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(page 1)
The Deer-Cult and the Deer-Goddess Cult
of the Ancient Caledonians
John G. McKay
Folklore, Vol. 43, No. 2. (Jun. 30, 1932)
(Read at a Meeting, 19th November, 1930.)
(32 pages)
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(page 2)THERE are an immense number of tales, traditions, references, notices of customs, and various minor matters, which show conclusively that there formerly existed in the Highlands of Scotland two cults, probably pre-Celtic, a deer-cult and a deer-goddess cult. The latter cult was administered by women only, and both cults originated during a period when woman was paramount, and man inferior, and when man himself was in the hunting stage of development.
The tales, traditions, customs, and references of which I have spoken, are scattered through many books and magazines, and those who wrote of them and recorded them, probably never dreamed of the existence of such cults. Most of these, my authorities, wrote independently, and only one or two seem to show any acquaintance with the writings of the others. So that all I have done is to reap where others have unwittingly sown, or rather I have brought the disconnected facts collected by others into order and system. These facts are explicable only if looked upon as evidence of a deer-cult and of a deer-goddess cult. Apart from that they have no meaning, and no connection with anything.
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(page 3)I can speak definitely with regard to Scottish Gaelic, but only of that. Yet,
(1), the existence of stag-dances in England, and the fact that,I was attracted long ago by Gaelic tales of mysterious feminine characters, who sometimes appear as mortal witches, and sometimes as colossal Old Women. With one exception they are all local. They owned, herded, and milked the deer of their respective districts. And the deer themselves are intimately associated with the "fairies", and are said to be their cattle. But it is only recently that I realized that these and many other things could only be explained as the last surviving vestiges of a former deercult and deer-goddess cult. I then began gathering everything which was connected with the deer. And except in certain instances which are noted in their places farther on, and which are almost certainly corruptions resulting from the change in society which took place when matriarchy was superseded by patriarchy, I cannot find anything which militates against my theories.
(2), stag-dances used to be danced both in England and in Germany by men dressed as women (an important point) ;
(3), the existence on the Continent of various local saints who have the stag or the roe as their attribute ;
(4), the case of Diana and,
(5) that of Artemis (both hunting divinities, and both feminine) ; as well as various connected matters, suggest that it would be worth while for any one who has the necessary qualifications to look for vestiges of a former universal deer-cult in Europe or in most of Europe.This attempt at recovering something which in the very dim past must have been the frame-work upon which primitive society was built, is very novel. As far as I know, no student of Celtic or pre-Celtic matters has even suspected the existence of the cults in question. As to my authorities upon whom I base my findings, though some wrote in books still obtainable, many wrote in old magazines long since extinct, and now unobtainable. The writings of several have never yet been translated, but the Gaelic in which they wrote was of the purest, and owed nothing to English idiom, an important point, proving their tales to be genuine traditions of the Gael, scarcely touched by modernity. Their writings are not open to the suspicion of being answers to leading questions. Almost all my authorities were men of considerable literary ability, who, as the spirit moved them, wrote concerning traditions they had known all their lives, and who did so because they took pleasure in those traditions, and would have others do the same.
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(page 4)It may be necessary to premise that "supernaturals," or bogles, or divinities, peopled all the natural features of the Scottish Highlands, the trees, bushes, rivers, rocks, and caves, but particularly the mounds and mountains. Presumably, those supernaturals who lived in the mounds and mountains, or underground, were the most important, for the word sidh, or sidhe, (pronounced shee) and meaning mounds, was applied also to the supernatural dwellers in the mounds and mountains, and is to-day, by extension of meaning, applied to many kinds of creatures, both canny and uncanny. Even the cuckoo is called eun-sidhe, or bird of the mounds, because it was believed to live for half the year underground. Why the word for mounds, or the dwellers in mounds, should have become the distinctive suffix for things uncanny, or supposed to be uncanny, is not known : presumably it was because the hills and bens were and are the most imposing natural features of the country.
Unfortunately, this word sidhe is usually translated fairy because it is applied to the little green folk, the dei terreni. But the word fairy, because it carries with it the idea of smallness, is an unsatisfactory translation, seeing that sidhe is applied to a colossal old deer-goddess as well as to a tiny green fairy woman. Each is called a bean-sidhe, (English, banshee). It were better therefore to translate sidhe by divine, unearthly, supernatural, as occasion may suggest, as well as by fairy.
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(page 5)Unfortunately, also, sidhe as a separate word in its original meaning of mounds dropped out of the language, but remained in composition with other words such as banshee. When the original meaning had been forgotten, the folk supposed that a word of similar sound, shth, peace, is meant. Thus most people think of the fairies as men of peace, and support this etymology on the ground that the dei terreni move about noiselessly. But fairies make a lot of noise sometimes, and are as fond of fighting as mortals. And the cuckoo is anything but a bird of peace.
The Deer in Scottish Gaelic Mythology ,
-Modern Scottish Gaelic and modern Irish Gaelic dictionaries both give the word Fiadh as having two meanings, i.e. "Deer" and "God." But this is probably due to the chance coalescence of two words, Fiad and Fladu, which in the older language were slightly different in sound, and quite different in meaning. Two expressions, still extant in the living language, namely, dar fhiadh, an oath, and fad o fhiadh, which has the meaning of God forbid, are probably due to this coalescing-, and need not trouble us further. It may, however, be noted {that "Dear knows" (Fifeshire)} may once have meant "Deer knows." But that the deer was once some sort of a god, as well as a divine messenger, appears from several tales, too long to give here (l), and in the Highlands the deer is still the fairy or supernatural animal, par excellence, and is, besides the particular care of the supernaturals, always feminine, never masculine, who own, herd, and milk the animals, and dote on them.
"Fairies" and Deer. "The association of the fairies with deer is one of the most prominent features of that [the fairy] superstition. Deer were looked upon in the Highlands as fairy cattle ; and the common form into which a fairy woman transformed herself was that of a red-deer, and sometimes, though not so frequently, into that of a white filly." (2)
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(page 6)"It was peculiar to the Fairy woman to assume the shape of deer; while witches [i.e. ordinary mortal women] became mice, hares, cats, gulls, or black sheep". (3) These words of a man who spoke Gaelic, studied the superstitions of his countrymen intently, and who is reckoned one of the highest authorities on the subject of Scottish Gaelic folklore, imply-
(I) , That in Scottish Gaelic mythology, the deer are supernatural animals,There are three or four tales in which they and others turn mortals into deer temporarily, and there are an immense number of tales of witches turning themselves or others into animals other than deer. But I know of none of a witch turning herself into a deer.
(2) That only supernatural women had the ability or privilege of being able to turn themselves into deer, and
(3) That witches could not turn themselves into deer.The deer-goddesses are never spoken of as such. Each is described as a bean-sidhe (4) or supernatural or "fairy" woman. One, an Irish goddess, is universally known, but the others are all intensely local, and have each a local or territorial designation, each being called the Cailleach (Old Woman or Witch), or the Cailleach Mhor (Huge Old Woman or Witch) of this or that ben, strath, river, or district.
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(page 7)All are gigantic : they are indeed the most tremendous creatures of Gaelic myth. One was so tall that, when wading across the Sound of Mull, the water reached only to her knee. The knee of another reached the lintel of the doorway. One sings about her deer, or speaks of her "darling deer." Another calls her deer "the beast of my love." All take a great interest in these animals, but never speak of bovine cattle. They own the deer, they drive them and herd them, and milk them. Some dislike hunters, apparently because of their depredations among their pet animals, but traditions to this effect must be modern, and must date from patri-potestal times, when the flocks of deer, once plentiful, had dwindled, and the forests in which the animals had lived had been cleared for agriculture.
The primitive hunter, living on venison, could not have thought that his divinities disapproved of his hunting, for that would have implied that he made his living in defiance of them. In other words, his goddesses must have approved of his hunting, and this would account for the fact that they are represented as benevolent, or at least harmless unless provoked. That the folk distinguished clearly between the benevolent deer-goddesses and the general run of Gaelic giantesses, who are usually ferocious and cannibalistic, is clearly shown by the fact that the word for giantess (ban-fhuamhair) is never applied to a gigantic deer-goddess. However, one gigantic creature made her deer impervious to bullets, and charmed them, so that they avoided pursuit. But a forester, one of the lower classes, who, being an aboriginal, would know better how to circumvent an aboriginal goddess than other people could, managed by means of counter-charms, to be present at one of her deermilking seances, and observed her strike a restive animal, and doom it to become the prey of the hunter. Accordingly, the animal is killed by a hunter the next day. (5)
Of another goddess, it was said that to see her was of bad omen to hunters. Yet even she unbends, and gives a more than usually bold hunter the hunting-charm which was to bring him success in the chase. This last goddess is the most charming of them all.
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(page 8)The gigantic stature of these Old Women, their love for their deer, the fact that their dealings are almost exclusively with hunters, and the fact that each is referred to as a beansidhe, or supernatural woman, seems sufficient warrant for calling them Deer-Goddesses. Not one of the Highland Deer-goddesses shows any sign of domestication. Not one wields distaff, pitchfork, or broom. They are all creatures of the wild. This is very significant, and suggests a very great antiquity. Their legends also are of the simplest, and read very like chapters in natural history. There is nothing like a march of events or a series of adventures, leading up to a climax. This also indicates antiquity, on the principle that the more simplex the more primitive.
It is further to be noted, as a matter of the first importance, that no giant or gigantic Male being is ever associated with the deer. I know of only two tales in which a deer changes into a man, (which I feel sure are corrupt inasmuch as in all other tales of a deer becoming human, the animal always turns into a woman), and I know of only one tale in which a little fairy man is associated with deer. In this last instance, the fairy man is seen riding the animal with his face to its tail. After warning a Highlander to hasten home because a heavy fall of snow was coming, he vanishes, The story is too slight to be of importance.
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(page 9)In one version of Thomas the Rhymer, when the "Queen of the Fairies" appears, she is accompanied by six green hunting hounds. She is probably a medieval and feudal development of some old Highland deer-goddess. Thomas is eventually summoned to the other world in an interesting manner. He is informed that two deer have entered the village, and are walking down the street. Upon hearing the news, Thomas announces that his time has come, rises from table, joins the deer, and plunges with them into the forest. He is never seen again. Deer are the shyest of animals, and the fact that they ventured among human habitations, shows that they must be regarded as supernatural messengers, inasmuch as they had departed from their natural character.
An Irish Deer-Goddess
-She is called in Irish An Chailleach Bhearach, or The Old Woman of Beare. Beare is a little island off the coast of County Cork. In "the Chase of Ben Gulbin," she assumes deer-shape in order to lead Fionn (Fingal) into a trap. According to a poem by Dean Swift, doubtless based on tradition, she rode in a chariot drawn by four elks with golden horns, to that extent resembling the Arcadian Artemis.
I do not know of any other Irish tale in which she is connected with deer, and though Old Irish Manuscripts (MSS). show traces of a deer-cult,-(in one tale a woman, in order to act as a messenger, is changed into a deer),-there are very few traces of the cult in modern Irish folklore, as far as I know. On the other hand, this Irish goddess has a decidedly chthonic (pertaining to the Earth; gods or spirits of the underworld) side to her character. It is in her island of Beare, Co. Cork, that characters from the Land of the Dead arrive when coming to Ireland, and various funerary buildings, cairns, &c are associated with her in other parts of the country. She seems however to be a bright goddess nowadays. (6)
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(page 10)Somehow or other, and at some unknown date in the past, the Irish goddess was imported into Scotland, where she became acclimatized, and canonized as Cailleach Bheur or Cailleach Bheurr. In both countries, this goddess has certain characterizations, distinguishing her from other gigantic goddesses :-
(I). She has a magic cow, only one. No other Scottish deer-goddess shows the slighest interest in bovines.
(2). She has taken an active part in arranging the geography of each country, and has witnessed various great convulsions of nature. She is clearly an earthgoddess, as well as a deer-goddess.
(3). She is universal, whereas all the other Scottish deergoddesses are local, each being restricted to her own particular district, strath, mountain, or island.But whereas in Scotland Cailleach Bheur is intimately connected with the deer, in Ireland her connection with them is of the slightest ; though her assumption of deershape seems sufficient to warrant her character, and to associate her with the Highland deer-goddesses, one of whom, the Lochaber deer-goddess, the Cailleach of Ben Breck would, upon occasion, take the form of a gray deer. (Probably all the deer-goddesses did so, but I have only the one tradition.)
It remains to be said that the Irish goddess was a mothergoddess also, a point to be dealt with later. As a mothergoddess, an earth-goddess, a deer-goddess, and as a goddess of the dead, the Irish Cailleach is clearly a very complicated character, and may perhaps be an amalgamation, the result of a prehistoric fusion.
Deer-Priestesses, The Highland Glaistig was a woman of mortal race, to whom a "fairy" nature had been given,(7) a statement which may well be a folk-memory of ceremonies at the initiation of priestesses. She was once a charming supernatural, who loved children. In modern lore, most unfortunately, she has been mixed up with various ferocious bogles, and vilified. But her ancient character shows her to have been a woman. (8)
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(page 11)She is confounded in two legends with the gigantic Deer-goddess of Lochaber, the same character being referred to indifferently as a glaistig, or as a Cailleach. The word Cailleach is similarly used in some tales of a gigantic goddess, but in others of an obviously mortal woman. Thus the Cailleach Bheur in some tales is a colossal old woman, and in another appears as a mortal woman of stature so ordinary that an ordinary man is able to drag her by the heels through the fire, (which he does for the purpose of annulling her occult powers). Here we have cases of a goddess being confused with her priestess. Compare the case of Artemis who was worshipped in some places under the name of her priestess, Iphigeneia.
Hunters and Witches, i.e. Deer-Priestesses
Before setting forth on their journeys, it was customary for hunters and fishermen to visit some witch to entreat her blessings, (and probably to get charms from her), in order that their labours might be successful. On returning, they would share the game or the catch with her. They would also share with other women. It was considered the height of meanness,-wrong, even,-to refuse to share the venison or fish with a woman who asked for some, especially if she were a married woman. (9) But witches were sometimes very greedy, and wanted too much. Some would even demand all the game or fish, and send the man abroad again for more. Eventually man the hunter quarrelled with woman the witch ; his awakening intelligence, and the failure of charms granted by witches, were probably the causes that led him to question not only whether he was quite so inferior a creature as he had been brought up to suppose, but also whether there was any value in magic. In one tale in particular, a witch meets a hunter coming home in the evening, and asks for the "large portion of the covetous woman." The hunter refuses point blank. She thereupon attacks him, but he and his hounds drive her off.
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(page 12)In another tale a witch attacks a hunter when he is alone. There are nearly a score of versions, showing how greatly the theme had exercised the folk-mind. In this tale, a hunter has ensconced himself for the night in some hunting bothy in the mountains. The place is remote and solitary, and the man is alone save for the company of his great hunting hounds. Enter either a witch, or else a cat or a hen, which afterwards changes into a witch. She never demands a share of the produce of the chase, but announces her intention of killing the hunter, and says she knows that he hates her.
She never produces any weapons, and the fact that woman has (or had) little aptitude for such things may have been one of the contributory causes of the downfall of matriarchy. She hoped, perhaps, to overawe the hunter, and probably relied on her strength. Certainly, some versions say she was very tall ; and matriarchal woman probably was both tall and strong. But the hunter and his hounds always drive her off.
In one version, probably from Badenoch, the witch begs to be allowed to enter the hunting bothy, because she says she is a refugee " from the cruelty of her sisterhood ". Later on, when about to attack the hunter, she says she is the "avowed champion of her devoted sisterhood ", a phrase which must be taken as evidence of the existence of a group of priestesses, who in their turn, point to a belief in a group of goddesses. In one version, she bears the name of the colossal Lochaber goddess, an instance of the working of the primitive mind, which was liable to confuse the identities of goddess and priestess.
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(page 13)Now no ordinary or domestic witch would have had any quarrel with a man, who, as the hunter did, brought home supplies. What sort of a witch then was it who hated hunters as hunters, and who was equally hated by them ? There can only be one answer. She must have been a witch who thought that the deer of the district belonged to her deer-goddess, her patroness,-and that the hunter had no right to pursue the sacred animals, unless regular permission had been duly granted by the official representative of divinity, that is, the deer-priestess, and unless he shared the venison with her. The fact that the hunter hated witches, shows that he had insisted on hunting without permission and had refused to share, had become in short, a heretic from the deer-goddess-cult, a seceder. The witches in these tales must be looked upon as deer-priestesses, though they are never spoken of as such.
The Alternating Deer-Woman, another Deer-Priestess
In many pagan animal-cults, the priest of the sacred beast sports some distinctive part of it about his person, and sometimes wears the entire hide. Granted a deer-cult, we ought to expect that a deer-priestess would, upon occasion, mount or wear the hide, with antlers and hoofs attached. A folk-memory of such a practice seems to be preserved in several tales in which a hunter, who has been stalking deer, observes, when putting up his gun to take aim, that the animal has changed into a woman. This happens three times. He falls in love with her. She makes an assignation with him, and tells him to meet her at a church. But owing to the machinations of a witch, (probably a Mother Superior, who did not wish the members of her sisterhood to leave paganism,) they are separated. After many adventures, he finds her in a distant island. They marry, and live happily ever after. Campbell of Islay said that this story was common. (10)
In tales where a man sees a hare, cat, or other animal turn into a witch, he sometimes sets his dog at the creature, and is always struck with fear. Whereas, in the tales of the alternating deer-woman, the hunter is never afraid of her. On the contrary, he falls in love with her.
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(page 14)Again, in tales in which a mortal marries a " fairy," the marriage always comes at the beginning of the story, and is fraught with disaster to the mortal in the end. Whereas, in the tales of the alternating deer-woman, the marriage comes at the end, and hunter and deer-woman live happily together ever after. It is clear that the deer-women in these tales are not fairies. They are rather mortal women of flesh and blood.
In these tales of a deer becoming a woman, and reverting again to deer-shape, and doing this the customary three times, I see a folk-memory of a pagan ritual, during the course of which, the deer-priestess would don and doff her official canonicals or vestments, the hide of a deer with antlers and hoofs attached. In remote times, when such deer-ritual was practised, story-tellers would naturally have spoken of the deer-priestess as becoming deer or woman alternately, without fear of being misunderstood. In later times, when the deer-cult had died out, storytellers, always conservative, would have used the same metaphors, but would have been now understood as referring to ordinary shape-shifting. However, the deerpriestess has clearly been photographed in the folktales in the very act of performing her ceremonies, and bears a close resemblance to the figure of a person prancing about in a deer's-hide in the famous prehistoric drawing in the Grotte des Trois Freres. The figure in that drawing is usually said to be that of a conjuror or magician. But the face has no beard, and the eyebrows are semicircular. It seems to me to be the face of a woman.
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(page 15)Now fairies copy mortals in many ways. They build houses, weave, play bagpipes, and so on, just as mortals do. And there is one tale, called "MacPhie's Black Dog", where a fairy copies the actions of the Alternating Deer- Woman. The hunter who sees her marries her at the beginning of the tale. In this detail, the tale differs radically from the other tales of the Alternating Deer- Woman. And as in all tales of a mortal marrying a fairy, the mortal does not live happily with her ever after. On the contrary, she eats an entire ox every day, (an impossible voracity is characteristic of fairies), and the hunter, who was the Chief of Clanranald, finds himself being economically ruined. He sends for MacPhie (whose name means the Son of the Dark Fairy). MacPhie comes and drives her away. Later on, MacPhie's Black Dog saves him from the attacks of vampires and of a monstrous hand, enemies which are presumably sent against him by the fairy woman in revenge for being driven away.
There may have been many tales of this class. But I know of no others. Nor do I know of any tales in which the little green women annoy hunters. The Rev. J. G. Campbell refers to such matters, but gives no tale by way of exemplification. That part of the deer-plus-fairy belief would appear to be nearly dead. The deduction is that it is more ancient than the tales in which the Alternating Deer-Woman marries her hunter-lover, which latter tales being apparently more alive, are therefore less ancient, though no doubt very old. There are traditions, however, of hunters who had fairy sweethearts, and one at least in which the fairy appears in deer-shape.
There are two tales which run counter to the foregoing theory, inasmuch that in them the deer turns, not into a woman, but into a man. Balance this matter of sex against six tales in which the deer turns into a woman, and leads her lover through a very long dance of adventure (a variety of tale which the late J. F. Campbell of Islay said was common, thereby implying that there must have been many more versions of it than six),-balance it also against the fact that in all the many other tales known to me in which the deer are connected with supernaturals, the latter are invariably female, not male,-and the conclusion must inevitably be that in the two tales referred to, the sex of the alternating creature has been unwarrantably altered from female to male, and that therefore the two tales in question are, to that extent, corrupt.
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(page 16)
Stories of a Man who braves a Witch, (i.e. A Fossil Deer-Priestess) in her own hut-The Squatting Posture
-There are six versions of a tale of a man, who, disguised as a beggar, visits a witch in her own den, nominally for the purpose of curing her of stinginess, but really in order to ridicule her pretensions to the supernatural and of proving her to be a sham. She tries to persuade him that she is unearthly, but tries in vain. There is an undercurrent of good-humoured fun in these tales, and he plays one or two practical jokes upon her ; they have certain competitions also, but he wins all or almost all. It is impossible to tell whether these tales are old or recent. But they show hardheaded common-sense in the very act of conquering magic and superstition.
However, the point about them that chiefly concerns us is that in one version the witch bears the name of one gigantic deer-goddess, and in another version the name of another such goddess. There is besides an Irish version where the witch bears the name of the gigantic Irish goddess. Priestess and goddess have been confounded in these tales. The fact that the man selected a deer-priestess as his objective when attacking magic and feminine supremacy, suggests that he thought that, in making an example of her, his action would be equivalent to capturing the very citadel of superstition.
In all these tales, the man, before visiting the witch, lays a wager that he will make her ask him to be seated, an act of hospitality she had never shown to anyone. When therefore, he appears at the door of her hut, and she asks him what his name is, he replies,
-" William Sit-Down."This shows that there were no chairs in her hut, and that they both had to squat. The squatting posture is significant, and must be referred to again. (11)
In her astonishment at a name so strange, she repeats it,-
" William Sit-Down !! "
And he, pretending to think that the repetition is an invitation, replies,
" Certainly I will, seeing that the good-wife bids me."
She then says, and her words are of importance,-
" William sit down, yet sitting, fare no better, Thou'lt get nought but poor food, Poor drink, and poor harboury,- The Bare Ground, the earth full of holes, fleas, etc."
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(page 17)The struggle between matriarchy and patriarchy evidenced in the foregoing is shown in many another Scottish Gaelic tale, not connected with the deer or the deer-goddesses. The struggle was probably a very long one, and the fortunes of war varied enormously, and with locality. Matriarchy may have lasted in one district hundreds of years after it had died out in some neighbouring district. This would be of a piece with the rest of Highland history, which is a much chequered piece of tartan. But this is a digression.
The Deer-and Deer-Goddess Cults probably Pre-Aryan, Aboriginal
The Lochaber Deer-goddess was of bad omen to hunters, but protected outlaws. The outlaws in question are the Robin Hoods of the country, outlawed by the aristocrats ; the latter represent some invading and conquering race, who had promulgated game-laws and arrogated to themselves the right to hunt.
The Jura Deer-goddess would, without remorse, kill a man from the neighbouring Island of Islay, as soon as he set foot in Jura. But she greatly regrets defeating a Jura man, a native of her own island. Her insularity suggests a long-standing interest in the country, and a rooted attachment to the soil, natural to an aboriginal goddess.(12)
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(page 18)Murchadh MacBrian's magic helper slays a deer-maiden. (13). Murchadh was a son of Brian Boru, and may represent a Celtic invader at war with the aboriginals and their gods. In another version, a deer and a woman occur separately, but are finally definitely identified. (14)
Fionn or Fingal's magic helper slays a deer-goddess. (15) She calls her deer "the beast of my love." Both in Scotland and Ireland, the Fenians or Fingalians defeat and slay gigantic and mysterious old women, whose affinities are not described, though I suspect them to be deer-goddesses. Irish classical MSS. contain various notes, couplets, and marginal references, concerning the great Irish goddess, An Chailleach Bhearach. Of these little oddments, there are enough for a monograph about her, says the late Professor Kuno Meyer. (16)
But there is no connected account of her. She did not belong to the aristocracy, of whom the classical MSS. are the expression. The implied indifference of the Irish aristocracy, contrasted with the universality of her legends among Gaelic-speaking Irish folk to this day, mark her as an aboriginal.
If the indifference shown by the aristocrats, the ruling classes, to any divinity, proves that divinity to be aboriginal, as in the case of the Irish Cailleach, we must conclude that the Roman Diana, the goddess of hunting and probably at one time a deer-goddess, was also an aboriginal one, for she was chiefly worshipped by the plebeians in early Roman times. The patricians did not take her up till later. Similarly, the fact that classical Greek and Roman writers do not refer to the Matres, Proxima, and other grouped goddesses, to whom so many monuments still extant were reared, suggests that these also were aboriginal divinities.
The fact that they occur in groups suggest that these divinities, though not connected with the deer, had something in common with certain goddess-groups recorded for some of the Hebridean Islands, to be dealt with subsequently.
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(page 19)Only one of the gigantic deer-goddesses is credited with a parent, as will be explained later. No other has either ancestor or descendant. Nor is there any tale giving an account of the origin of any one of them. This is probably because each is a condensation of a former group of goddesses. Grouped Goddesses.-Evidence of the existence of such goddesses is recorded for certain islands of the Inner Hebrides. For Tiree, the evidence is not conclusive, but, for the other three islands mentioned below, traditions show clearly that in each of them a belief in a group of goddesses, and a belief in an individual goddess, lived happily side by side, though the goddesses are nowadays always thought of as witches.
(I), Island of Tiree. On the farm of Hianish or Heynish, in Tiree, is a spot called " The Burial Place of the Big Women." The name may merely indicate that priestesses were of great stature, as is very likely. But even so, the name suggests a group of such priestesses, and that again suggests a group of goddesses. But the evidence of the name is not strong enough to bear much weight.(2), Island of Eigg. Still called " Eilean nam Ban Mora ", i.e. the Isle of the Big Women. A little loch, with some prehistoric building or crannog constructed in it, is called " Loch nam Ban Mora ", i.e., the Lake of the Big Women. The crannog was inhabited by women of such unique proportions that the stepping stones by which they gained their home were set so far apart as to be useless to any one else. Thus says one tradition. Another tradition says that St. Donnan was martyred by the "Amazon Queen " who reigned in the island ; the Queen in question can hardly be anything but the condensation of a group.
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(page 20)(3), Island of Mull. An Doideag Mhuileachi,. e. the Mull Doideag (singular), is supposed to have sunk, or to have assisted in sinking, the Spanish Armada. She was much dreaded because of her power in raising storms, and appears in several tales. In other tales, Na Doideagan Muileach, i.e. the Mull Doideags or witches (plural), appear. Snowflakes are said to be the witches of Mull going to a meeting of witches, from which it is to be inferred that the priestesses of the island dressed in white.
(4), Jura. The name of this island is supposed to be from the Norse, Djr-ey, meaning Deer's Isle. A group called the Seven Big Women of Jura occur in two of Campbell of Islay's tales, but they occur as an individual in another two of his tales. (17) This individual goddess is also called Cailleach Mhdr nam Fiadh, (The Huge Old Woman of the Deer). She is the only Hebridean instance known to me as being connected with the deer. The other Hebridean goddesses may have been so connected, but I have no evidence that they were. On the other hand, a once well known song called "Cailleach Liath Ratharsaidh" (now unfortunately known as "Mrs. Macleod of Raasay") speaks of the three Hebridean Cailleachs of Raasay, Rona, and Sligachan as being fond of fish. They were probably fishgoddesses. I have already referred to a tale, probably from Badenoch, where a witch refers to the cruelty of her " sisterhood." Such a sisterhood or group of witches can only be a group of deer-priestesses, and they imply a corresponding group of goddesses, whose official representatives they were. If so, it is the only mainland group known to me. (18)
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(page 21)The Irish goddess, already referred to, was probably once a group. In various legends, she appears as an old woman of fabulous age. She had many husbands, and her children "were tribes and races." (l9)
If she be looked upon as a condensation of a group or corporation of priestesses, which arose in remote times, the meaning of the tales about her becomes clear enough. In still more remote times, the corporation probably consisted of all the women of all the tribes, a state of society which seems to be reflected,
(a),in one of the Welsh names for the fairies, i.e. Y Mamau, or the Mothers,
(b), in various traditions as to the other-world being tenanted exclusively by women, and,
(c), in a tale in which all the Fenian women during a time of scarcity, find out how to keep fat and in good condition, but will not impart their secret to their starving men folk. (20)There are several versions of this tale, and in each the closeness of the female corporation which would not admit men to their secrets is the basic motive. Corporate selfishness, and the greed of individual priestesses, probably contributed to the downfall of matriarchy. Such a state of society, in which all women are magical or supernatural, may have lasted for untold ages, but eventually the necessities of specialization have their inevitable result, and sacerdotal duties are allocated to a small group of women. Finally a stage is reached when the small group breaks up, and its members fall away until at last only one individual is left. The original condition of society, in which all women were magical, the emergence of the group, and the shrinking of the number of the group until only one member of it is left, are all reflected in tradition.
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(page 22)
Feminine Supremacy
-The deer-cult and the deer-goddess- cult date from some remote time when woman was supreme.
Diana, as well as Artemis and her nymphs would appear to be classical examples. No one in patri-potestal times would dream of inventing a feminine hunting divinity. The nymphs of Artemis possibly correspond to the groups of priestesses noted already.
Arrian speaks of the ancient Gaulish practice of sacrificing animals to Artemis in order to procure her permission to hunt. Arrian had probably seen sacrifices made to some aboriginal Gaulish deer-goddess, who still preserved her primitive characteristics, and of whom I believe Cernunnos was a mere patriarchal euhemeristic development. Arrian would naturally see Artemis in such a goddess. Of Cernunnos, I shall have to speak later.
In Germany and in England, stag-dances were danced at the doors of the churches by men dressed as women. In the Highlands, the supernaturals who are concerned with the deer are always feminine, either the little green fairy-women, or else some gigantic Old Woman. Fairymen and giants never own, herd, and milk the deer. The two tales in which a deer turns into a man, are probably corrupt, as said already. In the Highlands also, hunters and fishermen used to ask for the blessing of a witch before starting forth, and used afterwards to share the game or the catch with a witch, never with a wizard, and it is always with witches that hunters quarrel, never with wizards.
In Scottish Gaelic folklore, there is a well-known incantation, in which some hero is adjured to the performance of this or that task or quest, on pain of being struck by the fairy-woman's nine cowfetters. A blow so given was to make him so awkward and silly, so fey and unlucky that the veriest scum would be able to defeat him in battle. The incantation never mentions a fairy man. This is of a piece with the generally feminine character of the fairy belief. There are of course many tales of fairies generally, in which, it is to be supposed, fairies of both sexes are included, though neither sex is specified,-but tales of some individual fairy woman far outnumber tales of an individual fairy man.
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(page 23)In many tales, a mother, before her two eldest sons set out on their journeys, offers them the alternative of a small bannock with her blessing, or a big one with her curse. They choose the latter, and fail miserably. The youngest son, when his turn comes, chooses the small bannock with his mother's blessing, and always succeeds. The frequency of these incidents, tedious though they may be to the general reader, is of the utmost importance to the folklorist. The mother's influence is always magical. Whereas fathers seldom appear, never give their blessing, and are never magically important.
The ancient Celtic, or more probably pre-Celtic, world was tenanted exclusively by women. In an old Irish Gaelic tale, called " the History of Condla Cam," a woman of the sidhe, or supernatural world, invites Condla to go with her to a land (i.e. a fairy-land) where, she says, only women and maidens dwell. Various other old tales refer to an otherworld where the inhabitants were all female. Apparently, males were not thought fit to appear there. Such ideas of the otherworld could have obtained only in a state of society where woman was supreme, both in magic and in everything else, and males hardly counted.
The late Professor Sir John Rhys (21) says that his earliest childish impressions regarding the " fairies " were that they were all women, and that he thought that the Welsh Goidels had their magic handed down to them from generation to generation according to a fixed rule of maternal succession (22). "Y Mamau", or The Mothers, one of the Welsh names for the "fairies" (as noted already) clearly corroborates.
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(page 24)
Chthonic
The frequent connection of the Irish goddess with funerary monuments, and the fact that her little island of Beare where she held sway, was the landing place for characters coming from Spain (an euhemeristic rendering of the Celtic words designating the mysterious Land of the Dead), shows that she was connected with the underworld. But, in the Highlands, the only thing that might perhaps be held to connect deer-goddesses with the dead is The Burial Place of the Big Women in the island of Tiree, and that may have no chthonic significance at all. Still, it is to be remembered that there are several Highland tales in which the dead and the " fairies " are associated and mingle together, and dead persons are sometimes said to have been carried off by the " fairies."
But some of the Highland deer-goddesses seem to be still alive. A gamekeeper at Corrour Lodge, Invernessshire, told my friend Mr. Ronald Burn, in 1917, that the Cailleach of Ben Breck, Lochaber, had cleaned out a certain well of hers, and had afterwards washed herself therein, in that same year. And in 1927 the late Dr. Miller of Fort William, Lochaber, informed me that the old Cailleach is still well-known there. The Irish goddess also seems to be still alive according to some traditions.
The Happy Isles and the Deer Cult
-The Green Isle was the most famous of the Celtic Happy Isles. In it certain apples grew. Those who ate the apples, suffered a dreadful penalty,-deer's antlers, fully matured, grew out of their heads instantly. The eating of other apples from the same place, however, caused the antlers to fall off instantly. These are well known incidents. (23) There are several incidents in Scottish Gaelic folklore, which suggest, but not in any way definitely, that deer-priestesses retired or resorted to distant islands. This is uncertain, but, if it could be shown to be true, there must be some connection between these deer-priestesses and the antler-producing apples that grew in those distant isles.
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(page 25)My interpretation of the evidence afforded by the tales, traditions, references, and accounts of customs, I have gathered, must now be stated. It is to be borne in mind that not only does the interpretation fit the facts, and that without it the facts fall apart and remain without meaning, but also that I have not been able to find anything that vitiates the interpretation except the minute items (referred to in their proper places already,) which seem to be explicable as modern or patriarchal corruptions. My conclusions are somewhat as follows :-
A. That long, long ago, a state of society existed in the Highlands, when,-(I), woman was supreme;B.
(2), all women were supernatural and magical.
(3), all ghosts whether of male or female creatures were feminine;
(4), fairyland or the Other-world, was tenanted or inhabited exclusively by women.
( 5 ) , men were in the hunting stage of development, and feared women, their spiritual mothers, all of whom were capable of guiding the destinies of men magically, either for their weal or woe, as they chose;
(6),the deer was a god;
(7)) the ghosts of deer became fairy or supernatural women, and
(8),the deer were the cattle of the fairies or of supernatural beings.
(I), That from among the welter of primeval pagan usage certain customs began, at some undated stage of development, to assume more definite and important character than others.
(2) That these customs developed into a considerable ritual, of a religious character.
(3), That the performance of them was allotted to special groups of women, or priestesses, as a result of the tendency towards specialization.
(4), That thus a belief in corresponding groups of goddesses arose. These may have been thought of as the tribal mothers or ancestresses.
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(page 26)C.
(I), That, as a further result of the tendency towards specialization, and from other causes, a belief in condensed individual goddesses arose. In some cases, this belief superseded the belief in grouped goddesses,-in other cases, especially in the Hebrides, the two beliefs lived happily together, side by side. Eventually individual priestesses superseded groups, at least, in some cases.D. The deer-goddesses were represented on earth by women, who acted as their priestesses, and were identified and confused with them.(2), Accounts of these individual goddesses have come down to us in which they are represented as gigantic old supernatural women, who were supposed to own, herd, and milk the deer of their respective districts. They have dealings with hunters only, though in the case of the Lochaber Cailleach, women used to see her as well, and used to complain that when she took the form of a gray deer, the old Cailleach stole their dulse and kail. Each of these gigantic Old Women may, in the Highlands, have been thought of as the tribal ancestress, and as an earth goddess, but, in the traditions of them that have come down to us, their character is chiefly that of deer-goddesses. The only instance I have found of a tribal ancestress comes from Ireland.
E. The deer-priestesses never appear in the tales as priestesses, but as witches. They gave hunters blessings and charms to procure them success in the chase, and afterwards shared the spoils of the chase with them. After all, witches are only fossil priestesses, the exponents of dead pagan faiths.
F. The Irish deer-goddess was chthonic. This may have been the case with the Scottish goddesses also, but the only trace of such a thing known to me, "The Burial Place of the Big Women " in Tiree, may refer to priestesses only and not to goddesses.
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(page 27)G. At some stage of development, whether remote or recent it is impossible to say, man, the hunter, quarrelled with woman, the deer-priestess, over the venison and fishes. He refused to share these things with her, and so broke with tradition. She attacked him. But he, with his weapons and hounds, always drove her off. And the number of tales dealing with these encounters are many, showing how important a revolution this break with tradition and custom was felt to be, and what a public impression it made.
H. Some deer-priestesses, because probably they had wearied of paganism and the tedious yoke it laid upon its votaries, and perhaps also because they loved some hunters, appear in tales as the Alternating Deer-Women, and marry their hunter-lovers and live happily with them ever after.
J. Some hard-headed son or sons of common-sense braved witches in their own dwellings, on purpose to try conclusions with them, and turn them into laughingstocks. Whether these tales are early or late, it is impossible to say, but as in three versions the witch bears the name of a gigantic goddess, these tales seem to show that in some cases groups of priestesses had been superseded by individual priestesses. They also show that the witch and her visitor had to squat on the ground.
Cernunnos
This ancient Gaulish god is always represented in a squatting posture ; he is gigantic, and wears sometimes antlers and sometimes bull's horns. The late Prof. Sir John Rhys concluded that he also was, like Dis and Pluto, a chthonic god of the dead and of the nether-world. (24) The tales of the man who braved a witch in her own den for the purpose of ridiculing her pretensions to the occult, show definitely that when at home, the witch squatted.
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(page 28)A certain Scottish Gaelic witch, the Iorasglach-Urlair (i.e. the Iorasglach-of-the-floor), is described as an old haggard-looking woman. "Her favourite posture is sitting on the floor. . . . She struck before she gave out her responses [to those who consulted her in her capacity as a spae-wife or divining-witch], the ground three times, as if she would thus summon to her help the Underworld power or powers from whom she received her inspiration." (25) Cf. the witch of Endor who brought Samuel up out of the ground. Zulu sorcerers also behave exactly as did the Iorasglach-Urlair. The names of several other domestic witches include the word " Urlair " (= of the floor.) Presumably they all squatted. Two more may be mentioned, A'Chlarsach-Urlair, (the Harp of the Floor), and An Eachrais-Urlair (the Mischief of the Floor). There is a song about the Gray Old Cailleach of the Isle of Raasay, whom I look upon as a fish-goddess. The song says that " hundreds resorted to her ", presumably to her priestess as a spaewife. Analogy suggests that deer-priestesses were also resorted to, and that, when this occurred, they adopted the squatting posture.
Such other divinities as appear on monuments by the side of Cernunnos are represented as mere striplings. All the Highland deer-goddesses, as well as the great Irish one, were also gigantic.
Rhys thought that the name Cernunnos, and the Latinized form of it, Cernenus, contain the common stem cern-, cognate with the Welsh and Irish corn, Latin cornu, English horn. The name suits the god admirably. More, the horns show what the animal was, with which he was connected, or which was sacred to him, that is, the deer. In this matter, he must be compared with the Highland deer-goddesses. The Lochaber deer-goddess occasionally took the form of a gray deer, and must then have worn antlers. Probably all the other deer-goddesses did the same, though I have not met any tradition about the others as to that effect. The Alternating Deer-Woman must also have worn antlers.
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(page 29)The Highland and Irish tales in which a man braves a witch in her own den or hut, in three versions of which tales the witch bears the name of a gigantic deer-goddess, all say that the witch was either very rich or very rich in cattle. This may imply that, after a great number of forests had been burned, (there are many tales of the burning of forests), and the flocks of deer reduced, the priestesses found that cattle-breeding was a more profitable business than bullying hunters for a share of venison. The old-time prestige of deer-priestess followed them in their new role, and the faithful, or those who disliked breaking with the old gods of the country, (and there is considerable evidence proving the existence of such people), probably brought them gifts of cattle, and they became rich in cattle, though always remaining stingy.
Formerly a nation of deer-hunters, the Highlanders become a nation of cattle-breeders. I imagine that some such change may have caused Cernunnos to appear with bull's horns sometimes, instead of deer's antlers. But this is pure speculation on my part.
Chthonic
The Irish goddess was undoubtedly chthonic, and in that respect her character corresponds with that of Cernunnos.
Rhy, says, "it seems probable that both the squatting posture and the horns had a mythological signification reaching back beyond the history of the Celts as a distinct branch of the Aryan family, though we may never be able to find out its precise meaning ". (26) In the light of the facts submitted already, and of those now to be dealt with, it seems possible to come to a definite conclusion as to the origin of the antlers, the squatting posture, the gigantic stature, and the chthonic character of Cernunnos ; the origin of the god himself seems to be also deducible.
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(page 30)At Saintes, the chief town of Charente-Inferieure, there is a figure, supposed to be Cernunnos, carved on a block, and, significantly enough, he has a female associate sitting on a seat near him, with a cornucopia resting on her left arm, which implies that she was a benignant goddess. Rhys says, - "Cernunnos was the great figure according to Gaulish ideas, and his associate was apparently of smaller consequence in their sight : did the insular Celts reverse the relative position of the Plutonic pair ? When the facts are duly weighed it will be found that there is no evidence to that effect. This view is countenanced by the all but complete absence of any statements as to the nature or attributes of the goddess : she looms darkly in the background as the mother of the gods, and any further predicate about her is to be reached only as a matter of inference." (27)
But we are obviously bound to ask, -why in the world did the old pagan sculptor take the trouble to portray a mere nonentity of a goddess, who had no particular nature or attributes or meaning except benevolence ? The only reason he could have had would have been that at one time Cernunnos' associate goddess meant a good deal, and had a very definite nature and attributes, but had parted with them,-that she was by now in some advanced stage of decay, and that her presence on the monument was some sort of concession to her worshippers, who were becoming fewer, while the worshippers of the male god, Cernunnos, were becoming more numerous. Now it were contrary to all the canons of mythological development to suppose that the goddess' nature and attributes fell suddenly off like a garment, and faded completely away. We may safely conclude that they were too precious to lose, and were therefore transferred to some other personage. That personage I feel sure was Cernunnos, and the evidence from the Highlands and Ireland adduced in this paper suggests in the strongest manner that the antlers, the gigantic stature, the squatting posture, and the chthonic or Plutonic character of Cernunnos had been stolen or borrowed or inherited, either from his associate goddess, or from some other female divinity or group of female divinities, own sister or sisters to the Highland and Irish deer-goddesses. He is, in short, merely a masculine transformation of a feminine divinity, merely a reflection of the change from matriarchy to patriarchy ; and his subordinate associate is merely a survival of the former state of society.
A similar change and a parallel survival is convincingly reflected in the fact that the old German and English stagdances were danced by men who had dressed themselves in women's clothes, thereby preserving a memory of a former time when stag-dances were performed by women, and of a later time when the religious functions of women were usurped by men.
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(page 31)The two cases already mentioned where a deer, instead of turning into a woman turns into a man, probably also reflect the supersession of matriarchy by patriarchy. And that change is reflected in many of the folktales of the Scottish Gael.
Another reflection of the change from matriarchy to patriarchy is to be seen in the fact that Cailleach Bheur, the goddess imported into Scotland from Ireland, is, by two of my Highland authorities, credited with a father, whose name, Grianan, is clearly a masculine transformation of the name of an Irish goddess, who in Ireland is sometimes associated with the Cailleach. To have a father is contrary to the genealogical traditions of Highland witches, among whom a matrilinear descent is the rule, and a patrilinear the exception. In Ireland, it is true, the old Cailleach has a father who for her benefit slaughters an ox every year on her birthday. But he is merely a lay figure, whose name is not mentioned, and certain implications suggest that he was a temple servitor employed on sacrificial occasions, or rather a condensation of a long line of such servitors, for, though people try for a year to count the horns of the oxen he slaughtered, they are obliged to give up the task, in despair. The horns were innumerable. Such a temple servitor, it may be mentioned in passing, is like Mog Ruith (28) who is probably another and similar condensation, for he is said to have manipulated the Roth Ramach, which probably means the bull-roarer, through either nineteen generations or centuries.
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(page 32)The benign character of Cernunnos' associate goddess, inferred from the cornucopia she holds, corresponds to the benign character of the Caledonian deer-goddesses, who are always mild and harmless to man. Had they been otherwise, it would certainly have been mentioned in their legends. They are never either ferocious or cannibalistic, as are usually the general run of giantesses of Gaelic legend. It only remains to say that, for reasons not connected with either the deer-cult or deer-goddess cult, Professor R. A. Stewart Macalister, would connect the squatting Cernunnos with the undoubtedly female figure, carved on certain Irish monuments, and called Sheelah-na-gig. (29)
The End
Footnotes1. That it was also a divine messenger among the ancient Greeks is clear from the Journal for Hellenic Studies, vol. xiv, p. 134.
2. The late Rev. J. G. Campbell, Scottish Celtic Review, vol, iv (1885), p. 262.
3. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 50. It is to be noted that, as far as Highland mythology is concerned, the theory that the " fairy " belief and the witch belief are in origin the same, does not hold good. In the Highlands, fairies may change into deer,-witches never do : fairies float through the air without wings, and without mechanical aid,-witches cannot without broomsticks : fairy changelings are common,-witch changelings are unknown. Fairies live underground,-witches above ground. Fairies associate with the dead,-witches never do. Fairies sometimes speak pidgin- Gaelic,-witches never do. And so on.
4. In Scottish Gaelic, unfortunately, mis-spelt bean-shlth, owing to the misunderstanding of the word sidhe already referred to.
5.(J. F.Campbell of Islay, Pop. Talcs of the West Highlands, vol. ii, No. 27.)
6. Dr. A. H. Krappe, (Folk-lore,vol. xxxiv, p. 184), thinks that Apollo, now a bright Olympian, was once chthonic. He, by the way, was brother to a hunting goddess.
7. ( Rev. J. G. Campbell, op. cit. pp. 155, 157.)
8. (See also Celtic Review, vol. v, pp. 61-4.
9. This particular idea obtained to within the last fifty years, according to Nether Lochabev, the late Rev. Alexander Stewart, Inverness Couvier, I 874, April gth, page 3.
10. (See his Popular Tales of the West Highlands, vol. ii, No. 44.)
11. (I published a version of this story in Scottish Gaelic Studies, (Humphrey Milford, 1929),vol. iii, p. 10.
12. J. F.Campbell of Islay's West Highland Tales, No. 46, var. 2.
13. J. F. Campbell, West Highland Tales, No. 38.
14. See Rev. Geo. Henderson, The Norse Inpuence on Celtic Scotland, p. 290.
15. J. F. Campbell, West Highland Tales, No. 51.
16. Vision of MacConglinne, p. 208.
l7. Pop. Tales of the W.Highlands, vol. ii, No. 46, vars, I, 4, and 2, 3.
18. In ancient Gaul and Germany, countries formerly ruled by the Celts, grouped goddesses abounded. Grouped gods were very few. See the late Sir E. Anwyl, Celtic Review, vol. iii, p. 34, and Professor R. A. Stewart Macalister in Bdaloideas, vol. i, p. 15 (The Journal of the Folk Lore of Ireland Society, Dublin, 1927)-" The great Celtic gods are crystallizations into one entity of groups of beings indefinite in number and personality."
19. (See Kuno Meyer, The Visiotz of MacConglinne, p. 208.
20. The Celtic Review, vol. i, p. 36.)
21. Celtic Folk-Lore.pp. 245. 291, 661.
22. "Ibid., pp. 637-8.)
23. See Folk-Love, vol. xxxvi, p, 156. )
24. 84 Hibbert Lectures, (1886),p. 81.
25. (Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, vol. iii, p. 280.)
26. (Op.cit., p. 82.)
27. ("Op.cit., p. 92 et seq.)
28. The Highland surname, Munro, in Gaelic Mac-an-Rothaich, the Son of the Rotator or Wheelman, may be akin to the Irish Mog Ruith.
29. See Proc. Roy. Ivish Academy, vol, xxxiv, sec. c, Nos. 10, 11, p. 256.
