3t2 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



and to infer that not only was the triennial festival abandoned, but that the 

 ridge itself had been deserted. 



It is needless to enter here into the general question of the nature and 

 purpose of fire-festivals such as these. Much has been written on this 

 subject in recent years; and we must confine ourselves in the present study 

 to Temair. 



Besides hie function as a surety for the goodness of crops, the king was 

 responsible for the fruit fulness of the cattle. A bad king i.s marked by 

 failure in the cattle, as woll as in the harvest. Be is likewise responsible 

 for failure in the fishing. 



Returning to the question, which god was incarnate in the king, reference 

 should be made t" Mr. Cook's articles on the European Sky-god, already 

 alluded to. 1 Much evidence will there be found pointing to Nuadu as 

 the favoured deity. The most noteworthy of these i- the passage in Coir 

 I mann* to the effect that Irel Faith, the king who followed Eremon in the 

 kingdom -was the Nuadu Airgetlam of tin- Bons of Mil, but we know not how 

 tlmi • itamair eidh dia in). I refer to this, as it is a most 



valuable testimony to the care with which the writers of this and similar 

 compilations recorded what they found in the documents before them, even 

 when they confessedly were unable t" comprehend them, 



Mr. ' ik Bhows also 1 that Lug was supposed to be immanent in the king: 

 and ii may be further suggested that the divine woodsman Esus (by whatever 

 name he was railed in Ireland) was also resident within him. Esus is 

 represented felling a tree, under which Btands the Bun-bull, Tarvos Ti igaranos, 

 on the famous altars of Paris and Treves. Now in the monotonous list of 

 kings contained in the " official histories," one of the details told about all 

 the important kin-- is that they i ' many plains of timber. This was 



a work of practical utility, and the annalists doubtless regard it as such and 

 nothing more. IJut i ssible, without undue straining of probability, to 



something deeper ini< > a statement which is repeated with Buch frequency. 

 The divine woodman alone was privileged to cut divine trees. It was the 

 king gative ;i> the incarnation of Esus. 1 



multiplicity of incarnations can best be explained by supposing that 

 these important Celtic gods have entered into the inheritance of some older 

 divinity. .Such a divinity is Fal, who has no place in the "official" genealogies 



1 See especially the part contained in Folk-lore, xvii, 2C-71. 

 J Iritdu TtxU, iii, p. 326. 



3 Folk-lore, xvii, 157, 343. 



4 For classical parallels see Mr. Cook's article Z<-\i*. Jupiter, find (hi Oak, in the 

 VUissiail Ktrieic, xvii, especially at pp, ISO. 181. 



