[438] Geoffrey, vi. 17-19, vii. viii. 1, 10-12, 19. In a poem (Skene, i. 478), Myrddin is called "the man who speaks from the grave"--a conception familiar to the Celts, who thought of the dead as living on in the grave. See p. 340, _infra_. [439] Rh[^y]s, _HL_, 154 f., 158-159, 194. [440] Geoffrey, ix. 12, etc. [441] Skene, ii. 51. [442] Loth. i. 225; cf. p. 131, _infra_. From this description Elton supposes Kei to have been a god of fire. [443] _Myv. Arch._ i. 175; Loth, i. 269. Rh[^y]s, _AL_ 59, thinks Merlin may have been Guinevere's ravisher. [444] Holder, i. 414. [445] Loth i. 250, 260 f., 280, ii. 215, 244. [446] Skene, i. 363, ii. 406; _Myv. Arch._ i. 78. [447] Hu Gadarn is mentioned in the _Triads_ as a leader of the Cymry from the east and their teacher in ploughing. He divided them into clans, and invented music and song. The monster _avanc_ was drawn by him from the lake which had burst and caused the flood (see p. 231, _infra_). Perhaps Hu is an old culture-god of some tribes, but the _Triads_ referring to him are of late date (Loth, ii. 271, 289, 290-291, 298-299). For the ridiculous Neo-Druidic speculations based on Hu, see Davies, _Celtic Researches_ and _Mythology and Rites of the Druids_. Gurgiunt, son of Belinus, in Geoffrey, iii. 11, may be the French legendary Gargantua, perhaps an old god. See the works of Sébillot and Gaidoz on _Gargantua_. [448] Loth, i. 270. [449] Dio Cassius, lxii. 6. [450] Solinus, xxii. 10. See p. 2, _supra_. [451] Ptol. ii. 3. 2. [452] For all these see Holder, _s.v._ CHAPTER VII. THE CÚCHULAINN CYCLE. The events of the Cúchulainn cycle are supposed to date from the beginning of the Christian era--King Conchobar's death synchronising with the crucifixion. But though some personages who are mentioned in the Annals figure in the tales, on the whole they deal with persons who never existed. They belong to a world of romance and myth, and embody the ideals of Celtic paganism, modified by Christian influences and those of classical tales and romantic sagas of other regions, mainly Scandinavian. The present form of the tales as they exist in the _Book of the Dun Cow_ and the _Book of Leinster_ must have been given them in the seventh or eighth century, but they embody materials of a far older date. At an early time the saga may have had a more or less definite form, but new tales were being constantly added to it, and some of the longer tales are composed of incidents which once had no connection with each other.