Chapter 8 of 8 · 48748 words · ~244 min read

CHAPTER VIII

: MYTHS AND TALES OF THE CYMRY

*Bardic Philosophy*

The absence in early Celtic literature of any world-myth, or any philosophic account of the origin and constitution of things, was noticed at the opening of our third chapter. In Gaelic literature there is, as far as I know, nothing which even pretends to represent early Celtic thought on this subject. It is otherwise in Wales. Here there has existed for a considerable time a body of teaching purporting to contain a portion, at any rate, of that ancient Druidic thought which, as Caesar tells us, was communicated only to the initiated, and never written down. This teaching is principally to be found in two volumes entitled “Barddas,” a compilation made from materials in his possession by a Welsh bard and scholar named Llewellyn Sion, of Glamorgan, towards the end of the sixteenth century, and edited, with a translation, by J.A. Williams ap Ithel for the Welsh MS. Society. Modern Celtic scholars pour contempt on the pretensions of works like this to enshrine any really antique thought. Thus Mr. Ivor B. John: “All idea of a bardic esoteric doctrine involving pre-Christian mythic philosophy must be utterly discarded.” And again: “The nonsense talked upon the subject is largely due to the uncritical invention of pseudo-antiquaries of the sixteenth to seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.”(205) Still the bardic Order was certainly at one time in possession of such a doctrine. That Order had a fairly continuous existence in Wales. And though no critical thinker would build with any confidence a theory of pre-Christian doctrine on a document of the sixteenth century, it does not seem wise to scout altogether the possibility that some fragments of antique lore may have lingered even so late as that in bardic tradition.

At any rate, “Barddas” is a work of considerable philosophic interest, and even if it represents nothing but a certain current of Cymric thought in the sixteenth century it is not unworthy of attention by the student of things Celtic. Purely Druidic it does not even profess to be, for Christian personages and episodes from Christian history figure largely in it. But we come occasionally upon a strain of thought which, whatever else it may be, is certainly not Christian, and speaks of an independent philosophic system.

In this system two primary existences are contemplated, God and Cythrawl, who stand respectively for the principle of energy tending towards life, and the principle of destruction tending towards nothingness. Cythrawl is realised in Annwn,(206) which may be rendered, the Abyss, or Chaos. In the beginning there was nothing but God and Annwn. Organised life began by the Word—God pronounced His ineffable Name and the “Manred” was formed. The Manred was the primal substance of the universe. It was conceived as a multitude of minute indivisible particles—atoms, in fact—each being a microcosm, for God is complete in each of them, while at the same time each is a part of God, the Whole. The totality of being as it now exists is represented by three concentric circles. The innermost of them, where life sprang from Annwn, is called “Abred,” and is the stage of struggle and evolution—the contest of life with Cythrawl. The next is the circle of “Gwynfyd,” or Purity, in which life is manifested as a pure, rejoicing force, having attained its triumph over evil. The last and outermost circle is called “Ceugant,” or Infinity. Here all predicates fail us, and this circle, represented graphically not by a bounding line, but by divergent rays, is inhabited by God alone. The following extract from “Barddas,” in which the alleged bardic teaching is conveyed in catechism form, will serve to show the order of ideas in which the writer’s mind moved:

[The Circles of Being]

The Circles of Being

“Q. Whence didst thou proceed?

“A. I came from the Great World, having my beginning in Annwn.

“Q. Where art thou now? and how camest thou to what thou art?

“A. I am in the Little World, whither I came having traversed the circle of Abred, and now I am a Man, at its termination and extreme limits.

“Q. What wert thou before thou didst become a man, in the circle of Abred?

“A. I was in Annwn the least possible that was capable of life and the nearest possible to absolute death; and I came in every form and through every form capable of a body and life to the state of man along the circle of Abred, where my condition was severe and grievous during the age of ages, ever since I was parted in Annwn from the dead, by the gift of God, and His great generosity, and His unlimited and endless love.

“Q. Through how many different forms didst thou come, and what happened unto thee?”

“A. Through every form capable of life, in water, in earth, in air. And there happened unto me every severity, every hardship, every evil, and every suffering, and but little was the goodness or Gwynfyd before I became a man.... Gwynfyd cannot be obtained without seeing and knowing everything, but it is not possible to see or to know everything without suffering everything.... And there can be no full and perfect love that does not produce those things which are necessary to lead to the knowledge that causes Gwynfyd.”

Every being, we are told, shall attain to the circle of Gwynfyd at last.(207)

There is much here that reminds us of Gnostic or Oriental thought. It is certainly very unlike Christian orthodoxy of the sixteenth century. As a product of the Cymric mind of that period the reader may take it for what it is worth, without troubling himself either with antiquarian theories or with their refutations.

Let us now turn to the really ancient work, which is not philosophic, but creative and imaginative, produced by British bards and fabulists of the Middle Ages. But before we go on to set forth what we shall find in this literature we must delay a moment to discuss one thing which we shall not.

*The Arthurian Saga*

For the majority of modern readers who have not made any special study of the subject, the mention of early British legend will inevitably call up the glories of the Arthurian Saga—they will think of the fabled palace at Caerleon-on-Usk, the Knights of the Round Table riding forth on chivalrous adventure, the Quest of the Grail, the guilty love of Lancelot, flower of knighthood, for the queen, the last great battle by the northern sea, the voyage of Arthur, sorely wounded, but immortal, to the mystic valley of Avalon. But as a matter of fact they will find in the native literature of mediæval Wales little or nothing of all this—no Round Table, no Lancelot, no Grail-Quest, no Isle of Avalon, until the Welsh learned about them from abroad; and though there was indeed an Arthur in this literature, he is a wholly different being from the Arthur of what we now call the Arthurian Saga.

*Nennius*

The earliest extant mention of Arthur is to be found in the work of the British historian Nennius, who wrote his “Historia Britonum” about the year 800. He derives his authority from various sources—ancient monuments and writings of Britain and of Ireland (in connexion with the latter country he records the legend of Partholan), Roman annals, and chronicles of saints, especially St. Germanus. He presents a fantastically Romanised and Christianised view of British history, deriving the Britons from a Trojan and Roman ancestry. His account of Arthur, however, is both sober and brief. Arthur, who, according to Nennius, lived in the sixth century, was not a king; his ancestry was less noble than that of many other British chiefs, who, nevertheless, for his great talents as a military _Imperator_, or _dux bellorum_, chose him for their leader against the Saxons, whom he defeated in twelve battles, the last being at Mount Badon. Arthur’s office was doubtless a relic of Roman military organisation, and there is no reason to doubt his historical existence, however impenetrable may be the veil which now obscures his valiant and often triumphant battlings for order and civilisation in that disastrous age.

*Geoffrey of Monmouth*

Next we have Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph, who wrote his “Historia Regum Britaniæ” in South Wales in the early part of the twelfth century. This work is an audacious attempt to make sober history out of a mass of mythical or legendary matter mainly derived, if we are to believe the author, from an ancient book brought by his uncle Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, from Brittany. The mention of Brittany in this connexion is, as we shall see, very significant. Geoffrey wrote expressly to commemorate the exploits of Arthur, who now appears as a king, son of Uther Pendragon and of Igerna, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, to whom Uther gained access in the shape of her husband through the magic arts of Merlin. He places the beginning of Arthur’s reign in the year 505, recounts his wars against the Saxons, and says he ultimately conquered not only all Britain, but Ireland, Norway, Gaul, and Dacia, and successfully resisted a demand for tribute and homage from the Romans. He held his court at Caerleon-on-Usk. While he was away on the Continent carrying on his struggle with Rome his nephew Modred usurped his crown and wedded his wife Guanhumara. Arthur, on this, returned, and after defeating the traitor at Winchester slew him in a last battle in Cornwall, where Arthur himself was sorely wounded (A.D. 542). The queen retired to a convent at Caerleon. Before his death Arthur conferred his kingdom on his kinsman Constantine, and was then carried off mysteriously to “the isle of Avalon” to be cured, and “the rest is silence.” Arthur’s magic sword “Caliburn” (Welsh _Caladvwlch_; see p. 224, note) is mentioned by Geoffrey and described as having been made in Avalon, a word which seems to imply some kind of fairyland, a Land of the Dead, and may be related to the Norse _Valhall_. It was not until later times that Avalon came to be identified with an actual site in Britain (Glastonbury). In Geoffrey’s narrative there is nothing about the Holy Grail, or Lancelot, or the Round Table, and except for the allusion to Avalon the mystical element of the Arthurian saga is absent. Like Nennius, Geoffrey finds a fantastic classical origin for the Britons. His so-called history is perfectly worthless as a record of fact, but it has proved a veritable mine for poets and chroniclers, and has the distinction of having furnished the subject for the earliest English tragic drama, “Gorboduc,” as well as for Shakespeare’s “King Lear”; and its author may be described as the father—at least on its quasi-historical side—of the Arthurian saga, which he made up partly out of records of the historical _dux bellorum_ of Nennius and partly out of poetical amplifications of these records made in Brittany by the descendants of exiles from Wales, many of whom fled there at the very time when Arthur was waging his wars against the heathen Saxons. Geoffrey’s book had a wonderful success. It was speedily translated into French by Wace, who wrote “Li Romans de Brut” about 1155, with added details from Breton sources, and translated from Wace’s French into Anglo-Saxon by Layamon, who thus anticipated Malory’s adaptations of late French prose romances. Except a few scholars who protested unavailingly, no one doubted its strict historical truth, and it had the important effect of giving to early British history a new dignity in the estimation of Continental and of English princes. To sit upon the throne of Arthur was regarded as in itself a glory by Plantagenet monarchs who had not a trace of Arthur’s or of any British blood.

*The Saga in Brittany: Marie de France*

The Breton sources must next be considered. Unfortunately, not a line of ancient Breton literature has come down to us, and for our knowledge of it we must rely on the appearances it makes in the work of French writers. One of the earliest of these is the Anglo-Norman poetess who called herself Marie de France, and who wrote about 1150 and afterwards. She wrote, among other things, a number of “Lais,” or tales, which she explicitly and repeatedly tells us were translated or adapted from Breton sources. Sometimes she claims to have rendered a writer’s original exactly:

“Les contes que jo sai verais Dunt li Bretun unt fait les lais Vos conterai assez briefment; Et cief [sauf] di cest coumencement Selunc la lettre è l’escriture.”

Little is actually said about Arthur in these tales, but the events of them are placed in his time—_en cel tems tint Artus la terre_—and the allusions, which include a mention of the Round Table, evidently imply a general knowledge of the subject among those to whom these Breton “Lais” were addressed. Lancelot is not mentioned, but there is a “Lai” about one Lanval, who is beloved by Arthur’s queen, but rejects her because he has a fairy mistress in the “isle d’Avalon.” Gawain is mentioned, and an episode is told in the “Lai de Chevrefoil” about Tristan and Iseult, whose maid, “Brangien,” is referred to in a way which assumes that the audience knew the part she had played on Iseult’s bridal night. In short, we have evidence here of the existence in Brittany of a well-diffused and well-developed body of chivalric legend gathered about the personality of Arthur. The legends are so well known that mere allusions to characters and episodes in them are as well understood as references to Tennyson’s “Idylls” would be among us to-day. The “Lais” of Marie de France therefore point strongly to Brittany as the true cradle of the Arthurian saga, on its chivalrous and romantic side. They do not, however, mention the Grail.

*Chrestien de Troyes*

Lastly, and chiefly, we have the work of the French poet Chrestien de Troyes, who began in 1165 to translate Breton “Lais,” like Marie de France, and who practically brought the Arthurian saga into the poetic literature of Europe, and gave it its main outline and character. He wrote a “Tristan” (now lost). He (if not Walter Map) introduced Lancelot of the Lake into the story; he wrote a _Conte del Graal_, in which the Grail legend and Perceval make their first appearance, though he left the story unfinished, and does not tell us what the “Grail” really was.(208) He also wrote a long _conte d’aventure_ entitled “Erec,” containing the story of Geraint and Enid. These are the earliest poems we possess in which the Arthur of chivalric legend comes prominently forward. What were the sources of Chrestien? No doubt they were largely Breton. Troyes is in Champagne, which had been united to Blois in 1019 by Eudes, Count of Blois, and reunited again after a period of dispossession by Count Theobald de Blois in 1128. Marie, Countess of Champagne, was Chrestien’s patroness. And there were close connexions between the ruling princes of Blois and of Brittany. Alain II., a Duke of Brittany, had in the tenth century married a sister of the Count de Blois, and in the first quarter of the thirteenth century Jean I. of Brittany married Blanche de Champagne, while their daughter Alix married Jean de Chastillon, Count of Blois, in 1254. It is highly probable, therefore, that through minstrels who attended their Breton lords at the court of Blois, from the middle of the tenth century onward, a great many Breton “Lais” and legends found their way into French literature during the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. But it is also certain that the Breton legends themselves had been strongly affected by French influences, and that to the _Matière de France_, as it was called by mediæval writers(209)—_i.e._, the legends of Charlemagne and his Paladins—we owe the Table Round and the chivalric institutions ascribed to Arthur’s court at Caerleon-on-Usk.

*Bleheris*

It must not be forgotten that (as Miss Jessie L. Weston has emphasised in her invaluable studies on the Arthurian saga) Gautier de Denain, the earliest of the continuators or re-workers of Chrestien de Troyes, mentions as his authority for stories of Gawain one Bleheris, a poet “born and bred in Wales.” This forgotten bard is believed to be identical with _famosus ille fabulator, Bledhericus,_ mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis, and with the Bréris quoted by Thomas of Brittany as an authority for the Tristan story.

*Conclusion as to the Origin of the Arthurian Saga*

In the absence, however, of any information as to when, or exactly what, Bleheris wrote, the opinion must, I think, hold the field that the Arthurian saga, as we have it now, is not of Welsh, nor even of pure Breton origin. The Welsh exiles who colonised part of Brittany about the sixth century must have brought with them many stories of the historical Arthur. They must also have brought legends of the Celtic deity Artaius, a god to whom altars have been found in France. These personages ultimately blended into one, even as in Ireland the Christian St. Brigit blended with the pagan goddess Brigindo.(210) We thus get a mythical figure combining something of the exaltation of a god with a definite habitation on earth and a place in history. An Arthur saga thus arose, which in its Breton (though not its Welsh) form was greatly enriched by material drawn in from the legends of Charlemagne and his peers, while both in Brittany and in Wales it became a centre round which clustered a mass of floating legendary matter relating to various Celtic personages, human and divine. Chrestien de Troyes, working on Breton material, ultimately gave it the form in which it conquered the world, and in which it became in the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries what the Faust legend was in later times, the accepted vehicle for the ideals and aspirations of an epoch.

*The Saga in Wales*

From the Continent, and especially from Brittany, the story of Arthur came back into Wales transformed and glorified. The late Dr. Heinrich Zimmer, in one of his luminous studies of the subject, remarks that “In Welsh literature we have definite evidence that the South-Welsh prince, Rhys ap Tewdwr, who had been in Brittany, brought from thence in the year 1070 the knowledge of Arthur’s Round Table to Wales, where of course it had been hitherto unknown.”(211) And many Breton lords are known to have followed the banner of William the Conqueror into England.(212) The introducers of the saga into Wales found, however, a considerable body of Arthurian matter of a very different character already in existence there. Besides the traditions of the historical Arthur, the _dux bellorum_ of Nennius, there was the Celtic deity, Artaius. It is probably a reminiscence of this deity whom we meet with under the name of Arthur in the only genuine Welsh Arthurian story we possess, the story of Kilhwch and Olwen in the “Mabinogion.” Much of the Arthurian saga derived from Chrestien and other Continental writers was translated and adapted in Wales as in other European countries, but as a matter of fact it made a later and a lesser impression in Wales than almost anywhere else. It conflicted with existing Welsh traditions, both historical and mythological; it was full of matter entirely foreign to the Welsh spirit, and it remained always in Wales something alien and unassimilated. Into Ireland it never entered at all.

These few introductory remarks do not, of course, profess to contain a discussion of the Arthurian saga—a vast subject with myriad ramifications, historical, mythological, mystical, and what not—but are merely intended to indicate the relation of that saga to genuine Celtic literature and to explain why we shall hear so little of it in the following accounts of Cymric myths and legends. It was a great spiritual myth which, arising from the composite source above described, overran all the Continent, as its hero was supposed to have done in armed conquest, but it cannot be regarded as a special possession of the Celtic race, nor is it at present extant, except in the form of translation or adaptation, in any Celtic tongue.

*Gaelic and Cymric Legend Compared*

The myths and legends of the Celtic race which have come down to us in the Welsh language are in some respects of a different character from those which we possess in Gaelic. The Welsh material is nothing like as full as the Gaelic, nor so early. The tales of the “Mabinogion” are mainly drawn from the fourteenth-century manuscript entitled “The Red Book of Hergest.” One of them, the romance of Taliesin, came from another source, a manuscript of the seventeenth century. The four oldest tales in the “Mabinogion” are supposed by scholars to have taken their present shape in the tenth or eleventh century, while several Irish tales, like the story of Etain and Midir or the Death of Conary, go back to the seventh or eighth. It will be remembered that the story of the invasion of Partholan was known to Nennius, who wrote about the year 800. As one might therefore expect, the mythological elements in the Welsh romances are usually much more confused and harder to decipher than in the earlier of the Irish tales. The mythic interest has grown less, the story interest greater; the object of the bard is less to hand down a sacred text than to entertain a prince’s court. We must remember also that the influence of the Continental romances of chivalry is clearly perceptible in the Welsh tales; and, in fact, comes eventually to govern them completely.

*Gaelic and Continental Romance*

In many respects the Irish Celt anticipated the ideas of these romances. The lofty courtesy shown to each other by enemies,(213) the fantastic pride which forbade a warrior to take advantage of a wounded adversary,(214) the extreme punctilio with which the duties or observances proper to each man’s caste or station were observed(215)—all this tone of thought and feeling which would seem so strange to us if we met an instance of it in classical literature would seem quite familiar and natural in Continental romances of the twelfth and later centuries. Centuries earlier than that it was a marked feature in Gaelic literature. Yet in the Irish romances, whether Ultonian or Ossianic, the element which has since been considered the most essential motive in a romantic tale is almost entirely lacking. This is the element of love, or rather of woman-worship. The Continental fabulist felt that he could do nothing without this motive of action. But the “lady-love” of the English, French, or German knight, whose favour he wore, for whose grace he endured infinite hardship and peril, does not meet us in Gaelic literature. It would have seemed absurd to the Irish Celt to make the plot of a serious story hinge on the kind of passion with which the mediaeval Dulcinea inspired her faithful knight. In the two most famous and popular of Gaelic love-tales, the tale of Deirdre and “The Pursuit of Dermot and Grania,” the women are the wooers, and the men are most reluctant to commit what they know to be the folly of yielding to them. Now this romantic, chivalric kind of love, which idealised woman into a goddess, and made the service of his lady a sacred duty to the knight, though it never reached in Wales the height which it did in Continental and English romances, is yet clearly discernible there. We can trace it in “Kilhwch and Olwen,” which is comparatively an ancient tale. It is well developed in later stories like “Peredur” and “The Lady of the Fountain.” It is a symptom of the extent to which, in comparison with the Irish, Welsh literature had lost its pure Celtic strain and become affected—I do not, of course, say to its loss—by foreign influences.

*Gaelic and Cymric Mythology: Nudd*

The oldest of the Welsh tales, those called “The Four Branches of the Mabinogi,”(216) are the richest in mythological elements, but these occur in more or less recognisable form throughout nearly all the mediaeval tales, and even, after many transmutations, in Malory. We can clearly discern certain mythological figures common to all Celtica. We meet, for instance, a personage called Nudd or Lludd, evidently a solar deity. A temple dating from Roman times, and dedicated to him under the name of Nodens, has been discovered at Lydney, by the Severn. On a bronze plaque found near the spot is a representation of the god. He is encircled by a halo and accompanied by flying spirits and by Tritons. We are reminded of the Danaan deities and their close connexion with the sea; and when we find that in Welsh legend an epithet is attached to Nudd, meaning “of the Silver Hand” (though no extant Welsh legend tells the meaning of the epithet), we have no difficulty in identifying this Nudd with Nuada of the Silver Hand, who led the Danaans in the battle of Moytura.(217) Under his name Lludd he is said to have had a temple on the site of St. Paul’s in London, the entrance to which, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, was called in the British tongue _Parth Lludd_, which the Saxons translated _Ludes Geat_, our present Ludgate.

GODS OF THE HOUSE OF DŌN

GODS OF THE HOUSE OF LLYR

ARTHUR AND HIS KIN

Anlawdd | +--------------------+----+----------------------------------+ | | | Yspaddaden Custennin Kilwydd -+- Goleuddydd | | | Olwen +---------+-----------+ Kilhwch --- Olwen | | | Goreu Erbin Igerna -+- Uther Ben | | (= Bran) Geraint | +-------+-----------------------+ | | Arthur Lot -----+---- Gwyar (=Gwydion) (=Llud) | (Gore, a | war-goddess) | +--------------------------+-------------+-------+ | | | Gwalchmai Medrawt Gwalchaved (Falcon of May, (=Dylan, (Falcon of Summer, = LLew Llaw later Sir later Sir Galahad; Gyffes, later Mordred) orig. identical Sir Gawain) with Gwalchmai)

*Llyr and Manawyddan*

Again, when we find a mythological personage named Llyr, with a son named Manawyddan, playing a prominent part in Welsh legend, we may safely connect them with the Irish Lir and his son Mananan, gods of the sea. Llyr-cester, now Leicester, was a centre of the worship of Llyr.

*Llew Llaw Gyffes*

Finally, we may point to a character in the “Mabinogi,” or tale, entitled “Māth Son of Māthonwy.” The name of this character is given as Llew Llaw Gyffes, which the Welsh fabulist interprets as “The Lion of the Sure Hand,” and a tale, which we shall recount later on, is told to account for the name. But when we find that this hero exhibits characteristics which point to his being a solar deity, such as an amazingly rapid growth from childhood into manhood, and when we are told, moreover, by Professor Rhys that Gyffes originally meant, not “steady” or “sure,” but “long,”(218) it becomes evident that we have here a dim and broken reminiscence of the deity whom the Gaels called Lugh of the Long Arm,(219) _Lugh Lamh Fada_. The misunderstood name survived, and round the misunderstanding legendary matter floating in the popular mind crystallised itself in a new story.

These correspondences might be pursued in much further detail. It is enough here to point to their existence as evidence of the original community of Gaelic and Cymric mythology.(220) We are, in each literature, in the same circle of mythological ideas. In Wales, however, these ideas are harder to discern; the figures and their relationships in the Welsh Olympus are less accurately defined and more fluctuating. It would seem as if a number of different tribes embodied what were fundamentally the same conceptions under different names and wove different legends about them. The bardic literature, as we have it now, bears evidence sometimes of the prominence of one of these tribal cults, sometimes of another. To reduce these varying accounts to unity is altogether impossible. Still, we can do something to afford the reader a clue to the maze.

*The Houses of Dōn and of Llyr*

Two great divine houses or families are discernible—that of Dōn, a mother-goddess (representing the Gaelic Dana), whose husband is Beli, the Irish Bilé, god of Death, and whose descendants are the Children of Light; and the House of Llyr, the Gaelic Lir, who here represents, not a Danaan deity, but something more like the Irish Fomorians. As in the case of the Irish myth, the two families are allied by intermarriage—Penardun, a daughter of Dōn, is wedded to Llyr. Dōn herself has a brother, Māth, whose name signifies wealth or treasure (_cf._ Greek Pluton, _ploutos_), and they descend from a figure indistinctly characterised, called Māthonwy.

*The House of Arthur*

Into the pantheon of deities represented in the four ancient Mabinogi there came, at a later time, from some other tribal source, another group headed by Arthur, the god Artaius. He takes the place of Gwydion son of Dōn, and the other deities of his circle fall more or less accurately into the places of others of the earlier circle. The accompanying genealogical plans are intended to help the reader to a general view of the relationships and attributes of these personages. It must be borne in mind, however, that these tabular arrangements necessarily involve an appearance of precision and consistency which is not reflected in the fluctuating character of the actual myths taken as a whole. Still, as a sketch-map of a very intricate and obscure region, they may help the reader who enters it for the first time to find his bearings in it, and that is the only purpose they propose to serve.

*Gwyn ap Nudd*

The deity named Gwyn ap Nudd is said, like Finn in Gaelic legend,(221) to have impressed himself more deeply and lastingly on the Welsh popular imagination than any of the other divinities. A mighty warrior and huntsman, he glories in the crash of breaking spears, and, like Odin, assembles the souls of dead heroes in his shadowy kingdom, for although he belongs to the kindred of the Light-gods, Hades is his special domain. The combat between him and Gwythur ap Greidawl (Victor, son of Scorcher) for Creudylad, daughter of Lludd, which is to be renewed every May-day till time shall end, represents evidently the contest between winter and summer for the flowery and fertile earth. “Later,” writes Mr. Charles Squire, “he came to be considered as King of the _Tylwyth Teg_, the Welsh fairies, and his name as such has hardly yet died out of his last haunt, the romantic vale of Neath.... He is the Wild Huntsman of Wales and the West of England, and it is his pack which is sometimes heard at chase in waste places by night.”(222) He figures as a god of war and death in a wonderful poem from the “Black Book of Caermarthen,” where he is represented as discoursing with a prince named Gwyddneu Garanhir, who had come to ask his protection. I quote a few stanzas: the poem will be found in full in Mr. Squire’s excellent volume:

“I come from battle and conflict With a shield in my hand; Broken is my helmet by the thrusting of spears.

“Round-hoofed is my horse, the torment of battle, Fairy am I called,(223) Gwyn the son of Nudd, The lover of Crewrdilad, the daughter of Lludd

“I have been in the place where Gwendolen was slain, The son of Ceidaw, the pillar of song, Where the ravens screamed over blood.

“I have been in the place where Bran was killed, The son of Iweridd, of far-extending fame, Where the ravens of the battlefield screamed.

“I have been where Llacheu was slain, The son of Arthur, extolled in songs, When the ravens screamed over blood.

“I have been where Mewrig was killed, The son of Carreian, of honourable fame, When the ravens screamed over flesh.

“I have been where Gwallawg was killed, The son of Goholeth, the accomplished, The resister of Lloegyr,(224) the son of Lleynawg.

“I have been where the soldiers of Britain were slain, From the east to the north: I am the escort of the grave.

“I have been where the soldiers of Britain were slain, From the east to the south: I am alive, they in death.”

*Myrddin, or Merlin*

A deity named Myrddin holds in Arthur’s mythological cycle the place of the Sky- and Sun-god, Nudd. One of the Welsh Triads tells us that Britain, before it was inhabited, was called _Clas Myrddin_, Myrddin’s Enclosure. One is reminded of the Irish fashion of calling any favoured spot a “cattle-fold of the sun”—the name is applied by Deirdre to her beloved Scottish home in Glen Etive. Professor Rhys suggests that Myrddin was the deity specially worshipped at Stonehenge, which, according to British tradition as reported by Geoffrey of Monmouth, was erected by “Merlin,” the enchanter who represents the form into which Myrddin had dwindled under Christian influences. We are told that the abode of Merlin was a house of glass, or a bush of whitethorn laden with bloom, or a sort of smoke or mist in the air, or “a close neither of iron nor steel nor timber nor of stone, but of the air without any other thing, by enchantment so strong that it may never be undone while the world endureth.”(225) Finally he descended upon Bardsey Island, “off the extreme westernmost point of Carnarvonshire ... into it he went with nine attendant bards, taking with him the ’Thirteen Treasures of Britain,’ thenceforth lost to men.” Professor Rhys points out that a Greek traveller named Demetrius, who is described as having visited Britain in the first century A.D., mentions an island in the west where “Kronos” was supposed to be imprisoned with his attendant deities, and Briareus keeping watch over him as he slept, “for sleep was the bond forged for him.” Doubtless we have here a version, Hellenised as was the wont of classical writers on barbaric myths, of a British story of the descent of the Sun-god into the western sea, and his imprisonment there by the powers of darkness, with the possessions and magical potencies belonging to Light and Life.(226)

*Nynniaw and Peibaw*

The two personages called Nynniaw and Peibaw who figure in the genealogical table play a very slight part in Cymric mythology, but one story in which they appear is interesting in itself and has an excellent moral. They are represented(227) as two brothers, Kings of Britain, who were walking together one starlight night. “See what a fine far-spreading field I have,” said Nynniaw. “Where is it?” asked Peibaw. “There aloft and as far as you can see,” said Nynniaw, pointing to the sky. “But look at all my cattle grazing in your field,” said Peibaw. “Where are they?” said Nynniaw. “All the golden stars,” said Peibaw, “with the moon for their shepherd.” “They shall not graze on my field,” cried Nynniaw. “I say they shall,” returned Peibaw. “They shall not.” “They shall.” And so they went on: first they quarrelled with each other, and then went to war, and armies were destroyed and lands laid waste, till at last the two brothers were turned into oxen as a punishment for their stupidity and quarrelsomeness.

*The **“**Mabinogion**”*

We now come to the work in which the chief treasures of Cymric myth and legend were collected by Lady Charlotte Guest sixty years ago, and given to the world in a translation which is one of the masterpieces of English literature. The title of this work, the “Mabinogion,” is the plural form of the word _Mabinogi_, which means a story belonging to the equipment of an apprentice-bard, such a story as every bard had necessarily to learn as part of his training, whatever more he might afterwards add to his _répertoire_. Strictly speaking, the _Mabinogi_ in the volume are only the four tales given first in Mr. Alfred Nutt’s edition, which were entitled the “Four Branches of the Mabinogi,” and which form a connected whole. They are among the oldest relics of Welsh mythological saga.

*Pwyll, Head of Hades*

The first of them is the story of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, and relates how that prince got his title of _Pen Annwn_, or “Head of Hades”—Annwn being the term under which we identify in Welsh literature the Celtic Land of the Dead, or Fairyland. It is a story with a mythological basis, but breathing the purest spirit of chivalric honour and nobility.

Pwyll, it is said, was hunting one day in the woods of Glyn Cuch when he saw a pack of hounds, not his own, running down a stag. These hounds were snow-white in colour, with red ears. If Pwyll had had any experience in these matters he would have known at once what kind of hunt was up, for these are the colours of Faëry—the red-haired man, the red-eared hound are always associated with magic.(228) Pwyll, however, drove off the strange hounds, and was setting his own on the quarry when a horseman of noble appearance came up and reproached him for his discourtesy. Pwyll offered to make amends, and the story now develops into the familiar theme of the Rescue of Fairyland. The stranger’s name is Arawn, a king in Annwn. He is being harried and dispossessed by a rival, Havgan, and he seeks the aid of Pwyll, whom he begs to meet Havgan in single combat a year hence. Meanwhile he will put his own shape on Pwyll, who is to rule in his kingdom till the eventful day, while Arawn will go in Pwyll’s shape to govern Dyfed. He instructs Pwyll how to deal with the foe. Havgan must be laid low with a single stroke—if another is given to him he immediately revives again as strong as ever.

Pwyll agreed to follow up the adventure, and accordingly went in Arawn’s shape to the kingdom of Annwn. Here he was placed in an unforeseen difficulty. The beautiful wife of Arawn greeted him as her husband. But when the time came for them to retire to rest he set his face to the wall and said no word to her, nor touched her at all until the morning broke. Then they rose up, and Pwyll went to the hunt, and ruled his kingdom, and did all things as if he were monarch of the land. And whatever affection he showed to the queen in public during the day, he passed every night even as this first.

At last the day of battle came, and, like the chieftains in Gaelic story, Pwyll and Havgan met each other in the midst of a river-ford. They fought, and at the first clash Havgan was hurled a spear’s length over the crupper of his horse and fell mortally wounded.(229) “For the love of heaven,” said he, “slay me and complete thy work.” “I may yet repent that,” said Pwyll. “Slay thee who may, I will not.” Then Havgan knew that his end was come, and bade his nobles bear him off; and Pwyll with all his army overran the two kingdoms of Annwn, and made himself master of all the land, and took homage from its princes and lords.

Then he rode off alone to keep his tryst in Glyn Cuch with Arawn as they had appointed. Arawn thanked him for all he had done, and added: “When thou comest thyself to thine own dominions thou wilt see what I have done for thee.” They exchanged shapes once more, and each rode in his own likeness to take possession of his own land.

At the court of Annwn the day was spent in joy and feasting, though none but Arawn himself knew that anything unusual had taken place. When night came Arawn kissed and caressed his wife as of old, and she pondered much as to what might be the cause of his change towards her, and of his previous change a year and a day before. And as she was thinking over these things Arawn spoke to her twice or thrice, but got no answer. He then asked her why she was silent. “I tell thee,” she said, “that for a year I have not spoken so much in this place.” “Did not we speak continually?” he said. “Nay,” said she, “but for a year back there has been neither converse nor tenderness between us.” “Good heaven!” thought Arawn, “a man as faithful and firm in his friendship as any have I found for a friend.” Then he told his queen what had passed. “Thou hast indeed laid hold of a faithful friend,” she said.

And Pwyll when he came back to his own land called his lords together and asked them how they thought he had sped in his kingship during the past year. “Lord,” said they, “thy wisdom was never so great, and thou wast never so kind and free in bestowing thy gifts, and thy justice was never more worthily seen than in this year.” Pwyll then told them the story of his adventure. “Verily, lord,” said they, “render thanks unto heaven that thou hast such a fellowship, and withhold not from us the rule which we have enjoyed for this year past.” “I take heaven to witness that I will not withhold it,” said Pwyll.

So the two kings made strong the friendship that was between them, and sent each other rich gifts of horses and hounds and jewels; and in memory of the adventure Pwyll bore thenceforward the title of “Lord of Annwn.”

*The Wedding of Pwyll and Rhiannon*

Near to the castle of Narberth, where Pwyll had his court, there was a mound called the Mound of Arberth, of which it was believed that whoever sat upon it would have a strange adventure: either he would receive blows and wounds or he would see a wonder. One day when all his lords were assembled at Narberth for a feast Pwyll declared that he would sit on the mound and see what would befall.

He did so, and after a little while saw approaching him along the road that led to the mound a lady clad in garments that shone like gold, and sitting on a pure white horse. “Is there any among you,” said Pwyll to his men, “who knows that lady?” “There is not,” said they. “Then go to meet her and learn who she is.” But as they rode towards the lady she moved away from them, and however fast they rode she still kept an even distance between her and them, yet never seemed to exceed the quiet pace with which she had first approached.

Several times did Pwyll seek to have the lady overtaken and questioned, but all was in vain—none could draw near to her.

Next day Pwyll ascended the mound again, and once more the fair lady on her white steed drew near. This time Pwyll himself pursued her, but she flitted away before him as she had done before his servants, till at last he cried : “O maiden, for the sake of him thou best lovest, stay for me.” “I will stay gladly,” said she, “and it were better for thy horse had thou asked it long since.”

Pwyll then questioned her as to the cause of her coming, and she said: “I am Rhiannon, the daughter of Hevydd Hēn,(230) and they sought to give me to a husband against my will. But no husband would I have, and that because of my love for thee; neither will I yet have one if thou reject me.” “By heaven!” said Pwyll, “if I might choose among all the ladies and damsels of the world, thee would I choose.”

They then agree that in a twelvemonth from that day Pwyll is to come and claim her at the palace of Hevydd Hēn.

Pwyll kept his tryst, with a following of a hundred knights, and found a splendid feast prepared for him, and he sat by his lady, with her father on the other side. As they feasted and talked there entered a tall, auburn-haired youth of royal bearing, clad in satin, who saluted Pwyll and his knights. Pwyll invited him to sit down. “Nay, I am a suitor to thee,” said the youth; “to crave a boon am I come.” “Whatever thou wilt thou shalt have,” said Pwyll unsuspiciously, “if it be in my power.” “Ah,” cried Rhiannon, “wherefore didst thou give that answer?” “Hath he not given it before all these nobles?” said the youth; “and now the boon I crave is to have thy bride Rhiannon, and the feast and the banquet that are in this place.” Pwyll was silent. “Be silent as long as thou wilt,” said Rhiannon. “Never did man make worse use of his wits than thou hast done.” She tells him that the auburn-haired young man is Gwawl, son of Clud, and is the suitor to escape from whom she had fled to Pwyll.

Pwyll is bound in honour by his word, and Rhiannon explains that the banquet cannot be given to Gwawl, for it is not in Pwyll’s power, but that she herself will be his bride in a twelvemonth; Gwawl is to come and claim her then, and a new bridal feast will be prepared for him. Meantime she concerts a plan with Pwyll, and gives him a certain magical bag, which he is to make use of when the time shall come.

A year passed away, Gwawl appeared according to the compact, and a great feast was again set forth, in which he, and not Pwyll, had the place of honour. As the company were making merry, however, a beggar clad in rags and shod with clumsy old shoes came into the hall, carrying a bag, as beggars are wont to do. He humbly craved a boon of Gwawl. It was merely that the full of his bag of food might be given him from the banquet. Gwawl cheerfully consented, and an attendant went to fill the bag. But however much they put into it it never got fuller—by degrees all the good things on the tables had gone in; and at last Gwawl cried: “My soul, will thy bag never be full?” “It will not, I declare to heaven,” answered Pwyll—for he, of course, was the disguised beggar man—“unless some man wealthy in lands and treasure shall get into the bag and stamp it down with his feet, and declare, ‘Enough has been put herein.’ ” Rhiannon urged Gwawl to check the voracity of the bag. He put his two feet into it; Pwyll immediately drew up the sides of the bag over Gwawl’s head and tied it up. Then he blew his horn, and the knights he had with him, who were concealed outside, rushed in, and captured and bound the followers of Gwawl. “What is in the bag?” they cried, and others answered, “A badger,” and so they played the game of “Badger in the Bag,” striking it and kicking it about the hall.

At last a voice was heard from it. “Lord,” cried Gwawl, “if thou wouldst but hear me, I merit not to be slain in a bag.” “He speaks truth,” said Hevydd Hēn.

So an agreement was come to that Gwawl should provide means for Pwyll to satisfy all the suitors and minstrels who should come to the wedding, and abandon Rhiannon, and never seek to have revenge for what had been done to him. This was confirmed by sureties, and Gwawl and his men were released and went to their own territory. And Pwyll wedded Rhiannon, and dispensed gifts royally to all and sundry; and at last the pair, when the feasting was done, journeyed down to the palace of Narberth in Dyfed, where Rhiannon gave rich gifts, a bracelet and a ring or a precious stone to all the lords and ladies of her new country, and they ruled the land in peace both that year and the next. But the reader will find that we have not yet done with Gwawl.

*The Penance of Rhiannon*

Now Pwyll was still without an heir to the throne, and his nobles urged him to take another wife. “Grant us a year longer,” said he, “and if there be no heir after that it shall be as you wish.” Before the year’s end a son was born to them in Narberth. But although six women sat up to watch the mother and the infant, it happened towards the morning that they all fell asleep, and Rhiannon also slept, and when the women awoke, behold, the boy was gone! “We shall be burnt for this,” said the women, and in their terror they concocted a horrible plot: they killed a cub of a staghound that had just been littered, and laid the bones by Rhiannon, and smeared her face and hands with blood as she slept, and when she woke and asked for her child they said she had devoured it in the night, and had overcome them with furious strength when they would have prevented her—and for all she could say or do the six women persisted in this story.

When the story was told to Pwyll he would not put away Rhiannon, as his nobles now again begged him to do, but a penance was imposed on her—namely, that she was to sit every day by the horse-block at the gate of the castle and tell the tale to every stranger who came, and offer to carry them on her back into the castle. And this she did for part of a year.

*The Finding of Pryderi*(231)

Now at this time there lived a man named Teirnyon of Gwent Is Coed, who had the most beautiful mare in the world, but there was this misfortune attending her, that although she foaled on the night of every first of May, none ever knew what became of the colts. At last Teirnyon resolved to get at the truth of the matter, and the next night on which the mare should foal he armed himself and watched in the stable. So the mare foaled, and the colt stood up, and Teirnyon was admiring its size and beauty when a great noise was heard outside, and a long, clawed arm came through the window of the stable and laid hold of the colt. Teirnyon immediately smote at the arm with his sword, and severed it at the elbow, so that it fell inside with the colt, and a great wailing and tumult was heard outside. He rushed out, leaving the door open behind him, but could see nothing because of the darkness of the night, and he followed the noise a little way. Then he came back, and behold, at the door he found an infant in swaddling-clothes and wrapped in a mantle of satin. He took up the child and brought it to where his wife lay sleeping. She had no children, and she loved the child when she saw it, and next day pretended to her women that she had borne it as her own. And they called its name Gwri of the Golden Hair, for its hair was yellow as gold; and it grew so mightily that in two years it was as big and strong as a child of six; and ere long the colt that had been foaled on the same night was broken in and given him to ride.

While these things were going on Teirnyon heard the tale of Rhiannon and her punishment. And as the lad grew up he scanned his face closely and saw that he had the features of Pwyll Prince of Dyfed. This he told to his wife, and they agreed that the child should be taken to Narberth, and Rhiannon released from her penance.

As they drew near to the castle, Teirnyon and two knights and the child riding on his colt, there was Rhiannon sitting by the horse-block. “Chieftains,” said she, “go not further thus; I will bear every one of you into the palace, and this is my penance for slaying my own son and devouring him.” But they would not be carried, and went in. Pwyll rejoiced to see Teirnyon, and made a feast for him. Afterwards Teirnyon declared to Pwyll and Rhiannon the adventure of the man and the colt, and how they had found the boy. “And behold, here is thy son, lady,” said Teirnyon, “and whoever told that lie concerning thee has done wrong.” All who sat at table recognised the lad at once as the child of Pwyll, and Rhiannon cried: “I declare to heaven that if this be true there is an end to my trouble.” And a chief named Pendaran said: “Well hast thou named thy son Pryderi [trouble], and well becomes him the name of Pryderi son of Pwyll, Lord of Annwn.” It was agreed that his name should be Pryderi, and so he was called thenceforth.

Teirnyon rode home, overwhelmed with thanks and love and gladness; and Pwyll offered him rich gifts of horses and jewels and dogs, but he would take none of them. And Pryderi was trained up, as befitted a king’s son, in all noble ways and accomplishments, and when his father Pwyll died he reigned in his stead over the Seven Cantrevs of Dyfed. And he added to them many other fair dominions, and at last he took to wife Kicva, daughter of Gwynn Gohoyw, who came of the lineage of Prince Casnar of Britain.

*The Tale of Bran and Branwen*

Bendigeid Vran, or “Bran the Blessed,” by which latter name we shall designate him here, when he had been made King of the Isle of the Mighty (Britain), was one time in his court at Harlech. And he had with him his brother Manawyddan son of Llyr, and his sister Branwen, and the two sons, Nissyen and Evnissyen, that Penardun his mother bore to Eurosswyd. Now Nissyen was a youth of gentle nature, and would make peace among his kindred and cause them to be friends when their wrath was at its highest; but Evnissyen loved nothing so much as to turn peace into contention and strife.

One afternoon, as Bran son of Llyr sat on the rock of Harlech looking out to sea, he beheld thirteen ships coming rapidly from Ireland before a fair wind. They were gaily furnished, bright flags flying from the masts, and on the foremost ship, when they came near, a man could be seen holding up a shield with the point upwards in sign of peace.(232)

When the strangers landed they saluted Bran and explained their business. Matholwch,(233) King of Ireland, was with them; his were the ships, and he had come to ask for the hand in marriage of Bran’s sister, Branwen, so that Ireland and Britain might be leagued together and both become more powerful. “Now Branwen was one of the three chief ladies of the island, and she was the fairest damsel in the world.”

The Irish were hospitably entertained, and after taking counsel with his lords Bran agreed to give his sister to Matholwch. The place of the wedding was fixed at Aberffraw, and the company assembled for the feast in tents because no house could hold the giant form of Bran. They caroused and made merry in peace and amity, and Branwen became the bride or the Irish king.

Next day Evnissyen came by chance to where the horses of Matholwch were ranged, and he asked whose they were. “They are the horses of Matholwch, who is married to thy sister.” “And is it thus,” said he, “they have done with a maiden such as she, and, moreover, my sister, bestowing her without my consent? They could offer me no greater insult.” Thereupon he rushed among the horses and cut off their lips at the teeth, and their ears to their heads, and their tails close to the body, and where he could seize the eyelids he cut them off to the bone.

When Matholwch heard what had been done he was both angered and bewildered, and bade his people put to sea. Bran sent messengers to learn what had happened, and when he had been informed he sent Manawyddan and two others to make atonement. Matholwch should have sound horses for every one that was injured, and in addition a staff of silver as large and as tall as himself, and a plate of gold the size of his face. “And let him come and meet me,” he added, “and we will make peace in any way he may desire.” But as for Evnissyen, he was the son of Bran’s mother, and therefore Bran could not put him to death as he deserved.

*The Magic Cauldron*

Matholwch accepted these terms, but not very cheerfully, and Bran now offered another treasure, namely, a magic cauldron which had the property that if a slain man were cast into it he would come forth well and sound, only he would not be able to speak. Matholwch and Bran then talked about the cauldron, which originally, it seems, came from Ireland. There was a lake in that country near to a mound (doubtless a fairy mound) which was called the Lake of the Cauldron. Here Matholwch had once met a tall and ill-looking fellow with a wife bigger than himself, and the cauldron strapped on his back. They took service with Matholwch. At the end of a period of six weeks the wife gave birth to a son, who was a warrior fully armed. We are apparently to understand that this happened every six weeks, for by the end of the year the strange pair, who seem to be a war-god and goddess, had several children, whose continual bickering and the outrages they committed throughout the land made them hated. At last, to get rid of them, Matholwch had a house of iron made, and enticed them into it. He then barred the door and heaped coals about the chamber, and blew them into a white heat, hoping to roast the whole family to death. As soon, however, as the iron walls had grown white-hot and soft the man and his wife burst through them and got away, but the children remained behind and were destroyed. Bran then took up the story. The man, who was called Llassar Llaesgyvnewid, and his wife Kymideu Kymeinvoll, come across to Britain, where Bran took them in, and in return for his kindness they gave him the cauldron. And since then they had filled the land with their descendants, who prospered everywhere and dwelt in strong fortified burgs and had the best weapons that ever were seen.

So Matholwch received the cauldron along with his bride, and sailed back to Ireland, where Branwen entertained the lords and ladies of the land, and gave to each, as he or she took leave, “either a clasp or a ring or a royal jewel to keep, such as it was honourable to be seen departing with.” And when the year was out Branwen bore a son to Matholwch, whose name was called Gwern.

*The Punishment of Branwen*

There occurs now an unintelligible place in the story. In the second year, it appears, and not till then, the men of Ireland grew indignant over the insult to their king committed by Evnissyen, and took revenge for it by having Branwen degraded to the position of a cook, and they caused the butcher every day to give her a blow on the ears. They also forbade all ships and ferry-boats to cross to Cambria, and any who came thence into Ireland were imprisoned so that news of Branwen’s ill-treatment might not come to the ears of Bran. But Branwen reared up a young starling in a corner of her kneading-trough, and one day she tied a letter under its wing and taught it what to do. It flew away towards Britain, and finding Bran at Caer Seiont in Arvon, it lit on his shoulder, ruffling its feathers, and the letter was found and read. Bran immediately prepared a great hosting for Ireland, and sailed thither with a fleet of ships, leaving his land of Britain under his son Caradawc and six other chiefs.

*The Invasion of Bran*

Soon there came messengers to Matholwch telling him of a wondrous sight they had seen; a wood was growing on the sea, and beside the wood a mountain with a high ridge in the middle of it, and two lakes, one at each side. And wood and mountain moved towards the shore of Ireland. Branwen is called up to explain, if she could, what this meant. She tells them the wood is the masts and yards of the fleet of Britain, and the mountain is Bran, her brother, coming into shoal water, “for no ship can contain him”; the ridge is his nose, the lakes his two eyes.(234)

The King of Ireland and his lords at once took counsel together how they might meet this danger; and the plan they agreed upon was as follows: A huge hall should be built, big enough to hold Bran—this, it was hoped, would placate him—there should be a great feast made there for himself and his men, and Matholwch should give over the kingdom of Ireland to him and do homage. All this was done by Branwen’s advice. But the Irish added a crafty device of their own. From two brackets on each of the hundred pillars in the hall should be hung two leather bags, with an armed warrior in each of them ready to fall upon the guests when the moment should arrive.

*The Meal-bags*

Evnissyen, however, wandered into the hall before the rest of the host, and scanning the arrangements “with fierce and savage looks,” he saw the bags which hung from the pillars. “What is in this bag?” said he to one of the Irish. “Meal, good soul,” said the Irishman. Evnissyen laid his hand on the bag, and felt about with his fingers till he came to the head of the man within it. Then “he squeezed the head till he felt his fingers meet together in the brain through the bone.” He went to the next bag, and asked the same question. “Meal,” said the Irish attendant, but Evnissyen crushed this warrior’s head also, and thus he did with all the two hundred bags, even in the case of one warrior whose head was covered with an iron helm.

Then the feasting began, and peace and concord reigned, and Matholwch laid down the sovranty of Ireland, which was conferred on the boy Gwern. And they all fondled and caressed the fair child till he came to Evnissyen, who suddenly seized him and flung him into the blazing fire on the hearth. Branwen would have leaped after him, but Bran held her back. Then there was arming apace, and tumult and shouting, and the Irish and British hosts closed in battle and fought until the fall of night.

*Death of Evnissyen*

But at night the Irish heated the magic cauldron and threw into it the bodies of their dead, who came out next day as good as ever, but dumb. When Evnissyen saw this he was smitten with remorse for having brought the men of Britain into such a strait: “Evil betide me if I find not a deliverance therefrom.” So he hid himself among the Irish dead, and was flung into the cauldron with the rest at the end of the second day, when he stretched himself out so that he rent the cauldron into four pieces, and his own heart burst with the effort, and he died.

*The Wonderful Head*

In the end, all the Irishmen were slain, and all but seven of the British besides Bran, who was wounded in the foot with a poisoned arrow. Among the seven were Pryderi and Manawyddan. Bran then commanded them to cut off his head. “And take it with you,” he said, “to London, and there bury it in the White Mount(235) looking towards France, and no foreigner shall invade the land while it is there. On the way the Head will talk to you, and be as pleasant company as ever in life. In Harlech ye will be feasting seven years and the birds of Rhiannon will sing to you. And at Gwales in Penvro ye will be feasting fourscore years, and the Head will talk to you and be uncorrupted till ye open the door looking towards Cornwall. After that ye may no longer tarry, but set forth to London and bury the Head.”

Then the seven cut off the head of Bran and went forth, and Branwen with them, to do his bidding. But when Branwen came to land at Aber Alaw she cried, “Woe is me that I was ever born; two islands have been destroyed because of me.” And she uttered a loud groan, and her heart broke. They made her a four-sided grave on the banks of the Alaw, and the place was called _Ynys Branwen_ to this day.(236)

The seven found that in the absence of Bran, Caswallan son of Beli had conquered Britain and slain the six captains of Caradawc. By magic art he had thrown on Caradawc the Veil of Illusion, and Caradawc saw only the sword which slew and slew, but not him who wielded it, and his heart broke for grief at the sight.

They then went to Harlech and remained there seven years listening to the singing of the birds of Rhiannon—“all the songs they had ever heard were unpleasant compared thereto.” Then they went to Gwales in Penvro and found a fair and spacious hall overlooking the ocean. When they entered it they forgot all the sorrow of the past and all that had befallen them, and remained there fourscore years in joy and mirth, the wondrous Head talking to them as if it were alive. And bards call this “the Entertaining of the Noble Head.” Three doors were in the hall, and one of them which looked to Cornwall and to Aber Henvelyn was closed, but the other two were open. At the end of the time, Heilyn son of Gwyn said, “Evil betide me if I do not open the door to see if what was said is true.” And he opened it, and at once remembrance and sorrow fell upon them, and they set forth at once for London and buried the Head in the White Mount, where it remained until Arthur dug it up, for he would not have the land defended but by the strong arm. And this was “the Third Fatal Disclosure” in Britain.

So ends this wild tale, which is evidently full of mythological elements, the key to which has long been lost. The touches of Northern ferocity which occur in it have made some critics suspect the influence of Norse or Icelandic literature in giving it its present form. The character of Evnissyen would certainly lend countenance to this conjecture. The typical mischief-maker of course occurs in purely Celtic sagas, but not commonly in combination with the heroic strain shown in Evnissyen’s end, nor does the Irish “poison-tongue” ascend to anything like the same height of daimonic malignity.

*The Tale of Pryderi and Manawyddan*

After the events of the previous tales Pryderi and Manawyddan retired to the dominions of the former, and Manawyddan took to wife Rhiannon, the mother of his friend. There they lived happily and prosperously till one day, while they were at the Gorsedd, or Mound, near Narberth, a peal of thunder was heard and a thick mist fell so that nothing could be seen all round. When the mist cleared away, behold, the land was bare before them—neither houses nor people nor cattle nor crops were to be seen, but all was desert and uninhabited. The palace of Narberth was still standing, but it was empty and desolate—none remained except Pryderi and Manawyddan and their wives, Kicva and Rhiannon.

Two years they lived on the provisions they had, and on the prey they killed, and on wild honey; and then they began to be weary. “Let us go into Lloegyr,”(237) then said Manawyddan, “and seek out some craft to support ourselves.” So they went to Hereford and settled there, and Manawyddan and Pryderi began to make saddles and housings, and Manawyddan decorated them with blue enamel as he had learned from a great craftsman, Llasar Llaesgywydd. After a time, however, the other saddlers of Hereford, finding that no man would purchase any but the work of Manawyddan, conspired to kill them. And Pryderi would have fought with them, but Manawyddan held it better to withdraw elsewhere, and so they did.

They settled then in another city, where they made shields such as never were seen, and here, too, in the end, the rival craftsmen drove them out. And this happened also in another town where they made shoes; and at last they resolved to go back to Dyfed. Then they gathered their dogs about them and lived by hunting as before.

One day they started a wild white boar, and chased him in vain until he led them up to a vast and lofty castle, all newly built in a place where they had never seen a building before. The boar ran into the castle, the dogs followed him, and Pryderi, against the counsel of Manawyddan, who knew there was magic afoot, went in to seek for the dogs.

He found in the centre of the court a marble fountain beside which stood a golden bowl on a marble slab, and being struck by the rich workmanship of the bowl, he laid hold of it to examine it, when he could neither withdraw his hand nor utter a single sound, but he remained there, transfixed and dumb, beside the fountain.

Manawyddan went back to Narberth and told the story to Rhiannon. “An evil companion hast thou been,” said she, “and a good companion hast thou lost.”

Next day she went herself to explore the castle. She found Pryderi still clinging to the bowl and unable to speak. She also, then, laid hold of the bowl, when the same fate befell her, and immediately afterwards came a peal of thunder, and a heavy mist fell, and when it cleared off the castle had vanished with all that it contained, including the two spell-bound wanderers.

Manawyddan then went back to Narberth, where only Kicva, Pryderi’s wife, now remained. And when she saw none but herself and Manawyddan in the place, “she sorrowed so that she cared not whether she lived or died.” When Manawyddan saw this he said to her, “Thou art in the wrong if through fear of me thou grievest thus. I declare to thee were I in the dawn of youth I would keep my faith unto Pryderi, and unto thee also will I keep it.” “Heaven reward thee,” she said, “and that is what I deemed of thee.” And thereupon she took courage and was glad.

Kicva and Manawyddan then again tried to support themselves by shoemaking in Lloegyr, but the same hostility drove them back to Dyfed. This time, however, Manawyddan took back with him a load of wheat, and he sowed it, and he prepared three crofts for a wheat crop. Thus the time passed till the fields were ripe. And he looked at one of the crofts and said, “I will reap this to-morrow.” But on the morrow when he went out in the grey dawn he found nothing there but bare straw—every ear had been cut off from the stalk and carried away.

Next day it was the same with the second croft. But on the following night he armed himself and sat up to watch the third croft to see who was plundering him. At midnight, as he watched, he heard a loud noise, and behold, a mighty host of mice came pouring into the croft, and they climbed up each on a stalk and nibbled off the ears and made away with them. He chased them in anger, but they fled far faster than he could run, all save one which was slower in its movements, and this he barely managed to overtake, and he bound it into his glove and took it home to Narberth, and told Kicva what had happened. “To-morrow,” he said, “I will hang the robber I have caught,” but Kicva thought it beneath his dignity to take vengeance on a mouse.

Next day he went up to the Mound of Narberth and set up two forks for a gallows on the highest part of the hill. As he was doing this a poor scholar came towards him, and he was the first person Manawyddan had seen in Dyfed, except his own companions, since the enchantment began.

The scholar asked him what he was about and begged him to let go the mouse—“Ill doth it become a man of thy rank to touch such a reptile as this.” “I will not let it go, by Heaven,” said Manawyddan, and by that he abode, although the scholar offered him a pound of money to let it go free. “I care not,” said the scholar, “except that I would not see a man of rank touching such a reptile,” and with that he went his way.

As Manawyddan was placing the cross-beam on the two forks of his gallows, a priest came towards him riding on a horse with trappings, and the same conversation ensued. The priest offered three pounds for the mouse’s life, but Manawyddan refused to take any price for it. “Willingly, lord, do thy good pleasure,” said the priest, and he, too, went his way.

Then Manawyddan put a noose about the mouse’s neck and was about to draw it up when he saw coming towards him a bishop with a great retinue of sumpter-horses and attendants. And he stayed his work and asked the bishop’s blessing. “Heaven’s blessing be unto thee,” said the bishop; “what work art thou upon?” “Hanging a thief,” replied Manawyddan. The bishop offered seven pounds “rather than see a man of thy rank destroying so vile a reptile.” Manawyddan refused. Four-and-twenty pounds was then offered, and then as much again, then all the bishop’s horses and baggage—all in vain. “Since for this thou wilt not,” said the bishop, “do it at whatever price thou wilt.” “I will do so,” said Manawyddan; “I will that Rhiannon and Pryderi be free.” “That thou shalt have,” said the (pretended) bishop. Then Manawyddan demands that the enchantment and illusion be taken off for ever from the seven Cantrevs of Dyfed, and finally insists that the bishop shall tell him who the mouse is and why the enchantment was laid on the country. “I am Llwyd son of Kilcoed,” replies the enchanter, “and the mouse is my wife; but that she is pregnant thou hadst never overtaken her.” He goes on with an explanation which takes us back to the first _Mabinogi_ of the Wedding of Rhiannon. The charm was cast on the land to avenge the ill that was done Llwyd’s friend, Gwawl son of Clud, with whom Pryderi’s father and his knights had played “Badger in the Bag” at the court of Hevydd Hēn. The mice were the lords and ladies of Llwyd’s court.

The enchanter is then made to promise that no further vengeance shall be taken on Pryderi, Rhiannon, or Manawyddan, and the two spell-bound captives having been restored, the mouse is released. “Then Llwyd struck her with a magic wand, and she was changed into a young woman, the fairest ever seen.” And on looking round Manawyddan saw all the land tilled and peopled as in its best state, and full of herds and dwellings. “What bondage,” he asks, “has there been upon Pryderi and Rhiannon?” “Pryderi has had the knockers of the gate of my palace about his neck, and Rhiannon has had the collars of the asses after they have been carrying hay about her neck.” And such had been their bondage.

*The Tale of Māth Son of Māthonwy*

The previous tale was one of magic and illusion in which the mythological element is but faint. In that which we have now to consider we are, however, in a distinctly mythological region. The central motive of the tale shows us the Powers of Light contending with those of the Under-world for the prized possessions of the latter, in this case a herd of magic swine. We are introduced in the beginning of the story to the deity, Māth, of whom the bard tells us that he was unable to exist unless his feet lay in the lap of a maiden, except when the land was disturbed by war.(238) Māth is represented as lord of Gwynedd, while Pryderi rules over the one-and-twenty cantrevs of the south. With Māth were his nephews Gwydion and Gilvaethwy sons of Dōn, who went the circuit of the land in his stead, while Māth lay with his feet in the lap of the fairest maiden of the land and time, Goewin daughter of Pebin of Dōl Pebin in Arvon.

*Gwydion and the Swine of Pryderi*

Gilvaethwy fell sick of love for Goewin, and confided the secret to his brother Gwydion, who undertook to help him to his desire. So he went to Māth one day, and asked his leave to go to Pryderi and beg from him the gift, for Māth, of a herd of swine which had been bestowed on him by Arawn King of Annwn. “They are beasts,” he said, “such as never were known in this island before ... their flesh is better than the flesh of oxen.” Māth bade him go, and he and Gilvaethwy started with ten companions for Dyfed. They came to Pryderi’s palace in the guise of bards, and Gwydion, after being entertained at a feast, was asked to tell a tale to the court. After delighting every one with his discourse he begged for a gift of the swine. But Pryderi was under a compact with his people neither to sell nor give them until they had produced double their number in the land. “Thou mayest exchange them, though,” said Gwydion, and thereupon he made by magic arts an illusion of twelve horses magnificently caparisoned, and twelve hounds, and gave them to Pryderi and made off with the swine as fast as possible, “for,” said he to his companions, “the illusion will not last but from one hour to the same to-morrow.”

The intended result came to pass—Pryderi invaded the land to recover his swine, Māth went to meet him in arms, and Gilvaethwy seized his opportunity and made Goewin his wife, although she was unwilling.

*Death of Pryderi*

The war was decided by a single combat between Gwydion and Pryderi. “And by force of strength and fierceness, and by the magic and charms of Gwydion, Pryderi was slain. And at Maen Tyriawc, above Melenryd, was he buried, and there is his grave.”

*The Penance of Gwydion and Gilvaethwy*

When Māth came back he found what Gilvaethwy had done, and he took Goewin to be his queen, but Gwydion and Gilvaethwy went into outlawry, and dwelt on the borders of the land. At last they came and submitted themselves for punishment to Māth. “Ye cannot compensate me my shame, setting aside the death of Pryderi,” he said, “but since ye come hither to be at my will, I shall begin your punishment forthwith.” So he turned them both into deer, and bade them come hither again in a twelvemonth.

They came at the appointed time, bringing with them a young fawn. And the fawn was brought into human shape and baptized, and Gwydion and Gilvaethwy were changed into two wild swine. At the next year’s end they came back with a young one who was treated as the fawn before him, and the brothers were made into wolves. Another year passed; they came back again with a young wolf as before, and this time their penance was deemed complete, and their human nature was restored to them, and Māth gave orders to have them washed and anointed, and nobly clad as was befitting.

*The Children of Arianrod: Dylan*

The question then arose of appointing another virgin foot-holder, and Gwydion suggests his sister, Arianrod. She attends for the purpose, and Māth asks her if she is a virgin. “I know not, lord, other than that I am,” she says. But she failed in a magical test imposed by Māth, and gave birth to two sons. One of these was named Dylan, “Son of the Wave,” evidently a Cymric sea-deity. So soon as he was baptized “he plunged into the sea and swam as well as the best fish that was therein.... Beneath him no wave ever broke.” A wild sea-poetry hangs about his name in Welsh legend. On his death, which took place, it is said, at the hand of his uncle Govannon, all the waves of Britain and Ireland wept for him. The roar of the incoming tide at the mouth of the river Conway is still called the “death-groan of Dylan.”

*Llew Llaw Gyffes*

The other infant was seized by Gwydion and brought up under his protection. Like other solar heroes, he grew very rapidly; when he was four he was as big as if he were eight, and the comeliest youth that ever was seen. One day Gwydion took him to visit his mother Arianrod. She hated the children who had exposed her false pretensions, and upbraided Gwydion for bringing the boy into her sight. “What is his name?” she asked. “Verily,” said Gwydion, “he has not yet a name.” “Then I lay this destiny upon him,” said Arianrod, “that he shall never have a name till one is given him by me.” On this Gwydion went forth in wrath, and remained in his castle of Caer Dathyl that night.

Though the fact does not appear in this tale, it must be remembered that Gwydion is, in the older mythology, the father of Arianrod’s children.

*How Llew Got his Name*

He was resolved to have a name for his son. Next day he went to the strand below Caer Arianrod, bringing the boy with him. Here he sat down by the beach, and in his character of a master of magic he made himself look like a shoemaker, and the boy like an apprentice, and he began to make shoes out of sedges and seaweed, to which he gave the semblance of Cordovan leather. Word was brought to Arianrod of the wonderful shoes that were being made by a strange cobbler, and she sent her measure for a pair. Gwydion made them too large. She sent it again, and he made them too small. Then she came herself to be fitted. While this was going on, a wren came and lit on the boat’s mast, and the boy, taking up a bow, shot an arrow that transfixed the leg between the sinew and the bone. Arianrod admired the brilliant shot. “Verily,” she said, “with a steady hand (_llaw gyffes_) did the lion (_llew_) hit it.” “No thanks to thee,” cried Gwydion, “now he has got a name. Llew Llaw Gyffes shall he be called henceforward.”

We have seen that the name really means the same thing as the Gaelic Lugh Lamfada, Lugh (Light) of the Long Arm; so that we have here an instance of a legend growing up round a misunderstood name inherited from a half-forgotten mythology.

*How Llew Took Arms*

The shoes went back immediately to sedges and seaweed again, and Arianrod, angry at being tricked, laid a new curse on the boy. “He shall never bear arms till I invest him with them.” But Gwydion, going to Caer Arianrod with the boy in the semblance of two bards, makes by magic art the illusion of a foray of armed men round the castle. Arianrod gives them weapons to help in the defence, and thus again finds herself tricked by the superior craft of Gwydion.

*The Flower-Wife of Llew*

Next she said, “He shall never have a wife of the race that now inhabits this earth.” This raised a difficulty beyond the powers of even Gwydion, and he went to Māth, the supreme master of magic. “Well,” said Māth, “we will seek, I and thou, to form a wife for him out of flowers.” “So they took the blossoms of the oak, and the blossoms of the broom, and the blossoms of the meadow-sweet, and produced from them a maiden, the fairest and most graceful that man ever saw. And they baptized her, and gave her the name of Blodeuwedd, or Flower-face.” They wedded her to Llew, and gave them the cantrev of Dinodig to reign over, and there Llew and his bride dwelt for a season, happy, and beloved by all.

*Betrayal of Llew*

But Blodeuwedd was not worthy of her beautiful name and origin. One day when Llew was away on a visit with Māth, a lord named Gronw Pebyr came a-hunting by the palace of Llew, and Blodeuwedd loved him from the moment she looked upon him. That night they slept together, and the next, and the next, and then they planned how to be rid of Llew for ever. But Llew, like the Gothic solar hero Siegfried, is invulnerable except under special circumstances, and Blodeuwedd has to learn from him how he may be slain. This she does under pretence of care for his welfare. The problem is a hard one. Llew can only be killed by a spear which has been a year in making, and has only been worked on during the Sacrifice of the Host on Sundays. Furthermore, he cannot be slain within a house or without, on horseback or on foot. The only way, in fact, is that he should stand with one foot on a dead buck and the other in a cauldron, which is to be used for a bath and thatched with a roof—if he is wounded while in this position with a spear made as directed the wound may be fatal, not otherwise. After a year, during which Gronw wrought at the spear, Blodeuwedd begged Llew to show her more fully what she must guard against, and he took up the required position to please her. Gronw, lurking in a wood hard by, hurled the deadly spear, and the head, which was poisoned, sank into Llew’s body, but the shaft broke off. Then Llew changed into an eagle, and with a loud scream he soared up into the air and was no more seen, and Gronw took his castle and lands and added them to his own.

These tidings at last reached Gwydion and Māth, and Gwydion set out to find Llew. He came to the house of a vassal of his, from whom he learned that a sow that he had disappeared every day and could not be traced, but it came home duly each night. Gwydion followed the sow, and it went far away to the brook since called Nant y Llew, where it stopped under a tree and began feeding. Gwydion looked to see what it ate, and found that it fed on putrid flesh that dropped from an eagle sitting aloft on the tree, and it seemed to him that the eagle was Llew. Gwydion sang to it, and brought it gradually down the tree till it came to his knee, when he struck it with his magic wand and restored it to the shape of Llew, but worn to skin and bone—“no one ever saw a more piteous sight.”

*The Healing of Llew*

When Llew was healed, he and Gwydion took vengeance on their foes. Blodeuwedd was changed into an owl and bidden to shun the light of day, and Gronw was slain by a cast of the spear of Llew that passed through a slab of stone to reach him, and the slab with the hole through it made by the spear of Llew remains by the bank of the river Cynvael in Ardudwy to this day. And Llew took possession, for the second time, of his lands, and ruled them prosperously all his days.

The four preceding tales are called the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, and of the collection called the “Mabinogion” they form the most ancient and important part.

*The Dream of Maxen Wledig*

Following the order of the tales in the “Mabinogion,” as presented in Mr. Nutt’s edition, we come next to one which is a pure work of invention, with no mythical or legendary element at all. It recounts how Maxen Wledig, Emperor of Rome, had a vivid dream, in which he was led into a strange country, where he saw a king in an ivory chair carving chessmen with a steel file from a rod of gold. By him, on a golden throne, was the fairest of maidens he had ever beheld. Waking, he found himself in love with the dream-maiden, and sent messengers far and wide to discover, if they could, the country and people that had appeared to him. They were found in Britain. Thither went Maxen, and wooed and wedded the maiden. In his absence a usurper laid hold of his empire in Rome, but with the aid of his British friends he reconquered his dominions, and many of them settled there with him, while others went home to Britain. The latter took with them foreign wives, but, it is said, cut out their tongues, lest they should corrupt the speech of the Britons. Thus early and thus powerful was the devotion to their tongue of the Cymry, of whom the mythical bard Taliesin prophesied:

“Their God they will praise, Their speech they will keep, Their land they will lose, Except wild Walia.”

*The Story of Lludd and Llevelys*

This tale is associated with the former one in the section entitled Romantic British History. It tells how Lludd son of Beli, and his brother Llevelys, ruled respectively over Britain and France, and how Lludd sought his brother’s aid to stay the three plagues that were harassing the land. These three plagues were, first, the presence of a demoniac race called the Coranians; secondly, a fearful scream that was heard in every home in Britain on every May-eve, and scared the people out of their senses; thirdly, the unaccountable disappearance of all provisions in the king’s court every night, so that nothing that was not consumed by the household could be found the next morning. Lludd and Llevelys talked over these matters through a brazen tube, for the Coranians could hear everything that was said if once the winds got hold of it—a property also attributed to Māth, son of Māthonwy. Llevelys destroyed the Coranians by giving to Lludd a quantity of poisonous insects which were to be bruised up and scattered over the people at an assembly. These insects would slay the Coranians, but the people of Britain would be immune to them. The scream Llevelys explained as proceeding from two dragons, which fought each other once a year. They were to be slain by being intoxicated with mead, which was to be placed in a pit dug in the very centre of Britain, which was found on measurement to be at Oxford. The provisions, said Llevelys, were taken away by a giant wizard, for whom Lludd watched as directed, and overcame him in combat, and made him his faithful vassal thenceforward. Thus Lludd and Llevelys freed the island from its three plagues.

*Tales of Arthur*

We next come to five Arthurian tales, one of which, the tale of Kilhwch and Olwen, is the only native Arthurian legend which has come down to us in Welsh literature. The rest, as we have seen, are more or less reflections from the Arthurian literature as developed by foreign hands on the Continent.

*Kilhwch and Olwen*

Kilhwch was son to Kilydd and his wife Goleuddydd, and is said to have been cousin to Arthur. His mother having died, Kilydd took another wife, and she, jealous of her stepson, laid on him a quest which promised to be long and dangerous. “I declare,” she said, “that it is thy destiny”—the Gael would have said _geis_—“not to be suited with a wife till thou obtain Olwen daughter of Yspaddaden Penkawr.”(239) And Kilhwch reddened at the name, and “love of the maiden diffused itself through all his frame.” By his father’s advice he set out to Arthur’s Court to learn how and where he might find and woo her.

A brilliant passage then describes the youth in the flower of his beauty, on a noble steed caparisoned with gold, and accompanied by two brindled white-breasted greyhounds with collars of rubies, setting forth on his journey to King Arthur. “And the blade of grass bent not beneath him, so light was his courser’s tread.”

*Kilhwch at Arthur’s Court*

After some difficulties with the Porter and with Arthur’s seneschal, Kai, who did not wish to admit the lad while the company were sitting at meat, Kilhwch was brought into the presence of the King, and declared his name and his desire. “I seek this boon,” he said, “from thee and likewise at the hands of thy warriors,” and he then enumerates an immense list full of mythological personages and details—Bedwyr, Gwyn ap Nudd, Kai, Manawyddan,(240) Geraint, and many others, including “Morvran son of Tegid, whom no one struck at in the battle of Camlan by reason of his ugliness; all thought he was a devil,” and “Sandde Bryd Angel, whom no one touched with a spear in the battle of Camlan because of his beauty; all thought he was a ministering angel.” The list extends to many scores of names and includes many women, as, for instance, “Creiddylad the daughter of Lludd of the Silver Hand—she was the most splendid maiden in the three Islands of the Mighty, and for her Gwythyr the son of Greidawl and Gwyn the son of Nudd fight every first of May till doom,” and the two Iseults and Arthur’s Queen, Gwenhwyvar. “All these did Kilydd’s son Kilhwch adjure to obtain his boon.”

Arthur, however, had never heard of Olwen nor of her kindred. He promised to seek for her, but at the end of a year no tidings of her could be found, and Kilhwch declared that he would depart and leave Arthur shamed. Kai and Bedwyr, with the guide Kynddelig, are at last bidden to go forth on the quest.

*Servitors of Arthur*

These personages are very different from those who are called by the same names in Malory or Tennyson. Kai, it is said, could go nine days under water. He could render himself at will as tall as a forest tree. So hot was his physical constitution that nothing he bore in his hand could get wetted in the heaviest rain. “Very subtle was Kai.” As for Bedwyr—the later Sir Bedivere—we are told that none equalled him in swiftness, and that, though one-armed, he was a match for any three warriors on the field of battle; his lance made a wound equal to those of nine. Besides these three there went also on the quest Gwrhyr, who knew all tongues, and Gwalchmai son of Arthur’s sister Gwyar, and Menw, who could make the party invisible by magic spells.

*Custennin*

The party journeyed till at last they came to a great castle before which was a flock of sheep kept by a shepherd who had by him a mastiff big as a horse. The breath of this shepherd, we are told, could burn up a tree. “He let no occasion pass without doing some hurt or harm.” However, he received the party well, told them that he was Custennin, brother of Yspaddaden whose castle stood before them, and brought them home to his wife. The wife turned out to be a sister of Kilhwch’s mother Goleuddydd, and she was rejoiced at seeing her nephew, but sorrowful at the thought that he had come in search of Olwen, “for none ever returned from that quest alive.” Custennin and his family, it appears, have suffered much at the hands of Yspaddaden—all their sons but one being slain, because Yspaddaden envied his brother his share of their patrimony. So they associated themselves with the heroes in their quest.

*Olwen of the White Track*

Next day Olwen came down to the herdsman’s house as usual, for she was wont to wash her hair there every Saturday, and each time she did so she left all her rings in the vessel and never sent for them again. She is described in one of those pictorial passages in which the Celtic passion for beauty has found such exquisite utterance.

“The maiden was clothed in a robe of flame-coloured silk, and about her neck was a collar of ruddy gold on which were precious emeralds and rubies. More yellow was her head than the flower of the broom, and her skin was whiter than the foam of the wave, and fairer were her hands and her fingers than the blossoms of the wood-anemone amidst the spray of the meadow fountain. The eye of the trained hawk, the glance of the three-mewed falcon, was not brighter than hers. Her bosom was more snowy than the breast of the white swan, her cheek was redder than the reddest roses. Whoso beheld her was filled with her love. Four white trefoils sprang up wherever she trod. And therefore was she called Olwen.”(241)

Kilhwch and she conversed together and loved each other, and she bade him go and ask her of her father and deny him nothing that he might demand. She had pledged her faith not to wed without his will, for his life would only last till the time of her espousals.

*Yspaddaden*

Next day the party went to the castle and saw Yspaddaden. He put them off with various excuses, and as they left flung after them a poisoned dart. Bedwyr caught it and flung it back, wounding him in the knee, and Yspaddaden cursed him in language of extraordinary vigour; the words seem to crackle and spit like flame. Thrice over this happened, and at last Yspaddaden declared what must be done to win Olwen.

*The Tasks of Kilhwch*

A long series of tasks follows. A vast hill is to be ploughed, sown, and reaped in one day; only Amathaon son of Dōn can do it, and he will not. Govannon, the smith, is to rid the ploughshare at each headland, and he will not do it. The two dun oxen of Gwlwlyd are to draw the plough, and he will not lend them. Honey nine times sweeter than that of the bee must be got to make bragget for the wedding feast. A magic cauldron, a magic basket out of which comes any meat that a man desires, a magic horn, the sword of Gwrnach the Giant—all these must be won; and many other secret and difficult things, some forty in all, before Kilhwch can call Olwen his own. The most difficult quest is that of obtaining the comb and scissors that are between the two ears of Twrch Trwyth, a king transformed into a monstrous boar. To hunt the boar a number of other quests must be accomplished—the whelp of Greid son of Eri is to be won, and a certain leash to hold him, and a certain collar for the leash, and a chain for the collar, and Mabon son of Modron for the huntsman and the horse of Gweddw to carry Mabon, and Gwyn son of Nudd to help, “whom God placed over the brood of devils in Annwn ... he will never be spared them,” and so forth to an extent which makes the famous _eric_ of the sons of Turenn seem trifling by comparison. “Difficulties shalt thou meet with, and nights without sleep, in seeking this [bride price], and if thou obtain it not, neither shalt thou have my daughter.” Kilhwch has one answer for every demand: “It will be easy for me to accomplish this, although thou mayest think that it will not be easy. And I shall gain thy daughter and thou shalt lose thy life.”

So they depart on their way to fulfil the tasks, and on their way home they fall in with Gwrnach the Giant, whose sword Kai, pretending to be a sword-polisher, obtains by a stratagem. On reaching Arthur’s Court again, and telling the King what they have to do, he promises his aid. First of the marvels they accomplished was the discovery and liberation of Mabon son of Modron, “who was taken from his mother when three nights old, and it is not known where he is now, nor whether he is living or dead.” Gwrhyr inquires of him from the Ousel of Cilgwri, who is so old that a smith’s anvil on which he was wont to peck has been worn to the size of a nut, yet he has never heard of Mabon. But he takes them to a beast older still, the Stag of Redynvre, and so on to the Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd, and the Eagle of Gwern Abwy, and the Salmon of Llyn Llyw, the oldest of living things, and at last they find Mabon imprisoned in the stone dungeon of Gloucester, and with Arthur’s help they release him, and so the second task is fulfilled. In one way or another, by stratagem, or valour, or magic art, every achievement is accomplished, including the last and most perilous one, that of obtaining “the blood of the black witch Orddu, daughter of the white witch Orwen, of Penn Nart Govid on the confines of Hell.” The combat here is very like that of Finn in the cave of Keshcorran, but Arthur at last cleaves the hag in twain, and Kaw of North Britain takes her blood.

So then they set forth for the castle of Yspaddaden again, and he acknowledges defeat. Goreu son of Custennin cuts off his head, and that night Olwen became the happy bride of Kilhwch, and the hosts of Arthur dispersed, every man to his own land.

*The Dream of Rhonabwy*

Rhonabwy was a man-at-arms under Madawc son of Maredudd, whose brother Iorwerth rose in rebellion against him; and Rhonabwy went with the troops of Madawc to put him down. Going with a few companions into a mean hut to rest for the night, he lies down to sleep on a yellow calf-skin by the fire, while his friends lie on filthy couches of straw and twigs. On the calf-skin he has a wonderful dream. He sees before him the court and camp of Arthur—here the _quasi_-historical king, neither the legendary deity of the former tale nor the Arthur of the French chivalrous romances—as he moves towards Mount Badon for his great battle with the heathen. A character named Iddawc is his guide to the King, who smiles at Rhonabwy and his friends, and asks: “Where, Iddawc, didst thou find these little men?” “I found them, lord, up yonder on the road.” “It pitieth me,” said Arthur, “that men of such stature as these should have the island in their keeping, after the men that guarded it of yore.” Rhonabwy has his attention directed to a stone in the King’s ring. “It is one of the properties of that stone to enable thee to remember that which thou seest here to-night, and hadst thou not seen the stone, thou wouldst never have been able to remember aught thereof.”

The different heroes and companions that compose Arthur’s army are minutely described, with all the brilliant colour and delicate detail so beloved by the Celtic fabulist. The chief incident narrated is a game of chess that takes place between Arthur and the knight Owain son of Urien. While the game goes on, first the knights of Arthur harry and disturb the Ravens of Owain, but Arthur, when Owain complains, only says: “Play thy game.” Afterwards the Ravens have the better of it, and it is Owain’s turn to bid Arthur attend to his game. Then Arthur took the golden chessmen and crushed them to dust in his hand, and besought Owain to quiet his Ravens, which was done, and peace reigned again. Rhonabwy, it is said, slept three days and nights on the calf-skin before awaking from his wondrous dream. An epilogue declares that no bard is expected to know this tale by heart and without a book, “because of the various colours that were upon the horses, and the many wondrous colours of the arms and of the panoply, and of the precious scarfs, and of the virtue-bearing stones.” The “Dream of Rhonabwy” is rather a gorgeous vision of the past than a story in the ordinary sense of the word.

*The Lady of the Fountain*

We have here a Welsh reproduction of the _Conte_ entitled “Le Chevalier au lion” of Chrestien de Troyes. The principal personage in the tale is Owain son of Urien, who appears in a character as foreign to the spirit of Celtic legend as it was familiar on the Continent, that of knight-errant.

*The Adventure of Kymon*

We are told in the introduction that Kymon, a knight of Arthur’s Court, had a strange and unfortunate adventure. Riding forth in search of some deed of chivalry to do, he came to a splendid castle, where he was hospitably received by four-and-twenty damsels, of whom “the least lovely was more lovely than Gwenhwyvar, the wife of Arthur, when she has appeared loveliest at the Offering on the Day of the Nativity, or at the feast of Easter.” With them was a noble lord, who, after Kymon had eaten, asked of his business. Kymon explained that he was seeking for his match in combat. The lord of the castle smiled, and bade him proceed as follows: He should take the road up the valley and through a forest till he came to a glade with a mound in the midst of it. On the mound he would see a black man of huge stature with one foot and one eye, bearing a mighty iron club. He was wood-ward of that forest, and would have thousands of wild animals, stags, serpents, and what not, feeding around him. He would show Kymon what he was in quest of.

Kymon followed the instructions, and the black man directed him to where he should find a fountain under a great tree; by the side of it would be a silver bowl on a slab of marble. Kymon was to take the bowl and throw a bowlful of water on the slab, when a terrific storm of hail and thunder would follow—then there would break forth an enchanting music of singing birds—then would appear a knight in black armour riding on a coal-black horse, with a black pennon upon his lance. “And if thou dost not find trouble in that adventure, thou needst not seek it during the rest of thy life.”

*The Character of Welsh Romance*

Here let us pause for a moment to point out how clearly we are in the region of mediæval romance, and how far from that of Celtic mythology. Perhaps the Celtic “Land of Youth” may have remotely suggested those regions of beauty and mystery into which the Arthurian knight rides in quest of adventure. But the scenery, the motives, the incidents, are altogether different. And how beautiful they are—how steeped in the magic light of romance! The colours live and glow, the forest murmurs in our ears, the breath of that springtime of our modern world is about us, as we follow the lonely rider down the grassy track into an unknown world of peril and delight. While in some respects the Continental tales are greater than the Welsh, more thoughtful, more profound, they do not approach them in the exquisite artistry with which the exterior aspect of things is rendered, the atmosphere of enchantment maintained, and the reader led, with ever-quickening interest, from point to point in the development of the tale. Nor are these Welsh tales a whit behind in the noble and chivalrous spirit which breathes through them. A finer school of character and of manners could hardly be found in literature. How strange that for many centuries this treasure beyond all price should have lain unnoticed in our midst! And how deep must be our gratitude to the nameless bards whose thought created it, and to the nobly inspired hand which first made it a possession for all the English-speaking world!

*Defeat of Kymon*

But to resume our story. Kymon did as he was bidden, the Black Knight appeared, silently they set lance in rest and charged. Kymon was flung to earth, while his enemy, not bestowing one glance upon him, passed the shaft of his lance through the rein of Kymon’s horse and rode off with it in the direction whence he had come. Kymon went back afoot to the castle, where none asked him how he had sped, but they gave him a new horse, “a dark bay palfrey with nostrils as red as scarlet,” on which he rode home to Caerleon.

*Owain and the Black Knight*

Owain was, of course, fired by the tale of Kymon, and next morning at the dawn of day he rode forth to seek for the same adventure. All passed as it had done in Kymon’s case, but Owain wounded the Black Knight so sorely that he turned his horse and fled, Owain pursuing him hotly. They came to a “vast and resplendent castle.” Across the drawbridge they rode, the outer portcullis of which fell as the Black Knight passed it. But so close at his heels was Owain that the portcullis fell behind him, cutting his horse in two behind the saddle, and he himself remained imprisoned between the outer gate of the drawbridge and the inner. While he was in this predicament a maiden came to him and gave him a ring. When he wore it with the stone reversed and clenched in his hand he would become invisible, and when the servants of the lord of the castle came for him he was to elude them and follow her.

This she did knowing apparently who he was, “for as a friend thou art the most sincere, and as a lover the most devoted.”

Owain did as he was bidden, and the maiden concealed him. In that night a great lamentation was heard in the castle—its lord had died of the wound which Owain had given him. Soon afterwards Owain got sight of the mistress of the castle, and love of her took entire possession of him. Luned, the maiden who had rescued him, wooed her for him, and he became her husband, and lord of the Castle of the Fountain and all the dominions of the Black Knight. And he then defended the fountain with lance and sword as his forerunner had done, and made his defeated antagonists ransom themselves for great sums, which he bestowed among his barons and knights. Thus he abode for three years.

*The Search for Owain*

After this time Arthur, with his nephew Gwalchmai and with Kymon for guide, rode forth at the head of a host to search for tidings of Owain. They came to the fountain, and here they met Owain, neither knowing the other as their helms were down. And first Kai was overthrown, and then Gwalchmai and Owain fought, and after a while Gwalchmai was unhelmed. Owain said, “My lord Gwalchmai, I did not know thee; take my sword and my arms.” Said Gwalchmai, “Thou, Owain, art the victor; take thou my sword.” Arthur ended the contention in courtesy by taking the swords of both, and then they all rode to the Castle of the Fountain, where Owain entertained them with great joy. And he went back with Arthur to Caerleon, promising to his countess that he would remain there but three months and then return.

*Owain Forgets his Lady*

But at the Court of Arthur he forgot his love and his duty, and remained there three years. At the end of that time a noble lady came riding upon a horse caparisoned with gold, and she sought out Owain and took the ring from his hand. “Thus,” she said, “shall be treated the deceiver, the traitor, the faithless, the disgraced, and the beardless.” Then she turned her horse’s head and departed. And Owain, overwhelmed with shame and remorse, fled from the sight of men and lived in a desolate country with wild beasts till his body wasted and his hair grew long and his clothing rotted away.

*Owain and the Lion*

In this guise, when near to death from exposure and want, he was taken in by a certain widowed countess and her maidens, and restored to strength by magic balsams; and although they besought him to remain with them, he rode forth again, seeking for lonely and desert lands. Here he found a lion in battle with a great serpent. Owain slew the serpent, and the lion followed him and played about him as if it had been a greyhound that he had reared. And it fed him by catching deer, part of which Owain cooked for himself, giving the rest to his lion to devour; and the beast kept watch over him by night.

*Release of Luned*

Owain next finds an imprisoned damsel, whose sighs he hears, though he cannot see her nor she him. Being questioned, she told him that her name was Luned—she was the handmaid of a countess whose husband had left her, “and he was the friend I loved best in the world.” Two of the pages of the countess had traduced him, and because she defended him she was condemned to be burned if before a year was out he (namely, Owain son of Urien) had not appeared to deliver her. And the year would end to-morrow. On the next day Owain met the two youths leading Luned to execution and did battle with them. With the help of the lion he overcame them, rescued Luned, and returned to the Castle of the Fountain, where he was reconciled with his love. And he took her with him to Arthur’s Court, and she was his wife there as long as she lived. Lastly comes an adventure in which, still aided by the lion, he vanquishes a black giant and releases four-and-twenty noble ladies, and the giant vows to give up his evil ways and keep a hospice for wayfarers as long as he should live.

“And thenceforth Owain dwelt at Arthur’s Court, greatly beloved, as the head of his household, until he went away with his followers; and these were the army of three hundred ravens which Kenverchyn(242) had left him. And wherever Owain went with these he was victorious. And this is the tale of the Lady of the Fountain.”

*The Tale of Enid and Geraint*

In this tale, which appears to be based on the “Erec” of Chrestien de Troyes, the main interest is neither mythological nor adventurous, but sentimental. How Geraint found and wooed his love as the daughter of a great lord fallen on evil days; how he jousted for her with Edeyrn, son of Nudd—a Cymric deity transformed into the “Knight of the Sparrowhawk”; how, lapped in love of her, he grew careless of his fame and his duty; how he misunderstood the words she murmured over him as she deemed him sleeping, and doubted her faith; how despitefully he treated her; and in how many a bitter test she proved her love and loyalty—all these things have been made so familiar to English readers in Tennyson’s “Enid” that they need not detain us here. Tennyson, in this instance, has followed his original very closely.

Legends of the Grail: The Tale of Peredur

The Tale of Peredur is one of great interest and significance in connexion with the origin of the Grail legend. Peredur corresponds to the Perceval of Chrestien de Troyes, to whom we owe the earliest extant poem on the Grail; but that writer left his Grail story unfinished, and we never learn from him what exactly the Grail was or what gave it its importance. When we turn for light to “Peredur,” which undoubtedly represents a more ancient form of the legend, we find ourselves baffled. For “Peredur” may be described as the Grail story without the Grail.(243) The strange personages, objects, and incidents which form the usual setting for the entry upon the scene of this mystic treasure are all here; we breathe the very atmosphere of the Grail Castle; but of the Grail itself there is no word. The story is concerned simply with the vengeance taken by the hero for the slaying of a kinsman, and for this end only are the mysteries of the Castle of Wonders displayed to him.

We learn at the opening of the tale that Peredur was in the significant position of being a seventh son. To be a seventh son was, in this world of mystical romance, equivalent to being marked out by destiny for fortunes high and strange. His father, Evrawc, an earl of the North, and his six brothers had fallen in fight. Peredur’s mother, therefore, fearing a similar fate for her youngest child, brought him up in a forest, keeping from him all knowledge of chivalry or warfare and of such things as war-horses or weapons. Here he grew up a simple rustic in manner and in knowledge, but of an amazing bodily strength and activity.

*He Goes Forth in Quest of Adventure*

One day he saw three knights on the borders of the forest. They were all of Arthur’s Court—Gwalchmai, Geneir, and Owain. Entranced by the sight, he asked his mother what these beings were. “They are angels, my son,” said she. “By my faith,” said Peredur, “I will go and become an angel with them.” He goes to meet them, and soon learns what they are. Owain courteously explains to him the use of a saddle, a shield, a sword, all the accoutrements of warfare; and Peredur that evening picked out a bony piebald draught-horse, and dressed him up in a saddle and trappings made of twigs, and imitated from those he had seen. Seeing that he was bent on going forth to deeds of chivalry, his mother gave him her blessing and sundry instructions, and bade him seek the Court of Arthur; “there there are the best, and the boldest, and the most beautiful of men.”

*His First Feat of Arms*

Peredur mounted his Rosinante, took for weapons a handful of sharp-pointed stakes, and rode forth to Arthur’s Court. Here the steward, Kai, rudely repulsed him for his rustic appearance, but a dwarf and dwarfess, who had been a year at the Court without speaking one word to any one there, cried: “Goodly Peredur, son of Evrawc; the welcome of Heaven be unto thee, flower of knights and light of chivalry.” Kai chastised the dwarfs for breaking silence by lauding such a fellow as Peredur, and when the latter demanded to be brought to Arthur, bade him first go and overcome a stranger knight who had just challenged the whole Court by throwing a goblet of wine into the face of Gwenhwyvar, and whom all shrank from meeting. Peredur went out promptly to where the ruffian knight was swaggering up and down, awaiting an opponent, and in the combat that ensued pierced his skull with one of his sharp stakes and slew him. Owain then came out and found Peredur dragging his fallen enemy about. “What art thou doing there?” said Owain. “This iron coat,” said Peredur, “will never come off from him; not by my efforts at any rate.” So Owain showed him how to unfasten the armour, and Peredur took it, and the knight’s weapons and horse, and rode forth to seek what further adventures might befall.

Here we have the character of _der reine Thor_, the valiant and pure-hearted simpleton, clearly and vividly drawn.

Peredur on leaving Arthur’s Court had many encounters in which he triumphed with ease, sending the beaten knights to Caerleon-on-Usk with the message that he had overthrown them for the honour of Arthur and in his service, but that he, Peredur, would never come to the Court again till he had avenged the insult to the dwarfs upon Kai, who was accordingly reproved by Arthur and was greatly grieved thereat.

*The Castle of Wonders*

We now come into what the reader will immediately recognise as the atmosphere of the Grail legend. Peredur came to a castle beside a lake, where he found a venerable man with attendants about him who were fishing in the lake. As Peredur approached, the aged man rose and went into the castle, and Peredur saw that he was lame. Peredur entered, and was hospitably received in a great hall. The aged man asked him, when they had done their meal, if he knew how to fight with the sword, and promised to teach him all knightly accomplishments, and “the manners and customs of different countries, and courtesy and gentleness and noble bearing.” And he added: “I am thy uncle, thy mother’s brother.” Finally, he bade him ride forth, and remember, whatever he saw that might cause him wonder, not to ask the meaning of it if no one had the courtesy to inform him. This is the test of obedience and self-restraint on which the rest of the adventure turns.

On next riding forth, Peredur came to a vast desert wood, beyond which he found a great castle, the Castle of Wonders. He entered it by the open door, and found a stately, hoary-headed man sitting in a great hall with many pages about him, who received Peredur honourably. At meat Peredur sat beside the lord of the castle, who asked him, when they had done, if he could fight with a sword. “Were I to receive instruction,” said Peredur, “I think I could.” The lord then gave Peredur a sword, and bade him strike at a great iron staple that was in the floor. Peredur did so, and cut the staple in two, but the sword also flew into two parts. “Place the two parts together,” said the lord. Peredur did so, and they became one again, both sword and staple. A second time this was done with the same result. The third time neither sword nor staple would reunite.

“Thou hast arrived,” said the lord, “at two-thirds of thy strength.” He then declared that he also was

Peredur’s uncle, and brother to the fisher-lord with whom Peredur had lodged on the previous night. As they discoursed, two youths entered the hall bearing a spear of mighty size, from the point of which three streams of blood dropped upon the ground, and all the company when they saw this began wailing and lamenting with a great outcry, but the lord took no notice and did not break off his discourse with Peredur. Next there came in two maidens carrying between them a large salver, on which, amid a profusion of blood, lay a man’s head. Thereupon the wailing and lamenting began even more loudly than before. But at last they fell silent, and Peredur was led off to his chamber. Mindful of the injunction of the fisher-lord, he had shown no surprise at what he saw, nor had he asked the meaning of it. He then rode forth again in quest of other adventures, which he had in bewildering abundance, and which have no particular relation to the main theme. The mystery of the castle is not revealed till the last pages of the story. The head in the silver dish was that of a cousin of Peredur’s. The lance was the weapon with which he was slain, and with which also the uncle of Peredur, the fisher-lord, had been lamed. Peredur had been shown these things to incite him to avenge the wrong, and to prove his fitness for the task. The “nine sorceresses of Gloucester” are said to have been those who worked these evils on the relatives of Peredur. On learning these matters Peredur, with the help of Arthur, attacked the sorceresses, who were slain every one, and the vengeance was accomplished.

*The Conte del Graal*

The tale of Chrestien de Troyes called the “Conte del Graal” or “Perceval le Gallois” launched the story in European literature. It was written about the year 1180. It agrees in the introductory portion with “Peredur,” the hero being here called Perceval. He is trained in knightly accomplishments by an aged knight named Gonemans, who warns him against talking overmuch and asking questions. When he comes to the Castle of Wonders the objects brought into the hall are a blood-dripping lance, a “graal” accompanied by two double-branched candlesticks, the light of which is put out by the shining of the graal, a silver plate and sword, the last of which is given to Perceval. The bleeding head of the Welsh story does not appear, nor are we told what the graal was. Next day when Perceval rode forth he met a maiden who upbraided him fiercely for not having asked the meaning of what he saw—had he done so the lame king (who is here identical with the lord of the Castle of Wonders) would have been made whole again. Perceval’s sin in quitting his mother against her wish was the reason why he was withholden from asking the question which would have broken the spell. This is a very crude piece of invention, for it was manifestly Peredur’s destiny to take arms and achieve the adventure of the Grail, and he committed no sin in doing so. Later on in the story Perceval is met by a damsel of hideous appearance, who curses him for his omission to ask concerning the lance and the other wonders—had he done so the king would have been restored and would have ruled his land in peace, but now maidens will be put to shame, knights will be slain, widows and orphans will be made.

This conception of the question episode seems to me radically different from that which was adopted in the Welsh version. It is characteristic of Peredur that he always does as he is told by proper authority. The question was a test of obedience and self-restraint, and he succeeded in the ordeal. In fairy literature one is often punished for curiosity, but never for discretion and reserve. The Welsh tale here preserves, I think, the original form of the story. But the French writers mistook the omission to ask questions for a failure on the part of the hero, and invented a shallow and incongruous theory of the episode and its consequences. Strange to say, however, the French view found its way into later versions of the Welsh tale, and such a version is that which we have in the “Mabinogion.” Peredur, towards the end of the story, meets with a hideous damsel, the terrors of whose aspect are vividly described, and who rebukes him violently for not having asked the meaning of the marvels at the castle: “Hadst thou done so the king would have been restored to health, and his dominions to peace. Whereas from henceforth he will have to endure battles and conflicts, and his knights will perish, and wives will be widowed, and maidens will be left portionless, and all this is because of thee.” I regard this loathly damsel as an obvious interpolation in the Welsh tale. She came into it straight out of the pages of Chrestien. That she did not originally belong to the story of Peredur seems evident from the fact that in this tale the lame lord who bids Peredur refrain from asking questions is, according to the damsel, the very person who would have benefited by his doing so. As a matter of fact, Peredur never does ask the question, and it plays no part in the conclusion of the story.

Chrestien’s unfinished tale tells us some further adventures of Perceval and of his friend and fellow-knight, Gauvain, but never explains the significance of the mysterious objects seen at the castle. His continuators, of whom Gautier was the first, tell us that the Graal was the Cup of the Last Supper and the lance that which had pierced the side of Christ at the Crucifixion; and that Peredur ultimately makes his way back to the castle, asks the necessary question, and succeeds his uncle as lord of the castle and guardian of its treasures.

*Wolfram von Eschenbach*

In the story as given by Wolfram von Eschenbach, who wrote about the year 1200—some twenty years later than Chrestien de Troyes, with whose work he was acquainted—we meet with a new and unique conception of the Grail. He says of the knights of the Grail Castle:

“Si lebent von einem steine Des geslähte ist vîl reine . . . Es heizet _lapsit [lapis] exillîs_, Der stein ist ouch genannt der Grâl.”(244)

It was originally brought down from heaven by a flight of angels and deposited in Anjou, as the worthiest region for its reception. Its power is sustained by a dove which every Good Friday comes from heaven and lays on the Grail a consecrated Host. It is preserved in the Castle of Munsalväsche [Montsalvat] and guarded by four hundred knights, who are all, except their king, vowed to virginity. The king may marry, and is indeed, in order to maintain the succession, commanded to do so by the Grail, which conveys its messages to mankind by writing which appears upon it and which fades away when deciphered. In the time of Parzival the king is Anfortas. He cannot die in presence of the Grail, but he suffers from a wound which, because he received it in the cause of worldly pride and in seeking after illicit love, the influence of the Grail cannot heal until the destined deliverer shall break the spell. This Parzival should have done by asking the question, “What aileth thee, uncle?” The French version makes Perceval fail in curiosity—Wolfram conceives the failure as one in sympathy. He fails, at any rate, and next morning finds the castle empty and his horse standing ready for him at the gate; as he departs he is mocked by servitors who appear at the windows of the towers. After many adventures, which are quite unlike those either in Chrestien’s “Conte del Graal” or in “Peredur,” Parzival, who has wedded the maiden Condwiramur, finds his way back to the Grail Castle—which no one can reach except those destined and chosen to do so by the Grail itself—breaks the spell, and rules over the Grail dominions, his son Loherangrain becoming the Knight of the Swan, who goes abroad righting wrongs, and who, like all the Grail knights, is forbidden to reveal his name and origin to the outside world. Wolfram tells us that he had the substance of the tale from the Provençal poet Kyot or Guiot—“Kyot, der meister wol bekannt”—who in his turn—but this probably is a mere piece of romantic invention—professed to have found it in an Arabic book in Toledo, written by a heathen named Flegetanis.

*The Continuators of Chrestien*

What exactly may have been the material before Chrestien de Troyes we cannot tell, but his various co-workers and continuators, notably Manessier, all dwell on the Christian character of the objects shown to Perceval in the castle, and the question arises, How did they come to acquire this character? The Welsh story, certainly the most archaic form of the legend, shows that they did not have it from the beginning. An indication in one of the French continuations to Chrestien’s “Conte” may serve to put us on the track. Gautier, the author of this continuation, tells us of an attempt on the part of Gauvain [Sir Gawain] to achieve the adventure of the Grail. He partially succeeds, and this half-success has the effect of restoring the lands about the castle, which were desert and untilled, to blooming fertility. The Grail therefore, besides its other characters, had a talismanic power in promoting increase, wealth, and rejuvenation.

*The Grail a Talisman of Abundance*

The character of a cornucopia, a symbol and agent of abundance and vitality, clings closely to the Grail in all versions of the legend. Even in the loftiest and most spiritual of these, the “Parzival” of Wolfram von Eschenbach, this quality is very strongly marked. A sick or wounded man who looked on it could not die within the week, nor could its servitors grow old: “though one looked on it for two hundred years, his hair would never turn grey.” The Grail knights lived from it, apparently by its turning into all manner of food and drink the bread which was presented to it by pages. Each man had of it food according to his pleasure, _à son gré_—from this word _gré, gréable_, the name Gral, which originated in the French versions, was supposed to be derived.(245) It was the satisfaction of all desires. In Wolfram’s poem the Grail, though connected with the Eucharist, was, as we have seen, a stone, not a cup. It thus appears as a relic of ancient stone-worship. It is remarkable that a similar Stone of Abundance occurs also in the Welsh “Peredur,” though not as one of the mysteries of the castle. It was guarded by a black serpent, which Peredur slew, and he gave the stone to his friend Etlyn.

*The Celtic Cauldron of Abundance*

Now the reader has by this time become well acquainted with an object having the character of a talisman of abundance and rejuvenation in Celtic myth. As the Cauldron of the Dagda it came into Ireland with the Danaans from their mysterious fairy-land. In Welsh legend Bran the Blessed got it from Ireland, whither it returned again as part of Branwen’s dowry. In a strange and mystic poem by Taliesin it is represented as part of the spoils of Hades, or Annwn, brought thence by Arthur, in a tragic adventure not otherwise recorded. It is described by Taliesin as lodged in Caer Pedryvan, the Four-square Castle of Pwyll; the fire that heated it was fanned by the breath of nine maidens, its edge was rimmed with pearls, and it would not cook the food of a coward or man forsworn:(246)

“Am I not a candidate for fame, to be heard in song In Caer Pedryvan, four times revolving? The first word from the cauldron, when was it spoken? By the breath of nine maidens it was gently warmed. Is it not the cauldron of the chief of Annwn? What is its fashion? A rim of pearls is round its edge. It will not cook the food of a coward or one forsworn. A sword flashing bright will be raised to him, And left in the hand of Lleminawg.

And before the door of the gate of Uffern(247) the lamp was burning. When we went with Arthur—a splendid labour— Except seven, none returned from Caer Vedwyd.(248)

More remotely still the cauldron represents the Sun, which appears in the earliest Aryo-Indian myths as a golden vessel which pours forth light and heat and fertility. The lance is the lightning-weapon of the Thunder God, Indra, appearing in Norse mythology as the hammer of Thor. The quest for these objects represents the ideas of the restoration by some divine champion of the wholesome order of the seasons, disturbed by some temporary derangement such as those which to this day bring famine and desolation to India.

Now in the Welsh “Peredur” we have clearly an outline of the original Celtic tale, but the Grail does not appear in it. We may conjecture, however, from Gautier’s continuation of Chrestien’s poem that a talisman of abundance figured in early Continental, probably Breton, versions of the legend. In one version at least—that on which Wolfram based his “Parzival”—this talisman was a stone. But usually it would have been, not a stone, but a cauldron or vessel of some kind endowed with the usual attributes of the magic cauldron of Celtic myth. This vessel was associated with a blood-dripping lance. Here were the suggestive elements from which some unknown singer, in a flash of inspiration, transformed the ancient tale of vengeance and redemption into the mystical romance which at once took possession of the heart and soul of Christendom. The magic cauldron became the cup of the Eucharist, the lance was invested with a more tremendous guilt than that of the death of Peredur’s kinsman.(249) Celtic poetry, German mysticism, Christian chivalry, and ideas of magic which still cling to the rude stone monuments of Western Europe—all these combined to make the story of the Grail, and to endow it with the strange attraction which has led to its re-creation by artist after artist for seven hundred years. And who, even now, can say that its course is run at last, and the towers of Montsalvat dissolved into the mist from which they sprang?

*The Tale of Taliesin*

Alone of the tales in the collection called by Lady Charlotte Guest the “Mabinogion,” the story of the birth and adventures of the mythical bard Taliesin, the Amergin of Cymric legend, is not found in the fourteenth-century manuscript entitled “The Red Book of Hergest.” It is taken from a manuscript of the late sixteenth or seventeenth century, and never appears to have enjoyed much popularity in Wales. Much of the very obscure poetry attributed to Taliesin is to be found in it, and this is much older than the prose. The object of the tale, indeed, as Mr. Nutt has pointed out in his edition of the “Mabinogion,” is rather to provide a sort of framework for stringing together scattered pieces of verse supposed to be the work of Taliesin than to tell a connected story about him and his doings.

The story of the birth of the hero is the most interesting thing in the tale. There lived, it was said, “in the time of Arthur of the Round Table,”(250) a man named Tegid Voel of Penllyn, whose wife was named Ceridwen. They have a son named Avagddu, who was the most ill-favoured man in the world. To compensate for his lack of beauty, his mother resolved to make him a sage. So, according to the art of the books of Feryllt,(251) she had recourse to the great Celtic source of magical influence—a cauldron. She began to boil a “cauldron of inspiration and science for her son, that his reception might be honourable because of his knowledge of the mysteries of the future state of the world.” The cauldron might not cease to boil for a year and a day, and only in three drops of it were to be found the magical grace of the brew.

She put Gwion Bach the son of Gwreang of Llanfair to stir the cauldron, and a blind man named Morda to keep the fire going, and she made incantations over it and put in magical herbs from time to time as Feryllt’s book directed. But one day towards the end of the year three drops of the magic liquor flew out of the cauldron and lighted on the finger of Gwion. Like Finn mac Cumhal on a similar occasion, he put his finger in his mouth, and immediately became gifted with supernatural insight. He saw that he had got what was intended for Avagddu, and he saw also that Ceridwen would destroy him for it if she could. So he fled to his own land, and the cauldron, deprived of the sacred drops, now contained nothing but poison, the power of which burst the vessel, and the liquor ran into a stream hard by and poisoned the horses of Gwyddno Garanhir which drank of the water. Whence the stream is called the Poison of the Horses of Gwyddno from that time forth.

Ceridwen now came on the scene and saw that her year’s labour was lost. In her rage she smote Morda with a billet of firewood and struck out his eye, and she then pursued after Gwion Bach. He saw her and changed himself into a hare. She became a greyhound. He leaped into a river and became a fish, and she chased him as an otter. He became a bird and she a hawk. Then he turned himself into a grain of wheat and dropped among the other grains on a threshing-floor, and she became a black hen and swallowed him. Nine months afterwards she bore him as an infant; and she would have killed him, but could not on account of his beauty, “so she wrapped him in a leathern bag, and cast him into the sea to the mercy of God.”

*The Luck of Elphin*

Now Gwyddno, of the poisoned horses, had a salmon weir on the strand between Dyvi and Aberystwyth. And his son Elphin, a needy and luckless lad, one day fished out the leathern bag as it stuck on the weir. They opened it, and found the infant within. “Behold a radiant brow!”(252) said Gwyddno. “Taliesin be he called,” said Elphin. And they brought the child home very carefully and reared it as their own. And this was Taliesin, prime bard of the Cymry; and the first of the poems he made was a lay of praise to Elphin and promise of good fortune for the future. And this was fulfilled, for Elphin grew in riches and honour day after day, and in love and favour with King Arthur.

But one day as men praised King Arthur and all his belongings above measure, Elphin boasted that he had a wife as virtuous as any at Arthur’s Court and a bard more skilful than any of the King’s; and they flung him into prison until they should see if he could make good his boast. And as he lay there with a silver chain about his feet, a graceless fellow named Rhun was sent to court the wife of Elphin and to bring back proofs of her folly; and it was said that neither maid nor matron with whom Rhun conversed but was evil-spoken of.

Taliesin then bade his mistress conceal herself, and she gave her raiment and jewels to one of the kitchenmaids, who received Rhun as if she were mistress of the household. And after supper Rhun plied the maid with drink, and she became intoxicated and fell in a deep sleep; whereupon Rhun cut off one of her fingers, on which was the signet-ring of Elphin that he had sent his wife a little while before. Rhun brought the finger and the ring on it to Arthur’s Court.

Next day Elphin was fetched out of prison and shown the finger and the ring. Whereupon he said: “With thy leave, mighty king, I cannot deny the ring, but the finger it is on was never my wife’s. For this is the little finger, and the ring fits tightly on it, but my wife could barely keep it on her thumb. And my wife, moreover, is wont to pare her nails every Saturday night, but this nail hath not been pared for a month. And thirdly, the hand to which this finger belonged was kneading rye-dough within three days past, but my wife has never kneaded rye-dough since my wife she has been.”

Then the King was angry because his test had failed, and he ordered Elphin back to prison till he could prove what he had affirmed about his bard.

*Taliesin, Prime Bard of Britain*

Then Taliesin went to court, and one high day when the King’s bards and minstrels should sing and play before him, Taliesin, as they passed him sitting quietly in a corner, pouted his lips and played “Blerwm, blerwm” with his finger on his mouth. And when the bards came to perform before the King, lo ! a spell was on them, and they could do nothing but bow before him and play “Blerwm, blerwm” with their fingers on their lips. And the chief of them, Heinin, said: “O king, we be not drunken with wine, but are dumb through the influence of the spirit that sits in yon corner under the form of a child.” Then Taliesin was brought forth, and they asked him who he was and whence he came. And he sang as follows:

“Primary chief bard am I to Elphin, And my original country is the region of the summer stars; Idno and Heinin called me Merddin, At length every being will call me Taliesin.

“I was with my Lord in the highest sphere, On the fall of Lucifer into the depth of hell; I have borne a banner before Alexander; I know the names of the stars from north to south

“I was in Canaan when Absalom was slain, I was in the court of Dōn before the birth of Gwydion. I was at the place of the crucifixion of the merciful Son of God; I have been three periods in the prison of Arianrod.

“I have been in Asia with Noah in the ark, I have seen the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I have been in India when Roma was built. I am now come here to the remnant of Troia.(253)

“I have been with my Lord in the ass’s manger, I strengthened Moses through the waters of Jordan; I have been in the firmament with Mary Magdalene; I have obtained the Muse from the cauldron of Ceridwen.

“I shall be until the day of doom on the face of the earth; And it is not known whether my body is flesh or fish.

“Then was I for nine months In the womb of the witch Ceridwen; I was originally little Gwion, And at length I am Taliesin.”(254)

While Taliesin sang a great storm of wind arose, and the castle shook with the force of it. Then the King bade Elphin be brought in before him, and when he came, at the music of Taliesin’s voice and harp the chains fell open of themselves and he was free. And many other poems concerning secret things of the past and future did Taliesin sing before the King and his lords, and he foretold the coming of the Saxon into the land, and his oppression of the Cymry, and foretold also his passing away when the day of his destiny should come.

*Conclusion*

Here we end this long survey of the legendary literature of the Celt. The material is very abundant, and it is, of course, not practicable in a volume of this size to do more than trace the main current of the development of the legendary literature down to the time when the mythical and legendary element entirely faded out and free literary invention took its place. The reader of these pages will, however, it is hoped, have gained a general conception of the subject which will enable him to understand the significance of such tales as we have not been able to touch on here, and to fit them into their proper places in one or other of the great cycles of Celtic legend. It will be noticed that we have not entered upon the vast region of Celtic folk-lore. Folk-lore has not been regarded as falling within the scope of the present work. Folk-lore may sometimes represent degraded mythology, and sometimes mythology in the making. In either case, it is its special characteristic that it belongs to and issues from a class whose daily life lies close to the earth, toilers in the field and in the forest, who render with simple directness, in tales or charms, their impressions of natural or supernatural forces with which their own lives are environed. Mythology, in the proper sense of the word, appears only where the intellect and the imagination have reached a point of development above that which is ordinarily possible to the peasant mind—when men have begun to co-ordinate their scattered impressions and have felt the impulse to shape them into poetic creations embodying universal ideas. It is not, of course, pretended that a hard-and-fast line can always be drawn between mythology and folk-lore; still, the distinction seems to me a valid one, and I have tried to observe it in these pages.

After the two historical chapters with which our study has begun, the object of the book has been literary rather than scientific. I have, however, endeavoured to give, as the opportunity arose, such results of recent critical work on the relics of Celtic myth and legend as may at least serve to indicate to the reader the nature of the critical problems connected therewith. I hope that this may have added somewhat to the value of the work for students, while not impairing its interest for the general reader. Furthermore, I may claim that the book is in this sense scientific, that as far as possible it avoids any adaptation of its material for the popular taste. Such adaptation, when done for an avowed artistic purpose, is of course entirely legitimate; if it were not, we should have to condemn half the great poetry of the world. But here the object has been to present the myths and legends of the Celt as they actually are. Crudities have not been refined away, things painful or monstrous have not been suppressed, except in some few instances, where it has been necessary to bear in mind that this volume appeals to a wider audience than that of scientific students alone. The reader may, I think, rely upon it that he has here a substantially fair and not over-idealised account of the Celtic outlook upon life and the world at a time when the Celt still had a free, independent, natural life, working out his conceptions in the Celtic tongue, and taking no more from foreign sources than he could assimilate and make his own. The legendary literature thus presented is the oldest non-classical literature of Europe. This alone is sufficient, I think, to give it a strong claim on our attention. As to what other claims it may have, many pages might be filled with quotations from the discerning praises given to it by critics not of Celtic nationality, from Matthew Arnold downwards. But here let it speak for itself. It will tell us, I believe, that, as Maeldūn said of one of the marvels he met with in his voyage into Fairyland: “What we see here was a work of mighty men.”

GLOSSARY AND INDEX

THE PRONUNCIATION OF CELTIC NAMES

To render these names accurately without the living voice is impossible. But with the phonetic renderings given, where required, in the following index, and with attention to the following general rules, the reader will get as near to the correct pronunciation as it is at all necessary for him to do.

I. GAELIC

Vowels are pronounced as in French or German; thus _i_ (long) is like _ee, e_ (long) like _a_ in “date,” _u_ (long) like _oo_. A stroke over a letter signifies length; thus dūn is pronounced “doon” (not “dewn”).

_ch_ is a guttural, as in the word “loch.” It is never pronounced with a _t_ sound, as in English “chip.”

_c_ is always like _k_.

_gh_ is silent, as in English.

II. CYMRIC

_w_, when a consonant, is pronounced as in English; when a vowel, like _oc_.

_y_, when long, is like _ee_; when short, like _u_ in “but.”

_ch_ and _c_ as in Gaelic.

_dd_ is like _th_ in “breathe”.

_f_ is like _v; ff_like English _f_.

The sound of _ll_ is perhaps better not attempted by the English reader. It is a thickened _l_, something between _cl_ and _th_.

Vowels as in Gaelic, but note that there are strictly no diphthongs in Welsh, in combinations of vowels each is given its own sound.

ABRED. The innermost of three concentric circles representing the totality of being in the Cymric cosmogony—the stage of struggle and evolution, 333

ABUNDANCE. See Stone of Abundance

ÆDA (ay´da). 1. Dwarf of King Fergus mac Leda, 247. 2. Royal suitor for Vivionn’s hand; Vivionn slain by, 287

ÆD´UANS. Familiar with plating of copper and tin, 44

ÆGIRA. Custom of the priestess of Earth at, in Achæa, ere prophesying, 167

ÆSUN. Umbrian deity, 86

ÆSUS. Deity mentioned by Lucan, 86

AED THE FAIR (AED FINN) (aid). Chief sage of Ireland; author of “Voyage of Maeldūn,” 331

AEI (ay´ee), PLAIN OF, where Brown Bull of Quelgny meets and slays Bull of Ailell, 225

AFRICAN ORIGIN. Primitive population of Great Britain and Ireland, evidence of language suggests, 78

AGE, IRON. The ship a well-recognised form of sepulchral enclosure in cemeteries of the, 76

AG´NOMAN. Nemed’s father, 98

AIDEEN. Wife of Oscar, 261; dies of grief after Oscar’s death, 261; buried on Ben Edar (Howth), 261, 262

AIFA (eefa). Princess of Land of Shadows; war made upon, by Skatha, 189; Cuchulain overcomes by a trick, 190; life spared conditionally by Cuchulain, 190; bears a son named Connla, 190

AILBACH (el-yach) Fortress in Co. Donegal, where Ith hears MacCuill and his brothers are arranging the division of the land, 132

AILILL (el’yill), or AILELL. 1. Son of Laery, treacherously slain by his uncle Covac, 152. 2. Brother of Eochy; his desperate love for Etain, 158-160. 3. King of Connacht, 122; Angus Ōg seeks aid of, 122; Fergus seeks aid of, 202; assists in foray against province of Ulster, 203-251; White horned Bull of, slain by Brown Bull of Quelgny, 225; makes seven years’ peace with Ulster, 225; hound of mac Datho pursues chariot of, 244; slain by Conall, 245

AILILL EDGE-OF-BATTLE. Of the sept of the Owens of Aran; father of Maeldūn, slain by reavers from Leix, 310

AILILL OLUM (el-yill olum) King of Munster; ravishes Ainé and is slain by her, 127

AINÉ. A love-goddess, daughter of the Danaan Owel; Ailill Olum and Fitzgerald her lovers, 127; mother of Earl Gerald, 128; still worshipped on Midsummer Eve, 128; appears on a St. John’s Night, among girls on the Hill, 128

AINLÉ. Brother of Naisi, 198

ALEXANDER THE GREAT. Counter-move of Hellas against the East under, 22; compact with Celts referred to by Ptolemy Soter, 23

ALLEN, MR. ROMILLY. On Celtic art, 29, 30

ALLEN, HILL OF. In Kildare; Finn’s chief fortress, 266, 273

AMA´SIS I Human sacrifices abolished by, 86

AMATHA´ON. Son of Dōn; and the ploughing task, 390

AMER´GIN. Milesian poet, son of Miled, husband of Skena, 133; his strange lay, sung when his foot first touched Irish soil, 134; his judgment, delivered as between the Danaans and Milesians, 135; chants incantations to land of Erin, 136; the Druid, gives judgment as to claims to sovranty of Eremon and Eber, 148; Ollav Fōla compared with, 150

AMMIA´NUS MARCELLIN´US. Gauls described by, 42

AMOR´GIN. Father of Conall of the Victories, 177

AMYN´TAS II. King of Macedon, defeated and exiled, 23

ANGLO-SAXON. Wace’s French translation of “Historia Regum Britaniæ” translated by Layamon into, 338

ANGUS. A Danaan deity, 143. See Angus Ōg

ANGUS ŌG (ANGUS THE YOUNG). Son of the Dagda, Irish god of love, 121, 123; wooes and wins Caer, 121-123; Dermot of the Love spot bred up with, 123; Dermot of the Love spot revived by, 123; father of Maga, 181; Dermot and Grama rescued by magical devices of, 299; Dermot’s body borne away by, 303

ANKH, THE. Found on Megalithic carvings, 77, 78; the symbol of vitality or resurrection, 78

AN´LUAN. Son of Maga; rallies to Maev’s foray against Ulster, 204; Conall produces the head of, to Ket, 244

ANNWN (annoon). Corresponds with Abyss, or Chaos; the principle of destruction in Cymric cosmogony, 333

ANSWERER, THE. Mananan’s magical sword, 125

AOIFE (eefa). Lir’s second wife; her jealousy of her step children, 139, 140; her punishment by Bōv the Red, 140

AONBARR (ain-barr). Mananan’s magical steed, 125

APOLLO. Celtic equivalent, Lugh. Magical services in honour of, described by Hecataeus, 58; regarded by Gauls as deity of medicine, 87, 88

AQUITAN´I. One of three peoples inhabiting Gaul when Caesar’s conquest began, 58

ARABIA. Dolmens found in, 53

ARAWN. A king in Annwn; appeals to Pwyll for help against Havgan, 357; exchanges kingdoms for a year with Pwyll, 357-359

ARD MACHA (Armagh). Emain Macha now represented by grassy ramparts of a hill-fortress close to, 150; significance, 251

ARD RIGH (ard ree) (_i.e._, High King). Dermot MacKerval, of Ireland, 47

ARDAN. Brother of Naisi, 198

ARDCULLIN. Cuchulain places white round pillar-stone of, 207

ARDEE. Significance, 251

ARI´ANROD. Sister of Gwydion; proposed as virgin foot-holder to Māth; Dylan and Llew sons of. 380, 381

ARISTOTLE. Celts and, 17

ARMAGH. Invisible dwelling of Lir on Slieve Fuad in County, 125

ARNOLD, MATTHEW. Reference to, in connexion with Celtic legendary literature, 419

ARR´IAN. Celtic characteristics, evidence of, regarding, 36

ARTAIUS. A god in Celtic mythology who occupies the place of Gwydion, 349

ARTHUR. Chosen leader against Saxons, whom he finally defeated in battle of Mount Badon, 337; Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “Historia Regum Britaniae” commemorates exploits of, 337; son of Uther Pendragon and Igerna, 337; Modred, his nephew, usurps crown of, 337; Guanhumara, wife of, retires to convent, 337, 338; genealogy set forth, 352; tales of, in Welsh literature, 386; Kilhwch at court of, 387, 388; the “Dream of Rhonabwy” and, 392, 393; Owain, son of Urien, plays chess with, 393; adventure of Kymon, knight of court of, 394-396; Gwenhwyvar, wife of, 394; Owain at court of, 396, 397, 399; Peredur at court of, 401, 402

ARTHURIAN SAGA. Mention of early British legend suggests, 336; the saga in Brittany and Marie de France, 339, 340; Miss Jessie L. Weston’s article on, in the “Encyc. Britann.,” 341; Chrestien de Troyes influential in bringing into the poetic literature of Europe the, 340, 341; various sources of, discussed, 342; the saga in Wales, 343, 344; never entered Ireland, 343; why so little is heard of, in accounts of Cymric myths, 344

ASA. Scandinavian deity, 86

ASAL. Of the Golden Pillars King, 115

ASURA-MASDA. Persian deity, 86

ATHNURCHAR (ath-nur´char), or ARDNURCHAR (The Ford of the Sling-cast). The River-ford where Ket slings Conall’s “brain ball” at Conor mac Nessa, 240; significance, 251

ATLANTIC, THE. Aoife’s cruelty to her step-children on waters of, 140, 141

AUSTRIA. Discovery of pre-Roman necropolis in, 28; relics found in, developed into the La Tène culture, 29

AVAGDDU (avagdhoo). Son of Tegid Voel, 413; deprived of gift of supernatural insight, 413

A´VALON. Land of the Dead; bears relation with Norse _Valhall_, 338; its later identification with Glastonbury, 338

AVON DIA. Duel between Cuchulain and Ferdia causes waters of, to hold back, 121

BABYLONIA. The ship symbol in, 76

BALKANS. Earliest home of mountain Celts was ranges of, 57

BALOR. Ancestor of Lugh, 88; Bres sent to seek aid of, 109; informed that Danaans refuse tribute, 113; Fomorian champion, engages Nuada of the Silver Hand, and slain by Lugh, 117; one of the names of the god of Death, 130; included in Finn’s ancestry, 255

BANBA Wife of Danaan king, MacCuill, 132

BANN, THE RIVER. Visited by mac Cecht, 175

BARBAROSSA, KAISER. Tradition that Finn lies in some enchanted cove spellbound, like, 308

“BARDDAS.” Compilation enshrining Druidic thought, 332; Christian persons and episodes figure in, 333; extract from, in catechism form, 334, 335

BARDIC differs from popular conception of Danaan deities, 104

BARROW, THE RIVER. Visited by mac Cecht, 175

BAR´UCH. A lord of the Red Branch; meets Naisi and Deirdre on landing in Ireland, 199; persuades Fergus to feast at his house, 199; dūn, on the Straits of Moyle, 251

BAVB (bayv). Calatin’s daughter; puts a spell of straying on Niam, 230

BEÄLCU (bay’al-koo). A Connacht champion; rescue of Conall by, 244; slain by sons owing to a stratagem of Conall’s, 245; Conall slays sons of, 245

BEBO. Wife of Iubdan. King of Wee Folk, 247

BED´WYR (bed-weer). Equivalent, Sir Bedivere. One of Arthur’s servitors who accompanies Kilhwch on his quest for Olwen, 388-392

BELGÆ. One of three peoples inhabiting Gaul when Cæsar’s conquest began, 58

BELI. Cymric god of Death, husband of Dōn; corresponds with the Irish Bilé, 348, 349; Lludd and Llevelys, sons of, 385

BELL, MR. ARTHUR Reference to a drawing by, showing act of stone-worship, 66

BEL´TENÉ. One of the names of the god of Death; first of May sacred to, 133

BEN BULBEN. Dermot of the Love-spot slain by the wild boar of, 123, 301, 302; Dermot and the Boar of, 290, 291

BEN´DIGEID VRAN, or “BRAN THE BLESSED.” King of the Isle of the Mighty (Britain); Manawyddan, his brother, 365; Branwen, his sister, 366; gives Branwen as wife to Matholwch, 366; makes atonement for Evnissyen’s outrage by giving Matholwch the magic cauldron, &c., 367, 368; invades Ireland to succour Branwen, 369, 372; the wonderful head of, 371, 372

BERTRAND, A. See pp. 55, 64, 83

BILÉ (bil-ay). One of the names of the god of Death (_i.e._, of the underworld), 130; father of Miled, 130; equivalent, Cymric god Beli, husband of Dōn, 348, 349

BIRŌG. A Druidess who assists Kian to be avenged on Balor, 111

BLACK KNIGHT, THE. Kymon and, 396; Owain and, 396-397

BLACK SAINGLEND (sen’glend). Cuchulain’s last horse; breaks from him, 232

BLAI. Oisīn’s Danaan mother, 282

BLANID. Wife of Curoi; sets her love on Cuchulain, 228-229; her death, 229

BLE´HERIS. A Welsh poet identical with _Bledhericus_, mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis, and with Bréris, quoted by Thomas of Brittany, 342

“BLERWM, BLERWM” (bleroom). Sound made by Taliesin by which a spell was put on bards at Arthur’s court, 416

BLODEUWEDD, or “FLOWER-FACE.” The flower-wife of Llew, 382, 383

BOANNA (the river Boyne). Mother of Angus Ōg, 121

BOOK OF ARMAGH. References to, 104, 147

BOOK OF CAERMARTHEN, BLACK. Gwyn ap Nudd figures in poem included in, 353

BOOK OF THE DUN COW. Reference to, 97; Cuchulain makes his reappearance legend of Christian origin in, 238; “Voyage of Maeldūn” is found in, 309

BOOK OF HERGEST, THE RED. Forms main source of tales in the “Mabinogion,” 344; the story of Taliesin not found in, 412

BOOK OF INVASIONS. Reference to, 106

BOOK OF LEINSTER. References to, 24, 85, 208

BŌV THE RED. King of the Danaans of Munster, brother of the Dagda; searches for maiden of Angus Ōg’s dream, 121-123; goldsmith of, named Len, 123; Aoife’s journey to, with her step-children, 139, 140

BOYNE, THE RIVER. Angus Ōg’s palace at, 121; Angus and Caer at, 122; Milesians land in estuary of, 136; Ethné loses her veil of invisibility while bathing in river, 144; church, Kill Ethné, on banks of, 145

BRAN. See Bendigeid

BRANWEN. Sister of Bran, 366; given in marriage to Matholwch, 366; mother of Gwern, 368; degraded because of Evnissyen’s outrage, 369; brought to Britain, 372; her death and burial on the banks of the Alaw, 372

BREA (bray). Battle of, reference to Finn’s death at, 275

BREGIA. Locality of, 168; the plains of, viewed by Cuchulain, 193; St. Patrick and folk of, 282

BREG´ON. Son of Miled, father of Ith, 130; tower of, perceived by Ith, 132

BRENOS (BRIAN). Under this form, was the god to whom the Celts attributed their victories at the Allia and at Delphi, 126

BRES. 1. Ambassador sent to Firbolgs, by People of Dana, 106; slain in battle of Moytura, 107. 2. Son of Danaan woman named Eri, chosen as King of Danaan territory in Ireland, 107; his ill-government and deposition, 107-108. 3. Son of Balor; learns that the appearance of the sun is the face of Lugh of the Long Arm, 123

BRI LEITH (bree lay). Fairy palace of Midir the Proud at, in Co. Longford, 124; Etain carried to, 163

BRIAN. One of three sons of Turenn, 114

BRIAN. Equivalent, Brenos. Son of Brigit (Dana), 126

BRICCRIU OF THE POISONED TONGUE (bric’roo). Ulster lord; causes strife between Cuchulain and Red Branch heroes as to Championship of Ireland, 195; summons aid of demon named The Terrible, 196; his suggestion for carving mac Datho’s boar, 243

BRIDGE OF THE LEAPS. Cuchulain at, 187; Cuchulain leaps, 188

BRIGINDO. Equivalents, Brigit and “Brigantia,” 103

BRIGIT (g as in “get”). Irish goddess identical with Dana and “Brigindo,” &c., 103, 126; daughter of the god Dagda, “The Good,” 103, 126; Ecne, grandson of, 103

BRITAIN. See Great Britain. Carthaginian trade with, broken down by the Greeks, 22; place-names of, Celtic element in, 27; under yoke of Rome, 35; magic indigenous in, 62; votive inscriptions to Æsus, Teutates, and Taranus found in, 86; dead carried from Gaul to, 131; Ingcel, son of King of, 169; visit of Demetrius to, 355; Bran, King of, 365; Caradawc rules over in his father’s name, 369; Caswallan conquers, 372; the “Third Fatal Disclosure” in, 373

BRITAN. Nedimean chief who settled in Great Britain and gave name to that country, 102

BRITISH ISLES. Sole relics of Celtic empire, on its downfall, 34; Maev, Grania, Findabair, Deirdre, and Boadicea, women who figure in myths of, 43

BRITONS. Geoffrey of Monmouth, like Nennius, affords a fantastic origin for the, 338

BRITTANY. Mané-er-H´oeck, remarkable tumulus in, 63; tumulus of Locmariaker in, markings on similar to those on tumulus at New Grange, Ireland, 72; symbol of the feet found in, 77; book brought from, by Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, formed basis of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “Historia Regum Britaniæ,” 337; Arthurian saga in, 339, 340

BROGAN. St. Patrick’s scribe, 119, 290

BROWN BULL. See Quelgny

BRUGH NA BOYNA (broo-na-boyna). Pointed out to Cuchulain, 193

BUDDHA. Footprint of, found in India as symbol, 77; the cross-legged, frequent occurrence in religious art of the East and Mexico, 87

BUIC (boo´ik). Son of Banblai; slain by Cuchulain, 211

BURNEY’S “HISTORY OF MUSIC.” Reference to Egyptian legend in, 118

BURY, PROFESSOR. Remarks of, regarding the Celtic world, 59

*C*

CAER. Daughter of Ethal Anubal; wooed by Angus Ōg, 122, 123; her dual life, 122; accepts the love of Angus Ōg, 122

CAERLEON-ON-USK. Arthur’s court held at, 337

CÆSAR, JULIUS. Critical account of Gauls, 37; religious beliefs of Celts recorded by, 51, 52; the Belgæ, the Celtæ, and the Aquitani located by, 58; affirmation that doctrine of immortality fostered by Druids to promote courage, 81, 82; culture superintended by Druids, recorded by, 84; gods of Aryan Celts equated with Mercury, Apollo, &c., by, 86

CAIR´BRY. Son of Cormac mac Art, father of Light of Beauty, 304; refuses tribute to the Fianna, 305; Clan Bascna makes war upon, 305-308

CALIBURN (Welsh _Caladvwlch_). Magic sword of King Arthur, 338. See Excalibur, 224, _note_

CAMBREN´SIS, GIRAL´DUS. Celts and, 21

CAMPBELL. Version of battle of Gowra, in his “The Fians,” 305-307

CAR´ADAWC. Son of Bran; rules Britain in his father’s absence, 369

CARELL. Reputed father of Tuan, 100

CARPATHIANS. Earliest home of mountain Celts was ranges of the, 57

CARTHAGINIANS. Celts conquered Spain from, 21; Greeks break monopoly of trade of, with Britain and Spain, 22

CAS´CORACH. Son of a minstrel of the Danaan Folk; and St. Patrick, 119

CASTLE OF WONDERS. Peredur at, 405, 406

CAS´WALLAN. Son of Beli; conquers Britain during Bran’s absence, 372

CATHBAD. Druid; wedded to Maga, wife of Ross the Red, 181; his spell of divination overheard by Cuchulain, 185; draws Deirdre’s horoscope, 197; casts evil spells over Naisi and Deirdre, 200

CATHOLIC CHURCH. Mediæal interdicts of, 46

CATO, M. PORCIUS. Observances of, regarding Gauls, 37

CAULDRON OF ABUNDANCE. See equivalent, Stone of Abundance; also see Grail

CELTÆ One of three peoples inhabiting Gaul when Cæar’s conquest began, 58

CELTCHAR (kelt-yar). Son of Hornskin; under debility curse, 205

CELTDOM. The Golden Age of, in Continental Europe, 21

CELTIC. Power, diffusion of, in Mid-Europe, 26; placenames in Europe, 27; artwork relics, story told by, 28; Germanic words, Celtic element in, 32; empire, downfall of, 34; weak policy of peoples, 44; religion, the, 46, 47; High Kings, traditional burial-places of, 69; doctrine of immortality, origin of so-called “Celtic,” 75, 76; ideas of immortality, 78-87; deities, names and attributes of, 86-88; conception of death, the, 89; culture, five factors in ancient, 89, 90; the present-day populations, 91, 92; cosmogony, the, 94, 95; things, “Barddas” a work not unworthy the student of, 333

CELTICA. Never inhabited by a single pure and homogeneous race, 18; Greek type of civilisation preserved by, 22; art of enamelling originated in, 30; the Druids formed the sovran power in, 46; Brigit (Dana) most widely worshipped goddess in, 126

CELTS. Term first found in Hecatæus; equivalent, Hyperboreans, 17; Herodotus and dwelling-place of, 17; Aristotle and, 17; Hellanicus of Lesbos and, 17; Ephorus and, 17; Plato and, 17; their attack on Rome, a landmark of ancient history, 18; described by Dr. T. Rice Holmes, 18, 19; dominion of, over Mid-Europe, Gaul, Spain, and the British Isles, 20; their place among these races, 20; Giraldus Cambrensis and, 21; Spain conquered from the Carthaginians by, 21; Northern Italy conquered from the Etruscans by, 21; Vergil and, 21; conquer the Illyrians, 21; alliance with the Greeks, 22; conquests of, in valleys of Danube and Po, 23; Alexander makes compact with, 23; national oath of, 24; welded into unity by Ambicatus, 25; defeat Romans, 26; Germanic peoples and, 26, 33; decorative motives derived from Greek art, 29; art of enamelling learnt by classical nations from, 30; burial rites practised by, 33; character, elements comprising, 36; Strabo’s description of, 39; love of splendour and methods of warfare, 40; Polybius’ description of warriors in battle of Clastidium, 41; their influence on European literature and philosophy, 49, 50; the Religion of the, 51-93; ranges of the Balkans and Carpathians earliest home of mountain, 57; musical services of, described by Hecatæus, 58; Switzerland, Burgundy, the Palatinate, Northern France, parts of Britain, &c., occupied by mountain, 58; origin of doctrine of immortality, 75; idea of immortality and doctrine of transmigration, 80, 81; the present-day, 91, 92; no non-Christian conception of origin of things, 94; victories at the Alba and at Delphi attributed to Brenos (Brian), 126; true worship of, paid to elemental forces represented by actual natural phenomena, 147

CENCHOS. Otherwise The Footless; related to Vitra, the God of Evil in Vedantic mythology, 97

CER´IDWEN. Wife of Tegid, 413; sets Gwion Bach and Morda to attend to the magic cauldron, 413

CEUGANT (Infinity). The outermost of three concentric circles representing the totality of being in the Cymric cosmogony, inhabited by God alone, 334

CHAILLU, DU. His “Viking Age,” 72

CHAMPION OF IRELAND. Test at feast of Briccriu, to decide who is the, 195, 196; Cuchulain proclaimed such by demon The Terrible, 196

CHARLEMAGNE. Tree- and stone-worship denounced by, 66

CHILDREN OF LIR. Reference to, 121

CHRESTIEN DE TROYES. French poet, influential in bringing the Arthurian saga into the poetic literature of Europe, 340, 341; Gautier de Denain the earliest continuator of, 341; variation of his “Le Chevalier au lion” seen in “The Lady of the Fountain,” 394-399; the “Tale of Enid and Geraint” based on “Erec” of, 399; Peredur corresponds to the Perceval of, 400; his “Conte del Graal,” or “Perceval le Gallois,” 303; Manessier a continuator of, 408

CHRISTIAN. Symbolism, the hand as emblem of power in, 65; faith, heard of by King Cormac ere preached in Ireland by St. Patrick, 69; influences in Ireland, and the Milesian myth, 138; ideas, gathered around Cuchulain and his lord King Conor of Ulster, 239, 240; pagan ideals contrasted with, in Oisīn dialogues, 288; Myrddin dwindles under influences, 354

CHRISTIANITY. Reference to conversion of Ireland to, 83; People of Dana in their overthrow, and attitude of, 138; Cuchulain summoned from Hell by St. Patrick to prove truths of, to High King Laery, 239; effect of on Irish literature, 295, 296

CHRY´SOSTOM, DION. Testimony of, to power of the Druids, 83

CLAN BASCNA. One of the divisions of the Fianna of Erin, 252; Cumhal, father of Finn, chief of, 255; Cairbry causes feud between Clan Morna and, 305-308

CLAN CALATIN. Sent by men of Erin against Cuchulain, 215; Fiacha, son of Firaba, cuts off the eight-and-twenty hands of, 216; Cuchulain slays, 216; the widow of, gives birth to six children whom Maev has instructed in magic and then looses against Cuchulain, 228-233; cause Cuchulain to break his _geise_, 231

CLAN MORNA. One of the divisions of the Fianna of Erin, 252; Lia becomes treasurer to, 255; Cairbry causes feud between Clan Bascna and, 305-308

CLASTID´IUM. Battle of, Polybius’ description of behaviour of the Gæsati in, 41

CLEENA. A Danaan maiden once living in Mananan’s country, the story of, 127

CLUS´IUM. Siege of, Romans play Celts false at, 25; vengeance exacted by Celts, 26

COFFEY, GEORGE. His work on the New Grange tumulus, 69

COLLOQUY OF THE ANCIENTS. A collection of tales mentioning St Patrick and Cascorach, 119, 281; interest of, 284-308

COLUMBA, ST. Symbol of the feet and, 77

COMYN, MICHAEL Reference to “Lay of Oisīn in the Land of Youth,” by, 253, 276

CONALL OF THE VICTORIES. Member of Conary’s retinue at Red Hostel, 173; Amorgin, his father, found by him at Teltin, 176, 177; shrinks from test _re_ the Championship of Ireland, 195, 196; under the Debility curse, 205; avenges Cuchulain’s death by slaying Lewy, 233; his “brain ball” causes death of Conor mac Nessa, 240, 241; mac Datho’s boar and, 243, 244; slays Ket, 244

CONAN MAC LIA. Son of Lia, lord of Luachar; Finn makes a covenant with, 258, 259

CONAN MAC MORNA; otherwise THE BALD. His adventure with the Fairy Folk, 259, 260; he slays Liagan, 260; adventure with the Gilla Dacar’s steed, 293-295

CONANN. Fomorian king, 101

CON´ARY MŌR. The singing sword of, 121; the legend-cycle of the High King, 155-177; descended from Etain Oig, daughter of Etain, 164; Messbuachalla, his mother, 166, 167; Desa, his foster-father, 167; Ferlee, Fergar, and Ferrogan, his foster-brothers, 167; Nemglan commands him go to Tara, 168; proclaimed King of Erin, 168; Nemglan declares his _geise_, 168; banishment of his foster-brothers, 169; lured into breaking his _geise_, 170; the three Reds and, at Da Derga’s Hostel, 170; visited by the Morrigan at Da Derga’s Hostel, 172; members of his retinue: Cormac son of Conor, warrior mac Cecht, Conary’s three sons, Conall of the Victories, Duftach of Ulster, 173; perishes of thirst, 175

CONDWIRAMUR. A maiden wedded by Parzival, 408

CONN. One of the Children of Lir, 142

CONNACHT. Ethal Anubal, prince of the Danaans of, 122; Ailell and Maev, mortal King and Queen of, Angus Ōg seeks their help in efforts to win Caer, 122; origin of name, 154; Cuchulain makes a foray upon, 193, 194; Cuchulain descends upon host of, under Maev, 209; Ket a champion, 241; Queen Maev reigned in, for eighty-eight years, 245

CONNLA. Son of Cuchulain and Aifa, 190; his _geise_, 190; Aifa sends him to Erin, 190; his encounters with the men of Ulster, 191; slain by Cuchulain, 191, 192

CONNLA’S WELL. Equivalent, Well of Knowledge. Sinend’s fatal visit to, 129

CONOR MAC NESSA. Son of Fachtna and Nessa, proclaimed King of Ulster in preference to Fergus, 180; Cuchulain brought up at court of, 183; grants arms of manhood to Cuchulain, 185; while at a feast on Strand of the Footprints he descries Connla, 190; his ruse to put Cuchulain under restraint, 194; Deirdre and, 195-200; his guards seize Naisi and Deirdre, 201; suffers pangs of the Debility curse, 205-221; the curse lifted from, 222; summons Ulster to arms, 222; Christian ideas have gathered about end of, 239, 240; his death caused by Conall’s “brain ball,” 240, 241; he figures in tale entitled “The Carving of mac Datho’s Boar,” 241; sends to mac Datho for his hound, 241

CONSTANTINE. Arthur confers his kingdom on, 338

“CONTE DEL GRAAL.” See Grail

CORAN´IANS. A demoniac race called, harass land of Britain, 385

CORCADY´NA. Landing of Ith and his ninety warriors at, in Ireland, 131-136

CORMAC. 1. Son of Art, King of Ireland; story of burial of, 69; historical character, 225; Finn and, feasted at Rath Grania, 300. 2. King of Ulster; marries Etain Oig, 166; puts her away owing to her barrenness, 166. 3. Son of Conor mac Nessa; rallies to Maev’s foray against Ulster, 205

CORONATION STONE. Now at Westminster Abbey, is the famous Stone of Scone, 105; the _Lia Fail_ and, 105

CORPRE. Poet at court of King Bres, 108

COSMONOGY, 1. The Celtic, 94, 95. 2. The Cymric, 332-335; God and Cythrawl, standing for life and destruction, in, 333

COTTERILL, H. B. Quotation from his hexameter version of the “Odyssey,” 80

CRAF´TINY. King Scoriath’s harper; sings Moriath’s love-lay before Maon, 153; discovers Maon’s secret deformity, 155

CRED´NÉ. The artificer of the Danaans, 117

CREU´DYLAD (CREIDDYLAD). Daughter of Lludd; combat for possession of, every May-day, between Gwythur ap Greidawl and Gwyn ap Nudd, 353, 388

CRIMMAL. Rescued by his nephew, Finn, 256

CROM CRUACH (crom croo´ach). Gold idol (equivalent, the Bloody Crescent) referred to in “Book of Leinster,” 85; worship introduced by King Tiernmas, 149

CROMLECHS. See Dolmens, 53

CRUNDCHU (crun´hoo). Son of Agnoman; Macha comes to dwell with, 178

CUALGNÉ. See Quelgny

CUCHULAIN (CUCHULLIN) (coo-hoo´lin). Ulster hero in Irish saga, 41; duel with Ferdia referred to, 121; Lugh, the father of, by Dectera, 123, 182; loved and befriended by goddess Morrigan, 126; his strange birth, 182; earliest name Setanta, 183; his inheritance, 183; his name derived from the hound of Cullan, 183, 184; claims arms of manhood from Conor, 185; wooes Emer, 185, 186; Laeg, charioteer of, 185; Skatha instructs, in Land of Shadows, 187-189; overcomes Aifa, 190; father of Connla by Aifa, 190; slays Connla, 191, 192; returns to Erin, 193-194; slays Foill and his brothers, 194; met by women of Emania, 194; leaps “the hero’s salmon leap,” 195; the winning of Emer, 195; proclaimed by The Terrible the Champion of Ireland, 195, 196; places Maev’s host under _geise_, 207, 208; slays Orlam, 209; the battle-frenzy and _rias-tradh_ of, 209, 210; compact with Fergus, 211; the Morrigan offers love to, 212; threatens to be about his feet in bottom of Ford, 212; attacked by the Morrigan while engaged with Loch, 213; slays Loch, 213; Ferdia consents to go out against, 216; Ferdia reproached by, 216, 217; their struggle, 217-221; slays Ferdia, 220; severely wounded by Ferdia, 220, 221; roused from stupor by sword-play of Fergus, 224; rushes into the battle of Garach, 224; in Fairyland, 225-228; loved by Fand, 226; the vengeance of Maev upon, 228-233; other enemies of Erc, and Lewy son of Curoi, 228; Blanid, Curoi’s wife, sets her love on, 228; his madness, 229-231; Bave personates Niam before, 230; the Morrigan croaks of war before, 230; Dectera and Cathbad urge him wait for Conall of the Victories ere setting forth to battle, 230; the Washer at the Ford seen by, 231; Clan Calatin cause him to break his _geise_, 231; finds his foes at Slieve Fuad, 232; the Grey of Macha being mortally wounded, he takes farewell of, 232; mortally wounded by Lewy, 232; his remaining horse, Black Sainglend, breaks away from, 232; Lewy slays outright, 233; his death avenged by Conall of the Victories, 233; reappears in later legend of Christian origin found in “Book of the Dun Cow,” 238, 239; St. Patrick’s summons from Hell, 238

CULLAN. His feast to King Conor in Quelgny, 183; Cuchulain slays his hound, 183; Cuchulain named the Hound of, 184; his daughter declared responsible for Finn’s enchantment, 280

CUMHAL (coo´al). Chief of the Clan Morna, son of Trenmōr, husband of Murna of the White Neck, the father of Finn, 255, 257; slain at battle of Knock, 255

CUP-AND-RING MARKINGS. Meaning of, in connexion with Megalithic monuments, no light on, 67; example in Dupaix’ “Monuments of New Spain,” 68; reproduction in Lord Kingsborough’s “Antiquities of Mexico,” 68

CUP OF THE LAST SUPPER Identical with the Grail, 406; equivalent, the Magic Cauldron, 411

CUROI (coo´roi). Father of Lewy, husband of Blanid, 228; slain by Cuchulain, 229

CUSCRID. Son of Conor mac Nessa; under Debility curse, 205; mac Datho’s boar and, 243

CUSTENN´IN. Brother of Yspaddaden; assists Kilhwch in his quest for Olwen, 389

CYCLE-S. The, of Irish legend, 95; the Mythological, 95-145; the Ultonian, 178-251; Ossianic, 241-245; certain stories of Ultonian, not centred on Cuchulain, 246; the Ultonian, time of events of the, 252; the Ossianic and Ultonian contrasted, 253-255

CYMRIC. 1. Peoples; effect of legends of, on Continental poets, 50; 2. Myths; Druidic thought enshrined in Llewellyn Sion’s “Barddas,” edited by by J. A. Williams ap Ithel for the Welsh MS. Society, 332; cosmogony, the, 333-335; God and Cythrawl in, 333; why so little of Arthurian saga heard in, 344; comparison between Gaelic and, 344-368

CYTHRAWL. God and, two primary existences standing for principles of destruction and life, in Cymric cosmogony, 333; realised in “Annwn” (the Abyss, or Chaos), 333

DA DERGA. A Leinster lord at whose hostel Conary seeks hospitality, 170; Conary’s retinue at, 173; Ingcel and his own sons attack the hostel, 174

DAGDA. “The Good,” or possibly = _Doctus_, “The Wise” God, and supreme head of the People of Dana, father of Brigit (Dana), 103; the Cauldron of the, one of the treasures of the Danaans, 106; the magical harp of, 118-119; father and chief of the People of Dana, 120, 121; Kings MacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGrené grandsons of, 132; portions out spiritual Ireland between the Danaans, 136

DALAN. A Druid who discovers to Eochy that Etain has been carried to mound of Bri-Leith, 163

DALNY. Queen of Partholan, 96

DAMAN. The Firbolg, father of Ferdia, 187

DAMAYAN´TI AND NALA. Hindu legend, compared with story of Etain, 163

DANA. The People of, Nemedian survivors who return to Ireland, 102; literal meaning of _Tuatha De Danann_, 103; equivalent Brigit, 103, 126; name of “gods” given to the People of, by Tuan mac Carell, 104; Milesians conquer the People of, 104; origin of People of, according to Tuan mac Carell, 105; cities of Falias, Gorias, Finias, and Murias, 105; treasures of the People of, 105, 106; the Firbolgs and the People of, 106-119; gift of Faëry (_i.e._, skill in music) the prerogative of, 119; daughter of the Dagda and the greatest of Danaan goddesses, 126; Brian (ancient form Brenos), Iuchar, and Iucharba, her sons, 126; Firbolgs and the People of, 137; equivalent Dōn, Cymric mother-goddess, 348, 349

DAN´AAN-S. Send to Balor refusing tribute, 113; their encounter with the Fomorians, 117; power of, exercised by spell of music, 118; account of principal gods and attributes of, 119-145; reference to their displacement in Ireland by Milesians, 130; kings, Ireland ruled by three, MacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGrené, 132; the three kings welcome Ith to Ireland, 133; dwell in spiritual Ireland, 136; myth, the meaning of, 137; the, after the Milesian conquest, 146, 147; Donn son of Midir at war with, 285; relations of the Church with, very cordial, 286

DANES. Irish monuments plundered by Danes, 69

DANUBE. Sources of, place of origin of Celts, 19, 56

DARA. Son of Fachtna, owner of Brown Bull of Quelgny, 202; Maev’s request for loan of Brown Bull, 204

DARK, THE. Druid; changes Saba into a fawn, 267; his further ill-treatment of, 268, 269

DEAD, LAND OF. The Irish Fairyland, 96; equivalent, “Spain,” 102

DEATH. The Celtic conception of, 89; names of Balor and Bilé occur as god of, 130

DEBILITY OF THE ULTONIANS, THE. Caused by Macha’s curse, 179, 180; manifested on occasion of Maev’s famous cattle-raid of Quelgny (_Tain Bo Cuailgné_), 180

DECIES. Son of King of the, wooes Light of Beauty (_Sgeimh Solais_), 304

DEC´TERA. Mother of Cuchulain by Lugh, 123; daughter of Druid Cathbad, 182; her appearance to Conor mac Nessa after three years’ absence, 182; her gift of a son to Ulster, Cuchulain, by Lugh, 182

DEE, THE RIVER. Now the Ford of Ferdia, 211

DEIRDRE (deer´dree). Daughter of Felim, 196; Druid Cathbad draws her horoscope, 197; Conor decides to wed when of age, 197; nursed by Levarcam, 197; her love for Naisi, 198; carried off by Naisi, 198; returns with Naisi to Ireland, 198-200; forced to wed Conor, she dashes herself against a rock and is killed, 201; the tales of Grania and, compared, 296-304

DEITIES. The Celtic, Cæsar on, 87, 88; popular and bardic conception of Danaan, 104

DEMETRIUS. Visit to Britain of, 355; mentions island where “Kronos” was imprisoned in sleep while Briareus kept watch over him, 355

DEMNA. Otherwise Finn. Birth of, 255

DEO´CA. A princess of Munster; Children of Lir and, 142

DERMOT MACKERVAL. Rule of, in Ireland, and the cursing of Tara, 47, 48; arrests and tries Hugh Guairy, 48; dream of wife of, 48

DERMOT OF THE LOVE SPOT (DERMOT O’DYNA). Follower of Finn mac Cumhal, lover of Grania, bred up with Angus at palace on Boyne, 123; the typical lover of Irish legend, 123; slain by wild Boar of Ben Bulben, 123, 301, 302; friend of Finn’s, 261; described as a Gaelic Adonis, 290; Donn, father of, 290; Roc and, 290, 291; how Dermot got the Love Spot, 292; adventure with Gilla Dacar’s steed, 293-295; fight with the Knight of the Well, 294; love-story of Grania and, 296-304

DERRYVAR´AGH, LAKE. Aoife’s cruelty to her step-children at, 139-142

DESA. Foster-father of Conary Mōr, 167

DEWY-RED. Horse of Conall of the Victories, 233

DIALOGUES. Reference to Oisīn-and-Patrick and Keelta-and-Patrick, 289

DIANCECHT (dee´an-kecht). Physician to the Danaans, 108

DINEEN’S IRISH DICTIONARY. Reference to, 164, 165

DINNSENCHUS (din-shen´cus). Ancient tract, preserved in the “Book of Leinster,” 85

DIN´ODIG. Cantrev of, over which Llew and Blodeuwedd reigned, 382, 383

DINRIGH (din´ree). Maon slays Covac at, 153

DIODOR´US SIC´ULUS. A contemporary of Julius Cæsar; describes Gauls, 41, 42; Pythagoras and, 80

DIS. Pluto, equivalent, 88

DITHOR´BA. Brother of Red Hugh and Kimbay, slain by Macha, 151; five sons of, taken captive by Macha, 151, 152

DIUR´AN THE RHYMER. Germān and, companions of Maeldūn on his wonderful voyage, 313; returns with piece of silver net, 331

DODDER, THE RIVER, 175

DOLMENS Cromlechs, tumuli and, explanation of, 53

DŌN (_o_ as in “bone”). A Cymric mother-goddess, representing the Gaelic Dana, 348, 349; Penardun, a daughter of 349; Gwydion, son of, 349; genealogy set forth, 350

DONN. 1. Mac Midir, son of Midir the Proud, 285. 2. Father of Dermot; gives his son to be nurtured by Angus Ōg, 290

DONNYBROOK. Da Derga’s hostel at, 170

DOOCLOONE. Ailill slain in church of, 310; Maeldūn at, 311

DOWTH. Tumulus of, 74

DRUIDISM. Its existence in British Isles, Gaul, &c., 82; magical rites of, belief in survived in early Irish Christianity, 83

DRUIDS. Doctrines of, 37, 39; regarded as intermediaries between God and man, 42; the sovran power in Celtica, 46; suppressed by Emperor Tiberius, 62; Aryan root for the word discovered, 82; testimony of Dion Chrysostom to the power of the, 83; religious, philosophic and scientific culture superintended by, record of Cæsar regarding, 84; cosmogonic teaching died with their order, 95

DUBLIN. Conary goes toward, 167; Conary’s foster-brothers land at, for raiding purposes, 169

DUPAIX. Reference to cup-and-ring markings in book “Monuments of New Spain,” 68

DYFED. Pryderi and Manawyddan at, 374; Gwydion and Gilvaethwy at, 379

DYLAN (“Son of the Wave”). Son of Arianrod; his death-groan the roar of the tide at mouth of the river Conway, 380

EAGLE OF GWERN ABWY, THE, 392

EBER DONN (Brown Eber). Milesian lord; his brutal exultation and its sequel, 136; reference to, as one of Milesian leaders, 148

EBER FINN (Fair Eber). One of the Milesian leaders, 148; slain by Eremon, 148

ECNE (ec´nay). The god whose grandmother was Dana, 103

EGYPT-IAN. The ship symbol in the sepulchral art of, 75; Feet of Osiris, symbol of visitation, in, 77; ideas of immortality, 78-87; human sacrifices in, abolished by Amasis I., 86

EIS´IRT. Bard to King of Wee Folk, 247; his visit to King Fergus in Ulster, 247

ELPHIN. Son of Gwyddno; finds Taliesin, 414; his boast of wife and bard at Arthur’s court, 415; the sequel, 415-417

EM´AIN MACH´A. The Morrigan passes through, to warn Cuchulain, 127; founding of, with reign of Kimbay, 150; equivalent, the Brooch of Macha, 150; Macha compels five sons of Dithorba to construct ramparts and trenches of, 151, 152; appearance of Dectera in fields of, 182; Cuchulain drives back to, 186; news of Cuchulain’s battle-fury brought to, 194; Fergus returns to, 201; boy corps at, go forth to help Cuchulain, 214; Ulster men return to, with great glory, 225; Conall’s “brain ball” laid up at, 240

EMA´NIA. Women of, meet Cuchulain, 194; sacrifice of boy corps of, avenged by Cuchulain, 214; Cuchulain takes farewell of womenfolk of, 231. See Emain Macha

EMER. Daughter of Forgall; wooed by Cuchulain, 185-186; Cuchulain seeks and carries off, 195; becomes Cuchulain’s wife, 195; learns of the tryst between Cuchulain and Fand, 226, 228; Cuchulain sees her corpse in his madness, 230

ENAMELLING. Celts and art of, 30

ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA. Article on Arthurian saga in, 341

ENID. The tale of Geraint and, 399, 400

EOCHY (yeo´hee). 1. Son of Erc, Firbolg king, husband of Taltiu, or Telta, 103. 2. King of Ireland; reference to appearance of Midir the Proud to, on the Hill of Tara, 124; High King of Ireland, wooes and marries Etain, 157, 158; Midir appears to, and challenges to play chess, 161, 162

EPH´ORUS. Celts and, 17, 36

ERC. King of Ireland, Cuchulain’s foe, 228-233; mortally wounds the Grey of Macha, 232

ER´EMON. First Milesian king of all Ireland, 143, 144, 148

ERI. Mother of King Bres, 107-108; reveals father of Bres as Elatha, 108

ERINN (ERIN). See Eriu, 132; reference to High-Kingship of, 152

ERIU. Wife of Danaan king MacGrené, 132; dative form, Erinn, poetic name applied to Ireland, 132

ERRIS BAY. The Children of Lir at, 141, 142

ET´AIN. Second bride of Midir the Proud, 156; transformed by Fuamnach into a butterfly, 156; driven by a magic tempest into the fairy palace of Angus, 156; again the magic tempest drives her forth, 156; swallowed by Etar, and reappears as a mortal child, 156, 157; visited by Eochy, the High King, who wooes and makes her his wife, 157, 158; the desperate love of Ailill for, 158-160; Midir the Proud comes to claim, as his Danaan wife, 160-163; recovered by Eochy, 163

ETAIN OIG. Daughter of Etain, 163; King Conary Mōr descended from, 164; married Cormac, King of Ulster, 165; put away owing to barrenness, 166; cowherd of Eterskel cares for her one daughter, 166

ET´AR. Mother of Etain, 157

ETERSKEL. King of Ireland, whose cowherd cares for Messbuachalla, 166; on his death he is succeeded by Conary Mōr, 167-169

ETH´AL A´NUBAL. Prince of Danaans of Connacht, father of Caer, 122

ETHLINN, or ETHNEA. Daughter of Balor, 110; gives her love to Kian, 111; gives birth to three sons, 111; one son, Lugh, 112, 182; belongs to Finn’s ancestry, 255

ETHNÉ. The tale of, 142-145

ETRUSCANS. Celts conquer Northern Italy from, 21

EUROPE. Seeds of freedom and culture in, kept alive by Celtica, 22; diffusion of Celtic power in Mid-, 26; Celtic place-names in, 27; what it owes to Celts, 49; western lands of, dolmens found in, 53

EVNISS´YEN. Son of Eurosswyd and Penardun, 366; mutilates horses of Matholwch, 367; atonement made by Bran for his outrage, 367, 368; slays the warriors hidden in the meal-bags, 370; dies in the magic cauldron, 371

EVRAWC. Father of Peredur, 401

EVRIC. Farmer who befriends Fionuala and her brothers, 141

EXCALIBUR. See Caliburn, 338, and _note_, p. 224

*F*

FABII. Romans elect as military tribunes, 25

FAB´IUS AMBUST´US. Treachery of three sons of, against Celts, 25

FACHT´NA. The giant, King of Ulster, 180; Nessa, wife of, 180; father of Conor, 180; succeeded at death by his half-brother, Fergus, 180

FAIR MANE. Woman who nurtured many of the Fianna, 262

FAIRY FOLK. Equivalent, _Sidhe_ (shee). The tumulus at New Grange (Ireland) regarded as dwelling-place of, 69; the _Coulin_ overheard from, 119; Conary Mōr lured by, into breaking his _geise_, 170; seal all sources of water against mac Cecht, 175, 176; Fergus mac Leda and, 246-249; Conan mac Morna and, 259, 260; Keelta and the, 266; Gwyn ap Nudd, King of Welsh (_Tylwyth Teg_), 353

FAIRYLAND. Land of the Dead, 96; Cleena swept back to, by a wave, 127; Connla’s Well in, 129; war carried on against, by Eochy, who at last recovers his wife, Etain, 163; Cuchulain in, 225-228; Laeg’s visit to, 226; Fergus mac Leda and, 246-249; tales of the Fianna concerned with, 252; Oisīn’s journey to, 272; the rescue of, by Finn and the Fianna, 294, 295; rescue of, by Pwyll, 357

FAL´IAS, THE CITY OF (see Dana), 105, 106

FAND. The Pearl of Beauty, wife of Mananan; sets her love on Cuchulain, 226; returns to her home with Mananan, 227

FAYLINN. The Land of the Wee Folk, 246; Iubdan, King of, 246

FEDEL´MA. Prophetess from Fairy Mound of Croghan, questioned by Maev, 205, 206; her vision of Cuchulain, 206

FEET SYMBOL, THE TWO. 77

FELIM. Son of Dall, father of Deirdre, 196, 197; his feast to Conor and Red Branch heroes, 196, 197

FER´AMORC. The kingdom of, over which Scoriath is king; Maon taken to, 153

FERCART´NA. The bard of Curoi, 229; leaps with Blanid to death, 229

FERDIA. Duel between Cuchulain and, referred to, 121; son of the Firbolg, Daman, friend of Cuchulain, 187, 188; rallies to Maev’s foray against Ulster, 204; consents to Maev’s entreaty that he should meet and fight his friend Cuchulain, 216; the struggle, 217-221; Cuchulain slays, 220; buried by Maev, 221

FERGUS. Nemedian chief who slays Conann, 102

FERGUS THE GREAT. Son of Erc; stone of Scone used for crowning, 105; ancestor of British Royal Family, 105

FERGUS MAC LEDA. The Wee Folk and, 246-249; visited by Eisirt, King of Wee Folk’s bard, 247; visited by Iubdan, King of Wee Folk, 247-249; the blemish of Fergus, 249

FERGUS MAC ROY. Son of Roy, Fachtna’s half-brother; succeeds to kingship of Ulster, 180; loves Nessa, 180; sent to invite return of Naisi and Deirdre to Ireland, 198-200; the rebellion of, 201-251; Maev and, 202; compact with Cuchulain, 211; reputed author of the “Tain,” 234; slain by Ailell, 245

FERGUS TRUELIPS. Rescued from enchanted cave by Goll, 278

FERGUSON, SIR SAMUEL. Quoted, 46, 234-238; his description of King Fergus mac Leda’s death, 249-251

FERYLLT. Welsh name of Vergil, 413

FIACHA (fee´ach-a). Son of Firaba; cuts off eight-and-twenty hands of the Clan Calatin, 216; gives spear to Finn, 258

FIACHRA (fee´ach-ra). One of the Children of Lir, 142

FIAL (fee´al). Sister of Emer, 186

FIANNA (fee´anna) OF ERIN, THE. Explanation of this Order, 252; Clan Bascna and Clan Morna, clans comprising the, 252; Goll, captain of the, 257; Finn made captain of the, 258; tests of, 264, 265; tales of the, told by Keelta, 283; attempt in vain to throw the wether, 291, 292; the chase of the Hard Gilly and, 292-295; rescue of Fairyland by, 294, 295; tribute refused by Cairbry, 305; almost all the, slain in battle of Gowra, 306

FIANS. See Fianna

FIN´CHOOM. Dectera’s sister, foster-mother to Cuchulain, 182, 183; mother of Conall, 243

FINCHOR´Y, ISLAND OF. 115, 116

FIND´ABAIR OF THE FAIR EYE-BROWS. Daughter of Maev; offered to Ferdia if he will meet and fight Cuchulain, 216

FIN´EGAS. Druid, of whom Finn learns poetry and science, 256

FINGEN. Conor mac Nessa’s physician; his pronouncement _re_ Conall’s “brain ball” by which Ket has wounded the king, 240

FIN´IAS. THE CITY OF (see Dana), 105, 106

FINN MAC CUMHAL (fin mac coo´al). Fothad slain in a battle with, 81; Dermot of the Love Spot a follower of, 123; Ossianic Cycle clusters round, 252; Oisīn, son of, 252; the coming of, 255; his Danaan ancestry, 255; Murna of the White Neck his mother, Cumhal his father, 255; Demna his original name, 255; put out to nurse, 256; origin of name Finn (Fair One), 256; slays Lia, 256; taught poetry and science by Druid Finegas, 256; eats of the Salmon of Knowledge, 256; slays goblin at Slieve Fuad, 258; made captain of the Fianna of Erin, 258; makes a covenant with Conan, 258, 259; Dermot of the Love Spot, friend of, 261; weds Grania, 261; Oisīn, son of, 261; Geena mac Luga, one of the men of, 262; teaches the maxims of the Fianna to mac Luga, 262, 263; Murna, the mother of, 266; Bran and Skolawn, hounds of, 266-269; weds Saba, 267; Saba taken from, by enchantment, 268; Niam of the Golden Hair comes to, 270; experience in the enchanted cave, 277, 278; Goll rescues, 277, 278; gives his daughter Keva to Goll, 278; “The Chase of Slievegallion” and, 278-280; “The Masque of,” by Mr. Standish O’Grady, 280, 281; the Hard Gilly (Gilla Dacar) and, 292-295; Grania and, 296-304; bewails Oscar’s death, 306; in all Ossianic literature no complete narrative of death of, 308; tradition says he lies in trance in enchanted cave, like Kaiser Barbarossa, 308

FINTAN. The Salmon of Knowledge, of which Finn eats, 256

FIONUALA (fee-un-oo´la). Daughter of Lir and step-daughter of Aoife, 139; Aoife’s transformation into swans of Fionuala and, her brothers, 140-142

FIR-BOLG. See Firbolgs, 103

FIRBOLGS. Nemedian survivors who return to Ireland, 102; name signifies “Men of the Bags,” 102, 103; legend regarding, 102, 103; the Fir-Bolg, Fir-Domnan, and Galioin races generally designated as the, 103; the Danaans and the, 106-119, 137

FIR-DOM´NAN. See Firbolgs, 103

FLEGETAN´IS. A heathen writer, whose Arabic book formed a source for poet Kyot, 408

FOHLA (fō´la). Wife of Danaan King mac Cecht, 132

FOILL. A son of Nechtan, slain by Cuchulain, 194

FOLL´AMAN. Conor’s youngest son; leads boy corps against Maev, 214

FOMOR´IANS. A misshapen, violent people representing the powers of evil; their battle with the Partholanians, 97; Nemedians in constant warfare with, 101; their tyranny over country of Ireland, 109; encounter between the Danaans and, 117, 118, 137

FORBAY. Son of Conor mac Nessa; slays Maev, 245

FORD OF FERDIA. Place on the River Dee; one champion at a time to meet Cuchulain at, 211; the struggle at, between Cuchulain and Ferdia, 216-220

FORGALL THE WILY. The lord of Lusca, father of Emer, 185; meets his death in escaping from Cuchulain, 195

FOTH´AD. King, slain in battle with Finn mac Cumhal; wager as to place of death made by Mongan, 81

FRAG´ARACH (“The Answerer”). Terrible sword brought by Lugh from the Land of the Living, 113

FRANCE. Place-names of, Celtic element in, 27

FUAMNACH (foo´am-nach). Wife of Midir the Proud, 156; her jealousy of a second bride, Etain, 156; transforms Etain into a butterfly by magic art, 156-158; Midir tells of her death, 160

GAE BOLG. The thrust of, taught by Skatha to Cuchulain, 188, 189; Cuchulam slays his son Connla by, 192; Cuchulain slays Loch by, 213; Cuchulain slays Ferdia by, 220

GAELIC. Cymric language and, 35; effect of legends of, on Continental poets, 50; bards’ ideas of chivalric romance anticipated by, 246; Cymric legend and, compared, 344-419; Continental romance and, 345

GAELS. Sacrifices of children by, to idol Crom Cruach, 85

GÆSAT´I. Celtic warriors, in battle of Clastidium, 41

GALATIA. Celtic state of, St. Jerome’s attestation _re_, 34

GAL´IOIN. See Firbolgs, 103

GALLES, M. RENÉ. Tumulus of Mané-er-H´oeck described by, 63

GARACH. Mac Roth views Ulster men on Plain of, 223; the battle of, 223-225

GAUL-S. Under Roman yoke, 35; Cæsar’s account of, 37; described by Diodorus Siculus, 41, 42; described by Ammianus Marcellinus, 42; Dr. Rice Holmes describes, 43; commerce on Mediterranean, Bay of Biscay, &c., of, 44; religious beliefs and rites described by Julius Cæsar, 51, 52; human sacrifices in, 84; votive inscriptions to Æsus, Teutates, and Taranus, found in, 86, 87; Dis, or Pluto, a most notable god of, 88; dead carried from, to Britain, 131; Maon taken to, 153

“GAULOIS, LA RELIGION DES.” Reference to, 55, 83

GAUVAIN (SIR GAWAIN). Fellow-knight with Perceval, 406

GAVR´INIS. Chiromancy at, 64

GEENA MAC LUGA. Son of Luga, one of Finn’s men, 262; Finn teaches the maxims of the Fianna to, 262, 263

GEIS-E (singular, gaysh; plural, gaysha). The law of the, 164; meaning of this Irish word explained, 164; instances: Dermot of the Love Spot, Conary Mōr, and Fergus mac Roy, 165; Grania puts Dermot under, 298

GELON. Defeat of Hamilcar by, at Himera, 22

GENEALOGY. Of Conary Mōr, from Eochy, 164; of Conor mac Nessa, from Ross the Red, 181; of Cuchulain and Conall of the Victories, from Druid Cathbad, 181; of Dōn, 350; of Llyr, 351; of Arthur, 352

GENEIR. Knight of Arthur’s court, 401

GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. Bishop of St. Asaph; his “Historia Regum Britaniæ” written to commemorate Arthur’s exploits, 337

GERAINT. The tale of Enid and, 399, 400

GERALD, EARL. Son of goddess Ainé, 128

GERMĀN (ghermawn—_g_ hard). Diuran and, companions of Maeldūn on his wonderful voyage, 313

GERMANIC WORDS. Many important, traceable to Celtic origin, 32

GERMANS. Menace to classical civilisation of, under names of Cimbri and Teutones, 31; de Jubainville’s explanation regarding, as a subject people, 31; overthrow of Celtic supremacy by, 33; burial rites practised by, 33; chastity of, 41

GERMANY. Place-names of, Celtic element in, 27

GILLA DACAR (The Hard Gilly). Story of, 292-295

GILVAETH´WY. Son of Dōn, nephew of Māth, 378; his love for Goewin, and its sequel, 378-380

GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS. Testimony to the fairness of the Irish Celt, 21. See Bleheris

GLEN ETIVE. Dwelling place of Naisi and Deirdre, 198

GLOUCESTER. Mabon released from prison in, 392; the “nine sorceresses” of, 404

GLOWER. The strong man of the Wee Folk, 246

GLYN CUCH. Pwyll’s hunt in woods of, 357

GOBAN THE SMITH. Brother of Kian and Sawan; corresponds to Wayland Smith in Germanic legend, 110, 117; Ollav Fōla compared with, 150

GOD. Cythrawl and, two primary existences in the Cymric cosmogony, standing for principles of life and destruction, 333-335; the ineffable Name of, pronounced, and the “Manred” formed, 333

GODS. Megalithic People’s conception of their, 86, 87; of Aryan Celts, equated by Cæsar with Mercury, Apollo, Mars, &c , 86; triad of, Æsus, Teutates, and Taranus, mentioned by Lucan, 86; Lugh, or Lugus, the god of Light, 88

GOEWIN (go-ay´win). Daughter of Pebin; Gilvaethwy’s love for, and its sequel, 378-380

GOLASECCA. A great settlement of the Lowland Celts, in Cisalpine Gaul, 56

GOLEUDDYDD. Wife of Kilydd; mother of Kilhwch, 386, 387

GOLL MAC MORNA. Son of Morna, captain of the Fianna of Erin, 257; swears service to Finn, 258; Finn recalls the great saying of, 267; rescues Finn from the enchanted cave, 277, 278; Keva of the White Skin given as wife to, 278; adventure with the wether, 291, 292

GONEMANS. Knight who trains Perceval (Peredur), 405

GORBODUC. “Historia Regum Bntaniæ” furnished subject for, 337 338

GOR´IAS, THE CITY OF (see Dana), 105, 106

GOWRA (GABHRA). References to Oscar’s death at, 261-275; battle of, between Clan Bascna and Clan Morna, 305-309; Oscar’s death at, 305-308; King of Ireland’s death at, 306

GRAIL. Legends of the, 400; the tale of Peredur and the 400; Chrestien de Troyes’ story of, 404; identical with the Cup ot the Last Supper, 406; Wolfram von Eschenbach’s conception of the story of the 407; preserved in Castle of Munsalväsche, 407; the, a talisman of abundance, 409; false derivation of the word, from _gréable_, 409; true derivation, 409, _note_; combination of Celtic poetry, German mysticism, Christian Chivalry, and ancient sun-myths contained in, 411, 412

GRANIA. Loved by Dermot of the Love Spot, 123; elopes with Dermot, 261; tales of Deirdre and, compared, 296-304; borne to Hill of Allen as Finn’s bride, 304

GREAT BRITAIN. Western extremity of, is Land of the Dead, 131

GREECE. Dolmens found in, 53; oppression in, of the Firbolgs, 102, 103

GREEK-S. Celts and, 17; wars in alliance with Celts, 22; break monopoly of Carthaginian trade with Britain and Spain, 22; secure overland route across France to Britain 22; type of civilisation, Celtica preserved, 22

GREY OF MACHA. Cuchulain’s horse, ridden by Sualtam to rouse men of Ulster, 221, 222; resists being harnessed by Laeg, 230; mortally wounded by Erc, 232; defends Cuchulain, 233

GRONW PEBYR (gron´oo payber). Loved by Blodeuwedd, 383; slain by Llew, 384

GUAIRY, HUGH (gwai´ry). Arrested for murder, and tried at Tara by Dermot, 48

GUARY (gwar´y). High King; taunts Sanchan Torpest about the “Tain,” 234

GUEST, LADY CHARLOTTE. Her collections of tales, 412 See “Mabinogion”

GWALCHMAI. Nephew of King Arthur, 397, 401

GWAWL. Rival of Pwyll’s for Rhiannon’s hand, 361, 362

GWENHWYVAR (gwen´hoo-ivar). Wife of King Arthur, 394

GWERN. Son of Matholwch and Branwen, 368; assumes sovranty of Ireland, 370

GWION BACH. Son of Gwreang; put to stir magic cauldron by Ceridwen, 413; similar action to Finn, 413

GWLWLYD (goo-loo´lid). The dun oxen of, 390

GWREANG (goo´re-ang). Father of Gwion Bach, 413

GWRNACH (goor-nach). Giant; the sword of the, 390

GWYDDNO GAR´ANHIR. Horses of, drink of poisoned stream, hence the stream “Poison of the Horses of,” 413; his son Elphin finds Taliesin, 414

GWYDION. Son of Dōn; place in Cymric mythology taken later by the god Artaius, 349; nephew of Māth, 378; the swine of Pryderi and, 378-380

GWYN AP NUDD. A Cymric deity likened to Finn (Gaelic) and to Odin (Norse), 349; combat every May-day between Gwythur ap Greidawl and, 353, 388

GWYNEDD. Māth, lord of, 378

GWYNFYD. Purity; the second of three concentric circles representing the totality of being in the Cymric cosmogony, in which life is manifested as a pure, rejoicing force triumphant over evil, 334

GWYTHUR AP GREIDAWL (VICTOR, SON OF SCORCHER). Combat every May-day between Gwyn ap Nudd and, 353, 388

*H*

HADES (or ANNWN). The Magic Cauldron part of the spoils of, 410

HAM´ILCAR. Defeat of, at Himera, by Gelon, 22

HAMITIC, THE. Preserved in syntax of Celtic languages, 78

HAVGAN. Rival of Arawn; mortally wounded by Pwyll, 357,358

HECATÆ´US OF ABDERA. Musical services of Celts (probably of Great Britain) described by, 58

HECATÆUS OF MILETUS. First extant mention of “Celts” by, 17

HEILYN. Son of Gwynn, 372

HEININ. Bard at Arthur’s court, 416

HELLAN´ICUS OF LESBOS. Celts and, 17

HERO´DOTUS. Celts and, 17, 56

HEVYDD HĒN. Father of Rhiannon, 360

HIGH KINGS OF IRELAND. Stone of Destiny used for crowning of, 105

HILL OF AINÉ. Name of goddess Ainé clings to, 128; Ainé appears, on a St. John’s Night, among girls on, 128

HILL OF ALLEN. Finn’s hounds, while returning to, recognise Saba, 266; Oisīn returns to, 273; Finn returns to, 278; return of the Fianna to, to celebrate the wedding feast of Finn and Tasha, 295; Finn bears Grania as his bride to, 304

HILL OF KESHCORRAN. Finn bewitched by hags on, 277

HILL OF MACHA. Significance, 251

“HISTORIA BRITONUM.” See Nennius

HISTORIA REGUM BRITANIÆ. See Geoffrey of Monmouth. Furnished subject for “Gorborduc” and “King Lear,” 338; wonderful success of, translated by Wace into French, by Layamon into Anglo-Saxon, 338, 339

HOMER. His gloomy picture of the departed souls of men conducted to the underworld, 79, 80; reference to, 147

HORSES OF MANANAN. White-crested waves called, 125

HOUND OF ULSTER. See Cuchulain, 217, 233; element in Gaelic names, 184

HUGH. One of the Children of Lir, 142

HULL, Miss, referred to, 133, _note_; 203, _note_

HUNGARY. Miled’s name as a god in a Celtic inscription from, 130

HYDE, DR. DOUGLAS. Reference to his folk tale about Dermot of the Love Spot. 291

HYPERBOR´EANS. Equivalent to Celts, 17

IBERIANS Aquitani and, resemblance between, 58, 59

ILDA´NACH (“The All-Craftsman”). Surname conferred upon Lugh, the Sun-god, 113

ILLYRIANS Celts conquer, 22

IMMORTALITY. Origin of so-called “Celtic” doctrine of, 75, 76; Egyptian and “Celtic” ideas of, 78-89

INDIA. Dolmens found in, 53; symbol of the feet found in, 77; practice in, of allotting musical modes to seasons of the year, 118

INDRA. Hindu sky-deity corresponding to Brown Bull of Quelgny, 203

INGCEL. One-eyed chief, son of King of Great Britain, an exile, 169

INVASION MYTHS, THE, OF IRELAND. See Myths

INVERSKEN´A Ancient name of Kenmore River, so called after Skena, 133

IRELAND Unique historical position of, 35; Dermot mac Kerval, High King of, 47; apostolised by St Patrick, 51; Lowland Celts founders of lake-dwellings in, 56; holy wells in, 66; tumulus and symbolic carvings at New Grange in, 69-72; reference to conversion of, to Christianity, 83; Lugh, or Lugus, god of Light, in, 88; history of, as related by Tuan, 98-100; Nemed takes possession of, 98; Fomorians establish tyranny over, 101; Standish O’Grady’s “Critical History of,” reference to, 119, 120; displacement of Danaans in, by Milesians, 130; Ith’s coming to, 130-136; name of Eriu (dative form Erinn), poetic name applied to, 132; Amergin’s lay, sung on touching soil of, 134; Milesian host invade, 135; the Children of Miled enter upon sovranty of, but henceforth there are two Irelands, the spiritual, occupied by the Danaans, and the earthly by the Milesians, 136-145; Eremon, first Milesian king of all, 143, 144; reference to Christianity and paganism in, 145; Milesian settlement of, 148; Ollav Fōla, most distinguished Ollav of, 149—150; Maon reigns over, 154; raid of Conary’s foster-brothers in, 169; The Terrible decides the Championship of, 196; proclaims Cuchulain Champion of, 196; Naisi and Deirdre land in, 199; Cairbry, son of Cormac mac Art, High King of, 304; Maeldūn and his companions return to, 330; the Arthurian saga never entered, 343; invaded by Bran, 369-372; Matholwch hands over to Gwern the sovranty of, 370

IRISH. Element of place-names, found in France, Switzerland, Austria, &c., 28; Spenser’s reference to eagerness of, to receive news, 37; the Ulster hero, Cuchulain, in saga, 41; the tumulus at New Grange in, 69; Christianity, early, magical rites of Druidism survive in, 83; legend, four main divisions in cycle of, 95; folk-melodies, the _Coulin_, one of the most beautiful of, 119; god of Love, Angus Ōg the, 121; “Mythological Cycle,” de Jubainville’s, reference to, 131; place-names, significance of, 250; legend, St. Patrick and, 283; literature, effect of Christianity on, 295 296 IRNAN. Lays Finn under _geise_ to engage in single combat, 278; slain by Goll, 278

IRON AGE. The ship a well-recognised form of sepulchral enclosure in cemeteries of the, 76

ISLAND-S. Strange adventures of Maeldūn and his companions on wonderful, 312-331; of the Slayer, 313; of the Ants, 313; of the Great Birds, 313; of the Fierce Beast, 314; of the Giant Horses, 314; of the Stone Door, 314; of the Apples, 315; of the Wondrous Beast, 315; of the Biting Horses, 315; of the Fiery Swine, 316; of the Little Cat, 316; of the Black and White Sheep, 317; of the Giant Cattle, 317; of the Mill, 318; of the Black Mourners, 318; of the Four Fences, 318; of the Glass Bridge, 319; of the Shouting Birds, 320; of the Anchorite, 320; of the Miraculous Fountain, 320; of the Smithy, 321; of the Sea of Clear Glass, 321; of the Undersea, 321; of the Prophecy, 322; of the Spouting Water, 322; of the Silvern Column, 322; of the Pedestal, 323; of the Women, 323, 324; of the Red Berries, 325; of the Eagle, 325-327; of the Laughing Folk, 327; of the Flaming Rampart, 327; of the Monk of Tory, 327-329; of the Falcon, 329, 330

ISLANDS OF THE DEAD. See Mananan, 125

ISLE OF MAN. Supposed throne of Mananan, 125

ITALY. Northern, Celts conquer from Etruscans, 21, 25; Murgen and Eimena sent to, by Sanchan Torpest, to discover the “Tain,” 234, 235

ITH. Son of Bregon, grandfather of Miled, 130; his coming to Ireland, 130-136; shores of Ireland perceived by, from Tower of Bregon, 132; learns of Neit’s slaying, 132; welcomed by mac Cuill and his brothers, 133; put to death by the three Danaan Kings, 133

IUBDAN (youb-dan). King of the Wee Folk, 246; Bebo, wife of, 247; Bebo and, visit King Fergus in Ulster, 247-249

IUCHAR (you´char). One of three sons of Turenn, 114; Brigit, mother of, 126

IUCHARBA (you-char´ba). One of three sons of Turenn, 114; Brigit, mother of, 126

JAPAN. Dolmens found in, 53

JEROME, ST. Attestation of, on Celtic State of Galatia, 34

JOHN, MR. IVOR B. His opinion of Celtic mystical writings, 332

JONES, BRYNMOR. Findings of, on origin of populations of Great Britain and Ireland, 78

JOYCE, DR. P.W. Reference to his “Old Celtic Romances,” 303, 309, 312

JUBAINVILLE, M. D’ARBOIS DE. Great Celtic scholar, 18, 23, 24; explanation of, regarding Germans as a subject people, 31; record regarding Megalithic People, 55; reference of, to Taranus (? Thor), the god of Lightning, 87; opinion regarding Dis, or Pluto, as representing darkness, death, and evil, 88; reference to Gaulish god whom Cæsar identifies with Mercury, 113; Brigit identical with Dana, according to, 126; Ith’s landing in Ireland described in his “Irish Mythological Cycle,” 131; his translation of Amergin’s strange lay, 134

KAI. King Arthur’s seneschal, 387, 388; accompanies Kilhwch on his quest for Olwen, 388-392; refuses Peredur, 401, 402

KEATING. Reference to his “History of Ireland,” 150; his reference to Maon, 153; “History” of, tells of Ket’s death, 244; “History” of, tells of Maev’s death, 245

KEELTA MAC RONAN. Summoned from the dead by Mongan, 81; warrior and reciter, one of Finn’s chief men, 261; St. Patrick and, 265, 266, 289; Finn whispers the tale of his enchantment to, 280; Oisīn and, resolve to part, 282; meets St. Patrick, 282; assists Oisīn bury Oscar, 307

KEEVAN OF THE CURLING LOCKS. Lover of Cleena, 127

KELTCHAR (kelt´yar). A lord of Ulster; mac Datho’s boar and, 243

KENMARE RIVER. In Co. Kerry; ancient name “Inverskena,” so called after Skena, 133

KENVERCH´YN. The three hundred ravens of, 399

KERRY. Murna marries King of, 256

KESAIR (kes´er). Gaulish princess, wife of King Ugainy the Great, 152; grandmother of Maon, 153

KET. Son of Maga; rallies to Maev’s foray against Ulster, 204; slings Conall’s “brain ball” at Conor mac Nessa which seven years after leads to his death, 240, 241; the Boar of mac Datho and, 241-244; death of, told in Keating’s “History of Ireland,” 244

KEVA OF THE WHITE SKIN. Daughter of Finn, given in marriage to Goll mac Morna, 278

KIAN. Father of Lugh, 109; brother of Sawan and Goban, 110; the end of, 114

KICVA. Daughter of Gwynn Gohoyw, wife of Pryderi, 365, 373

KILHWCH (kil´hugh). Son to Kilydd and Goleuddydd; story of Olwen and, 386-392; accompanied on his quest (to find Olwen) by Kai, Bedwyr, Kynddelig, Bedwyr (Bedivere), Gwrhyr, Gwalchmai, and Menw, 388-392

KILLARNEY, LAKES OF. Ancient name, Locha Lein, given to, by Len, 123

KILYDD. Husband of Goleuddydd, father of Kilhwch, 386, 387

KIMBAY (CIMBAOTH). Irish king; reign of, and the founding of Emain Macha, 150; brother of Red Hugh and Dithorba, 151; compelled to wed Macha, 151

KING LEAR. “Historia Regum Britaniæ” furnished the subject of, 337, 338

KINGSBOROUGH, LORD. “Antiquities of Mexico,” example of cup-and-ring markings reproduced in his book, 68

KNOWLEDGE. Nuts of, 256; the Salmon of, 256

KYM´IDEU KYME´IN-VOLL. Wife of Llassar Llaesgyvnewid, 368

KYMON. A knight of Arthur’s court; the adventure of, 394-399

KYN´DDELIG. One of Arthur’s servitors; accompanies Kilhwch on his quest for Olwen, 388-392

KYOT (GUIOT). Provençal poet; and Wolfram von Eschenbach, 408

LA TÈNE CULTURE. Relics found in Austria developed into, 29

LABRA THE MARINER. See Maon, 154

LAEG (layg). Cuchulain’s friend and charioteer, 183; sent by Cuchulain to rouse men of Ulster, 213; visits Fairyland to report on Fand, 226; the Grey of Macha resists being harnessed by, 230; slain by Lewy, 232

LAERY (lay´ry). 1. Son of King Ugainy the Great; treacherously slain by his brother Covac, 152. 2. The Triumphant; shrinks from test for the Championship of Ireland, 196; mac Datho’s boar and, 243. 3. Son of Neill; sees vision of Cuchulain, 239

LAIRGNEN (lerg-nen). Connacht chief, betrothed to Deoca; seizes the Children of Lir, 142

LAKE OF THE CAULDRON. Place where Matholwch met Llassar Llaesgyvnewid and his wife Kymideu Kymeinvoll, 367, 368

LAKE OF THE DRAGON’S MOUTH. Resort of Caer, 121; Angus Ōg joins his love, Caer, at, 122

LAND OF THE DEAD. “Spain” a synonymous term, 130; the western extremity of Great Britain is, according to ancient writer cited by Plutarch, and also according to Procopius, 131

LAND OF THE LIVING. = Land of the Happy Dead, 96; gifts which Lugh brought from, 113

LAND OF SHADOWS. Dwelling-place of Skatha; Cuchulain at, 187-189

LAND OF THE WEE FOLK. See Wee Folk (otherwise, Faylinn), 246, &c.

LAND OF YOUTH. Identical with “Land of the Dead,” “Land of the Living,” _q.v._; See Mananan, 113, 125; Cleena once lived in, 127; Connla’s Well in, visited by Sinend, 129; still lives in imagination of Irish peasant, 137; mystic country of People of Dana after their dispossession by Children of Miled, 156; pagan conception of, referred to, 161; lover from, visits Messbuachalla, to whom she bears Conary, 166, 167; Oisīn sees wonders of, 272; Oisīn returns from, 273; “The Lady of the Fountain” and the, 395, 396

LAYAMON. Translator. See “Historia Regum Britaniæ”

LEGEND. The cycles of Irish, 95

LEICESTER. See Llyr

LEINSTER. Book of, and de Jubainville, 24; ancient tract, the “Dinnsenchus,” preserved in, 85; traditional derivation of name, 154; men of, rally to Maev’s foray against Ulster, 205; Mesroda, son of Datho, dwelt in province of, 241

LEIX. Reavers from, slay Ailill Edge-of-Battle, 310; Maeldūn’s voyage to, 311-331

LEN. Goldsmith of Bōv the Red; gave ancient name, Locha Lein, to the Lakes of Killarney, 123

LEVAR´CAM. Deirdre’s nurse, 197-200; Conor questions, _re_ sons of Usna, 199

LEWY. Son of Curoi, Cuchulain’s foe, 228-233; slain by Conall of the Victories, 233

LIA (lee´a). Lord of Luachar, treasurer to the Clan Morna, 255; slain by Finn, 256; father of Conan, 258

LIA FAIL (lee´a fawl), THE. The Stone of Destiny, 121

LIAGAN (lee´a-gan). A pirate, slain by Conan mac Morna, 260

LIGHT-OF-BEAUTY. See Sgeimh Solais

LIR (leer). 1. Sea-god, father of Mananan, 113, 139; Mananan and, referred to, 125; identical with the Greek Oceanus, 125; father of Lodan and grandparent of Sinend, 129; Cymric deity Llyr corresponds with, 347. 2. The Children of, the transformation of, 139-142; their death, 142

LISMORE. “The Dean of Lismore’s Book,” by James Macgregor. Dean of, described, 288

LLASSAR LLAESGYV´NEWID. Husband of Kymideu Kymeinvoll, giver of magic cauldron to Bran, 368

LLEVELYS. Son of Beli; story of Ludd (Nudd) and, 385, 386

LLEW LLAW GYFFES. Otherwise “The Lion of the Sure Hand.” A hero the subject of the tale “Māth Son of Māthonwy,” 347, 348; identical with the Gaelic deity Lugh of the Long Arm, 347, 348; how he got his name, 381, 382; the flower-wife of, named Blodeuwedd, 382, 383; slays Gronw Pebyr, who had betrayed him, 383, 384

LLUDD. See Nudd

LLWYD. Son of Kilcoed, an enchanter; removes magic spell from seven Cantrevs of Dyfed, and from Pryderi and Rhiannon, 377

LLYR. In Welsh legend, father of Manawyddan; Irish equivalents, Lir and Mananan, 347; Llyr-cester (now Leicester) once a centre of the worship of, 347; house of, corresponds with Gaelic Lir, 348, 349; Penardun, daughter of Dōn, wife of, 349; genealogy set forth, 351

LOCH. Son of Mofebis, champion sent by Mae against Cuchulain, 212; wounds Cuchulain, but is slain by him, 212

LOCH GARA. Lake in Roscommon; mac Cecht’s visit to, 176

LOCH RORY. Fergus mac Leda’s adventure in, 249

LOCH RYVE. Maev retires to island on, and is slain there by Forbay, 245

LODAN. Son of Lir, father of goddess Sinend, 129

LOHERANGRAIN. Knight of the Swan, son of Parzival, 408

LOUGHCREW. Great tumulus at, supposed burying-place of Ollav Fōla, 150

LOURDES. Cult of waters of, 66, 67

LUCAN. Triad of deities mentioned by, 86

LUCHAD (loo-chad). Father of Luchta, 112

LUCHTA (looch-ta). Son of Luchad, 112; the carpenter of the Danaans, 117

LUDGATE. For derivation see Nudd

LUGH (loo), or LUGUS. 1. See Apollo, 58; the god of Light, in Gaul and Ireland, as, 88; 2. Son of Kian, the Sun-god _par excellence_ of all Celtica, the coming of, 109-113; other names, Ildánach (“The All-Craftsman”) and Lugh Lamfada (Lugh of the Long Arm), 113, 123; his eric from sons of Turenn for murder of his father, Kian, 115-116; slays Balor and is enthroned in his stead, 117; fiery spear of, 121; his worship widely spread over Continental Celtica, 123; father, by Dectera, of Cuchulain, 123, 182; Cymric deity Llew Llaw Gyffes corresponds with, 347, 348

LUGH OF THE LONG ARM. See Lugh. Invincible sword of, 105, 106; Bres, son of Balor, and, 123; husband of Dectera and father of Cuchulain, 182; appears to Cuchulain and protects the Ford while his son rests, 214; fights by his son’s side, 215; Cymric hero Llew Llaw Gyfles corresponds with, 347, 348

LUNED. Maiden who rescued Owain, 397; Owain rescues her, 398, 399

“MABINŎG´ION, THE” (singular, _Mabinogi_). Reference to story of Kilhwch and Olwen in, 343; “The Red Book of Hergest,” the main source of the tales of, 344; “Māth Son of Māthonwy,” tale in, 347; Mr. Alfred Nutt’s edition, 356; Four Branches of the Mabinogi form most important part of, 384; Peredur’s story in, and French version, 406; the tale of Taliesin and, 412

MABON. Son of Modron, released by Arthur, 391, 392

MACCECHT. Danaan king, husband of Fohla, 132; member of Conary’s retinue at Da Derga’s Hostel, 175; his search for water, 175, 176

MACCUILL (quill). Danaan king, husband of Banba, 132; at fortress of Aileach, 132

MACGRENÉ. Danaan king, husband of Eriu, 132; mythical name Son of the Sun, 132

MAC INDOC´, THE PLAIN OF. Laery and St. Benen on, 239

MACKERVAL, DERMOT. Rule of, in Ireland, and the cursing of Tara, 47, 48. See Dermot

MACPHERSON. Pseudo-Ossian poetry of, 238 MAC ROTH. Maev’s steward, named, and the Brown Bull of Quelgny, 202; sent to view host of Ulster men, 223

MACEDON. Attacked by Thracian and Illyrian hordes, 23

MACHA. Daughter of Red Hugh, 151; slays Dithorba and compels Kimbay to wed her, 151; captures five sons of Dithorba, 151, 152; forms an instance of the intermingling of the attributes of the Danaan with the human race, 152; a super-natural being, 178; goes to dwell with Crundchu, 178; her race against Ultonian horses, 179; gives birth to twins and curses the Ultonians, 180; her curse on men of Ulster, 203-221; the curse removed from men of Ulster, 222

MAELDŪN. Son of Ailill Edge-of-Battle, 310; departs to his own kindred, 311; sets out on his wonderful voyage, 311-331

MAELDŪN, VOYAGE OF (mayl’-doon). Found in MS. entitled “Book of the Dun Cow,” 309; reference to Dr. Whitley Stokes’ translation in the “Revue Celtique,” 309; theme of Tennyson’s “Voyage of Maeldune” furnished by Joyce’s version in “Old Celtic Romances,” 309; narrative of, 311-331

MAEN TYRIAWC (ma’en tyr’i-awc). Burial-place of Pryderi, 379

MAEV (mayv). Queen of Connacht, 122; Angus Ōg seeks aid of, 122; debility of Ultonians manifested on occasion of Cattle-raid of Quelgny, 180; Fergus seeks aid of, 202; her famous bull Finnbenach, 202; her efforts to secure the Brown Bull of Quelgny, 204-246; host of, spreads devastation through the territories of Bregia and Murthemney, 209; offers her daughter Findabair of Fair Eyebrows to Ferdia if he will meet Cuchulain, 216; Conor summons men of Ulster against, 222; overtaken but spared by Cuchulain, 225; makes seven years’ peace with Ulster, 225; vengeance of, against Cuchulain, 228-233; mac Datho’s hound and, 241-244; retires to island on Loch Ryve, 245; slain by Forbay, 245

MAGA. Daughter of Angus Ōg, wife of Ross the Red, 181; wedded also to Druid Cathbad, 181

MAGI. Word magic derived from, 60; treated by Pliny, 61

MAGIC. The religion of Megalithic People that of, 59; origin of word, 60; Pliny on, 61; religion of, invented in Persia and by Zoroaster, 61; traces of, in Megalithic monuments, 63; Clan Calatin learn, in Ireland, Alba, and Babylon, to practise against Cuchulain, 228-233

MAITRE, M. ALBERT. Inspector of Musée des Antiquités Nationales, 64

MALORY. Anticipated by Wace, 338, 339; Cymric myths and, 388

MAN´ANAN. Son of the Sea-god, Lir, 113, 139; magical Boat of, brought by Lugh, with Horse of, and sword _Fragarach_, from the Land of the Living, 113, 121; attributes of Sea-god mostly conferred on, 125; the most popular deity in Irish mythology, 125; lord of sea beyond which Land of Youth or Islands of the Dead were supposed to lie, 125; master of tricks and illusions, owned magical possessions—boat, Ocean-Sweeper; steed, Aonbarr; sword, The Answerer, &c. &c., 125; reference to daughter of, given to Angus, a Danaan prince, 143; his wife, Fand, sets her love on Cuchulain, 226; Fand recovered by, 227; shakes his cloak between Fand and Cuchulain, 228; Cymric deity Manawyddan corresponds with, 347, 348

MANAWYDDAN (mana-wudh’en). In Welsh mythology, son of Llyr; Irish equivalents, Mananan and Lir, 347; Bendigeid Vran (“Bran the Blessed”), his brother, 365; the tale of Pryderi and, 373-378; weds Rhiannon, 373

MANÉ-ER-H´OECK. Remarkable tumulus in Brittany, 63, 64

MANÉS. Seven outlawed sons of Ailell and Maev, 169; their rally to Maev’s foray against Ulster, 204

MANESSIER. A continuator of Chrestien de Troyes, 408

MAN´ETHO. Egyptian historian, reference to human sacrifices, 85, 86

MANRED. The ineffable Name of God pronounced, and so was formed, 333; the primal substance of the universe, 333

MAON (may’un). Son of Ailill; brutal treatment of, by Covac, 152-154; has revenge on Ailill by slaying him and all his nobles, 153; weds Moriath, and reigns over Ireland, 154; equivalent, “Labra the Mariner,” 154

MARCELLIN´US, AMMIAN´US. Gauls described by, 42

MARIE DE FRANCE. Anglo-Norman poetess; sources relating to the Arthurian saga in writings of, 339, 340

MĀTH SON OF MĀTHONWY. Title of tale in the “Mabinogion,” 347; Llew Llaw Gyffes, a character in tale of, 347, 348; brother of Penardun, 349; the tale of, 378-384; Gwydion and Gilvaethwy, nephews of, 378; his strange gift of hearing, 386

MATHOLWCH (math’o-law). King of Ireland; comes seeking Branwen’s hand in marriage, 366; wedding of, and Branwen’s, celebrated at Aberffraw, 366; Evnissyen mutilates his horses, 367; Bran, among other gifts, gives a magic cauldron to, 367, 368; father of Gwern, 368; informed of Bran’s invasion, 369; hands sovranty of Ireland to Gwern, 370

MĀTHONWY. Ancestor of House of Dōn, 349

MATIÈRE DE FRANCE. Source of Round Table and chivalric institutions ascribed to Arthur’s court, 341

MAXEN WLEDIG (oo’le-dig). Emperor of Rome; the dream of, 384, 385

MAY-DAY. Sacred to Beltené, day on which Sons of Miled began conquest of Ireland, 133, 134; combat every, between Gwythur ap Greidawl and Gwyn ap Nudd, 353; strange scream heard in Britain on eve of, 385

MEATH. Fergus in his battle-fury strikes off the tops of the three _Maela_ of, 224; St. Patrick and the folk of, 282

MEDICINE. See Magic, 60, 61; Pliny and, 61

MEGALITHIC PEOPLE. Builders of dolmens, cromlechs, &c., 52-93; origin of the, 54-58; Professor Ridgeway’s contention about, 56; their religion that of magic, 59; representations of the divine powers under human aspect unknown to, 75; Druidism imposed on the Celts by the, 82; human sacrifices, practice a survival from the, 84; conception of, regarding their deities, 86

MERCURY. Regarded as chief of the gods by Gauls, 87; Lugh Lamfada identified with, 113

MERLIN. See Myrddin. Reference to his magical arts, 337; equivalent Myrddin, 354; believed by Geoffrey of Monmouth to have erected Stonehenge, 354; the abode of, described, 354-356

MESGED´RA. The vengeance of, fulfilled, 241

MESRO´DA, MAC DATHO. Son of Datho, 241; the carving of the boar of, 241-244; Conor and Maev both send to purchase his hound, 241

MESSBUACHALLA (mess-boo’hala). Only daughter of Etain Oig, 166; significance, “the cowherd’s foster-child,” 166; King Eterskel’s promised son and, 166; visited by a Danaan lover, and birth of Conary, 166, 167

MEXICO. Cup-and-ring marking in, 68; symbol of the feet found in, 77; the cross-legged “Buddha,” frequent occurrence in religious art of, 87

MIDIR THE PROUD (mid’eer). A son of the Dagda; a type of splendour, 124; his appearance to King Eochy, 124; Fuamnach, wife of, 156; Etain, second bride of, 156; recovers his wife from Eochy, 160-163; yields up Etain, 163

MILED. 1. Sons of; conquer the People of Dana, 100; the coming of, to displace rule in Ireland of Danaans, 130; Bregon, son of, 130; Amergin, son of, 133; begin conquest of Ireland on May-day, 133, 134. 2. A god, represented as, in a Celtic inscription from Hungary, son of Bilé, 130. 3. Children of; resolve to take vengeance for Ith’s slaying, 133; enter upon the sovranty of Ireland, 136

MILESIAN-S. See Sons of Miled, 130; myth, meaning of, 138-145; the early kings, 146-148

MINORCA. Analogous structures (to represent ships) to those in Ireland found in, 76

MOCHAEN (mo-chayn’). Hill of, and Lugh’s eric, 115

MODRED. King Arthur’s nephew; usurps his uncle’s crown and weds his wife Guanhumara, 337; Arthur defeats and slays, 337, 338

MONGAN. Irish chieftain, reincarnation of Finn; wager as to place of death of King Fothad, 81

MONTEL´IUS, DR. OSCAR. And the ship symbol, 72

MOONRE´MUR. A lord of Ulster; mac Datho’s boar and, 243

MORANN. Druid; prophecy of, concerning Cuchulain, 183

MORC. Fomorian king, 101

MORDA. A blind man, set by Ceridwen to keep fire under the magic cauldron, 413

MOR´IATH. Daughter of Scoriath, the King of Feramore; her love for Maon and her device to win him back to Ireland, 153, 154; curious tale regarding his hair, 154

MORNA. Father of Goll, 257

MORR´IGAN, THE. Extraordinary goddess, embodying all that is perverse and horrible among supernatural powers, 126; her love and friendship for Cuchulain, 126; her visit to Conary Mōr at Hostel of Da Derga, 172; appears to Cuchulain and offers her love, 212; her threat to be about his feet in bottom of the Ford, 212; attacks Cuchulain, and is wounded by him, 213; croaks of war and slaughter before Cuchulain, 230; settles on the dead Cuchulain’s shoulder as a crow, 233

MOUNTAINS OF MOURNE. Cuchulain on, 193

MOYRATH. Battle of, ended resistance of Celtic chiefs to Christianity, 51

MOYSLAUGHT (“The Plain of Adoration”). Idol of Crom Cruach erected on, 85, 149

MOYTURA, PLAIN OF. 1. Scene of First Battle (Co. Sligo) between Danaans and the Firbolgs, 106, 107. 2. Scene of Second Battle (Co. Mayo) between Danaans and Fomorians, 117, 130; the Dagda and, 120

MUNSALVÄSCHE (MONTSALVAT), THE CASTLE OF, where, in W. von Eschenbach’s poem, the Grail is preserved, 407

MUNSTER. Ailill Olum, King of, 127; “Hill of Ainé” and goddess Ainé 128; origin of name, 154

MUR´IAS, THE CITY OF (see Dana), 105, 106

MURNA OF THE WHITE NECK. Wife of Cumhal, mother of Finn, 255, 266; takes refuge in forests of Slieve Bloom, and gives birth to Demna (Finn), 255; marries King of Kerry, 256

MURTAGH MAC ERC. King of Ireland, brother of Fergus the Great; lends famous Stone of Scone to Scotland, 105

MURTHEM´NEY. Kian killed on Plain of, 114; Cuchulain of, seen in a vision by prophetess Fedelma, 206; the carnage of, 214; host of Ulster assemble on, 229; Cuchulain at his dūn in, 230

MYCEN´Æ. Burial chamber of the Atreidæ, ancient dolmen yet stands beside, in, 53

MYRDDIN. See Merlin. A deity in Arthur’s mythological cycle, corresponds with Sun-god Nudd, 354; suggestion of Professor Rhys that chief deity worshipped at Stonehenge was, 355; seizes the “Thirteen Treasures of Britain,” 355

MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE, THE, 95, 96

MYTHOLOGY. Comparison between Gaelic and Cymric, 346-348; compared with folklore, 418

MYTHS. Danaan, meaning of, 137; Milesian, meaning of, 138, 139; Invasion, of Ireland, 138-145

NAISI (nay’see). Son of Usna, loved by Deirdre, 198; abducts Deirdre, 198; Ardan and Ainlé, his brothers, 198; Conor invites return of, 198; his return under care of Fergus, 199; slain by Owen son of Duracht, 201

NAQADA (nak’a-da). Signs on ivory tablets discovered by Flinders Petrie in cemetery at, 78

NARBERTH. Castle where Pwyll had his court, 359; Pwyll’s adventure on the Mound of Arberth, near, 359-365; Pryderi and Manawyddan and their wives left desolate at palace of, 373

NATCHRANTAL (na-chran’tal). Famous champion of Maev; assists to capture Brown Bull, 211

NECHTAN. Dūn of the sons of, 193; Cuchulain provokes a fight with sons of, 193, 194; sons of, slain, 194

NEIT (nayt). Danaan king, slain in battle with the Fomorians, 132

NEMED. Son of Agnoman; takes possession of Ireland, 98; fights victoriously against Fomorians, his death, 101

NEMEDIANS. Sail for Ireland, 99; akin to the Partholanians, 101; revolt of, against Fomorians, 101, 102; routed by Fomorians, 102

NEMGLAN. Commands Conary go to Tara, 168; he declares Conary’s _geise_, 168

NENNIUS. British historian in whose “Historia Britonum” (A.D. 800) is found first mention of Arthur, 336

NESSA. Daughter of Echid Yellow-heel, wife of Fachtna, mother of Conor, 180; loved by Fergus, 180

NETHERLANDS. Place-names of, Celtic element in, 27

NEW GRANGE. Tumulus at, regarded as dwelling-place of Fairy Folk, 69, 70; symbolic carvings at, 70, 71; the ship symbol at, 71-73; Angus Ōg’s palace at, 121; Angus’ fairy palace at Brugh na Boyna identical with, 143

NIAM (nee’am). 1. Wife of Conall of the Victories; tends Cuchulain, 229; Bave puts a spell of straying on her, 230 2. Of the Golden Hair; daughter of the King of the Land of Youth, 270; Oisīn departs with, 271, 272; permits Oisīn to visit the Land of Erin, 273

NISS´YEN. Son of Eurosswyd and Penardun, 366

NODENS. See Nudd

NUADA OF THE SILVER HAND (noo’ada). King of the Danaans, 107-108; his encounter with Balor, champion of the Fomorians, 117; belongs to Finn’s ancestry, 255; identical with solar deity in Cymric mythology, viz., Nudd or Lludd, 346, 347

NUDD, or LLUDD. Roman equivalent, Nodens. A solar deity in Cymric mythology, 346, 347; identical with Danaan deity, Nuada of the Silver Hand, 347; under name Lludd, said to have had a temple on the site of St. Paul’s, 347; entrance to Lludd’s temple called _Parth Lludd_ (British), which Saxons translated _Ludes Geat_—our present Ludgate, 347; story of Llevelys and, 385, 386; Edeyrn, son of, jousts with Geraint for Enid, 399, 400

NUTS OF KNOWLEDGE. Drop from hazel-boughs into pool where Salmon of Knowledge lived, 256

NUTT, MR. ALFRED. Reference to, in connexion with the “Hill of Ainé,” 128, 129; reference to, in connexion with Oisīn-and-Patrick dialogues, 288, 289; reference to object of the tale of Taliesin in his edition of the “Mabinogion,” 412

NYNNIAW. Peibaw and, brothers, two Kings of Britain, their quarrel over the stars, 355, 356

O’DONOVAN. A great Irish antiquary; folk-tale discovered by, 109-119

O’DYNA, CANTRED OF. Dermot’s patrimony, 300

O’GRADY. 1. STANDISH. References to his “Critical History of Ireland” on the founding of Emain Macha, 119, 120, 151, 152; his “Masque of Finn” referred to, 280, 281 2. STANDISH HAYES. Reference to his “Silva Gadelica,” 250, 276, 281

OCEAN-SWEEPER. Mananan’s magical boat, 125

ODYSSEY, THE. Mr H.B. Cotterill’s hexameter version, quotation from, 79, 80

OGMA. Warrior of Nuada of the Silver Hand, 112, 118

OISĪN (ush’een). Otherwise Little Fawn. Son of Finn, greatest poet of the Gael, 261; father of Oscar, 261; buries Aideen, 261; birth of, from Saba, 266-270; loved by Niam of the Golden Hair, 270-272; returns from Land of Youth, 273; Keelta and, resolve to part, 282; assists Keelta bury Oscar, 307

OLD CELTIC ROMANCES. Reference to Dr. P.W. Joyce’s, 303, 309, 312

OLLAV. Definition of the term, 149

OLLAV FŌLA. Eighteenth King of Ireland from Eremon, the most distinguished Ollav of Ireland, 149-150; compared with Goban the Smith and Amergin the Poet, 150

OLWEN. The story of Kilhwch and, 386-392; daughter of Yspaddaden, 387; how she got the name “She of the White Track,” 390; bride of Kilhwch, 392

ORLAM. Slain by Cuchulain, 209

OSCAR. Son of Oisīn; slays Linné, 261; Aideen, wife of, 261; her death after battle of Gowra, 261; type of hard strength, 262; reference to death at battle of Gowra, 275; his death described, 306, 308

OSI´RIS. Feet of, symbol of visitation, in Egypt, 77

OSSIANIC SOCIETY. “Transactions” of, 278-280; battle of Gowra (Gabhra) described in, 305

OS´THANES. Earliest writer on subject of magic, 62

OTHER-WORLD. Keelta summoned from, 81; faith of, held by Celts, 82; Mercury regarded by Gauls as guide of dead to, 87

OWAIN. Son of Urien; plays chess with King Arthur, 393; the Black Knight and, 396-399; seen by Peredur, 401

OWEL. Foster-son of Mananan and a Druid, father of Ainé, 127

OWEN. Son of Duracht; slays Naisi and other sons of Usna, 201

OWENS OF ARAN. Ailill, of the sept of, 311; Maeldūn goes to dwell with, 311

OWL OF CWM CAWLWYD (coom cawl´wŭd), THE, 392

PATRICK, ST. Ireland apostolised by, 51; symbol of the feet and, 77

PASTH´OLAN. His coming into Ireland from the West; his origin, 96

PARTHOLANIANS. Battle between the Fomorians and, 97; end of race by plague on the Old Plain, 97; Nemedians akin to, 101

PEIBAW. Nynniaw and, two brothers, Kings of Britain, their quarrel over the stars, 355, 356

PENAR´DUN. Daughter of Dōn, wife of Llyr, and also of Eurosswyd, sister of Māth, 349, 366; mother of Bran, also of Nissyen and Evnissyen, 366

PEOPLE OF THE SIDHE (shee). Danaans dwindle into fairies, otherwise the, 137

PER´DICCAS II. Son of Amyntas II., killed in battle, 23

PER´EDUR. The tale of, and the origin of the Grail Legend, 400, 407; corresponds to Perceval of Chrestien de Troyes, 400

PER´GAMOS. Black Stone of, subject of embassy from Rome during Second Punic War, 66

PERILOUS GLEN. Cuchulain escapes beasts of, 187

“PERONNIK” folk tale, 400, _note_

PERSIA. Religion of magic invented in, by Zoroaster, 61

PETRIE, FLINDERS. Discoveries by, 78; on Egyptian origin of symbol of mother and child, 79

PHILIP. Younger brother of Perdiccas, 23

PHILO´STRATUS. Reference of, to enamelling by Britons, 30

PLAIN OF ILL-LUCK. Cuchulain crosses, 187

PLATO. Celts and, 17; evidence of, to Celtic characteristics, 36

PLINY. Religion of magic discussed by, 61

PLUTARCH. Land of the Dead referred to by, as the western extremity of Great Britain, 131

PLUTO (Gk. Pluton). Dis, equivalent; god of the Underworld, 88; associated with wealth, like Celtic gods of the Underworld, 349

POLYB´IUS. Description of the Gæsati in battle of Clastidium, 41

POLYNESIAN, the practice named “tabu” and the Irish _geis_, similarity between, 165

PORTUGAL. Place-names of, Celtic element in, 27

POSIDON´IUS. On bardic institution among Celts, 57

PROCOP´IUS. Land of the Dead referred to by as the western extremity of Great Britain, 131

PROVINCE OF THE SPEARMEN (Irish, _Laighin_—“Ly-in”). See Leinster, 154

PRYDERI (pri-dair’y) (Trouble). Son of Pwyll and Rhiannon; his loss 363; his restoration by Teirnyon, 365; Kicva, the wife of, 365; the tale of Manawyddan and, 373-378; Gwydion and the swine of, 378; his death, 379

PWYLL (poo-till; modern Powell). Prince of Dyfed; how he got his title _Pen Annwn_, or “Head of Hades,” 336-359; his adventure on the Mound of Arberth, near the Castle of Narberth, 359-365; fixes his choice on Rhiannon for wife, 360; Gwawl’s trick on him, 361; Rhiannon’s plan to save Pwyll from Gwawl’s power, 361; weds Rhiannon, 362; imposes a penance on his wife, 363; his son Pryderi (Trouble) found, 365

PYTHAG´ORAS. Celtic idea of transmigration and, 80

PYTH´EAS. The German tribes about 300 B.C. mentioned by, 31

QUELGNY, or CUAILGNÉ. Cattle-raid of, made by Queen Maev, 180; Brown Bull of, owned by Dara, 202; the theme of the “Tain Bo Cuailgné” is the Brown Bull of, 203; Brown Bull of, is Celtic counterpart of Hindu sky-deity, Indra, 203; Brown Bull of, captured at Slievegallion, Co. Armagh, by Maev, 211; white-horned Bull of Ailell slain by Brown Bull of, 225; reputed author of, Fergus mac Roy, 234; Sanchan Torpest searches for lost lay of, 234-238

RĀ. Egyptian Sun god; ship symbol in sepulchral art of Egypt connected with worship of, 74-76

RATH GRANIA. King Cormac and Finn feasted at, 300

RATH LUACHAR. Lia keeps the Treasure Bag at, 255

RATHCROGHAN. Maev’s palace in Roscommon, 202

RED BRANCH. Order of chivalry which had its seat in Emain Macha, 178; the time of glory of, during Conor’s reign, 181; heroes of, and Cuchulain strive for the Championship of Ireland, 195, 196; Hostel, Naisi and Deirdre at, 199, 200; with Cuchulain and Conor passes away the glory of, 241

RED HUGH. Ulster prince, father of Macha, brother of Dithorba and Kimbay, 151

RED RIDERS. Conary’s journey with, 170, 171

RELIGION. The Celtic, 46; Megalithic People’s, that of Magic, 58; of Magic, invented in Persia and by Zoroaster, 61

REVUE CELTIQUE. Dr. Whitley Stokes’ translation of the “Voyage of Maeldūn” in, 309

RHIANNON (ree’an-non). Daughter of Hevydd Hēn; sets her love on Pwyll, 360; marries Pwyll, 362; her penance for slaying her son, 363; her son Pryderi (Trouble) found, 365; wedded to Manawyddan, 373

RHONABWY (rōne’a-bwee). The dream of, 392, 393

RHUN. Sent from King Arthur’s court to Elphin’s wife, 415

RHYS AP TEWDWR. South Welsh prince; brought knowledge of Round Table to Wales, 343

RHYS, SIR J. His views on origin of population of Great Britain and Ireland, 78; on Myrddin and Merlin, 354, 355

RIDGE OF THE DEAD WOMAN. Vivionn buried at, 287, 288

ROC. Angus’ steward, 290; his son crushed to death by Donn, 291; then changed into a boar and charged to bring Dermot to death at length, 291

ROMANCE. Gaelic and Continental, 345

ROMANS. Arthur resists demand for tribute by the, 337

ROME. Celts march on and sack, 25, 26; Britain and Gaul under yoke of, 35; the empire of Maxen Wledig in, usurped, 385

ROSS THE RED. King of Ulster, husband of Maga, a daughter of Angus Ōg, 181; Roy, his second wife, 181; originator of the Red Branch, 181

ROUND TABLE, THE. References to, 338, 339, 341, 343

ROY. Second wife of Ross the Red, 181

RU´ADAN, ST. Tara cursed by, 47, 49

RUSSELL, MR. G.W. Irish poet; fine treatment of myth of Sinend and Connla’s Well, 129, 130

SABA. Wife of Finn, mother of Oisīn, 266-270

SACRIFICES. Practice of human, noted by Cæsar among Celts, 84; human, in Ireland, 85; Celtic practice of human, paralleled in Mexico and Carthage, 85; of children, to idol Crom Cruach, by Gaels, 85; in Egypt, practice of human, rare, 85, 86

ST. BENEN. A companion of St. Patrick, 239

ST. FINNEN. Irish abbot; legend concernin Tuan mac Carell and, 97

ST. PATRICK. Record of his mission to Ireland, 51; Cascorach and, referred to in the “Colloquy of the Ancients,” 119; Brogan, the scribe of, 119; Ethné aged fifteen hundred years old at coming of, 144; Ethné baptized by, 144; summons Cuchulain from Hell, 238, 239; name Talkenn given by Irish to, 275; met by Keelta, 282; Irish legend and, 283

SALMON OF KNOWLEDGE. See Fintan

SALMON OF LLYN LLYW (lin li-oo’), THE, 392

SAMNITE WAR, THIRD. Coincident with breaking up of Celtic Empire, 26

SANCHAN TORPEST. Chief bard of Ireland; and the “Tain,” 234-238

SA´WAN. Brother of Kian and Goban, 110

SCANDINAVIA. Dolmens found in, 53; symbol of the feet found in, 77

SEM´ION. Son of Stariat, settlement in Ireland of; Firbolgs descended from, 100

SERA. Father of Partholan, 96; father of Starn, 98

SETAN´TA. Earliest name of Cuchulain, 183; “the little pupil,” harries Maev’s hosts, 208

SGEIMH SOLAIS (skayv sulish) (Light of Beauty). Daughter of Cairbry, wooed by son of King of the Decies, 304

SHANNON, THE RIVER. Myth of Sinend and the Well of Knowledge accounts for name of, 129; Dithorba’s five sons flee over, 151; mac Cecht visits, 175; Dermot and Grania cross Ford of Luan on the, 299

SHIP SYMBOL, THE. 71-76

SIC´ULUS, DIODORUS. A contemporary of Julius Cæsar; describes Gauls, 41, 42

SIDHE (shee), or FAIRY FOLK. Tumulus at New Grange (Ireland) regarded as dwelling-place of, 69

SILVA GADELICA. Reference to Mr. S.H. O’Grady’s work, 250, 276, 281

SIN´END. Goddess, daughter of Lir’s son, Lodan; her fatal visit to Connla’s Well, 129

SIGN, LLEWELLYN. Welsh bard, compiler of “Barddas,” 332

SKATHA. A mighty woman-warrior of Land of Shadows, 187; instructs Cuchulain, 187-189; her two special feats, how to leap the Bridge of the Leaps and to use the Gae Bolg, 188

SKENA. Wife of the poet Amergin; her untimely death, 133

SLAYNEY, THE RIVER. Visited by mac Cecht, 175

SLIEVB BLOOM. Murna takes refuge in forests of, and there Demna (Finn) is born, 255

SLIEVE FUAD (sleeve foo’ad) (afterwards Slievegallion). Invisible dwelling of Lir on, 125; Cuchulain finds his foe on, 232; Finn slays goblin at, 258

SLIEVEGALL´ION. A fairy mountain; the Chase of, 278-280. See Slieve Fuad

SLIEVENAMON (sleeve-na-mon’). The Brugh of, Finn and Keelta hunt on, 284-286

SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. Reference to, 192

SPAIN. Celts conquer from the Carthaginians, 21; Carthaginian trade with, broken down by Greeks, 22; place-names of Celtic element in, 27; dolmens found round the Mediterranean coast of, 53; equivalent, Land of the Dead, 102

SQUIRE, MR. Author of “Mythol. of Brit. Islands,” 348, 353, 411

SRENG. Ambassador sent to People of Dana by Firbolgs, 106

STAG OF REDYNVRE (red-in’vry), THE, 392

STARN. Son of Sera, brother of Partholan, 97

STOKES, DR. WHITLEY. Reference to, 166, 167; reference to his translation of the “Voyage of Maeldūn” in “Revue Celtique,” 309

STONE, CORONATION. At Westminster Abbey, identical with Stone of Scone, 105

STONE OF ABUNDANCE. Equivalent, Cauldron of Abundance. The Grail in Wolfram’s poem as a, 409; similar stone appears in the Welsh “Peredur,” 409; correspondences, the Celtic Cauldron of the Dagda, 410; in the Welsh legend Bran obtained the Cauldron, 410; in a poem by Taliesin the Cauldron forms part of the spoils of Hades, 410

STONE OF DESTINY. Otherwise _Lia Fail_. One of the treasures of the Danaans, 105

STONE OF SCONE. Fabulous origin of, and present depository, 105

STONE-WORSHIP. Supposed reason of, 65, 66; denounced by Synod of Arles, 66; denounced by Charlemagne 66; black stone of Pergamos and Second Punic War, 66; the Grail a relic of ancient, 409

STONEHENGE. Dressed stones used in megalithic monument at, 54; Professor Rhys’ suggestion that Myrddin was worshipped at, 354; Geoffrey of Monmouth and, 354

STRABO. Characteristics of Celts, told by, 39, 46

STRAITS OF MOYLE (between Ireland and Scotland). Aoife’s cruelty to her step-children on the, 140

STRAND OF THE FOOTPRINTS. How name derived, 191

SUALTAM (soo’al-tam). Father of Cuchulain (see Lugh), 206; his attempts to arouse Ulster, 221; his death, 222

SWEDEN. The ship symbol on rock-sculptures of, 72, 73

SWITZERLAND. Place-names of, Celtic element in, 27; lake-dwellings in, 56

“TAIN BO CUAILGNÉ” (thawn bo quel’gny). Significance, 203; tale of, all written out by Finn mac Gorman, Bishop of Kildare, in 1150, 225; the recovery of, 234; reputed author, Fergus mac Roy, 234; Sir S. Ferguson treats of recovery of, in “Lays of the Western Gael,” 234; Sanchan Torpest, taunted by High King Guary, resolves to find the lost, 234-236; early Celtic MSS. and, 296

TALIESIN (tal-i-es’in). A mythical bard; his prophecy regarding the devotion of the Cymry to their tongue, 385; the tale of, 412-417; found by Elphin, son of Gwyddno, 414; made prime bard of Britain, 415-417

TALKENN. (Adze-head). Name given by the Irish to St. Patrick, 275

TALTIU, or TELTA. Daughter of the King of the “Great Plain” (the Land of the Dead), wedded by Eochy mac Erc, 103

TARA. Seat of the High Kings of Ireland; the cursing of, 47, 48-49; Stone of Scone sent to Scotland from, 105; Lugh accuses sons of Turenn at, of his father’s murder, 115; appearance of Midir the Proud to Eochy on Hill of, 124, 161; Milesian host at, 135; institution of triennial Festival at, 149-150; bull-feast at, to decide by divination who should be king in Eterskel’s stead, 167, 168; Conary commanded to go to, by Nemglan, 168; proclaimed King of Erin at, 168; pointed out to Cuchulain, 193; Cuchulain’s head and hand buried at, 233; Finn at, 257, 258

TAR´ANUS (? Thor). Deity mentioned by Lucan, 86, 87

TEGID VOEL. A man of Penllyn, husband of Ceridwen, father of Avagddu, 413

TEIRNYON (ter’ny-on). A man of Gwent Is Coed; finds Pryderi, 364; restores Pryderi, 365

TELLTOWN (TELTIN). Palace at, of Telta, Eochy mac Erc’s wife, 103; great battle at, between Danaans and Milesians, 136; Conall of the Victories makes his way to, after Conary’s death, 176; pointed out to Cuchulain, 193

TENNYSON, LORD. Reference to source of his “Voyage of Maeldune,” 309; Cymric myths and, 388; reference to his “Enid,” 400

TEUTAT´ES. Deity mentioned by Lucan, 86

TEUTONIC. Loyalty of races, 45, 46

TEZCATLIPOCA. Sun-god; festival of, in Mexico, 77

THE TERRIBLE. A demon who by strange test decides the Championship of Ireland, 196

THOMAS OF BRITTANY. See Bleheris

TIBERIUS, EMPEROR. Druids, prophets, and medicine-men suppressed by, 62

TIERNA (Teer’na). Abbot of Clonmacnois, eleventh-century historian, 150

TIERNMAS (teern’mas). Fifth Irish king who succeeded Eremon, 148; idol Crom Cruach and, 148, 149; his death, 149

TONN CLIODHNA (thown cleena). Otherwise “Wave of Cleena.” One of the most notable landmarks of Ireland, 127

TOR MŌR. Precipitous headland in Tory Island; Ethlinn imprisoned by Balor in tower built on, 110

TORY ISLAND. Stronghold of Fomorian power, 101; invaded by Nemedians, 101

TRADABAN´, THE WELL OF. Keelta’s praises of, 282, 283

TRANSMIGRATION. The doctrine of, allegation that Celtic idea of immortality embodied Oriental conception of, 80; doctrine of, not held by Celts in same way as by Pythagoras and the Orientals, 81; Welsh Taliessin who became an eagle, 100. See Tuan mac Carell

TRENDORN. Conor’s servant, 199; spies on Deirdre, 200; is blinded in one eye by Naisi, 200; declares Deirdre’s beauty to Conor, 200

TREON (tray’on). Father of Vivionn, 287

TRISTAN AND ISEULT. Tale of Dermot and Grania paralleled in story as told by Heinrich von Freiberg, 299

TROYES. See Chrestien de Troyes

TUAN MAC CARELL. The legend of, recorded in MS. “Book of the Dun Cow,” 97; king of all deer in Ireland, 99; name of “gods” given to the People of Dana by, 104

TUATHA DE DANANN (thoo’a-haw day danawn’). Literal meaning, “the folk of the god whose mother is Dana,” 103

TUMULI. See Dolmens, 53

TURENN. The quest of the Sons of, 113-116; reference to Lugh in the quest of the Sons of, 123

TWRCH TRWYTH (toorch troo’-with). A king in shape of a monstrous boar, 391

TYLER. Reference of, in his “Primitive Culture,” to festival of Sun-god, Tezcatlipoca, 77

TYLWYTH TEG. Welsh fairies; Gwyn ap Nudd, King of the, 353

TYREN. Sister to Murna, 266; Ullan, husband of, 266; changed by a woman of the Fairy Folk into a hound, 266

UGAINY THE GREAT (oo’gany). Ruler of Ireland, &c., husband of Kesair, father of Laery and Covac, 152

ULSTER. Kingdom of, founded in reign of Kimbay, 150; Dithorba’s five sons expelled from, 151; Dectera’s gift of Cuchulain to, 182; Conor, King of, 180, 190, 191; Felim, son of Dall, a lord of, 196; Maev’s war against province of, to secure Brown Bull of Quelgny, 202-251; under the Debility curse, 205; passes of, guarded by Cuchulain of Murthemney, 206; aroused by Sualtam, 221, 222; Macha’s curse lifted from men of, 222; Ailell and Maev make a seven years’ peace with, 225; curse of Macha again on the men of, 229; Wee Folk swarm into 248, 249

ULTONIAN-S. Great fair of, visited by Crundchu, 178; his boast of Macha’s swiftness, 179; the debility of, caused by Macha’s curse, 179, 180; the debility of, descends on Ulster, 205; Cycle, events of, supposed to have happened about time of Christ, 252

UNDERWORLD. The cult of, found existing by Celts when they got to Western Europe, 82; Dis, or Pluto, god of, 88; Māth, god of, 349; identical with Land of the Dead, 130

USNA. Father of Naisi, 198; sons of, inquired for by Conor, 199

UTHER PENDRAGON. Father of Arthur, 337

VALLEY OF THE THRUSHES. Oisīn’s spell broken in, 274

VEIL OF ILLUSION, THE. Thrown over Caradawc by Caswallan, 372

VERCINGETORIX. Celtic chief; his defeat by Cæsar, his death, 40

VERGIL. Evidence of Celtic ancestry in name, 21. See Feryllt, 413

VITRA. The God of Evil in Vedantic mythology, related to _Cenchos_, the Footless, 97

VIVIONN (BEBHIONN). A young giantess, daughter of Treon, from the Land of Maidens, 287; slain by Æda, and buried in the place called the Ridge of the Dead, 288

VOYAGE OF MAELDŪN. See Maeldūn

WACE. Author of “Li Romans de Brut,” 338

WALES. Arthurian saga in, 343, 344; prophecy of Taliesin about, 385

WAVE OF CLEENA. See Tonn Cliodhna

WEE FOLK, THE. Fergus mac Leda and, 246-249; Iubdan, King of, 246

WELL OF KESAIR. Mac Cecht visits, 175

WELL OF KNOWLEDGE. Equivalent, Connla’s Well. Sinend’s fatal visit to, 129

WELSH FAIRIES. See Tylwyth Teg

WELSH LITERATURE. The Arthur in the Arthurian saga wholly different from the Arthur in, 336; compared with Irish, 344; tales of Arthur in, 386

WELSH MS. SOCIETY. Llewellyn Sion’s “Barddas” edited by J.A. Williams ap Ithel for, 332

WELSH ROMANCE. The character of, 395, 396

WESTON, MISS JESSIE L. Reference to her studies on the Arthurian saga, 341

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. Reference to, in connexion with Arthurian saga, 343

WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH. His story of the Grail, 407

YELLOW BOOK OF LECAN. Tale of Cuchulain and Connla in, 192

YOUTH. The maiden who gave the Love Spot to Dermot, 292

YSPADDADEN PENKAWR (is-pa-dhad’en). Father of Olwen, 387; the tasks he set Kilhwch, 390-392; slain by Goreu son of Custennin, 392

ZIMMER, DR. HEINRICH. On the source of the Arthurian saga, 343

ZOROASTER. Religion of magic invented by, 61

1 In reference to the name “Freeman,” Mr. Nicholson adds: “No one was more intensely ‘English’ in his sympathies than the great historian of that name, and probably no one would have more strenuously resisted the suggestion that he might be of Welsh descent; yet I have met his close physical counterpart in a Welsh farmer (named Evans) living within a few minutes of Pwllheli.”

2 He speaks of “Nyrax, a Celtic city,” and “Massalia [Marseilles], a city of Liguria in the land of the Celts” (“Fragmenta Hist. Græc.”).

3 In his “Premiers Habitants de l’Europe,” vol. ii.

4 “Cæesar’s Conquest of Gaul,” pp. 251-327.

5 The ancients were not very close observers of physical characteristics. They describe the Celts in almost exactly the same terms as those which they apply to the Germanic races. Dr. Rice Holmes is of opinion that the real difference, physically, lay in the fact that the fairness of the Germans was blond, and that of the Celts red. In an interesting passage of the work already quoted (p. 315) he observes that, “Making every allowance for the admixture of other blood, which must have considerably modified the type of the original Celtic or Gallic invaders of these islands, we are struck by the fact that among all our Celtic-speaking fellow subjects there are to be found numerous specimens of a type which also exists in those parts of Brittany which were colonised by British invaders, and in those parts of Gaul in which the Gallic invaders appear to have settled most thickly, as well as in Northern Italy, where the Celtic invaders were once dominant; and also by the fact that this type, _even among the more blond representatives of it, is strikingly different, to the casual as well as to the scientific observer, from that of the purest representatives of the ancient Germans_. The well-known picture of Sir David Wilkie, ‘Reading of the Waterloo Gazette,’ illustrates, as Daniel Wilson remarked, the difference between the two types. Put a Perthshire Highlander side by side with a Sussex farmer. Both will be fair; but the red hair and beard of the Scot will be in marked contrast with the fair hair of the Englishman, and their features will differ still more markedly. I remember teeing two gamekeepers in a railway carriage running from Inverness to Lairey. They were tall, athletic, fair men, evidently belonging to the Scandinavian type, which, as Dr. Beddoe says, is so common in the extreme north of Scotland; but both in colouring and in general aspect they were utterly different from the tall, fair Highlanders whom I had seen in Perthshire. There was not a trace of red in their hair, their long beards being absolutely yellow. The prevalence of red among the Celtic-speaking people is, it seems to me, a most striking characteristic. Not only do we find eleven men in every hundred whose hair is absolutely red, but underlying the blacks and the dark browns the lame tint is to be discovered.”

6 See the map of comparative nigrescence given in Ripley’s “Races of Europe,” p. 318. In France, however, the Bretons are not a dark race relatively to the rest of the population. They are composed partly of the ancient Gallic peoples and partly of settlers from Wales who were driven out by the Saxon invasion.

7 See for these names Holder’s “Altceltischer Sprachschatz.”

8 Vergil might possibly mean “the very-bright” or illustrious one, a natural form for a proper name. _Ver_ in Gallic names (Vercingetorix, Vercassivellasimus, &c.) is often an intensive prefix, like the modern Irish _fior_. The name of the village where Vergil was born, Andes (now Pietola), is Celtic. His love of nature, his mysticism, and his strong feeling for a certain decorative quality in language and rhythm are markedly Celtic qualities. Tennyson’s phrases for him, “landscape-lover, lord of language,” are suggestive in this connexion.

9 Ptolemy, a friend, and probably, indeed, half-brother, of Alexander, was doubtless present when this incident took place. His work has not survived, but is quoted by Arrian and other historians.

10 One is reminded of the folk-tale about Henny Penny, who went to tell the king that the sky was falling.

11 The Book of Leinster is a manuscript of the twelfth century. The version of the “Táin” given in it probably dates from the eighth. See de Jubainville, “Premiers Habitants,” ii. 316.

12 Dr. Douglas Hyde in his “Literary History of Ireland” (p. 7) gives a slightly different translation.

13 It is also a testimony to the close accuracy of the narrative of Ptolemy.

14 Roman history tells of various conflicts with the Celts during this period, but de Jubainville has shown that these narratives are almost entirely mythical. See “Premiers Habitants,” ii. 318-323.

_ 15 E.g.,_ Moymell (_magh-meala_), the Plain of Honey, a Gaelic name for Fairyland, and many place-names.

16 For these and many other examples see de Jubainville’s “Premiers Habitants,” ii. 255 _sqq._

17 Quoted by Mr. Romilly Allen in “Celtic Art,” p. 136.

18 “Premiers Habitants,” ii. 355, 356.

19 Irish is probably an older form of Celtic speech than Welsh. This is shown by many philological peculiarities of the Irish language, of which one of the most interesting may here be briefly referred to. The Goidelic or Gaelic Celts, who, according to the usual theory, first colonised the British Islands, and who were forced by successive waves of invasion by their Continental kindred to the extreme west, had a peculiar dislike to the pronunciation of the letter _p_. Thus the Indo-European particle _pare_, represented by Greek _παρά_, beside or close to, becomes in early Celtic _are_, as in the name _Are-morici_ (the Armoricans, those who dwell _ar muir_, by the sea); _Are-dunum_ (Ardin, in France); _Are-cluta_, the place beside the Clota (Clyde), now Dumbarton; _Are-taunon,_ in Germany (near the Taunus Mountains), &c. When this letter was not simply dropped it was usually changed into _c (k, g)_. But about the sixth century B.C. a remarkable change passed over the language of the Continental Celts. They gained in some unexplained way the faculty for pronouncing _p_, and even substituted it for existing _c_ sounds; thus the original _Cretanis_ became _Pretanis_, Britain, the numeral _qetuares_ (four) became _petuares_, and so forth. Celtic place-names in Spain show that this change must have taken place before the Celtic conquest of that country, 500 B.C. Now a comparison of many Irish and Welsh words shows distinctly this avoidance of _p_ on the Irish side and lack of any objection to it on the Welsh. The following are a few illustrations:

_Irish_ _Welsh_ _English_ crann prenn tree mac map ton cenn pen head clumh (cluv) pluv feather cúig pimp five

The conclusion that Irish must represent the older form of the language seems obvious. It is remarkable that even to a comparatively late date the Irish preserved their dislike to _p_. Thus they turned the Latin _Pascha_ (Easter) to _Casg; purpur_, purple, to _corcair, pulsatio_ (through French _pouls_) to _cuisle_. It must be noted, however, that Nicholson in his “Keltic Researches” endeavours to show that the so-called Indo-European _p_—that is, _p_ standing alone and uncombined with another consonant—was pronounced by the Goidelic Celts at an early period. The subject can hardly be said to be cleared up yet.

20 The Irish, says Edmund Spenser, in his “View of the Present State of Ireland,” “use commonyle to send up and down to know newes, and yf any meet with another, his second woorde is, What newes?”

21 Compare Spenser: “I have heard some greate warriors say, that in all the services which they had seen abroad in forrayne countreys, they never saw a more comely horseman than the Irish man, nor that cometh on more bravely in his charge ... they are very valiante and hardye, for the most part great endurours of cold, labour, hunger and all hardiness, very active and stronge of hand, very swift of foote, very vigilaunte and circumspect in theyr enterprises, very present in perrils, very great scorners of death.”

22 The scene of the surrender of Vercingetorix is not recounted by Cæsar, and rests mainly on the authority of Plutarch and of the historian Florus, but it is accepted by scholars (Mommsen, Long, &c.) as historic.

23 These were a tribe who took their name from the _gæsum_, a kind of Celtic javelin, which was their principal weapon. The torque, or twisted collar of gold, is introduced as a typical ornament in the well-known statue of the dying Gaul, commonly called “The Dying Gladiator.” Many examples are preserved in the National Museum of Dublin.

24 “Cæsar’s Conquest of Gaul,” pp. 10, 11. Let it be added that the aristocratic Celts were, like the Teutons, dolichocephalic—that is to say, they had heads long in proportion to their breadth. This is proved by remains found in the basin of the Marne, which was thickly populated by them. In one case the skeleton of the tall Gallic warrior was found with his war-car, iron helmet, and sword, now in the Music de St.-Germain. The inhabitants of the British Islands are uniformly long-headed, the round-headed “Alpine” type occurring very rarely. Those of modern France are round-headed. The shape of the head, however, is now known to be by no means a constant racial character. It alters rapidly in a new environment, as is shown by measurements of the descendants of immigrants in America. See an article on this subject by Professor Haddon in “Nature,” Nov. 3, 1910.

25 In the “Tain Bo Cuailgne,” for instance, the King of Ulster must not speak to a messenger until the Druid, Cathbad, has questioned him. One recalls the lines of Sir Samuel Ferguson in his Irish epic poem, “Congal”:

“... For ever since the time When Cathbad smothered Usnach’s sons in that foul sea of slime Raised by abominable spells at Creeveroe’s bloody gate, Do ruin and dishonour still on priest-led kings await.”

_ 26 Celtice_, Diarmuid mac Cearbhaill.

27 It was the practice, known in India also, for a person who was wronged by a superior, or thought himself so, to sit before the doorstep of the denier of justice and fast until right was done him. In Ireland a magical power was attributed to the ceremony, the effect of which would be averted by the other person fasting as well.

28 “Silva Gadelica,” by S.H. O’Grady, p. 73.

29 The authority here quoted is a narrative contained in a fifteenth-century vellum manuscript found in Lismore Castle in 1814, and translated by S.H. O’Grady in his “Silva Gadelica.” The narrative is attributed to an officer of Dermot’s court.

30 From Greek _megas_, great, and _lithos_, a stone.

31 See p. 78.

32 See Borlase’s “Dolmens of Ireland,” pp. 605, 606, for a discussion of this question.

33 Professor Ridgeway (see Report of the Brit. Assoc. for 1908) has contended that the Megalithic People spoke an Aryan language; otherwise he thinks more traces of its influence must have survived in the Celtic which supplanted it. The weight of authority, as well as such direct evidence as we possess, seems to be against his view.

34 See Holder,“Altceltischer Sprachschatz.” _sulb voce_ “Hyperboreoi.”

35 Thus the Greek _pharmakon_=medicine, poison, or charm; and I am informed that the Central African word for magic or charm is _mankwala_, which also means medicine.

36 If Pliny meant that it was here first codified and organised he may be right, but the conceptions on which magic rest are practically universal, and of immemorial antiquity.

37 Adopted 451 B.C. Livy entitles them “the fountain of all public and private right.” They stood in the Forum till the third century A.D., but have now perished, except for fragments preserved in various commentaries.

38 See “Revue Archeologique,” t. xii., 1865, “Fouilles de René Galles.”

39 Jade is not found in the native state in Europe, nor nearer than China.

40 Small stones, crystals, and gems were, however, also venerated. The celebrated Black Stone of Pergamos was the subject of an embassy from Rome to that city in the time of the Second Punic War, the Sibylline Books having predicted victory to its possessors. It was brought to Rome with great rejoicings in the year 205. It is stated to have been about the size of a man’s fist, and was probably a meteorite. Compare the myth in Hesiod which relates how Kronos devoured a stone in the belief that it was his offspring, Zeus. It was then possible to mistake a stone for a god.

41 Replaced by a photograph in this edition.

42 See Sir J. Simpson’s “Archaic Sculpturings” 1867.

43 The fact is recorded in the “Annals of the Four Masters” Under the date 861, and in the “Annals of Ulster” under 862.

44 See “Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy,” vol. xxx. pt. i., 1892, and “New Grange,” by G. Coffey, 1912.

45 It must be observed, however, that the decoration was, certainly, in some, and perhaps in all cases, carried out before the stones were placed in position. This is also the case at Gavr’inis.

46 He has modified this view in his latest work, “New Grange,” 1912.

47 “Proc. Royal Irish Acad.,” vol. viii. 1863, p. 400, and G. Coffey, _op. cit._ p. 30.

48 “Les Sculptures de Rochers de la Suède,” read at the Prehistoric Congress, Stockholm, 1874; and see G. Coffey, _op. cit._ p. 60.

49 “Dolmens of Ireland,” pp. 701-704.

50 “The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria.”

51 A good example from Amaravati (after Fergusson) is given by Bertrand, “Rel. des G.,” p. 389.

52 Sergi, “The Mediterranean Race,” p. 313.

53 At Lökeberget, Bohuslän; see Monteiius, _op. cit._

54 See Lord Kingsborough’s “Antiquities of Mexico,” _passim_, and the Humboldt fragment of Mexican painting (reproduced in Churchward’s “Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man”).

55 See Sergi, _op. cit._ p. 290, for the _Ankh_ on a French dolmen.

56 “Bulletin de la Soc. d’Anthropologie,” Paris, April 1893.

57 “The Welsh People,” pp. 616-664, where the subject is fully discussed in an appendix by Professor J. Morris Jones. “The pre-Aryan idioms which still live in Welsh and Irish were derived from a language allied to Egyptian and the Berber tongues.”

58 Flinders Petrie, “Egypt and Israel,” pp. 137, 899.

59 I quote from Mr. H.B. Cotterill’s beautiful hexameter version.

60 Valerius Maximus (about A.D 30) and other classical writers mention this practice.

61 Book V.

62 De Jubainville, “Irish Mythological Cycle,” p.191 _sqq._

63 The etymology of the word “Druid” is no longer an unsolved problem. It had been suggested that the latter part of the word might be connected with the Aryan root VID, which appears in “wisdom,” in the Latin _videre_, &c., Thurneysen has now shown that this root in combination with the intensive particle _dru_ would yield the word _dru-vids_, represented in Gaelic by _draoi_, a Druid, just as another intensive, _su_, with _vids_ yields the Gaelic _saoi_, a sage.

64 See Rice Holmes, “Cæsar’s Conquest,” p. 15, and pp. 532-536. Rhys, it may be observed, believes that Druidism was the religion of the aboriginal inhabitants of Western Europe “from the Baltic to Gibraltar” (“Celtic Britain,” p. 73). But we only _know_ of it where Celts and dolmen-builders combined. Cæsar remarks of the Germans that they had no Druids and cared little about sacrificial ceremonies.

65 “Rel. des Gaulois,” leçon xx.

66 Quoted by Bertrand, _op. cit._ p. 279.

67 “The Irish Mythological Cycle,” by d’Arbois de Jubainville, p. 6l. The “Dinnsenchus” in question is an early Christian document. No trace of a being like Crom Cruach has been found as yet in the pagan literature of Ireland, nor in the writings of St. Patrick, and I think it is quite probable that even in the time of St. Patrick human sacrifices had become only a memory.

68 A representation of human sacrifice has, however, lately been discovered in a Temple of the Sun in the ancient Ethiopian capital, Meroë.

69 “You [Celts] who by cruel blood outpoured think to appease the pitiless Teutates, the horrid Æsus with his barbarous altars, and Taranus whose worship is no gentler than that of the Scythian Diana”, to whom captive were offered up. (Lucan, “Pharsalia”, i. 444.) An altar dedicated to Æsus has been discovered in Paris.

70 Mont Mercure, Mercœur, Mercoirey, Montmartre (_Mons Mercurii_), &c.

71 To this day in many parts of France the peasantry use terms like _annuit, o’né, anneue_, &c., all meaning “to-night,” for _aujourd’hui_ (Bertrand, “Rel. des G.,” p. 356).

72 The _fili_, or professional poets, it must be remembered, were a branch of the Druidic order.

73 For instance, Pelagius in the fifth century; Columba, Columbanus, and St. Gall in the sixth; Fridolin, named _Viator_, “the Traveller,” and Fursa in the seventh; Virgilius (Feargal) of Salzburg, who had to answer at Rome for teaching the sphericity of the earth, in the eighth; Dicuil, “the Geographer,” and Johannes Scotus Erigena—the master mind of his epoch—in the ninth.

74 Dealgnaid. I have been obliged here, as occasionally elsewhere, to modify the Irish names so as to make them pronounceable by English readers.

75 See p. 48, _note_ 1.

76 I follow in this narrative R.I. Best’s translation of the “Irish Mythological Cycle” of d’Arbois de Jubainville.

77 De Jubainville, “Irish Mythological Cycle,” p. 75.

78 Pronounced “Yeo´hee.” See Glossary for this and other words.

79 The science of the Druids, as we have seen, was conveyed in verse, and the professional poets were a branch of the Druidic Order.

80 Meyer and Nutt, “Voyage of Bran,” ii. 197.

81 “Moytura” means “The Plain of the Towers”—_i.e._, sepulchral monuments.

82 Shakespeare alludes to this in “As You Like It.” “I never was so be-rhymed,” says Rosalind, “since Pythagoras’ time, that I was an Irish rat—which I can hardly remember.”

83 Lyons, Leyden, Laon were all in ancient times known as _Lug-dunum,_ the Fortress of Lugh. _Luguvallum_ was the name of a town near Hadrian’s Wall in Roman Britain.

84 It is given by him in a note to the “Four Masters,” vol. i. p. 18, and is also reproduced by de Jubainville.

85 The other two were “The Fate of the Children of Lir” and “The Fate of the Sons of Usna.” The stories of the Quest of the Sons of Turenn and that of the Children of Lir have been told in full by the author in his “High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic Romances,” and that of the “Sons of Usna” (the Deirdre Legend) by Miss Eleanor Hull in her “Cuchulain,” both published by Harrap and Co

86 O’Curry’s translation from the bardic tale, “The Battle of Moytura.”

87 O’Curry, “Manners and Customs,” iii. 214.

88 The ancient Irish division of the year contained only these three seasons, including autumn in summer (O’Curry, “Manners and Customs,” iii. 217).]

89 S.H. O’Grady, “Silva Gadelica,” p. 191.

90 Pp. 104 _sqq._, and _passim_.

91 O’Grady, _loc. cit._

92 O’Grady, _loc. cit._

93 See p. 112.

94 Miss Hull has discussed this subject fully in the introduction to her invaluable work, “The Cuchullin Saga.”

95 See the tale of “Etain and Midir,” in Chap. IV.

96 The name Tara is derived from an oblique case of the nominative _Teamhair_, meaning “the place of the wide prospect.” It is now a broad grassy hill, in Co. Meath, covered with earthworks representing the sites of the ancient royal buildings, which can all be clearly located from ancient descriptions.

97 A.H. Leahy, “Heroic Romances,” i. 27.

98 See p. 114.

99 I cannot agree with Mr. O’Grady’s identification of this goddess with Dana, though the name appears to mean “The Great Queen.”

100 Gerald, the fourth Earl of Desmond. He disappeared, it is said, in 1398, and the legend goes that he still lives beneath the waters of Loch Gur, and may be seen riding round its banks on his white steed once every seven years. He was surnamed “Gerald the Poet” from the “witty and ingenious” verses he composed in Gaelic. Wizardry, poetry, and science were all united in one conception in the mind of the ancient Irish.

101 “Popular Tales of Ireland,” by D. Fitzgerald, in “Revue Celtique,” vol. iv.

102 “The Voyage of Bran,” vol. ii. p. 219.

103 In Irish, _Sionnain_.

104 Translation by R.I. Best.

105 The solar vessels found in dolmen carvings. See Chap. II. p. 71 _sqq_. Note that the Celtic spirits, though invisible, are material and have weight; not so those in Vergil and Dante.

106 De Jubainville, “Irish Mythological Cycle,” p. 136. Beltené is the modern Irish name for the month of May, and is derived from an ancient root preserved in the Old Irish compound _epelta_, “dead.”

107 “Irish Mythological Cycle,” p. 138.

108 I follow again de Jubainville’s translation; but in connexion with this and the previous poems see also Ossianic Society’s “Transactions,” vol. v.

109 Teltin; so named after the goddess Telta. See p. 103.

110 Pronounced “Shee.” It means literally the People of the [Fairy] Mounds.

111 Pronounced “Eefa.”

112 This name means “The Maid of the Fair Shoulder.”

113 The story here summarised is given in full in the writer’s “High Deeds of Finn” (Harrap and Co.).

114 It may be mentioned that the syllable “Kill,” which enters into so many Irish place-names (Kilkenny, Killiney, Kilcooley, &c.), usually represents the Latin _cella_, a monastic cell, shrine, or church.

115 Cleena (_Cliodhna_) was a Danaan princess about whom a legend is told connected with the Bay of Glandore in Co. Cork. See p. 127.

116 See p. 85.

117 “Omnia monumenta Scotorum ante Cimbaoth incerta erant.” Tierna, who died in 1088, was Abbot of Clonmacnois, a great monastic and educational centre in mediæval Ireland.

118 Compare the fine poem of a modern Celtic writer (Sir Samuel Ferguson), “The Widow’s Cloak”—_i.e._, the British Empire in the days of Queen Victoria.

119 “Critical History of Ireland,” p. 180.

120 Pronounced “El´yill.”

121 The ending _ster_ in three of the names of the Irish provinces is of Norse origin, and is a relic of the Viking conquests in Ireland. Connacht, where the Vikings did not penetrate, alone preserves its Irish name unmodified. Ulster (in Irish _Ulaidh_) is supposed to derive its name from Ollav Fōla, Munster (_Mumhan_) from King Eocho Mumho, tenth in succession from Eremon, and Connacht was “the land of the children of Conn”—he who was called Conn of the Hundred Battles, and who died A.D. 157.

122 The reader may, however, be referred to the tale of Etain and Midir as given in full by A.H. Leahy (“Heroic Romances of Ireland”), and by the writer in his “High Deeds of Finn,” and to the tale of Conary rendered by Sir S. Ferguson (“Poems,” 1886), in what Dr. Whitley Stokes has described as the noblest poem ever written by an Irishman.

123 Pronounced “Yeo´hee.”

124 I quote Mr. A.H. Leahy’s translation from a fifteenth-century Egerton manuscript (“Heroic Romances of Ireland,” vol. i. p. 12). The story is, however, found in much more ancient authorities.

125 Ogham letters, which were composed of straight lines arranged in a certain order about the axis formed by the edge of a squared pillar-stone, were used for sepulchral inscription and writing generally before the introduction of the Roman alphabet in Ireland.

126 The reference is to the magic swine of Mananan, which were killed and eaten afresh every day, and whose meat preserved the eternal youth of the People of Dana.

127 See p. 124.

128 The meaning quoted will be found in the Dictionary under the alternative form _geas_

129 I quote from Whitley Stokes’ translation, _Revue Celtique_, January 1901, and succeeding numbers.

130 Bregia was the great plain lying eastwards of Tara between Boyne and Liffey

131 “The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel.”

132 Pronounced “Koohoo´lin.”

133 See p. 150.

134 See pp. 121-123 for an account of this deity.

135 It is noticeable that among the characters figuring in the Ultonian legendary cycle many names occur of which the word _Cu_ (hound) forms a part. Thus we have Curoi, Cucorb, Beälcu, &c. The reference is no doubt to the Irish wolf-hound, a fine type of valour and beauty.

136 Now Lusk, a village on the coast a few miles north of Dublin.

137 Owing to the similarity of the name the supernatural country of Skatha, “the Shadowy,” was early identified with the islands of Skye, where the Cuchulain Peaks still bear witness to the legend.

138 This, of course, was Cuchulain’s father, Lugh.

139 This means probably “the belly spear.” With this terrible weapon Cuchulain was fated in the end to slay his friend Ferdia.

140 See genealogical table, p. 181.

141 Miss Hull, “The Cuchullin Saga,” p. lxxii, where the solar theory of the Brown Bull is dealt with at length.

142 A _cumal_ was the unit of value in Celtic Ireland. It is mentioned as such by St. Patrick. It meant the price of a woman-slave.

143 The cune laid on them by Macha. Sec p. 180.

144 Cuchulain, as the son of the god Lugh, was not subject to the curse of Macha which afflicted the other Ultonians.

145 His reputed father, the mortal husband of Dectera

146 In the Irish bardic literature, as in the Homeric epics, chastity formed no part of the masculine ideal either for gods or men.

147 “The Ford of the Forked Pole.”

148 I quote from Standish Hayes O’Grady’s translation, in Miss Hull’s “Cuchullin Saga.”

_ 149 Ath Fherdia_, which is pronounced and now spelt “Ardee.” It is in Co. Louth, at the southern border of the Plain of Murthemney, which was Cuchulain’s territory.

150 See p. 126.

151 In ancient Ireland there were five provinces, Munster being counted as two, or, as some ancient authorities explain it, the High King’s territory in Meath and Westmeath being reckoned a separate province.

152 “Clan” in Gaelic means children or offspring. Clan Calatin=the sons of Calatin.

153 Together with much that is wild and barbaric in this Irish epic of the “Tain” the reader will be struck by the ideals of courtesy and gentleness which not infrequently come to light in it. It must be remembered that, as Mr. A.H. Leahy points out in his “Heroic Romances of Ireland,” the legend of the Raid of Quelgny is, at the very latest, a century earlier than all other known romances of chivalry, Welsh or Continental. It is found in the “Book of Leinster,” a manuscript of the twelfth century, as well as in other sources, and was doubtless considerably older than the date of its transcription there. “The whole thing,” says Mr. Leahy, “stands at the very beginning of the literature of modern Europe.”

154 Another instance of the survival of the oath formula recited by the Celtic envoys to Alexander the Great. See p. 23.

155 “Rising-out” is the vivid expression used by Irish writers for a clan or territory going on the war-path. “Hosting” is also used in a similar sense.

156 See p. 130.

157 The sword of Fergus was a fairy weapon called the _Caladcholg_ (hard dinter), a name of which Arthur’s more famous “Excalibur” is a Latinised corruption.

158 The reference is to Deirdre.

159 See p. 211.

160 A.H. Leahy’s translation, “Heroic Romances of Ireland,” vol. i.

161 The cloak of Mananan (see p. 125) typifies the sea—here, in its dividing and estranging power.

162 This Curoi appears in various tales of the Ultonian Cycle with attributes which show that he was no mortal king, but a local deity.

163 This apparition of the Washer of the Ford is of frequent occurrence in Irish legend.

164 See p. 164 for the reference to _geis_. “His namesake” refers, of course, to the story of the Hound of Cullan, pp. 183, 184.

165 It was a point of honour to refuse nothing to a bard; one king is said to have given his eye when it was demanded of him.

_ 166 Craobh Ruadh_—the Red Branch hostel.

167 The story is told in full in the author’s “High Deeds of Finn.”

168 Pronounced “Bay-al-koo.”

169 Inis Clothrann, now known as Quaker’s Island. The pool no longer exists.

170 “Youb´dan.”

171 Dr. P. W. Joyce’s “Irish Names of Places” is a storehouse of information on this subject.

172 P. 211, _note_.

173 The name is given both to the hill, _ard_, and to the ford, _atha_ beneath it.

174 Pronounced “mac Cool.”

175 Pronounced “Usheen.”

176 Subject, of course, to the possibility that the present revival of Gaelic as a spoken tongue may lead to the opening of a new chapter in that history.

177 See “Ossian and Ossianic Literature,” by Alfred Nutt, p. 4.

178 Now Castleknock, near Dublin.

179 In the King’s County.

180 The hill still bears the name, Knockanar.

181 Glanismole, near Dublin.

182 Talkenn, or “Adze-head,” was a name given to St. Patrick by the Irish. Probably it referred to the shape of his tonsure.

183 Pronounced “Sleeve-na-mon´”: accent on last syllable. It means the Mountain of the [Fairy] Women.

184 Translation by S.H. O’Grady.

185 See p. 105.

186 Examples of these have been published, with translations, in the “Transactions of the Ossianic Society.”

187 Taken down from the recital of a peasant in Co. Galway and published at Rennes in Dr. Hyde’s “An Sgeuluidhe Gaodhalach,” vol. ii. (no translation).

188 Now Athlone (_Atha Luain_).

189 How significant is this naïve indication that the making of forays on his neighbours was regarded in Celtic Ireland as the natural and laudable occupation of a country gentleman! Compare Spenser’s account of the ideals fostered by the Irish bards of his time, “View of the Present State of Ireland,” p. 641 (Globe edition).

190 Dr. John Todhunter, in his “Three Irish Bardic Tales,” has alone, I think, kept the antique ending of the tale of Deirdre.

191 “Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition,” Argyllshire Series. The tale was taken down in verse, word for word, from the dictation of Roderick mac Fadyen in Tiree, 1868.

192 Here we have evidently a reminiscence of Briccriu of the Poisoned Tongue, the mischief-maker of the Ultonians.

193 The Arans are three islands at the entrance of Galway Bay. They are a perfect museum of mysterious ruins.

194 Pronounced “Ghermawn”—the “G” hard.

195 Horse-racing was a particular delight to the ancient Irish, and is mentioned in a ninth-century poem in praise of May as one of the attractions of that month. The name of the month of May given in an ancient Gaulish calendar means “the month of horse-racing.”

196 The same phenomenon is recorded as being witnessed by Peredur in the Welsh tale of that name in the “Mabinogion.”

197 Like the bridge to Skatha’t dūn, p. 188.

198 Probably we are to understand that he was an anchorite seeking for an islet on which to dwell in solitude and contemplation. The western islands of Ireland abound in the ruins of huts and oratories built by single monks or little communities.

199 Tennyson has been particularly happy in his description of these undersea islands.

200 Ps. ciii. 5.

201 This disposes of the last of the foster-brothers, who should not have joined the party.

202 Tory Island, off the Donegal coast. There was there a monastery and a church dedicated to St. Columba.

203 “One day we shall delight in the remembrance of these things.” The quotation is from Vergil, “Æn.” i. 203 “Sacred poet” is a translation of the _vates sacer_ of Horace.

204 This sage and poet has not been identified from any other record. Praise and thanks to him, whoever he may have been.

205 “The Mabinogion,” pp. 45 and 54.

206 Pronounced “Annoon.” It was the word used in the early literature for Hades or Fairyland.

207 “Barddas,” vol. i. pp. 224 _sqq_.

208 Strange as it may seem to us, the character of this object was by no means fixed from the beginning. In the poem of Wolfram von Eschenbach it is a stone endowed with magical properties. The word is derived by the early fabulists from _gréable_, something pleasant to possess and enjoy, and out of which one could have _à son gré_, whatever he chose of good things. The Grail legend will be dealt with later in connexion with the Welsh tale “Peredur.”

209 Distinguished by these from the other great storehouse of poetic legend, the _Matière de Bretagne—i.e._, the Arthurian saga.

210 See p. 103.

211 “Cultur der Gegenwart,” i. ix.

212 A list of them is given in Lobineau’s “Histoire de Bretagne.”

213 See, _e.g.,_ pp. 243 and 218, _note_.

214 See p. 233, and a similar case in the author’s “High Deeds of Finn,” p. 82.

215 See p. 232, and the tale of the recovery of the “Tain,” p. 234.

216 “Pwyll King of Dyfed,” “Bran and Branwen,” “Math Sor of Māthonwy,” and “Manawyddan Son of Llyr.”

217 See p. 107.

218 “Hibbert Lectures,” pp. 237-240.

219 See pp. 88, 109, &c. Lugh, of course, = Lux, Light. The Celtic words _Lamh_ and _Llaw_ were used indifferently for hand or arm.

220 Mr. Squire, in his “Mythology of the British Islands,” 1905, has brought together in a clear and attractive form the most recent results of studies on this subject.

221 Finn and Gwyn are respectively the Gaelic and Cymric forms of the same name, meaning fair or white.

222 “Mythology of the British Islands,” p. 225.

223 The sense appears to be doubtful here, and is variously rendered.

224 Lloegyr = Saxon Britain.

225 Rhys, “Hibbert Lectures,” quoting from the ancient saga of Merlin published by the English Text Society, p. 693.

226 “Mythology of the British Islands,” pp. 325, 326; and Rhys, “Hibbert Lectures,” p. 155 _sqq_.

227 In the “Iolo MSS.,” collected by Edward Williams.

228 See, _e.g._, pp. 111, 272.

229 We see here that we have got far from primitive Celtic legend. The heroes fight like mediaeval knights on horseback, tilting at each other with spears, not in chariots or on foot, and not with the strange weapons which figure in Gaelic battle-tales.

230 Hēn, “the Ancient”; an epithet generally implying a hoary antiquity associated with mythological tradition.

231 Pronounced “Pry-dair´y.”

232 Evidently this was the triangular Norman shield, not the round or oval Celtic one. It has already been noticed that in these Welsh tales the knights when they fight tilt at each other with spears.

233 The reader may pronounce this “Matholaw.”

234 Compare the description of Mac Cecht in the tale of the Hostel of De Derga, p. 173.

235 Where the Tower of London now stands.

236 These stories, in Ireland and in Wales, always attach themselves to actual burial-places. In 1813 a funeral urn containing ashes and half-burnt bones was found in the spot traditionally supposed to be Branwen’s sepulchre.

237 Saxon Britain.

238 This is a distorted reminiscence of the practice which seems to have obtained in the courts of Welsh princes, that a high officer should hold the king’s feet in his lap while he sat at meat.

239 “Hawthorn, King of the Giants.”

240 The gods of the family of Dōn are thus conceived as servitors to Arthur, who in this story is evidently the god Artaius.

241 “She of the White Track.” Compare the description of Etain, pp. 157, 158.

242 There is no other mention of this Kenverchyn or of how Owain got his raven-army, also referred to in “The Dream of Rhonabwy.” We have here evidently a piece of antique mythology embedded in a more modern fabric.

243 Like the Breton Tale of “Peronnik the Fool,” translated in “Le Foyer Bréton,” by Emile Souvestre. The syllable _Per_ which occurs in all forms of the hero’s name means in Welsh and Cornish a bowl or vessel (Irish _coire_—see p. 35, note). No satisfactory derivation has in any case been found of the latter part of the name.

244 “They are nourished by a stone of most noble nature ... it is called _lapsit exillîs_; the stone is also called the Grail.” The term _lapsit exillîs_ appears to be a corruption for _lapis ex celis_, “the stone from heaven.”

245 The true derivation is from the Low Latin _cratella_, a small vessel or chalice.

246 A similar selective action is ascribed to the Grail by Wolfram. It can only be lifted by a pure maiden when carried into the hall, and a heathen cannot see it or be benefited by it. The same idea is also strongly marked in the story narrating the early history of the Grail by Robert de Borron, about 1210: the impure and sinful cannot benefit by it. Borron, however, does not touch upon the Perceval or “quest” portion of the story at all.

247 Hades.

248 Caer Vedwyd means the Castle of Revelry. I follow the version of this poem given by Squire in his “Mythology of the British Islands,” where it may be read in full.

249 The combination of objects at the Grail Castle is very significant. They were a sword, a spear, and a vessel, or, in some versions, a stone. These are the magical treasures brought by the Danaans into Ireland—a sword, a spear, a cauldron, and a stone. See pp. 105, 106.

250 The Round Table finds no mention in Cymric legend earlier than the fifteenth century.

251 Vergil, in his mediæval character of magician.

252 Taliesin.

253 Alluding to the imaginary Trojan ancestry of the Britons.

254 I have somewhat abridged this curious poem. The connexion with ideas of transmigration, as in the legend of Tuan mac Carell (see pp. 97-101), is obvious. Tuan’s last stage, it may be recalled, was a fish, and Taliesin was taken in a salmon-weir.