the Celts as an agricultural folk, for we
have seen that the Celt was now a fighter, now a farmer. In its peaceful
aspect Elysium is "a familiar, cultivated land," where the fruits of the
earth are produced without labour, and where there are no storms or
excess of heat or cold--the fancies which would appeal to a toiling,
agricultural people. There food is produced magically, yet naturally,
and in agricultural ritual men sought to increase their food supply
magically. In the tales this process is, so to speak, heightened.[1262]

Some writers have maintained that Elysium is simply the land of the
dead, although nothing in the existing tales justifies this
interpretation. M. D'Arbois argues for this view, resting his theory
mainly on a passage in the story of Connla, interpreted by him in a way
which does not give its real meaning.[1263] The words are spoken by the
goddess to Connla, and their sense is--"The Ever-Living Ones invite
thee. Thou art a champion to Tethra's people. They see thee every day in
the assemblies of thy fatherland, among thy familiar loved ones."[1264]
M. D'Arbois assumes that Tethra, a Fomorian, is lord of Elysium, and
that after his defeat by the Tuatha Dea, he, like Kronos, took refuge
there, and now reigns as lord of the dead. By translating _ar-dot-chiat_
("they see thee," 3rd plur., pres. ind.) as "on t'y verra," he maintains
that Connla, by going to Elysium, will be seen among the gatherings of
his dead kinsfolk. But the words, "Thou art a champion to Tethra's
people," cannot be made to mean that Tethra is a god of the dead. It
means simply that Connla is a mighty warrior, one of those whom Tethra,
a war-god, would have approved. The phrase, "Tethra's mighty men," used
elsewhere,[1265] is a conventional one for warriors. The rest of the
goddess's words imply that the Immortals from afar, or perhaps "Tethra's
mighty men," i.e. warriors in this world, see Connla in the assemblies
of his fatherland in Erin, among his familiar friends. Dread death
awaits _them_, she has just said, but the Immortals desire Connla to
escape that by coming to Elysium. Her words do not imply that he will
meet his dead ancestors there, nor is she in any sense a goddess of
death. If the dead went to Elysium, there would be little need for
inviting a living person to go there. Had Connla's dead ancestors or
Tethra's people (warriors) been in Elysium, this would contradict the
picture drawn by the goddess of the land whit