Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

142 Old h'isJi Relio-ions.
—
older Erse MSS. he Is described as the son of that deity.
He gained the shore in Kenmare river, opposite the setting
sun, where dead Celts recovered their hves.
The god Dagda, Dago-devo-s, the good god, yet King of
the Tuatha de Danaans, was the Zeus or Ormazd of Irish
mythology. The Danaans, or people of God, were, like
the Devas of India, gods of the day, light, and life. The
Fomore, their enemies, represent the Titans of Greek
story, whose chief Bress, Balar, or Tethra, was identical
with the Persian Ahriman, the Vedic Yama, or even
Varuna.
The Fomore are, says Jubainville, " the gods of the
dead, of night, and of storms." On the other hand, the
Tuatha " are the gods of life, of day, and of the sun, constituting
another group, the less ancient of the gods, if we
believe the doctrine of Celts ;
for, following the Celtic
theory, night preceded day."
The Fomorian gods of earth and night were spoken of
by the Christian chroniclers as pirates ravaging the coast.
But the Book of Invasions simply mentions their arrival by
sea. They must have been monsters, for a work treating
of them had for its title the History of Monsters. Even
Geraldus Cambrensis translated Fomore by Gigantibus.
Among the stories told of them was the one giving some
Fomorians but one foot and one hand, while others were
goat-headed. The tale told of their Kings exacting the
tribute of two-thirds of corn and milk, and two out of
three children born in a family, reminds us of the Greek
Minotaur. The Fomore seem to belong to the beginning
of all things, since no Irish legend knows of anything
before their coming.
Our French author, who had much to report on solar
gods, has the following remarks upon the lunar deity
:
"The queen of night is the moon, which, among the