and girls; it troubles itself with the rights of the matter even less
than Flidais if possible, and is an example of an Irish tale with what
is called in modern times a "good ending." It may be noted that these
last two tales have no trace of the supernatural element which some
suppose that the Irish writers were unable to dispense with. The "Tain
bo Regamna," the shortest piece in the collection, is a grotesque
presentation of the supernatural, and is more closely associated with
the Great Tain than any of the other fore-tales to it, the series of
prophecies with which it closes exactly following the action of the
part of the Tain, to which it refers. Some of the grotesque character
of Regamna appears in the "Boar of Mac Datho," which, however, like
Regamon and Flidais, has no supernatural element; its whole tone is
archaic and savage, relieved by touches of humour, but the style of the
composition is much superior to that of the first three stories. A
romance far superior to "Mae Datho" is the Leinster version of the
well-known Deirdre story, the "Death of the Sons of Usnach." The
opening of the story is savage, the subsequent action of the prose is
very rapid, while the splendid lament at the end, one of the best
sustained laments in the language, and the restraint shown in its
account of the tragic death of Deirdre, place this version of the story
in a high position. As has been already mentioned, parts of the
fifteenth-century version of the story have been added to this version
for purposes of comparison: the character of the Deirdre of the
Leinster version would not have been in keeping with the sentiment of
the lament given to her in the later account.

The remaining five romances (treating as two the two versions of
"Etain") all show great beauty in different ways. Three of the four
tales given in them have "good endings," and the feeling expressed in
them is less primitive than that shown in the other stories, although