. The second really completes the first, though they are not
found united in Irish literature. Both pieces are given in O'Curry's
MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, and Miss Hull has printed translations
of them in her CUCHULLIN SAGA, the translation of the _Siege_ being by
Dr Whitly Stokes and that of the _Death of Conor_ by O'Curry. These
are very ancient tales and contain a strong barbaric element. Versions
of both of them are found in the great MS. collection known as the
BOOK OF LEINSTER (twelfth century).

_King Iubdan and King Fergus_ is a brilliant piece of fairy
literature. The imaginative grace, the humour, and, at the close, the
tragic dignity of this tale make it worthy of being much more widely
known than it has yet become. The original, taken from one of the
Egerton MSS. in the British Museum, will be found with a translation
in O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. For the conclusion, I have in the main
followed another version (containing the death of Fergus only), given
in the SEANCUS MOR and finely versified by Sir Samuel Ferguson in his
POEMS, 1880.

_The Story of Etain and Midir_. This beautiful and very ancient
romance is extant in two distinct versions, both of which are
translated by Mr A.H. Leahy in his HEROIC ROMANCES. The tale is found
in several MSS., among others, in the twelfth century BOOK OF THE DUN
COW (LEABHAR NA H-UIDHRE). It has been recently made the subject of a
dramatic poem by "Fiona Macleod."

_How Ethne quitted Fairyland_ is taken from D'Arbois de Jubainville's
CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS, ch. xii. 4. The original is to be found
in the fifteenth century MS., entitled THE BOOK OF FERMOY.

_The Boyhood of Finn_ is based chiefly on the MACGNIOMHARTHA FHINN,
published in 1856, with a translation, in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE
OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol. iv. I am also indebted, particularly for the
translation of the difficult _Song of Finn in Praise of May_, to Dr
Kuno Meyer's translation published in _Eriu_ (the Journal of the
School of Irish Learning), vol. i. pt. 2.

_The Coming of Finn_, _Finns Chief Men_, the _Tale of Vivionn_ and
_The Chase of the Gilla Dacar_, are all handfuls from that rich mine
of Gaelic literature, Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. In
the _Gilla Dacar_ I have modified the second half of the story rather
freely. It appears to have been originally an example of a well-known
class of folk-tales dealing with the subject of the Rescue of
Fairyland. The sam