Westropp — The ^- Mound of the Fiana " at Cromwell Hill. 73 



and elsewhere he was comiected with the beginning of harvest, and brought 

 in the first sheaf, stooping under its weight, whence his name. He appears 

 as a pagan opponent of St. Patrick, or as his servant, or even a bishop ; he 

 withstood him and St. Beuen at the " Miounan," high up Croaghpatrick on 

 Clew Bay. The Cruach, with its swarm of demons in the legends of the 

 saint and its great ring wall of massive dry stone, was more than probably 

 the sanctuary of a mountain god ; the demons eventually became serpents. 

 Yet Crom was St. Patrick's confidential servauit, and as such was questioned 

 by the Sid folk as to their hope of heaven in the Cashel and Askeaton tales. 

 Also, when the demons tried to capture his soul (their "good friend," they 

 called him), St. Patrick and a crowd of saints and angels rescued Crom for 

 his charities and good works.- He is now usually identified with Cenn 

 Cruach, or Crom Cruach, to whom wholesale human sacrifices are said to 

 have been offered by Tigernmais. De Jubainville regards him as a pre- 

 Celtic Fomorian god.' 



Whatever (or whoever) may have been Cenn Cruach, O'Curry and 

 Borlase make him "a maggot," a very improbable statement. He was 

 " Cenn Cruach," or " the head of the Peek " ; the name is at least as old as 

 the second century at Pencrick or Pennocrucion in Britain. 



Lug was also a god of mixed reputation, handsome above all, accomplished 

 and brilliant, but cruel and revengeful. We read of " the savage race of Lug " 

 in Fled Bricrend. His slaying of his mother's father was defensive ; but his 

 cold cruelty is marked by his ingenious eric on the sons of Tuireann. His 

 Lugnasad games, at Tailltiu, on the four weeks round the chief festival on 

 August 1st, were for the harvest, when the sun was most powerful. The 

 children -saci'ifice there only rests on a corrupt text; but to whom was the 



Barry) ; Rev. Celt., iv, pp. 185-191 (D. FitzGerald), and siii, p. 435 ; Limerick Field 

 Club, iii, pp. 55-7 (P. J. Lynch). The three days following Lammas Day (says 

 N. O'Kearney, R. S. Antt. Ir., ii, 1852, p. 130) were sacred to 'Aine in conjunction with 

 Crom Dubh. See also Folk Lore, xxvii, pp. 226-9. The Gaulish god Rivos brings in 

 the harvest on August 4th (Rhys., Brit. Acad., 1905, p. 87). 



1 I have noted these tales in Folk Lore, xxviii, p. 189, p. 191. For Crom Dubh, see 

 xxvii, p. 229. Colgan names him as a saint (Trias Thaumat., p. 508). As servant of 

 St. Patrick he resembles Lug when servant of St. Brigid (Thes. Palfeo-Hib., ii, p. 344), 

 or St. Herve in Brittany. 



■ Book of Fermoy, f. 62, Ir. MSS. Ser., R. I. Acad., i, p. 30. Cf. Revue Celt., xx, 

 p. 428. For the grave of " Patrick's druid or bishop," see Ir. Texte (Stokes andWindisch), 

 iv, i, p. 264. 



^ Irish Myth. Cycle (tr. R. Best), p. 62 ; or, he suggests, Taranus. See also Professor 

 MacCuIloch, " Religion of the Ancient Celts," pp. 79-80. Perhaps " Crom Dubh " is a 

 libellous term. See curiously fanciful note by Borlase, "Dolmens of Ireland," p. 472, 

 on the serpents "Crom Dubh, Crofin, and Crovdearg." For the sacrifices at Mag 

 Slechtsee O'Curry's "MS. Materials," p. 538 ; "Voyage of Bran," ii, p. 149, p. 161. 



