Preface
is not at all certain that a great feeling of awe in presence of the supernatural is a specially Celtic characteristic. The western Irish display, we are told, much caution when speaking of the fairy folk, and seem to stand much in awe of them; but, though it is reasonable to expect a similar feeling in the older romances, it is quite possible that the character of the people has somewhat changed during the thousand years or so that have passed since the romances were written in their present form; or that this feeling of reverence was not present in the particular class who produced the romances, or for whose entertainment they were composed. As a matter of fact, if we look at the tales without preconceived opinions, we shall find that in Irish story the heroes show rather less instead of more reverence for the supernatural than is displayed by the Homeric heroes. In Homer, gods are sometimes attacked with success by men, but the men have in such cases another god to encourage and to aid them; when Diomed attacks Apollo without divine sanction the great difference which separates the mortal from the immortal is at once evident, but in Irish story, when the goddess of war opposed Cuchulainn at the ford,[1] Cuchulainn boldly trampled that goddess under his feet, and in the original tale of The Courtship of Etain, Eochaidh needs no divine support when, so far from having any eerie feeling about
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- ↑ Tain bo Cuailgne, 58. Also see Tain bo Regamna.
