Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/193

Rh Ler, went from the Land of Promise to behold it. Above it grew hazels of wisdom, bearing leaves, blossoms, and nuts together; and these fell into the water, where they were eaten by salmon—the salmon of knowledge of other tales. From the well sprang seven streams of wisdom, and Sinend, seeking understanding, followed one of these, only to be pursued and overwhelmed by the fount itself. Sometimes these hazels were thought to grow at the heads of the chief rivers of Erin.$14$ Such a fountain with five streams, their waters more melodious than mortal music, was seen by Cormac beside Manannan's house; above it were hazels, and in it five salmon. Nuts also formed part of the food of the gods in the story of Diarmaid and Grainne, and in a tale from the Dindsenchas they are said to be eaten by the "bright folk and fairy hosts of Erin."$15$ Another secret well stood in the green of Síd Nechtain, and none could approach it without his eyes bursting save Nechtan and his cup-bearers. Boann, his wife, resolved to test its power or, in another version, to prove her chastity after adultery with Dagda, and walked round it thrice withershins; but three waves from it mutilated her, she fled, and was drowned in the pursuing waters.$16$

Goddesses sometimes took the form of birds, like the swanmaidens of universal myth and folk-tale; and they sang exquisite, sleep-compelling melodies. Sweet, unending birdmusic, however, was a constant note of Elysium, just as the song of Rhiannon's birds caused oblivion and loss of all sense of time for eighty years. In the late story of Teigue's voyage to Elysium the birds which feasted on the delicious berries of its trees are said to warble "music and minstrelsy melodious and superlative," causing healthful slumber;$17$ while in another story the minstrel goddess of the síd of Doon Buidhe visited other síde with the birds of the Land of Promise which sang unequalled music.$18$

The lords of the síd Elysium were many, but the chief were Dagda, Oengus, and Midir, as Arawn in Brythonic story was