Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

254 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[296]transported to Erin in like manner as we were dragged here, andI shall deem the indignity we have suffered fitly atoned for.” Onthis the king smiled and, turning to Finn, said: “O Finn, beholdthy men.” Finn turned to look at them, but when he looked roundagain the scene had changed—the fairy king and his host and allthe world of Faëry had disappeared, and he found himself withhis companions and the fair-armed Tasha standing on the beachof the little bay in Kerry whence the Hard Gilly and the mare hadtaken the water and carried off his men. And then all started withcheerful hearts for the great standing camp of the Fianna on theHill of Allen to celebrate the wedding feast of Finn and Tasha.Effect of Christianity on the Development of IrishLiteratureThis tale with its fascinating mixture of humour, romance,magic, and love of wild nature, may be taken as a typical specimenof the Fian legends at their best. As compared with the Conorianlegends they show, as I have pointed out, a characteristic lack ofany heroic or serious element. That nobler strain died out with thegrowing predominance of Christianity, which appropriated fordefinitely religious purposes the more serious and lofty side ofthe Celtic genius, leaving for secular literature only the elementsof wonder and romance. So completely was this carried outthat while the Finn legends have survived to this day amongthe Gaelic-speaking population, and were a subject of literarytreatment as long as Gaelic was written at all, the earlier cycleperished almost completely out of the popular remembrance, orsurvived only in distorted forms; and but for the early manuscriptsin which the tales are fortunately enshrined such a work asthe “Tain Bo Cuailgné”—the greatest thing undoubtedly whichthe Celtic genius ever produced in literature—would now beirrecoverably lost.The Tales of Deirdre and of GraniaNothing can better illustrate the difference between the twocycles than a comparison of the tale of Deirdre with that with