist in the raid of
Cualnge. Thus Fraoch, a demi-god, overcame the peist . 25
In the ballad version from the Dean of Lismore's Book , Medb
sent him for the berries because he scorned her love. The tree
grew on an island in a loch, with the peist coiled round its
roots. Every month it bore sweetest fruit, and one berry
satisfied hunger for a long time, while its juice prolonged life
for a year and healed sickness. Fraoch killed the peist, but
died of his wounds. 26 The tree was the tree of the gods and
resembles the quicken-tree of Dubhros, guarded by a one-eyed
giant whom Diarmaid slew. 27 These stories recall the Greek
myth of Herakles slaying the dragon guardian of the apples
of the Hesperides, 28 which has a certain parallel in Babylonia.
A marvellous tree with jewelled fruit was seen by Gilgamesh
in a region on this side of the Waters of Death; and in the Fields
of the Blessed beyond these waters he found a magic plant,
the twigs of which renewed man’s youth. He gathered it,
but a serpent seized it and carried it off. The stories of Fraoch
and Diarmaid point to myths showing that gods were jealous
of men sharing their divine food; and their tree of life was
guarded against mortals, though perhaps semi-divine heroes
might gain access to it and obtain its benefits for human beings.
The guardian peist recalls the dragons entwined round oaks
in the grove described by Lucan. 29
Such Celtic peists were slain by Fionn, and in one poem
Fionn or, in another, his son, Daire, was swallowed by the
monster, but hacked his way out, liberating others besides
himself. 30 They also defended duns in Celtic story, and in the
sequel to the tale of Fraoch he and Conall reached a dun
where his stolen cattle were. A serpent sprang into Conall’s
belt, but was later released by him, and “neither did harm to
the other.” In Cuchulainn’s account of his journey to Scath,
132
-
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
the dun had seven walls, each with an iron palisade; and hav-
ing destroyed these, he reached a pit guarded by serpents
which he slew with his fists, as well as many toads, sharp and
beaked beasts, and ugly, dragon-like monsters. Then he took a
cauldron and cows from the dun , which must have been in the
gods’ land across the sea, as in other tales where such thefts
are related . 31
A curious story from the Dindsenchas tells how the son of
the Morrigan had three hearts with “shapes of serpents through
them,” or “with the shape of serpents’ heads.” He was slain
by MacCecht, and if death had not befallen him, these ser-
pents would have grown and destroyed all other animals.
The hearts were burned, and the ashes were cast into a stream,
whereupon its rapids stayed, and all creatures in it died . 32
In another story Cian was born with a caul which increased
with his growth, but Sgathan ripped it open, and a worm sprang
from it, which was thought to have the same span of life as
Cian. A wood was put round it, and the creature was fed, but
it grew to a vast size and swallowed men whole. Fire was set
to the wood, when it fled to a cave and made a wilderness all
around; but at last Oisin killed it with Diarmaid’s magic
spear . 33 Serpents with rams’ heads are a frequent motif on
Gaulish monuments, either separately or as the adjuncts of a
god; but their meaning is unknown, and no myth regarding
them has survived.
Other parts of nature besides animals were regarded myth-
ically. Mountains, the sea, rivers, wells, lakes, sun, moon, and
earth had a personality of their own, and this conception sur-
vived when other ideas had arisen. Appeal was made to them,
as the runes sung by Morrigan and Amairgen show, and they
were taken as sureties, or their power was invoked to do harm,
as when Aed Ruad’s champion took sureties of sea, wind, sun,
and firmament against him, so that the sun’s heat caused Aed
to bathe, and the rising sea and a great wind drowned him . 34
In another instance, a spell chanted over the sea by Dub,
MYTHICAL ANIMALS AND OTHER BEINGS 133
wife of Enna, of the side , caused the drowning of his other wife,
Aide, and her family. 35 The personality of the sea is seen also
in the story of Lindgadan and the echo heard at a cliff: en-
raged at some one speaking to him without being asked, he
turned to the cliff to be avenged upon the speaker, when the
crest of a wave dashed him against a rock. 36 So, too, the sea
was obedient to man, or perhaps to a god. Tuirbe Tragmar,
father of the Goban Saer, used to hurl his axe from the Hill
of the Axe in the full of the flood-tide, forbidding the sea to
come beyond the axe, 37 an action akin to the Celtic ritual of
“fighting the waves.” The voices of the waves had a warn-
ing, prophetic, or sympathetic sound to those who could hear
them aright, as many instances show.
As elsewhere, personalized parts of nature came to be re-
garded as animated by spirits, like man; and such spirits grad-
ually became more or less detached from these and might be
seen as divine beings appearing near them. Some of them
became the greater gods, while others assumed a darker char-
acter, perhaps because they were associated with sinister as-
pects of nature or with the dead. The Celts knew all these, and
some still linger on in folk-belief. Fairy-like or semi-divine
women seen by streams or fountains, or in forests, or living in
lakes or rivers, are survivals of spirits and goddesses of river,
lake, or earth; and they abound in Celtic folk-story as bonnes
dames, dames blanches, fees , or the Irish Be Find. Beings like
mermaids existed in early Irish belief. When Ruad’s ships were
stopped, he went over the side and saw “the loveliest of the
world’s women,” three of them detaining each boat. They
carried him off, and he slept with each in turn, one becoming
with child by him. They set out in a bronze boat to intercept
him on his return journey, but when they failed, the mother
killed his child and hurled the head after him, the others crying,
“It is an awful crime.” 38 In another tale Rath heard the mer-
maids’ song and saw them — “grown-up girls, the fairest of
shape and make, with yellow hair and white skins above the
134
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
waters. But huger than one of the hills was the hairy-clawed,
bestial lower part which they had beneath.” Their song lulled
him to sleep, when they flocked round him and tore him
limb from limb . 39 Other sea-dwellers are the luchorpain —
a kind of dwarf, three of whom were caught by Fergus and
forced to comply with his wish and to tell him how to pass
under lochs and seas. They put herbs in his ears, or one of them
gave him a cloak to cover his head, and thus he went with them
under the water . 40
A curious group of beings answered Cuchulainn’s cry, caus-
ing confusion to his enemies, or screamed around him when he
set out or was in the thick of the fight. While he fought with
Ferdia, “around him shrieked the Bocanachs and the Banan-
achs and the Geniti Glinne , and the demons of the air; for it
was the custom of the Tuatha De Danann to raise their cries
about him in every battle,” and thus increase men’s fear of
him. Or they screamed from the rims of shields and hilts of
swords and hafts of spears of the hero and of Ferdia . 41 Here
they are friendly to Cuchulainn, but in the Fled Bricrend, or
Feast of Bricriu , one of the tasks imposed on him, Conall, and
Loegaire was to fight the Geniti Glinne, Cuchulainn alone
succeeding and slaughtering many of them . 42 What kind of
beings they were is uncertain, but if Geniti Glinne means “Dam-
sels of the Glen,” perhaps they were a kind of nature-spirits,
this being also suggested by the “demons of the air” which were
expelled by St. Patrick . 43 As nature-spirits they might be
classed with the Tuatha De Danann, as indeed they seem to
be in the passage cited above . 44 In one sentence of the Tain
Bo Cualnge , they are associated with Nemain or Badb, who
brought confusion upon Medb’s host; yet on the other hand
they dared not appear in the same district as the bull of
Cualnge . 45
PLATE XVII
Incised Stones from Scotland
1. Incised stone with “elephant” symbol and
crescent symbol with V-rod symbol. From Crichie,
Aberdeenshire.
2. Incised stone with “elephant” and double
disc (or “spectacles”) with Z-rod symbol. See also
Plate X.
CHAPTER XI
MYTHS OF ORIGINS
S AVAGE and barbaric peoples possess many grotesque
myths of the origin of various parts of nature. In recently
existing Celtic folk-lore and in stories preserved mainly in the
Dindsenchas conceptions not unlike these are found and doubt-
less were handed down from the pre-Christian period, whether
Celtic or pre-Celtic, while in certain instances a saint takes
the place of an older pagan personage. In Brittany and else-
where in France natural features — rivers, lakes, hills, rocks —
are associated in their origin with giants, fairies, witches, or
the devil, just as in other Celtic regions and, indeed, in all
parts of the world. Many traditions, however, connect them
with the giant Gargantua, who was not a creation of Rabe-
lais’ brain, but was borrowed from popular belief. He may
have been an old Celtic god or hero, popular and, therefore,
easily surviving in folk-memory, and may also be the Gurgun-
tius, son of Belinus, King of Britain, mentioned by Giraldus
Cambrensis. Many hills or isolated rocks or erratic boulders
are described as his teeth, or as stones thrown, or vomited, or
ejected by him; and rivers or lakes were formed from his
blood or urine, numerous traditions regarding these being
collected by Sebillot in his book on Gargantua . 1
In Irish story similar traditions are found and are of a naive
character. Manannan shed “three drops of grief” for his dead
son, and these became three lochs, as in the Finnish Kalevala
a mother’s tears are changed into rivers. Again, a king’s
daughter died of shame when her lover saw her bathing, and
her foster-mother’s tears made Loch Gile. In other instances
III — 10
136
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
lochs are formed by water pouring forth at the digging of a
grave, e.g. that of Manannan, slain in battle, or that of Gar-
man, son of Glas. Or a well is the source of a loch, because
some one was drowned in it, or because its waters poured forth
over intruders, or because of the breaking of a tabu connected
with it, e.g. leaving its cover off. In two instances already
cited the urine of a horse belonging to a god produced a loch ; 2
and more curious still is the myth of the woman Odras whom
the Morrigan changed into a pool of water . 3
An interesting story tells of the magic creation of a wood.
Gaible, son of Nuada, stole a bundle of twigs which Ainge,
daughter of Dagda, had gathered to make a tub, for Dagda
had made one which dripped during flood-tide, and she wished
for a better one. Gaible threw away the bundle, and it be-
came a wood springing up in every direction . 4 This is of a
very primitive character and resembles the folk-tale incident
of the Transformation Flight, in which a twig, comb, or reed
thrown down by fugitives becomes a thick forest or bush im-
peding the pursuers . 5 Curious, too, is the story of Codal, who
on a hillock fed his fosterling Eriu, from whom is named
Eriu’s Island (Ireland). As she grew, the hillock increased
with her, and had she not complained to Codal of the sun’s
heat and the cold wind, it would have grown until Ireland was
filled with the mountain. Another story, recalling that of the
Australian Bunjel’s slicing earth with a knife into creeks and
valleys, tells how Fergus, with Cuchulainn’s sword, the calad-
bolg out of the sid , sheared the tops of three mountains, which
are now “Meath’s three bare ones,” while as a counter blow
Cuchulainn did the same to three hills in Athlone . 6 In an-
other tale Fergus, irritated against Conchobar, struck three
blows on the ground and thus caused three hills to arise which
will endure for ever . 7
The first occurrence of other things is often the subject of
a tradition. Many myths exist about the origin of fire, and in
Irish story the first camp-fire was made by Aidne for the Mile-
MYTHS OF ORIGINS
137
sians by wringing his hands together, when flashes as large as
apples came from his knuckles, this resembling the legends of
light or fire obtained from a saint’s hand. At Nemnach, near
the sid of Tara, rose a stream on which stood the first mill
built in Ireland, but no myth describes its origin. On the other
hand, the story of the first trap resembles that told of the
guillotine and its inventor. Coba was trapper to Erem, son
of Mile, and was the first to prepare a trap and pitfall in Erin,
but having put his leg into it to test it, his shin-bone and arms
were fractured, and he died. Brea, in the time of Partholan,
was the first man to build a house or make a cauldron — that
important vessel of Celtic myth and ritual; 8 while the first
smelting of gold was the work of Tigernmas, a mythic Irish
king . 9 The divine origin of ploughing with oxen has already
been mentioned — an interesting agricultural myth . 10 Brigit,
goddess of poetry, when her son Ruadan died at Mag-Tured,
bewailed him with the first “keening” heard in Ireland; and
she also invented a whistle for night signalling . 11 So also the
first satire, with dire effects, was spoken by Corpre, poet of
the gods . 12 Another instrument, the harp, was discovered ac-
cidentally. All was discord in the time of the Firbolgs. Canola
fled from her husband and by the shore heard a sweet murmur
as the wind played through the sinews still clinging to a whale’s
skeleton. Listening, she fell asleep; and when her husband,
finding her thus, learned that the sound had lulled her, he
made a framework of wood for the sinews. On this he played,
and the pair were reconciled . 13 But the Irish could also look
back to a golden age when, in the reign of Geide the Loud-
Voiced, each one deemed the other’s voice as sweet as strings of
lutes would be, because of the greatness of the peace and friend-
ship which every one had for the other; 14 and, with the addition
of plenty and prosperity, much the same is said of Conaire’s
reign, until Midir’s vengeance overtook him . 15 Prosperity
was supposed to characterize every good king’s reign in Ire-
land, perhaps pointing to earlier belief in his divinity and the
138
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
dependence of fertility on him; but the result is precisely that
which everywhere marked the golden age. As elsewhere, too,
gods instituted festivals, one myth telling how Lug first cele-
brated that of Lugnasad, not in his own honour, but to the
glory of his foster-mother . 16
The mythic trees of Elysium were not unknown on earth,
though there they were safely guarded; and another instance,
besides those already described , 17 is found in the oak of Mugna.
“Berries to berries the Strong Upholder [a god?] put upon
it. Three fruits upon it, viz. acorn, apple, and nut; and when
the first fruit fell, another used to grow.” Leaves were always
on this useful tree, which stood until Ninine the poet cast it
down . 18 What is perhaps a debased myth of a world-tree like
Yggdrasil is found in the story of the tree in Loch Guirr, seen
once every seven years as the loch dried when its enchant-
ment left it. A green cloth covered the tree, and a woman
sat knitting under it; but once a man stole the cloth, where-
upon the woman said: —
“Awake, thou silent tide;
From the Dead Woman’s Land a horseman rides,
From my head the green cloth snatching.”
At these words the waters pursued him and took half of his
horse and the cloth from him . 19
Few and fragmentary as these myths are, they, with the
classical myths already cited , 20 prove what a rich cosmogony
the ancient Celts must have had.
CHAPTER XII
THE HEROIC MYTHS
I. CUCHULAINN AND HIS CIRCLE
T HE Celts possessed many myths regarding ideal heroic
figures or actual heroes who tended to become mythical.
A kind of saga was formed about some of these, telling of
their birth, their deeds, their amours , their procuring for men
spoils from the gods’ land, and their death or departure to
Elysium; while round them were ranged other personages
whose deeds are also recounted, and who may have been the
subjects of separate sagas. Groups of tribes had each their
hero, who occasionally attained wider popularity and was
adopted by other tribes. To these heroes are ascribed magic
and supernatural deeds. Some of them are of divine origin —
sons of gods or reincarnations of gods — and they differ in
many respects from ordinary men — in size, or appearance,
or in power. In a sense they are divine and may have been at
one time subjects of a cult, but in the myths they are repre-
sented as living and moving on earth, and to some of them a
definite date is given. The three heroes best known, each the
centre of a group, are Cuchulainn, Fionn, and Arthur. The
stories concerning Cuchulainn, who is more prominent than
his King, Conchobar, were current among the tribes of Ulster;
those about Fionn were popular first in Leinster and Munster,
then over all Ireland and the West Highlands; those about
Arthur were found among the Brythons.
Cuchulainn is the chief figure about the court of Conchobar,
alleged to have been King of Ulster at the beginning of the
Christian era. The heroes were “champions of the Red
140
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
Branch,” so called after a room in Conchobar’s palace of
Ernain Macha; and three are more prominent and on some
occasions rivals — Cuchulainn, Conall the Victorious, and
Loegaire the Triumphant. Others of the group are Dechtire,
Conchobar’s sister, their father Cathbad the Druid, Fergus
mac Roich, Ferdia, Curoi mac Daire, and Bricriu, while Ailill
and Medb of Connaught also enter into the saga. The stories
about these are over a hundred in number, but reference can
here be made only to those in which Cuchulainn figures
prominently.
Some of the group are descended from the Tuatha De
Danann, or their origin is supernatural. One story makes
Conchobar a natural son of Nessa by Cathbad. Later King
Fergus mac Roich wished to marry her, and she agreed, if he
would resign the throne for a year to Conchobar; but when
the year passed, Fergus was deposed, and the youth remained
King with many privileges. He had the jus primae noctis over
every girl in the province, and in whatever house he stayed
the wife was at his disposal; yet he was wisest of men, possessed
of many gifts, and a great hero . 1 In another story Nessa was
sent for water by Cathbad and brought it from the river
Conchobar, whereupon Cathbad forced her to drink it because
it contained two worms. She became pregnant after swallow-
ing these, and at birth her child held a worm in each hand and
was named after the river. Some, however regarded him as
son of Nessa’s lover, Fachtna Fathach, King of Ulster . 2 Thus
three origins are ascribed to Conchobar — son of Cathbad,
or of Fachtna, or of a river personalized or of a river-god who
took the form of the worms. A similar origin is ascribed to
Conall. His mother Findchoem, Cathbad’s daughter, being
bidden by a Druid to wash in and drink from a well over which
he sang spells, swallowed a worm and became enceinte, the
worm lying in the child’s hand in her womb . 3
Cuchulainn was son of the god Lug , 4 and though he was
also called son of Sualtam, Dechtire’s husband, yet even here
\
‘
. i'
.
.
-
. . : o -
PLATE XVIII
Menhir of Kernuz
The monument shows figures pf Mercury (cf.
pp. 9, 158) and a child, and of a god with a club
(cf. Plates IV-V). Mercury and the child have
been equated with Lug and his son, Cuchulainn
(see pp. 64-65, 82-84, 158-59; for Lug see also
pp. 25, 28-33, 40, 122, and for Cuchulainn pp. 36,
69-71, 86-88, 128, 134, 139-59, 209, 212). The
latter has also been identified with Esus, but with
scant plausibility (see Plates XX, A, XXI).
THE HEROIC MYTHS
141
his origin is semi-divine. Sualtam’s mother was of the sid-
folk; he was called Sualtam sidech (“of the fairy haunts”)
and possessed “the magic might of an elf.” 5 The super-
natural aspect of some of the personages is seen in Cuchulainn’s
feats or his “distortion”; or in Fergus, who had the strength
of seven hundred men, ate seven hogs and kine at a meal,
and wielded a sword as long as a rainbow, while a seventh
part of him surpassed the whole of any ordinary man . 6 In
one passage Conchobar is called dia talmaide (“a terrestrial
god”), while Dechtire is termed a goddess . 7 Yet Cuchulainn
was not necessarily a sun-god or sun-hero; for if he was, why
does the Tain , in which he plays so great a part, take place
in winter, while his greatest activity is from Samhain (Novem-
ber) until the beginning of spring . 8 Nor is every mistress of
his a dawn-goddess, nor every foe a power of darkness.
-
The boyish deeds of Cuchulainn were described to Medb
during the Tain by Fergus and others. Before his fifth year,
when already possessed of man’s strength, he heard of the
“boy corps” of his uncle Conchobar and went to test them,
taking his club, ball, spear, and javelin, playing with these
as he went. At Emain he joined the boys at play without
permission; but this was an insult, and they set upon him,
throwing at him clubs, spears, and balls, all of which he fended
off, besides knocking down fifty of the boys, while his “con-
tortion” seized him — the first reference to this curious
phenomenon. Conchobar now interfered, but Cuchulainn
would not desist until all the boys came under his protection
and guarantee . 9
At Conchobar’s court he performed extraordinary feats
and expelled a band of invaders when the Ulstermen were
in their yearly weakness . 10 He was first known as Setanta,
and was called Cuchulainn in the following way. Culann the
smith had prepared a banquet for Conchobar, who, on his
way to it, saw the youth holding the field at ball against three
hundred and fifty others; and though he bade him follow,
142
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
Setanta refused to come until the play was over. While the
banquet was progressing, Culann let loose his great watch-
dog, which had the strength of a hundred, and when Setanta
reached the fort, the beast attacked him, whereupon he thrust
his ball into its mouth, and seizing its hind legs, battered it
against a rock. Culann complained that the safe-guard of
his flocks and herds was destroyed, but the boy said that he
would act as watch-dog until a whelp of its breed was ready;
and Cathbad the Druid now gave him a name — Cu Chulainn,
or “Culann’s Dog.” This adventure took place before he
was seven years old . 11 Baudis suggests that as Cuchulainn
was not the hero’s birth-name, a dog may have been his
manito , 12 his name being given him in some ceremonial way
at puberty, a circumstance afterward explained by the mythical
story of Culann’s Hound . 13
One day Cuchulainn overheard Cathbad saying that what-
ever stripling assumed arms on that day would have a short
life, but would be the greatest of warriors. He now demanded
arms from Conchobar, but broke every set of weapons given
him until he received Conchobar’s own sword and shield;
and he also destroyed seventeen chariots, so that nothing
but Conchobar’s own chariot sufficed him. Cuchulainn made
the charioteer drive fast and far until they reached the dun
of the sons of Nechtan, each of whom he fought and slew,
cutting off their heads; while on his return he killed two huge
stags and then captured twenty-four wild swans, fastening all
these to the chariot. From afar Levarcham the prophetess
saw the strange cavalcade approaching Emain and bade all
be on their guard, else the warrior would slay them; but Con-
chobar alone knew who he was and recognized the danger
from a youth whose appetite for slaughter had been whetted.
A stratagem was adopted, based upon Cuchulainn’s well-known
modesty. A hundred and fifty women with uncovered breasts
were sent to meet him , 14 and while he averted his face, he
was seized and plunged into vessels of cold water. The first
THE HEROIC MYTHS
143
burst asunder; the water of the second boiled with the heat
from his body; that of the third became warm; and thus his
rage was calmed. Fiacha, who tells this story, now describes
the hero. Besides being very handsome, with golden tresses,
he had seven toes on each foot, seven fingers on each hand,
and seven pupils in each eye, while on his body was a shirt
of gold thread and a green mantle with silver clasps. No
wonder, added Fiacha, that now at seventeen he is slaughter-
ing so many in the Tain Bo Cualnge , 15
Cuchulainn’s beauty attracted women, whence Conchobar’s
warriors, fearing for the virtue of their wives, sent him to
woo Forgall’s daughter, Emer ; 16 but to hinder this, Forgall
urged him to find Domnal the Warlike in Alba, hoping that
he would never return. He set off with Conchobar, Loegaire,
and Conall; and after Domnal had taught them extraordinary
feats, he sent them to receive instruction from Scathach, who
dwelt to the east of Alba. Meanwhile Cuchulainn had refused
the love of Domnal’s ugly daughter, Dornolla. She vowed
vengeance, and when the heroes departed, she caused a vision
of Emain to rise before Cuchulainn’s companions, which made
them so home-sick that he had to proceed alone. Instructed
by a youth, he crossed the Plain of Ill-Luck safely. On its
first half men’s feet stuck fast, and on the second half the
grass held their feet on the points of its blades; but he must
first follow the track of a wheel and then that of an apple which
rolled before him. A narrow path through a glen would bring
him to Scathach’s house, which was on an island approached
by a narrow bridge, slippery as an eel’s tail, or, in another
version, high in the centre, while the other end rose up when-
ever anyone leaped on it, and flung him backward. This
island and bridge are not mentioned in the older recensions
of the story. After many attempts Cuchulainn reached the
other side by his “ salmon-leap.” Uathach, Scathach’s daughter,
fell in love with him and told him how to obtain valour from
her mother. He must make his salmon-leap to the great yew-
144
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
tree where Scathach was teaching her sons, Cuare and Cet,
and set his sword between her breasts. Thus he obtained
from Scathach all his wishes — acquaintance with her feats,
marriage to Uathach without a dowry, and knowledge of his
future, while she yielded herself to him. For a year he remained
with Scathach, learning skill in arms, and then, despite her
attempts to hinder him, he assisted her in fighting the amazon
Aife and her warriors. Having discovered that Aife loved
above all else her charioteer and chariot-horses, he exclaimed,
as he fought her, that these had perished. She looked aside,
and that moment Cuchulainn overcame her and made her
promise never again to oppose Scathach. From his amour
with Aife, a son would be born called Conlaoch, who was to
wear a ring which Cuchulainn left for him and to seek his
father when he was a warrior of seven years old. He must
make himself known to none, turn aside for none, and refuse
combat to none.
On his return to Scathach Cuchulainn slew a hag who
disputed the crossing of the bridge of leaps, and Scathach
bound him and Ferdiad, Fraoch, Naisi, and Fergus, whom she
had trained, never to combat with each other. While going
home to Ireland he slew the Fomorians to whom Devorgilla,
daughter of the King of the Isles, was to be given in trib-
ute — an early Celtic version of the story of Perseus and
Andromeda . 17
Though Devorgilla was awarded to Cuchulainn, he after-
ward gave her to Lugaid as wife, since he himself was to marry
Emer; whereupon Devorgilla and her handmaid sought the
hero in the form of birds, and when he wounded them, their
true form appeared. Cuchulainn sucked out the sling-stone
and with it some blood; and for this reason also he could not
wed her, for he had drunk her blood — a mythical version of
the rite of blood brotherhood. He now carried off Emer despite
Forgall’s opposition, and she became his wife, though not be-
fore Conchobar exercised his royal prerogative on her . 18
THE HEROIC MYTHS 145
The feats which Cuchulainn learned from Scathach are no
longer intelligible and are probably exaggerated or imaginary
warrior exploits. Scathach and Aife may be reminiscences
of actual Celtic female warriors, though the hero’s visit to
Scathach’s isle is akin to his journey to Fand — it is a visit to
a divine land, whose people are sometimes at war (as in the
stories of Fand and Loegaire), but where wisdom, valour, and
other things may be gained by mortals.
When Conlaoch came to Ireland, his father’s injunctions
were the cause of his slaying his own son in ignorance with
his marvellous spear, the gai bolga; and when he recognized
the ring which his son wore, great was his sorrow. 19 This is
a Celtic version of the story of Suhrab and Rustam. 20
Cuchulainn did not at once become hero of Ulster. In the
story of Mac Datho’s Boar, to which reference has already
been made, the hero is Conall, who never passed a day without
killing a Connaughtman or slept without a Connaughtman’s
head under his knee. Bricriu, the provoker of strife, advised
that each man should get a share of the boar according to
his warlike deeds. Cet of Connaught was chief until Conall
arrived and put him to shame; and then, though the boar’s
tail required sixty men to carry it, he sucked it into his mouth,
allotting scanty portions to the men of Connaught. In the
fight which ensued the latter were routed, Mac Datho’s hound
siding with the Ulstermen. 21
The Fled Brier end, or Feast of Bricriu, tells of a feast
made for Conchobar and his men by Bricriu in a vast house
built for this purpose. Bricriu prepared for himself a balcony
with a window looking down on the hall, for he knew that the
Ulstermen would not allow him to enter it; yet they feared to
accept the invitation lest he should provoke quarrels among
them, and the dead should outnumber the living. Thereupon
he asserted that if they refused, he would do still worse; and
after discussion it was agreed that they should go, but that
Bricriu should be guarded from entering the feast. In the
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
sequel, however, he provoked a quarrel between Loegaire,
Conall, and Cuchulainn as to which of them should receive
the champion’s portion; whereupon each claimed it, and a
fight arose between them in the hall. This reflects actual
Celtic custom, for Poseidonius speaks of festivals at which a
quarter of pork was taken by the bravest; and if another
claimed it, they fought until one was killed . 22 Conchobar
separated the heroes, and Sencha announced that the question
should be submitted to Ailill, King of Connaught. Meanwhile
Bricriu stirred up strife among the heroes’ wives, who had left
the hall, by telling each in turn that she should have the right
of first entry; and this caused a quarrel among them, every
one extolling her own husband. Loegaire and Conall each made
a breach in the wall so that his wife should enter first, the door
having been closed; but Cuchulainn removed one side of the
house, and his wife Emer had precedence. Bricriu then de-
manded that the damage should be repaired, but none could
do this save Cuchulainn, and he only after extraordinary
exertions. Conchobar now bade the heroes go to Curoi mac
Daire, whose judgements were always equitable, in order
that he might settle the question.
On his way Loegaire encountered a repulsive giant with a
cudgel, who beat him and made him return without horses,
chariot, or charioteer; and Conall met the same fate, Cuchu-
lainn alone being able to overcome the giant and to return in
triumph with arms and horses. Bricriu thereupon announced
that the champion’s morsel was Cuchulainn’s, but his rivals
objected, saying that one of his friends of the side had over-
come them. The Ulstermen now sought judgement from Ailill,
but Cuchulainn remained behind to amuse the women with
his feats until Loeg, his charioteer, reproached him with delay.
By the swiftness of their chariot-horses they arrived first at
Ailill’s palace, where water was brought by a hundred and
fifty young girls to provide baths for the heroes, and the most
beautiful of these accompanied them to their couches, Cuchu-
THE HEROIC MYTHS
147
lainn choosing Findabair, Ailill’s daughter. Ailill asked three
days and nights to consider the question, and on the first
night three cats — “druidic beasts” from the cave of Cruachan
— arrived. Conall and Loegaire abandoned their food to
them, but Cuchulainn attacked them, and at dawn the cats
disappeared, after the manner of other supernatural beings,
who vanish at daybreak. Ailill was in despair how to solve
the problem of the championship, but Medb sneered at him,
and sending for each hero, gave him a cup without the others
knowing it, saying that it would assure him of the champion’s
morsel at Conchobar’s board. Meanwhile Cuchulainn van-
quished the others in the sport of wheel-throwing, while he
also threw needles so that each one entered the eye of the
other, forming a single line.
Medb now sent them to Ercol and Garmna to seek their
judgement, and they referred them to Samera, who dispatched
them to the Geniti Glinni. Loegaire and Conall returned with-
out arms or garments; Cuchulainn was at first overcome, but
when Loeg reproached him, his demoniac fury began, and he
attacked them and filled the valley with their blood, taking
their banner and going back as a conqueror to Samera, who
said that he should have the champion’s morsel. Returning
to Ercol, the warriors were challenged to combat him and his
horse. Loegaire’s steed was killed by Ercol’s, and he fled to
Emain, saying that the others were slain by Ercol. Conall
also fled, but Cuchulainn’s horse, the Grey of Macha, killed
Ercol’s, and he then carried Ercol prisoner to Emain, where
he found everyone lamenting his death. On the way Samera’s
daughter Buan, who had fallen in love with Cuchulainn, leaped
after his chariot, and falling on a rock, was killed. A feast
was prepared at Emain Macha and now each hero produced
his cup in expectation of the award. Cuchulainn’s cup, how-
ever, of gold and precious stones, proved the most valuable
and beautiful, and all would have given him the championship,
had not his rivals maintained that this was not a true judge-
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ment and threatened to attack the hero. Conchobar therefore
sent them to Yellow, son of Fair, who bade them go to Terror,
son of Great Fear, a giant who could assume whatever form
pleased him. He proposed the “covenant of the axe,” which
Loegaire and Conall refused, whereas Cuchulainn accepted
it, provided they would acknowledge his supremacy, the cov-
enant being that Cuchulainn should cut off Terror’s head
today, while Terror cut off his tomorrow. When Cuchulainn
did his part, Terror took his head and axe and plunged into
his loch; but next day he appeared, and Cuchulainn placed
himself in position. Three times Terror drew the axe over
his neck and then bade him rise in token of his bravery; but
still his rivals would not give way, so that now the Ulstermen
bade them seek the judgement of Curoi. This axe game is
found in Arthurian romance in the story of Sir Gawayne and
the Green Knight , and it is apparently based on an actual
Celtic custom of a man, in token of bravery, after an entertain-
ment, allowing someone to cut his throat with a sword . 23
At Curoi’s castle Blathnat, his wife, welcomed them in his
absence, though he knew they would come, and she bade them
take turns in guarding it. In whatever part of the world Curoi
was, he sang a spell over the castle at night, and it revolved
as swiftly as a millstone, so that the entrance could not be
found — an incident found elsewhere in Celtic romance.
Loegaire took the first watch and saw a giant approaching
from the sea, as high as heaven and bearing oak-trees in his
hands, which he threw at Loegaire, missing him each time, after
which the monster stretched out his hand, and squeezing him
till he was half-dead, threw him outside the castle. Next
night Conall met the same fate. On the night when Cuchulainn
watched, the three goblins of Sescind Uairbeoil, the three
herdsmen of Bregia, and the three sons of Big-Fist the Siren
were to unite to take the castle, while the spirit of the lake
near by would swallow it whole; but Cuchulainn slew the
nine foes when they arrived, as well as two other bands of nine,
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149
making a cairn of their heads and arms. Wearied and sad,
he now heard the loch roaring like the sea and saw a monster
emerging from it and approaching with open jaws to gulp the
castle down. With one leap he came behind it, tore out its
heart, and cutting off its head, placed it on the heap. At dawn
the giant arrived, and when he stretched out his hand, Cuchu-
lainn made his salmon-leap and whirled his sword round his
head, whereupon the monster vanished after having agreed
to grant his three wishes — the sovereignty of Ireland’s heroes,
the champion’s morsel, and precedence for Emer over the
women of Ulster. Cuchulainn’s leap had brought him outside
the castle, but after several trials he sprang back into it with
a sigh, and Blathnat said, “That is a sigh of victory.” When
Curoi arrived, he found the trophies outside his castle and
gave judgement in Cuchulainn’s favour.
Later, when all three were absent from Emain Macha, a
huge boor arrived, carrying a tree, a vast beam, and an axe
with a handle which required a plough-team to move it. He
announced that he had sought everywhere for a man capable
of fighting him and proposed the covenant of the axe. This
passage repeats grotesquely the former incident, save that
Fat-Neck, who struck off the boor’s head, refused to fulfil
his part of the covenant, as also did Loegaire and Conall on
their return. Cuchulainn took his place, but the boor spared
him, calling him the bravest of warriors and fulfilling for him
the three wishes he had made; for he was none other than
Curoi, who had taken first the giant’s, then the boor’s form . 24
The story of The Exile of the Sons of Doel the Forgotten
( Longes mac nDuil Dermait ) opens with a version of Bricriu’s
Feast. Cuchulainn had been cursed by Eocho Rond to have
no rest until he discovered why Doel’s sons left their country.
With Loeg and Lugaid he captured the ship of the King of
Alba’s son, who gave him a charm; and thus they reached an
island with a rampart of silver and a palisade of bronze, while
on it was a castle where dwelt a royal pair — Riangabair and
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
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150
Finnabair — with three beautiful daughters. These welcomed
them, because Loeg was their son; and Riangabair told Cuchu-
lainn that the sister of Doel’s sons and her husband were in
a southern isle. In the morning Cuchulainn gave a ring to
Etan, one of the daughters, who had slept with him, and
then sailed for the isle. Connla, husband of Achtland, Doel’s
daughter, had his head against a stone in the west of the isle,
and his feet against another in the east — a position resembling
that in which Nut is represented above the earth in Egyptian
mythology . 25 Achtland was combing his hair. As the ship
approached, Connla blew so violently that a wave was formed,
but as no diviner had announced danger from Cuchulainn,
he was allowed to land. Achtland made him a sign and then
said that she knew where her brothers were and that she
would go with him, for it was foretold that he would rescue
them. They reached an island where two women were cutting
rushes, and one of them sang of seven Kings who ruled it.
Cuchulainn brained her, whereupon the other told him the
names of the Kings, one of whom was Coirpre, Doel’s brother.
Coirpre attacked Cuchulainn, but was forced to sue for mercy
and carried him into the castle, where he gave him his daughter
and told him the story of Doel’s sons. Next day Eocho Glas
arrived to fight Coirpre, and Cuchulainn leaped on the edge
of his shield, but Eocho blew him into the sea. Now he leaped
on the boss of the shield, again on Eocho himself, and both
times he was blown into the ocean; but at last he slew his foe
with the gai bolga. Then came the side whom Eocho had
outraged, among them Doel’s sons, and bathed in his blood
to wash away the shame. Cuchulainn returned to Riangabair’s
isle, where he slept with Finnabair, and finally reaching Emain
Macha, he went thence to Ailill and Medb, who caused Eocho
Rond to be brought. He had fought Cuchulainn because his
daughter Findchoem loved him, and on her account had put
geasa (spells) on the hero, who now, having fulfilled them,
demanded and obtained her . 26
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151
Both these tales contain many primitive traits and mythical
incidents which throw considerable light on earlier Celtic folk-
belief.
Previous to Bricriu’s feast must be placed a story in which
Curoi discomfited Cuchulainn. He joined the hero and others
in attacking the stronghold of the god Midir in the Isle of
Falga ( = the Land of Promise) and led them into it when their
efforts failed through the magic of its defenders, his condition
being that he must have whatever jewel he chose. The in-
vaders carried off Midir’s three cows, his cauldron, and his
daughter Blathnat. To Cuchulainn’s chagrin, however, Curoi
chose her and took her away by magic; and though the hero
pursued him, he was bound hand and foot by Curoi and shaved
with his sword . 27 Another version of this exploit, or per-
haps of an analogous feat, tells how Cuchulainn journeyed to
Scath and by aid of the King’s daughter stole a cauldron,
three cows, and much gold; but his coracle was wrecked, and
he had to swim home with his men clinging to him . 28
When Cuchulainn went to obtain Curoi’s judgement, he
may have come to an arrangement with Blathnat, for Keating
says that, finding him alone, she told him that she loved him , 29
while a story in the Dind'senchas describes her as his paramour
and declares that she bade him come and take his revenge.
She brought it about that Curoi was alone in his castle and
as a signal she caused milk to flow down-stream to Cuchulainn,
whereupon he entered and slew Curoi, whose sword Blathnat
had taken . 30 In another version, however, the incident of
the separable soul occurs. Curoi’s soul was in an apple, and
this in a salmon, which appeared every seven years in a certain
well, while the apple could be split only by Curoi’s sword.
This knowledge was obtained by Curoi’s wife, as in parallel
stories, and the sword given by her to Cuchulainn, who thus
compassed her husband’s death . 31 The folk-tale formula is
thus complete, though doubtless Curoi is a genuine Celtic
personality, whose fame was known to Welsh bards . 32 Prob-
iii — 11
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
ably a complete saga existed about this great hero or divinity
and magician, who, according to another story, with his magic
wand took possession of Ireland and the great world . 33 The
slaying of Curoi should be compared with that of Lieu, brought
about by Blodeuwedd’s treachery, and with the killing of
Searbhan by his own club, especially as Blodeuwedd’s name,
meaning “Flower-Face,” from blodeu (“flowers”) is akin to
Blathnat’s, which is probably from blath (“bloom”). In the
sequel Curoi’s poet avenged his death by leaping off a cliff
with Blathnat in his arms . 34
The greatest adventure in Cuchulainn’s career occurs in
the Tain Bo Cualnge, or Cattle-Raid of Cualnge” to which
belong a number of prefatory tales, some of them already
cited. Only the briefest account of this long story can be given
here. Queen Medb of Connaught desired the Donn or Brown
Bull of Cualnge in Ulster, so that she might have the equivalent
of her husband Ailill’s bull, the Findbennach, or “White-
Horned,” these bulls, as narrated above , 35 being rebirths of
semi-divinities. When Daire, owner of the bull, refused to give
it, Medb collected an enormous force to march against Ulster
at the time when the Ulstermen were in their “debility” —
the result of Macha’s curse . 36 Cuchulainn and Sualtam were
unaffected by that curse, however, and they went against the
host, in which were some heroes of Ulster, Cormac, Conall,
Fiacha, and Fergus, exiled because of a quarrel with Conchobar
for his treacherous murder of the sons of Usnech. As Medb
set out, a beautiful girl suddenly appeared on her chariot-
shaft, announcing herself as servant of Medb’s people, Fedelm
the prophetess ( banfaid ) from the sid of Cruachan (hence Medb
was also of the side ) ; but she prophesied disaster because of
Cuchulainn, whom she saw in a vision.
Cuchulainn, having entered a forest, stood on one leg, and
using one hand and one eye, he cut down an oak sapling, which
he twisted into a ring, inscribing on it his name, and placing
it over a pillar-stone. This was a geis (tabu) to the host not to
PLATE XIX
Bulls and S-Symbols
1. 6. Bulls, conventionally treated, with the
characteristic Celtic spiral ornament. From stones
found at Burghhead near Forres, Elginshire. Simi-
lar figures exist on stones at Inverness and Ulbster
(Caithness). They are believed to date from the
Christian Celtic period, but perhaps represent a
pagan tradition. Cf. also Plates II, 4-5, 9, III, 5,
IX, B, XX, B, XXI.
2-5. S-symbol, also believed to be of the Celtic
Christian period, but doubtless derived from the
same symbol as used on Gaulish coins and carried
by a divinity (see Plates II, 2, 4, 7-9, n, III, 3,
IV).
2. On a silver brooch found at Croy, Inverness-
shire.
3. On a stone found at Kintradwell, Sutherland-
shire. It exists on a few other stones.
4. Engraved with numerous other figures and
symbols on a cave at East Wemyss, Fife.
5- On a silver ring attached to a chain found at
Parkhill, Aberdeenshire.
???As
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153
advance until they had done the same; and meanwhile he
kept tryst with Conchobar’s daughter Fedelm or with her
handmaid. Again entering a wood, he cut down the fork of
a tree, placed on it four heads of the enemy slain by him, and
set it in a ford to prevent the chariots from passing until it
was drawn out. Now he slew hundreds of the host, but a
treaty was made that every day a warrior should meet him in
single combat, while he allowed the army to proceed. These
combats, described with great spirit, as well as other daring
deeds of Cuchulainn’s, occupy the greater part of the Tain,
but none of them is so full of interest and pathos as the long
episode of the fight with Ferdia, his former fellow-pupil with
Scathach, whom at last to his sorrow he slew.
One incident tells of the warning given by the goddess
Morrigan, in the form of a bird, to the bull to beware of Medb’s
men, so that with fifty heifers he fled to the Heifer’s Glen,
but was ultimately taken and brought to Medb’s host; and
another passage describes Cuchulainn’s rejection of Morri-
gan’s advances, and her wounding and later healing by him . 37
There is also the incident of Medb’s sending her women to
bid him smear a false beard on himself when her warrior, Loch,
refused to fight this beardless youth, whereupon he said a spell
over some grass and clapped it to his chin, so that all thought
he had a beard. The help given to Cuchulainn by Lug has
already been described ; 38 and the Tuatha De Danann likewise
aided him by throwing healing herbs and plants into the
streams in which his wounds were washed. Interesting is the
long account of his riastrad, or “distortion,” before wreaking
his fury on the men of Connaught for slaying the “boy corps”
of Emain. He grew to an immense size and quivered in every
limb, while his feet, shins, and knees were reversed in his
body. This was the permanent condition of Levarcham and
Dornolla, already mentioned, and implied swiftness and
strength, since Levarcham traversed all Ireland every day.
Of Cuchulainn’s eyes, one sank in his head so that a heron
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
could not have reached it, while the other protruded from
its socket as large as the rim of a cauldron. His mouth reached
his ears, and fire streamed from it, mounting above his head
in showers, while a great jet of blood higher and more rigid
than a ship’s mast shot upward from his scalp, within which
his hair retreated, and formed a mist all about. This distortion
frequently came upon Cuchulainn, like the terrific heat some-
times given off by his body, enough to melt deep snow for
thirty feet around.
During the progress of the Tain Ailill sent messengers to
Cuchulainn, offering him his daughter Findabair if he would
keep away from the host. Finally his fool, taking Ailill’s
shape, approached the hero with Findabair, but Cuchulainn
detected the transformation and slew him, besides thrusting
a stone through Findabair’s mantle and tunic. She had been
offered to Ferdia and others if they conquered Cuchulainn;
but later she died of shame because of the slaughter of warriors
in the fight between the chiefs to whom she had been promised
and her lover Reochaid and his men. In the version given in
the Book of Lecan , however, she remained with Cuchulainn
when peace was concluded. This is the same Findabair who
is the heroine of the story of Fraoch cited above, and whose
favours Cuchulainn had already gained . 39
Meanwhile the Ulstermen had recovered from their debility
and gathered for the battle with the enemy, while the goddess
Morrigan uttered a song of slaughter between the armies.
Medb’s forces were defeated, but she sent the bull by a cir-
cuitous way to Cruachan; and seeing the trackless land before
him, he uttered three terrible bellowings, at which the Findben-
nach came hurrying toward him. Bricriu saw the wild combat
between the maddened animals, but as they struggled he was
trampled into the earth by their hoofs. All over Ireland they
drove, fighting as they went; and next day the Brown Bull
was seen coming to Cualnge with the Findbennach in a mangled
heap on his horns. Women and children wept as they beheld
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155
him, but these he slew; and then, turning his back against a
hill, his heart was rent with his mighty exertions. Thus ended
the Tain. i0
Cuchulainn was now seventeen years old, and to the few
years which ensued before his death probably belong his
amour with the goddess Fand and that with Blathnat, since
Curoi intended to oppose him during the Tain , but was sent
back by Medb.
The slaying of Curoi, of Cairbre Niaper in fair fight at Ros na
Righ, and of Calatin, as well as his twenty-seven sons and
his sister’s son, during the Tain , led to the hero’s death. Cala-
tin’s wife bore posthumously three monstrous sons and three
daughters who were nurtured by Medb and studied magic
arts in order to compass Cuchulainn’s death. Joining at last
with Lugaid, Curoi’s son, and Ere, Cairbre’s son, they marched
toward Ulster while its men were in their debility. Mighty
efforts were made to restrain Cuchulainn from a combat which
all knew would be fatal to him, and he was at last concealed
in the Glen of the Deaf; but Calatin’s daughters discovered
this and created a phantasmal army out of puff-balls and
withered leaves, as Lug’s witches transformed into soldiers
trees, sods, and stones, and Gwydion trees and sedges . 41 This
army and other eldritch things filled the glen with strange
noises, and Cuchulainn thought that enemies were harassing
Ulster, though Cathbad told him that this was merely magic
illusion. Then one of the weird daughters took the form of
Niamh, daughter of Celtchar, and speaking in her name,
bade Cuchulainn attack the foes who were overwhelming
Ulster. Neither the protestations of the real Niamh, nor of
Dechtire, nor of Conchobar, nor the assurances of Cathbad
that the hosts were illusions could withhold him. On his way
to Emain he saw Badb’s daughter washing blood from a
warrior’s gear — the “Washer at the Ford,” a prophecy of
his own death — but he was resolute and cheerful in face of
the desperate fight to which he bound himself. During the
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
156
night Morrigan broke his chariot, hoping thus to stay him
from the combat, but next morning he bade it be yoked with
the Grey of Macha, though the horse reproached him. On his
way three crones, cooking dog’s flesh with poisons and spells,
called him, but since one of his geasa was not to approach a
cooking-hearth nor to eat the flesh of his namesake ( cu , “dog”),
he would have passed on, had not the crones reproached him.
So he turned aside, took the flesh with his left hand, and ate it,
placing his hand under his thigh, whereupon strength departed
from thigh and hand. In the fight he slew many foes, until
Lugaid possessed himself of Cuchulainn’s spear and wounded
first the Grey of Macha, which plunged into the loch for healing;
and then Cuchulainn, who begged permission to crawl to the
loch for water. He set himself against a pillar-stone, and there
the faithful horse returned and killed many of his foes with
teeth and hoofs; but at last Lugaid struck off Cuchulainn’s
head, though as the hero’s sword fell from his grasp, it lopped
off his enemy’s hand. Meanwhile Conall was met by the horse,
and together they sought and found Cuchulainn’s body, the
Grey placing its head on its master’s breast. Conall pursued
Lugaid, for Cuchulainn and he had vowed that whoever
survived must avenge the others; and his own horse aided him,
biting a piece from Lugaid’s side, while Conall cut off his
head, thus taking vengeance for the hero’s death . 42
Lugaid, Curoi’s son, was called Mac na Tri Con, or “Son of
the Three Dogs,” viz. Curoi, Cuchulainn, and Conall — con
being the genitive of cu (“dog”) — because it was believed that
his mother Blathnat, Curoi’s wife, had loved these two as
well as her husband . 43 Thus Lugaid killed one reputed father
of his and was himself slain by another. A tenth century poem
calls the three flags of his grave Murder, Disgrace, and
Treachery . 44 He was probably not Cuchulainn’s friend Lugaid
Red-Stripes, who, however, was also a son of three fathers,
Bres, Nar, and Lothar, by their sister Clothru.
In his old age Conall retired to the Court of Medb, who
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157
induced him to slay Ailill; but for this the three Reds, or
Wolves, killed him and cut off his head in revenge for the death
of Curoi at the hands of Cuchulainn . 45
Conchobar met his fate in a curious way. Among the
trophies in Emain Macha was a sling-ball made of the brain
of Mesgegra, King of Leinster, slain by Conall. One day Cet,
whom Conall killed at the feast on Mac Datho’s Boar, stole
this ball, which was mixed with earth, and thus hardened, and
later induced the women of Connaught to get Conchobar to
show himself to them, whereupon Cet flung the ball into his
forehead, whence it could not be removed lest he should die.
Years after, an earthquake occurred, and when his Druid told
him that this signified our Lord’s crucifixion, Conchobar, who
now believed in God, felt such emotion at not being able to
avenge Christ that the ball started from his head, and he
died . 46
M. d’Arbois maintained that the saga of Cuchulainn was
known in Gaul. Cuchulainn’s name Setanta is akin to that
of the Setantii, Celtic tribes living in the district between the
Ribble and Morecambe Bay, and this, according to Rhys , 47
suggests a British ancestry for the Irish hero. D’Arbois, on
the other hand, regards this folk, as well as the Brigantes, as
of Belgic Gaulish provenance, while the latter had colonies
in Ireland. They had a well-known god, Esus, whom d’Arbois
identifies with Cuchulainn; whence the story is of Gaulish
origin, perhaps taught by the Druids; and it was ultimately
carried to Ulster, where it was received with enthusiasm . 48
The identification rests on certain figured monuments, in the
persons, names, or episodes of which M. d’Arbois sees those of
the saga. On one altar Esus is cutting down a tree, while on the
same altar is figured a bull on which are perched three birds,
this animal being entitled Tarvos Trigaranos — “the bull with
three cranes” {gar anus), unless the cranes are a rebus for the
three horns ( karenos ) of divine animals. On another altar from
Treves a god is cutting down a tree, and in its branches are
158
-
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
a bull’s head and two birds — a possible combination of the
incidents on the other altar. M. d’Arbois regards this as
illustrating the Tain. Esus, the woodman, is Cuchulainn;
his action depicts what the hero did — cutting down trees to
bar the way of Medb’s host; “Esus” is derived from words
meaning “anger,” “rapid motion,” such as Cuchulainn often
displayed. The bull is the Brown Bull; the birds are the
forms in which Morrigan and her sisters appeared , 49 though
these bird-forms were those of the crow, not the crane; the
personal name Donnotaurus is found in Gaul and is the equiva-
lent of the Donn Tarb — the “Brown Bull.” 50 Again, Diodorus
says that the Dioscuri, i. e. Castor and Pollux, were the gods
most worshipped by the Celts in the west of Gaul , 51 and M.
d’Arbois finds these in Cuchulainn and Conall Cernach, the
former being foster-brother of the latter, having been suckled
by Findchoem, Conall’s mother. He bases this identification
on an altar found at Paris, on the four sides of which are
represented the Roman Castor and Pollux and two Gaulish
divinities — Smertullos attacking a serpent with a club, and
an unnamed horned god, perhaps the god Cernunnos ( cernu
“horn”). Smertullos is, therefore, the native equivalent of
Pollux, Cernunnos of Castor; and at the same time Smertullos
is Cuchulainn, and Cernunnos is Conall Cernach. In the Tain
Cuchulainn vanquished Morrigan as an eel — the serpent of
the monument — and, again, to hide his youthfulness, he
smeared ( smerthain , hence Smertullos) his chin with a false
beard. As for Conall Cernach, whose epithet means “victori-
ous,” M. d’Arbois connects it also with the hypothetical
cernu- (“horn”), though Conall is never said to be horned . 52
Lug, Cuchulainn’s father, was a widely worshipped Celtic
god, his equivalent in Gaul being a hypothetical Lugus, whose
name appears in place-names there. As Lug was called
samildanach (“skilled in many arts ”), 53 Lugus may be the
Gaulish god equated by Caesar with Mercury, whom he calls
“inventor of all arts” and associates with the simulacra, or
PLATE XX
A AND B
Altar from Notre Dame
A. The god Esus (cf. p. 9) was perhaps a deity of
vegetation, and human victims offered to him were
hanged on trees. He has been identified, though
with slight probability, with Cuchulainn (cf. Plate
XVIII). He is here shown cutting down a tree,
the branches of which are carried over to the next
side of the altar.
B. The next side of the same altar, dedicated by
sailors and found at Notre Dame, Paris. Under the
branches of the tree which Esus is felling stands a
bull with three cranes perched on his back — Tarvos
Trigaranos (see p. 9). For the bull see also Plates
II, 4-5, 9, III, 5, IX, B, XIX, 1, 6. The subjects
of these two sides of the altar recur in an altar from
Treves (Plate XXI).
THE HEROIC MYTHS
159
standing-stones, of Gaul. Now on one of these at Kervadel
four bas-reliefs were sculptured in Gallo-Roman times, one
of them depicting the god Mercury together with a smaller
childish figure; and M. d’Arbois assumes that this represents
the god Lug with his son Cuchulainn . 54
Tempting as these identifications are, it must be confessed
that they rest upon comparatively slender evidence and on
what may be merely apparent coincidences, while they are of
an extremely speculative character.
CHAPTER XIII
THE HEROIC MYTHS
(' Continued , )
II. FIONN AND THE FfilNN
T HE annalists gave a historic aspect and a specific date
and ancestry to Fionn and his men, the Feinn, but they
exist and are immortal because they sprang from the heroic
ideals of the folk; if they were once men, it was in a period of
which no written record remains. Their main story possesses
a framework and certain outstanding facts, but whatever far
distant actuality the epos has is thickly overlaid with fancy,
so that we are in a world of exaggerated action, of magic,
whenever we approach any story dealing with the Feinn.
The annalistic scheme added nothing to the epos; rather is it
as if to the vague personalities of folk-tale had been given
a date, names, and a line of long descent, which may delight
prosaic minds, though it spoils the folk-tale for the imaginative.
Traces of the annalistic scheme occur in the chronological
poem of Gilla Caemhain (ob. 1072) and in the Annals of
Tighernach (ob. 1088), which regarded the Feinn as a hireling
militia defending Ireland, consisting of seven legions or Fianna
(also Feinn , literally “troops”), each of three thousand men
with a commander. The Feinn of Leinster and Meath com-
prised those of our epos — the clanna Baoisgne, its later
chiefs being Cumhal, Goll (of the clanna Morna), and Fionn.
We are told of their arms, dress, and privileges, and of the
conditions of admission to their ranks — some almost super-
human; 1 and we learn that their exactions became so heavy
that king and people rose against them and routed them
THE HEROIC MYTHS
161
at Cnucha, where Cumhal, father of Fionn, fell. Later his
opponent Goll became head of the Feinn, and then Fionn
himself; but as a result of their new pretensions the Feinn were
finally destroyed at Gabhra.
Many Feinn stories are coloured by this scheme, which was
applied to them at an early period; yet alongside the oldest
references to it we find stories or allusions which show that the
imaginative aspect was as strong then as it was later, and
that at an early date there was much Fionn literature so well
known that mere reference to its persons or incidents sufficed . 2
A recent writer suggests that Fionn was originally a hero
of the subject race of the Galioin in North Leinster , 3 who
are constantly associated with Firbolgs and Fir Domnann.
These appear to be remnants of a pre-Celtic population in
Ireland , 4 and are usually despised for evil qualities, though
they have strong magical powers, just as conquerors often
consider aboriginal races to be superior magicians, if inferior
human beings. These races furnished military service for the
Celtic kings of their district down to the rise of the dominant
“Milesian” monarchs in the fifth century; and of these Fianna,
Fionn (whose name means “white” and has nothing to do
with fianna or feinn), whether he really existed or not, was
regarded as chief. Mac Firbis, a seventeenth century author,
quotes an earlier writer who says that Fionn was of the sept
of the Ui Tarsig, part of the tribe of the Galioin. Cumhal,
his father, of the clanna Baoisgne, is represented in the Boyish
Deeds of Fionn ( Macgnimartha Finn ) 5 — a story copied from
the tenth century Psalter of Cashel into a later manuscript —
as striving at Cnucha with Uirgreann and the clanna Luagni,
aided by the clanna Morna, both subject tribes, for the chief
Fiannship ( Fiannuigeacht ). Only in later accounts of the
battle is Conn, the High King ( Ardri ), introduced, and though
the annalistic conception colours the introduction to this
otherwise mythical tale, it appears to be based on recollections
of clan feuds, especially as Fionn himself was later slain by
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
162
members of the clanna Uirgreann. With growing popularity,
he became a Leinster Irish hero, fighting against other Irish
tribes, mainly those of Ulster; but it was not until the middle
Irish period that the Fionn story, which had now spread
through a great part of Ireland among the Celtic folk, with
many local developments, was adopted by the literary class
of the dominant tribes, as at an earlier period they had taken
over the Cuchulainn saga from the Ulstermen. They were
rewriting Irish history in the light of contemporary events
and of their own ambitions; and accordingly they transfigured
and remoulded the legend of Fionn, which afforded them an
ever-growing literary structure. The forced service of the
Fianna became that of a highly developed militia under
imaginary high kings, whence the rise of tales in which Fionn
is brought into relation with these rulers — Conn, Cormac,
Art, and Cairbre — in the second and third centuries. The
Fianna became defenders of Ireland against foreign invasion;
they battled with Norsemen; they even went outside Ireland
and conquered European or Asiatic kings.
In origin Fionn was the ideal hero of a subject, non-Celtic
race, as Cumhal had been, and they were located at Almha —
the Hill of Allen. They tended, however, to become historic
figures, associated primarily with the forced service of such
a race, then with the later mythic national militia; but despite
this, a mythic aspect was theirs from first to last, while the
cycle of legends was constantly being augmented. To Oisin,
son of Fionn, are ascribed many poems about the Feinn: hence
he must have been regarded traditionally as the poet of the
band, rather than his father, who studied the art and ate
the salmon of knowledge. Few excelled in bravery Oisin’s
son, Oscar. Caoilte mac Ronan, Fionn’s nephew, was famed
for fleetness; at full speed he appeared as three persons and
could overtake the swift March wind, though it could not
outstrip him. Diarmaid ui Duibhne, who “never knew weari-
ness of foot, nor shortness of breath, nor, whether in going
THE HEROIC MYTHS 163
out or in coming in, ever flagged,” possessed a “ beauty-spot”
{ball-seirc ) ; and no woman who saw it could resist “the light-
some countenance ” of “ yellow-haired Diarmaid of the women.”
Goll of clanna Morna, Fionn’s enemy, and then his friend,
but with whom a feud arose which ended in his death, was
probably the ideal warrior, prodigiously strong, noble, and
brave, of a separate saga. Conan Maol was also of clanna
Morna, and his father aided in slaying Cumhal at Cnucha,
for which Fionn afterward put an eric, or fine, upon him.
Although of the Feinn, he was continually rejoicing at their
misfortunes in foul-mouthed language; and this Celtic Ther-
sites, “wrecker and great disturber of the Feinn,” was con-
stantly in trouble through his boldness and reckless bravery
— “claw for claw, and devil take the shortest nails, as Conan
said to the devil.” In later accounts he appears rather as a
comic character. MacLugach of the Terrible Hand is also
prominent; so, too, is Fergus True-Lips, the wise seer, inter-
preter of dreams, and poet. Others come and go, but round
these circles all the breathless interest of this heroic epos.
Their occupations were fighting on a vast scale, the records
of which, like those of the Cuchulainn saga, are often tiresome
and ghastly; mighty huntings, watched from some hill- top
by Fionn, and described with zest and not a little romantic
beauty as the hunt wends by forests, glens, watercourses,
or smiling valleys; lastly, love-making, for these warriors
could woo tenderly and with compelling power. Their vast
strength and size — one of their skulls held a man seated —
tend to remove them from the puny race of mere human
beings; yet though of divine descent, they were not im-
mortal, so that Caoilte says of a goddess: “She is of the
Tuatha De Danann, who are unfading and whose duration
is perennial; I am of the sons of Milesius, that are perishable
and fade away.” 6
While the Cuchulainn legend had a definite number of
tales and, after a certain date, remained complete, the Fionn
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
164
cycle received continual additions. New stories were written,
new incidents invented or borrowed from existing folk-tale
or saga, until comparatively recent times. Again, unlike the
Cuchulainn saga, the Fionn cycle contains numerous poems;
while the former has fewer folk-tale versions of its literary
stories than the latter.
The interest of Fionn’s ancestral line begins with Cumhal.
The Boyish Deeds shows him engaging in a clan feud with the
clanna Luagni, assisted by the clanna of which Morna was
chief. Morna’s son Aodh took a leading part in the battle
and was prominent afterward under the name Goll (“One-
Eyed”), because he lost an eye there; Cumhal fell at his stroke . 7
A different account of the battle is given in the Leahhar na
hUidhre. In this, Tadg, a Druid, succeeded to Almha, the
castle of his father Nuada, who also was a Druid; and Tadg’s
daughter Muirne was sought in marriage by Cumhal, but
refused, because Tadg foresaw that he would lose Almha
through him. Cumhal then abducted her, whereupon Tadg
complained to the High King, Conn, who ordered Cumhal to
give her up or leave the country. He refused, however, and
collecting an army, fought Conn’s men, including Uirgreann,
Morna, and Goll, the latter of whom slew him, whence there
was feud between Cumhal’s descendants and Goll . 8
Although Tadg and Nuada are called Druids, Nuada is
elsewhere one of the Tuatha De Danann, and he is probably
the god Nuada who fought at Mag-Tured ; 9 while Tadg is
also said to be from the sid of Almha, which is thus regarded
both as a divine dwelling and as a fort. Hence Fionn is affili-
ated to the gods, and another tradition makes his mother’s
father Bracan, a warrior of the Tuatha De Danann . 10 Cumhal
has been identified with a god Camulos, known from inscrip-
tions in Gaul and Scotland, whose name is also found in
Camulodunum (? Colchester). As Camulos was equated with
Mars, he was a warrior-god — a character in keeping with
that of Cumhal, though if the latter was a non-Celtic hero,
THE HEROIC MYTHS 165
and if his name should be read Umall, the identification is
excluded. 11
Fionn, a posthumous child, was at first called Deimne. For
safety’s sake he was taken by Bodhmhall and the Liath
Luchra and reared in the wilds, where, while still a child, he
strangled a polecat and had other adventures. 12 At ten years
old he came to a fortress on the Liffey, where the boys were
playing hurley, and beat them; and when they described him
as “fair” to its owner, he said that his name should be Fionn
(“Fair”), but that they must kill him if he returned. Never-
theless, next day he slew seven of them and a week later
drowned nine more when they challenged him at swimming. 13
While this incident resembles one in Cuchulainn’s early career,
in other, probably later, accounts, the match takes place
in the presence of the High King, Conn, who called the boy
“Fionn.” 14 In the Colloquy with the Ancients , however, another
incident is found. Goll had been made chief of the Feinn after
Cumhal’s death; and when ten years old, Fionn came to
Conn, announcing that he wished to be reconciled with him
and to enter his service. Conn now offered his rightful heritage
to him who would save Tara from being burnt by Aillen mac
Midhna of the Tuatha De Danann, who yearly made every
one sleep through his fairy music and then set fire to the
fortress. Fionn did not succumb to the music, because of
the magic power of a weapon given him by one of his father’s
comrades, and he also warded off with his mantle the flame
from Aillen’s mouth and succeeded in beheading him, so that
he was given Goll’s position, while Goll made friends with
him rather than go into exile. 15 In the account of Cumhal’s
death as given in the Leahhar na hUidhre , Conn advised
Muirne to go to her sister Bodhmhall, at whose house Fionn
was born. Later he challenged Tadg to single combat, or to
fight him with many, or to pay a fine for Cumhal’s death; and
Tadg, appealing for a judgement, was forced to surrender
AlmhatoFionn. Peace was now made between Fionn and Goll. 16
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
1 66
The story of Fionn’s “thumb of knowledge” belongs in
some versions to this period. To learn the art of poetry he
went to Finneces, who for seven years sought to capture a
salmon which would impart supernatural knowledge to him
— the “salmon of knowledge” — and after he had caught it,
he bade Fionn cook it, forbidding him to taste it. When
Finneces inquired whether he had eaten any of it, Fionn
replied, “No, but my thumb I burned, and I put it into my
mouth after that”; whereupon Finneces gave him the name
Fionn, since prophecy had announced that Fionn should eat
the salmon. He ate it in fact, and ever after, on placing his
thumb in his mouth, knowledge of things unknown came to
him . 17 This story, based on the universal idea that super-
natural knowledge or acquaintance with the language of beasts
comes from eating part of an animal, often a snake, is par-
allel to the story of Gwion’s obtaining inspiration intended for
Avagddu 18 and to that of the Norse Sigurd, who, roasting
the heart of the dragon Fafnir, intended for the dwarf, burned
his finger, placed it in his mouth, and so obtained supernatural
wisdom. In German tales the animal is a Haselwurm , a snake
found under a hazel, like the Celtic salmon which ate the nuts
falling from the hazels of knowledge. As told of Fionn, the
story is a folk-tale formula applied to him, but the conception
ultimately rests upon the belief in beneficial results from the
ritual eating of a sacred animal with knowledge superior to
man’s. Among American Indians, Maoris, Solomon Islanders,
and others there are figured representations of a medicine-
man with a reptile whose tongue is attached to his own, and
it is actually believed by the American Indians that the
postulant magician catches a mysterious otter, takes its
tongue, and hangs it round his neck in a bag, after which he
understands the language of all creatures . 19
When Fionn sought supernatural knowledge, he chewed
his thumb or laid it on his tooth, to which it had given this
clairvoyant gift; or, again, the knowledge is already in his
'4s'l >;]?? ••TV A.
?
!' r ' ? • ?;
'
if r vA V. ? v'r l' : /'• ? , ;b sssnio: i03
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.
PLATE XXI
Altar from Treves
A deity (Esus) fells a tree in the foliage of which a
bull’s head appears, while three cranes perch on the
branches (Tarvos Trigaranos). The bas-relief thus
combines the subjects of two sides of the altar from
Notre Dame (Plate XX).
THE HEROIC MYTHS 167
thumb. Culdub from the sid stole the food of the Feinn on
three successive nights, but was caught by Fionn, who also
followed a woman who had come from the sid to obtain water.
She shut the door on his thumb, which he extricated with
difficulty; and then, having sucked it, he found that he knew
future events. 20 In another account, however, part of his
knowledge came from drinking at a well owned by the Tuatha
De Danann. 21
-
Folk-tale versions of Fionn’s youth resemble the literary
forms, with differences in detail. Cumhal did not marry,
because it was prophesied that if he did he would die in the
next battle; yet having fallen in love with the king’s daughter,
he wedded her secretly, although a Druid had told the mon-
arch that his daughter’s son would dethrone him, wherefore
he kept her concealed — a common folk-tale incident. As his
death was at hand Cumhal begged his mother to rear his
child, but it was thrown into a loch, from which it was rescued
by its grandmother, who caused a man to make them a room
in a tree and, to preserve the secret, killed him. When the
boy was fifteen, she took him to a hurling-match, and the king,
who was present, cried, “Who is that fin cumhal (‘white
cap’)?” The woman called out, “Fin mac Cumhal will be his
name,” and again fled, this being followed by the thumb
incident with the formula of Odysseus and the Cyclops, in
which a one-eyed giant is substituted for Finneces. Later,
Fionn fought the beings who threw down a dun which was
in course of construction and for this obtained the king’s
daughter, while the heroes killed by these beings were restored
by him and became his followers. 22 Scots ballad and folk-tale
versions contain some of these incidents, but vary much as
to Cumhal. In one he goes to Scotland and defeats the Norse,
and there sets up as a king; but Irish and Norse kings entice
him to Ireland, persuade him to marry, and kill him in his
wife’s arms. His posthumous son is carried by his nurse to
the wilds, and then follows the naming incident and that of
hi — 12
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
168
the thumb of knowledge, though here Black Arcan, Cumhal’s
murderer, takes the place of Finneces and is slain by Fionn
on learning of his guilt from his thumb. Lastly Fionn obtains
his rightful due . 23 His birth incident and subsequent history
is an example of the Aryan “Expulsion and Return” formula,
as Nutt pointed out, and is paralleled in other Celtic instances.
In the Boyish Deeds of Fionn Cruithne became Fionn’s
wife, but in other tales he possesses other wives or mistresses.
In the Colloquy with the Ancients his wife Sabia, daughter of
the god Bodb Dearg, died of horror at the slaughter when
Fionn’s men fought Goll and the clanna Morna . 24 An Irish
ballad also makes Dearg’s daughter mother of Oisin, while
a second daughter offered herself to Fionn for a year to the
exclusion of all others, after which she was to enjoy half of
his society; but he refused, whereupon she gave him a potion
which caused a frenzy . 25 Sabia, Oisin’s mother, is the Saar
of tradition, whom a Druid changed into a deer. Spells were
laid on Fionn to marry the first female creature whom he met,
and this was Saar, as a deer, though by his knowledge he
recognized her as a woman transformed. He afterward found
a child with deer’s hair on his temple, for if Saar licked her
offspring, he would have a deer’s form; if not, that of a human
being. She could not resist giving him one lick, however, and
hair grew on his brow, whence his name Oisin, or “Little
Fawn.” Many ballads recount this incident, but in one the
deer is Grainne, whose story will be told presently , 26 although
elsewhere she is called Blai . 27 Another divine or fairy mistress
of Fionn’s could assume many animal shapes, and hence he
renounced her. Mair, wife of Bersa, also fell in love with him
and formed nine nuts with love-charms, sending them to him
that he might eat them; but he refused and buried them, be-
cause they were “an enchantment for drinking love.” 28 An-
other love-affair turned Fionn’s hair grey. Cuailnge, smith
to the Tuatha De Danann, had two daughters, Miluchradh
and Aine, both of whom loved Fionn. Aine, however, said
THE HEROIC MYTHS
169
that she would never marry a man with grey hair, where-
upon Miluchradh caused the gods to make a lake, on which
she breathed a spell that all who bathed there should become
grey. One day Fionn was drawn to this lake by a doe and
was induced to jump into it to recover the ring of a woman
sitting by the shore; but when he emerged, she had vanished,
and he was a withered old man. The Feinn dug down toward
Miluchradh’s sid, when she appeared with a drinking-horn
which restored Fionn’s youth, but left his hair grey, while
Conan jeered at his misfortune . 29 One poem offers a partial
parallel to the incident of Cuchulainn and Conlaoch, without
its tragic ending. Oisin, angry with his father, went away for
a year, after which father and son met without recognition.
Fionn gave Oisin a blow, and both then reviled each other
until the discovery of their relationship, when the dispute
was happily settled . 30
Fionn’s hounds, Bran and Sgeolan, were nephews of his
own, for Ilian married Fionn’s wife’s sister Tuirrean, whom
his fairy mistress transformed into a wolf-hound which gave
birth to these famous dogs. Afterward, when Ilian promised
to renounce Tuirrean, the fairy restored her form . 31
Fionn’s adventures are mainly of a supernatural kind —
combats with gods, giants, phantoms, and other fantastic
beings, apart from those in which he fought Norsemen or
other foreign powers, an anachronism needing no comment.
On one occasion Fionn, Oisin, and Caoilte came to a mysterious
house, where a giant seized their horses and bade them enter.
In the house were a three-headed hag and a headless man
with an eye in his breast; and as they sang at the giant’s bid-
ding, nine bodies arose on one side and nine heads on the
other, shrieking discordantly. Slaying the horses, he cooked
their flesh on rowan spits, and a part, uncooked, was brought
to Fionn, but was refused by him. Then a fight began, and
Fionn wielded his sword until sunrise, when all three heroes
fell into a swoon. When they recovered, the house had van-
170
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
ished, and they realized that the three “phantoms” were the
three shapes out of Yew Glen, which had thus taken revenge
for injury done to their sister, Culenn Wide-Maw . 32
In The Fairy Palace of the Quicken-Trees ( Bruighean Caor-
thuinn ) Fionn defeated and killed the King of Lochlann,
but spared his son Midac, bringing him up in his household.
Midac requited him ill, for he chose land on either side of the
Shannon’s mouth, where armies could land, and then invited
Fionn and his men to the palace of the quicken-trees, while
Oisin, Diarmaid, and four others remained outside. Presently
Midac left the palace, when all its splendour disappeared, and
the Feinn were unable to move. Meanwhile an army arrived,
but Diarmaid and the others repulsed it after long fighting;
and he released Fionn and the rest with the blood of three
kings . 33 In a folk-tale version the blood was exhausted before
Conan was reached, and he said to Diarmaid, “If I were a
pretty woman, you would not have left me to the last,” where-
upon Diarmaid tore him away, leaving his skin sticking to the
seat . 34 The house created by glamour in these stories, and
vanishing at dawn, has frequently been found in other tales.
The Feinn were sometimes aided by, sometimes at war
with, the Tuatha De Danann, though in later tales these
seem robbed of much of their divinity, one story regarding
them almost as demoniac. Conaran, a chief of the Tuatha
De Danann, bade his three daughters punish Fionn for his
hunting. On three holly sticks they hung hasps of yarn in
front of a cave and reeled them off withershins, while they sat
in the cavern as hideous hags and magically bound Fionn and
others w r ho entered it. Now arrived Goll, Fionn’s former
enemy, and with him the hags fought; but two of them he
halved by a clean sword-sweep, and the third, after being
vanquished, restored the heroes. Afterward, however, when
she reappeared to avenge her sisters’ death, Goll slew her and
then burned Conaran’s sid, giving its wealth to Fionn, who
bestowed his daughter on him . 35 Goll is here deemed a hero,
THE HEROIC MYTHS
171
as in many poems which lament his ultimate lonely death by
Fionn, after a brave defence. In these Goll is superior to Fionn,
and he was the popular hero of the Feinn in Donegal and
Connaught, as if there had been a cycle of tales in these
districts in which he was the central figure . 36
Fionn also fought the Muireartach, a horrible one-eyed hag
whose husband was the ocean-smith, while she was foster-
mother to the King of Lochlann. She captured from the Feinn
their “cup of victory” — a clay vessel the contents of which
made them victorious — but after a battle in which the
King of Lochlann was slain, the cup was recovered. The hag
returned, however, and killed some of the Feinn, but Fionn
caused the ground to be cut from under her and then slew
her . 37 This hag, whose name perhaps means “the eastern sea,”
has been regarded as an embodiment of the tempestuous wa-
ters; and in one version the ocean-smith says that she can-
not die until she is drowned in “deep, smooth sea” — as if
this were a description of the storm lulled to rest. When she
is let down into the ground, the suggestion is that of water
confined in a hollow space ; 38 and if so, the story is a roman-
tic treatment of the Celtic rite of “fighting the waves” with
weapons at high tides . 39
While the King of Lochlann is associated with this hag, he
and the Lochlanners are scarcely discriminated from Norsemen
who came across the eastern sea, invading Ireland and captur-
ing Fionn’s magic possessions, his dogs, or his wife. Yet there
is generally something supernatural about them; hence, prob-
ably before Norsemen came to Ireland, Lochlann was a super-
natural region with superhuman people. Rhys equates it
with the Welsh Llychlyn — “a mysterious country in the
lochs or the sea” — whence Fionn’s strife would be with
supernatural beings connected with the sea, an interpretation
agreeing with the explanation of the Muireartach.
Once Fionn, having made friends with the giant Seachran,
was taken with him to the castle of his mother and brother,
IJ2
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
who hated him. While dancing, Seachran was seized by
a hairy claw from the roof, but escaped, throwing his mother
into the cauldron destined for him. He and Fionn fled, pur-
sued by the brother, who slew Seachran, but was killed by
Fionn, who learned from his thumb that a ring guarded by
warriors would heal him who drank thrice above it. Diarmaid
obtained the ring, but was pursued by the warriors, whom
Seachran’s wife slew, after which the giant was restored to life . 40
Other stories record the chase of enchanted or monstrous
animals. Oisin slew a huge boar of the breed of Balor’s swine,
which supplied a week’s eating for men and hounds; but
meanwhile Donn, one of the side, carried off a hundred maidens
from Aodh’s sid. Aodh’s wife, secretly in love with Donn,
changed them into hinds, and when he would not return her
love, transformed him into a stag. In this guise he boasted
that the Feinn could not take him, but after a mighty en-
counter, Oisin, with Bran and Sgeolan, slew him . 41 In another
tale a vast boar, off whom weapons only glanced, killed many
hounds; but at last it was brought to bay by Bran, when
“a churl of the hill” appeared and carried it away, inviting
the Feinn to follow. They reached a sid where the churl
changed the boar into a handsome youth, his son; and in the
sid were many splendours, fair women, and noble youths.
The churl was Eanna, King of the sid , his wife Manannan’s
daughter. Fionn offered to wed their daughter, Sgathach,
for a year; and Eanna agreed to give her, saying that the
chase had been arranged in order to bring Fionn to the sid.
Presents were then given to him and his men, but at night
Sgathach played a sleep-strain on the harp which lulled to
slumber Fionn and the others, who in the morning found
themselves far from the sid , but with the presents beside
them, while it proved that the night had not yet arrived, an
incident which should be compared with a similar one in
the story of Nera . 42 This overcoming of the Feinn by glamour
and enchantment is a common episode in these stories.
THE HEROIC MYTHS
173
Allusion has already been made 43 to the Tale of the Gilla
Dacker and his Horse (Toruighecht in Ghilla Dhecair ). After
the horse had disappeared with fifteen of the Feinn, Fionn
and his men sought them overseas and reached a cliff up which
Diarmaid alone was able to ascend by the magic staves of
Manannan. He came to a magic well of whose waters he drank,
whereupon a wizard appeared, fought with him, and then
vanished into the well. This occurred on several days, but at
last Diarmaid clasped him in his arms, and together they
leaped into the well. There he found himself in a spacious
country where he conquered many opposing hosts; but a
giant advised him to come to a finer land, Ttr fo Thiunn, or
“Land under Waves,” a form of the gods’ realm, and there he
was nobly entertained, the wizard being its King, with whom
the giant and his people were at feud, as in other tales of
Elysium its dwellers fight each other. Meanwhile Fionn and
his men met the King of Sorcha and helped him in battle with
other monarchs, among them the King of Greece, whose
daughter Taise, in love with Fionn, adored him still more
when he slew her brother! She stole away to him, but was
intercepted by one of the King’s captains; and soon after
this, Fionn and the King of Sorcha saw a host approaching
them, among whom was Diarmaid. He informed Fionn that
the Gilla was Abartach, son of Alchad, King of the Land of
Promise, and from him Conan and the others were rescued.
Goll and Oscar now brought Taise from Greece to Fionn, and
indemnity was levied on Abartach, Conan choosing that it
should consist of fourteen women, including Abartach’s wife;
but Abartach disappeared magically, and Conan was balked
of his prize . 44 This story, the romantic incidents of which are
treated prosaically, jumbles together myth and later history,
and while never quite forgetting that Tir fo Thiunn , Sorcha,
and the Land of Promise are part of the gods’ realm, does its
best to do so.
Several other instances of aid given by the Feinn to the
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
folk of Elysium occur in the Colloquy with the Ancients. The
Feinn pursued a hind into a sid whose people were Donn and
other children of Midir. When their uncle Bodb Dearg was
lord of the Tuatha De Danann, he required hostages from
Midir’s children, but these they refused, and to prevent Bodb’s
vengeance on Midir, they sought a secluded sid. Here, how-
ever, the Tuatha De Danann came yearly and slew their
men until only twenty-eight were left, when, to obtain Fionn’s
help, one of their women as a fawn had lured him to the sid , as
the boar led Pryderi into the enchanted castle . 45 The Feinn
assisted Midir’s sons in next day’s fight against a host of the
gods, including Bodb, Dagda, Oengus, Ler, and Morrigan’s
children, when many of the host were slain; and three other
battles were fought during that year, the Feinn remaining
to assist. Oscar and Diarmaid were wounded, and by Donn’s
advice, Fionn captured the gods’ physician and caused him
to heal their wounds, after which hostages were taken of the
Tuatha De Danann, so that Midir’s sons might live in peace . 46
Caoilte told this to St. Patrick centuries after, and he had
scarce finished, when Donn himself appeared and did homage
to the saint. The old gods were still a mysterious people to
the compilers or transmitters of such tales, but they were
capable of being beaten by heroes and might be on good terms
with saints. Even in St. Patrick’s time the side or Tuatha De
Danann were harassed by mortal foes; but old and worn as
he was, Caoilte assisted them and for reward was cured
of his ailments . 47 Long before, moreover, he had killed the
supernatural bird of the god Ler, which wrought nightly
destruction on the sid, and when Ler came to avenge this, he
was slain by Caoilte . 48 Thus were the gods envisaged in Chris-
tian times as capable of being killed, not only by each other
but by heroes.
Sometimes, however, they helped the Feinn, nor is this
unnatural, considering Fionn’s divine descent. Diarmaid was
a pupil and protege of Manannan and Oengus and was aided
THE HEROIC MYTHS
175
by the latter . 49 Oengus helped Fionn in a quarrel with Cormac
mac Art, who taunted him with Conn’s victory over Cumhal;
whereupon Fionn and the rest forsook their strife with Oengus
(the cause of this is unknown), and he guided them in a foray
against Tara, aiding in the fight and alone driving the spoil . 50
Again when the Feinn were in straits, a giant-like being assisted
them and proved to be a chief of the side, and in a tale from the
Dindsenchas Sideng, daughter of Mongan of the sid, brought
Fionn a flat stone with a golden chain, by means of which he
slew three adversaries . 51 Other magic things belonging to the
Feinn were once the property of the gods. Manannan had a
“crane-bag” made of a crane’s skin, the bird being the goddess
Aoife, transformed by a jealous rival; and in it he kept his
treasures, though these were visible only when the tide was
full. This bag became Cumhal’s . 52 Manannan’s magic shield
has already been described, and it also was later the property
of Cumhal and Fionn . 53 In the story of The Battle of Ventry
( Cath Finntraga ), at which the Tuatha De Danann helped
the Feinn, weapons were sent to Fionn through Druidic sorcery
from the sid of Tadg, son of Nuada, by Labraid Lamfhada,
“the brother of thine own mother”; and these weapons shot
forth balls of fire . 54 Others were forged by a smith and his
two brothers, Roc and the ocean-smith, who had only one
leg and one eye . 55 Whether these beings are borrowings from
the Norse or supernatural creations of earlier Celtic myth is
uncertain. Fionn had also a magic hood made in the Land
of Promise, and of this hood it was said, “You will be hound,
man, or deer, as you turn it, as you change it.” 56
We now approach the most moving episode of the whole
cycle — The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainne ( Toruigheacht
Dhiarmada agus Ghrainne), the subject of a long tale with
many mythical allusions, of several ballads and folk-tales, and
of numerous references in earlier Celtic literature. Only the
briefest outline can be given here, but all who would know
that literature at its best should read the story itself. Early
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
-
176
accounts tell how Fionn, seeking to wed Grainne, had to per-
form tasks; but when he had accomplished these and mar-
ried her, she eloped with Diarmaid . 57 In the longer narrative,
when Fionn and his friends came to ask Grainne’s hand, she
administered a sleeping-potion to all of them save Oisin and
Diarmaid, both of whom she asked in succession to elope with
her. They refused; but, madly in love with Diarmaid’s beauty,
she put geasa on him to flee with her. Thus he was forced to
elope against his will, and when the disappointed suitor Fionn
discovered this, he pursued them and came upon them in a
wood, while in his sight Diarmaid kissed Grainne. At this
point the god Oengus came to carry them off unseen, and
when Diarmaid refused his help, Oengus took Grainne away,
the hero himself escaping through his own cleverness. Having
reached Oengus and Grainne, “whose heart all but fled out
of her mouth with joy at meeting Diarmaid,” he received
advice from the god, who then left them. They still fled,
with Fionn on their track, while the forces sent after them
were overpowered by Diarmaid. For long he would not con-
sent to treat Grainne as his wife, and only when he overheard
her utter a curious reproach would he do so . 58 From two
warriors, whose fathers had helped in the battle against
Cumhal, Fionn demanded as eric , or fine, either Diarmaid’s
head or a handful of berries from the quicken-tree of Dubhros;
but when the warriors came to Diarmaid, he parleyed long with
them and at last, as they were determined to fight him, he bound
them both. Grainne, who was now with child, asked for these
wonderful berries, whereupon Diarmaid slew their giant guar-
dian and sent the warriors with the berries to Fionn. He and
Grainne then climbed the tree; and when Fionn arrived, he
offered great rewards to the man who would bring down
Diarmaid’s head. Oengus again appeared, and when nine of
the Feinn climbed the tree and were slain, he gave each one
Diarmaid’s form and threw the bodies down, their true shape
returning only when their heads were cut off. Oengus now
PLATE XXII
Page of an Irish Manuscript
Rawlinson B 512, 1 1 9 a (in the Bodleian Library,
Oxford), containing part of the story of “ The Voy-
age of Bran, Son of Febal.”
THE HEROIC MYTHS
1 77
carried Grainne in his magic mantle to the Brug na Boinne,
while Diarmaid alighted like a bird on the shafts of his spears
far outside the ring of the Feinn and fought all who opposed
him, Oscar, who had pleaded for his forgiveness, accompany-
ing him to Oengus’s sid. Meanwhile Fionn sought the help of
his nurse from the Land of Promise, and she enveloped the
Feinn in a mist, herself flying on the leaf of a water-lily, through
a hole in which she dropped darts on Diarmaid. He flung his
invincible spear, the gai dearg , through the hole and killed the
witch, whereupon Oengus made peace between Fionn and
Diarmaid, who was allowed to keep Grainne.
Fionn, however, still sought revenge against Diarmaid, who
one night heard in his sleep the baying of a hound. He would
have gone after it, for it was one of his geasa always to follow
when he heard that sound , 59 but Grainne detained him, saying
that this was the craft of the Tuatha De Danann, notwithstand-
ing Oengus’s friendship. Nevertheless at daylight he departed,
refusing to take, despite Grainne’s desire, Manannan’s sword
and the gai dearg; and at Ben Gulban Fionn told him that the
wild boar of Gulban was being hunted, as always, in vain.
Now Diarmaid was under geasa never to hunt a boar, for his
father had killed Roc’s son in the sid of Oengus, and Roc had
transformed the body into a boar which would have the same
length of life as Diarmaid, whom Oengus now conjured never
to hunt a boar. Diarmaid, however, resolved to slay the
boar of Gulban, viz. the transformed child, though he under-
stood that he had been brought to this by Fionn’s wiles; and
in the great hunt which followed “the old fierce magic boar”
was killed, though not before it had mortally wounded the
hero. In other versions Diarmaid was unhurt, but Fionn bade
him pace the boar to find out its length, whereupon a bristle
entered his heel and made a deadly wound . 60 Diarmaid now
lay dying, while Fionn taunted him. He begged water, for
whoever drank from Fionn’s hands would recover from any
injury; and he recalled all he had ever done for him, while
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
Oscar, too, pleaded for him. Fionn went to a well and brought
water in his hands, but let it slowly trickle away. Again
Diarmaid besought him, and again and yet again Fionn
brought water, but each time let it drop away, as inexorable
with the hero as Lug was with Bran. So Diarmaid died,
lamented by all. Oengus, too, mourned him, singing sadly of
his death; and since he could not restore him to life, he took
the body to his sid, where he breathed a soul into it so that
Diarmaid might speak to him for a little while each day . 61
Fionn, who knew that Grainne intended her sons to avenge
Diarmaid, was afterward afraid and went secretly to her,
only to be greeted with evil words. As a result of his gentle,
loving discourse, however, “he brought her to his own will,
and he had the desire of his heart and soul of her.” She became
his wife and made peace between him and her sons, who were
received into the Feinn . 62
So ends this tragic tale, the cynical conclusion of which
resembles a scene in Richard III. A ballad of the Pursuit ,
however, relates that Diarmaid’s daughter Eachtach summoned
her brothers and made war with Fionn, wounding him severely,
so that for four years he got no healing . 63 In a Scots Gaelic
folk-tale Grainne, while with Diarmaid, plotted with an old
man to kill him, but was forgiven. Diarmaid was discovered
by Fionn through wood-shavings floating down-stream from
cups which he had made, and Fionn then raised the hunt-
ing-cry which the hero must answer, his death by the boar
following . 64 In the Dindsenchas this “shavings” incident is
told of Oisin, who was captured by Fionn’s enemies and
hidden in a cave, his presence there being revealed in the
same way to Fionn, who rescued him . 65 Ballad versions do
not admit that Diarmaid ever treated Grainne as his wife,
in spite of her reproaches or the spells put upon him; and it
was only after his death that Fionn discovered his innocence
and constancy, notwithstanding appearances . 66 In tradition
the pursuit lasted many years, and sepulchral monuments
THE HEROIC MYTHS
179
in Ireland are still known as “the beds of Diarmaid and
Grainne.” Some incidents of the pursuit are also told sepa-
rately, as when one story relates that after an old woman had
betrayed the pair to Fionn, they escaped in a boat in which
was a man with beautiful garments, viz. the god Oengus . 67
Various reasons for the final quarrel between Fionn and Goll
are given, but in the end Goll was driven to bay on a sea-crag
with none beside him but his faithful wife, where, though
overcome by hunger and thirst, he yet refused the offer of
the milk of her breasts. Noble in his loneliness, he is repre-
sented in several poems as recounting his earlier deeds. Then
for the last time he faced Fionn, and fighting manfully, he fell,
covered with wounds . 68
The accounts of Fionn’s death vary, some placing it before,
some after, the battle of Gabhra, which, in the annalistic
scheme, was the result of the exactions of the Feinn. Cairbre,
High King of Ireland, summoned his nobles, and they resolved
on their destruction, whereupon huge forces gathered on both
sides, and “the greatest battle ever fought in Ireland” fol-
lowed. Few Feinn survived it, and the most mournful event
was the slaying of Oisin’s son Oscar by Cairbre — the subject
of numerous laments, purporting to be written by Oisin , 69
full of pathos and of a wild hunger for the brave days long past.
In Fionn’s old age he always drank from a quaigh, for his wife
Smirgat had foretold that to drink from a horn would be
followed by his death; but one day he forgot this and then,
through his thumb of knowledge, he learned that the end
was near. Long before, Uirgreann had fallen by his hand, and
now Uirgreann’s sons came against him and slew him . 70 In
another version, however, Goll’s grandson plotted to kill
him with Uirgreann’s sons and others, and succeeded . 71 There
is no mention of the High King here, and it suggests the long-
drawn clan vendetta and nothing more. Thus perished the
great hero, brave, generous, courteous, of whom many noble
things are spoken in later literature, but none nobler than
i8o
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
Caoilte’s eulogy to St. Patrick — “He was a king, a seer, a
poet, a bard, a lord with a manifold and great train, our ma-
gician, our man of knowledge, our soothsayer; all whatsoever
he said was sweet with him. Excessive perchance as ye deem
my testimony of Fionn, nevertheless, by the King that is
above me, he was three times better still.” 72 Yet he had un-
desirable traits — craft and vindictiveness, while his final un-
forgiving vengeance on Diarmaid is a blot upon his character.
One tradition alleged that, like Arthur, Fionn was still living
secretly somewhere, within a hill or on an island, ready to
come with his men in the hour of his country’s need; and
daring persons have penetrated to his hiding-place and have
spoken to the resting hero . 73 Noteworthy in this connexion
is the story which makes the seventh century King Mongan,
who represents an earlier mythic Mongan, a rebirth of Fionn,
this being shown by Caoilte’s reappearance to prove to Mon-
gan’s poet the truth of the King’s statement regarding the
death of Fothad Airglech. “We were with thee, with Fionn,”
said Caoilte. “Hush,” said Mongan, “that is not fair.” “We
were with Fionn then”; but the narrator adds, “Mongan,
however, was Fionn, though he would not let it be said .” 74
Other stories, as we have seen, make Mongan the son of
Manannan.
Of the survivors of the Feinn, the main interest centres
in Oisin and Caoilte, the latter of whom lingered on with some
of his warriors until the coming of St. Patrick. In tales and
poems of later date, notably in Michael Comyn’s eighteenth
century poem, Oisin went into a sid or to Tir na nOg (“the
Land of Youth”). The Colloquy with the Ancients , on the other
hand, says that he went to the sid of Ucht Cleitich, where was
his mother Blai, although later he is found in St. Patrick’s
company without any explanation of his return; and now
Caoilte rejoins him . 75 This agrees with the Scots tradition
that a pretty woman met Oisin in his old age and said, “Will
you not go with your mother?” Thereupon she opened a door
THE HEROIC MYTHS
181
in the rock, and Oisin remained with her for centuries, al-
though it seemed only a week; but when he wished to return
to the Feinn, she told him that none of them was left . 76 In
an Irish version Oisin entered a cave and there saw a woman
with whom he lived for what seemed a few days, although it
was really three hundred years. When he went to revisit the
Feinn, he was warned not to dismount from his white steed;
but in helping to raise a cart he alighted and became an old
man . 77 The tales of his visit to the Land of Youth vary. Some
refer it to his more youthful days, but Michael Comyn was
probably on truer ground in placing it after the battle of
Gabhra. In these, however, it is not his mother, but Niamh,
the exquisitely beautiful daughter of the King of Tir na nOg,
who takes him there, laying upon him geasa whose fulfilment
would give him immortal life. Crossing the sea with her, he
killed a giant who had abducted the daughter of the King of
Tir na m-Beo (‘‘the Land of the Living”) ; and in Tir na nOg he
married Niamh, with whom he remained three centuries. In one
tale he actually became King because he outraced Niamh’s father,
who held the throne until his son-in-law should do this; and to
prevent it he had given his daughter a pig’s head, but Oisin,
after hearing Niamh’s story, accepted her, and her true form was
then restored . 78 In the poem the radiant beauty and joy of Tir
na nOg are described in traditional terms; but, in spite of these,
Oisin longed for Erin, although he thought that his absence
from it had been brief. Niamh sought to dissuade him from
going, but in vain, and now she bade him not descend from
his horse. When he reached Erin, the Feinn were forgotten;
the old forts were in ruins; a new faith had arisen. In a glen
men trying to lift a marble flagstone appealed to him for aid,
and stooping from his horse, he raised the stone; but as he
did so, his foot touched ground, whereupon his horse vanished,
and he found himself a worn, blind old man. In this guise he
met St. Patrick and became dependent on his bounty . 79
These stories illustrate what is found in all Celtic tales of
1 82 CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
divine or fairy mistresses — they are the wooers, and mortals
tire of them and their divine land sooner than they weary of
their lovers. Mortals were apt to find that land tedious, for,
as one of them said, “I had rather lead the life of the Feinn
than that which I lead in the sid ” — it is the plaint of Achilles,
who would liefer serve for hire on earth than rule the dead in
Hades, or of the African proverb, “One day in this world is
worth a year in Srahmandazi.”
The meeting of the saint with the survivors of the Feinn
is an interesting if impossible situation, and it is freely de-
veloped both in the Colloquy with the Ancients and in many
poems. While a kindly relationship between clerics and Feinn
is found in the Colloquy , even there Caoilte and Oisin regret
the past. Both here and in the poems St. Patrick shows much
curiosity regarding the old days, but in some of the latter he
is not too tender to Oisin’s obstinate heathendom. Oisin, it
is true, is “almost persuaded” at times to accept the faith,
but his paganism constantly breaks forth, and he utters
daring blasphemies and curses the new order and its annoy-
ances — shaven priests instead of warriors, bell-ringing and
psalm-singing instead of the music and merriment of the past.
Yet in these poems there is tragic pathos and wild regret —
for the Feinn and their valorous deeds, for the joys never now
to be recalled, for shrunken muscles and dimmed eyes and tired
feet and shaking hands, for Oisin’s long silent harp, above all
for his noble son Oscar.
“ Fionn wept not for his own son,
Nor did he even weep for his brother;
But he wept on seeing my son lie dead,
While all the rest wept for Oscar.
From that day of the battle of Gabhra
We did not speak boldly;
And we passed not either night or day
That we did not breathe heavy sighs.” 80
One fine ballad tells how Oisin fought hopelessly against the
new order, scorning Christian rites and beliefs, but at last
THE HEROIC MYTHS 183
craved forgiveness of God, and then, weak and weary, passed
away.
“Thus it was that death carried off
Oisin, whose strength and vigours had been mighty;
As it will every warrior
Who shall come after him upon the earth.” 81
In others the Feinn are shown to be in hell, and St. Patrick
rejoices in their fate. Sometimes Oisin cries on Fionn to let
no devil in hell conquer him; sometimes, weak old man as he
is, his cursing of St. Patrick mingles with confession of sin
and prayers for Fionn’s welfare and regrets that he cannot be
saved.
“Oh, how lamentable the news
Thou relatest to me, O cleric;
That though I am performing pious acts,
The Feinn have not gained heaven.” 82
Tradition maintains that Oisin was baptized, and a curious
story from Roscommon tells how, at St. Patrick’s prayer for
solace to the Feinn in hell, though they cannot be released,
Oscar received a flail and a handful of sand to spread on the
ground. The demons could not cross this to torment the
Feinn, for if they attempted to do so, Oscar pursued them
with his flail. 83
hi — 13
CHAPTER XIV
THE HEROIC MYTHS
0 Continued )
III. ARTHUR
N ENNIUS, writing in the ninth century, is the first to
mention Arthur. 1 This hero is dux bellorum, waging war
against the Saxons along with kings who had twelve times
chosen him as chief; and twelve successful battles were fought,
the last at Mount Badon, where Arthur alone killed over nine
hundred men. Gildas (sixth century), however, refers to this
struggle without mentioning Arthur’s name. 2 In one of these
conflicts Arthur carried an image of the Virgin on his shoulder,
or a cross made at Jerusalem; and the Mirabilia added by a
later hand to Nennius’s History state that Arthur and his
dog Caball (or Cavall) hunted the Porcus Troit, the dog
leaving the mark of its foot on a stone near Builth. Nennius
himself gives a simple, possibly semi-historical, account of
Arthur; and the Annales Cambriae (tenth century) say that
Arthur with his nephew and enemy Medraut (Mordred) fell
at Camlan.
Geoffrey of Monmouth (1100-54), wh° reports the Arthurian
legend as it was known in South Wales, states that Uther
Pendragon, King of Britain, loved Igerna, wife of Gorlois,
Duke of Cornwall; but for safety Gorlois shut her up in Tinta-
gel. Merlin now came to Uther’s help and by “medicines”
gave him Gorlois’s form, and his confidant Ulfin that of the
Duke’s friend, while Merlin himself took another guise, so
that Uther thus gained access to Igerna. News of Gorlois’s
death arrived, and the messengers marvelled to see him at
-
THE HEROIC MYTHS 185
Tintagel; but Uther disclosed himself and presently married
Igerna, who bore him Arthur and a daughter Anne, the former
becoming king at Uther’s death. His exploits against Saxons
are related and how he carried his shield Pridwen, with a
picture of the Virgin, and his sword Caliburnus, which was
made in the Isle of Avalon. His conquests extended to Ireland,
Iceland, Gothland, the Orkneys, Norway, and Gaul; his
coronation and his court are described, and how he resolved
to conquer Rome. On the way he slew a giant who had ab-
ducted to St. Michael’s Mount Helena, niece of Duke Hoel,
and had challenged Arthur to fight after his refusal to send
him his beard, which was to have the chief place in a fur made
by the giant from the beards of other kings. This monster
was greater than the giant Ritho, whom Arthur had fought
on Mount Aravius. After conquering the Romans, Arthur
heard how his nephew Mordred had usurped the throne,
while Queen Guanhumara (Gwenhwyfar, Guinevere) had
married him. Arthur returned and vanquished Mordred, but
was mortally wounded and carried to Avalon, resigning the
crown to Constantine, while Guanhumara entered a nunnery. 3
Geoffrey obtained some information from a book in the
British tongue, and some from Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford;
besides which he must also have incorporated floating tradi-
tions, to which William of Malmesbury (ob. 1142) refers as
“idle tales.” The narrative has a mythical aspect and is
embellished after the manner of the time. Arthur’s wide-
spread conquests and his fights with giants resemble Fionn’s,
while his birth of a father who changed his form recalls that
of Mongan, son of Manannan, who did the same, 4 whence
Uther may be a Brythonic god, and Arthur a semi-divine hero
like Mongan or Cuchulainn. Fionn, who in one account was
a reincarnation of Mongan, was betrayed by his wife Grainne
and his nephew Diarmaid, 5 Arthur by his wife and nephew;
and as Mongan went to Elysium, so Arthur went to Avalon.
Geoffrey, as well as all existing native Welsh story, knows
i86
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
nothing of the Grail or of the Round Table, which first appears
in Wace’s Brut , completed in 1155.
Three questions now arise. Was there a historic Arthur
on whom myths of a fabulous personage were fathered? Is
Geoffrey in part rationalizing and amplifying in chivalric
fashion an existing mythic story of Arthur? Does he omit
some existing traditions of Arthur? These questions are
probably to be answered in the affirmative. If the name
“Arthur” is from Latin Artorius , 6 it must have been intro-
duced into Britain in Roman times; and hence the mythic
Arthur need not have been so called unless the whole myth
post-dates the possibly historic sixth century Arthur. If, more-
over, the Latin derivation is correct, the supposed source in a
hypothetical Celtic artor (“ploughman” or “one who harnesses
for the plough”) falls to the ground. Had the mythic per-
sonality a name resembling Artorius? That is possible, and
there was a Celtic god Artaios, who was equated with Mercury
in Gaul. Artaios may be akin to Artio, the name of a bear-
goddess, from artos (“bear”), although Rhys connects it
with words associated with ploughing, e. g. Welsh ar (“plough-
land”). 7 Artaios would then be equivalent to Mercurius cultor;
but the connexion of Artaios and Arthur is problematical.
In any case the story of Arthur is largely mythic, like that
of Cuchulainn or of Fionn. Nennius appears to know a more
or less historic Arthur; but if there was a mythic Arthur-
saga in his time, why does he not allude to it? Did the “ancient
traditions” to which he had access not know this mythic
hero, or was he not interested in this aspect of his “magnan-
imous Arthur?” Still more curious is it that neither Gildas
nor Bede refers to Arthur. Geoffrey’s narrative became
popular and is the basis of Wace’s Brut , where the Round
Table appears as made by Arthur to prevent quarrels about
precedence, and it is said that the Britons had many tales
about it. Layamon (c. 1200), on the other hand, states that it
was made by a cunning workman and seated sixteen hundred,
PLATE XXIII
Artio
The bear-goddess (see p. 124) feeds a bear. The
inscription states that “Licinia Sabinilla (dedicated
this) to the goddess Artio,” and the box pedestal
has a slit through which to drop offerings of coins.
Found at Berne (“Bear-City”), which still preserves
a trace of the ancient Celtic cult in its famous den
of bears. Cf. Plate II, 10.
THE HEROIC MYTHS
187
while in the Romances it was made by Merlin. Layamon
also declares that three ladies prophesied at Arthur’s birth
regarding his future greatness — the three Matres or Fees
of Celtic belief, found also in other mythologies. Yet before
Geoffrey’s time Arthur was known in Brittany, whither Britons
had fled from the Saxons; and there the Normans learned of
the saga, which they carried to Italy before 1100 a. d., so that
Alanus ab Insulis (ob. c. 1200) says that in his time resentment
would have been aroused in Brittany by the denial of Arthur’s
expected return.
Among the Welsh romantic tales about Arthur the chief
is that of Kulhwch and Olwen , 8 where he and his warriors,
some of whom have magic powers, aid Kulhwch in different
quests. The story, which antedates Geoffrey, and proves that
an Arthurian legend existed before his time, is based on the
folk-tale formula of a woman’s hatred to her step-son. She
bade Kulhwch seek as his wife Olwen, daughter of Yspaddaden
Penkawr, whose eyelids, like Balor’s, must be raised by his
servitors, though he is not said to possess an evil eye. The
quest was difficult, and when Kulhwch found Yspaddaden’s
castle, he learned that many suitors for Olwen had been slain,
for Yspaddaden would die when she married — a variant of
the theme of the separable soul. 9 Yspaddaden set Kulhwch
many tasks, some of them connected with each other, and
in many of these his cousin Arthur assisted him. Among them
is the capture of the Twrch Trwyth (Nennius’s Porcus Troit),
on account of the scissors, comb, and razors between its ears,
which Yspaddaden desired. This boar was a knight trans-
formed by God for his sins, and to capture it the aid of Mabon,
son of Modron, must be obtained. First, however, his prison
must be found, for he had been stolen on the third night after
his birth, and none knew where he was. With the help of
various animals his place of bondage was discovered, and he
was released by Arthur, whose aid, with that of others, Yspad-
daden had said that Kulhwch would never obtain. Arthur
1 88
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
now collected an army for the chase of the boar, and this
pursuit recalls many stories of Fionn. A great combat with it
took place, and after Arthur had fought it for nine days and
nights without being able to kill it, he sent to it and its pigs
Gwrhyr Gwalstawt in the form of a bird to invite one of them
to speak with him. The invitation was refused, however, and
accordingly Arthur, with his dog Cavall and a host of heroes,
hunted the boar from place to place. Many were slain, but
at last the boar was seized, and the razor and scissors were
taken. Nevertheless, before the comb could be obtained, the
boar fled to Kernyu (Cornwall), where it was captured;
although all that had happened previously was merely a game
compared with the taking of the comb. The boar was now
chased into the sea, and Arthur went north to obtain the blood
of the sorceress Gorddu on the confines of hell, another of the
things required by Yspaddaden. Arthur slew Gorddu, and
Kaw of Prydein (Pictland) collected her blood, which, with
the other marvellous objects, was taken to Yspaddaden, who
was now slain.
In this story Kulhwch comes to Arthur’s court, which is
attended by many warriors and supernatural personages,
some of whose names (e. g. Conchobar, Curoi) recur in the
Romances or are taken from other parts of Brythonic as well
as Irish traditions. The gate was shut while feasting went on,
save to a king’s son or to the master of an art — an incident
recalling the approach of Lug, “master of many arts,” to the
abode of the Tuatha De Danann before the battle of Mag-
Tured 10 — all others being entertained outside with food,
music, and a bedfellow. Among the personages of this tale
who recur in the Romances are Kei, Bedwyr (Bedivere),
Gwalchmei (Gawain), and Gwenhwyfar; characters from the
Mabinogion or other tales are Manawyddan, Morvran, Teyr-
non, Taliesin, and Creidylad, daughter of Lludd. Mabon, son
of Modron, is the Maponos of British and Gaulish inscrip-
tions, where he is equated with Apollo; and his mother’s name
PLATE XXIV
Boars
The boar appears as a worshipful animal on Gaul-
ish coins (see Plate III, I, 3, 6), and there was a
Gallic boar-deity, Moccus (p. 124). It also plays a
role in Irish saga (pp. 124-27, 172) and in the Welsh
story of the Twrch Trwyth (or Porcus Troit ) (pp.
108, 125, 187-88). Bronze figures found at Houns-
low, Middlesex.
© ^
THE HEROIC MYTHS
189
is equivalent to that of the goddesses called Matronae (akin to
the Matres), whose designation appears in that of the Marne.
Mabon means “a youth,” and Maponos “the great (or divine)
youth,” whence he must have been a youthful god. His
immortality is suggested by the fact that he had been in prison
so long that animals which had attained fabulous ages had
no knowledge of him, and only a salmon, older than any of
them, knew where his prison was. It carried Kei and Gwrhyr
thither on its shoulders, and when Arthur attacked the strong-
hold, it supported Kei and Bedwyr, who made a breach in the
wall and released the captive. Mabon rode a horse swifter
than the waves, and he is called “the swift” in the Stanzas
of the Graves. The chase of the boar could not take place
without him, and he followed it into the Bristol Channel,
where he took the razor from it. Reference is made to Mabon’s
imprisonment in a Triad; and he and Gweir, whose prison is
mentioned in a Taliesin poem about Arthur and his men,
with Llyr Lledyeith, were the three notable prisoners. Yet
there was one still more notable — Arthur, who was three
nights in prison in Caer Oeth and Anoeth, three nights in
prison by Gwenn Pendragon, and three nights in an enchanted
prison under Llech Echymeint; but Goreu, his cousin, deliv-
ered him . 11
Other mythical or magic-wielding personages in Kulhwch
are the following. Gwrhyr, who could speak with birds and
animals, transformed himself into a bird in order to speak to
the boar; and Menw also took that shape and sought to remove
one of the boar’s treasures, when it hurt him with its venom.
He could also make Arthur and his men invisible, though
they could see other men. Morvran, son of Tegid Voel, seemed
a demon, covered with hair like a stag; none struck him at
the battle of Camlan on account of his ugliness, just as none
struck Sandde Bryd-angel because of his beauty. Sgilti Light-
Foot could march on the ends of tree-branches, and so light
was he that the grass never bent under him. Drem saw the
190
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
gnat rise with the sun from Kelliwic in Cornwall to Pen
Blathaon in Scotland. Under Gwadyn Ossol’s feet the highest
mountain became a plain, and Sol could hold himself all day
on one foot. Gwadyn Odyeith made as many sparks from the
sole of his foot as when white-hot iron strikes a solid object;
he cleared the way of all obstacles before Arthur and his men.
Gwevyl, when sad, let one of his lips fall to his stomach,
while the other made a hood over his head; and Ychdryt
Varyvdraws projected his beard above the beams of Arthur’s
hall. Yskyrdaw and Yseudydd, servants of Gwenhwyfar, had
feet as rapid as their thoughts; and Klust, interred a hundred
cubits underground, could hear the ant leave its nest fifty
miles away. Medyr could pass through the legs of a wren in
the twinkling of an eye from Cornwall to Esgeir Oervel in
Ireland; Gwiawn could remove with one stroke a speck from
the eye of a midge without injuring it; 01 found the track of
swine stolen seven years before his birth. Many of these
invaluable personages have parallels in Celtic as well as other
folk-tales, and are the clever companions of the hero, who
execute tasks impossible to himself. 12
In the Dream of Rhonabwy the hero had a vision of the
knightly court of Arthur, different from that in Kulhwch,
and found himself transported thither. Arthur had mighty
armies, and he and others were of gigantic size, while his
mantle rendered the wearer invisible. The story describes
Arthur’s game at chess with Owein, and how Owein’s crows
were first ill-treated and then killed their tormentors. These
crows are frequently mentioned in Welsh poetry, and Arthur
is said to have feared them and their master. In this tale we
also hear of Iddawc (mentioned in the Triads), whose horse,
on exhaling its breath, blows far off those whom he pursues,
and as it respires, it draws them to him. He was an interme-
diary between Arthur and Mordred at Camlan, sent with
gracious words from Arthur, reminding Mordred how he had
nurtured him and desiring to make peace; but Iddawc altered
THE HEROIC MYTHS
191
these messages to threats and thus caused the battle. Arthur’s
court appears again in The Lady of the Fountain , a Welsh tale
which is the equivalent of Chretien’s Yvain (twelfth century),
but here again the conception of it is far more knightly and
romantic than in Kulhwch. The supernatural in this story,
whether Celtic or not, is found, e. g., in the one-eyed black
giant with one foot and an iron club, who guards a forest in
which wild animals feed. He tells Kyncn to throw a bowlful
of water on a slab by a fountain, when a storm will burst,
followed by the music of birds, and a black-armoured knight
will appear and fight with Kynon. In these two tales the follow-
ing personages known to Welsh literature and the Romances
appear — Mordred, Caradawc, Llyr, Nudd, Mabon, Peredur,
Llacheu, Kei, Gwalchmei, Owein, March son of Meirchion
(Mark, King of Cornwall), and Gwchyvar.
In the early Welsh poems there are many references to
Arthur and his circle, as when, in the Black Book of Caermarthen
(twelfth century), one poem, telling of Arthur’s expedition to
the north, mentions Kei, whose sword was unerring in his
hand, Bedwyr the Accomplished, Mabon, Manawyddan,
“deep was his counsel,” and Llacheu, Arthur’s son. Kei
pierced nine witches, probably the nine witches of Gloucester
mentioned in Peredur , while Arthur fought with a witch and
clove the Paluc Cat. A Triad declares that this creature w r as
born of a pig hunted by Arthur, because it was prophesied
that the isle would suffer from its litter; and although Coll,
its guardian, threw the cat into the Menai Strait, Paluc’s
children found it and nourished it until it became one of the
three plagues of Mon (Anglesey). This demon cat, which should
be compared with those fought by Cuchulainn, recurs in
Merlin , but is then located on the continent. In this poem
Arthur is also said to have distributed gifts . 13 Llacheu figures
in another poem, which tells of his death, as “marvellous in
song,” and he is mentioned there with Bran, Gwyn, and
Creidylad . 14 The Stanzas of the Graves refer to the graves of
192
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
Gwythur, March, and Arthur, the latter’s being anoeth bid
(“the object of a difficult search”); and Arthur’s horse Cavall,
not his dog Cavall or Caball (as in Nennius and Kulhwch,
where Bedwyr held it in leash), is mentioned in another poem.
Arthur’s expedition to Annwfn in Kulhwch , where Annwfn
is equivalent to hell, lying to the north, is paralleled by another
in a Taliesin poem to which reference has already been made . 15
Arthur and others went in his ship Prydwn (Prytwenn in
Kulhwch , where it goes a long distance in the twinkling of an
eye 16 ) over seas to Caer Sidi for the “spoils of Annwfn,”
including the magic cauldron of Penn Annwfn, and apparently
to release Gweir, who had been lured there through the
messenger of Pwyll and Pryderi. While Annwfn was spoiled,
Gweir “grievously sang, and thenceforth till doom he remains
a bard”; but the expedition was fatal to many who went
on it, for “thrice Prydwn’s freight” voyaged to Caer Sidi,
but only seven returned . 17 This recalls Cuchulainn’s similar
journey to Scath for its cauldron and cows ; 18 and there is
also a parallel in Kulhwch , where one of the treasures desired
of the hero by Yspaddaden is the cauldron of Diwrnach the
Irishman, who refused it when Arthur sent for it. Arthur
then sailed for Ireland in his ship, and Bedwyr seized the
cauldron, placing it on the shoulders of Arthur’s cauldron-
bearer, who brought it away full of money . 19 Another treasure
which Kulhwch had to obtain, but of which there is no further
mention, is the basket of Gwyddneu, from which the whole
world might eat according to their desire, this basket resembling
Dagda’s cauldron . 20
The Guinevere incident in Geoffrey is differently rendered
in Welsh tradition. A Triad says that the blow given her by
Gwenhwyfach (her sister in Kulhwch ) caused the battle of
Camlan , 21 and another Triad speaks of Medraut’s drawing
her from her royal seat at Kelliwic and giving her a blow,
while he is also said to have outraged her. Medraut at the
same time consumed all the food and drink, but Arthur retali-
THE HEROIC MYTHS
193
ated by doing likewise at Medraut’s court and leaving neither
man nor beast alive. Medraut resembled Hir Erwn and Hir
Atrym in Kulhwch , who wherever they went ate all provided
for them and left the land bare ; 22 although another view of
him is found in a Triad which speaks of the blow given him
by Arthur as “an evil blow” and of himself as gentle, kindly,
and fair. Guinevere seems to have had an ill character in
Welsh tradition, a spiteful couplet speaking of her as “bad
when young, worse later.” 23 Her name means “white phantom
or fee” from given (“white”) and hzvyvar , a word cognate
with Irish siabur , siabhra (“phantom,” “fairy”), the corre-
sponding Irish name being Finnabair ; 24 and this seems to point
to her divine aspect, just as Etain was called be find (“white
woman”) by Midir. A Triad speaks of three Guineveres,
all wives of Arthur, with different fathers; but Celtic myth
loved triple forms, and the different Guineveres, Llyrs, Mana-
wyddans, etc., may have been local forms of the same divinity.
-
The departure of the wounded Arthur to Avalon, though
mentioned by Geoffrey, does not occur in native Welsh story;
yet in other sources which refer to it there is probably to be
found a Brythonic tradition on the subject. In the Vita
Merlini attributed to Geoffrey, Avalon appears as Insula
Pomorum , or “Isle of Apples,” where the labour of cultivating
the soil is unnecessary, so abundant is nature. Grapes and
corn grow plentifully, and nine sisters, of whom Morgen is
chief, and who can take the form of birds, bear rule there.
These nine recall the nine maidens whose breath boiled the
cauldron of Annwfn, and the bird sisters perhaps recur in
the Perceval story where Perceval, attacked by black birds,
kills one which turns to a beautiful woman whom the others
bear away to Avalon . 25 In another description the island
lacks no good thing and is unvisited by enemies. Peace, con-
cord, and eternal spring and flowers are there; its people are
youthful; there is no old age, disease, or grief; all is happiness,
and all things are in common. A regia virgo rules it, more
194
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
beautiful than the lovely maidens who serve her; she healed
Arthur when he was brought to the court of King Avallo and
now they live together . 26 Her name is Morgen, though else-
where Morgen is Arthur’s sister, and Giraldus Cambrensis
calls her dea phantastica; while William of Malmesbury speaks
of Avalloc (Avallo) as dwelling at Avalon with his daughters.
How close is the resemblance of this island to the Irish Elysium
must at once be seen. It is mainly a land of women; there
is no toil, but plenty; no sickness nor death, but immortal
youth; and the divine women there can take the form of birds
like Fand, Liban, and others. They who visit Arthur find
the place full of all delights, says the Vita Merlini; and if
Arthur went to Avalon to his sister, he resembles Oisin who,
in one account, went with his mother to Elysium . 27 In the
Didot Perceval Arthur declares that he will return, so that
Britons expect him and have sometimes heard him hunting
in the forest ; 28 and Layamon, who lived in a district where
Brythonic tradition must have abounded, says also that
Arthur, when wounded, announced his departure to the fair-
est of all maidens, Argante, Queen in Avalon, who would
heal him, but that he would return. A boat appeared, in which
were two women, who placed him in it; and now he dwells
in Avalon with the fairest of elves, the fees or goddesses of other
traditions, while Britons await his coming . 29 In Malory the
boat is full of queens, among them Morgen, Arthur’s sister,
and Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, “always friendly to Arthur.”
From her had come the sword Excalibur, and her home was
in a wonderful palace within a rock in a lake — an Elysium
water-world. All this points to the interest taken in a hero by
other-world beings.
The identification of Glastonbury with Avalon may be due
to two influences. Glastonbury and its Tor were surrounded
by marshes, which would cause it to be considered as an
island; and probably, too, the Tor was a divine abode analogous
to the sid, as the legend of Gwyn suggests. Some local myth
THE HEROIC MYTHS
195
would lead this “island” to be regarded as Elysium, while in
Arthur’s case it came to be called Avalon either because a
local lord of Elysium was named Avallo, or because magic
trees with apples {avail, “apple-tree”), like those of the Irish
Elysium, were supposed to grow there. Glastonbury as a
sid Elysium is supported by another early Arthur tradition;
and one form of this had been transferred to Italy by the Nor-
mans, for Gervase of Tilbury speaks of a groom finding him-
self in a castle on Etna, wherein Arthur lay in bed, suffering
from Mordred’s wounds, which broke out afresh each year . 30
More usually, however, the legend is that of Arthur and his
knights waiting, like Fionn, in an enchanted sleep within a hill
for the time when their services will be required, this story
being attached to the Eildon Hills and other places . 31
Welsh literature shows that at a period contemporary with
Geoffrey, and in manuscripts perhaps going back to an ear-
lier period, there was an Arthurian tradition in Wales which
differed considerably from that of the historian and was
much fuller. Arthur became a figure to whom floating myths
and traditions might be attached and, like Fionn, he was a
slayer of witches, monsters, and serpents, so that in the Life
of St. Carannog a huge reptile which devastated the land was
hunted and destroyed by him. It is certain that, before the
great French poems of the Arthurian cycle were written,
Arthur was popular both in Britain and in Brittany . 32
The outburst of Arthurian romance proper, that of the
Anglo-Norman writers, belongs to the end of the twelfth
and the beginning of the thirteenth century, opening
with the Lais of Marie de France and the Tristan , Erec,
Chevalier de la Charette, and Conte del Graal of Chrestien de
Troyes. Whence was its subject-matter drawn? Some hold
that beyond the scanty facts related of the historic Arthur,
all was taken from Armorican sources, popularized by conteurs
there. These traditions, according to Zimmer, were originally
Welsh, but were brought to Armorica by immigrants from
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
196
Britain; but others, e. g. Gaston Paris and A. Nutt, find the
sources in Welsh tradition and native Celtic tales, learned by
Normans after the Conquest of England and passed thence
to France, either directly or via Anglo-Norman poems. This
is supported by the identity of episodes in the Romances with
those of Irish sagas; and Miss Weston has adduced new
evidence which indicates that in Wauchier’s Perceval, the
Elucidation, and the English Gawain poems “we have a
precious survival of the earliest collected form of Arthurian
romantic tradition.” 33 Wauchier de Denain refers to a certain
Bleheris, of Welsh birth, whose patron was the Count of
Poitiers, and to him he attributes the source of his narrative.
Bleheris is probably the Blihis to whom the Elucidation refers
as source of the Grail story, the Bledhericus described by
Giraldus as famosus ille fabulator, and the Breri mentioned
by an Anglo-Norman poet named Thomas, who wrote on Tris-
tan about 1170. 34 Arthurian romance is thus traced directly to
Welsh sources through this writer, who certainly flourished not
later than the beginning of the twelfth century.
Arthur and Arthur’s court are a centre toward which or from
which stories converge or issue, whence other personages are
apt to be regarded as more interesting than he or to have
a larger number of deeds attributed to them. Conchobar’s
court, with its heroes, where boys are brought up and go forth
armed to their first adventures, suggests the primitive Celtic
Arthurian court, unaltered by mediaeval chivalric ideas. 35 In
the Cuchulainn stories it is not so much Conchobar who is
the chief figure as Cuchulainn, though he is always in the back-
ground, and in this Arthur in relation to Gawain, Perceval,
and others corresponds to him. Arthur has little to do with
the Grail, and new important personages, not necessarily of the
early Celtic group, tend to be introduced.
Gawain was Arthur’s nephew as Cuchulainn was Concho-
bar’s, and the earlier presentation of him is more just than the
later. “He never returned from a mission without having
THE HEROIC MYTHS
197
fulfilled it; he was the best of walkers and the best of horse-
men,” says Kulhzvch; and according to the Triads , he had a
golden tongue and was one of the best knights of Arthur’s
court for guests and strangers . 36 He had a valuable steed
Gringalet as Cuchulainn had two. His sword Escalibur
(Latin Caliburnus), made in Avalon, was given him by Arthur,
its first owner; and its Welsh name, Caledvzvlch, seems identical
with that of Cuchulainn’s caladbolg, w'hich was forged in the
sid. One incident of Gawain’s legend is his visit to an island
castle ‘where are many knights and maidens, who can never
speak to each other, ruled by a mysterious lady allied with its
magician chief, the captor of these knights and maidens; and
he who goes there must remain always. Gawain reached it,
guided by the lady, who met him at a fountain , 37 a visit which
suggests those of Bran, Connla, and Cuchulainn to Elysium
(not the region of the dead) at the invitation of a goddess
connected with its lord. Gawain was given up as dead, and
this legend persisted, though he returned to Arthur. Prob-
ably, like Connla, he remained in Elysium, so that mediaeval
tradition regarded him as living in fairy-land. In a second
incident the other-world momentarily appears. Guinevere
was abducted by Meleagant (Melwas) to a castle on an island
whence no traveller returned. It was approached by a sword-
bridge and an under-water bridge, Lancelot crossing by the
former, Gawain choosing the latter; and although in Chres-
tien’s Le Chevalier de la Charette Lancelot rescues Guinevere,
evidence exists which points to Gawain as the real hero of the
adventure . 38 A sword-bridge is otherwise unknown to Celtic
myth; a realm reached by descending into water is known;
and Gawain himself came to a palace under water, where
he met with strange adventures . 39 Possibly Gawain, like his
brother Mordred, was lover of Guinevere, a situation to
which Lancelot succeeded when he was later evolved. The
question also arises whether Gawain and Mordred were
Arthur’s sons by his sister, wife of King Loth, as Malory
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
198
asserts of Mordred . 40 This is not impossible, just as one
tradition made Cuchulainn son of Conchobar by his sister
Dechtire. Gawain, in Miss Weston’s opinion, is the earliest
hero of the Grail, his position as such being emphasized by
Wauchier, drawing on a version by Bleheris. Perceval next
became the hero of the Quest, then Lancelot, and finally
Galahad, who achieved it.
Among those who are known to Welsh literature and who
appear in the Romances is Kei. His counsel was not to open
the gate to Kulhwch, but Arthur said that courtesy must be
shown; and he was one of those whose help Kulhwch demanded
on entering. He passed for offspring of Kynyr Keinvarvawc,
who told his wife that if her son took after him, his heart
and hands would always be cold, and he would be obstinate;
when he carried a burden, none would perceive him from
behind or before, and none would support fire and water as
long as he. Kei could breathe for nine days and nine nights
under water and could remain that time without sleeping,
while nothing could heal a blow of his sword. When he pleased,
he could become as high as the highest tree; and when heavy
rain fell, all that he held in his hand was dry above and below
to the distance of a handbreadth, so great was his natural heat,
which also served as fuel to his companions when they suffered
most from cold . 41 These characteristics recall those of Celtic
saints, who remained dry in wet weather and could produce
light from their hands, and also Cuchulainn’s “distortion”
and heat. Kei took an important part with Bedwyr in seek-
ing Olwen for Kulhwch, Bedwyr seizing one of the poisoned
javelins thrown at them by Yspaddaden; and he was also
active in questing for the treasures and reached the castle
of Gwrnach Gawr, where, as at the stronghold of Arthur and
the Tuatha De Danann, none could enter but the master of
an art. Kei proclaimed himself the best sword-polisher in the
world and gained entrance by saying that he had a companion
whom the porter would recognize because his spear-head would
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199
detach itself from the shaft, draw blood from the wind, and
resume its place on the shaft. This was Bedwyr. Kei then
killed Gwrnach with his own sword and carried it off, since
the boar could be killed by it alone . 42 Kei and Bedwyr dis-
covered and aided in releasing Mabon, and obtained the leash
made from the beard of Dillus Varvawc while he was living,
which alone could hold the Little Dog of Greit; but Arthur
sang a teasing verse about this and irritated Kei so much
that peace between them was restored with difficulty. At the
hunt of the boar Bedwyr held Arthur’s dog Cavall in leash . 43
In Kulhwch , as in the Black Book of Caermarthen , Kei is not
only a mighty warrior, fighting against a hundred, but also a
great drinker, and his valour as well as his nobility and wisdom
is sung in later poetry. In a curious dialogue between Arthur
and Guinevere after her abduction she told him that Kei
could vanquish a hundred, including Arthur, while she described
Arthur as small compared with Kei the tall. Possibly Kei
rather than Melwas was here Guinevere’s ravisher . 44 In Geof-
frey, Kei is Arthur’s sewer and received a province from him,
while Bedwyr is butler and Duke of Normandy, and both
assist Arthur in his adventures and are mentioned together . 45
Kei is also sewer in the Welsh romances which show traces
of Continental influence — Peredur , Olwen and Lunet — where,
as in the Anglo-French romances, his boastful, quarrelsome
nature appears. He is always ready to fight, yet always over-
thrown; and he is to the Arthur saga what Conan and Bricriu
are to those of Fionn and Cuchulainn. Reference is made in
Kulhwch to his death at the hands of Gwddawc, a deed re-
venged by Arthur, but in the Welsh Saint Graal Kei slew
Arthur’s son, Llacheu, and made war on Arthur.
Of Bedwyr Kulhwch says that he never hesitated to take
part in any mission on which Kei was sent; none equalled him
in running save Drych; though he had but one hand, three
combatants did not make blood flow more quickly than he;
and his lance, which produced one wound in entering, caused
III 14
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
nine in retiring — i. e. it was studded with points turned back
so that they caught the flesh on being withdrawn . 46 In like
manner Cuchulainn’s gai bolga inflicted thirty wounds when
pulled out, and reference is frequently made to pointed
spears of similar character. Bedwyr is praised in Welsh
poetry and is the Sir Bedevere of the Romances. In Geoffrey
he reconnoitred the hill where the giant was supposed to live
and comforted the nurse of the dead woman abducted by him,
and he is also said to have been slain by the Romans . 47
Nennius relates that Vortigern’s attempts to build a city
mysteriously failed until his wise men said that he must obtain
a child without a father and sprinkle the foundation with his
blood — an instance of the well-known Foundation Sacrifice.
This victim is at last found because a companion is heard
taunting him, as they play at ball, that he is “a boy without
a father.” His mother alleged that he had no mortal sire, and
the child exposed the wise men’s ignorance, by telling what
would be discovered beneath the foundation — a pool, two
vases, with a tent, and in it two serpents. One of these expelled
the other, and all this is explained as symbolic of the world,
Vortigern’s kingdom, the Britons, and the Saxon invaders.
Giving his name as Ambrose (Embreis gwledig , or “prince”)
and saying that a Roman consul was his father, the boy
obtained the place as a site for a citadel of his own, Dinas
Emrys . 48 Ambrosius Aurelianus the gwledig was a real person
who fought the Saxons in the fifth century , 49 and to his history
these myths have been attached. In Geoffrey this boy is Merlin
or Ambrosius Merlin, whose mother said that often a beauti-
ful youth appeared, kissed her, and vanished, although after-
ward he sometimes spoke with her invisibly and finally as a
man slept with her, leaving her with child. One of Vortigern’s
wise men explained him as an incubus (the Celtic dusius ).
Merlin told how two dragons were asleep in two hollow stones,
and when dug up, they fought, the red dragon finally being
worsted; and he now uttered many tedious prophecies, in-
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201
eluding that of the coming of Ambrosius as king. At a later
time he advised Ambrosius, who wished to erect a memorial
for native heroes, to send for the “Giants’ Dance” to Ireland,
whither African giants had carried it; and by Merlin’s in-
genuity the stones, which had healing and magic virtues, were
removed to Stonehenge. Geoffrey then recounts how Merlin
transformed Uther so that he might gain access to Igerna . 50
In Welsh literature Merlin or Myrddin is connected with
the Britons of the north. Whether this Merlin is the same as
Geoffrey’s is uncertain, the former being called Merlin the
Wild or Caledonius, but at all events the two are combined
in later literature. He is a bard and prophet who fled frenzied
to the Caledonian Forest after learning of his sister’s son’s
death; and there he prophesied to his pig under an apple-tree
and had a friend Chwimbian, the Viviane of romance. The
later chroniclers and romantic accounts develop Merlin’s
magic, e. g. his shape-shifting, the removal of the stones here
becoming supernatural; while his birth is ascribed to demoniac
power, and but for his baptism he would have been a kind of
Antichrist. He took the child Arthur; and when, as King,
Arthur unwittingly had an amour with his sister, he appeared
as a child and revealed the secret of the king’s birth, after
which, as an old man, he disclosed to Arthur how he had
sinned with his sister in ignorance. In the Triads he and his
nine bards went into the sea in a glass house, or he took with
him the Treasures of Britain to the isle of Bardsey. In other
accounts, however, his disappearance was caused by his fairy
mistress’s treachery, for she learned the secret of his magic
power and how to imprison a man in a wall-less tower; in which
she shut him up, visiting him daily, while it appeared to
others as a “smoke of mist.” Another version describes him
as enclosed in a rocky grave, whence perhaps the phrase of a
Welsh poem — “the man who speaks from the grave” — and
in yet another tradition he retires from the world in an
Esplumeor , which he made himself . 51
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How much of all this is pure romance, how much is genuine
Brythonic myth, is uncertain; and Merlin may be an old god
degraded to a mere magician. Nennius and Geoffrey in their
narratives suggest the well-known “Expulsion and Return”
formula — the boy without a father, taunted when playing
at ball, comes into favour because he shows why a castle cannot
be built. This recalls Fionn’s youth and how, overcoming
the beings who destroyed a dun, he thus regained his heritage . 52
Merlin’s
The departure of the wounded Arthur to Avalon, though
mentioned by Geoffrey, does not occur in native Welsh story;
yet in other sources which refer to it there is probably to be
found a Brythonic tradition on the subject. In the Vita
Merlini attributed to Geoffrey, Avalon appears as Insula
Pomorum , or “Isle of Apples,” where the labour of cultivating
the soil is unnecessary, so abundant is nature. Grapes and
corn grow plentifully, and nine sisters, of whom Morgen is
chief, and who can take the form of birds, bear rule there.
These nine recall the nine maidens whose breath boiled the
cauldron of Annwfn, and the bird sisters perhaps recur in
the Perceval story where Perceval, attacked by black birds,
kills one which turns to a beautiful woman whom the others
bear away to Avalon . 25 In another description the island
lacks no good thing and is unvisited by enemies. Peace, con-
cord, and eternal spring and flowers are there; its people are
youthful; there is no old age, disease, or grief; all is happiness,
and all things are in common. A regia virgo rules it, more
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
beautiful than the lovely maidens who serve her; she healed
Arthur when he was brought to the court of King Avallo and
now they live together . 26 Her name is Morgen, though else-
where Morgen is Arthur’s sister, and Giraldus Cambrensis
calls her dea phantastica; while William of Malmesbury speaks
of Avalloc (Avallo) as dwelling at Avalon with his daughters.
How close is the resemblance of this island to the Irish Elysium
must at once be seen. It is mainly a land of women; there
is no toil, but plenty; no sickness nor death, but immortal
youth; and the divine women there can take the form of birds
like Fand, Liban, and others. They who visit Arthur find
the place full of all delights, says the Vita Merlini; and if
Arthur went to Avalon to his sister, he resembles Oisin who,
in one account, went with his mother to Elysium . 27 In the
Didot Perceval Arthur declares that he will return, so that
Britons expect him and have sometimes heard him hunting
in the forest ; 28 and Layamon, who lived in a district where
Brythonic tradition must have abounded, says also that
Arthur, when wounded, announced his departure to the fair-
est of all maidens, Argante, Queen in Avalon, who would
heal him, but that he would return. A boat appeared, in which
were two women, who placed him in it; and now he dwells
in Avalon with the fairest of elves, the fees or goddesses of other
traditions, while Britons await his coming . 29 In Malory the
boat is full of queens, among them Morgen, Arthur’s sister,
and Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, “always friendly to Arthur.”
From her had come the sword Excalibur, and her home was
in a wonderful palace within a rock in a lake — an Elysium
water-world. All this points to the interest taken in a hero by
other-world beings.
The identification of Glastonbury with Avalon may be due
to two influences. Glastonbury and its Tor were surrounded
by marshes, which would cause it to be considered as an
island; and probably, too, the Tor was a divine abode analogous
to the sid, as the legend of Gwyn suggests. Some local myth
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195
would lead this “island” to be regarded as Elysium, while in
Arthur’s case it came to be called Avalon either because a
local lord of Elysium was named Avallo, or because magic
trees with apples {avail, “apple-tree”), like those of the Irish
Elysium, were supposed to grow there. Glastonbury as a
sid Elysium is supported by another early Arthur tradition;
and one form of this had been transferred to Italy by the Nor-
mans, for Gervase of Tilbury speaks of a groom finding him-
self in a castle on Etna, wherein Arthur lay in bed, suffering
from Mordred’s wounds, which broke out afresh each year . 30
More usually, however, the legend is that of Arthur and his
knights waiting, like Fionn, in an enchanted sleep within a hill
for the time when their services will be required, this story
being attached to the Eildon Hills and other places . 31
Welsh literature shows that at a period contemporary with
Geoffrey, and in manuscripts perhaps going back to an ear-
lier period, there was an Arthurian tradition in Wales which
differed considerably from that of the historian and was
much fuller. Arthur became a figure to whom floating myths
and traditions might be attached and, like Fionn, he was a
slayer of witches, monsters, and serpents, so that in the Life
of St. Carannog a huge reptile which devastated the land was
hunted and destroyed by him. It is certain that, before the
great French poems of the Arthurian cycle were written,
Arthur was popular both in Britain and in Brittany . 32
The outburst of Arthurian romance proper, that of the
Anglo-Norman writers, belongs to the end of the twelfth
and the beginning of the thirteenth century, opening
with the Lais of Marie de France and the Tristan , Erec,
Chevalier de la Charette, and Conte del Graal of Chrestien de
Troyes. Whence was its subject-matter drawn? Some hold
that beyond the scanty facts related of the historic Arthur,
all was taken from Armorican sources, popularized by conteurs
there. These traditions, according to Zimmer, were originally
Welsh, but were brought to Armorica by immigrants from
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196
Britain; but others, e. g. Gaston Paris and A. Nutt, find the
sources in Welsh tradition and native Celtic tales, learned by
Normans after the Conquest of England and passed thence
to France, either directly or via Anglo-Norman poems. This
is supported by the identity of episodes in the Romances with
those of Irish sagas; and Miss Weston has adduced new
evidence which indicates that in Wauchier’s Perceval, the
Elucidation, and the English Gawain poems “we have a
precious survival of the earliest collected form of Arthurian
romantic tradition.” 33 Wauchier de Denain refers to a certain
Bleheris, of Welsh birth, whose patron was the Count of
Poitiers, and to him he attributes the source of his narrative.
Bleheris is probably the Blihis to whom the Elucidation refers
as source of the Grail story, the Bledhericus described by
Giraldus as famosus ille fabulator, and the Breri mentioned
by an Anglo-Norman poet named Thomas, who wrote on Tris-
tan about 1170. 34 Arthurian romance is thus traced directly to
Welsh sources through this writer, who certainly flourished not
later than the beginning of the twelfth century.
Arthur and Arthur’s court are a centre toward which or from
which stories converge or issue, whence other personages are
apt to be regarded as more interesting than he or to have
a larger number of deeds attributed to them. Conchobar’s
court, with its heroes, where boys are brought up and go forth
armed to their first adventures, suggests the primitive Celtic
Arthurian court, unaltered by mediaeval chivalric ideas. 35 In
the Cuchulainn stories it is not so much Conchobar who is
the chief figure as Cuchulainn, though he is always in the back-
ground, and in this Arthur in relation to Gawain, Perceval,
and others corresponds to him. Arthur has little to do with
the Grail, and new important personages, not necessarily of the
early Celtic group, tend to be introduced.
Gawain was Arthur’s nephew as Cuchulainn was Concho-
bar’s, and the earlier presentation of him is more just than the
later. “He never returned from a mission without having
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197
fulfilled it; he was the best of walkers and the best of horse-
men,” says Kulhzvch; and according to the Triads , he had a
golden tongue and was one of the best knights of Arthur’s
court for guests and strangers . 36 He had a valuable steed
Gringalet as Cuchulainn had two. His sword Escalibur
(Latin Caliburnus), made in Avalon, was given him by Arthur,
its first owner; and its Welsh name, Caledvzvlch, seems identical
with that of Cuchulainn’s caladbolg, w'hich was forged in the
sid. One incident of Gawain’s legend is his visit to an island
castle ‘where are many knights and maidens, who can never
speak to each other, ruled by a mysterious lady allied with its
magician chief, the captor of these knights and maidens; and
he who goes there must remain always. Gawain reached it,
guided by the lady, who met him at a fountain , 37 a visit which
suggests those of Bran, Connla, and Cuchulainn to Elysium
(not the region of the dead) at the invitation of a goddess
connected with its lord. Gawain was given up as dead, and
this legend persisted, though he returned to Arthur. Prob-
ably, like Connla, he remained in Elysium, so that mediaeval
tradition regarded him as living in fairy-land. In a second
incident the other-world momentarily appears. Guinevere
was abducted by Meleagant (Melwas) to a castle on an island
whence no traveller returned. It was approached by a sword-
bridge and an under-water bridge, Lancelot crossing by the
former, Gawain choosing the latter; and although in Chres-
tien’s Le Chevalier de la Charette Lancelot rescues Guinevere,
evidence exists which points to Gawain as the real hero of the
adventure . 38 A sword-bridge is otherwise unknown to Celtic
myth; a realm reached by descending into water is known;
and Gawain himself came to a palace under water, where
he met with strange adventures . 39 Possibly Gawain, like his
brother Mordred, was lover of Guinevere, a situation to
which Lancelot succeeded when he was later evolved. The
question also arises whether Gawain and Mordred were
Arthur’s sons by his sister, wife of King Loth, as Malory
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
198
asserts of Mordred . 40 This is not impossible, just as one
tradition made Cuchulainn son of Conchobar by his sister
Dechtire. Gawain, in Miss Weston’s opinion, is the earliest
hero of the Grail, his position as such being emphasized by
Wauchier, drawing on a version by Bleheris. Perceval next
became the hero of the Quest, then Lancelot, and finally
Galahad, who achieved it.
Among those who are known to Welsh literature and who
appear in the Romances is Kei. His counsel was not to open
the gate to Kulhwch, but Arthur said that courtesy must be
shown; and he was one of those whose help Kulhwch demanded
on entering. He passed for offspring of Kynyr Keinvarvawc,
who told his wife that if her son took after him, his heart
and hands would always be cold, and he would be obstinate;
when he carried a burden, none would perceive him from
behind or before, and none would support fire and water as
long as he. Kei could breathe for nine days and nine nights
under water and could remain that time without sleeping,
while nothing could heal a blow of his sword. When he pleased,
he could become as high as the highest tree; and when heavy
rain fell, all that he held in his hand was dry above and below
to the distance of a handbreadth, so great was his natural heat,
which also served as fuel to his companions when they suffered
most from cold . 41 These characteristics recall those of Celtic
saints, who remained dry in wet weather and could produce
light from their hands, and also Cuchulainn’s “distortion”
and heat. Kei took an important part with Bedwyr in seek-
ing Olwen for Kulhwch, Bedwyr seizing one of the poisoned
javelins thrown at them by Yspaddaden; and he was also
active in questing for the treasures and reached the castle
of Gwrnach Gawr, where, as at the stronghold of Arthur and
the Tuatha De Danann, none could enter but the master of
an art. Kei proclaimed himself the best sword-polisher in the
world and gained entrance by saying that he had a companion
whom the porter would recognize because his spear-head would
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199
detach itself from the shaft, draw blood from the wind, and
resume its place on the shaft. This was Bedwyr. Kei then
killed Gwrnach with his own sword and carried it off, since
the boar could be killed by it alone . 42 Kei and Bedwyr dis-
covered and aided in releasing Mabon, and obtained the leash
made from the beard of Dillus Varvawc while he was living,
which alone could hold the Little Dog of Greit; but Arthur
sang a teasing verse about this and irritated Kei so much
that peace between them was restored with difficulty. At the
hunt of the boar Bedwyr held Arthur’s dog Cavall in leash . 43
In Kulhwch , as in the Black Book of Caermarthen , Kei is not
only a mighty warrior, fighting against a hundred, but also a
great drinker, and his valour as well as his nobility and wisdom
is sung in later poetry. In a curious dialogue between Arthur
and Guinevere after her abduction she told him that Kei
could vanquish a hundred, including Arthur, while she described
Arthur as small compared with Kei the tall. Possibly Kei
rather than Melwas was here Guinevere’s ravisher . 44 In Geof-
frey, Kei is Arthur’s sewer and received a province from him,
while Bedwyr is butler and Duke of Normandy, and both
assist Arthur in his adventures and are mentioned together . 45
Kei is also sewer in the Welsh romances which show traces
of Continental influence — Peredur , Olwen and Lunet — where,
as in the Anglo-French romances, his boastful, quarrelsome
nature appears. He is always ready to fight, yet always over-
thrown; and he is to the Arthur saga what Conan and Bricriu
are to those of Fionn and Cuchulainn. Reference is made in
Kulhwch to his death at the hands of Gwddawc, a deed re-
venged by Arthur, but in the Welsh Saint Graal Kei slew
Arthur’s son, Llacheu, and made war on Arthur.
Of Bedwyr Kulhwch says that he never hesitated to take
part in any mission on which Kei was sent; none equalled him
in running save Drych; though he had but one hand, three
combatants did not make blood flow more quickly than he;
and his lance, which produced one wound in entering, caused
III 14
200
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
nine in retiring — i. e. it was studded with points turned back
so that they caught the flesh on being withdrawn . 46 In like
manner Cuchulainn’s gai bolga inflicted thirty wounds when
pulled out, and reference is frequently made to pointed
spears of similar character. Bedwyr is praised in Welsh
poetry and is the Sir Bedevere of the Romances. In Geoffrey
he reconnoitred the hill where the giant was supposed to live
and comforted the nurse of the dead woman abducted by him,
and he is also said to have been slain by the Romans . 47
Nennius relates that Vortigern’s attempts to build a city
mysteriously failed until his wise men said that he must obtain
a child without a father and sprinkle the foundation with his
blood — an instance of the well-known Foundation Sacrifice.
This victim is at last found because a companion is heard
taunting him, as they play at ball, that he is “a boy without
a father.” His mother alleged that he had no mortal sire, and
the child exposed the wise men’s ignorance, by telling what
would be discovered beneath the foundation — a pool, two
vases, with a tent, and in it two serpents. One of these expelled
the other, and all this is explained as symbolic of the world,
Vortigern’s kingdom, the Britons, and the Saxon invaders.
Giving his name as Ambrose (Embreis gwledig , or “prince”)
and saying that a Roman consul was his father, the boy
obtained the place as a site for a citadel of his own, Dinas
Emrys . 48 Ambrosius Aurelianus the gwledig was a real person
who fought the Saxons in the fifth century , 49 and to his history
these myths have been attached. In Geoffrey this boy is Merlin
or Ambrosius Merlin, whose mother said that often a beauti-
ful youth appeared, kissed her, and vanished, although after-
ward he sometimes spoke with her invisibly and finally as a
man slept with her, leaving her with child. One of Vortigern’s
wise men explained him as an incubus (the Celtic dusius ).
Merlin told how two dragons were asleep in two hollow stones,
and when dug up, they fought, the red dragon finally being
worsted; and he now uttered many tedious prophecies, in-
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201
eluding that of the coming of Ambrosius as king. At a later
time he advised Ambrosius, who wished to erect a memorial
for native heroes, to send for the “Giants’ Dance” to Ireland,
whither African giants had carried it; and by Merlin’s in-
genuity the stones, which had healing and magic virtues, were
removed to Stonehenge. Geoffrey then recounts how Merlin
transformed Uther so that he might gain access to Igerna . 50
In Welsh literature Merlin or Myrddin is connected with
the Britons of the north. Whether this Merlin is the same as
Geoffrey’s is uncertain, the former being called Merlin the
Wild or Caledonius, but at all events the two are combined
in later literature. He is a bard and prophet who fled frenzied
to the Caledonian Forest after learning of his sister’s son’s
death; and there he prophesied to his pig under an apple-tree
and had a friend Chwimbian, the Viviane of romance. The
later chroniclers and romantic accounts develop Merlin’s
magic, e. g. his shape-shifting, the removal of the stones here
becoming supernatural; while his birth is ascribed to demoniac
power, and but for his baptism he would have been a kind of
Antichrist. He took the child Arthur; and when, as King,
Arthur unwittingly had an amour with his sister, he appeared
as a child and revealed the secret of the king’s birth, after
which, as an old man, he disclosed to Arthur how he had
sinned with his sister in ignorance. In the Triads he and his
nine bards went into the sea in a glass house, or he took with
him the Treasures of Britain to the isle of Bardsey. In other
accounts, however, his disappearance was caused by his fairy
mistress’s treachery, for she learned the secret of his magic
power and how to imprison a man in a wall-less tower; in which
she shut him up, visiting him daily, while it appeared to
others as a “smoke of mist.” Another version describes him
as enclosed in a rocky grave, whence perhaps the phrase of a
Welsh poem — “the man who speaks from the grave” — and
in yet another tradition he retires from the world in an
Esplumeor , which he made himself . 51
202
father was doubtless a god, but as “the son without a
father” he recalls “the son of a sinless couple” in the story of
Becuma, as well as Oengus, who was taunted with having no
known father . 53 The incident of his disappearance of his own
will suggests the legends of heroes sleeping in hills, just as his
imprisonment by his mistress recalls that of Kronos in the
British myth cited by Plutarch and the stories of mortals
bound by the love of immortals to the other-world. While
Merlin is connected with Arthur in Geoffrey and the Romances,
he is not one of the throng around the hero in Kulhwch.
-
The debatable ground of the Grail romances cannot be
discussed here in detail, especially as the episode did not
enter into the earliest Perceval romances, of Welsh origin,
and is lacking in the Welsh Peredur , written in full knowledge
of the Perceval-Grail stories, and in the English Syr Percy-
velle. Perceval probably succeeded Gawain as the hero of the
Grail, to be superseded himself by Galahad. In Wauchier’s
continuation of Chrestien’s Perceval Gawain rode beyond Ar-
thur’s kingdom through a waste land to a castle by the sea,
where he saw a knight on a bier with a sword on his breast.
A procession of clergy, singing the Vespers of the Dead, entered;
and then followed a feast at which “a rich Grail” provided
the food and served the guests, “upheld by none.” Later
Gawain saw a lance with a stream of blood flowing from it
into a silver cup, and finally the King of the castle entered
and bade Gawain fix the two halves of a broken sword together.
Unable to do this, he failed in the Quest, but having asked
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203
about lance and sword, he learned that the lance was that by
which Christ’s side was pierced, while the sword was that of
the Dolorous Stroke by which Logres and all the country
was destroyed. Here Gawain fell asleep and next morning
found himself on the shore, while the castle had vanished.
Nevertheless the land was now fertile, because he had asked
about the lance; had he asked about the Grail, it would have
been fully restored.
In Chrestien’s Perceval there is a procession with a sword,
a lance from which a drop of blood runs down, the Grail, shining
so as to put out the candles’ light, and finally a maiden with
a silver plate. The Grail is of gold and precious stones; but
in other versions it is the dish or cup of the Last Supper, or
a vessel in which Joseph received the Saviour’s Blood, or a
chalice, or a reliquary, or even something of no material sub-
stance, or a magic stone (Wolfram’s Parzival). It provides
food magically, with the taste which each one would desire,
though sometimes it feeds those only who are not in sin. It
gives perfume and light, heals the wounded, and, after the
successful quest, removes barrenness from the land and cures
its guardian or raises him from death. It prevents those who
see it from being deceived or made to sin by devils, or it gives
the seeker spiritual insight. In Peredur there is no Grail,
but the hero sees a procession with a spear from which come
three drops of blood, and a salver containing a head.
The Grail and its accompanying objects have a twofold
aspect and source, pagan and Christian. The Grail and lance
are associated with events of Christian history, but they have
pagan Celtic parallels — the divine cauldron from which none
goes unsatisfied and which restores the dead, the enchanted
cup in tales of Fionn which heals or gives whatever taste is
desired to him who drinks from it, and which is sometimes the
object of a quest. The head in Peredur recalls Bran’s head,
the lance and sword the spear which slew him and the sword
by which he was decapitated, as well as Lug’s unconquerable
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
spear, Nuada’s irresistible sword, Manannan’s magic sword,
Tethra’s talking sword. The Stone of Fal suggests the Grail
as a stone, and it, like Dagda’s cauldron and the spear and
swords of Lug, Nuada, and Manannan, belonged to the
Tuatha De Danann. The Grail, sword, and spear have affinity
with these as much as with the Christian symbols. Yet no
theory quite accounts for the assimilation of the two groups,
and while the Grail has magic properties, we should remember
that miraculous food-producing and healing of the sick were
works of our Lord, which might easily be associated with
objects connected with Him, as a result of the belief in relics.
Failing the discovery of an early manuscript in which the
actual sources of the Grail story may be found, much is open
to conjecture.
A theory connected with the prevailing study of vegetation
rituals sees in the objects and their effects survivals of Celtic
ritual resembling that of Adonis or Tammuz, its aim being
the preservation of the fertility of the land . 54 There is no
evidence, however, that at such rituals a miraculous food-
supplying vessel had any part; such vessels belong to the
domain of myth, and the story of the Grail has more the
appearance of being derived from a myth which was possibly
based on such rituals. It is in myth that magico-miraculous
powers flourish, not in ritual; and such a myth could be
Christianized. When, moreover, the theory makes the further
assumption that the ritual was of the nature of a “mystery,”
there is again no evidence for this, for vegetation rituals are
open to all in the fields, even where Christianity has been
adopted. The theory, however, postulates a mystery-cult,
with a plain and evident meaning for the folk — associated
with powers of life and generation — and with other significa-
tions for the initiate — phallic, philosophic, spiritual. The
story of this pagan mystery, which expressed three planes or
worlds — “the triple mysteries of a life-cult” — was gradually
Christianized by those ignorant of its meaning and was finally
PLATE XXV
Horned God
The deity, wearing a torque and pressing a bag
from which escapes grain on which a bull and a
stag feed, is supported by figures of Apollo and Mer-
cury (cf. pp. 8-9). He may possibly be identical
with Cernunnos, a deity of the underworld (Plate
XVI). His attitude suggests the squatting god of
Plates III, 3, VIII, IX, and his cornucopia corre-
sponds to the purse of the divinity of Plate IX, B,
as well as to the cup held by Dispater (Plate XIV).
For other gods of the underworld see Plates V, VII,
XII, XIII, XXVI. From a Gallo-Roman altar
found at Rheims.
THE HEROIC MYTHS
205
worked up by Robert de Borron (twelfth century) in terms of
a corresponding traditional esoteric Christian mystery. The
procession with Grail, etc., was the presentation of the mystery,
its meaning being divulged according to the degree of initiation;
but though the quester is the initiate, yet he fails in his
Quest . 55 The present writer is wholly unable to believe that
such mysteries and initiations existed among the barbarous
Celts or that they survived until the early middle ages, or
that lance and cup have a phallic significance — “life symbols
of the lowest plane” — or that there was a traditional esoteric
Christianity, save in the minds of cranks of all ages. Why,
again, should a mystery known only to initiates have been the
subject of a story? Were initiates likely to reveal it? To
regard the Grail story from a phallic, occult point of view and
to interpret it by means of a mystic jargon is to degrade it.
If the modern occultist possesses a divine secret, the world
does not seem to be much the better for it; and such secrets are
apt to be mere “gas and gaiters.” The truth is that occultism
renders squalid whatever it touches, be that Christianity,
or Buddhism, or the romantic stories of the Grail.
In spite of the numerous and important characters who
enter into the saga, Arthur is the central figure, the ideal hero
of Brythonic tribes in the past, to whom leadership at home
and abroad might be assigned, and whose presence in all battles
might be asserted. Originating as a champion, real or mythical,
of northern Brythons in southern Scotland, his legend passed
with emigrants to Wales, where it became popular. Like Fionn
among the Goidels, so Arthur among the Brythons was located
in every district, as numerous place-names show; and if Fionn
was at first a non-Celtic hero adopted by Goidels, so Arthur
was a Brythonic hero adopted by Anglo-Normans as their
truest romantic figure . 56
CHAPTER XV
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY
PART from the occasional Christianizing of myths or
the interpolation of Christian passages in order to make
the legends less objectionable, the Irish scribes frequently
created new situations or invented tales in which mythical
personages were brought into contact with saints and mission-
aries, as many examples have shown. In doing this they not
only accepted the pagan stories or utilized their conceptions,
but sometimes almost contrasted Christianity unfavorably
with the older religion.
The idea of the immortality or rebirth of the gods survived
with the tales in which it was embodied and was sometimes
utilized for a definite purpose. The fable of the coming of
Cessair, Noah’s granddaughter, to Ireland before the flood
was the invention of a Christian writer and contradicted
those passages which said that no one had ever been in Ireland
previous to the deluge. All her company perished save Finn-
tain, and he was said to have survived until the sixth century of
our era . 1 The reason for imagining such a long-lived personage
is obvious; in no other way could Cessair’s coming, or that
of Partholan and of the other folk who reached Ireland, have
been known. Poems were ascribed to Finntain in which he
recounted the events seen in his long life until at last he
accepted the new faith . 2
Even at this early period, however, there was a story of
another long-lived personage with incidents derived from
pagan myths. Long life, excessive as Finntain’s was, might
have been suggested from Genesis, but the successive trans-
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY
207
formations of Tuan MacCairill could have their origin only
in myth; and the wonder is that such a doctrine was accepted
by Christian scribes. Tuan was Partholan’s nephew and
through centuries was the sole survivor of his race, which was
tragically swept away by pestilence in one week for the sins of
Partholan. Obtaining entrance to the fortress of a great war-
rior by the curious but infallible process of “fasting against”
him, St. Finnen was told by his involuntary host that he was
Tuan MacCairill and that he had been a witness of all events
in Ireland since the days of Partholan. When he was old and
decrepit, he found on awaking one morning that he had become
a stag, full of youth and vigour; this was in the time of Nemed,
and he described the coming of the Nemedians. He himself,
as a stag, had been followed by innumerable stags which
recognized him as their chief; but again he became old, and
now after a night’s sleep he awoke as a boar in youthful
strength and became King of the boars. Similarly he became
a vulture, then a salmon, in which form he was caught by
fishers and taken to the house of King Caraill, whose wife ate
him, so that from her he was reborn as a child. While in her
womb he heard the conversations which went on, and knowing
what was happening, he was a prophet when he grew up,
and in St. Patrick’s time was baptized, although he had pro-
fessed knowledge of God while yet paganism alone existed in
Ireland . 3
The mythical donnees of this story are sufficiently obvious.
Metamorphosis and rebirth have frequently been found in
the myths already cited, and these were used by the inventors
of Tuan MacCairill, the closest parallels to him being the two
Swineherds and Gwion . 4
The conversion of pagan heroes or euhemerized divinities
to Christianity is sometimes related. When Oengus took
Elcmar’s sid , 6 the latter’s steward continued in his office; and
his wife became the mother of a daughter Ethne, afterward
attendant to Manannan’s daughter Curcog, who was born
208
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
at the same time as she. Ethne was found to be eating none
of the divine pigs nor drinking Goibniu’s beer, yet she re-
mained in health; a grave insult had been offered to her by a
god, and now she could not eat, but an angel sent from God
kept her alive. Meanwhile Oengus and Manannan brought
cows from India, and as their milk had none of the demoniac
nature of the gods’ immortal food, Ethne drank it and was
nourished for fifteen hundred years until St. Patrick came
to Ireland. One day she went bathing with Curcog and her
companions, but she returned no more to the sid with them,
for through the power of Christianity in the land she had
laid aside with her garments the charm of invisibility, the
Feth Fiada. She could now be seen by men and could no longer
perceive her divine companions or the road to the invisible
sid. Wandering in search of them, she found a monk seated
by a church and to him she narrated her story, whereupon he
took her to St. Patrick, who baptized her. One day, as she
sat by the door of the church, she heard the cries of the in-
visible sid - folk searching for her and bewailing her; she fainted
and now fell into a decline, dying with her head on the Saint’s
breast . 6 In this tale the general Christian attitude to the gods
obtrudes itself — although the conception of their immortality
and invisibility is accepted, they are demons or attended by
these; Ethne had a demon guardian who left her when the
angel arrived and as a result of her chastity. Not unlike this
story is that of Liban, daughter of Eochaid, whose family
were drowned by the bursting of a well. Liban and her lap-
dog were preserved for a year in the water, but then she was
changed into a salmon, save her head, and her dog into an
otter. After three hundred years she was caught by her own
wish and was baptized by St. Comgall, dying thereafter . 7
In the Cuchulainn saga Conchobar was born at the hour
of Christ’s Nativity, and Cathbad sang beforehand a prophecy
of the two births, telling also how Conchobar would “find his
death in avenging the suffering God,” though the hero did not
PLATE XXVI
SUCELLOS
The hammer-god, also shown on Plate XIII, here
has five small mallets projecting from his great
hammer. Found at Vienne, France.
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY
209
pass away until he had believed in God, before the faith had
yet reached Erin. He is said to have been the first pagan who
went thence to heaven, though not till after his soul had jour-
neyed to hell, whence it was carried with other souls by Christ at
the Harrowing of Hades, he having died just after the Cruci-
fixion . 8 Cuchulainn was a pagan to the last, but coincidentally
with his passing thrice fifty queens who loved him saw his
soul floating in his spirit-chariot over Emain Macha, singing a
song of Christ’s coming, the arrival of Patrick and the shaven
monks, and the Day of Doom . 9 Loegaire, King of Erin, refused
to accept the faith unless Patrick called up Cuchulainn in
all his dignity, and next day Loegaire told how, after a pierc-
ing wind from hell preceding the hero’s coming, while the air
was full of birds — the sods thrown up by Cuchulainn’s
chariot-horses — he had appeared as of old. He was in bodily
form, more than a phantom, agreeably to the Celtic con-
ception of immortality; and he was clad as a warrior, while
his chariot was driven by Loeg and drawn by his famous
steeds. Loegaire now desired that Cuchulainn should return
and converse longer with him, whereupon he again appeared,
performing in mid-air his supernatural feats and telling of
his deeds. He besought Patrick to bring him with his faithful
ones to Paradise and advised Loegaire to accept the faith.
The king now asked Cuchulainn to tell of his adventures, and
he did so, finishing by describing the pains of hell, still urging
Loegaire to become a Christian, and again begging the saint
to bring him and his to Paradise. Then heaven was declared
for Cuchulainn, and Loegaire believed . 10
Some of the Feinn stories also show this kindly attitude
toward the old paganism, especially The Colloquy with the
Ancients , which dates from the thirteenth century . 11 When
Oisin had gone to the sid, Caoilte with eighteen others sur-
vived long enough to meet St. Patrick and his clerics. These
were astonished at “the tall men with their huge wolf-dogs,”
but the saint sprinkled holy water upon them and dispersed
210
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
into the hills the legions of demons who floated above them.
At Patrick’s desire Caoilte showed him a spring and told him
stories of the Feinn, the saint interjecting the words, “Success
and benediction, Caoilte, this is to me a lightening of spirit
and mind,” although he feared that it might be a destruction
of devotion and prayer. During the night, however, his
guardian angels bade him write down all the stories which
Caoilte told; and next morning Caoilte and his friends were
baptized. The hero gave Patrick a mass of gold — Fionn’s
last gift to him — as a fee for the rite and “for my soul’s and
my commander’s soul’s weal”; and the saint promised him
eternal happiness and the benefit of his prayers . 12 The Colloquy
describes journeys taken by Patrick and his followers with
the Feinn, while Caoilte tells stories of occurrences at various
spots. He also relates how Fionn, through his thumb of
knowledge, understood the truth about God, asserted his
belief in Him, and foretold the coming of Christian mission-
aries to Ireland and the celebration of Mass there, adding that
for this God would not suffer him to fall into eternal woe.
The Feinn likewise understood of God’s existence and of
His rule over all because of certain dire events which befell
many revellers in one night , 13 a parallel to this being found
in The Children of Ler , where, through their sorrows, these
children are led to believe in God and in the solace which
would come from Him; so that in the sequel they received
baptism after they had resumed human form . 14
Akin to these meetings of saint and heroes is one which is
referred to in some verses from a fourteenth century manu-
script and which concerns St. Columba and Mongan, either the
pagan king of that name or his mythic prototype. Like Ma-
nannan, whose son he was, he was associated with Elysium
— “the Land with Living Heart” — and from that “flock-
abounding Land of Promise” he came to converse with the
saint. Another poem gives Mongan’s greeting to Columba on
that occasion, and nothing could exceed the gracious terms
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY
21 1
in which he praises him; while a third poem tells how Mongan
went to Heaven under the protection of the saint — “his
head — great the profit! under Columcille’s cowl.” 15
Not the least interesting aspect of the reverence with which
Christian scribes and editors regarded old mythic heroes is
found in the prophecies of Christianity put into their mouths.
Some instances of this have been referred to, but a notable
example occurs in The Voyage of Bran , where the goddess who
visits Bran tells how “a great birth will come in after ages —
“The son of a woman whose mate will not be known,
He will seize the rule of many thousands.
’Tis He that made the Heavens,
Happy he that has a white heart,
He will purify hosts under pure water,
’Tis He that will heal your sicknesses.”
So, too, Manannan speaks of the Fall and prophesies how
“A noble salvation will come
From the King who has created us,
A white law will come over the seas,
Besides being God, He will be man.” 16
-
By such means, which recall the noble teaching of St. Clement
and Origen, did Christian Celts make gods and heroes do
homage to the new faith, while yet they recounted the mythic
stories about them and preserved all “the tender grace of a
day that is dead.” Even more remarkable is one version of a
story telling how the narrative of the Tain was recovered.
It existed only in fragments until Fergus mac Roich, a hero of
the Cuchulainn group, rose from his grave and recited it,
appearing not only to the poets, but to saints of Erin who had
met near his tomb, while no less a person than St. Ciaran wrote
the story to his dictation. Among these saints were Columba,
Brendan, and Caillin, and in company with Senchan and
other poets they were fasting at the grave of Fergus so that
he might appear, after which the tale was written down in
Ciaran’s book of cow-hide . 17
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
The same charitable point of view is seen in the fact that
the gods and heroes still have their own mystic world in the
std and are seldom placed in hell. Yet there are exceptions,
for Cuchulainn came from hell, as we saw, but St. Patrick
transferred him to heaven. Even in hell, however, he had
still been the triumphant hero, and when the demons carried
off his soul to “the red charcoal,” he played his sword and
his gai bolga on them, as Oscar did his flail , 18 so that the devils
suffered, even while they crushed him into the fire . 19 Caoilte
craved that his sister might be brought out of hell, and Patrick
said that if this were good in God’s sight, she and also his
father, mother, and Fionn himself would be released . 20 In
other poems, however, the Feinn are and remain in hell, as
has already been seen.
Thus, while the Church set its face against the old cults,
so that only slight traces of these remain, or gave a Christian
aspect to popular customs by connecting them with saints’
days or sacred places, it was on the whole rather proud than
otherwise of the heroes of the past and preserved their memory,
together with much of the gracious aspect of the ancient gods.
Exceptions to this exist and were bound to exist, e. g. in many
Irish and Scots Ossianic ballads; and there was, too, a tendency
to confuse Elysium with hell, more especially in Welsh legend,
this being inevitable where myths of Elysium were still con-
nected with a local cult. Gwyn was lord of Annwfn, which was
located on Glastonbury Tor, or king of fairy-land, and here
St. Collen was invited to meet him. Seeing a wonderful castle
and a host of beautiful folk, he regarded them as devils, their
splendid robes as flames of fire, their food as withered leaves;
and when he threw holy water over them, everything van-
ished . 21 Probably a cult of Gwyn existed on the hill. Gwyn
was also thought to be a hunter of wicked souls, yet it is also
said of him that God placed in him the force of the demons
of Annwfn (here the equivalent of hell) in order to hinder
them from destroying the people of this world . 22
PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY
213
We owe much to the Christian scribes and poets of early
mediaeval Ireland and Wales, who wrote down or re-edited
the mythic tales, romantic legends, and poems of the pagan
period, thus preserving them to us. These had still existed
among the folk or were current in the literary class, and
that they were saved from destruction is probably due to the
fact that Ireland and Wales were never Romanized. Causes
were at work in Gaul which killed the myths and tales so long
transmitted in oral forms; and since they were never written
down, they perished. Elsewhere these causes did not exist,
or a type of Christianity flourished which was not altogether
hostile to the stories of olden time, as when Irish paganism
itself was described symbolically as desiring the dawn of a new
day. The birds of Elysium were “the bird-flock of the Land
of Promise,” and in one story were brought into contact with
St. Patrick, welcoming him, churning the water into milky
whiteness, and calling, “O help of the Gaels, come, come,
come, and come hither !” 23
That is an exquisite fancy, more moving even than that
which told how
“The lonely mountains o’er
And the resounding shore,
A voice of weeping heard and loud lament”
— the mournful cry, “Great Pan is dead,” at the moment of
Christ’s Nativity. Celtic paganism, Goidelic and Brythonic,
surely bestowed on Christianity much of its old glamour, for
nowhere is the history of the Church more romantic than in
those regions where Ninian and Columba and Kentigern and
Patrick lived and laboured long ago.