A Harvest of Irish Folk-Lore 323 



the greater part, occupied by a majority of the 

 people ; while they are still preserved in other and 

 remoter districts, inhabited by men who, for the 

 scholar and the student of mankind, are by far the 

 most interesting in Ireland." 



The fate of the Gaelic language has, indeed, 

 been peculiarly sad. In various parts of Europe, 

 and especially among the western Slavs, the native 

 tongues have been to some extent displaced by the 

 speech of conquering peoples; yet it is only in 

 Erin that, within modern times, a "language of 

 Aryan stock has been driven first from public use, 

 and then dropped from the worship of God and the 

 life of the fireside." Hence, while in many parts 

 of Europe the ancient tales live on, often with their 

 incidents more or less dislocated and their signifi- 

 cance quite blurred, on the other hand, in English- 

 speaking Ireland they have been cleared away " as 

 a forest is felled by the axe." 



Nevertheless, in the regions where Irish myths 

 have been preserved, they have been remarkably 

 well preserved, and bear unmistakable marks of 

 their vast antiquity. One very noticeable feature 

 in these myths is the definiteness and precision of 

 detail with which the personages and their fields of 

 action are brought before us. This is a character- 

 istic of mythologies which are, comparatively speak- 



