Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/261

 Reviews. 225

Professor Meyer dates the collection he prints from the middle of the ninth century. The bulk of the 256 numbers which it comprises are gnomic, but it is significant that the first 56 numbers are in the nature of mirabilia, are topo- graphical in character, and are closely connected with the heroic sagas and ecclesiastical legends, which form such a large part of early Irish literature. The following may be cited as a characteristic example of early Irish wisdom :

" Three slender things that best support the world ; the slender stream of milk from the cow's dug into the pail ; the slender blade of green corn upon the ground, the slender thread over the hand of a skilled woman." Professor Meyer notes that the triad is only one of " several enumerative sayings common in Irish literature," and he believes that the "model upon which these were formed is to be sought in the enumerative sayings of Hebrew poetry, to be found in several books of the Old Testament." I cannot at all agree. Professor Meyer recognises that " triads occur sporadically in the literature of most nations . . . but I am not aware that this kind of composition has ever attained the same popularity elsewhere as in Wales and Ireland." Precisely. But then, assuming for one moment the correctness of the theory that makes Celtic dependent upon Hebrew literature in this respect, the question surely arises why the Celts alone should have developed the Triadic form. Proverbs and Ecdesiastes were as open to Italians and Frenchmen, to Englishmen and Germans, as to Irishmen and Welshmen. But the latter have a Triadic literature, the former have not. Why? Professor Meyer mentions, only, however, to reject : '•' the idea that the Triad owes its origin to the effect of the doctrine of the Trinity upon the Celtic imagination." He does right, in my opinion, to reject this idea, but does it not point towards the true solution of the problem? Was not the doctrine of the Trinity com- mended to the Irish wise men precisely because it fell into the mould of their own traditional wisdom ? In using the shamrock illustration was not Patrick adapting himself, as a successful teacher must, to the intellectual habits of his hearers ? As a matter of fact we know, what Professor Meyer should