Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/350

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Mr. 's statement of the age of the main body of the Cuchulainn romances is as follows:—

Mr. Nutt gives us an admirable summary of the many tales in which his hero's career is unfolded. The parallel drawn between Cuchulainn and Achilles is wonderfully close. There are even some points which might be added, such as the warning to Thetis that if Achilles went to the siege of Troy he would gain immortal glory but meet an early death, while if he remained at home he would live to a good old age. On overhearing a similar prophecy made to his father by a Druid, Cuchulainn at a tender age assumed arms and went forth on his first exploit.

We are not, however, fond of parallels between classic and mediæval mythology. The setting of the classical hero belongs to another stratum of society and another conception of life. What is borne in upon us more than any other fact in considering the early myths of Celtic Britain is their primeval flavour. They are gropings of the untutored human mind in his early conceptions of the world, and in the ruder stages of his existence. The civilisation of the Greek is not only many stages beyond them, as Mr. Nutt points out; it is in every way opposed to them. The Greek who gave us our modern conception of Achilles, a conception near to his own time and order of society, was probably