which is given to them, the rapid and unperceived lapse of time, the ball of thread with which the travellers are held (which replaces in the later legends the original apple of invitation) are here, as in all the later legends, peculiarities only of one out of the numerous islands which they visit.[1] Here appears for the first time the Isle of Laughter, where the inhabitants give forth incessant gusts of laughter, and on which, when one of Bran's companions lands, he is seized with the same desire, and remains gaping and shaking with mirth for ever.
In the Voyage of Maelduin this Isle of Laughter is balanced by another island called the Isle of Wailing, inhabited by human beings whose bodies and raiments were black. Round their heads were fillets, and they rested never from weeping and wailing. No one who landed on the island ever returned, but began to weep with the rest. Maelduin had to send four of his men, with garments wrapped round their heads and mouths, to bring back by force three who had landed to explore the isle. Two they brought back, but the third remained behind. Here already we begin to feel in the region of the Divine Comedy.
In the Voyage of the Sons of O'Corra the first island they come to is the Isle of Weeping. This sufficiently indicates the penitential nature of their voyage, which is undertaken to atone for their intended murder of their grandfather and for their numerous crimes; or, in their own words, "to take upon themselves the habit of penitence and religion."
In these two stories appears for the first time the Miller of Hell, but as yet he is a personage whose business it is not to punish men, but to teach them a moral lesson. In his mill are all the choice things of the world, the pleasures and riches of life (Sons of
- ↑ Cf. Maelduin, xvii., xxviii.
