Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/352

336 observed to be sad, and a search was accordingly made for a beautiful maiden to take the place of the unfortunate Derdriu. Such a one was found, and married by the king with due solemnity and state. Her name was Luain, and two sons of Aitherne, who, like their father, were poets, came to her to seek the rich presents it was usual to give to men of their profession; but on seeing her they fell in love with her, and as she would lend no ear to their passion, they, together with their father Aitherne, satirized her so virulently that her face became covered with blotches, as the result of their potent incantations. This drove her back distracted to her father's house, where she died of grief. The men of Ulster, at the instigation of the king, who was furious at what had been done by the poets, killed Aitherne with his whole family, and levelled his house with the ground. Such is the story of Aitherne's end; and it comes very close to that of Gwydion and Goewyn (p. 305) in the Welsh Mabinogi of Mâth. Here Conchobar, though not portrayed so noble a character, takes the place of Mâth, and the former's young and beautiful wife that of Goewyn, Mâth's virgin foot-holder. But instead of Aitherne and his two sons, we have in the Welsh tale Gwydion and his brother Gilvaethwy, who had a passion for Goewyn, and was enabled by the scheming of Gwydion to execute his purpose. In the next place, Mâth marries the outraged Goewyn—Luain is married earlier in the Irish sequence—and he then proceeds to punish Gwydion and his brother, where one notices that the euhemerist has laid