("Cúchulainn's Death," abridged from the Book of Leinster," in Revue Celtique, Juin, 1877, pp. 175, 176, 180, 182, 183, 185).
See also, Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, Stallybrass, vol. i. pp. 328, 392; McGregor's Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland, p. 131; and Belludo, the goblin horse of Alhambra. Nor must we forget "Phooka," the wild horse of Erin's isle.
Note also the "Iliad"; cf. book ii. 760, book viii. 157, book x. 338, 473; specially Xanthus and Balius who talk, book xix. 440; and, Martial's splendid epigram, beginning "Phosphore redde diem, cur gaudia nostra moraris?"
Thus on every side we find this noble creature entwined in the lore of the people, from the peasants' dull superstition to great Milton's song,—
"Of the wondrous horse of brass,
On which the Tartar king did ride."
The horse still plays an important part in the folk-lore. Thus e.g. Yorkshire people say, that if you see a piebald horse, and do not look at his tail, or think of a fox, whatever you wish for will be granted; also, that you must spit over your finger for luck when you see a white horse. The four black horses and chariot still rush through Penzance streets in the night, according to some, and the white horse is carried by the Christmas mummers in various parts of England and Germany. In the Midlands a horse's head and skin is dragged about on Christmas eve; a simulacrum, as some think, of Odin's heroic steed. Cf. Henderson, p. 70, also F. Finn and Magyar Songs on S. Stephen's Day. Academy 1884. pp. 150, 315.
Page 63. For breathing on old things and causing them to change, see p. 92, where the baa-lambs restore the lad's body by blowing; and a Finnish tale tells how a snake commands the hero to create with his clean breath a copper battlefield that they may fight, and is told by the man to create an iron one with his heathen breath, which he does ; and other snakes come in the story who in turn create copper and silver battlefields, see Leppäpölkky, S. ja T. 2.
Sometimes the change is effected by a bath, as in "Fairy Elizabeth," p. 110, supra.
