Irish Druids And Old Irish Religions

[Crissy Herrell]

where it was used as a seat of justice by Gathalus, contemporary with Moses." Boece declares this Gathalus was the son of Cecrops of Athens, and that he married Scota, daughter of Pharaoh. Haydn's Dictionary of Dates relates that "the Lia Fail, on which the Kings of Munster were crowned, was laid in the Cathedral of Cashel."

The Royal Irish Academy had the full Tara story from Dr. Petrie's pen. Referring to what he considered the Lia Fail, the author mentioned its position by the Mound of Hostages, though removed to the Forradh Rath in 1798, over some graves after the Tara fight. "But the mound," said he, "is still popularly called Bed Thearghais; that is, **** Fergusii, an appellation derived from the form of this stone." Other MSS. "identify the Lia Fail with the stone on the Mound of the Hostages." Elsewhere he said--"Between the Irish and Scottish accounts of the history of this stone there is a total want of agreement, which shows that the Scottish writers, when they recorded their tradition, were not acquainted with, or disregarded, the accounts of it preserved by the Irish. The Irish accounts uniformly state that the Lia Fail was brought into Ireland from the north of Germany by the Tuatha de Danaan colony."

The conclusion of Dr. Petrie is as follows--"It is an interesting fact, that a large obeliscal pillar stone, in a prostrate position, occupied, till a recent period, the very situation, on the Hill of Tara, pointed out as the place of the Lia Fail by the Irish writers of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries; and that this was a monument of pagan antiquity, an idol stone, as the Irish writers call it, seems evident from its form and character."

It is, in fact, the remnant of an ancient object of worship, the honouring of the symbol of production, or source of life.

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[Crissy Herrell]

One may smile at a clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Glover, saying of the stone of Jacob, that it was reverenced long by the Jews, and "being lost in the destruction of their sanctuary, 588 B.C., has appeared in Ireland as the precious Liag Phail brought thither by Hebrew men in a ship of war, cir. 584" Mr. Hine, in Leading the Nations to Glory, regards that stone as "a witness to God's covenants in the futures."

One may, also, smile at Dean Stanley's enthusiasm over the rival stone at Westminster, as a "link which unites the throne of England with the traditions of Tara and Ions."

Skene determines that the Lia Fail "never was anywhere but at Tara," while the other stone "never was anywhere but at Scone." Mr. G. Hudson rightly exclaims--"It is a matter of surprise that the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, if they believe this (at Tara) to be the Lia Fail, have made no effort to save such a relic." But Skene's conclusion upon this vexed question of, authenticity is as follows--

"There was no connection between the stone at Scone and the Lia Fail at Tara, and the legends of their wanderings, like those of the tribes with whom they were associated, are nothing but myth and fable."

It is uncomfortable to have one's pleasing romances disturbed; and the Stone of Destiny has had to encounter the searching light of modern inquiry, to the destruction of many pretty fancies. It is good to be happy; it is better to be true.