Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/143

Rh fifty other youths escaped, however, and Aedh met St. Patrick, who restored him to his father and said that he would eventually die as God willed, i. e. the Tuatha Dé Danann would have no further power over him.$23$

Sometimes mortals, or gods later envisaged as mortals, abducted daughters of gods. Garman took Bodb's daughter Mesca from the síd; but she died of shame, and the plain where her grave was dug was named after her, Mag Mesca. $24$ Men of the síd, divine or semi-divine beings, but regarded as attendants on men, also had love-affairs with goddesses. Cliach, from síd Baine, was harper to the King of the three Rosses and made music at the síd of Femen to attract Conchenn, Bodb's daughter. For a year Bodb's magic prevented the lover from approaching nearer, so that he "could do nothing to the girls" in the síd; but he harped until earth opened, and a dragon issued forth, when he died in terror. This dragon will arise at the end of the world and aflflict Ireland in vengeance for St. John Baptist—perhaps an altered fragment of an old cosmogonic myth.$25$ Another story has some resemblance to this. Liath, a young Prince of the síde, loved MIdir's daughter Bri, who went with her attendants to meet him as he approached. But the slingers on Midir's síd kept him back, and their sling-stones were like "a swarm of bees on a day of beauty." Liath's servant was slain, and because Liath could not reach her, Bri turned back to the síd and died of a broken heart.$26$

Besides these, a large number of Irish and Welsh tales Illustrate the amours of the gods, as may be seen elsewhere in this volume.