(b) Human heroes being able to destroy the síde,[1] a human being is consequently able to give aid to the Otherworld.
(c) [The man can help the gods or fairies in other ways. Gods really need the offerings of the people, and so do also the fairies who are, according to Irish folk-lore, entitled to spilled milk. The fairies are grateful when a hero aids their child (so, for example, in South Slav. Prince Marco and a Fairy).
And, finally, the limits between the Human and the Superhuman are never strictly defined to the primitive imagination. Superhuman beings are only superior to men through their higher knowledge of magic, and if any mortal can acquire this knowledge he can rise to the same rank as the "immortals." A man can be immortal so long as he has the water of life, or so long as his soul is hidden (vide the Egyptian tale of Anpu and Bata, Flinders Petrie, Egyptian Tales, ii. 36 ff.). The gods are jealous of their superior knowledge, so e.g. Toth felt very much offended when Ahura had got his magical book (Flinders Petrie, ibid. 89 ff.). Jehovah was afraid that man would be as one of the gods if he partook of the fatal fruits.] All these instances show that Mr. Gruffydd's presumption is not proved at all.
The motive of Pwyll's chaste intercourse is naturally, according to Mr. Gruffydd's theory, a later alteration, due to the later redactors who were shocked that Pwyll should have a real intercourse with Arawn's wife. But why did not the redactors suppress all the "very shocking" scenes
- ↑ So the Connacht people destroyed the síd of Cruachan (see Echtra Nerai). In British folklore we have some similar instances, as Child Roland.
