Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/322

310 CELTIC LITERATURE daughter of Paill by Cuchulaind, and the Voyage or Exile of Breccdn. The Paill of the first story appears to be the Pawl of the Welsh Mabinogion, which we shall mention further on ; and in her second husband we have the Corroi mob Dayry of a Welsh poem, which gave rise to much dis cussion. The Breccdn of the second story was, according to Cormac s glossary, the son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, one of the Scotic invaders of Britain, who traded with a fleet of fifty boats between Ireland and Alba, but was wrecked, and he and his whole fleet lost, in a whirlpool formed by the meeting of the tidal currents in the channel between the two countries, which on this account was called Coire Breccdin or Breccdris cauldron. Dr Reeves thinks this was between the mainland of Antrim and the Island of Rathlin ; but it has since migrated with the legend to the channel between Jura and " Scarba s Isle, whose tortured shore Still rings to Corrievrekan s roar." Breccdn has also left footprints of himself not only in Welsh legend but also in Welsh hagiology, and as we have already mentioned in Welsh toponomy, for he is the Brychan, the founder of one of three families of saints, who has given his name to Brecknock. Mytliolo- The mythological tales all relate to the inhabitants of the gical tales. g^ ( j e or Celtic Elysium, whosa chiefs were the mythical Tuatha De Danann leaders, and who form, as we have pointed out above, an extensive pantheon. Among those who figure in the tales are Etain, Ler, Manandan his son, the Dayda, Tuirenn Bicrenn or Delbaith and his three sons, and Lug Mac Eithlenn. These tales may be divided into three classes. In the first of these the actors are all Tuatha De Danann, or these associated only with personages of remote antiquity, and in the second the same divin ities are associated with personages of the heroic period, especially with Medb and Cuchulaind, and those in which historic or semi-historic personages are asso ciated with the deities of the Side. The Wooing of Etain, the Exile of Bri Leith, the Death of the Sons of Tuirenn, are examples of the first class. The Seirglige Conchulaind, or Bed of Decline of Cuchulaind., one of the most remarkable of all the Celtic mythological tales, is an excellent example of the second. The third class embraces such tales as the Wooing of Becuma by Conn " of the Hun dred Battles," and the Adventures of Condla the Beautiful, eon of the Conn just mentioned. In the third class might also be placed a number of curious tales in which pagan myths are transformed into Christian ones. We may observe this transformation of the pagan into the Christian myth in every stage of the process ; thus in the tale called Tomaidm Locha Eachach, or the Irruption of Loch Neagh, or, as it is called in the Leabhar nah-Uidhri. Aided Echach Mac Maireda, the Death of Echaid son of Maired, we have a legend more than half of which is pagan, but which in the latter part is changed into a Christian myth without affecting the general pagan character of the whole. The Fate of the Children of Ler, or Lear, is a legend of the same kind ; indeed the same pagan myth serves as the basis of the Christian part of the myth in both tales. In the Birth of Aed Slant, king of Ireland, who died in 600, we have an Aryan myth completely transformed into a Christian one. Diarmait, son of Cerbeoil Aed s father, had two wives, Murend and MurgAn, the former of whom was bald, and was provided with flowing hair by the aid of St Ciaran, or Kyran ; the latter was barren, but becomes fruitful through the aid of St Finden and of a bishop named Aed (fire, spark), who gives her a drink of blessed water which renders her pregnant of a lamb ; a second drink causes her to bring forth a silver salmon ; but the third drink gives her a son called Aed. There is a special class of legends, the Immrams or Wanderings by sea, which we have not included in any of the foregoing categories, but which, as examples of the fusion ? of pagan and Christian elements in a legend, may be dis- ing8 posed of here. The origin of the Christian Immram is to be found in several pagan tales such as the Visit of Conn " of the Hundred Battles " to the Land of Promise, which forms part of the Wooing of Becuma, already men tioned. The principal Immrams are the Voyage of St Brendan (the most celebrated of all), the Wandering of the sons of Ua Corra, and the Wandering of Maeldun. In these the transformation of the pagan myth is so complete that we should not have been able to trace their origin but for the existence of the pagan tales just mentioned. There is another class of compositions the Fisa, or Fisa, or Visions, which, though strictly belonging to the category visions. of religious literature, offer so many analogies to the Immrams or Wanderings, in some of the incidents, that it is better to say a few words on them in this place. In several pagan tales we have examples of visions, some brought about by pagan rites, which are the prototypes of the later Christian visions, such as those of St Adamndn, and St Fursey. The Christian visions of Hell and Heaven owe something to Virgil, but the extent of the obligation is much smaller than might at first sight be supposed, for we can trace the growth of the ideas under which the Fis or vision was evolved and developed to the fusion of pagan, Celtic, and Christian notions. Several of the adventures of Brendan, Maeldun, and the sons of Ua Corra contain scenes which have the same origin as many of those depicted in the visions. The tales which we propose to include under the head of Heroic heroic tales form a large and well-marked epic cycle. The tales central tale of the series is the Tain Bo Cuailnge or Cattle Spoil of Cualnge, now Cooly, in the county of Louth, which relates the history of the war waged by Medb, queen of Connaught, the Queen Mab of fairy mythology, and her husband AiliU, with Conchobar Mac Kessa, king of Ulster, for the possession of the mystic brown bull of Cualnge, in which the hero Cuchulaind defends Ulster single-handed, while the king and his champions are in a peculiar state of debility inflicted upon them for a savage act of the former. The existing tales of the scries amount to about thirty, exclusive of the tale of the Tain itself and of the prologues and fore-tales narrating the pre parations for the great cow-prey. In these tales as a whole we have one of the most complete epic cycles in any literature. We have a narrative of the life of the great hero of the series from his conception to his death, of Medb, the chief heroine, and of all the chief personages on both sides, male and female Conchobor Mac Nessa, Fergus Mac Roigh,Ailill, husband of Medb, Conall Cernach and Lbi- guire or Leghaire Buadach, companions of Cuchulaind, the sons of Uisnech, and Ferdiad; Deirdriu,Emer, and the other women who take part in the action. In some of the stories Curoi Mac Daire, the Munster king, Conaire M6r, the paramount king of Ireland, Manandan Mac Lir and his wife Fand, and many other personages of Celtic mythology come in. The principal tales of this remarkable series exist in manuscripts written in or before the early part of the 12th century, and the others in vellum manuscripts of good authority. The stories are mixed prose and verse, the latter being generally more abundant in the oldest copies ; the finest episode of the Tain itself, descriptive of the single combats between Cuchulaind and Ferdiad, consists of about equal parts of both. Prose, as we have said above, marks a transition period, and it is therefore likely that the whole series originally consisted of poems which the bard in reciting introduced by brief prologues which served to connect the subjects of the several poems into a kind of

connected narrative. This may be regarded as the first