NOTES ON CELTIC CAULDRONS OF PLENTY AND THE LAND-BENEATH-THE-WAVES ARTHUR C. L. BROWN I The following pages study the connection between Celtic cauldrons of plenty and the Land-beneath-the-Waves. The subject has interesting possibilities, because the oldest Grail romances seem to contain traces of an original location of the Grail castle, with its talisman of plenty, upon or beneath the sea. Some twenty-five years ago Nutt1 sought to connect the Fish of Wisdom in Irish story with the Fisher King, and with the marvellous fish which Brons, according to Boron, caught at the bidding of Joseph of Arimathea. Although Nutt made the valuable suggestion that the talismans of the Grail castle are ultimately derived from the four "jewels" of the Tuatha Dé Danaan, he relied upon stories of the Irish Finn Cycle, which are difficult to prove ancient, and upon recently collected Irish folk-tales. He dwelt upon particular traits of the Salmon of Wisdom which are hard to find in the fish of the Grail stories. It would seem, therefore, that further progress does not lie along the exact lines that he laid down. Rhys, somewhat later,2 suggested as a parallel to the Grail the mwys or basket of Gwyddno Garanhir. The basket of Gwyddno is described in the Welsh tale of Kulhwch and Olwen, which is generally admitted to date back to a period before the rise of French and English Arthurian romance. This clue, together with Nutt's important suggestion of the four "jewels" of the Tuatha Dé Danaan, seems to mark the path for probable future discovery. On the other hand, advocates of the theory of a purely Christian origin for the Grail have sometimes argued as if Christian legend could adequately explain the Fisher King, and as if the epithet "rich fisher" were a stumbling block for the Celtic hypothesis. They rely upon the fact that Boron and 1 Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail, pp. 184 f. (1888). 2 The Arthurian Legend, pp. 311 f. (1891). For other references see Professor Nitze's useful articles, PMLA., XXIV, 365 f.; Studies in Honor of Marshall Elliott, I, 19–51. 3 Loth, Rev. Celt., XXXII, 433 (1911). 4 Heinzel, Ueber die franz. Gralromane, pp. 13, 192; Hertz, Parzival, p. 427; and especially Wechssler, Die Sage vom heiligen Gral, p. 130: "Die Bezeichnung 'reicher Fischer,' hat christlich-symbolische Bedeutung, = Menschenfischer: Matt. iv, 19; Mark i, 17; Luke v, 10.... ... Dieser Name des Gralhüters stammt also aus der christlichen Symbolik, und nicht, wie sämmtliche Graldichter erzählen, daher, dass der alte Gralkönig dem Gralsucher auf einem Flusse fischend erschien." many later Grail writers obviously tried to connect the Fisher King with the Biblical phrase “fishers of men," and with the fish (ix¤ús) used as a symbol by early Christians. Reflection, however, reveals difficulties which have prevented the general acceptance of any theory of this kind, and which seem to indicate that the true origin of the Fisher King is not to be found in this direction.1 To discuss the whole question of the origin of the Grail would lead us too far. Since, however, the hypothesis of a Celtic source (whether Welsh or Breton) is more probable than any other,2 an endeavor is made in the following pages to test it in what has been regarded by some as a vulnerable point, by examining as searchingly as possible how far it can explain the title "Fisher King," and the other traces of the watery realm which, as has been remarked, appear in the Grail romances. The oldest and best-known vessels of plenty in Irish and Welsh respectively are the coire of the Dagda, and the mays of Gwyddno Garanhir. For the sake of completeness other vessels of plenty which figure in Irish and Welsh tradition are briefly considered. II The cauldron of the Dagda is one of four famous talismans3 of the Tuatha Dé Danaan which are best described in the Cath Maige Turedh: 4 1 If the phrase "rich fisher" meant in origin one who converted many, Peter ought to be the original Fisher King, certainly not Joseph of Arimathea or any other figure like Brons. Yet none of the oldest Grail romances give any hint that Peter was the original Fisher King. He is not even mentioned except in Boron, and here he is a subordinate character rather obviously inserted because of Boron's idea that a connection existed between his Fisher King and the Biblical phrase "fishers of men." Compare the admission of Heinzel, op. cit., p. 98: "Das ist Nutt zuzugeben, dass das 26. Capitel des Matthäusevangeliums und das 15. des Evangeliums Nicodemi nicht, wie Birch-Hirschfeld, Die Sage vom Gral, 222, meint, ausreichen, um alle Vorstellungen, welche das Mittelalter vom Gral hatte, zu erklären." In short, the connection between the Fisher King and Christian legend looks like a post factum invention made to account for the epithet "fisher" already in the story. The oldest Grail romancers, Chrétien, Wauchier, do not give the purely Christian theory any support. Space does not permit the mention of other difficulties, such as the heterodox tinge present in all the Grail romances, which can hardly be accounted for except by supposing that a Christian interpretation has been superimposed upon a heathen basis. 2 The so-called "Tischlein-deck-dich " motive occurs in the popular tales of every age and every clime. But it would seem that only from the Celts could the Grail stories have appeared precisely in the way in which they did appear in the Middle Ages, and tradition has always connected these stories with a Celtic origin. 8 Called "jewels" (seoid) and "gifts" (aisgeadha), Keating, Irish Texts Soc., IV, 205-210. 4 Rev. Celt., XII, 56-58. This text is in a MS. of the fifteenth century, but must from evidence of grammatical forms be older. The antiquity of the tradition concerning the four jewels seems indisputable. The Lia Fáil is referred to in LL. 9 a, 14 (Book of Leinster, a MS. of 1150). See Nutt, Voyage of Bran, II, 171. The Dagda's cauldron is mentioned in LL., and under the name caire ainsic, the undry cauldron," in Cormac's Glossary, which is generally thought to be a work of the ninth or tenth century. See Stokes, Three Irish Glossaries, London, 1862, p. xviii, and the translation, p. 45, London, 1868. Out of Falias was brought the stone of Fál, which was in Tara. It used to roar under every king that would take (rule over) Ireland. Out of Gorias was brought the spear that Lugh had. No battle was ever won against it or him who held it in his hand. Out of Findias was brought the sword of Nuada. When it was drawn from its deadly sheath no one ever escaped from it and it was irresistible. Out of Murias was brought the Dagda's cauldron. No company ever went from it unthankful.1 The name Murias evidently refers to the sea, muir, and probably to the Landbeneath-the-Waves. According to Keating's History 2 the Tuatha Dé Danaan were seven years at Dobar and Iardobar, "Water" and "Behind Water." 3 The Dagda is obviously associated in old documents with the water-world. He had a son, Angus, by Boand, the nymph of the river Boyne. He is in numerous passages connected with Manannán mac Lir, the well-known sea god of the Irish (Ler, "the sea"). In one of the oldest of Irish stories, Imram Brain,5 Manannán drives in a chariot over the waves, and occasionally plucks a salmon fish from the water. The Dagda is called brother to Núadha Airgetlam," who, as will be pointed out later, is pretty certainly a sea god. In the great collection of Irish place-legends called the Dinnshenchas the Dagda's "cauldron" (coire) is apparently referred to under the name "tub" (drochta). The entry, like many others in the Dinnshenchas, seems to be a mnemonic sketch of a story well known at the time. For us it is obscure and 1 The text of this paragraph is: "A Murias tucad coiri an Dagdai. Ni tegedh dam dimdach uadh." 2 Irish Texts Soc., IV, 205. 3 Rhys, Hibbert Lectures, p. 257. Dobar,"water,” is explained in Cormac's Glossary, tr. p. 40. 4 Rhys, op. cit., pp. 123, 144. In LL. 191 a, is an account of Boand's adventure at Nechtan's well, which she profaned, and in consequence it overwhelmed her and issued as the river Boyne (translated in O'Grady, Silv. Gad., II, 474, 519). This passage calls Boand "Nechtan's wife," but adds that she was the mother of Angus, son of the Dagda. 5 Meyer, Voyage of Bran, I, 16 f. 6 Rev. Celt., XII, 80, etc. 7 See below, p. 243. 8 The text in LL. 159 a, 50, says: "Gabhal Glas, son of Ethadón, son of Núadha Argatlaim, took away a bundle of twigs, which Ainge, the Dagda's daughter, had gathered to make a tub thereof. For the tub (drochta) which the Dagda used to make (dogníd, impf.) would not cease from dripping while the sea was in flood, though not a drop came out of it during the ebb." Silv. Gad., II, 476, 523. The same account is in the Bodleian Dinnshenchas, No. 6, and in the Rennes Dinnshenchas, Rev. Celt., XV, 302. In the metrical Dinnshenchas in LL. the account is somewhat different: Dear to me is bright Gabul . . . A tub (drochta) was made for his daughter She loved the lot of virginity. He it was who stole it (burden of a tale), Gwynn, RIA., Todd Lecture Series, IX, 58 (1906). The word drochta is of somewhat doubtful meaning. Stokes, ZFCP., III, 468, would connect it etymologically with "trough," and points out that in Cormac's Glossary, tr., p. 14, it is glossed by seinlestar, "an old vessel." Gwynn, op. cit., thinks it may mean a kind of boat. He also suggests that the connection between it and the tide may have been one of sympathy only. But something more than this seems implied by the words "above the breastwork of the high river mouth, the translation is in part uncertain. It appears probable, however, that the passage connects the Dagda's vessel of plenty with the sea, and regards it as a kind of woven basket (of twigs). The Brugh of the Dagda, Brugh na Boinne, was a favorite form of the Irish otherworld. It contained his cauldron, which satisfied all comers; his unfailing swine, one always living, and the other ready for cooking; a vessel of ale, and three trees always laden with fruit. No one died there.1 By a trick the palace of the Dagda passed into the possession of Angus, and it is sometimes said to belong to Bodhb Dearg, son of the Dagda. In the Book of Fermoy, a fifteenth-century MS., occurs what is evidently another description of Brugh na Boinne. Manannán, we are told, "settled the Tuatha Dé Danaan in the most beautiful valleys, drawing round them an invisible wall, which was impenetrable to the eyes of men, and impassable." He also supplied them with "the ale of Góibniu the smith," which preserved them from old age, disease, and death.2 In the oldest records are a number of statements connecting the Dagda with smithcraft. In the Triads of Ireland, which are dated by the editor before 900,3 we read that one of "the three things that constitute a blacksmith is inneóin in Dagda, "the anvil of the Dagda." According to Cormac's Glossary, Brigit or Ana was daughter of the Dagda, and was called Brigit bé goibnechta, "Brigit the female smith." The Dagda's abode, Brugh na Boinne, resembled the Grail castle in having connected with it a lacustrine smith. The Dinnshenchas associates Bodhb's sid (the Dagda's palace) with a subaqueous smith who dwelt beneath Lake Killarney: "Whence loch Léin (Killarney)? Lein línfiaclach mac Ban, etc., was the craftsman of Bodhb's sid. He it was that dwelt in the lake (Isé boi isin loch), and wrought the bright vessels of Fand, daughter of Flidais.” 5 The reader will be reminded of the sword of the Grail castle, which according to Chrétien could be remade only by the smith Trebuchet, who dwelt "au lac qui est sor Cotovatre." Trebuchet probably dwelt beneath the lake. In Gerbert's continuation of Perceval a visit of the hero to Trebuchet is described." The entrance to his abode was guarded by two dragons, and was perhaps located beneath the lake. Wolfram's Parzival also describes the Grail sword. It would break at the first blow, and must be plunged in the water of the spring Lac by Karnant to be restored.8 1 D'Arbois, Cours, II, 270 f., from LL. 246 a. 2 Todd, RIA., Irish MS. Series, I, i, 46. 8 Meyer, RIA., Todd Lecture Series, XIII, 16, No. 120. 4 Tr., pp. 4, 23, 145. According to the Cath Maige Turedh (Rev. Celt., XII, 81), the Dagda was brother to Góibniu the smith. 5 Silv. Gad., II, 477, 523, from the Book of Ballymote. The same account is in the Rennes Dinnshenchas, Rev. Celt., XV, 451, and in the metrical Dinnshenchas, in LL. 154 b, 35. Perceval, ed. Baist, 3637. Miss Weston (Sir Perceval, I, 135) reads from MS. 12576 "soz Cothoathre." 7 Miss J. E. Weston, Sir Perceval, I, 141 f. 8 Parzival, ed. Martin, 253, 24 f.; 433, 25 f. The Grail romancers seldom mention the proper name of the Grail King. Chrétien and Wauchier, the two oldest, leave him anonymous, calling him "le riche roi pescheor," or "le peschiere." Boron names him Brons, and Wolfram, Anfortas. A parallel to this may be traced in the treatment of "the Dagda" by the Irish records. "The Dagda" is an epithet of uncertain etymology,1 and the god's proper name, which is not often mentioned, is variously given. The reticence of the Irish about the Dagda probably arose from a desire to avoid offending the deity by mentioning his real name, just as the modern Irish avoid mentioning the fairies, but speak of them as "the good people." Another resemblance between the Grail King and the Dagda, is that both are magicians and shape-shifters.2 III Other well-known vessels of plenty in Irish story are the cauldron of Gerg, that of Cúroi, and that of Cormac. The cauldron, dabach, or airidig, of Gerg is described in the Tochmarc Ferbe: 3 Conchobar mac Nessa brought out of the fortress of Gerg Faeburdel the brazen vat that stood in the house, which when full of beer was wont to be sufficient for the whole land of Ulster, and this is that vat which by the men of Ulster was called the Ol Guala, or CoalVat, since a fire of coals was wont to be in that house in Emain in which that vat was drunk. And from it hath been named Loch Guala Umai in the Island of Daim, which is in the realm of Ulster; for underneath the lake unto this day is that vat hidden in a secret place.* The cauldron of Cúroi was in the first place carried off by Cuchulinn and Cúroi from the stronghold of Mider in the island of Falga.5 Mider is one of the Tuatha Dé Danaan, and Falga, although strictly speaking a name for the Isle of Man, doubtless here, as often, denotes the otherworld. According to one form of the story Cuchulinn attacked a revolving castle in which Cúroi dwelt, and after killing him carried off his cows and his cauldron. Another 1 "The good god" or "the good hand" is the meaning assigned by Irish scribes, and by Stokes, Rev. Celt., XII, 83, 125. But in Rev. Celt., VI, 369 and Cormac's Glossary, tr., p. 23, Stokes translated Dagda "the cunning one," and connected it with a root DAGH (doctus); see below, p. 243, n. 8. Among names for the Dagda are "Eocho the All-Father," Eocho Oll Athir, LL. 9 b, 17; Dagan, LL. 245 b, 41; Cratan Cain, LL. 114 a, 40; Cera, H. 3, 18, 633 d, Cormac's Glossary, tr., 47 ; "Lord of Great Knowledge" or "Red Man of Great Knowledge," Rúad Rofhessa, Cormac, tr., 144-145; and "Son of all the Sciences," Mac-na-n-ule-dana, LL. 149 a. He is commonly called Dagda Mor" the Great." 2 On the shape-shifting of the Fisher King see the "Elucidation," Perceval, ed. Potvin, 222. 3 Ed. Windisch, Irische Texte, III, 516, from LL. * The text of the last phrase is: "Ar is fói atá indiu i n-diamraib." The same story is in Chir Anmain, Windisch, Irische Texte, III, 358. In neither place is Gerg's cauldron explicitly said to be a cauldron of plenty, but since it contained enough liquor for the whole of Ulster, this is a reasonable hypothesis. 5 Rhŷs, Hibbert Lectures, p. 475; Keating, Irish Texts Soc., VIII, 223. * LL. 169 b, 42 f, printed by O'Grady, Silv. Gad., II, 482, 530. |