The Penguin Classic Early Irish Myths And Sagas exhibits a great cross-section of the many examples of the stories told by Iron Age Celts. These stories revolve around the customs, battles, gods, and heroes of the ancient Celts. It is said that a great deal can be learned from Irish tales about the clothing, weapons, houses, and other aspects of the material culture of the Iron Age Celts 1 and that the stories are more valuable for scholars of society than scholars of religion 2. The question if these stories are a good 'window' on the Iron Age is a difficult one. Firstly historians can not even confirm what happened in the time of the Iron Age Celts, secondly, without much primary information on place names or on the deities and their function. This makes it hard to analyze the stories and gain extra information. All these discrepancies make it even harder to answer such a question as whether or not these myths and sagas are a very reliable insight to the happenings of the Iron Age Celtic Peoples. However, after more reading and research it is easy to say that, yes, these myths and sagas can be seen as 'a window on the Iron Age'. But the problem is that these are the only kind of stories written about the ancient Celtic people and these stories are only myth. With all their super natural components it is easy to tell that they are only fiction and probably not to be taken literally. In the story "The Wooing of Etain" from Early Irish Myths And Sagas the character Etain changed forms from a human shape, to different bodies of water, to a worm, and than to a scarlet fly. This fly was the size of the head of the handsomest man in the land, and the sound of its voice and the beating of its wings were sweeter than pipes and harps and horns 3. Many of the other characters are also deities who posses super natural powers. The character Cu Chulaind could grow to abnormal sizes to defeat enemies like in the first story of " The Bo...
