Chapter XIX: (pp. 252-263)

Assuming that the _Tuath-de-danaans_ originally occupied Iran, or Persia, their migration to Ireland is thus explained. An internecine variance, arising out of a purely religious question, sprang up among them. They became divided into two sects--one maintaining that the _male_ influence was dominant in the production of offspring; the other that _female_ influence was more effective. Each adopted a distinguishing title, emblematic of the sex whose virtues it proclaimed. The former did not find it necessary to change the name _Tuath-de-danaan_, since the esoteric meaning of _Tuath_ (i.e. _Budh_) was the emblem of _masculinity_; but the others adopted the title of _Pish-de-danaans_, because _Pish_, or _Pith_ (synonymous with _Yoni_), denoted that of _femininity_. The war which resulted from this variance of opinion was waged with all the bitterness which usually marks polemic differences; and the _Pish-de-danaans_, proving completely victorious, expelled their rivals from the sacred soil of Iran. The _Tuath-de-danaans_, or at least a portion of them (cf. p. 443), fled westward, and after many vicissitudes reached Europe, where traces of them are found in parts of Greece, Italy, and Spain; and from the country last named (by help of the _Phœnicians_, who were the great sea-carriers of those days), they made their way to Ireland. It is remarkable that a parallel account appears in Hindu records of the severance which took place between the _Lingajas_ and the _Yonijas_ on a precisely similar question.