The Religion of the Ancient Celts Part 14

[411] Loth, i. 173 f.

[412] Loth, ii. 256, 274.

[413] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 606. Cf. the Breton fairies, the _Korr_ and _Korrigan_.

[414] Geoffrey, iii. 20.

[415] Loth, i. 253-254; Skene, i. 293.

[416] Guest, iii. 323.

[417] Ibid. 325.

[418] Loth, i. 253, ii. 297.

[419] See p. 353, _infra_.; Skene, i. 532.

[420] Anwyl, _ZCP_ i. 293.

[421] Guest, iii. 356 f.

[422] Skene, i. 275, 296.

[423] Ibid. i. 498, 500.

[424] See p. 382, _infra_.

[425] _Mon. Hist. Brit._ i. 698, ii.; Thomas, _Revue de l'hist. des Religions_, x.x.xviii. 339.

[426] Skene, i. 263, 274-276, 278, 281-282, 286-287. His "chair" bestows immortal youth and freedom from sickness.

[427] Skene, i. 264, 376 f., 309, 532. See p. 356, _infra_.

[428] See pp. 350-1, _infra_. Fionn and Taliesin are examples of the _Marchen_ formula of a hero expelled and brought back to honour, Nutt-Meyer, ii. 88.

[429] Loth, i. 209, ii. 238; Skene, ii. 459.

[430] Nennius, ch. 50, 79.

[431] Anwyl, _ZCP_ i. 293.

[432] Geoffrey, viii. 9-xi. 3.

[433] Nutt-Meyer, ii. 22 f.

[434] See p. 381, _infra_.

[435] Loth, ii. 232, 245.

[436] Rh[^y]s, _AL_, 39 f. Others derive the name from _arto-s_, "bear."

MacBain, 357.

[437] Loth. ii. 247; Skene, ii. 459.

[438] Geoffrey, vi. 17-19, vii. viii. 1, 10-12, 19. In a poem (Skene, i.

478), Myrddin is called "the man who speaks from the grave"--a conception familiar to the Celts, who thought of the dead as living on in the grave. See p. 340, _infra_.

[439] Rh[^y]s, _HL_, 154 f., 158-159, 194.

[440] Geoffrey, ix. 12, etc.

[441] Skene, ii. 51.

[442] Loth. i. 225; cf. p. 131, _infra_. From this description Elton supposes Kei to have been a G.o.d of fire.

[443] _Myv. Arch._ i. 175; Loth, i. 269. Rh[^y]s, _AL_ 59, thinks Merlin may have been Guinevere's ravisher.

[444] Holder, i. 414.

[445] Loth i. 250, 260 f., 280, ii. 215, 244.

[446] Skene, i. 363, ii. 406; _Myv. Arch._ i. 78.

[447] Hu Gadarn is mentioned in the _Triads_ as a leader of the Cymry from the east and their teacher in ploughing. He divided them into clans, and invented music and song. The monster _avanc_ was drawn by him from the lake which had burst and caused the flood (see p. 231, _infra_). Perhaps Hu is an old culture-G.o.d of some tribes, but the _Triads_ referring to him are of late date (Loth, ii. 271, 289, 290-291, 298-299). For the ridiculous Neo-Druidic speculations based on Hu, see Davies, _Celtic Researches_ and _Mythology and Rites of the Druids_.

Gurgiunt, son of Belinus, in Geoffrey, iii. 11, may be the French legendary Gargantua, perhaps an old G.o.d. See the works of Sebillot and Gaidoz on _Gargantua_.

[448] Loth, i. 270.

[449] Dio Ca.s.sius, lxii. 6.

[450] Solinus, xxii. 10. See p. 2, _supra_.

[451] Ptol. ii. 3. 2.

[452] For all these see Holder, _s.v._

CHAPTER VII.

THE CuCHULAINN CYCLE.

The events of the Cuchulainn cycle are supposed to date from the beginning of the Christian era--King Conchobar's death synchronising with the crucifixion. But though some personages who are mentioned in the Annals figure in the tales, on the whole they deal with persons who never existed. They belong to a world of romance and myth, and embody the ideals of Celtic paganism, modified by Christian influences and those of cla.s.sical tales and romantic sagas of other regions, mainly Scandinavian. The present form of the tales as they exist in the _Book of the Dun Cow_ and the _Book of Leinster_ must have been given them in the seventh or eighth century, but they embody materials of a far older date. At an early time the saga may have had a more or less definite form, but new tales were being constantly added to it, and some of the longer tales are composed of incidents which once had no connection with each other.

Cuchulainn is the central figure of the cycle, and its central episode is that of the _Tain bo Cuailgne_, or "Cattle Spoil of Cooley." Other personages are Conchobar and Dechtire, Ailill and Medb, Fergus, Conall Cernach, Curoi, Deirdre, and the sons of Usnach. Some of these are of divine descent, some are perhaps euhemerised divinities; Conchobar is called _dia talmaide_, "a terrestrial G.o.d," and Dechtire a G.o.ddess. The cycle opens with the birth of Conchobar, son of Cathbad and of Nessa, daughter of one of the Tuatha De Danann, though in an older rescension of the tale he is Nessa's son by the G.o.d Lug. During Conchobar's reign over Ulster Cuchulainn was born. He was son of Dechtire, either by Sualtaim, or by her brother Conchobar, or by the G.o.d Lug, of whom he may also be a reincarnation.[453] Like other heroes of saga, he possesses great strength and skill at a tender age, and, setting out for Conchobar's court, overpowers the king's "boy corps," and then becomes their chief. His next adventure is the slaying of the watch-dog of Culann the smith, and his appeasing the anger of its owner by offering to act as his watch-dog. Cathbad now announced that his name would henceforth be Cu Chulainn, "Culann's hound."[454] At the mature age of seven he obtained Conchobar's spears, sword, s.h.i.+eld, and chariot, and with these he overcame three mighty champions, returning in the distortion of his "battle-fury" to Emania. To prevent mischief from his rage, the women went forth naked to meet him. He modestly covered his eyes, for it was one of his _geasa_ not to look on a woman's breast.

Thus taken unawares, he was plunged into three successive vats of cold water until his natural appearance was restored to him, although the water boiled and hissed from his heat.[455]