[126] So the group of Carolingian romances, which long passed for the work of Archbishop Turpin, retained the characteristics of a barbarous society in their views concerning magic, superstition, morals, etc., though sanctified by the addition of ecclesiastical miracles, and other matters of edification, which earned for it the formal approval of Pope Calixtus II. in the year 1122. [127] Manannán is presented in like fashion in the story of Mongán, _op. cit._ [128] So in the tale of Mider, _ante_, where, as here, it is introduced into the description of the pagan Elysium, Magh Mór; the ecclesiastical interpolations, as here again, being brought in in the usual incongruous manner. [129] As in the _Voyage of Maelduin’s Curach_, an Imram of substantially the original type, treated from a Christian point of view. The trait is copied in the _Adventures of Tadg Mac Céin_, a late mediæval romance composed in the archaic style, where it receives from Tadg the characteristic comment, ‘’Tis queer, though charming’; he evidently regarded it as an example intended rather for edification than imitation. It is interesting to note how the idea recurs in modern Irish poetry, as, indeed, practically, in Irish peasant life. In poor Mangan’s beautiful _Love Ballad_, translated or imitated from the Irish, the hero-- ‘Sheltered by the sloe-bush black, Sat, laughed, and talked, while thick sleet fell, And cold rain. Thanks to God! no guilty leaven Dashed our childish mirth. You rejoice for this in Heaven, I not less on earth.’ [130] One of the most explicit instances occurs in the Graal series, in the _Queste_, when Perceval is informed that the Castle of Maidens is Hell, and the captives therein are the souls that await Christ’s coming; the seven knights that defend the castle being the seven deadly sins (Nutt, _Studies_, etc., p. 41). [131] Edited and translated by Mr. W. Stokes in _Rev. Celtique_, ix.-x., from a version contained in the L.U., parts being completed from later versions. Cf. _Voyage of Bran_, i. 162-3. [132] Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris; Contendunt ludo, et fulva luctantur arena, etc. VIRG., _Æn._, vi. 642-3. [133] _Odyssey_, ix. 481 _sqq._ [134] David Fitzgerald, ‘Popular Tales of Ireland,’ _Rev. Celtique_, iv. 189 _sqq._ [135] The root conception belongs to the common stock of Celtic tradition. We shall see more of the fiery rampart later on; for the revolving wall, cp. the castle in the Welsh story of Peredur, which spun round faster than the winds. [136] Probably a reminiscence of some hermit who had chosen a snowy region in the North for his retreat.