Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER III: THE IRISH INVASION MYTHS 97Fomorians on its way. The Dagda's invocation of the harp is verysingular, and not a little puzzling:“Come, apple-sweet murmurer,” he cries, “come, fourangledframe of harmony, come, Summer, come, Winter,from the mouths of harps and bags and pipes.” 87The allusion to summer and winter suggests the practice inIndian music of allotting certain musical modes to the differentseasons of the year (and even to different times of day), and alsoan Egyptian legend referred to in Burney's “History of Music,”where the three strings of the lyre were supposed to answerrespectively to the three seasons, spring, summer, and winter. 88When the Dagda got possession of the harp, the tale goes on,he played on it the “three noble strains” which every great master [119]of the harp should command, namely, the Strain of Lament,which caused the hearers to weep, the Strain of Laughter, whichmade them merry, and the Strain of Slumber, or Lullaby, whichplunged them all in a profound sleep. And under cover of thatsleep the Danaan champion stole out and escaped. It may beobserved that throughout the whole of the legendary literature ofIreland skill in music, the art whose influence most resemblesthat of a mysterious spell or gift of Faëry, is the prerogative ofthe People of Dana and their descendants. Thus in the “Colloquyof the Ancients,” a collection of tales made about the thirteenthor fourteenth century, St. Patrick is introduced to a minstrel,Cascorach, “a handsome, curly-headed, dark-browed youth,”who plays so sweet a strain that the saint and his retinue allfall asleep. Cascorach, we are told, was son of a minstrel ofthe Danaan folk. St. Patrick's scribe, Brogan, remarks, “Agood cast of thine art is that thou gavest us.” “Good indeed itwere,” said Patrick, “but for a twang of the fairy spell that infests87 O'Curry, “Manners and Customs,” iii. 214.88 The ancient Irish division of the year contained only these three seasons,including autumn in summer (O'Curry, “Manners and Customs,” iii. 217).]