nity found this legend of sacrifice popular among
the heathen nations, it was comparatively easy to adopt it and give it
a yet wider scope, by making the sacrifice spiritual rather than
physical, and by finally rewarding the hero with heavenly joys. It is
to be noted, too, that even at this early period there is a certain
glorification of chicanery: the fiend fulfils his side of the
contract, but God Himself breaks the other side. This becomes a
regular feature in all tales that relate dealings with the Evil One:
all Devil's Bridges, Devil's Dykes, and the Faust legends show that
Satan may be trusted to keep his word, while the saints invariably
kept the letter and broke the spirit. To so primitive a tale as that
of "The Countess Cathleen" the pettifogging quibbles of later saints
are utterly unknown: God saves her soul because it is His will to
reward such abnegation of self, and even the Evil One dare not
question the Divine Will.

The Story. Happy Ireland

Once, long ago, as the Chronicles tell us, Ireland was known
throughout Europe as "The Isle of Saints," for St. Patrick had not
long before preached the Gospel, the message of good tidings, to the
warring inhabitants, to tribes of uncivilised Celts, and to marauding
Danes and Vikings. He had driven out the serpent-worshippers, and
consecrated the Black Stone of Tara to the worship of the True God; he
had convinced the High King of the truth and reasonableness of the
doctrine of the Trinity by the illustration of the shamrock leaf, and
had overthrown the great idols and purified the land. Therefore the
fair shores and fertile vales of Erin, the clustered islets, dropped
like jewels in the azure seas, the mist-covered, heather-clad
hill-sides, even the barren mountain-tops and the patches of firm
ground scattered in the solitudes of fathomless bogs, were homes of
pious Culdee or lonely hermit. There was still strife in Ireland, for
king fought with king, and heathen marauders still vexed the land; but
many warlike Irish clans or "septs" turned their ardour for fight to
religious conflicts, and often every man of a tribe became a monk, so
that great abbeys and tribal monasteries and schools were built on the
hills where, in former days, stood the chieftain's stronghold (_rath_
or _dun_, as Irish legends name it), with its earth mounds and wooden
palisades. Holy psalms and chants replaced the boastful songs of the
old bards, whilst warriors accustomed to regard fig