le of "Bardic King." They display much that is vigorous and
original, but are disfigured by mysticism and extravagant metaphor.
When Elis Wyn represents him as sitting by a cauldron in Hades, he
alludes to a wild legend concerning him, to the effect that he
imbibed awen or poetical genius whilst employed in watching "the
seething pot" of the sorceress Cridwen, which legend has much in
common with one of the Irish legends about Fin Macoul, which is
itself nearly identical with one in the Edda describing the manner in
which Sigurd Fafnisbane became possessed of supernatural wisdom.'

It is curious enough that the legend about deriving wisdom from _sucking
the scalded finger_ should be found in Wales, Ireland, and Scandinavia.
But so it is, and Mr. Borrow is clearly entitled to the credit of having
been the first to point out to the world this remarkable fact. In his
work called the 'Romany Rye,' published some years ago, a story is
related containing parts of the early history of the Irish mythic hero
Fion Mac Comhail, {33} or Fin Mac Coul, in which there is an account of
his burning his thumb whilst smoothing the skin of a fairy salmon which
is broiling over a fire, and deriving supernatural knowledge from
thrusting his thumb into his mouth and sucking it; and Mr. Borrow tells
the relater of that legend, his amusing acquaintance Murtagh, that the
same tale is told in the Edda of Sigurd, the Serpent-Killer, with the
difference that Sigurd burns his finger, not whilst superintending the
broiling of a salmon, but whilst roasting the heart of Fafnir, the
man-serpent, whom he had slain.

Here, in his note on Taliesin, he shows that the same thing in substance
is said of the ancient Welsh bard. Of the three versions of the legend,
the one of which Sigurd Fafnisbane is the hero is probably the most
original, and is decidedly the most poetical.

Footnotes

{20} It is but right to state that the learned are divided with respect
to the meaning of 'Cumro,' and that many believe it to denote _an
original inhabitant_.

{21a} Yehen banog: humped or bunched oxen, probably buffaloes. Banog is
derived from ban--a prominence, protuberance, or peak.

{21b} Above we have given what we believe to be a plain and fair history
of Hu Gadarn; but it is necessary to state, that after his death he was
deified, and was confounded with the Creator, the vivifying power and the
sun, and mixed up with