he heard a great cry, and setting off with his charioteer Loeg to discover its meaning, they came to a chariot drawn by a one-legged horse, the chariot-pole passing through its body and emerging from its head. On it was a red woman, clad in red, and near it marched a giant in a red tunic, carrying a spear and a huge forked branch, and driving a cow. Cúchulainn maintained that all the cows in Ulster were his, but the woman denied this, and when he asked why she spoke for the man, she announced that his name was Uar-gaeth-sceo Luachair-sceo. Then the giant cried out that her name was Faebor beg-beoil cuimdiuir folt scenbgairit sceo uath. Irritated at this gibberishan instance of the well-known concealment of divine names the hero leaped into the chariot, placing his feet on the woman's shoulders and his spear at her head, and demanded her true name, to which she replied that she was a sorceress and that the cow was her reward for a poem. Cúchulainn begged to hear it, and the woman consented, provided that he would retire from the chariot. After the poem was recited, Cúchulainn prepared to leap again into the chariot, when woman, giant, cow, and chariot vanished; but on the branch of a tree was a black bird - the woman changed to this form. Now he recognized her as Badb or the Morrígan, the battlegoddess, and she told him that for his conduct she would pursue him with vengeance. She was carrying the cow from the sid of Cruachan, that it might be covered by the bull of Cúalnge and when their calf was a year old, Cúchulainn would die. She would attack him when facing his opponent at the ford during the foray of Cúalnge, and as an eel she would twine round his feet. "I will crush thee against the stones of the ford, and thou wilt never obtain healing from me,” answered Cúchulainn. "As a she-wolf I will bite thy right hand and devour thee," she replied. "I shall strike thee with my lance and put out an eye, and never wilt thou obtain healing from me," he returned. "As a white cow with red ears I will enter the water, followed by a hundred cows. We shall dash upon

thee. Thou wilt fall, and thy head will be taken." "I shall throw a sling-stone at thee, and thy heel shall be broken, and no help wilt thou get from me," cried Cúchulainn; and with that Morrígan disappeared into the síd of Cruachan.2

In a variant of this tale (where the cow-driving incident is perhaps the one which is mentioned in the Echtra Nerai) a different reason for this hostility is given. Morrígan appeared as a beautiful woman offering Cúchulainn her love, her treasures, and her herds, but he replied that the opportunity was not fitting, since he was engaged in a desperate contest, and contemptuously refused her help. She uttered threats as in the previous version; and when he was fighting at the ford, he was overturned by an eel which he crushed in his hand, and again as a wolf and a heifer Morrígan was defeated. Now no one wounded by Cúchulainn could be healed save by himself, and Morrígan therefore appeared as a lame and blind old woman milking a cow with three teats. Cúchulainn asked for milk, which she gave him from each teat, and at every draught he pronounced the blessing of "gods and not-gods" upon her. At each benediction one of her wounds was healed, and now she revealed herself, but was told that, had he known, she would never have had healing from him. Perhaps because of this healing, or because of a subsequent reconcilement, before Cúchulainn went to the last fatal fight, the goddess broke his chariot, "for she liked not his going to the battle, knowing that he would not come again to Emain Macha." The story also shows how divinities have the gift of shape-shifting, though it does not always avail them against the prowess of a hero.

The idea that gods punish neglect of their worship or commands, or avenge other sinful actions, is found in most religions, and some stories seem to be derived from it, as when Welsh legend knows of Nynnyaw and Peibaw transformed to oxen for their sins by God-a probable substitution for a pagan divinity. Instances of the destruction of corn and milk

by divinities have been cited, and these perhaps signify punishment for neglecting the gods, seeing that, in the case of the Milesians with Dagda, this was followed by a compact made with him the equivalent of the fresh covenant made with God by His careless worshippers in the Old Testament. Possibly stories like that of Aillén mac Midhna of the Tuatha Dé Danann, coming out of the síd every year to burn Tara,' point to the same conception. The gods even punished members of their own group for wrongdoing, as in the case of Aoife, who was transformed by Bodb; and Bécuma was banished from the gods' land because of her sin with Manannan's son. She came to earth in a self-moving boat and by spells bound Conn, high king of Ireland, to do her will and to banish his son Art; but while she remained in dalliance with Conn for a year, there was neither corn nor milk in Ireland - a direct divine punishment, for it was held that an evil king's reign was marked by famine and destruction. The Druids told Conn that nothing would avail save the sacrifice of "the son of a sinless couple," i. e. the son of the queen of a divine land, whom Conn brought thence. To rescue the boy his mother came with a marvellous cow, which was accepted as a sacrifice, while the queen told Conn that he must renounce Bécuma, else Ireland would lose a third of its corn and milk. Later, when the síd-folk stole the chess-men with which Bécuma was playing with Art, she put spells on him not to eat until he had brought Delbchaem from a mysterious island, intending thus to cause his death. He sailed till he reached an Elysian island, whose fair women taught him how to escape the dangers before him and to find Delbchaem; but when he brought her to Tara, Bécuma in disgust left Conn for ever. Punishment of a divine being is also seen in the story of Manannan's slaying Fer Fedail because of his misdeed, which resulted in the drowning of Tuag.' Conchean slew Dagda's son Aed for seducing his wife, and though Dagda did not kill him, he made him carry the corpse until he found a stone as long as Aed to put upon his grave.10

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PLATE VIII

SQUATTING GOD

The deity has torques on his neck and lap, and is encircled by two serpents with rams' heads. Traces of horns appear on his head. He may possibly be a form of Cernunnos (see Plate XVI), and would thus be a divinity of the underworld. From an altar found at Autun, Saône-etLoire. For a representation on a Gaulish coin see Plate III, 3; cf. also Plates IX, XXV.