Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/81

 The European Sky -God, 53

that the typical heroine of the French Arthurian romances was derived essentially from the ancient Celtic fee, we should do well to supplement it by the belief that the typical hero of the same romances was likewise descended from the Celtic aspirant to the position of woodland king. On this showing the rule of the Arician priesthood, or rather its equivalent in the Celtic area, would be the very ground-work and foundation of that marvellous superstructure — mediaeval chivalry.^

Arthur Bernard Cook.

iThe statement that Brehus-sans-pitie had to confiscate the horse of any knight who passed his way {supra p. 52) recalls the fact that Diana's grove at Nemi might not be entered by horses (Ov. fast. 3. 266). This connexion with horses is far-reaching and of peculiar significance, as I shall hope to prove elsewhere.