The book does not, of course, profess to be for Celtic scholars, to whom, indeed, its author himself owes all that is within it. It aims only at interesting the reader familiar with the mythologies of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia in another, and a nearer, source of poetry. Its author’s wish is to offer those who have fallen, or will fall, under the attraction of Celtic legend and romance, just such a volume as he himself would once have welcomed, and for which he sought in vain. It is his hope that, in choosing from the considerable, though scattered, translations and commentaries of students of Old Gaelic and Old Welsh, he has chosen wisely, and that his readers will be able, should they wish, to use his book as a stepping-stone to the authorities themselves. To that end it is wholly directed; and its marginal notes and short bibliographical appendix follow the same plan. They do not aspire to anything like completeness, but only to point out the chief sources from which he himself has drawn. To acknowledge, as far as possible, such debts is now the author’s pleasing duty. First and foremost, he has relied upon the volumes of M. H. d’Arbois de Jubainville’s _Cours de Littérature celtique_, and the Hibbert Lectures for 1886 of John Rhys, Professor of Celtic in the University of Oxford, with their sequel entitled _Studies in the Arthurian Legend_. From the writings of Mr. Alfred Nutt he has also obtained much help. With regard to direct translations, it seems almost superfluous to refer to Lady Charlotte Guest’s _Mabinogion_ and Mr. W. F. Skene’s _Four Ancient Books of Wales_, or to the work of such well-known Gaelic scholars as Mr. Eugene O’Curry, Dr. Kuno Meyer, Dr. Whitley Stokes, Dr. Ernest Windisch, Mr. Standish Hayes O’Grady (to mention no others), as contained in such publications as the _Revue Celtique_, the _Atlantis_, and the _Transactions of the Ossianic Society_, in Mr. O’Grady’s _Silva Gadelica_, Mr. Nutt’s _Voyage of Bran_, _Son of Febal_, and Miss Hull’s _Cuchullin Saga_. But space is lacking to do justice to all. The reader is referred to the marginal notes and the Appendix for the works of these and other authors, who will no doubt pardon the use made of their researches to one whose sole object has been to gain a larger audience for the studies they have most at heart. Finally, perhaps, a word should be said upon that vexed question, the transliteration of Gaelic. As yet there is no universal or consistent method of spelling. The author has therefore chosen the forms which seemed most familiar to himself, hoping in that way to best serve the uses of others. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS CHAP. Page I. THE INTEREST AND IMPORTANCE OF CELTIC MYTHOLOGY 1