fairies and the demons of the spirit world; whereas it is impossible to identify Gwion or Taliessin with that repellent personage, or with any other, perhaps, but Gwyn's direct antagonist, the Sun-god. Briefly put, the explanation is, that the Irish have confounded two Finns of the most incompatible characters under the one name. Finn means 'white or fair,' as its Welsh counterpart Gwyn means also 'white;' but whether the Welsh ever called Gwion by the name Gwyn or Gwion Gwyn, I cannot say: if they did, they must have in time dropped it in order to avoid the sort of confusion which I suppose to have arisen on Irish ground. The proof that this correctly represents the Irish case is to be found in the fact, that the stories about Finn divide themselves into two groups, namely, (1) those connected with a Gwion-Finn (or Deimne Finn, corresponding to Gwion), but especially that concerning his acquisition of the power of divination, and (2) those relating to a Gwyn-Finn (or Finn Éces, corresponding to Gwyn ab Nûᵭ), such, for example, as the long story of the antagonism between Finn and Diarmait. The friendship of the latter as a Solar Hero with Finn as a Solar or Culture Hero, would have analogies on Irish ground; but their mutual hostility at another time in their history would be very difficult, mythologically speaking, to explain: why, for instance, should Grainne, who was betrothed to Finn, elope with Diarmait on the night when she was to be wedded to Finn, and then become Finn's wife years later, after Diarmait had died under circumstances that placed it in Finn's power easily to save his life? Why should Finn have employed in the pursuit of Diarmait diverse kinds of witches and uncanny beasts, at the same time
