rites the animal was slain, not so much as a divine incarnation as a sacrifice to the god once incarnated in him. And when a god was thus separated from his animal form, myths often arose telling how he himself had slain the animal.[502] In the case of Cúchulainn and the bull, the god represented by the bull became separate from it, became anthropomorphic, and in that form was associated with or actually was the hero Cúchulainn. Bull sacrifices were common among the Celts with whom the bull had been a divine animal.[503] Possibly a further echo of this myth and ritual is to be found in the folk-belief that S. Martin was cut up and eaten in the form of an ox--the god incarnate in the animal being associated with a saint.[504] Thus the literary versions of the _Táin_, departing from the hypothetical primitive versions, kept the bull as the central figure, but introduced a rival bull, and described its death differently, while both bulls are said to be reincarnations of divine swine-herds.[505] The idea of a fight for a bull is borrowed from actual custom, and thus the old form of the story was further distorted. The Cúchulainn saga is more coherent than the Fionn saga, because it possesses one central incident. The "canon" of the saga was closed at an early date, while that of Fionn has practically never been closed, mainly because it has been more a saga of the folk than that of Cúchulainn. In some respects the two may have been rivals, for if the Cúchulainn saga was introduced by conquerors from Britain or Gaul, it would not be looked on with favour by the folk. Or if it is the saga of Ulster as opposed to that of Leinster, rivalry would again ensue. The Fionn saga lives more in the hearts of the people, though it sometimes borrows from the other. This borrowing, however, is less than some critics, e.g. Zimmer, maintain. Many of the likenesses are the result of the fact that wherever a hero exists a common stock of incidents becomes his. Hence there is much similarity in all sagas wherever found. FOOTNOTES: [453] _IT_ i. 134; Nutt-Meyer, ii. 38 f.; Windisch, _Táin_, 342; L. Duvau, "La Legende de la Conception de Cúchulainn," _RC_ ix. 1 f. [454] Windisch, _Táin_, 118 f. For a similar reason Finnchad was called Cú Cerca, "the hound of Cerc" (_IT_ iii. 377). [455] For the boyish exploits, see Windisch, _Táin_, 106 f. [456] _RC_ vii. 225; Windisch, _Táin_, 20. Macha is a granddaughter of Ler, but elsewhere she is called Mider's daughter (_RC_ xvi. 46). [457] Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ ii. 654; Westermarck, _Hist. of Human Marriage_, ch. 2. [458] Miss Hull, _Folk-Lore_, xii. 60, citing instances from Jevons, _Hist. of Religion_, 65. [459] Windisch, _IT_ ii. 239. [460] Windisch, 184, 312, 330; cf. _IT_ iii. 355; Miss Hull, 164 f.; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 468. [461] _LL_ 119_a_; _RC_ iii. 175. [462] Windisch, 342. [463] _RC_ iii. 175 f. [464] Ibid. 185. [465] Crowe, _Jour. Kilkenny Arch. Soc._ 1870-1871, 371 f. [466] _LL_ 79_a_; O'Curry, _MS. Mat_, 640.