128 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



this was ignored, or " written off," with a light heart, as " inconsistent with 

 the facts," i.e. with some one group of facts. The fault is that such workers 

 failed to see that we have stories told of the gods in various tribes (contra- 

 dictory even where ancient), and a huge mass of corrupted theories and 

 chronologies, later than a.d. 1050, formed without realizing its contradictory 

 nature. There is no " in the beginning " in Irish mythology ; and even of the 

 ending, " the last great battle of the gods," 1 we have a duplicated and irre- 

 concilable account, not a clear-cut tale, like that of " the days when Ymir 

 dwelt," or of Ragnardk, in the Norse mythology. It is our duty to begin 

 research, even if we have to penetrate many a labyrinth leading to nowhere, 

 and to lament the loss of many a plausible system. A false theory negatived 

 positive result. I make no claim for my own theories, but that they 

 seem to contain tin- facts known to us at present; in no confidence, but in 

 much uncertainty, 1 am entering on an unexplored country. I was dis- 

 appointed that my 'Aine papers' (a portion of the present larger study, then 

 nearly complete) drew me "" helpful criticism. 1 only gol evidence of the 

 itence of a deep prejudii \ -t folk-lore and mythology, in such 

 criticisms as "button i nperatition " and "bringing legends into the 

 study of forte." Now we, alone in Western Europe, have a large mass 

 early literary mate-rial to help us, and (anywhere but here) it is a 

 truism that every ray of light should be concentrated on a subject. Ireland 

 being "the I rt of lost causes," preserved record of a European 



"culture" as primitive as that of the South Seas, and therefore invaluable for 

 the history of hun nee;* elsewhere its existence is only to be established 



from hints and equivocal survivals. Our early tales are no aitifieial fiction, 

 but fragmentary beliefs of the pagan period, equally valuable for topography 



•The I • Battle" (Revue Celtique, xii, p. 57) mentions Norse coins, and is 



evidently " rationalized 1. Rhys hesitates to accept the battles as one, 



bat the " First " I ma a euhemerized version of the other. De Jubainville 



(Ir. Myti. for their identity. Tin.- two battles first appear with 



1 1060. The battles coincide with the feasts of Midsummer and 



hain. Sanaa Chorrnaic (<.<! W. Stokes, p. 123) mentions one battle ; so does Cinaed 



Da Arti 'his being the so-called "second" 6ght. See also Eriu, viii, pp. 17. 



ire, " Mythology "f the British Isles p. 76. 



xxxiii. p. '.'. p. 444 : xxxiv. p. 47. 



:. n-iii among thi Rev. Celt., xxi, p. 269) ; 'Human Head 



Trophies," Celtic Rev. iii, pp. 68 -1 Encyc. Relig., vi, pp. 634-8. Rev. Celt., xxxiv. 

 S. Reins Human Sacrifice," Erin, ii, p. 86. Dr.Joy« - History 



of Ancient Ireland," i. p. 238. Human skulls were found under .in altar inscribed to tin- 

 Celt Encyc Relig., vi. Such heads are the "mast crop of Mach.i." 

 "Three Irish I Stoki p.xxxv; Echtra Airt in B Fermoy, f . 139 ; 

 Erin, iii. p. 166. ische Texte, 3rd scr., 1st pt. ; tabus, notably the Book of 

 ichullin, Bruden Da Derga also paper by Mis* K. Hull, Folk 

 1 



