﻿12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 59 



first that we hear of which can possibly have any significance in this 

 connection is Arthur's mysterious and disastrous foray into some 

 northern Gaelic region, in quest of " The Spoils of Annwn." 



The ancient poem in the Book of Taliessin, 1 bearing that title, 

 seems to have a nucleus of reality, though surrounding the British 

 leader, as does the perhaps equally archaic story of Kilhwch and 

 Olwen, 2 with accessories borrowed from some fading pagan god. At 

 any rate, these verses may have been the germ of the fictitious 

 Arthurian conquest of Ireland and Iceland related by Geoffrey 

 of Monmouth, that most romantic and romancing of literary bishops 

 — who in this instance has found a believer to some extent in even the 

 veteran investigator Rev. B. F. De Costa, for the latter says: " The 

 expedition of Arthur to Iceland may be regarded as historic." 3 One 

 may be pardoned for regarding this deliverance itself with some aston- 

 ishment. As to the origin of these medieval extravagances in that 

 poem, it is pleasant to find one's independent conjecture anticipated 

 and confirmed by a suggestion of Sir John Rhys 4 published long ago. 



There is a most interesting sequence of Irish sea-tales better worthy 

 of our consideration. First, the Voyage of Bran, even as a composi- 

 tion, apparently dates well back into early heathen times. Dr. 

 Zimmer 5 credits parts of it to the seventh century, but they include 

 a quite irrelevant prophecy, made by a sea-god in person, which 

 utterance, though itself archaic in subject matter, is evidently an addi- 

 tion to an original simple story. This nucleus may well be very 

 ancient indeed. 



Bran the son of Febal, we are told, having been summoned by 

 a mysterious and lovely feminine being, sailed over the ocean to the 

 Isle of Joy, where everyone laughed without ceasing. One of Bran's 

 men went ashore, and forthwith took to laughing also. His comrades 

 could get no answer from him, so sailed on and let him be. At the 

 next island a lovely enchantress threw a ball of magic yarn to Bran ; 

 which hit the mark and held, so that she drew him and all of them 

 ashore. She kept them with her and her fair companions for a 

 year as it seemed, but really it was many years. At last one of the 

 crew was taken with a great longing for home ; so Bran carried 

 him back to Ireland. But when the man stepped ashore, he fell to 



1 W. F. Skene : The Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. 1, p. 264. 



2 J. Rhys: Introduction to Malory's King Arthur, p. 224. 



3 B. F. DeCosta : Arctic Exploration. Amer. Geogr. Soc. Bull. 1880, p. 163. 



i J. Rhys: The Arthurian Legend, (1890), pp. 10, 11. 



5 Alfred Niitt: The Voyage of Bran. 



