regards Dagda as an atmospheric god; Dr. MacBain sees in him a sky-god. More probably he is an early Earth-god and a god of agriculture. He has power over corn and milk, and agrees to prevent the other gods from destroying these after their defeat by the Milesians--former beneficent gods being regarded as hurtful, a not uncommon result of the triumph of a new faith.[272] Dagda is called "the god of the earth" "because of the greatness of his power."[273] Mythical objects associated with him suggest plenty and fertility--his cauldron which satisfied all comers, his unfailing swine, one always living, the other ready for cooking, a vessel of ale, and three trees always laden with fruit. These were in his _síd_, where none ever tasted death;[274] hence his _síd_ was a local Elysium, not a gloomy land of death, but the underworld in its primitive aspect as the place of gods of fertility. In some myths he appears with a huge club or fork, and M. D'Arbois suggests that he may thus be an equivalent of the Gaulish god with the mallet.[275] This is probable, since the Gaulish god may have been a form of Dispater, an Earth or under-Earth god of fertility. If Dagda was a god of fertility, he may have been an equivalent of a god whose image was called _Cenn_ or _Cromm Cruaich_, "Head _or_ Crooked One of the Mound," or "Bloody Head _or_ Crescent."[276] Vallancey, citing a text now lost, says that _Crom-eocha_ was a name of Dagda, and that a motto at the sacrificial place at Tara read, "Let the altar ever blaze to Dagda."[277] These statements may support this identification. The cult of Cromm is preserved in some verses: "He was their god, The withered Cromm with many mists... To him without glory They would kill their piteous wretched offspring, With much wailing and peril, To pour their blood around Cromm Cruaich. Milk and corn They would ask from him speedily In return for a third of their healthy issue, Great was the horror and fear of him. To him noble Gaels would prostrate themselves."[278]