ng."[465] A similar Christianising appears in the story
of Conchobar's death, the result of his mad frenzy on hearing from his
Druid that an earthquake is the result of the shameful crucifixion of
Christ.[466]

In the saga, Cuchulainn appears as the ideal Celtic warrior, but, like
other ideal warriors, he is a "magnified, non-natural man," many of his
deeds being merely exaggerations of those common among barbaric folk.
Even his "distortion" or battle frenzy is but a magnifying of the wild
frenzy of all wild fighters. To the person of this ideal warrior, some
of whose traits may have been derived from traditional stories of actual
heroes, _Maerchen_ and saga episodes attached themselves. Of every ideal
hero, Celtic, Greek, Babylonian, or Polynesian, certain things are
told--his phenomenal strength as a child; his victory over enormous
forces; his visits to the Other-world; his amours with a goddess; his
divine descent. These belong to the common stock of folk-tale episodes,
and accumulate round every great name. Hence, save in the colouring
given to them or the use made of them by any race, they do not afford a
key to the mythic character of the hero. Such deeds are ascribed to
Cuchulainn, as they doubtless were to the ideal heroes of the "undivided
Aryans," but though parallels may be found between him and the Greek
Heracles, they might just as easily be found in non-Aryan regions, e.g.
in Polynesia. Thus the parallels between Cuchulainn and Heracles throw
little light on the personality of the former, though here and there in
such parallels we observe a peculiarly Celtic touch. Thus, while the
Greek hero rescues Hesione from a dragon, it is from three Fomorians
that Cuchulainn rescues Devorgilla, namely, from beings to whom actual
human sacrifice was paid. Thus a _Maerchen_ formula of world-wide
existence has been moulded by Celtic religious belief and ritual
practice.[467]

It was inevitable that the "mythological school" should regard
Cuchulainn as a solar hero. Thus "he reaches his full development at an
unusually early age," as the sun does,[468] but also as do many other
heroes of saga and _Maerchen_ who are not solar. The three colours of
Cuchulainn's hair, dark near the skin, red in the middle, golden near
the top, are claimed to be a description of the sun's rays, or of the
three parts into which the Celts divided the day.[469] Elsewhere his
tresses are yellow, like Prince Charlie's in fact and in song, yet h