There are no traces in Irish legend of animal worship, but many
concerning the influence of animals upon human life, and of their
interference with human affairs.
The peasants believe that the domestic animals know all about us,
especially the dog and the cat. They listen to everything that is said;
they watch the expression of the face, and can even read the thoughts.
The Irish say it is not safe to ask a question of a dog, for he may
answer, and should he do so the questioner will surely die.
The position of the animal race in the life scheme is certainly full of
mystery. Gifted with extraordinary intelligence, yet with dumb souls
vainly struggling for utterance, they seem like prisoned spirits in
bondage, suffering the punishment, perhaps, for sin in some former
human life, and now waiting the completion of the cycle of expiation
that will advance them again to the human state.
The three most ancient words in the Irish language are, it is said,
_Tor_, a tower; _Cu_, a hound, and _Bo_, a cow. The latter word is the
same as is found in the Greek _Bosphorus_, and in the nomenclature of
many places throughout Europe.