l, "the wave wails against the shore for his death,"
and in Welsh myth the waves bewailed the death of Dylan, "son of the
wave," and were eager to avenge it. The noise of the waves rushing into
the vale of Conwy were his dying groans.[591] In Ireland the roaring of
the sea was thought to be prophetic of a king's death or the coming of
important news; and there, too, certain great waves were celebrated in
story--Clidna's, Tuaithe's, and Rudhraidhe's.[592] Nine waves, or the
ninth wave, partly because of the sacred nature of the number nine,
partly because of the beneficent character of the waves, had a great
importance. They formed a barrier against invasion, danger, or
pestilence, or they had a healing effect.[593]

The wind was also regarded as a living being whose power was to be
dreaded. It punished King Loegaire for breaking his oath. But it was
also personified as a god Vintius, equated with Pollux and worshipped by
Celtic sailors, or with Mars, the war-god who, in his destructive
aspect, was perhaps regarded as the nearest analogue to a god of stormy
winds.[594] Druids and Celtic priestesses claimed the power of
controlling the winds, as did wizards and witches in later days. This
they did, according to Christian writers, by the aid of demons, perhaps
the old divinities of the air. Bishop Agobard describes how the
_tempestarii_ raised tempests which destroyed the fruits of the earth,
and drew "aerial ships" from Magonia, whither the ships carried these
fruits.[595] Magonia may be the upper air ruled over by a sky god
Magounos or Mogounos, equated with Apollo.[596] The winds may have been
his servants, ruled also by earthly magicians. Like Yahweh, as conceived
by Hebrew poets, he "bringeth the winds out of his treasures," and
"maketh lightnings with rain."

FOOTNOTES:

[556] Gildas ii. 4.

[557] Jocelyn, _Vila Kentig._ c. xxxii.

[558] _Trip. Life_, 315.

[559] _LL_ 12_b_. The translation is from D'Arbois, ii. 250 f; cf.
O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 190.

[560] _RC_ xxii. 400.

[561] _RC_ xii. 109.

[562] Petrie, _Tara_, 34; _RC_ vi. 168; _LU_ 118.

[563] Joyce, _OCR_ 50.

[564] D'Achery, _Spicelegium_, v. 216; Sebillot, i. 16 f., 56, 211.

[565] Gregory of Tours, _Hist._ ii. 10, speaks of the current belief in
the divinity of waters, birds, and beasts.

[566] Sebillot, i. 9, 35, 75, 247, etc.

[567] Joyce, _SH_ ii. 273; Cormac, 87; Stokes, _TIG_ xxxiii., _RC_ xv.
307.

[568] Miss Hull, 170, 187, 193; _IT