Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



man once caught such a " Walriderske " in 

 his house and made her his wife; but at last 

 he showed her the hole through which she 

 entered, whereupon she flew out and never 

 came again. 



The swan very naturally appears in Irish 

 legends and especially in connection with the 

 cuckoo hero, Cuchullaind. Fand and Liban, 

 wives of Mananan of the sea, appear to Cu- 

 chullaind as two swans linked together by a 

 chain of gold ; when he strikes them with 

 his spear, he falls into that state of emaciation 

 and frenzy which was noted in the chapter on 

 the cuckoo. In another version he falls into 

 this condition when separated from Fand. 

 Professor Rhys derives Fand from the same 

 root as Latin unda ; she is the primitive 

 Undine of La Motte Fouque's fairy-tale. 

 On another adventure Cuchullaind finds a 

 princess exposed like Andromeda on the sea- 

 shore as tribute to the fog giants or pirates, the 

 Fomori. He kills the Fomori ; the rescued 

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