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THE FIANS.
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Maifs anti straps of Celtic CraHttion.
Series initiated and directed by
LORD ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL.
Demy 8vo, cloth.
ARGYLLSHIRE SERIES.
VOLUME I.
CRAIGNISH TALES.
Collected by the Rev. J. MacDougall ; and Notes on the War Dress of the Celts by Lord Archibald Campbell, xvi, gS pages. 20 plates. 1889. 5J.
VOLUME II.
FOLK AND HERO TALES.
Collected, edited (in Gaelic), and translated by the Rev. D. MacInnes ; with a
Study on the Development of the Ossianic Saga and copious Notes by Alfred
NuTT. x.\iv, 497 pages. Portrait of Campbell of Islay, and Two Illustrations
by E. Griset. 1890. 15J.
" The most important work on Highland Folk-lore and Tales since Campbell's world-renowned Popular Tales. "-///:rA/rt«</ />/<'«''/'/)'.. „ , ■ -c n
"Never before has the development of the Ossianic Saga been so scientihcally dealtwith."— Hector Maclean. , -j j u , , tu jj
"Mr Alfred Nutt's excursus and notes are lucid and scholarly. Ihey add immensely to the value of the book, and aftord abundant evidence of their author's extensive reading and sound erudition."— 5^c2'i Observer. _ ,, t.t .
"The Gaelic text is colloquial and eminently idiomatic. . . -Mr. Nutt deserves special mention and much credit for the painstaking and careful research evidenced by his notes to the tales."— C/;<r« Telegraph.
'^^
"1.
VOLUME III.
FOLK AND HERO TALES.
Collected, edited, translated, and annotated by the Rev. J. MacDougall; with an
Introduction by Alfred Nutt, and Three Illustrations by E. Griset.
iSqi. 10^. 6rf.
Ian Campbell of Islav. (t'rom an Oil Picture by the late Jas. R. Swinton, painted about 1S40 — 1S42)
WAIFS AND STRAYS OF CELTIC TRADITION.
Argyllshire Series. — No. IV.
THE FIANS;
OR,
STORIES, POEMS, & TRADITIONS
OF
* ' ' ' 'by
JOHN GREGORSON CAMPBELL,
Minister of Tti-ee.
WITH INTRODUCTION AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES BY
ALFRED NUTT,
PORTRAIT OF IAN CAMPBELL OF ISLAV, AND ILLUSTRATION BV
E. GRISET.
LONDON : DAVID NUTT, 270-271, STRAND. ^
1891. 3 7^
\
/rf/
CONTE N TS,
Preface .....
Introduction.—]. G. Campbell „ Alfred Nutt
The nature and antiquity of Gaelic folk-tales and songs ; traces of the same in the earliest Irish literature ; discussion of d'Arbois de Jubainville's and Dr. Hyde's views concern- ing the Slim Swarthy Fellow. — The Fenian cycle : summary of Professor Zim mar's new theory respecting ths same ; objections to it. — Classification of the texts composing the Fenian cycle. — Parallelism of the Ossianic and Welsh ballads. — Neglect of the Fenian cycle in Scotland ; its national and scientific importance.
The Fians
Conlaoch and Cuchulain Deirdre . I. FiONN Mac Cumhail II. Oscar
Battle of Gavra .
III. GOLL .
IV. Dermid V. Caoilte
Lay OF the Smithy .
VI. CONAN .
The Cattle of the Fians . End of the Feinne . OssiAN after the Fians Lay of the Red Cataract . Stormy Night. Manus . . . .
Alvin .... Conn, Son of the Red The Muileartach The Lay of the Smithy
PAGE
vii
ix
xiv
I 6
8 16 29 33 49 52 64 64 7^ 75 77 82
91 102 106
113 120
131
159
vi Contents.
Brugh Farala . . . . . .165
The Day of the Battle of Sheaves, in the True
Hollow of Tiree . . . . .172
Fin Mac CouL IN the Kingdom OF THE Big Men . 175
How FioNN Found his Missing Men . . .192
FlONN AND HIS MEN ...... I97
How Fionn Found Bran ..... 204
FiONN AND Bran . . . . . .211
Ceudach, Son of the King of the Colla Men . . 225
How Fionn was in the House of the Yellow Field . 233 Fionn's Ransom ...... 239
Numbering of Duvan's Men .... 258
The Lad with the Skin Coverings . . . 260
Notes . . . . . . . .281
Index ........ 290
PREFACE.
This volume has been made over to Lord Archibald Campbell for his Argyllshire Series, in full confidence that every justice the writer requires will be given to himself, and to the book, and in appreciation of his Lordship's ardent and judicious services to Gaelic lite- rature in continuing the work so well begun by J. F Campbell, of Islay ; a work that has broken down the prejudices which existed against Gaelic matters, and has gone far to make them valued and esteemed. Having seen other volumes of this Argyllshire Series, the writer is still more assured, not only by the energy and aptness shown in their preparation, but also by the learned pre- cision and knowledge of the annotations connected with the work. He also considers his Lordship more likely to be acquainted with the best means of forwarding the object desired — that of making these subjects known — than anyone in his remote and uninfluential position.
John Gregorson Campbell.
Manse of Tiree, June, i8gi.
INTRODUCTION,
The stories, poems, and traditions which are given in this volume have been gathered entirely from oral sources as opportunities occurred. The labour of col- lecting them has extended, over well-nigh thirty years, since the coming of the writer to his present charge. This is a personal and, perhaps, too obtrusive a matter to be mentioned ; but it is due to the subject to say that the portals of knowledge being, through English, to the boy whose native tongue Gaelic is, and the writer having received most of his training and education in the south, though aware of the names of Finn MacCoul and other ancient heroes of Gaelic times, was as much a stranger to these subjects as any one can be. All that he knew was only fragmentary pieces that were to be found in books ; that the Gaelic language was of Indo- European and Aryan race, like Latin or Greek — and it was only gradually that it dawned upon him that, in the language itself and its stores of knowledge there was an abundance of unwritten literature that would bear com- parison with any literary composition he had ever fallen in with. Those stores contain Songs, Ballads, Tales, Traditions, Proverbs, Riddles, etc. However it arose, or wherever it came from, there was a mist-like cloud overhanging the Highlands, and Gaelic was in neglect, which is gradually wearing away. It is a matter of much satisfaction that these vapours and clouds, when they disappear, will show a language through which the rays of human knowledge will receive much access of strength.
In this volume, which entirely belongs to the episode of the Fians, there are points which will strike the reader
Introduction.
as having their analogy in Greek and Roman tales ; thus, the death of Dermid {Dzm^mad) being in his heel is like that of Achilles, who was also said to be vulnerable only in his heel. Cacus, the robber, is also said to have leapt and walked backward into his cave, as Garry does after the burning of "Brugh Farala". In the ancient geo- graphical names of Greece and Rome many place-names are to be found that admit of much explanation from Gaelic, e.g., "Marathon by the sea" is very like Maranan Seas or Waves; but the making of this, and similar names, clear to the stranger to Gaelic, requires an ex- planation of elisions and other points of Gaelic Grammar which is foreign to this work. The resemblance of other Dictionary names is only what might be expected from the affinity between the languages. In their progress westward the Gaelic-speaking race have in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland come as far west from the original seat of mankind, wherever it was, as early times would admit. Apparent traces and impressions of their progress and divergences can be found from Morocco along the west coast to the extreme north.
The origin of these tales about Fingal and Ossian, etc., cannot well be traced to any resemblance between them and the history and traditions of Rome. The Romish invasion of Britain offers no analogy and no trace. No Roman ever set foot in Ireland, and their attempts at the Grampians, for their own sake, would not be sought by them a second time. Who the first Britons were, or who the first people were who came across the Straits of Dover, if they came that way, and the many subsequent questions as to who the Picts and Scots were, and how the Gaelic language overspread the Highlands, while English remained in the level country, opens a wide field, of which an explanation can perhaps be got by a careful consideration of the Gaelic language and other kindred Celtic tongues of which there are remains still surviving-.
Introdtiction. xi
The Fian tales are old and purely Celtic, but the human imagination runs in similar grooves all the world over, and the traditions and tales of widely different tribes may in this way bear a resemblance, but this will not admit of any conclusion as to identity.
In passing, it becomes me to mention that those from whom the stories, etc., were heard, were uniformly men of retentive memories, of good intelligence, and so far as could be judged by even the most cynical, men of pru- dent and respectable character. Many of them did not know a word of English ; some might, perhaps, conversa- tionally, but few of them knew it as a written tongue, so that questions agitating the world of letters passed by them without exciting even a passing remark. At one time this class, and all tales, were looked upon as idle and unworthy of attention, only interfering with god- liness and sanctity; and though a better state of matters now exists, it cannot but be deplored that the " rigid righteousness" and rigid wisdom have led to the loss of much valuable matter.
/ In a dedicatory Gaelic letter to an Earl of Argyll in a Gaelic book on prayer, published as early as 1567, by Carsewell, Bishop of Argyle, the Bishop complains that his countrymen were fonder of listening to idle tales about the Feinne or heroes of the time of Fionn Mac- Cumhaill, than of taking any interest in the Word of God. On this subject the writer is indebted for his information to a rare work, "The Gaelic Hymnal" {^An Laoidheadair Gaelic), published about the year 1836, by D. Kennedy, under the patronage and recommendation of the Reverend Dr. Macleod of Campsie. The same continued to be the case until very recent times, and a person who was about seventy years of age, a few years ago, in giving an account of old Highland habits to the writer, said that when, e.g., the people of a place
assembled to build a boundary dyke, some one would
X
X i i Introduction .
observe that they should wait till so-and-so came, and when he appeared, as the day was good and long, one or other would remark that the new comer might tell, before they began, some incident in the history of the Fian bard. The whole party then sat round the storyteller, and listened to his marvellous account. By the time that he was done the sun was drawing westward, and some one would then say it was hardly worth while beginning that day, and that he might tell some other story suggested by the previous narrative. When the second story was finished the sun was well-nigh setting, and the parties separated after agreeing to meet next day, as nothing had been done that day. These were the good old easy days, when the saying, " Hurry no man's cattle," held its ground, and people were not pressed to the same extent as now for the means of living. %
In what the writer has to say upon the subject of these heroic tales, he prefers to use the name Fionn Mac Cmnhaill, and the Host of the Fians {FeacJid na Feinn). The renderings of Fenian and Fingalian have other ideas attached to them, and the writer's information and belief in the value of the tales as historical or archaeological is entirely founded upon them as they exist in popular tradition. It seems to him that in this way they are more free from the embellishments of idle fancy, and in their own proper place subservient to the elucidation of truth.
The Fian heroes are to this day prominent in pro- verbs and riddles, and sayings and references to them and their actions, occur continually in common every day conversation, although the precise incident to which reference is made may not be known. It is in this way that people speak of Ossian after the Fians {Ossian an deigh na Febine^, and in the riddle, " Fionn went to the hill and did not go ; he buried his wife there and did not
Introduction. xiii
bury her" (" Chaidh Fionn do 'n bheinn, 's cha deachaidJi idir ; thiodJdaic e 'bhea7i a?tn, 's cha do tJdodJdaic zdzr'), etc., etc. Ans. — /di'r was the name of a docf.
Veryprominent among these stories are those referring to Fionn and his dog Bran. This redoubtable dog is referred to in the story of " Ossian after the Fians" (Ossmn an deigh na Feinne) as having survived all the other dogs of the Fians. It had a venomous or death- inflicting spur on its foot. Fionn's visits to the Kingdom of Big Men. How Fionn's wife fled with his nephew. The death of his nephew Diarjiiaid. The wars in which he was engaged, etc., etc.
Fionn occupies in Gaelic the position of a model gentleman or nobleman in the original, and best sense of the words. He was not accounted the strongest of the " Fian Host", but was looked up to as ever a kind friend and judicious adviser, wise in counsel, a solver of doubts and difficulties, hospitable to the stranger and poor, a protector of the weak and defenceless, and in every respect trustworthy. The tales of his having visited the Kingdom of Big Men and of his having a long ship {Long f/iada aig Fionn) are told in various forms, and in many different tales.
The object of the writer has always been in all matters affecting Celtic antiquities to make whatever he deems worthy of preservation as available and reliable to the reader as to himself, without addition, suppression, or embellishment.
The writer himself being unable to write, the work of transcribing this volume has been undertaken for him, in loving memory of one (his widowed mother's only child) who, though of tender years, and partly an alien, said of Gaelic, " I love it best" {Si Ghailig is docha Icuuis).
INTRODUCTION.
To all who have any love for the traditions of the Scottish Gael the name of the Rev. J. G. Campbell, of Tiree, has long been a household word, and from them this volume, comprising as it does the gatherings of some thirty years, will be sure of a hearty welcome. If we bear in mind that these tales and ballads are taken from one section only of Gaelic tradition, and have been selected from a very small district, we can form some idea of the richness and vigour with which that tra- dition still flourishes in the Gaelic-speaking portions of Scotland. As each fresh collection comes before us it is impossible not again to ^sk the question whence come these old-time tales and songs ? what is their place in the history of Gaelic thought and fancy? what relation do they bear to the stories and legends of other races ?
Mr. Campbell holds what may be called the tra- ditional and patriotic view — what the Gaelic folk tells to-day it has told from immemorial times, and, as we listen to the living peasant or fisherman, we catch glimpses of, we hear far-off tidings from,
" The old days which seem to be Much older than any history That is written in any book."
But many scholars would by no means admit that we are justified in doing this. Gaelic folk-lore has, as a rule, been noted within comparatively recent periods, and the temptation for many persons is apparently irresis- tible to conclude that it is equally recent. The question is a complicated one, and cannot be answered in a rough and ready fashion. Indeed, whilst so many of
Introduction. xv
the elements of the problem are not clearly before us, owing to the fact that by far the larger portion of Gaelic heroic legend still remains unpublished, it is impossible to give any answer that is not necessarily a provisional one. All that we can do at present is to see how far the evidence at our disposal carries us, and to draw from it principles which may guide us in the investiga- tion of the unexplored, or only partially explored, tract which must be examined before we can hope to reach any definite conclusions.
Roughly speaking, the record of Gaelic mythic and heroic legend reaches continuous and unbroken from pre-Christian days unto our own time. The oldest MS. evidence takes us back to the eleventh century, and many of the texts of that date approve themselves, even to the most cautious and sceptical of scholars, as very much older. As a rule we owe the preservation of Gaelic history and Gaelic legend in the Middle Ages to the clergy, and, unless we believe that many of the monks and abbots, to whom we owe the oldest Irish MSS., amused themselves by inventing pagan beliefs and fan- cies, we must admit that texts which are substantially pagan reach back to pagan times. Taking native Gaelic legend in its entirety (excluding merely the Christian hagiological elements) we can distinguish five strata — the mythological and pseudo-annalistic — the Ultonian (of which Conchobor and Cuchullain are the chief per- sonages)— the Fenian, or Ossianic — the post-VQ.x\\zx\ historical — and the living folk-tale. Now it is quite true that the MS. evidence for the first, second, and fourth of these strata or classes is, on the whole, much older than for the third ; whilst, as for the fifth, 95 per cent, of the evidence belongs to this or the preceding century. To certain minds the conclusion seems inevitable that the order in which this MS. evi- dence comes before us, represents the order in which
xvi Introduction.
these various manifestations of myth- and legend- creating impulse assumed shape in the consciousness of the Gaelic race. But there is something to be said on the other side.
The moral and intellectual level of the men to whom we owe the preservation of Gaelic legend in the Middle Ages may be little, if at all, superior to that of the folk of to-day ; but it was certainly much higher than that of the folk of their day. Not only did they exer- cise selection in what they committed to the memory of their pupils, or to the vellum leaves which formed the proudest treasure of a monastery or a chieftain's court, but they were necessarily and inevitably indifferent to whatever did not come within certain well-marked limits. Again leaving the Christian element out of consideration, these limits, as far as the native litera- ture was concerned, may be said to have been con- terminous with the mythical, historical, and customary antiquities of the tribe or clan. Whatever could exalt the pride or strengthen the pretensions of the clan chieftains, the clan wise men, or the clan brehons, that would be eagerly sought after by the clan story- teller— that would be cherished and recorded by the clan scribes. Thus it has come about that such a large pro- portion of the MS. space is taken up by genealogies ; that legends, obviously mythical in their origin, have put on a quasi-historical form and connected themselves with the fortunes of special clans ; that topographical legends are so carefully noted ; that the rights and customs, whether of the tribe or the individual, are set forth with such minuteness. What room was there for the folk-tale in the ideal library of an Irish chieftain, which is what the great MSS. of Irish antiquity aimed at being ? The argument ex silcntio would be invalid, even if it were rigorously correct, and it is not. Even from Irish mythic and heroic legend as it has come do\\-n
Introduction. xvii
to us we can recover the outlines, or we can distinguish the essential features of many a folk-tale current to this day among the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland. I will note but a few examples : The three-fold gaming against a supernatural antagonist who loses twice but wins the third time, imposes a heavy task upon the hero, or claims from him some object he holds dear — this theme, so frequent in Gaelic tales, is as old as the seventh century, at least, as it is found in the TocJiniarc Etain, the wooing of Etain by Mider, a prince of Faery ; the combat of the disguised hero against the evil beings to whom a princess is exposed, his rescue of her and his discovery by means of a ring — this theme is as old as the eleventh century, at least, since it is found in the second redaction of the Tochmarc Einer, or Cuchullain's wooing of Emer ; the theme of the bespelled being, who can only get his spells lifted if he induce the hero to fulfil a task, is as old as the tenth century, at least, since it is found in the oldest part of Cormac's Glossary; the theme of the exposed child must be as old as the ninth or tenth centur}-, since it forms a part of the hero- tale which tells how Connaire Mor was slain by over-sea pirates ; the theme of the skilful companions is found in the Seafaring of the Three O'Corras, a tale which goes back to the seventh century. I am quoting from Irish sources alone. I could easily extend the list if I made use, for purposes of comparison, of those Welsh Mabinogion which are certainly older than the outburst of the Arthurian romance, i.e., older than the twelfth century. But Campbell of Islay has already done this in the fourth volume of the West Highland Tales. I will only add to what he says the expression of my conviction that Welsh romance of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was influenced by — perhaps is largely derived from — older Gaelic romance. It may be said that the examples I have cited are the starting-points
B
xvlii Introduction.
of the modern tales. Even if this were so I could still point out that a long period is postulated during which the folk-tale must have lived on without being recorded, which is all I contend for ; but I do not believe for one moment that it is so. On the contrary, the way in which these themes occur in the heroic legends I have mentioned, shows that they must have been commonplaces familiar both to the story-teller and to his hearers. In other words, the mythical and heroic sagas of the Irish Gael, sagas recorded in writing from the seventh to the fifteenth centuries, pre-suppose a background of traditional fancies, beliefs, and concep- tions of the same essential character as those still current. I underline the word essential, as I do not for one moment intend to deny that changes have taken place in the mass of tradition, that some things have utterly died away, others been profoundly modified, much again been added.
It is necessary to insist upon this view of the facts, because distinguished scholars have a way of treating the date of transcription as equivalent to the date of origin. Thus M. d'Arbois de Jubainville, in his Essai dun catalogue de la litterature epique de Vlrlande, often adds the designation " conte moderne", solely it would seem because only modern MSS. exist. I by no means deny the existence of heroic, or simply fairy tales to which the term modern may be properly applied, i.e., which are the outcome of a deliberate and individual artistic effort on the part of a writer living within the last two centuries. It is by no means the least remark- able feature of Gaelic legend that it has retained its vital power down almost to the present day ; thus, almost within the memory of living men, fresh com- binations of the old materials have won popular favour and swollen the mass of folk-literature. I only say that the fact of recent transcription does not suffice to range
Introduction. xix
a tale in this category. In some cases I venture to think that Mons. d'Arbois de Jubainville is decidedly in error, e.g., when (p. 88) speaking of the Ceithetrnack Caol riabach, "the slim swarthy fellow", of which the oldest Irish MS. is dated back by him to 1789, and of which there are two fragmentary versions in Campbell ( West Highland Tales, vol. i), he says, " Ce conte a pour base des evenements de la fin du xvr siecle." Now the tale tells how the storyteller of the King of Leinster was helped out of a great per- plexity by Angus of the Brugh. I have some difficulty in believing that Angus, the son of the Dagda, the wisest wizard of the Tuatha De, turned the wife of the head ollauiJi of the King of Leinster into a hare and played divers practical jokes on divers Irish chieftains about the year 1600. The ground for Mons. d'Arbois's statement probably lies in the fact that one of these chieftains is an O'Connor Sligo, who was placed at the end of the i6th century. As a matter of fact his date is 200 years earlier, and Dr. Hyde has taken the year 1362 as a tennhms a quo for dating the version of the " Slim Swarthy Fellow" which has come down to us {^Beside the Fire, p. xxix). He grounds this opinion upon the fact that the episode in which O'Connor Sligo figures and which belongs to the year 1362, is common to all the versions, Scotch as well as Irish. But I am by no means sure that this fact is enough to warrant the conclusion. It only proves to my mind that the tale, as we have it, is younger than the day of O'Connor Sligo; it does not prove that an older version may not have existed before his day. There is a well-known English mum- ming play in which St. George, as champion of England, has to encounter and overcome a series of enemies. Among these, in some south-country versions is Bony. It would be incorrect, I think, to say that the mumming play was based upon events of the early 19th century,
B 2
XX Introduction.
incorrect also, even if every version mentioned Bony, to assume that the play as a whole took shape after 1815.
The most exaggerated form of the contention I am demurring to with which I am acquainted is due to an American scholar. Professor W. W. Newell, who, in No. xii of \hQ American Folk-Lore Journal (p. 84), speaks of "folk-tales like Campbell's, and those lately printed by Curtin, a large class of which are Irish only in name, being simply literal translations of, or trifling alterations of a common European stock". It is interesting to find that in America Ireland is looked upon as being outside the "common European stock." Professor Newell is a dis- tinguished scholar, but he seems to me to have stated the question is an altogether inexact manner. It is necessary to state emphatically that if we look to the incidents and themes which form the staple of the vast majority of folk-tales, these can be traced back on Gaelic soil as far, in some cases farther, than amongst other European races. It is quite true that collections of tales were made — even printed — in Italy 250 years, in France 120 years, in Germany 30 to 40 years before such collections appeared in any part of Gaeldom. But if it is seriously urged that the Gaelic folk-tale corpus is to be traced directly to the collections of Straparola (i6th century), of Basile (17th century), of Perrault (late 17th century), of Musaus (late iSth century), and Grimm (early 19th cen- tury), there will I think be little difficulty in showing the utter baselessness of such a contention. I by no means deny that Gaeldom has shared in the general give and take of folk-tale and folk-lore, which has gone on all over Europe, but the word " translation" describes this pro- cess, in my opinion, most inaccurately.
Hitherto it will have been noticed that I have drawn my evidence for the long continued existence on Gaelic soil of a considerable body of folk-tales from outside the
Introduction. xxi
Ossianicor Fenian cycle. But Mr. Campbell's volume is primarily concerned with this cycle, which forms indeed the most interesting and important monument of Gaelic folk-fancy throughout the last lOOO years. It cannot but strengthen the contention for the antiquity of the folk-tale corpus to find that this group of heroic tales has held its ground so long and so vigorously, whilst the written record, being so much fuller in the one case than in the other, we are enabled to verify for the hero-tale group what we can only surmise for the folk-tale group. All investigation into the nature and origin of traditional literature among the Gael must therefore start with an accurate knowledge and a searching criti- cism of the Ossianic cycle. It was with the object of obtaining a guiding principle in accordance wath which a number of isolated facts could be classified that I put together my notes in the second volume of this series on the development of the Ossianic saga. As a matter of fact, the task I there essayed had not been essayed before, and in spite of shortcomings, of which I am more conscious than anyone else can be, I venture to think that these notes may be found useful by others. I do not propose to go over the same ground again, but will merely emphasise what seemed to me then, and still seems to me, the chief conclusion to be drawn from the facts which I set forth, namely, that from the earliest date to which w'e can trace it, the Ossianic saga is romantic rather than historical ; in other words, it narrates to a very slight extent events which ever actually happened, or which ever would happen. Since the appearance of Mr. Maclnnes's volume a new theory has been propounded re- specting Finn Mac Cumhal himself, and respecting the proper place of the Fenian stories in the history of Irish literature. This theory, due to Professor H. Zimmer of Greifswald, is urged with all the learned
xxli Introduction.
professor's wonted acuteness, subtlety of thought, and exhaustive knowledge of early Irish literature. I gave a brief sketch of this theory in the Academy for Feb. 14 last. This sketch I here reprint with some slight modi- fication. I would, however, earnestly urge upon all who care for these subjects not to rest content with my bare summary, which necessarily fails to do justice to Professor Zimmer's argument, but to read for themselves the original article, the title of which will be found at the foot of this page.^
The historical conditions which form the basis of Prof. Zimmer's argument are, briefly, as follows : In 795 Norwegian Vikings appear for the first time upon the coasts of Ireland, which they assail and harry for more than half a century. At first they only plunder and sail away ; but soon they fix them- selves in the land ; seize upon strategic points, ally themselves with the native kings (who eagerly seek their aid in the inter- minable conflicts which every Irish chieftain waged with all his neighbours), marry native women (who greatly appreciated their stature and comeliness), and become halfJrish. In the early years of the ninth century a Norwegian leader, Thorgils, seeks to found a Norse kingdom, but fails and is slain. The political organisation of Ireland is not seriously affected by the Norsemen. It is otherwise with the next batch of invaders — the Danish Vikings — who appear in the middle of the ninth century, seize and hold Dublin both against Irish and Nor- wegians, whom they defeat with terrible slaughter, and found a Danish kingdom, which has imitators in the South and West, plays its part in the ceaseless warfare that rages between the head-king of Ireland and the under-kings, and which is at times the most powerful political factor in the island. The Danes remain heathens until the middle of the tenth century, when
1 Zeitschrijt fur deutsches Aliertlnan. Vol. 53. H. Zimmer, Keltische Beitriige, III, weitere nordgermanische einfliisse in der altesten iiberlieferung der irischen heldensage ; ursprung und entwickelung der Finn-(Ossian-)sage ; die vikinger Irlands in Sage; geschichte und recht der Iren.
Introdttction. xxiii
Anlaf, son of Sitric, invades England, is conquered by Ead- mund, and submits to baptism in the year 943. Christianity furthered the assimilation of Celt and Scandinavian, as did likewise the political events of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, when the Munster chief, Brian, wrested for a time the head-kingship of Ireland from the North-Irish chiefs, with the aid of the Danish Vikings, and then turning against the latter, inflicted upon them the defeat of Clontarf, which, how- ever slight in its immediate effects, yet marks the termination of the period of invasions. The later raid of Magnus Baie- legs (a.d. 1 103) was an isolated event, standing in no real con- nection with the invasions of the ninth and tenth centuries.
Such is the historical background to the Fenian saga. Prof Zimmer first examines the fifteenth century account of Finn, which represents him as the head of a standing militia engaged chiefly in protecting the coasts of Ireland. He has little difficulty in showing that at the period assigned to him (second and third century, a.d.) Ireland was exposed to no invasions, and that texts of the tenth and eleventh centuries which deal fully with the history of that period know nothing of any standing militia. Moreover, the texts of the older Ultonian heroic cycle, redacted in the seventh century, revised and interpolated down to the tenth century, although they contain numerous traces of the influence exercised upon them, by both the classical and Christian culture which blossomed forth so richly in Ireland in the seventh and eighth centuries, and by the Norse mythic and heroic tales of a later period, yet show no sign of any such institution as that pictured in the later Fenian texts. Nor is any mention made in the Book of Rights, a compilation of the late tenth century, of the elabo- rate code of rights and privileges of the Fenians as we know them from the fully developed Fenian saga.
Irish texts of the eighth-twelfth centuries repeatedly present the word Jiaiui, plural fianna {aXso fennid), in the sense of " warrior", " warrior band". Fater texts specialise the mean- ing, referring it to the warrior bands of Finn and Goll, the Fenian militia. The woxdjiann is a loan-word from the Norse ; it is the Norsejiandi, plural ^andr — "enemy". In illustration
xxlv Introduction.
of the contention a passage is quoted from the Orgain brudne da Derga, an Irish hero-tale, the text of which as we have it goes back to the tenth century. Ingcel and his fellow-pirates are attacking the house in which the high-king of Ireland is passing the night. " Up, Tfa;/;^," says he to his men; "let us attack the house." When they draw near, the king, hearing a noise, asks who is there. " Fianna," answers one of his champions. The Norse A^iking was thus the enemy par excel- lence, he was also/^r excelkfice the brave enemy, the warrior whose valour roused the admiration of the puny {scJundcJitig) Irishmen. From thence to " mercenary", " chieftain's suite", "fighting force of the clan", the transition is easy. Examples of all these various meanings are given, and it is shown that the word occurs in passages where Norsemen are either mentioned or where their presence may be suspected. In the form Fene the word likewise came to specifically denote one of the races inhabiting Ireland. This took place when the original connec- tion between the -words Jia?i?ia and fene and the Scandinavian population had died out of the popular mind. Thus a verse in Fiacc's hymn to Patrick, which runs thus, " he [Patrick] preached thrice thirty years to the heathen bands of the Fene", was taken in the sense that J^;ie was an old generic name for the population of Ireland. But how comes a name originally applied to Norse Vikings to appear in an early hymn to Patrick ? The apostle of Ireland certainly never preached to the Norwegians. No, but the tenth-century Irishmen thought he did. Prof. Zimmer quotes several texts, of which I shall men- tion the most important presently, in support of this statement. But why did they believe this ? The answer to the question is suggested by the consideration of the Patrician documents in the Book of Armagh. Ever since the beginning of the eighth century Armagh had striven to push her claims to primacy ; she had valiantly stood on the side of Rome in the struggle against the particularist usages of the Celtic Church (reckoning of Easter and special form of tonsure), and had not hesitated to forge a series of documents in furtherance of the Roman claims. Prof. Zimmer hints that the primacy was the price Rome paid to Armagh for this support. But the pretensions
Introduction. xxv
of Armagh were not finally accepted by the Irish Church until the middle of the ninth century, and we can follow the stages of the conflicts in the Annals. In the tenth century a new danger arises : the Danish king is baptised in England ; the Danish Christian community looks to Canterbury rather than to Armagh. The old device is resorted to, and a series of pious fabrications of the last quarter of the tenth century represent Patrick as having converted the ancestors of the Danes. The device met with the success that attended any more than usually outrageous perversion of the truth in the Middle Ages generally, and in Ireland specially. Armagh triumphed ; but her very triumph led to oblivion of the facts. In the eleventh century, when the mythology and heroic history of Ireland were thrown into chronological form, the Irish antiquaries were puzzled by the statement that Patrick had converted the Fene ; they had forgotten all about the Danes, to them the Fene were one of the early races of Ireland, and they romanced about them to the top of their bent. But by this time, as we shall see presently, Finn and his men had been transferred back into the third century. The connection of Fene with Finn was by this time well established. But the Irish antiquaries of the eleventh century knew that Patrick was later than the third century ; they got over the difficulty by feigning that some of the Fene had lived long enough to be converted by the apostle of Ireland. Thus arose the fable of the supernaturally prolonged Ufe of Ossian and Cailte.
Let us now turn to a tenth-century text which brings to- gether Patrick and the Fene. " Loegaire's Conversion" states that Patrick codified the customs of Ireland with the help of eight other commissioners, two with himself to represent the Church (Benen, Cairnech) ; three representatives of the kingly power (Loegaire the head-king, and the under-kings of Ulster and Munster) ; and three others, Dubthach, head bard of Ire- land, Fergus the poet, and Rus mac Tricim sin berla feni, " a knower of speech of the feni." This Rus mac Tricim is a Rus Tryggvasonar, and the berta feni is Norse. This fable corre- sponds to a fact. The Senchus Mor, the most considerable codification of early Irish custom which has come down to us,
xxvi Introduction.
is no purely Irish text of the fifth-sixth centuries, but a late tenth-century codification of Irish, Norse, and Norse-Irish custom, which came into existence when the Scandinavian invaders had welded themselves into the political and social life of Ireland.
So far has the word " fiann" carried us. Now for the earliest accounts of Finn himself. These date from the tenth century, and figure him as the chief of a Viking band, strong in the possession of the strategic position of Almu, allying himself now with this now with that native chief, making love early and often, playing such rough practical jokes upon his followers as to tie up one naked to a tree all night because he had deemed it too cold to go out when told (an interesting testimony to the antiquity of the special Teutonic form of humour), son prob- ably of a Norse father and an Irish mother, and endowed w^ith the seer's gift. As early as the second half of the tenth century he figures as a personage of the second and third centuries. How did this happen ? The circumstances of the times in which the historical Finn (the semi-Viking semi-Irish chief) lived must have been hke those of the third century, so like as to induce confusion in the minds of the tenth-century Irishmen who had no correct idea of the past.
Now at the end of the second century Ireland is equally divided between Mug Nuadat and Conn Cetchathach. In the middle of the ninth century Fedlimid mac Crimthain is the recognised king of Southern Ireland {leth Moga, Mogs's half). The record of his struggles with the Northern kings, Niall and Maelsechlainn, recalls that of the second-third century head-kings. Art and Cormac mac Airt, against Southern Ireland. Indeed, it may be assumed that the tenth-eleventh century accounts of the second-third century wars were in- fluenced by the real history of the ninth century. In one instance this can be proved. A late tenth-century North Irish poet decks out the legendary North Irish third-century king, Cormac mac Airt, with traits derived from the historical South Irish bishop-king of Cashcl, Cormac, slain m 903. Again, in one of the oldest tales about Finn, his father, Cumall, carries off his mother Murni, daughter of Tadg mac Nuadat.
Introdttction. xxvii
Now Ailill Aulom, a celebrated legendary king of the early third century, is a son of Mog Nuadat (mac Moga Nuadat) ; whilst Tadg mac Cein is a prominent figure in the Leinster legendary history of the late third century. Tadg mac Nuadat reminded the Irish story-tellers of both these earlier personages, who were separated by nearly two generations — hence he was sometimes dated as if he belonged to the one, sometimes as if he belonged to the other generation, a fact which explains the uncertainty that prevails in the earliest Fenian texts about Finn's alleged date, and his being made to live over a period of some 150 years. Finn is thus brought down to the period of Fedlimid mac Crimthain, i.e., to the early eighth century ; and we find at this date a Caittil Find who was slain in Munster in 856 by Imar and Olaf, kings of the Dublin Danes. These had appeared in Ireland a few years previously, and their hand had been laid as heavily upon their Norwegian predecessors as upon the native Irish. The Norsemen — now after two generations half-Irish — made common cause with the natives against them. Caittil Find was their chief leader j his defeat and death in 856 marks the triumph of the Danish invaders, who were to rule in Dublin for three centuries. About Caittil Find himself — half-Norse, half-Irish — gathered every floating story, every characteristic trait that the Irish knew of in con- nection with the Norsemen. His fight against the Danish overlord, when transferred back into the third century, becomes the fight of the Fenian militia against the head-king of Ireland. But, it may be objected. Find is no Norse name. No, it is the Irish translation of hviti, "white". This nickname of his had been taken by the Irish for his proper name, and translated by them, and as the form it thus assumed in Irish, Find, is a frequent element in many Irish names, e.g., Findbar, Findlog, etc., the recognisable part of the name, "Find", persisted, and the unrecognisable part, Caittil, died out. Thus the twelfth- century scribe of the Book of Leinster fragment of Cogadh Gaedhel substitutes for the unintelligible word Caittil the Irish word caur, "hero", in the passage describing Caittil's defeat by Olaf. Many of the Vikings of the first invasion, who came mostly from the Hardangerfiord, had hviti as their name or
xxviil hitroduction.
nickname. Indeed, the predominance of the name "white" struck the fancy of the Irish, and they called the over-sea visitors findgeiiti, " white strangers". Later, when the Danes appeared, and straightway came to blows with the Norsemen, they were distinguished as dubhgefifi, "black strangers".
The after development of the Fenian saga is conditioned partly by its semi-Norse origin, partly by the fact that the later bards borrowed scenes, incidents, and traits from the older Cuchulain cycle, and wove them into the new heroic epos. One instance may suffice. In the Cuchulain cycle Ulster defies the remainder of Ireland : Cuchulain, single- handed, holds at bay all the forces of the South and West. In the Fenian saga Ireland takes the place of Ulster, and success- fully withstands the onslaught of the King of the World and his motley tribe of allies. Through all, too, pierces the original heathen character of the eponymous hero of the saga. But South Ireland was already Christian in the third-fourth centuries, so that conscious heathen practices, definitely recog- nised and described as such, could no more have occurred there in the ninth century than in the Germany of the twelfth or thirteenth century. Another testimony this to the imported nature of Fenian legends. The most distinctive trait of heath- enism associated with Finn himself, and the one which seems to have impressed the Irish the most vividly, is his divinatory power, and the magic practices with which it was accompanied. From one of the oldest Finn stories, dating back to the tenth century, we learn the names of these practices, imbas forosnai, teinm laegda. This latter cannot be explained in Irish ; it is the old- Norse /fzVmr /a/^/r =" the thrown staves", and this method of divining the future may be compared with the casting of " surculi' described by Tacitus in chap, x of the Gcniiania.
One other point may be cited. Lochlann has hitherto been referred to Norway, and explained as " lake-land''. But ac- cording to Prof. Zimmer, the oldest form is Lof/i/i/id, gen. LaUhlinde, and it is an Irish rendering of Laland, the island whence came the first Danish Vikings. At first it designated the Danes' country alone, and received the extended meaning of Scandinavia generally at a comparatively late period.
Introduction. xxix
The arguments against the theory are of two kinds, (i) the purely philological ones, (2) the historical ones. Prof. Zimmer lays great stress upon his philological V explanation of the word " fiann". But every one of his contentions has been traversed by Mr. Whitley Stokes, a philologist of the highest reputation and authority, as was indeed lately evidenced by his being made the recipient of the most valued honour that can be be- stowed upon a scholar — corresponding membership of the French Institute. But Mr. Whitley Stokes did not confine himself to philological arguments, which only an expert can appreciate. He likewise challenged the German professor's explanation of the Irish phrase teinni laegda, and declared that the proper Irish form is teinm taido, that the signification is quite different from that asserted by Prof Zimmer, and that the phrase can have nothing to do with a Norse teinar laig^ir, which, moreover, is a purely hypothetical form, and cannot be instanced from any Norse writings.
Further historical arguments in disproof of the theory have been brought forward by Prof Kuno Meyer and Mons. H. d' Arbois de Jubainville. Those of the latter have great interest in view of the bearing of Prof Zimmer's revolutionary theory upon the proper interpretation of the Irish Brehon laws which have hitherto been regarded as one of the most archaic bodies of Aryan custom in existence, but which, if the Greifswald scholar is right, can no longer pretend to that position. Mons. d'Arbois de Jubainville has made a long and profound study of Irish law ; it is not too much to say all Celtic scholars, save, perhaps. Prof Zimmer, regard him as the leading authority upon the subject. His opinion carries, there- fore, the greatest weight. Now, the hypothesis treats Fcne^ a designation of the Irish race, in whole or in part, as a development of the word '■^fiami', which denotes primarily the invading, then the settled Norsemen and
XXX Introduction.
Danes. It is hardly too much to say that this develop- ment could not have been completed before the first quarter of the tenth century. All texts, therefore, in which the word fene occurs, would, in their present form, be no older than the middle of that century. But Mons. d'Arbois de Jubainville shows that, whilst the Senchas Mor, as we now have it, is a compilation of comparatively recent date (possibly as late as the tenth, more probably of the eighth, century), it is based upon and often repro- duces verbally much older texts. Among the very oldest portions the word Fcue occurs several times, and in a connection which absolutely forbids the late date which Prof, Zimmer's theory postulates. Again, Mons. d'Arbois de Jubainville urges a much earlier date for Orgain brudne da Derga than that allowed by Prof Zimmer; he would put it back to the seventh century, and he looks upon the word Jiann, which is used in it, as belonging to the oldest portion of the story, and conse- quently as existing with the signification "warrior" long prior to the middle of the ninth century.
The force of these objections can be appreciated by all. I would merely add that others, like myself, have doubtless felt the improbability of the starting-point of the whole hypothesis — that invaders, namely, should de- scribe themselves as enemies, and that the inhabitants of the invaded country should appropriate this foreign word, and by a progressive series of favourable significations come at last to use it as a designation of themselves. It may further be noted, with respect to Prof Zimmer's theory, how Caitill Find came to be known in Irish legend as Find simply, that the antagonist of Caitill, Olaf, the Dublin Dane-king, invariably bears the nick- name hvitt, the white one, in the Norse sagas, yet he is never called Find by any Irish authority. Where, know- ing that the nickname existed, we find that it was not translated, ought we not to look askance at the supposi-
Introduction. xxxi
tion of translation in a case where we have not one jot of evidence that the nickname ever did exist ?
It is far from my wish to prejudice a question which only Celtic experts can decide. I have essayed to set forth the arguments p7'o and cotz, fairly and clearly. But it may not be out of place to add a few remarks which can hardly fail to suggest themselves to the careful student of the Ossianic cycle. Whoso, for instance, met this cycle for the first time in the following pages could not but be struck with the insistence laid upon the oversea element. Finn and his men are always repelling Loch- lann raiders, or themselves paying hostile visits to the King of Lochlann, and carrying off his treasures or his women. Now, it is certain that nothing of the kind happened in the third century — the period to which the Irish annals assign Finn. Whether Prof Zimmer is right or wrong in claiming Cumhal's son as a half- Viking, none the less is it certain that a large portion of Ossianic cycle reflects conditions which only obtained during the Viking period, i.e., as far as Ireland is con- cerned, from the end of the eighth to the beginning of the twelfth century, when the last Norse raid, that of Magnus Bare Legs, took place. But this was an isolated event, and, substantially speaking, the close of the Viking period in Ireland may be said to be marked by the battle of Clontarf, at the beginning of the eleventh century. Now, why, if the historic basis of the cycle is furnished by events of the third century, do we nevertheless find that the majority of the texts reveal a state of affairs which cannot be older than the ninth century ? Here Prof. Zimmer's theory would seem to be more in accord with the facts of the case than the one previously current. But, on the other hand, it must be noted that the texts in question invariably picture Finn and his men in standing antagonism with the Lochlann folk. How does this agree with Prof. Zimmer's view ? True, his
xxxii Introduction.
Finn is only half a Viking ; true, he falls fighting against the Danish invader; still he has Viking blood and Viking ways, and it hardly seems likely that Irish legend would represent him as the defender par excellence of Ireland against oversea raiders. I submitted this difficulty to Prof Zimmer, who answered in effect that I was arguing from one section only of Fenian texts. The quarrel of Finn and the Lochlannach is, he says, a special feature of the North Irish and Highland texts, to be accounted for by the presence of Lochlannach in North-west Scotland as late as the fifteenth century, and by their conflicts with the Celtic population. It is necessary to follow up this hint, as it compels some sort of classification in the exist- ing body of Ossian texts, and such classification is the indispensable preliminary to a sound criticism of the cycle.
Roughly speaking, the Fenian or Ossianic texts may be divided into two classes, those vouched for by MSS. which reach back beyond the middle of the twelfth century, and those for which we have only much younger MS. authority. Of the former I need only repeat again that their presentment of Fionn is fully as romantic as that of the later texts. I have referred to the majority of these texts in my notes to vol. ii of this series. The second class comprises by far the larger number of Fenian texts. Roughly speaking, it admits of a threefold division : (i) Prose texts, of which the AgallamJi na Senoraib, or Discourse of the Elders, is the most important, and which are at least as old as the beginning of the fifteenth century, as they are found in MSS. of that date. (2) A body of ballad poetry which is at least as old as the end of the fifteenth century, as it is largely extant in the Dean of Lisniores Book, a West Highland MS. of the early sixteenth century, and which has maintained itself orally in Gaelic Scotland down to the present day. Most of the texts in the present volume
Introdiution. xxxiii
belong to this class. (3) A similar body of ballad poetry found in Irish MSS. of the last and present century. The second and third sub-classes are largely alike, but by no means entirely so ; certain episodes and incidents are to the best of my knowledge and belief only found in the Scotch Gaelic, others only in the Irish Gaelic texts. Of many texts common to both, the Scotch MS. au- thorisation reaches two centuries farther back than does the Irish.
Sub-classes 2 and 3 differ profoundly from sub- class I. Not only are the episodes, the incidents, the themes different, but the whole colouring and setting, the whole tone and temper are unlike. Are we then to conclude that some time between the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the AgallamJi na Senoraib form of the Fenian legend is vouched for by several MSS., and the end of the same century, when the ballad form appears fully developed in the book of the Dean of Lismore, the legend was profoundly modified in form (from prose to verse), in subject-matter, and in temper? Or are we to look upon the ballad as possibly of equal antiquity with the AgallamJi na Senoraib form, and as owing its peculiarities to having developed in a different part of Gaeldom, among different historical conditions ? Again, must we look upon the Irish ballads as an offshoot from the Scotch ballad stock? This would seem to follow if we pursue Professor Zimmer's argument to its legitimate conclusion.
One way of settling the question would be by a careful comparison of those ballads which are found substantially in the same form in both Scotland and Ireland. This is one of the tasks which await future students. Another way is to examine the differentia between the AgallamJi na Senoraib and the ballads. I have already touched upon this subject (Maclnnes, (p. 411), and I would here only emphasise one point,
C
xxxiv Introduction.
In Agallamli na Stnoraib the witness to the departed glories of the Fenian band is Caoilte, in the ballads Oisin. Now Caoilte is on excellent terms with St. Patrick, for whom he has a proper and becoming respect. It is quite otherwise with Oisin. The aged hero is per- petually reviling the saint, perpetually comparing past heathendom with present Christianity, greatly to the disadvantage of the latter, perpetually making the most unorthodox remarks.
" I would take more delight in the bound of the buck, Or in looking at badgers between two glens ; Than in all that thy mouth promiseth me, And all the joys I would get in heaven beyond" —
{Oss. Soc, iv, 41.)
says the defiant old pagan in the Irish version, whilst in the Lismore one the corresponding passage runs —
" Didst thou hear the hounds and the sounds of the hunt? Thou wouldst rather be there than in the holy city."
(Li's ///ore, 19.)
Now, is this temper a creation of the fifteenth century? a specific Scotch-Gaelic graft on the legend trunk ? It may be so, but it seems to me to require a deal of proving. Again, one can hardly fail to be struck by the kinship of tone between the Gaelic poems ascribed to Oisin, and the Welsh ones ascribed to Llywarch Hen. In both cases the reputation of poet is simply due to the semi-dramatic nature of the com- position. Both Oisin and Llywarch Hen were regarded as fit personages in whose mouths to place sentiments of a particular cast, and later ages finding this or that elegy or battle piece assigned to the Gaelic or Welsh prince naturally considered them as being the authors of the same. Oisin and Llywarch are both old and feeble, the last survivors of a mighty generation,
Introduction. xxxv
savagely rebellious against the slings and arrows of outrageous age, bitterly mindful of the pride and lust of their youth.
" Wooden crook ! is it not the spring, When cuckoos are brown, when the foam is bright. And I, lack a maid's love ?
******
What I loved when a youth are hateful to me now,
A stranger's daughter and a gray steed.
Am I not for them unmeet ?
I am old, I am lonely, I am decrepit and cold.
After lying on fair rich couches,
I am miserable, thrice bent !" (Skene, F. A. B., 328.)
Thus the Kymro complains —
" No soft wooing, and no chase In both of which I took delight. Without the battle-march or fight, Alas, how sorrowful life's close." [Lis/nore, 5.)
Or again :
" Feeble this night is the power of my arm, My strength is no more as it was ; No wonder though I should mourn. Poor, old relic that I am." {Lisinore, 13.) answers the Gael.
Now the Welsh poems are assuredly far older than the fifteenth century, and it seems more reasonable to hold that this kinship of situation and temper between the two literatures is due to some special impulse which affected alike the bards of Gaeldom and those of Wales, than to look upon it as a simple coincidence. But this impulse could hardly have stirred Ireland two or three centuries later than Wales.
One thing finally should be noticed. If the ballad- poetry be a late and specifically Northern Gaelic dcve-
xxxvi Introduction.
lopment, then the Highland savants of the last century were right, and " Ossian" (meaning thereby the ballads partially known to and used by Macpherson) was Scotch rather than Irish.
What I have now said, and what may be found in my notes to Mr. Maclnnes' volume, will suffice, I hope, to give some idea of the complexity and interest of the questions connected with the Ossianic cycle. The notes at the end of this volume are intended to be of use to such as wish to pursue, investigation for themselves. They chiefly consist of references to M. d'Arbois de Jubainville's list of Irish sources, and to Campbell of Islay's LeabJiar na Feinne, in which the entire corpus of Scotch-Gaelic Fenian ballad-poetry is reproduced. The materials thus lie ready to the hand of the student. Will the Gael of Scotland leave the task of elucidating and interpreting the heroic epos of their race to German scholars? I have spoken of Professor Zimmer ; let me now mention such men as Professor Windisch, as Kuno Meyer, as Max Nettlau, who are labouring unweariedly in the field of Celtic research. Labouring unweariedly, not because it is their business ; each of those scholars has other and arduous duties to perform first, but with that ardent zeal for knowledge which is the crowning glory of Germany. And all this while the academic world of Scotland (with but few honourable excep- tions) stands by idle, and neglects its birthright. Men who have but a tithe of the work, but triple and quad- ruple the remuneration of these German scholars, are content to let this noble and inspiring subject of study pass out of their hands — hands of sons — into those of strangers. It is, indeed, characteristic of this country that, when Lord Archibald Campbell sought assistance in the task of preserving the traditions of his race, he sought it not from professional scholars, but from hard- working ministers of religion ; characteristic also that
Introchiction. xxxvii
the most extensive, the most important, the most valuable series of researches which have appeared in Scotland in this department of study are due to a country gentleman, Campbell of Islay.
Let us look at the matter in another way. There is but one other race of modern Europe which has pre- served to the present day an heroic epos reaching back into a far distant past. I allude to the Finns, and to their noble mythico-heroic poem, the Kalewala. Contrast the loving care with which official and academic Finland has cherished the Kalewala, the scientific thoroughness with which every variant has been noted, the recognition of the epic as an object of national pride, national soli- citude, with the treatment of the Ossianic ballads in Scotland — a contrast all to the discredit and disgrace of the richer and more illustrious people.
And yet who shall say that the Fenian hero-tales are unworthy the care, the study which every other European race has bestowed upon its national traditions ? Let us not forget that for hundreds of years these tales were the delight and solace of our forefathers, that they spring from the heart's blood of the race, that they have become bone of the bone, flesh of the flesh of the Gael whereso- ever he has fixed his dwelling. Simply consider the cold, abstract scientific value of an oral tradition which is still quick and flourishing. So long as men live the tale of Troy divine will be to them both a delight and a wonder, an imperishable source of beauty, and a problem the fascination of which may not be gainsaid. The great Karling may perchance live longer as the white-bearded emperor of the Chanson de Roland than as the heir of the Csesars. And the German songs proudly vaunt, and not without reason, that the praise of Siegfried and Dietrich shall never die from out men's mouths. Of xA.rthur, too, the same boast was made. But all these mighty epics, although they form a part of humanity's most precious
XXXV ili Inti^oduction.
treasure, are yet dead in a certain sense ; they have faded out of the folk-consciousness, we know of them from books alone. But if every book in the world were to perish we could find the tale of Finn and his men still entire in the memories of men who know nothing of books, whose culture is due solely to oral tradition.
Here, then, is means of verifying the hypotheses that have been put forth so freely concerning the genesis and development of heroic tradition ; here, and here alone in Western Europe can we study the physiology of tradition from a living specimen instead of from anatomical plates. Gaelic Scotland has at length organised the song- and letters-loving tendencies of her children, as the Kymry of Wales did long since. Let the first task of the Scotch Eisteddfod be to promote the criticism of the one living hero-cycle of Western Europe, the tales of Finn MacCumhal and the Fian band.
Alfred Nutt.
NOTE
In giving the Tales collected by the Reverend J. G. Campbell to the public, I must not omit to express the warmest thanks for services rendered by Mr. DuNCAN MacIsaac, of Oban, who has been an invaluable aid to us in getting the work ready for the Press. He has assisted us in every way, and been of the very greatest use in the Gaelic portion ; a prompt, able, and an enthusiastic and willing worker at what I feel will not be labour lost in rescuing the Tales of our beloved land from oblivion.
Archibald Campbell.
THE F I A N S.
Previous to written history, and indeed outside of the literary world, there was to be found among the Celtic races a profusion of traditions and tales which may be said to have been a closed book to the rest of the world. Songs and traditions exist among all races, but among the Celtic tribes, whose wealth of imagination and gene- ral intelligence are known, or with which they are at least credited, there existed an abundance of legends and tales and poetry which it is very desirable should be laid hold of The position which these tales and poems occupy is difficult to fix. They are not pure imagina- tion, and it would not be safe to look upon them as historical truths. In the early period of history, as in the infancy of the individual, the power of credence is unlimited, and the most extraordinary stories pass un- challenged : ogres, giants, and people of strange shapes and marvellous powers are readily believed in. When the field of imagination is entered upon there is no obstacle in the way which the mind cannot get over.
There is a saying, with which the writer has fallen in, in Skye, that the oldest ballad is the " Lay of the Red" {Dan an Deirg), as the oldest history known to the Celts was the history of Connal Gulban, and the oldest poem the " Lay of the Great Fool", and the greatest praise the praise of Loch Key.
" Every ballad to the Ballad of the Red, Every history to the History of Connal, Every lay to the Lay of the Great Fool, And every praise to the Praise of Loch Key."
I
2 The Fians.
" Gach Dan gu Dan an Deirg, Gach Eachdraidh gu Eachdraidh Chonaill, Gach Laoidh gu Laoidh an Amadain Mhoir : 'S gach Moladh gu Moladh Loch Ce."
(See Nicolson's Proverbs, p. 189.)
Perhaps even older than these is the fairy song, or lullaby ascribed to the fairies, and reaching at least to pagan times ; indeed, probably as old a ditty as we have in Gaelic, in which the following passage occurs : —
" My cause of merriment, soft and sweet art thou, Of the race of Coll and Conn art thou. My cause of merriment, soft and sweet art thou, Of the race of Conn art thou.
'* My soft cause of merriment, my soft rushes, My lovely rock plant,
Were it not for the charm that is on your foot We would lift you with us.
'* Of the race of Coll and Conn art thou, My cause of merriment, soft and sweet art thou, My soft cause of merriment My knee has brought up, Were it not for the burn on your foot We would lift you with us."
" Mo mhire bhog bhinn thu, Siol Cholla 's Chuinn thu. Mo mhire bhog bhinn thu,
Siol a chinne Chuinn thu.
" Mo mhire bhog, mo luachair bhog, Mo chneamh an creig, Mar bhi an sian th' air do chois, Gu'n togamaid leinn thu.
Antiquity of Fenian Stories.
"Siol ChoUa is Chuinn thu, Mo mhire bhog bhinn thu, Mo mhire bhog, Mo ghlun a ihog,
Mar bhi an losgadh th' air do chois, (lu'n togarnaid leinn thu."
This lullaby attracts attention not only by its weird and beautiful music, resembling the wild night-wind about the house or in neighbouring trees, but also by its allusion to the race of Coll and Conn, which are not commonly to be met with ; in fact, till a person becomes acquainted with the heroes of Ossian's time, he will be unable well to understand these allusions. At one time the tales of the Fian heroes were common all over the Highlands, but are now only to be fallen in with in some localities. The fairy lullaby is here given to illus- trate the antiquity and prevalence of the stories which are collected in this volume. With greater facilities of making one's self acquainted with different parts of the Highlands, it is very likely that a good many more of the same kind might be fallen in with. The writer can only say that he has endeavoured to make the best of such material as he has met with, and that it is here given without addition, subtraction, or alteration of any kind. There are many questions of interest as to the date, antiquity, and origin of these stories and poems, but they have been avoided, and it is as free to the reader to form his opinion as it is to the writer. Tales of this kind are denominated, in popular lore, " Tales of Fionn, Son of Cumhal, and the Fian Host" {Naigheachdan air Fionn MacCumliail agns Feachd na Fein?ie), and the matter to which they refer was so much the subject of talk that it became a saying, that if the Fians were twenty-four hours without anyone men- tioning them they would rise again. They are lying, it
I -
4 The Fians.
is said, in the boat-shaped mound called Tom-na-h- iubhraich, which for some years past has been used by the town of Inverness as a burying-ground ; others say they are lying in Glenorchy, Argyleshire ; and there is a story that when they were last seen it was by a person who chanced to enter the place where they are lying. When he struck a chain that was suspended from the roof, the Fians rose upon their elbows, and their big dogs began to bark. The intruder was so much frightened that he ran away. As he was going out at the door he heard a voice calling —
" Evil and ill-guided man, Who leaves us worse than when found."
" A dhuine dhona dholaich 'S miosa dh' fhag na fhuair."
The tenacity of popular tradition is shown by the fact of these compositions being still to be fallen in with in widely separated parts of the Highlands and Islands, though rare and much mutilated. Of the versions which the writer has been able to fall in with, or has seen in print, this is particularly noticeable ; the history of Connal has fallen to pieces, so that it may now be classified among the fireside tales i^Sgeulachdan). The Lay of the Great Fool is, from its character and incidents, apparently a fragment of Druidic times. It contains stories of enchantments and allegories of a different type from any now current, or to be found within the fields of literature. The Ballad of the Red contains one verse which is of much value, from the old- time reference which it contains. It was heard from a person who had heard the ballad from his mother, a native of Jura, perhaps forty-five or fifty years ago, and this was the only part of the poem he could remember. The story of the Red was to the effect that the Red was married, and was in doubt whether his wife loved
Conlaock ami CzLckullin.
him or not. He was induced to appear as if killed in the chase, and he was taken or carried home "on a shutter" and laid out as if dead. His wife sat beside the body, and then crooned or sang the " Lay of the Red". The noticeable verse was —
" I see the hawk, I see the hound With which my love hunted ; Since well he loved the three, Let us be laid in the grave with the Red."
" Chi mi un t-sheobhag, chi mi 'an cu Leis an deanamh mo run 'n t-sealg On a b' ionmhuinn leis an triuir ■ Carair sinn san uir le Dearg." {^QQ. Nicholson'' s Proverbs, p. 415 ; Gillies' Collection, p. 301.)
This verse is of more than passing interest, as it points to a time when those in high estate were wont to hunt with hawk and hound, and even it may be to a time when suttee was practised, and the wives of great men were buried along with them, as is still done in India. In ancient sepulchral mounds which antiquaries have fallen in with, the grave is about three feet in length, and the hero was placed apparently in a sitting position. Smaller bones have been found in a grave adjoining the sarcophagus, and it is impossible to say whether they were the bones of a slenderer human being or those of a dog.
An earlier stratum of legend than that commemorating the Fenian heroes is preserved orally in the Highlands, as specimens of which may be cited the stories of Con- laoch and Cuchullin, and of Deirdre.
The Fians.
CONLAOCH AND CUCHULLIN.
In the poems published by Macpherson CuchulHn figures as one of the characters, but in the tales and traditions about him which are still to be found floating, he does not figure as one of the Fian or Fingalian band. The popular tale told of him is that he lived at Dunscaith {Dunsgdich), in the district of Sleat, in Skye. Some say that he was apprenticed to a smith in the locality, and was taught all the arts of war {air fbghhim cogaidJi). Here he left his wife, and told her that the child to be born to her, if a male child, was to be named Conlaoch, was to be trained in feats of arms, and when of age was to go to Ireland, and not tell his name to anyone except under compulsion {bheireadh air 'ainni innse), or tell it in spite of himself {bheireadh 'ainm dh' aindeoin dheth). He himself, Cuchullin, went to Ireland, and was matchless in prowess. There was one feat which seems to have consisted of throwing javelins {gath builg) across water, at which no one at all ven- tured to compete with him. When Conlaoch was of age he went to Ireland, and there was a meeting of nobles, at which no one could equal him in arms. He was asked his name, but refused, even though the one who was sent to him complimented him upon his stature.
" Long and fair is your side, warrior."
" Is fhada briagha do shlios a churaidh."
One who was tutor to Cuchullin told him of this, and Cuchullin himself went to Conlaoch, who, refusing to confess his name in any other way, was challenged to a trial of skill in javelin-throwing {gatJi b?d/g). A match was fought between them, but in this Cuchullin mastered him, and Conlaoch, who knew his father.
ConlaocJi and Ctu/iicllin.
though his father did not know him, threw the spear with the blunt end foremost {an coinneaniJi na h-carraicJi), but Cuchullin threw his point foremost {an coinneamh a roinne). Conlaoch was wounded and fell, and when Cuchullin stooped over him to ascertain his name, Conlaoch said :
" ' I am Conlaoch, the son of the Dog, The rightful heir of Dun Telva, The loved one left in the body In Dunscaith to be taught.'
" ' My curse, son, upon the mother From Dunscaith to the tower of learning ; It was the love that was in her heart That has now left my heart-strings (?) so red.'
" ' 111 was your recognition of me. Noble, haughty, loving father. When I threw aslant and feebly. The spear wrong end foremost.'
" ' Alas ! alas ! and another alas ! It is not the alas that is to-night the burden. But the spoils of my son in one hand And the war weapons in the other.' "
" ' Is mise Conlaoch mac-nan-Con, Oighre dligheach Dhiin t-sealbha. An rim a dh' fhagadh am broinn, An Dun-sgaich ga fhoghlum.'
" ' Mo mhallachd, a mhic, air a mhathair, O Dhiin-sgaich gu Dim faoghlum ; 'Se an riin bha na cridhe Dh'fhag mo liantan cho dearg.'
" ' 'S olc an aithne rinn thu orms', Athair uasail uaibhrich ghradhaich, Nuair thilginn ort gu fiar fann. An t-sleagh an ceann a hearraich.'
8 The Fians.
" ' Ocli nan och ! is och eile ! Cha-n i'n och an nochd an eire, Faoibh mo mhic san darna laimh 'S na h-airm san laimh eile.'"
The dead body of his son was carried by Cuchullin to the shelter of a tree, and for many days no bird dared to perch on the tree, or any man to come near ; he ate no food. At last a crow or raven was observed to settle on the tree, and then people knew that Cuchullin was dead.
Deirdre.
The story of Deirdre, whose name figures in Mac- pherson as Darthula, is to be found in a fragmentary state in many parts of the Highlands and Islands. Of the fragments of the poems on the subject which have been gathered and preserved, many are of the highest poetic merit. A form of the tale which was got in Barra is given in the Transactions of the Inverness Society, vol. xiv, p. 241. That which the writer has fallen in with is, in the main, to the same effect, Deirdre was the daughter of the harper of an Irish king, and a very pretty child. When she was nearing woman- hood, a young man, Naos, took her away. He was accompanied by his own two brothers. The king, who had intended her for himself, when he heard of their flight, sent for his Druids, who raised a thick wood in their way, which they said the fugitives could not get through. Naos, however, and his two brothers cut their way through the wood, and, accompanied by Deirdre, fled out of the kingdom. At this point popular imagi- nation in the prose tales gets full swing, and the fugitives are represented as having gone to Scotland, etc., and the story ends with the death of the three brothers,
Deirdre. 9
and ultimately her own self-inflicted death, when she found that Naos had been killed by the king. The ample freedom of popular imagination is well shown in the version of the tale already referred to as having appeared in the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness. The Amhuisgean, which figure in it, are not mentioned in any other version of the story that has appeared in print or been heard of by the writer, and it is possible may have been worked into the story from some other popular tale.
THE FIANS.
Of the tales and poems still current, and introducing us to the endless tales of the Feinne or Fingalians, is a lay commencing with :
" Conn, son of the Red, filled with heavy wrath, Coming to avenge his father's death without reservation, On the great nobles and worthies of Ireland."
" Conn Mac-an-Deirg air a lionadh le trom fheirg, Tighinn a dhioladh has Athair gun fheall. Air uaislibh 's air maithibh na h-Eirinn."
The tale is one of the superhuman strength of Conn, and the victory over him by Goll MacMorna, and is evidence of the wisdom with which Finn had welded together the originally widely inimical parties of which the Fian band was made up.
The history of the Fians, or body of strong men to whom that name is given, may be said to extend as far back as either history or tradition does. They, the Feinne, were said to be in two parties, Clanna Molum and Clanna Baoisgne, and Fionn was leader over them both. They followed the chase, both in Ireland and Scotland. Oscar and Dermid were also leaders. Ac- cording to one account there were 9,000 perfect heroes {naoi mile gaisgeacJi glan) in the Feinne, and their work was to guard women from the giants, and no spells or enchantments could ever lie upon the Fians {c/ia do luidh geasan air an FJicinn riainh). Hence their continual success. They were no stronger than other people, but the excellence of their bards made them excellent. The best known, and those regarding whom the tales and ballads are most popu- lar among the Celtic race, are those of the time of
Macphersons ''Ossian\ ii
Fin MacCoul — Fion7i MacCiunhail. The stories about this leader and his band were so universal and popular in the Highlands, that their prevalence was made a standing joke against Highlanders, and the great strength and valour ascribed to the band were made fun of. Thus Dunbar, who lived before the end of the fifteenth century, speaks of the Celtic hero :
" My fore grandsire hecht Fin MacCoul, Wha dang the deil and gart him yowll. The skyis rainit when he would scowll,
He troublit all the air. He gat my grandsyr Gog Magog ; Ay whan he dansit the warld wald shog, Five thousand ellis gaed till his frog, Of Hieland pladdis, and mair."
This latter saying is of value as proof of the antiquity of tartan. Other Scottish poets also make mention of Finn MacCoul, somewhat in a similar slighting manner, the most ancient of these being Barbour, who, in a poem called "The Bruce", written about 1380, compares the defence made by the Bruce at Dalree to that made by Fingal against Gaul.
The antipathy between Celtic lore and that current in educated circles in the south culminated on the appearance of Macpherson's Ossian, which professed to be poems found floating in the Highlands, and resembling the poems of Homer and Virgil. The questions of the authenticity or genuineness of these poems were warmly controverted, and Dr. Johnson went to the Highlands, as Walcot says, " to eat Mac- pherson midst his native North". Without entering in any way on the questions at issue, it is beyond doubt,, and open to the judgment of everyone, that the poems which Macpherson published contain much that is deserving of attention as good poetry. To those who are conversant with ballads still to be found among the
12 The Fians.
people, the name of Ossian, or the bard of the Fians, to whom the ballads are attributed, is worthy of all the admiration given to him.
The heroes mentioned in the lay, which tells of the greatest strait in which the Fians ever were {TeamitacJid inhbr na Fc'inne), seem to have been principally leaders of tribes who in time were incorporated with the Fian band. When Manus, King of Lochlin, collected all his forces, and the battle of the Hill of Howth was fought {Latha catJi Beiim Eiidainii), the heroes who were prominent for their prowess and strength were Oscar, the son of Ossian, grandson of Fionn himself, and incomparably the most powerful man of the party ; Goll, leader of the Clanna Morna ; Ceutach, leader of the Colla men ; Dermid, nephew of Fionn, and the only son of his twin sister, whose story is widely spread, and known from his having fled with his uncle's wife, and his having slain the wild boar that Grey Eyebrows had in her pos- session of pigs :
"The old grey wild boar, that was ever working mischief, That Grey Eyebrows had in her possession of pigs."
" Sean tore Hath bha riabh ri olc, Aig Mala Liath air sealbh mhuc."
Among their poets we hear of FergJius Fillidh (Fergus Poet), chief spokesman and ambassador of the warlike band, and whose designation still survives in, and perhaps was derived from, the common word fillidJi, a poet. Others whose names occur are MacRedhinn, who gives his name to the sound that separates Skye from the main- land. When the Feinne were hunting in the Isle of Skye, and observed a dark-coloured, low-lying smoke from the dwelling in which they had left their wives, they hurriedly swung themselves on their spears across to the mainland, and came to Brugh Farala, which they found, with all its
The Fenian Hej^oes. 13
inmates, consumed by fire to ashes ; MacRedhinn fell into the sound, which now bears his name, Kyle Rca {Caol Redhmn).
" Every man swung himself by his spear-head point, And they left MacRedhinn in the sound."
" Leum gach fear air barr ceann sleagha, 'S dh' fhag iad MacRedhinn sa Chaol."
Garry (Garai), whose watchfulness had detected the manner in which the women kept themselves in good condition, when hunger and the loss of the chase had made the men themselves become feeble and spare, and who was the cause of Brugh Farala's being burnt, was discovered, caught, and executed. His death being at his own request, he chose to have his head cut off by Mac-a-Luin, Fionn's sword, \\hile his head rested upon Fionn's thigh. As the redoubtable sword at one blow could cut clean through every obstacle put before it, and never required a second blow, Fionn's thigh was carefully guarded by seven divots of lea ground full of coarse fibre, and the sword not only cut off Garry's head, but pierced Fionn himself, till blood spouted from the wound.
" More numerous than the dewdrops on the grass Were the ends of arteries cut on Fionn's thigh."
" Bu lionmhoir na driuchd air feur Ceann enisle gearrte an sleasaid Fhinn."
During their season of activity, and in the prime of their strength, the band seems not only to have engaged in conflicts and in the chase, and listened to the songs of bards, but also to have engaged in agricultural pursuits. It was when so employed that the Norsemen came upon them in the Very or True Hollow of Tiree {Fior Lagan Thiridhe), which is said to have been in the district now called Kilmoluag.
The derivation of the word Feinne, the Fian host, is
14 The Fians.
uncertain ; it is a collective noun, and though those of whom popular tradition makes most mention were those under the leadership of Fin MacCoul, a similar band seems to have existed in the days of Coul {Ctunhal), his father, and to have been driven to take refuge in caves and other places, when disbanded by an opposing force. That their enemies were the Northmen does not seem a tenable supposition. That in very early times there was intercourse between the Celts of Ireland and the Lochlinners, or people of the far east, is a creed tenable enough, but many of the best stories on the subject have an air of post-Ossianic times.
Of places in the Highlands which have names derived from the heroes of the Fians are to be mentioned Loch Oscair, in a small islet near Lismore. Dermid is said to have slain the wild boar in several places. The pin- fold of Dermid {Buaile DJiiarmaid), where Grey-Eye- brows had her pigs, is said to be in Scorr, near Portree, Skye; and Dermid's cave {UainiJi DJiiarmaid) is said to be the Big Cave [Uaiinh mJibr) in Kenavara hill, Tiree, facing the Atlantic.
Brugh Caorainn is said to be in Braes, in the parish of Portree, Skye and Brugh Dhubhain in Glendale, in the same island. The big stones on which their kettle icoire) rested, four or five in number, are still seen between the manse of Kensilair and Scoirinish, and Ossian is said to "sleep in his narrow glen" in more than one locality. In the poem of the "Owl" {Comhachag hhochd na Sroine), which is said to have been composed near Loch Treig, in Lochaber, the bard mentions as places within view from where he was sitting, Srath Ossian nam Fian (the strath of Ossian of the Fin- galians); and popular tradition associates the Fians with almost every wonderful natural feature. The cave in Staffa is Uaimh Fhinn, or Fingal's Cave ; and the parallel roads of Glenroy are known as the Roads o{ the Ossianic
The Fenian Heroes. 15
Heroes {Rat/iaidemi nam Finn). There is in Kilmuir, in Skye, a trap dyke, or seeming wall, that runs up an almost perpendicular incline, called the Wall of the Fians {GaradJi na Fcinne), and in more than one hill in Skye, from which magnificent views are to be got, there are places called the Chair of Fionn ; but it is a question among the common people whether the name means a sitting-place in the hill {Cathair 'sa bJieinn) (the Chair in the Hill), or the sitting-place of Fionn {Cathair suid/ie Fhinit). In Beinn ladain, in Morven, there are steps in the rock near the summit popularly known as Ceiinianan Fhinn, or Fingal's Steps.
I.— FIONN MAC CUMHAIL.
FlONN MacCoul, or, as he is better known since the appearance of Macpherson's works, Fingal, the son of Cumhal, was a posthumous son. Cumhal {Cwnhail), the father, was an Irish chief of high estate, and was driven from his seat by the quarrels in which the chiefs of that time seem to have been engaged. In the heat of battle he (Cumhal) entered the house of the Ulster smith and asked for a drink of water. The smith's daughter was the only one in, and she gave him the drink if he him- self could take it out of the only vessel she had at hand. This vessel had seven or nine crevices or pipes {feadahi), which had to be kept closed with the fingers, and the question was warmly debated at one time, among reciters of these tales, whether it was not a kind of reed or pipe through which a person had to draw the water, the hole of the pipe which was in the mouth forming one of the orifices of the vessel which had to be kept closed. While he was taking a drink the water spouted out through one of the holes, and the smith's daughter began to laugh. He threw the dish from him. On returning to battle, while lying wounded and under foot, he was slain by Black Arky, the fisherman {Arcai Diibh lasgair), who came and offered, for an exchange of swords, to carry him to a safe place. When he got Cumhal's sword he thrust it in from behind and killed him with his own weapon. A report had spread abroad {bha e san tairgreackd) that a son of Cumhal would avenge his death, and regain the superiority that had been lost by the death of Cumhal himself The enemy, having heard of this, sent people to watch, so that, as under Herod Agrippa^s decree, every male child born within the boundaries of the estate for the next nine
The Story of Fionn. 1 7
months was slain. In the words of the reciters of these tales, the daughter of the Ulster smith became " heavy and fruitful, spotted and speckled, what did not increase in the day grew at night {dli f/ias i trovi torach breac ballach, na nach (f fhas san latJia dJi fJias e san oidhc/ie), and at last she drew near her confinement." A sistei^ of Cumhal, named Speedy Foot {Los Liirganii), succeeded in introducing herself among the watchers ; some say that she killed the midwife and took her place. The first-born was a male child, and Speedy Foot put a lump of fat {gaiwie saille) in his mouth, which kept it from crying out, then tied it to his big toe {prdag a choise), so that if the lump she tied should at any time be so drawn as to interfere with his breath, the spasm of the child to withdraw the obstruction would make him kick, and so remove it. In this way the cries of the child were hushed and all obstacles to its safety were removed. A female child was then born, and she. Speedy Foot, found a way of removing the first-born out of the way, and taking him to her brother, the joiner-smith {gobhan saor), the best smith that e\e- lived. His dwelling was in the Ulster wood. She asked him to make a house for her in one of the trees, on which, when the house was finished, no stroke of adze or axe {buillc tJiail no tJiuaidJi) was to be seen, so that no one could tell there was a house there. He made the house, and having carefully looked over the whole appearance of the tree, she asked him if anyone could make out now if there was a house there. He made one or two additions to the construction in the tree, and said that no one now could make out that there was a house there, " If," said Speedy Foot, "there is no one that knows my secret but yourself, there will be no one," and she scraped his head off {Mur 'eil fear riim orm ach thiisa cha bJii nds fhaide, agus sgriob i dhctli an ceann). In this house she continued to live with her infant charge till he grew to be a good stripling, and taught
1 8 The Fians.
him feats of swimming, leaping, and running. The way in which she taught him running was by giving a switch of hawthorn {squab dreaghain), with which to run after her round a tree. She herself had a similar bunch of hawthorn in her own hands. With these they chased each other round the tree, and when she overtook the boy she belaboured him behind the feet with her bunch of briers, until at last he could run round the tree so fast that he belaboured her with his own branch, and he did not leave a particle of flesh and blood {ribe /nil no fcola) on her legs with his broom of thorn, while she could never overtake him. She then taught him to leap by digging a hole in the ground, which was gradually getting deeper, till at last he could spring up a wall from a hole which reached to his breast. She taught him swimming by throwing him in the water, until he could at last swim over nine waves and be ashore before herself All that was now wanted was a suitable name for him, and she went with him to a lake where the children of those who had been the enemies of his father were disporting themselves, their parents looking on. Speedy Foot told him to go out and avenge his father's death. He did so, and every child that he fell in with he put under water and kept there, till at last he was observed by those ashore, who cried out, "Who is the Fair White one that is ever drown- ing the children ?" (" Co Fionn Ban tJia sior bhathadh nam mac?'') "May you enjoy your name," said Speedy Foot ; " your name from this time will be Fionn (Fair)". In this way the son of Cumhal iCumhair) received his name. She then took him on her back and fled with him to the Ulster wood. Getting tired, she let Fionn to the ground, and he, taking her by the shanks, placed her on the back of his neck and took her through the woods, heedless of her outcry and mindless of anything but escape from the pursuers. When he got out of the
The Story of Fionn. 19
wood there was a lake in front of him, and he had nothing left of Speedy Foot but the shanks {an da lurgami) ; these he threw out on the loch, which derives its name from the occurrence — Loch Lurgan.
Another account of this latter incident is : The Clanna Molum and their children were now in the place where her young charge ought to be, and on a Sunday she went and found the children bathing in front of the palace and the old people looking on. By her advice the child went out, and catching a child of the Clanna Molum in each hand, dived, and drowned them. The Clanna Molum then said : " Co am Fionn ban tha sior bhdthadh nam mac P" Los Lnrgann leapt forward, and said : " S'e sin a th' ami Fionn MacCiimhail ic LiitJiaich 'ic 1 Jircin 'ic Fhinn ic Aij^t, 'ic ard bgrigh Elrinn" (He is Fionn, the son of Cumhal, son of Looach, son of Trein, son of Finn, son of Art (Arthur), son of the young high King of Erin). She then hastily took up Fionn, who had now got a name, and ran with him through the wood till she was tired. Fionn then caught her by the ankles {caol na coise), and throwing her across his neck, ran so fast that he did not observe his heavy burden becoming lighter. When he got out of the wood he had only the shins {cnaimJi an da lnrgann). He threw them out on the loch, called Loch Lurgan to this day. He was now friendless, without a home or any place to go to. He went to a river near at hand, and falling in with a fisherman, he asked him to make a cast for his luck {air a shealbhaich-san). .The fisherman did so, but the fish that was caught was so good that he kept it to himself Fionn then asked him to make another cast for him, and this time also the fish (salmon) proved so good that the covetous fisherman told him he must prepare the fish on the other side of the river, and allow no spot to be burnt or blister to rise upon it. Fionn saw a piece of the fish-skin rising. He put his hand upon it to press it back into its proper
20 The Fians.
place, and in doing so he burnt himself, and put his finger in his mouth. This made him acquainted with his wisdom tooth {deud fios), which is so frequently mentioned in popular lore. This tooth, when pressed by his finger, gave him knowledge that made him a solver of questions. On this occasion he acquired the knowledge that Dark Arky (A^^cai DubJi lasgair') was the one who had slain his father ; and when Arky came to where he was, he asked him what was the death of Cumhal. Black Arky told him : " He roared like a yearling calf, and broke wind like a gelding when my spear went slanting through his back" (" Ciod bu bhas do ChiiniJiail ?'' '^Raoiccadk e mar gJiamJmin 's . . . c mar gliearran ^s mo shleagh siar troiiiih fJieauian").
A fuller account is : Fionn then went home, and hunger was tormenting and pinching him severely {ga gJiualadh 's ^ga gJireadadJi). He came where Black Arky (Arcai dubh lasgair^ was fishing on a rock, and asked him to make a cast for his benefit {air mo sJiealbJiaicJi). He did so, and caught a salmon {bradan), which is a royal fish {iasg rtgh), and refused to give it up. This occurred three times. % The fourth fish was given to Fionn, but Arcai told him that, when roasting it, if he allowed a spot to rise upon it his head woulci be made a foot and shinty ball of {ma tJiig ball loisgte air 'se do cheann is ball cois is iomanacJid dhomli). Fionn kindled a fire, and as he roasted the salmon a spot {balldomi) began to rise on the fish. He was hungry, and he put his finger on the spot to keep it under, burnt himself, and put his finger in his mouth. He then found out how Black Arky killed his father, and said, " That is just the death I am going to give you" Q'Siji direacJi am bas bJieir mise dhititsd"), and taking Arky's fishing-rod, broke it against his knee ; with this piece of the rod he knocked down Arky, and then killed him. Being free to shift for himself by means of the knowledge to be gained through
The St 07 J of Fionu. 21
his wisdom tooth, he learned that his mother was the ugliest w^oman in all Ireland {an boiriotmach bu ghranmia bhan Eirimi). He wandered away, and before long came to the house of the Ulster smith. Being in need of a sword to make his way in the world, his mother, the smith's daughter, who came to recognise him, and to whom he told his troubles, said that her father would make a sword for him of so fine a temper that it never would require a second blow. This was the celebrated sword of Fionn, the son of Cumhaill, that never left a remnant from its blow {Mac-cui-Luinn nach iVfhag riabh fuiglical beuui). She warned him to be careful not to enter the smithy, where her father was to be at work upon the sword. The material he was to use would be iron and coals from a place that was not good {ie glial 's le iaruiim a aite nacJi robli Jiiat/i), and the sword was to be tempered in the blood of the first living creature that entered the smithy, the blood of man, woman, or dog (fuil ink, nina, na niadaidli). When the sword was nearly finished, Fionn's mother, by a slight opening of the door, managed to get a dog to enter the smithy, and in a while Fionn himself entered and got the renowned sword.
Another account is : By putting his finger under his knowledge tooth {inJiear fo dkeud-fios), of which he now learned the virtue, he became aware that the ugliest woman in Ireland was his mother. He went to the house of the Ulster smith, and when his mother saw him, she said, a third of her hearing was now come back to her. She advised him to hire himself to the smith, who was swordmaker to the Clanna Molum, and kept a roomful of swords, and to take no payment but a sword {air am bi Mac-A-Luin mar aiiim, nacJifdg fiiigheall beiim, tJiig a glial 's a iariinn a aite nach 'eilmath g'a d/ieauadh). The night he made this sword the smith shut himself up in the smithy.
-«•
2 2 The Fians.
saying that if he returned he would thrust {adhartaicJt) the sword into whatever first entered the smithy in the morning. The door was agape {hraoisg) in the morning, and Fionn, by his mother's advice, threw in a little dog iineasait), into which the smith thrust the sword.
Having got this prized weapon, he went in search of his father's men. He found them driven to take refuge in caves by the shore, and the news of Cumhal's son having appeared spread like wildfire. From cave to cave the word passed, " What was foretold has come true" (" Thainig anifdthfior, tJiamig anifdthfior"). The men were all overgrown with hair and beard, and, if all tales are true, Fionn shaved them and dressed them with the sword, JMac-a-Liiin. Or, as another account says : Fionn went for service to the Clanna Molum ; his mother gave him a bag of apples and three pins ideilg). When he entered the palace they said to him, " Biatachd abhul, oganaich, b'dill leinn fhaotidiin uaif ("Food of apples, youth, we would fain get from you"). He had left the bag at the door, and told them to bring it in them- selves and take their pleasure {taitneachd). One after the other of the Clanna Molum went out, and not one could move the bag {cha cJmireadh iad ceige ann). At last Goll said : " Miagh uilc agiis iorghuidh oirbh nach tugadh sibJi a stigh e, ged a bhiodJi a sJieachd iirrad fhein do thalamJi 'slaodadh ris" (" The shadow of evil and evil wishes be upon you that would not bring it in, though seven times its own weight of earth was sticking to it"). He went out himself, broke three of his ribs, and came in roaring {donnalaicJi). Fionn went out and took it in on the point of a twig, and this was the first terror he struck into Clanna Molum. Then the palace {team/iair) took fire, and was burning at its two ends, and in the very middle {lasadJi san da cheann 's an teis-incadJioin). Fionn stuck his three wires {iia tri dcilg), one in the middle and one at each end, and the fire went out.
The Story of Fionn. 23
This was the second terror. His father's men had fled to the cave on the shore, where they Hved on shell-fish {jnaoracJi). Fionn went for them. He found one at home cooking for the rest, and he, when he saw Fionn, cried out : " The prophecy has come true" (" Thainig am fdtit fior"), and for some time no other word could be got from him. Fionn shaved them all with Mac-a-Luin, gathered the cows, etc., belonging to the Clanna Molum, and killed a wether {molt). The first of the rest who came to the cave, when he smelt the sheep instead of samh 's aile a uiJiaoraicJi (the smell and odour of shell-fish), called out : " The prophecy has come true" {Thainig am fathfior). Making them take an oath on his sword, Fionn went up with them and displaced Clanna Molum.
Thus, when Fionn came upon his father's men in their I poverty and solitude in the caves by the sea, his first - action in obtaining superiority over them and evincing that " he was a worthy son of a worthy father", was by 1 bringing a bag of apples which he left, and v\hich by en- chantment or secret sleight could not be lifted off the ground. One after another of the men in the cave was sent to bring the bag in, but they could make nothing of it cither individually or as a body. One by one they failed to lift it from the ground. Finn (Fionn) himself then went out, and took in the bag, suspended from his little finger. This at once put him in the forefront, and even made him master of the whole band.
The tale is also told as follows : — Cumhal was driven by the Lochlinners to a castle in a loch in Ireland. He had long arms {bJia gaoirdeanan fada aige), and no one could overcome him while under armour. The Lochlin men planned to send a beautiful woman to a grassy islet {eilein feoir) in sight of the castle. She was to walk where Cumhal would see her, and at last he would swim to where she was. He was then
24 The Fians.
to be killed by Black Arky, the fisherman {Arcaidhdub/i lasgair), who was to hide himself among the grass till he got his opportunity. This was done, and then Lochlin obtained possession of all Ireland, and the Feinn were driven to take refuge in a cave by the seashore, where they were pressed with want and anxiety.
Fionn's mother was taken care of, and if her offspring were a boy he was to be killed. When her time was come {far a glhhie) she had first a girl, and word was sent out to the watchers surrounding the house that such was the case. Before long a boy was born, and Speedy Foot {LuatJis Lnrgaiui), the sister of Cumhal, caught him in her apron. She put an arrow-like lump of fat {gdinne saille) in his mouth and went away with him. She was the best jumper, the best swimmer, and the best runner of all Ireland {Icuviadair ' s snainJiadair ' s ruitheadairna h-Elrinn), and if she got three yards of market measure {slat mJiargaidli) ahead no man or horse in Ireland could overtake her.
Another version is : Los Liirgaii was Fionn's father's sister. When Cumhal was killed, those who usurped his place gave orders that if the child to be born to his wife was a male child he should be slain. She had twins, a boy and a girl. Speedy Foot {Los Liuganii) fled with the boy, and got her half-brother (?) to cut out a board between bark and peel {eadar cJiairt is r?)sg) to make a house for her in a tree, and on his finishing the work, so that no one could now find out her refuge, she said : " I sec a fault Q'Chi mi meang") ; he bent down, and she swept off his head to make her concealment complete. They lived on the chase and game {sealg 's sitJiioiui). She taught Fionn all kinds of feats of strength, till at last he excelled herself In running she could barely touch his heels with a thorn-brush, and he could switch her back. She could swim over nine waves, and though at first he could swim only over five, he at last could
The Story of Fionn. 25
swim over nine. She then thought him qualified to avenge his father's death. They came to a loch where a number of children were swimming. Fionn went out among them, and every one he caught he kept his head under water and drowned him. A woman who was looking out at a window said : " Who is the Fair White one who is ever drowning the children ?" (" Co Fionn ban tha sior bhathadJi nam mac .^")
Los Lurgann said : " May you enjoy your name ; you will be called Fionn always after this, and you were without a name till now" ("G"?/ meall thu i-ainm 'se Fionn bJiios art as a dJicigJi so, 's bha thu gun ainm gus a so''). Fionn, son of Cuval, son of Looach, etc., son of the high King of Ireland. (Fionn MacCumJiail ic LutJiaicli ic TJirein, etc., ic Ard RigJi Eirinn). The people gathered to attack him, and he fled. He caught his aunt by the feet, threw her on his back, and fled through a thick wood, never looking behind him. Feeling his burden getting light, and looking round, he found he had only the two legs left. He threw them out on a loch, which ever since has borne the name of Loch Lurgann.
Fionn went on and met the Ulster smith (An GobJiain Ultach), who asked who he was. He said, " A good servant in search of a master" (" Gille maith ag iarraidh viaighstir"). He engaged himself for a year and a day with the smith, and his wages were to be a sword that was to fit his hand {claidhe fJireagras ddm laimh). The smith never had one who could ply he hammer like him. Fionn knew by his knowledge tooth (dciid Jios) his mother was in the house and his twin sister, for Fionn was only one of twins {leth dhuine), and her likeness to him was often noticed, though all were in ignorance of the relationship. At the end of the year the smith told him to go to a pile of swords lying in the smithy and choose one for himself Every
26 The Fians.
one he tried he shook and sent it in shivers. The smith made a heavier one, but it went the same way. He asked him, " Who are you, that a sword would not fit you which would fit another person ?" " That would fit me from mine and from coal, that would fit another person." i^' Den dume tJiusa nacJi foglinadJi claidhcamJi dJmit mar a dJi fJibgJinadJi do neacJi eile?" ^' Bh' f/iog- nadh sin domJi a mein 'j a glial, mar a dJC fhbgJiiiadJi do neach eile") " The face of your evil and your mis- chance be on you. I wish I never saw you." The smith said he must remain up all night to make the sword. His mother said to Fionn, the sword was to be tempered in the blood of a man, a woman, or dog {/nil niic, mna, no madaidk), and that she would know when the last strokes were being given to the sword, and he was to take the dog, a female one, and throw it in at the smithy door. He did this, and the smith killed the dog with the sword. Fionn entered and got the sword {Mac-an- Liiin) that left no remnant of its blow {Mac-an-Luin nacli d' fhdg fnigJieal beiim), and struck off the smith's head. When he came out and went to take leave of his mother, she said she would not have long to live now. Fionn said it was past that now, and went away.
Feeling hungry, and seeing a fisherman at a river fishing salmon, he asked him to make a cast for his benefit {air a shealbhaich fhein). He did so, and caught a large fish, which he refused to Fionn, but said he would give him the next one. He caught a still bigger one, which he also refused (some say he tried seven times, and gave the seventh to Fionn). He promised the next, but on its proving still larger, he told him that he was going to have a sleep, and Fionn was to take the first and roast it on the salmon spear {air iarumi a cJiroinn mhordha\ and if he allowed any of the skin to rise {bolg) he would have his head. When roasting the fish a
The Story of Fionn. 27
swelling came on a spot of the skin. Fionn put his finger on it to press it down, and burnt his finger. He put it in his mouth to cool, and then knew that the fisherman was the man who had killed his father. He went and asked him what kind of death Cual had {as before). " That is a kind of death I cannot give to you, but I will do worse"; and he tore him asunder.
He went in search of the Feinn, and he found them in a cave by the sea-side, living on shell-fish, and over- grown with hair and beard {fionnadh 's feiisag), and having seven pins or skewers in their garment with want. There was a prophecy among them that Cual's son would come yet, and an old man taxed him with being dial's son, saying that " a third part of my strength and eyesight has come back to me", and told him to hide himself at first, or else they would devour him with kind- ness for very joy. {TJiainig triaii ddin Heart's dojn shealladli air ais dJioniJi ; cuiridh mi' in falach tJni nco itheadh iad thu le toilinntmn.) When they saw him first, they saw him one by one. Fionn shaved them with Mac-a-Luin, and they scoured their arms, and again took the kingdom.
Fionn had a daughter, who, it is said, was very hand- some. When the Norsemen landed, the Feinn were horrified by their number, and Fionn's daughter went and offered herself to the King of Lochlin, with a dowry of a hundred horsemen, etc., etc., on condition of his turning away in peace. He said it could not be done, as his men were sworn to conquer the country, but he would spare her and her father. She said it was not fear, but desire of peace, made her come. In the battle, the Feinn, for the first and only time in their history, went one day back.
After this we do not hear much of Fionn till he appears as leader of the whole band of heroes to whom the name of Fians or Fingalians is given. They seem to
28 The Fians.
have followed the chase wherever venison was to be found, both in Ireland and Scotland. The tales told of them are both numerous and entertaining. Some tell of deep and sad sorrow ; some refer to feats of strength and activity, and in all of them Fionn (Finn) figures as a man of great wisdom and sagacity. Belonging to this part of the history of the band is the tale of how Fionn got his wonderful dog Bran, and how he was in the House of the Yellow Field, without leave to sit down or power to stand up, and about his long ship, in which, as we hear in later stories, he visited the Kingdom of Big Men.
When the Fian bands were in full order and activity, the companies of which the host was made up were seven, in addition to the company of Morna {scacJid catJianan gnatJiaicJite na Feinne 's catJi chlanna Mornd). The most prominent of these embattled hosts was the Clanna Baoisgne, of whom Fionn himself was one; and frequent mention is made of the Clanna Morna, whose leader was Goll MacMorna. Though the Clanna Morna were at first at war with Fionn's men, and in the time of Ciimhal were open enemies, yet by the wisdom of Fionn they became safe and reliable friends. The Collaich under Ceutach, the son of their former king {Ccudach 1/iac rigJi Jian CoUacli), and their history and position in the Fian band, forms an episode by itself, and seems to have been a subject of much talk.
II._OSCAR.
EA.CH hero had a separate story or adventure ascribed principally or peculiarly to himself; thus, Oscar, who is said to have derived his name from his grandfather asking, when he fell in battle, " Is there a voice left in him ?" {^'•BJicilan t-oscar annf), was the son of Ossian and grandson of Fionn, the company which he commanded being of importance, and his banner ranking next to that of Fionn. The banner of Oscar's company was called the Sgiiab GJiabhaidJi (the Terrific Sweep or Broom), of which it was said, that when the news of fight came to head- quarters there was no inquiry but as to the fate of this, banner, the Sgiiab GabJiaidJi (the Terrible Brush or Sheaf).
" That is no other than the Terrific Brush, The banner of strong, heroic Oscar ; When the fight of chosen men was reached, The only inquiry was for the Terrible Sheaf."
" Cha 'n i sud ach an Sguab-gabhaidh, Bratach Oscar chrodha laidir ; Nuair a rigteadh oath nan cliar Cha b' fhiu a fioraich ach an Sguab-gabhaidh."
{Gillies, p. 311.)
In the versions of "Lays about the Fians", it is said of it that it never went a foot backwards, till the heavy grey earth trembled ; but in other versions the same is said of the banner of Goll, leader of the Clanna Morlum. In the opinion of many, Oscar is the one heard of in the tale of "How Goll Killed his Mother", and with whom he disputed about the marrow-bone. Ac- cording to some, Oscar's first name was The Bent One of Bones {Crom nan Cnain/i). He grew big and gawky,
30 The Fians.
and no one thought he would prove so strong. He took the marrovv-bone from Goll, and being a tall, idle lad, of no account, for this reason, as well as out of regard for his father's position, he was never asked to any of the contests in which the Fian band were engaged. One day, when they were engaged in one of these frays, Oscar, finding himself left alone, went out to where the combatants were, and being destitute of any other weapon, lifted a beam, or big log of wood, and laid about him with such good effect that the enemy was routed, and Oscar was ever after regarded as the best hero of the Fians {ceud lamh fheuni na Fcinne) ; and in a version of the Greatest Strait in which the Fians ever were, it is said of him :
" The like of Oscar, my son, Was not to be found here or there."
" Ach samhuil d' Oscair mo mhac sa Cha robh aca bhos na thall."
His father's cousin, Diarmid donn (the auburn-haired), was the third best hero of the band {treas lamh fJmnn na Feinne), and it is observable that in all the tales and traditions, both about Oscar and Diarmid, they are men- tioned as having lived together on terms of very kindly relationship and fast friendship. Diarmid, as being the older of the two, taught his cousin's son feats of arms and skill. He taught him to play on the taileasg — chess or backgammon.
The celebrity of this hero may be inferred from his name being still used in the Western Islands as the first or Christian name of a person ; thus, e.g., there was very recently in Tiree a man who went by the name of Tearlach Oscair, or Charles, the son of Oscar, and he also occurs as the name of fairy lovers in tales of super- stition. The adjective Oscara (Oscar-like) is applied to the human voice, and denotes a strong, loud, and power-
Oscar. 3 r
ful voice. The death of Oscar is recorded in the following hymn {Laoidh), as it is called, which was taken down word for word from the dictation of the late Roderick Macfadyen, Scarnish, Tiree, in October 1868, now nearly twenty years ago. Macfadyen was then about eighty years of age. He said he had learned it from his father, who died when he himself was only fifteen. He told the writer at the same time that old men, when they repeated these Ossianic hymns, put off their bonnets from a feeling of reverence, with which the sensitive reader will readily sympathise. One is, as it were, in the presence, not only of a master mind in the poem, but also in the presence of the deepest sorrow.
The battle of Gavra was ever memorable among the Celts both of Ireland and Scotland, and as a tale of " Old and happy far-off things, and battles long ago", was as much the subject of talk as any battle of modern times is among the races whom it affects. It is said that two men out at night sheep-stealing, or some pre- datory occupation, had their attention drawn to two gigantic figures on the hills on opposite sides of the glen in which they were. One of these giant figures said to the other, " Do you hear that man down below ? I was the second door-post of battle at Gavra {an damn 7irsainn chatJi a b'fJicarr an Cath GabJird), and that man knows all about it better than I do." Gavra seems to have been somewhere in the north of Ireland, although its exact locality, as far as the poem is concerned, is a matter of conjecture. Oscar, suffering from a mortal wound, could not have been carried far on spears, and the ships of his grandfather having come in sight before his death, Gavra could not have been far from the seaboard.
There are several names in the poem which, on com- parison with other versions in print, call for correction, although it has been deemed best in this case to give the poem exactly as it was taken down. To the arch.ne-
32 The Fians.
ologist it is of importance to have the exact words of the reciter, without suppression, or emendation or altera- tion. Cairvi is called in other versions Cairbre ; and in the quarrel between him and Oscar, in all the versions as well as this one, the spears are called spears of seven and nine seang (slimness), but the explanation which the writer heard elsewhere, at Lochowside, leaves no doubt that the word should be seiin (a charm). The charms were on the spear-shaft of Oscar, and on the spear-head of Cairbre. The usurper naturally thought that if he got Oscar's charmed spear-shaft along with the charmed spear-head he himself had he would be invincible.
Putting all the materials together in a natural junction, the story seems to run that Cairbre, a strong, powerful man, having usurped the sovereignty of all Ireland, and finding the Fians unsubmissive to any but their own leaders, took what in olden times seems to have been a too common way of bringing an enemy to subjection. He invited their best hero to a feast, which, according to the fashion of the times, consisted of plentiful libations of strong drink — a rare and much prized luxury in those days — and finding himself failing in his object, he picked a quarrel, which led to the battle of Gavra.
There are stanzas and expressions in this poem that point unmistakably to heathen times — the charms upon the weapons of war, the fay woman {beansJiitJi) pre- dicting the death of those about to be slain, the intro- duction of the ominous raven as a sign of evil, and other expressions, show that the poem was composed not only in troublous times, but during the prevalence of heathen beliefs and customs. It was pointed out by the reciter that Oscar was the first who was buried without his clothes. The last verse could not be explained by him, nor is there satisfactory explanation to be found in an)' version of the poem.
Oscar. 33
The incident of the quarrel between Oscar and Cairbre has been worked by Macpherson into the poem of " Temora", but a comparison of the hymn or poem with the epic will readily enable the reader to judge who the true poet is. The short, sharp words in this composition are those of angry men, compared to the lengthy speeches of the epic, and altogether there is about this poem an air of genuineness that removes it from the suspicions which have been urged against the genuine- ness of the other.
The Battle of Gavra, or, Hymn of Oscar.
I will not call my music my chief (effort), (i) Tho' Ossian were fain, (2) he could to-night, Since Oscar and the stalwart (3) Cairvy Have fallen in the fight at Gavra.
Word came down to us.
To hardy Oscar of the Feinne,
To go to a feast with his Fians,
And he would get tribute (4) according.
The handsome Oscar who shunned not an enemy. ******
[Three days previous to the fight, Oscar, who, in his grandfather's absence, was leader of the Feinne, was invited to a feast with Cairbre.]
Three hundred men of might
Went with him, attendant on his will and want.
[On the way a fairy woman met them, and Oscar said to her :]
Weird (5) woman that washest the garments, Make for us the self-same prophecy. Will any one of them fall by us, Or shall we all go to nothingness ?
3
34 TJie Fians.
There will be slain by thee, she said, nine (6) hundred, And the King himself, be wounded to death by thee, And the choicest man that falls on thy side All his lifetime has come.
[They reached Cairbre's house, where three days were spent in drinking.]
We got honour, and we got meat
As ever we got before,
To be joyfully entering in,
Along with Cairbre into his palace. (7)
The last day of the drinking
Cairbre cried with a loud voice,
" Exchange of spear-shafts, I will have from thee,
High brown-haired Oscar of Alba."
" Whatever exchange of spears you want, Red-haired Cairbre of ship-harbours, Often I and my spear were with thee In time of battle and hard conflict.
" But exchange of shaft, without exchange of head.
It were unjust to ask that of me.
The cause of that request is
That I should be without Feinn or father."
" Though the Feinn and your father were
As well as ever they were in life,
I would require for myself
That what I asked, I should get."
"If the Feinn and my father were As well as they were in life, Scarce would you get here below The breadth of your house of Erin."
Hatred filled the heroes full,
As they listened to the controversy ;
Oscai\ 35
Fierce words, half and half Between Cairbre and Oscar.
Lasting words these, lasting words, The red Cairbre would give : " That envenomed spear in thy fist For it shall be thy speedy death."
Other words against these
The stalwart Oscar gave,
That he would put the spear of nine enchantments
Where his beard and hair met.
Lasting words these, lasting words,
The red Cairbre would give
That he would put the spear of seven enchantments
Between his kidneys and navel.
We took with us next day
As many of the Feinn as were of us,
We took with us our host and multitude
To the north side of Erin. (8)
When we happened there
In a confined gorge, in a narrow glen,
Cairbre cried with a high voice,
" Martial sounds (9) are advancing to meet you."
There came upon us, but not for succour,
Five-score of bowmen ;
These fell there under Oscar's hands.
And disgrace (10) went to the King of Erin.
Five score of fierce Gael,
That came from a rough, inclement land.
These fell there by Oscar's hands.
And disgrace went to the King of Erin. (11)
Five score of men-at-arms.
That came from a rough land of snow,
These fell there by Oscar's hands,
And disgrace went to the King of Erin.
3 -
36 The Fians.
Five score red Cairbres(i2)
That resembled Cairbre of the people,
These fell by Oscar's hands,
And disgrace went to the King of Erin.
The five who nearest were to the King, Whose duty was heroism and lofty deed, These fell there by Oscar's hands, And disgrace went to the King of Erin.
When the red Cairbre saw
Oscar ever hewing the people.
The envenomed spear (13) in his hand
He threw it to meet Oscar.
Oscar fell on his right knee,
With the envenomed spear through his body,
And gave the next throw,
To the meeting of hair and beard.
[Then the people of Cairbre said to his son :]
" Rise Art, and grasp your sword,
Stand in your father's place.
If death is not lying in wait for you.
You will be deemed to us a son of good fortune."
He gave the next throw upwards.
And to us the height seemed sufficient,
And he threw down by the correctness of his aim
Art, son of Cairbre, at the next throw.
The people of Cairbre, so firm was their struggle. Put a helmet on a post, (14) So that they might win the field of battle, When they saw Oscar in sore pain.
He lifted a thin hard slate From the earth beside the bank, And smashed the helmet on its post — 'Twas the last deed of my noble scmi.
Oscar. 2)7
" Lift me with you now, Fians, What you never did before ; Take me to a clean hillock, But take off my dress." (15)
We lifted with us the handsome Oscar, On the tops(i6) of our lofty spears, And we gave him gentle carriage Till we came to the house of Fin.
We heard in the beach to the North, Shouts of people and clang of arms, And our heroes gave a sudden start Before Oscar grew cold in death.
(Oscar loquitur^ —
" Evil betide thee, son of many virtues, (17) You will lie a second time ; These are ships of my grandfather, And they are coming with succour to us."
We all blessed Fin ; If we did he gave not blessing to us. Tears of blood flovv-ed from his eyelids, And he turned his back upon us.
{Fin loquitur^ —
" Worse, my son, were you off, That day we were at Dun-Skaich, (18) When geese (19) would swim upon thy breast. It was my hand that healed thee."
( Osca r loqii itii r) —
" My healing is not by growth, (20) Neither will it be ever done ; The spear deep in the right hand side Wonts not that it can be healed."
38 The Fians.
{Fin loqiiittir) —
" Worse, son, were you off, The day we were in Dundalk, Geese would swim upon thy breast. It was my hand that healed thee."
{Oscar loqiiitiiJ') —
" My healing is not by growth. Neither can it ever be done. Since the sevenfold charmed spear Is between my kidneys and navel."
{Fin loquitur) —
" Wretched, it was not I that fell In the fight of sunny, scanty Gavra, And you were east and west, Marching before the Fians, Oscar."
{Oscar loquitur) —
" Though it were you that fell
In sunny, scanty Gavra's fight,
One sigh east or west
Would not be heard in pity for you in Oscar. (21)
" No man ever knew, A heart of flesh was in my breast. But a heart of the twisted antler (22) That has been covered with steel.
" But the howling of dogs beside me,
And the wail of old heroes,
And the weeping of the crowd of women by turns,
'Tis that that pains my heart."
{Fin loquitur) —
" Beloved of my beloved, beloved of my beloved. Child of my child, white skinned and slender, My heart is leaping like the elk, (23) And it is my utter sorrow, Oscar will not rise.
Oscar. 39
" The death of Oscar, that pains my heart, The champion of Erin, great is his loss to us. When saw I my time One so valorous behind a sword-blade?"
Wife would not weep for her own husband. And sister would not weep for brother, As many of us as were round the dwelling We all were weeping for Oscar.
'Tis I would give in very truth,
The dark raven of my unreason.
The five of us who were round the board
That the hero's wound had closed in health. (24)
Cath Gabhra, no Laoidh Oscair.
Cha 'n abair mi mo thriath (i) ri m' cheol, Ge oil (2) le Gisian e nochd, Oscar is an Cairbhi calma(3) Thuiteam ann an Cath Gabhra.
Thainig fios thugainn a nuas, Dh' ionnsuidh Oscair chruaidh na Feinne E dhol dh' ionnsuidh fleadh le' Fhiann 'S gum faigheadh e cis (4) da reir.
An t-Oscar aluinn nach d' ob naimh^
Tri cheud fear treun
Dh' imich leis, freasdal da thoil 's da fheum.
******
A bhaobh (5) a nigheas an t-eudach, Deansa dhuinne 'n fhaistneachd cheudna, An tuit aon duine dhiu leinn, No 'n d' theid sinn uile do neo-ni."
1 They then reached Cairbre's house, where the three days were spent in drinking.
40 The Fians.
" Marbhar leats' (ars ise) caogad (6) ceud, 'S gonar leat an righ e fein, 'S a raogha nam fear a laigheas leat, A shaoghal uile gu'n d' thainig."
Fhuair sinn onoir, 's fhuair sinn biadh, Mar a fhuair sinn roimhe riamh, Bhi subhach a' dol a steach Maille ri Coirbhi an TeamhairCy).
An latha mu dheireadh de'n 61 Ghlaodh Cairbhi le guth mbr " lomlaid sleagha (cruinn) b' aill leam uait, Ard Oscair dhuinn na h-Alba."
" Ge be 'n iomlaid sleagha th' ort, A Chairbhi ruaidh nan long phort, S' trie bu leat mis' agus mo shleagh 'N am cath agus cruaidh chomhraig.
" Ach malairt croinn gun mhalairt cinn
B' eucorach sud iarraidh oirnn ;
'S e fath an iarrtuis sin,
Mise bhi gun Fheinn gun athair."
" Ged do bhiodh an Fheinn is t' athair, Co math 's a bha iad 'sa bheatha Cha b' uilear leamsa dhomh fhin Gach ni dh' iarrainn gum faighinn/'
" Na'm biodh an Fheinn is m' athair, Co math 's a bha iad 'sa bheatha, 'S gann gum faigheadh tu bhos, Leud do thighe do dh' Eirinn."
Lion fuath na laoich Ian Ri eisdeachd na h iomarbhaigh, Briathran borba, leth mar leth, Eadar an Cairbhi 's an t-Oscar.
Briathran buan sin, briathran buan, A bheireadh an Cairbhi ruadh ;
Oscar. 41
" An t-sleagh nimhe sin ad dhbrn 'S ann uimpe bhios do luath-bhas."
Briathran eile an aghaidh sin A bheireadh an t-Oscar calma, Gu'n cuireadh e sleagh nan naoi seang Ma choimeachd fhuilt agus f heusaig.
Briathran buan sin, briathran buan, A bheireadh an Cairbhi ruadh, Gu'n cuireadh e sleagh nan seachd seang Eadar airnean agus imleag.
'S thugadh leinnan la'r na mhaireach, Cho hona da 'n Fheinn 's a bha sin, Thugadh leinn ar feachd 's ar sluagh, Gus an taobha tuath de dh' Eirinn (8)
Nuair a tharladh sinn ann, Am bealach cumhann an caol ghleann, Ghlaodh Cairbhi le guth ard, Loinnearachd (9) a' teachd' nar cbmhdhail.
Thainig oirnn 's cha b' ann gu'r cobhair,
Coig fichead do dh' fheara bogha,
Thuit sid air laimh Oscar thall,
'S chaidh masladh (10) gu righ na h-Eirinn.
Coig fichead Gaidheal garg,
Thainig a tir uamhainn ghairbh,
Thuit sid air laimh Oscar thall,
'S chaidh masladh gu righ na h-Eirinn (11)
Coig fichead de dh' fhearabh feachd Thainig a tir ghairbh an t-sneachd, Thuit sid air laimh Oscar thall, 'S chaidh mosgladh gu righ na h-Eirinn
Coig fichead Cairbhi ruadh (12) Bu chosmhuil ri Cairbhi 'n t-sluaigh, Thuit sin air laimh Oscar thall, 'S chaidh masladh gu righ na h-Eirinn
42 The Fians.
A chbigear a b' f haigse do 'n righ, G'am bu dual gaisge agus mor ghniomh, Thuit sid air laimh Oscair thall, 'S chaidh masladh gu righ na h-Eirinn
Nuair a chunnaic an Cairbhi ruadh Oscar sior-shnaidheadh an t-sluaigh, An t-sleagh nimhe (13) bha' na dhorn Thilg e sud an comhdhail Oscair.
Thuit Oscar air a ghlun deas
'S an t-sleagh nimhe roimh chneas,
S thug e 'n ath urchair a null
Ma choimeachd fhuilt agus fheusaig
An sin thuirt sluagh Chairbhi ri Mhac :
" Eirich, Airt, is glac do chlaidheanih, 'S dean seasamh an aite t'athar, Mur 'eil an t-eug ort a' brathadh, Measar dhuinne gur mac rath thu."
Thug e 'n ath urchair an aird 'S ar leinne gum bu leoir a h-aird, 'S leagadh leis aig meud a chuims' Art Mac Chairbhi air an ath urchair.
Sluagh Chairbhi bu gharg gleachd, Chuir iad Cath Gabhra (14) mu cheap; Chum 's gum faighteadh leo buaidh larach, Air faicinn Oscar gu craiteach.
Thog e leacag thana chruaidh
Thar na talmhainn, taobh a' bhruthaich,
'S bhriste Cath- Gabhra mu cheap ;
'S e gniomh mu dheireadh mo dheagh mhic
"Togaibh leibh mi nise, Fhiann,
Ni nach d' rinn sibh roimhe riamh,
Thugaibh mi gu tulaich ghlain,
Ach gum buin sibh dhiom an t-eudach'' (15)
Oscar. 43
Thog sin leinn an t-Oscar aluinn Air bharraibh (i6) nan sleagha arda, 'S thug sinn da ioniraciiadh grinn, Gus an d' thainig sinn tigh Fhinn
Chuala sinn air traigh mu thuath, Eubhach sluaigh is faobhar arm, 'S chlisg air gaisgich gu luath, Mu'n robh Oscar a' fas marbh.
" Marbhaisg ort, a mhic nam buadh, (17)
Ni thu breag an darna uair,
Loingeas mo sheanar a t' ann,
Is iad a' teachd le cobhair thugainn."
Bheannaich sinn uile do dh' Fhionn
Ma bheannaich, cha do bheannaich dhuinn ;
Shil na debir f hala o rosg,
'S thionndaidh e ruinn a chulaobh
" Is miosa, mhic, a bha thu dheth An latha sin bha sinn 'n Dun-sgathaich, (18) Nuair shnamhadh na gebidh (19) air do chneas, 'S e mo lamh-sa rinn do leigheas."
" Mo leigheas cha 'n ann le fas, (20) 'S ni mo nitear e gu brath, 'N t-sleagh dhomhain 's an taobh a deas Cha dual gu'n deantar a leigheas."
" Is miosa, mhic, a bha thu dheth An la bha sinn an Dundealgain, Shnamhadh na gebidh air do chneas 'S i mo lamh-sa rinn do leigheas."
" Mo leigheas cha'n ann le fas 'S ni mb nitear e gu brath, O na tha sleagh nan seachd seang, Eadar m' airnean agus m' imleag."
" 'S truagh nach mise a thuit ann An cath Gabhra grianach gann.
44 The Fians.
'S tusa bhi 'n ear 's an iar,
'G imeachd roimh na Fianntai, Oscair."
" Ged bu tusa thuiteadh ann
An cath Gabhra grianach gann,
Aon osna 'n ear no 'n iar
Cha chluinnteadh', gad iargain aig Oscar. {21)
" Cha d' f hiosraich duine riamh Cridhe febla bhi am chliabh, Ach cridhe de chuinn a chuir (22) 'N deis a chomdachadh le staihnn.
" Ach donnalaich nan con ri m' thaobh.
Agus buireadh nan seann laoch,
'S gul a' bhannail mu seach,
Sid an rud a chraidh mo chridhe."
" Laogh mo laoigh thu, laogh mo laoigh, Leanabh mo leinibh, ghil, chaoil, Mo chridhe leumadh mar Ion (23) 'S mo chreach leir nach eirich Oscar.
*' Bas Oscair a chraidh mi 'm chridhe, Treun fear Eirinn, 's mor g'ar dith, C' aite am faca mi ri m' Unn Aon cho cruaidh riut air chial loinn."
Cha chaoineadh bean a fear fhein, 'S cha chaoineadh piuthar a brathair — Na bha sin uile mu 'n teach Bha sinn uile caoineadh Oscair.
Mise bheireadh seachad fhein Fitheach dubh mo mhi-cheill A chbig tha sinn mu'n chlar Ach siail fir a bhi' ga shocadh. (24)
Oscar. 45
Notes.
(i) T7-iath (chief) means the poet's best effort or masterpiece. In his effort the poet has marvellously succeeded, but, on com- parison with other ballads or poems ascribed to him, there is evidence of a higher and more far-reaching stretch of the poetic mind. These evidences, few in number as they are, fortunately, are out of reach of the spuriousness ascribed to the works pub- lished by " Macpherson".
(2) Oil. It is a matter of discussion what oil means. In this recitation there is no doubt as to the meaning being the same as Ged bu tJioil le, although " It is the will of the poet", but in the common conventional expression, Ge b' oil lent (in spite of you), it is doubtful but that there is a verb oil which might convey a meaning directly opposite. Very possibly it conveys an idea that the will of the person addressed is of no consequence as to the result.
(3) Calma implies the confidence of superior strength, and it is noticeable that strong people are not usually so fiery and cross- grained as weaker people.
(4) C/jT, tribute. The Fians, as already pointed out, were not tributary to any king of Ireland, and the usurper, when he brought the whole country under one sway, naturally sought the friendship of these warriors. They must have been a powerful band when three hundred brave men were detached as bodyguard of their leader's grandson.
As to the stanzas which are here awanting, it was endeavoured by the writer to supply the failure of the reciter's memory by quoting to him from other copies of the poem in preservation in Campbell of Islay's book of the Fians, but unsuccessfully. The utmost that could be got from him was, that such expressions might have been, but he did not remember them.
(5) Baobh, an evil woman, hence a common name applied to witches. GJieibh bao'' giiidhc ach cJia ii-fhaigh Ji-anain trocair, an ill woman gets her wish, but her soul gets no mercy. The word here does not imply more than that the woman was not of mortal race. From the poem it cannot be inferred that there is any island or special place for the souls of the departed, as is commonly asserted to have been the old pre-Christian faith. The poet's view is entirely confined to the present visible world, as it is also in the Mosaic teachings.
46 The Fians.
(6) Caogad. This word is not in common use, though it fre- quently occurs in Ossianic ballads. Nine is given as its most probable meaning. Nine as the multiple or cube of three is a mystic number, and occurs frequently.
(7) Tea7)ihair denotes the place better known in modern times as " Tara's Halls". Its locality is not definitely fixed ; all that can be safely inferred is, that it was the abode of the high king of Ireland {Ardtigh Eirimi). "Where once the Harp of Erin the soul of music shed."
(8) At this stage the words occur in other poems connected with this battle : " Bha sifiti ajt oidhche sin gitn chobhair thall sa bhfls aig taobh na h-amhuijin^'' (We were that night without succour on this and that side of the river). The river denoted is perhaps the Bann, where probably also Finn MacCovval, when a stripling, killed Arcaidh diibh iasgair (dark Arci the fisher) who had slain his father, Cumhail.
(9) Loinnearachd, martial music and the tramp of armed men.
(10) Masladh. It was a matter of doubt to the reciter, as it has been to every commentator, whether the word should be masladh (disgrace), or mosgladh (warning). Either is suitable.
(11) Here occurs in other versions, " Mungan MacSeirc a bha san Rbitnhe chomhraigeadh e ciad claidheainh glas.^'' The intro- duction of this champion, though the slaying of him is creditable to Oscar, is inadmissible as part of the original poem ; it savours too much of the Middle Ages.
It was a common saying, in all old tales {sgeitlachdati)^ that a redoubtable warrior had " The combat of a hundred men on his hands". In the north-west islands, Doinhal Mac Iain ic Shettmais^ who fought the battle of Carinish in Uist, is the last who is said to have had the combat of a hundred men on his hand {comhrag ceud).
(12) Coig fichead Caij'bhi riiadh. The men were called Cairvi by the reciter, and were probably men resembling the king in personal appearance and dress, kept for the purpose of misleading the enemy in the heat of the conflict. A ruse of the same kind is alluded to in Shakespeare, in Henry IV, Act v, Scene 3, at the battle of Shrewsbury —
" Douglas — And I do lament thee in the battle thus. Because some tell me that thou art a king. Blunt — They tell thee true."
(13) 7V/;///^^ means deadly piercing, or death inflicting. There is no evidence that the Celtic tribes used poisoned weapons.
Oscar. 47
(14) Cath Gabhra. A helmet (?). The reciter had here Cath Gabhra (the battle of Gavra), which he explained as being *' The king's dress", but did not know why it was so called. The word is probably Cathbhay-r, given in Lhuyd's Dictionary in his Arch(Eologia as a helmet, quoting it from Plunket, one of the oldest Irish Glossaries. It is easily resolvable into Cath-bharr, a war head-piece. Ceap means a block, a pillar, or post, shoe- maker's last, round which or upon which anything is placed.
(15) Eudach, clothes. Some say this was a shirt of chain-mail [eididh cruadhach), but the reciter said, probably with more cor- rectness, that the whole of Oscar's dress was stripped off previous to his burial. This also more agrees with the fay woman having been seen washing his clothes, the sight of which, previous to that vision, not having been an omen of evil. " Gtis an d thainig an diugh an aoibh sin cha b' olca tionalT
(16) Air bharraibh here evidently means on crossed spears, not as barr commonly means, on the points.
(17) Mhic nam bieadh, gifted one. The saying is probably that of Oscar, on word being brought to him that sounds were heard on the beach. He thought they might be part of the deceitful plans laid by Cairbre for the destruction of the Fians.
(18) Diinsgdi/iaich is said to be in Sleat in Skye, and that it was there that CuchuUin left Conlaoch his son, whom he after- wards killed, in ignorance of his identity. The poems referring to it have the appearance of being ante-Ossianic. Dicndealgain is given in Lhuyd's Archceologia as Dundalk in Ireland.
(19) Geoidh. Geese swimming on the breast of the wounded hero means excessive loss of blood. In other versions, notably that in Gillies' collection, the phrase occurs (cranes would swim on thy breast) \Sh71ambadh na corran roimh d'' c/ineas], denoting a gaping wound. Curra or corra, a heron, or ungainly bird, is also employed to denote birds in the same sense in which it occurs in jail-bird {Corracha margaidh), i.e., market herons, birds or people who haunt markets or places where they are likely to find employment, though that employment may not be of much responsibility or pay. It is the word used in the Gaelic Scriptures to denote the " Fellows of the baser sort", whom the Jews at Thessalonica stirred up to annoy the Apostles. It is also said to denote children born in adultery, who, in all probability, have no one to look after them. Aithris an darna curra air a churra eile is an expression meaning the reproach of one worthless woman of another, much the same as Aithris bradaig air breugaig., i.e.., the thief's reproach of the liar.
48 The Fians.
(20) Fd,s. It is not quite clear what this expression means, whether it is le fas (by gradual growth), z>., healing, or ri fas (it is not destined to heal).
(21) Gad iargain aig Oscar. It was said by the reciter that this expression was to lessen the grandfather's grief by a pretended indifference on the part of the dying hero.
(22) Chuitm a chiiir. The reciter did not know the meaning of this expression, but explained it as ungadh gJilain (clean anoint- ing). It is quite a rational explanation that it is Ctiibh?ie-clndr, a twisted antler, than which not even a stone is more unfeeling. If covered with iron, as in the text, nothing more incapable of emotion can be conceived.
(23) Lo7i was another word the reciter did not know the meaning of. He thought that in this case its common meaning was excessive love or desire or appetite, and meant that " Fin" had an overpowering love for his grandchild. It is a common Gaelic expression {Co liiath ris na luin) [as swift as deer], and the expression likely means that the speaker's heart was beating swiftly or violently. Some say that hiin is a form of lothahi, a leash of deerhounds, but in this case more probably it denotes some kind of deer, perhaps an elk or some other animal of the deer kind.
(24) The translation here given is but guess-work. The main objection to it is that the gloom of sorrow and unreason are not in Gaelic represented by the blackness of the raven. The know- ledge with which that bird is credited {Flos Jithich) is not that of the " shadow of coming events", but the almost instinctive knowledge that the bird has of prey or carrion {Fios fithich gu roic), upon which it feeds with more relish than on prey that has been killed. There is no instance within the range of Gaelic literature, so far as the writer knows, in which the bird is credited with a knowledge of future events. Coigead in this stanza is not a word in conventional use. Coig is the common numeral five, and following the analogy oi Jichead, triochad, which is given in Lhuyd's Archceologia., as meaning thirty, it may mean fifty, but the indication is not certain. Socadh is the word used when wood, which has shrunk through dryness, is put again in water and becomes tight ; thus, when a boat which has been long exposed on the beach is again launched, and the water has had due effect upon it, the wood recovers itself and the boat is said to be seasoned [air a socadh.) Chldr may mean bier.
III.— GOLL,
Who was the leader of the Clanna Morna, seems to have ranked as the second best hero of the Fian band. The name given to him in the lays is Goll of Blows {Goll na Beunianari), very probably derived from his skill as an expert and powerful swordsman. It is said of him that he never fell in the combats of men {an comJirag dhaoine), and that he was squint-eyed, whence his name {Gol-shuil), which is said to be contracted into Goll. He had the ch-cJimhnJi, or right to the marrow- bones. Goll is mentioned in the " Lay of the Banners" {Duan nam Braiaichean) and also in the " Lay of Conn, Son of the Red" {Conn Mac an Deirg).
Goll's great stature is noticed by Dunbar in one of his poems, in which he calls him
" My fader meikle Gow MacMorna, Out of his moderis wame was scheme : For littleness was so forlorn, Siccan a kemp to beir."
It is noticeable how this hero, so powerful in after life, was so small and dwarfish at birth. Of his mother it is said, that when she grew old she lost her teeth, and her son claimed marrow-bones for her benefit. This is told in the following story :
"Thanks to Goll, He Killed his Mother."
The growing lad who opposed him in the story, is called Coireal of Bone {Coireal o Cnhmth), but, from his strength and youth, the probability is that the one de- noted by the story is Oscar, and one good oral authority
4
50 The Mans.
on tales of this kind said it was Oscar. Coireal is not mentioned in any other tale known to the writer. The story is given as it came to hand.
Coireal was the son of a daughter of Fionn, and when he was a soft growing lad he bade fair to be the strongest and most powerful of the Fian band. Goll's mother was aged, and had lost her teeth, and the biggest bones were kept for her, and she lived on the marrow. Coireal was mortified that he had to give every bone that had marrow in it to the old woman. One day he got a large bone which he refused to give up. Fionn was afraid to offend Goll, and his judgment was, that a hole should be made in a plank of wood and the bone set in it, that Goll should pull the one end and Coireal the other ; whoever drew the bone through the hole would have the right to it. This was done, and it was likely that Coireal would have the bone. He pulled Goll's hand to the mouth of the hole. Fionn then said that the bone must be turned, and the thick end given to Goll. They did so, and at long last Goll took with him the bone. He drew the bone and threw it at Coireal in order to kill him dead Coireal saw it coming, and bent his head out of the way. The bone struck the old woman and killed her. " Thanks to Goll", said Coireal, " he has killed his mother." Hence the proverb, " TapadJi le Goll, niharbli e jnhathair."
y Is e mac nighean Fhinn a bha ann an Coireal, 'se b' ainm dha Coireal o cnaimh 's nuair bha e 'na bhogbhalach bha choltas air gur h-e duine bu laidire 's a b' fhoghaintich' a bhiodh san Fheinn. Bha mathair Ghuill scan, agus air call a fiaclan, agus bha na cnaimhean bu mhotha air an cumail air a son, agus bha i tighinn beo air an smior. Bha Coireal air a ghualadh gum feumadh e h-uile cnaimh sam biodh smior thoirt do 'n chaillich.
Latha bha sin fliuair e cnaimh mbr agus dhiult e thoirt seachad. Bha eagal air Fionn corruich a chiir air Goll, agus 'se bhreth thug e, gum biodh toll air a chur ann an deile fiodh.
Goll. 51
agus an cnaimh air a chur ann agus gu 'n slaodadh Goll an darna ceann, agus Coireal an ceann eile, agus co sam dhiu bheireadh an cnaimh a mach roimh 'n toll, gum biodh an cnaimh leis.
Rinneadh so, 's bha choltas gum bitheadh an cnaimh aig Coireal ; thug e lamhan Ghuill gu bial an tuill, Thuirt Fionn an so, gum feumadh an cnaimh a thiunndadh agus an ceann garbh thoirt do GhoU. Rinneadh so 's mu dheire thall thug Goll leis an cnaimh. Thug e 'n tarruing ad air a chnaimh, agus thilg e air Coireal e, los a spadadh. Chunnaic Coireal e tighinn, 's chrom e cheann as an rathad. Bhuail an cnaimh a' chailleach, agus mharbh e i. " Tapadh le Goll," orsa Coireal, " mharbh e mhathair," agus is ann uaith sin a thainig an sean- fhocal.
IV.— DERMID.
D.earniaid\Y?iS, as already said, the only son of Fionn's twin and only sister. He had a beauty-spot {ball scire) on his face, and it was said that no woman ever saw it but fell in love with him. He was himself the third best hero of the Fians ( Treas lamJi fetiin na Fcinne), and is spoken of as being very good-looking, and an ardent admirer of the fair sex ; the common name given to him is the "Yellow-haired Dermid of women" (^Dearmaid Buidlie iiaui bari), besides being bold and courageous. On thfe day of the battle of Gentle Streams {AniJminn nan Sriith SeimJi) he raised his visor, and Grainne, his uncle's wife, who was looking at the combatants, saw the beauty-spot and fell madly in love with Dermid. In his old age Fionn had married Grainne, daughter of the Earl of Ulster, which then formed one of the five parts of Ireland. " The daughter of the Earl of Ulster" {Nighean larla cJioig Ulainn), or, as some say, " The daughter of Corniac of Cuilin" [NigJiean Charmaig o Chiiillin). She seems to have been a woman of small size, and not over nice in her selection of lovers. Dermid long continued indifferent to her allurements, and placed her under spells {Jo gJieasaibli) that she was not to appear before him either by night or day, clothed or unclothed, on foot or on horseback, in company or without company. She, however, went to a fairy woman {bean shith), and got garments made from mountain down {CanacJi an t-slcibh). She came with this garment on, riding on a he-goat in the dusk of the evening, when it was neither light nor dark, and thus it could not be said that she was clothed or unclothed, on foot or on horse- back, in company or without company, and consequently
DeriJiid. 53
was deemed free from the spell laid upon her. Her attentions at last came to be a persecution, and Dermid consulted his uncle, the solver of questions [Fiojm fear fuasgladh chezsi), that he might know what to do. The question which he put to Finn was, "Is it best to bear reproach, or decay?" {Co dhiu 's fkearr guth na meathf) Fionn's answer was, " Do not decay while you live, my sister's son" {Na ineaih 's tu beo mhic mo pJieatJiar).
Some time after this Dermid went off with Grainne, but where he passed the night he left unbroken bread to show that he was still blameless. It was while on this flight, with the Feinne after them, that the incident occurred of Dermid's being up a tree, when Oscar and Conn or Goll were down below playing at taileasg (see note). When Oscar was likely to win, some say through Dermid dropping a berry on the spot on which he was to play, his opponent said, " The faithful teaching of Dermid causes Oscar's ready play" {Teagasg dJiileas DJnaruiaid, rinn clidcJi ealamh Oscair). Oscar replied, " Though you don't like that man, we loved him well" {Ged nacJi toil leatsa an didjie sin bit toil leinne e). Dermid after this fled to a cave in the hills. Locally, a cave in Kenavarra Hill, in the west end of Tiree, is said to have been the cave in question. This, however, may be merely the tendency of every place to localise tradition. It is said that, when climbing the hill, a voice called to him, " Dermid, take the hill slantwise" {Dhear- maidfiar am bmtJiadi) ; to which he replied, " How can I do that when Thin-man is after me ?" {Cianiar ni mi sin dar tJia Caoilte as mo dlieigh ?) In the cave, a night of mist and storm came on, so wild that Dermid would not venture out of the cave under the most urgent necessity {cion-modh). He accordingly went to the furthest off end of the cave. Unfavourable as the night was, Ciuthach mac-an Doill, whose name is probably a slight difference of Ceathach mac-an Doill (Mist, son of
54 I^he Fians.
Darkness), came in from the western ocean in a coracle with two oars [ciirachan), and having drawn it into the cave, he was about to embrace Grainne, when Dermid slew him. When Grainne was returning to the sheltered part of the cave, she made a remark, that she had been for so long a time with the third best hero of the Fians, and he had not been so bold to her. Next day, when they started on further flight, he left broken bread behind him. When he was caught and brought back to the Fians, Fionn, who could not bring himself to kill his sister's son, and besides that, like Achilles, Dermid could only be killed by the heel, sent him to hunt the wild boar. His death lay in bonn du na coise, or fore-part of the heel, and after the boar was slain, Fionn made him measure the animal with his foot.
" Dermid, measure the boar, How many feet from nostril to heel ?"
** Dhearmaid tomhais an tore, Co meud troigh o' shoic gu shail ?"
It was found to be sixteen feet, and no harm came of that measurement. Fionn then asked him to measure the boar against the bristle (^ati aghaidh a cJniilg), in hope that one of the bristles might inflict a death- wound. Dermid did so, and one of the bristles pene- trated the fore-part of his heel {bo7in dit, na coise), where his death lay. As he grew faint, a drink from the hands of his uncle Fionn would have revived him, and Fionn, from an adjoining well, was going to give him a drink. When he thought of his nephew he raised his hands full of water, and when he thought of Grainne he allowed the water again to fall on the ground. While he was thus wavering Dermid died. " Is not this", said Fionn to Grainne, "the sorest cry that ever you heard?" {^An glaodk 's govt cJiual in riaju/i). " No," she said, " but the cry of Ciuthach under the soft hands of Dermid"
Dermid. 55
{Glaodk ChiutJiacJi o lanihan boga Dhiarinaid). It was then that Fionn became aware of the blamelessness and long-enduring suffering of Dermid.
In another version of Dermid's flight with Grainne, it is said : When Dermid fled with Grainne there was fresh snow on the ground. He turned his shoes back- ward, and the Feinn in pursuit, thinking the dogs were going the wrong way, were kilHng them. Wherever Dermid passed the night he left unbroken bread {armi s/an) to show his guiltlessness. At last they came to a cave, and when resting in it a giant {Ciuthach) came in with 2i string o{ fish {gad eisg). He then began disporting himself {cleasachd), and Grainne said to Dermid, "That is different from being a lump on the side of the cave" (" Cha b' ionnafi sud sa blii air toin taobh na h-tiainhd'). On this Diarmaid killed Ciuthach. Grainne put her feet in a pool of water, and some of it splashed on her. She said, " I am so long a time going with the third best hero of the Fians, and he never approached so near" (" Tha mi 'n iiiread so iiine air f alb J i le treasa IdmJi fhetnii na Feinne, 's cJia d tJiainig e riamJi co dlii sud onti"). Then Dermid left broken bread behind him. Bran was sent after him, and he was caught. It was then he was sent to kill the boar, and Fionn made him measure it against the bristles. It was thirteen feet of good measure {tri lajiiJian dciig de dJicagli tJioiiiJias').
There is also another version of the incident, to the effect : On the night of Fionn's marriage with Grainne the Feinn were at Kennavara. The bones thrown out at the door from the feast set the dogs fighting. They went out to separate them, and it was then Grainne saw Diarmad's beauty-spot {ball scire), which no woman could see without falling in love with him. She wanted Diarmad to run away with her, but he would not. At last, seeing she would otherwise have his life, he came to Fionn and asked him {as per former
56 The Fians.
sloty). He did this thrice, and at last receiving the same replies, he ran away with her to the Big Cave {Uainh iiiJior). It was winter time, and he was there under hiding {air choniJiacJi). One day of snow and sleet he went to the door of the cave, when the CiutJiach nibr came in with his boat from the sea, and drew it in on a shelf in the cave. He and Diarmad played taileasg and CiuthacJi won. As his prize he asked the v/oman. Diarmad said that he would have, who had the sharpest blade and hardest edge {is geire lann 's is criiaidhe faobhaf). He took off the Ciuthach's head. Every night he put a cold stone between himself and Grainne. In the spring Manus and his men came. The Feinn gave the war-cry {gaoir-chath). Diarmad said, " I am under oaths and vows where I hear that to answer it" (" Tha mionnan is boidcan oriii, far an cluinn mi sid gum frcagair mi e"). Fionn and Manus fought hand to hand on Trai-Bhi, and were out to the waist {ionad a cJirios') in the water. Diarmad went to the rescue and saved Fionn. When the strife was over, order was given to make a circuit round him and make a captive of him. He jumped over Fionn's head and made for the hill. " Dermid, take the hill aslant." "That is difficult for me, and Thin-man after me." {^'DJiiarmaid fiar am bruthachr " Is deacair sin domJis\ agus Caoilf as mo dheaghaidiL') He was caught, and Fionn by his knowledge tooth {deud Jios) knew his death could only be by his sole {bhas am bonn dii a cJioise). He was then sent against the wild boar in Ben-nevis. In two or three days he killed it. Fionn said to him, " You are tired" (" Tha thu sgitJi') ; but when he remembered Grainne, he made him measure the boar against the bristles. " You are wounded, Dermid. With what can you be healed ?" (" Tha thu goirt a Dhiarmaid. De dheanamh do leigheas ?'') When Dermid died Fionn said to Grainne, " That is the hardest cry you ever
Dermid. 5 7
heard" (" Sid an glaodh is cruaidJi cJiuala tu riavih"), and she said no, it was that of Ciuthach. The innocence of Dermid was thus discovered, and Grainne was buried aHve.
This encounter with the wild pig is given in the follow- ing lay, which was taken down from the recitation of John Sinclair, Barrapol, an old man of about eighty- years of age, who said he learned it in his youth from Peter Carmichael, Tiree, who was at that time an old man. It was written down in the summer of 18S1.
The Lay of Dermid.
Listen shortly if you care for a hymn
Of the company to be deplored,
Grainne and hospitable Fionn,
And the son of Dui'ne of noblest gifts.
The glen, and the glen beside it,
Where sweetly sounded the voice of deer and elk,
And the Fians often were
In keen pursuit, east and west, with dogs.
As we sat on the blue Ben Gulban,
Whose summits are the loveliest beneath the sun,
Often the streams were made red
By the Fians hunting the deer.
They prevailed, and great was the deceit.
On the son of Dui'ne of ruddy hue,
To go to Ben Gulban to hunt
The boar, that was difficult for weapon to subdue
" Dermid," she said, " do not answer the hunt.
And do not frequent the deceitful hill-top ;
Be not near to Fionn MacCumhal,
As he is lamenting the loss of his wife."
" Grainne, dearest of women," he said,
" Do not make your consort, men's disgrace.
I would answer the sound of the hunt,
Despite all the men of the Fians."
5'8 The Fians.
They awoke the monster from its sleep, The troop of heroes up the glen, Listening to the noise of the Fians As they came in their eagerness High above where it lay. They let loose their good hounds, Fionn's, and the huntsmen's hounds, And they the white boar mangled, Until its brain was turned. Son of Dui'ne — man of strength. If your mighty deed will be successful, Be mindful of your arm. For it is under it that peace will be done. The son of Dui'ne of favouring weapons. On seeing the monster. Taking it from his own gentle fair side. He thrust the spear into the wild beast's heel. He drew a shaft from his white fair hand To thrust it into its body. And the shaft was broken in three, Without any part going into the boar. He drew his old sword from its sheath, Since it was victorious on every field. And he slew the great wild beast, And escaped from it himself uninjured. Sadness came upon hospitable Fionn, And he threw himself westward on the hillock, That the son of Dui'ne of favouring weapons Should escape unhurt from the boar. After being some time silent, He said, and evil was the saying, " Dermid, measure the boar. How many feet from snout to heel ?"
He did not refuse Fionn's entreaty. And regretful to us was his coming. He measured the boar along the spine,
DcDiiid. 59
The son of Dui'ne of weighty step ;
" Sixteen feet of sure measure
In the spine of the wild pig.'"
" That is not it at all," said Fionn ;
" Measure it again, Dermid,
Measure it against (the bristle) minutely,
You will be rewarded accordingly.
The choice of sharp-edged new war-weapons."
He measured, and it was no fortunate effort,
The son of Dui'ne of mighty step ;
The rough venomous bristle penetrated
The sole of the hero, who was strong in fight.
" One drink from your cup, Fionn,
Good king, to succour me ;
Since I have lost my energy and substance
Alas ! I am wretched, if you don't give it'.'
" I wall not give you a drink,
Neither will I quench your thirst ;
Little you ever did for my benefit,
Much more you did to my loss."
" I never did you any harm,
Here or there, east or west,
But going with Grainne in secret
Appearance, taking me under spells."
Then fell wounded,
The son of Dui'ne of twined locks,
The most enduring hero of the Fians,
On the south-west hillock.
Powerful to attract women,
Son of Dui'ne of highest gifts.
Of love-making there is no mention
Since the earth has covered his face.
There was blueness and greyness in his eye.
There was smoothness and beauty in his cheek,
There was strength, there was valour in the hero,
And these were free from death's breast.
6o The Fians.
We buried in the same hillock, When settling- the wild pig, Grainne, daughter of Cormac o Coolin, The two dogs and Dermid.
Laoidh Dhiarmaid.
Eisdibh beag ma 's aill leibh laoidh Air a chuideachd chaoidh so a craidh, Air Grainne is air Fionn fial, 'S air Mac o Duimhne a b' fhearr buaidh. An gleann sin, 's an gleann ri thaobh, Far am bu bhinn guth feidh 's loin, Far 'm b' trie a bhiodh an Fheinn Sear 's siar gu dian le 'n coin. 'Nar suidhe dhuinn air Beinn Ghulbainn, A 's aille tullaichean tha fo'n 'n Ghrein, Is trie bha na sruthain dearg Aig an Fheinn a' sealg nam fiadh. Dh' iomair iad, 's bu mhor a 'cheilg, Air Mac o Duibhne 'bu dearg lith, 'Dhol a bheinn Ghulbainn a shealg An tuirc, 'bu deacair 'airm a chlaoidh. "A Dhiarmaid (ors ise) na freagair an fhaoghaid, 'S na taghaill am fireach breugach, 'S na bi teann air Fionn MacCumhail, O 's caoidheadh leis bhi gun cheile." "A ghaoil nam ban, a Ghrainne (ors esan), Na toill thusa nair' ad cheile, Fhreagarainn-sa guth na seilge A' cheart aindheoin fir na Feinne." Dhuisg iad a 'bheisd as a suain, Na freiceadan shuas air a 'ghleann. An eisdeachd ri gairich nam Fiann 'S iad gu dian os a cionn. Leig iad ris na deadh ghaothair, Gaothair Fhinn, 's fir na scilg, 'S gu 'n d' rinn iad mhuc bhan a liodairt,
Derinid. 6 1
'S gus 'n robh h-eanchain air tionndadb.
Mhic o Duibhne a threuin,
Ma 's e gu 'n deid do euchd leat,
Bi thusa cuimhneach air a laimh,
So an t-slth fa deanntear leat.
Mac o Duimhne nan arm aigh,
Air faicinn dha an uile-bheist,
O shlios thaobh-gheal shamhach thlath,
Chas e 'n t-sleagh 'an sail an tuirc.
Tharruing e crann o 'n dorn gheal bhan
A chum a shathadh 'na chorp.
'S bhristeadh leis an crann 'na thri,
Gun aon mhir a chur san tore.
Tharruing e an t-sean lann as an truaill,
O' si buaidh buaidh gach blair,
'S mharbhadh leis an uile-bheist,
'S thearuin e fhein uaipe slan.
Luidh sprochd air Fionn fial,
'S leig se e fhein siar air a 'chnoc,
Mac o Duimhne nan arm aigh
Dhol as slan air an tore.
Air dha bhi tamull 'na thosd,
Labhair e 's gum b' olc r' 'radhain,
" Dhearmaid tomhais an tore
Co mhiad troidh o shoic gu shall ?"
Cha do dhiult e achanaich Fhinn,
'S b' aithreach leinn a theachd o' tigh
Thomhais e 'n tore air a dhruim,
Mae o' Duimhne an trom troidh ;
*' Sia troidhean diag de dh' fhior thomhas
Ann an druim na muice fiadhaich."
" Cha 'n e sin idir an tomhas, ors Fionn,
Tomhais e rithist a Dhiarmaid,
Dhiarmaid tomhais e rithist an aghaidh gu mion.
Geibheadh tu do dhuais da ehionn,
Raoghadh nan arm roinn-gheur ur."
Thomhais e 's cha bu thuras aigh,
Mae o Duimhne an trom troidh ;
62 The Fians.
Tholl am bior-nimh bha garg,
Bonn an laoch, bu gharg 'san trod,
" Aon deoch as do chuaich, Fhinn,
A dheadh righ gu mo chobhair ;
O 'n chain mi mo bhladh 's mo bhrigh
Ochan 's truaigh mi mar d' thoir."
"Cha d' thoir mise dhuitsa deoch,
Cha mho chaisgeas mi t-iotadh,
'S beag a rinn thu riamh do 'm leas ;
'S mo gu mor a rinn thu 'm ainleas."
"Cha d' rinn mise cron ort riamh,
Thall na bhos sear neo siar ;
Ach imeachd le Grainne fo bhraid,
Tuar 'gam thoirt fuidh gheasaibh."
Thuit e sin fuidh chreuchd,
Mac o Duimhne nan ciabh cleachd,
Sar fear fulanach nam Fiann,
Air an tullaich siar fo dheas.
Cumhachdach gu mealladh bhan,
Mac o Duimhne bu mhor buaidh ;
Air suiridhe cha do chuireadh duil,
Bho 'n chaidh an uir air a ghruaidh.
Bha guirme, bha glaise 'na shuil,
Bha mine bha maise 'na ghruaidh ;
Bha spionnadh, bha tabhachd san laoch,
'S bha sid saor o cneas bais.
Dh' adhlaic sinn air an aon tulaich,
An am suidheachadh na muice fiadhaich,
Grainne nic Chormaic a' Chuillinn,
Da Chuilean, agus Diarmaid.
The immense size of the wild pig slain by Dermid, and whose bristle was subsequently the cause of his death, exceeds the size of any animal of the kind now known. Probably, the size having been measured with the foot, the hide of the animal must have been spread on the ground, and, according to the lay, its measure was taken from the very snout to the very heel of the
Dermid. 63
animal. In this way the height of the animal, as well as its length, would be taken into account. Its measure was not merely from head to tail, but also from snout to forehead, and from the root of the tail to the extremity of the foot on to the ground.
The precise colour of Dermid's hair is not always described by the same adjective. He is commonly called biiidhe, or yellow, but he is also very commonly called Diarmaid donn, auburn, or brown shading off to yellow, as in the following verse, an Anacreontic verse by William Ross, one of the most popular of modern Gaelic bards : —
" About Fionn I would lilt a song, And of Auburn Dermid I fain would sing, But melody my harp will not raise But one on the love of maidens."
"Air Fionn gun togainn fonn, 'S air Diarmaid donn bu mhath leum seinn, Ach duan cha tog mo chlarsach Ach dan air gradh nan caileagan."
Some say that the wound which caused Dermid's death was made by the bristle entering beneath his great toe {fo ordag a choise). Neither are reciters uniform as to who Grainne was the daughter of That she was the daughter of the Earl or Jarl of Ulster has been here adopted from its having a preponderance of evidence in its favour, and being at least intelligible. In the poem above given she is called the daughter of Cormac of Coolin, which may be some other place different from Ulster {Ulainti).
v.— CAOILTE.
The fastest runner among the Fianns was Caoilte, or Thinman, whose name at first was Daorglas or Gerglas (intensely grey). When at full speed he was said to appear as three individuals, and this appearance he presented when he returned with the arms on the day of the " Battle of Sheaves". Some, however, main- tain that the appearance of three was caused by the height to which he lifted his feet when running. Neither supposition is possible, but the story that Bran, or Fionn's dog, when at full speed had the appearance of a dog at every opening {aig gadi beallacJi) presents the same marvellous idea. It was said that a fairy sweet- heart gave Thinman {Caoilte) a belt, telling him to put it on, and not be afraid of any man :
" Put the belt round your sides, Son of Ronag, beloved of men, And avoid not son of woman or mother, That will come or has come on earth, For hatred, for deliberation, or doughtiness."
" Cur an crosan mu d' thaobh Mhic Rbnaig a ghaoil do dh' fhearaibh 'S na seachainn mac mna'jio mathar Thig no thainig air thalamh. Air fhuath, no air athadh, no air eabhonadh."
The principal occasion on which this hero figures is in " The Lay of the Magic Smith", when his swiftness or activity led to the change in his name. The ballad, or lay, is commonly called Duan na CeardaicJi, or "The Lay of the Smithy", and is as follows :
Caoilte. 65
One day that we were on the rush covered plain, Two fours, two folds, was our company, Oscar, Derglas, and Diarmid, Fionn himself was there, the son of Cumal.
There was seen coming towards us
A tall man on one leg,
One top eye in his forehead.
Always making straight for the son of Cumal.
Ugly was the coming of the Big man.
Ugly it was and deformed.
With his darksome helmet of skin, that did not grow
twined. Barely weaved and deeply red with rusted spots (With his excessively large helmet On his bare garments that had become ugly).
" Whence have you come, man ?
Or are you a clothier to shape skins ?"
" I am not a clothier to shape skins,
But I came to put you under spells. Since you are a people engaged in warfare. That you follow me an easy-going company Westward to the door of my smithy.
Lon Macliven is my name,
I am the best warrior in this part of the country. King ! it is a pity of the woman who reared me, Myself and my other two brothers."
Var. [Edmond Tosny is my name.
If you knew me very well,
And I do smith work
To the Norse King in Spylie."]
" Where, wretch, is your smithy ?
And will we be the better of seeing it ?"
66 The Fiaiis.
" See you it if you 're able, And if 1 am able you won't!"
They then became four companies, Like five out on a bare expanse ; One company of these was the smith, And another company was Derglas.
Lon made off like the swift spring wind, Over the dark glens of the hill, And we could only see with difficulty Portions of skirts about his heels.
Var. [The smith would only take one step Over every glen and desert.]
Fionn was behind at that time,
And a few nobles of the Fians,
As we descended to the bottom of the glen.
And ascending to the windy pass.
Then was heard the blowing of bellows,
And with the utmost difficulty a smithy was found.
" Delay a little," said the smith ; " Don't close before me," said Derglas, " Do not leave me here alone. Westward, in the door of the smithy." Var. [In a narrow place here alone.]
There were seven smiths joyfully at work, Seven men ugly and unshapely.
The smith had seven hands.
Seven tongs broad and light.
Seven hammers knocking out sparks,
And Thinman could fully answer them all.
One of the smiths then spoke, A grim and frowning man.
Caoilte. 67
" What thinman is that, fearless one,
Who is stretching out fire for steel-making?"
Then said Fionn, the solver of questions,
The man who did not require teaching,
" He will not bear this name without it being spread ;
Derglas was his name till now."
Thinman, the watcher of the smithy, Had the deepest part of the fight. And redder than the glow of coals from oak Was his hue from the result of the labour.
Feud, Fard, and Faondail,
At your slender hand, son of the smithy,
And the long eastern sea {jmiileartacJi) that Dermid had,
Many a man in its time it killed.
DUAN NA CeARDAICH.
Latha dhuinn air L.uachar Leothaid Da cheathra da chro air buidheann Oscar, is Daorghlas, is Diarmad, Bha Fionn fhein ann 's b'e Mac Cumhail.
Chunnacas a' tighinn' nar coiribh Aon fhear mor, is e air aona chois Aon suil mhullach an clar aoduinn 'S e sior-dheanadh air Mac Cumhail.
Bu ghrannda tighinn an oglaich mhoir
Bu ghrannda sin 's bu duaichnidh
Le clogada ciar-dhu craicinn nach [dh'] fhas dualach,
Air mhaol bhearta 's air dhearg ruadh bhrig,
[Le clogada ceanna mhor ceutach
Air mhaol eididh a d' fhas duaichnidh.]
" Co as thaine tu, dhuine,
No 'n culaich thu gu cuniadh chraicionn ? "
" Cha chulaich mi gu cumadh chraicionn."
5^
68 The Fians.
Ach thainig mi g'ur cuir fo gheasaibh, O 'n a 's luchd sibh tha freasdal armachd, Sibh g'am leantuinn buidheann shocrach, Siar gu dorsaibh mo cheardach.
Lon Mac Liobhunn is e m' ainm 'S mi gaisgeach is fearr an taobh-sa Righ ! gur nearachd bean a dh' araich mi Mi fhein 's mo dha bhrathair eile."
[Eamunn Toisneadh b' e m' ainm
Na'm biodh agaibhs' orm beachd sgeula,
'S gum bithinn ri obair gobhainn
Aig righ Lochlin ann an Speula {Spaoi/id/i).'\
" C'ait, a Ihruaill, am bheil do cheardach, No'n fliearrda sinne (dol) g'a faicinn?" Faiceadh sibhse sin ma dh' fheudas 'S mu dh' fheudas mise cha-n fhaic sibh.
Chaidh iad sin' nan ceithir buidhnean Mar choig a muigh an a Cuimrig B'e buidheann dhiu sin an gobhainn 'S bu bhuidhean eile dhiu Daorghlas.
Thug Lon as, mar ghaoth luath earraich, Mach roimh ghleannaibh dubh an t-sleibhe 'S cha 'n fhaiceamaide ach air eiginn Cirb da eididh air a shailteann. Var. [Cha deanadh an gobhann ach aona cheum Thar gach ghnne is fasaich.]
Bha Fionn air roinne (dheiridh) 'san uair sin, 'S beagan de dh' uaishbh na Feinne Tearnadh le urlar a' ghhnne Direadh ri bealach na gaoithe.
Chualas an sin builg' gan seideadh, 'S fhuaradh cheart air eiginn ceardach.
" Foiseadh beag ort," thuirt an gobhainn, " Na druid romham," arsa Daorghlas,
Caoilte. 69
" Na fag mise so 'nam aonar
Siar mu dhorsan do cheardaich. "
Var. [An aite teann 's mi nam aonar.]
Bha seachd goibhnean ann ri mire
[Seachdnar] de dhaoine duaichnidh mi-shealbliach
Bha seachd lamhan air a' ghobhain, Seachd teanchraichean leothar eatrom, Seachd uird a bha ga spreigeadh 'S cha bu mhiosa f hreagradh Caoilte.
Labhair an sin fear de na goibhnean Gu grimeach, agus gu gruamach, " Co 'm fear caol tha sid gun tioma Shineas a mach teine cruadhach."
"Sin," thuirt Fionn, fear fuasgladh cheiste Lamh nach teagaisgear gun fhuathas, " Cha bhi 'n t-ainm so air gun sgaoileadh Bha Daor-ghlas air gus an uair so."
Caoilte fear faire na ceardaich
Sgial deirge 'n truid aige
'S bu deirg e na gual daraich
A shnuadh ri tarruing (toradh) na h-oibreach.
Fead agus Fard agus Faondail
Ri da laimh chaola mhic na ceardach
'S a' mhuireartach fhada bha aig Diarmad
'S ioma duine riamh a mharbh i.
Var. ['S an lamh (lann) fhada bha aig Diarmad,
Is iomadh latha riamh a dhearbh e.]
Another version of " The Lay of the Smithy" is as follows :
One day that we were in the hunting hill,
We saw a sight from the east,
A big warlike hardy man,
And hateful to us was his coming our way.
With his black bundle of swarthy skin
70 The Fians.
With the bare part streaked and mottled red.
His cap about his bare deeply wrinkled scalp,
That was sharp, and he himself is forbidding.
One top eye in his forehead,
And ever making straight for the son of Cumal.
Then spoke Mac Cumal,
" Let not the man pass.
Put yourselves shoulder to shoulder.
And keep away the sallow-looking man.
Knowledge of your surname we would wish to have.
Since you have happened to come our way.
So that we may again tell a sure tale
Of what your object may be."
" Una, the daughter of Vulcan, was my mother,
The one woman who had most children.
And, O King ! 'tis pity of the woman who reared
Myself and my other two brothers.
Lon Mac Livin is my baptismal name,
I am the best warrior in these parts,
And I will put you under spells.
Since you are a people who attend to warfare.
That you follow me an easy-going company,
West, to the door of my smithy."
" In what place is your smithy,
Or will we be the better of seeing it ?"
" Let you be finding it,
For if I can you will not find it."
Lon set off like a north wind in spring
Over the tops of the hills.
And he would only take one step
Over each red desert glen.
Going past the hillock,
The company came close upon each other ;
One of these was the smith.
Another company was Derglas ; Fionn then was behind,
Caoilte. 7 1
And a few of the nobles of the Feinne.
" Open quickly," said the smith.
" Close not before me," said Derglas.
" Leave me not here alone,
In a narrow place by myself"
" Youth of fairest look !
Confident am I of the speed of your feet,
And rise up quickly
To let the wandering youth in.
I never thought that Fionn ever had
One who would show his face in my house ;
May you enjoy your name Thinman,
You will not be called Dercflas from this hour."
DUAN NA CEARDAICH.
Latha dhuinn bhi 'sa bheinn-t-seilg,
Chunnacas sealladh leinn bho 'n ear,
Fear mor colgarra cruaidh
'S gum b' fhuathach leinn e thi'nn 'nar car.
Le bhondal du ciar-dhu craicionn
Le lionan^ breac as dath ruadh air.
Le churrachd mu chiona-mhaoil cheusaidh
Bha geur 's e ro-ghruamach.
'S aon siiil mhuUach an clar-aodainn,
'S e sior-dheanadh air Mac Cumhail.
Sin mar labhair Mac Cumhail,
" Na leigibh an duine seachad
Cuiribh air guailleadh ri cheile
'S cumaibh uaibh am fear odhar."
Fios do shloinnidh b' aili leinn uait
O'n tharladh dhuit tighinn 'nar car.
^ Lio7ian. There are doubts as to the word here meant. Some versions would lead one to think that the mantle of skins which the smith wore in some parts had become stained and rusty.
72 The Fians,
'S gu'n innseamaid a ris beachd-sgeula
De tha thu air a shon.
" Una ni Mhulcain b'i mo mhathair
Aona-bhean a b' fliearr (torach) cloinne
'S a Righ ! gur niarachd bean a dh' araich
Mi fhin 's mo dha bhrathair eile
'Se Lunn Mac Liobhunn m' ainm baistidh
'S mi gaisgeach 's fhearr an taobh-sa
'S cuiridh mi sibhse fo gheasan
O'n is luchd tha freasdal arm sibh
Sibh g'am leantuinn buidhean shocrach
Siar gu dorus mo cheardaich."
" Cion an t-aite 'm bheil do cheardach
No 'n flieaird sinne ri faicinn ? "
" Bi sibhse nise 'ga faotainn,
'S ma dh' fhaotas mise cha-n fhaigh sibh."
Thug Lunn as mar ghaoth tuath earraich
Mach bhar beannda dubh an t-sleibh
'S cha ghearradh e ach aona-cheum
Thar gach h-aona ghleann ruadh fasaich
Dol seachad siar air an tulaich
Chas am buidheann air a cheile
Bu bhuidheann dhiu sin an gobhainn
'S bu bhuidheann eile dhiu Daorghlas.
'S bha Fionn a nuair sin air roinne
'S beagan do dh' uaislean na Feinne.
" Fosgail gu luath," ors' an gobhainn.
" 'S na druid romhain," arsa Daorghlas.
" Na fag mise so am onrachd
An aite teann 's mi m' aonar."
" Oganaich is ailleadh snuadh
'S earbsach mi a luath's do chas
'S ^iribh a sios gu luath
'S leigibh a falbh-bhalach a steach.
'S shaoil leam nach robh riamh aig Fionn
Na nochdadh a ghnuis do 'm thigh
Gum meal thusa t-ainm a Chaoilte
'S cha bhi Daorghlas ort o nuair so."
VI.— CONAN.
CONAN, who was an old man apparently, and bald, had the name of being irritable, and of no strength till he got his first disgrace over ; he was then as powerful as any other man. He never appears ridiculous in the sense of foolish or feeble, but he made himself liable to be laughed at from the boldness with which he thrusts himself forward, and asked to be allowed to measure himself with the most redoubtable heroes, and to be made spokesman to the most powerful enemy. In combat or wrestling match, even a woman could over- throw him at first. He was made prisoner, by the binding of his two hands to his belt and behind his back {ceangal nan tri chaoil), the tying of the three smalls — i.e., his two wrists and the small of his back {a cJiaol-druini). Sometimes, as in the contest with Conn, Son of the Red, the two feet were also tied together, and the hero was left prostrate, without power to raise himself or to move. " The bald Conan, of a truth, on Conan were placed the five ties under the same binding" [CJiaidJi air Conan viaolgn deiniJiin na coig chaoil fdn aon cheangal").
He figures in some recitations as a man much esteemed by Fionn, and accompanying him on his excursions. As evidence of his short temper, there is a popular saying, that when Conan was among the devils he said, "If I am ill off they are no better" {"Beatha Chonain measg nan deaniJian, Mas olc dJioinh chdnfhearr dhoibh"); or, as it is sometimes said, " ' Blow for blow and scratch for scratch,' as Conan said to the devils" {'' ' Buille air son buille, agus sgriocJi air son sgriocJil mar thuirt Conan ris na deavi/umt^') ; or, as the
74 The Fians.
saying is used by Sir Walter Scott, " ' Claw for claw and devil take the shortest nails,' as Conan said to the devil" (see Wavcrley). He was the master of the hounds, and is mentioned as one of those who went with Fionn to the House of the Yellow Field, and as having accompanied Fionn when he was walking out with four others of the most prominent men of the Fians, and were made to go to the House of Talkativeness, where Fionn found his missing men. He also figures in other stories as uncovering the poisonous fang of Bran, the magic dog that Fionn had, and was of use on many occasions. He is also mentioned, it will be recollected, in the lay or ballad of Conn, Son of the Red, as well as in other stories. It is said that on one occasion, when the Fians were in the Mountain Ash dwelling (yBniighin CJiaoruimi), they became transfixed to their seats, but a drop of royal blood would loosen them. Conan was left to the last. By that time the drop of royal blood had become exhausted, and he said to Dermid, who was releasing them, " If I were a pretty woman, you would not have left me to the last " (^' Nam bu bhcan bJioidheacJi mi chdn fhdgadh tu mi"). Dermid then tore him away, leaving Conan's skin to the seat. Though Conan was the weakest of the host, yet there was the combat of a hundred on his hand {comJirag ceud air a laiviJi). He never saw a man frown but he thought it his duty to strike him, nor saw a door open that he did not enter. When he struck, the life of a man was in every blow {Bha bcatJia duine air a dJiorn na'm buaileadh e).
THE CATTLE OF THE FIANS.
It is said that the strongest and best horse which the Fians had, White Front {Blar Aghan), was killed by the Glas tarndiig fJiogJiaraidJi, or the hauling of crops in harvest from wet places to dry ground by means of sledges or cams, and these, as may readily be supposed, were on wet ground a severe burden upon even the strongest horse.
The Glas-gJioileain (Grey-cheek) was the cow the Fcinne had, and the milk of which (there was a mouthful for each), along with shell-fish, kept them alive when game was not to be found, hence the story of the "Rock of the Mouthful", which is as follows :
The Story of the Rock of the Mouthful (Creagan a' Bhalguim).
It is told that once when the Feinne were in Skye and the chase was lost, Thinman {Caozlte), who was the swiftest of the band, was sent to look for the deer, whilst they themselves gathered limpets at Loch Snizort. He found them somewhere to the north of Lynecan. The locality of this place {Loighneachan) is not known, and it is possible that the tradition came from some other place, perhaps from Ireland. When he saw the game, he gave a shout which was heard by the rest of the Fians, who were at the time eating shell-fish at Loch Snizort. They heard
" The shrill, hard cry of swift Thinman, To the north of Loineachan."
" Eigheach caol cruaidh Chaoilte luaith Aig taobh tuath Loighneachan."
76 The Fians.
The one who had a mouthful of shell-fish and of the Grey-cheeked cow's {Glas-ghoileavi) milk at the time squirted out the unsavoury morsel, and the place where this was done is called the Rock of the Mouthful {Creagaii «' bhalguini). The rock at the place is certainly coloured, or rather discoloured, as if it had been done by the mouthful thus thrown out. Immediately the heroes set off to where the chase was to be found.
The bed of the Grey-cheeked Cow {Glas-ghoileam) is at the Kid Rock {Creag nam ineann'), behind Kinsburgh {Ciiineboro), in Skye. It is said that Hiniosdail, in Skye, was one of her grazing places. The other places where it grazed in Skye were:
" Eisgeadal is Toisgeadal, 'S cam a' Choin is Braigh Ehran, 'S Uisgeseadar 's Suileseadar 'S a' Bheinn Mhoraig ceann an loch, 'S Achu-choirc as Malayan."
END OF THE FEINNE.
What became of the Feinne, whether they were dis- banded, or came to a natural end, is not mentioned in tales about them. The first misfortune that befell them of the series which ended in their extinction, was a fight which occurred between the two hosts of which they were composed.
When Dermid had fled and was in hiding, he one day lay concealed in the foliage of a tree. Oscar and Goll were below playing at taileasg, or chess. (Some say that Dermid was dropping little berries on the squares on which Oscar was to play next ; others say this is not implied in the expression.) Goll at last
said :
" Dermid's faithful teaching
Has made Oscar's ready play."
" Teagasg dileas Dhiarmaid Rinn iomairt ealamh Oscair."
To which Oscar replied, " Though you little esteem Dermid, w^e loved him" (" Ge beag ortsa Diannad bit toigJi leinne e"). From less to more a battle was begun between the two hosts, so fierce that the shouts were heard a mile off {chluitinteadJi fad mile meallanaicJi mi t- sluaigh). On that occasion, however, peace was restored ; but, after the loss sustained by the burning of Brugh Farala and the death of their most redoubtable heroes, the Fians seem to have dwindled away, and to have been no more a power in the land ; it was natural enough that they should be no longer recognised as of paramount power when their wives and growing youth were destroyed by the burning of this tem-
78 The Fians.
porary residence. Fionn himself does not seem ever to have had the same power after the severe wound inflicted upon him at the death of Garry by his own sword, which never left a remnant of its blow {tiach (V fhag riainJi fuigJieal beiini)^ till that day. His son Ossian, whose name in modern times has received a recognition and provoked a discussion beyond that of any other bard or poet of the Celtic race, survived his father and all the heroes of his time ; hence, " like Ossian after the Fians," has become a saying universal throughout the whole Highlands, meaning or used when a man is left alone after all his friends have died or disappeared. " I am", said a man who felt himself thus solitary, " Ossian after the Fians" ("/f mise Ossian an deigJi na Feinne"). " You are", said a person who was listening to him, and did not think much of his character or complaint ('".S tu, 's tusa iniiisean an deigJi na Feinne") ■ — " You are the nasty fellow after the Feinne."
The story runs in Skye, and also in the Long Island, that Ossian's mother was a deer, and the song is still to be fallen in with, of which this forms a part :
" If you are my mother, and art a deer." " Ma's tu mo mhathair-sa gur fiadh thu."
And the first time this became known was when the Feinne were eating venison after Thinman {Caoilte), as already told, found the deer at Lynecan {Loighneac/ian), and the Feinne went thither. Ossian, on being offered a bone, said : " When every one eats the shin-bone of his mother, I will eat the thin shin-bone of my own mother" {"Dar dh' itheas na Jl-iiUc fear calpa a mJiathair ithe mise calpa caol mo inhathair f/un"). The version of the song which the writer fell in with is as follows :
End of the Fdinne. 79
Ossian's Mother a Deer, (i)
"■ If thou art my mother, and art a deer, I will say horon o ho E ho hyri riivig Ho ro, hy horun o ho.
If thou art my mother, and art a deer, I will say horun o ho.
You will be afraid of what dogs can do. If you go to high hills,
You will be afraid of artisans, (2) Artisans and their dogs.
If Brian would take from me his murmuring, Before my sweetheart will hear my voice."
" Ma's tu mo mhathair-sa gur fiadh thu Their mi horunn o ho
E ho haori rithi-bhag Ho rb haoi ; horunn o ho.
Ma's tu mo mhathair-sa gur fiadh thu, Their mi horunn o ho.
Bi' t-eagal roimh ghniomh nan con. Ma theid thu na beannaibh arda
Bi' t-eagal roimh chlann na cearda Clann na ceairde 's an cuid chon.
Gu'n caisgeadh Brian dhiom a strannan Mu'n cluinn mo leannan mo ghuth."
Notes.
(i) "Ossian's mother a deer." — The reciter (Skye) said Ossian's mother was a deer, and that she only got one touch on his fore- head with her tongue. On that spot {air an oism sin) fur like
8o The Fians.
deer's fur {ciiilg an fheidh) grew ; hence his name. A man at Lochaweside said he heard a deer nursed Ossian, but not that it was his mother. This account tallies with the belief held that the deer were a fairy race. To keep this matter from being talked of, Ossian was sent to the Land of Youth {Tir na h-Oige), which the party from whom the story was heard said he supposed was some island near Skye : Holm's islet, or Fladda Chuain. When Ossian came ashore he was making his way along a road near a field where a party was working at harvest work. He made inquiries, and the company told him that, by the last accounts they heard of the Fdinne, they were in Ireland. He made his way to Ireland, and found his daughter, whose name the writer heard tell was Anna, married to Patrick of the Psalms {Padridg nan Salm). Some say that this Patrick was the same Patrick who blessed Ireland {Padruig a bheannaich Eirin) ; but others maintain that he was different. The kain that Patrick had over Ireland {A^ chain bha aig Padriiig air Eirin) was as much food as was necessary to maintain Ossian. Ossian's own daughter was very niggardly and scrimp in the food with which she supplied the aged hero.
Cain is a common Gaelic word for a rent-charge or tax. It is said of a man of a voracious appetite that he would eat the kain that Patrick had over Ireland.
(2) " You will be afraid of artisans."
" Bi' t-eagal ort roimh chlann nan ceard." The word ceard denotes an artificer of any kind, and is in meaning, as well as derivation, the same as the Latin cerdo, a workman. It now denotes usually workmen to whom the name of tinkers are given. These wandering Bohemians were the sole skilled artizans among the people of the Highlands ; at all events, they were most skilled in the making of horn spoons and delicate work, such as putting teeth in wool-cards, etc. At the present day the term is one of reproach rather than of commendation. There is a song which shows that the word, at no remote time, was one applied to excelling merit. In the song of MacRobert the Tinker occur these words :
" I gave my affection, why ?
Guess you, who to,
To the son of Robert the Tinker.
Not the tinker who makes the spoon
Or puts teeth in the wool-card :
But the tinker of war weapons,
With whom the hunt prospers.
End of the F^inne.
Black-cock and roebuck.
When you go up the frowning height,
With your gun and dog,
You close the eye
And bend the knee,
The deer son is then without cheer,
Losing its blood on the dew.
I gave my affection — why deny it ? —
To the hunter of the red deer hind,
Otter, and thick-lipped seal.''
" Ho ri hug o Thug mi' cion, de fath .''
O haoriri horuinn ho ro hug 6 Tomhais sibh-se co dha .'' Do Mhac Raibeart an ceard Cha 'n e 'n ceard a ni 'n spkin No dh' fhiaclaicheas ckrd ; Ach ceard a dheanadh nan arm, Leis an cinneadh an t-sealg Coileach dubh is boc-earb Nuair dhireadh tu 'n stuc, Le d' ghunna 's le d' chu, Chaogadh tu 'n t-suil, Is liibadh tu 'n glun, Mac an fh^idh bhiodh gun sunnd Call far air an druchd.
Thug mi 'n cion, c'uim an ceil mi ? Do shealgair na h-eilid, An dobhrain duinn 's an roin mheillich.
OSSIAN AFTER THE FIANS.
The Fians had disappeared, none of them surviving but Ossian. When he went to Ireland after the Fians, and lived with St. Patrick, who was married to his daughter, it was said the daughter was so niggardly to her father that seven skewers {seacJid deilg) were put by him in his coat to keep it from hanging too loosely. Patrick was building a temple^ at this time.
There was a large stone to be put in the temple, so large that the sixteen masons employed in the work could not lift it into its place. Ossian said that if he got the food of the sixteen masons, he would lift the stone himself The food was prepared, but, from niggardliness, he only got the food of fifteen, and six skewers came out of his coat. He was led out, and he lifted the stone and put it in its place. He then fumbled over it with his fingers, and returned into the house.
Patrick came to him and said that the stone was not exactly in its proper bed, and he was to come out and put it right.
" As it is," said Ossian, " so it will be. If I had got the meat of the sixteen masons I would have put it right."
He then called to his grandson to lead him out, as he had recovered part of his strength. They went on till they came to a loch, when Ossian said to the boy : " Do you see a grassy hillock in the loch ? Lead me to it."
^ All the buildings erected by Saint Patrick seem to have been temples, as St. Patrick's Temple {Tcampull rhadrui^) in Kena- vara Hill, Island of Tiree, etc.
Ossian after the Fians. 83
They went out in the lake, and Ossian plucked up the grassy hillock and took with him a cauldron which was below it, and they went away. They then reached a high, steep rock, with a hole in its face. Ossian asked his grandson to direct his hand into the hole, out of which he took the bone of the Black Elk {Lon-DubJi).
" Now," said he to the boy, " put your fingers in your ears as tight as you can for a short time."
The boy did this, and Ossian whistled loudly with the bone of the Black Elk.
" Did that hurt you ?" he said to the boy.
" No," said the boy.
" What do you see coming?" asked Ossian.
" I see beasts coming together."
" Put your fingers in your ears again."
He did this. Ossian whistled again,
" What are you seeing now ? "
" As many more coming."
He whistled the third time.
" I almost think," said the boy, " that every living creature is coming."
" If I had now the strongest and laziest lad we had among the Fians, with the strongest and laziest dog."
The dog called BioracJi mac Buidheig, and the lad whom they called Ton RiiadJi, then came. The dog went among the beasts and was slaying them, and the servant lad was gathering and piling them above each other. When there were enough, as he thought, he came and sat beside Ossian ; but the dog could not be stopped. The boy said the dog was returning.
" What is he like ? " Ossian asked.
" Its mouth is open, and I can see the liver and lungs on the floor of his chest" {^An griian 'j- an sgamhan air urlar a chleibJi).
" When he comes, see that you direct my hand into his open mouth " {craos).
6 2
84 The Fians.
He did so, and Ossian took out its liver and lungs, and killed it.
He then told the servant lad to kindle a fire and boil water in the cauldron. This was done, and when the water boiled he told his grandson to go away before he did him any injury. "For", he said, "I am outrageously hungry" (" TJia confhadh onn gii biadh").
When he ate the meat, he said to the servant lad : " Now take as much as you want."
The boy then returned where he was, and Ossian said to him : " Three third parts of my hearing and three third parts of my sight are restored to me. Go home, your grandfather leaves you his blessing.'^
The boy left him and went home, and no one ever saw or heard Ossian after that (^s chdn fJiacadh 'j- cJia cJiualadh duine Ossian riauih tuilleadh ^na dheigJi).
In his hours of recreation from religious services, according to a lay in existence, Patrick was in the habit of coming to see Ossian, for well he liked his glorious talk {(Jn sann lets bu bhinn a' gloir). Ossian used to tell Patrick tales of the {Fcinne) Fians, and these were all put into writing by Patrick. When, however, he heard about the bone of the huge deer, in the marrow-hole of which an unusually large bone of the deer then in exist- ence could turn, he thought that the whole stories told by Ossian were mere inventions, and in his indignation he threw the writings into the fire. It was in this way that the history of the Fians was lost, and this was deplored by Patrick himself when the bones of the (Z*?// ditbJi) Black Elk were brought home by his son, the grandson of Ossian. This breed of deer had a brown stripe along their back {slat dJionn 'nan druivt), and was called the race of the Two Stick Kine {Siolachadh Bo Da Bhiorain).
They used to have warm discussions about religion, in which Ossian always maintained that Fionn and the
Ossian after the Fians. 85
Fingalians were quite able to take