case is not very dissimilar on Celtic ground, where the place of Zeus is held in Irish by Nuada, and that of a subordinate in command of his forces by Lug, the Sun-god; or take another cycle, with Conchobar standing for Zeus, and Cúchulainn for the Sun-hero, a youth devotedly attached to him as his lord and foster-father. Nay, in the former case one seems to detect Lug stepping into the place of the Celtic Zeus, namely in the legend of the Lia Fáil or Stone of Fál (pp. 206, 210); for it states, among other things, that it was at Tara the stone had been placed, but that it was at Tailltin it should permanently remain, and that there the meeting-place should be for games as long as sovereignty belonged to Tara.[1] How it got to Tailltin is related briefly in the Book of Leinster (9a), which gives it the name in Fál mór or 'the Great Fál,' and explains that it was a Stone of Vision at Tara; but it also terms it an idol, and states that its welcome to Conn (p. 205) was the last instance of its functioning as an oracle, as its heart sprang out of it from Tara as far as Tailltin, where it appears to have been known as Fál's Heart; and, lastly, it is hinted that the real cause of the idol's power coming to an end was the birth of Christ. That is, doubtless, a comparatively late comment, and it is needless to repeat how Tailltin and its great fair of the Lugnassad (p. 410) were closely identified with Lug; and the passing of the Lia Fáil from Tara to Tailltin would seem to imply nothing less than the eclipsing of the older god's glory by that of the younger. When Lug prophetically declares the destinies of the kingdom to Conn (p. 210), he may be said to
- ↑ O'Curry, quoting and translating, pp. 618, 620, from the Harl. MS. 5280 in the British Museum.
