the Celtic gods who had the thunderbolt, which Greek mythology tends to place at the exclusive disposal of Zeus; even Cronus' influence over the harvest and the ripening crops would seem to postulate the assigning of a certain amount of atmospheric power to him also. It is, however, not to be doubted that Cronus is left with comparatively little influence as compared with this Celtic counterpart of his, for there were, as we shall see, several others belonging to other cycles of sagas, Irish and Welsh.
Before leaving this mention of the Dagda, it is worth while pointing out his Norse equivalent, whom we seem to have in Thor. This will appear from the following summary of Thor's attributes by Yigfusson and Powell, in their Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ij. 463: "Wide is the contrast between Woden and Thunder in the lays of the earlier poets. Thor is a less complex divinity, with a well-marked and individual character; the friend of man, the husbandman's god, whose wrath and anger are ever directed against the evil powers that injure mortals and their possessions, whose bolt destroys the foul thick blights that betray the presence of the wicked ones, and smites through the huge cloud-masses that seem to be crushing the earth. Thus we see him ever associated with Earth, who bore him to Heaven . . . . ; her proudest titles are the Mother of the Giant-killer, the Mother of the Ill-dam's foe. So also he is 'husband of Sif,' the golden-haired goddess [the Corn-field, Ceres]. . . . . The homely features of Thor's character mark him out for humorous treatment, and the anonymous Aristophanes of the West, and Snorri himself, deal so with him. Alone of all the gods we find his image carved on stocks and stones, a long-bearded face with the hammer hung
