m of Cromm Cruaich. In one story the name is
transferred to S. Patrick's servant, who is asked by the fairies when
they will go to Paradise. "Not till the day of judgment," is the answer,
and for this they cease to help men in the processes of agriculture. But
in a variant Manannan bids Crom ask this question, and the same result
follows.[280] These tales thus enshrine the idea that Crom and the
fairies were ancient gods of growth who ceased to help men when they
deserted them for the Christian faith. If the sacrifice was offered at
the August festival, or, as the texts suggest, at Samhain, after
harvest, it must have been on account of the next year's crop, and the
flesh may have been mingled with the seed corn.

Dagda may thus have been a god of growth and fertility. His wife or
mistress was the river-goddess, Boand (the Boyne),[281] and the children
ascribed to him were Oengus, Bodb Dearg, Danu, Brigit, and perhaps Ogma.
The euhemerists made him die of Cethlenn's venom, long after the battle
of Mag-tured in which he encountered her.[282] Irish mythology is
remarkably free from obscene and grotesque myths, but some of these
cluster round Dagda. We hear of the Gargantuan meal provided for him in
sport by the Fomorians, and of which he ate so much that "not easy was
it for him to move and unseemly was his apparel," as well as his conduct
with a Fomorian beauty. Another amour of his was with Morrigan, the
place where it occurred being still known as "The Couple's Bed."[283] In
another tale Dagda acts as cook to Conaire the great.[284]

The beautiful and fascinating Oengus is sometimes called _Mac Ind Oc_,
"Son of the Young Ones," i.e. Dagda and Boand, or _In Mac Oc_, "The
Young Son." This name, like the myth of his disinheriting his father,
may point to his cult superseding that of Dagda. If so, he may then have
been affiliated to the older god, as was frequently done in parallel
cases, e.g. in Babylon. Oengus may thus have been the high god of some
tribe who assumed supremacy, ousting the high god of another tribe,
unless we suppose that Dagda was a pre-Celtic god with functions similar
to those of Oengus, and that the Celts adopted his cult but gave that of
Oengus a higher place. In one myth the supremacy of Oengus is seen.
After the first battle of Mag-tured, Dagda is forced to become the slave
of Bres, and is much annoyed by a lampooner who extorts the best pieces
of his rations. Following the advice of Oengus, he no