dating back to the sixth or seventh
century. She appears constantly in Gaelic hagiology, and with poetic
as well as saintly fame casting a halo about her yellow hair.
O'Curry's 'MS. Materials,' and other collections make it possible,
luckily, for other than purely Gaelic students to read of her as she
appeared in early time. She is a peculiarly interesting figure,
because in the Celtic races women have always counted peculiarly; and
there are signs that they will count even more in time to come. St.
Bridget (Brigit, Bride, Breed), then, is the type for all time of the
Celtic womanhood dowered with divine inspiration, poetry, and charm.
The following variant on an old Gaelic poem is by Miss Fiona Macleod
('From the Hills of Dream'):--

ST. BRIDGET'S MILKING SONG

O sweet St. Bride of the
Yellow, yellow hair:
Paul said, and Peter said,
And all the saints alive or dead
Vowed she had the sweetest head,
Bonnie sweet St. Bride of the
Yellow, yellow hair.

White may my milking be,
White as thee:
Thy face is white, thy neck is white,
Thy hands are white, thy feet are white,
For thy sweet soul is shining bright--
O dear to me,
O dear to see,
St. Bridget white!

Yellow may my butter be,
Soft and round:
Thy breasts are sweet,
Soft, round, and sweet,
So may my butter be:
So may my butter be, O
Bridget sweet!

Safe thy way is, safe, O
Safe, St. Bride:
May my kye come home at even,
None be fallin', none be leavin',
Dusky even, breath-sweet even,
Here, as there, where, O
St. Bride, thou

Keepest tryst with God in heaven,
Seest the angels bow,
And souls be shriven--
Here, as there, 'tis breath-sweet even,
Far and wide--
Singeth thy little maid,
Safe in thy shade,
Bridget, Bride!

Passing from the early legendary hagiological chronicles of the Scots
Gaels, we come to a period when the reader must be content to go again
to Irish sources for his knowledge of the continuators of Gaelic
literature. What we have said previously of the Irish may be referred
to here. The mediaeval scribes and bards busied themselves mainly with
reproducing the past, though with a vivid coloring out of their own
living present. When we have referred all of their subject-matter
dealing with the saints and heroic figures of primitive history to its
own period, all that remains is curiously little. Unfortunatel