ds_.

Gurgiunt, son of Belinus, in Geoffrey, iii. 11, may be the French
legendary Gargantua, perhaps an old god. See the works of Sebillot and
Gaidoz on _Gargantua_.

[448] Loth, i. 270.

[449] Dio Cassius, lxii. 6.

[450] Solinus, xxii. 10. See p. 2, _supra_.

[451] Ptol. ii. 3. 2.

[452] For all these see Holder, _s.v._

CHAPTER VII.

THE CUCHULAINN CYCLE.

The events of the Cuchulainn cycle are supposed to date from the
beginning of the Christian era--King Conchobar's death synchronising
with the crucifixion. But though some personages who are mentioned in
the Annals figure in the tales, on the whole they deal with persons who
never existed. They belong to a world of romance and myth, and embody
the ideals of Celtic paganism, modified by Christian influences and
those of classical tales and romantic sagas of other regions, mainly
Scandinavian. The present form of the tales as they exist in the _Book
of the Dun Cow_ and the _Book of Leinster_ must have been given them in
the seventh or eighth century, but they embody materials of a far older
date. At an early time the saga may have had a more or less definite
form, but new tales were being constantly added to it, and some of the
longer tales are composed of incidents which once had no connection with
each other.

Cuchulainn is the central figure of the cycle, and its central episode
is that of the _Tain bo Cuailgne_, or "Cattle Spoil of Cooley." Other
personages are Conchobar and Dechtire, Ailill and Medb, Fergus, Conall
Cernach, Curoi, Deirdre, and the sons of Usnach. Some of these are of
divine descent, some are perhaps euhemerised divinities; Conchobar is
called _dia talmaide_, "a terrestrial god," and Dechtire a goddess. The
cycle opens with the birth of Conchobar, son of Cathbad and of Nessa,
daughter of one of the Tuatha De Danann, though in an older rescension
of the tale he is Nessa's son by the god Lug. During Conchobar's reign
over Ulster Cuchulainn was born. He was son of Dechtire, either by
Sualtaim, or by her brother Conchobar, or by the god Lug, of whom he may
also be a reincarnation.[453] Like other heroes of saga, he possesses
great strength and skill at a tender age, and, setting out for
Conchobar's court, overpowers the king's "boy corps," and then becomes
their chief. His next adventure is the slaying of the watch-dog of
Culann the smith, and his appeasing the anger of its owner by offering
to act as his watch-dog. Cathbad now