[477] _IT_ i. 268; D'Arbois, v. 103; Miss Hull, lxvi.

[478] _HL_ 448.

[479] See Meyer, _RC xi_. 435; Windisch, _IT_ i. 589, 740. Though
_richis_ means "charcoal," it is also glossed "flame," hence it could
only be glowing charcoal, without any idea of darkness.

[480] _HL_ 458.

[481] _IT_ i. 107.

[482] _Arch. Rev._ i. 1 f.; _IT_ i. 213; see p. 381, _infra_.

[483] See p. 164, _infra_.

[484] Diod. Siculus, iv. 56.

[485] _IT_ iii. 393.

[486] _Les Celtes_, 58 f. Formerly M. D'Arbois identified Smertullos
with Lug, ii. 217; Holder, i. 46, 262. For the incident of the beard,
see Windisch, _Tain_, 308.

[487] _IT_ iii. 395.

[488] _IT_ i. 420.

[489] _RC_ xxvii. 319 f.

[490] _RC_ xviii. 256.

[491] _Les Celtes_, 63; _RC_ xix. 246.

[492] D'Arbois, _RC_ xx. 89.

[493] D'Arbois, _RC_ xxvii. 321; _Les Celtes_, 65.

[494] _Les Celtes_, 49; Caesar, vi. 14.

[495] In contradiction to this, M. D'Arbois elsewhere thinks that Druids
from Britain may have taught the Cuchulainn legend in Gaul (_RC_ xxvii.
319).

[496] See versions in _Book of the Dean of Lismore_; _CM_ xiii.;
Campbell, _The Fians_, 6 f.

[497] _CM_ xiii. 327, 514. The same story is told of Fionn, _ibid._ 512.
See also ballad versions in Campbell, _LF_ 3 f.

[498] See p. 212, _infra_.

[499] A Galatian king was called Brogitaros, probably a form of
_Brogitaruos_, "bull of the province," a title borne by Conchobar, _tarb
in choicid_ (_IT_ i. 72). This with the epithets applied to heroes in
the _Triads_, "bull-phantom," "prince bull of combat" (Loth, ii. 232,
243), may be an appellative denoting great strength.

[500] _IT_ ii. 241 f.; D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 168.

[501] Miss Hull, 58.

[502] See p. 212, _infra_.

[503] See p. 208, _infra_.

[504] Fitzgerald, _RC_ vi. 254.

[505] See p. 243, _infra_.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FIONN SAGA.

The most prominent characters in the Fionn saga, after the death of
Fionn's father Cumal, are Fionn, his son Oisin, his grandson Oscar, his
nephew Diarmaid with his _ball-seire_, or "beauty-spot," which no woman
could resist; Fergus famed for wisdom and eloquence; Caoilte mac Ronan,
the swift; Conan, the comic character of the saga; Goll mac Morna, the
slayer of Cumal, but later the devoted friend of Fionn, besides a host
of less important personages. Their doings, like those of the heroes of
saga and epos everywhere, are mainly hunting, fighting, and love-making.
They embody much of