Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/136

120 opening chapters of what has been usually regarded as the early history of the British Isles. This is especially the case with Ireland, and there we meet with the divinity we are in quest of, bearing the Irish name of Nuada, genitive Nuadat, and acting as the king of a mythical colony that took possession of Erinn in very early times: it is commonly known as Tuatha Dé Danann (p. 89), forming a group made up of the gods and goddesses believed in by the ancient Goidel. The oldest account of their origin tells us that they came from Heaven; but as the Celtic mind was in the habit of regarding darkness and death as preceding light and life, the invaders from Heaven are said to have found the island already peopled by a race called the Fir Bolg or Bag Men, together with their hideous and horrid allies. These were in due time attacked and defeated by the new-comers; but in one of the conflicts, Nuada, king of the latter, had his right arm cut off, which was all the more serious, as it constituted a blemish incompatible with the Goidelic idea of a king. So he had to retire from the kingship; but a clever man at his court made him a silver hand, which another perfected so that it was finally endowed with motion in every joint, with the result that Nuada, after a retirement of seven years, was allowed to resume the office of king, and was from that time forth known as Nuada Argetlám, that is to say, Nuada of the Silver Hand.

With this may be compared the following story of Tiu the Týr of Old Norse literature: Loki was the father of mischief and of a brood of monsters, of which Fenri's Wolf