It remains for me to consider the non-ethical motive of the other stories, such as those which ascribe negligence and the consequent inundation to the woman who has the charge of the door or lid of the threatening well. Her negligence is not the cause of the catastrophe, but it leaves the way open for it. What then can have been regarded the cause? One may gather something to the point from the Irish story where the divinity of the well is offended because a woman has gazed into its depths, and here probably, as already suggested (p. 392), we come across an ancient tabu directed against women, which may have applied only to certain wells of peculiarly sacred character. It serves, however, to suggest that the divinities of the water-world were not disinclined to seize every opportunity of extending their domain on the earth's surface; and I am persuaded that this was once a universal creed of some race or other in possession of these islands. Besides the Irish legends already mentioned (pp. 382, 384) of the formation of Lough Neagh, Lough Ree, and others, witness the legendary annals of early Ireland, which, by the side of battles, the clearing of forests, and the construction of causeways, mention the bursting forth of lakes and rivers; that is to say, the formation or the coming into existence, or else the serious expansion, of certain of the actual waters of the country. For the present purpose the details given by The Four Masters are sufficient, and I have hurriedly counted their instances as follows:--
Anno Mundi 2532, number of the lakes formed, 2. ,, ,, 2533, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 1. ,, ,, 2535, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 2. ,, ,, 2545, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 1. ,, ,, 2546, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 1. ,, ,, 2859, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 2. ,, ,, 2860, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 2. ,, ,, 3503, ,, ,, ,, rivers ,, 21. ,, ,, 3506, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 9. ,, ,, 3510, ,, ,, ,, rivers ,, 5. ,, ,, 3520, ,, ,, ,, rivers ,, 9. ,, ,, 3581, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 9. ,, ,, 3656, ,, ,, ,, rivers ,, 3. ,, ,, 3751, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 1. ,, ,, 3751, ,, ,, ,, rivers ,, 3. ,, ,, 3790, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 4. ,, ,, 4169, ,, ,, ,, rivers ,, 5. ,, ,, 4694, ,, ,, ,, lakes ,, 1.
This makes an aggregate of thirty-five lakes and forty-six rivers, that is to say a total of eighty-one eruptions. But I ought, perhaps, to explain that under the head of lakes I have included not only separate pieces of water, but also six inlets of the sea, such as Strangford Lough and the like. Still more to the point is it to mention that of the lakes two are said to have burst forth at the digging of graves. Thus, A.M. 2535, The Four Masters have the following: 'Laighlinne, son of Parthalon, died in this year. When his grave was dug, Loch Laighlinne sprang forth in Ui Mac Uais, and from him it is named [17].' O'Donovan, the editor and translator of The Four Masters, supposes it to be somewhere to the south-west of Tara, in Meath. Similarly, A.M. 4694, they say of a certain Melghe Molbthach, 'When his grave was digging, Loch Melghe burst forth over the land in Cairbre, so that it was named from him.' This is said to be now called Lough Melvin, on the confines of the counties of Donegal, Leitrim, and Fermanagh. These two instances are mentioned by The Four Masters; and here is one given by Stokes in the Rennes Dindsenchas: see the Revue Celtique, xv. 428-9. It has to do with Loch Garman, as Wexford Harbour was called in Irish, and it runs thus: 'Loch Garman, whence is it? Easy to say. Garman Glas, son of Dega, was buried there, and when his grave was dug then the lake burst throughout the land. Whence Loch Garman.' It matters not here that there are alternative accounts of the name.