Identifier: mythslegendscelt00roll (find matches)
Title: Myths and legends ; the Celtic race
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Rolleston, T. W. (Thomas William), 1857-1920
Subjects: Celts Celts Celtic literature Legends, Celtic
Publisher: Boston : Nickerson
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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sprung. After these came the Sons of Miled, whoconquered the People of Dana. All this time Tuankept the shape of the sea-eagle, till one day, findinghimself about to undergo another transformation, hefasted nine days ; then sleep fell upon me, and I waschanged into a salmon. He rejoices in his new life,escaping for many years the snares of the fishermen,till at last he is captured by one of them and broughtto the wife of Carell, chief of the country. Thewoman desired me and ate me by herself, whole, sothat I passed into her womb. He is born again, andpasses for Tuan son of Carell; but the memory of hispre-existence and all his transformations and all thehistory of Ireland that he witnessed since the days ofPartholan still abides with him, and he teaches all thesethings to the Christian monks, who carefully preservethem. This wild tale, with its atmosphere of grey antiquityand of childlike wonder, reminds us of the transforma-tions of the Welsh Taliessin, who also became an eagle, 100
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Tuan watches Nemed lOO THE NEMEDIANS and points to that doctrine of the transmigration of thesoul which, as we have seen, haunted the imaginationof the Celt. We have now to add some details to the sketch ofthe successive colonisations of Ireland outlined byTuanmac Carell. The Nemedians The Nemedians, as we have seen, were akin to thePartholanians. Both of them came from the mysteriousregions of the dead, though later Irish accounts, whichendeavoured to reconcile this mythical matter withChristianity, invented for them a descent from Scripturalpatriarchs and an origin in earthly lands such as Spain orScythla. Both of them had to do constant battle withthe Fomorlans, whom the later legends make out to bepirates from oversea, but who are doubtless divinitiesrepresenting the powers of darkness and evil. ThereIs no legend of the Fomorlans coming into Ireland, norwere they regarded as at any time a regular portion ofthe population. They were coeval with the world itself.Nemed fought victori

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