Celtic Mythology and Religion

THE GAELIC GODS IN HISTORY. 105
and Manannan. Keating quotes from the Book
of Invasions a poem that makes the Dagda " king
of heaven," and he further enumerates ..Badb, Macha,
and Morrighan as the three goddesses of the Tuathade-Danann.
The Tuatha-de-Danann themselves
appear often in the tales as the fairy host, the Side
that dwell in the Land of Promise ;
they interfere
in the affairs of mortals long after they are represented
as having been< expelled from Ireland,
thus,
if not actually mentioned as having been the pagan
gods of the Gael, yet, despite the rampant Euhemerism
of Irish tales and histories, implicitly considered
as such. And again, by adopting the same method
as in the case of the Welsh myths, we shall make the
Irish myths and histories, with their imposing array
of invasions and genealogies, deliver up the deities
they have consigned to the ranks of kings and heroes.
We must, however, first briefly indicate the leading
points of early Irish history, as set down in the
sober pages of their own annalists. Forty days
before the flood the Lady Caesair, granddaughter
of Noah, with fifty girls and three men, came to
Ireland. This is reckoned as the first " invasion "
or " taking " of Ireland. Of course she and her
company all perished when the flood came—all,
with one doubtful exception. For some legends,
with more patriotism than piety, represent Fionntan,
the husband of Caesair, as actually surviving the
flood. The way in which he accomplished this
feat is
H
unlike that of the ancestor of the Macleans,