Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/113

Rh thee. Thou wilt fall, and thy head will be taken." "I shall throw a sling-stone at thee, and thy heel shall be broken, and no help wilt thou get from me," cried Cúchulainn; and with that Morrígan disappeared into the síd of Cruachan.$2$

In a variant of this tale (where the cow-driving incident is perhaps the one which is mentioned in the Echtra Nerai) a different reason for this hostility Is given. Morrígan appeared as a beautiful woman offering Cúchulainn her love, her treasures, and her herds, but he replied that the opportunity was not fitting, since he was engaged in a desperate contest, and contemptuously refused her help. She uttered threats as in the previous version; and when he was fighting at the ford, he was overturned by an eel which he crushed in his hand, and again as a wolf and a heifer Morrígan was defeated. Now no one wounded by Cúchulainn could be healed save by himself, and Morrígan therefore appeared as a lame and blind old woman milking a cow with three teats. Cúchulainn asked for milk, which she gave him from each teat, and at every draught he pronounced the blessing of "gods and not-gods"$3$ upon her. At each benediction one of her wounds was healed, and now she revealed herself, but was told that, had he known, she would never have had healing from him.$4$ Perhaps because of this healing, or because of a subsequent reconcilement, before Cúchulainn went to the last fatal fight, the goddess broke his chariot, "for she liked not his going to the battle, knowing that he would not come again to Emain Macha."$5$ The story also shows how divinities have the gift of shape-shifting, though it does not always avail them against the prowess of a hero.

The idea that gods punish neglect of their worship or commands, or avenge other sinful actions, is found in most religions, and some stories seem to be derived from it, as when Welsh legend knows of Nynnyaw and Peibaw transformed to oxen for their sins by God—a probable substitution for a pagan divinity.$6$ Instances of the destruction of corn and milk