mi Finn and his 
 
 

)Lci-C^ Tu^CC^^ 
 cK a,t«_oCtl4«. 0^'^ 
 
FINN 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS COMPANIONS 
 
THE CHILDREN'S LIBRARY. 
 
 THE BROWN OWL. 
 
 A CHINA CUP, AND* OTHER Stories. 
 STORIES FROM FAIRYLAND. 
 TALES FROM THE MABINOGION. 
 THE STORY OF A PUPPET. 
 
 THE LITTLE PRINCESS. 
 
 IRISH FAIRY TALES. 
 
 AN ENCHANTED GARDEN. 
 
 LA BELLE NIVERNAISE. 
 
 / THE FEATHER. 
 
 / FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS. 
 
 [Others in the Press.) 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/finnhiscompanion00ogra_0 
 
THE curmudgeon’s WIFE INTERCEDES FOR HIM WITH FINN. 
 
FINN 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 STANDISH O’GRADY 
 
 AUTHOR OF ‘red HUGH’S CAPTIVITY,’ ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY J, B. YEATS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 1892 
 
 
• 5'f iW-k' bo^ke-t / SI 
 
 7 / 
 
 Long^ long ago beyond the misty space 
 Of twice a thousaiid years ^ 
 
 In Erin old there lived a 7nighty race^ 
 Taller than Roman spears. 
 
 b 
 

 
 ■ 'v 
 
PREFACE 
 
 You have, I am sure, often heard how 
 the Roman Empire was broken up 
 and destroyed by the barbarians of 
 Northern Europe, the Goths, the 
 Vandals, the Huns, the Piets, and Scots, 
 etc., etc. You know too, why God 
 permitted this to be done. It was be- 
 cause the civilised Romans, and the 
 nations whom they made like them- 
 selves, lost the great simple virtues of 
 truth, courage, generosity, and the 
 readiness to sacrifice their lives and 
 possessions for the sake of noble 
 objects. We read that Romans at this 
 time would even cut off their thumbs 
 in order to avoid becoming soldiers; 
 for, of course, a young man who had 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 no thumb to his hand could not be 
 expected to hold a spear strongly, or 
 wield a sword well. In those days 
 the rich Roman became not only very 
 rich, but also selfish and ease-loving, 
 and the poor Roman very poor, so that 
 he cared about nothing but how 
 he might get food in order that he 
 might live ; and generally the Roman 
 character changed greatly from what 
 it was in ancient times, for wealth, 
 commerce, civilisation, and peace, how- 
 ever good in themselves, have this 
 tendency, viz. they enfeeble and corrupt 
 men’s minds, and make them selfish, 
 lazy, and hard-hearted. Then, as God 
 long ago sent the flood to drown a 
 world which had grown too wicked, so 
 he sent the brave though rude bar- 
 barians of northern Europe to destroy 
 the Romans and break their great 
 Empire to pieces. 
 
 Woe to the lands, the minstrel sang. 
 
 That hear the northern warriors’ clang. 
 
 You have also read in your English 
 histories how at this time the Romanised 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IX 
 
 Britons were perpetually invaded and 
 plundered by the Piets and Scots, and 
 then by the Saxons, until they were 
 quite ruined. The Piets and Scots and 
 the Saxons could not have done this 
 in the time of Caractacus and Boadicea. 
 
 Now it becomes an interesting ques- 
 tion what kind of men these northern 
 barbarians were who did such a great 
 work, and one would like to know 
 how they lived, what they loved and 
 honoured, and what they hated and de- 
 spised. Of the other barbarous nations 
 other writers will tell you something. 
 I am going to tell you something about 
 the nation which in your histories of 
 England are called the Scots. Now 
 the Scots, who, in alliance with the Piets 
 made such havoc among the degenerate 
 Britons, were in fact the Irish, who at 
 some very early period, overflowing out 
 of Ireland, occupied the western count- 
 ies of Scotland. The Highlanders and 
 the Irish of Ireland were one race of 
 people whom the old historians called 
 Scoti or Scots. They spoke the same 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 language, and had the same manners 
 and customs, and the same traditions, 
 the same music and the same songs. 
 A great many of their songs and stories 
 lingered a long time in the Highlands, 
 and were believed to have been made 
 by a poet called Ossian. In Ireland 
 a still greater number remained in the 
 minds of the people. These songs 
 and stories, too, were attributed to 
 Ossian or to friends of Ossian, and 
 have been from time to time written 
 down on paper or on parchment. In 
 these stories we learn a great deal 
 about Ossian, his friends and acquaint- 
 ances, what sort of men they were, and 
 how they lived. I do not say that 
 everything related about them is true, 
 but when we compare these stories with 
 what is known historically about the 
 conquerors of the Roman Empire, we 
 can see that the people amongst whom 
 Ossian lived must have been very like 
 the people of the Ossianic stories, and 
 that Finn, who was the father of Ossian, 
 Oscur his son, Diarmid his chivalrous 
 
PREFACE 
 
 XI 
 
 cousin, Caelta, MacLewy, and the rest 
 were very brave, upright, true-hearted, 
 and affectionate men, who in their 
 forests and their rude simple homes 
 preserved certain virtues which the 
 Romans and the Romanised Britons had 
 lost in spite of all their wealth. These 
 stories will, I hope, amuse and entertain 
 you, and will also enable you to read 
 some meaning in a word which you 
 have often seen in your histories, but 
 which has had hitherto for you no 
 meaning at all, or perhaps a bad one. 
 The Scots, who with the Piets gave the 
 poor degenerate Britons so many beat- 
 ings in battle and plundered them far 
 and wide, were essentially somewhat 
 like the men whose characters and 
 manner of living you will find described 
 in these stories. Most of our stories 
 relating to this period are supposed to 
 have been told by Ossian to St. Patrick. 
 Those which I relate are, for the most 
 part, stories told to St. Patrick by 
 Caelta, a cousin of Ossian, and are not 
 so well known. Most of them are, I 
 
Xll 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 think, quite new. If all our Irish 
 Ossianic stories and poems were pub- 
 lished, I daresay they would fill a 
 hundred volumes like the present. I 
 have, however, tried to tell these few 
 stories in such a way as to give you a 
 good general idea of the literature as a 
 whole. 
 
 Finn and his friends are believed to 
 have flourished in the second and third 
 centuries, that is about two hundred 
 years before the Irish began to break 
 out and attack the Roman Empire in 
 this part of Europe. 
 
 The great influence exercised by 
 Finn over the Irish mind was not 
 destroyed, but rather purified and 
 elevated, by the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity. It is distinctly traceable down 
 to the seventeenth century, and though 
 now unrecognised, perhaps still survives, 
 warring strongly, if silently, against the 
 vices which are always connected with 
 civilisation. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface . . . . vii 
 
 PART I 
 
 Saint and Hero 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 1. St. Patrick and his Strange 
 
 Guests ... .3 
 
 2. St. Patrick converses with 
 
 THE Great Men . . 7 
 
 3. Angels instruct St. Patrick 
 
 AS TO Finn . . *15 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PART II 
 
 Finn and the Curmudgeon 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 1. Finn goes A-Hunting . . 23 
 
 2. Finn looking for Hospitality 
 
 MEETS A Curmudgeon . 27 
 
 3. The Curmudgeon saved by his 
 
 Wife . . . . 32 
 
 4. Good Cheer in the House of 
 
 Inhospitality . . -35 
 
 5. Nod pays Finn a Return Visit 42 
 
 6. Nod meets some Famous Fians 45 
 
 7. Finn at Home . . . 50 
 
 8. How MacLewy came to Finn . 53 
 
 9. MacLewy gets into Trouble 
 
 AND OUT OF IT . . -59 
 
 10. How Diarmid came to Finn . 63 
 
 11. Nod’s Life on the Hill . 69 
 
 12. Nod and the Dragon . . 72 
 
 13. The Last of Nod . .81 
 
 14. Finn and King Arthur . 85 
 
CONTENTS XV 
 
 PART III 
 
 Finn and the Historian 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 1. The Historian has a welcome 
 
 Visitor . 
 
 2. Finn’s humble Relations 
 
 3. Finn tells about his Child- 
 
 hood .... 
 
 4. Finn’s First Quarry 
 
 5. Finn and the Poets 
 
 6. Finn reveals himself further 
 
 PART IV 
 
 The Coming of Finn 
 
 1. Noble Ancients in Adversity 125 
 
 2. The Old Men have a Strange 
 
 Guest . . . *133 
 
 3. The Guest proves himself an 
 
 Expert Hunter . .138 
 
 4. Finn .... 144 
 
 PAGE 
 
 95 
 
 lOI 
 
 106 
 
 109 
 
 112 
 
 117 
 
xvi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 5. Finn’s Love Story 
 
 6. There was Fear in Tara 
 
 7. Finn secures a Promise with 
 
 Guarantees 
 
 8. Finn Triumphs . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 151 
 
 161 
 
 166 
 
 172 
 
PART I 
 
 SAINT AND HERO 
 
 B 
 

 
CHAPTER I 
 
 ST. PATRICK AND HIS STRANGE GUESTS 
 
 SIT. PATRICK and his fellow- 
 missionaries were building a 
 little church made of straight 
 trees interlaced with osiers 
 on the plains of Meath at a place near 
 the river Boyne, westward from Tara. 
 The sun was declining, and the pious 
 Britons worked industriously, making 
 the most of what daylight still remained. 
 A young clerk who was laying the 
 timbers of the roof cried out, ‘Look, 
 brothers ! What great men are these 
 who come towards us with large strides? 
 Sad yet noble are their faces. Truly, 
 
4 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 I have not seen such in this land at 
 any time/ So he stood looking, with 
 a plank in one hand and a hammer in 
 the other. 
 
 St. Patrick looked towards Tara and 
 saw ten men coming towards him and 
 now very near. The tallest of the 
 tonsured Gaels and Britons who were 
 with Patrick would not reach to their 
 shoulder - blades, and hardly to the 
 waist of the man who walked before 
 the others and seemed to be their 
 captain. They wore shields and swords, 
 and in their hands carried spears 
 proportioned to their size and strength. 
 Each man’s mantle, blue, green, or 
 scarlet, was folded round his shoulders 
 and fastened on the breast by brooches 
 the rings of which were like wheels of 
 gold or silver. Their knees were bare, 
 and their hair, escaped from the brazen 
 helmets, fell in dense curling masses 
 on their shoulders. Their port was 
 majestic, and the meanest of them 
 carried himself like a king. Never- 
 
SAINT PATRICK APPROACHING THE GREAT PAGANS. 
 
ST. PATRICK'S STRANGE GUESTS 5 
 
 theless, as the young clerk had said, 
 their countenances were sad, as of men 
 who lacked their comrades, or had 
 recently lost their dear lord. 
 
 St. Patrick in his white garments, 
 and bearing his bent staff in his hand, 
 went to meet them, and gave them a 
 respectful and affectionate greeting and 
 bade them a welcome to his small 
 monastery. He conducted them him- 
 self to the guest-house. His people 
 brought layers and washed their feet 
 and hands. They were struck with 
 great awe as they observed the noble- 
 ness of the men, their mighty limbs, 
 their tranquillity, and their silence. 
 Food fit for kings was set before them, 
 and old ale in handsome vessels. There, 
 sitting on couches, they ate and drank 
 a little and said nothing, and St. 
 Patrick ministered to them with his 
 own hands, and the more he looked 
 upon them the more he loved them. 
 When all had been served, St. Patrick 
 himself sat down upon a couch over 
 
6 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 against their captain, and as he did so 
 the men stood up and made him 
 a reverence and again sat down. 
 Though the young men of the monas- 
 tery frequently made the circuit of the 
 chamber to pour out ale, they soon 
 found that the men^s cups continued 
 full. At a sign from St. Patrick they 
 withdrew ; nevertheless the silence 
 was not broken. 
 
 The Pagan then raised his eyes and 
 contemplated the Christian for a long 
 time. He knew well the faces of druids, 
 but such a druid as this he had never 
 seen before, and he marvelled at the 
 goodness, refinement, and purity which 
 shone in every feature. St. Patrick on 
 the other hand contemplated the Pagan, 
 his large, bright, peerless eyes and the 
 simplicity and majesty of his aspect, and 
 the more he looked the more he 
 marvelled. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ST. PATRICK CONVERSES WITH 
 THE GREAT MEN 
 
 ilHEN the Saint became aware 
 that the expression of his 
 guest’s countenance altered 
 to one of sharp inquiry, and, 
 as if answering his thoughts, he said, 
 ‘ What wouldst thou, O warrior ? ’ 
 ‘Tidings of my dear foster-brother 
 Ossian, O holy druid on whose head 
 has come the razor.’ 
 
 Ere the Saint could reply a young 
 and very handsome clerk who sat 
 near him started up, smote his hands 
 together, and, signing the air with the 
 
8 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 symbol of the cross, cried aloud in the 
 Latin tongue, ‘ God and his holy angels 
 protect us. My father, this is a dead 
 man. Occisus est in prcelio Gabran ’ 
 (he was slain in the battle of Gabra) 
 ‘in the reign of Cairbr^ of the Liffey, son 
 of Cormac mac Art. These men are 
 apparitions, or they are the Sidhe (the 
 Shee).^ 
 
 The youth was Benignus. He was 
 a Gael, and learned in his country's 
 history. What he called ‘the Shee’ 
 were the gods of the Pagan Irish. At 
 the name of ‘ Gabra ’ the men bowed 
 their heads, and their captain put his 
 great hands over his face and wept 
 silently. After a while Patrick said — 
 
 ‘Of thy dear foster-brother Ossian 
 I have no tidings. But who art thou, 
 O noble man, and who are these with 
 thee ? I ask that I may be the better 
 able to serve thee.’ 
 
 A torrent of loving -kindness and 
 compassion poured from the saint’s 
 heart towards him as he spoke. Also 
 
THE GEE AT MEN 
 
 9 
 
 he endeavoured to calm the agitation of 
 his young friend and disciple Benignus, 
 who said they were dead men or gods. 
 
 ‘I am Caelta the son of Ronan/ 
 answered the large man. ‘ We are all 
 that remain in the whole world of 
 Finn’s heroes, unless, mayhap, mag- 
 nanimous Ossian, his incomparable son, 
 be still alive in some isle of the sea 
 beyond the setting of the sun. Thy 
 druidic community, I perceive, are 
 strangers in Erin. Is the King of Erin 
 kind to thee, who art thyself kind to 
 strangers ? Say he is not, O Talkend,^ 
 and verily he shall be compelled.’ 
 
 ‘Nay,’ answered Patrick, ‘Laegara, 
 son of Nial, hath been very kind to 
 us.’ 
 
 ‘ Who is that man ? ’ said Caelta, 
 more sternly. ‘ Are thy spells upon us, 
 O druid, for that man is not in 
 Ireland ? ’ 
 
 His voice in its rising wrath was 
 
 ^ Talk end means ‘ razored head,’ an allusion 
 to the saint’s tonsure. 
 
lo FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 terrible to hear and shook the guest- 
 house. 
 
 ‘I am no druid/ answered Patrick 
 mildly, ‘ and have no understanding of 
 spells, charms, and incantations. Truly, 
 Laegara, son of Nial of the Nine 
 Hostages, is now King of Ireland, who- 
 ever was King in thy time. Benignus, 
 tell these noble men the pedigree of 
 the King, and how he stands related 
 in descent or otherwise with him who 
 reigned when the battle of Gabra was 
 fought’ 
 
 Benignus thereupon spoke out very 
 clearly and fluently, for sweet was his 
 voice, and eloquent was the young 
 man. It was he who used to chant 
 hymns and canticles for Patrick, and 
 revive his spirits when they drooped. 
 
 ‘ Noble strangers,’ he said, ‘ the King 
 of Ireland now is indeed Laegara, son 
 of Nial of the Nine Hostages, who was 
 the son of Eocha Moymodon, who was 
 the son of Murdach, who was the son 
 of Fiecha, who was the son of Cairbre 
 
THE GREAT MEN 
 
 II 
 
 of the Liffey. And in the reign of 
 Cairbre of the Liffey was fought the 
 great battle of Gabra, where were ex- 
 terminated the giant race of the Fians, 
 falling by each other’s hands in fratri- 
 cidal warfare, so that only nine men 
 went alive out of the battle around 
 Caelta son of Ronan, and from that 
 day to this they have not been seen. 
 Also there survived Ossian the son of 
 Finn, but he was not in the battle, for 
 he went out of Ireland before that, and 
 there are no tidings of him since he 
 followed the Danaan maiden beyond 
 the setting of the sun.’ The men 
 looked at each other in great amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 ‘Where have you been since the 
 battle ? ’ asked Patrick. 
 
 ‘We went out of the battle,’ said 
 Caelta, ‘ after having raised the tombs 
 of our dead, and after having mourned 
 long, weeping passionately, over the 
 grave of Oscur, to the house of the 
 prophetess and wisest of all women, 
 
12 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 Kama, who had cared for and watched 
 over Finn since he was a boy. And 
 she asked tidings of the Fians and why 
 we came to her so few, so sad, and so 
 torn with many wounds, and when we 
 told her she raised up her voice and 
 wept aloud. Then we all wept together, 
 lamenting as it were the end of the 
 world, on account of the great destruc- 
 tion that had come upon the Fians. 
 After that she washed our wounds and 
 bound them up, applying salves and 
 ointments and incantations of power, 
 and gave us the newest of food and 
 the oldest of drink, and sweetly we 
 slept that night in her enchanted house, 
 and our great sorrow departed; and 
 ever delicious fairy music resounded 
 under the hollow dome, so that it was 
 sweeter to be awake there than to sleep. 
 Nevertheless she would not suffer us 
 to go beyond her doors, nor were we 
 ourselves inclined to do so on account 
 of the lassitude and weakness which 
 had come upon us after the battle ; yet 
 
THE GREAT MEN 
 
 13 
 
 we felt no pain or grief, and that indeed 
 surprised, us, for it is not usual with 
 good men whose dear friends have 
 been slain to feel such peace of mind 
 as we experienced in the house of the 
 prophetess. Four days and nights we 
 were with her, and on the morning of 
 the fifth I said to my men, ‘‘ It is time 
 for us to go. Why should we be 
 burthensome to kind hosts? Let us 
 go elsewhere if there are yet in Erin 
 those who will be kind to us on account 
 of our kindness to them in the day of 
 our power.” 
 
 ‘When we came to bid the woman 
 farewell, she wept anew a long time, 
 and she said that we would not meet 
 again any more till the day of the final 
 harmonising of all the world’s discord- 
 ant things. And she directed us to 
 come first to this place, where holy 
 druids would be kind to us and instruct 
 us. Verily, O Talkend, our parting 
 from the woman was like the parting 
 of body and soul, and when we put 
 
14 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 our feet outside her fairy threshold 
 and saw the green grass and the re- 
 splendent sun, full remembrance came 
 upon us again, and great sorrow and 
 weeping, so that with one accord we 
 drew back our feet. But when we 
 thought to recross the threshold, the 
 house which we had left was not seen, 
 nor the woman. There was nothing 
 there save the green hillside and a 
 murmuring stream. Then having wept 
 again, we did as the woman directed, 
 and came to this place. Truly we 
 were under spells in that palace, and 
 our days there were the generations of 
 men.’ 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ANGELS INSTRUCT ST. PATRICK AS 
 TO FINN 
 
 lATRICK rejoiced greatly 
 when he heard these words, 
 for he perceived that the 
 men had been miraculously 
 preserved by the power of the Almighty, 
 that he, Patrick, might teach them the 
 true faith, and that they might be 
 baptized by his hands, and he shed 
 tears of joy for that reason, and on 
 account of his ardent affection for the 
 men. Then he arose and kissed the 
 ten men one after another and blessed 
 them, beginning with Caelta, and again 
 
i6 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 sat down, and drew his white raiment 
 over his face and wept. Then all wept 
 together, the Saint for pure joy and the 
 heroes for pure sorrow on account of 
 the strange things and men amongst 
 whom they had drifted in the tide of 
 time. 
 
 After that Patrick made the men 
 drink and forget their many griefs, and 
 he asked Caelta many questions con- 
 cerning Finn and the Fians and con- 
 cerning their thoughts and manner of 
 life, and Caelta answered all well, for 
 he was rarely intelligent, and moreover 
 he possessed the gift of eloquence, and 
 Patrick rejoiced listening to him. When 
 their conversation had lasted a good 
 while, Patrick said — 
 
 ‘ How came you, the Fians, to have 
 such power, when the knowledge of the 
 true God was denied to you ? ’ 
 
 And Caelta answered — 
 
 ‘ O Talkend, it was because we had 
 truth in our hearts, strength in our 
 hands, and discretion in our tongues.’ 
 
ANGELS INSTRUCT ST. PATRICK 17 
 
 Patrick called a young man who was 
 his scribe to take his tablets and write 
 down that speech of the Fian^s. 
 
 He also asked him what manner of 
 man was Finn. 
 
 And Caelta said : ‘ There has not 
 come upon the earth a man like him 
 since the beginning of the world nor 
 will till the end of time. That, O 
 Talkend, is, in a little, what I have to 
 say concerning Finn. But if I were 
 to pronounce his complete eulogy, the 
 morning with its full light would not 
 find me near the end.’ 
 
 And of Ossian he said, not that he 
 was a famous poet, but that he was a 
 famous warrior, and renowned above 
 all the rest for magnanimity and liber- 
 ality. ‘ Ossian,’ he said, ^ never asked 
 anything from any man, and never 
 refused any man anything. For him- 
 self he was willing to keep only the 
 head with which he ate and the feet 
 with which he walked.’ 
 
 ‘ That is a great character,’ said St. 
 c 
 
i8 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 Patrick, and he bade Bricna, the scribe, 
 write it down. ‘ It is not greater than 
 the man to whom I attribute it,’ said 
 Caelta. 
 
 Next day St. Patrick arose while it 
 was still dark, and walked meditating 
 along the banks of the slow -moving 
 royal Boyne, between the trees and the 
 river, revolving many things. As at 
 other times, angels of God met him, 
 and he asked them whether it was 
 displeasing to God that he should feel 
 so much delight in the profane con- 
 versation of the great Pagans. And 
 the angels said that it was not, but 
 pleasing, and that Finn, though a 
 Gentile, was nevertheless a prophet 
 without full knowledge, and had pre- 
 pared the minds of the Gael for the 
 preaching of Christ’s gospel, and they 
 also bade him write in a book such 
 things as Caelta might tell him, for 
 the instruction of future generations. 
 ‘ For truly,’ they said, ‘ the Holy Trinity 
 have been in this place before thee.’ 
 
ANGELS INSTRUCT ST. PATRICK 19 
 
 After that the angels left him and 
 St. Patrick returned to the monastery 
 with great joy. The men were still 
 asleep. They slept two days and three 
 nights before the Saint conversed with 
 them again. 
 
 Patrick baptized them, and after they 
 had been baptized Caelta put his hand 
 into the hollow of his mighty shield 
 and took out a bar of gold and gave it 
 to Patrick as his baptismal fee. It 
 was as thick as a man’s arm and reached 
 from the elbow of the Saint to the first 
 joint of his forefinger. 
 
 ‘It came from a good man,’ said 
 Caelta, ‘ and it goes to another. This 
 was the last payment that I had from 
 my dear lord and friend, Finn the son 
 of Cool, the son of Trenmor, high 
 captain of the Fianna of Erin.’ 
 
 From that bar Patrick made gilding 
 for all his bells and books, and rejoiced 
 to think that his sacred things had 
 their gold from such a source, for the 
 conversation of Caelta and the com- 
 
20 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 munications of the angels caused him 
 to perceive that Finn was a seer and 
 a prophet who in his own way, not 
 knowing it, wrought out the will of God 
 amongst the Gael. Also he was care- 
 ful to record all that Caelta related to 
 him concerning Finn and the Fians. 
 
PART II 
 
 FINN 
 
 AND THE CURMUDGEON 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 FINN GOES A-HUNTING 
 
 |INN and his men went on a 
 hunting expedition to one 
 of his great forests in 
 Leinster, for the Fians had 
 forests in all parts of Ireland, and no 
 one dared to hunt in them or kill any 
 game there without Finn’s permission. 
 Early in the morning, before the sun 
 had yet risen, they entered the forest. 
 Each huntsman held back a straining 
 hound by a leash which passed through 
 a ring in the hound’s collar. He held 
 in his hands the two ends of the leash ; 
 when he wished to let the hound slip. 
 
24 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 he loosed one of the ends of the leash. 
 Before them went the beaters with long 
 sticks, beating the brakes and coppices 
 and rousing the game. Between the 
 places that gave cover for the game 
 there was much open and smooth 
 ground. Finn himself was on the right 
 of the line of huntsmen, leading his 
 favourite hound Bran. 
 
 The first animal that they started 
 was a wild boar. He could not be 
 seen from the place where Finn stood, 
 but the sound of the horn on the left 
 gave notice that some great game had 
 been roused, and the cries of the hunters 
 and the loud baying of the hounds 
 showed that it was some great beast. 
 ‘ That is a boar,^ said Finn to the 
 hunter who was next to him. ‘ He is 
 charging down our way and killing or 
 maiming every dog which is loosed upon 
 him.’ Presently the boar broke through 
 a coppice ; his eyes were like fire and 
 his white tusks red with blood ; the 
 bristles on his neck stood up like rods. 
 
FINN GOES A-HUNTING 25 
 
 and the froth flew from his mouth like 
 snow. Some of the huntsmen refused 
 to slip their hounds against such a 
 beast. Three were loosed upon him 
 after he passed the coppice; one he 
 tossed over his head, and the second 
 he trampled and maimed, the third 
 only stood at a distance and howled. 
 Then Finn slipped Bran. So swiftly 
 flew Bran upon the boar that her track 
 was like a black and yellow flash over 
 the green turf, and at her baying as she 
 was let loose the hollows of the distant 
 mountains rang, and far away husband- 
 men labouring in fields said, ‘ Hark ! 
 that is the voice of Bran. The Fians 
 are abroad to day ; they have let loose 
 Bran.’ Bran seized the huge boar 
 by the throat and shook him to and 
 fro as a puppy-dog shakes a rag. 
 
 Then leaving the boar dead, she 
 returned to be caressed and made 
 much of by her master, who said, ‘ My 
 brave Bran, thou hast not done such a 
 deed since the son of the great en- 
 
26 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 chanter Angus Ogue, having taken a 
 boar's form, was dragged down by 
 thee.' 
 
 So while the red sun climbed the 
 sky, Finn's men advanced through the 
 forest. The horns continually sounded, 
 and the mingled baying of the hounds, 
 and the cries of the hunters cheering on 
 their dogs, made a sweet music. Many 
 of the poor people of the country, who 
 dwelt in the borders of that forest, stood 
 on the neighbouring hills and watched 
 the scene with great joy. Before noon 
 there were killed many boars and 
 badgers, many an antlered stag, many 
 wolves, and as for hares and such like 
 small game, it would have been hard 
 to count them. So eager were the 
 huntsmen that they did not feel hunger 
 till the sun was nigh his setting. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 FINN LOOKING FOR HOSPITALITY 
 MEETS A CURMUDGEON 
 
 EN said Finn to some of 
 his people who knew that 
 country — 
 
 ‘ Is there any lord or 
 wealthy bru-fir living hard by, who can 
 give us good entertainment to-night ? ^ 
 They said, ‘ There is not.’ 
 
 ‘ I marvel how you can say that,’ 
 said Finn, ‘ for it is but little time since 
 I myself saw the mansion of such a 
 one. It is in a green and fertile 
 valley beyond the forest in the west, 
 large and handsome, and the walls white 
 
28 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 with lime. I saw an orchard gay with 
 apple-blossom and stacked corn and 
 all the outward signs of good living.^ 
 Thereat they laughed and said — 
 
 ‘ We shall get no entertainment 
 there, O captain of the Fianna of Erin. 
 The owner of that house is the least 
 hospitable man in Ireland. Many a 
 stranger has gone thither and departed 
 as he came.’ 
 
 Finn was very angry, and said — 
 
 ‘ I swear by the generous and all- 
 liberal Sun who has ripened that churl’s 
 corn and given him wealth and abund- 
 ance, that he shall yield hospitality to 
 me and the Fians this night with his 
 will or against it.’ 
 
 Then calling to him a trusty 
 attendant, he said — 
 
 ‘ O Dering, go to that man and 
 say that Finn, the son of Cool, Captain 
 of the Fianna Eireen, requests enter- 
 tainment and rest for his people now 
 spent with the chase and famished with 
 sharp hunger.’ 
 
A CURMUDGEON 
 
 29 
 
 So saying, Finn winded his horn to 
 summon to him his scattered men. 
 
 Dering having gone, returned, and 
 standing before Finn, said — 
 
 ‘O Captain of the Fianna, I went 
 to the man according to thy command. 
 He was sitting at the end of his table 
 with his people about him at supper, 
 which I perceived to be a very meagre 
 repast. His wife sat at his right hand, 
 her look was as kind and gentle as his 
 was not, and she is very beautiful. I 
 walked up the hall to where he sat, 
 and having made a fitting reverence 
 delivered thy message in thy very 
 words. Yet he answered sternly, Go 
 back and tell thy master that he and 
 his young men may roast their own 
 supper in Fian ovens as they are 
 accustomed to do, and couch them- 
 selves in thick brakes, for they are 
 healthy and hardy. From me he will 
 get no entertainment.^’ ’ 
 
 Before he had made an end of 
 speaking Finn strode in anger through 
 
30 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 the forest in the direction of the man’s 
 house. Finn entered the inhospitable 
 house, where the master had just risen 
 from supper; he seized him with his 
 left hand and threw him on his knees, 
 and while he was in that posture 
 addressed him thus — 
 
 ‘ As thou hast not given hospitality 
 to us willingly thou shalt give it 
 unwillingly. From the rafters of thy 
 house, hanging there with a rope round 
 thy breast, thou shalt this night look 
 down uncomfortably on the consump- 
 tion of thy goods. Then I think thy 
 covetous soul will be much distressed ; 
 and mark this, too, that when I leave in 
 the morning the cord will not be around 
 thy breast^ that all men may know 
 how loathsome are covetousness and 
 inhospitality in my eyes.’ 
 
 A long cord was then procured, and 
 when a running loop had been made 
 in it at one end and the hands of the 
 man tied together, it was put round his 
 breast under the arm-pits. In the 
 
A CURMUDGEON 31 
 
 centre of the house there was a tall 
 smooth tree which was the main 
 support of the roof and therefore was 
 called the roof-tree. One of Finn^s 
 grandsons, holding the end of the cord 
 in his teeth, swarmed up the roof-tree 
 and passing the cord over one of the 
 cross beams, slid down again, bringing 
 the cord with him. Then they hoisted 
 the curmudgeon and drew him swiftly 
 up till his poll struck against the cross 
 beam and they wound the cord round 
 the roof-tree and made it fast. There, 
 pale and astonished, the owner of the 
 house looked down upon the scene 
 while Finn issued his orders to the 
 house-steward and to the servants. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CURMUDGEON SAVED BY HIS WIFE 
 
 HE chamber in which these 
 things were done was the 
 great central hall of the 
 palace. At the end of this 
 hall, facing the door of the house, 
 there was a small door having carved 
 jambs and a carved lintel, which com- 
 municated with inner chambers — the 
 quarters which were reserved for 
 women only. Hardly had Finn^s 
 people made fast the cord round the 
 foot of the roof-tree when from these 
 inner chambers there arose loud cries 
 and lamentations. Presently the door 
 
THE CURMUDGEON SA VED 33 
 
 was flung open and a young woman 
 beautifully attired stood in the door- 
 way. She was very fair and shone like 
 a star against the dark background. 
 It was the man's wife. Any one 
 looking at him would have supposed 
 that the curmudgeon was made fast 
 in the cord of his slaughter ; but a full 
 account of what had been done was 
 brought to the woman, and she knew 
 that her husband was more frightened 
 than hurt. For a moment she stood 
 still, while her eyes travelled round the 
 great chamber filled with strange forms 
 of men, then letting fall her veil she 
 hastened down, followed by her attend- 
 ants, who wept and smote their hands 
 together, and cast herself before Finn’s 
 feet weeping. 
 
 Finn was moved by her beauty and 
 her distress, and said : ‘ Name thy 
 petition, my child, for it is already 
 granted.’ 
 
 And she said — 
 
 ‘ O Captain of the Fians, spare my 
 
 D 
 
34 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 husband, and I promise from him and 
 from myself that all thy people shall 
 be well and liberally entertained, as is 
 only right. I looked for no other 
 end of our slender housekeeping, and 
 lo, I have beside me much store of 
 food and drink reserved for some such 
 day of destruction as hath now come 
 upon us.’ 
 
 And Finn said : ‘ O Lady, I 
 
 perceive that thou art wise as well as 
 fair. Thy boon is granted, and by my 
 right hand I swear that had I known 
 this man was dear to thee, though 
 greatly angered, I would not have put 
 him to such shame.’ 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 GOOD CHEER IN THE HOUSE OF 
 INHOSPITALITY 
 
 |HEN the curmudgeon was 
 letdown from his uncomfort- 
 able position and untied, 
 and Finn and his men left 
 the house and went in quest of the 
 remainder of the Fians. The latter 
 had in the meantime come together 
 from different parts of the great forest 
 to the place where Finn had winded 
 his horn, and when they did not 
 find him there their trackers traced 
 him till they came to a place 
 which commanded a distant view of 
 
36 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 that green valley in which was the 
 great white inhospitable house, and lo, 
 from all the chimneys of the same 
 there went up thick rolling pillars of 
 dark smoke to the violet sky, each 
 distinct and straight, for it was a wind- 
 less evening. When the Fianna saw 
 that sight their laughter was loud and 
 long, yea, though they were sore spent 
 with the chase they laughed till their 
 tears flowed and they leaned against 
 each other for laughing, and one said 
 to another, ‘ It is easy to see that Finn 
 has paid an early visit to that house.’ 
 And also, ‘The man who is called 
 Nod must get to himself another name 
 from this night,’ for in their language 
 the name Nod meant ‘stinginess.’ 
 
 Then they met Finn, and afterwards 
 all went together to an adjoining lake 
 and bathed there, and the surrounding 
 woods and hills resounded with their 
 cries and joyful exclamations and , 
 laughter as they swam to and fro there 
 like waterfowl and beat the still lake 
 
GOOD CHEER 
 
 37 
 
 into foaming waves as if a hurricane 
 had descended upon its quiet surface. 
 There was always a lake or river in 
 the neighbourhood of Finn’s forests, 
 and when there was not he commanded 
 a lake to be dug. When they came 
 out of the lake their attendants handed 
 to each of them a change of raiment, 
 bright banqueting attire, and after that 
 they all proceeded together joyfully to 
 ‘ the house of inhospitality.’ 
 
 Now, though Finn and his compan- 
 ions had often been well entertained 
 in many houses, they agreed that they 
 had seldom been so well entertained 
 as they were that night. For, not only 
 was the fare good and abundant, and 
 the drink likewise, but the banqueting 
 table flashed throughout from end to 
 end with vessels of silver and gold, and 
 cups of dazzling crystal, and the table 
 linen was of the finest texture and in- 
 laid with curious patterns, for by the 
 advice of his prudent wife the man Nod 
 brought forth all his hidden treasures 
 
38 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 and jewels of great price, which he 
 had amassed and had stored away in 
 dark places. Moreover, the man and 
 his wife — the man impelled by fear and 
 the woman by her own generous heart 
 — exerted themselves to the utmost in 
 order that every desire of their strange 
 guests might be satisfied. The attend- 
 ants and the dog-boys and the dogs, 
 the tired beaters, too, were all royally 
 entertained, each according to his de- 
 gree. Cheerful was the laughter of the 
 heroes in the inhospitable house, and 
 their hearts rejoiced greatly to think 
 that in such a house these things could 
 be. After supper was ended Finn 
 called for music, and his harpers 
 harped before him, and also Ossian, 
 the son of Finn, chaunted for them a 
 tale of some ancient woe, and bowed 
 all their heads and relaxed their hearts. 
 After that they sang Fian songs full- 
 toned and strong, singing loud all 
 together with open mouths, songs of 
 war or of the chase or of adventure. 
 
GOOD CHEER 
 
 39 
 
 rejoicing in their glory and their match- 
 less career, and far away the Leinster- 
 men heard them, both those who dwelt 
 by the eastern sea and those who lived 
 along the green borders of the Barrow, 
 for it was not a little noise that Finn’s 
 men made when they sang. So the 
 Fians passed that evening in the house 
 of inhospitality, and those of Nod^s 
 people who witnessed the scene used 
 to speak about it as long as they lived. 
 When it grew towards the hour for 
 sleep Finn called for his little magic 
 tiompan or lyre, of which long since 
 he had mightily deprived Allen, the 
 son of Midna the enchanter, and he 
 gently touched the strings. The virtue 
 of this lyre was such that no man 
 could hear it without sleeping well 
 afterwards. When Finn played on 
 this lyre it was a signal to his men 
 that they should go to rest. This 
 night each hero found a good bed 
 ready to receive him and all of less 
 degree also, according to what was 
 
40 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 customary in houses of hospitality or 
 even better, and the hounds too, such 
 as the great boar had not slain, were 
 abundantly ^provided with clean straw. 
 There Finn and all his people slept 
 sweetly, but the man Nod and his 
 wife took counsel together, and made 
 preparations so that in the morning 
 their guests might break their fast 
 well. 
 
 They all breakfasted next morning 
 in the gloaming, and departed with the 
 rising of the sun. Finn saluted the 
 lady respectfully and afterwards her lord 
 cheerfully, only he added with a stern 
 look,‘ Come to me to the Hill of Allen 
 on the tenth day.’ So Finn and his 
 people and their numerous dogs passed 
 away, and the noisy and many-coloured 
 procession entered the woods, going 
 swiftly, so that soon even the sound of 
 their voices was not heard and a great 
 silence reigned over the whole valley. 
 Nod and his wife were standing together 
 at the door of the mansion, and they 
 
GOOD CHEER 
 
 41 
 
 turned and looked at each other with- 
 out speech. 
 
 Nod’s substance was not impaired 
 by that extensive billeting of Finn’s 
 men and hounds, such was the amount 
 of game, large and small, presented by 
 Finn to the lady of the house as a 
 token and a gift. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 NOD PAYS FINN A RETURN VISIT 
 
 HE man Nod was tall and 
 strong, well - shaped and 
 erect, but of a grim and 
 dour aspect, save only when 
 his looks were turned upon his wife 
 and child. His cheeks were hollow 
 and colourless, and though he was 
 young his black hair already showed 
 the blemish of early grayness. He 
 was proud, too, and the indignities 
 which he had endured before the eyes 
 of his wife and his people preyed upon 
 his mind, so that his sleep forsook him 
 and he wandered to and fro by night 
 
A RETURN VISIT 
 
 43 
 
 and by day like a dead man in motion. 
 On the seventh day his wife brought 
 to him a cunningly -prepared sleeping 
 draught, and that night he slept well, 
 yet on the morrow it was with great 
 difficulty she persuaded him to set out 
 on his journey to the Hill of Allen. 
 Yet he went and two armed men with 
 him. They crossed the Slaney and the 
 Barrow, rivers of Leinster, and crossed 
 the Plain of the Liffey, which is now 
 called the Curragh. Here they were 
 attacked by robbers, whom they de- 
 feated. Nod behaved well in the con- 
 flict, for though inexpert in arms he 
 was by no means a coward. On the 
 tenth day, in the forenoon, they saw 
 the camp of the Fians on the Hill of 
 Allen — tents innumerable and banners 
 floating there with many devices. 
 There was one high above all the rest, 
 which showed the likeness of the 
 golden sun half risen from the blue 
 floor of the sea. It was the banner 
 of Finn, and was a sign to all men 
 
44 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 that Finn was there and that whoever 
 desired food and drink, or peace and 
 happiness, or the redress of injuries, 
 might come to him, and all who were 
 in any distress. 
 
 As Nod drew nigh to the camp he 
 wondered more and more to see how 
 carelessly Finn and the Fians resided 
 on this hill, for there were no ramparts 
 or moats or trenches around the camp, 
 and no towers of defence or of obser- 
 vation, no strong palisades of timber, 
 therefore no gates. Also there were 
 no scouts or sentinels, and no bodies 
 of armed men, keeping the approaches 
 to the camp. The hill too, which was 
 flat on the top, was no more than a 
 great rising ground, and the broad 
 green streets of the camp communicated 
 with the open green plains of Kildare. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 NOD MEETS SOME FAMOUS FIANS 
 
 REMBLING and sorely dis- 
 tressed in mind, Nod began 
 to enter the camp. Before 
 him was one very broad 
 green street bordered on both sides by 
 the white brown -roofed tents of the 
 Fians, each tent standing apart by itself. 
 Men and women seemed to dwell to- 
 gether here, for the voices and laughter 
 of both sexes sounded everywhere, and 
 all the people were of great stature, 
 well shaped, and graceful in all their 
 motions and brightly attired. There 
 was a tall, very handsome young man 
 
46 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 Standing by a tent upon the right side, 
 which was the last there and touched 
 the open country. The young man 
 was talking pleasantly with two maidens 
 who leaned from a window in an upper 
 story of that tent. Yet he was not 
 so much absorbed in the conversation 
 as not to notice the coming of Nod 
 and his company. He had long glossy 
 and curling black hair, which rolled over 
 a scarlet mantle, a round shield on his 
 left arm and a spear in his right, his eyes 
 were of bright hazel with long lashes, his 
 complexion a rich brown, and smiles 
 played ever sweetly round his red lips. 
 Never had Nod beheld such an ap- 
 parition of youth and beauty. He 
 was tall too and straight and lissom as 
 a young fir-tree which bends to every 
 breath of the wind yet ever recovers 
 its straightness. 
 
 The youth approached Nod, and 
 when he had saluted him courteously 
 and saluted also the man’s servants 
 one by one, he said — 
 
SOME FAMOUS FIANS 47 
 
 ‘ My lord Finn bade me meet thee 
 and conduct thee through the camp to 
 his tent. My own name is Diarmid.’ 
 
 As they went through the camp, 
 Nod, who looked around him eagerly 
 on every side, said — 
 
 ‘ I see here on the left one strange 
 tent standing by itself in a hollow. It 
 is black, both sides and roof, and the 
 banner over it is black with a pale 
 device. There is a black man standing 
 at the door, and two black hounds are 
 beside him.’ 
 
 ‘ Look no more,’ said Diarmid, ‘ or 
 it will be the worse for thee. I see 
 him not, yet well I know that he is 
 there. Few of us ever see him. His 
 name is Dara-duff, from the Black 
 Mountain of the North.’ 
 
 Presently a company of young Fians 
 met them, descending the slope of the 
 hill, and laughing much as they came. 
 They enclosed in their midst a man of 
 great size, whose head was bald. He 
 was fat, with a very big stomach, and 
 
48 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 his eyes twinkled with laughter and 
 twinkled more as he drew nigh, and 
 took note of the stranger’s appearance. 
 
 He accosted Nod with mock polite- 
 ness. 
 
 ‘ Happy art thou,’ he said, ‘ O illustri- 
 ous stranger, for it is not necessary for 
 thee at any time to declare thy name 
 and breeding, for Nod is in thine eye 
 and cut out and carved all over thy 
 countenance.’ 
 
 Diarmid’s anger arose at this. He 
 raised the haft of his spear, and, as the 
 fat man turned to flee, brought it down 
 with a resounding noise upon the 
 other’s broad back. He uttered also 
 a fierce rebuke. Many of the Fians 
 stood at the doors of their tents watching 
 this scene, and when they saw the man 
 beaten they laughed sweetly and said — 
 
 ‘O Conan, thou wilt find a better 
 subject for thy jibes and jests another 
 time.’ 
 
 The fat man walked away crest- 
 fallen, and wiped a big tear from 
 
SOME FAMOUS FIANS 49 
 
 either eye. Now on the right sounded 
 music and drums, trumps and trumpets 
 of many kinds, so gay and exhilarating 
 that Nod’s sad heart leaped with anima- 
 tion as he heard it. Presently a bat- 
 talion, emerging from the tents, crossed 
 the green way swiftly, and disappeared 
 on the left. They had a banner which 
 showed the rowan-tree with green leaves 
 and scarlet clusters of berries woven 
 on a white ground. Then a troop of 
 light-footed youths ran past them; 
 beside each youth a hound bounded, 
 led in leashes of white bronze or glisten- 
 ing silver. 
 
 Many bright or strange sights were 
 seen by Nod that day, as he went with 
 Diarmid through the mighty camp of 
 the Fianna. Save the two already 
 mentioned, there was no one who 
 showed any blemish. All were of 
 great size, well shaped and handsome, 
 and every eye bright with the light of 
 life. Through such sights and sounds 
 Nod drew nigh to Finn. 
 
 E 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 FINN AT HOME 
 
 HE door of Finn’s tent was 
 open, and so wide that an 
 army might march through- 
 it. As Nod drew nigh tremb- 
 ling he heard low, very sweet music, like 
 that of a recorder perfectly played, only 
 sweeter. Then he saw within the tent 
 a man of great size sitting upon a 
 couch, whose hair was like snow and 
 glittered like boiling silver poured out 
 of the crucible. It was Finn. A 
 young man whose name was Oscur sat 
 beside him. He leaned his head upon 
 Finn’s shoulder and held Finn’s left hand 
 
FINJSf AT HOME 
 
 ST 
 
 in his right. Behind Finn stood Dering, 
 and upon the floor at Finn’s feet sat 
 another young man who whistled. It 
 was his whistling that Nod mistook for 
 the music of a recorder. 
 
 His name was MacLewy. It was 
 one of Finn’s chief pleasures listening 
 to that young man as he whistled. 
 Many of Finn’s chief men were there 
 standing or sitting through the great 
 tent. There were daughters and grand- 
 daughters of Finn there too. 
 
 Finn saw Nod through the open 
 door, and started up and hastened to- 
 wards him, and he took him by the 
 hand and led him into the tent joyfully 
 and affectionately, and made him sit 
 in his own seat. Finn’s people also, 
 both men and women, welcomed him 
 with shining faces and pleasant words, 
 and they set before him a small beechen 
 table round and very white, and put 
 before him such viands as they had by 
 them, also a carved mether having four 
 silver corners and two silver handles. 
 
 OF IlL UB. 
 
52 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 and Finn himself poured out the ale. 
 When Nod saw all this, and how he, a 
 man of no repute in Erin, or of bad 
 repute, nay the worst, was received here 
 with so much kindness, then the vein 
 of penury that was in Nod^s heart brake. 
 He put his hands before his face and 
 bowed his head and wept aloud. 
 When he had made an end of weeping 
 Finn put his hand gently on his shoulder 
 and said, ‘I know it all, my son. 
 Eat and drink a little now, and after- 
 wards one of my young men will lead 
 thee to the guest chamber. There 
 thou shalt have change of raiment 
 and all else that thou needest, and 
 he will be thy companion till the even- 
 ing. Thou must sup with me here 
 this night and remain with me many 
 days, for thou hast suffered much, but 
 now thou shalt suffer no more. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HOW MACLEWY CAME TO FINN 
 
 lEFORE proceeding farther 
 with Nod’s story, I desire 
 to tell something about 
 two young men whom Nod 
 found in the camp, namely, the youth 
 who was whistling for Finn in his tent 
 and the very handsome youth who met 
 Nod and conducted him through the 
 camp to Finn. And first concerning 
 MacLewy, whose whistling was so 
 delightful to Finn. 
 
 Finn had a daughter named Lewy, 
 and Lewy had a son who, as he had 
 no other name, was called Lewy’s son 
 
54 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 or MacLewy. It was he who sat 
 whistling before Finn when Nod was 
 approaching Finn’s tent. When this 
 youth was born his mother considered 
 with herself to whom she would send 
 him to be nursed. There was a 
 celebrated nurse and instructor of 
 children in those days called Mong- 
 finn or Fair-hair. She had nursed 
 and brought up in her time eight 
 hundred shield -armed warriors who 
 were admitted into Finn’s army. Lewy 
 sent her child to her to be nursed and 
 educated. When the boy was twelve 
 years old the woman gave him a spear, 
 sword, helmet, and shield, and sent 
 him to Finn. 
 
 ‘Thou art a child,’ said Finn. 
 
 ‘ I am a man,’ answered the boy. 
 ‘Try me.’ 
 
 ‘Dost thou know the seven severe 
 proofs to which I put candidates?’ 
 said Finn. 
 
 ‘ I know them,’ said the boy, ‘ I did 
 not come here to be engaged in 
 
HO W MA CLE WY CAME 55 
 
 conversation, but to be proved; and 
 make your proofs stiff, for I promise 
 you that they will be a laughing-stock 
 when I have done with them.’ 
 
 At that Finn flushed and said, 
 
 ‘ Beware of pride and vainglory, my son; 
 they soon come to a fall.’ 
 
 ‘Not where there is a correspond- 
 ing or even excessive degree of merit 
 to support them,’ answered the lad 
 unabashed. 
 
 ‘ Make me a poem according to the 
 rules of the Imbus-for-Osna,’ said Finn, 
 ‘ every second line rhymed and every 
 other line assonanced, and with three 
 alliterations in every line. Let the 
 theme be thy coming to Finn’s 
 house.’ 
 
 The boy made the poem on the 
 spot, magnifying himself and censuring 
 the manner of his reception. Also he 
 glanced disparagingly at certain of the 
 great men who stood around, Gaul 
 mac Morna, Ossian, and others, ming- 
 ling satire with his song. 
 
56 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 ‘ Thou art indeed an astonishing 
 youth/ said Finn. 
 
 ‘I thought I would astonish thee 
 before our interview came to an end/ 
 answered the lad. 
 
 ‘Hold out thy spear/ said Finn. 
 ‘Nay, lad, that will not do. Take it 
 by the extreme end, hold it at an 
 equal distance from the ground along 
 its whole length, and thyself perfectly 
 upright the while.’ 
 
 The lad held the spear-end not in 
 his hand but with three fingers only ; 
 ‘ Doth it tremble ? ’ he said. 
 
 Unwillingly, and yet gladly too, 
 they all had to admit that it did 
 not. 
 
 ‘That will do,^ said Finn; ‘I shall 
 put thee to no more proofs after that.’ 
 
 ‘ That is to deprive me of my glory/ 
 said the boy ; ‘ I see that you are all 
 jealous of me already.’ 
 
 ‘ Hast thou any amiable accomplish- 
 ment ? ’ said Finn. ‘ Canst thou play 
 on an instrument ? ’ 
 
HO IV MA CLE WY CAME 57 
 
 ‘ Set a battalion before me/ answered 
 the boy; ‘and me before it with my 
 weapons of war in my hands, I will 
 play upon it finely.’ 
 
 ‘ I mean a musical instrument,’ said 
 Finn, laughing. 
 
 ‘Yes,’ said he; ‘I play on an 
 instrument’ 
 
 ‘ Is it with thee ? ’ said Finn. 
 
 ‘ It is indeed,’ he replied, ‘ now, and 
 at all times. It is a flute, alive, red, 
 flexible, with ivory keys white as May 
 blossom.’ 
 
 ‘ It is thy mouth,’ said Finn ; ‘ now 
 play for us.’ 
 
 The youth whistled, and never before 
 or since did such music pass the human 
 lips. All who were in that presence 
 wept save Finn only. 
 
 ‘ Stop now,’ said Finn ; ‘ before my 
 mighty men are dissolved away in salt 
 rivers. Whose son art thou ? ’ 
 
 ‘ I am the son of Lewy, and the 
 grandson of Finn. Of my father I 
 have no knowledge and no care.’ 
 
58 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 ‘Thou art my man from this day 
 forth/ said Finn. The lad put his 
 right hand into the right hand of his 
 grandfather and became his man. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 MACLEWY GETS INTO TROUBLE 
 
 ROM the day that MacLewy 
 came into the camp there 
 was no peace in it, but all 
 was disorder, confusion, 
 noise, and quarrelling. There were the 
 howling of dogs furiously chastised, 
 and the noise of loud vauntings with 
 fierce recriminations, and disturbances 
 at ale feasts, and frequent rushings of 
 Finn’s champions through the camp 
 to separate men engaged in deadly 
 combat. It seemed as if the very 
 genius of discord, confusion, and civil 
 war were let loose in Finn’s fraternal 
 
6o FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 and affectionate host. One morning 
 Bering awaked Finn and said, ‘There 
 is some great thing forward to-day, O 
 Finn. Come forth at once.’ Finn 
 came to the door of his tent and there 
 he saw the seven standing battalions of 
 the Fians drawn up before him in 
 marching array, and over every battalion 
 its own ensign, and gloom, wrath, and 
 mutiny in every face. When Finn 
 appeared the seven captains stepped 
 forward and stood before him, and 
 they said — 
 
 ‘Choose this day, O Finn, between 
 thy grandson and the army. If Mac- 
 Lewy remains with thee, we go; if 
 we remain with thee the boy goes.’ 
 
 At that the army shouted approval, 
 and that shout went across the sea and 
 was heard in the court of Arthur, 
 high King of the Britons. 
 
 With difficulty Finn pacified the 
 host on that occasion. He promised 
 them that he would send away his 
 grandson if within a given time he 
 
MACLEWY IN TROUBLE 
 
 6i 
 
 could not tame his wild untutored 
 heart. 
 
 ‘Why is the host so enraged with 
 thee?^ said Finn. 
 
 ‘It is because I am the best man 
 amongst them/ said the lad; ‘and is 
 it I, thy grandson, who must instruct 
 thee that surpassing merit always pro- 
 vokes envy, jealousy, and hatred ? ' 
 
 ‘Nay, nay, lad,’ said Finn ; ‘Cuculain, 
 son of Sualtam, was without dispute the 
 greatest hero in his time, and also the 
 best beloved. And remember what 
 the historians record concerning him — 
 
 He spake not a boasting word • 
 
 Nor vaunted he at all, 
 
 Though marvellous were his deeds.’ 
 
 Finn took the lad to himself and 
 trained and tutored him till he tamed 
 his wild heart, and when his cure was 
 complete he gave him back to the 
 host, and after that none of Finn’s men 
 was more admired and loved than was 
 MacLewy. 
 
 Finn’s precepts which he used in the 
 
62 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 instruction of MacLewy were repeated 
 to St. Patrick by Caelta, and St. 
 Patrick bade his scribe write them 
 in a book, and ordered his people to 
 use them in the instruction of princes. 
 
 Here are some of them : — 
 
 Pursue mildness, son of Lewy. 
 
 Don’t beat hounds without good cause. 
 
 Don’t censure high chiefs. 
 
 Keep two-thirds of thy politeness for women 
 and humble people. 
 
 Don’t rage against the rabble. 
 
 Strive to hold others in esteem and to 
 like them ; so the host will not be offended 
 though thou art loud and noisy. 
 
 Trust not in thy courage and thy great 
 strength, but consider well thy arms and 
 thy armour. Then with confidence bend 
 thy knee to the battle, and thy brow to 
 the pale fierce fight, etc. etc. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 HOW DIARMID CAME TO FINN 
 
 SCORE of young warriors 
 burst from the wide doors 
 of Mongfinn^s house and 
 ran joyfully across the lawm. 
 Their polished shields leaped upon 
 their backs as they ran. It was May 
 morning. It had rained during the 
 night, but the sun now shone brightly 
 and the wet fields and trees glistened 
 in his rays. The youths were Mong- 
 finn’s finished scholars. They came 
 fresh from her hands, each of them 
 with her kiss and her blessing on his 
 head. Whither did they run so swiftly 
 
64 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 and with such joyful cries and exclama- 
 tions ? To the Hill of Allen, to Finn, 
 to be entered in the roll of his men, 
 in case they should pass the examina- 
 tion j and all felt sure that they would 
 pass. 
 
 Leaving the lawn they struck a 
 narrow path in the woods and ran on, 
 one by one, making pleasant echoes in 
 the still forest. When they emerged 
 from the forest they came to a rocky 
 ravine through which a torrent rushed. 
 There were stepping-stones in the 
 torrent, but they were now hidden, for 
 the torrent was greatly swollen ; a 
 brown swirling mass of rough water 
 rushed down the ravine. 
 
 Nothing daunted, the foremost of 
 the party ran to the torrent, holding 
 his two spears in front of him with the 
 hafts forward, as boys now use leaping 
 poles. He planted these on the edge 
 of the torrent, and springing upwards, 
 rose between them and propelled him- 
 self clear across the water. The rest 
 
HO IV DIARMID CAME 
 
 65 
 
 did the same, only the youngest of the 
 party fell back once, not having sprung 
 with sufficient force, but encouraged 
 by the rest he succeeded at the second 
 attempt. 
 
 As they were proceeding on their 
 journey they heard a groan, and look- 
 ing back, saw an aged woman leaning 
 on a staff on the far side of the torrent, 
 a little out of the way. She said, ‘ You 
 who are so young, strong, and happy, 
 have pity on one who is old, weak, and 
 sorrowful, for I cannot cross this wild 
 torrent without aid.’ 
 
 ‘ We cannot,’ they answered; ‘ we are 
 bound for the court of the most 
 splendid captain on earth, and we 
 must not appear in his presence in 
 raiment soiled and dripping. Some 
 strong churl will soon pass this way 
 and take thee over the torrent.’ 
 
 So they went on their way, but not 
 all. One of them, a tall and very 
 beautiful stripling, stayed behind. His 
 name was Diarmid. A second time 
 
 F 
 
66 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 he bounded lightly over the torrent, 
 and having saluted the old woman 
 respectfully, he raised her in his young 
 strong arms and bore her through the 
 ford. The torrent reached to his 
 shoulders and was so violent that no 
 ordinary man could have resisted it. 
 Yet he reached the other side safely, 
 and set her down carefully. As he 
 was about to run forward again, he 
 was aware of a tall, stately, and beauti- 
 ful woman who stood by his side 
 equipped like a warrior, her counte- 
 nance so bright that it dazzled him to 
 look upon it. Beside her stood a tall 
 man, as glorious as the woman, but 
 not armed. He smiled on the lad. ‘ I 
 know thee, O Angus,’ said the youth. 
 
 ‘ Wherefore hast thou played this trick 
 upon me?’ ‘To prove thy chivalry,’ 
 he answered. Then the man and the 
 woman wrapped themselves in their 
 magic mantle of woven air and were 
 no more seen. 
 
 Diarmid pursued his party and came 
 
HO W DIARMID CAME 67 
 
 up with them as they were entering 
 the camp. 
 
 When they came before Finn all the 
 rest looked bright and clean and 
 pleasant to the eye, but Diarmid’s 
 scarlet mantle, all but a little of it, was 
 stained brown with the muddy water, 
 and his white tunic with gold buttons 
 was also defiled, and he looked like a 
 spot in the midst of his comrades. 
 When Finn saw him he said sternly, 
 ‘Thou hast been wading in torrents 
 to-day.’ 
 
 ‘ I have,’ said Diarmid. 
 
 ‘Why did you not leap them like 
 your comrades,’ said Finn. 
 
 ‘That I cannot tell,’ answered the 
 young man, with a blush. 
 
 Then Finn looked fixedly at him 
 and said, ‘ I can. I see thee cross- 
 ing a swollen torrent with an aged 
 woman in thy arms. And thou 
 hast seen a glorious sight. It is 
 still shining in thy face and in 
 thy eyes. Thou shalt have success 
 
68 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 in war and success in love. All 
 things good and nothing bad shall 
 ever be told concerning thee at all 
 time, and thy glory will last till the 
 end of the world.’ 
 
 The woman whom Diarmid met at 
 the torrent was the war-goddess of the 
 Gael : the man was Angus Ogue, son 
 of the Dagda, the god of youth and 
 beauty, from the fairy Brugh on the 
 Boyne. 
 
 I lingered on the royal Brugh which stands 
 By the dark-rolling waters of the Boyne 
 Where Angus Ogue magnificently dwells. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 nod’s life on the hill 
 
 FORE he came to Finn’s 
 camp Nod lived alone in 
 solitary grandeur in the 
 midst of inferiors. Now 
 he lived amongst superiors, which at 
 first made him ashamed, but by degrees 
 his shame vanished and he began to 
 be happy. Soon he made dear friends 
 and comrades, and after that one day 
 seemed to him more joyful than 
 another. He learned the proper man- 
 agement of his weapons in offence and 
 defence. He delighted to watch trials 
 with hounds. He received as a gift 
 
70 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 from one of his new friends a beautiful 
 hound, whom he called Son -of- the - 
 Eagle. He went to his first hunting 
 shortly after that, leading the dog with 
 him. It was in a forest belonging to 
 Finn, in the country called Teffia. 
 There Son-of-the-Eagle had the good 
 fortune to hold a fine boar. Nod 
 despatched the boar with a well-aimed 
 thrust of his spear. His new com- 
 rades praised him and the dog warmly. 
 It so chanced that while Nod was with 
 Finn one of Finn’s forests in the North 
 of Ireland was disturbed by a lawless 
 chief dwelling in the neighbourhood. 
 Finn sent a troop to chastise him, and 
 Nod was permitted to accompany the 
 troop as a volunteer. Nod acquitted 
 himself well in that expedition and was 
 brought back to the Hill on a litter 
 between four comrades, wounded but 
 happy. He was indeed sore wounded, 
 yet his recovery was rapid, so pure 
 was his blood, and so light, gay, and 
 alert his spirit. Nod could not believe 
 
nod's life on the hill 71 
 
 that the world held so much happiness 
 as seemed to fill the air upon the Hill 
 of Allen. He went on two fishing ex- 
 peditions to the Shannon, when he 
 and his friends built for themselves 
 booths by the river and had good 
 sport, but wherever he went he was 
 always glad to return to the camp on 
 the Hill. Cheerfully he arose in the 
 morning and sweetly he slept at night. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 NOD AND THE DRAGON 
 
 HILE Nod was on the Hill 
 of Allen there came mes- 
 sengers from the west im- 
 ploring Finn’s assistance 
 against a great water-dragon, which 
 had newly come to the country, and 
 had taken up his abode in Lough Derg, 
 which is a great fresh-water sea formed 
 by the river Shannon. 
 
 Such a dragon, they said, was never 
 seen before in Ireland. He was more 
 terrible, they said, than any of the 
 numerous dragons which Finn had 
 formerly slain. 
 
NOD AND THE DRAGON 73 
 
 Finn had killed dragons, monsters, 
 apparitions, and savage beasts without 
 number, and was enraged that another 
 of that bad race should fear him and 
 his men so little as to take up his 
 abode in the midst of the island and 
 lay waste the surrounding country. 
 
 This dragon killed and ate not cattle 
 only, but men and women, and as he 
 rolled through the country he destroyed 
 forests and houses. He was of a blue 
 colour, they said, and had a mane like 
 a horse. Nearly every one who saw 
 him died of fright. 
 
 Finn announced the news to his 
 men, and they at once called upon 
 him to lead them against the monster. 
 All Finn’s young men rejoiced greatly 
 at this adventure, for the young men 
 had never been at the killing of any 
 serpent or monster, only they used to 
 hear their seniors tell many tales con- 
 cerning such adventures. 
 
 So they all went westward to the 
 Shannon with great joy. When they 
 
74 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 reached Lough Derg the water of the 
 lake was still and smooth. There was 
 nothing to indicate that a terrible 
 monster lay concealed in the depths. 
 Some, more fanciful than the rest, 
 declared that they saw a certain dark 
 shadow, which they said showed the 
 outlines of the beast^s form at the bottom 
 of the lake. Then they shouted all 
 together and beat their swords against 
 their shields in order to awaken the 
 monster, and certainly if he could be 
 awakened the noise they made was loud 
 enough to rouse him. Presently there 
 was an agitation in the water, which 
 rose up like a mound in the midst of 
 the lake, soon forming into waves and 
 billows, and a dark-blue mass lifted 
 itself out of the water. 
 
 It was the monster’s head and neck : 
 he had a mane like a horse. Then two 
 eyes like two lamps showed themselves 
 and glared at the Fians. The younger 
 men, who were so anxious to hunt a 
 dragon, now trembled and gradually 
 
NOD AND THE DEACON 75 
 
 moved away from the bank of the river. 
 They were not expecting such a prodigy. 
 When he saw the enemy the serpent 
 raised his tail out of the water, and 
 lashed the lake into storm in his fury, 
 so that the spray fell all round the 
 country for miles. Every Fian was as 
 wet as if he had been dipped in the 
 lake. Now the serpent roared with a 
 voice like thunder, chilling the blood 
 of the bravest of the Fians. His open 
 red mouth was as wide as the gate 
 of a city. This dragon was blue and 
 had no wings or legs. He was in fact 
 a monstrous serpent. He rolled on to 
 the shore, and though many of the 
 Fians gave back before him the majority 
 did not. They surrounded him by 
 the hundred, darting their spears against 
 him, cutting at him with their swords, 
 and though he rolled over and crushed 
 them by the score, others supplied the 
 places of those who fell. Finn from his 
 place saw that the serpent was devouring 
 his men. With his great red tongue 
 
76 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 he swept them into his mouth, 
 using it as a mower uses his scythe. 
 No one behaved more bravely than 
 Nod, yet he was one of those whom 
 the serpent devoured. Above the din 
 of the battle Finn heard the lamentation 
 and wailing of his men, as they dis- 
 appeared in clusters down the serpent’s 
 red throat. 
 
 ‘ My dead will soon be more 
 numerous than my living,’ said Finn, 
 and so saying, he sent Oscur against 
 the reptile. If Oscur could not kill 
 him, no one else could save perhaps 
 Finn himself, and it was now a great 
 many years since Finn had engaged 
 in conflict with a beast of the kind. 
 Oscur stepped down valiantly to the 
 serpent, and poising it, cast his spear at 
 the beast’s head. The rush of Oscur’s 
 spear through the air was like the 
 raging of a hurricane through a forest. 
 But the beast was invulnerable. 
 Oscur’s first spear and second spear 
 sprang back from the serpent’s tough 
 
NOD AND THE DEACON 77 
 
 hide as a ball springs back from a wall. 
 When Finn saw that, he called to him 
 his son, Dara, who was a very active 
 and intrepid youth, and he said to him, 
 
 ‘ Dara, I must go myself against this 
 monster. Watch me, and when I say 
 “ leap,’’ then lightly and valiantly spring 
 into the dragon’s mouth, sword in hand, 
 and cut him open from the inside. 
 There only he is vulnerable.’ Oscur 
 was still engaged with the serpent, and 
 though he could not wound the serpent 
 owing to the thickness of the skin, 
 he yet held him in check. Finn, 
 without sword, shield, or spear, ran 
 past Oscur and plunged his two 
 hands into the great hairy mane of 
 the beast. 
 
 As soon as he got a firm grip, using his 
 utmost strength, he raised the serpent 
 into the air and then threw him again 
 upon the ground, belly upwards. ‘Leap,’ 
 cried Finn. Dara forthwith sprang as 
 he was, all armed, and his sword in 
 his hand, into the serpent’s mouth, 
 
78 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 and descended into his terrible throat. 
 There Dara, as soon as he could secure 
 a footing, and indeed that was not easy, 
 cut a slit in the serpent’s throat, and 
 continuing cut it downwards for twenty 
 yards. Dara came out all red, but 
 erect, with his sword still in his hand, 
 and behind him in bloody heaps rolled 
 out all the warriors whom the serpent 
 had swallowed. The serpent was partly 
 choked by Finn, and partly killed 
 by Dara’s sword. Dara won great 
 honour by this adventure. This was 
 looked upon as one of the bravest 
 leaps ever made in Ireland, and it 
 must be confessed that it is not every 
 one who would spring into the throat 
 of a dragon. Dara was called Dara 
 the Red after that, viz. Dara Derg. 
 Dara did many other brave feats in 
 his time, but this was regarded as his 
 masterpiece. A river of blood rolled 
 from the serpent into the lake, and 
 after this the lake was called Lough 
 Derg, the Red Lake. 
 
NOD AND THE DEACON 79 
 
 Nod, as you may imagine, was not 
 ready to engage in other adventures 
 for some time after this. When taken 
 from the bloody heaps that rolled from 
 the serpent, and when he was washed, 
 it was found that there was no hair on 
 his head, and his broken armour was 
 crushed everywhere into his mangled 
 body. 
 
 A couch of healing was a second 
 time made for Nod, and Finn’s surgeons 
 and his beautiful nursing - women 
 attended him, and Finn himself, with 
 pleasant words, came every day to his 
 bedside. Yet, in spite of his sufferings, 
 no sooner was Nod healed than he 
 clamoured to be led against the only 
 hydra known to exist in Ireland. It 
 was a black female serpent called 
 Ethnea, which dwelt in a gloomy tarn 
 then called from her Lough Ethnea, 
 but which is now called Glendalough. 
 Such a torrent of warlike ardour and 
 love of adventure now flowed perpetu- 
 ally from Nod’s heart. 
 
8o FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 Finn would not attack that serpent 
 because it was foretold to him that her 
 destruction was reserved for a holy 
 druid of the coming time, whose name 
 would be Caomgen (ie. Beautiful- 
 Born) or, as we pronounce the word, 
 Kevin. That serpent is supposed to 
 have been the death-goddess of the 
 Gael. The holy youth Saint Kevin, 
 Christ’s servant, destroyed her in the 
 power of Almighty God, maker of all 
 worlds. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE LAST OF NOD 
 
 H T was evening in Nod’s valley 
 and the sun was descend- 
 ing. The summer was 
 over, and the autumn and 
 winter were in the air. Nod’s wife was 
 in her house, guiding and directing her 
 people, who were making the winter 
 store of candles. One of the out-door 
 thralls ran in and said — 
 
 ‘ O lady, there is a brilliant company 
 of young heroes coming to the house.’ 
 
 ‘ They shall be welcome,’ said Nod’s 
 wife. ‘ What kind of man is the 
 leader of the band ? ’ 
 
 G 
 
82 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 ‘ He is young/ answered the other, 
 
 ‘ tall, and very handsome, with abund- 
 ant hair as black as the raven, and his 
 complexion clear, so that the blood 
 shows like scarlet in his cheek. He 
 is gay and cheerful, talks and laughs 
 much, and with his spear points out 
 distant places to his companions. 
 There are a score of young men with 
 him, all of a noble appearance, also 
 a company of little boys riding on 
 horses.’ 
 
 ‘That young man is my husband 
 and your lord,’ said Nod’s wife to her 
 people, but they answered firmly that 
 he was not. 
 
 Then she threw round her shoulders 
 her best mantle and clasped it in front 
 with a shining brooch, and, followed 
 by her personal attendants, went out 
 to meet the company, leading her little 
 son by the hand. 
 
 The young man was indeed Nod, 
 but so altered that no one in the 
 palace, save his wife only, recognised 
 
THE LAST OF NOD 
 
 83 
 
 him. All the early grayness had gone 
 from his hair, and his cheeks were full 
 and rosy and his eyes bright, so that 
 one could hardly desire to see a 
 happier, or handsomer, or more attrac- 
 tive young man than was Nod after 
 his six months’ visit to Finn and his 
 stay amongst the Fians. Finn used 
 to billet his men upon the country 
 during the winter, and Nod undertook 
 to entertain, that winter, as many men 
 as he would be permitted to take with 
 him. The boys riding on horses were 
 the sons of divers of his new friends. 
 They were to be his foster-children, to 
 be brought up in his house along with 
 his own son. Very joyful was the 
 meeting between husband and wife on 
 that occasion. 
 
 Here, then, we will take leave of 
 Nod and his wife. I have only further 
 to add that Nod became as famous for 
 hospitality as he had been formerly 
 notorious for the want of it. So 
 greatly was he changed that he was 
 
84 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 said to be the third most hospitable 
 man of his time in all Ireland. 
 
 Let me add that Nod was not so 
 much a penurious man as penury itself 
 and dark, fierce selfishness, and the 
 story shows how Finn by force, 
 example, and precept, taught the men 
 of Ireland to live in a more generous, 
 kindly, and human manner than they 
 had done. Those who look deeper into 
 these strange stories will find that the 
 numerous serpents which Finn slew 
 were ugly practices and savage un- 
 natural habits. Finn, like the Greek 
 Apollo and the Greek Hercules, was 
 famous as a serpent-slayer. 
 
 The following story will not be 
 pleasing to those who think that the 
 famous King Arthur could do nothing 
 wrong. It is pleasant, however, to 
 find that two such illustrious men as 
 Finn and Arthur, though they had 
 their quarrel, finally became good 
 friends. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 FINN AND KING ARTHUR 
 
 PNE day Finn hunted his 
 forest of Ben Edar; that 
 was the old name of the 
 Hill of Howth, near Dublin. 
 The game of this forest were wild oxen. 
 Only the best dogs were brought out 
 that day, for the urus was an animal 
 of great size, strength, and ferocity. 
 Finn invited Arthur, King of the 
 Britons, to share in that hunt. Arthur 
 came in his galley with twenty-seven 
 men, and took up his station at the 
 head of the harbour, in order to turn 
 back the wild oxen should they take 
 
86 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 to the water when hard pressed by the 
 hounds. Finn sat on a rock called 
 the Cairn of Fergal, midway between 
 the top of the hill and the sea, rejoic- 
 ing in the music of the crying hounds, 
 the roaring of the oxen, and the shout- 
 ing of his men. 
 
 Three dogs chanced to pursue a 
 great ox along the shore of the harbour 
 and dragged him down close to where 
 Arthur stood. 
 
 ‘ There are not in the world hounds 
 like these,’ said his men to Arthur, 
 ‘and let us now put them on board 
 our galley and sail away before the 
 Fians break through the woods and 
 come to us.’ 
 
 Arthur consented. They put the 
 dogs on board the galley, hoisted sail, 
 and, grasping their oars, lashed the 
 blue sea into foam. Presently there 
 was nothing visible of Arthur and his 
 people save a faint white track on the 
 distant horizon. The dogs were Bran, 
 and the Leopard, and a third called 
 
FINN AND KING ARTHUR 87 
 
 Adnuaill. When they put to shore in 
 Briton-land they went straight to the 
 mountain of Lodan, the son of Lear, 
 and hunted that forest with great joy 
 and signal success. No one, not even 
 Finn, seated though he was upon the 
 cairn, saw the taking of the dogs. 
 
 In the evening, after Finn had 
 divided the . spoil, the dogs were 
 counted, as was customary with them, 
 and their tale was three short. Finn 
 called out the names, and Bran, the 
 Leopard, and Adnuaill were missing. 
 There was great sorrow amongst the 
 Fians at the loss of their three match- 
 less hounds which were the glory of 
 the western world, and many of the 
 men wept. Then Finn called for pure 
 water, and when he had washed his 
 hands he put his thumb to his divin- 
 ing tooth, and it was revealed to him 
 that Arthur had taken away the hounds 
 to Briton-land and was hunting the 
 mountain of Lodan, the son of Lear. 
 
 Finn selected nine men to go in 
 
88 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 pursuit of the hounds, with Gaul mac 
 Morna for their captain, and Oscur, son 
 of Ossian, to crush every enemy in their 
 path. The nine went to the top of 
 the Hill, in the gray dawn of the day, 
 and looked across the sea to Mananan^s 
 Island and ‘ fasted upon him,’ that he 
 should send them his magic boat. 
 They were not long there, when they 
 saw the boat coming. It had no sails 
 and no oars. There was not a man 
 on board, yet the boat leaped and sprang 
 from wave to wave, glittering with gold 
 and pearl. She came to the harbour 
 of Ben Edar, and the nine men got on 
 board, and again the bark beat out 
 into the open sea conducting the heroes 
 to Briton -land. They disembarked 
 and marched to the mountain of Lodan 
 and searched the forest through, till 
 they came to the great booth which 
 Arthur and his men had made for them- 
 selves. Arthur and his men were at 
 supper when Finn’s people entered the 
 booth. 
 
FINN AND KING ARTHUR 89 
 
 Arthur welcomed them and bade 
 them sit down to supper. 
 
 ‘ We are come for Finn^s dogs,’ said 
 Gaul mac Morna. ‘ If we are to have 
 them peaceably we will accept your 
 hospitality. If not, look to your arms, 
 for we will not leave this house with- 
 out bringing our dogs with us.’ 
 
 ‘ Then you will not leave this house 
 at all,’ said Arthur. ‘ For I give you 
 my word, that I would rather see all 
 Finn’s men rolled in bloody shrouds 
 than surrender these dogs. And as 
 you are bent upon war, war you shall 
 have.’ 
 
 Then weapons screeched and flashed, 
 and a terrible and murderous battle 
 ensued, and the end of the fighting 
 was, that all Arthur’s men were slain, 
 and he himself was wounded. Finn’s 
 men were closing in upon him to 
 slay him, when Oscur son of Ossian 
 sprang forward, and throwing one arm 
 round Arthur, stood against the eight, 
 though their battle-fury was on them. 
 
90 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 and that was no small proof of Oscur’s 
 intrepidity and no small proof of his 
 warlike prowess, when the eight gave 
 back and let him have his way. 
 
 They buried the dead honourably, 
 and set up their mounds and pillar 
 stones, and returned as they came, 
 bringing the three hounds and Arthur. 
 Ere they left the palace, Gaul spied 
 in one corner of it a great gray steed, 
 and in another a beautiful bay mare. 
 He took them with him as plunder. 
 There were no horses like them in the 
 world. 
 
 When they brought Arthur before 
 Finn, Finn asked him why he had 
 done that deed, and Arthur bade him 
 look at the hounds and he would cease 
 to be surprised. He also added, ‘O 
 Finn, thou hast thy compensation 
 already for that wrong, for I have lost 
 many dear comrades, and my two 
 matchless steeds; keep them, and let 
 the quarrel between us end here.’ 
 
 Finn was satisfied with that proposal. 
 
FINN AND KING ARTHUR 91 
 
 and Arthur remained with him till he 
 was healed, and when he departed Finn 
 dismissed him with kind words, rich 
 and numerous gifts, and a guard of 
 honour. All the horses that were in 
 Erin after that descended from the 
 two steeds which Gaul mac Morna 
 took out of Arthur^s house in the 
 mountain of Lodan the son of Lear. 
 
 Finn and his men, however, only 
 used horses for racing. They were 
 themselves infantry, and went always on 
 foot. Yet they were fond of horses and 
 had them in great numbers. The follow- 
 ing is a verse in one of Caelta’s poems 
 which he recited for St. Patrick : — 
 
 Three rivers, that used to pour from Finn’s 
 camp 
 
 On a May-day morning when the sun shone 
 brightly, 
 
 A river of men and a river of horses and 
 a river of hounds. 
 
PART III 
 
 FINN 
 
 AND THE HISTORIAN 
 

CHAPTER I 
 
 THE HISTORIAN HAS A WELCOME 
 VISITOR 
 
 T the end of a day’s hunting 
 Finn and Dering found 
 themselves alone with their 
 two dogs. When Finn 
 wound his horn there was no answering 
 horn. They then went forward, looking 
 around on every side for some sign of 
 human habitation. At last they saw a 
 light and went towards it. The light 
 came from a large shining lamp set in 
 the gate-tower of a handsome dwelling- 
 place. There was a moat, and inside 
 the moat a wall, and within the wall a 
 
96 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 good-sized house with trees around it. 
 The drawbridge which spanned the 
 moat was drawn up, but on the side of 
 the moat on which the two men stood 
 was an iron gong, and beneath it a 
 stout club. Dering seized the club and 
 beat upon the gong. 
 
 The people of this fort had already 
 retired to rest, but the master was 
 awake. He was sitting beside his fire, 
 arranging a number of beechen tablets 
 on which many things seemed to have 
 been written in strange letters. In fact 
 the man was reading, for in those days 
 books were made of timber. The 
 beechen tablet which he held in his 
 hand contained the history of Finn 
 and his men. He had written this 
 history himself, and was getting the 
 tablets into better order, and lamenting 
 that there were so many things in 
 Finn’s history with which he was not 
 acquainted. At the other side of the 
 fire was a boy very sleepy and nodding. 
 
 Said the man, ‘ Oh, that Finn might 
 
A WELCOME VISITOR 97 
 
 lose his way some night when he is 
 hunting, and come here for rest and 
 refreshment. He would tell me the 
 things I want to know. Then I could 
 fill up these empty tablets. Boy,’ he 
 said, ‘have not the Fianna been hunting 
 all day in the next forest’ 
 
 ‘ Truly, O master,’ said the boy ; ‘ I 
 myself ran from height to height watch- 
 ing them, but the chase passed away 
 south-westward.’ 
 
 The man groaned. Just then both 
 man and boy started from their seats, 
 for they heard the thunderous roar of 
 the great iron gong struck by the hand 
 of Finn’s man. 
 
 ‘Run, boy,’ said the man of the 
 house; ‘see who is at the gate and 
 bring me word.’ 
 
 The boy ran, climbed into the gate 
 tower, and swiftly returned. 
 
 ‘ My lord,’ he said, ‘ there are with- 
 out two men of great stature. The 
 elder and taller of the two is the most 
 beautiful being that these eyes ever 
 
 H 
 
98 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 saw. His hair is pure white and rolls 
 in masses over the scarlet mantle 
 that surrounds mighty shoulders ; his 
 complexion is fresh and ruddy, and 
 his eyes are blue. There is beside 
 him a hound which he leads by a chain 
 of silver attached to a collar of gold. 
 That hound is a wonder. She has a 
 small head, eyes as terrible as a dragon, 
 and a white spot on her black breast. 
 The man’s companion is brown-haired, 
 and he leads by a bronze chain a 
 spotted leopard.’ 
 
 ‘Put wings to thy feet, lad,’ cried 
 the old man in great excitement ; 
 ‘raise the portcullis and let fall the 
 bridge, for the men are Finn and his 
 man Dering, and thy leopard is only 
 Bran’s spotted sister. Haste ! haste ! ’ 
 
 Meantime Dering would have once 
 more thundered upon the gong, but 
 Finn restrained him. 
 
 The old man joyfully received these 
 welcome guests. As all his people had 
 been awakened by the thunder which 
 
A WELCOME VISITOR 
 
 99 
 
 Dering had roused from the gong, an 
 excellent supper was soon got ready 
 for the two Fians. Bran and the 
 Leopard had their supper that night 
 served to them in a silver dish, a vessel 
 of great price, for it was the proudest 
 and happiest night in that old man’s 
 long life, and well he knew that not 
 Finn only, but those two dogs, would 
 be famous while night and day endure. 
 When they had had their supper Bran 
 and the Leopard came and lay down 
 upon the hearth before the fire, and 
 the old man scanned them closely with 
 great awe and reverence. Bran’s ears 
 were red, her legs yellow, the rest of 
 her body was black, save for a round 
 white spot on her breast, and a starry 
 shower of white over her loins. The 
 Leopard was spotted yellow throughout 
 on a ground of black, the spots growing 
 smaller and more frequent towards the 
 neck, and very small upon the head 
 and ears. Of the two, the Leopard 
 seemed to be the more powerful, and 
 
100 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 Bran the swifter and more spirited. 
 Both dogs were sleek and glossy. 
 There was no beast in the world which 
 they would not overtake and pull 
 down. The Leopard’s real name was 
 Sgeolan. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Finn’s humble relations 
 
 LIKE thee well, old man, 
 for many things,’ said 
 Finn, who had now ended 
 his supper. ‘Thou hast 
 entertained us nobly and like a king, 
 without officiousness or too hospitable 
 zeal, and hast suffered us to eat our 
 supper in peace, which hungry men 
 like best. I perceive, too, that thou 
 art a lover of dogs like myself, and that 
 there flows from thee a strong torrent 
 of affection and admiration for my two 
 matchless hounds ; and if a man loves 
 my dogs, he shall ever be dear to me. 
 
102 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 I perceive, also, that thou art a 
 historian, and historians are very dear 
 to me.’ 
 
 The old man answered, ‘ O captain 
 of the Fianna, thy dogs are famous 
 over the whole world, and will be 
 famous to the world’s end ; nor am I 
 surprised at their glory when I look 
 upon them, and this is the first time 
 I have seen them near at hand. Often 
 have I inquired concerning their birth 
 and breeding, but no man could relate 
 it. The wisest of them said it is 
 unknown.’ 
 
 ‘ It is unknown,’ said Finn. 
 
 ‘ I would give much to learn,’ said 
 the old man. 
 
 ‘ Many have expressed the same 
 wish,’ answered Finn. 
 
 The old man set drinking vessels 
 on a small table near the fire, also a 
 great measure of ale, and when the 
 two guests had washed their hands in 
 ewers of water, and dried them in 
 napkins, they drew nigh to the fire. 
 
F/NN^S HUMBLE RELATIONS 103 
 
 Finn blessed the man and his house, 
 and took a deep draught, draining the 
 last drop from the huge tankard, while 
 the old man wondered. 
 
 Finn looked earnestly at him and 
 said — ‘ Bid the servants go to bed, and 
 I will tell thee. I will tell thee other 
 things, too, and thou shalt fill thy 
 empty prepared staves.’ 
 
 The old man obeyed joyfully, and 
 when he had shut and bolted the doors 
 of the chamber, he returned. He 
 thought his heart would break with 
 excess of joy. Then he sat down at 
 the one side of the fire, and, for the 
 first time, looked at Finn towering on 
 the other, his mighty limbs and huge 
 knotted knees, and his countenance 
 like the sun. 
 
 ‘ Long ago,’ said Finn, ‘ for no man 
 who now lives remembers these things, 
 when my first passion for hounds came 
 upon me, I was in my booth on the 
 slopes of the Slieve Bloom Mountains. 
 It was night, and I in my bed. With- 
 
104 and his companions 
 
 out a storm raged, and the roar of the 
 forest surrounded me, with thunder 
 and lightning and the rushing of rain. 
 I lay awake rejoicing in the uproar; 
 but while I listened I heard amid the 
 noise a very small and delicate sound, 
 like the tinkling of some exquisitely 
 modulated tympan, exceeding sweet. 
 I must tell thee, too, that ere this my 
 mother’s sister was lost and could 
 nowhere be found, and it was supposed 
 that she had been spirited away by the 
 Fomorian enchanters, and was seen 
 subsequently in the form of a beautiful 
 hound. I heard a knocking at the 
 door of the booth, and when I opened 
 it, I was at first dazzled with the flood 
 of light which came in through the door. 
 I thought it was very near lightning. 
 Then I perceived a woman standing 
 there, tall, and wondrous beautiful, 
 with a closed basket in her hand. She 
 gave me the basket, and said — “ I have 
 brought these to thee, O Finn, for I 
 have always heard that cousins should 
 
FINN^S HUMBLE RELATIONS 105 
 
 be cousinly.’’ I saw no more of the 
 woman, and when I drew back into 
 the booth and had stirred up the 
 embers and made a blaze, I opened the 
 basket and discovered there two blind 
 puppies of exactly the same colour as 
 those which lie before thee on the 
 hearth. They have been with me ever 
 since,’ said Finn, ‘and they are with 
 me now. These hounds, then, match- 
 less for beauty, speed, courage, strength, 
 and intelligence, are my own cousins,’ 
 said Finn. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 FINN TELLS ABOUT HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 |IN victories and blessings for 
 ever, O captain of the Fians 
 of Fail,’ answered the old 
 man. ‘ That, indeed, is a 
 strange and memorable story, nor am I 
 surprised at it when I contemplate their 
 beautiful proportions, and think of their 
 rare intelligence and sagacity, of which 
 I have heard many things. And now, 
 O Finn, if it would not be irksome to 
 thee, I would gladly learn somewhat of 
 thy boyish life. As long as I can re- 
 member thou hast been famous and 
 powerful, ruling in the midst of thy 
 
F/NNS CHILDHOOD 
 
 107 
 
 unconquerable warriors and indefatig- 
 able hunters. But men tell vaguely 
 of a time, long ago, when thou wert 
 solitary and surrounded with peril of 
 many kinds. They also say that the 
 sons of Morna searched the world for 
 thee, to slay thee, when thou wert a 
 young child. But of these things they 
 speak vaguely. If it would not weary 
 thee, I would gladly learn these 
 things with more exactness from thy 
 own eloquent and correctly-speaking 
 lips.* 
 
 ‘ I will tell thee somewhat,* said 
 Finn. ‘ It will not weary me, for I 
 am by nature eloquent, and speech 
 flows from me without effort. I was a 
 babe in the cradle when that great 
 battle was fought in which my father 
 was slain. The conquerors, viz. the 
 sons of Morna, forthwith spread them- 
 selves over Ireland with the object of 
 exterminating all my father*s sons and 
 grandsons, and, in fact, our whole race. 
 A fierce company came straight from 
 
io8 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 the battle to my mother^s house to kill 
 me. No news of the battle had yet 
 reached my mother, when two strange 
 women entered the house, snatched 
 me from the cradle before her eyes, 
 and fled. They were leaving the palace 
 by one door when my enemies were 
 entering by the other. The latter gave 
 chase, but they might as well have 
 chased the wind as chased those women. 
 The women brought me to the depths 
 of the forests which clothe the Slieve 
 Bloom Mountains. There I was weaned, 
 and dwelt as a child with the two 
 women in the forest, cowering low 
 before the wrath of the sons of Morna, 
 whose trackers and searchers continued 
 seeking for me. That was how I 
 survived the slaughter of all my father^s 
 house.’ 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Finn’s first quarry 
 
 H WOULD know now, O 
 Finn,’ said the old man, 
 ‘ what game, bird or beast, 
 first fell by thy hand. 
 Now indeed thou art a mighty hunter, 
 thy forests are everywhere, and thy 
 game-laws embrace all Erin. Few are 
 the houses in which a hound-whelp is 
 not being reared for thee, and, truly, 
 the great game and the small which fall 
 before thee in any one year, who could 
 number ? But of all fame there is a 
 beginning, as the mightiest river has a 
 small source.’ 
 
no FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 ‘That is true/ said Finn, ‘and I 
 will tell thee. Afterwards my protectors 
 fled with me out of the Slieve Bloom 
 Mountains, for the sons of Morna dis- 
 covered my retreat, and they put a ring 
 of men and dogs round the mountains, 
 and were closing inwards. Neverthe- 
 less, the heroines bore me safely through 
 them all, and fled with me into the ex- 
 treme west of Munster, beyond the 
 beautiful glen which is called Glengarifle, 
 to a place on the haven of Bera, which 
 is known as Dunboy. There they built 
 a hut on the edge of a wood close to 
 a small lake. I used to play on the 
 shore of the lake, and send smooth 
 finger stones skimming along the surface, 
 and soon began to shoot very straight 
 and far. One day a wild duck came 
 sailing past with her brood of twelve 
 ducklings. I took a good aim at her 
 with a carefully -selected stone. She 
 saw the missile approaching, leaping 
 from point to point on the smooth 
 water, and with her wings began to 
 
FINN^S FIRST QUARRY 
 
 III 
 
 beat the water in the act of raising her- 
 self for flight. Yet the stone struck 
 and cut off her two wings. The bird, 
 accompanied by her orphaned brood, 
 drifted towards the shore, and when I 
 could reach her, I seized her joyfully, 
 and also took and put in my bosom the 
 twelve ducklings, and so hastened to 
 the house, where the heroines praised 
 me much for my skill and success. 
 The plucking, the roasting, basting, 
 and carving of that duck gave these 
 persons and myself as much pleasure 
 as was ever got out of any similar 
 adventure. That,’ said Finn, ‘was my 
 first exploit as a hunter.’ 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 FINN AND THE POETS 
 
 ‘ is reported/ said the old 
 
 under- 
 
 stands or loves poetry 
 better than thyself, and I 
 know that no youth can be enrolled 
 amongst thy Fians unless he can make 
 a good poem.’ 
 
 ‘ I myself made that law,’ said Finn, 
 ‘ for many good reasons, and chiefly for 
 this, that youths who love poetry are 
 more readily inflamed to the perform- 
 ance of great deeds, are more obedient 
 to their captains, and hold their banner 
 and their battalion in greater esteem. 
 
FINN AND THE POETS 113 
 
 One rude bone -hewer may indeed 
 conquer a youth of the kind I love, 
 but set against each other two armies, 
 one of warlike boors and the other 
 such as are my Fians, and they are not 
 to be compared. 
 
 ‘ My own poetic nature I inherit from 
 my mother. It was she who composed 
 that lullaby which begins, ‘‘ Sleep, my 
 child, in soft slumber sleep.” She came 
 secretly to the place where the heroines 
 guarded me, and took me in her arms 
 and to her bosom and sang that lullaby 
 and departed. 
 
 ‘ After the first hunting exploit which 
 I have described, I hunted perpetually, 
 and got food for my protectors. Then 
 the passion of poetry grew upon me. 
 There were six poets who lived together 
 in a dell in the Galtee Mountains. I 
 abandoned my protectors and went to 
 live with them, and they taught me. 
 I lived with these sons of wisdom and 
 beauty till one day when a robber and 
 plunderer out of Leinster came and 
 
 I 
 
1 14 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 slew them all and took me away captive, 
 and compelled me to live with him in 
 his den, which, like a stork’s nest, was 
 in the midst of a cold, bleak, desolate 
 marsh, a wide watery expanse of sorrow. 
 
 ‘ Afterwards, when I was a young man, 
 I came to the beautiful Boyne, hearing 
 that the wisest men were there. I be- 
 came servant to a man who called him- 
 self Finn ; my own name then was 
 Demna. It chanced that the day I 
 entered his service he had taken a 
 salmon in the pool of the Boyne which 
 is called Linn Fee. He bade me bake 
 the salmon and serve it. When I set 
 the salmon before him, he asked me 
 whether I had tasted the fish. I said, 
 ‘‘no,” but that I had touched it with 
 my thumb to know if it were sufficiently 
 baked, and afterwards put my burned 
 thumb to my mouth. “ Alas,” he said, 
 “ the prophecy is fulfilled. This fish 
 is not for me, but for thee. It is the 
 Salmon of Knowledge, and thou art the 
 true Finn, about whom the prophets 
 
FINN AND THE POETS 115 
 
 have been prophesying from ancient 
 days. Sit in my place and eat the fish.” 
 So I sat in his place and ate the Salmon 
 of Knowledge. That is the reason 
 why, when I put my thumb under my 
 divining tooth, the knowledge of things 
 past and to come is revealed to me. 
 
 ‘ I remained on the banks of the 
 Boyne with the wise men there till I 
 had mastered all the mysteries of poetry 
 and all the knowledge which is con- 
 tained in that art. On the day that 
 I was initiated and admitted a member 
 of their learned company, I composed 
 a poem in proof of my poetic skill.’ 
 
 ‘ Prithee repeat it for me,’ said the 
 old man. 
 
 Finn repeated it. 
 
 ‘May -day! delightful time I how 
 beautiful the colour. 
 
 The blackbirds sing their full lay. 
 Oh that Laeg were here. 
 
 The cuckoos sing in constant strains. 
 How welcome the noble 
 
ii6 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 Brilliance of the season ever. On 
 the margin of the branchy woods 
 
 The summer swallows skim the 
 streams. 
 
 The horses seek the pool. 
 
 The heath spreads out its long hair. 
 The weak white bog-down grows. 
 
 Sudden consternation attacks the 
 signs. The planets in their course 
 running exert an influence. 
 
 The sea is lulled to rest, flowers 
 cover the earth.’ 
 
 Finn repeated the poem slowly in 
 order that the old man might remember 
 it. The metre was complicated and 
 intricate, and the poem throughout 
 riveted with many shining alliterations, 
 so that it might be the more easily 
 remembered, and defy the assaults of 
 time. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 FINN REVEALS HIMSELF FURTHER 
 
 ‘ T is on account of my poetic 
 
 nature and my close inti- 
 macy with many excellent 
 poets that I have pleasures 
 which are not usually enjoyed by 
 warriors and hunters. Dear to me is 
 the cry of sea-gulls and the thunder of 
 the great billows of the Atlantic against 
 the cliffs of Erris, the washing of water 
 against the sides of ships, and the 
 sound, foam, and motion behind them 
 as they cleave the fluid sea, for not 
 dearer to me is the Arm earth than the 
 never-resting ocean. I love to hear 
 
ii8 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 the clear flute of the blackbird in the 
 morning, and the thrush’s song as he 
 sits by himself and sings when the sun 
 goes down. The beautiful changes of 
 the varying year are sweet to me, and 
 truly there are not many sights and 
 sounds that I do not love, or from 
 which I do not derive pleasure, so that 
 solitude is no more irksome to me 
 than company, and yet I am the most 
 sociable of men ; so that I do not 
 surround myself with guards and royal 
 state, but live simply in the midst of 
 my people, like one of themselves, for 
 I love them well, and well they love 
 me.’ 
 
 The old man, still thirsting for 
 knowledge, said, ‘ O Finn, tell me who 
 is the best man and who is the worst 
 among the Fians.’ 
 
 Finn answered, ‘ I myself am the 
 best man, and Dara-dufl* from the 
 Black Mountain is the worst. There 
 is a great deal of life in me,’ said Finn ; 
 ‘ and a great deal of life goes out of 
 
FINN FF VEALS HIMSELF 119 
 
 me There is death in him, and a 
 great deal of death goes out of him. 
 Yet he never had less power than he 
 has now. Even if I could destroy him, 
 I am not permitted to dp so, for his 
 roots spring mysteriously out of the 
 roots of the world. He has been in 
 the world always, and will be in it till 
 the end of time.’ 
 
 ‘Tell me next, O Finn, if I may ask 
 that question, what gods are most wor- 
 shipped by thee ? ’ 
 
 Finn answered wrathfully, ‘ I worship 
 no gods ; for these sorcerers and 
 enchanters of Erin who, because they 
 are invisible and immortal and possess 
 certain powers, are worshipped by the 
 vulgar, are not revered at all by me. 
 I fear them not and never have feared 
 them, but I think they fear me. The 
 glorious sun I worship, and the firma- 
 ment with its flashing lights, and the 
 unseen wonderful wind, and the strong 
 earth, and the illimitable ocean, for 
 they are everlasting divine powers 
 
120 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 proceeding from some source diviner 
 still. But as for those people who 
 skulk invisible in the hills and frighten 
 simple folk so that they make to them 
 costly offerings, yea, have slain in their 
 honour their own children, I regard 
 them not at all, and that they know.’ 
 
 The old man trembled when he 
 heard these daring words. Neverthe- 
 less, in his secret heart he rejoiced to 
 think that a man could be so brave. 
 
 ‘ Dismiss me now to my rest and my 
 slumber, O amiable and much-inquiring 
 historian ! ’ said Finn ; ‘ for I arose 
 early this morning, and that was an 
 early rising when a man could not see 
 the sky between his outspread fingers, 
 or distinguish the leaves of the oak 
 from those of the beech.’ 
 
 While this conversation lasted Dering 
 had shown no signs of sleep or drowsi- 
 ness ; he sat erect, listening with bright 
 eyes. 
 
 In the morning Finn asked the 
 historian many questions concerning 
 
FINN REVEALS HIMSELF 121 
 
 his manner of work, and commended 
 him, and gave him good counsel, as, 
 for example, ‘that he should not, in 
 making his histories, concern himself 
 exclusively with wars and things 
 horrible, but should tell also of the 
 common daily life of men and women ; 
 let women and children,^ he said, ‘ be 
 frequent in your stories, for they are 
 the light of life, nor let the sun be 
 long absent from your tale, seeing 
 that he himself is never long absent 
 from us. Also,’ he said, ‘ I perceive 
 there is some domestic sorrow in thy 
 mind. What is it ? ’ 
 
 The old man said that he had a 
 very dear grandson who was sick of a 
 decline. 
 
 ‘ Bring him to me,’ said Finn. 
 
 Finn looked upon the lad and asked 
 whether there was a well of pure water 
 in the neighbourhood, and when they 
 answered him ‘Yes,’ he bade them 
 lead him to it. 
 
 There he scooped up the sparkling 
 
122 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 water in the hollow of his right hand, 
 and when he had spoken some poetry 
 in a strange tongue, he gave to the 
 young man to drink. From that day 
 the youth steadily recovered. 
 
 Finn caused the whole household 
 to come before him. He spake kind 
 words to them all, and he blessed the 
 old man and his people, and went away 
 with Dering and the dogs, and they 
 saw him no more. 
 
PART IV 
 
 THE COMING OF FINN 
 

CHAPTER I 
 
 NOBLE ANCIENTS IN ADVERSITY 
 
 OW that you are sufficiently 
 acquainted with Finn as 
 he appeared in the fulness 
 of his power and glory, I 
 desire to let you see him in his youth, 
 while he was struggling upwards out 
 of obscurity, when he was friendless, 
 solitary, and surrounded by enemies. 
 The lesson taught by Finn in his power 
 is the lesson of flowing goodwill towards 
 men. From his youth we learn the 
 lesson of cheerfulness and courage. 
 
 In the heart of Connaught, a deep 
 trackless forest, and in the heart of 
 
126 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 the forest a rude booth of timber, 
 rudely roofed with rushes and heather. 
 Brushwood grew above it and around 
 it, so that one might pass many times 
 and almost touch the house without 
 discovering it. In this booth, one 
 wild December evening, half a dozen 
 old men — very old men — sat crouched 
 around a small fire of sticks. They 
 were clad in ancient rags, and in skins ; 
 their faces were thin and hunger-bitten ; 
 their fingers long, lean, and crooked. 
 The meanest of them looked a king. 
 Fate had pressed very hard on these 
 old men, but had not conquered them, 
 and their eyes shone under most rigid 
 brows. Who were these noble old men 
 clad in rags and skins, nourishing here 
 in poverty and famine some uncon- 
 querable resolution ? I shall tell you. 
 
 The captain of the Fians in his time 
 was Cool, son of Trenmor, the mightiest 
 of the Fian captains down to his time, 
 and Cool, remember, was the father 
 of Finn. Then the sons of Morna 
 
NOBLE ANCIENTS 127 
 
 revolted against him, saying that Gaul 
 mac Morna, their brother, was the 
 better man, and should be captain. 
 Each party drew together an army, and 
 the battle for the Fian leadership was 
 fought on the banks of the Liffey. 
 There Cool was defeated and slain ; the 
 sons of Morna triumphed and raised 
 their brother Gaul to the leadership. 
 Luchat Mael was the champion who 
 slew Cool and took from him his 
 satchel, which contained the jewels of 
 sovereignty and right leadership. He 
 slung it to his own girdle. While he 
 kept that bag, the tyranny of the sons 
 of Morna was secure, and it was 
 supposed that there was not a 
 champion in the world who could 
 conquer Luchat Mael. What these 
 jewels were is not rightly known, but 
 there was great power and virtue in 
 them. 
 
 After the battle, the sons of Morna 
 went through Ireland exterminating all 
 the breed and seed of the overthrown 
 
128 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 family. Nearly all the warriors of Cool 
 who escaped from the battle were 
 obliged to make terms with the new 
 tyranny, and swear allegiance to Gaul 
 mac Morna. A very few did not. 
 These were the old men whom we 
 saw, clad in rags and skins, crouching 
 around their feeble fire in the booth 
 in the forest. 
 
 At first they lived by hunting, poach- 
 ing it might be called, for all the forests 
 and all the game belonged now to Gaul 
 mac Morna. They shifted from moun- 
 tain to mountain and forest to forest, from 
 lake to river and river to lake, for the 
 trackers and searchers of the sons of 
 Morna were on their traces. Finally 
 they were pressed into greater confine- 
 ment, so that they could only hunt by 
 night and by stealth, and while one 
 man speared a salmon, there was another 
 who kept watch, and oftentimes they 
 were acquainted with the soreness of 
 famine. Yet even thus they refused 
 to make terms with the new tyranny. 
 
NOBLE ANCIENTS 
 
 129 
 
 ‘ To the sons of Morna/ they said, ‘ we 
 will oppose a resolution which hunger 
 and death shall never break.’ But 
 hardship and years began to tell upon 
 their iron frames, and their great limbs 
 wasted away. Then some of them grew 
 too old to do anything but sit by the 
 fire and keep it alive, while those who 
 were not so old set traps and springes 
 near the cabin, and sometimes snared 
 a few birds and small game, and some- 
 times did not. Often the very old 
 warriors turned hungry eyes on the 
 others as they came back empty-handed, 
 but no word of reproach was ever 
 uttered, nor at any time one word 
 signifying that famine had expelled 
 their heroic determination from their 
 hearts. 
 
 This night the younger men returned, 
 bringing with them a red-winged thrush. 
 Silently they plucked the bird and 
 suspended it over the red embers by 
 a twine of twisted grass. Grimly the 
 seniors smiled as the small bird re- 
 
 K 
 
130 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 volved over the glowing embers and 
 dropped its scant fatness, which hissed 
 slightly as it met the fire. They 
 thought of nights in the Speckled 
 House on Hill of Allen long ago, the 
 feasts there, the strong carousing, and 
 all the joyous and glorious days and 
 nights of their youth, when Cool, son 
 of Trenmor, their captain, was strong 
 and unsubdued. 
 
 ‘ Brothers, we are coming very near 
 the end,’ said one noble elder. ‘ There 
 is little nourishment in this thrush, and 
 yesterday and the day before we had 
 not even a thrush. Be it so, but I 
 would like to die hearing that the 
 tyranny of the sons of Morna was 
 shaken.’ 
 
 ‘Dear friend, that thou shalt both 
 hear and see,’ answered the one rela- 
 tive of Cool who had escaped the fury 
 of the Clanna Morna and the hosts ot 
 their trackers. His name was Crimall, 
 son of Trenmor; he was chief over 
 them. ‘ It was surely foretold to me, 
 
NOBLE ANCIENTS 131 
 
 how, by a friendless and solitary youth, 
 a banned, outlawed child of the wilder- 
 ness, the sovereignty of the sons of 
 Morna would be overthrown.’ 
 
 ‘ That we believe,' they said, ‘ for it 
 was surely prophesied, but not that the 
 youth in skins would arise in our time.’ 
 
 The bird being now roasted, Crimall 
 made an even division of the same, 
 viz. a seventh part to each man. Then 
 he said, ‘O my coevals, listen to me. 
 I now tell you tidings which I have 
 concealed for a dark hour like this. 
 The youth of many prophecies has 
 appeared and there is perplexity in the 
 councils of Gaul mac Morna. He and 
 his fierce warriors are already looking 
 for the end.’ 
 
 In spite of sore famine the old men 
 dropped their morsels and gazed upon 
 the withered senior. ‘Yes, dear and 
 faithful brothers,’ continued Crimall, 
 ‘ he has appeared; now from one point, 
 now from another, he descends upon 
 them out of the wilderness to burn and 
 
132 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 to slay, and again the wilderness covers 
 him. He has the strength of a hundred 
 men ; he is swifter than a deer, terrible 
 as a dragon, and glorious as the sun 
 on his fiery wheels. So much I know 
 for a certainty ; the end truly draweth 
 nigh. We, the few and faithful, will 
 again sit at the right hand of our own 
 Fian-captain, in the flashing hall of 
 the Tech Brae, on the flat-topped hill.’ 
 
 ‘ Oh, that we could believe thy 
 words, Crimall, strong - hearted and 
 wise, but even while we speak, the 
 trackers of the Clanna Morna may be 
 at the door, and the youngest of us 
 has not strength even to raise the 
 heavy swords, which were like switches 
 in our hands while our power and 
 manly force were still with us.’ 
 
 ‘ Hark,’ said one of them, ‘ even now 
 I hear some man bursting through the 
 brushwood and young trees. Stand to 
 your weapons, my brothers; it is an 
 enemy, for friends in all broad Erin we 
 have none.’ 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE OLD MEN HAVE A STRANGE GUEST 
 
 H T was pitiful to see the 
 response to this challenge, 
 for, though all stood up 
 and sought to arm them- 
 selves and stand on their defence, 
 they were not able. With difficulty 
 they raised their mighty shields, and 
 their huge swords trembled in their 
 ancient and nerveless hands. 
 
 Some one knocked at the door, and, 
 as it seemed, with the butt-end of a 
 great spear, the weak door was splin- 
 tered with the blow. The strongest 
 and youngest of the Fians stood behind 
 
134 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 the door and cried, ‘ Art thou a friend 
 or an enemy ? ’ 
 
 ‘ A friend,’ answered a young, cheery, 
 and laughing voice from without. 
 
 ‘ Unbar the door,’ cried old Crimall. 
 ‘ Deceit is not an attribute of the 
 Clanna Morna — I will do them that 
 justice. There was no lying or treach- 
 ery found amongst them at any time. 
 Unbar the door.’ 
 
 ‘There is mockery in the voice,’ 
 said the old Fian. ‘It is the voice 
 of one who laughs.’ 
 
 ‘ Nay, not mockery,’ answered Crim- 
 all, ‘ but laughter only. It is the 
 laughter of a young and happy heart. 
 Unbar the door.’ 
 
 The old Fian unbarred the door, 
 and a young man, large and mighty- 
 thewed, entered the booth laughing, 
 his whole face suffused with sparkling 
 tides of some great joy. He was white 
 and ruddy, his bright face lit up the 
 whole gloomy chamber of age and 
 sorrow. His lips and cheeks were 
 
A STRANGE GUEST 135 
 
 smooth, the golden masses of his hair 
 rolled over his wide shoulders. He 
 wore a huge rough mantle of many 
 skins of wild-boars sewn together ; his 
 shirt was of deer -skin laced with 
 leathern thongs ; his knees bare, and 
 his moccasins of untanned hairy ox- 
 hide. He carried a great shield and 
 spear; the bright end of a scabbard 
 projected below his black skin -cloak. 
 He came straight to Crimall and bend- 
 ing low in reverence said — 
 
 ‘ Noble elder, I am a hunter lost in 
 these woods.' I seek supper and a 
 bed, for I am homeless and supperless.’ 
 
 ‘ Thou art right welcome, O youth,’ 
 said Crimall. ‘ We too 'are hunters, 
 but fortune has not smiled on our 
 labours this day. Nevertheless what 
 we have with us in the booth is thine.’ 
 
 A sylvan seat, which, indeed, was only 
 the sawn end of a tree, was set before 
 the fire for the young hero, and while 
 he conversed with Crimall, the others 
 contributed their small fragments. 
 
136 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 Then a platter containing the just dis- 
 membered bird was given to him. 
 
 ‘ Would we had better to offer thee, 
 O illustrious youth whom the gods love, 
 but we can give thee pure water from the 
 spring and a pleasant bed of heather 
 and rushes, and our young men will 
 rise early in the morning and search 
 the snares and springes. Haply some 
 birds or animals may be taken therein 
 on which thou mayest break thy fast 
 well. Music we cannot give thee, for 
 music hath not been heard amongst us 
 for a long time ; but there is one 
 amongst us who is a good historian, 
 and will entertain thee with stories of 
 old times till sweet sleep makes heavy 
 thine eyelids.’ 
 
 The laughing light died out of the 
 young man’s eyes and lips, as the 
 glittering sunshine glancing on a million 
 waves fades from the sea when a black 
 cloud comes over the sun. He looked 
 at the wretched repast upon the beechen 
 platter, the little fragments in number 
 
A STRANGE GUEST 137 
 
 the same as the number of the old 
 men. He marked their hollow gray 
 faces and their eyes bright with famine, 
 bright too just then with the light of 
 kindness and goodwill. He laid the 
 platter on the ground beside him, and 
 put his great hands before his face, and 
 bowed down his head and wept. The 
 old men preserved silence. Youth, 
 they thought, hath many sorrows which 
 cold age cannot comprehend. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE GUEST PROVES HIMSELF AN 
 EXPERT HUNTER 
 
 HEN the boy had made an 
 end of weeping, he stood 
 up and said — 
 
 ‘Noble old men, good 
 fortune in hunting doth not fall to every 
 one each day, but sometimes one man 
 meets with it, and sometimes another. 
 Ill fortune was yours to-day and may 
 be mine to-morrow, but this day sue 
 cess has attended my hunting, and 
 there is with me a sufficiency of food 
 for all. Put on the fire, I pray you, 
 fresh timber, not little sticks but big 
 
AN EXPERT HUNTER 139 
 
 logs, and make a good fire, for we 
 shall all feast well to-night/ 
 
 So saying he left the booth, while 
 the old men, wondering, gazed at one 
 another, and presently reappeared bend- 
 ing in the low doorway and bearing a 
 deer on his shoulders, the two fore legs 
 caught in one hand on his breast, and 
 the two hind legs in another, while the 
 head, with lolling tongue and branching 
 antlers, hung down on one side. It 
 was no fallow-deer, but a great red-deer 
 of the forest, a buck, very large and fat. 
 Out over his head then he flung the 
 huge carcass, which fell with a heavy 
 dull sound and a clash of the clattering 
 antlers on the floor of the booth, and 
 went out, and returned carrying in his 
 right hand a tusked boar held by the 
 bristling hure, and in his left a sow 
 grasped by a leg, and flung them down 
 beside the deer. He returned once 
 more trailing behind him a long string 
 of small game, hares and badgers, wild 
 geese and swans, fastened together by 
 
140 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 a Stout cord of cut and twisted hide, 
 so that all the farther end of the booth 
 was heaped with birds and beasts. 
 
 , ‘ Truly thou art a mighty hunter, O 
 brave and generous youth,’ said Crimall, 
 ‘ but bring in now thy hounds. Why 
 shouldst thou leave them without ? 
 We too, alas ! love hounds, and thine 
 will be most welcome at our hearth.’ 
 
 ‘ Truly there are no hounds with me,’ 
 said the lad. ‘ Whatever be the powers 
 that fashioned me, they have made my 
 limbs swift and tireless, so that even 
 the red-deer are not apt to escape from 
 me when I get upon their traces. 
 Yet, why should I boast ? You, too, 
 have doubtless in your day run down 
 swift game. Verily, the tongue of youth 
 is apt to be loud in declaring its own 
 glory. Here I think is a sufficiency of 
 meat, and I chance to have bread too, 
 for I am not a hunter only, but a warrior 
 and spoiler ; I sacked a lime-white 
 noble Dun this day, and have brought 
 with me some of the spoil.’ 
 
AN EXPERT HUNTER 141 
 
 He went out and returned bearing a 
 great leathern sack in one hand, which 
 he flung upon the floor. Sweetly, with 
 a musical sound of ringing metal, that 
 sack fell on the hard floor, and from 
 the mouth of the sack rolled a great 
 horn rimmed with silver, and a silver 
 cup which had eyes of crystal in it. 
 In the other hand he bore what seemed 
 one long pillar. The end of that pillar 
 he planted firmly in the ground, and it 
 stood there upright. There were three 
 score large cakes in that pillar. Through 
 each cake ran a spear, and the head of 
 the spear was thrust into the floor. 
 From the pillar he took a score of cakes 
 and laid them on the hearth, and again 
 addressed the astonished elders. 
 
 ‘A sufficiency of pure water, noble 
 seniors, is right welcome at times, and 
 ever in the morning and in the after- 
 noon, before the declining of the sun. 
 Then indeed no other beverage is more 
 invigorating to the hunter, but at night 
 and when friends meet and feast to- 
 
142 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 gether joyfully, old strong ale bears the 
 bell, if I; a mere lad, may speak thus 
 confidently before seniors and superiors.’ 
 
 ‘Truly, my son,’ said old Crimall, 
 ‘ thou hast spoken aright, and according 
 to the traditional wisdom of the 
 ancients — 
 
 For .the hunter in his glad labours 
 
 The pure cold glittering spring, 
 
 And for the warrior when he bends his knee 
 to the battle 
 
 And his brow to the pale fierce fight ; 
 
 But there is no feasting without ale. 
 
 Nevertheless, on this occasion, pure 
 water must serve our needs.’ 
 
 ‘Say not so, father,’ answered the 
 youth laughing. From his very hair 
 light seemed to radiate, and the clatter 
 of his skins sounded like sweet music 
 in the old men’s ears. He went to 
 the door and plucked up the tree that 
 served for the door -jamb, and then 
 smaller trees that were next to it, so 
 that the whole house shook, and the 
 roof was drawn awry. He went out 
 
AN EXPERT HUNTER 143 
 
 into the night and returned kicking 
 before him through the doorway a great 
 barrel, and then a second, and then a 
 third, and he set them on end next the 
 side wall in a row, and broke open one 
 of them with a downward slap of his 
 hand, plucked out and threw aside 
 the broken staves, and took the sack 
 by the end and shed out a score of 
 great cups and goblets that flashed and 
 twinkled as they rolled on the floor, 
 and set eight of them on the unopened 
 barrels, so that any one choosing to 
 do so might drink, and kicked the rest 
 into the back part of the booth. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 FINN 
 
 OAST thou any other surprises 
 in store for us, O youth, 
 beloved of the gods ? ’ said 
 Crimall, who trembled as 
 he spoke, for fear and hope made him 
 like ice and fire. 
 
 ‘ What thing above all other things in 
 the world wouldst thou see with greatest 
 joy, son of Trenmor, son of Basna ? ’ 
 And Crimall answered straight — 
 
 ‘ The bag that was at my brother’s 
 girdle in the battle of Cnoca, with his 
 jewels of sovereignty and power within 
 it, and the head of Luchat Mael, and 
 
FINN 
 
 145 
 
 both in the hands of my brother’s only 
 son.’ 
 
 ‘ I have them with me,’ cried the 
 lad, as he threw back his boar-skin 
 mantle, and held out the jewel-bag in 
 one hand and a huge black head in 
 the other. ‘ Here is Cool’s treasure-bag 
 and the treasures in it, and here is 
 Luchat Mael’s head, whom I met and 
 slew this day in fair fight, and I am 
 Cool’s youngest son whom the druid- 
 esses bore away after the battle, and 
 I am waging war on the Clanna Morna 
 and rending their tyranny, and all Ire- 
 land is a shaking sod under my feet.’ 
 
 Then the old men all together cried 
 aloud for joy, yea, they screamed 
 together like eagles or the sea-gulls of 
 the cliffs of Erris when they wheel 
 and cry in their multitudes between 
 the gray cliffs and the sea, so the old 
 men cried ; and they flung their arms 
 around the youth and kissed his head 
 and his cheeks, and his shoulders, his 
 hands, and feet, and wept till their 
 
 L 
 
146 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 voices were choked with lamentation, 
 and their eyes became like rivers of 
 salt water, and a third part of the night 
 went by before they made an end. 
 
 Afterwards they washed their faces 
 in pure water, and laughed as much 
 as before they wept. Then they 
 turned their minds to supper, and 
 skinned and cut up the game, and 
 roasted great steaks of venison on the 
 red embers. Also they cleared out 
 the old disused Fian oven, and stewed 
 and seethed great quantities of flesh in 
 steam, and if they had any bright attire 
 left, or any ornament, it was brought 
 forth,- and they ate, and drank, and car- 
 oused, and related to each other their 
 many adventures, and the old men ever 
 kept their eyes upon Finn and noted 
 every word that came from his mouth. 
 
 When they had conversed for a 
 long time, F inn said : ‘ N o w, if it is pleas- 
 ing to you, I will play for you on my 
 clairsech and sing, for what is a feast 
 without music and singing ? ^ From his 
 
FINN 
 
 147 
 
 great bearskin mantle then he produced 
 a little harp and removed the sheath 
 of fine soft white doeskin, and, when 
 he had turned the pegs and brought 
 the strings to the correct tone, he said : 
 
 ‘ I will sing you my own songs, that you 
 may judge of my proficiency in poetry, 
 as I learned it from the six poets with 
 whom I associated in the woody dells 
 of Slieve Crot/ He sang for them a 
 song in praise of the wind, beginning — 
 
 Sweet to me is the voice of the wind, 
 
 Alike when he whispers in the leaves 
 And when he sounds his strong dord in the 
 tree-tops, 
 
 Bending the forests in his wrath. 
 
 He sang a second song in praise of 
 the sea, ‘the boundless unconquerable 
 realms of Lir,’ and a third in honour 
 of the sun, and a fourth in honour of 
 the earth. 
 
 Crimall said, ‘Those are good songs, 
 my son. I like thy verses well and 
 especially those in honour of the firm, 
 strong, rocky, and all-supporting earth. 
 
148 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 We, the Fians of thy sire, were ac- 
 customed to kiss the earth three times 
 before we went into any battle/ 
 
 ‘That custom shall be maintained,’ 
 said Finn ; and then he said, ‘ I have a 
 wonder with me, that is to say, a man 
 and a woman, and they are not seen. 
 The man’s height is the span of my 
 hand, and the woman’s somewhat less, 
 and there are not in the seen worlds, or 
 in the unseen, a pair of singers and 
 musicians like them. Cnu-Derole and 
 Blana, sing and play for the noble Fians, 
 who were my father’s dear friends and 
 comrades.’ 
 
 Thereat the Fians heard slow, sweet, 
 fairy music and singing, strange, un- 
 earthly harmonies and songs in an un- 
 known tongue, low, faint, and remote. 
 The Fians wept hearing them. 
 
 ‘ They are husband and wife,’ said 
 Finn ; ‘ and they never cease to be 
 in love with each other. They are 
 with me always, and I am as dear to 
 them as they are to me.’ 
 
FINN 
 
 149 
 
 ‘ You have another wonder at your 
 girdle/ said Crimall, ‘ though you know 
 it not. I mean the inexhaustible horn 
 that is in thy father’s treasure -bag. 
 Wash thy hands, my son, and be not 
 afraid to remove it. It is wrapped in 
 the skin of an ermine.’ Finn washed 
 his hands, and took out the horn, and 
 removed the ermine skin. The horn 
 was rimmed with silver and had little 
 breastplates of crystal, like eyes. ‘Fill 
 the horn,’ said Crimall, ‘and hand it 
 to me.’ Finn did so, and Crimall took 
 a long, deep draught out of it, and 
 handed it to the old man who sat 
 next him, who did the same, and 
 handed it to a third. So it came to 
 Finn last, who thought that he surely 
 would empty the horn ; but when he 
 gave over, the horn was not half empty, 
 and when he put it again in Crimall’s 
 hands it was full to the brim and over- 
 flowing. Crimall took the goblet and 
 emptied it into the fire. There went 
 up from the fire a thick blue smoke. 
 
150 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 shot with stars and lightnings, and a 
 sweet perfume filled the whole booth. 
 
 ‘ That is indeed a wonder,^ said Finn; 
 ‘ this goblet must be one of the marvels 
 of the earth.' 
 
 ‘ It is,' said Crimall ; ‘ the name of 
 it is Elba. I shall tell thee its story 
 another time. I have shown thee its 
 properties now to teach thee the nature 
 of the treasures contained in that bag, 
 in order that you may cherish and 
 safeguard it. That horn has other 
 properties also. If it is filled with 
 water, he who drinks will find in it 
 the liquor that he likes best, and this 
 will happen whether the horn be filled 
 with fresh water from the spring or 
 with salt water from the sea. That 
 bag is filled with instruments of en- 
 chantment.' Finn carefully wrapped up 
 the goblet and put it back into the bag. 
 
 Finn, of course, told the old men all 
 his history. The following is his 
 account of the way in which he won 
 his wife. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Finn’s love story 
 
 FTER I escaped from the 
 watery stronghold of that 
 robber who had slain my 
 friends and tutors, the six 
 poets, I was with the two heroines 
 once more in the Slieve Bloom forests. 
 I used to hunt for them continually, 
 and our larder was never empty. When 
 I next went abroad, I came to Bantry, 
 on the shore of the great bay of Bera 
 in the south. I offered my services to 
 the King of Bantry. He asked me 
 what I could do, and I said I could 
 hunt. The King of Bantry made me 
 
152 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 his hunter. I used to hunt for him 
 in the woods and mountains of the 
 wild adjoining country. There was 
 one spot there very dear to me on ac- 
 count of its beauty ; it is called the 
 Rough Glen (Glen-gariffe). There are 
 beautiful little bays and inlets of the 
 sea there, and overhanging mountains, 
 and streams, and delightful woods. 
 The birds sing there in the winter. 
 Once while I was hunting at a distance 
 from home, I saw a number of people 
 assembled, kings, and nobles, and 
 noble ladies in holiday attire — a very 
 gay and delightful scene. I came to 
 the assembly and mingled with the 
 wild people of the district who were 
 onlookers. No one knew me in that 
 place, nor was it known anywhere, save 
 to my two benefactresses, that I was 
 the lost son of Cool, son of Trenmor. 
 Amongst the noble ladies was one 
 seated on a throne, with others in 
 attendance on her, and guards. She 
 was young, but looked proud and dis- 
 
FINN^S LOVE STORY 153 
 
 dainful. Never before in dreams or 
 with my waking eyes had I seen any 
 maiden so beautiful. I turned to a 
 bystander and said, “ Who is this 
 princess who is like the morning star, 
 and what is the meaning of this 
 assembly ? ” She heard me, for there 
 was a waiting silence upon the assembly, 
 and turned her eyes towards me. Then 
 she started, as I thought, and blushed 
 and looked away quickly. 
 
 ‘The bystander answered, “ Thou art 
 surely a stranger in this country. That 
 princess, who is like the morning star 
 for beauty, is the only daughter of the 
 King of Rushy Ciarra. Many noble 
 youths and famous champions have 
 sought her in marriage, but from the 
 first she declared that it was a ges to 
 her ” (a druidic commandment) “ not to 
 marry any man who could not leap 
 yonder deep cleft in the mountain side ; 
 and truly it is an awful leap, and those 
 who have attempted it are at the 
 bottom of the cleft. There has been 
 
154 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 no relenting in her, and no compassion, 
 so powerful is the ges, as some think, 
 or so great is her love of virginity, as 
 others say. This morning a king’s son 
 named Crimthann hath promised to 
 leap the chasm or perish there like 
 others.” 
 
 ‘ I pressed through the wild people, 
 and knew that she was ever aware of 
 my doings even when pride restrained 
 her from looking towards me. I was 
 clad in my skins, and these fastened 
 together in any wise. I came to the 
 nobles, and saluting them respectfully, 
 asked whether I might pass through 
 that presence and examine the cleft. 
 For answer two of them undertook to 
 push me back, but I stood like a rock 
 against them, and they and others at 
 the same time raised against me their 
 voices and their weapons. The maiden 
 was agitated and alarmed at this, and 
 said, “Let the hunter youth examine 
 the cleft if it be pleasing to him. 
 See you not that he is a stranger?” 
 
FINN^S LOVE STORY 155 
 
 All in my skins as I was, truly a wild 
 spectacle, I bowed low to the maiden, 
 and thanked her for her courtesy, and 
 went to the chasm’s edge. Far below, 
 a torrent ran through the ravine, so 
 distant that it was dumb ; and at the 
 other side were sharp crags and crooked 
 points of rock. I measured the distance 
 with my eye, and felt certain that I 
 could make the leap, for, owing to my 
 manner of life, I was truly a good 
 leaper. I returned, and, because I 
 had found favour in her eyes, came 
 and took my stand amongst the nobles 
 and men of war, and was well received 
 by them on this second occasion. 
 
 ‘ Then from the west there came a 
 splendid company, led by a young man 
 nobly attired, wearing a brooch of gold 
 in his five-times-folded mantle ; a very 
 graceful youth, whose form and shapely 
 limbs seemed to promise success in 
 that venture, so that the blood seemed 
 to stand still in my heart, for fear that 
 he might succeed, and when I looked 
 
156 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 to the maid she was pale, too, fearing 
 that the young man might accomplish 
 the leap. 
 
 ‘He approached, and having made 
 her a reverence, and addressed her and 
 her people in an eloquent manner, he 
 withdrew, and stripped off his mantle 
 and jerkin of fine satin, so that there 
 was upon him only a close-fitting light 
 shirt. He took off his shoes, too, 
 and put on others carefully prepared 
 for such a feat. Then, when he was 
 in readiness, a trumpet sounded, and he 
 ran towards the chasm, having the 
 fleetness of a deer and the gracefulness 
 of a fawn, so that I said, “ Surely the 
 man will leap the cleft and I shall die.” 
 But when he neared the chasm and 
 saw the crooked rocks and crags at the 
 other side, and became aware of the 
 dark, fearsome depths of the ravine, he 
 hesitated and swerved, baulking the 
 leap. Then the maiden looked at me, 
 and from her two eyes, and her lips, 
 and her whole countenance, I saw love 
 
FINN^S LOVE STORY 157 
 
 for myself pour forth in torrents, and 
 she saw the same flow from me to 
 her, for no one observed us on that 
 occasion. 
 
 ‘The young man, Crimthann, after 
 he had been encouraged by his people, 
 addressed himself to the leap a second 
 time, and yet a third, but he ever 
 swerved, baulking the leap ; and in the 
 end broke into tears and went away. 
 Then I arose, and taking courage, 
 stood before the throne and oflered to 
 take the leap which Crimthann had 
 refused, if the maid would accept me 
 for her husband. She was silent and 
 pale with terror, and did not answer. 
 Her father and the attendant nobles 
 told me that she would not, and, 
 laughing, they bade me save my neck 
 for the service of my king, and that 
 whole bones were better than broken 
 ones, and other such-like speeches. 
 
 ‘I said that I would not take an 
 answer from them, only from the damsel, 
 that it was her and not any of them- 
 
158 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 selves I desired to marry. She said 
 somewhat in a low voice to her father. 
 He raised his head and said, laughing — 
 
 ‘ “ She says that she never saw any 
 one worse dressed.” 
 
 ‘ That may be,’ I answered, ‘ but it 
 is not my skins that I propose as a 
 husband, but myself, and my question 
 is not answered.’ 
 
 ‘ After a further colloquy her father 
 spoke again and said — 
 
 ‘ My daughter is sorry to have 
 taunted thee with thy attire, and she 
 could wish her husband in other things 
 to resemble thee, but will not consent 
 to the leap.” 
 
 ‘Then,’ said I, ‘if the damsel will 
 not give me the same promise that she 
 made to others, I shall leap the chasm 
 notwithstanding, and having reached 
 the far side I shall return to my lord.’ 
 
 ‘ When she heard that, and saw that 
 I was fully determined, she burst into 
 tears and consented, and her father 
 said — 
 
FINN^S LOVE STORY 159 
 
 ‘ “ I am truly sorry for thee, O brave 
 youth, and how shall I make an excuse 
 to thy lord, who is my foster-brother, 
 when he learns that between us we 
 have killed his man ? ” 
 
 ‘ Then rejoicing, I chose my distance 
 from the chasm’s edge, and I threw 
 off none of my attire, only laced it 
 with a thong close to me that the skins 
 might not impede me in my flight over 
 the cleft. And I ran to the edge and 
 sprang, though a woman’s scream rang 
 in my ears, and rose with an airy bird- 
 like motion, and lighted with my two 
 feet on the other side on smooth ground 
 beyond the rocks, and in like manner 
 I sprang back, and I approached the 
 noble company and asked them whether 
 that was sufficient, speaking deliberately, 
 for I was in no way exhausted or out 
 of breath. They were astonished and 
 pale, but when I offered to do it again 
 they said that it was enough. 
 
 ‘ In this manner I won my dear wife. 
 
 ‘ I went with that company to the 
 
i6o FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 King of Rushy Ciarra's palace, and 
 I got there splendid raiment fit for 
 a king^s son, and our marriage was 
 celebrated with great honour. And 
 now, dear friends, I tell you one of my 
 secrets. There is a prophetic faculty 
 with my wife, and the vision of unseen 
 things. It was revealed to her that 
 my death would come swift and bloody 
 in any year in which I might neglect 
 to take that leap both backwards and 
 forwards on the first day of May, from 
 the East to the West at the rising of 
 the sun, and from the West to the East 
 at his setting.’ 
 
 When Finn lay down and slept that 
 night the old men conversed with each 
 other joyfully in low tones, but indeed 
 that precaution was not necessary, for 
 Finn’s sleep could not be disturbed or 
 broken by the voices of friends. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THERE WAS FEAR IN TARA 
 
 T was the Eve of Samhain, 
 which we Christians call All 
 Hallows’ Eve. From of 
 old it was a night on which 
 many strange things used to happen. 
 In fact it was a great festival with our 
 Pagan ancestors. 
 
 The King of Ireland sat at supper 
 in his palace at Tara. All his chiefs 
 and mighty men were with him. This 
 king was called Conn, and surnamed 
 the Hundred -Fighter. He was a 
 celebrated king, very big and strong, 
 red-haired and blue -eyed. On his 
 
 M 
 
i 62 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 right hand was his only son, Art the 
 Solitary, so called because he had no 
 brothers. The sons of Morna, who 
 kept the boy Finn out of his rights 
 and were at the time trying to kill him 
 if they could, were here too. Chief 
 amongst them was Gaul mac Morna, a 
 huge and strong warrior, and captain 
 of all the Fians ever since that battle 
 in which Finn’s father had been killed. 
 There is a heroic story told about this 
 Gaul which shows that he was as brave 
 as he was strong. Once he was about 
 to engage in a great battle, and his 
 generals pointed out to him that by 
 making a night attack upon the enemy’s 
 camp, an easy victory might be won. 
 Gaul answered : ‘ When as a boy I 
 first took arms of chivalry and was 
 presented with my weapons, I swore 
 that I would never attack an enemy 
 by night, or use against him any 
 stratagem or unfair advantage. That 
 promise I have kept down to the 
 present time ; I will not break it now. 
 
THERE WAS FEAR IN TARA 163 
 
 and I will not break it while I 
 live/ 
 
 You may remember that when Finn 
 knocked at the door of the booth in 
 which the old Fians were assembled, 
 and called himself their ‘ friend,' Crimall 
 ordered the door to be opened, for he 
 knew that neither Gaul nor any of his 
 people could use the deceit of calling 
 himself a friend in order to gain an 
 unfair advantage. In fact, none of the 
 Fians at any time were ever accused 
 of telling a lie. ‘ We, the Fians, never 
 lied,' sang Ossian ; ‘ falsehood was 
 
 never attributed to us.' 
 
 Gaul and his mightiest men were 
 here to-night. The great long table 
 was spread for supper. A thousand 
 wax candles shed their light through 
 the chamber, and caused the vessels 
 of gold, silver, and bronze to shine. 
 Yet, though it was a great feast, none 
 of these warriors seemed to care about 
 eating or drinking ; every face was sad, 
 and there was little conversation, and 
 
i 64 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 no music. It seemed as if they were 
 expecting some calamity. Conn’s 
 sceptre, which was a plain staff of silver, 
 lay beside him on the table, and there 
 was a canopy of bright bronze over his 
 head. Gaul mac Morna, captain of 
 the Fians, sat at the other end of the 
 long table. Every warrior wore a 
 bright banqueting mantle of silk or 
 satin, scarlet or crimson, blue, green, or 
 purple, fastened on the breast either 
 with a great brooch or with a pin of 
 gold or silver. Yet though their raiment 
 was bright and gay, and though all the 
 usual instruments of festivity were there, 
 and a thousand tall candles shed their 
 light over the scene, no one looked happy. 
 
 Then was heard a low sound like 
 thunder, and the earth seemed to 
 tremble, and after that they distinctly 
 heard a footfall like the slow, deliberate 
 tread of a giant. These footfalls sent 
 a chill into every heart, and every face, 
 gloomy before, was now pale. 
 
 The king leaned past his son Art the 
 
THERE WAS EEAR IN TARA 165 
 
 Solitary, and said to a certain druid who 
 sat beside Art, ‘ Is this the son of Midna 
 come before his time ?’ ‘ It is not,’ said 
 the druid, ‘but it is the man who is to 
 conquer Midna. One is coming to 
 Tara this night before whose glory all 
 other glory shall wax dim.’ 
 
 Shortly after that they heard the 
 voices of the doorkeepers raised in 
 contention, as if they would repel from 
 the hall some one who wished to enter, 
 then a slight scuffle, and after that a 
 strange figure entered the chamber. 
 He was dressed in the skins of wild 
 beasts, and wore over his shoulders a 
 huge thick cloak of wild boars’ skins, 
 fastened on the breast with a white 
 tusk of the same animal. He wore a 
 shield and two spears. Though of 
 huge stature his face was that of a boy, 
 smooth on the cheeks and lips. It was 
 white and ruddy, and very handsome. 
 His hair was like refined gold. A light 
 seemed to go out from him, before which 
 the candles burned dim. It was Finn. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 FINN SECURES A PROMISE WITH 
 GUARANTEES 
 
 E stood in the doorway and 
 cried out in a strong and 
 sonorous but musical voice : 
 ‘O Conn the Hundred- 
 Fighter, son of Felimy, the righteous 
 son of Tuthal the legitimate, O King 
 of the Kings of Erin, a wronged and 
 disinherited youth, possessing nowhere 
 one rood of his patrimony, a wanderer 
 and an outlaw, a hunter of the wilder- 
 nesses and mountains, claims hospitality 
 of thee, illustrious prince, on the eve of 
 the great festival of Samhain.’ 
 
FINN SECURES A PROMISE 167 
 
 ‘Thou art welcome whoever thou 
 art/ answered the king, ‘and doubly 
 welcome because thou art unfortunate. 
 I think, such is thy face and form, that 
 thou art the son of some mighty king 
 on whom disaster has fallen undeserved. 
 The high gods of Erin grant thee speedy 
 restoration, and strong vengeance of 
 thy many wrongs. Sit here, O noble 
 youth, between me and my only son. 
 Art, heir to my kingdom.’ 
 
 An attendant took his weapons from 
 the youth and hung them on the 
 wall with the rest, and Finn sat down 
 between the King of Ireland and his 
 only son. Choice food was set before 
 him which he ate, and old ale which 
 he drank. From the moment he 
 entered no one thought of anything 
 but of him. When Finn had made an 
 end of eating and drinking he said to 
 the king — 
 
 ‘ O illustrious prince, though it is not 
 right for a guest to even seem to 
 observe aught that may be awry, or 
 
i68 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 not as it should be in the hall of his 
 entertainer, yet the sorrow of a kindly 
 host is a sorrow too to his guest, and 
 sometimes unawares the man of the 
 house finds succour and help in the 
 stranger. There is sorrow in this 
 chamber of festivity. If any one who 
 is dear to thee and thy people happens 
 to be dead, I can do nothing. But I 
 say it, and it is not a vain boast, that 
 even if a person is at the point of death, 
 I can restore hini to life and health, 
 for there are marvellous powers of life- 
 giving in my two hands.’ 
 
 Conn the Hundred-Fighter answered, 
 ‘ Our grief is not such as you suppose, 
 and why should I not tell a cause of 
 shame, which is known far and wide ? 
 This, then, is the reason of our being 
 together, and of the gloom which is 
 over us. There is a mighty enchanter 
 whose dwelling is in the haunted 
 mountains of Slieve Gullion in the 
 North. His name is Allen, son of 
 Midna, and his enmity to me is as 
 
FINN SECURES A PROMISE 169 
 
 great as his power. Once every year, 
 at this season, it is his pleasure to burn 
 Tara. Descending out of his wizard 
 haunts, he standeth over against the 
 city and shoots balls of fire out of his 
 mouth against it till it is consumed. 
 Then he goes away mocking and 
 triumphant. This annual building of 
 Tara, only to be annually consumed, is 
 a shame to me, and till this enchanter 
 declared war against me, I have lived 
 without reproach.’ 
 
 ‘But,’ said Finn, ‘how is it that thy 
 young warriors, valiant and swift, do 
 not repel him, or kill him?’ 
 
 ‘Alas ! ’ said Conn,’ all our valour is 
 in vain against this man. Our hosts 
 encompass Tara on all sides, keeping 
 watch and ward when the fatal night 
 comes. Then the son of Midna plays 
 on his druidic instruments of music, 
 on his magic pipe and his magic lyre, 
 and as the fairy music falls on our ears, 
 our eyelids grow heavy, and soon all 
 subside upon the grass in deep slumber. 
 
170 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 So comes this man against the city 
 and shoots his fire-balls against it, and 
 utterly consumes it. Nine years he has 
 burnt Tara in that manner, and this is 
 the tenth. At midnight to-night he 
 will come and do the same. Last year 
 (though it was a shame to me that I, 
 who am the high king over all Ireland, 
 should not be able myself to defend 
 Tara) I summoned Gaul mac Morna 
 and all the Fians to my assistance. 
 They came, but the pipe and lyre of 
 the son of Midna prevailed over them 
 too, so that Tara was burned as at 
 other times. Nor have we any reason 
 to believe that the son of Midna will 
 not burn the city again to-night, as he 
 did last year. All the women and 
 children have been sent out of Tara 
 this day. We are only men of war 
 here, waiting for the time. That, O 
 noble youth, is why we are sad. The 
 “ Pillars of Tara ” are broken and the 
 might of the Fians is as nought before 
 the power of this man.’ 
 
FINN SECURES A PROMISE 171 
 
 ‘ What shall be my reward if I kill 
 this man and save Tara?’ asked Finn. 
 
 ‘ Thy inheritance/ answered the 
 king, ‘be it great or small, and whether 
 it lies in Ireland or beyond Ireland ; 
 and for securities I give you my son 
 Art and Gaul mac Morna and the 
 chiefs of the Fians.’ 
 
 Gaul and the captains of the Fianna 
 consented to that arrangement, though 
 reluctantly, for their minds misgave 
 them as to who the great youth might 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 FINN TRIUMPHS 
 
 iFTER that all arose and 
 armed themselves and ringed 
 Tara round with horse and 
 foot, and thrice Conn the 
 Hundred-Fighter raised his awful regal 
 voice, enjoining vigilance upon his 
 people, and thrice Gaul mac Morna 
 did the same, addressing the Fians, 
 and after that they filled their ears with 
 wax and wool, and kept a stern and 
 fierce watch, and many of them thrust 
 the points of their swords into their flesh. 
 
 Now Finn was alone in the banquet- 
 ing chamber after the rest had gone 
 
FINN TRIUMPHS 
 
 173 
 
 out, and he washed his face and his 
 hands in pure water, and he took from 
 the bag that was at his girdle the instru- 
 ments of divination and magic, which 
 had been his father’s, and what use he 
 made of them is not known, but ere 
 long a man stood before him, holding 
 a spear in one hand and a blue mantle 
 in the other. There were twenty nails 
 of gold of Arabia in the spear. The 
 nails glittered like stars, and twinkled 
 with live light as stars do in a frosty 
 night, and the blade of it quivered like 
 a tongue of white fire. From haft to 
 blade-point that spear was alive. There 
 were voices in it too, and the war- 
 tunes of the enchanted races of Erin, 
 whom they called the Tuatha De Danan, 
 sounded from it. The mantle too, 
 was a wonder, for innumerable stars 
 twinkled in the blue, and the likeness 
 of clouds passed through it. The 
 man gave these things to Finn, and 
 when he had instructed him in their 
 use he was not seen. 
 
174 Jp'INN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 Then Finn arose and armed himself, 
 and took the magic spear and mantle 
 and went out. There was a ring of 
 flame round Tara that night, for the 
 Fians and the warriors of Conn had 
 torches in their hands, and all the 
 royal buildings of Tara showed clear 
 in the light, and also the dark serpentine 
 course of the Boyne, which flowed past 
 Tara on the north ; and there, stand- 
 ing silent and alert, were the innumer- 
 able warriors of all Erin, with spear 
 and shield, keeping watch and ward 
 against the son of Midna, also the Four 
 Pillars of Tara in four dense divisions 
 around the high king, even Conn the 
 Hundred-Fighter. 
 
 Finn stood with his back to the 
 palace, which was called the House-of- 
 the-going-round-of-Mead, between the 
 palace and Conn, and he grasped the 
 magic spear strongly with one hand, 
 and the mantle with the other. 
 
 As midnight drew nigh, he heard 
 far away in the north, out of the 
 
FINN TRIUMPHS 
 
 175 
 
 mountains of Slieve Gullion, a fairy tune 
 played, soft, low, and slow, as if on a 
 silver flute ; and at the same time the 
 roar of Conn the Hundred-Fighter, and 
 the voice of Gaul like thunder, and the 
 responsive shouts of the captains, and 
 the clamour of the host, for the host 
 shouted all together, and clashed their 
 swords against their shields in fierce 
 defiance, when in spite of all obstruc- 
 tions the fairy music of the enchanter 
 began to steal into their souls. That 
 shout was heard all over Ireland, echoing 
 from sea to sea, and the hollow build- 
 ings of Tara reverberated to the uproar. 
 Yet through it all could be heard the 
 low, slow, delicious music that came 
 from Slieve Gullion. Finn put the 
 point of the spear to his forehead. It 
 burned him like fire, yet his stout heart 
 did not fail. Then the roar of the host 
 slowly faded away as in a dream, though 
 the captains were still shouting, and 
 two-thirds of the torches fell to the 
 ground. And now succeeding the 
 
176 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 flute music, sounded the music of a 
 stringed instrument exceedingly sweet. 
 Finn pressed the cruel spear-head 
 closer to his forehead, and saw every 
 torch fall, save one which wavered as 
 if held by a drunken man, and beneath 
 it a giant figure that reeled and tottered, 
 and strove in vain to keep its feet. It 
 was Conn the Hundred-Fighter. As 
 he fell there was a roar as of many 
 waters ; it was the ocean mourning for 
 the high king’s fall. Finn passed 
 through the fallen men and stood 
 alone on the dark hill-side. He heard 
 the feet of the enchanter splashing 
 through the Boyne, and saw his huge 
 form ascending the slopes of Tara. 
 When the enchanter saw that all was 
 silent and dark there he laughed, and 
 from his mouth blew a red fire-ball at 
 the Teck-Midcuarta, which he was 
 accustomed first to set in flames. Finn 
 caught the fire-ball in the magic mantle. 
 The enchanter blew a second and a 
 third, and Finn caught them both. The 
 
FINN TRIUMPHS 
 
 177 
 
 man saw that his power over Tara was 
 at an end, and that his magic arts 
 had been defeated. On the third 
 occasion he saw Finn’s face, and re- 
 cognised his conqueror. He turned 
 to flee, and though slow was his coming, 
 swifter than the wind was his going, 
 that he might recover the protection 
 of his enchanted palace before the 
 ‘ fair-faced youth clad in skins ’ should 
 overtake him. Finn let fall the mantle 
 as he had been instructed, and pursued 
 him, but in vain. Soon he perceived 
 that he could not possibly overtake the 
 swift enchanter. Then he was aware 
 that the magic spear struggled in his 
 hand like a hound in the leash, ‘Go 
 then if thou wilt,’ he said, and poising, 
 cast the spear from him. It shot 
 through the dark night hissing and 
 screaming. There was a track of fire 
 behind it. Finn followed and on the 
 threshold of the enchanted palace he 
 found the body of Midna. He was 
 quite dead, with the blood pouring 
 
178 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 through a wound in the middle of his 
 back, but the spear was gone. Finn 
 drew his sword and cut off the en- 
 chanter’s head and returned with it to 
 Tara. When he came to the spot 
 where he had dropped the mantle, it 
 was not seen, but smoke and flame 
 issued there from a hole in the ground. 
 That hole was twenty feet deep in the 
 earth, and at the bottom of it there was 
 a fire always from that night, and it 
 was never extinguished. It was called 
 the fire of the son of Midna. It was in 
 a depression on the north side of the 
 hill of Tara, called the Glen of the 
 Mantle, Glen-a-Brat, 
 
 Finn, bearing the head, passed through 
 the sleepers into the palace and spiked 
 the head on his own spear, and drove 
 the spear-end into the ground at Conn’s 
 end of the great hall. Then the sick- 
 ness and faintness of death came upon 
 Finn, also a great horror and despair 
 overshadowed him, so that he was 
 about to give himself up for utterly 
 
FINN TRIUMPHS 
 
 179 
 
 lost. Yet he recalled one of his mar- 
 vellous attributes, and approaching 
 a silver vessel, into which pure water 
 ever flowed and which was always full, 
 he made a cup with his two hands and 
 lifting it to his mouth drank, and the 
 blood began to circulate in his veins, 
 and strength returned to his limbs, and 
 the cheerful hue of rosy health to his 
 cheeks. 
 
 Having rested himself sufficiently 
 he went forth and shouted to the 
 sleeping host, and called the captains 
 by their names, beginning with Conn. 
 They awoke and rose up, though dazed 
 and stupid, for it was difficult for any 
 man, no matter how he had stopped 
 his ears, to avoid hearing Finn when 
 he sent forth his voice of power. They 
 were astonished to find that Tara was 
 still standing, for though the night was 
 dark, the palaces and temples, all of 
 hewn timber, were brilliantly coloured, 
 and of many hues, for in those days 
 men delighted in splendid colours. 
 
i8o FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 When the captains came together Finn 
 said, ‘I have slain Midna/ ‘Where 
 is his head?’ they asked, not that 
 they disbelieved him, but because the 
 heads of men slain in battle were always 
 brought away for trophies. ‘ Come and 
 see,’ answered Finn. Conn and his 
 only son and Gaul mac Morna followed 
 the young hero into the Teck-Midcuarta 
 where the spear- long waxen candles 
 were still burning, and when they saw 
 the head of Midna impaled there at 
 the end of the hall, the head of the 
 man whom they believed to be immortal 
 and not to be wounded or conquered, 
 they were filled with great joy, and 
 praised their deliverer and paid him 
 many compliments. 
 
 ‘ Who art thou, O brave youth ?’ said 
 Conn. ‘ Surely thou art the son of some 
 great king or champion, for heroic feats 
 like thine are not performed by the 
 sons of inconsiderable and unknown 
 men.’ 
 
 Then Finn flung back his cloak of 
 
FINN TRIUMPHS i8i 
 
 wild boars’ skins, and holding his 
 father’s treasure-bag in his hand before 
 them all, cried in a loud voice — 
 
 ‘ I am Finn, the son of Cool, the son 
 of Trenmbr, the son of Basna, I am 
 he, whom the sons of Morna have been 
 seeking to destroy from the time that 
 I was born ; and here to-night, O king 
 of the kings of Erin, I claim the fulfil- 
 ment of thy promise, and the restoration 
 of my inheritance, which is the Fian 
 leadership of Fiall.’ Thereupon Gaul 
 mac Morna put his right hand into 
 Finn’s, and became his man. Then his 
 brothers and his sons, and the sons of 
 his brothers did so in succession, and 
 after that all the chief men of the Fians 
 did the same, and that night Finn was 
 solemnly and surely installed in the 
 Fian leadership of Erin, and put in 
 possession of all the woods and forests, 
 and waste places, and all the hills, and 
 mountains, and promontories, and all 
 the streams and rivers of Erin, and the 
 harbours and estuaries, and the harbour- 
 
i 82 FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 dues of the merchants, and all ships, 
 and boats, and galleys with their 
 mariners, and all that pertained of 
 old time to the Fian leadership of 
 Fail. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh. 
 

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