Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

242 Old Irish Religions.
mystical fishes. An old writer says, " They do call the
said fishes Easa Scant, that is to say, holie fishes." In
the charming poem oi Dia7nnuid, there is an account of the
Knight of the Fountain, and the sacred silver cup from
which the
pilgrim drank.
Giraldus, the Welsh Seer, beheld a man washing part of
his head in the pool at the top of Slieve GuUion, in Ireland,
when the part immediately turned grey, the hair having
been black before. The opposite effect would be a virtue.
Prof. Robertson Smith, while admitting Well-worship as
occurring with the most primitive of peoples, finds it connected
with agriculture, when the aborigines had no better
knowledge of a God. The source of a spring, said he, " is
honoured as a Divine Being, I had almost said a divine
animal."
'' Such springs," remarks Rhys, " have in later
times been treated as Holy Wells."
River-worship, as is well known, has been nearly universal
among rude peoples, and human sacrifices not
uncommonly followed. The river god of Esthonia sometimes
appeared to the villagers as a little man with blueand-white
stockings. Streams, like wells, are under the
care of local deities. Even our river Severn was adored
in the time of the Roman occupation, as we know by Latin
inscriptions.
Wells varied in curative powers. St. Tegla's was good
for epilepsy. Rickety children benefit from a thrice
dipping. Some, by the motion of the waters when something
is thrown in, will indicate the coming direction of
wind. Some will cure blindness, like that at Rathlogan,
while others will cause it, except to some favoured mortals.
Offerings must be made to the spirit in charge of the
well, and to the priestess acting as guardian. If in any
way connected with the person, so much the better. A
piece of a garment, money touched by the hand, or even