Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 2 1884.djvu/189

Rh life. This mythological dualism is complicated by the historical dualism of Celt and pre-Celt, the latter of whom are assimilated to and sometimes confounded with the deities of death by their invading conquerors.

I have only been able to indicate the outlines of M. d'Arbois de Jubainville's argument. The book itself must be read to fully under- stand the nature and method of the euhemerising process by which eleventh and twelfth-century writers turned the mythology of their race into history with as minute and precise a chronology as that of the house of Hanover. This is indeed the most valuable portion of the work, and it would have been well if the author had devoted far more space to a critical sifting of his authorities. The process which went on in Ireland from the ninth to the twelfth centuries is paralleled by the contemporary transformation of Kymric legends into the pseudo-history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and, curiously enough, Nennius is our earliest authority for many of the initial stages in the development of both groups of traditions. There is a great deal of scattered and fragmentary criticism of sources in M. d'Arbois de Jubainville's work; but much remains to be done in this direction before the foundation can be said to be properly laid for such an elaborate superstructure as he has reared.

The author's main contention almost imposes itself—the pre-Milesian annals are rationalised mythology. But what about the Milesian or heroic period? A large part of the book is devoted to proving the mythic character of the Tuatha de Danann by showing how Irish folk-faith pictured them living through and taking part in the combats of the heroic age; but the author does not commit himself to the opinion that Cu-Chulaind and Connal Cearnach, Fionn and Oisin, are themselves as mythic as Lug or Balor. He will doubtless treat the subject in a subsequent volume, and will, I believe, be necessitated to adopt this conclusion. He will have against him Heinrich Zimmer, who in his last work says: "Für mich sind Ailill, Medb, Conchobar mac Nessa, Cuchulainn, Finn mac Cumail, eben solche historische Persönlichkeiten wie Arminius, Dietrich von Bern, und Etzel, und ihre Zeit ist eben so bestimmt wie die der genannten Helden und Könige" (Celtische Studien, ii. 189), and Professor Windisch, who in his recent