The mythological cycle is not only fully pagan, it is primeval.

It has the vastness, the savagery, the relentlessness of nature-myths, and what beauty there is in it is akin to terror.
Gentleness is unknown.

There is only one exception to this, so far as I know, and that is in the story of _The Children of Lir_.

It is plain, however, that the Christian ending of that sorrowful story is a later addition to it.

It is remarkably well done, and most tenderly.