And who these _Side_ were we learn from the Book of Armagh, which tells us that on one occasion St. Patrick and his attendants assembled one morning at a well, or fountain, near Crochan or Cruachan, the ancient residence of the kings of Connaught, in the county of Roscommon; ‘and lo! the two daughters of King Laoghaire, Ethne the Fair and Fedelm the Ruddy, came early to the well to wash, after the manner of women, and they found near the well a synod of holy bishops with Patrick. And they knew not whence they were, or in what form, or from what people, or from what country; but they supposed them to be men of _Sidhe_, or gods of the earth, or a phantasm. And the virgins said unto them, “Where are ye? and whence come ye?” And Patrick said unto them, “It were better for you to confess to our true God, than to inquire concerning our race.” The first virgin said, “Who is God, and where is God, and of what is God, and where is his dwelling-place? Has your God sons and daughters, gold and silver? Is he everliving? Is he beautiful? Did many foster his Son? Are his daughters dear and beauteous to men of the world? Is He in heaven or on earth? in the sea? in rivers? in mountainous places? in valleys? Declare unto us the knowledge of Him! How shall He be seen? How is He to be loved? How is He to be found? Is it in youth? Is it in old age He is to be found?”’[213] Whatever may be the traces of a higher and more advanced mythology among the Irish, we can see from the questions of the king’s daughter that the objects of the popular belief were rather the personified powers of nature. Mysterious beings, who were supposed to dwell in the heavens or the earth, the sea, the river, the mountain, or the valley, were to be dreaded and conciliated. These they worshipped and invoked, as well as the natural objects themselves in which they were supposed to dwell; and this conception of them runs through the early history of Ireland during the pagan period. Thus Tuathal Teachmhar, a mythic monarch of Ireland, is stated in the Book of Conquests to have received as pledges from the nation ‘sun and moon and every power which is in heaven and in earth,’ that the sovereignty should be for ever allowed in his family;[214] and King Laogaire, the contemporary of St. Patrick, when he attacked the people of Leinster in order to exact from them the tribute called the Borumha, and was defeated and taken captive, was obliged to give as pledges ‘sun and moon, water and air, day and night, sea and land,’ that he would not ask the Borumha as long as he lived; but having again attempted to exact the Boroime, he was killed by the ‘sun and wind and the other elements by which he had sworn: for no one dared to dishonour them at that time.’[215] By the Christian Church they were regarded as demons. Thus in an ancient tract, contained in the _Leabhar na h-Uidhri_, we are told that ‘the demoniac power was great before the