Celtic Mythology and Religion

BRITISH RELIGION.
I03
Yet for all this, for all his mingling of Greek, Roman,
and Jewish history and myth, we may believe that
there is at bottom a germ of genuine Druidic influence,
and of genuine Welsh myth. As a matter
of fact, the tale of the cauldron appears in the history
of the Gaelic counterpart of Taliesin—in the closing
scenes of Ossian's career,
and not at the beginning,
as in Taliesin's case. Ossian, old and blind, tried
to recover his youth by magical means. He now
lived among little men who could not give him
food enough, and consequently he had a belt round
his waist with three skewers Aealg—in it to tighten
his stomach. He went out one day with his gillie
to hunt, and by some supernatural means brought
down three remarkable deer. These he took home
and put in a cauldron to be cooked, bidding his gillie
watch them, and on no account to taste any of the
food. All went right for a time ; the deer were
cooked ; Ossian ate the first and let out one
shewer ; he ate a second and let out a second skewer ;
but as misfortune would have it, while the third
deer was simmering in the cauldron a drop of the
broth spurted out on the gillie's hand, which he
instantly put into his mouth. Ossian ate the third
deer and let out the third skewer, but no youth
returned to him. The licking of the little drop of
broth had broken the spell. The supernatural
knowledge and power g lined by Gwion Bach do not,
of course, appear in this tale, but it may be observed
that Finn gained his knowledge of futurity in a