of the Celtic folk. With neither is it a region of the dead, nor in any sense associated with torment or penance. This is true also of later folk-stories of the Green Isle, now seen beneath, now above, the waters. Its people are deathless, skilled in magic; its waters restore life and health to mortals; there magic apples grow; and thither mortals are lured or wander by chance.23 The same conception is still found in a late story told of Dunlang O'Hartigan, who fought at Clontarf in 1014. A fairy woman offered him two hundred years of life and joy—"life without death, without cold, without thirst, without hunger, without decay"—if he would put off combat for a day; but he preferred death in battle to dishonour, and "foremost fighting, fell."24
The parallel between Celtic and early Greek conceptions of Elysium25 is wonderfully close. Both are open to favoured human beings, who are thus made immortal without death; both are exquisitely beautiful, but sensuous and unmoral. In both are found islands ruled by goddesses who sometimes love mortals; both are oversea, while a parallel to the síd Elysium underground may be found in the later Greek tradition of Elysium as a region of Hades, which may have had roots in an earlier period.26 The main difference is the occasional Celtic view of Elysium as a place where gods are at war. This may be due to warrior aspects of Celtic life, while the more peaceful conception reflects settled, agricultural life; although Norse influences have sometimes been suggested as originating the former.27
