Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/130

84 When Dechtere was found to be with child, it was thought that Conchobar himself was the father, for she slept by him — a glimpse of primitive manners in early Ireland. Elsewhere Cúchulainn calls Conchobar his father,$8$ and this may represent another form of the story, with Conchobar as Cúchulainn's parent by his sister Dechtere. Dechtere was meanwhile affianced to Sualtam, but ashamed of her condition, she vomited up the animal and again became a virgin; yet the child whom she bore to Sualtam was the offspring of the three years' absence—Setanta or Cúchulainn. On the whole this is a much distorted myth, but two things emerge from it — Lug's amour with Dechtere and his fatherhood of Setanta.$9$

Another tale, with Christian interpolations, tells how Connla, son of Conn, who reigned from 122 to 157, one day saw a strange woman who announced that she was from Tír na mBeó ("the Land of the Living"), where was no death, but perpetual feasting, and her people dwelt in a great síd', whence they were called áes'síde, or "people of the síd." The goddess was invisible to all but Connla, whence Conn asked him with whom he spoke, to which she replied that she was one who looked for neither death nor old age and that she loved Connla and desired him to come to Mag Mell ("the Pleasant Plain"), where reigned a victorious king. Conn bade his Druid use powerful magic against her and her brichta ban, or "spells of women," against which at a later time St. Patrick made his prayer. The Druid pronounced an incantation to hinder Connla from seeing, and all others from hearing, the goddess, who withdrew after giving an apple to Connla. He would eat nothing but this, nor did it ever grow less; and in a month the love-lorn Connla saw her reappear in a boat of glass, calling him to come, for "the ever-living ones" invited him, so that he might escape death. Conn again called his Druid, whereupon the goddess sang that the Druids would soon pass away before a righteous one, St. Patrick—a Christian interpolation, post eventum; and Conn then spoke to his son, but