Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/657

Rh dimly inferred. Take, for instance, the story of Labraid (p. 342), who from his island home ruled over a sort of martial Elysium, in which he required the aid of the Sun-god Cúchulainn against a people called the Men of Fidga. These were fabled to derive their origin from Britain, which in this context means Hades (p. 90). In the next place, Labraid's wife and queen was Liban, in whom one recognizes the Lake Lady of the Merlin story (p. 150). Lastly, Labraid is not mentioned as quitting his realm to visit this world, but his wife goes and comes at will. Now the path to the region inhabited both by Labraid and the Men of Fidga led past two double-headed serpents; and when Liban fetched to her court a person destined to come back alive, she had, at the dangerous spot alluded to, specially to protect him by taking him by the shoulders. This is probably the key to the story of the strange punishment selected for Pwyỻ's queen Rhiannon, when she was condemned to carry all visitors to the court on her shoulders from the horse-block into the hall (p. 498). For the role of Pwyỻ Head of Hades is perhaps best interpreted as that of a Celtic Zeus in that world, while Rhiannon is to be regarded as a goddess with free access to both worlds.

The mythic struggles which led us away into the digression concerning origins, enable one to see to some extent