es _Dond tarb_, the "Brown Bull" of the saga, and also suggests
its presence in Gaul, while the name [Greek: deiotaros], perhaps the
equivalent of _De[^u]io-taruos_, "Divine Bull," is found in
Galatia.[494] Thus the main elements of the saga may have been known to
the continental Celts before it was localised in Ireland,[495] and, it
may be added, if it was brought there by Gallo-British tribes, this
might account for the greater popularity of the native, possibly
pre-Celtic, Fionn saga among the folk, as well as for the finer literary
quality of the Cuchulainn saga. But the identification of Esus with
Cuchulainn rests on slight grounds; the names Esus and Smertullos are
not found in Ireland, and the Gaulish Esus, worshipped with human
sacrifice, has little affinity with the hero, unless his deeds of
slaughter are reminiscent of such rites. It is possible, however, that
the episode of the _Tain_ came from a myth explaining ritual acts. This
myth may have been the subject of the bas-reliefs, carried to Ireland,
and there worked into the saga.

The folk-versions of the saga, though resembling the literary versions,
are less elaborate and generally wilder, and perhaps represent its
primitive form.[496] The greatest differences are found in versions of
the _Tain_ and of Cuchulainn's death, which, separate in the saga, are
parts of one folk-tale, the death occurring during the fighting over the
bull. The bull is his property, and Medb sends Garbh mac Stairn to take
it from him. He pretends to be a child, goes to bed, and tricks Garbh,
who goes off to get the bull. Cuchulainn arrives before him and
personates the herdsman. Each seizes a horn, and the bull is torn in
two.[497] Does this represent the primitive form of the _Tain_, and,
further, were the bull and Cuchulainn once one and the same--a bull, the
incarnation of a god or vegetation spirit, being later made
anthropomorphic--a hero-god whose property or symbol was a bull?
Instances of this process are not unknown among the Celts.[498] In
India, Indra was a bull and a divine youth, in Greece there was the
bull-Dionysos, and among the Celts the name of the divine bull was borne
by kings.[499] In the saga Morrigan is friendly to the bull, but fights
for Medb; but she is now friendly, now hostile to Cuchulainn, finally,
however, trying to avert his doom. If he had once been the bull, her
friendliness would not be quite forgotten, once he became human and
separate from the b