Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

362 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[419]for the general reader. Furthermore, I may claim that the bookis in this sense scientific, that as far as possible it avoids anyadaptation of its material for the popular taste. Such adaptation,when done for an avowed artistic purpose, is of course entirelylegitimate; if it were not, we should have to condemn half thegreat poetry of the world. But here the object has been to presentthe myths and legends of the Celt as they actually are. Cruditieshave not been refined away, things painful or monstrous havenot been suppressed, except in some few instances, where it hasbeen necessary to bear in mind that this volume appeals to awider audience than that of scientific students alone. The readermay, I think, rely upon it that he has here a substantially fair andnot over-idealised account of the Celtic outlook upon life andthe world at a time when the Celt still had a free, independent,natural life, working out his conceptions in the Celtic tongue,and taking no more from foreign sources than he could assimilateand make his own. The legendary literature thus presented is theoldest non-classical literature of Europe. This alone is sufficient,I think, to give it a strong claim on our attention. As to what otherclaims it may have, many pages might be filled with quotationsfrom the discerning praises given to it by critics not of Celticnationality, from Matthew Arnold downwards. But here let itspeak for itself. It will tell us, I believe, that, as Maeldūn saidof one of the marvels he met with in his voyage into Fairyland:“What we see here was a work of mighty men.”[421]GLOSSARY AND INDEXTHE PRONUNCIATION OF CELTIC NAMES