iv. I am also indebted, particularly for the
translation of the difficult _Song of Finn in Praise of May_, to Dr
Kuno Meyer's translation published in _Eriu_ (the Journal of the
School of Irish Learning), vol. i. pt. 2.
_The Coming of Finn_, _Finns Chief Men_, the _Tale of Vivionn_ and
_The Chase of the Gilla Dacar_, are all handfuls from that rich mine
of Gaelic literature, Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. In
the _Gilla Dacar_ I have modified the second half of the story rather
freely. It appears to have been originally an example of a well-known
class of folk-tales dealing with the subject of the Rescue of
Fairyland. The same motive occurs in the famous tale called _The
Sickbed of Cuchulain_. The idea is that some fairy potentate, whose
realm is invaded and oppressed, entices a mortal champion to come to
his aid and rewards him with magical gifts. But the eighteenth
century narrator whose MS. was edited by Mr S.H. O'Grady, apparently
had not the clue to the real meaning of his material, and after going
on brilliantly up to the point where Dermot plunges into the magic
well, he becomes incoherent, and the rest of the tale is merely a
string of episodes having no particular connexion with each other or
with the central theme. The latter I have here endeavoured to restore
to view.
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