m of sticking rags in the branches of
such trees and spitting on them, his answer, and the
answer of the oldest men, was that their ancestors
always did it; that it was a preservative against
Geasa-Dravideacht, _i.e._ the sorceries of Druids;
that their cattle was preserved by it from infectious
disorders; that the davini maithe, _i.e._ the fairies,
were kept in good humour by it; and so thoroughly
persuaded were they of the sanctity of these pagan
practices that they would travel bareheaded and
barefooted from ten to twenty miles for the purpose of
crawling on their knees round these wells and upright
stones and oak trees westward as the sun travels, some
three times, some six, some nine, and so on, in uneven
numbers until their voluntary penances were completely
fulfilled. The waters of Logh-Con were deemed so
sacred from ancient usage that they would throw into
the lake whole rolls of butter as a preservation for
the milk of their cows against
Geasa-Dravideacht."[450]

Scarcely less important than the effect of the antagonism of the
Church in the production of arrested development is the effect of the
toleration of the Church for pagan custom and belief. This toleration
took the shape either of allowing the continuation of pagan custom and
belief as a matter not affecting Christian doctrine or of actual
absorption into Church practice and ritual. The story told to the full
is a long and interesting one. And it still awaits the telling.
Gibbon, in a few sentences, has told us the outline.[451] Other
authorities have told us small episodes. I am, of course, not
concerned here with anything more than to adduce sufficient evidence
to establish the fact that Christian tolerance of paganism has been
one of the assistant causes for the long continuance of pagan
survivals.

I shall not hesitate to begin by quoting at length a luminous passage
from Grimm's great work. In the preface to his second edition he
writes as follows:--

"Oftentimes the Church prudently permitted, or could
not prevent, that heathen and Christian things should
here and there run into one another; the clergy
themselves would not always succeed in marking off the
bounds of the two religions: their private leanings
might let some things pass which they found firmly
rooted in the multitude. In t