"
[Footnote A: _Tumuli at New Grange. Trans. Roy. Irish Academy_, XXX. 1.]
But certain of the expressions in this are evidently to be taken
figuratively, since Mr. Coffey states, in connection with this and other
quotations, that their importance consists in that they establish the
existence at a very early date of a tradition associating Brugh na Boinne,
the burial-place of the kings of Tara, with the tumuli on the Boyne. The
association of particular monuments with the Dagda and other divinities
and heroes of Irish mythology implies that the actual persons for whom
they were erected had been forgotten, the pagan traditions being probably
broken by the introduction of Christianity. The mythological ancestors of
the heroes and kings interred at Brugh, who probably were even
contemporarily associated with the cemetery, no doubt subsequently
overshadowed in tradition the actual persons interred there.
Finally, it seems that the fairy hills may have been actual
dwelling-places, fortified or not, of prehistoric peoples.
Pages:
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69