For those who like to look upon Irish myth, saga, and history as so much raw material for poetic treatment, the new edition of Lady Ferguson’s Story of the Irish before the Conquest may be recommended. The bardic tales are repeated with the unquestioning belief of past ages; but, alas! it is largely in the words of modern poets, especially in those of Sir Samuel Ferguson. Thus, whilst delightful reading, the book is deprived of such value as attaches to a simple and faithful retelling of the bardic stories, for instance, to Keating’s history. The legends of the Irish race are as valuable to the student of Celtic civilisation as the historic or the monumental record, if not more so, provided always that we have them in their earliest forms and are enabled to trace their growth. Lady Ferguson’s work unfortunately fulfils neither requirement, and can only contribute to perpetuate false ideas, both about archaic and mediæval Irish culture.
Apart from records of a self-evident mythical or legendary nature, the folk-lorist must keep his eye fixed upon other documents, the interest of which is mainly historical, or theological, as the case may be, but which supply the most valuable hints towards reconstructing the beliefs and practices of our ancestors. Chief amongst these must be reckoned Lives of Saints. Especially is this the case among Celtic peoples. The Celtic “Golden Legend” is perhaps not richer than that of other races in references to pre-Christian myth and cult; its value rather lies in its witness to the infinitesimal difference that separated the pagan “druid”—soothsayer and medicine-man—from the Christian “saint”—medicine-man and soothsayer. Strip the legend of the one of the alien accessories, and it reveals to us a most archaic conception of religion and of social life. Such a story as that of the cleric who “performed fasting against the Lord”[1] because he thought a fellow-cleric had been better treated than he, speaks volumes for the state of the men who told and believed it Mr.
- ↑ Stokes, Lives, p, xi.
