Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/179

Rh In the West there is ample evidence of a similar search for the Isles of the Blest. In the Celtic literature of Ireland the voyage of Bran has persisted in the form of the tale of the voyage of St. Brandan to the west in search of the Isles of the Blest. Mr. Nutt has the following significant comments on this. He says, "the voyage of Saint Brandan, which touched so profoundly the imagination of mediaeval man, which was translated into every European tongue, which drove forth adventurers into the Western Sea, and was one of the contributory causes of the discovery of the New World,—the voyage of Saint Brandan is but the latest and definitely Christian example of a genre of story-telling which had already flourished for centuries in Ireland, when it seemed good to an unknown writer to dress the old half-Pagan marvels in orthodox monkish garb, and thus start them afresh on their triumphal march through the literature of the world."

You will all feel sympathy with those men of old who set out across unknown seas and braved unknown dangers in their search for the elixir of life, for I feel quite certain that in like circumstances many of us would have done precisely the same thing. Nowadays, when a big discovery of gold is made, there is a wild rush to the spot in the hope of gaining wealth, and no obstacles serve to prevent men from trying to get to the place. What would be the nature of the rush if, in addition to being a source of luxury in this life, the substance also procured immortality and eternal youth for its lucky possessor? The gold rushes of California in 1849, of Ballarat, of Klondike would be as nothing compared with it. The desire for life and wealth are two of the strongest that possess man. In antiquity it is very certain that they were as potent as they are now, and the most civilised peoples were then the most given to magic and alchemy. We have seen that there is every reason to