Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/167

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THE MYTHS OF THE BRITISH CELTS
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those of a god invisibly leading armies to battle and embodied in chiefs who bore his name. Yet the epithet might be that of actual warriors, just as the German Emperor calls himself the "war-lord."

Lludd,as King, rebuilt London orCaer Ludd, and was buried at Ludgate Hill, which thus preserves his name and points to an earlier cult of Lludd at this place.38 He is also said to have been enclosed in a narrow prison—an unexplained reference to some tale now lost. In the story of Lludd and Llevelys39 his country of Britain was subjected to three plagues—the Coranlans who heard every whisper, like Math Hen; a shriek on May-Eve caused by a foreign dragon attacking the dragon of the land and producing wide-spread desolation; and the mysterious disappearance of a year's supply of food. Llevelys bade Lludd bruise certain Insects In water and throw the mixture over his assembled people and the Coranlans; the latter alone would be poisoned by it. The dragons were to be made drunk with mead and then burled. The third plague was caused by a magician who lulled every one to sleep and then carried off the provisions; but Lludd was to keep awake by plunging Into cold water and then to capture the giant, who would become his vassal. This last plague recalls "the hand of glory," the hand of a new-born infant or a criminal, which, anointed with grease and Ignited, rendered a robber Invisible and caused every one to sleep In whatever house the thief entered. Treasure was also discovered by its means, and as Dousterswivel in Scott's Antiquary said, "he who seeksh for treasuresh shall never find none at all," to which the Antiquary replied, "I dare take my corporal oath of that conclusion." Whether this episode of the story is based on such a folk-belief is not clear. As a whole nation suffers from the plagues, and as two of them affect fertility and plenty, the origin of the tale may be found in the mythical contest of divine powers with hostile potencies of blight, as at Mag-Tured.40 In a Triad the plague of the Coranlans Is called that of March Malaen from beyond the