rooked may have been due to the fact that it long stood
ready to topple over, as a result of S. Patrick's miracle. See p. 286,
_infra_.

[277] Vallancey, in _Coll. de Rebus Hib._ 1786, iv. 495.

[278] _LL_ 213_b_. D'Arbois thinks Cromm was a Fomorian, the equivalent
of Taranis (ii. 62). But he is worshipped by Gaels. _Crin_, "withered,"
probably refers to the idol's position after S. Patrick's miracle, no
longer upright but bent like an old man. Dr. Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of
Ireland_, 87, with exaggerated patriotism, thinks the sacrificial
details are copied by a Christian scribe from the Old Testament, and are
no part of the old ritual.

[279] _RC_ xvi. 35, 163.

[280] Fitzgerald, _RL_ iv. 175.

[281] _RC_ xxvi. 19.

[282] _Annals of the Four Masters_, A.M. 3450.

[283] _RC_ xii. 83, 85; Hyde, _op. cit._ 288.

[284] _LU_ 94.

[285] _RC_ xii. 65. Elsewhere three supreme "ignorances" are ascribed to
Oengus (_RL_ xxvi. 31).

[286] _RC_ iii. 342.

[287] _LL_ 11_c_; _LU_ 129; _IT_ i. 130. Cf. the glass house, placed
between sky and moon, to which Tristan conducts the queen. Bedier,
_Tristan et Iseut_, 252. In a fragmentary version of the story Oengus is
Etain's wooer, but Mider is preferred by her father, and marries her. In
the latter half of the story, Oengus does not appear (see p. 363,
_infra_). Mr. Nutt (_RC_ xxvii. 339) suggests that Oengus, not Mider,
was the real hero of the story, but that its Christian redactors gave
Mider his place in the second part. The fragments are edited by Stirn
(_ZCP_ vol. v.).

[288] _HL_ 146.

[289] See my _Childhood of Fiction_, 114, 153. The tale has some unique
features, as it alone among Western _Maerchen_ and saga variants of the
"True Bride" describes the malicious woman as the wife of Mider. In
other words, the story implies polygamy, rarely found in European
folk-tales.

[290] O'Grady, _TOS_ iii.

[291] _RC_ i. 41.

[292] O'Curry, _MC_ i. 71.

[293] _LL_ 117_a_. See p. 381, _infra_.

[294] Cumont, _RC_ xxvi. 47; D'Arbois, _RC_ xxvii. 127, notes the
difficulty of explaining the change of _e_ to _i_ in the names.

[295] _HL_ 121.

[296] See Crooke, _Folk-Lore_, viii. 341. Cf. Herod, ii. 131.

[297] Loth, i. 269.

[298] _HL_ 563.

[299] Train, _Isle of Man_, Douglas, 1845, ii. 118; Grimm, _Teut. Myth._
ii. ch. 24; Frazer, _GB_{2} ii. 99 f.

[300] Bathurst, _Roman Antiquities at Lydney Park_, 1879; Holder, _s.v._
"Nodons."

[301] See Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 122;