The Mythology of the British Islands: An Introduction to Celtic Myth, Legend, Poetry, and Romance — John Shaqi
The Mythology of the British Islands: An Introduction to Celtic Myth, Legend, Poetry, and RomanceSquire, Charles
General
The Mythology of the British Islands: An Introduction to Celtic Myth, Legend, Poetry, and Romance
Squire, Charles
Celts -- Folklore; Mythology, Celtic
After Nuada, the greatest of the gods was the Dagda, whose name seems to
have meant the “Good God”.[73] The old Irish tract called “The Choice of
Names” tells us that he was a god of the earth; he had a cauldron called
“The Undry”, in which everyone found food in proportion to his merits,
and from which none went away unsatisfied. He also had a living harp; as
he played upon it, the seasons came in their order—spring following
winter, and summer succeeding spring, autumn coming after summer, and,
in its turn, giving place to winter. He is represented as of venerable
aspect and of simple mind and tastes, very fond of porridge, and a
valiant consumer of it. In an ancient tale we have a description of his
dress. He wore a brown, low-necked tunic which only reached down to his
hips, and, over this, a hooded cape which barely covered his shoulders.
On his feet and legs were horse-hide boots, the hairy side outwards. He
carried, or, rather, drew after him on a wheel, an eight-pronged
war-club, so huge that eight men would have been needed to carry it; and
the wheel, as he towed the whole weapon along, made a track like a
territorial boundary.[74] Ancient and gray-headed as he was, and sturdy
porridge-eater, it will be seen from this that he was a formidable
fighter. He did great deeds in the battle between the gods and the
Fomors, and, on one occasion, is even said to have captured
single-handed a hundred-legged and four-headed monster called Mata,
dragged him to the “Stone of Benn”, near the Boyne, and killed him
there.
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