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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14749 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original lovely illustrations.
+      See 14749-h.htm or 14749-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/4/14749/14749-h/14749-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/4/14749/14749-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND
+
+by
+
+T. W. ROLLESTON
+
+With an Introduction by Stopford A. Brooke, M.A. LL.D.
+
+And with Sixteen Illustrations by Stephen Reid
+
+New York
+Thomas Y. Crowell & Company
+Publishers
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AR
+CRAOIBH CONNARTHA NA GAEDHILGE
+I NGLEANN FHAIDHLE BRONNAIM AN LEABHAR SEO:
+BEANNACHT AGUS BUAIDH
+LIBHSE GO DEO
+
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+The romantic tales here retold for the English reader belong neither
+to the category of folk-lore nor of myth, although most of them
+contain elements of both. They belong, like the tales of Cuchulain,
+which have been similarly presented by Miss Hull,[1] to the bardic
+literature of ancient Ireland, a literature written with an artistic
+purpose by men who possessed in the highest degree the native culture
+of their land and time. The aim with which these men wrote is also
+that which has been adopted by their present interpreter. I have not
+tried, in this volume, to offer to the scholar materials for the study
+of Celtic myth or folk-lore. My aim, however I may have fulfilled it,
+has been artistic, not scientific. I have tried, while carefully
+preserving the main outline of each story, to treat it exactly as the
+ancient bard treated his own material, or as Tennyson treated the
+stories of the MORT D'ARTHUR, that is to say, to present it as a fresh
+work of poetic imagination. In some cases, as in the story of the
+Children of Lir, or that of mac Datho's Boar, or the enchanting tale
+of King Iubdan and King Fergus, I have done little more than retell
+the bardic legend with merely a little compression; but in others a
+certain amount of reshaping has seemed desirable. The object in all
+cases has been the same, to bring out as clearly as possible for
+modern readers the beauty and interest which are either manifest or
+implicit in the Gaelic original.
+
+   [1] CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER. By Eleanor Hull.
+
+For stories which are only found in MSS. written in the older forms of
+the language, I have been largely indebted to the translations
+published by various scholars. Chief among these (so far as the
+present work is concerned) must be named Mr Standish Hayes
+O'Grady--whose wonderful treasure-house of Gaelic legend, SILVA
+GADELICA, can never be mentioned by the student of these matters
+without an expression of admiration and of gratitude; Mr A.H. Leahy,
+author of HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND; Dr Whitly Stokes, Professor Kuno
+Meyer, and M. d'Arbois de Jubainville, whose invaluable CYCLE
+MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS has been much in my hands, both in the original
+and in the excellent English translation of Mr R.I. Best. Particulars
+of the source of each story will be found in the Notes on the Sources
+at the end of this volume. In the same place will also be found a
+pronouncing-index of proper names. I have endeavoured, in the text, to
+avoid or to modify any names which in their original form would baffle
+the English reader, but there remain some on the pronunciation of
+which he may be glad to have a little light.
+
+The two most conspicuous figures in ancient Irish legend are
+Cuchulain, who lived--if he has any historical reality--in the reign
+of Conor mac Nessa immediately before the Christian era, and Finn son
+of Cumhal, who appears in literature as the captain of a kind of
+military order devoted to the service of the High King of Ireland
+during the third century A.D. Miss Hull's volume has been named after
+Cuchulain, and it is appropriate that mine should bear the name of
+Finn, as it is mainly devoted to his period; though, as will be seen,
+several stories belonging to other cycles of legend, which did not
+fall within the scope of Miss Hull's work, have been included here.[2]
+All the tales have been arranged roughly in chronological order. This
+does not mean according to the date of their composition, which in
+most cases is quite indiscoverable, and still less, according to the
+dates of the MSS. in which they are contained. The order is given by
+the position, in real or mythical history, of the events they deal
+with. Of course it is not practicable to dovetail them into one
+another with perfect accuracy. Where a story, like that of the
+Children of Lir, extends over nearly a thousand years, beginning with
+the mythical People of Dana and ending in the period of Christian
+monasticism, one can only decide on its place by considering where it
+will throw most light on those which come nearest to it. In this, as
+in the selection and treatment of the tales, there is of course room
+for much difference of opinion. I can only ask the critic to believe
+that nothing has been done in the framing of this collection of Gaelic
+romances without the consideration and care which the value of the
+material demands and which the writer's love of it has inspired.
+
+T.W. ROLLESTON
+
+   [2] There is one important tale of the Finn cycle, the _Pursuit
+   of Dermot and Grania_, which I have not included. I have
+   omitted it, partly because it presents the character of Finn in
+   a light inconsistent with what is said of him elsewhere, and
+   partly because it has in it a certain sinister and depressing
+   element which renders it unsuitable for a collection intended
+   largely for the young.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+   INTRODUCTION
+
+      COIS NA TEINEADH
+
+
+   BARDIC ROMANCES
+
+         I. THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN OF LIR
+
+        II. THE QUEST OF THE SONS OF TURENN
+
+       III. THE SECRET OF LABRA
+
+        IV. KING IUBDAN AND KING FERGUS
+
+         V. THE CARVING OF MAC DATHO'S BOAR
+
+        VI. THE VENGEANCE OF MESGEDRA
+
+       VII. THE STORY OF ETAIN AND MIDIR
+
+      VIII. HOW ETHNE QUITTED FAIRYLAND
+
+
+   THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+        IX. THE BOYHOOD OF FINN MAC CUMHAL
+
+         X. THE COMING OF FINN
+
+        XI. FINN'S CHIEF MEN
+
+       XII. THE TALE OF VIVIONN THE GIANTESS
+
+      XIII. THE CHASE OF THE GILLA DACAR
+
+       XIV. THE BIRTH OF OISÍN
+
+        XV. OISÍN IN THE LAND OF YOUTH
+
+
+   THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC
+
+       XVI. 1. THE BIRTH OF CORMAC
+
+            2. THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC
+
+            3. THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC
+
+            4. THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING
+
+            5. CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN
+
+            6. A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON
+
+            7. THE JUDGMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD
+
+            8. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC
+
+            9. DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC
+
+           10. DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC
+
+
+   NOTES ON THE SOURCES
+
+   PRONOUNCING INDEX
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+   "FINN HEARD FAR OFF THE FIRST NOTES OF THE FAIRY HARP" (Frontispiece)
+
+   "THERE SAT THE THREE MAIDENS WITH THE QUEEN"
+
+   "THEY MADE AN ENCAMPMENT AND THE SWANS SANG TO THEM"
+
+   "BEAR US SWIFTLY, BOAT OF MANANAN, TO THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES"
+
+   "THERE DWELT THE RED-HAIRED OCEAN-NYMPHS"
+
+   "THEY ALL TROOPED OUT, LORDS AND LADIES, TO VIEW THE WEE MAN"
+
+   "FERGUS GOES DOWN INTO THE LAKE"
+
+   "A MIGHTY SHOUT OF EXULTATION AROSE FROM THE ULSTERMEN"
+
+   "THEY ROSE UP IN THE AIR"
+
+   "SHE HEARD HER OWN NAME CALLED AGAIN AND AGAIN"
+
+   "AND THAT NIGHT THERE WAS FEASTING AND JOY IN THE LONELY HUT"
+
+   "THEY RAN HIM BY HILL AND PLAIN"
+
+   "DERMOT TOOK THE HORN AND WOULD HAVE FILLED IT"
+
+   "'FOLLOW ME NOW TO THE HILL OF ALLEN'"
+
+   "THEY RODE UP TO A STATELY PALACE"
+
+   "THE WHITE STEED HAD VANISHED FROM THEIR EYES LIKE A WREATH OF MIST"
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+Many years have passed by since, delivering the Inaugural Lecture of
+the Irish Literary Society in London, I advocated as one of its chief
+aims the recasting into modern form and in literary English of the old
+Irish legends, preserving the atmosphere of the original tales as much
+as possible, but clearing them from repetitions, redundant
+expressions, idioms interesting in Irish but repellent in English,
+and, above all, from absurdities, such as the sensational fancy of the
+later editors and bards added to the simplicities of the original
+tales.
+
+Long before I spoke of this, it had been done by P.W. Joyce in his OLD
+CELTIC ROMANCES, and by Standish O'Grady for the whole story of
+Cuchulain, but in this case with so large an imitation of the Homeric
+manner that the Celtic spirit of the story was in danger of being
+lost. This was the fault I had to find with that inspiring book,[3]
+but it was a fault which had its own attraction.
+
+   [3] I gave this book--_The History of Ireland_ (HEROIC
+   PERIOD)--to Burne-Jones in order to interest him in Irish myth
+   and legend. "I'll try and read it," he said. A week afterwards
+   he came and said--"It is a new world of thought and pleasure
+   you have opened to me. I knew nothing of this, and life is
+   quite enlarged. But now, I want to see all the originals. Where
+   can I get them?"
+
+I have only spoken of prose writing above. But in poetry (and in
+Poetry well fitted to the tales), this work had already been done
+nobly, and with a fine Celtic splendour of feeling and expression, by
+Sir Samuel Ferguson.
+
+Since then, a number of writers have translated into literary English
+a host of the Irish tales, and have done this with a just reverence
+for their originals. Being, in nearly every case, Irish themselves,
+they have tried, with varying success, to make their readers realize
+the wild scenery of Ireland, her vital union with the sea and the
+great ocean to the West, those changing dramatic skies, that mystic
+weather, the wizard woods and streams which form the constant
+background of these stories; nor have they failed to allure their
+listeners to breathe the spiritual air of Ireland, to feel its
+pathetic, heroic, imaginative thrill.
+
+They have largely succeeded in their effort. The Irish bardic tales
+have now become a part of English literature and belong not only to
+grown up persons interested in early poetry, in mythology and
+folk-customs, but to the children of Ireland and England. Our new
+imaginative stories are now told in nurseries, listened to at evening
+when the children assemble in the fire-light to hear tales from their
+parents, and eagerly read by boys at school. A fresh world of
+story-telling has been opened to the imagination of the young.
+
+This could not have been done in the right way if it had not been for
+the previous work of Celtic scholars in Ireland, and particularly on
+the Continent, in France and Germany. Having mastered medieval Irish,
+they have translated with careful accuracy many of the ancient tales,
+omitting and changing nothing; they have edited them critically,
+collating and comparing them with one another, and with other forms of
+the same stories. We have now in English, French, and German the exact
+representation of the originals with exhaustive commentaries.
+
+When this necessary work was finished--and it was absolutely
+necessary--it had two important results on all work of the kind Mr
+Rolleston has performed in this book--on the imaginative recasting and
+modernizing of the ancient tales. First, it made it lawful and easy
+for the modern artist--in sculpture, painting, poetry, or imaginative
+prose--to use the stories as he pleased in order to give pleasure to
+the modern world. It made it lawful because he could reply to those
+who objected that what he produced was not the real thing--"The real
+thing exists; you will find it, when you wish to see it, accurately
+and closely translated by critical and competent scholars. I refer you
+to the originals in the notes to this book. I have found the materials
+of my stories in these originals; and it is quite lawful for me, now
+that they have been reverently preserved, to use them as I please for
+the purpose of giving pleasure to the modern world--to make out of
+them fresh imaginative work, as the medieval writers did out of the
+original stories of Arthur and his men." This is the defence any
+re-caster of the ancient tales might make of the _lawfulness_ of his
+work, and it is a just defence; having, above all, this use--that it
+leaves the imagination of the modern artist free, yet within
+recognized and ruling limits, to play in and around his subject.
+
+One of those limits is the preservation, in any remodelling of the
+tales, of the Celtic atmosphere. To tell the Irish stories in the
+manner of Homer or Apuleius, in the manner of the Norse sagas, or in
+the manner of Malory, would be to lose their very nature, their soul,
+their nationality. We should no longer understand the men and women
+who fought and loved in Ireland, and whose characters were moulded by
+Irish surroundings, customs, thoughts, and passions. We should not see
+or feel the landscape of Ireland or its skies, the streams, the woods,
+the animals and birds, the mountain solitudes, as we feel and see
+them in the original tales. We should not hear, as we hear in their
+first form, the stormy seas between Scotland and Antrim, or the great
+waves which roar on the western isles, and beat on cliffs which still
+belong to another world than ours. The genius of Ireland would desert
+our work.
+
+And it would be a vast pity to lose the Irish atmosphere in the
+telling of the Irish tales, because it is unique; not only distinct
+from that of the stories of other races, but from that of the other
+branches of the Celtic race. It differs from the atmosphere of the
+stories of Wales, of Brittany, of the Highlands and islands of
+Scotland. It is more purely Celtic, less mixed than any of them. A
+hundred touches in feeling, in ways of thought, in sensitiveness to
+beauty, in war and voyaging, and in ideals of life, separate it from
+that of the other Celtic races.
+
+It is owing to the careful, accurate, and critical work of continental
+and Irish scholars on the manuscript materials of Irish Law, History,
+Bardic Tales, and Poetry; on customs, dress, furniture, architecture,
+ornament, on hunting and sailing; on the manners of men and women in
+war and peace, that the modern re-teller of the Irish tales is enabled
+to conserve the Irish atmosphere. And this conservation of the special
+Irish atmosphere is the second result which the work of the critical
+scholars has established. If the re-writer of the tales does not use
+the immense materials made ready to his hand for illustration,
+expansion, ornament and description in such a way that Ireland, and
+only Ireland, lives in his work from line to line, he is greatly to be
+blamed.
+
+Mr Rolleston has fulfilled these conditions with the skill and the
+feeling of an artist. He has clung closely to his originals with an
+affectionate regard for their ancientry, their ardour and their
+distinction, and yet has, within this limit, used and modified them
+with a pleasant freedom. His love of Ireland has instilled into his
+representation of these tales a passion akin to that which gave them
+birth. We feel, as we read, how deep his sympathy has been with their
+intensity, their love of wild nature, their desire for beauty, their
+interest in humanity and in character, their savagery and their
+tenderness, their fairy magic and strange imaginations that suddenly
+surprise and charm. Whenever anything lovely emerges in the tale, he
+does not draw attention to it, but touches it with so artistic a
+pencil that its loveliness is enhanced. And he has put into English
+verse the Irish poems scattered through the tales with the skill and
+the temper of a poet. I hope his book will win what it deserves--the
+glad appreciation of old and young in England, and the gratitude of
+Ireland.
+
+The stories told in this book belong to three distinct cycles of Irish
+story-telling. The first are mythological, and are concerned with the
+early races that are fabled to have dwelt and fought in Ireland Among
+these the Tuatha De Danaan were the final conquerors, and held the
+land for two hundred years They were, it is supposed, of the Celtic
+stock, but they were not the ancestors of the present Irish. These
+were the Milesians (Irish, Scots or Gaelic who, conquering the Tuatha
+De Danaan, ruled Ireland till they were overcome by the English.) The
+stories which have to do with the Tuatha De Danaan are mythical and of
+a great antiquity concerning men and women, the wisest and the best of
+whom became gods, and who appear as divine beings in the cycle of
+tales which follow after them They were always at war with a fierce
+and savage people called Fomorians, whom they finally defeated and the
+strife between them may mythically represent the ancient war between
+the good and evil principles in the world.
+
+In the next cycle we draw nearer to history, and are in the world not
+of myth but of legend. It is possible that some true history may be
+hidden underneath its sagas, that some of its personages may be
+historical, but we cannot tell. The events are supposed to occur about
+the time of the birth of Christ, and seventeen hundred years after
+those of the mythical period. This is the cycle which collects its
+wars and sorrows and splendours around the dominating figure of
+Cuchulain, and is called the Heroic or the Red Branch or the Ultonian
+cycle. Several sagas tell of the birth, the life, and the death of
+Cuchulain, and among them is the longest and the most important--the
+Táin--the _Cattle Raid of Cooley_.
+
+Others are concerned with the great King Conor mac Nessa, and the most
+known and beautiful of these is the sorrowful tale of Deirdré. There
+are many others of the various heroes and noble women who belonged to
+the courts of Conor and of his enemy Queen Maev of Connaght. The
+_Carving of mac Datho's Boar_, the story of _Etain and Midir_, and the
+_Vengeance of Mesgedra_, contained in this book belong to these
+miscellaneous tales unconnected with the main saga of Cuchulain.
+
+The second cycle is linked to the first, not by history or race, but
+by the fact that the great personages in the first have now become the
+gods who intervene in the affairs of the wars and heroes of the
+second. They take part in them as the gods do in the Iliad and the
+Odyssey. Lugh, the Long-Handed, the great Counsellor of the Tuatha De
+Danaan, is now a god, and is the real father of Cuchulain, heals him
+of his wounds in the Battle of the Ford, warns him of his coming
+death, and receives him into the immortal land. The Morrigan, who
+descends from the first cycle, is now the goddess of war, and is at
+first the enemy and afterwards the lover of Cuchulain. Angus, The
+Dagda, Mananan the sea-god, enter not only into the sagas of the
+second cycle, but into those of the third, of the cycle of Finn. And
+all along to the very end of the stories, and down indeed to the
+present day, the Tuatha De Danaan appear in various forms, slowly
+lessening in dignity and power, until they end in the fairy folk in
+whom the Irish peasants still believe. They are alive and still
+powerful in the third--the Fenian--cycle of stories, some of which are
+contained and adorned in this book. In their continued presence is the
+only connexion which exists between the three cycles. No personages of
+the first save these of the gods appear in the Heroic cycle, none of
+the Heroic cycle appears in the Fenian cycle. Seventeen hundred years,
+according to Irish annalists, separate the first from the second, more
+than two hundred years separate the second from the beginning of the
+third.
+
+The third cycle is called Fenian because its legends tell, for the
+most part, of the great deeds of the Féni or Fianna, who were the
+militia employed by the High King to support his supremacy, to keep
+Ireland in order, to defend the country from foreign invasion. They
+were, it seems, finally organized by Cormac mac Art, 227 A.D.(?) the
+grandson of Conn the Hundred Fighter. But they had loosely existed
+before in the time of Conn and his son Art, and like all mercenary
+bodies of this kind were sometimes at war with the kings who employed
+them. Finally, at the battle of Gowra, they and their power were quite
+destroyed. Long before this destruction, they were led in the reign
+of Cormac by Finn the son of Cumhal, and it is around Finn and Oisín
+the son of Finn, that most of the romances of the Fenian cycle are
+gathered. Others which tell of the battles and deeds of Conn and Art
+and Cormac and Cairbre of the Liffey, Cormac's son, are more or less
+linked on to the Fenians. On the whole, Finn and his warriors, each of
+a distinct character, warlike skill and renown, are the main
+personages of the cycle, and though Finn is not the greatest warrior,
+he is their head and master because he is the wisest; and this
+masterdom by knowledge is for the first time an element in Irish
+stories.
+
+If the tales of the first cycle are mythological and of the second
+heroic, these are romantic. The gods have lost their dreadful, even
+their savage character, and have become the Fairies, full often of
+gentleness, grace, and humour. The mysterious dwelling places of the
+gods in the sea, in unknown lands, in the wandering air, are now in
+palaces under the green hills of Ireland, or by the banks of swift
+clear rivers, like the palace of Angus near the Boyne, or across the
+seas in Tir-na-n-Óg, the land of immortal youth, whither Niam brings
+Oisín to live with her in love, as Morgan le Fay brought Ogier the
+Dane to her fairyland. The land of the Immortals in the heroic cycle,
+to which, in the story of _Etain and Midir_ in this book, Midir brings
+back Etain after she has sojourned for a time on earth, is quite
+different in conception from the Land of Youth over the far seas where
+delightfulness of life and love is perfect. This, in its conception of
+an unknown world where is immortal youth, where stormless skies, happy
+hunting, strange adventure, gentle manners dwell, where love is free
+and time is unmarked, is pure romance. So are the adventures of Finn
+against enchanters, as in the story of the _Birth of Oisín_, of
+_Dermot in the Country under the Seas_, in the story of the _Pursuit
+of the Gilla Dacar_, of the wild love-tale of _Dermot and Grania_,
+flying for many years over all Ireland from the wrath of Finn, and of
+a host of other tales of enchantments and battle, and love, and
+hunting, and feasts, and discoveries, and journeys, invasions,
+courtships, and solemn mournings. No doubt the romantic atmosphere has
+been deepened in these tales by additions made to them by successive
+generations of bardic singers and storytellers, but for all that the
+original elements in the stories are romantic as they are not in the
+previous cycles.
+
+Again, these Fenian tales are more popular than the others. Douglas
+Hyde has dwelt on this distinction. "For 1200 years at least, they
+have been," he says, "intimately bound up with the thought and
+feelings of the whole Gaelic race in Ireland and Scotland." Even at
+the present day new forms are given to the tales in the cottage homes
+of Ireland. And it is no wonder. The mysterious giant forms of the
+mythological period, removed by divinity from the sympathy of men; the
+vast heroic figures of Cuchulain and his fellows and foes, their close
+relation to supernatural beings and their doings, are far apart from
+the more natural humanity of Cormac and Finn, of Dermot and Goll, of
+Oisín and Oscar, of Keelta, and last of Conan, the coward, boaster and
+venomous tongue, whom all the Fenians mocked and yet endured. They are
+a very human band of fighting men, and though many of them, like Oisín
+and Finn and Dermot, have adventures in fairyland, they preserve in
+these their ordinary human nature. The Connacht peasant has no
+difficulty in following Finn into the cave of Slieve Cullinn, where
+the witch turned him into a withered old man, for the village where he
+lives has traditions of the same kind; the love affairs of Finn, of
+Dermot and Grania, and of many others, are quite in harmony with a
+hundred stories, and with the temper, of Irish lovers. A closer, a
+simpler humanity than that of the other cycles pervades the Fenian
+cycle, a greater chivalry, a greater courtesy, and a greater
+tenderness. We have left the primeval savagery behind, the
+multitudinous slaughtering, the crude passions of the earlier men and
+women; we are nearer to civilization, nearer to the common temper and
+character of the Irish people. No one can doubt this who will compare
+the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_ with the _Chase of the Gilla Dacar_.
+
+The elaborate courtesy with which Finn and his chief warriors receive
+all comers, as in the story of Vivionn the giantess, is quite new,
+even medieval in its chivalry; so is the elaborate code of honour; so
+also is, on the whole, the treatment of women and their relation to
+men. How far this resemblance to medieval romance has been intruded
+into the stories--(there are some in which there is not a trace of
+it)--by the after editors and re-editors of the tales, I cannot tell,
+but however that may be, their presence in the Fenian cycle is plain;
+and this brings the stories into a kindlier and more pleasurable
+atmosphere for modern readers than that which broods in thunderous
+skies and fierce light over dreadful passions and battles thick and
+bloody in the previous cycles. We are in a gentler world.
+
+Another more modern romantic element in the Fenian legends is the
+delight in hunting, and that more affectionate relation of men to
+animals which always marks an advance in civilization. Hunting, as in
+medieval romance, is one of the chief pleasures of the Fenians. Six
+months of the year they passed in the open, getting to know every part
+of the country they had to defend, and hunting through the great woods
+and over the hills for their daily food and their daily delight. The
+story of the _Chase of the Gilla Dacar_ tells, at its beginning, of a
+great hunting and of Finn's men listening with joy to the cries of the
+hunters and the loud chiding of the dogs; and many tales celebrate the
+following of the stag and the wild boar from early dawn to the
+evening. Then Finn's two great hounds, Bran and Sceolaun, are loved by
+Finn and his men as if they were dear friends; and they, when their
+master is in danger or under enchantment wail like human beings for
+his loss or pain. It is true Cuchulain's horses weep tears of blood
+when he goes forth to his last battle, foreknowing his death; but they
+are immortal steeds and have divine knowledge of fate. The dogs of
+Finn are only dogs, and the relation between him and them is a natural
+relation, quite unlike the relation between Cuchulain and the horses
+which draw his chariot. Yet Finn's dogs are not quite as other dogs.
+They have something of a human soul in them. They know that in the
+milk-white fawn they pursue there is an enchanted maiden, and they
+defend her from the other hounds till Finn arrives. And it is told of
+them that sometimes, when the moon is high, they rise from their
+graves and meet and hunt together, and speak of ancient days. The
+supernatural has lessened since the heroic cycle. But it is still
+there in the Fenian.
+
+Again, the Fenian cycle of tales is more influenced by Christianity
+than the others are. The mythological cycle is not only fully pagan,
+it is primeval. It has the vastness, the savagery, the relentlessness
+of nature-myths, and what beauty there is in it is akin to terror.
+Gentleness is unknown. There is only one exception to this, so far as
+I know, and that is in the story of _The Children of Lir_. It is
+plain, however, that the Christian ending of that sorrowful story is a
+later addition to it. It is remarkably well done, and most tenderly. I
+believe that the artist who did it imported into the rest of the tale
+the exquisite tenderness which fills it, and yet with so much
+reverence for his original that he did not make the body of the story
+Christian. He kept the definite Christian element to the very end, but
+he filled the whole with its tender atmosphere.
+
+No Christianity and very little gentleness intrude into the heroic
+cycle. The story of Christ once touches it, but he who put it in did
+not lose the pagan atmosphere, or the wild fierceness of the manners
+of the time. How it was done may be read in this book at the end of
+the story of the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_. Very late in the redaction
+of these stories a Christian tag was also added to the tale of the
+death of Cuchulain, but it was very badly done.
+
+When we come to the Fenian cycle there is a well-defined borderland
+between them and Christianity. The bulk of the stories is plainly
+pagan; their originals were frankly so. But the temper of their
+composers is more civilized than that of those who conceived the tales
+of the previous cycles; the manners, as I have already said, of their
+personages are gentler, more chivalrous; and their atmosphere is so
+much nearer to that of Christianity, that the new Christian elements
+would find themselves more at home in them than in the terrible
+vengeance of Lugh, the savage brutality of Conor to Deirdré, or the
+raging slaughterings of Cuchulain. So much was this the case that a
+story was skilfully invented which linked in imagination the Fenian
+cycle to a Christianized Ireland. This story--_Oisín in the Land of
+Youth_--is contained in this book. Oisín, or Ossian, the son of Finn,
+in an enchanted story, lives for 300 years, always young, with his
+love in Tir-na-n-Óg, and finds on his return, when he becomes a
+withered old man, St Patrick and Christianity in Ireland. He tells to
+Patrick many tales of the Fenian wars and loves and glories, and in
+the course of them paganism and Christianity are contrasted and
+intermingled. A certain sympathy with the pagan ideas of honour and
+courage and love enters into the talk of Patrick and the monks, and
+softens their pious austerity. On the other hand, the Fenian legends
+are gentled and influenced by the Christian elements, in spite of the
+scorn with which Oisín treats the rigid condemnation of his companions
+and of Finn to the Christian hell, and the ascetic and unwarlike life
+of the monks.[4] There was evidently in the Fenian cycle of
+story-telling a transition period in which the bards ran Christianity
+and paganism in and out of one another, and mingled the atmosphere of
+both, and to that period the last editing of the story of _Lir and his
+Children_ may be referred. A lovely story in this book, put into fine
+form by Mr Rolleston, is as it were an image of this transition
+time--the story or _How Ethne quitted Fairyland_. It takes us back to
+the most ancient cycle, for it tells of the great gods Angus and
+Mananan, and then of how they became, after their conquest by the race
+who live in the second cycle, the invisible dwellers in a Fairy
+country of their own during the Fenian period, and, afterwards, when
+Patrick and the monks had overcome paganism. Thus it mingles together
+elements from all the periods. The mention of the great caldron and
+the swine which always renew their food is purely mythological. The
+cows which come from the Holy Land are Christian. Ethne herself is
+born in the house of a pagan god who has become a Fairy King, but
+loses her fairy nature and becomes human; and the reason given for
+this is an interesting piece of psychology which would never have
+occurred to a pagan world. She herself is a transition maiden, and,
+suddenly finding herself outside the fairy world and lost, happens on
+a monastery and dies on the breast of St Patrick. But she dies because
+of the wild wailing for her loss of the fairy-host, whom she can hear
+but cannot see, calling to her out of the darkened sky to come back to
+her home. And in her sorrow and the battle in her between the love of
+Christ and of Faerie, she dies. That is a symbol, not intended as such
+by its conceiver, but all the more significant, of the transition
+time. Short as it is, few tales, perhaps, are more deeply charged with
+spiritual meaning.
+
+   [4] I speak here of the better known of the two versions of
+   this encounter of the pagan with the Christian spirit. There
+   are others in which the reconciliation is carried still
+   further. One example is to be found in the _Colloquy of the
+   Ancients_ (SILVA GADELICA). Here Finn and his companions are
+   explicitly pronounced to be saved by their natural virtues, and
+   the relations of the Church and the Fenian warriors are most
+   friendly.
+
+Independent of these three cycles, but often touching them here and
+there, and borrowing from them, there are a number of miscellaneous
+tales which range from the earliest times till the coming of the
+Danes. The most celebrated of these are the _Storming of the Hostel_
+with the death of Conary the High King of Ireland, and the story of
+the Boru tribute. Two examples of these miscellaneous tales of a high
+antiquity are contained in this book--_King Iubdan and King Fergus_
+and _Etain and Midir_. Both of them have great charm and
+delightfulness.
+
+Finally, the manner in which these tales grew into form must be
+remembered when we read them. At first, they were not written down,
+but recited in hall and with a harp's accompaniment by the various
+bardic story-tellers who were attached to the court of the chieftain,
+or wandered singing and reciting from court to court. Each bard, if he
+was a creator, filled up the original framework of the tale with
+ornaments of his own, or added new events or personages to the tale,
+or mixed it up with other related tales, or made new tales altogether
+attached to the main personages of the original tale--episodes in
+their lives into which the bardic fancy wandered. If these new forms
+of the tales or episodes were imaginatively true to the characters
+round which they were conceived and to the atmosphere of the time,
+they were taken up by other bards and became often separate tales, or
+if a great number attached themselves to one hero, they finally formed
+themselves into one heroic story, such as that which is gathered round
+Cuchulain, which, as it stands, is only narrative, but might in time
+have become epical. Indeed, the Táin approaches, though at some
+distance, an epic. In this way that mingling of elements out of the
+three cycles into a single Saga took place.
+
+Then when Christianity came, the Irish who always, Christians or not,
+loved their race and its stories, would not let them go. They took
+them and suffused them with a Christian tenderness, even a Christian
+forgiveness. Or they inserted Christian endings, while they left the
+rest of the stories as pagan as before. Later on, while the stories
+were still learned by the bards and recited, they were written down,
+and somewhat spoiled by a luxurious use of ornamental adjectives, and
+by the weak, roving and uninventive fancy of men and monks aspiring to
+literature but incapable of reaching it.
+
+However, in spite of all this intermingling and of the different forms
+of the same story, it is possible for an intelligent and sensitive
+criticism, well informed in comparative mythology and folklore, to
+isolate what is very old in these tales from that which is less old,
+and that in turn from that which is still less old, and that from what
+is partly historical, medieval or modern. This has been done, with
+endless controversy, by those excellent German, French, and Irish
+scholars who have, with a thirsty pleasure, recreated the ancient
+literature of Ireland, and given her once more a literary name among
+the nations--a name which, having risen again, will not lose but
+increase its brightness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As to the stories themselves, they have certain well-marked
+characteristics, and in dwelling on these, I shall chiefly refer, for
+illustration, to the stories in this book. Some of these
+characteristic elements belong to almost all mythological tales, and
+arise from human imagination, in separated lands, working in the same
+or in a similar way on the doings of Nature, and impersonating them.
+The form, however, in which these original ideas are cast is, in each
+people, modified and varied by the animal life, the climate, the
+configuration of the country, the nearness of mountain ranges and of
+the sea, the existence of wide forests or vast plains, of swift rivers
+and great inland waters.
+
+The earliest tales of Ireland are crowded with the sea that wrapt the
+island in its arms; and on the west and north the sea was the mighty
+and mysterious Ocean, in whose far infinities lay for the Irish the
+land of Immortal Youth. Between its shining shores and Ireland,
+strange islands--dwelt in by dreadful or by fair and gracious
+creatures, whose wonders Maeldun and Brendan visited--lay like jewels
+on the green and sapphire waters. Out of this vast ocean emerged also
+their fiercest enemies. Thither, beyond these islands into the
+Unknown, over the waves on a fairy steed, went Oisín with Niam;
+thither, in after years, sailed St Brendan, till it seemed he touched
+America. In the ocean depths were fair cities and well-grassed lands
+and cattle, which voyagers saw through water thin and clear. There,
+too, Brian, one of the sons of Turenn, descended in his water-dress
+and his crystal helmet, and found high-bosomed maidens weaving in a
+shining hall. Into the land beneath the wave, Mananan, the proud god
+of the sea brought Dermot and Finn and the Fianna to help him in his
+wars, as is told in the story of the _Gilla Dacar_. On these western
+seas, near the land, Lir's daughters, singing and floating, passed
+three hundred years. On other seas, in the storm and in the freezing
+sleet that trouble the dark waves of Moyle, between Antrim and the
+Scottish isles, they spent another three centuries. Half the story of
+the Sons of Usnach has to do with the crossing of seas and with the
+coast. Even Cuchulain, who is a land hero, in one of the versions of
+his death, dies fighting the sea-waves. The sound, the restlessness,
+the calm, the savour and the infinite of the sea, live in a host of
+these stories; and to cap all, the sea itself and Mananan its god
+sympathise with the fates of Erin. When great trouble threatens
+Ireland, or one of her heroes is near death, there are three huge
+waves which, at three different points, rise, roaring, out of the
+ocean, and roll, flooding every creek and bay and cave and river round
+the whole coast with tidings of sorrow and doom. Later on, in the
+Fenian tales, the sea is not so prominent. Finn and his clan are more
+concerned with the land. Their work, their hunting and adventures
+carry them over the mountains and plains, through the forests, and by
+the lakes and rivers. In the stories there is scarcely any part of
+Ireland which is not linked, almost geographically, with its scenery.
+Even the ancient gods have retired from the coast to live in the
+pleasant green hills or by the wooded shores of the great lakes or in
+hearing of the soft murmur of the rivers. This business of the sea,
+this varied aspect of the land, crept into the imagination of the
+Irish, and were used by them to embroider and adorn their poems and
+tales. They do not care as much for the doings of the sky. There does
+not seem to be any supreme god of the heaven in their mythology.
+Neither the sun nor the moon are specially worshipped. There are
+sun-heroes like Lugh, but no isolated sun-god. The great beauty of the
+cloud-tragedies of storm, the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, so
+dramatic in Ireland, or the magnificence of the starry heavens, are
+scarcely celebrated. But the Irish folk have heard the sound of the
+wind in the tree-tops and marked its cold swiftness over the moor, and
+watched with fear or love the mists of ocean and the bewilderment of
+the storm-driven snow and the sweet falling of the dew. These are
+fully celebrated.
+
+These great and small aspects of Nature are not only celebrated, they
+are loved. One cannot read the stories in this book without feeling
+that the people who conceived and made them observed Nature and her
+ways with a careful affection, which seems to be more developed in the
+Celtic folk than elsewhere in modern Europe. There is nothing which
+resembles it in Teutonic story-telling. In the story of _The Children
+of Lir_, though there is no set description of scenery, we feel the
+spirit of the landscape by the lake where Lir listened for three
+hundred years to the sweet songs of his children. And, as we read of
+their future fate, we are filled with the solitude and mystery, the
+ruthlessness and beauty of the ocean. Even its gentleness on quiet
+days enters from the tale into our imagination. Then, too, the
+mountain-glory and the mountain-gloom are again and again
+imaginatively described and loved. The windings and recesses, the
+darkness and brightness of the woods and the glades therein, enchant
+the Fenians even when they are in mortal danger. And the waters of the
+great lakes, the deep pools of the rivers, the rippling shallows, the
+green banks, the brown rushing of the torrents, are all alive in the
+prose and song of Ireland. How deep was the Irish love of these
+delightful things is plain from their belief that "the place of the
+revealing of poetry was always by the margin of water." And the Salmon
+of Knowledge, the eating of which gave Finn his pre-eminence, swam in
+a green pool, still and deep, over which hung a rowan tree that shed
+its red berries on the stream. Lovely were the places whence Art and
+Knowledge came.
+
+Then, as to all good landscape lovers, the beasts, birds, and insects
+of Nature were dear to these ancient people. One of the things Finn
+most cared for was not only his hounds, but the "blackbird singing on
+Letterlee"; and his song, on page 114, in the praise of May, tells us
+how keen was his observant eye for animal life and how much it
+delighted him. The same minute realisation of natural objects is
+illustrated in this book when King Iubdan explains to the servant the
+different characteristics of the trees of the forest, and the mystic
+elements that abide in them. It was a habit, even of Teutonic poets,
+to tell of the various trees and their uses in verse, and Spenser and
+Drayton have both done it in later times. But few of them have added,
+as the Irish story does, a spiritual element to their description, and
+made us think of malign or beneficent elements attached to them. The
+woodbine, and this is a strange fancy, is the king of the woods. The
+rowan is the tree of the magicians, and its berries are for poets. The
+bramble is inimical to man, the alder is full of witchcraft, and the
+elder is the wood of the horses of the fairies. Into every tree a
+spiritual power is infused; and the good lords of the forest are loved
+of men and birds and bees.
+
+Thus the Irish love of nature led them to spiritualise, in another way
+than mythical, certain things in nature, and afterwards to humanise,
+up to a certain point, the noble implements wrought by human skill out
+of natural materials. And this is another element in all these
+stories, as it is in the folk-lore also of other lands. In the tale of
+the Sons of Turenn, the stones of the wayside tell to Lugh the story
+of the death of his father Kian, and the boat of Mananan, indwelt by a
+spirit, flies hither and thither over the seas, obeying the commands,
+even the thought, of its steersman. The soul of some famed spears is
+so hot for slaughter that, when it is not being used in battle, its
+point must stand in a bath of blood or of drowsy herbs, lest it
+should slay the host. The swords murmur and hiss and cry out for the
+battle; the shield of the hero hums louder and louder, vibrating for
+the encouragement of the warrior. Even the wheels of Cuchulain's
+chariot roar as they whirl into the fight. This partial life given to
+the weapons of war is not specially Celtic. Indeed, it is more common
+in Teutonic than in Celtic legend, and it seems probable that it was
+owing to the Norsemen that it was established in the Hero tales of
+Ireland.
+
+This addition of life, or of some of the powers of life, to tree and
+well and boulder-stone, to river and lake and hill, and sword and
+spear, is common to all mythologies, but the special character of each
+nation or tribe modifies the form of the life-imputing stories. In
+Ireland the tree, the stream were not dwelt in by a separate living
+being, as in Grecian story; the half-living powers they had were given
+to them from without, by the gods, the demons, the fairies; and in the
+case of the weapons, the powers they had of act or sound arose from
+the impassioned thoughts and fierce emotions of their forger or their
+wielder, which, being intense, were magically transferred to them. The
+Celtic nature is too fond of reality, too impatient of illusion, to
+believe in an actual living spirit in inanimate things. At least, that
+is the case in the stories of the Hero and the Fenian Cycles.[5]
+
+   [5] Everything, on the contrary, in the Mythological Cycle is
+   gifted with life, all the doings and things of nature are
+   represented as the work of living creatures; but it is quite
+   possible that those in Ireland who made these myths were not
+   Celts at all.
+
+What the Irish of the Heroic, and still more of the Fenian Cycle, did
+make in their imagination was a world, outside of themselves, of
+living spiritual beings, in whose actuality they fully believed, and
+in whom a great number of them still believe. A nation, if I may use
+this term, dwelt under the sea. Another dwelt in the far island of the
+ocean, the Isle of the Ever-Young. Another dwelt in the land, in the
+green hills and by the streams of Ireland; and these were the ancient
+gods who had now lost their dominion over the country, but lived on,
+with all their courtiers and warriors and beautiful women in a country
+underground. As time went on, their powers were dwarfed, and they
+became small of size, less beautiful, and in our modern times are less
+inclined to enter into the lives of men and women. But the Irish
+peasant still sees them flitting by his path in the evening light, or
+dancing on the meadow round the grassy mound, singing and playing
+strange melodies; or mourns for the child they have carried away to
+live with them and forget her people, or watches with fear his
+dreaming daughter who has been touched by them, and is never again
+quite a child of this earth, or quite of the common race of man.
+
+These were the invisible lands and peoples of the Irish imagination;
+and they live in and out of many of the stories. Cuchulain is lured
+into a fairy-land, and lives for more than a year in love with Fand,
+Mananan's wife. Into another fairy-land, through zones of mist,
+Cormac, as is told here, was lured by Mananan, who now has left the
+sea to play on the land. Oisín, as I have already said, flies with
+Niam over the sea to the island of Eternal Youth. Etain, out of the
+immortal land, is born into an Irish girl and reclaimed and carried
+back to her native shore by Midir, a prince of the Fairy Host. Ethne,
+whose story also is here, has lived for all her youth in the court of
+Angus, deep in the hill beside the rushing of the Boyne.
+
+These stories are but a few out of a great number of the loves and
+wars between the men and women of the human and the fairy races.
+Curiously enough, as the stories become less ancient, the relations
+between men and the fairies are more real, more close, even more
+affectionate. Finn and the Fianna seem to be almost in daily
+companionship with the fairy host--much nearer to them than the men of
+the Heroic Cycle are to the gods. They interchange love and music and
+battle and adventure with one another. They are, for the most part,
+excellent friends; and their intercourse suffers from no doubt. It is
+as real as the intercourse between Welsh and English on the
+Borderland.
+
+There was nothing illusive, nothing merely imaginary, in these fairy
+worlds for the Irish hero or the Irish people. They believed the lands
+to be as real as their own, and the indwellers of fairyland to have
+like passions with themselves. Finn is not a bit surprised when
+Vivionn the giantess sits beside him on the hill, or Fergus when King
+Iubdan stands on his hand; or St Patrick when Ethne, out of fairyland,
+dies on his breast, or when he sees, at his spell, Cuchulain, dead
+some nine hundred years, come forth out of the dark gates of Sheol,
+high in his chariot, grasping his deadly spear, driven as of old by
+his well-loved charioteer, drawn by the immortal steeds through the
+mist, and finally talking of his deeds and claiming a place in the
+Christian heaven--a place that Patrick yields to him. The invisible
+worlds lived, loved, and thought around this visible world, and were,
+it seems, closer and more real to the Celtic than to other races.
+
+But it was not only these agreeable and lovely folk in pleasant
+habitations whom the Irish made, but also spirits of another sort, of
+lesser powers and those chiefly malignant, having no fixed
+dwelling-place, homeless in the air and drifting with it, embodying
+the venomous and deadly elements of the earth and the angers and
+cruelty of the sea, and the hypocrisy of them all--demons, some of
+whom, like the stepmother of the children of Lir, have been changed
+from men or women because of wicked doings, but the most part born of
+the evil in Nature herself. They do what harm they can to innocent
+folk; they enter into, support, and direct--like Macbeth's
+witches--the evil thoughts of men; they rejoice in the battle, in the
+wounds and pain and death of men; they shriek and scream and laugh
+around the head of the hero when he goes forth, like Cuchulain, to an
+unwearied slaughter of men. They make the blight, the deadly mist, the
+cruel tempest. To deceive is their pleasure; to discourage, to baffle,
+to ruin the hero is their happiness. Some of them are monsters of
+terrific aspect who abide in lakes or in desolate rocks, as the
+terrible tri-formed horse whom Fergus mac Leda conquered and by whom
+he died.
+
+Naturally, as a link between these supernatural worlds and the natural
+world, there arose a body of men and women in Irish legend who, by
+years of study, gained a knowledge of, and power over, the
+supernatural beings, and used these powers for hurt to the enemies of
+their kingdom, or for help to their own people. Some were wise,
+learned, and statesmanlike, and used their powers for good. These were
+the high Druids, and every king had a band of them at his court and in
+his wars. They practiced what the Middle Ages called white magic.
+Others were wizards, magicians, witches, who, like the children of
+Cailitin, the foes of Cuchulain, or the three mutilated women whom
+Maev educated in evil craft to do evil to her foes, or the dread band
+that deceived Cuchulain into his last ride of death, practised black
+magic--evil, and the ministers of evil. Magic, and the doing of it,
+runs through the whole of Irish story-telling, and not only into pagan
+but also into Christian legend; for it was easy to change the old gods
+into devils, to keep the demonic creatures as demons, to replace the
+wise Druids by the priests and saints, and the wizards by the heretics
+who gave themselves to sorcery. Thus the ancient supernaturalism of
+the Irish has continued, with modern modifications, to the present
+day. The body of thought is much the same as it was in the days of
+Conor and Finn; the clothing is a bit different.
+
+Another characteristic of the stories, especially in the mythological
+period, is the barbaric brutality which appears in them. Curiously
+mingled with this, in direct contrast, is their tenderness. These
+extreme contrasts are common in the Celtic nature. A Gael, whether of
+Ireland or the Western Isles, will pass in a short time from the
+wildest spirits, dancing and singing and drinking, into deep and grim
+depression--the child of the present, whether in love or war; and in
+the tales of Ireland there is a similar contrast between their
+brutality and their tenderness. The sudden fierce jealousy and the
+pitiless cruelty of their stepmother to the children of Lir is set
+over against the exquisite tenderness of Fionnuala, which pervades the
+story like an air from heaven. The noble tenderness of Deirdre, of
+Naisi and his brothers, in life and death, to one another, is lovelier
+in contrast with the savage and treacherous revenge of Conor. The
+great pitifulness of Cuchulain's fight with his dear friend Ferdia,
+whom he is compelled to slay; the crowning tenderness of Emer's
+recollective love in song before she dies on Cuchulain's dead body,
+are in full contrast with the savage hard-heartedness and cruelties of
+Maev, and with the ruthless slaughters Cuchulain made of his foes, out
+of which he seems often to pass, as it were, in a moment, into
+tenderness and gracious speech. Even Finn, false for once to his
+constant courtesy, revenges himself on Dermot so pitilessly that both
+his son and grandson cry shame upon him.
+
+Of course this barbaric cruelty is common to all early periods in
+every nation; and, whenever fierce passion is aroused, to civilised
+nations also. What is remarkable in the Irish tales is the
+contemporary tenderness. The Vikings were as savage as the Irish, but
+the savagery is not mingled with the Irish tenderness. At last, when
+we pass from the Hero Cycle into the Cycle of Finn, there is scarcely
+any of the ancient brutality to be found in the host of romantic
+stories which gather round the chivalry of the Fenians.
+
+There are other characteristics of these old tales on which I must
+dwell. The first is the extra-ordinary love of colour. This is not a
+characteristic of the early German, English or Scandinavian poems and
+tales. Its remarkable presence in Scottish poetry, at a time when it
+is scarcely to be found in English literature, I have traced elsewhere
+to the large admixture of Celtic blood in the Lowlands of Scotland. In
+early Irish work it is to be found everywhere. In descriptions of
+Nature, which chiefly appear in the Fenian Cycle and in Christian
+times, colour is not as much dwelt on as we should expect, for nowhere
+that I have seen is it more delicate and varied than under the Irish
+atmosphere. Yet, again and again, the amber colour of the streams as
+they come from the boglands, and the crimson and gold of the
+sunsetting, and the changing green of the trees, and the blue as it
+varies and settles down on the mountains when they go to their rest,
+and the green crystal of the sea in calm and the dark purple of it in
+storm, and the white foam of the waves when they grow black in the
+squall, and the brown of the moors, and the yellow and rose and
+crimson of the flowers, and many another interchanging of colour, are
+seen and spoken of as if it were a common thing always to dwell on
+colour. This literary custom I do not find in any other Western
+literature. It is even more remarkable in the descriptions of the
+dress and weapons of the warriors and kings. They blaze with colour;
+and as gold was plentiful in Ireland in those far-off days, yellow and
+red are continually flashing in and out of the blue and green and rich
+purple of their dress. The women are dressed in as rich colours as the
+men. When Eochy met Etain by the spring of pure water, as told in this
+book, she must have flashed in the sunlight like a great jewel. Then,
+the halls where they met and the houses of the kings are represented
+as glorious with colour, painted in rich patterns, hung with woven
+cloths dyed deep with crimson and blue and green and yellow. The
+common things in use, eating and drinking implements, the bags they
+carry, the bed-clothing, the chess-men, the tables, are embroidered or
+chased or set with red carbuncles or white stones or with interlacing
+of gold. Colour is everywhere and everywhere loved. And where colour
+is loved the arts flourish, as the decorative arts flourished in
+Ireland.
+
+Lastly, on this matter, the Irish tale-tellers, even to the present
+day, dwell with persistence on the colour of the human body as a
+special loveliness, and with as much love of it as any Venetian when
+he painted it. And they did this with a comparison of its colour to
+the colours they observed in Nature, so that the colour of one was
+harmonised with the colour of the other. I might quote many such
+descriptions of the appearance of the warriors--they are
+multitudinous--but the picture of Etain is enough to illustrate what I
+say--"Her hair before she loosed it was done in two long tresses,
+yellow like the flower of the waterflag in summer or like red gold.
+Her hands were white as the snow of a single night, and her eyes as
+blue as the dark hyacinth, and her lips red as the berries of the
+rowan-tree, and her body as white as the foam of the sea-waves. The
+radiance of the moon was in her face and the light of wooing in her
+eyes." So much for the Irish love of colour.[6]
+
+   [6] I give one example of the way colour was laid on to animals
+   just for the pleasure of it. "And the eagle and cranes were red
+   with green heads, and their eggs were pure crimson and blue";
+   and deep in the wood the travellers found "strange birds with
+   white bodies and purple heads and golden beaks," and afterwards
+   three great birds, "one blue and his head crimson, and another
+   crimson and his head green, and another speckled and his head
+   gold."
+
+Their love of music was equally great; and was also connected with
+Nature. "The sound of the flowing of streams," said one of their
+bardic clan, "is sweeter than any music of men." "The harp of the
+woods is playing music," said another. In Finn's Song to May, the
+waterfall is singing a welcome to the pool below, the loudness of
+music is around the hill, and in the green fields the stream is
+singing. The blackbird, the cuckoo, the heron and the lark are the
+musicians of the world. When Finn asks his men what music they thought
+the best, each says his say, but Oisín answers, "The music of the
+woods is sweetest to me, the sound of the wind and of the blackbird,
+and the cuckoo and the soft silence of the heron." And Finn himself,
+when asked what was his most beloved music, said first that it was
+"the sharp whistling of the wind as it went through the uplifted
+spears of the seven battalions of the Fianna," and this was fitting
+for a hero to say. But when the poet in him spoke, he said his music
+was the crying of the sea-gull, and the noise of the waves, and the
+voice of the cuckoo when summer was at hand, and the washing of the
+sea against the shore, and of the tide when it met the river of the
+White Trout, and of the wind rushing through the cloud. And many other
+sayings of the same kind this charming and poetic folk has said
+concerning those sweet, strong sounds in Nature out of which the music
+of men was born.
+
+Again, there is not much music in the Mythological Tales. Lugh, it is
+true, is a great harper, and the harp of the Dagda, into which he has
+bound his music, plays a music at whose sound all men laugh, and
+another so that all men weep, and another so enthralling that all fall
+asleep; and these three kinds of music are heard through all the
+Cycles of Tales. Yet when the old gods of the mythology became the
+Sidhe,[7] the Fairy Host, they--having left their barbaric life
+behind--became great musicians. In every green hill where the tribes
+of fairy-land lived, sweet, wonderful music was heard all day--such
+music that no man could hear but he would leave all other music to
+listen to it, which "had in it sorrows that man has never felt, and
+joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as if he who heard it
+might break from time into eternity and be one of the immortals." And
+when Finn and his people lived, they, being in great harmony and union
+with the Sidhe, heard in many adventures with them their lovely music,
+and it became their own. Indeed, Finn, who had twelve musicians, had
+as their chief one of the Fairy Host who came to dwell with him, a
+little man who played airs so divine that all weariness and sorrow
+fled away. And from him Finn's musicians learnt a more enchanted art
+than they had known before. And so it came to pass that as in every
+fairy dwelling there was this divine art, so in every palace and
+chieftain's hall, and in every farm, there were harpers harping on
+their harps, and all the land was full of sweet sounds and
+airs--shaping in music, imaginative war, and sorrows, and joys, and
+aspiration. Nor has their music failed. Still in the west and south of
+Ireland, the peasant, returning home, hears, as the evening falls from
+the haunted hills, airs unknown before, or at midnight a wild
+triumphant song from the Fairy Host rushing by, or wakes with a dream
+melody in his heart. And these are played and sung next day to the
+folk sitting round the fire. Many who heard these mystic sounds became
+themselves the makers of melodies, and went about the land singing and
+making and playing from village to village and cabin to cabin, till
+the unwritten songs of Ireland were as numerous as they were various.
+Moore collected a hundred and twenty of them, but of late more than
+five hundred he knew not of have been secured from the people and from
+manuscripts for the pleasure of the world. And in them lives on the
+spirit of the Fianna, and the mystery of the Fairy Host, and the long
+sorrow and the fleeting joy of the wild weather in the heart of the
+Irish race.
+
+   [7] This word is pronounced Shee, and means "the folk of the
+   fairy mounds."
+
+As to the poetry of Ireland, that other Art which is illustrated in
+this book, so fully has it been dwelt on by many scholars and critics
+that it needs not be touched here other than lightly and briefly. The
+honour and dignity of the art of poetry goes back in Irish mythology
+to a dim antiquity. The ancient myth said that the nine hazels of
+wisdom grew round a deep spring beneath the sea, and the hazels were
+the hazels of inspiration and of poetry--so early in Ireland were
+inspiration and poetry made identical with wisdom. Seven streams of
+wisdom flowed from that fountain-head, and when they had fed the world
+returned to it again. And all the art-makers of mankind, and of all
+arts, have drunk of their waters. Five salmon in the spring ate of the
+hazel nuts, and some haunted the rivers of Ireland; and whosoever,
+like Finn, tasted the flesh of these immortal fish, was possessed of
+the wisdom which is inspiration and poetry. Such was the ancient Irish
+conception of the art of poetry.
+
+It is always an art which grows slowly into any excellence, and it
+needs for such growth a quieter life than the Irish lived for many
+centuries. Poems appear but rarely in the mythological or heroic
+cycles, and are loosely scattered among the prose of the bardic tales.
+A few are of war, but they are chiefly dirges like the Song of Emer
+over the dead body of Cuchulain, or that of Deirdre over
+Naisi--pathetic wailings for lost love. There is an abrupt and pitiful
+pain in the brief songs of Fionnuala, but I fancy these were made and
+inserted in Christian times. Poetry was more at home among the Fianna.
+The conditions of life were easier; there was more leisure and more
+romance. And the other arts, which stimulate poetry, were more widely
+practised than in the earlier ages. Finn's Song to May, here
+translated, is of a good type, frank and observant, with a fresh air
+in it, and a fresh pleasure in its writing. I have no doubt that at
+this time began the lyric poetry of Ireland, and it reached, under
+Christian influences, a level of good, I can scarcely say excellent,
+work, at a time when no other lyrical poetry in any vernacular existed
+in Europe or the Islands. It was religious, mystic, and chiefly
+pathetic--prayers, hymns, dirges, regrets in exile, occasional stories
+of the saints whose legendary acts were mixed with pagan elements, and
+most of these were adorned with illustrations drawn from natural
+beauty or from the doings of birds and beasts--a great affection for
+whom is prominent in the Celtic nature. The Irish poets sent this
+lyric impulse into Iceland, Wales, and Scotland, and from Scotland
+into England; and the rise of English vernacular poetry instead of
+Latin in the seventh and eighth centuries is due to the impulse given
+by the Irish monasteries at Whitby and elsewhere in Northumbria. The
+first rude lyric songs of Cædmon were probably modelled on the hymns
+of Colman.
+
+One would think that poetry, which arose so early in a nation's life,
+would have developed fully. But this was not the case in Ireland. No
+narrative, dramatic, didactic, or epic poetry of any importance arose,
+and many questions and answers might be made concerning this curious
+restriction of development. The most probable solution of this problem
+is that there was never enough peace in Ireland or continuity of
+national existence or unity, to allow of a continuous development of
+any one of the arts into all its forms. Irish poetry never advanced
+beyond the lyric. In that form it lasted all through the centuries; it
+lasts still at the present day, and Douglas Hyde has proved how much
+charm belongs to it in his book on the _Love Songs of Connacht_.
+
+It has had a long, long history; it has passed through many phases; it
+has sung of love and sorrow, of national wars and hopes, of Ireland
+herself as the Queen of Sorrow, of exile regrets from alien shores, of
+rebellion, of hatred of England, of political strife, in ballads sung
+in the streets, of a thousand issues of daily life and death--but of
+world-wide affairs, of great passions and duties and fates evolving in
+epic or clashing in drama, of continuous human lives in narrative
+(except in prose), of the social life of cities or of philosophic
+thought enshrined in stately verse, it has not sung. What it may do in
+the future, if Irish again becomes a tongue of literature in lofty
+poetry, lies on the knees of the gods. I wish it well, but such a
+development seems now too late. The Irish genius, if it is to speak in
+drama, in narrative poetry or in an epic, must speak, if it is to
+influence or to charm the world beyond the Irish shore, in a
+world-language like English, and of international as well as of Irish
+humanity.
+
+These elements on which I have dwelt seem to me the most distinctive,
+the most Irish, in the Tales in this book. There are many others on
+which a more minute analysis might exercise itself, phases of feeling
+concerning war or love or friendship or honour or the passions, but
+these are not specially Irish. They belong to common human nature, and
+have their close analogies in other mythologies, in other Folk-tales,
+in other Sagas. I need not touch them here. But there is one element
+in all the Irish tales which I have not yet mentioned, and it brings
+all the others within its own circumference, and suffuses them with
+its own atmosphere. It is the love of Ireland, of the land itself for
+its own sake--a mystic, spiritual imaginative passion which in the
+soul of the dweller in the country is a constant joy, and in the heart
+of the exile is a sick yearning for return. There are not many direct
+expressions of this in the stories; but it underlies the whole of
+them, and it is also in the air they breathe. But now and again it
+does find clear expression, and in each of the cycles we have
+discussed. When the sons of Turenn are returning, wounded to death,
+from the Hill of Mochaen, they felt but one desire. "Let us but see,"
+said Iuchar and Iucharba to their brother Brian, "the land of Erin
+again, the hills round Telltown, and the dewy plain of Bregia and the
+quiet waters of the Boyne and our father's Dún thereby, and healing
+will come to us; or if death come, we can endure it after that." Then
+Brian raised them up; and they saw that they were now near by under
+Ben Edar; and at the strand of the Bull they came to land. That is
+from the Mythological Cycle.
+
+In the Heroic Cycle it appears in the longing cry for return to
+Ireland of Naisi and his brothers, which drives them out of Alba to
+their death; but otherwise it is rarely expressed. In the Fenian Cycle
+it exists, not in any clear words, but in a general delight in the
+rivers, lakes, woods, valleys, plains, and mountains of Ireland. Every
+description of them, and of life among them, is done with a loving,
+observant touch; and moreover, the veil of magic charm is thrown over
+all the land by the creation in it of the life and indwelling of the
+fairy host. The Fianna loved their country well.
+
+When Christianity came, this deep-set sentiment did not lessen. It
+grew even stronger, and in exile it became a passion. It is
+illustrated by the songs of deep regret and affection Columba made in
+Iona, from whose rocky shores he looked day after day towards the west
+while the mists rose over Ireland. One little story of great beauty
+enshrines his passion. One morning he called to his side one of his
+monks, and said, "Go to the margin of the sea on the western side of
+our isle; and there, coming from the north of Ireland, you will see a
+voyaging crane, very weary and beaten by the storms, and it will fall
+at your feet on the beach. Lift it up with pity and carry it to the
+hut, nourish it for three days, and when it is refreshed and strong
+again it will care no more to stay with us in exile, but to fly back
+to sweet Ireland, the dear country where it was born. I charge you
+thus, for it comes from the land where I was born myself." And when
+his servant returned, having done as he was ordered, Columba said,
+"May God bless you, my son. Since you have well cared for our exiled
+guest, you will see it return to its own land in three days." And so
+it was. It rose, sought its path for a moment through the sky, and
+took flight on a steady wing for Ireland. The spirit of that story has
+never died in the soul of the Irish and in their poetry up to the
+present day.
+
+Lastly, as we read these stories, even in a modern dress, an
+impression of great ancientry is made upon us, so much so that some
+scholars have tried to turn Finn into a mythical hero--but if he be as
+old as that implies, of how great an age must be the clearly mythic
+tales which gather round the Tuatha de Danaan? However this may be,
+the impression of ancientry is deep and agreeable. All myths in any
+nation are, of course, of a high antiquity, but as they treat of the
+beginning of things, they mingle an impression of youth with one of
+age. This is very pleasant to the imagination, and especially so if
+the myths, as in Ireland, have some poetic beauty or strangeness, as
+in the myth I have referred to--of the deep spring of clear water and
+the nine hazels of wisdom that encompass it. This mingling of the
+beauty of youth and the honour of ancientry runs through all the Irish
+tales. Youth and the love of it, of its beauty and strength, adorn and
+vitalize their grey antiquity. But where, in their narrative, the
+hero's youth is over and the sword weak in his hand, and the passion
+less in his and his sweetheart's blood, life is represented as
+scarcely worth the living. The famed men and women die young--the sons
+of Turenn, Cuchulain, Conall, Dermot, Emer, Deirdre, Naisi, Oscar.
+Oisín has three hundred years of youth in that far land in the
+invention of which the Irish embodied their admiration of love and
+youth. His old age, when sudden feebleness overwhelms him, is made by
+the bardic clan as miserable, as desolate as his youth was joyous.
+Again, Finn lives to be an old man, but the immortal was in him, and
+either he has been born again in several re-incarnations (for the
+Irish held from time to time the doctrine of the transmigration of
+souls), or he sleeps, like Barbarossa, in a secret cavern, with all
+his men around him, and beside him the mighty horn of the Fianna,
+which, when the day of fate and freedom comes, will awaken with three
+loud blasts the heroes and send them forth to victory. Old as she is,
+Ireland does not grow old, for she has never reached her maturity. Her
+full existence is before her, not behind her. And when she reaches it
+her ancientry and all its tales will be dearer to her than they have
+been in the past. They will be an inspiring national asset. In them
+and in their strange admixture of different and successive periods of
+customs, thoughts and emotions (caused by the continuous editing and
+re-editing of them, first in oral recitation and then at the hands of
+scribes), Ireland will see the record of her history, not the history
+of external facts, but of her soul as it grew into consciousness of
+personality; as it established in itself love of law, of moral right,
+of religion, of chivalry, of courtesy in war and daily life; as it
+rejoiced, and above all, as it suffered and was constant, in suffering
+and oppression, to its national ideals.
+
+It seems as if, once at least, this aspect of the tales of Ireland was
+seen by men of old, for there is a story which tells that heaven
+itself desired their remembrance, and that we should be diverted and
+inspired by them. In itself it is a record of the gentleness of Irish
+Christianity to Irish heathendom, and of its love of the heroic past.
+For one day when Patrick and his clerks were singing the Mass at the
+Rath of the Red Ridge, where Finn was wont to be, he saw Keelta, a
+chief of the Fianna, draw near with his companions, and Keelta's huge
+hounds were with him. They were men so tall and great that fear fell
+on the clerks, but Patrick met with and asked their chieftain's name.
+"I am Keelta," he answered, "son of Ronan of the Fianna." "Was it not
+a good lord you were with," said Patrick, "Finn, son of Cumhal?" And
+Keelta said, "If the brown leaves falling in the wood were gold, if
+the waves of the sea were silver, Finn would have given them all
+away." "What was it kept you through your lifetime?" said Patrick.
+"Truth that was in our hearts, and strength in our hands, and
+fulfilment in our tongues," said Keelta. Then Patrick gave them food
+and drink and good treatment, and talked with them. And in the morning
+the two angels who guarded him came to him, and he asked them if it
+were any harm before God, King of heaven and earth, that he should
+listen to the stories of the Fianna. And the angels answered, "Holy
+Clerk, these old fighting men do not remember more than a third of
+their tales by reason of the forgetfulness of age, but whatever they
+tell write it down on the boards of the poets and in the words of the
+poets, for it will be a diversion to the companies and the high people
+of the latter times to listen to them."[8] So spoke the angels, and
+Patrick did as he bade them, and the stories are in the world to this
+day.
+
+   [8] This is quoted with a few omissions, from Lady Gregory's
+   delightful version, in her _Book of Saints and Wonders_, of an
+   episode in _The Colloquy of the Ancients_ (Silva Gadelica).
+
+STOPFORD A. BROOKE
+
+ST PATRICK'S DAY, 1910
+
+
+
+
+COIS NA TEINEADH
+
+(_By the Fireside._)
+
+
+   Where glows the Irish hearth with peat
+     There lives a subtle spell--
+   The faint blue smoke, the gentle heat,
+     The moorland odours, tell
+
+   Of long roads running through a red
+     Untamed unfurrowed land,
+   With curlews keening overhead,
+     And streams on either hand;
+
+   Black turf-banks crowned with whispering sedge,
+     And black bog-pools below;
+   While dry stone wall or ragged hedge
+     Leads on, to meet the glow
+
+   From cottage doors, that lure us in
+     From rainy Western skies,
+   To seek the friendly warmth within,
+     The simple talk and wise;
+
+   Or tales of magic, love and arms
+     From days when princes met
+   To listen to the lay that charms
+     The Connacht peasant yet.
+
+   There Honour shines through passions dire,
+     There beauty blends with mirth--
+   Wild hearts, ye never did aspire
+     Wholly for things of earth!
+
+   Cold, cold this thousand years--yet still
+     On many a time-stained page
+   Your pride, your truth, your dauntless will,
+     Burn on from age to age.
+
+   And still around the fires of peat
+     Live on the ancient days;
+   There still do living lips repeat
+     The old and deathless lays.
+
+   And when the wavering wreaths ascend,
+     Blue in the evening air,
+   The soul of Ireland seems to bend
+     Above her children there.
+
+
+
+
+BARDIC ROMANCES
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The Story of the Children of Lir
+
+
+Long ago there dwelt in Ireland the race called by the name of De
+Danaan, or People of the Goddess Dana. They were a folk who delighted
+in beauty and gaiety, and in fighting and feasting, and loved to go
+gloriously apparelled, and to have their weapons and household vessels
+adorned with jewels and gold. They were also skilled in magic arts,
+and their harpers could make music so enchanting that a man who heard
+it would fight, or love, or sleep, or forget all earthly things, as
+they who touched the strings might will him to do. In later times the
+Danaans had to dispute the sovranty of Ireland with another race, the
+Children of Miled, whom men call the Milesians, and after much
+fighting they were vanquished. Then, by their sorceries and
+enchantments, when they could not prevail against the invaders, they
+made themselves invisible, and they have dwelt ever since in the Fairy
+Mounds and raths of Ireland, where their shining palaces are hidden
+from mortal eyes. They are now called the Shee, or Fairy Folk of
+Erinn, and the faint strains of unearthly music that may be heard at
+times by those who wander at night near to their haunts come from the
+harpers and pipers who play for the People of Dana at their revels in
+the bright world underground.
+
+At the time when the tale begins, the People of Dana were still the
+lords of Ireland, for the Milesians had not yet come. They were
+divided it is said, into many families and clans; and it seemed good
+to them that their chiefs should assemble together, and choose one to
+be king and ruler over the whole people. So they met in a great
+assembly for this purpose, and found that five of the greatest lords
+all desired the sovranty of Erin. These five were Bóv the Red, and
+Ilbrech of Assaroe, and Lir from the Hill of the White Field, which is
+on Slieve Fuad in Armagh; and Midir the Proud, who dwelt at Slieve
+Callary in Longford; and Angus of Brugh na Boyna, which is now
+Newgrange on the river Boyne, where his mighty mound is still to be
+seen. All the Danaan lords saving these five went into council
+together, and their decision was to give the sovranty to Bóv the Red,
+partly because he was the eldest, partly because his father was the
+Dagda, mightiest of the Danaans, and partly because he was himself the
+most deserving of the five.
+
+All were content with this, save only Lir, who thought himself the
+fittest for royal rule; so he went away from the assembly in anger,
+taking leave of no one. When this became known, the Danaan lords would
+have pursued Lir, to burn his palace and inflict punishment and
+wounding on himself for refusing obedience and fealty to him whom the
+assembly had chosen to reign over them. But Bóv the Red forbade them,
+for he would not have war among the Danaans; and he said, "I am none
+the less King of the People of Dana because this man will not do
+homage to me."
+
+Thus it went on for a long time. But at last a great misfortune befell
+Lir, for his wife fell ill, and after three nights she died. Sorely
+did Lir grieve for this, and he fell into a great dejection of spirit,
+for his wife was very dear to him and was much thought of by all folk,
+so that her death was counted one of the great events of that time.
+
+Now Bóv the Red came ere long to hear of it, and he said, "If Lir
+would choose to have my help and friendship now, I can serve him well,
+for his wife is no longer living, and I have three maidens, daughters
+of a friend, in fosterage with me, namely, Eva and Aoife[9] and Elva,
+and there are none fairer and of better name in Erin; one of these he
+might take to wife." And the lords of the Danaans heard what he said,
+and answered that it was true and well bethought. So messengers were
+sent to Lir, to say that if he were willing to yield the sovranty to
+Bóv the Red, he might make alliance with him and wed one of his
+foster-children. To Lir, having been thus gently entreated, it seemed
+good to end the feud, and he agreed to the marriage. So the following
+day he set out with a train of fifty chariots from the Hill of the
+White Field and journeyed straight for the palace of Bóv the Red,
+which was by Lough Derg on the river Shannon.
+
+   [9] Pronounced Eefa.
+
+Arriving there, he found about him nothing but joy and glad faces, for
+the renewal of amity and concord; and his people were welcomed, and
+well entreated, and handsomely entertained for the night.
+
+[Illustration: "There sat the three maidens with the Queen"]
+
+And there sat the three maidens on the same couch with the Danaan
+Queen, and Bóv the Red bade Lir choose which one he would have to
+wife.
+
+"The maidens are all fair and noble," said Lir, "but the eldest is
+first in consideration and honour, and it is she that I will take, if
+she be willing."
+
+"The eldest is Eva," said Bóv the Red, "and she will wed thee if it be
+pleasing to thee." "It is pleasing," said Lir, and the pair were
+wedded the same night. Lir abode for fourteen days in the palace of
+Bóv the Red, and then departed with his bride, to make a great
+wedding-feast among his own people.
+
+In due time after this Eva, wife of Lir, bore him two fair children at
+a birth, a daughter and a son. The daughter's name was called
+Fionnuala of the Fair Shoulder, and the son's name was Hugh. And
+again she bore him two sons, Fiachra and Conn; and at their birth she
+died. At this Lir was sorely grieved and afflicted, and but for the
+great love he bore to his four children he would gladly have died too.
+
+When the folk at the palace of Bóv the Red heard that, they also were
+sorely grieved at the death of their foster-child, and they lamented
+her with keening and with weeping. Bóv the Red said, "We grieve for
+this maiden on account of the good man we gave her to, and for his
+friendship and fellowship; howbeit our friendship shall not be
+sundered, for we shall give him to wife her sister, namely Aoife."
+
+Word of this was brought to Lir, and he went once more to Lough Derg
+to the palace of Bóv the Red and there he took to wife Aoife, the fair
+and wise, and brought her to his own home. And Aoife held the children
+of Lir and of her sister in honour and affection; for indeed no one
+could behold these four children without giving them the love of his
+soul.
+
+For love of them, too, came Bóv the Red often to the house of Lir, and
+he would take them to his own house at times and let them spend a
+while there, and then to their own home again. All of the People of
+Dana who came visiting and feasting to Lir had joy and delight in the
+children, for their beauty and gentleness; and the love of their
+father for them was exceeding great, so that he would rise very early
+every morning to lie down among them and play with them.
+
+Only, alas! a fire of jealousy began to burn at last in the breast of
+Aoife, and hatred and bitter ill-will grew in her mind towards the
+children of Lir. And she feigned an illness, and lay under it for the
+most of a year, meditating a black and evil deed. At last she said
+that a journey from home might recover her, and she bade her chariot
+be yoked and set out, taking with her the four children. Fionnuala was
+sorely unwilling to go with her on that journey, for she had a
+misgiving, and a prevision of treachery and of kin-slaying against her
+in the mind of Aoife. Yet she was not able to avoid the mischief that
+was destined for her.
+
+So Aoife journeyed away from the Hill of the White Field, and when she
+had come some way she spoke to her people and said, "Kill me, I pray
+ye, the four children of Lir, who have taken the love of their father
+from me, and ye may ask of me what reward ye will." "Not so," said
+they, "by us they shall never be killed; it is an evil deed that you
+have thought of, and evil it is but to have spoken of it."
+
+When they would not consent to her will, she drew a sword and would
+have slain the children herself, but her womanhood overcame her and
+she could not. So they journeyed on westward till they came to the
+shores of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made a halt and the horses
+were outspanned. Aoife bade the children bathe and swim in the lake,
+and they did so. Then Aoife by Druid spells and witchcraft put upon
+each of the children the form of a pure white swan, and she cried to
+them:--
+
+  "Out on the lake with you, children of Lir!
+  Cry with the water-fowl over the mere!
+  Breed and seed of you ne'er shall I see;
+  Woeful the tale to your friends shall be."
+
+Then the four swans turned their faces towards the woman, and
+Fionnuala spoke to her and said, "Evil is thy deed, Aoife, to destroy
+us thus without a cause, and think not that thou shalt escape
+punishment for it. Assign us even some period to the ruin and
+destruction that thou hast brought upon us."
+
+"I shall do that," said Aoife, "and it is this: in your present forms
+shall ye abide, and none shall release you till the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North. Three hundred years shall ye be
+upon the waters of Derryvaragh, and three hundred upon the Straits of
+Moyle between Erinn and Alba,[10] and three hundred in the seas by
+Erris and Inishglory, and then shall the enchantment have an end."
+
+   [10] Scotland. Inishglory is an island in the Bay of Erris, on
+   the Mayo coast.
+
+Upon this, Aoife was smitten with repentance, and she said, "Since I
+may not henceforth undo what has been done, I give you this, that ye
+shall keep your human speech, and ye shall sing a sad music such as no
+music in the world can equal, and ye shall have your reason and your
+human will, that the bird-shape may not wholly destroy you." Then she
+became as one possessed, and cried wildly like a prophetess in her
+trance:--
+
+  "Ye with the white faces! Ye with the stammering
+      Gaelic on your tongues!
+  Soft was your nurture in the King's house--
+  Now shall ye know the buffeting wind!
+  Nine hundred years upon the tide.
+
+  "The heart of Lir shall bleed!
+  None of his victories shall stead him now!
+  Woe to me that I shall hear his groan,
+  Woe that I have deserved his wrath!"
+
+Then they caught and yoked her horses, and Aoife went on her way till
+she reached the palace of Bóv the Red. Here she and her folk were
+welcomed and entertained, and Bóv the Red inquired of her why she had
+not brought with her the children of Lir.
+
+"I brought them not," she replied, "because Lir loves thee not, and he
+fears that if he sends his children to thee, thou wouldst capture them
+and hold them for hostages."
+
+"That is strange," said Bóv the Red, "for I love those children as if
+they were my own." And his mind misgave him that some treachery had
+been wrought; and he sent messengers privily northwards to the Hill of
+the White Field. "For what have ye come?" asked Lir. "Even to bring
+your children to Bóv the Red," said they. "Did they not reach you with
+Aoife?" said Lir. "Nay," said the messengers, "but Aoife said you
+would not permit them to go with her."
+
+Then fear and trouble came upon Lir, for he surmised that Aoife had
+wrought evil upon the children. So his horses were yoked and he set
+out upon his road south-westward, until he reached the shores of Loch
+Derryvaragh. But as he passed by that water, Fionnuala saw the train
+of horsemen and chariots, and she cried to her brothers to come near
+to the shore, "for," said she, "these can only be the company of our
+father who have come to follow and seek for us."
+
+Lir, by the margin of the lake, saw the four swans and heard them
+talking with human voices, and he halted and spoke to them. Then said
+Fionnuala: "Know, O Lir, that we are thy four children, and that she
+who has wrought this ruin upon us is thy wife and our mother's sister,
+through the bitterness of her jealousy." Lir was glad to know that
+they were at least living, and he said, "Is it possible to put your
+own forms upon you again?" "It is not possible," said Fionnuala, "for
+all the men on earth could not release us until the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North." Then Lir and his people cried
+aloud in grief and lamentation, and Lir entreated the swans to come on
+land and abide with him since they had their human reason and speech.
+But Fionnuala said, "That may not be, for we may not company with men
+any longer, but abide on the waters of Erinn nine hundred years. But
+we have still our Gaelic speech, and moreover we have the gift of
+uttering sad music, so that no man who hears it thinks aught worth in
+the world save to listen to that music for ever. Do you abide by the
+shore for this night and we shall sing to you."
+
+So Lir and his people listened all night to the singing of the swans,
+nor could they move nor speak till morning, for all the high sorrows
+of the world were in that music, and it plunged them in dreams that
+could not be uttered.
+
+Next day Lir took leave of his children and went on to the palace of
+Bóv the Red. Bóv reproached him that he had not brought with him his
+children. "Woe is me," said Lir, "it was not I that would not bring
+them; but Aoife there, your own foster-child and their mother's
+sister, put upon them the forms of four snow-white swans, and there
+they are on the Loch of Derryvaragh for all men to see; but they have
+kept still their reason and their human voice and their Gaelic."
+
+Bóv the Red started when he heard this, and he knew that what Lir had
+said was true. Fiercely he turned to Aoife, and said, "This treachery
+will be worse, Aoife, for you than for them, for they shall be
+released in the end of time, but thy punishment shall be for ever."
+Then he smote her with a druid wand and she became a Demon of the Air,
+and flew shrieking from the hall, and in that form she abides to this
+day.
+
+[Illustration: "They made an encampment and the swans sang to them"]
+
+As for Bóv the Red, he came with his nobles and attendants to the
+shores of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made an encampment, and the
+swans conversed with them and sang to them. And as the thing became
+known, other tribes and clans of the People of Dana would also come
+from every part of Erinn and stay awhile to listen to the swans and
+depart again to their homes; and most of all came their own friends
+and fellow-pupils from the Hill of the White Field. No such music as
+theirs, say the historians of ancient times, ever was heard in Erinn,
+for foes who heard it were at peace, and men stricken with pain or
+sickness felt their ills no more; and the memory of it remained with
+them when they went away, so that a great peace and sweetness and
+gentleness was in the land of Erinn for those three hundred years that
+the swans abode in the waters of Derryvaragh.
+
+But one day Fionnuala said to her brethren, "Do ye know, my dear
+ones, that the end of our time here is come, all but this night only?"
+Then great sorrow and distress overcame them, for in the converse with
+their father and kinsfolk and friends they had half forgotten that
+they were no longer men, and they loved their home on Loch
+Derryvaragh, and feared the angry waves of the cold northern sea. But
+early next day they came to the lough-side to speak with Bóv the Red
+and with their father, and to bid them farewell, and Fionnuala sang to
+them her last lament. Then the four swans rose in the air and flew
+northward till they were seen no more, and great was the grief among
+those they left behind; and Bóv the Red let it be proclaimed
+throughout the length and breadth of Erin that no man should
+henceforth presume to kill a swan, lest it might chance to be one of
+the children of Lir.
+
+Far different was the dwelling-place which the swans now came to, from
+that which they had known on Loch Derryvaragh. On either side of them,
+to north and south, stretched a wide coast far as the eye could see,
+beset with black rocks and great precipices, and by it ran fiercely
+the salt, bitter tides of an ever-angry sea, cold, grey, and misty;
+and their hearts sank to behold it and to think that there they must
+abide for three hundred years.
+
+Ere long, one night, there came a thick murky tempest upon them, and
+Fionnuala said, "In this black and violent night, my brothers, we may
+be driven apart from each other; let us therefore appoint a
+meeting-place where we may come together again when the tempest is
+overpast." And they settled to meet at the Seal Rock, for this rock
+they had now all learned to know.
+
+By midnight the hurricane descended upon the Straits of Moyle, and the
+waves roared upon the coast with a deafening noise, and thunder
+bellowed from the sky, and lightning was all the light they had. The
+swans were driven apart by the violence of the storm, and when at last
+the wind fell and the seas grew calm once more, Fionnuala found
+herself alone upon the ocean-tide not far from the Seal Rock. And thus
+she made her lament:--
+
+   "Woe is me to be yet alive!
+   My wings are frozen to my sides.
+   Wellnigh has the tempest shattered my heart,
+   And my comely Hugh parted from me!
+
+   "O my beloved ones, my Three,
+   Who slept under the shelter of my feathers,
+   Shall you and I ever meet again
+   Until the dead rise to life?
+
+   "Where is Fiachra, where is Hugh?
+   Where is my fair Conn?
+   Shall I henceforth bear my part alone?
+   Woe is me for this disastrous night!"
+
+Fionnuala remained upon the Seal Rock until the morrow morn, watching
+the tossing waters in all directions around her, until at last she saw
+Conn coming towards her, and his head drooping and feathers drenched
+and disarrayed. Joyfully did the sister welcome him; and ere long,
+behold, Fiachra also approaching them, cold and wet and faint, and the
+speech was frozen in him that not a word he spake could be understood.
+So Fionnuala put her wings about him, and said, "If but Hugh came now,
+how happy should we be!"
+
+In no long time after that they saw Hugh also approaching them across
+the sea, and his head was dry and his feathers fair and unruffled, for
+he had found shelter from the gale. Fionnuala put him under her
+breast, and Conn under her right wing and Fiachra under her left, and
+covered them wholly with her feathers. "O children," she said to them,
+"evil though ye think this night to have been, many such a one shall
+we know from this time forward."
+
+So there the swans continued, suffering cold and misery upon the tides
+of Moyle; and one while they would be upon the coast of Alba and
+another upon the coast of Erinn, but the waters they might not leave.
+At length there came upon them a night of bitter cold and snow such
+as they had never felt before, and Fionnuala sang this lament:--
+
+  "Evil is this life.
+  The cold of this night,
+  The thickness of the snow,
+  The sharpness of the wind--
+
+  "How long have they lain together,
+  Under my soft wings,
+  The waves beating upon us,
+  Conn and Hugh and Fiachra?
+
+  "Aoife has doomed us,
+  Us, the four of us,
+  To-night to this misery--
+  Evil is this life."
+
+Thus for a long time they suffered, till at length there came upon the
+Straits of Moyle a night of January so piercing cold that the like of
+it had never been felt. And the swans were gathered together upon the
+Seal Rock. The waters froze into ice around them, and each of them
+became frozen in his place, so that their feet and feathers clung to
+the rock; and when the day came and they strove to leave the place,
+the skin of their feet and the feathers of their breasts clove to the
+rock, they came naked and wounded away.
+
+"Woe is me, O children of Lir," said Fionnuala, "we are now indeed in
+evil case, for we cannot endure the salt water, yet we may not be away
+from it; and if the salt water gets into our sores we shall perish of
+it." And thus she sang:--
+
+   "To-night we are full of keening;
+   No plumage to cover our bodies;
+   And cold to our tender feet
+   Are the rough rocks all awash.
+
+   "Cruel to us was Aoife,
+   Who played her magic upon us,
+   And drove us out to the ocean,
+   Four wonderful, snow-white swans.
+
+   "Our bath is the frothing brine
+   In the bay by red rocks guarded,
+   For mead at our father's table
+   We drink of the salt blue sea.
+
+   "Three sons and a single daughter--
+   In clefts of the cold rocks dwelling,
+   The hard rocks, cruel to mortals.
+   --We are full of keening to-night."
+
+So they went forth again upon the Straits of Moyle, and the brine was
+grievously sharp and bitter to them, but they could not escape it nor
+shelter themselves from it. Thus they were, till at last their
+feathers grew again and their sores were healed.
+
+On one day it happened that they came to the mouth of the river Bann
+in the north of Erinn, and there they perceived a fair host of
+horsemen riding on white steeds and coming steadily onward from the
+south-west "Do ye know who yon riders are, children of Lir?" asked
+Fionnuala. "We know not," said they, "but it is like they are some
+party of the People of Dana." Then they moved to the margin of the
+land, and the company they had seen came down to meet them; and
+behold, it was Hugh and Fergus, the two sons of Bóv the Red, and their
+nobles and attendants with them, who had long been seeking for the
+swans along the coast of the Straits of Moyle.
+
+Most lovingly and joyfully did they greet each other and the swans
+inquired concerning their father Lir, and Bóv the Red, and the rest of
+their kinsfolk.
+
+"They are well," said the Danaans; "and at this time they are all
+assembled together in the palace of your father at the Hill of the
+White Field, where they are holding the Festival of the Age of
+Youth.[11] They are happy and gay and have no weariness or trouble,
+save that you are not among them, and that they have not known where
+you were since you left them at Lough Derryvaragh."
+
+   [11] A magic banquet which had the effect of preserving for
+   ever the youth of the People of Dana.
+
+"That is not the tale of our lives," said Fionnuala.
+
+After that the company of the Danaans departed and brought word of the
+swans to Bóv the Red and to Lir, who were rejoiced to hear that they
+were living, "for," said they, "the children shall obtain relief in
+the end of time." And the swans went back to the tides of Moyle and
+abode there till their time to be in that place had expired.
+
+When that day had come, Fionnuala declared it to them, and they rose
+up wheeling in the air, and flew westward across Ireland till they
+came to the Bay of Erris, and there they abode as was ordained. Here
+it happened that among those of mortal MEN whose dwellings bordered on
+the bay was a young man of gentle blood, by name Evric, who having
+heard the singing of the swans came down to speak with them, and
+became their friend. After that he would often come to hear their
+music, for it was very sweet to him; and he loved them greatly, and
+they him. All their story they told him, and he it was who set it
+down in order, even as it is here narrated.
+
+Much hardship did they suffer from cold and tempest in the waters of
+the Western Sea, yet not so much as they had to bear by the coasts of
+the ever-stormy Moyle, and they knew that the day of redemption was
+now drawing near. In the end of the time Fionnuala said, "Brothers,
+let us fly to the Hill of the White Field, and see how Lir our father
+and his household are faring." So they arose and set forward on their
+airy journey until they reached the Hill of the White Field, and thus
+it was that they found the place: namely, desolate and thorny before
+them, with nought but green mounds where once were the palaces and
+homes of their kin, and forests of nettles growing over them, and
+never a house nor a hearth. And the four drew closely together and
+lamented aloud at that sight, for they knew that old times and things
+had passed away in Erinn, and they were lonely in a land of strangers,
+where no man lived who could recognise them when they came to their
+human shapes again. They knew not that Lir and their kin of the People
+of Dana yet dwelt invisible in the bright world within the Fairy
+Mounds, for their eyes were holden that they should not see, since
+other things were destined for them than to join the Danaan folk and
+be of the company of the immortal Shee.
+
+So they went back again to the Western Sea until the holy Patrick
+came into Ireland and preached the Faith of the One God and of the
+Christ. But a man of Patrick's men, namely the Saint Mochaovóg,[12]
+came to the Island of Inishglory in Erris Bay, and there built himself
+a little church of stone, and spent his life in preaching to the folk
+and in prayer. The first night he came to the island the swans heard
+the sound of his bell ringing at matins on the following morn, and
+they leaped in terror, and the three brethren left Fionnuala and fled
+away. Fionnuala cried to them, "What ails you, beloved brothers?" "We
+know not," said they, "but we have heard a thin and dreadful voice,
+and we cannot tell what it is." "That is the voice of the bell of
+Mochaovóg," said Fionnuala, "and it is that bell which shall deliver
+us and drive away our pains, according to the will of God."
+
+   [12] Pronounced Mo-chweev-ogue.
+
+Then the brethren came back and hearkened to the chanting of the
+cleric until matins were performed. "Let us chant our music now," said
+Fionnuala. So they began, and chanted a solemn, slow, sweet, fairy
+song in adoration of the High King of Heaven and of Earth.
+
+Mochaovóg heard that, and wondered, and when he saw the swans he spoke
+to them and inquired them. They told him they were the children of
+Lir. "Praised be God for that," said Mochaovóg. "Surely it is for your
+sakes that I have come to this island above every other island that is
+in Erinn. Come to land now, and trust in me that your salvation and
+release are at hand."
+
+So they came to land, and dwelt with Mochaovóg in his own house, and
+there they kept the canonical hours with him and heard mass. And
+Mochaovóg caused a good craftsman to make chains of silver for the
+swans, and put one chain between Fionnuala and Hugh and another
+between Conn and Fiachra; and they were a joy and solace of mind to
+the Saint, and their own woe and pain seemed to them dim and far off
+as a dream.
+
+Now at this time it happened that the King of Connacht was Lairgnen,
+son of Colman, and he was betrothed to Deoca, daughter of the King of
+Munster. And so it was that when Deoca came northward to be wedded to
+Lairgnen she heard the tale of the swans and of their singing, and she
+prayed the king that he would obtain them for her, for she longed to
+possess them. But Lairgnen would not ask them of Mochaovóg. Then Deoca
+set out homeward again, and vowed that she would never return to
+Lairgnen till she had the swans; and she came as far as the church of
+Dalua, which is now called Kildaloe, in Clare. Then Lairgnen sent
+messengers for the birds to Mochaovóg, but he would not give them up.
+
+At this Lairgnen was very wroth, and he went himself to Mochaovóg, and
+he found the cleric and the four birds at the altar. But Lairgnen
+seized upon the birds by their silver chains, two in each hand dragged
+them away to the place where Deoca was; and Mochaovóg followed them.
+But when they came to Deoca and she had laid her hands upon the
+birds, behold, their covering of feathers fell off and in their places
+were three shrunken and feeble old men and one lean and withered old
+woman, fleshless and bloodless from extreme old age. And Lairgnen was
+struck with amazement and fear, and went out from that place.
+
+Then Fionnuala said to Mochaovóg, "Come now and baptize us quickly,
+for our end is near. And if you are grieved at parting from us, know
+that also to us it is a grief. Do thou make our grave when we are
+dead, and place Conn at my right side and Fiachra at my left, and Hugh
+before my face, for thus they were wont to be when I sheltered them on
+many a winter night by the tides of Moyle."
+
+So Mochaovóg baptized the three brethren and their sister; and shortly
+afterwards they found peace and death, and they were buried even as
+Fionnuala had said. And over their tomb a stone was raised, and their
+names and lineage graved on it in branching Ogham[13]; and lamentation
+and prayers were made for them, and their souls won to heaven.
+
+   [13] See p. 133, _note_.
+
+But Mochaovóg was sorrowful, and grieved after them so long as he
+lived on earth.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The Quest of the Sons of Turenn
+
+
+Long ago, when the people of Dana yet held lordship in Erinn, they
+were sorely afflicted by hordes of sea-rovers named Fomorians who used
+to harry the country and carry off youths and maidens into captivity.
+They also imposed cruel and extortionate taxes upon the people, for
+every kneading trough, and every quern for grinding corn, and every
+flagstone for baking bread had to pay its tax. And an ounce of gold
+was paid as a poll-tax for every man, and if any man would not or
+could not pay, his nose was cut off. Under this tyranny the whole
+country groaned, but they had none who was able to band them together
+and to lead them in battle against their oppressors.
+
+Now before this it happened that one of the lords of the Danaans named
+Kian had married with Ethlinn, daughter of Balor, a princess of the
+Fomorians. They had a son named Lugh Lamfada, or Lugh of the Long Arm,
+who grew up into a youth of surpassing beauty and strength. And if his
+body was noble and mighty, no less so was his mind, for lordship and
+authority grew to him by the gift of the Immortals, and whatever he
+purposed that would he perform, whatever it might cost in time or
+toil, in tears or in blood. Now this Lugh was not brought up in Erinn
+but in a far-off isle of the western sea, where the sea-god Mananan
+and the other Immortals nurtured and taught him, and made him fit
+alike for warfare or for sovranty, when his day should come to work
+their will on earth. Hither in due time came the report of the
+grievous and dishonouring oppression wrought by the Fomorians upon the
+people of Dana, and that report was heard by Lugh. Then Lugh said to
+his tutors "It were a worthy deed to rescue my father and the people
+of Erinn from this tyranny; let me go thither and attempt it." And
+they said to him, "Go, and blessing and victory be with thee." So Lugh
+armed himself and mounted his fairy steed, and called his friends and
+foster-brothers about him, and across the bright and heaving surface
+of the waters they rode like the wind, until they took land in Erinn.
+
+Now the chiefs of the Danaan folk were assembled upon the Hill of
+Usnach, which is upon the western side of Tara in Meath, in order to
+meet there the stewards of the Fomorians and to pay them their
+tribute. As they awaited the arrival of the Fomorians they became
+aware of a company on horseback, coming from the west, before whom
+rode a young man who seemed to command them all, and whose countenance
+was as radiant as the sun upon a dry summer's day, so that the Danaans
+could scarcely gaze upon it. He rode upon a white horse and was armed
+with a sword, and on his head was a helmet set with precious stones.
+The Danaan folk welcomed him as he came among them, and asked him of
+his name and his business among them. As they were thus talking
+another band drew near, numbering nine times nine persons, who were
+the stewards of the Fomorians coming to demand their tribute. They
+were men of a fierce and swarthy countenance, and as they came
+haughtily and arrogantly forward, the Danaans all rose up to do them
+honour. Then Lugh said:
+
+"Why do ye rise up before that grim and ill-looking band and not
+before us?"
+
+Said the King of Erinn, "We needs must do so, for if they saw but a
+child of a month old sitting down when they came near they would hold
+it cause enough to attack and slay us."
+
+"I am greatly minded to slay them," said Lugh; and he repeated it,
+"very greatly minded."
+
+"That would be bad for us," said the King, "for our death and
+destruction would surely follow."
+
+"Ye are too long under oppression," said Lugh, and gave the word for
+onset. So he and his comrades rushed upon the Fomorians, and in a
+moment the hillside rang with blows and with the shouting of warriors.
+In no long time all of the Fomorians were slain save nine men, and
+these were taken alive and brought before Lugh.
+
+"Ye also should be slain," said Lugh, "but that I am minded to send
+you as ambassadors to your King. Tell him that he may seek homage and
+tribute where he will henceforth, but Ireland will pay him none for
+ever."
+
+Then the Fomorians went northwards away, and the people of Dana made
+them ready for war, and made Lugh their captain and war-lord, for the
+sight of his face heartened them, and made them strong, and they
+marvelled that they had endured their slavery so long.
+
+In the meantime word was brought to Balor of the Mighty Blows, King of
+the Fomorians, and to his queen Kethlinn of the Twisted Teeth, of the
+shame and destruction that had been done to their stewards, and they
+assembled a great host of the sea-rovers and manned their war-ships,
+and the Northern Sea was white with the foam of their oarblades as
+they swept down upon the shores of Erinn. And Balor commanded them,
+saying, "When ye have utterly destroyed and subdued the people of
+Dana, then make fast your ships with cables to the land of Erinn, and
+tow it here to the north of us into the region of ice and snow, and it
+shall trouble us no longer." So the host of Balor took land by the
+Falls of Dara[14] and began plundering and devastating the province of
+Connacht.
+
+   [14] Ballysodare = the Town of the Falls of Dara, in Co. Sligo.
+
+Then Lugh sent messengers abroad to bring his host together, and
+among them was his own father, Kian, son of Canta. And as Kian went
+northwards on his errand to rouse the Ulster men, and was now come to
+the plain of Murthemny near by Dundealga,[15] he saw three warriors
+armed and riding across the plain. Now these three were the sons of
+Turenn, by name Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba. And there was an
+ancient blood-feud between the house of Canta and the house of Turenn,
+so that they never met without bloodshed.
+
+   [15] Dundalk.
+
+Then Kian thought to himself, "If my brothers Cu and Kethan were here
+there might be a pretty fight, but as they are three to one I would do
+better to fly." Now there was a herd of wild swine near by; and Kian
+changed himself by druidic sorceries into a wild pig and fell to
+rooting up the earth along with the others.
+
+When the sons of Turenn came up to the herd, Brian said, "Brothers,
+did ye see the warrior wh' just now was journeying across the plain?"
+
+"We saw him," said they.
+
+"What is become of him?" said Brian.
+
+"Truly, we cannot tell," said the brothers.
+
+"It is good watch ye keep in time of war!" said Brian; "but I know
+what has taken him out of our sight, for he struck himself with a
+magic wand, and changed himself into the form of one of yonder swine,
+and he is rooting the earth among them now. Wherefore," said Brian, "I
+deem that he is no friend to us."
+
+"If so, we have no help for it," said they, "for the herd belongs to
+some man of the Danaans; and even if we set to and begin to kill the
+swine, the pig of druidism might be the very one to escape."
+
+"Have ye learned so little in your place of studies," said Brian,
+"that ye cannot distinguish a druidic beast from a natural beast?" And
+with that he smote his two brothers with a magic wand, and changed
+them into two slender, fleet hounds, and they darted in among the
+herd. Then all the herd scattered and fled, but the hounds separated
+the druidic pig and chased it towards a wood where Brian awaited it.
+As it passed, Brian flung his spear, and it pierced the chest of the
+pig and brought it down. The pig screamed, "Evil have you done to cast
+at me."
+
+Brian said, "That hath the sound of human speech!"
+
+"I am in truth a man," said the pig, "and I am Kian, son of Canta, and
+I pray you show me mercy."
+
+"That will we," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "and sorry are we for what
+has happened."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but I swear by the Wind and the Sun that if thou
+hadst seven lives I would take them all."
+
+"Grant me a favour then," said Kian.
+
+"We shall grant it," said Brian.
+
+"Let me," said Kian, "return into my own form that I may die in the
+shape of a man."
+
+"I had liefer kill a man than a pig," said Brian. Then Kian became a
+man again and stood before them, the blood trickling from his breast.
+
+"I have outwitted you now," cried he, "for if ye had killed a pig ye
+would have paid a pig's eric,[16] but now ye shall pay the eric of a
+man. Never was greater eric in the land of Erinn than that which ye
+shall pay; and I swear that the very weapons with which ye slay me
+shall tell the tale to the avenger of blood."
+
+   [16] Blood-fine.
+
+"Then you shall be slain with no weapons at all," said Brian; and they
+picked up the stones on the Plain of Murthemny and rained them upon
+him till he was all one wound, and he died. So they buried him as
+deep as the height of a man, and went their way to join the host of
+Lugh.
+
+When the host was assembled, Lugh led them into Connacht and smote the
+Fomorians and drove them to their ships, but of this the tale tells
+not here. But when the fight was done, Lugh asked of his comrades if
+they had seen his father in the fight and how it fared with him. They
+said they had not seen him. Then Lugh made search among the dead, and
+they found not Kian there. "Were Kian alive he would be here," said
+Lugh, "and I swear by the Wind and the Sun that I will not eat or
+drink till I know what has befallen him."
+
+On their return the Danaan host passed by the Plain of Murthemny, and
+when they came near the place of the murder the stones cried aloud to
+Lugh. And Lugh listened, and they told him of the deed of the sons of
+Turenn. Then Lugh searched for the place of a new grave, and when he
+had found it he caused it to be dug, and the body of his father was
+raised up, and Lugh saw that it was but a litter of wounds. And he
+cried out: "O wicked and horrible deed!" and he kissed his father and
+said, "I am sick from this sight, my eyes are blind from it, my ears
+are deaf from it, my heart stands still from it. Ye gods that I adore,
+why was I not here when this crime was done? a man of the children of
+Dana slain by his fellows." And he lamented long and bitterly. Then
+Kian was again laid in his grave, and a mound was heaped over it and a
+pillar-stone set thereon and his name written in Ogham, and a dirge
+was sung for him.
+
+After that Lugh departed to Tara, to the Court of the High King, and
+he charged his people to say nothing of what had happened until he
+himself had made it known.
+
+When he reached Tara with his victorious host the King placed Lugh at
+his own right hand before all the princes and lords of the Danaan
+folk. Lugh looked round about him, and saw the sons of Turenn sitting
+among the assembly; and they were among the best and strongest and the
+handsomest of those who were present at that time; nor had any borne
+themselves better in the fight with the sea-rovers. Then Lugh asked of
+the King that the chain of silence might be shaken; and the assembly
+heard it, and gave their attention to Lugh. And Lugh said:
+
+"O King, and ye princes of the People of Dana, I ask what vengeance
+would each of you exact upon a man who had foully murdered your
+father?"
+
+Then they were all astonished, and the King answered and said:
+
+"Surely it is not the father of Lugh Lamfada who has thus been slain?"
+
+"Thou hast said it," said Lugh, "and those who did the deed are
+listening to me now, and know it better than I."
+
+The King said, "Not in one day would I slay the murderer of my father,
+but I would tear from him a limb day by day till he were dead."
+
+And so spake all the lords of the Danaans, and the Sons of Turenn
+among the rest.
+
+"They have sentenced themselves, the murderers of my father," said
+Lugh. "Nevertheless I shall accept an eric from them, and if they will
+pay it, it shall be well; but if not, I shall not break the peace of
+the King's Assembly and of his sanctuary, but let them beware how they
+leave the Hall Tara until they have made me satisfaction."
+
+"Had I slain your father," said the High King, "glad should I be to
+have an eric accepted for his blood."
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn whispered among themselves. "It is to us that
+Lugh is speaking," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "let us confess and have
+the eric assessed upon us, for he has got knowledge of our deed."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but he may be seeking for an open confession, and
+then perchance he would not accept an eric."
+
+But the two brethren said to Brian, "Do thou confess because thou art
+the eldest, or if thou do not, then we shall."
+
+So Brian, son of Turenn, rose up and said to Lugh: "It is to us thou
+hast spoken, Lugh, since thou knowest there is enmity of old time
+between our houses; and if thou wilt have it that we have slain thy
+father, then declare our eric and we shall pay it."
+
+"I will take an eric from you," said Lugh, "and if it seem too great,
+I will remit a portion of it."
+
+"Declare it, then," said the Sons of Turenn.
+
+"This it is," said Lugh.
+
+"Three apples.
+
+"The skin of a pig.
+
+"A spear.
+
+"Two steeds and a chariot.
+
+"Seven swine.
+
+"A whelp of a dog.
+
+"A cooking spit.
+
+"Three shouts on a hill."
+
+"We would not consider heavy hundreds or thousands of these things,"
+said the Sons of Turenn, "but we misdoubt thou hast some secret
+purpose against us."
+
+"I deem it no small eric," said Lugh, "and I call to witness the High
+King and lords of the Danaans that I shall ask no more; and do ye on
+your side give me guarantees for the fulfilment of it."
+
+So the High King and the lords of the Danaans entered into bonds with
+Lugh and with the Sons of Turenn that the eric should be paid and
+should wipe out the blood of Kian.
+
+"Now," said Lugh, "it is better for me to give you fuller knowledge of
+the eric. The three apples that I have demanded of you are the apples
+that grow in the garden of the Hesperides, in the east of the world,
+and none but these will do. Thus it is with them: they are the colour
+of bright gold, and as large as the head of a month-old child; the
+taste of them is like honey; if he who eats them has any running sore
+or evil disease it is healed by them; they may be eaten and eaten and
+never be less. I doubt, O young heroes, if ye will get these apples,
+for those who guard them know well an ancient prophecy that one day
+three knights from the western world would come to attempt them.
+
+"As for the skin of the pig, that is a treasure of Tuish, the King of
+Greece. If it be laid upon a wounded man it will make him whole and
+well, if only it overtake the breath of life in him. And do ye know
+what is the spear that I demanded?"
+
+"We do not," said they.
+
+"It is the poisoned spear of Peisear, the King of Persia, and so
+fierce is the spirit of war in it that it must be kept in a pot of
+soporific herbs or it would fly out raging for death. And do ye know
+what are the two horses and the chariot ye must get?"
+
+"We do not know," said they.
+
+"The steeds and the chariot belong to Dobar, King of Sicily. They are
+magic steeds and can go indifferently over land and sea, nor can they
+be killed by any weapon unless they be torn in pieces and their bones
+cannot be found. And the seven pigs are the swine of Asal, King of the
+Golden Pillars, which may be slain and eaten every night and the next
+morning they are alive again.
+
+"And the hound-whelp I asked of you is the whelp of the King of
+Iorroway, that can catch and slay any beast in the world; hard it is
+to get possession of that whelp.
+
+"The cooking spit is one of the spits that the fairy women of the
+Island of Finchory have in their kitchen.
+
+"And the hill on which ye must give three shouts is the hill where
+dwells Mochaen in the north of Lochlann. Now Mochaen and his sons have
+it as a sacred ordinance that they permit not any man to raise a shout
+upon their hill. With him it was that my father was trained to arms,
+and if I forgave ye his death, yet would Mochaen not forgive it.
+
+"And now ye know the eric which ye have to pay for the slaying of
+Kian, son of Canta."
+
+Astonishment and despair overcame the Sons of Turenn when they learned
+the meaning of the eric of Lugh, and they went home to tell the
+tidings to their father.
+
+"This is an evil tale," said Turenn; "I doubt but death and doom shall
+come from your seeking of that eric, and it is but right they should.
+Yet it may be that ye shall obtain the eric if Lugh or Mananan will
+help you to it. Go now to Lugh, and ask him for the loan of the fairy
+steed of Mananan, which was given him to ride over the sea into Erinn.
+He will refuse you, for he will say that the steed is but lent to him
+and he may not make a loan of a loan. Then ask him for the loan of
+Ocean Sweeper, which is the magic boat of Mananan, and that he must
+give, for it is a sacred ordinance with Lugh not to refuse a second
+petition."
+
+So they went to Lugh, and it all fell out as Turenn had told them, and
+they went back to Turenn.
+
+"Ye have done something towards the eric," said Turenn, "but not much.
+Yet Lugh would be well pleased that ye brought him whatever might
+serve him when the Fomorians come to the battle again, and well
+pleased would he be that ye might get your death in bringing it. Go
+now, my sons, and blessing and victory be with you."
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn went down to the harbour on the Boyne river
+where the Boat of Mananan was, and Ethne their sister with them. And
+when they reached the place, Ethne broke into lamentations and
+weeping; but Brian said, "Weep not, dear sister, but let us go forth
+gaily to great deeds. Better a hundred deaths in the quest of honour
+than to live and die as cowards and sluggards." But Ethne said, "ye
+are banished from Erinn--never was there a sadder deed." Then they
+put forth from the river-mouth of the Boyne and soon the fair coasts
+of Erinn faded out of sight. "And now," said they among themselves,
+"what course shall we steer?"
+
+[Illustration: "'Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of
+the Hesperides'"]
+
+"No need to steer the Boat of Mananan," said Brian; and he whispered
+to the Boat, "Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the
+Hesperides"; and the spirit of the Boat heard him and it leaped
+eagerly forward, lifting and dipping over the rollers and throwing up
+an arch of spray each side of its bows wherein sat a rainbow when the
+sun shone upon it; and so in no long time they drew nigh to the coast
+where was the far-famed garden of the Golden Apples.
+
+"And now, how shall we set about the capture of the apples?" said
+Brian.
+
+"Draw sword and fight for them," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "and if we
+are the stronger, we shall win them, and if not, we shall fall, as
+fall we surely must ere the eric for Kian be paid."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but whether we live or die, let not men say of us
+that we went blind and headlong to our tasks, but rather that we made
+the head help the hand, and that we deserved to win even though we
+lost. Now my counsel is that we approach the garden in the shape of
+three hawks, strong of wing, and that we hover about until the Wardens
+of the Tree have spent all their darts and javelins in casting at us,
+and then let us swoop down suddenly and bear off each of us an apple
+if we may."
+
+So it was agreed; and Brian struck himself and each of the brothers
+with a druid wand, and they became three beautiful, fierce, and
+strong-winged hawks. When the Wardens perceived them, they shouted and
+threw showers of arrows and darts at them, but the hawks evaded all of
+these until the missiles were spent, and then seized each an apple in
+his talons. But Brian seized two, for he took one in his beak as well.
+Then they flew as swiftly as they might to the shore where they had
+left their boat. Now the King of that garden had three fair daughters,
+to whom the apples and the garden were very dear, and he transformed
+the maidens into three griffins, who pursued the hawks. And the
+griffins threw darts of fire, as it were lightning, at the hawks.
+
+"Brian!" then cried Iuchar and his brother, "we are being burnt by
+these darts--we are lost unless we can escape them."
+
+On this, Brian changed himself and his brethren into three swans, and
+they plunged into the sea, and the burning darts were quenched. Then
+the griffins gave over the chase, and the Sons of Turenn made for
+their boat, and they embarked with the four apples. Thus their first
+quest was ended.
+
+After that they resolved to seek the pigskin from the King of Greece,
+and they debated how they should come before him. "Let us," said
+Brian, "assume the character and garb of poets and men of learning,
+for such are wont to come from Ireland and to travel foreign lands,
+and in that character shall the Greeks receive us best, for such men
+have honour among them." "It is well said," replied the brothers, "yet
+we have no poems in our heads, and how to compose one we know not."
+
+Howbeit they dressed their hair in the fashion of the poets of Erinn,
+and went up to the palace of Tuish the King. The doorkeeper asked of
+them who they were, and what was their business.
+
+"We are bards from Ireland," they said, "and we have come with a poem
+to the King."
+
+"Let them be admitted," said the King, when the doorkeeper brought him
+that tale; "they have doubtless come thus far to seek a powerful
+patron."
+
+So Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba came in and were made welcome, and
+were entertained, and then the minstrels of the King of Greece chanted
+the lays of that country before them. After that came the turn of the
+stranger bards, and Brian asked his brethren if they had anything to
+recite.
+
+"We have not," said they; "we know but one art--to take what we want
+by the strong hand if we may, and if we may not, to die fighting."
+
+"That is a difficult art too," said Brian; "let us see how we thrive
+with the poetry."
+
+So he rose up and recited this lay:--
+
+   "Mighty is thy fame, O King,
+   Towering like a giant oak;
+   For my song I ask no thing
+   Save a pigskin for a cloak.
+
+   "When a neighbour with his friend
+   Quarrels, they are ear to ear;
+   Who on us their store shall spend
+   Shall be richer than they were.
+
+   "Armies of the storming wind--
+   Raging seas, the sword's fell stroke--
+   Thou hast nothing to my mind
+   Save thy pigskin for a cloak."
+
+"That is a very good poem," said the King, "but one word of its
+meaning I do not understand."
+
+"I will interpret it for you," said Brian:--
+
+  "Mighty is thy fame, O King,
+  Towering like a giant oak."
+
+"That is to say, as the oak surpasses all the other trees of the
+forest, so do you surpass all the kings of the world in goodness, in
+nobleness, and in liberality.
+
+  "A pigskin for a cloak."
+
+"That is the skin of the pig of Tuish which I would fain receive as
+the reward for my lay."
+
+   "When a neighbour with his friend
+   Quarrels, they are ear to ear."
+
+"That is to signify that you and I shall be about each other's ears
+over the skin, unless you are willing to give it to me. Such is the
+sense of my poem," said Brian, son of Turenn.
+
+"I would praise your poem more," said the King, "if there were not so
+much about my pigskin in it. Little sense have you, O man of poetry,
+to make that request of me, for not to all the poets, scholars, and
+lords of the world would I give that skin of my own free will. But
+what I will do is this--I will give the full of that skin of red gold
+thrice over in reward for your poem."
+
+"Thanks be to you," said Brian, "for that. I knew that I asked too
+much, but I knew also thou wouldst redeem the skin amply and
+generously. And now let the gold be duly measured out in it, for
+greedy am I, and I will not abate an ounce of it."
+
+The servants of the King were then sent with Brian and his brothers to
+the King's treasure-chamber to measure out the gold. As they did so,
+Brian suddenly snatched the skin from the hands of him who held it,
+and swiftly wrapped it round his body. Then the three brothers drew
+sword and made for the door, and a great fight arose in the King's
+palace. But they hewed and thrust manfully on every side of them, and
+though sorely wounded they fought their way through and escaped to
+the shore, and drove their boat out to sea, when the skin of the magic
+pig quickly made them whole and sound again. And thus the second quest
+of the Sons of Turenn had its end.
+
+"Let us now," said Brian, "go to seek the spear of the King of
+Persia."
+
+"In what manner of guise shall we go before the King of Persia?" said
+his brothers.
+
+"As we did before the King of Greece," said Brian.
+
+"That guise served us well with the King of Greece," replied they;
+"nevertheless, O Brian, this business of professing to be poets, when
+we are but swordsmen, is painful to us."
+
+However, they dressed their hair in the manner of poets and went up
+boldly to the palace of King Peisear of Persia, saying, as before,
+that they were wandering bards from Ireland who had a poem to recite
+before the King; and as they passed through the courtyard they marked
+the spear drowsing in its pot of sleepy herbs. They were made welcome,
+and after listening to the lays of the King's minstrel, Brian rose and
+sang:--
+
+   "'Tis little Peisear cares for spears,
+   Since armies, when his face they see,
+   All overcome with panic fears
+   Without a wound they turn and flee.
+
+   "The Yew is monarch of the wood,
+   No other tree disputes its claim.
+   The shining shaft in venom stewed
+   Flies fiercely forth to kill and maim."
+
+"'Tis a very good poem," said the King, "but, O bard from Erinn, I do
+not understand your reference to my spear."
+
+"It is merely this," replied Brian, "that I would like your spear as a
+reward for my poem."
+
+Then the King stared at Brian, and his beard bristled with anger, and
+he said, "Never was a greater reward paid for any poem than not to
+adjudge you guilty of instant death for your request."
+
+Then Brian flung at the king the fourth golden apple which he had
+taken from the Garden of the Hesperides, and it dashed out his brains.
+Immediately the brothers all drew sword and made for the courtyard.
+Here they seized the magic spear, and with it and with their swords
+they fought their way clear, not without many wounds, and escaped to
+their boat. And thus ended the third quest of the Sons of Turenn.
+
+Now having come safely and victoriously through so many straits and
+perils, they began to be merry and hoped that all the eric might yet
+be paid. So they sailed away with high hearts to the Island of Sicily,
+to get the two horses and the chariot of the King, and the Boat of
+Mananan bore them swiftly and well.
+
+Having arrived here, they debated among themselves as to how they
+should proceed; and they agreed to present themselves as Irish
+mercenary soldiers--for such were wont in those days to take service
+with foreign kings--until they should learn where the horses and the
+chariot were kept, and how they should come at them. Then they went
+forward, and found the King and his lords in the palace garden taking
+the air.
+
+The Sons of Turenn then paid homage to him, and he asked them of their
+business.
+
+"We are Irish mercenary soldiers," they said, "seeking our wages from
+the kings of the world." "Are ye willing to take service with me?"
+said the King. "We are," said they, "and to that end are we come."
+
+Then their contract of military service was made, and they remained at
+the King's court for a month and a fortnight, and did not in all that
+time come to see the steeds or the chariot. At last Brian said,
+
+"Things are going ill with us, my brethren, in that we know no more at
+this day of the steeds or of the chariot than when we first arrived at
+this place."
+
+"What shall we do, then?" said they.
+
+"Let us do this," said Brian. "Let us gird on our arms and all our
+marching array, and tell the King that we shall quit his service
+unless he show us the chariot."
+
+And so they did; and the King said, "To-morrow shall be a gathering
+and parade of all my host, and the chariot shall be there, and ye
+shall see it if ye have a mind."
+
+So the next day the steeds were yoked and the chariot was driven round
+a great plain before the King and his lords. Now these steeds could
+run as well on sea as on dry land, and they were swifter than the
+winds of March. As the chariot came round the second time, Brian and
+his brothers seized the horses' heads, and Brian took the charioteer
+by the foot and flung him out over the rail, and they all leaped into
+the chariot and drove away. Such was the swiftness of their driving
+that they were out of sight ere the King and his men knew rightly
+what had befallen. And thus ended the fourth quest of the Sons of
+Turenn.
+
+Next they betook themselves to the court of Asal, King of the Golden
+Pillars, to get the seven swine which might be eaten every night and
+they would be whole and well on the morrow morn.
+
+But it had now been noised about every country that three young heroes
+from Erinn were plundering the kings of the world of their treasures
+in payment of a mighty eric; and when they arrived at the Land of the
+Golden Pillars they found the harbour guarded and a strait watch kept,
+that no one who might resemble the Sons of Turenn should enter.
+
+But Asal the King came to the harbour-mouth and spoke with the heroes,
+for he was desirous to see those who had done the great deeds that he
+had heard of. He asked them if it were true that they had done such
+things, and why. Then Brian told him the story of the mighty eric
+which had been laid upon them, and what they had done and suffered in
+fulfilling it. "Why," said King Asal, "have ye now come to my
+country?"
+
+"For the seven swine," said Brian, "to take them with us as a part of
+that eric."
+
+"How do you mean to get them?" asked the King.
+
+"With your goodwill," replied Brian, "if so it may be, and to pay you
+therefore with all the wealth we now have, which is thanks and love,
+and to stand by your side hereafter in any strait or quarrel you may
+enter into. But if you will not grant us the swine, and we may not be
+quit of our eric without them, we shall even take them as we may, and
+as we have beforetime taken mighty treasures from mighty kings."
+
+Then King Asal went into counsel with his lords, and he advised that
+the swine be given to the Sons of Turenn, partly for that he was moved
+with their desperate plight and the hardihood they had shown, and
+partly that they might get them whether or no. To this they all
+agreed, and the Sons of Turenn were invited to come ashore, where they
+were courteously and hospitably entertained in the King's palace. On
+the morrow the pigs were given to them, and great was their gladness,
+for never before had they won a treasure without toil and blood. And
+they vowed that, if they should live, the name of Asal should be made
+by them a great and shining name, for his compassion and generosity
+which he had shown them. This, then, was the fifth quest of the Sons
+of Turenn.
+
+"And whither do ye voyage now?" said Asal to them.
+
+"We go," said they, "to Iorroway for the hound's whelp which is
+there."
+
+"Take me with you, then," said Asal, "for the King of Iorroway is
+husband to my daughter, and I may prevail upon him to grant you the
+hound without combat."
+
+So the King's ship was manned and provisioned, and the Sons of Turenn
+laid up their treasures in the Boat of Mananan, and they all sailed
+joyfully forth to the pleasant kingdom of Iorroway.
+
+But here, too, they found all the coasts and harbours guarded, and
+entrance was forbidden them. Then Asal declared who he was, and him
+they allowed to land, and he journeyed to where his son-in-law, the
+King of Iorroway, was. To him Asal related the whole story of the sons
+of Turenn, and why they were come to that kingdom.
+
+"Thou wert a fool," said the King of Iorroway, "to have come on such a
+mission. There are no three heroes in the world to whom the Immortals
+have granted such grace that they should get my hound either by favour
+or by fight."
+
+"That is not a good word," said Asal, "for the treasures they now
+possess have made them yet stronger than they were, and these they won
+in the teeth of kings as strong as thou." And much more he said to him
+to persuade him to yield up the hound, but in vain. So Asal took his
+way back to the haven where the Sons of Turenn lay, and told them his
+tidings.
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn seized the magic spear, and the pigskin, and
+with a rush like that of three eagles descending from a high cliff
+upon a lamb-fold they burst upon the guards of the King of Iorroway.
+Fierce and fell was the combat that ensued, and many times the
+brothers were driven apart, and all but overborne by the throng of
+their foes. But at last Brian perceived where the King of Iorroway was
+directing the fight, and he cut his way to him, and having smitten him
+to the ground, he bound him and carried him out of the press to the
+haven-side where Asal was.
+
+"There," he said, "is your son-in-law for you Asal, and I swear by my
+sword that I had more easily killed him thrice than once to bring him
+thus bound to you."
+
+"That is very like," said Asal; "but now hold him to ransom."
+
+So the people of Iorroway gave the hound to the Sons of Turenn as a
+ransom for their King, and the King was released, and friendship and
+alliance were made between them. And with joyful hearts the Sons of
+Turenn bade farewell to the King of Iorroway and to Asal, and departed
+on their way. Thus was the sixth of their quests fulfilled.
+
+Now Lugh Lamfada desired to know how the Sons of Turenn had fared, and
+whether they had got any portion of the great eric that might be
+serviceable to him when the Fomorians should return for one more
+struggle. And by sorcery and divination it was revealed to him how
+they had thriven, and that nought remained to be won save the
+cooking-spit of the sea-nymphs, and to give the three shouts upon the
+hill. Lugh then by druidic art caused a spell of oblivion and
+forgetfulness to descend upon the Sons of Turenn, and put into their
+hearts withal a yearning and passion to return to their native land of
+Erinn. They forgot, therefore, that a portion of the eric was still to
+win, and they bade the Boat of Mananan bear them home with their
+treasures, for they deemed that they should now quit them of all their
+debt for the blood of Kian and live free in their father's home,
+having done such things and won such fame as no three brothers had
+ever done since the world began.
+
+At the Brugh of Boyne, where they had started on their quest, their
+boat came ashore again, and as they landed they wept for joy, and
+falling on their knees they kissed the green sod of Erinn. Then they
+took up their treasures and journeyed to Ben Edar,[17] where the High
+King of Ireland, and Lugh with him, were holding an Assembly of the
+People of Dana. But when Lugh heard that they were on their way he put
+on his cloak of invisibility and withdrew privily to Tara.
+
+   [17] The Hill of Howth.
+
+When the brethren arrived at Ben Edar, the High King of the lords of
+the Danaans gave them welcome and applause, for all were rejoiced that
+the stain of ancient feud and bloodshed should be wiped out, and that
+the Children of Dana should be at peace within their borders. Then
+they sought for Lugh to deliver over the eric, but he was not to be
+found. And Brian said, "He has gone to Tara to avoid us, having heard
+that we were coming with our treasures and weapons of war."
+
+Word was then sent to Lugh at Tara that the Sons of Turenn were at Ben
+Edar, and the eric with them.
+
+"Let them pay it over to the High King," said Lugh.
+
+So it was done; and when Lugh had tidings that the High King had the
+eric, he returned to Ben Edar.
+
+Then the eric was laid before him, and Brian said, "Is the debt paid,
+O Lugh, son of Kian?"
+
+Lugh said, "Truly there is here the price of any man's death; but it
+is not lawful to give a quittance for an eric that is not complete.
+Where is the cooking-spit from the Island of Finchory? and have ye
+given the three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen?"
+
+At this word Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba fell prone upon the
+ground, and were speechless awhile from grief and dismay. After a
+while they left the Assembly like broken men, with hanging heads and
+with heavy steps, and betook themselves to Dún Turenn, where they
+found their father, and they told him all that had befallen them since
+they had parted with him and set forth on the Quest. Thus they passed
+the night in gloom and evil forebodings, and on the morrow they went
+down once more to the place where the Boat of Mananan was moored. And
+Ethne their sister accompanied them, wailing and lamenting, but no
+words of cheer had they now to say to her, for now they began to
+comprehend that a mightier and a craftier mind had caught them in the
+net of fate. And whereas they had deemed themselves heroes and victors
+in the most glorious quest whereof the earth had record, they now knew
+that they were but as arrows in the hands of a laughing archer, who
+shoots one at a stag and one at the heart of a foe, and one, it may
+be, in sheer wantonness, and to try his bow, over a cliff edge into
+the sea.
+
+[Illustration: "There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs"]
+
+However, they put forth in their magic boat, but in no wise could they
+direct it to the Isle of Finchory, and a quarter of a year they
+traversed the seaways and never could get tidings of that island. At
+last Brian fashioned for himself by magic art a water-dress, with a
+helmet of crystal, and into the depths of the sea he plunged. Here,
+the story tells, he searched hither and thither for a fortnight, till
+at last he found that island, which was an island indeed with the sea
+over it and around it and beneath it. There dwelt the red-haired
+ocean-nymphs in glittering palaces among the sea-flowers, and they
+wrought fair embroidery with gold and jewels, and sang, as they
+wrought, a fairy music like the chiming of silver bells. Three fifties
+of them sat or played in their great hall as Brian entered, and they
+gazed on him but spoke no word. Then Brian strode to the wide hearth,
+and without a word he seized from it a spit that was made of beaten
+gold, and turned again to go. But at that the laughter of the
+sea-maidens rippled through the hall and one of them said:
+
+"Thou art a bold man, Brian, and bolder than thou knowest; for if
+thy two brothers were here, the weakest of us could vanquish all the
+three. Nevertheless, take the spit for thy daring; we had never
+granted it for thy prayers."
+
+So Brian thanked them and bade farewell, and he rose to the surface of
+the water. Ere long his brethren perceived him as he shouldered the
+waves on the bosom of the deep, and they sailed to where he was and
+took him on board. And thus ended the quest for the seventh portion of
+the eric of Kian.
+
+After that their hopes revived a little, and they set sail for the
+land of Lochlann, in which was the Hill of Mochaen. When they had
+arrived at the hill Mochaen came out to meet them with his three sons,
+Corc and Conn and Hugh; nor did the Sons of Turenn ever behold a band
+of grimmer and mightier warriors than those four.
+
+"What seek ye here?" asked Mochaen of them They told him that it had
+been laid upon them to give three shouts upon the hill.
+
+"It hath been laid upon me," said Mochaen, "to prevent this thing."
+
+Then Brian and Mochaen drew sword and fell furiously upon each other,
+and their fighting was like that of two hungry lions or two wild
+bulls, until at last Brian drove his sword into the throat of Mochaen,
+and he died.
+
+With that the Sons of Mochaen and the Sons of Turenn rushed fiercely
+upon each other. Long and sore was the strife that they had, and the
+blood that fell made red the grassy place wherein they fought. Not one
+of them but received wounds that pierced him through and through, and
+that heroes of less hardihood had died of a score of times. But in the
+end the sons of Mochaen fell, and Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba lay over
+them in a swoon like death.
+
+After a while Brian's senses came back to him, and he said, "Do ye
+live, dear brothers, or how is it with you?" "We are as good as dead,"
+said they; "let us be."
+
+"Arise," then said Brian, "for truly I feel death coming swiftly upon
+us, and we have yet to give the three shouts upon the hill."
+
+"We cannot stir," said Iuchar and Iucharba. Then Brian rose to his
+knees and to his feet, and he lifted up his two brothers while the
+blood of all three streamed down to their feet, and they raised their
+voices as best they might, and gave three hoarse cries upon the Hill
+of Mochaen. And thus was the last of the epic fulfilled.
+
+Then they bound up their wounds, and Brian placed himself between the
+two brothers, and slowly and painfully they made their way to the
+boat, and put out to sea for Ireland. And as they lay in the stupor of
+faintness in the boat, one murmured to himself, "I see the Cape of Ben
+Edar and the coast of Turenn, and Tara of the Kings." Then Iuchar and
+Iucharba entreated Brian to lift their heads upon his breast. "Let us
+but see the land of Erinn again," said they, "the hills around
+Tailtin, and the dewy plain of Bregia, and the quiet waters of the
+Boyne and our father's Dún thereby, and healing will come to us; or if
+death come we can endure it after that." Then Brian raised them up;
+and they saw that they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the
+Strand of the Bull[18] they took land. They were then conveyed to the
+Dún of Turenn, and life was still in them when they were laid in their
+father's hall.
+
+   [18] Cluan Tarbh, Clontarf; so called from the roaring of the
+   waves on the strand.
+
+And Brian said to Turenn, "Go now, dear father, with all speed to Lugh
+at Tara. Give him the cooking-spit, and tell how thou hast found us
+after giving our three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen. Then beseech
+him that he yield thee the loan of the pigskin of the King of Greece,
+for if it be laid upon us while the life is yet in us, we shall
+recover. We have won the eric, and it may be that he will not pursue
+us to our death."
+
+Turenn went to Lugh and gave him the spit of the sea-nymphs, and
+besought him for the lives of his sons.
+
+Lugh was silent for a while, but his countenance did not change, and
+he said, "Thou, old man, seest nought but the cloud of sorrow wherein
+thou art encompassed. But I hear from above it the singing of the
+Immortal Ones, who tell to one another the story of this land. Thy
+sons must die; yet have I shown to them more mercy than they showed to
+Kian. I have forgiven them; nor shall they live to slay their own
+immortality, but the royal bards of Erinn and the old men in the
+chimney corners shall tell of their glory and their fate as long as
+the land shall endure."
+
+Then Turenn bowed his white head and went sorrowfully back to Dún
+Turenn; and he told his sons of the words that Lugh had said. And
+with that the sons of Turenn kissed each other, and the breath of life
+departed from them, and they died. And Turenn died also, for his heart
+was broken in him; and Ethne his daughter buried them in one grave.
+Thus, then, ends the tale of the Quest of the Eric and the Fate of the
+Sons of Turenn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Secret of Labra
+
+
+In very ancient days there was a King in Ireland named Labra, who was
+called Labra the Sailor for a certain voyage that he made. Now Labra
+was never seen save by one man, once a year, without a hood that
+covered his head and ears. But once a year it was his habit to let his
+hair be cropped, and the person to do this was chosen by lot, for the
+King was accustomed to put to death instantly the man who had cropped
+him. And so it happened that on a certain year the lot fell on a young
+man who was the only son of a poor widow, who dwelt near by the palace
+of the King. When she heard that her son had been chosen she fell on
+her knees before the King and besought him, with tears, that her son,
+who was her only support and all she had in the world, might not
+suffer death as was customary. The King was moved by her grief and her
+entreaties, and at last he consented that the young man should not be
+slain provided that he vowed to keep secret to the day of his death
+what he should see. The youth agreed to this and he vowed by the Sun
+and the Wind that he would never, so long as he lived, reveal to man
+what he should learn when he cropped the King's hair.
+
+So he did what was appointed for him and went home. But when he did so
+he had no peace for the wonder of the secret that he had learned
+preyed upon his mind so that he could not rest for thinking of it and
+longing to reveal it, and at last he fell into a wasting sickness from
+it, and was near to die. Then there was brought to see him a wise
+druid, who was skilled in all maladies of the mind and body, and after
+he had talked with the youth he said to his mother, "Thy son is dying
+of the burden of a secret which he may not reveal to any man, but
+until he reveals it he will have no ease. Let him, therefore, walk
+along the high way till he comes to a place where four roads meet. Let
+him then turn to the right, and the first tree that he shall meet on
+the roadside let him tell the secret to it, and so it may be he shall
+be relieved, and his vow will not be broken."
+
+The mother told her son of the druid's advice, and next day he went
+upon his way till he came to four cross roads, and he took the road
+upon the right, and the first tree he found was a great willow-tree.
+So the young man laid his cheek against the bark, and he whispered the
+secret to the tree, and as he turned back homeward he felt lightened
+of his burden, and he leaped and sang, and ere many days were past he
+was as well and light hearted as ever he had been in his life.
+
+Some while after that it happened that the King's harper, namely
+Craftiny, broke the straining-post of his harp and went out to seek
+for a piece of wood wherewith to mend it. And the first timber he
+found that would fit the purpose was the willow-tree by the cross
+roads. He cut it down, therefore, and took as much as would give him a
+new straining-post, and he bore it home with him and mended his harp
+with it. That night he played after meat before the King and his lords
+as he was wont, but whatever he played and sang the folk that listened
+to him seemed to hear only one thing, "Two horse's ears hath Labra the
+Sailor."
+
+Then the King plucked off his hood, and after that he made no secret
+of his ears and none suffered on account of them thenceforward.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+King Iubdan and King Fergus
+
+
+It happened on a day when Fergus son of Leda was King of Ulster, that
+Iubdan, King of the Leprecauns or Wee Folk, of the land of Faylinn,
+held a great banquet and assembly of the lords and princes of the Wee
+Folk. And all their captains and men of war came thither, to show
+their feats before the King, among whom was the strong man, namely
+Glowar, whose might was such that with his battle-axe he could hew
+down a thistle at one stroke. Thither also came the King's
+heir-apparent. Tiny, son of Tot, and the Queen Bebo with her maidens;
+and there were also the King's harpers and singing-men, and the chief
+poet of the court, who was called Eisirt.
+
+All these sat down to the feast in due order and precedence, with Bebo
+on the King's right hand and the poet on his left, and Glowar kept the
+door. Soon the wine began to flow from the vats of dark-red yew-wood,
+and the carvers carved busily at great haunches of roast hares and
+ribs of field-mice; and they all ate and drank, and loudly the hall
+rang with gay talk and laughter, and the drinking of toasts, and
+clashing of silver goblets.
+
+At last when they had put away desire of eating and drinking, Iubdan
+rose up, having in his hand the royal goblet of gold inlaid with
+precious many-coloured jewels, and the heir-apparent rose at the other
+end of the table, and they drank prosperity and victory to Faylinn.
+Then Iubdan's heart swelled with pride, and he asked of the company,
+"Come now, have any of you ever seen a king more glorious and powerful
+than I am?" "Never, in truth," cried they all. "Have ye ever seen a
+stronger man than my giant, Glowar?" "Never, O King," said they. "Or
+battle-steeds and men-at-arms better than mine?" "By our words," they
+cried, "we never have." "Truly," went on Iubdan, "I deem that he who
+would assail our kingdom of Faylinn, and carry away captives and
+hostages from us, would have his work cut out for him, so fierce and
+mighty are our warriors; yea, any one of them hath the stuff of
+kingship in him."
+
+On hearing this, Eisirt, in whom the heady wine and ale had done their
+work, burst out laughing; and the King turned to him, saying, "Eisirt,
+what hath moved thee to this laughter?" "I know a province in Erinn,"
+replied Eisirt, "one man of whom would harry Faylinn in the teeth of
+all four battalions of the Wee Folk." "Seize him," cried the King to
+his attendants; "Eisirt shall pay dearly in chains and in prison for
+that scornful speech against our glory."
+
+Then Eisirt was put in bonds, and he repented him of his brag; but ere
+they dragged him away he said, "Grant me, O mighty King, but three
+days' respite, that I may travel to Erinn to the court of Fergus mac
+Leda, and if I bring not back some clear token that I have uttered
+nought but the truth, then do with me as thou wilt."
+
+So Iubdan bade them release him, and he fared away to Erinn oversea.
+
+[Illustration: "They all trooped out, lords and ladies, to view the
+wee man"]
+
+After this, one day, as Fergus and his lords sat at the feast, the
+gatekeeper of the palace of Fergus in Emania heard outside a sound of
+ringing; he opened the gate, and there stood a wee man holding in his
+hand a rod of white bronze hung with little silver bells, by which
+poets are wont to procure silence for their recitations. Most noble
+and comely was the little man to look on, though the short grass of
+the lawn reached as high as to his knee. His hair was twisted in
+four-ply strands after the manner of poets and he wore a
+gold-embroidered tunic of silk and an ample scarlet cloak with a
+fringe of gold. On his feet he wore shoes of white bronze ornamented
+with gold, and a silken hood was on his head. The gatekeeper wondered
+at the sight of the wee man, and went to report the matter to King
+Fergus. "Is he less," asked Fergus, "than my dwarf and poet Æda?"
+"Verily," said the gatekeeper, "he could stand upon the palm of Æda's
+hand and have room to spare." Then with much laughter and wonder they
+all trooped out, lords and ladies, to the great gate to view the wee
+man and to speak with him. But Eisirt, when he saw them, waved them
+back in alarm, crying, "Avaunt, huge men; bring not your heavy breath
+so near me; but let yon man that is least among you approach me and
+bear me in." So the dwarf Æda put Eisirt on his palm and bore him into
+the banqueting hall.
+
+Then they set him on the table, and Eisirt declared his name and
+calling. The King ordered that meat and drink should be given him, but
+Eisirt said, "I will neither eat of your meat nor drink of ale." "By
+our word," said Fergus, "'tis a haughty wight; he ought to be dropped
+into a goblet that he might at least drink all round him." The
+cupbearer seized Eisirt and put him into a tankard of ale, and he swam
+on the surface of it. "Ye wise men of Ulster," he cried, "there is
+much knowledge and wisdom ye might get from me, yet ye will let me be
+drowned!" "What, then?" cried they. Then Eisirt, beginning with the
+King, set out to tell every hidden sin that each man or woman had
+done, and ere he had gone far they with much laughter and chiding
+fetched him out of the ale-pot and dried him with fair satin napkins.
+"Now ye have confessed that I know somewhat to the purpose," said
+Eisirt, "and I will even eat of your food, but do ye give heed to my
+words, and do ill no more."
+
+Fergus then said, "If thou art a poet, Eisirt, give us now a taste of
+thy delightful art." "That will I," said Eisirt, "and the poem that I
+shall recite to you shall be an ode in praise of my king, Iubdan the
+Great." Then he recited this lay:--
+
+   "A monarch of might
+   Is Iubdan my king.
+   His brow is snow-white,
+   His hair black as night;
+   As a red copper bowl
+   When smitten will sing,
+   So ringeth the voice
+   Of Iubdan the king.
+   His eyen, they roll
+   Majestic and bland
+   On the lords of his land
+   Arrayed for the fight,
+   A spectacle grand!
+   Like a torrent they rush
+   With a waving of swords
+   And the bridles all ringing
+   And cheeks all aflush,
+   And the battle-steeds springing,
+   A beautiful, terrible, death-dealing band.
+   Like pines, straight and tall,
+   Where Iubdan is king,
+   Are the men one and all.
+   The maidens are fair--
+   Bright gold is their hair.
+   From silver we quaff
+   The dark, heady ale
+   That never shall fail;
+   We love and we laugh.
+   Gold frontlets we wear;
+   And aye through the air
+   Sweet music doth ring--
+   O Fergus, men say
+   That in all Inisfail
+   There is not a maiden so proud or so wise
+   But would give her two eyes
+   Thy kisses to win--
+   But I tell thee, that there
+   Thou canst never compare
+   With the haughty, magnificent King of Faylinn!"
+
+At this they all applauded, and Fergus said, "O youth and blameless
+bard, let us be friends henceforth." And they all heaped before him,
+as a poet's reward, gifts of rings and jewels and gold cups and
+weapons, as high as a tall man standing. Then Eisirt said, "Truly a
+generous and a worthy reward have ye given me, O men of Ulster; yet
+take back these precious things I pray you, for every man in my
+king's household hath an abundance of them." But the Ulster lords
+said, "Nothing that we have given may we take back." Eisirt then bade
+two-thirds of his reward be given to the bards and learned men of
+Ulster, and one-third to the horse-boys and jesters; and so it was
+done.
+
+Three days and nights did Eisirt abide in Emania, and all the King's
+court loved him and made much of him. Then he wished them blessing and
+victory, and prepared to depart to his own country. Now Æda, the
+King's dwarf and minstrel, begged Eisirt to take him with him on a
+visit to the land of Faylinn; and Eisirt said, "I shall not bid thee
+come, for then if kindness and hospitality be shown thee, thou wilt
+say it is only what I had undertaken; but if thou come of thine own
+motion, thou wilt perchance be grateful."
+
+So they went off together; but Eisirt could not keep up with Æda, and
+Æda said, "I perceive that Eisirt is but a poor walker." At this
+Eisirt ran off like a flash and was soon an arrow flight in front of
+Æda. When the latter at last came up with him, he said, "The right
+thing, Eisirt, is not too fast and not too slow." "Since I have been
+in Ulster," Eisirt replied, "I have never before heard ye measure out
+the right."
+
+By and by they reached the margin of the sea. "And what are we to do
+now?" asked Æda. "Be not troubled, Æda," said Eisirt, "the horse of
+Iubdan will bear us easily over this." They waited awhile on the
+beach, and ere long they saw it coming toward them skimming over the
+surface of the waves. "Save and protect us!" cried Æda at that sight;
+and Eisirt asked him what he saw. "A red-maned hare," answered Æda.
+"Nay, but that is Iubdan's horse," said Eisirt, and with that the
+creature came prancing to land with flashing eyes and waving tail and
+a long russet-coloured mane; a bridle beset with gold it had. Eisirt
+mounted and bade Æda come up behind him. "Thy boat is little enough
+for thee alone," said Æda. "Cease fault-finding and grumbling," then
+said Eisirt, "for the weight of wisdom that is in thee will not bear
+him down."
+
+So Æda and Eisirt mounted on the fairy horse and away they sped over
+the tops of the waves and the deeps of the ocean till at last they
+reached the Kingdom of Faylinn, and there were a great concourse of
+the Wee Folk awaiting them. "Eisirt is coming! Eisirt is coming!"
+cried they all, "and a Fomorian giant along with him."
+
+Then Iubdan went forth to meet Eisirt, and he kissed him, and said,
+"Why hast thou brought this Fomorian with thee to slay us?" "He is no
+Fomor," said Eisirt, "but a learned man and a poet from Ulster. He is
+moreover the King of Ulster's dwarf, and in all that realm he is the
+smallest man. He can lie in their great men's bosoms and stand upon
+their hands as though he were a child; yet for all that you would do
+well to be careful how you behave to him." "What is his name?" said
+they then. "He is the poet Æda," said Eisirt. "Uch," said they, "what
+a giant thou hast brought us!"
+
+"And now, O King," said Eisirt to Iubdan, "I challenge thee to go and
+see for thyself the region from which we have come, and make trial of
+the royal porridge which is made for Fergus King of Ulster this very
+night."
+
+At this Iubdan was much dismayed, and he betook himself to Bebo his
+wife and told her how he was laid under bonds of chivalry by Eisirt to
+go to the land of the giants; and he bade her prepare to accompany
+him. "I will go," said she, "but you did an ill deed when you
+condemned Eisirt to prison."
+
+So they mounted, both of them, on the fairy steed, and in no long time
+they reached Emania, and it was now past midnight. And they were
+greatly afraid, and said Bebo, "Let us search for that porridge and
+taste it, as we were bound, and make off again ere the folk awake."
+
+They made their way into the palace of Fergus, and soon they found a
+great porridge pot, but the rim was too high to be reached from the
+ground. "Get thee up upon thy horse," said Bebo, "and from thence to
+the rim of this cauldron." And thus he did, but having gained the rim
+of the pot his arm was too short to reach the silver ladle that was
+in it. In straining downward to do so, however, he slipped and in he
+fell, and up to his middle in the thick porridge he stuck fast. And
+when Bebo heard what a plight he was in, she wept, and said, "Rash and
+hasty wert thou, Iubdan, to have got into this evil case, but surely
+there is no man under the sun that can make thee hear reason." And he
+said, "Rash indeed it was, but thou canst not help me, Bebo, now, and
+it is but folly to stay; take the horse and flee away ere the day
+break." "Say not so," replied Bebo, "for surely I will not go till I
+see how things fall out with thee."
+
+
+At last the folk in the palace began to be stirring, and ere long they
+found Iubdan in the porridge pot.
+
+So they picked him out with great laughter bore him off to Fergus.
+
+"By my conscience," said Fergus, "but this is not the little fellow
+that was here before, for he had yellow hair, but this one hath a
+shock of the blackest; who art thou at all, wee man?"
+
+"I am of the Wee Folk," said Iubdan, "and am indeed king over them,
+and this woman is my wife and queen, Bebo."
+
+"Take him away," then said Fergus to his varlets, "and guard him
+well"; for he misdoubted some mischief of Faery was on foot.
+
+"Nay, nay," cried Iubdan, "but let me not be with these coarse
+fellows. I pledge thee my word that I will not quit this place till
+thou and Ulster give me leave."
+
+"Could I believe that," said Fergus, "I would not put thee in bonds."
+
+"I have never broken my word," said Iubdan, "and I never will."
+
+Then Fergus set him free and allotted him a fair chamber for himself,
+and a trusty servingman to wait upon him. Soon there came in a gillie
+whose business it was to see to the fires, and he kindled the fire for
+Iubdan, throwing on it a woodbine together with divers other sorts of
+timber. Then Iubdan said, "Man of smoke, burn not the king of the
+trees, for it is not meet to burn him. Wouldst thou but take counsel
+from me thou mightest go safely by sea or land." Iubdan then chanted
+to him the following recital of the duties of his office:--
+
+"O fire-gillie of Fergus of the Feasts, never by land or sea burn the
+King of the woods, High King of the forests of Inisfail, whom none may
+bind, but who like a strong monarch holds all the other trees in hard
+bondage. If thou burn the twining one, misfortune will come of it,
+peril at the point of spear, or drowning in the waves.
+
+"Burn not the sweet apple-tree of drooping branches, of the white
+blossoms, to whose gracious head each man puts forth his hand.
+
+"The stubborn blackthorn wanders far and wide, the good craftsman
+burns not this timber; little though its bushes be, yet flocks of
+birds warble in them.
+
+"Burn not the noble willow, the unfailing ornament of poems; bees
+drink from its blossoms, all delight in the graceful tent.
+
+"The delicate, airy tree of the druids, the rowan with its berries,
+this burn; but avoid the weak tree, burn not the slender hazel.
+
+"The ash-tree of the black buds burn not--timber that speeds the
+wheel, that yields the rider his switch; the ashen spear is the
+scale-beam of battle.
+
+"The tangled, bitter bramble, burn him, the sharp and green; he flays
+and cuts the foot; he snares you and drags you back.
+
+"Hottest of timber is the green oak; he will give you a pain in the
+head if you use him overmuch, a pain in the eyes will come from his
+biting fumes.
+
+"Full-charged with witchcraft is the alder, the hottest tree in the
+fight; burn assuredly both the alder and the whitehorn at your will.
+
+"Holly, burn it in the green and in the dry; of all trees in the
+world, holly is absolutely the best.
+
+"The elder-tree of the rough brown bark, burn him to cinders, the
+steed of the Fairy Folk.
+
+"The drooping birch, by all means burn him too, the tree of
+long-lasting bloom.
+
+"And lay low, if it pleases you, the russet aspen; late or early, burn
+the tree with the quaking plumage.
+
+"The yew is the venerable ancestor of the wood as the companion of
+feasts he is known; of him make goodly brown vats for ale and wine.
+
+"Follow my counsel, O man of the smoke, and it shall go well with you,
+body and soul."
+
+So Iubdan continued in Emania free to go and come as he pleased; and
+all the Ulstermen delighted to watch him and to hear his conversation.
+
+One day it chanced that he was in the chamber of the Queen, and saw
+her putting on her feet a very dainty and richly embroidered pair of
+shoes. At this Iubdan gave a laugh. "Why dost thou laugh?" said
+Fergus. "Meseems the healing is applied very far from the hurt,"
+replied Iubdan. "What meanest thou by that?" said Fergus. "Because the
+Queen is making her feet fine in order, O Fergus, that she may attract
+thee to her lips," said Iubdan.
+
+Another time it chanced that Iubdan overheard one of the King's
+soldiers complaining of a pair of new brogues that had been served out
+to him, and grumbling that the soles were too thin. At this Iubdan
+laughed again, and being asked why, he said, "I must need laugh to
+hear yon fellow grumbling about his brogues, for the soles of these
+brogues, thin as they are, he will never wear out." And this was a
+true prophecy, for the same night this and another of the King's men
+had a quarrel, and fought, and killed each the other.
+
+At last the Wee Folk determined to go in search of their king, and
+seven battalions of them marched upon Emania and encamped upon the
+lawn over against the King's Dún. Fergus and his nobles went out to
+confer with them. "Give us back our king," said the Wee Folk, "and we
+shall redeem him with a great ransom." "What ransom, then?" asked
+Fergus. "We shall," said they, "cause this great plain to stand thick
+with corn for you every year, and that without ploughing or sowing."
+"I will not give up Iubdan for that," said Fergus. "Then we shall do
+you a mischief," said the Wee Folk.
+
+That night every calf in the Province of Ulster got access to its dam,
+and in the morn there was no milk to be had for man or child, for the
+cows were sucked dry.
+
+Then said the Wee Folk to Fergus, "This night, unless we get Iubdan,
+we shall defile every well and lake and river in Ulster." "That is a
+trifle," said Fergus, "and ye shall not get Iubdan."
+
+The Wee Folk carried out this threat, and once more they came and
+demanded Iubdan, saying, "To-night we shall burn with fire the shaft
+of every mill in Ulster." "Yet not so shall ye get Iubdan," said
+Fergus.
+
+This being done, they came again, saying, "We shall have vengeance
+unless Iubdan be delivered to us." "What vengeance?" said Fergus. "We
+shall snip off every ear of corn in thy kingdom," said they. "Even
+so," replied Fergus, "I shall not deliver Iubdan."
+
+So the Wee Folk snipped off every ear of standing corn in Ulster, and
+once more they returned and demanded Iubdan. "What will ye do next?"
+asked Fergus. "We shall shave the hair of every man and every woman in
+Ulster," said they, "so that ye shall be shamed and disgraced for ever
+among the people of Erinn." "By my word," said Fergus, "if ye do that
+I shall slay Iubdan."
+
+Then Iubdan said, "I have a better counsel than that, O King; let me
+have liberty to go and speak with them, and I shall bid them make good
+what mischief they have done, and they shall return home forthwith."
+
+Fergus granted that; and when the Wee Folk saw Iubdan approaching
+them, they set up a shout of triumph that a man might have heard a
+bowshot off, for they believed they had prevailed and that Iubdan was
+released to them. But Iubdan said, "My faithful people, you must now
+begone, and I may not go with you; make good also all the mischief
+that ye have done, and know that if ye do any more I must die."
+
+Then the Wee Folk departed, very downcast and sorrowful, but they did
+as Iubdan had bidden them.
+
+Iubdan, however, went to Fergus and said, "Take, O King, the choicest
+of my treasures, and let me go."
+
+"What is thy choicest treasure?" said Fergus.
+
+Iubdan then began to recite to Fergus the list of his possessions,
+such as druidic weapons, and love-charms, and instruments of music
+that played without touch of human hand, and vats of ale that could
+never be emptied; and he named among other noble treasures a pair of
+shoes, wearing which a man could go over or under the sea as readily
+as on dry land.
+
+At the same time Æda, the dwarf and poet of Ulster, returned hale and
+well from the land of Faylinn, and much did he entertain the King and
+all the court with tales of the smallness of the Wee Folk, and their
+marvel at his own size, and their bravery and beauty, and their marble
+palaces and matchless minstrelsy.
+
+So the King, Fergus mac Leda, was well content to take a ransom,
+namely the magic shoes, which he desired above all the treasures of
+Faylinn, and to let Iubdan go. And he gave him rich gifts, as did also
+the nobles of Ulster, and wished him blessing and victory; and Iubdan
+he departed, with Bebo his wife, having first bestowed upon Fergus the
+magical shoes. And of him the tale hath now no more to say.
+
+But Fergus never tired of donning the shoes of Iubdan and traversing
+the secret depths of the lakes and rivers of Ulster. Thereby, too, in
+the end he got his death, for as the wise say that the gifts of Faery
+may not be enjoyed without peril by mortal men, so in this case too
+it proved. For, one day as Fergus was exploring the depths of Loch
+Rury he met the monster, namely the river-horse, which inhabited that
+lake. Horrible of form it was, swelling and contracting like a
+blacksmith's bellows, and with eyes like torches, and glittering
+tusks, and a mane of coarse hair on its crest and neck. When it saw
+Fergus it laid back its ears, and its neck arched like a rainbow over
+his head, and the vast mouth gaped to devour him. Then Fergus rose
+quickly to the surface and made for the land, and the beast after him,
+driving before it a huge wave of foam. Barely did he escape with his
+life; but with the horror of the sight his features were distorted and
+his mouth was twisted around to the side of his head, so that he was
+called Fergus Wry-mouth from that day forth. And the gillie that was
+with him told the tale of the adventure.
+
+Now there was a law in Ireland that no man might be king who was
+disfigured by any bodily blemish. His people, therefore, loving
+Fergus, kept from him all knowledge of his condition, and the Queen
+let all mirrors that were in the palace be put away. But one day it
+chanced that a bondmaid was negligent in preparing the bath, and
+Fergus being impatient, gave her a stroke with a switch which he had
+in his hand. The maid in anger turned upon him, and cried, "It would
+better become thee to avenge thyself on the riverhorse that hath
+twisted thy mouth, than to do brave deeds on women."
+
+Fergus then bade a mirror be fetched, and when he saw his face in it,
+he said, "The woman spake truth; the riverhorse of Loch Rury has done
+this thing."
+
+[Illustration: "Fergus goes down into the lake"]
+
+The next day Fergus put on the shoes of Iubdan and went forth to Loch
+Rury, and with him went the lords of Ulster. And when he reached the
+margin of the lake he drew his sword and went down into it, and soon
+the waters covered him.
+
+After a while those that watched upon the bank saw a bubbling and a
+mighty commotion in the waters, now here, now there, and waves of
+bloody froth broke at their feet. At last, as they strained their eyes
+upon the tossing water, they saw Fergus rise to his middle from it,
+pale and bloody. In his right hand he waved aloft his sword, his left
+was twisted in the coarse hair of the monster's head, and they saw
+that his countenance was fair and kingly as of old. "Ulstermen, I have
+conquered," he cried; and as he did so he sank down again, dead with
+his dead foe, into their red grave in Loch Rury.
+
+And the Ulster lords went back to Emania, sorrowful yet proud, for
+they knew that a seed of honour had been sown that day in their land
+from which should spring a breed of high-hearted fighting men for many
+a generation to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+The Carving of mac Datho's Boar
+
+
+Once upon a time there dwelt in the province of Leinster a wealthy
+hospitable lord named Mesroda, son of Datho. Two possessions had he;
+namely, a hound which could outrun every other hound and every wild
+beast in Erinn, and a boar which was the finest and greatest in size
+that man had ever beheld.
+
+Now the fame of this hound was noised all about the land, and many
+were the princes and lords who longed to possess it. And it came to
+pass that Conor, King of Ulster, and Maev, Queen of Connacht, sent
+messengers to mac Datho to ask him to sell them the hound for a price,
+and both the messengers arrived at the Dún of mac Datho on the same
+day. Said the Connacht messenger, "We will give thee in exchange for
+the hound six hundred milch cows, and a chariot with two horses, the
+best that are to be found in Connacht, and at the end of a year thou
+shalt have as much again." And the messenger of King Conor said, "We
+will give no less than Connacht, and the friendship and alliance of
+Ulster, and that will be better for thee than the friendship of
+Connacht."
+
+Then Mesroda mac Datho fell silent, and for three days he would not
+eat nor drink, nor could he sleep o' nights, but tossed restlessly on
+his bed. His wife observed his condition, and said to him, "Thy fast
+hath been long, Mesroda, though good food is by thee in plenty; and at
+night thou turnest thy face to the wall, and well I know thou dost not
+sleep. What is the cause of thy trouble?"
+
+"There is a saying," replied mac Datho, "'Trust not a thrall with
+money, nor a woman with a secret.'"
+
+"When should a man talk to a woman," said his wife, "but when
+something were amiss? What thy mind cannot solve perchance another's
+may."
+
+Then mac Datho told his wife of the request for his hound both from
+Ulster and from Connacht at one and the same time, "and whichever of
+them I deny," he said, "they will harry my cattle and slay my people."
+
+"Then hear my counsel," said the woman. "Give it to both of them, and
+bid them come and fetch it; and if there be any harrying to be done,
+let them even harry each other; but in no way mayest thou keep the
+hound."
+
+On that, mac Datho rose up and shook himself, and called for food and
+drink, and made merry with himself and his guests. Then he sent
+privately for the messenger of Queen Maev, and said to him, "Long have
+I doubted what to do, but now I am resolved to give the hound to
+Connacht. Let ye send for it on such a day with a train of your nobles
+or warriors and bear him forth nobly and proudly, for he is worth it;
+and ye shall all have drink and food and royal entertainment in my
+Dún." So the messenger departed, well pleased.
+
+To the Ulster messenger mac Datho said, "After much perplexity I have
+resolved to give my hound to Conor. Let the best of the Ulstermen come
+to fetch him, and they shall be welcomed and entertained as is
+fitting." And for these he named the same day as he had done for the
+embassy from Connacht.
+
+When the appointed day came round, the flower of the fighting men of
+two provinces of Ireland were assembled before the Dún of the son of
+Datho, and there were also Conor, King of Ulster, and Ailill, the
+husband of Maev, Queen of Connacht. Mac Datho went forth to meet them.
+"Welcome, warriors," he said to them, "albeit for two armies at once
+we were not prepared." Then he bade them into the Dún, and in the
+great hall they sat down. Now in this hall there were seven doors, and
+between every two doors were benches for fifty men. Not as friends
+bidden to a feast did the men of Ulster and of Connacht look upon one
+another, since for three hundred years the provinces had ever been at
+war.
+
+"Let the great boar be killed," said mac Datho, and it was done. For
+seven years had that boar been nourished on the milk of fifty cows;
+yet rather on venom should it have been nourished, such was the
+mischief that was to come from the carving of it.
+
+When the boar was roasted it was brought in, and many other kinds of
+food as side dishes, "and if more be wanting to the feast," said mac
+Datho, "it shall be slain for you before the morning."
+
+"The boar is good," said Conor.
+
+"It is a fine boar," said Ailill; "and now, O mac Datho, how shall it
+be divided among us?"
+
+There was among the Ulster company one Bricru, son of Carbad, whose
+delight was in biting speeches and in fomenting strife, though he
+himself was never known to draw sword in any quarrel. He now spoke
+from his couch in answer to Ailill:
+
+"How should the boar be divided, O son of Datho, except by appointing
+to carve it him who is best in deeds of arms? Here be all the valiant
+men of Ireland assembled; have none of us hit each other a blow on the
+nose ere now?"
+
+"Good," said Ailill, "so let it be done."
+
+"We also agree," said Conor; "there are plenty of our lads in the
+house that have many a time gone round the border of the Provinces."
+
+"You will want them to-night, Conor," said an old warrior from Conlad
+in the West. "They have often been seen on their backs on the roads of
+rushy Dedah, and many a fat steer have they left with me."
+
+"It was a fat bullock thou didst have with thee once upon a day,"
+replied Moonremar of Ulster, "even thine own brother, and by the rushy
+road of Conlad he came and went not back."
+
+"'Twas a better man than he, even Irloth, son of Fergus mac Leda, who
+fell by the hand of Echbael in Tara Luachra," replied Lugad of
+Munster.
+
+"Echbael?" cried Keltchar, son of Uthecar Hornskin of Ulster. "Is it
+of him ye boast, whom I myself slew and cut off his head?"
+
+And thus the heroes bandied about the tales and taunts of their
+victories, until at length Ket, son of Maga of the Connachtmen, arose
+and stood over the boar and took the knife into his hand. "Now," he
+cried, "let one man in Ulster match his deeds with mine, or else hold
+ye your peace and let me carve the boar!"
+
+For a while there was silence, and then Conor King of Ulster, said to
+Logary the Triumphant, "Stay that for me." So Logary arose and said,
+"Ket shall never carve the boar for all of us."
+
+"Not so fast, Logary," said Ket. "It is the custom among you Ulstermen
+that when a youth first takes arms he comes to prove himself on us. So
+didst thou, Logary, and we met thee at the border. From that meeting I
+have thy chariot and horses, and thou hadst a spear through thy ribs
+Not thus wilt thou get the boar from me." Then Logary sat down on his
+bench.
+
+"Ket shall never divide that pig," spake then a tall fair-haired
+warrior from Ulster, coming down the hall. "Whom have we here?" asked
+Ket. "A better man than thou," shouted the Ulstermen, "even Angus, son
+of Lama Gabad." "Indeed?" said Ket, "and why is his father called Lama
+Gabad [wanting a hand]?" "We know not," said they. "But I know it,"
+said Ket. "Once I went on a foray to the East, and was attacked by a
+troop, Lama Gabad among them. He flung a lance at me. I seized the
+same lance and flung it back, and it shore off his hand, and it lay
+there on the field before him. Shall that man's son measure himself
+with me?" And Angus went to his bench and sat down.
+
+"Keep up the contest," then cried Ket tauntingly, "or let me divide
+the boar." "That thou shalt not," cried another Ulster warrior of
+great stature. "And who is this?" said Ket. "Owen Mór, King of Fermag,"
+said the Ulstermen. "I have seen him ere now," said Ket. "I took a
+drove of cattle from him before his own house. He put a spear through
+my shield and I flung it back and it tore out one of his eyes, and
+one-eyed he is to this day." Then Owen Mór sat down.
+
+"Have ye any more to contest the pig with me?" then said Ket. "Thou
+hast not won it yet," said Moonremar, son of Gerrkind, rising up. "Is
+that Moonremar?" said Ket, "It is," they cried.
+
+"It is but three days," said Ket, "since I was the last man who won
+renown of thee. Three heads of thy fighting men did I carry off from
+Dún Moonremar, and one of the three was the head of thy eldest son."
+Moonremar then sat down.
+
+"Still the contest," said Ket, "or I shall carve the boar." "Contest
+thou shalt have," said Mend, son of Sword-heel. "Who is this?" said
+Ket. "'Tis Mend," cried all the Ulstermen.
+
+"Shall the sons of fellows with nicknames come here to contend with
+me?" cried Ket. "I was the priest who christened thy father that name.
+'Twas I who cut the heel off him, so that off he went with only one.
+What brings the son of that man to contend with me?" Mend then sat
+down in his seat.
+
+"Come to the contest," said Ket, "or I shall begin to carve." Then
+arose from the Ulstermen a huge grey and terrible warrior. "Who is
+this?" asked Ket. '"Tis Keltcar, son of Uthecar," cried they all.
+
+"Wait awhile, Keltcar," said Ket, "do not pound me to pieces just yet.
+Once, O Keltcar, I made a foray on thee and came in front of Dún. All
+thy folk attacked me, and thou amongst them. In a narrow pass we
+fought, and thou didst fling a spear at me and I at thee, but my spear
+went through thy loins and thou hast never been the better of it
+since." Then Keltcar sat down in his seat.
+
+"Who else comes to the contest," cried Ket "or shall I at last divide
+the pig?" Up rose then the son of King Conor, named Cuscrid the
+Stammerer "Whom have we here?" said Ket. "'Tis Cuscrid son of Conor,"
+cried they all. "He has the stuff of a king in him," said Ket. "No
+thanks to thee for that," said the youth.
+
+"Well, then," said Ket, "thou madest thy first foray against us
+Connachtmen, and on the border of the Provinces we met thee. A third
+of thy people, thou didst leave behind thee, and came away with my
+spear through thy throat, so that thou canst not speak rightly ever
+since, for the sinews of thy throat were severed. And hence is Cuscrid
+the Stammerer thy byname ever since."
+
+So thus Ket laid shame and defeat on the whole Province of Ulster, nor
+was there any other warrior in the hall found to contend with him.
+
+[Illustration: "A mighty shout of exultation arose from the
+Ulstermen"]
+
+Then Ket stood up triumphing, and took the knife in his hand and
+prepared to carve the boar when a noise and trampling were heard at
+the great door of the hall, and a mighty shout of exultation arose
+from the Ulstermen. When the press parted, Ket saw coming up the
+centre of the hall Conall of the Victories, and Conor the King dashed
+the helmet from his head and sprang up for joy.
+
+"Glad we are," cried Conall, "that all is ready for feast; and who is
+carving the boar for us?"
+
+"Ket, son of Maga," replied they, "for none could contest the place of
+honour with him."
+
+"Is that so, Ket?" says Conall Cearnach.
+
+"Even so," replied Ket. "And now welcome to thee, O Conall, thou of
+the iron heart and fiery blood; keen as the glitter of ice,
+ever-victorious chieftain; hail mighty son of Finnchoom!"
+
+And Conall said, "Hail to thee, Ket, flower of heroes, lord of
+chariots, a raging sea in battle; a strong, majestic bull; hail, son
+of Maga!"
+
+"And now," went on Conall, "rise up from the boar and give me place."
+
+"Why so?" replied Ket.
+
+"Dost thou seek a contest from me?" said Conall; "verily thou shalt
+have it. By the gods of my nation I swear that since I first took
+weapons in my hand I have never passed one day that I did not slay a
+Connachtman, nor one night that I did not make a foray on them, nor
+have I ever slept but I had the head of a Connachtman under my knee."
+
+"I confess," then, said Ket, "that thou art a better man than I, and I
+yield thee the boar. But if Anluan my brother were here, he would
+match thee deed for deed, and sorrow and shame it is that he is not."
+
+
+"Anluan is here," shouted Conall, and with that he drew from his
+girdle the head of Anluan and dashed it in the face of Ket.
+
+Then all sprang to their feet and a wild shouting and tumult arose,
+and the swords flew out of themselves, and battle raged in the hall of
+mac Datho. Soon the hosts burst out through the doors of the Dún and
+smote and slew each other in the open field, until the Connacht host
+were put to flight. The hound of mac Datho pursued them along with the
+Ulstermen, and it came up with the chariot in which King Ailill was
+driving, and seized the pole of the chariot, but the charioteer dealt
+it a blow that cut off its head. When Ailill drew rein they found the
+hound's head still clinging to the pole, whence that place is called
+Ibar Cinn Chon, or the Yew Tree of the Hound's Head.
+
+Now when Conor pursued hard upon King Ailill, Ferloga, the charioteer
+of Ailill, lighted down and hid himself in the heather; and as Conor
+drove past, Ferloga leaped up behind him in the chariot and gripped
+him by the throat.
+
+"What will thou have of me?" said Conor.
+
+"Give over the pursuit," said Ferloga, "and take me with thee to
+Emania,[19] and let the maidens of Emania so long as I am there sing
+a serenade before my dwelling every night."
+
+   [19] The ancient royal residence of Ulster, near to the present
+   town of Armagh.
+
+"Granted," said Conor. So he took Ferloga with him to Emania, and at
+the end of a year sent him back to Connacht, escorting him as far as
+to Athlone; and Ferloga had from the King of Ulster two noble horses
+with golden bridles, but the serenade from the maidens of Ulster he
+did not get, though he got the horses instead. And thus ends the tale
+of the contention between Ulster and Connacht over the Carving of mac
+Datho's Boar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Vengeance of Mesgedra
+
+
+Atharna the Bard, surnamed the Extortionate, was the chief poet and
+satirist of Ulster in the reign of Conor mac Nessa. Greed and
+arrogance were in his heart and poison on his tongue, and the kings
+and lords of whom he asked rewards for his poems dared not refuse him
+aught, partly because of the poisonous satires and lampoons which he
+would otherwise make upon them for their niggardliness, and partly for
+that in Ireland at that day it was deemed shameful to refuse to a bard
+whatsoever he might ask. Once it was said that he asked of a sub-king,
+namely Eochy mac Luchta, who was famed for hospitality and generosity,
+the single thing that Eochy would have been grieved to give, namely
+his eye, and Eochy had but one eye. But the King plucked it out by the
+roots and gave it to him; and Atharna went away disappointed, for he
+had looked that Eochy would ransom his eye at a great price.
+
+Now Conor mac Nessa, King of Ulster, and all the Ulster lords, having
+grown very powerful and haughty, became ill neighbours to all the
+other kingdoms in Ireland. On fertile Leinster above all they fixed
+their eyes, and sought for an opportunity to attack and plunder the
+province. Conor resolved at last to move Atharna to go to the King of
+Leinster, in the hope that he himself might be rid of Atharna, by the
+King of Leinster killing him for his insolence and his exactions, and
+that he might avenge the death of his bard by the invasion of
+Leinster.
+
+Atharna therefore set out for Leinster accompanied by his train of
+poets and harpers and gillies and arrived at the great Dún of Mesgedra
+the King, at Naas in Kildare. Here he dwelt for twelve months wasting
+the substance of the Leinstermen and in the end when he was minded to
+return to Ulster he went before the King Mesgedra and the lords of
+Leinster and demanded his poet's fee.
+
+"What is thy demand, Atharna?" asked Mesgedra.
+
+"So many cattle and so many sheep," answered Atharna, "and store of
+gold and raiment, and of the fairest dames and maidens of Leinster
+forty-five, to grind at my querns in Dún Atharna."
+
+"It shall be granted thee," said the King. Then Atharna feared some
+mischief, for the King and the nobles of Leinster had not seemed like
+men on whom shameful conditions are laid, nor had they offered to
+ransom their women. Atharna therefore judged that the Leinstermen
+might fall upon him to recover their booty when he was once beyond the
+border, for within their own borders they might not affront a guest.
+He sent, therefore, a swift messenger to Conor mac Nessa, bidding him
+come with a strong escort as quickly as he might, to meet Atharna's
+band on the marches of Leinster, and convey him safely home.
+
+Atharna then departed from Naas with a great herd of sheep and cattle
+and other spoils, and with thrice fifteen of the noble women of
+Leinster. He went leisurely, meaning to strike the highroad to Emania
+from Dublin; but when he came thither the Liffey was swollen with
+rain, and the ford at Dublin might not be crossed. He caused,
+therefore, many great hurdles to be made, and these were set in the
+river, and over them a causeway of boughs was laid, so that his
+cattle and spoils came safely across. Hence is the town of that place
+called to this day in Gaelic the City of the Hurdle Ford.
+
+On the next day Conor and the Ulstermen met him, but a great force of
+the men of Leinster was also marching from Naas to the border, to
+recover their womenfolk, even as Atharna had expected. The Leinstermen
+then broke the battle on the company from Ulster, and defeated them,
+driving them with the cows of Atharna on to the sea cape of Ben Edar
+(Howth), but they recovered the women. On Ben Edar did King Conor with
+the remnant of his troop then fortify themselves, making a great fosse
+across the neck of land by which Ben Edar is joined to the mainland,
+and here they were besieged, with hard fighting by day and night,
+expecting that help should come to them from Ulster, whither they had
+sent messengers to tell of their distress.
+
+Now Conall of the Victories was left behind to rule in Emania when
+Conor set forth to Leinster, and he now, on hearing how the King was
+beset, assembled a great host and marched down to Ben Edar. Here he
+attacked the host of Leinster, and a great battle was fought, many
+being slain on both sides, and the King of Leinster, Mesgedra, lost
+his left hand in the fight. In the end the men of Leinster were
+routed, and fled, and Mesgedra drove in his chariot past the City of
+the Hurdle Ford and Naas to the fords of Liffey at Clane. Here there
+was a sacred oak tree where druid rites and worship were performed,
+and that oak tree was sanctuary, so that within its shadow, guarded by
+mighty spells, no man might be slain by his enemy.
+
+Now Conall Cearnach had followed hard on the track of Mesgedra, and
+when he found him beneath the oak, he drove his chariot round and
+round the circuit of the sanctuary, bidding Mesgedra come forth and do
+battle with him, or be counted a dastard among the kings of Erinn. But
+Mesgedra said, "Is it the fashion of the champions of Ulster to
+challenge one-armed men to battle?"
+
+Then Conall let his charioteer bind one of his arms to his side, and
+again he taunted Mesgedra and bade him come forth.
+
+Mesgedra then drew sword, and between him and Conall there was a
+fierce fight until the Liffey was reddened with their blood. At last,
+by a chance blow of the sword of Mesgedra, the bonds of Conall's left
+arm were severed.
+
+"On thy head be it," said Conall, "if thou release me again."
+
+Then he caused his arm to be bound up once more, and again they met,
+sword to sword, and again in the fury of the fight Mesgedra cut the
+thongs that bound Conall's arm. "The gods themselves have doomed
+thee," shouted Conall then, and he rushed upon Mesgedra and in no
+long time he wounded him to death.
+
+"Take my head," said Mesgedra then, "and add my glory to thy glory,
+but be well assured this wrong shall yet be avenged by me upon
+Ulster," and he died.
+
+Then Conall cut off the head of Mesgedra and put it in his chariot,
+and took also the chariot of Mesgedra and fared northwards. Ere long
+he met a chariot and fifty women accompanying it. In it was Buan the
+Queen, wife of Mesgedra, returning from a visit to Meath.
+
+"Who art thou, woman?" said Conall.
+
+"I am Buan, wife of Mesgedra the King."
+
+"Thou art to come with me," then said Conall.
+
+"Who hath commanded this?" said Buan.
+
+"Mesgedra the King," said Conall.
+
+"By what token dost thou lay these commands upon me?"
+
+"Behold his chariot and his horses," said Conall.
+
+"He gives rich gifts to many a man," answered the Queen.
+
+Then Conall showed her the head of her husband.
+
+"This is my token," said he.
+
+"It is enough," said Buan. "But give me leave to bewail him ere I go
+into captivity."
+
+Then Buan rose up in her chariot and raised for Mesgedra a keen of
+sorrow so loud and piercing that her heart broke with it, and she fell
+backwards on the road and died.
+
+Conall Cearnach then buried her there, and laid the head of her
+husband by her side; and the fair hazel tree that grew from her grave
+by the fords of Clane was called Coll Buana, or the Hazel Tree of
+Buan.
+
+But ere Conall buried the head of Mesgedra he caused the brain to be
+taken out and mixed with lime to make a bullet for a sling, for so it
+was customary to do when a great warrior had been killed; and the
+brain-balls thus made were accounted to be the deadliest of missiles.
+
+
+So when Leinster had been harried and plundered and its king and queen
+thus slain, the Ulstermen drew northward again, and the brain-ball was
+laid up in the Dún of King Conor at Emania.
+
+Years afterwards it happened that the Wolf of Connacht, namely Ket,
+son of Maga, came disguised within the borders of Ulster in search of
+prey, and he entered the palace precincts of Conor in Emania. There he
+saw two jesters of the King, who had gotten the brain-ball from the
+shelf where it lay, and were rolling it about the courtyard. Ket knew
+it for what it was, and put it out of sight of the jesters and took it
+away with him while they made search for it. Thenceforth Ket carried
+it ever about with him in his girdle, hoping that he might yet use it
+to destroy some great warrior among the Ulstermen.
+
+One day thereafter Ket made a foray on the men of Ross, and carried
+away a spoil of cattle. The host of Ulster and King Conor with them
+overtook him as he went homeward. The men of Connacht had also
+mustered to the help of Ket, and both sides made them ready for
+battle.
+
+Now a river, namely Brosna, ran between them, and on a hill at one
+side of this were assembled a number of the noble women of Connacht,
+who desired greatly to look on the far-famed Ultonian warriors, and
+above all on Conor the King, whose presence was said to be royal and
+stately beyond any man that was then living in Erinn. Among the
+bushes, close to the women, Ket hid himself, and lay still but
+watchful.
+
+Now Conor, seeing none but womenfolk close to him at this point, and
+being willing to show them his splendour, drew near to the bank on his
+side of the stream. Then Ket leaped up, whirling his sling, and the
+bullet hummed across the river and smote King Conor on the temple. And
+his men carried him off for dead, and the men of Connacht broke the
+battle on the Ulstermen, slaying many, and driving the rest of them
+back to their own place. This battle was thenceforth called the Battle
+of the Ford of the Sling-cast, or Athnurchar; and so the place is
+called to this day.
+
+When Conor was brought home to Emania his chief physician, Fingen,
+found the ball half buried in his temple. "If the ball be taken out,"
+said Fingen, "he will die; if it remain he will live, but he will bear
+the blemish of it."
+
+"Let him bear the blemish," said the Ulster lords, "that is a small
+matter compared with the death of Conor."
+
+Then Fingen stitched the wound over with a thread of gold, for Conor
+had curling golden hair, and bade him keep himself from all violent
+movements and from all vehement passions, and not to ride on
+horseback, and he would do well.
+
+After that Conor lived for seven years, and he went not to war during
+that time, and all cause of passion was kept far from him. Then one
+day at broad noon the sky darkened, and the gloom of night seemed to
+spread over the world, and all the people feared, and looked for some
+calamity. Conor called to him his chief druid, namely Bacarach, and
+inquired of him as to the cause of the gloom.
+
+The druid then went with Conor into a sacred grove of oaks and
+performed the rites of divination, and in a trance he spoke to Conor,
+saying, "I see a hill near a great city, and three high crosses on it.
+To one of them is nailed the form of a young man who is like unto one
+of the Immortals. Round him stand soldiers with tall spears, and a
+great crowd waiting to see him die."
+
+"Is he, then, a malefactor?"
+
+"Nay," said the druid, "but holiness, innocence, and truth have come
+to earth in him, and for this cause have the druids of his land doomed
+him to die, for his teaching was not as theirs. And the heavens are
+darkened for wrath and sorrow at the sight."
+
+Then Conor leaped up in a fury, crying, "They shall not slay him,
+they shall not slay him! Would I were there with the host of Ulster,
+and thus would I scatter his foes"; and with that he snatched his
+sword and began striking at the trees that stood thickly about him in
+the druid grove. Then with the heat of his passion the sling-ball
+burst from his head, and he fell to the ground and died.
+
+Thus was fulfilled the vengeance of Mesgedra upon Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+The Story of Etain and Midir
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a High King of the Milesian race in Ireland
+named Eochy Airem, whose power and splendour were very great, and all
+the sub-Kings, namely, Conor of Ulster, and Mesgedra of Leinster, and
+Curoi of Munster, and Ailill and Maev of Connacht, were obedient to
+him. But he was without a wife; and for this reason the sub-Kings and
+Princes of Ireland would not come to his festivals at Tara, "for,"
+said they, "there is no noble in Ireland who is a wifeless man, and a
+King is no king without a queen." And they would not bring their own
+wives to Tara without a queen there to welcome them, nor would they
+come themselves and leave their womenfolk at home.
+
+So Eochy bade search be made through all the boundaries of Ireland for
+a maiden meet to be wife of the High King. And in time his messengers
+came back and said that they had found in Ulster, by the Bay of
+Cichmany, the fairest and most accomplished maiden in Ireland, and her
+name was Etain, daughter of Etar, lord of the territory called Echrad.
+So Eochy, when he had heard their report, went forth to woo the
+maiden.
+
+When he drew near his journey's end he passed by a certain spring of
+pure water where it chanced that Etain and her maids had come down
+that she might wash her hair. She held in her hand a comb of silver
+inlaid with gold, and before her was a bason of silver chased with
+figures of birds, and around the rim of it red carbuncles were set.
+Her mantle was purple with a fringe of silver, and it was fastened
+with a broad golden brooch. She wore also a tunic of green silk, stiff
+with embroidery of gold that glittered in the sun. Her hair before she
+loosed it was done in two mighty tresses, yellow like the flower of
+the waterflag, each tress being plaited in four strands, and at the
+end of each strand a little golden ball. When she laid aside her
+mantle her arms came through the armholes of her tunic, white as the
+snow of a single night, and her cheeks were ruddy as the foxglove.
+Even and small were her teeth, as if a shower of pearls had fallen in
+her mouth. Her eyes were hyacinth-blue, her lips scarlet as the
+rowan-berry, her shoulders round and white, her fingers were long and
+her nails smooth and pink. Her feet also were slim, and white as
+sea-foam. The radiance of the moon was in her face, pride in her
+brows, the light of wooing in her eyes. Of her it was said that there
+was no beauty among women compared with Etain's beauty, no sweetness
+compared with the sweetness of Etain.
+
+When the King saw her his heart burned with love for her, and when he
+had speech with her he besought her to be his bride. And she consented
+to that, and said, "Many have wooed me, O King, but I would none of
+them, for since I was a little child I have loved thee, for the high
+tales that I heard of thee and of thy glory." And Eochy said, "Thine
+alone will I be if thou wilt have me." So the King paid a great
+bride-price for her, and bore her away to Tara, and there they were
+wedded, and all men welcomed and honoured the Queen. Nor had she dwelt
+long in Tara before the enchantment of her beauty and her grace had
+worked upon the hearts of all about her, so that the man to whom she
+spoke grew pale at the womanly sweetness of her voice, and felt
+himself a king for that day. All fair things and bright she loved,
+such as racing steeds and shining raiment, and the sight of Eochy's
+warriors with their silken banners and shields decorated with rich
+ornament in red and blue. And she would have all about her happy and
+joyous, and she gave freely of her treasure, and of her smiles and
+loving words, if she might see the light of joy on the faces of men,
+but from pain or sadness that might not be cured she would turn away.
+In one thing only was sadness endurable to her and that was in her
+music, for when she sang or touched the harp all hearts were pierced
+with longing for they knew not what, and all eyes shed tears save hers
+alone, who looked as though she beheld, far from earth, some land more
+fair than words of man can tell; and all the wonder of that land and
+all its immeasurable distance were in her song.
+
+Now Eochy the King had a brother whose name was Ailill Anglounach, or
+Ailill of the Single Stain, for one dark spot only was on his life,
+and it is of this that the story now shall tell. One day, when he had
+come from his own Dún to the yearly Assembly in the great Hall of
+Tara, he ate not at the banquet but gazed as it were at something afar
+off, and his wife said to him, "Why dost thou gaze so, Ailill; so do
+men look who are smitten with love?" Ailill was wroth with himself and
+turned his eyes away, but he said nothing, for that on which he gazed
+was the face of Etain.
+
+After that Assembly was over Ailill knew that the torment of love had
+seized him for his brother's wife, and he was sorely shamed and
+wrathful, and the secret strife in his mind between his honour and the
+fierce and pitiless love that possessed him brought him into a sore
+sickness. And he went home to his Dún in Tethba and there lay ill for
+a year. Then Eochy the King went to see him, and came near him and
+laid his hand on his breast, and Ailill heaved a bitter sigh. Eochy
+asked, "Why art thou not better of this sickness, how goes it with
+thee now?" "By my word," said Ailill, "no better, but worse each day
+and night." "What ails thee, then?" asked Eochy. Ailill said, "Verily,
+I know not." Then Eochy bade summon his chief physician, who might
+discover the cause of his brother's malady, for Ailill was wasting to
+death.
+
+So Fachtna the chief physician came and he laid his hand upon Ailill,
+and Ailill sighed. Then Fachtna said, "This is no bodily disease, but
+either Ailill suffers from the pangs of envy or from the torment of
+love." But Ailill was full of shame and he would not tell what ailed
+him, and Fachtna went away.
+
+After this the time came that Eochy the High King should make a royal
+progress throughout his realm of Ireland, but Etain he left behind at
+Tara. Before he departed he charged her saying, "Do thou be gentle and
+kind to my brother Ailill while he lives, and should he die, let his
+burial mound be heaped over him, and a pillar stone set up above it,
+and his name written thereon in letters of Ogham." Then the King took
+leave of Ailill and looked to see him again on earth no more.
+
+After a while Etain bethought her and said, "Let us go to see how it
+fares with Ailill." So she went to where he lay in his Dún at Tethba.
+And seeing him wasted and pale she was moved with pity and distress
+and said,
+
+"What ails thee, young man? Long thou hast lain prostrate, in fair
+weather and in foul, thou who wert wont to be so swift and strong?"
+
+And Ailill said,
+
+"Truly, I have a cause for my suffering; and I cannot eat, nor listen
+to the music makers; my affliction is very sore."
+
+Then said Etain,
+
+"Though I am a woman I am wise in many a thing; tell me what ails thee
+and thy healing shall be done."
+
+Ailill replied,
+
+"Blessing be with thee, O fair one; I am not worthy of thy speech; I
+am torn by the contention of body and of soul."
+
+Then Etain deemed that she knew somewhat of his trouble, and she said,
+
+
+"If thy heart is set on any of the white maidens that are my
+handmaids, tell me of it, and I shall court her for thee and she shall
+come to thee," and then Ailill cried out,
+
+"Love indeed, O Queen, hath brought me low. It is a plague nearer than
+the skin, it overwhelms my soul as an earthquake, it is farther than
+the height of the sky, and harder to win than the treasures of the
+Fairy Folk. If I contend with it, it is like a combat with a spectre;
+if I fly to the ends of the earth from it, it is there; if I seek to
+seize it, it is a passion for an echo. It is thou, O my love, who hast
+brought me to this, and thou alone canst heal me, or I shall never
+rise again."
+
+Then Etain went away and left him. But still in her palace in Tara she
+was haunted by his passion and his misery, and, though she loved him
+not, she could not endure his pain, nor the triumph of grim death over
+his youth and beauty. So at last she went to him again and said, "If
+it lies with me, Ailill, to heal thee of thy sickness, I may not let
+thee die." And she made a tryst to meet him on the morrow at a house
+of Ailill's between Dún Tethba and Tara, "but be it not at Tara," she
+said, "for that is the palace of the High King."
+
+All that night Ailill lay awake with the thought of his tryst with
+Etain. But on the morrow morn a heaviness came upon his eyelids, and a
+druid sleep overcame him, and there all day he lay buried in slumbers
+from which none could wake him, until the time of his meeting with
+Etain was overpast.
+
+But Etain, when she had come to the place of the tryst, looked out,
+and behold, a youth having the appearance and the garb of Ailill was
+approaching from Tethba. He entered the bower where she was; but no
+lover did she there meet, but only a sick and sorrowful man who spake
+coldly to her and lamented the sufferings of his malady, and after a
+short time he went away.
+
+Next day Etain went to see Ailill and to hear how he did. And Ailill
+entreated her forgiveness that he had not kept his tryst, "for," said
+he, "a druid slumber descended upon me, and I lay as one dead from
+morn till eve. And morever," he added, "it seems as if the strange
+passion that has befallen me were washed away in that slumber, for
+now, Etain, I love thee no more but as my Queen and my sister, and I
+am recovered as if from an evil dream." Then Etain knew that powers
+not of earth were mingling in her fate, and she pondered much of these
+things, and grew less lighthearted than of old. And when the King came
+back, he rejoiced to find his brother whole and sound and merry, as
+Ailill had ever been, and he praised Etain for her gentleness and
+care.
+
+Now after a time as Etain was by herself in her sunny bower she was
+aware of a man standing by her, whom she had never seen before. Young
+he was, and grey-eyed, with curling golden hair, and in his hand he
+bore two spears. His mantle was of crimson silk, his tunic of saffron,
+and a golden helmet was on his head. And as she gazed upon him,
+"Etain," he said, "the time is come for thee to return; we have missed
+thee and sorrowed for thee long enough in the Land of Youth." Etain
+said, "Of what land dost thou speak?" Then he chanted to her a song:--
+
+  "Come with me, Etain, O come away,
+     To that oversea land of mine!
+   Where music haunts the happy day,
+     And rivers run with wine;
+   Where folk are careless, and young, and gay,
+     And none saith 'mine' or 'thine.'
+
+   "Golden curls on the proud young head,
+     And pearls in the tender mouth;
+   Manhood, womanhood, white and red,
+     And love that grows not loth
+   When all the world's desires are dead,
+     And all the dreams of youth.
+
+   "Away from the cloud of Adam's sin!
+     Away from grief and care!
+   This flowery land thou dwellest in
+     Seems rude to us, and bare;
+   For the naked strand of the Happy Land
+     Is twenty times as fair."
+
+When Etain heard this she stood motionless and as one that dreams
+awake, for it seemed to her as if she must follow that music
+whithersoever it went on earth or beyond the earth. But at last
+remembrance came upon her and she said to the stranger, "Who art thou,
+that I, the High King's wife, should follow a nameless man and betray
+my troth?" And he said, "Thy troth was due to me before it was due to
+him, and, moreover, were it not for me thou hadst broken it already. I
+am Midir the Proud, a prince among the people of Dana, and thy
+husband, Etain. Thus it was, that when I took thee to wife in the Land
+of Youth, the jealousy of thy rival, Fuamnach, was awakened; and
+having decoyed me from home by a false report, she changed thee by
+magical arts into a butterfly, and then contrived a mighty tempest
+that drove thee abroad. Seven years wast thou borne hither and thither
+on the blast till chance blew thee into the fairy palace of Angus my
+kinsman, by the waters of the Boyne. But Angus knew thee, for the
+Fairy Folk may not disguise themselves from each other, and he built
+for thee a magical sunny bower with open windows, through which thou
+mightest pass, and about it were all manner of blossoming herbs and
+shrubs, and on the odour and honey of these thou didst live and grow
+fair and well nourished. But in the end Fuamnach got tidings of thee,
+and again the druid tempest descended and blew thee forth for another
+seven years of wandering and woe. Then it chanced that thou wert blown
+through the roof-window of the Dún of Etar by the Bay of Cichmany, and
+fell into the goblet from which his wife was drinking, and thee she
+drank down with that draught of ale. And in due time thou wast born
+again in the guise of a mortal maid and daughter to Etar the Warrior.
+But thou art no mortal, nor of mortal kin, for it is one thousand and
+twelve years from the time when thou wast born in Fairy Land till
+Etar's wife bore thee as a child on earth."
+
+Then Etain was bewildered, and her mind ran back on many a
+half-forgotten thing and she gazed as into a gulf of visions, full of
+dim shapes, strange and glorious. And Midir as she looked at him again
+seemed transfigured, taller and mightier than before, and a light
+flame flickered from his helmet's crest and moved like wings about his
+shoulders.
+
+But at last she said, "I know not what thou sayest if it be truth or
+not, but this I know, that I am the wife of the High King and I will
+not break my troth." "It were broken already," said Midir, "but for
+me, for I it was who laid a druidic sleep on Ailill, and it was I who
+came to thee in his shape that thy honour might not be stained." Etain
+said, "I learned then that honour is more than life." "But if Eochy
+the High King consent to let thee go," said Midir, "wilt thou then
+come with me to my land and thine?" "In that case," said Etain "I
+will go."
+
+And the time went by, and Etain abode in Tara, and the High King did
+justice and made war and held the great Assembly as he was used. But
+one day in summer Eochy arose very early to breathe the morning air,
+and he stood by himself leaning on the rampart of his great Dún, and
+looking over the flowery plain of Bregia. And as he thus gazed he was
+aware of a young warrior standing by his side. Grey-eyed the youth
+was, and golden-haired, and he was splendidly armed and apparelled as
+beseemed the lord of a great clan of the Gael. Eochy bade him welcome
+courteously, and asked him of the cause of his coming. "I am come," he
+said, "to play a game of chess with thee, O King, for thou art
+renowned for thy skill in that game, and to test that skill am I come.
+And my name is Midir, of the People of Dana, whom they have called The
+Proud."
+
+"Willingly," said the King; "but I have here no chessboard, and mine
+is in the chamber where the Queen is sleeping."
+
+"That is easily remedied," said Midir, and he drew from his cloak a
+folding chessboard whose squares were alternate gold and silver. From
+a men-bag made of brazen chainwork he drew out a set of men adorned
+with flashing jewels, and he set them in array.
+
+"I will not play," then said Eochy, "unless we play for a stake."
+
+"For what stake shall we play, then?" said Midir.
+
+"I care not," said Eochy; "but do thou perform tasks for me if I win
+and I shall bestow of my treasures upon thee if I lose."
+
+So they played a game, and Eochy won. Then Eochy bade Midir clear the
+plains of Meath about Tara from rocks and stones, and Midir brought at
+night a great host of the Fairy Folk, and it was done. And again he
+played with Eochy, and again he lost, and this time he cut down the
+forest of Breg. The third time Midir lost again, and his task was to
+build a causeway across the moor of Lamrach. Now at night, while Midir
+and the fairy host were labouring at the causeway and their oxen
+drawing to it innumerable loads of earth and gravel, the steward of
+Eochy stole out and hid himself to watch them, for it was a
+prohibition to see them at work. And he observed that the fairy oxen
+were not harnessed with a thong across their foreheads, that the pull
+might be upon their brows and necks, as was the manner with the Gael,
+but with yokes upon their shoulders. This he reported to Eochy, who
+found it good; and he ordered that henceforth the children of the Gael
+should harness their plough-oxen with the yoke upon their shoulders;
+and so it was done from that day forth. Hence Eochy got his name of
+_Airem_, or "The Ploughman," for he was the first of the Gael to put
+the yoke upon the shoulder of the ox.
+
+But it was said that because the Fairy Folk were watched as they made
+that noble causeway, there came a breach in it at one place which none
+could ever rightly mend.
+
+When all their works were accomplished, Midir came again to Eochy, and
+this time he bore a dark and fierce countenance and was high girt as
+for war. And the King welcomed him, and Midir said, "Thou hast treated
+me hardly and put slavish tasks upon me. All that seemed good to thee
+have I done, but now I am moved with anger against thee."
+
+"I return not anger for anger," said Eochy; "say what satisfaction I
+can make thee."
+
+"Let us once more play at chess," said Midir.
+
+"Good," said Eochy, "and what stake wilt thou have now?"
+
+"The stake to be whatever the winner shall demand," said Midir.
+
+Then they played for the fourth time and Eochy lost.
+
+"Thou hast won the game," said he.
+
+"I had won long ago had I chosen," said Midir.
+
+"What dost thou demand of me?" said Eochy.
+
+"To hold Etain in my arms and obtain a kiss from her," replied Midir.
+
+The King was silent for a while and after that he said, "Come back in
+one month from this day and the stake which I have lost shall be
+paid."
+
+But Eochy summoned together all the host of the heroes of the Gael,
+and they surrounded Tara, ring within ring; and the King himself and
+Etain were in the palace, with the outer court of it shut and locked.
+For they looked that Midir should come with a great host of the Danaan
+folk to carry off the Queen. And on the appointed day, as the kings
+sat at meat, Etain and her handmaids were dispensing the wine to them
+as was wont. Then suddenly as they feasted and talked, behold, Midir,
+stood in the midst of them. If he was fair and noble to look on as he
+had appeared before to the King and to Etain, he was fairer now, for
+the splendour of the Immortals clothed him, and his jewels flamed as
+he moved like eyes of living light. And all the kings and lords and
+champions who were present gazed on him in amazement and were silent,
+as the King arose and gave him welcome.
+
+"Thou hast received me as I expected to be received," said Midir,
+"and now let thy debt be paid, since I for my part faithfully
+performed all that I undertook."
+
+"I must consider the matter yet longer," said Eochy.
+
+"Thou hast promised Etain's very self to me," said Midir; "that is
+what hath come from thee." And when she heard that word Etain blushed
+for shame.
+
+"Blush not," said Midir, "for all the treasures of the Land of Youth
+have not availed to win thee from Eochy, and it is not of thine own
+will that thou art won, but because the time is come to return to thy
+kin."
+
+Then said Eochy, "I have not promised Etain's self to thee, but to
+take her in thine arms and kiss her, and now do so if thou wilt."
+
+[Illustration: "They rose up in the air"]
+
+Then Midir took his weapons in his left hand and placed his right
+around Etain, and when he did so they rose up in the air over the
+heads of the host, and passed through a roof-window in the palace.
+Then all rose up, tumultuous and angry, and rushed out of doors, but
+nothing could they see save two white swans that circled high in air
+around the Hill of Tara, and then flew southwards and away towards
+the fairy mountain of Slievenamon. And thus Etain the immortal
+rejoined the Immortals; but a daughter of Etain and of Eochy, who was
+another Etain in name and in beauty, became in due time a wife, and
+mother of kings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+How Ethne Quitted Fairyland
+
+
+By the banks of the River Boyne, where rises the great Fairy Mound now
+called Newgrange, there stood long ago the shining Palace of a prince
+of the People of Dana, named Angus. Of him it is that the lines are
+written--
+
+  "By the dark rolling waters of the Boyne
+   Where Angus Óg magnificently dwells."
+
+When the Milesian race invaded Ireland, and after long fighting
+subdued the Danaans in spite of all their enchantments and all their
+valour, the Danaans wrought for themselves certain charms by which
+they and all their possessions became invisible to mortals, and thus
+they continued to lead their old joyous life in the holy places of the
+land, and their palaces and dancing-places and folk-motes seem to the
+human eye to be merely a green mound or rath, or a lonely hillside, or
+a ruined shrine with nettles and foxgloves growing up among its broken
+masonry.
+
+Now, after Angus and his folk had thus retreated behind the veil of
+invisibility, it happened that the steward of his palace had a
+daughter born to him whose name was Ethne. On the same day Fand, the
+wife of Mananan the Sea God, bore him a daughter, and since Angus was
+a friend of Mananan and much beloved by him, the child of the Sea God
+was sent to Brugh na Boyna, the noble dwelling-place of Angus, to be
+fostered and brought up, as the custom was. And Ethne became the
+handmaid of the young princess of the sea.
+
+In time Ethne grew into a fair and stately maiden Now in the Brugh of
+Angus there were two magical treasures, namely, an ale-vat which could
+never be emptied, and two swine whereof one was ever roasted and ready
+to be eaten while the other lived, and thus they were, day and day
+about. There was therefore always a store of food of faery, charged
+with magical spells, by eating of which one could never grow old or
+die. It came to be noticed that after Ethne had grown up she never ate
+or drank of the fairy food, or of any other, yet she continued to seem
+healthy and well-nourished. This was reported to Angus, and by him to
+Mananan, and Mananan by his wisdom discovered the cause of it. One of
+the lords of the Danaans, happening to be on a visit with Angus, was
+rendered distraught by the maiden's beauty, and one day he laid hands
+upon her and strove to carry her away to his own dwelling. Ethne
+escaped from him, but the blaze of resentment at the insult that lit
+up in her soul consumed in her the fairy nature, that knows not of
+good or evil, and the nature of the children of Adam took its place.
+Thenceforth she ate not of the fairy food, which is prohibited to man,
+and she was nourished miraculously by the will of the One God. But
+after a time it chanced that Mananan and Angus brought from the Holy
+Land two cows whose milk could never run dry. In this milk there was
+nothing of the fairy spell, and Ethne lived upon it many long years,
+milking the cows herself, nor did her youth and beauty suffer any
+change.
+
+Now it happened that on one very hot day the daughter of Mananan went
+down to bathe in the waters of the Boyne, and Ethne and her other
+maidens along with her. After they had refreshed themselves in the
+cool, amber-coloured water, they arrayed themselves in their silken
+robes and trooped back to the Brugh again; but ere they entered it,
+they discovered that Ethne was not among them.
+
+So they went back, scattering themselves along the bank and searching
+in every quiet pool of the river and in every dark recess among the
+great trees that bordered it, for Ethne was dearly loved by all of
+them; but neither trace nor tidings of her could they find, and they
+went sorrowfully home without her, to tell the tale to Angus and to
+her father.
+
+What had befallen Ethne was this. In taking off her garments by the
+riverside she had mislaid her fairy charm, and was become as a mortal
+maid. Nothing could she now see of her companions, and all around was
+strange to her. The fairy track that had led to the riverside was
+overgrown with briars, the palace of Angus was but a wooded hill. She
+knew not where she was, and pierced with sudden terror she fled wildly
+away, seeking for the familiar places that she had known in the fairy
+life, but which were now behind the Veil. At length she came to a high
+wall wherein was a wicket gate, and through it she saw a garden full
+of sweet herbs and flowers, which surrounded a steep-roofed building
+of stone. In the garden she saw a man in a long brown robe tied about
+his waist with a cord. He smiled at her and beckoned her to come in
+without fear. He was a monk of the holy Patrick, and the house was a
+convent church.
+
+When the monk had heard her tale, he marvelled greatly and brought her
+to St Patrick himself, who instructed her in the Faith, and she
+believed and was baptized.
+
+[Illustration: "She heard her own name called again and again"]
+
+But not long thereafter, as she was praying in the church by the
+Boyne, the sky darkened and she heard a sound without like the rushing
+of a great wind, and mingled in it were cries and lamentations, and
+her own name called again and again in a multitude of voices, thin and
+faint as the crying of curlews upon the moor. She sprang up and gazed
+around, calling in return, but nothing could she see, and at last the
+storm of cries died away, and everything was still again around the
+church except the singing voice of Boyne and the humming of the garden
+bees.
+
+Then Ethne sank down swooning, and the monks bore her out into the
+air, and it was long until her heart beat and her eyes unclosed again.
+In that hour she fell into a sickness from which she never recovered.
+In no long time she died with her head upon the breast of the holy
+Patrick, and she was buried in the church where she had first been
+received by the monk; and the church was called Killethne, or the
+Church of Ethne, from that day forward until now.
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Boyhood of Finn mac Cumhal
+
+
+In Ireland long ago, centuries before the English appeared in that
+country, there were kings and chiefs, lawyers and merchants, men of
+the sword and men of the book, men who tilled their own ground and men
+who tilled the ground of others, just as there are now. But there was
+also, as ancient poets and historians tell us, a great company or
+brotherhood of men who were bound to no fixed calling, unless it was
+to fight for the High King of Ireland whenever foes threatened him
+from within the kingdom or without it. This company was called the
+Fianna of Erinn. They were mighty hunters and warriors, and though
+they had great possessions in land, and rich robes, and gold
+ornaments, and weapons wrought with beautiful chasing and with
+coloured enamels, they lived mostly a free out-door life in the light
+hunting-booths which they made in the woods where the deer and the
+wolf ranged. There were then vast forests in Ireland, which are all
+gone now, and there were also, as there still are, many great and
+beautiful lakes and rivers, swarming with fish and water-fowl. In the
+forests and on the mountain sides roamed the wild boar and the wolf,
+and great herds of deer, some of giant size, whose enormous antlers
+are sometimes found when bogs are being drained. The Fianna chased
+these and the wolves with great dogs, whose courage and strength and
+beauty were famous throughout Europe, and which they prized and loved
+above all things. To the present day in Ireland there still remain
+some of this breed of Irish hounds, but the giant deer and the wolf
+are gone, and the Fianna of Erinn live only in the ancient books that
+were written of them, and in the tales that are still told of them in
+the winter evenings by the Irish peasant's fireside.
+
+The Fianna were under the rule of one great captain or chief, and at
+the time I tell of his name was Cumhal, son of Trenmor. Now a tribe or
+family of the Fianna named the Clan Morna, or Sons of Morna, rose in
+rebellion against Cumhal, for they were jealous and greedy of his
+power and glory, and sought to have the captaincy for themselves. They
+defeated and slew him at the battle of Cnucha, which is now called
+Castleknock, near the City of the Hurdle Ford, which is the name that
+Dublin still bears in the Irish tongue. Goll, son of Morna, slew
+Cumhal, and they spoiled him of the Treasure Bag of the Fianna, which
+was a bag made of a crane's skin and having in it jewels of great
+price, and magic weapons, and strange things that had come down from
+far-off days when the Fairy Folk and mortal men battled for the
+lordship of Ireland. The Bag with its treasures was given to Lia, the
+chief of Luachar in Connacht, who had the keeping of it before, for he
+was the treasurer of Cumhal, and he was the first man who had wounded
+Cumhal in the battle when he fell.
+
+Cumhal's wife was named Murna, and she bore him two sons. The elder
+was named Tulcha, and he fled from the country for fear of Goll and
+took service with the King of Scotland. The younger was born after
+Cumhal's death, and his name was called Demna. And because his mother
+feared that the sons of Morna would find him out and kill him, she
+gave him to a Druidess and another wise woman of Cumhal's household,
+and bade them take him away and rear him as best they could. So they
+took him into the wild woods on the Slieve Bloom Mountains, and there
+they trained him to hunt and fish and to throw the spear, and he grew
+strong, and as beautiful as a child of the Fairy Folk. If he were in
+the same field with a hare he could run so that the hare could never
+leave the field, for Demna was always before it. He could run down and
+slay a stag with no dogs to help him, and he could kill a wild duck on
+the wing with a stone from his sling. And the Druidess taught him the
+learning of the time, and also the story of his race and nation, and
+told him of his right to be captain of the Fianna of Erinn when his
+day of destiny should come.
+
+One day, while still a boy, he was roaming through the woods when he
+came to the mansion of a great lord, where many boys, sons of the
+chief men of Ireland, were being trained in manly arts and exercises.
+He found them playing at hurling, and they invited him to join them.
+He did so, but the side he was on won too easily, so they divided
+again, and yet again, giving fewer and fewer to Demna's side, till at
+last he alone drove the ball to the goal through them all, flashing
+among them as a salmon among a shoal of minnows. And then their anger
+and jealousy rose and grew bitter against the stranger, and instead of
+honouring him as gallant lads of gentle blood should have done they
+fell upon him with their hurling clubs and sought to kill him. But
+Demna felled seven of them to the ground and put the rest to flight,
+and then went his way home. When the boys told what had happened the
+chief asked them who it was that had defeated and routed them
+single-handed. They said, "It was a tall shapely lad, and very fair
+(_finn_)." So the name of Finn, the Fair One, clung to him
+thenceforth, and by that name he is known to this day.
+
+By and by Finn gathered round him a band of youths who loved him for
+his strength and valour and for his generous heart, and with them he
+went hunting in the forests. And Goll, and the sons of Morna, who were
+now captains of the Fianna under the High King, began to hear tales of
+him and his exploits, and they sent trackers to inquire about him, for
+they had an inkling of who this wonderful fair-haired youth might be.
+Finn's foster mothers heard of this. "You must leave this place," they
+said to him, "and see our faces no more, for if Goll's men find you
+here they will slay you. We have cherished the blood of Cumhal," they
+said, "and now our work is done. Go, and may blessing and victory go
+with you." So Finn departed with naught but his weapons and his
+hunting gear, very sorrowful at leaving the wise and loving friends
+who had fostered his childhood; but deep in his heart was a wild and
+fierce delight at the thought of the trackless ways he would travel,
+and the wonders he would see; and all the future looked to him as
+beautiful and dim as the mists that fill a mountain glen under the
+morning sun.
+
+Now after the death of Cumhal, his brother Crimmal and a few others of
+the aged warriors of the Fianna, who had not fallen in the fight at
+Cnucha, fled away into Connacht, and lived there in the deepest
+recesses of a great forest, where they hoped the conquerors might
+never find them. Here they built themselves a poor dwelling of tree
+branches, plastered with mud and roofed with reeds from the lake, and
+here they lived on what game they could kill or snare in the wild
+wood; and harder and harder it grew, as age and feebleness crept on
+them, to find enough to eat, or to hew wood for their fire. In this
+retreat, never having seen the friendly face of man, they were one day
+startled to hear voices and the baying of hounds approaching them
+through the wood, and they thought that the sons of Morna were upon
+them at last, and that their hour of doom was at hand. Soon they
+perceived a company of youths coming towards their hut, with one in
+front who seemed to be their leader. Taller he was by a head than the
+rest, broad shouldered, and with masses of bright hair clustering
+round his forehead, and he carried in his hand a large bag made of
+some delicate skin and stained in patterns of red and blue. The old
+men thought when they saw him of a saying there was about the mighty
+Lugh, who was brother to the wife of Cumhal, that when he came among
+his army as they mustered for battle, men felt as though they beheld
+the rising of the sun. As they came near, the young men halted and
+looked upon the elders with pity, for their clothing of skins was
+ragged and the weapons they strove to hold were rusted and blunt, and
+except for their proud bearing and the fire in their old eyes they
+looked more like aged and worthless slaves in the household of a
+niggardly lord than men who had once been the flower of the fighting
+men of Erinn.
+
+But the tall youth stepped in front of his band and cried aloud--
+
+"Which of ye is Crimmal, son of Trenmor?" And one of the elders said,
+"I am Crimmal." Then tears filled the eyes of the youth, and he knelt
+down before the old man and put his hands in his.
+
+"My lord and chief," he said, "I am Finn, son of Cumhal, and the day
+of deliverance is come."
+
+[Illustration: "And that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut"]
+
+So the youths brought in the spoils of their hunting, and yet other
+spoils than these; and that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut. And Crimmal said--
+
+"It was foretold to us that one day the blood of Cumhal should be
+avenged, and the race of Cumhal should rule the Fianna again. This was
+the sign that the coming champion should give of his birth and
+destiny; he was to bear with him the Treasure Bag of Cumhal and the
+sacred things that were therein."
+
+Finn said, "Ye know the Bag and its treasures, tell us if these be
+they." And he laid his skin bag on the knees of Crimmal.
+
+Crimmal opened it, and he took out the jewels of sovranty the magic
+spear-head made by the smiths of the Fairy Folk, and he said, "These
+be the treasures of Cumhal; truly the ripeness of the time is come."
+
+And Finn then told the story of how he had won these things.
+
+"But yesterday morning," he said, "we met on our way a woman of noble
+aspect, and she knelt over the body of a slain youth. When she lifted
+her head as we drew near, tears of blood ran down her cheeks, and she
+cried to me, 'Whoever thou art, I bind thee by the bonds of the sacred
+ordinances of the Gael that thou avenge my wrong. This was my son
+Glonda,' she said, 'my only son, and he was slain to-day wantonly by
+the Lord of Luachar and his men.' So we went, my company and I, to the
+Dún of the Lord of Luachar, and found an earthen rampart with a fosse
+before it, and on the top of the rampart was a fence of oaken posts
+interlaced with wattles, and over this we saw the many-coloured thatch
+of a great dwelling-house, and its white walls painted with bright
+colours under the broad eaves. So I stood forth and called to the Lord
+of Luachar and bade him make ready to pay an eric to the mother of
+Glonda, whatsoever she should demand. But he laughed at us and cursed
+us and bade us begone. Then we withdrew into the forest, but returned
+with a great pile of dry brushwood, and while some of us shot stones
+and arrows at whoever should appear above the palisade, others rushed
+up with bundles of brushwood and laid it against the palisade and set
+it on fire, and the Immortal Ones sent a blast of wind that set the
+brushwood and palisade quickly in a blaze, and through that fiery gap
+we charged in shouting. And half of the men of Luachar we killed and
+the rest fled, and the Lord of Luachar I slew in the doorway of his
+palace. We took a great spoil then, O Crimmal--these vessels of bronze
+and silver, and spears and bows, smoked bacon and skins of Greek wine;
+and in a great chest of yewwood we found this bag. All these things
+shall now remain with you, and my company shall also remain to hunt
+for you and protect you, for ye shall know want and fear no longer
+while ye live."
+
+And Finn said, "I would fain know if my mother Murna still lives, or
+if she died by the sons of Morna."
+
+Crimmal said, "After thy father's death, Finn, she was wedded to
+Gleor, Lord of Lamrigh, in the south, and she still lives in honour
+with him, and the sons of Morna have let her be. Didst thou never see
+her since she gave thee, an infant, to the wise women on the day of
+Cnucha?"
+
+"I remember," said Finn, "when I was, as they tell me, but six years
+old, there came one day to our shieling in the woods of Slieve Bloom a
+chariot with bronze-shod wheels and a bronze wolf's head at the end of
+the pole, and two horsemen riding with it, besides him who drove. A
+lady was in it, with a gold frontlet on her brow and her cloak was
+fastened with a broad golden brooch. She came into our hut and spoke
+long with my foster-mothers, and me she clasped in her arms and kissed
+many times, and I felt her tears on my face. And they told me
+afterwards that this was Murna of the White Neck, and my mother. If
+she have suffered no harm at the hands of the sons of Morna, so much
+the less is the debt that they shall one day pay."
+
+Now it is to be told what happened to Finn at the house of Finegas the
+Bard. Finn did not deem that the time had come for him to seize the
+captaincy of the Fianna until he had perfected himself in wisdom and
+learning. So on leaving the shelter of the old men in the wood he went
+to learn wisdom and the art of poetry from Finegas, who dwelt by the
+River Boyne, near to where is now the village of Slane. It was a
+belief among the poets of Ireland that the place of the revealing of
+poetry is always by the margin of water. But Finegas had another
+reason for the place where he made his dwelling, for there was an old
+prophecy that whoever should first eat of the Salmon of Knowledge that
+lived in the River Boyne, should become the wisest of men. Now this
+salmon was called Finntan in ancient times and was one of the
+Immortals, and he might be eaten and yet live. But in the time of
+Finegas he was called the Salmon of the Pool of Fec, which is the
+place where the fair river broadens out into a great still pool, with
+green banks softly sloping upward from the clear brown water. Seven
+years was Finegas watching the pool, but not until after Finn had come
+to be his disciple was the salmon caught. Then Finegas gave it to Finn
+to cook, and bade him eat none of it. But when Finegas saw him coming
+with the fish, he knew that something had chanced to the lad, for he
+had been used to have the eye of a young man but now he had the eye of
+a sage. Finegas said, "Hast thou eaten of the salmon?"
+
+"Nay," said Finn, "but it burnt me as I turned it upon the spit and I
+put my thumb in my mouth" And Finegas smote his hands together and was
+silent for a while. Then he said to the lad who stood by obediently,
+"Take the salmon and eat it, Finn, son of Cumhal, for to thee the
+prophecy is come. And now go hence, for I can teach thee no more, and
+blessing and victory be thine."
+
+With Finegas, Finn learned the three things that make a poet, and they
+are Fire of Song, and Light of Knowledge, and the Art of Extempore
+Recitation. Before he departed he made this lay to prove his art, and
+it is called "The Song of Finn in Praise of May":--
+
+   May Day! delightful day!
+     Bright colours play the vales along.
+   Now wakes at morning's slender ray,
+     Wild and gay, the blackbird's song.
+
+   Now comes the bird of dusty hue,
+     The loud cuckoo, the summer-lover;
+   Branching trees are thick with leaves;
+     The bitter, evil time is over.
+
+   Swift horses gather nigh
+     Where half dry the river goes;
+   Tufted heather crowns the height;
+     Weak and white the bogdown blows.
+
+   Corncrake sings from eve till morn,
+     Deep in corn, a strenuous bard!
+   Sings the virgin waterfall,
+     White and tall, her one sweet word.
+
+   Loaded bees of little power
+     Goodly flower-harvest win;
+   Cattle roam with muddy flanks;
+     Busy ants go out and in.
+
+   Through, the wild harp of the wood
+     Making music roars the gale--
+   Now it slumbers without motion,
+     On the ocean sleeps the sail.
+
+   Men grow mighty in the May,
+     Proud and gay the maidens grow;
+   Fair is every wooded height;
+     Fair and bright the plain below.
+
+   A bright shaft has smit the streams,
+     With gold gleams the water-flag;
+   Leaps the fish, and on the hills
+     Ardour thrills the flying stag.
+
+   Carols loud the lark on high,
+     Small and shy, his tireless lay,
+   Singing in wildest, merriest mood
+     Of delicate-hued, delightful May.[20]
+
+   [20] I am much indebted to the beautiful prose translation of
+   this song, published by Dr Kuno Meyer in _Ériu_ (the Journal of
+   the School of Irish Learning), Vol. I. Part II. In my poetic
+   version an attempt has been made to render the riming and
+   metrical effect of the original, which is believed to date from
+   about the ninth century.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Coming of Finn
+
+
+And now we tell how Finn came to the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn.
+
+At this time Ireland was ruled by one of the mightiest of her native
+kings, Conn, son of Felimy, who was surnamed Conn of the Hundred
+Battles. And Conn sat in his great banqueting hall at Tara, while the
+yearly Assembly of the lords and princes of the Gael went forward,
+during which it was the inviolable law that no quarrel should be
+raised and no weapon drawn, so that every man who had a right to come
+to that Assembly might come there and sit next his deadliest foe in
+peace. Below him sat at meat the provincial kings and the chiefs of
+clans, and the High King's officers and fighting-men of the Fianna,
+with Goll and the sons of Morna at their head. And there, too, sat
+modestly a strange youth, tall and fair, whom no one had seen in that
+place before. Conn marked him with the eye of a king that is
+accustomed to mark men, and by and by he sent him a horn full of wine
+from his own table and bade the youth declare his name and lineage.
+"I am Finn, son of Cumhal," said the youth, standing among them, tall
+as a warriors spear, and a start and a low murmur ran through the
+Assembly while the captains of the Fianna stared upon him like men who
+see a vision of the dead. "What seek you here?" said Conn, and Finn
+replied, "To be your man, O King, and to do you service in war as my
+father did." "It is well," said the King. "Thou art a friend's son and
+the son of man of trust." So Finn put his hand in the Kind's and swore
+fealty and service to him, and Conn set him beside his own son Art,
+and all fell to talking again and wondering what new things that day
+would bring forth, and the feasting went merrily forward.
+
+Now at this time the people of the royal burg of Tara were sorely
+afflicted by a goblin of the Fairy Folk, who was wont to approach the
+place at night-fall, there to work what harm to man, or beast, or
+dwelling that he found in his evil mind to do. And he could not be
+resisted, for as he came he played on a magic harp a strain so keen
+and sweet, that each man who heard it must needs stand entranced and
+motionless until the fairy music had passed away. The King proclaimed
+a mighty reward to any man who would save Tara from the goblin, and
+Finn thought in his heart, "I am the man to do that." So he said to
+the King, "Shall I have my rightful heritage as captain of the Fianna
+of Erin if I slay the goblin?" Conn said, "I promise thee that," and
+he bound himself by the sureties of all the provincial Kings of
+Ireland and of the Druid Kithro and his magicians.
+
+Now there was among the following of Conn a man named Fiacha, who had
+been as a youth a trusty friend and follower of Cumhal. He came to
+Finn and brought with him a spear having a head of dark bronze with
+glittering edges, and fastened with thirty rivets of Arabian gold, and
+the spear-head was laced up within a leathern case. "By this weapon of
+enchantment," said Fiacha, "you shall overcome the enchanter," and he
+taught Finn what to do with it when the hour of need should come.
+
+So Finn took the spear, and left the strings of the case loose, and he
+paced with it towards night-fall around the ramparts of royal Tara.
+And when he had once made the circuit of the rampart, and the light
+had now almost quite faded from the summer sky, and the wide low
+plains around the Hill of Tara were a sea of white mist, he heard far
+off in the deepening gloom the first notes of the fairy harp. Never
+such music was made by mortal hand, for it had in it sorrows that man
+has never felt, and joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as
+if a man listening to that music might burst from time into eternity
+and be as one of the Immortals for evermore. And Finn listened, amazed
+and rapt, till at last as the triumphant melody grew nearer and louder
+he saw dimly a Shadow Shape playing as it were on a harp, and coming
+swiftly towards him. Then with a mighty effort he roused himself from
+dreams, and tore the cover from the spear-head and laid the metal to
+his brow. And the demoniac energy that had been beaten into the blade
+by the hammers of unearthly craftsmen in ancient days thrilled
+through him and made him fighting-mad, and he rushed forward shouting
+his battle-cry, and swinging the spear aloft. But the Shadow turned
+and fled before him, and Finn chased it northward to the Fairy Mound
+of Slieve Fuad, and there he drove the spear through its back. And
+what it was that fell there in the night, and what it was that passed
+like the shadow of a shadow into the Fairy Mound, none can tell, but
+Finn bore back with him next day a pale, sorrowful head on the point
+of Fiacha's spear, and the goblin troubled the folk of royal Tara no
+more.
+
+But Conn of the Hundred Battles called the Fianna together, and he set
+Finn at his right hand and said, "Here is your Captain by birth-right
+and by sword-right. Let who will now obey him hence-forward, and who
+will not, let him go in peace and serve Arthur of Britain or Arist of
+Alba, or whatsoever King he will." And Goll, son of Morna, said, "For
+my part I will be Finn's man under thee, O King," and he swore
+obedience and loyalty to Finn before them all. Nor was it hard for any
+man to step where Goll had gone before, so they all took their oaths
+of Fian service to Finn mac Cumhal. And thus it was that Finn came to
+the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn, and he ruled the Fianna many a
+year till he died in battle with the Clan Urgrenn at Brea upon the
+Boyne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Finn's Chief Men
+
+
+With the coming of Finn did the Fianna of Erinn come to their glory,
+and with his life their glory passed away. For he ruled them as no
+other captain ever did, both strongly and wisely, and never bore a
+grudge against any, but freely forgave a man all offences save
+disloyalty to his lord. Thus it is told that Conan, son of the Lord of
+Luachar, him who had the Treasure Bag and whom Finn slew at Rath
+Luachar, was for seven years an outlaw and marauder, harrying the
+Fians, and killing here a man and there a hound, and firing their
+dwellings, and raiding their cattle. At last they ran him to a corner
+at Cam Lewy in Munster, and when he saw that he could escape no more
+he stole upon Finn as he sat down after a chase, and flung his arms
+round him from behind, holding him fast and motionless. Finn knew who
+held him thus and said, "What wilt thou Conan?" Conan said, "To make a
+covenant of service and fealty with thee, for I may no longer evade
+thy wrath." So Finn laughed and said, "Be it so, Conan, and if thou
+prove faithful and valiant, I also will keep faith." And Conan served
+him for thirty years, and no man of all the Fianna was keener and
+hardier in fight. There was also another Conan, namely, mac Morna,
+who was big and bald, and unwieldy in manly exercises, but whose
+tongue was bitter and scurrilous; no high brave thing was done that
+Conan the Bald did not mock and belittle. It is said that when he was
+stripped he showed down his back and buttocks a black sheep's fleece
+instead of a man's skin, and this is the way it came about. One day
+when Conan and certain others of the Fianna were hunting in the forest
+they came to a stately Dún, white-walled, with coloured thatching on
+the roof, and they entered it to seek hospitality. But when they were
+within they found! no man, but a great empty hall with pillars of
+cedar wood and silken hangings about it, like the hall of a wealthy
+lord. In the midst there was a table set forth with a sumptuous feast
+of boar's flesh and venison, and a great vat of yew wood full of red
+wine, and cups of gold and silver. So they set themselves gaily to eat
+and drink, for they were hungry from the chase, and talk and laughter
+were loud around the board. But one of them ere long started to his
+feet with a cry of fear and wonder, and they all looked round, and saw
+before their eyes the tapestried walls changing to rough wooden balks
+and the ceiling to foul sooty thatch like that of a herdsman's hut. So
+they knew they were being entrapped by some enchantment of the Fairy
+Folk, and all sprang to their feet and made for the doorway, that was
+no longer high and stately but was shrinking to the size of a fox
+earth,--all but Conan the Bald, who was gluttonously devouring the
+good things on the table, and heeded nothing else. Then they shouted
+to him, and as the last of them went out he strove to rise and follow,
+but found himself limed to the chair so that he could not stir. So
+two of the Fianna, seeing his plight, rushed back and seized his arms
+and tugged with all their might, and if they dragged him away, they
+left the most part of his raiment and his skin sticking to the chair.
+Then, not knowing what else to do with him in his sore plight they
+clapped upon his back the nearest thing they could find, which was the
+skin of a black sheep that they took from a peasant's flock hard by,
+and it grew there, and Conan wore it till his death.
+
+Though Conan was a coward and rarely adventured himself in battle with
+the Fianna, it is told that once a good man fell by his hand. This was
+on the day of the great battle with the pirate horde on the Hill of
+Slaughter in Kerry.[21] For Liagan, one of the invaders, stood out
+before the hosts and challenged the bravest of the Fians to single
+combat, and the Fians, in mockery, thrust Conan forth to the fight.
+When he appeared, Liagan laughed, for he had more strength than wit,
+and he said, "Silly is thy visit, thou bald old man." And as Conan
+still approached, Liagan lifted his hand fiercely, and Conan said,
+"Truly thou art in more peril from the man behind than from the man in
+front." Liagan looked round; and in that instant Conan swept off his
+head and then threw down his sword and ran for shelter to the ranks of
+the laughing Fians. But Finn was very wroth because he had won the
+victory by a trick.
+
+   [21] The hill still bears the name, Knockanar.
+
+And one of the chiefest of the friends of Finn was Dermot of the Love
+Spot. He was so fair and noble to look on that no woman could refuse
+him love, and it was said that he never knew weariness, but his step
+was as light at the end of the longest day of battle or the chase as
+it was at the beginning. Between him and Finn there was great love
+until the day when Finn, then an old man, was to wed Grania, daughter
+of Cormac the High King; but Grania bound Dermot by the sacred
+ordinances of the Fian chivalry to fly with her on her wedding night,
+which thing, sorely against his will, he did, and thereby got his
+death. But Grania went back to Finn, and when the Fianna saw her they
+laughed through all the camp in bitter mockery, for they would not
+have given one of the dead man's fingers for twenty such as Grania.
+
+Others of the chief men that Finn had were Keelta mac Ronan, who was
+one of his house-stewards and a strong warrior as well as a
+golden-tongued reciter of tales and poems. And there was Oisín, the
+son of Finn, the greatest poet of the Gael, of whom more shall be told
+hereafter. And Oisín had a son Oscar, who was the fiercest fighter in
+battle among all the Fians. He slew in his maiden battle three kings,
+and in his fury he also slew by mischance his own friend and
+condisciple Linne. His wife was the fair Aideen, who died of grief
+after Oscar's death in the battle of Gowra, and Oisín buried her on
+Ben Edar (Howth), and raised over her the great cromlech which is
+there to this day.
+
+Another good man that Finn had was Geena, the son of Luga; his mother
+was the warrior-daughter of Finn, and his father was a near kinsman of
+hers. He was nurtured by a woman that bore the name of Fair Mane, who
+had brought up many of the Fianna to manhood. When his time to take
+arms was come he stood before Finn and made his covenant of fealty,
+and Finn gave him the captaincy of a band. But mac Luga proved
+slothful and selfish, for ever vaunting himself and his weapon-skill
+and never training his men to the chase of deer or boar, and he used
+to beat his hounds and his serving-men. At last the Fians under him
+came with their whole company to Finn at Loch Lena in Killarney, and
+there they laid their complaint against mac Luga, and said, "Choose
+now, O Finn, whether you will have us, or the son of Luga by himself."
+
+Then Finn sent to mac Luga and questioned him, but mac Luga could say
+nothing to the point as to why the Fianna would none of him. Then Finn
+taught him the things befitting a youth of noble birth and a captain
+of men, and they were these:--
+
+"Son of Luga, if armed service be thy design, in a great man's
+household be quiet, be surly in the narrow pass."
+
+"Without a fault of his beat not thy hound; until thou ascertain her
+guilt, bring not a charge against thy wife."
+
+"In battle, meddle not with a buffoon, for, O mac Luga, he is but a
+fool."
+
+"Censure not any if he be of grave repute; stand not up to take part
+in a brawl; have nought to do with a madman or a wicked one."
+
+"Two-thirds of thy gentleness be shown to women and to those that
+creep on the floor (little children) and to poets, and be not violent
+to the common people."
+
+"Utter not swaggering speech, nor say thou wilt not yield what is
+right; it is a shameful thing to speak too stiffly unless that it be
+feasible to carry out thy words."
+
+"So long as thou shalt live, thy lord forsake not; neither for gold
+nor for other reward in the world abandon one whom thou art pledged to
+protect."
+
+"To a chief do not abuse his people, for that is no work for a
+gentleman."
+
+"Be no talebearer, nor utterer of falsehoods; be not talkative nor
+rashly censorious. Stir not up strife against thee, however good a man
+thou be."
+
+"Be no frequenter of the drinking-house, nor given to carping at the
+old; meddle not with a man of mean estate."
+
+"Dispense thy meat freely, have no niggard for thy familiar."
+
+"Force not thyself upon a chief, nor give him cause to speak ill of
+thee."
+
+"Stick to thy gear, hold fast to thy arms till the stern fight with
+its weapon-glitter be well ended."
+
+"Be more apt to give than to deny, and follow after gentleness, O son
+of Luga."[22]
+
+   [22] I have in the main borrowed Standish Hayes O'Grady's vivid
+   and racy translation of these adages of the Fianna. (SILVA
+   GADELICA, Engl. transl., p. 115.)
+
+And the son of Luga, it is written, heeded these counsels and gave up
+his bad ways, and he became one of the best of Finn's men.
+
+Such-like things also Finn taught to all his followers, and the best
+of them became like himself in valour and gentleness and generosity.
+Each of them loved the repute of his comrades more than his own, and
+each would say that for all noble qualities there was no man in the
+breadth of the world worthy to be thought of beside Finn.
+
+It was said of him that "he gave away gold as if it were the leaves of
+the woodland, and silver as if it were the foam of the sea," and that
+whatever he had bestowed upon any man, if he fell out with him
+afterwards, he was never known to bring it against him.
+
+Sang the poet Oisín of him once to St Patrick:--
+
+  "These are the things that were dear to Finn--
+  The din of battle, the banquet's glee,
+  The bay of his hounds through the rough glen ringing.
+  And the blackbird singing in Letter Lee,
+
+  "The shingle grinding along the shore
+  When they dragged his war-boats down to sea,
+  The dawn-wind whistling his spears among,
+  And the magic song of his minstrels three."
+
+In the time of Finn no one was ever admitted to be one of the Fianna
+of Erinn unless he could pass through many severe tests of his
+worthiness. He must be versed in the Twelve Books of Poetry and must
+himself be skilled to make verse in the rime and metre of the masters
+of Gaelic poesy. Then he was buried to his middle in the earth, and
+must, with a shield and a hazel stick, there defend himself against
+nine warriors casting spears at him, and if he were wounded he was
+not accepted. Then his hair was woven into braids and he was chased
+through the forest by the Fians. If he were overtaken, or if a braid
+of his hair were disturbed, or if a dry stick cracked under his foot,
+he was not accepted. He must be able to leap over a lath level with
+his brow and to run at full speed under level with his knee, and he
+must be able while running to draw out a thorn from his foot and never
+slacken speed. He must take no dowry with a wife.
+
+It was said that one of the Fians, namely Keelta, lived on to a great
+age, and saw St Patrick, by whom he was baptized into the faith of the
+Christ, and to whom he told many tales of Finn and his men, which
+Patrick's scribe wrote down. And once Patrick asked him how it was
+that the Fianna became so mighty and so glorious that all Ireland sang
+of their deeds, as Ireland has done ever since. Keelta answered,
+"Truth was in our hearts and strength in our arms, and what we said,
+that we fulfilled."
+
+This was also told of Keelta after he had seen St Patrick and received
+the Faith. He chanced to be one day by Leyney in Connacht, where the
+Fairy Folk of the Mound of Duma were wont to be sorely harassed and
+spoiled every year by pirates from oversea. They called Keelta to
+their aid, and by his counsel and valour the invaders were overcome
+and driven home, but Keelta was sorely wounded. Then Keelta asked
+that Owen the seer of the Fairy Folk might foretell him how long he
+had to live, for he was already a very aged man. Owen said, "It will
+be seventeen years, O Keelta of fair fame, till thou fall by the pool
+of Tara, and grievous that will be to all the King's household." "Even
+so did my chief and lord, my guardian and loving Protector, Finn,
+foretell to me," said Keelta. "And now what fee will ye give me for my
+rescue of you from the worst affliction that ever befell you?" "A
+great reward," said the Fairy Folk, "even youth; for by our art we
+shall change you into young man again with all the strength and
+activity of your prime." "Nay, God forbid," said Keelta "that I should
+take upon me a shape of sorcery, or any other than that which my
+Maker, the true and glorious God, hath bestowed upon me." And the
+Fairy Folk said, "It is the word of a true warrior and hero, and the
+thing that thou sayest is good." So they healed his wounds, and every
+bodily evil that he had, and he wished them blessing and victory, and
+went his way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Tale of Vivionn the Giantess
+
+
+One day Finn and Goll, Keelta and Oscar, and others of the Fianna,
+were resting after the hunt on a certain hill now called the Ridge of
+the Dead Woman, and their meal was being got ready, when a girl of the
+kin of the giants came striding up and sat down among them. "Didst
+thou ever see a woman so tall?" asked Finn of Goll. "By my troth,"
+said Goll, "never have I or any other seen a woman so big." She took
+her hand out of her bosom and on her long slender fingers there were
+three gold rings each as thick as an ox's yoke. "Let us question her,"
+said Goll, and Finn said, "If we stood up, perchance she might hear
+us."
+
+So they all rose to their feet, but the giantess, on that, rose up
+too. "Maiden," said Finn, "if thou have aught to say to us or to hear
+from us, sit down and lean thine elbow on the hill-side." So she lay
+down and Finn bade her say whence she came and what was her will with
+them. "Out of the World Oversea where the sun sets am I come," she
+said, "to seek thy protection, O mighty Finn." "And what is thy name?"
+"My name is Vivionn of the Fair Hair, and my father Treon is called
+King of the Land of Lasses, for he has but three sons and nine and
+seven score daughters, and near him is a King who hath one daughter
+and eight score sons. To one of these, Æda, was I given in marriage
+sorely against my will. Three times now have I fled from him. And this
+time it was fishermen whom the wind blew to us from off this land who
+told us of a mighty lord here, named Finn, son of Cumhal, who would
+let none be wronged or oppressed, but he would be their friend and
+champion. And if thou be he, to thee am I come." Then she laid her
+hand in Finn's, and he bade her do the same with Goll mac Morna, who
+was second in the Fian leadership, and she did so.
+
+Then the maiden took from her head a jewelled golden helmet, and
+immediately her hair flowed out in seven score tresses, fair, curly
+and golden, at the abundance of which all stood amazed; and Finn said,
+"By the Immortals that we adore, but King Cormac and the poetess Ethne
+and the fair women-folk of the Fianna would deem it a marvel to see
+this girl. Tell us now, maiden, what portion wilt thou have of meat
+and drink? will that of a hundred of us suffice thee?" The girl then
+saw Cnu, the dwarf harper of Finn, who had just been playing to them,
+and she said, "Whatever thou givest to yon little man that bears the
+harp, be it much or little, the same, O Finn, will suffice for me."
+
+Then she begged a drink from them, and Finn called his gillie,
+Saltran, and bade him fetch the full of a certain great goblet with
+water from the ford; now this goblet was of wood, and it held as much
+as nine of the Fianna could drink. The maiden poured some of the water
+into her right hand and drank three sips of it, and scattered the rest
+over the Fianna, and she and they burst out laughing. Finn said, "On
+thy conscience, girl, what ailed thee not to drink out of the goblet?"
+"Never," she replied, "have I drunk out of any vessel but there was a
+rim of gold to it, or at least of silver."
+
+And now Keelta looking up perceived a tall youth coming swiftly
+towards them, who, when he approached, seemed even bigger than was the
+maiden. He wore a rough hairy cape over his shoulder and beneath that
+a green cloak fastened by a golden brooch; his tunic was of royal
+satin, and he bore a red shield slung over his shoulders, and a spear
+with a shaft as thick as a man's leg was in his hand; a gold-hilted
+sword hung by his side. And his face, which was smooth-shaven, was
+comelier than that of any of the sons of men.
+
+When he came near, seeing among the Fians a stir of alarm at this
+apparition, Finn said, "Keep every one of you his place, let neither
+warrior nor gillie address him. Know any of you this champion?" "I
+know him," said the maiden; "that is even he to escape from whom I am
+come to thee, O Finn." And she sat down between Finn and Goll. But the
+stranger drew near, and spake never a word, but before any one could
+tell what he would be at he thrust fiercely and suddenly with his
+spear at the girl, and the shaft stood out a hand's breadth at her
+back. And she fell gasping, but the young man drew his weapon out and
+passed rapidly through the crowd and away.
+
+[Illustration: "They ran him by hill and plain"]
+
+Then Finn cried, red with wrath, "Ye have seen! Avenge this wicked
+deed, or none of you aspire to Fianship again." And the whole company
+sprang to their feet and gave chase to that murderer, save only Finn
+and Goll, who stayed by the dying maiden. And they ran him by hill and
+plain to the great Bay of Tralee and down to the Tribute Point, where
+the traders from oversea were wont to pay their dues, and there he set
+his face to the West and took the water. By this time four of the
+Fianna had outstripped the rest, namely, Keelta, and Dermot, and Glas,
+and Oscar, son of Oisín. Of these Keelta was first, and just as the
+giant was mid-leg in the waves he hurled his spear and it severed the
+thong of the giant's shield so that it fell off in the water. And as
+the giant paused, Keelta seized his spear and tore it from him. But
+the giant waded on, and soon the Fians were floundering in deep water
+while the huge form, thigh deep, was seen striding towards the setting
+sun. And a great ship seemed to draw near, and it received him, and
+then departed into the light, but the Fians returned in the grey
+evening, bearing the spear and the great shield to Finn. There they
+found the maiden at point of death, and they laid the weapons before
+her. "Goodly indeed are these arms," she said, "for that is the
+Thunder Spear of the King Oversea and the shield is the Red Branch
+Shield," for it was covered with red arabesques. Then she bestowed her
+bracelets on Finn's three harpers, the dwarf Cnu, and Blanit his wife,
+and the harper Daira. And she bade Finn care for her burial, that it
+should be done becomingly, "for under thy honour and protection I got
+my death, and it was to thee I came into Ireland." So they buried her
+and lamented her, and made a great far-seen mound over her grave,
+which is called the Ridge of the Dead Woman, and set up a pillar stone
+upon it with her name and lineage carved in Ogham-crave.[23]
+
+   [23] Ogham-craobh = "branching Ogham," so called because the
+   letters resembled the branching of twigs from a stem. The Ogham
+   alphabet was in use in Ireland in pre-Christian times, and many
+   sepulchral inscriptions in it still remain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+The Chase of the Gilla Dacar
+
+
+In the reign of Cormac mac Art, grandson of Conn of the Hundred
+Battles, the order of precedence and dignity in the court of the High
+King at Tara was as follows: First came great Cormac, the kingly, the
+hospitable, warrior and poet, and he was supreme over all. Next in
+order came the five kings of the five Provinces of Ireland, namely,
+Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, and Mid-Erinn. After these ranked
+the captains of the royal host, of whom Finn, son of Cumhal, was the
+chief.
+
+Now the privileges of the Fianna of Erinn were many and great; to wit,
+in every county in Ireland one townland, and in every townland a
+cartron of land, and in the house of every gentleman the right to
+have a young deer-hound or a beagle kept at nurse from November to
+May, together with many other taxes and royalties not to be recounted
+here. But if they had these many and great privileges, yet greater
+than these were the toils and hardships which they had to endure, in
+guarding the coasts of all Ireland from oversea invaders and
+marauders, and in keeping down all robbers and outlaws and evil folk
+within the kingdom, for this was the duty laid upon them by their bond
+of service to the King.
+
+Now the summer half of the year was wont to be ended by a great
+hunting in one of the forests of Ireland, and so it was that one
+All-hallowtide, when the great banquet of Finn in his Dún on the Hill
+of Allen was going forward, and the hall resounded with cheerful talk
+and laughter and with the music of tympan and of harp, Finn asked of
+the assembled captains in what part of Erinn they should proceed to
+beat up game on the morrow. And it was agreed among them to repair to
+the territory of Thomond and Desmond in Munster; and from Allen they
+set out accordingly and came to the Hill of Knockany. Thence they
+threw out the hunt and sent their bands of beaters through many a
+gloomy ravine and by many a rugged hill-pass and many a fair open
+plain. Desmond's high hills, called now Slievelogher, they beat, and
+the smooth, swelling hills of Slievenamuck, and the green slopes of
+grassy Slievenamon, and the towering rough crags of the Decies, and
+thence on to the dark woods of Belachgowran.
+
+While the great hunt was going forward Finn with certain of his chief
+captains sat on a high mound to overlook it. There, with Finn, were
+Goll and Art mac Morna, and Liagan the swift runner, and Dermot of the
+Love Spot, and Keelta, son of Ronan, and there also was Conan the
+Bald, the man of scurrilous tongue, and a score or so more. Sweet it
+was to Finn and his companions to hear from the woods and wildernesses
+around them the many-tongued baying of the hounds and the cries and
+whistling of the beaters, the shouting of the strong men and the notes
+of the Fian hunting-horn.
+
+When they had sat there awhile one of Finn's men came running quickly
+towards him and said--
+
+"A stranger is approaching us from the westward, O Finn, and I much
+mislike his aspect."
+
+With that all the Fians looked up and beheld upon the hillside a huge
+man, looking like some Fomorian marauder, black-visaged and ugly, with
+a sour countenance and ungainly limbs. On his back hung a dingy black
+shield, on his misshapen left thigh he wore a sharp broad-bladed
+sword; projecting over his shoulder were two long lances with broad
+rusty heads. He wore garments that looked as if they had been buried
+in a cinder heap, and a loose ragged mantle. Behind him there shambled
+a sulky, ill-shapen mare with a bony carcase and bowed knees, and on
+her neck a clumsy iron halter. With a rope her master hauled her
+along, with violent jerks that seemed as if they would wrench her head
+from her scraggy neck, and ever and anon the mare would stand and jib,
+when the man laid on her ribs such blows from a strong ironshod cudgel
+that they sounded like the surges of the sea beating on a rocky coast.
+Short as was the distance from where the man and his horse were first
+perceived to where Finn was standing, it was long ere they traversed
+it. At last, however, he came into the presence of Finn and louted
+before him, doing obeisance. Finn lifted his hand over him and bade
+him speak, and declare his business and his name and rank. "I know
+not," said the fellow, "of what blood I am, gentle or simple, but only
+this, that I am a wight from oversea looking for service and wages.
+And as I have heard of thee, O Finn, that thou art not wont to refuse
+any man, I came to take service with thee if thou wilt have me."
+
+"Neither shall I refuse thee," said Finn; "but what brings thee here
+with a horse and no horseboy?"
+
+"Good enough reason," said the stranger. "I have much ado to get meat
+for my own belly, seeing that I eat for a hundred men; and I will not
+have any horseboy meddling with my ration."
+
+"And what name dost thou bear?"
+
+"I am called the Gilla Dacar (the Hard Gillie)," replied he.
+
+"Why was that name given thee?" asked Finn.
+
+"Good enough reason for that also," spake the stranger, "for of all
+the lads in the world there is none harder than I am for a lord to get
+any service and obedience from." Then turning to Conan the Bald he
+said, "Whether among the Fianna is a horseman's pay or a footman's the
+highest?"
+
+"A horseman's surely," said Conan, "seeing that he gets twice the pay
+of a footman."
+
+"Then I am a horseman in thy service, Finn," said the gillie. "I call
+thee to observe that I have here a horse, and moreover that as a
+horseman I came among the Fianna. Have I thy authority," he went on,
+"to turn out my steed among thine?"
+
+"Turn her out," quoth Finn.
+
+Then the big man flung his mare the rope and immediately she galloped
+off to where the Fian horses were grazing. Here she fell to biting and
+kicking them, knocking out the eye of one and snapping off another's
+ear and breaking the leg of another with a kick.
+
+"Take away thy mare, big man," cried Conan then, "or by Heaven and
+Earth were it not that Finn told thee to let her loose I would let
+loose her brains. Many a bad bargain has Finn made but never a worse
+than thou."
+
+"By Heaven and Earth," said the gillie, "that I never will, for I have
+no horseboy, and I will do no horseboy's work."
+
+Then Conan mac Morna took the iron halter and laid it on the
+stranger's horse and brought the beast back to Finn and held it there.
+
+Said Finn to Conan, "I have never seen thee do horseboy's service even
+to far better men than this gillie. How now if thou wert to leap on
+the brute's back and gallop her to death over hill and dale in payment
+for the mischief she hath wrought among our steeds?"
+
+At this word Conan clambered up on the back of the big man's mare, and
+with all his might he smote his two heels into her, but the mare never
+stirred.
+
+"I perceive what ails her," said Finn. "She will never stir till she
+has a weight of men on her equal to that of her own rider."
+
+Then thirteen men of the Fianna scrambled up laughing behind Conan,
+and the mare lay down under them, and then got up again, they still
+clinging to her. At this the big man said,
+
+"It appears that you are making a sport and mockery of my mare, and
+that even I myself do not escape from it. It is well for me that I
+have not spent the rest of the year in your company, seeing what a
+jest ye have made of me the very first day; and I perceive, O Finn,
+that thou art very unlike the report that is made of thee. And now I
+bid thee farewell, for of thy service I have had enough."
+
+So with downcast head and despondent looks the big gillie shambled
+slowly away until he had passed out of view of the Fianna, behind the
+shoulder of the hill. Having arrived here he tucked up his coat to his
+waist, and fast though be the flight of the swallow, and fast that of
+the roe-deer, and fast the rush of a roaring wind over a mountain top
+in mid-March, no faster are these than the bounding speed and furious
+flight of the big man down the hillside toward the West.
+
+No sooner did the mare see that her master had departed than she too
+dashed uncontrollably forward and flew down the hillside after him.
+And as the Fians saw Conan the Bald and his thirteen companions thus
+carried off, willy nilly, they broke into a roar of laughter and ran
+alongside mocking them. But Conan, seeing that they were being carried
+off in the wake of the big man of evil aspect, of whom none knew
+whence or who he was, he was terrified and began reviling and cursing,
+and shouted to Finn, "A palsy seize thee, Finn; may some rascally
+churl, that is if possible of worse blood than thyself, have thy head,
+unless thou follow and rescue us wheresoever this monster shall bring
+us." So Finn and the Fianna ran, and the mare ran, over bare hills and
+by deep glens, till at last they came to Corcaguiny in Kerry, where
+the gillie set his face to the blue ocean, and the mare dashed in
+after him. But ere he did so, Liagan the Swift got two hands on the
+tail of the mare, though further he could not win, and he was towed
+in, still clinging to his hold, and over the rolling billows away they
+went, the fourteen Fians on the wild mare's back, and Liagan haled
+along by her tail.
+
+"What is to be done now?" said Oisín to Finn when they had arrived at
+the beach.
+
+"Our men are to be rescued," said Finn, "for to that we are bound by
+the honour of the Fianna. Whithersoever they are gone, thither must we
+follow and win them back by fair means or foul; but to that end we
+must first fit out a galley."
+
+So in the end it was agreed that Finn and fourteen men of his bravest
+and best champions should sail oversea in search of the Gilla Dacar
+and his captives, while Oisín remained in Erinn and exercised rule
+over the Fianna in the place of his father.
+
+After a while, then, a swift galley was made ready by Finn and stored
+with victual, and with arms, and also with gold and raiment to make
+gifts withal if need should be. And into the ship came the fifteen
+valiant men, and gripped their oars, while Finn steered; and soon the
+sea whitened around their oarblades, and over the restless, rolling
+masses of the many-hued and voiceful billows, the ship clove her way
+to the West. And the Fians, who were wont to be wakened by the
+twittering of birds over their hunting booths in the greenwood, now
+delighted to hear, day after day as they roused themselves at morn,
+the lapping of the wide waters of the world against their vessel's
+bows, or the thunder of pounding surges when the wind blew hard.
+
+At length after many days the sharpest-eyed of the men of Finn saw
+far-off what seemed a mountain rising from the sea, and to it they
+shaped their course. When they had come to that land they found
+themselves under the shadow of a great grey cliff, and beneath it
+slippery rocks covered with seaweed.
+
+Then Dermot, who was the most active of the company, was bidden to
+mount the cliff and to procure means of drawing up the rest of the
+party, but of what land might lie on the top of that wall of rock none
+of them could discover anything. Dermot, descending from the ship,
+then climbed with difficulty up the face of the cliff, while the
+others made fast their ship among the rocks. But Dermot having arrived
+at the top saw no habitation of man, and could compass no way of
+helping his companions to mount. He went therefore boldly forward into
+the unknown land, hoping to obtain some help, if any friendly and
+hospitable folk could there be found.
+
+[Illustration: "Dermot took the horn and would have filled it"]
+
+Before he had gone far he came into a wild wood, thick and tangled,
+and full of the noise of streams, and the sough of winds, and
+twittering of birds, and hum of bees. After he had traversed this
+wilderness for a while he came to a mighty tree with densely
+interwoven branches, and beneath it a pile of rocks, having on its
+summit a pointed drinking horn wreathed with rich ornament, and at its
+foot a well of pure bright water. Dermot, being now thirsty, took the
+horn and would have filled it at the well, but as he stooped down to
+do so he heard a loud, threatening murmur which seemed to rise from
+it. "I perceive," he said to himself, "that I am forbidden to drink
+from this well" Nevertheless thirst compelled him, and he drank his
+fill.
+
+In no long time thereafter he saw an armed warrior of hostile aspect
+coming towards him through the wood. No courteous greeting did he give
+to Dermot, but began to revile him for roaming in his wood and
+wilderness, and for drinking his water. Thereupon they fought, and
+for the rest of the afternoon they took and gave hard blows neither
+subduing the other, till at last as darkness began to fall the warrior
+suddenly dived into the well and was seen no more. Dermot, vexed at
+this ending of the combat, then made him ready to spend the night in
+that place, but first he slew a deer in the wood, and made a fire,
+whereat he roasted pieces of the deer's flesh on spits of white hazel,
+and drank abundantly of the well-water, and then slept soundly through
+the night.
+
+Next morning when he awakened and went to the well he found the
+Champion of the Well standing there and awaiting him. "It is not
+enough, Dermot," said he angrily, "for thee to traverse my woods at
+will and to drink my water, but thou must even also slay my deer."
+Then they closed in combat again, and dealt each other blow for blow
+and wound for wound till evening parted them, and the champion dived
+into the well as before.
+
+On the third day it went even so; but as evening came on Dermot,
+watching closely, rushed at the champion just as he was about to
+plunge into the well, and gripped him in his arms. But none the less
+the Champion of the Well made his dive, and took down Dermot with him.
+And a darkness and faintness came over Dermot, but when he awoke, he
+found himself in a wide, open country, flowery and fair, and before
+him the walls and towers of a royal city. Thither the champion, sorely
+wounded, was now borne off, while a crowd of his people came round
+Dermot, and beat and wounded him, leaving him on the ground for dead.
+
+After night had fallen, when all the people of the city in the Land
+Undersea had departed, a stalwart champion, well-armed and of bold
+appearance, came upon Dermot and stirred him with his foot. Dermot
+thereon awoke from his swoon and, warrior-like, reached out his hand
+for his arms. But the champion said, "Wait awhile, my son, I have not
+come to do thee hurt or harm. Thou hast chosen an ill place to rest
+and slumber in, before the city of thine enemy. Rise and follow me,
+and I shall bestow thee far better than that." Dermot then rose and
+followed the champion, and long and far they journeyed until they came
+to a high-towered fortress, wherein were thrice fifty valiant
+men-at-arms and fair women; and the daughter of that champion, a
+white-toothed, rosy-cheeked, smooth-handed, and black-eyebrowed maid,
+received Dermot, kindly and welcomefully, and applied healing herbs to
+his wounds, and in no long time he was made as good a man as ever. And
+thus he remained, and was entertained most royally with the best of
+viands and of liquors. The first part of every night those in that Dún
+were wont to spend in feasting, and the second in recreation and
+entertainment of the mind, with music and with poetry and bardic
+tales, and the third part in sound and healthful slumber, till the sun
+in his fiery journey rose over the heavy-clodded earth on the morrow
+morn.
+
+And the King of that country, who was the champion that had aroused
+Dermot, told him this was the land of Sorca, and that he had showed
+this kindness to Dermot for that he himself had once been on wage and
+service with Finn, son of Cumhal "and a better master," said he, "man
+never had."
+
+Now the story turns to tell of what befell Finn and the remainder of
+his companions when Dermot left them in the ship. After a while,
+seeing that he did not return, and being assured that some mischief or
+hindrance must have befallen him, they made an attempt to climb the
+cliff after him, having noted which way he went. With much toil and
+peril they accomplished this, and then journeying forward and
+following on Dermot's track, they came at last to the well in the wild
+wood, and saw near by the remains of the deer, and the ashes of the
+fire that Dermot had kindled to cook it. But from this place they
+could discover no track of his going. While they were debating on what
+should next be done, they saw riding towards them a tall warrior on a
+dark grey horse with a golden bridle, who greeted them courteously.
+From him they enquired as to whether he had seen aught of their
+companion, Dermot, in the wilderness. "Follow me," said the warrior,
+"and you shall shortly have tidings of him."
+
+Then they followed the strange horseman into the forest by many dark
+and winding ways, until at last they came into a rocky ravine, where
+they found the mouth of a great cavern opening into the hillside.
+Into this they went, and the way led them downward until it seemed as
+if they were going into the bowels of the earth, until at last the
+light began to shine round them, and they came out into a lovely land
+of flowery plains and green woods and singing streams. In no long time
+thereafter they came to a great royal Dún, where he who led them was
+hailed as king and lord, and here, to their joy, they found their
+comrade, Dermot of the Love Spot, who told them of all his adventures
+and heard from them of theirs. This ended, and when they had been
+entertained and refreshed, the lord of that place spoke to Finn and
+said:--
+
+"I have now, O Finn, within my fortress the fifteen stoutest heroes
+that the world holds. To this end have I brought you here, that ye
+might make war with me upon mine enemy the Champion of the Well, who
+is king of the land bordering on mine, and who ceases not to persecute
+and to harry my people because, in his arrogance, he would have all
+the Under World country subject to himself alone. Say now if ye will
+embrace this enterprise and help me to defend my own: and if not I
+shall set you again upon the land of Erinn."
+
+Finn said, "What of my fifteen men that were carried away on the wild
+mare's back oversea?" "They are guarding the marches of my kingdom,"
+said the King of Sorca, "and all is well with them and shall be well."
+
+Then Finn agreed to take service with the King of Sorca, and next day
+they arrayed themselves for fight and went out at the head of the
+host. Ere long they came upon the army of the King of the Well, and
+with him was the King of the Greeks and a band of fierce mercenaries,
+and also the daughter of the Greek King, by name Tasha of the White
+Side, a maiden who in beauty and grace surpassed all other women of
+the world, as the Shannon surpasses all rivers of Erinn and the eagle
+surpasses all birds of the air. Now the stories of Finn and his
+generosity and great deeds had reached her since she was a child, and
+she had set her love on him, though she had never seen his face till
+now.
+
+When the hosts were met, the King of the Greeks said, "Who of my men
+will stand forth and challenge the best of these men of Erinn to
+single combat that their metal may be proved, for to us it is unknown
+what manner of men they be." The son of the King of the Greeks said,
+"I will go."
+
+So on the side of Finn, Oscar, son of Oisín, was chosen to match the
+son of the Greek King, and the two hosts sat down peacefully together
+to watch the weapon-play. And Tasha the princess sat by Finn, son of
+Cumhal.
+
+Then Oscar and the King's son stepped into their fighting place, and
+fierce was the combat that arose between them, as when two roaring
+surges of the sea dash against each other in a fissure of the rocks,
+and the spray-cloud bursts from them high into the air. Long they
+fought, and many red wounds did each of them give and receive, till at
+last Oscar beat the Greek prince to the earth and smote off his head.
+Then one host groaned for woe and discouragement, while the other
+shouted for joy of victory, and so they parted for the night, each to
+their own camp.
+
+And in the camp of the folk of Sorca they found Conan the Bald and the
+fourteen men that had gone with him on the mare's back.
+
+But when night had fallen, Tasha stole from the wizard of the Greek
+King his branch of silver bells that when shaken would lay asleep a
+host of men, and with the aid of this she passed from the camp of the
+Greeks, and through the sentinels, and came to the tent of Finn.
+
+On the morrow morn the King of the Greeks found that his daughter had
+fled to be the wife of Finn, son of Cumhal, and he offered a mighty
+reward to whosoever would slay Finn and bring Tasha back. But when the
+two armies closed in combat the Fians and the host of the King of
+Sorca charged so fiercely home, that they drove their foes before them
+as a winter gale drives before it a cloud of madly whirling leaves,
+and those that were not slain in the fight and the pursuit went to
+their own lands and abode there in peace; and thus was the war ended
+of the King of Sorca and the Lord of the Well.
+
+Then the King of Sorca had Finn and his comrades before him and gave
+them praise and thanks for their valour. "And what reward," he said,
+"will ye that I make you for the saving of the kingdom of Sorca?"
+
+"Thou wert in my service awhile," said Finn, "and I mind not that I
+paid thee any wage for it. Let that service even go against this, and
+so we are quits."
+
+"Nay, then," cried Conan the Bald, "but what shall I have for my ride
+on the mare of the Gilla Dacar?"
+
+"What wilt thou have?" said the King of Sorca.
+
+"This," said Conan, "and nothing else will I accept. Let fourteen of
+the fairest women of the land of Sorca be put on that same mare, and
+thy wife, O King, clinging to its tail, and let them be thus haled
+across the sea until they come to Corcaguiny in the land of Erinn. I
+will have none of thy gold and silver, but the indignity that has been
+put upon me doth demand an honourable satisfaction."
+
+Then the King of Sorca smiled, and he said, "Behold thy men, Finn."
+
+[Illustration: "'Follow me now to the Hill of Allen'"]
+
+Finn turned his head to look round, and as he did so the plain and the
+encampment of the Fairy Host vanished from his sight, and he saw
+himself standing on the shingly strand of a little bay, with rocky
+heights to right and left, crowned with yellow whin bushes whose
+perfume mingled with the salt sea wind. It was the spot where he had
+seen the Gilla Dacar and his mare take water on the coast of Kerry.
+Finn stared over the sea, to discover, if he might, by what means he
+had come thither, but nothing could he see there save the sunlit
+water, and nothing hear but what seemed a low laughter from the
+twinkling ripples that broke at his feet. Then he looked for his men,
+who stood there, dazed like himself and rubbing their eyes; and there
+too stood the Princess Tasha, who stretched out her white arms to him.
+Finn went over and took her hands. "Shoulder your spears, good lads!"
+he called to his men. "Follow me now to the Hill of Allen, and to the
+wedding feast of Tasha and of Finn mac Cumhal."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Birth of Oisín
+
+
+One day as Finn and his companions and dogs were returning from the
+chase to their Dún on the Hill of Allen, a beautiful fawn started up
+on their path and the chase swept after her, she taking the way which
+led to their home. Soon, all the pursuers were left far behind save
+only Finn himself and his two hounds Bran and Sceolaun. Now these
+hounds were of strange breed, for Tyren, sister to Murna, the mother
+of Finn, had been changed into a hound by the enchantment of a woman
+of the Fairy Folk, who loved Tyren's husband Ullan; and the two hounds
+of Finn were the children of Tyren, born to her in that shape. Of all
+hounds in Ireland they were the best, and Finn loved them much, so
+that it was said he wept but twice in his life, and once was for the
+death of Bran.
+
+At last, as the chase went on down a valley side, Finn saw the fawn
+stop and lie down, while the two hounds began to play round her and to
+lick her face and limbs. So he gave commandment that none should hurt
+her, and she followed them to the Dún of Allen, playing with the
+hounds as she went.
+
+The same night Finn awoke and saw standing by his bed the fairest
+woman his eyes had ever beheld.
+
+"I am Saba, O Finn," she said, "and I was the fawn ye chased to-day.
+Because I would not give my love to the Druid of the Fairy Folk, who
+is named the Dark, he put that shape upon me by his sorceries, and I
+have borne it these three years. But a slave of his, pitying me, once
+revealed to me that if I could win to thy great Dún of Allen, O Finn,
+I should be safe from all enchantments and my natural shape would come
+to me again. But I feared to be torn in pieces by thy dogs, or wounded
+by thy hunters, till at last I let myself be overtaken by thee alone
+and by Bran and Sceolaun, who have the nature of man and would do me
+no hurt." "Have no fear, maiden," said Finn, "we the Fianna, are free
+and our guest-friends are free; there is none who shall put compulsion
+on you here."
+
+So Saba dwelt with Finn, and he made her his wife; and so deep was his
+love for her that neither the battle nor the chase had any delight for
+him, and for months he never left her side. She also loved him as
+deeply, and their joy in each other was like that of the Immortals in
+the Land of Youth. But at last word came to Finn that the warships of
+the Northmen were in the bay of Dublin, and he summoned his heroes to
+the fight, "for," said he to Saba, "the men of Erinn give us tribute
+and hospitality to defend them from the foreigner, and it were shame
+to take it from them and not to give that to which we, on our side,
+are pledged." And he called to mind that great saying of Goll mac
+Morna when they were once sore bested by a mighty host--"a man," said
+Goll, "lives after his life but not after his honour."
+
+Seven days was Finn absent, and he drove the Northmen from the shores
+of Erinn. But on the eighth day he returned, and when he entered his
+Dún he saw trouble in the eyes of his men and of their fair womenfolk,
+and Saba was not on the rampart expecting his return. So he bade them
+tell him what had chanced, and they said--
+
+"Whilst thou, our father and lord, wert afar off smiting the
+foreigner, and Saba looking ever down the pass for thy return, we saw
+one day as it were the likeness of thee approaching, and Bran and
+Sceolaun at thy heels. And we seemed also to hear the notes of the
+Fian hunting call blown on the wind. Then Saba hastened to the great
+gate, and we could not stay her, so eager was she to rush to the
+phantom. But when she came near, she halted and gave a loud and bitter
+cry, and the shape of thee smote her with a hazel wand, and lo, there
+was no woman there any more, but a deer. Then those hounds chased it,
+and ever as it strove to reach again the gate of the Dún they turned
+it back. We all now seized what arms we could and ran out to drive
+away the enchanter, but when we reached the place there was nothing to
+be seen, only still we heard the rushing of flying feet and the baying
+of dogs, and one thought it came from here, and another from there,
+till at last the uproar died away and all was still. What we could do,
+O Finn, we did; Saba is gone."
+
+Finn then struck his hand on his breast but spoke no word, and he went
+to his own chamber. No man saw him for the rest of that day, nor for
+the day after. Then he came forth, and ordered the matters of the
+Fianna as of old, but for seven years thereafter he went searching for
+Saba through every remote glen and dark forest and cavern of Ireland,
+and he would take no hounds with him save Bran and Sceolaun. But at
+last he renounced all hope of finding her again, and went hunting as
+of old. One day as he was following the chase on Ben Gulban in Sligo,
+he heard the musical bay of the dogs change of a sudden to a fierce
+growling and yelping as though they were in combat with some beast,
+and running hastily up he and his men beheld, under a great tree, a
+naked boy with long hair, and around him the hounds struggling to
+seize him, but Bran and Sceolaun fighting with them and keeping them
+off. And the lad was tall and shapely, and as the heroes gathered
+round he gazed undauntedly on them, never heeding the rout of dogs at
+his feet. The Fians beat off the dogs and brought the lad home with
+them, and Finn was very silent and continually searched the lad's
+countenance with his eyes. In time, the use of speech came to him, and
+the story that he told was this:--
+
+He had known no father, and no mother save a gentle hind with whom he
+lived in a most green and pleasant valley shut in on every side by
+towering cliffs that could not be scaled, or by deep chasms in the
+earth. In the summer he lived on fruits and such-like, and in the
+winter, store of provisions was laid for him in a cave. And there came
+to them sometimes a tall dark-visaged man, who spoke to his mother,
+now tenderly, and now in loud menace, but she always shrunk away in
+fear, and the man departed in anger. At last there came a day when the
+Dark Man spoke very long with his mother in all tones of entreaty and
+of tenderness and of rage, but she would still keep aloof and give no
+sign save of fear and abhorrence. Then at length the Dark Man drew
+near and smote her with a hazel wand; and with that he turned and went
+his way, but she, this time, followed him, still looking back at her
+son and piteously complaining. And he, when he strove to follow, found
+himself unable to move a limb; and crying out with rage and desolation
+he fell to the earth and his senses left him. When he came to himself
+he was on the mountain side, on Ben Gulban, where he remained some
+days, searching for that green and hidden valley, which he never found
+again. And after a while the dogs found him; but of the hind his
+mother and of the Dark Druid, there is no man knows the end.
+
+Finn called his name Oisín, and he became a warrior of fame, but far
+more famous for the songs and tales that he made; so that of all
+things to this day that are told of the Fianna of Erinn, men are wont
+to say, "So sang the bard, Oisín, son of Finn."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Oisín in the Land of Youth
+
+
+It happened that on a misty summer morning as Finn and Oisín with many
+companions were hunting on the shores of Loch Lena they saw coming
+towards them a maiden, beautiful exceedingly, riding on a snow-white
+steed. She wore the garb of a queen; a crown of gold was on her head,
+and a dark brown mantle of silk, set with stars of red gold, fell
+around her and trailed on the ground. Silver shoes were on her horse's
+hoofs, and a crest of gold nodded on his head. When she came near she
+said to Finn, "From very far away I have come, and now at last I have
+found thee, Finn, son of Cumhal."
+
+Then Finn said, "What is thy land and race, maiden, and what dost thou
+seek from me?"
+
+"My name," she said, "is Niam of the Golden Hair. I am the daughter of
+the King of the Land of Youth, and that which has brought me here is
+the love of thy son Oisín." Then she turned to Oisín and she spoke to
+him in the voice of one who has never asked anything but it was
+granted to her, "Wilt thou go with me, Oisín, to my father's land?"
+
+And Oisín said, "That will I, and to the world's end"; for the fairy
+spell had so wrought upon his heart that he cared no more for any
+earthly thing but to have the love of Niam of the Head of Gold.
+
+Then the maiden spoke of the Land Oversea to which she had summoned
+her lover, and as she spoke a dreamy stillness fell on all things, nor
+did a horse shake his bit nor a hound bay, nor the least breath of
+wind stir in the forest trees till she had made an end. And what she
+said seemed sweeter and more wonderful as she spoke it than anything
+they could afterwards remember to have heard, but so far as they could
+remember it, it was this:--
+
+   "Delightful is the land beyond all dreams,
+   Fairer than aught thine eyes have ever seen.
+   There all the year the fruit is on the tree,
+   And all the year the bloom is on the flower.
+
+   "There with wild honey drip the forest trees;
+   The stores of wine and mead shall never fail.
+   Nor pain nor sickness knows the dweller there,
+   Death and decay come near him never more.
+
+   "The feast shall cloy not, nor the chase shall tire,
+   Nor music cease for ever through the hall;
+   The gold and jewels of the Land of Youth
+   Outshine all splendours ever dreamed by man.
+
+   "Thou shalt have horses of the fairy breed,
+   Thou shalt have hounds that can outrun the wind;
+   A hundred chiefs shall follow thee in war,
+   A hundred maidens sing thee to thy sleep.
+
+   "A crown of sovranty thy brow shall wear,
+   And by thy side a magic blade shall hang.
+   Thou shalt be lord of all the Land of Youth,
+   And lord of Niam of the Head of Gold."
+
+As the magic song ended, the Fians beheld Oisín mount the fairy steed
+and hold the maiden in his arms, and ere they could stir or speak she
+turned her horse's head and shook the ringing bridle and down the
+forest glade they fled, as a beam of light flies over the land when
+clouds drive across the sun; and never did the Fianna behold Oisín,
+son of Finn, on earth again.
+
+Yet what befell him afterwards is known. As his birth was strange so
+was his end, for he saw the wonders of the Land of Youth with mortal
+eyes and lived to tell them with mortal lips.
+
+When the white horse with its riders reached the sea it ran lightly
+over the waves and soon the green woods and headlands of Erinn faded
+out of sight. And now the sun shone fiercely down, and the riders
+passed into a golden haze in which Oisín lost all knowledge of where
+he was or if sea or dry land were beneath his horse's hoofs. But
+strange sights sometimes appeared to them in the mist, for towers and
+palace gateways loomed up and disappeared, and once a hornless doe
+bounded by them chased by a white hound with one red ear, and again
+they saw a young maid ride by on a brown steed, bearing a golden apple
+in her hand, and close behind her followed a young horseman on a white
+steed, a purple cloak floating at his back and a gold-hilted sword in
+his hand. And Oisín would have asked the princess who and what these
+apparitions were, but Niam bade him ask nothing nor seem to notice any
+phantom they might see until they were come to the Land of Youth.
+
+[Illustration: "They rode up to a stately palace"]
+
+At last the sky gloomed above them, and Niam urged their steed faster.
+The wind lashed them with pelting rain, thunder roared across the sea
+and lightning blazed, but they held on their way till at length they
+came once more into a region of calm and sunshine. And now Oisín saw
+before him a shore of yellow sand, lapped by the ripples of a summer
+sea. Inland, there rose before his eye wooded hills amid which he
+could discern the roofs and towers of a noble city. The white horse
+bore them swiftly to the shore and Oisín and the maiden lighted down.
+And Oisín marvelled at everything around him, for never was water so
+blue or trees so stately as those he saw, and the forest was alive
+with the hum of bees and the song of birds, and the creatures that are
+wild in other lands, the deer and the red squirrel and the wood-dove,
+came, without fear, to be caressed. Soon, as they went forward, the
+walls of a city came in sight, and folk began to meet them on the
+road, some riding, some afoot, all of whom were either youths or
+maidens, all looking as joyous as if the morning of happy life had
+just begun for them, and no old or feeble person was to be seen. Niam
+led her companion through a towered gateway built of white and red
+marble, and there they were met by a glittering company of a hundred
+riders on black steeds and a hundred on white, and Oisín mounted a
+black horse and Niam her white, and they rode up to a stately palace
+where the King of the Land of Youth had his dwelling. And there he
+received them, saying in a loud voice that all the folk could hear,
+"Welcome, Oisín, son of Finn. Thou art come to the Land of Youth,
+where sorrow and weariness and death shall never touch thee. This thou
+hast won by thy faithfulness and valour and by the songs that thou
+hast made for the men of Erinn, whereof the fame is come to us, for we
+have here indeed all things that are delightful and joyous, but poesy
+alone we had not. But now we have the chief poet of the race of men to
+live with us, immortal among immortals, and the fair and cloudless
+life that we lead here shall be praised in verses as fair; even as
+thou, Oisín, did'st praise and adorn the short and toilsome and
+chequered life that men live in the world thou hast left forever. And
+Niam my daughter shall be thy bride, and thou shalt be in all things
+even as myself in the Land of Youth."
+
+Then the heart of Oisín was filled with glory and joy, and he turned
+to Niam and saw her eyes burn with love as she gazed upon him. And
+they were wedded the same day, and the joy they had in each other grew
+sweeter and deeper with every day that passed. All that Niam had
+promised in her magic song in the wild wood when first they met,
+seemed faint beside the splendour and beauty of the life in the Land
+of Youth. In the great palace they trod on silken carpets and ate off
+plates of gold; the marble walls and doorways were wrought with carved
+work, or hung with tapestries, where forest glades, and still lakes,
+and flying deer were done in colours of unfading glow. Sunshine bathed
+that palace always, and cool winds wandered through its dim corridors,
+and in its courts there played fountains of bright water set about
+with flowers. When Oisín wished to ride, a steed of fiery but gentle
+temper bore him wherever he would through the pleasant land; when he
+longed to hear music, there came upon his thought, as though borne on
+the wind, crystal notes such as no hand ever struck from the strings
+of any harp on earth.
+
+But Oisín's hand now never touched the harp, and the desire of singing
+and of making poetry never waked in him, for no one thing seemed so
+much better than the rest, where all perfection bloomed and glowed
+around him, as to make him long to praise it and to set it apart.
+
+When seven days had passed, he said to Niam, "I would fain go
+a-hunting." Niam said, "So be it, dear love; to-morrow we shall take
+order for that." Oisín lay long awake that night, thinking of the
+sound of Finn's hunting-horn, and of the smell of green boughs when
+they kindled them to roast the deer-flesh in Fian ovens in the
+wildwood.
+
+So next day Oisín and Niam fared forth on horseback, with their
+company of knights and maidens, and dogs leaping and barking with
+eagerness for the chase. Anon they came to the forest, and the hunters
+with the hounds made a wide circuit on this side and on that, till at
+last the loud clamour of the hounds told that a stag was on foot, and
+Oisín saw them streaming down an open glen, the stag with its great
+antlers laid back and flying like the wind. So he shouted the Fian
+hunting-cry and rode furiously on their track. All day long they
+chased the stag through the echoing forest, and the fairy steed bore
+him unfaltering over rough ground and smooth, till at last as darkness
+began to fall the quarry was pulled down, and Oisín cut its throat
+with his hunting-knife. Long it seemed to him since he had felt glad
+and weary as he felt now, and since the woodland air with its odours
+of pine and mint and wild garlic had tasted so sweet in his mouth; and
+truly it was longer than he knew. But when he bade make ready the
+wood-oven for their meal, and build a bothy of boughs for their
+repose, Niam led him seven steps apart and seven to the left hand, and
+yet seven back to the place where they had killed the deer, and lo,
+there rose before him a stately Dún with litten windows and smoke
+drifting above its roof. When they entered, there was a table spread
+for a great company, and cooks and serving-men busy about a wide
+hearth where roast and boiled meats of every sort were being prepared.
+Casks of Greek wine stood open around the walls, and cups of gold were
+on the board. So they all ate and drank their sufficiency, and all
+night Oisín and Niam slept on a bed softer than swans-down in a
+chamber no less fair than that which they had in the City of the Land
+of Youth.
+
+Next day, at the first light of dawn, they were on foot; and soon
+again the forest rang to the baying of hounds and the music of the
+hunting-horn. Oisín's steed bore him all day, tireless and swift as
+before, and again the quarry fell at night's approach, and again a
+palace rose in the wilderness for their night's entertainment, and all
+things in it even more abundant and more sumptuous than before. And so
+for seven days they fared in that forest, and seven stags were slain.
+Then Oisín grew wearied of hunting, and as he plunged his sharp black
+hunting-knife into the throat of the last stag, he thought of the
+sword of magic temper that hung idle by his side in the City of Youth,
+or rested from its golden nail in his bed-chamber, and he said to
+Niam, "Has thy father never a foe to tame, never a wrong to avenge?
+Surely the peasant is no man whose hand forgets the plough, nor the
+warrior whose hand forgets the sword hilt." Niam looked on him
+strangely for a while and as if she did not understand his words, or
+sought some meaning in them which yet she feared to find. But at last
+she said, "If deeds of arms be thy desire, Oisín, thou shalt have thy
+sufficiency ere long." And so they rode home, and slept that night in
+the palace of the City of Youth.
+
+At daybreak on the following morn Niam roused Oisín, and she buckled
+on him his golden-hilted sword and his corselet of blue steel inlaid
+with gold. Then he put on his head a steel and gold helmet with dragon
+crest, and slung on his back a shield of bronze wrought all over with
+cunning hammer-work of serpentine lines that swelled and sank upon the
+surface, and coiled in mazy knots, or flowed in long sweeping curves
+like waves of the sea when they gather might and volume for their leap
+upon the sounding shore. In the glimmering dawn, through the empty
+streets of the fair city, they rode forth alone and took their way
+through fields of corn and by apple orchards where red fruit hung down
+to their hands. But by noontide their way began to mount upwards among
+blue hills that they had marked from the city walls toward the west,
+and of man's husbandry they saw no more, but tall red-stemmed pine
+trees bordered the way on either side, and silence and loneliness
+increased. At length they reached a broad table-land deep in the heart
+of the mountains, where nothing grew but long coarse grass, drooping
+by pools of black and motionless water, and where great boulders,
+bleached white or stained with slimy lichens of livid red, lay
+scattered far and wide about the plain. Against the sky the mountain
+line now showed like a threat of bared and angry teeth, and as they
+rode towards it Oisín perceived a huge fortress lying in the throat of
+a wide glen or mountain pass. White as death was the stone of which it
+was built, save where it was streaked with black or green from the
+foulness of wet mosses that clung to its cornices and battlements, and
+none seemed stirring about the place nor did any banner blow from its
+towers.
+
+Then said Niam, "This, O Oisín, is the Dún of the giant Fovor of the
+Mighty Blows. In it he keeps prisoner a princess of the Fairy Folk
+whom he would fain make his bride, but he may not do so, nor may she
+escape, until Fovor has met in battle a champion who will undertake
+her cause. Approach, then, to the gate, if thou art fain to undertake
+this adventure, and blow the horn which hangs thereby, and then look
+to thy weapons, for soon indeed will the battle be broken upon thee."
+
+Then Oisín rode to the gate and thrice he blew on the great horn which
+hung by it, and the clangour of it groaned drearily back from the
+cliffs that overhung the glen. Not thus indeed sounded the _Dord_ of
+Finn as its call blew lust of fighting and scorn of death into the
+hearts of the Fianna amid the stress of battle. At the third blast the
+rusty gates opened, grinding on their hinges, and Oisín rode into a
+wide courtyard where servitors of evil aspect took his horse and
+Niam's, and led them into the hall of Fovor. Dark it was and low, with
+mouldering arras on its walls, and foul and withered rushes on the
+floor, where dogs gnawed the bones thrown to them at the last meal,
+and spilt ale and hacked fragments of flesh littered the bare oaken
+table. And here rose languidly to greet them a maiden bound with seven
+chains, to whom Niam spoke lovingly, saying that her champion was come
+and that her long captivity should end. And the maiden looked upon
+Oisín, whose proud bearing and jewelled armour made the mean place
+seem meaner still, and a light of hope and of joy seemed to glimmer
+upon her brow. So she gave them refreshment as she could, and
+afterwards they betook them once more to the courtyard, where the
+place of battle was set.
+
+Here, at the further side, stood a huge man clad in rusty armour, who
+when he saw Oisín rushed upon him, silent and furious, and swinging a
+great battleaxe in his hand. But doubt and langour weighed upon
+Oisín's heart, and it seemed to him as if he were in an evil dream,
+which he knew was but a dream, and would be less than nothing when the
+hour of awakening should come. Yet he raised his shield and gripped
+the fairy sword, striving to shout the Fian battle-cry as he closed
+with Fovor. But soon a heavy blow smote him to the ground, and his
+armour clanged harshly on the stones. Then a cloud seemed to pass from
+his spirit, and he leaped to his feet quicker than an arrow flies from
+the string, and thrusting fiercely at the giant his sword-point gashed
+the under side of Fovor's arm when it was raised to strike, and Oisín
+saw his enemy's blood. Then the fight raged hither and thither about
+the wide courtyard, with trampling of feet and clash of steel and
+ringing of armour and shouts of onset as the heroes closed; Oisín,
+agile as a wild stag, evading the sweep of the mighty axe and rushing
+in with flickering blade at every unguarded moment, his whole soul
+bent on one fierce thought, to drive his point into some gap at
+shoulder or neck in Fovor's coat of mail. At length, when both were
+weary and wounded men, with hacked and battered armour, Oisín's blade
+cut the thong of Fovor's headpiece and it fell clattering to the
+ground. Another blow laid the giant prostrate, and Oisín leaned, dizzy
+and panting, upon his sword, while Fovor's serving-men took off their
+master in a litter, and Niam came to aid her lord. Then Oisín stripped
+off his armour in the great hall, and Niam tended to his wounds,
+healing them with magic herbs and murmured incantations, and they saw
+that one of the seven rusty chains that had bound the princess hung
+loose from its iron staple in the wall.
+
+All night long Oisín lay in deep and healing slumber, and next day he
+arose, whole and strong, and hot to renew the fray. And the giant was
+likewise healed and his might and fierceness returned to him. So they
+fought till they were breathless and weary, and then to it again, and
+again, till in the end Oisín drove his sword to the hilt in the
+giant's shoulder where it joins the collar bone, and he fell aswoon,
+and was borne away as before. And another chain of the seven fell from
+the girdle of the captive maiden.
+
+Thus for seven days went on the combat, and Oisín had seven nights of
+healing and rest, with the tenderness and beauty of Niam about his
+couch; and on the seventh day the maiden was free, and her folk
+brought her away, rejoicing, with banners and with music that made a
+brightness for a while in that forlorn and evil place.
+
+But Oisín's heart was high with pride and victory, and a longing
+uprose in his heart with a rush like a springtide for the days when
+some great deed had been done among the Fianna, and the victors were
+hailed and lauded by the home-folk in the Dún of Allen, men and women
+leaving their toil or their pleasure to crowd round the heroes, and to
+question again and again, and to learn each thing that had passed; and
+the bards noting all to weave it into a glorious tale for after days;
+and more than all the smile and the look of Finn as he learned how his
+children had borne themselves in the face of death. And so Oisín said
+to Niam, "Let me, for a short while, return to the land of Erinn, that
+I may see there my friends and kin and tell them of the glory and joy
+that are mine in the Land of Youth." But Niam wept and laid her white
+arms about his neck, entreating him to think no more of the sad world
+where all men live and move under a canopy of death, and where summer
+is slain by winter, and youth by old age, and where love itself, if it
+die not by falsehood and wrong, perishes many a time of too complete
+a joy. But Oisín said, "The world of men compared with thy world is
+like this dreary waste compared with the city of thy father; yet in
+that city, Niam, none is better or worse than another, and I hunger to
+tell my tale to ignorant and feeble folk that my words can move, as
+words of mine have done of old, to wonder and delight. Then I shall
+return to thee, Niam, and to thy fair and blissful land; and having
+brought over to mortal men a tale that never man has told before, I
+shall be happy and at peace for ever in the Land of Youth."
+
+So they fared back to the golden city, and next day Niam brought to
+Oisín the white steed that had borne them from Erinn, and bade him
+farewell. "This our steed," she said, "will carry thee across the sea
+to the land where I found thee, and whithersoever thou wilt, and what
+folk are there thou shalt see, and what tale thou hast to tell can be
+told. But never for even a moment must thou alight from his back, for
+if thy foot once touch again the soil of earth, thou shalt never win
+to me and to the Land of Youth again. And sorely do I fear some evil
+chance. Was not the love of Niam of the Head of Gold enough to fill a
+mortal's heart? But if thou must go, then go, and blessing and victory
+be thine."
+
+Then Oisín held her long in his arms and kissed her, and vowed to make
+no long stay and never to alight from the fairy steed. And then he
+shook the golden reins and the horse threw its head aloft and snorted
+and bore him away in a pace like that of flowing water for speed and
+smoothness. Anon they came to the margin of the blue sea, and still
+the white steed galloped on, brushing the crests of the waves into
+glittering spray. The sun glared upon the sea and Oisín's head swam
+with the heat and motion, and in mist and dreams he rode where no day
+was, nor night, nor any thought of time, till at last his horse's
+hoofs ploughed through wet, yellow sands, and he saw black rocks
+rising up at each side of a little bay, and inland were fields green
+or brown, and white cottages thatched with reeds, and men and women,
+toil-worn and clad in earth-coloured garments, went to and fro about
+their tasks or stopped gazing at the rider in his crimson cloak and at
+the golden trappings of his horse. But among the cottages was a small
+house of stone such as Oisín had never seen in the land of Erinn;
+stone was its roof as well as the walls, very steep and high, and
+near-by from a rude frame of timber there hung a bell of bronze. Into
+this house there passed one whom from his shaven crown Oisín guessed
+to be a druid, and behind him two lads in white apparel. The druid
+having seen the horseman turned his eyes again to the ground and
+passed on, regarding him not, and the lads did likewise. And Oisín
+rode on, eager to reach the Dún upon the Hill of Allen and to see the
+faces of his kin and his friends.
+
+[Illustration: "The white steed had vanished from their eyes like a
+wreath of mist"]
+
+At length, coming from the forest path into the great clearing where
+the Hill of Allen was wont to rise broad and green, with its rampart
+enclosing many white-walled dwellings, and the great hall towering
+high in the midst, he saw but grassy mounds overgrown with rank weeds
+and whin bushes, and among them pastured a peasant's kine.
+
+Then a strange horror fell upon him, and he thought some enchantment
+from the land of Faery held his eyes and mocked him with false
+visions. He threw his arms abroad and shouted the names of Finn and
+Oscar, but none replied, and he thought that perchance the hounds
+might hear him, and he cried upon Bran and Sceolaun, and strained his
+ears if they might catch the faintest rustle or whisper of the world
+from the sight of which his eyes were holden, but he heard only the
+sigh of the wind in the whins. Then he rode in terror from that place,
+setting his face towards the eastern sea, for he meant to traverse
+Ireland from side to side and end to end in the search of some escape
+from his enchantment. But when he came near to the eastern sea and was
+now in the place which is called the Valley of the Thrushes,[24] he
+saw in a field upon the hillside a crowd of men striving to roll aside
+a great boulder from their tilled land, and an overseer directing
+them. Towards them he rode, meaning to ask them concerning Finn and
+the Fianna. As he came near, they all stopped their work to gaze upon
+him, for to them he appeared like a messenger of the Fairy Folk or an
+angel from heaven. Taller and mightier he was than the men-folk they
+knew, with sword-blue eyes and brown ruddy cheeks; in his mouth, as
+it were, a shower of pearls, and bright hair clustered beneath the rim
+of his helmet. And as Oisín looked upon their puny forms, marred by
+toil and care, and at the stone which they feebly strove to heave from
+its bed, he was filled with pity, and thought to himself, "not such
+were even the churls of Erinn when I left them for the Land of Youth,"
+and he stooped from his saddle to help them. His hand he set to the
+boulder, and with a mighty heave he lifted it from where it lay and
+set it rolling down the hill. And the men raised a shout of wonder and
+applause, but their shouting changed in a moment into cries of terror
+and dismay, and they fled, jostling and overthrowing each other to
+escape from the place of fear; for a marvel horrible to see had taken
+place. For Oisín's saddle-girth had burst as he heaved the stone, and
+he fell headlong to the ground. In an instant the white steed had
+vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist, and that which rose,
+feeble and staggering, from the ground was no youthful warrior but a
+man stricken with extreme old age, white-bearded and withered, who
+stretched out groping hands and moaned with feeble and bitter cries.
+And his crimson cloak and yellow silken tunic were now but coarse
+homespun stuff tied with a hempen girdle, and the gold-hilted sword
+was a rough oaken staff such as a beggar carries who wanders the roads
+from farmer's house to house.
+
+   [24] Glanismole, near Dublin.
+
+When the people saw that the doom that had been wrought was not for
+them they returned, and found the old man prone on the ground with
+his face hidden in his arms. So they lifted him up and asked who he
+was and what had befallen him. Oisín gazed round on them with dim
+eyes, and at last he said, "I was Oisín the son of Finn, and I pray ye
+tell me where he now dwells, for his Dún on the Hill of Allen is now a
+desolation, and I have neither seen him nor heard his hunting horn
+from the Western to the Eastern Sea." Then the men gazed strangely on
+each other and on Oisín, and the overseer asked, "Of what Finn dost
+thou speak, for there be many of that name in Erinn?" Oisín said,
+"Surely of Finn mac Cumhal mac Trenmor, captain of the Fianna of
+Erinn." Then the overseer said, "Thou art daft, old man, and thou hast
+made us daft to take thee for a youth as we did a while agone. But we
+at least have now our wits again, and we know that Finn son of Cumhal
+and all his generation have been dead these three hundred years. At
+the battle of Gowra fell Oscar, son of Oisín, and Finn at the battle
+of Brea, as the historians tell us; and the lays of Oisín, whose death
+no man knows the manner of, are sung by our harpers at great men's
+feasts. But now the Talkenn,[25] Patrick, has come into Ireland and
+has preached to us the One God and Christ His Son, by whose might
+these old days and ways are done away with, and Finn and his Fianna,
+with their feasting and hunting and songs of war and of love, have no
+such reverence among us as the monks and virgins of holy Patrick, and
+the psalms and prayers that go up daily to cleanse us from sin and to
+save us from the fire of judgment." But Oisín replied, half hearing
+and still less comprehending what was said to him, "If thy God have
+slain Finn and Oscar, I would say that God is a strong man." Then they
+all cried out upon him, and some picked up stones, but the overseer
+bade them let him be until the Talkenn had spoken with him, and till
+he should order what was to be done.
+
+   [25] Talkenn or "Adze-head" was a name given to St Patrick by
+   the Irish. Probably it referred to the shape of his tonsure.
+
+So they brought him to Patrick, who entreated him gently and
+hospitably, and to Patrick he told the story of all that had befallen
+him. But Patrick bade his scribes write all carefully down, that the
+memory of the heroes whom Oisín had known, and of the joyous and free
+life they had led in the woods and glens and wild places of Erinn,
+should never be forgotten among men. And Oisín, during the short span
+of life that yet remained to him, told to Patrick many tales of the
+Fianna and their deeds, but of the three hundred years that he had
+spent with Niam in the Land of Youth he rarely spoke, for they seemed
+to him but as a vision or a dream of the night, set between a sunny
+and a rainy day.
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+I
+
+THE BIRTH OF CORMAC
+
+Of all the kings that ruled over Ireland, none had a better and more
+loyal servant than was Finn mac Cumhal, and of all the captains and
+counsellors of kings none ever served a more glorious and a nobler
+monarch than did Finn, for the time that he served Cormac, son of Art,
+son of Conn of the Hundred Battles. At the time at which this monarch
+lived and reigned, the mist of sixteen centuries hangs between us and
+the history of Ireland, but through this mist there shine a few great
+and sunlike figures whose glory cannot be altogether hidden, and of
+these figures Cormac is the greatest and the brightest. Much that is
+told about him may be true, and much is certainly fable, but the
+fables themselves are a witness to his greatness; they are like forms
+seen in the mist when a great light is shining behind it, and we
+cannot always say when we are looking at the true light and when at
+the reflected glory.
+
+The birth of Cormac was on this wise. His father, as we have said, was
+Art, son of Conn, and his mother was named Achta, being the daughter
+of a famous smith or ironworker of Connacht. Now before the birth of
+Cormac, Achta had a strange dream, namely, that her head was struck
+off from her body and that out of her neck there grew a great tree
+which extended its branches over all Ireland and flourished
+exceedingly, but a huge wave of the sea burst upon it and laid it low.
+Then from the roots of this tree there grew up another, but it did not
+attain the splendour of the first, and a blast of wind came from the
+West and overthrew it. On this the woman started from her sleep, and
+she woke her husband, Art, and told him her vision. "It is a true
+dream," said Art. "I am thy head, and this portends that I shall be
+violently taken from thee. But thou shalt bear me a son who shall be
+King of all Ireland, and shall rule with great power and glory until
+some disaster from the sea overtake him. But from him shall come yet
+another king, my grandson and thine, who shall also be cut down, and I
+think that the cause of his fall shall be the armies of the Fian host,
+who are swift and keen as the wind."
+
+Not long thereafter Art, son of Conn, fell in battle with the Picts
+and Britons at the Plain of the Swine, which is between Athenry and
+Galway in Connacht. Now the leader of the invaders then was mac Con, a
+nephew to Art, who had been banished out of Ireland for rising against
+the High King; and when he had slain Art he seized the sovranty of
+Ireland and reigned there unlawfully for many years.
+
+But before the battle, Art had counselled his wife:
+
+"If things go ill with us in the fight, and I am slain, seek out my
+faithful friend Luna who dwells in Corann in Connacht, and he will
+protect thee till thy son be born." So Achta, with one maid, fled in
+her chariot before the host of mac Con and sought to go to the Dún of
+Luna. On her way thither, however, the hour came when her child should
+be born, and the maid turned the chariot aside into the wild wood at
+the place called Creevagh (the Place of the Twigs), and there, on a
+couch of twigs and leaves, she gave birth to a noble son.
+
+Then Achta, when she had cherished her boy and rejoiced over him, bade
+her handmaid keep watch over both of them, and they fell asleep. But
+the maid's eyes were heavy with weariness and long travelling, and ere
+long she, too, was overpowered by slumber, and all three slept a deep
+sleep while the horses wandered away grazing through the wood.
+
+By and by there came a she-wolf roaming through the wood in search of
+prey for her whelps, and it came upon the sleeping woman and the
+little child. It did not wake the woman, but very softly it picked up
+the infant and bore it off to the stony cave that is hard by to
+Creevagh in the hill that was afterwards called Mount Cormac.
+
+After a while the mother waked up and found her child gone. Then she
+uttered a lamentable cry, and woke her handmaid, and both the women
+searched hither and thither, but no trace of the child could they
+find; and thus Luna found them; for he had heard news of the battle
+and the death of his King, and he had come to succour Achta as he had
+pledged his word to do. Luna and his men also made search for the
+infant, but in vain; and at last he conveyed the two sorrowing women
+to his palace; but Achta was somewhat comforted by her prophetic
+dream. Luna then proclaimed that whoever should discover the King's
+son, if he were yet alive, might claim of him what reward he would.
+
+And so the time passed, till one day a man named Grec, a clansman of
+Luna the lord of Corann, as he ranged the woods hunting, came on a
+stony cavern in the side of a hill, and before it he saw wolf-cubs at
+play, and among them a naked child on all fours gambolling with them,
+and a great she-wolf that mothered them all. "Right," cried Grec, and
+off he goes to Luna his lord. "What wilt thou give me for the King's
+son?" said he. "What wilt thou have?" said Luna. So Grec asked for
+certain lands, and Luna bound himself to give them to him and to his
+posterity, and there lived and flourished the Clan Gregor for many a
+generation to come. So Luna, guided by Grec, went to the cave on Mount
+Cormac, and took the child and the wolf-cubs all together and brought
+them home. And the child they called Cormac, or the Chariot-Child. Now
+the lad grew up very comely and strong, and he abode with Luna in
+Connacht, and no one told him of his descent.
+
+
+II
+
+THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC
+
+Once upon a time it happened that Cormac was at play with the two sons
+of Luna, and the lads grew angry in their play and came to blows, and
+Cormac struck one of them to the ground. "Sorrow on it," cried the
+lad, "here I have been beaten by one that knows not his clan or
+kindred, save that he is a fellow without a father." When Cormac heard
+that he was troubled and ashamed, and he went to Luna and told him
+what had been said.
+
+And Luna seeing the trouble of the youth, and also that he was strong
+and noble to look on, and wise and eloquent in speech, held that the
+time was now come to reveal to him his descent. "Thou hadst indeed a
+clan and kindred," he said, "and a father of the noblest, for thou art
+the son of Art, the High King of Ireland, who was slain and
+dispossessed by mac Con. But it is foretold that thou shalt yet come
+to thy father's place, and the land pines for thee even now, for there
+is no good yield from earth or sea under the unlawful rule of him who
+now sits on the throne of Art."
+
+"If that be so," said Cormac, "let us go to Tara, and bide our time
+there in my father's house."
+
+So the two of them set out for Tara on the morrow morn. And this was
+the retinue they had with them: a body-guard of outlawed men that had
+revolted against mac Con and other lords and had gathered themselves
+together at Corann under Luna, and four wolves that had been cubs with
+Cormac when the she-wolf suckled him.
+
+
+When they came to Tara, the folk there wondered at the fierce-eyed
+warriors and the grey beasts that played like dogs around Cormac, and
+the lad was adopted as a pupil by the King, to be taught arms and
+poetry and law. Much talk there was of his coming, and of his strange
+companions that are not wont to be the friends of man, and as the lad
+grew in comeliness and in knowledge the eyes of all were turned to him
+more and more, because the rule of mac Con was not good.
+
+So the time wore on, till one day a case came for judgment before the
+King, in which the Queen sued a certain wealthy woman and an owner of
+herds named Benna, for that the sheep of Benna had strayed into the
+Queen's fields and had eaten to the ground a crop of woad[26] that was
+growing there. The King gave judgment, that the sheep which had eaten
+the woad were to be given to the Queen in compensation for what they
+had destroyed. Then Cormac rose up before the people and said, "Nay,
+but let the wool of the sheep, when they are next shorn, be given to
+the Queen, for the woad will grow again and so shall the wool." "A
+true judgment, a true judgment," cried all the folk that were present
+in the place; "a very king's son is he that hath pronounced it." And
+they murmured so loudly against mac Con that his druids counselled him
+to quit Tara lest a worse thing befall him. So he gave up the sovranty
+to Cormac and went southward into Munster to rally his friends there
+and recover the kingdom, and there he was slain by Cormac's men as he
+was distributing great largesse of gold and silver to his followers,
+in the place called The Field of the Gold.
+
+   [26] Woad is a cruciferous plant, _Isatis tinctoria_, used for
+   dyeing.
+
+So Cormac, son of Art, ruled in Tara and was High King of all Ireland.
+And the land, it is said, knew its rightful lord, and yielded harvests
+such as never were known, while the forest trees dripped with the
+abundance of honey and the lakes and rivers were alive with fish. So
+much game was there, too, that the folk could have lived on that alone
+and never put a ploughshare in the soil. In Cormac's time the autumn
+was not vexed with rain, nor the spring with icy winds, nor the summer
+with parching heat, nor the winter with whelming snows. His rule in
+Erinn, it is said, was like a wand of gold laid on a dish of silver.
+
+Also he rebuilt the ramparts of Tara and made it strong, and he
+enlarged the great banqueting hall and made pillars of cedar in it
+ornamented with plates of bronze, and painted its lime-white walls in
+patterns of red and blue. Palaces for the women he also made there,
+and store-houses, and halls for the fighting men--never was Tara so
+populous or so glorious before or since. And for his wisdom and
+righteousness knowledge was given to him that none other in Ireland
+had as yet, for it was revealed to him that the Immortal Ones whom the
+Gael worshipped were but the names of One whom none can name, and that
+his message should ere long come to Ireland from over the eastern sea,
+calling the people to a sweeter and diviner faith.
+
+And to the end of his life it was his way to have wolves about him,
+for he knew their speech and they his, and they were friendly and tame
+with him and his folk, since they were foster-brothers together in the
+wild wood.
+
+
+III
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC
+
+It happened that in Cormac's time there was a very wealthy farmer
+named Buicad[27] who dwelt in Leinster, and had vast herds of cattle
+and sheep and horses. This Buicad and his wife had no children, but
+they adopted a foster-child named Ethne, daughter of one Dunlang. Now
+Buicad was the most hospitable of men, and never refused aught to
+anyone, but he kept open house for all the nobles of Leinster who
+came with their following and feasted there as they would, day after
+day; and if any man fancied any of the cattle or other goods of
+Buicad, he might take them home with him, and none said him nay. Thus
+Buicad lived in great splendour, and his Dún was ever full to
+profusion with store of food and clothing and rich weapons, until in
+time it was all wasted away in boundless hospitality and generosity,
+and so many had had a share in his goods that they could never be
+recovered nor could it be said of any man that he was the cause of
+Buicad's undoing. But undone he was at last, and when there remained
+to him but one bull and seven cows he departed by night with his wife
+and Ethne from Dún Buicad, leaving his mansion desolate. And he
+travelled till he came to a place where there was a grove of oak trees
+by a little stream in the county of Meath, near where Cormac had a
+summer palace, and there he built himself a little hut and tended his
+few cattle, and Ethne waited as a maid-servant upon him and his wife.
+
+   [27] Pronounced Bweé-cad. His name is said to be preserved in
+   the townland of Dunboyke, near Blessington, Co. Wicklow.
+
+Now on a certain day it happened that King Cormac rode out on
+horseback from his Dún in Meath, and in the course of his ride he came
+upon the little herd of Buicad towards evening, and he saw Ethne
+milking the cows. And this was the way she milked them: first she
+milked a portion of each cow's milk into a certain vessel, then she
+took a second vessel and milked into it the remaining portion, in
+which was the richest cream, and these two vessels she kept apart.
+Cormac watched all this. She then bore the vessels of milk into the
+hut, and came out again with two other vessels and a small cup. These
+she bore down to the river-side; and one of the vessels she filled by
+means of the cup from the water at the brink of the stream, but the
+other vessel she bore out into the middle of the stream and there
+filled it from the deepest of the running water. After this she took a
+sickle and began cutting rushes by the river-side, and Cormac saw that
+when she cut a wisp of long rushes she would put it on one side, and
+the short rushes on the other, and she bore them separately into the
+house. But Cormac stopped her and saluted her, and said:
+
+"For whom, maiden, art thou making this careful choice of the milk and
+the rushes and the water?"
+
+"I am making it," said she, "for one who is worthy that I should do
+far more than that for him, if I could."
+
+"What is his name?"
+
+"Buicad, the farmer," said Ethne.
+
+"Is it that Buicad, who was the rich farmer in Leinster that all
+Ireland has heard of?" asked the King.
+
+"It is even so."
+
+"Then thou art his foster-child, Ethne the daughter of Dunlang?" said
+Cormac.
+
+"I am," said Ethne.
+
+"Wilt thou be my wife and Queen of Erinn?" then said Cormac.
+
+"If it please my foster-father to give me to thee, O King, I am
+willing," replied Ethne.
+
+Then Cormac took Ethne by the hand and they went before Buicad, and he
+consented to give her to Cormac to wife. And Buicad was given rich
+lands and great store of cattle in the district of Odran close by
+Tara, and Ethne the Queen loved him and visited him so long as his
+life endured.
+
+
+IV
+
+THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING
+
+Ethne bore to Cormac a son, her firstborn, named Cairbry, who was King
+of Ireland after Cormac. It was during the lifetime of Cormac that
+Cairbry came to the throne, for it happened that ere he died Cormac
+was wounded by a chance cast of a spear and lost one of his eyes, and
+it was forbidden that any man having a blemish should be a king in
+Ireland. Cormac therefore gave up the kingdom into the hands of
+Cairbry, but before he did so he told his son all the wisdom that he
+had in the governing of men, and this was written down in a book which
+is called _The Instructions of Cormac_.[28] These are among the things
+which are found in it, of the wisdom of Cormac:--
+
+   [28] _The Instructions of Cormac_ (Tecosa Cormaic) have been
+   edited with a translation by Dr. Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture
+   Series of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xv., April 1909.
+
+  "Let him (the king) restrain the great,
+   Let him exalt the good,
+   Let him establish peace,
+   Let him plant law,
+   Let him protect the just,
+   Let him bind the unjust,
+   Let his warriors be many and his counsellors few,
+   Let him shine in company and be the sun of the mead-hall,
+   Let him punish with a full fine wrong done knowingly,
+    and with a half-fine wrong done in ignorance."
+
+Cairbry said, "What are good customs for a tribe to pursue?" "They are
+as follows," replied Cormac:--
+
+   "To have frequent assemblies,
+    To be ever enquiring, to question the wise men,
+    To keep order in assemblies,
+    To follow ancient lore,
+    Not to crush the miserable,
+    To keep faith in treaties,
+    To consolidate kinship,
+    Fighting-men not to be arrogant,
+    To keep contracts faithfully,
+    To guard the frontiers against every ill."
+
+"Tell me, O Cormac," said Cairbry, "what are good customs for the
+giver of a feast?" and Cormac said:--
+
+  "To have lighted lamps,
+   To be active in entertaining the company,
+   To be liberal in dispensing ale,
+   To tell stories briefly,
+   To be of joyous countenance,
+   To keep silence during recitals."
+
+"Tell me, O Cormac," said his son once, "what were thy habits when
+thou wert a lad?" And Cormac said:--
+
+   "I was a listener in woods,
+    I was a gazer at stars,
+    I pried into no man's secrets,
+    I was mild in the hall,
+    I was fierce in the fray,
+    I was not given to making promises,
+    I reverenced the aged,
+    I spoke ill of no man in his absence,
+    I was fonder of giving than of asking."
+
+"If you listen to my teaching," said Cormac:--
+
+  "Do not deride any old person though you be young
+   Nor any poor man though you be rich,
+   Nor any naked though you be well-clad,
+   Nor any lame though you be swift,
+   Nor any blind though you be keen-sighted,
+   Nor any invalid though you be robust,
+   Nor any dull though you be clever,
+   Nor any fool though you be wise.
+
+"Yet be not slothful, nor fierce, nor sleepy, nor niggardly, nor
+feckless nor envious, for all these are hateful before God and men.
+
+"Do not join in blasphemy, nor be the butt of an assembly; be not
+moody in an alehouse, and never forget a tryst."
+
+"What are the most lasting things on earth?" asked Cairbry.
+
+"Not hard to tell," said Cormac; "they are grass, copper, and a
+yew-tree."
+
+"If you will listen to me," said Cormac, "this is my instruction for
+the management of your household and your realm:--
+
+  "Let not a man with many friends be your steward,
+  Nor a woman with sons and foster-sons your housekeeper,
+  Nor a greedy man your butler,
+  Nor a man of much delay your miller,
+  Nor a violent, foul-mouthed man your messenger,
+  Nor a grumbling sluggard your servant,
+  Nor a talkative man your counsellor,
+  Nor a tippler your cup-bearer,
+  Nor a short-sighted man your watchman,
+  Nor a bitter, haughty man your doorkeeper,
+  Nor a tender-hearted man your judge,
+  Nor an ignorant man your leader,
+  Nor an unlucky man your counsellor."
+
+
+Such were the counsels that Cormac mac Art gave to his son Cairbry.
+And Cairbry became King after his father's abdication, and reigned
+seven and twenty years, till he and Oscar, son of Oisín, slew one
+another at the battle of Gowra.
+
+
+V
+
+CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN
+
+During the reign of Cormac it happened that some of the lords of
+Ulster made a raid upon the Picts in Alba[29] and brought home many
+captives. Among them was a Pictish maiden named Kiernit, daughter of a
+king of that nation, who was strangely beautiful, and for that the
+Ulstermen sent her as a gift to King Cormac. And Cormac gave her as a
+household slave to his wife Ethne, who set her to grinding corn with a
+hand-quern, as women in Erinn were used to do. One day as Cormac was
+in the palace of the Queen he saw Kiernit labouring at her task and
+weeping as she wrought, for the toil was heavy and she was unused to
+it. Then Cormac was moved with compassion for the women that ground
+corn throughout Ireland, and he sent to Alba for artificers to come
+over and set up a mill, for up to then there were no mills in Ireland.
+Now there was in Tara, as there is to this day, a well of water
+called _The Pearly_, for the purity and brightness of the water that
+sprang from it, and it ran in a stream down the hillside, as it still
+runs, but now only in a slender trickle. Over this stream Cormac bade
+them build the first mill that was in Ireland, and the bright water
+turned the wheel merrily round, and the women in Tara toiled at the
+quern no more.
+
+   [29] Scotland.
+
+
+VI
+
+A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON
+
+Among other affairs which Cormac regulated for himself and all kings
+who should come after him was the number and quality of the officers
+who should be in constant attendance on the King. Of these he ordained
+that there should be ten, to wit one lord, one brehon, one druid, one
+physician, one bard, one historian, one musician and three stewards.
+The function of the brehon, or judge, was to know the ancient customs
+and the laws of Ireland, and to declare them to the King whenever any
+matter relating to them came before him. Now Cormac's chief brehon was
+at first one Fithel. But Fithel's time came to die, and his son
+Flahari,[30] a wise and learned man, trained by his father in all the
+laws of the Gael, was to be brehon to the High King in his father's
+stead. Fithel then called his son to his bedside and said:--
+
+   [30] Pronounced Fla'-haree--accent on the first syllable.
+
+"Thou art well acquainted, my son, with all the laws and customs of
+the Gael, and worthy to be the chief brehon of King Cormac. But wisdom
+of life thou hast not yet obtained, for it is written in no law-book.
+This thou must learn for thyself, from life itself; yet somewhat of it
+I can impart unto thee, and it will keep thee in the path of safety,
+which is not easily trodden by those who are in the counsels of great
+kings. Mark now these four precepts, and obey them, and thou wilt
+avoid many of the pit-falls in thy way:--
+
+  "Take not a king's son in fosterage,[31]
+  Impart no dangerous secret to thy wife,
+  Raise not the son of a serf to a high position,
+  Commit not thy purse or treasure to a sister's keeping."
+
+   [31] The institution of fosterage, by which the children of
+   kings and lords were given to trusted persons among their
+   friends or followers to bring up and educate, was a marked
+   feature of social life in ancient Ireland, and the bonds of
+   affection and loyalty between such foster-parents and their
+   children were held peculiarly sacred.
+
+Having said this Fithel died, and Flahari became chief brehon in his
+stead.
+
+After a time Flahari thought to himself, "I am minded to test my
+father's wisdom of life and to see if it be true wisdom or but
+wise-seeming babble. For knowledge is no knowledge until it be tried
+by life."
+
+So he went before the King and said, "If thou art willing, Cormac, I
+would gladly have one of thy sons in fosterage." At this Cormac was
+well pleased, and a young child of the sons of Cormac was given to
+Flahari to bring up, and Flahari took the child to his own Dún, and
+there began to nurture and to train him as it was fitting.
+
+After a time, however, Flahari one day took the child by the hand and
+went with him into the deep recesses of the forest where dwelt one of
+the swine-herds who minded the swine of Flahari. To him Flahari handed
+over the child and bade him guard him as the apple of his eye, and to
+be ready deliver him up again when he was required. The Flahari went
+home, and for some days went about like a man weighed down by gloomy
+and bitter thoughts. His wife marked that, and sought to know the
+reason, but Flahari put her off. At last when she continually pressed
+him to reveal the cause of his trouble, he said "If them must needs
+learn what ails me, and if thou canst keep a secret full of danger to
+me and thee, know that I am gloomy and distraught because I have
+killed the son of Cormac." At this the woman cried out, "Murderer
+parricide, hast thou spilled the King's blood, and shall Cormac not
+know it, and do justice on thee?" And she sent word to Cormac that he
+should come and seize her husband for that crime.
+
+But before the officers came, Flahari took a young man, the son of his
+butler, and placed him in charge of his lands to manage them, while
+Flahari was away for his trial at Tara. And he also gave to his sister
+a treasure of gold and silver to keep for him, lest it should be made
+a spoil of while he was absent. Then he went with the officers to
+Tara, denying his offence and his confession, but when Cormac had
+heard all, and the child could not be found, he sentenced him to be
+put to death.
+
+Flahari then sent a messenger to his sister, begging her to send him
+at once a portion of the treasure he had left with her, that he might
+use it to make himself friends among the folk at court, and perchance
+obtain a remission of his sentence; but she sent the messenger back
+again empty, saying she knew not of what he spoke.
+
+On this Flahari deemed that the time was come to reveal the truth, so
+he obtained permission from the King to send a message to his
+swineherd before he died, and to hear the man's reply. And the message
+was this, that Murtach the herd should come without delay to Tara and
+bring with him the child that Flahari had committed to him. Howbeit
+this messenger also came back empty, and reported that on reaching Dún
+Flahari he had been met by the butler's son that was over the estate,
+who had questioned him of his errand, and had then said, "Murtach the
+serf has run away as soon as he heard of his lord's downfall, and if
+he had any child in his care he has taken it away with him, and he
+cannot be found." This he said because, on hearing of the child, he
+guessed what this might mean, and he had been the bitterest of all in
+urging Flahari's death, hoping to be rewarded with a share of his
+lands.
+
+Then Flahari said to himself, "Truly the proving of my father's wisdom
+of life has brought me very near to death." So he sent for the King
+and entreated him that he might be suffered to go himself to the
+dwelling of Murtach the herd, promising that the King's son should be
+then restored to him, "or if not," said he, "let me then be slain
+there without more ado." With great difficulty Cormac was moved to
+consent to this, for he believed it was but a subterfuge of Flahari's
+to put off the evil day or perchance to find a way of escape. But next
+day Flahari was straitly bound and set in a chariot, and, with a guard
+of spearmen about him and Cormac himself riding behind, they set out
+for Dún Flahari. Then Flahari guided them through the wild wood till
+at last they came to the clearing where stood the dwelling of Murtach
+the swineherd, and lo! there was the son of Cormac playing merrily
+before the door. And the child ran to his foster-father to kiss him,
+but when he saw Flahari in bonds he burst out weeping and would not be
+at peace until he was set free.
+
+Then Murtach slew one of the boars of his herd and made an oven in the
+earth after the manner of the Fianna, and made over it a fire of
+boughs that he had drying in a shed. And when the boar was baked he
+set it before the company with ale and mead in methers of beechwood,
+and they all feasted and were glad of heart.
+
+Cormac then asked of Flahari why he had suffered himself to be
+brought into this trouble. "I did so," said Flahari, "to prove the
+four counsels which my father gave them ere he died, and I have proved
+them and found them to be wise. In the first place, it is not wise for
+any man that is not a king to take the fosterage of a king's son, for
+if aught shall happen to the lad, his own life is in the king's hands
+and with his life he shall answer for it. Secondly, the keeping of a
+secret, said my father, is not in the nature of women in general,
+therefore no dangerous secret should be entrusted to them. The third
+counsel my father gave me was not to raise up or enrich the son of a
+serf, for such persons are apt to forget benefits conferred on them,
+and moreover it irks them that he who raised them up should know the
+poor estate from which they sprang. And good, too, is the fourth
+counsel my father gave me, not to entrust my treasure to my sister,
+for it is the nature of most women to regard as spoil any valuables
+that are entrusted to them to keep for others."
+
+
+VII
+
+THE JUDGMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD
+
+When Cormac, son of Art, son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was High
+King in Erinn, great was the peace and splendour of his reign, and no
+provincial king or chief in any part of the country lifted up his
+head against Cormac. At his court in Tara were many noble youths, who
+were trained up there in all matters befitting their rank and station.
+
+One of these youths was named Socht, son of Fithel. Socht had a
+wonderful sword, named "The Hard-headed Steeling," which was said to
+have been long ago the sword of Cuchulain. It had a hilt of gold and a
+belt of silver, and its point was double-edged. At night it shone like
+a candle. If its point were bent back to the hilt it would fly back
+again and be as straight as before. If it was held in running water
+and a hair were floated down against the edge, it would sever the
+hair. It was a saying that this sword would make two halves of a man,
+and for a while he would not perceive what had befallen him. This
+sword was held by Socht for a tribal possession from father and
+grandfather.
+
+There was at this time a famous steward to the High King in Tara whose
+name was Dubdrenn. This man asked Socht to sell him the sword. He
+promised to Socht such a ration as he, Dubdrenn, had every night, and
+four men's food for the family of Socht, and, after that, Socht to
+have the full value of the sword at his own appraisement. "No," said
+Socht. "I may not sell my father's treasures while he is alive."
+
+And thus they went on, Dubdrenn's mind ever running on the sword. At
+last he bade Socht to a drinking-bout, and plied him so with wine and
+mead that Socht became drunken, and knew not where he was, and
+finally fell asleep.
+
+Then the steward takes the sword and goes to the King's brazier, by
+name Connu.
+
+"Art thou able," says Dubdrenn, "to open the hilt of this sword?" "I
+am that," says the brazier.
+
+Then the brazier took apart the hilt, and within, upon the tang of the
+blade, he wrote the steward's name, even Dubdrenn, and the steward
+laid the sword again by the side of Socht.
+
+So it was for three months after that, and the steward continued to
+ask Socht to sell him the sword, but he could not get it from him.
+
+Then the steward brought a suit for the sword before the High King,
+and he claimed that it was his own and that it had been taken from
+him. But Socht declared that the sword was his by long possession and
+by equity, and he would not give it up.
+
+Then Socht went to his father, Fithel the brehon, and begged him to
+take part in the action and to defend his claim. But Fithel said,
+"Nay, thou art too apt to blame the pleadings of other men; plead for
+thyself."
+
+So the court was set, and Socht was called upon to prove that the
+sword was his. He swore that it was a family treasure, and thus it had
+come down to him.
+
+The steward said, "Well, O Cormac, the oath that Socht has uttered is
+a lie."
+
+"What proof hast thou of that?" asked Cormac.
+
+"Not hard to declare," replied the steward. "If the sword be mine, my
+name stands graved therein, concealed within the hilt of the sword."
+
+"That will soon be known," says Cormac, and therewith he had the
+brazier summoned. The brazier comes and breaks open the hilt and the
+name of Dubdrenn stands written within it. Thus a dead thing testified
+in law against a living man.
+
+Then Socht said, "Hear ye, O men of Erinn and Cormac the King! I
+acknowledge that this man is the owner of the sword." And to Dubdrenn
+he said, "The property therein and all the obligations of it pass from
+me to thee."
+
+Dubdrenn said, "I acknowledge property in the sword and all its
+obligations."
+
+Then said Socht, "This sword was found in the neck of my grandfather
+Angus, and till this day it never was known who had done that murder.
+Do justice, O King, for this crime."
+
+Said the King to Dubdrenn, "Thou art liable for more than the sword is
+worth." So he awarded to Socht the price of seven bondwomen as
+blood-fine for the slaying of Angus, and restitution of the sword to
+Socht. Then the steward confessed the story of the sword, and Cormac
+levied seven other cumals from the brazier. But Cormac said, "This is
+in truth the sword of Cuchulain, and by it was slain my grandfather,
+even Conn of the Hundred Battles, at the hands of the King of Ulster,
+of whom it is written:--
+
+"With a host, with a valiant band Well did he go into Connacht. Alas,
+that he saw the blood of Conn On the side of Cuchulain's sword!"
+
+Then Cormac and Fithel agreed that the sword be given to Cormac as
+blood-fine for the death of Conn, and his it was; and it was the third
+best of the royal treasures that were in Erin: namely, Cormac's Cup,
+that broke if a falsehood were spoken over it and became whole if a
+truth were spoken; and the Bell Branch that he got in Fairyland, whose
+music when it was shaken would put to sleep wounded men, and women in
+travail; and the Sword of Cuchulain, against which, and against the
+man that held it in his hand, no victory could ever be won.
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC
+
+In the chronicle of the Kings of Ireland that was written by Tierna
+the Historian in the eleventh century after Christ's coming, there is
+noted down in the annals of the year 248, "Disappearance of Cormac,
+grandson of Conn, for seven months." That which happened to Cormac
+during these seven months is told in one of the bardic stories of
+Ireland, being the Story of Cormac's Journey to Fairyland, and this
+was the manner of it.
+
+One day Cormac, son of Art, was looking over the ramparts of his royal
+Dún of Tara, when he saw a young man, glorious to look on in his
+person and his apparel, coming towards him across the plain of Bregia.
+The young man bore in his hand, as it were, a branch, from which hung
+nine golden bells formed like apples. When he shook the branch the
+nine apples beat against each other and made music so sweet that there
+was no pain or sorrow in the world that a man would not forget while
+he hearkened to it.
+
+"Does this branch belong to thee?" asked Cormac of the youth.
+
+"Truly it does," replied the youth.
+
+"Wilt thou sell it to me?" said Cormac.
+
+"I never had aught that I would not sell for a price," said the young
+man.
+
+"What is thy price?" asked Cormac.
+
+"The price shall be what I will," said the young man.
+
+"I will give thee whatever thou desirest of all that is mine," said
+Cormac, for he coveted the branch exceedingly, and the enchantment was
+heavy upon him.
+
+So the youth gave him the bell-branch, and then said, "My price is thy
+wife and thy son and thy daughter."
+
+Then they went together into the palace and found there Cormac's wife
+and his children. "That is a wonderful jewel thou hast in thy hand,
+Cormac," said Ethne.
+
+"It is," said Cormac, "and great is the price I have paid for it."
+
+"What is that price?" said Ethne.
+
+"Even thou and thy children twain," said the King.
+
+"Never hast thou done such a thing," cried Ethne, "as to prefer any
+treasure in the world before us three!" And they all three lamented
+and implored, but Cormac shook the branch and immediately their sorrow
+was forgotten, and they went away willingly with the young man across
+the plain of Bregia until a mist hid them from the eyes of Cormac. And
+when the people murmured and complained against Cormac, for Ethne and
+her children were much beloved of them, Cormac shook the bell-branch
+and their grief was turned into joy.
+
+A year went by after this, and then Cormac longed for his wife and
+children again, nor could the bell-branch any longer bring him
+forgetfulness of them. So one morning he took the branch and went out
+alone from Tara over the plain, taking the direction in which they had
+passed away a year agone; and ere long little wreathes of mist began
+to curl about his feet, and then to flit by him like long trailing
+robes, and he knew no more where he was. After a time, however, he
+came out again into sunshine and clear sky, and found himself in a
+country of flowery meadows and of woods filled with singing-birds
+where he had never journeyed before. He walked on, till at last he
+came to a great and stately mansion with a crowd of builders at work
+upon it, and they were roofing it with a thatch made of the wings of
+strange birds. But when they had half covered the house, their supply
+of feathers ran short, and they rode off in haste to seek for more.
+While they were gone, however, a wind arose and whirled away the
+feathers already laid on, so that the rafters were left bare as
+before. And this happened again and again, as Cormac gazed on them for
+he knew not how long. At last his patience left him and he said, "I
+see with that ye have been doing this since the beginning of the
+world, and that ye will still be doing it in the end thereof," and
+with that he went on his way.
+
+And many other strange things he saw, but of them we say nothing now,
+till he came to the gateway of a great and lofty Dún, where he entered
+in and asked hospitality. Then there came to him a tall man clad in a
+cloak of blue that changed into silver or to purple as its folds waved
+in the light, and with him was a woman more beautiful than the
+daughters of men, even she of whom it was said her beauty was as that
+of a tear when it drops from the eyelid, so crystal-pure it was and
+bright.[32] They greeted Cormac courteously and begged him to stay
+with them for the night.
+
+   [32] See Miss Hull's CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER, p. 175.
+   The pair were Mananan, god of the sea, and Fand his wife, of
+   whom a tale of great interest is told in the Cuchulain Cycle of
+   legends. The sea-cloak of Mananan is the subject of a
+   magnificent piece of descriptive poetry in Ferguson's CONGAL.
+
+Cormac then entered a great hall with pillars of cedar and
+many-coloured silken hangings on the walls. In the midst of it was a
+fire-place whereon the host threw a huge log, and shortly afterwards
+brought in a young pig which Cormac cut up to roast before the fire.
+He first put one quarter of the pig to roast, and then his host said
+to him,
+
+"Tell us a tale, stranger, and if it be a true one the quarter will be
+done as soon as the tale is told."
+
+"Do thou begin," said Cormac, "and then thy wife, and after that my
+turn will come."
+
+"Good," said the host. "This is my tale. I have seven of these swine,
+and with their flesh the whole world could be fed. When one of them is
+killed and eaten, I need but put its bones into the pig-trough and on
+the morrow it is alive and well again." They looked at the fireplace,
+and behold, the first quarter of the pig was done and ready to be
+served.
+
+Then Cormac put on the second quarter, and the woman took up her tale.
+"I have seven white cows," she said, "and seven pails are filled with
+the milk of them each day. Though all the folk in the world were
+gathered together to drink of this milk, there would be enough and to
+spare for all." As soon as she had said that, they saw that the second
+quarter of the pig was roasted.
+
+Then Cormac said: "I know you now, who you are; for it is Mananan that
+owns the seven swine of Faery, and it is out of the Land of Promise
+that he fetched Fand his wife and her seven cows." Then immediately
+the third quarter of the pig was done.
+
+"Tell us now," said Mananan, "who thou art and why thou art come
+hither."
+
+Cormac then told his story, of the branch with its nine golden apples
+and how he had bartered for it his wife and his children, and he was
+now-seeking them through the world. And when he had made an end, the
+last quarter of the pig was done.
+
+"Come, let us set to the feast," then said Mananan; but Cormac said,
+"Never have I sat down to meat in a company of two only." "Nay," said
+Mananan, "but there are more to come." With that he opened a door in
+the hall and in it appeared Queen Ethne and her two children. And when
+they had embraced and rejoiced in each other Mananan said, "It was I
+who took them from thee, Cormac, and who gave thee the bell-branch,
+for I wished to bring thee hither to be my guest for the sake of thy
+nobleness and thy wisdom."
+
+Then they all sat down to table and feasted and made merry, and when
+they had satisfied themselves with meat and drink, Mananan showed the
+wonders of his household to King Cormac. And he took up a golden cup
+which stood on the table, and said: "This cup hath a magical property,
+for if a lie be spoken over it, it will immediately break in pieces,
+and if a truth be spoken it will be made whole again." "Prove this to
+me," said Cormac. "That is easily done," said Mananan. "Thy wife hath
+had a new husband since I carried her off from thee." Straightway the
+cup fell apart into four pieces. "My husband has lied to thee,
+Cormac," said Fand, and immediately the cup became whole again.
+
+Cormac then began to question Mananan as to the things he had seen on
+his way thither, and he told him of the house that was being thatched
+with the wings of birds, and of the men that kept returning ever and
+again to their work as the wind destroyed it. And Mananan said,
+"These, O Cormac, are the men of art, who seek to gather together much
+money and gear of all kinds by the exercise of their craft, but as
+fast as they get it, so they spend it, or faster and the result is
+that they will never be rich." But when he had said this it is related
+that the golden cup broke into pieces where it stood. Then Cormac
+said, "The explanation thou hast given of this mystery is not true."
+Mananan smiled, and said, "Nevertheless it must suffice thee, O King,
+for the truth of this matter may not be known, lest the men of art
+give over the roofing of the house and it be covered with common
+thatch."
+
+So when they had talked their fill, Cormac and his wife and children
+were brought to a chamber where they lay down to sleep. But when they
+woke up on the morrow morn, they found themselves in the Queen's
+chamber in the royal palace of Tara, and by Cormac's side were found
+the bell-branch and the magical cup and the cloth of gold that had
+covered the table where they sat in the palace of Mananan. Seven
+months it was since Cormac had gone out from Tara to search for his
+wife and children, but it seemed to him that he had been absent but
+for the space of a single day and night.
+
+
+IX
+
+DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC[33]
+
+   [33] The original from the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE (14th century) is
+   given in O'Curry's MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, Appendix
+   xxvi. I have in the main followed O'Curry's translation.
+
+"A noble and illustrious king assumed the sovranty and rule of Erinn,
+namely Cormac, grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles. The world was
+full of all goodness in his time; there were fruit and fatness of the
+land, and abundant produce of the sea, with peace and ease and
+happiness. There were no killings or plunderings in his time, but
+everyone occupied his land in happiness.
+
+"The nobles of Ireland assembled to drink the Banquet of Tara with
+Cormac at a certain time.... Magnificently did Cormac come to this
+great Assembly; for no man, his equal in beauty, had preceded him,
+excepting Conary Mór or Conor son of Caffa, or Angus Óg son of the
+Dagda.[34] Splendid, indeed, was Cormac's appearance in that Assembly.
+His hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour; a scarlet shield
+he had, with engraved devices, and golden bosses and ridges of silver.
+A wide-folding purple cloak was on him with a gem-set gold brooch over
+his breast; a golden torque round his neck; a white-collared shirt
+embroidered with gold was on him; a girdle with golden buckles and
+studded with precious stones was around him; two golden net-work
+sandals with golden buckles upon his feet; two spears with golden
+sockets and many red bronze rivets in his hand; while he stood in the
+full glow of beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was
+a shower of pearls that was set in his mouth, his lips were rubies,
+his symmetrical body was as white as snow, his cheek was ruddy as the
+berry of the mountain-ash, his eyes were like the sloe, his brows and
+eye-lashes were like the sheen of a blue-black lance."
+
+   [34] Angus Óg was really a deity or fairy king. He appears also
+   in the story of Midir and Etain. _q.v._
+
+
+X
+
+THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC
+
+Strange was the birth and childhood of Cormac strange his life and
+strange the manner of his death and burial, as we now have to narrate.
+
+Cormac, it is said, was the third man in Ireland who heard of the
+Christian Faith before the coming of Patrick. One was Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster, whose druid told him of the crucifixion of Christ and
+who died of that knowledge.[35] The second was the wise judge, Morann,
+and the third Cormac, son of Art. This knowledge was revealed to him
+by divine illumination, and thenceforth he refused to consult the
+druids or to worship the images which they made as emblems of the
+Immortal Ones.
+
+   [35] See the conclusion of the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_.
+
+One day it happened that Cormac after he had laid down the kingship of
+Ireland, was present when the druids and a concourse of people were
+worshipping the great golden image which was set up in the plain
+called Moy Slaught. When the ceremony was done, the chief druid, whose
+name was Moylann, spoke to Cormac and said: "Why, O Cormac, didst thou
+not bow down and adore the golden image of the god like the rest of
+the people?"
+
+And Cormac said: "Never will I worship a stock[36] that my own
+carpenter has made. Rather would I worship the man that made it, for
+he is nobler than the work of his hands."
+
+   [36] The image was doubtless of wood overlaid with gold.
+
+Then it is told that Moylann by magic art caused the image to move and
+leap before the eyes of Cormac. "Seest thou that?" said Moylann.
+
+"Although I see," said Cormac, "I will do no worship save to the God
+of Heaven and Earth and Hell."
+
+Then Cormac went to his own home at Sletty on the Boyne, for there he
+lived after he had given up the kingdom to his son Cairbry. But the
+druids of Erinn came together and consulted over this matter, and they
+determined solemnly to curse Cormac and invoke the vengeance of their
+gods upon him lest the people should think that any man could despise
+and reject their gods, and suffer no ill for it.
+
+So they cursed Cormac in his flesh and bones, in his waking and
+sleeping, in his down sitting and his uprising, and each day they
+turned over the Wishing Stone upon the altar of their god,[37] and
+wove mighty spells against his life. And whether it was that these
+took effect, or that the druids prevailed upon some traitorous servant
+of Cormac's to work their will, so it was that he died not long
+thereafter; and some say that he was choked by a fish bone as he sat
+at meat in his house at Sletty on the Boyne.
+
+   [37] There are still Wishing Stones, which are used in
+   connexion with petitions for good or ill, on the ancient altars
+   of Inishmurray and of Caher Island, and possibly other places
+   on the west coast of Ireland.
+
+But when he felt his end approaching, and had still the power to
+speak, he said to those that gathered round his bed:--"When I am gone
+I charge you that ye bury me not at Brugh of the Boyne where is the
+royal cemetery of the Kings of Erinn.[38] For all these kings paid
+adoration to gods of wood or stone, or to the Sun and the Elements,
+whose signs are carved on the walls of their tombs, but I have learned
+to know the One God, immortal, invisible, by whom the earth and
+heavens were made. Soon there will come into Erinn one from the East
+who will declare Him unto us, and then wooden gods and cursing priests
+shall plague us no longer in this land. Bury me then not at
+Brugh-na-Boyna, but on the hither-side of Boyne, at Ross-na-ree, where
+there is a sunny, eastward-sloping hill, there would I await the
+coming of the sun of truth."
+
+   [38] This famous cemetery of the kings of pagan Ireland lies on
+   the north bank of the Boyne and consists of a number of
+   sepulchral mounds, sometimes of great extent, containing, in
+   their interior, stone walled chambers decorated with symbolic
+   and ornamental carvings. The chief of these mounds, now known
+   as Newgrange, has been explored and described by Mr George
+   Coffey in his valuable work NEWGRANGE, published by the Royal
+   Irish Academy. _Brugh_=mansion.
+
+So spake Cormac, and he died, and there was a very great mourning for
+him in the land. But when the time came for his burial, the princes
+and lords of the Gael vowed that he should lie in Brugh with Art, his
+father, and Conn of the Hundred Battles, and many another king, in the
+great stone chambers of the royal dead. For Ross-na-ree, they said, is
+but a green hill of no note; and Cormac's expectation of the message
+of the new God they took to be but the wanderings of a dying man.
+
+Now Brugh-na-Boyna lay at the farther side of the Boyne from Sletty,
+and near by was a shallow ford where the river could be crossed. But
+when the funeral train came down to the ford, bearing aloft the body
+of the King, lo! the river had risen as though a tempest had burst
+upon it at its far-off sources in the hills, and between them and the
+farther bank was now a broad and foaming flood, and the stakes that
+marked the ford were washed clean away. Even so they made trial of the
+ford, and thrice the bearers waded in and thrice they were forced to
+turn back lest the flood should sweep them down. At length six of the
+tallest and mightiest of the warriors of the High King took up the
+bier upon their shoulders, and strode in. And first the watchers on
+the bank saw the brown water swirl about their knees, and then they
+sank thigh-deep, and at last it foamed against their shoulders, yet
+still they braced themselves against the current, moving forward very
+slowly as they found foothold among the slippery rocks in the
+river-bed. But when they had almost reached the mid-stream it seemed
+as if a great surge overwhelmed them, and caught the bier from their
+shoulders as they plunged and clutched around it, and they must needs
+make back for the shore as best they could, while Boyne swept down the
+body of Cormac to the sea.
+
+On the following morning, however, shepherds driving their flocks to
+pasture on the hillside of Ross-na-ree found cast upon the shore the
+body of an aged man of noble countenance, half wrapped in a silken
+pall; and knowing not who this might be they dug a grave in the grassy
+hill, and there laid the stranger, and laid the green sods over him
+again.
+
+There still sleeps Cormac the King, and neither Ogham-lettered stone
+nor sculptured cross marks his solitary grave. But he lies in the
+place where he would be, of which a poet of the Gael in our day has
+written:--
+
+  "A tranquil spot: a hopeful sound
+     Comes from the ever-youthful stream,
+   And still on daisied mead and mound
+     The dawn delays with tenderer beam.
+
+   "Round Cormac, spring renews her buds:
+     In march perpetual by his side
+   Down come the earth-fresh April floods,
+     And up the sea-fresh salmon glide;
+
+   "And life and time rejoicing run
+     From age to age their wonted way;
+   But still he waits the risen sun,
+     For still 'tis only dawning day."[39]
+
+   [39] These lines are taken from Sir S. Ferguson's noble poem,
+   _The Burial of King Cormac_, from which I have also borrowed
+   some of the details of the foregoing narrative.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Notes on the Sources
+
+
+_The Story of the Children of Lir_ and _The Quest of the Sons of
+Turenn_ are two of the three famous and popular tales entitled "The
+Three Sorrows of Storytelling." The third is the _Tragedy of the Sons
+of Usna_, rendered by Miss Eleanor Hull in her volume CUCHULAIN. I
+have taken the two stories which are given here from the versions in
+modern Irish published by the Society for the Preservation of the
+Irish Language, with notes and translation. Neither of them is found
+in any very early MS., but their subject-matter certainly goes back to
+very primitive times.
+
+
+_The Secret of Labra_ is taken from Keating's FORUS FEASA AR EIRINN,
+edited with translation by the Rev. P.S. Dineen for the Irish Texts
+Society, vol. i. p. 172.
+
+
+_The Carving of mac Datho's Boar_. This is a clean, fierce, fighting
+story, notable both for its intensely dramatic _dénouement_, and for
+the complete absence from it of the magical or supernatural element
+which is so common a feature in Gaelic tales. It has been edited and
+translated from one MS. by Dr Kuno Meyer, in _Hibernica Minora_
+(ANECDOTA OXONIENSIA), 1894, and translated from THE BOOK OF LEINSTER
+(twelfth century) in Leahy's HEROIC ROMANCES.
+
+
+_The Vengeance of Mesgedra_. This story, as I have given it, is a
+combination of two tales, _The Siege of Howth_ and _The Death of King
+Conor_. The second really completes the first, though they are not
+found united in Irish literature. Both pieces are given in O'Curry's
+MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, and Miss Hull has printed translations
+of them in her CUCHULLIN SAGA, the translation of the _Siege_ being by
+Dr Whitly Stokes and that of the _Death of Conor_ by O'Curry. These
+are very ancient tales and contain a strong barbaric element. Versions
+of both of them are found in the great MS. collection known as the
+BOOK OF LEINSTER (twelfth century).
+
+
+_King Iubdan and King Fergus_ is a brilliant piece of fairy
+literature. The imaginative grace, the humour, and, at the close, the
+tragic dignity of this tale make it worthy of being much more widely
+known than it has yet become. The original, taken from one of the
+Egerton MSS. in the British Museum, will be found with a translation
+in O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. For the conclusion, I have in the main
+followed another version (containing the death of Fergus only), given
+in the SEANCUS MOR and finely versified by Sir Samuel Ferguson in his
+POEMS, 1880.
+
+
+_The Story of Etain and Midir_. This beautiful and very ancient
+romance is extant in two distinct versions, both of which are
+translated by Mr A.H. Leahy in his HEROIC ROMANCES. The tale is found
+in several MSS., among others, in the twelfth century BOOK OF THE DUN
+COW (LEABHAR NA H-UIDHRE). It has been recently made the subject of a
+dramatic poem by "Fiona Macleod."
+
+
+_How Ethne quitted Fairyland_ is taken from D'Arbois de Jubainville's
+CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS, ch. xii. 4. The original is to be found
+in the fifteenth century MS., entitled THE BOOK OF FERMOY.
+
+
+_The Boyhood of Finn_ is based chiefly on the MACGNIOMHARTHA FHINN,
+published in 1856, with a translation, in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol. iv. I am also indebted, particularly for the
+translation of the difficult _Song of Finn in Praise of May_, to Dr
+Kuno Meyer's translation published in _Ériu_ (the Journal of the
+School of Irish Learning), vol. i. pt. 2.
+
+
+_The Coming of Finn_, _Finns Chief Men_, the _Tale of Vivionn_ and
+_The Chase of the Gilla Dacar_, are all handfuls from that rich mine
+of Gaelic literature, Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. In
+the _Gilla Dacar_ I have modified the second half of the story rather
+freely. It appears to have been originally an example of a well-known
+class of folk-tales dealing with the subject of the Rescue of
+Fairyland. The same motive occurs in the famous tale called _The
+Sickbed of Cuchulain_. The idea is that some fairy potentate, whose
+realm is invaded and oppressed, entices a mortal champion to come to
+his aid and rewards him with magical gifts. But the eighteenth
+century narrator whose MS. was edited by Mr S.H. O'Grady, apparently
+had not the clue to the real meaning of his material, and after going
+on brilliantly up to the point where Dermot plunges into the magic
+well, he becomes incoherent, and the rest of the tale is merely a
+string of episodes having no particular connexion with each other or
+with the central theme. The latter I have here endeavoured to restore
+to view. The _Gilla Dacar_ is given from another Gaelic version by Dr
+P.W. Joyce in his invaluable book, OLD CELTIC ROMANCES.
+
+
+_The Birth of Oisín_ I have found in Patrick Kennedy's LEGENDARY
+FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. I do not know the Gaelic original.
+
+
+_Oisín in the Land of Youth_ is based, as regards the outlines of this
+remarkable story, on the LAOI OISÍN AR TIR NA N-ÓG, written by Michael
+Comyn about 1750, and edited with a translation by Thomas Flannery in
+1896 (Gill & Son, Dublin). Comyn's poem was almost certainly based on
+earlier traditional sources, either oral or written or both, but these
+have not hitherto been discovered.
+
+
+_The History of King Cormac_. The story of the birth of Cormac and his
+coming into his kingdom is to be found in SILVA GADELICA, where it is
+edited from THE BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, an MS. dating from about the year
+1400.
+
+The charming tale, of his marriage with Ethne ni Dunlaing is taken
+from Keating's FORUS FEASA. From this source also I have taken the
+tales of the Brehon Flahari, of Kiernit and the mill, and of Cormac's
+death and burial. The _Instructions of Cormac_ have been edited and
+translated by Dr Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture Series of the Royal
+Irish Academy, xiv., April 1909. They are found in numerous MSS., and
+their date is fixed by Dr Meyer about the ninth century. With some
+other Irish matter of the same description they constitute, says Mr
+Alfred Nutt, "the oldest body of gnomic wisdom" extant in any European
+vernacular. (_FOLK-LORE_, Sept. 30, 1909.)
+
+The story of Cormac's adventures in Fairyland has been published with
+a translation by Standish Hayes O'Grady in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol. iii., and is also given very fully by d'Arbois
+de Jubainvilie in his CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS. The tale is found,
+among other MSS., in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, but is known to have been
+extant at least as early as the tenth century, since in that year it
+figures in a list of Gaelic tales drawn up by the historian Tierna.
+
+The ingenious story of the _Judgment concerning Cormac's Sword_ is
+found in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, and is printed with a translation by
+Dr Whitly Stokes in _IRISCHE TEXTE_, iii. Serie, 7 Heft, 1891.
+
+
+
+
+Pronouncing Index
+
+
+The correct pronunciation of Gaelic proper names can only be learned
+from the living voice. It cannot be accurately represented by any
+combination of letters from the English alphabet. I have spared the
+reader as much trouble as possible on this score by simplifying, as
+far as I could, the forms of the names occurring in the text, and if
+the reader will note the following general rules, he will get quite as
+near to the pronunciation intended as there is any necessity for him
+to do. A few names which might present some unusual difficulty are
+given with their approximate English pronunciations in the Index.
+
+The chief rule to observe is that vowels are pronounced as in the
+Continental languages, not according to the custom peculiar to
+England. Thus _a_ is like _a_ in _father_, never like _a_ in _fate,
+I_(when long) is like _ee_, _u_ like _oo_, or like _u_ in _put_ (never
+like _u_ in _tune_). An accent implies length, thus _Dún_, a fortress
+or mansion, is pronounced _Doon_. The letters _ch_ are never to be
+pronounced with a _t_ sound, as in the word _chip_, but like a rough
+_h_ or a softened _k_, rather as in German. _Gh_ is silent as in
+English, and _g_ is always hard, as in _give_. _C_ is always as _k_,
+never as _s_.
+
+In the following Index an accent placed after a syllable indicates
+that the stress is to be laid on that syllable. Only those words are
+given, the pronunciation of which is not easily ascertainable by
+attention to the foregoing rules.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+Æda is to be pronounced  Ee'-da.
+Ailill          "        Al'-yill.
+Anluan          "        An'-looan.
+Aoife           "        Ee'-fa.
+Bacarach        "        Bac'-ara_h_.
+Belachgowran    "        Bel'-a_h_-gow'-ran.
+Cearnach        "        Kar'-na_h_.
+Cuchulain       "        Coo-_h_oo'-lin.
+Cumhal          "        Coo'wal, Cool.
+Dacar           "        Dak'-ker.
+Derryvaragh     "        Derry-var'-a.
+
+Eisirt          "        Eye'sert.
+Eochy           "        Yeo'_h_ee.
+
+Fiachra         "        Fee'-a_k_ra.
+Fianna          "        Fee'-anna.
+Finegas         "        Fin'-egas.
+Fionnuala       "        Fee-on-oo'-ala, shortened in modern Irish
+                          into Fino'-la.
+
+Flahari         "        Fla'-haree.
+
+Iorroway        "        Yor'-oway.
+Iubdan          "        Youb'-dan.
+Iuchar          "        You'-_h_ar.
+Iucharba        "        You-_h_ar'-ba.
+
+Liagan          "        Lee'-agan.
+Lir             "        Leer.
+Logary          "        Lo'-garee.
+
+Maev            "        rhyming to _wave_.
+Mananan         "        Man'-anan.
+Mesgedra        "        Mes-ged'-ra.
+Midir           "        Mid'-eer.
+Mochaen         "        Mo-_hain'.
+Mochaovóg       "        Mo-_h_wee'-vogue.
+Moonremur       "        Moon'-ray-mur.
+
+Oisín           "        Ush'-een (Ossian).
+
+Peisear         "        Pye'-sar.
+
+Sceolaun        "        Ske-o'-lawn (the _e_ very short).
+Slievenamuck    "        Sleeve-na-muck'.
+Slievenamon     "        Sleeve-na-mon'.
+
+Tuish           "        Too'-ish.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14749 ***
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14749 ***</div>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic
+Romances of Ancient Ireland, by T. W. Rolleston, et al, Illustrated by
+Stephen Reid</h1>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<br>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL01"></a>
+<a href="./images/il-front.jpg"><img src="images/il-front_th.jpg" alt="Finn heard far off the first notes of the fairy harp" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;Finn heard far off the first notes of the fairy harp&quot;
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN</h1>
+
+<h1>AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES <br />OF ANCIENT IRELAND</h1>
+
+<h3>BY </h3>
+
+<h2>T. W. ROLLESTON</h2>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3><i>WITH AN INTRODUCTION<br /> BY</i> <br />
+STOPFORD A. BROOKE M.A. LL.D.</h3>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3><i>AND<br /> WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS<br /> BY</i> <br />
+STEPHEN REID</h3>
+<hr />
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h6>New York<br />
+Thomas Y. Crowell &amp; Company<br />
+Publishers</h6>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr />
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>AR <br />
+CRAOIBH CONNARTHA NA GAEDHILGE <br />
+I NGLEANN FHAIDHLE BRONNAIM AN LEABHAR SEO: <br />
+BEANNACHT AGUS BUAIDH <br />
+LIBHSE GO DEO
+</center>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr />
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN</h1>
+
+<ul class="none">
+<li> <a href='#Preface'><b>Preface</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+<h2>Contents</h2>
+<ul class="none">
+<li> <a href='#Introduction'><b>Introduction</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#COIS_NA_TEINEADH'><b>COIS NA TEINEADH</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<h3><a href='#BARDIC_ROMANCES'>BARDIC ROMANCES</a></h3>
+<ol class="uroman">
+<li><a href='#CHAPTER_I'><b>THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN OF LIR</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_II'><b>THE QUEST OF THE SONS OF TURENN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_III'><b>THE SECRET OF LABRA</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_IV'><b>KING IUBDAN AND KING FERGUS</b></a> </li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_V'><b>THE CARVING OF MAC DATHO'S BOAR</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_VI'><b>THE VENGEANCE OF MESGEDRA</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_VII'><b>THE STORY OF ETAIN AND MIDIR</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_VIII'><b>HOW ETHNE QUITTED FAIRYLAND</b></a></li>
+</ol>
+<h3><a href='#THE_HIGH_DEEDS_OF_FINN'>THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN</a></h3>
+<ol class="uroman" start="9">
+<li><a href='#CHAPTER_IX'><b>THE BOYHOOD OF FINN MAC CUMHAL</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_X'><b>THE COMING OF FINN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XI'><b>FINN'S CHIEF MEN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XII'><b>THE TALE OF VIVIONN THE GIANTESS</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XIII'><b>THE CHASE OF THE GILLA DACAR</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XIV'><b>THE BIRTH OF OISÍN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XV'><b>OISÍN IN THE LAND OF YOUTH</b></a></li>
+</ol>
+<h3><a href='#CHAPTER_XVI_THE_HISTORY_OF_KING_CORMAC'>THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC</a></h3>
+<ol class="uroman" start="16"><li>
+<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
+<li> <a href='#I_THE_BIRTH_OF_CORMAC'><b>THE BIRTH OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#II_THE_JUDGEMENT_OF_CORMAC'><b>THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#III_THE_MARRIAGE_OF_KING_CORMAC'><b>THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#IV_THE_INSTRUCTIONS_OF_THE_KING'><b>THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#V_CORMAC_SETS_UP_THE_FIRST_MILL_IN_ERINN'><b>CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#VI_A_PLEASANT_STORY_OF_CORMACS_BREHON'><b>A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#VII_THE_JUDGEMENT_CONCERNING_CORMACS_SWORD'><b>THE JUDGEMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#VIII_THE_DISAPPEARANCE_OF_CORMAC'><b>THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#IX_DESCRIPTION_OF_CORMAC'><b>DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#X_THE_DEATH_AND_BURIAL_OF_CORMAC'><b>THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+</ol></li></ol>
+
+<ul class="none">
+<li><a href='#Notes_on_the_Sources'><b>Notes on the Sources</b></a></li>
+<li><a href='#Pronouncing_Index'><b><i>Pronouncing Index</i></b></a></li>
+<li><a href='#FOOTNOTES'><b>FOOTNOTES</b></a></li></ul>
+
+
+<h2>Illustrations</h2>
+<ul style="list-style-type: none;"><li><a href="#IL01">&quot;FINN HEARD FAR OFF THE FIRST NOTES OF THE FAIRY HARP&quot;</a>
+(see <a href="#PAGE118"><i>here</i></a>)</li>
+<li><a href="#IL02">&quot;THERE SAT THE THREE MAIDENS WITH THE QUEEN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL03">&quot;THEY MADE AN ENCAMPMENT AND THE SWANS SANG TO THEM&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL04">&quot;BEAR US SWIFTLY, BOAT OF MANANAN, TO THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL05">&quot;THERE DWELT THE RED-HAIRED OCEAN-NYMPHS&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL06">&quot;THEY ALL TROOPED OUT, LORDS AND LADIES, TO VIEW THE WEE MAN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL07">&quot;FERGUS GOES DOWN INTO THE LAKE&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL08">&quot;A MIGHTY SHOUT OF EXULTATION AROSE FROM THE ULSTERMEN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL09">&quot;THEY ROSE UP IN THE AIR&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL10">&quot;SHE HEARD HER OWN NAME CALLED AGAIN AND AGAIN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL11">&quot;AND THAT NIGHT THERE WAS FEASTING AND JOY IN THE LONELY HUT&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL12">&quot;THEY RAN HIM BY HILL AND PLAIN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL13">&quot;DERMOT TOOK THE HORN AND WOULD HAVE FILLED IT&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL14">&quot;'FOLLOW ME NOW TO THE HILL OF ALLEN'&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL15">&quot;THEY RODE UP TO A STATELY PALACE&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL16">&quot;THE WHITE STEED HAD VANISHED FROM THEIR EYES LIKE A WREATH OF MIST&quot;</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='Preface'></a><h2>Preface</h2>
+
+<p>The romantic tales here retold for the English reader belong neither to
+the category of folk-lore nor of myth, although most of them contain
+elements of both. They belong, like the tales of Cuchulain, which have
+been similarly presented by Miss Hull,<a name='FNanchor_1_1'></a><a href='#Footnote_1_1'><sup>[1]</sup></a> to the bardic literature of
+ancient Ireland, a literature written with an artistic purpose by men
+who possessed in the highest degree the native culture of their land and
+time. The aim with which these men wrote is also that which has been
+adopted by their present interpreter. I have not tried, in this volume,
+to offer to the scholar materials for the study of Celtic myth or
+folk-lore. My aim, however I may have fulfilled it, has been artistic,
+not scientific. I have tried, while carefully preserving the main
+outline of each story, to treat it exactly as the ancient bard treated
+his own material, or as Tennyson treated the stories of the MORT
+D'ARTHUR, that is to say, to present it as a fresh work of poetic
+imagination. In some cases, as in the story of the Children of Lir, or
+that of mac Datho's Boar, or the enchanting tale of King Iubdan and King
+Fergus, I have done little more than retell the bardic legend with
+merely a little compression; but in others a certain amount of reshaping
+has seemed desirable. The object in all cases has been the same, to
+bring out as clearly as possible for modern readers the beauty and
+interest which are either manifest or implicit in the Gaelic original.</p>
+
+<p>For stories which are only found in MSS. written in the older forms of
+the language, I have been largely indebted to the translations published
+by various scholars. Chief among these (so far as the present work is
+concerned) must be named Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady&mdash;whose wonderful
+treasure-house of Gaelic legend, SILVA GADELICA, can never be mentioned
+by the student of these matters without an expression of admiration and
+of gratitude; Mr A.H. Leahy, author of HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND; Dr
+Whitly Stokes, Professor Kuno Meyer, and M. d'Arbois de Jubainville,
+whose invaluable CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS has been much in my hands,
+both in the original and in the excellent English translation of Mr R.I.
+Best. Particulars of the source of each story will be found in the Notes
+on the Sources at the end of this volume. In the same place will also be
+found a pronouncing-index of proper names. I have endeavoured, in the
+text, to avoid or to modify any names which in their original form would
+baffle the English reader, but there remain some on the pronunciation of
+which he may be glad to have a little light.</p>
+
+<p>The two most conspicuous figures in ancient Irish legend are Cuchulain,
+who lived&mdash;if he has any historical reality&mdash;in the reign of Conor mac
+Nessa immediately before the Christian era, and Finn son of Cumhal, who
+appears in literature as the captain of a kind of military order devoted
+to the service of the High King of Ireland during the third century A.D.
+Miss Hull's volume has been named after Cuchulain, and it is appropriate
+that mine should bear the name of Finn, as it is mainly devoted to his
+period; though, as will be seen, several stories belonging to other
+cycles of legend, which did not fall within the scope of Miss Hull's
+work, have been included here.<a name='FNanchor_2_2'></a><a href='#Footnote_2_2'><sup>[2]</sup></a> All the tales have been arranged
+roughly in chronological order. This does not mean according to the date
+of their composition, which in most cases is quite indiscoverable, and
+still less, according to the dates of the MSS. in which they are
+contained. The order is given by the position, in real or mythical
+history, of the events they deal with. Of course it is not practicable
+to dovetail them into one another with perfect accuracy. Where a story,
+like that of the Children of Lir, extends over nearly a thousand years,
+beginning with the mythical People of Dana and ending in the period of
+Christian monasticism, one can only decide on its place by considering
+where it will throw most light on those which come nearest to it. In this,
+as in the selection and treatment of the tales, there is of course room
+for much difference of opinion. I can only ask the critic to believe that
+nothing has been done in the framing of this collection of Gaelic romances
+without the consideration and care which the value of the material demands
+and which the writer's love of it has inspired.</p>
+
+<p class="rgt">T. W. ROLLESTON</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<a name='Introduction'></a><h2>Introduction</h2>
+
+<p>Many years have passed by since, delivering the Inaugural Lecture of the
+Irish Literary Society in London, I advocated as one of its chief aims
+the recasting into modern form and in literary English of the old Irish
+legends, preserving the atmosphere of the original tales as much as
+possible, but clearing them from repetitions, redundant expressions,
+idioms interesting in Irish but repellent in English, and, above all,
+from absurdities, such as the sensational fancy of the later editors and
+bards added to the simplicities of the original tales.</p>
+
+<p>Long before I spoke of this, it had been done by P.W. Joyce in his OLD
+CELTIC ROMANCES, and by Standish O'Grady for the whole story of
+Cuchulain, but in this case with so large an imitation of the Homeric
+manner that the Celtic spirit of the story was in danger of being lost.
+This was the fault I had to find with that inspiring book,<a name='FNanchor_3_3'></a><a href='#Footnote_3_3'><sup>[3]</sup></a> but it was
+a fault which had its own attraction.</p>
+
+<p>Since then, a number of writers have translated into literary English a
+host of the Irish tales, and have done this with a just reverence for
+their originals. Being, in nearly every case, Irish themselves, they
+have tried, with varying success, to make their readers realize the wild
+scenery of Ireland, her vital union with the sea and the great ocean to
+the West, those changing dramatic skies, that mystic weather, the wizard
+woods and streams which form the constant background of these stories;
+nor have they failed to allure their listeners to breathe the spiritual
+air of Ireland, to feel its pathetic, heroic, imaginative thrill.</p>
+
+<p>They have largely succeeded in their effort. The Irish bardic tales have
+now become a part of English literature and belong not only to grown up
+persons interested in early poetry, in mythology and folk-customs, but
+to the children of Ireland and England. Our new imaginative stories are
+now told in nurseries, listened to at evening when the children assemble
+in the fire-light to hear tales from their parents, and eagerly read by
+boys at school. A fresh world of story-telling has been opened to the
+imagination of the young.</p>
+
+<p>This could not have been done in the right way if it had not been for
+the previous work of Celtic scholars in Ireland, and particularly on the
+Continent, in France and Germany. Having mastered medieval Irish, they
+have translated with careful accuracy many of the ancient tales,
+omitting and changing nothing; they have edited them critically,
+collating and comparing them with one another, and with other forms of
+the same stories. We have now in English, French, and German the exact
+representation of the originals with exhaustive commentaries.</p>
+
+<p>When this necessary work was finished&mdash;and it was absolutely
+necessary&mdash;it had two important results on all work of the kind Mr
+Rolleston has performed in this book&mdash;on the imaginative recasting and
+modernizing of the ancient tales. First, it made it lawful and easy for
+the modern artist&mdash;in sculpture, painting, poetry, or imaginative
+prose&mdash;to use the stories as he pleased in order to give pleasure to the
+modern world. It made it lawful because he could reply to those who
+objected that what he produced was not the real thing&mdash;&quot;The real thing
+exists; you will find it, when you wish to see it, accurately and
+closely translated by critical and competent scholars. I refer you to
+the originals in the notes to this book. I have found the materials of
+my stories in these originals; and it is quite lawful for me, now that
+they have been reverently preserved, to use them as I please for the
+purpose of giving pleasure to the modern world&mdash;to make out of them
+fresh imaginative work, as the medieval writers did out of the original
+stories of Arthur and his men.&quot; This is the defence any re-caster of the
+ancient tales might make of the <i>lawfulness</i> of his work, and it is a
+just defence; having, above all, this use&mdash;that it leaves the
+imagination of the modern artist free, yet within recognized and ruling
+limits, to play in and around his subject.</p>
+
+<p>One of those limits is the preservation, in any remodelling of the
+tales, of the Celtic atmosphere. To tell the Irish stories in the manner
+of Homer or Apuleius, in the manner of the Norse sagas, or in the manner
+of Malory, would be to lose their very nature, their soul, their
+nationality. We should no longer understand the men and women who fought
+and loved in Ireland, and whose characters were moulded by Irish
+surroundings, customs, thoughts, and passions. We should not see or feel
+the landscape of Ireland or its skies, the streams, the woods, the
+animals and birds, the mountain solitudes, as we feel and see them in
+the original tales. We should not hear, as we hear in their first form,
+the stormy seas between Scotland and Antrim, or the great waves which
+roar on the western isles, and beat on cliffs which still belong to
+another world than ours. The genius of Ireland would desert our work.</p>
+
+<p>And it would be a vast pity to lose the Irish atmosphere in the telling
+of the Irish tales, because it is unique; not only distinct from that of
+the stories of other races, but from that of the other branches of the
+Celtic race. It differs from the atmosphere of the stories of Wales, of
+Brittany, of the Highlands and islands of Scotland. It is more purely
+Celtic, less mixed than any of them. A hundred touches in feeling, in
+ways of thought, in sensitiveness to beauty, in war and voyaging, and in
+ideals of life, separate it from that of the other Celtic races.</p>
+
+<p>It is owing to the careful, accurate, and critical work of continental
+and Irish scholars on the manuscript materials of Irish Law, History,
+Bardic Tales, and Poetry; on customs, dress, furniture, architecture,
+ornament, on hunting and sailing; on the manners of men and women in war
+and peace, that the modern re-teller of the Irish tales is enabled to
+conserve the Irish atmosphere. And this conservation of the special
+Irish atmosphere is the second result which the work of the critical
+scholars has established. If the re-writer of the tales does not use the
+immense materials made ready to his hand for illustration, expansion,
+ornament and description in such a way that Ireland, and only Ireland,
+lives in his work from line to line, he is greatly to be blamed.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Rolleston has fulfilled these conditions with the skill and the
+feeling of an artist. He has clung closely to his originals with an
+affectionate regard for their ancientry, their ardour and their
+distinction, and yet has, within this limit, used and modified them with
+a pleasant freedom. His love of Ireland has instilled into his
+representation of these tales a passion akin to that which gave them
+birth. We feel, as we read, how deep his sympathy has been with their
+intensity, their love of wild nature, their desire for beauty, their
+interest in humanity and in character, their savagery and their
+tenderness, their fairy magic and strange imaginations that suddenly
+surprise and charm. Whenever anything lovely emerges in the tale, he
+does not draw attention to it, but touches it with so artistic a pencil
+that its loveliness is enhanced. And he has put into English verse the
+Irish poems scattered through the tales with the skill and the temper of
+a poet. I hope his book will win what it deserves&mdash;the glad appreciation
+of old and young in England, and the gratitude of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>The stories told in this book belong to three distinct cycles of Irish
+story-telling. The first are mythological, and are concerned with the
+early races that are fabled to have dwelt and fought in Ireland Among
+these the Tuatha De Danaan were the final conquerors, and held the land
+for two hundred years They were, it is supposed, of the Celtic stock,
+but they were not the ancestors of the present Irish. These were the
+Milesians (Irish, Scots or Gaelic who, conquering the Tuatha De Danaan,
+ruled Ireland till they were overcome by the English.) The stories which
+have to do with the Tuatha De Danaan are mythical and of a great
+antiquity concerning men and women, the wisest and the best of whom
+became gods, and who appear as divine beings in the cycle of tales which
+follow after them They were always at war with a fierce and savage
+people called Fomorians, whom they finally defeated and the strife
+between them may mythically represent the ancient war between the good
+and evil principles in the world.</p>
+
+<p>In the next cycle we draw nearer to history, and are in the world not of
+myth but of legend. It is possible that some true history may be hidden
+underneath its sagas, that some of its personages may be historical, but
+we cannot tell. The events are supposed to occur about the time of the
+birth of Christ, and seventeen hundred years after those of the mythical
+period. This is the cycle which collects its wars and sorrows and
+splendours around the dominating figure of Cuchulain, and is called the
+Heroic or the Red Branch or the Ultonian cycle. Several sagas tell of
+the birth, the life, and the death of Cuchulain, and among them is the
+longest and the most important&mdash;the Táin&mdash;the <i>Cattle Raid of Cooley</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Others are concerned with the great King Conor mac Nessa, and the most
+known and beautiful of these is the sorrowful tale of Deirdré. There are
+many others of the various heroes and noble women who belonged to the
+courts of Conor and of his enemy Queen Maev of Connaght. The <i>Carving of
+mac Datho's Boar</i>, the story of <i>Etain and Midir</i>, and the <i>Vengeance of
+Mesgedra</i>, contained in this book belong to these miscellaneous tales
+unconnected with the main saga of Cuchulain.</p>
+
+<p>The second cycle is linked to the first, not by history or race, but by
+the fact that the great personages in the first have now become the gods
+who intervene in the affairs of the wars and heroes of the second. They
+take part in them as the gods do in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Lugh, the
+Long-Handed, the great Counsellor of the Tuatha De Danaan, is now a god,
+and is the real father of Cuchulain, heals him of his wounds in the
+Battle of the Ford, warns him of his coming death, and receives him into
+the immortal land. The Morrigan, who descends from the first cycle, is
+now the goddess of war, and is at first the enemy and afterwards the
+lover of Cuchulain. Angus, The Dagda, Mananan the sea-god, enter not
+only into the sagas of the second cycle, but into those of the third, of
+the cycle of Finn. And all along to the very end of the stories, and
+down indeed to the present day, the Tuatha De Danaan appear in various
+forms, slowly lessening in dignity and power, until they end in the
+fairy folk in whom the Irish peasants still believe. They are alive and
+still powerful in the third&mdash;the Fenian&mdash;cycle of stories, some of which
+are contained and adorned in this book. In their continued presence is
+the only connexion which exists between the three cycles. No personages
+of the first save these of the gods appear in the Heroic cycle, none of
+the Heroic cycle appears in the Fenian cycle. Seventeen hundred years,
+according to Irish annalists, separate the first from the second, more
+than two hundred years separate the second from the beginning of the
+third.</p>
+
+<p>The third cycle is called Fenian because its legends tell, for the most
+part, of the great deeds of the Féni or Fianna, who were the militia
+employed by the High King to support his supremacy, to keep Ireland in
+order, to defend the country from foreign invasion. They were, it seems,
+finally organized by Cormac mac Art, 227 A.D.(?) the grandson of Conn
+the Hundred Fighter. But they had loosely existed before in the time of
+Conn and his son Art, and like all mercenary bodies of this kind were
+sometimes at war with the kings who employed them. Finally, at the
+battle of Gowra, they and their power were quite destroyed. Long before
+this destruction, they were led in the reign of Cormac by Finn the son
+of Cumhal, and it is around Finn and Oisín the son of Finn, that most of
+the romances of the Fenian cycle are gathered. Others which tell of the
+battles and deeds of Conn and Art and Cormac and Cairbre of the Liffey,
+Cormac's son, are more or less linked on to the Fenians. On the whole,
+Finn and his warriors, each of a distinct character, warlike skill and
+renown, are the main personages of the cycle, and though Finn is not the
+greatest warrior, he is their head and master because he is the wisest;
+and this masterdom by knowledge is for the first time an element in
+Irish stories.</p>
+
+<p>If the tales of the first cycle are mythological and of the second
+heroic, these are romantic. The gods have lost their dreadful, even
+their savage character, and have become the Fairies, full often of
+gentleness, grace, and humour. The mysterious dwelling places of the
+gods in the sea, in unknown lands, in the wandering air, are now in
+palaces under the green hills of Ireland, or by the banks of swift clear
+rivers, like the palace of Angus near the Boyne, or across the seas in
+Tir-na-n-Óg, the land of immortal youth, whither Niam brings Oisín to
+live with her in love, as Morgan le Fay brought Ogier the Dane to her
+fairyland. The land of the Immortals in the heroic cycle, to which, in
+the story of <i>Etain and Midir</i> in this book, Midir brings back Etain
+after she has sojourned for a time on earth, is quite different in
+conception from the Land of Youth over the far seas where delightfulness
+of life and love is perfect. This, in its conception of an unknown world
+where is immortal youth, where stormless skies, happy hunting, strange
+adventure, gentle manners dwell, where love is free and time is
+unmarked, is pure romance. So are the adventures of Finn against
+enchanters, as in the story of the <i>Birth of Oisín</i>, of <i>Dermot in the
+Country under the Seas</i>, in the story of the <i>Pursuit of the Gilla
+Dacar</i>, of the wild love-tale of <i>Dermot and Grania</i>, flying for many
+years over all Ireland from the wrath of Finn, and of a host of other
+tales of enchantments and battle, and love, and hunting, and feasts, and
+discoveries, and journeys, invasions, courtships, and solemn mournings.
+No doubt the romantic atmosphere has been deepened in these tales by
+additions made to them by successive generations of bardic singers and
+storytellers, but for all that the original elements in the stories are
+romantic as they are not in the previous cycles.</p>
+
+<p>Again, these Fenian tales are more popular than the others. Douglas Hyde
+has dwelt on this distinction. &quot;For 1200 years at least, they have
+been,&quot; he says, &quot;intimately bound up with the thought and feelings of
+the whole Gaelic race in Ireland and Scotland.&quot; Even at the present day
+new forms are given to the tales in the cottage homes of Ireland. And it
+is no wonder. The mysterious giant forms of the mythological period,
+removed by divinity from the sympathy of men; the vast heroic figures of
+Cuchulain and his fellows and foes, their close relation to supernatural
+beings and their doings, are far apart from the more natural humanity of
+Cormac and Finn, of Dermot and Goll, of Oisín and Oscar, of Keelta, and
+last of Conan, the coward, boaster and venomous tongue, whom all the
+Fenians mocked and yet endured. They are a very human band of fighting
+men, and though many of them, like Oisín and Finn and Dermot, have
+adventures in fairyland, they preserve in these their ordinary human
+nature. The Connacht peasant has no difficulty in following Finn into
+the cave of Slieve Cullinn, where the witch turned him into a withered
+old man, for the village where he lives has traditions of the same kind;
+the love affairs of Finn, of Dermot and Grania, and of many others, are
+quite in harmony with a hundred stories, and with the temper, of Irish
+lovers. A closer, a simpler humanity than that of the other cycles
+pervades the Fenian cycle, a greater chivalry, a greater courtesy, and a
+greater tenderness. We have left the primeval savagery behind, the
+multitudinous slaughtering, the crude passions of the earlier men and
+women; we are nearer to civilization, nearer to the common temper and
+character of the Irish people. No one can doubt this who will compare
+the <i>Vengeance of Mesgedra</i> with the <i>Chase of the Gilla Dacar</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The elaborate courtesy with which Finn and his chief warriors receive
+all comers, as in the story of Vivionn the giantess, is quite new, even
+medieval in its chivalry; so is the elaborate code of honour; so also
+is, on the whole, the treatment of women and their relation to men. How
+far this resemblance to medieval romance has been intruded into the
+stories&mdash;(there are some in which there is not a trace of it)&mdash;by the
+after editors and re-editors of the tales, I cannot tell, but however
+that may be, their presence in the Fenian cycle is plain; and this
+brings the stories into a kindlier and more pleasurable atmosphere for
+modern readers than that which broods in thunderous skies and fierce
+light over dreadful passions and battles thick and bloody in the
+previous cycles. We are in a gentler world.</p>
+
+<p>Another more modern romantic element in the Fenian legends is the
+delight in hunting, and that more affectionate relation of men to
+animals which always marks an advance in civilization. Hunting, as in
+medieval romance, is one of the chief pleasures of the Fenians. Six
+months of the year they passed in the open, getting to know every part
+of the country they had to defend, and hunting through the great woods
+and over the hills for their daily food and their daily delight. The
+story of the <i>Chase of the Gilla Dacar</i> tells, at its beginning, of a
+great hunting and of Finn's men listening with joy to the cries of the
+hunters and the loud chiding of the dogs; and many tales celebrate the
+following of the stag and the wild boar from early dawn to the evening.
+Then Finn's two great hounds, Bran and Sceolaun, are loved by Finn and
+his men as if they were dear friends; and they, when their master is in
+danger or under enchantment wail like human beings for his loss or pain.
+It is true Cuchulain's horses weep tears of blood when he goes forth to
+his last battle, foreknowing his death; but they are immortal steeds and
+have divine knowledge of fate. The dogs of Finn are only dogs, and the
+relation between him and them is a natural relation, quite unlike the
+relation between Cuchulain and the horses which draw his chariot. Yet
+Finn's dogs are not quite as other dogs. They have something of a human
+soul in them. They know that in the milk-white fawn they pursue there is
+an enchanted maiden, and they defend her from the other hounds till Finn
+arrives. And it is told of them that sometimes, when the moon is high,
+they rise from their graves and meet and hunt together, and speak of
+ancient days. The supernatural has lessened since the heroic cycle. But
+it is still there in the Fenian.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the Fenian cycle of tales is more influenced by Christianity than
+the others are. The mythological cycle is not only fully pagan, it is
+primeval. It has the vastness, the savagery, the relentlessness of
+nature-myths, and what beauty there is in it is akin to terror.
+Gentleness is unknown. There is only one exception to this, so far as I
+know, and that is in the story of <i>The Children of Lir</i>. It is plain,
+however, that the Christian ending of that sorrowful story is a later
+addition to it. It is remarkably well done, and most tenderly. I believe
+that the artist who did it imported into the rest of the tale the
+exquisite tenderness which fills it, and yet with so much reverence for
+his original that he did not make the body of the story Christian. He
+kept the definite Christian element to the very end, but he filled the
+whole with its tender atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>No Christianity and very little gentleness intrude into the heroic
+cycle. The story of Christ once touches it, but he who put it in did not
+lose the pagan atmosphere, or the wild fierceness of the manners of the
+time. How it was done may be read in this book at the end of the story
+of the <i>Vengeance of Mesgedra</i>. Very late in the redaction of these
+stories a Christian tag was also added to the tale of the death of
+Cuchulain, but it was very badly done.</p>
+
+<p>When we come to the Fenian cycle there is a well-defined borderland
+between them and Christianity. The bulk of the stories is plainly pagan;
+their originals were frankly so. But the temper of their composers is
+more civilized than that of those who conceived the tales of the
+previous cycles; the manners, as I have already said, of their
+personages are gentler, more chivalrous; and their atmosphere is so much
+nearer to that of Christianity, that the new Christian elements would
+find themselves more at home in them than in the terrible vengeance of
+Lugh, the savage brutality of Conor to Deirdré, or the raging
+slaughterings of Cuchulain. So much was this the case that a story was
+skilfully invented which linked in imagination the Fenian cycle to a
+Christianized Ireland. This story&mdash;<i>Oisín in the Land of Youth</i>&mdash;is
+contained in this book. Oisín, or Ossian, the son of Finn, in an
+enchanted story, lives for 300 years, always young, with his love in
+Tir-na-n-Óg, and finds on his return, when he becomes a withered old
+man, St Patrick and Christianity in Ireland. He tells to Patrick many
+tales of the Fenian wars and loves and glories, and in the course of
+them paganism and Christianity are contrasted and intermingled. A
+certain sympathy with the pagan ideas of honour and courage and love
+enters into the talk of Patrick and the monks, and softens their pious
+austerity. On the other hand, the Fenian legends are gentled and
+influenced by the Christian elements, in spite of the scorn with which
+Oisín treats the rigid condemnation of his companions and of Finn to the
+Christian hell, and the ascetic and unwarlike life of the monks.<a name='FNanchor_4_4'></a><a href='#Footnote_4_4'><sup>[4]</sup></a>
+There was evidently in the Fenian cycle of story-telling a transition
+period in which the bards ran Christianity and paganism in and out of
+one another, and mingled the atmosphere of both, and to that period the
+last editing of the story of <i>Lir and his Children</i> may be referred. A
+lovely story in this book, put into fine form by Mr Rolleston, is as it
+were an image of this transition time&mdash;the story or <i>How Ethne quitted
+Fairyland</i>. It takes us back to the most ancient cycle, for it tells of
+the great gods Angus and Mananan, and then of how they became, after
+their conquest by the race who live in the second cycle, the invisible
+dwellers in a Fairy country of their own during the Fenian period, and,
+afterwards, when Patrick and the monks had overcome paganism. Thus it
+mingles together elements from all the periods. The mention of the great
+caldron and the swine which always renew their food is purely
+mythological. The cows which come from the Holy Land are Christian.
+Ethne herself is born in the house of a pagan god who has become a Fairy
+King, but loses her fairy nature and becomes human; and the reason given
+for this is an interesting piece of psychology which would never have
+occurred to a pagan world. She herself is a transition maiden, and,
+suddenly finding herself outside the fairy world and lost, happens on a
+monastery and dies on the breast of St Patrick. But she dies because of
+the wild wailing for her loss of the fairy-host, whom she can hear but
+cannot see, calling to her out of the darkened sky to come back to her
+home. And in her sorrow and the battle in her between the love of Christ
+and of Faerie, she dies. That is a symbol, not intended as such by its
+conceiver, but all the more significant, of the transition time. Short
+as it is, few tales, perhaps, are more deeply charged with spiritual
+meaning.</p>
+
+<p>Independent of these three cycles, but often touching them here and
+there, and borrowing from them, there are a number of miscellaneous
+tales which range from the earliest times till the coming of the Danes.
+The most celebrated of these are the <i>Storming of the Hostel</i> with the
+death of Conary the High King of Ireland, and the story of the Boru
+tribute. Two examples of these miscellaneous tales of a high antiquity
+are contained in this book&mdash;<i>King Iubdan and King Fergus</i> and <i>Etain and
+Midir</i>. Both of them have great charm and delightfulness.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, the manner in which these tales grew into form must be
+remembered when we read them. At first, they were not written down, but
+recited in hall and with a harp's accompaniment by the various bardic
+story-tellers who were attached to the court of the chieftain, or
+wandered singing and reciting from court to court. Each bard, if he was
+a creator, filled up the original framework of the tale with ornaments
+of his own, or added new events or personages to the tale, or mixed it
+up with other related tales, or made new tales altogether attached to
+the main personages of the original tale&mdash;episodes in their lives into
+which the bardic fancy wandered. If these new forms of the tales or
+episodes were imaginatively true to the characters round which they were
+conceived and to the atmosphere of the time, they were taken up by other
+bards and became often separate tales, or if a great number attached
+themselves to one hero, they finally formed themselves into one heroic
+story, such as that which is gathered round Cuchulain, which, as it
+stands, is only narrative, but might in time have become epical. Indeed,
+the Táin approaches, though at some distance, an epic. In this way that
+mingling of elements out of the three cycles into a single Saga took
+place.</p>
+
+<p>Then when Christianity came, the Irish who always, Christians or not,
+loved their race and its stories, would not let them go. They took them
+and suffused them with a Christian tenderness, even a Christian
+forgiveness. Or they inserted Christian endings, while they left the
+rest of the stories as pagan as before. Later on, while the stories were
+still learned by the bards and recited, they were written down, and
+somewhat spoiled by a luxurious use of ornamental adjectives, and by the
+weak, roving and uninventive fancy of men and monks aspiring to
+literature but incapable of reaching it.</p>
+
+<p>However, in spite of all this intermingling and of the different forms
+of the same story, it is possible for an intelligent and sensitive
+criticism, well informed in comparative mythology and folklore, to
+isolate what is very old in these tales from that which is less old,
+and that in turn from that which is still less old, and that from what
+is partly historical, medieval or modern. This has been done, with
+endless controversy, by those excellent German, French, and Irish
+scholars who have, with a thirsty pleasure, recreated the ancient
+literature of Ireland, and given her once more a literary name among
+the nations&mdash;a name which, having risen again, will not lose but increase
+its brightness.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>As to the stories themselves, they have certain well-marked
+characteristics, and in dwelling on these, I shall chiefly refer, for
+illustration, to the stories in this book. Some of these characteristic
+elements belong to almost all mythological tales, and arise from human
+imagination, in separated lands, working in the same or in a similar way
+on the doings of Nature, and impersonating them. The form, however, in
+which these original ideas are cast is, in each people, modified and
+varied by the animal life, the climate, the configuration of the
+country, the nearness of mountain ranges and of the sea, the existence
+of wide forests or vast plains, of swift rivers and great inland waters.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest tales of Ireland are crowded with the sea that wrapt the
+island in its arms; and on the west and north the sea was the mighty and
+mysterious Ocean, in whose far infinities lay for the Irish the land of
+Immortal Youth. Between its shining shores and Ireland, strange
+islands&mdash;dwelt in by dreadful or by fair and gracious creatures, whose
+wonders Maeldun and Brendan visited&mdash;lay like jewels on the green and
+sapphire waters. Out of this vast ocean emerged also their fiercest
+enemies. Thither, beyond these islands into the Unknown, over the waves
+on a fairy steed, went Oisín with Niam; thither, in after years, sailed
+St Brendan, till it seemed he touched America. In the ocean depths were
+fair cities and well-grassed lands and cattle, which voyagers saw
+through water thin and clear. There, too, Brian, one of the sons of
+Turenn, descended in his water-dress and his crystal helmet, and found
+high-bosomed maidens weaving in a shining hall. Into the land beneath
+the wave, Mananan, the proud god of the sea brought Dermot and Finn and
+the Fianna to help him in his wars, as is told in the story of the
+<i>Gilla Dacar</i>. On these western seas, near the land, Lir's daughters,
+singing and floating, passed three hundred years. On other seas, in the
+storm and in the freezing sleet that trouble the dark waves of Moyle,
+between Antrim and the Scottish isles, they spent another three
+centuries. Half the story of the Sons of Usnach has to do with the
+crossing of seas and with the coast. Even Cuchulain, who is a land hero,
+in one of the versions of his death, dies fighting the sea-waves. The
+sound, the restlessness, the calm, the savour and the infinite of the
+sea, live in a host of these stories; and to cap all, the sea itself and
+Mananan its god sympathise with the fates of Erin. When great trouble
+threatens Ireland, or one of her heroes is near death, there are three
+huge waves which, at three different points, rise, roaring, out of the
+ocean, and roll, flooding every creek and bay and cave and river round
+the whole coast with tidings of sorrow and doom. Later on, in the Fenian
+tales, the sea is not so prominent. Finn and his clan are more concerned
+with the land. Their work, their hunting and adventures carry them over
+the mountains and plains, through the forests, and by the lakes and
+rivers. In the stories there is scarcely any part of Ireland which is
+not linked, almost geographically, with its scenery. Even the ancient
+gods have retired from the coast to live in the pleasant green hills or
+by the wooded shores of the great lakes or in hearing of the soft murmur
+of the rivers. This business of the sea, this varied aspect of the land,
+crept into the imagination of the Irish, and were used by them to
+embroider and adorn their poems and tales. They do not care as much for
+the doings of the sky. There does not seem to be any supreme god of the
+heaven in their mythology. Neither the sun nor the moon are specially
+worshipped. There are sun-heroes like Lugh, but no isolated sun-god. The
+great beauty of the cloud-tragedies of storm, the gorgeous sunrises and
+sunsets, so dramatic in Ireland, or the magnificence of the starry
+heavens, are scarcely celebrated. But the Irish folk have heard the
+sound of the wind in the tree-tops and marked its cold swiftness over
+the moor, and watched with fear or love the mists of ocean and the
+bewilderment of the storm-driven snow and the sweet falling of the dew.
+These are fully celebrated.</p>
+
+<p>These great and small aspects of Nature are not only celebrated, they
+are loved. One cannot read the stories in this book without feeling that
+the people who conceived and made them observed Nature and her ways with
+a careful affection, which seems to be more developed in the Celtic folk
+than elsewhere in modern Europe. There is nothing which resembles it in
+Teutonic story-telling. In the story of <i>The Children of Lir</i>, though
+there is no set description of scenery, we feel the spirit of the
+landscape by the lake where Lir listened for three hundred years to the
+sweet songs of his children. And, as we read of their future fate, we
+are filled with the solitude and mystery, the ruthlessness and beauty of
+the ocean. Even its gentleness on quiet days enters from the tale into
+our imagination. Then, too, the mountain-glory and the mountain-gloom
+are again and again imaginatively described and loved. The windings and
+recesses, the darkness and brightness of the woods and the glades
+therein, enchant the Fenians even when they are in mortal danger. And
+the waters of the great lakes, the deep pools of the rivers, the
+rippling shallows, the green banks, the brown rushing of the torrents,
+are all alive in the prose and song of Ireland. How deep was the Irish
+love of these delightful things is plain from their belief that &quot;the
+place of the revealing of poetry was always by the margin of water.&quot; And
+the Salmon of Knowledge, the eating of which gave Finn his pre-eminence,
+swam in a green pool, still and deep, over which hung a rowan tree that
+shed its red berries on the stream. Lovely were the places whence Art
+and Knowledge came.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as to all good landscape lovers, the beasts, birds, and insects of
+Nature were dear to these ancient people. One of the things Finn most
+cared for was not only his hounds, but the &quot;blackbird singing on
+Letterlee&quot;; and his song, on page 114, in the praise of May, tells us
+how keen was his observant eye for animal life and how much it delighted
+him. The same minute realisation of natural objects is illustrated in
+this book when King Iubdan explains to the servant the different
+characteristics of the trees of the forest, and the mystic elements that
+abide in them. It was a habit, even of Teutonic poets, to tell of the
+various trees and their uses in verse, and Spenser and Drayton have both
+done it in later times. But few of them have added, as the Irish story
+does, a spiritual element to their description, and made us think of
+malign or beneficent elements attached to them. The woodbine, and this
+is a strange fancy, is the king of the woods. The rowan is the tree of
+the magicians, and its berries are for poets. The bramble is inimical to
+man, the alder is full of witchcraft, and the elder is the wood of the
+horses of the fairies. Into every tree a spiritual power is infused; and
+the good lords of the forest are loved of men and birds and bees.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the Irish love of nature led them to spiritualise, in another way
+than mythical, certain things in nature, and afterwards to humanise, up
+to a certain point, the noble implements wrought by human skill out of
+natural materials. And this is another element in all these stories, as
+it is in the folk-lore also of other lands. In the tale of the Sons of
+Turenn, the stones of the wayside tell to Lugh the story of the death of
+his father Kian, and the boat of Mananan, indwelt by a spirit, flies
+hither and thither over the seas, obeying the commands, even the
+thought, of its steersman. The soul of some famed spears is so hot for
+slaughter that, when it is not being used in battle, its point must
+stand in a bath of blood or of drowsy herbs, lest it should slay the
+host. The swords murmur and hiss and cry out for the battle; the shield
+of the hero hums louder and louder, vibrating for the encouragement of
+the warrior. Even the wheels of Cuchulain's chariot roar as they whirl
+into the fight. This partial life given to the weapons of war is not
+specially Celtic. Indeed, it is more common in Teutonic than in Celtic
+legend, and it seems probable that it was owing to the Norsemen that it
+was established in the Hero tales of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>This addition of life, or of some of the powers of life, to tree and
+well and boulder-stone, to river and lake and hill, and sword and spear,
+is common to all mythologies, but the special character of each nation
+or tribe modifies the form of the life-imputing stories. In Ireland the
+tree, the stream were not dwelt in by a separate living being, as in
+Grecian story; the half-living powers they had were given to them from
+without, by the gods, the demons, the fairies; and in the case of the
+weapons, the powers they had of act or sound arose from the impassioned
+thoughts and fierce emotions of their forger or their wielder, which,
+being intense, were magically transferred to them. The Celtic nature is
+too fond of reality, too impatient of illusion, to believe in an actual
+living spirit in inanimate things. At least, that is the case in the
+stories of the Hero and the Fenian Cycles.<a name='FNanchor_5_5'></a><a href='#Footnote_5_5'><sup>[5]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>What the Irish of the Heroic, and still more of the Fenian Cycle, did
+make in their imagination was a world, outside of themselves, of living
+spiritual beings, in whose actuality they fully believed, and in whom a
+great number of them still believe. A nation, if I may use this term,
+dwelt under the sea. Another dwelt in the far island of the ocean, the
+Isle of the Ever-Young. Another dwelt in the land, in the green hills
+and by the streams of Ireland; and these were the ancient gods who had
+now lost their dominion over the country, but lived on, with all their
+courtiers and warriors and beautiful women in a country underground. As
+time went on, their powers were dwarfed, and they became small of size,
+less beautiful, and in our modern times are less inclined to enter into
+the lives of men and women. But the Irish peasant still sees them
+flitting by his path in the evening light, or dancing on the meadow
+round the grassy mound, singing and playing strange melodies; or mourns
+for the child they have carried away to live with them and forget her
+people, or watches with fear his dreaming daughter who has been touched
+by them, and is never again quite a child of this earth, or quite of the
+common race of man.</p>
+
+<p>These were the invisible lands and peoples of the Irish imagination; and
+they live in and out of many of the stories. Cuchulain is lured into a
+fairy-land, and lives for more than a year in love with Fand, Mananan's
+wife. Into another fairy-land, through zones of mist, Cormac, as is told
+here, was lured by Mananan, who now has left the sea to play on the
+land. Oisín, as I have already said, flies with Niam over the sea to the
+island of Eternal Youth. Etain, out of the immortal land, is born into
+an Irish girl and reclaimed and carried back to her native shore by
+Midir, a prince of the Fairy Host. Ethne, whose story also is here, has
+lived for all her youth in the court of Angus, deep in the hill beside
+the rushing of the Boyne.</p>
+
+<p>These stories are but a few out of a great number of the loves and wars
+between the men and women of the human and the fairy races. Curiously
+enough, as the stories become less ancient, the relations between men
+and the fairies are more real, more close, even more affectionate. Finn
+and the Fianna seem to be almost in daily companionship with the fairy
+host&mdash;much nearer to them than the men of the Heroic Cycle are to the
+gods. They interchange love and music and battle and adventure with one
+another. They are, for the most part, excellent friends; and their
+intercourse suffers from no doubt. It is as real as the intercourse
+between Welsh and English on the Borderland.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing illusive, nothing merely imaginary, in these fairy
+worlds for the Irish hero or the Irish people. They believed the lands
+to be as real as their own, and the indwellers of fairyland to have like
+passions with themselves. Finn is not a bit surprised when Vivionn the
+giantess sits beside him on the hill, or Fergus when King Iubdan stands
+on his hand; or St Patrick when Ethne, out of fairyland, dies on his
+breast, or when he sees, at his spell, Cuchulain, dead some nine hundred
+years, come forth out of the dark gates of Sheol, high in his chariot,
+grasping his deadly spear, driven as of old by his well-loved
+charioteer, drawn by the immortal steeds through the mist, and finally
+talking of his deeds and claiming a place in the Christian heaven&mdash;a
+place that Patrick yields to him. The invisible worlds lived, loved, and
+thought around this visible world, and were, it seems, closer and more
+real to the Celtic than to other races.</p>
+
+<p>But it was not only these agreeable and lovely folk in pleasant
+habitations whom the Irish made, but also spirits of another sort, of
+lesser powers and those chiefly malignant, having no fixed
+dwelling-place, homeless in the air and drifting with it, embodying the
+venomous and deadly elements of the earth and the angers and cruelty of
+the sea, and the hypocrisy of them all&mdash;demons, some of whom, like the
+stepmother of the children of Lir, have been changed from men or women
+because of wicked doings, but the most part born of the evil in Nature
+herself. They do what harm they can to innocent folk; they enter into,
+support, and direct&mdash;like Macbeth's witches&mdash;the evil thoughts of men;
+they rejoice in the battle, in the wounds and pain and death of men; they
+shriek and scream and laugh around the head of the hero when he goes forth,
+like Cuchulain, to an unwearied slaughter of men. They make the blight,
+the deadly mist, the cruel tempest. To deceive is their pleasure; to
+discourage, to baffle, to ruin the hero is their happiness. Some of them
+are monsters of terrific aspect who abide in lakes or in desolate rocks,
+as the terrible tri-formed horse whom Fergus mac Leda conquered and by
+whom he died.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, as a link between these supernatural worlds and the natural
+world, there arose a body of men and women in Irish legend who, by years
+of study, gained a knowledge of, and power over, the supernatural
+beings, and used these powers for hurt to the enemies of their kingdom,
+or for help to their own people. Some were wise, learned, and
+statesmanlike, and used their powers for good. These were the high
+Druids, and every king had a band of them at his court and in his wars.
+They practiced what the Middle Ages called white magic. Others were
+wizards, magicians, witches, who, like the children of Cailitin, the
+foes of Cuchulain, or the three mutilated women whom Maev educated in
+evil craft to do evil to her foes, or the dread band that deceived
+Cuchulain into his last ride of death, practised black magic&mdash;evil, and
+the ministers of evil. Magic, and the doing of it, runs through the
+whole of Irish story-telling, and not only into pagan but also into
+Christian legend; for it was easy to change the old gods into devils, to
+keep the demonic creatures as demons, to replace the wise Druids by the
+priests and saints, and the wizards by the heretics who gave themselves
+to sorcery. Thus the ancient supernaturalism of the Irish has continued,
+with modern modifications, to the present day. The body of thought is
+much the same as it was in the days of Conor and Finn; the clothing is a
+bit different.</p>
+
+<p>Another characteristic of the stories, especially in the mythological
+period, is the barbaric brutality which appears in them. Curiously
+mingled with this, in direct contrast, is their tenderness. These
+extreme contrasts are common in the Celtic nature. A Gael, whether of
+Ireland or the Western Isles, will pass in a short time from the wildest
+spirits, dancing and singing and drinking, into deep and grim
+depression&mdash;the child of the present, whether in love or war; and in the
+tales of Ireland there is a similar contrast between their brutality and
+their tenderness. The sudden fierce jealousy and the pitiless cruelty of
+their stepmother to the children of Lir is set over against the
+exquisite tenderness of Fionnuala, which pervades the story like an air
+from heaven. The noble tenderness of Deirdre, of Naisi and his brothers,
+in life and death, to one another, is lovelier in contrast with the
+savage and treacherous revenge of Conor. The great pitifulness of
+Cuchulain's fight with his dear friend Ferdia, whom he is compelled to
+slay; the crowning tenderness of Emer's recollective love in song before
+she dies on Cuchulain's dead body, are in full contrast with the savage
+hard-heartedness and cruelties of Maev, and with the ruthless slaughters
+Cuchulain made of his foes, out of which he seems often to pass, as it
+were, in a moment, into tenderness and gracious speech. Even Finn, false
+for once to his constant courtesy, revenges himself on Dermot so
+pitilessly that both his son and grandson cry shame upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Of course this barbaric cruelty is common to all early periods in every
+nation; and, whenever fierce passion is aroused, to civilised nations
+also. What is remarkable in the Irish tales is the contemporary
+tenderness. The Vikings were as savage as the Irish, but the savagery is
+not mingled with the Irish tenderness. At last, when we pass from the
+Hero Cycle into the Cycle of Finn, there is scarcely any of the ancient
+brutality to be found in the host of romantic stories which gather round
+the chivalry of the Fenians.</p>
+
+<p>There are other characteristics of these old tales on which I must
+dwell. The first is the extra-ordinary love of colour. This is not a
+characteristic of the early German, English or Scandinavian poems and
+tales. Its remarkable presence in Scottish poetry, at a time when it is
+scarcely to be found in English literature, I have traced elsewhere to
+the large admixture of Celtic blood in the Lowlands of Scotland. In
+early Irish work it is to be found everywhere. In descriptions of
+Nature, which chiefly appear in the Fenian Cycle and in Christian times,
+colour is not as much dwelt on as we should expect, for nowhere that I
+have seen is it more delicate and varied than under the Irish
+atmosphere. Yet, again and again, the amber colour of the streams as
+they come from the boglands, and the crimson and gold of the sunsetting,
+and the changing green of the trees, and the blue as it varies and
+settles down on the mountains when they go to their rest, and the green
+crystal of the sea in calm and the dark purple of it in storm, and the
+white foam of the waves when they grow black in the squall, and the
+brown of the moors, and the yellow and rose and crimson of the flowers,
+and many another interchanging of colour, are seen and spoken of as if
+it were a common thing always to dwell on colour. This literary custom I
+do not find in any other Western literature. It is even more remarkable
+in the descriptions of the dress and weapons of the warriors and kings.
+They blaze with colour; and as gold was plentiful in Ireland in those
+far-off days, yellow and red are continually flashing in and out of the
+blue and green and rich purple of their dress. The women are dressed in
+as rich colours as the men. When Eochy met Etain by the spring of pure
+water, as told in this book, she must have flashed in the sunlight like
+a great jewel. Then, the halls where they met and the houses of the
+kings are represented as glorious with colour, painted in rich patterns,
+hung with woven cloths dyed deep with crimson and blue and green and
+yellow. The common things in use, eating and drinking implements, the
+bags they carry, the bed-clothing, the chess-men, the tables, are
+embroidered or chased or set with red carbuncles or white stones or with
+interlacing of gold. Colour is everywhere and everywhere loved. And
+where colour is loved the arts flourish, as the decorative arts
+flourished in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, on this matter, the Irish tale-tellers, even to the present day,
+dwell with persistence on the colour of the human body as a special
+loveliness, and with as much love of it as any Venetian when he painted
+it. And they did this with a comparison of its colour to the colours
+they observed in Nature, so that the colour of one was harmonised with
+the colour of the other. I might quote many such descriptions of the
+appearance of the warriors&mdash;they are multitudinous&mdash;but the picture of
+Etain is enough to illustrate what I say&mdash;&quot;Her hair before she loosed it
+was done in two long tresses, yellow like the flower of the waterflag in
+summer or like red gold. Her hands were white as the snow of a single
+night, and her eyes as blue as the dark hyacinth, and her lips red as
+the berries of the rowan-tree, and her body as white as the foam of the
+sea-waves. The radiance of the moon was in her face and the light of
+wooing in her eyes.&quot; So much for the Irish love of colour.<a name='FNanchor_6_6'></a><a href='#Footnote_6_6'><sup>[6]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Their love of music was equally great; and was also connected with
+Nature. &quot;The sound of the flowing of streams.&quot; said one of their bardic
+clan, &quot;is sweeter than any music of men.&quot; &quot;The harp of the woods is
+playing music,&quot; said another. In Finn's Song to May, the waterfall is
+singing a welcome to the pool below, the loudness of music is around the
+hill, and in the green fields the stream is singing. The blackbird, the
+cuckoo, the heron and the lark are the musicians of the world. When Finn
+asks his men what music they thought the best, each says his say, but
+Oisín answers, &quot;The music of the woods is sweetest to me, the sound of
+the wind and of the blackbird, and the cuckoo and the soft silence of
+the heron.&quot; And Finn himself, when asked what was his most beloved
+music, said first that it was &quot;the sharp whistling of the wind as it
+went through the uplifted spears of the seven battalions of the Fianna,&quot;
+and this was fitting for a hero to say. But when the poet in him spoke,
+he said his music was the crying of the sea-gull, and the noise of the
+waves, and the voice of the cuckoo when summer was at hand, and the
+washing of the sea against the shore, and of the tide when it met the
+river of the White Trout, and of the wind rushing through the cloud. And
+many other sayings of the same kind this charming and poetic folk has
+said concerning those sweet, strong sounds in Nature out of which the
+music of men was born.</p>
+
+<p>Again, there is not much music in the Mythological Tales. Lugh, it is
+true, is a great harper, and the harp of the Dagda, into which he has
+bound his music, plays a music at whose sound all men laugh, and another
+so that all men weep, and another so enthralling that all fall asleep;
+and these three kinds of music are heard through all the Cycles of
+Tales. Yet when the old gods of the mythology became the Sidhe,<a name='FNanchor_7_7'></a><a href='#Footnote_7_7'><sup>[7]</sup></a> the
+Fairy Host, they&mdash;having left their barbaric life behind&mdash;became great
+musicians. In every green hill where the tribes of fairy-land lived,
+sweet, wonderful music was heard all day&mdash;such music that no man could
+hear but he would leave all other music to listen to it, which &quot;had in
+it sorrows that man has never felt, and joys for which man has no name,
+and it seemed as if he who heard it might break from time into eternity
+and be one of the immortals.&quot; And when Finn and his people lived, they,
+being in great harmony and union with the Sidhe, heard in many
+adventures with them their lovely music, and it became their own.
+Indeed, Finn, who had twelve musicians, had as their chief one of the
+Fairy Host who came to dwell with him, a little man who played airs so
+divine that all weariness and sorrow fled away. And from him Finn's
+musicians learnt a more enchanted art than they had known before. And so
+it came to pass that as in every fairy dwelling there was this divine
+art, so in every palace and chieftain's hall, and in every farm, there
+were harpers harping on their harps, and all the land was full of sweet
+sounds and airs&mdash;shaping in music, imaginative war, and sorrows, and
+joys, and aspiration. Nor has their music failed. Still in the west and
+south of Ireland, the peasant, returning home, hears, as the evening
+falls from the haunted hills, airs unknown before, or at midnight a wild
+triumphant song from the Fairy Host rushing by, or wakes with a dream
+melody in his heart. And these are played and sung next day to the folk
+sitting round the fire. Many who heard these mystic sounds became
+themselves the makers of melodies, and went about the land singing and
+making and playing from village to village and cabin to cabin, till the
+unwritten songs of Ireland were as numerous as they were various. Moore
+collected a hundred and twenty of them, but of late more than five
+hundred he knew not of have been secured from the people and from
+manuscripts for the pleasure of the world. And in them lives on the
+spirit of the Fianna, and the mystery of the Fairy Host, and the long
+sorrow and the fleeting joy of the wild weather in the heart of the
+Irish race.</p>
+
+<p>As to the poetry of Ireland, that other Art which is illustrated in this
+book, so fully has it been dwelt on by many scholars and critics that it
+needs not be touched here other than lightly and briefly. The honour and
+dignity of the art of poetry goes back in Irish mythology to a dim
+antiquity. The ancient myth said that the nine hazels of wisdom grew
+round a deep spring beneath the sea, and the hazels were the hazels of
+inspiration and of poetry&mdash;so early in Ireland were inspiration and
+poetry made identical with wisdom. Seven streams of wisdom flowed from
+that fountain-head, and when they had fed the world returned to it
+again. And all the art-makers of mankind, and of all arts, have drunk of
+their waters. Five salmon in the spring ate of the hazel nuts, and some
+haunted the rivers of Ireland; and whosoever, like Finn, tasted the
+flesh of these immortal fish, was possessed of the wisdom which is
+inspiration and poetry. Such was the ancient Irish conception of the art
+of poetry.</p>
+
+<p>It is always an art which grows slowly into any excellence, and it needs
+for such growth a quieter life than the Irish lived for many centuries.
+Poems appear but rarely in the mythological or heroic cycles, and are
+loosely scattered among the prose of the bardic tales. A few are of war,
+but they are chiefly dirges like the Song of Emer over the dead body of
+Cuchulain, or that of Deirdre over Naisi&mdash;pathetic wailings for lost
+love. There is an abrupt and pitiful pain in the brief songs of
+Fionnuala, but I fancy these were made and inserted in Christian times.
+Poetry was more at home among the Fianna. The conditions of life were
+easier; there was more leisure and more romance. And the other arts,
+which stimulate poetry, were more widely practised than in the earlier
+ages. Finn's Song to May, here translated, is of a good type, frank and
+observant, with a fresh air in it, and a fresh pleasure in its writing.
+I have no doubt that at this time began the lyric poetry of Ireland, and
+it reached, under Christian influences, a level of good, I can scarcely
+say excellent, work, at a time when no other lyrical poetry in any
+vernacular existed in Europe or the Islands. It was religious, mystic,
+and chiefly pathetic&mdash;prayers, hymns, dirges, regrets in exile,
+occasional stories of the saints whose legendary acts were mixed with
+pagan elements, and most of these were adorned with illustrations drawn
+from natural beauty or from the doings of birds and beasts&mdash;a great
+affection for whom is prominent in the Celtic nature. The Irish poets
+sent this lyric impulse into Iceland, Wales, and Scotland, and from
+Scotland into England; and the rise of English vernacular poetry instead
+of Latin in the seventh and eighth centuries is due to the impulse given
+by the Irish monasteries at Whitby and elsewhere in Northumbria. The
+first rude lyric songs of C&aelig;dmon were probably modelled on the hymns of
+Colman.</p>
+
+<p>One would think that poetry, which arose so early in a nation's life,
+would have developed fully. But this was not the case in Ireland. No
+narrative, dramatic, didactic, or epic poetry of any importance arose,
+and many questions and answers might be made concerning this curious
+restriction of development. The most probable solution of this problem
+is that there was never enough peace in Ireland or continuity of
+national existence or unity, to allow of a continuous development of any
+one of the arts into all its forms. Irish poetry never advanced beyond
+the lyric. In that form it lasted all through the centuries; it lasts
+still at the present day, and Douglas Hyde has proved how much charm
+belongs to it in his book on the <i>Love Songs of Connacht</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It has had a long, long history; it has passed through many phases; it
+has sung of love and sorrow, of national wars and hopes, of Ireland
+herself as the Queen of Sorrow, of exile regrets from alien shores, of
+rebellion, of hatred of England, of political strife, in ballads sung in
+the streets, of a thousand issues of daily life and death&mdash;but of
+world-wide affairs, of great passions and duties and fates evolving in
+epic or clashing in drama, of continuous human lives in narrative
+(except in prose), of the social life of cities or of philosophic
+thought enshrined in stately verse, it has not sung. What it may do in
+the future, if Irish again becomes a tongue of literature in lofty
+poetry, lies on the knees of the gods. I wish it well, but such a
+development seems now too late. The Irish genius, if it is to speak in
+drama, in narrative poetry or in an epic, must speak, if it is to
+influence or to charm the world beyond the Irish shore, in a
+world-language like English, and of international as well as of Irish
+humanity.</p>
+
+<p>These elements on which I have dwelt seem to me the most distinctive,
+the most Irish, in the Tales in this book. There are many others on
+which a more minute analysis might exercise itself, phases of feeling
+concerning war or love or friendship or honour or the passions, but
+these are not specially Irish. They belong to common human nature, and
+have their close analogies in other mythologies, in other Folk-tales, in
+other Sagas. I need not touch them here. But there is one element in all
+the Irish tales which I have not yet mentioned, and it brings all the
+others within its own circumference, and suffuses them with its own
+atmosphere. It is the love of Ireland, of the land itself for its own
+sake&mdash;a mystic, spiritual imaginative passion which in the soul of the
+dweller in the country is a constant joy, and in the heart of the exile
+is a sick yearning for return. There are not many direct expressions of
+this in the stories; but it underlies the whole of them, and it is also
+in the air they breathe. But now and again it does find clear
+expression, and in each of the cycles we have discussed. When the sons
+of Turenn are returning, wounded to death, from the Hill of Mochaen,
+they felt but one desire. &quot;Let us but see,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba to
+their brother Brian, &quot;the land of Erin again, the hills round Telltown,
+and the dewy plain of Bregia and the quiet waters of the Boyne and our
+father's Dún thereby, and healing will come to us; or if death come, we
+can endure it after that.&quot; Then Brian raised them up; and they saw that
+they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the strand of the Bull they
+came to land. That is from the Mythological Cycle.</p>
+
+<p>In the Heroic Cycle it appears in the longing cry for return to Ireland
+of Naisi and his brothers, which drives them out of Alba to their death;
+but otherwise it is rarely expressed. In the Fenian Cycle it exists, not
+in any clear words, but in a general delight in the rivers, lakes,
+woods, valleys, plains, and mountains of Ireland. Every description of
+them, and of life among them, is done with a loving, observant touch;
+and moreover, the veil of magic charm is thrown over all the land by the
+creation in it of the life and indwelling of the fairy host. The Fianna
+loved their country well.</p>
+
+<p>When Christianity came, this deep-set sentiment did not lessen. It grew
+even stronger, and in exile it became a passion. It is illustrated by
+the songs of deep regret and affection Columba made in Iona, from whose
+rocky shores he looked day after day towards the west while the mists
+rose over Ireland. One little story of great beauty enshrines his
+passion. One morning he called to his side one of his monks, and said,
+&quot;Go to the margin of the sea on the western side of our isle; and there,
+coming from the north of Ireland, you will see a voyaging crane, very
+weary and beaten by the storms, and it will fall at your feet on the
+beach. Lift it up with pity and carry it to the hut, nourish it for
+three days, and when it is refreshed and strong again it will care no
+more to stay with us in exile, but to fly back to sweet Ireland, the
+dear country where it was born. I charge you thus, for it comes from the
+land where I was born myself.&quot; And when his servant returned, having
+done as he was ordered, Columba said, &quot;May God bless you, my son. Since
+you have well cared for our exiled guest, you will see it return to its
+own land in three days.&quot; And so it was. It rose, sought its path for a
+moment through the sky, and took flight on a steady wing for Ireland.
+The spirit of that story has never died in the soul of the Irish and in
+their poetry up to the present day.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, as we read these stories, even in a modern dress, an impression
+of great ancientry is made upon us, so much so that some scholars have
+tried to turn Finn into a mythical hero&mdash;but if he be as old as that
+implies, of how great an age must be the clearly mythic tales which
+gather round the Tuatha de Danaan? However this may be, the impression
+of ancientry is deep and agreeable. All myths in any nation are, of
+course, of a high antiquity, but as they treat of the beginning of
+things, they mingle an impression of youth with one of age. This is very
+pleasant to the imagination, and especially so if the myths, as in
+Ireland, have some poetic beauty or strangeness, as in the myth I have
+referred to&mdash;of the deep spring of clear water and the nine hazels of
+wisdom that encompass it. This mingling of the beauty of youth and the
+honour of ancientry runs through all the Irish tales. Youth and the love
+of it, of its beauty and strength, adorn and vitalize their grey
+antiquity. But where, in their narrative, the hero's youth is over and
+the sword weak in his hand, and the passion less in his and his
+sweetheart's blood, life is represented as scarcely worth the living.
+The famed men and women die young&mdash;the sons of Turenn, Cuchulain,
+Conall, Dermot, Emer, Deirdre, Naisi, Oscar. Oisín has three hundred
+years of youth in that far land in the invention of which the Irish
+embodied their admiration of love and youth. His old age, when sudden
+feebleness overwhelms him, is made by the bardic clan as miserable, as
+desolate as his youth was joyous. Again, Finn lives to be an old man,
+but the immortal was in him, and either he has been born again in
+several re-incarnations (for the Irish held from time to time the
+doctrine of the transmigration of souls), or he sleeps, like Barbarossa,
+in a secret cavern, with all his men around him, and beside him the
+mighty horn of the Fianna, which, when the day of fate and freedom
+comes, will awaken with three loud blasts the heroes and send them forth
+to victory. Old as she is, Ireland does not grow old, for she has never
+reached her maturity. Her full existence is before her, not behind her.
+And when she reaches it her ancientry and all its tales will be dearer
+to her than they have been in the past. They will be an inspiring
+national asset. In them and in their strange admixture of different and
+successive periods of customs, thoughts and emotions (caused by the
+continuous editing and re-editing of them, first in oral recitation and
+then at the hands of scribes), Ireland will see the record of her
+history, not the history of external facts, but of her soul as it grew
+into consciousness of personality; as it established in itself love of
+law, of moral right, of religion, of chivalry, of courtesy in war and
+daily life; as it rejoiced, and above all, as it suffered and was
+constant, in suffering and oppression, to its national ideals.</p>
+
+<p>It seems as if, once at least, this aspect of the tales of Ireland was
+seen by men of old, for there is a story which tells that heaven itself
+desired their remembrance, and that we should be diverted and inspired
+by them. In itself it is a record of the gentleness of Irish
+Christianity to Irish heathendom, and of its love of the heroic past.
+For one day when Patrick and his clerks were singing the Mass at the
+Rath of the Red Ridge, where Finn was wont to be, he saw Keelta, a chief
+of the Fianna, draw near with his companions, and Keelta's huge hounds
+were with him. They were men so tall and great that fear fell on the
+clerks, but Patrick met with and asked their chieftain's name. &quot;I am
+Keelta,&quot; he answered, &quot;son of Ronan of the Fianna.&quot; &quot;Was it not a good
+lord you were with,&quot; said Patrick, &quot;Finn, son of Cumhal?&quot; And Keelta
+said, &quot;If the brown leaves falling in the wood were gold, if the waves
+of the sea were silver, Finn would have given them all away.&quot; &quot;What was
+it kept you through your lifetime?&quot; said Patrick. &quot;Truth that was in our
+hearts, and strength in our hands, and fulfilment in our tongues,&quot; said
+Keelta. Then Patrick gave them food and drink and good treatment, and
+talked with them. And in the morning the two angels who guarded him came
+to him, and he asked them if it were any harm before God, King of heaven
+and earth, that he should listen to the stories of the Fianna. And the
+angels answered, &quot;Holy Clerk, these old fighting men do not remember
+more than a third of their tales by reason of the forgetfulness of age,
+but whatever they tell write it down on the boards of the poets and in
+the words of the poets, for it will be a diversion to the companies and
+the high people of the latter times to listen to them.&quot;<a name='FNanchor_8_8'></a><a href='#Footnote_8_8'><sup>[8]</sup></a> So spoke the
+angels, and Patrick did as he bade them, and the stories are in the
+world to this day.</p>
+
+<p class="rgt">STOPFORD A. BROOKE</p>
+
+<p>ST PATRICK'S DAY, 1910</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='COIS_NA_TEINEADH'></a><h2>COIS NA TEINEADH</h2>
+
+<h3>(<i>By the Fireside</i>.)</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>Where glows the Irish hearth with peat<br />
+<span class="i2">There lives a subtle spell&mdash;</span>
+The faint blue smoke, the gentle heat,<br />
+<span class="i2">The moorland odours, tell</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Of long roads running through a red<br />
+<span class="i2">Untamed unfurrowed land,</span>
+With curlews keening overhead,<br />
+<span class="i2">And streams on either hand;</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Black turf-banks crowned with whispering sedge,<br />
+<span class="i2">And black bog-pools below;</span>
+While dry stone wall or ragged hedge<br />
+<span class="i2">Leads on, to meet the glow</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>From cottage doors, that lure us in<br />
+<span class="i2">From rainy Western skies,</span>
+To seek the friendly warmth within,<br />
+<span class="i2">The simple talk and wise;</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Or tales of magic, love and arms<br />
+<span class="i2">From days when princes met</span>
+To listen to the lay that charms<br />
+<span class="i2">The Connacht peasant yet.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>There Honour shines through passions dire,<br />
+<span class="i2">There beauty blends with mirth&mdash;</span>
+Wild hearts, ye never did aspire<br />
+<span class="i2">Wholly for things of earth!</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Cold, cold this thousand years&mdash;yet still<br />
+<span class="i2">On many a time-stained page</span>
+Your pride, your truth, your dauntless will,<br />
+<span class="i2">Burn on from age to age.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>And still around the fires of peat<br />
+<span class="i2">Live on the ancient days;</span>
+There still do living lips repeat<br />
+<span class="i2">The old and deathless lays.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>And when the wavering wreaths ascend,<br />
+<span class="i2">Blue in the evening air,</span>
+The soul of Ireland seems to bend<br />
+<span class="i2">Above her children there.</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='BARDIC_ROMANCES'></a><h2>BARDIC ROMANCES</h2>
+
+<a name='CHAPTER_I'></a><h2>CHAPTER I</h2><h2>The Story of the Children of Lir</h2>
+
+<p>Long ago there dwelt in Ireland the race called by the name of De
+Danaan, or People of the Goddess Dana. They were a folk who delighted in
+beauty and gaiety, and in fighting and feasting, and loved to go
+gloriously apparelled, and to have their weapons and household vessels
+adorned with jewels and gold. They were also skilled in magic arts, and
+their harpers could make music so enchanting that a man who heard it
+would fight, or love, or sleep, or forget all earthly things, as they
+who touched the strings might will him to do. In later times the Danaans
+had to dispute the sovranty of Ireland with another race, the Children
+of Miled, whom men call the Milesians, and after much fighting they were
+vanquished. Then, by their sorceries and enchantments, when they could
+not prevail against the invaders, they made themselves invisible, and
+they have dwelt ever since in the Fairy Mounds and raths of Ireland,
+where their shining palaces are hidden from mortal eyes. They are now
+called the Shee, or Fairy Folk of Erinn, and the faint strains of
+unearthly music that may be heard at times by those who wander at night
+near to their haunts come from the harpers and pipers who play for the
+People of Dana at their revels in the bright world underground.</p>
+
+<p>At the time when the tale begins, the People of Dana were still the
+lords of Ireland, for the Milesians had not yet come. They were divided
+it is said, into many families and clans; and it seemed good to them
+that their chiefs should assemble together, and choose one to be king
+and ruler over the whole people. So they met in a great assembly for
+this purpose, and found that five of the greatest lords all desired the
+sovranty of Erin. These five were Bóv the Red, and Ilbrech of Assaroe,
+and Lir from the Hill of the White Field, which is on Slieve Fuad in
+Armagh; and Midir the Proud, who dwelt at Slieve Callary in Longford;
+and Angus of Brugh na Boyna, which is now Newgrange on the river Boyne,
+where his mighty mound is still to be seen. All the Danaan lords saving
+these five went into council together, and their decision was to give
+the sovranty to Bóv the Red, partly because he was the eldest, partly
+because his father was the Dagda, mightiest of the Danaans, and partly
+because he was himself the most deserving of the five.</p>
+
+<p>All were content with this, save only Lir, who thought himself the
+fittest for royal rule; so he went away from the assembly in anger,
+taking leave of no one. When this became known, the Danaan lords would
+have pursued Lir, to burn his palace and inflict punishment and wounding
+on himself for refusing obedience and fealty to him whom the assembly had
+chosen to reign over them. But Bóv the Red forbade them, for he would not
+have war among the Danaans; and he said, &quot;I am none the less King of the
+People of Dana because this man will not do homage to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Thus it went on for a long time. But at last a great misfortune befell
+Lir, for his wife fell ill, and after three nights she died. Sorely did
+Lir grieve for this, and he fell into a great dejection of spirit, for
+his wife was very dear to him and was much thought of by all folk, so
+that her death was counted one of the great events of that time.</p>
+
+<p>Now Bóv the Red came ere long to hear of it, and he said, &quot;If Lir would
+choose to have my help and friendship now, I can serve him well, for his
+wife is no longer living, and I have three maidens, daughters of a
+friend, in fosterage with me, namely, Eva and Aoife<a name='FNanchor_9_9'></a><a href='#Footnote_9_9'><sup>[9]</sup></a> and Elva, and
+there are none fairer and of better name in Erin; one of these he might
+take to wife.&quot; And the lords of the Danaans heard what he said, and
+answered that it was true and well bethought. So messengers were sent to
+Lir, to say that if he were willing to yield the sovranty to Bóv the
+Red, he might make alliance with him and wed one of his foster-children.
+To Lir, having been thus gently entreated, it seemed good to end the
+feud, and he agreed to the marriage. So the following day he set out
+with a train of fifty chariots from the Hill of the White Field and
+journeyed straight for the palace of Bóv the Red, which was by Lough
+Derg on the river Shannon.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving there, he found about him nothing but joy and glad faces, for
+the renewal of amity and concord; and his people were welcomed, and well
+entreated, and handsomely entertained for the night.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL02"></a>
+<a href="./images/il6.jpg"><img src="images/il6_th.jpg" alt="There sat the three maidens with the Queen" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;There sat the three maidens with the Queen&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>And there sat the three maidens on the same couch with the Danaan Queen,
+and Bóv the Red bade Lir choose which one he would have to wife.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The maidens are all fair and noble,&quot; said Lir, &quot;but the eldest is first
+in consideration and honour, and it is she that I will take, if she be
+willing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The eldest is Eva,&quot; said Bóv the Red, &quot;and she will wed thee if it be
+pleasing to thee.&quot; &quot;It is pleasing,&quot; said Lir, and the pair were wedded
+the same night. Lir abode for fourteen days in the palace of Bóv the
+Red, and then departed with his bride, to make a great wedding-feast
+among his own people.</p>
+
+<p>In due time after this Eva, wife of Lir, bore him two fair children at a
+birth, a daughter and a son. The daughter's name was called Fionnuala of
+the Fair Shoulder, and the son's name was Hugh. And again she bore him
+two sons, Fiachra and Conn; and at their birth she died. At this Lir was
+sorely grieved and afflicted, and but for the great love he bore to his
+four children he would gladly have died too.</p>
+
+<p>When the folk at the palace of Bóv the Red heard that, they also were
+sorely grieved at the death of their foster-child, and they lamented her
+with keening and with weeping. Bóv the Red said, &quot;We grieve for this
+maiden on account of the good man we gave her to, and for his friendship
+and fellowship; howbeit our friendship shall not be sundered, for we shall
+give him to wife her sister, namely Aoife.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Word of this was brought to Lir, and he went once more to Lough Derg to
+the palace of Bóv the Red and there he took to wife Aoife, the fair and
+wise, and brought her to his own home. And Aoife held the children of
+Lir and of her sister in honour and affection; for indeed no one could
+behold these four children without giving them the love of his soul.</p>
+
+<p>For love of them, too, came Bóv the Red often to the house of Lir, and
+he would take them to his own house at times and let them spend a while
+there, and then to their own home again. All of the People of Dana who
+came visiting and feasting to Lir had joy and delight in the children,
+for their beauty and gentleness; and the love of their father for them
+was exceeding great, so that he would rise very early every morning to
+lie down among them and play with them.</p>
+
+<p>Only, alas! a fire of jealousy began to burn at last in the breast of
+Aoife, and hatred and bitter ill-will grew in her mind towards the
+children of Lir. And she feigned an illness, and lay under it for the
+most of a year, meditating a black and evil deed. At last she said that
+a journey from home might recover her, and she bade her chariot be yoked
+and set out, taking with her the four children. Fionnuala was sorely
+unwilling to go with her on that journey, for she had a misgiving, and a
+prevision of treachery and of kin-slaying against her in the mind of
+Aoife. Yet she was not able to avoid the mischief that was destined for
+her.</p>
+
+<p>So Aoife journeyed away from the Hill of the White Field, and when she
+had come some way she spoke to her people and said, &quot;Kill me, I pray ye,
+the four children of Lir, who have taken the love of their father from
+me, and ye may ask of me what reward ye will.&quot; &quot;Not so,&quot; said they, &quot;by
+us they shall never be killed; it is an evil deed that you have thought
+of, and evil it is but to have spoken of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When they would not consent to her will, she drew a sword and would have
+slain the children herself, but her womanhood overcame her and she could
+not. So they journeyed on westward till they came to the shores of Loch
+Derryvaragh, and there they made a halt and the horses were outspanned.
+Aoife bade the children bathe and swim in the lake, and they did so.
+Then Aoife by Druid spells and witchcraft put upon each of the children
+the form of a pure white swan, and she cried to them:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Out on the lake with you, children of Lir!<br />
+Cry with the water-fowl over the mere!<br />
+Breed and seed of you ne'er shall I see;<br />
+Woeful the tale to your friends shall be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the four swans turned their faces towards the woman, and Fionnuala
+spoke to her and said, &quot;Evil is thy deed, Aoife, to destroy us thus
+without a cause, and think not that thou shalt escape punishment for it.
+Assign us even some period to the ruin and destruction that thou hast
+brought upon us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall do that,&quot; said Aoife, &quot;and it is this: in your present forms
+shall ye abide, and none shall release you till the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North. Three hundred years shall ye be upon
+the waters of Derryvaragh, and three hundred upon the Straits of Moyle
+between Erinn and Alba,<a name='FNanchor_10_10'></a><a href='#Footnote_10_10'><sup>[10]</sup></a> and three hundred in the seas by Erris and
+Inishglory, and then shall the enchantment have an end.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Upon this, Aoife was smitten with repentance, and she said, &quot;Since I may
+not henceforth undo what has been done, I give you this, that ye shall
+keep your human speech, and ye shall sing a sad music such as no music
+in the world can equal, and ye shall have your reason and your human
+will, that the bird-shape may not wholly destroy you.&quot; Then she became
+as one possessed, and cried wildly like a prophetess in her trance:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Ye with the white faces! Ye with the stammering Gaelic on your tongues!<br />
+Soft was your nurture in the King's house&mdash;<br />
+Now shall ye know the buffeting wind!<br />
+Nine hundred years upon the tide.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The heart of Lir shall bleed!<br />
+None of his victories shall stead him now!<br />
+Woe to me that I shall hear his groan,<br />
+Woe that I have deserved his wrath!&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then they caught and yoked her horses, and Aoife went on her way till
+she reached the palace of Bóv the Red. Here she and her folk were
+welcomed and entertained, and Bóv the Red inquired of her why she had
+not brought with her the children of Lir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I brought them not,&quot; she replied, &quot;because Lir loves thee not, and he
+fears that if he sends his children to thee, thou wouldst capture them
+and hold them for hostages.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is strange,&quot; said Bóv the Red, &quot;for I love those children as if
+they were my own.&quot; And his mind misgave him that some treachery had been
+wrought; and he sent messengers privily northwards to the Hill of the
+White Field. &quot;For what have ye come?&quot; asked Lir. &quot;Even to bring your
+children to Bóv the Red,&quot; said they. &quot;Did they not reach you with
+Aoife?&quot; said Lir. &quot;Nay,&quot; said the messengers, &quot;but Aoife said you would
+not permit them to go with her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then fear and trouble came upon Lir, for he surmised that Aoife had
+wrought evil upon the children. So his horses were yoked and he set out
+upon his road south-westward, until he reached the shores of Loch
+Derryvaragh. But as he passed by that water, Fionnuala saw the train of
+horsemen and chariots, and she cried to her brothers to come near to the
+shore, &quot;for,&quot; said she, &quot;these can only be the company of our father who
+have come to follow and seek for us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lir, by the margin of the lake, saw the four swans and heard them
+talking with human voices, and he halted and spoke to them. Then said
+Fionnuala: &quot;Know, O Lir, that we are thy four children, and that she who
+has wrought this ruin upon us is thy wife and our mother's sister, through
+the bitterness of her jealousy.&quot; Lir was glad to know that they were at
+least living, and he said, &quot;Is it possible to put your own forms upon you
+again?&quot; &quot;It is not possible,&quot; said Fionnuala, &quot;for all the men on earth
+could not release us until the woman of the South be mated with the man of
+the North.&quot; Then Lir and his people cried aloud in grief and lamentation,
+and Lir entreated the swans to come on land and abide with him since they
+had their human reason and speech. But Fionnuala said, &quot;That may not be,
+for we may not company with men any longer, but abide on the waters of
+Erinn nine hundred years. But we have still our Gaelic speech, and moreover
+we have the gift of uttering sad music, so that no man who hears it thinks
+aught worth in the world save to listen to that music for ever. Do you
+abide by the shore for this night and we shall sing to you.</p>
+
+<p>So Lir and his people listened all night to the singing of the swans,
+nor could they move nor speak till morning, for all the high sorrows of
+the world were in that music, and it plunged them in dreams that could
+not be uttered.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Lir took leave of his children and went on to the palace of Bóv
+the Red. Bóv reproached him that he had not brought with him his
+children. &quot;Woe is me,&quot; said Lir, &quot;it was not I that would not bring
+them; but Aoife there, your own foster-child and their mother's sister,
+put upon them the forms of four snow-white swans, and there they are on
+the Loch of Derryvaragh for all men to see; but they have kept still
+their reason and their human voice and their Gaelic.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bóv the Red started when he heard this, and he knew that what Lir had
+said was true. Fiercely he turned to Aoife, and said, &quot;This treachery
+will be worse, Aoife, for you than for them, for they shall be released
+in the end of time, but thy punishment shall be for ever.&quot; Then he smote
+her with a druid wand and she became a Demon of the Air, and flew
+shrieking from the hall, and in that form she abides to this day.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL03"></a>
+<a href="./images/il12.jpg"><img src="images/il12_th.jpg" alt="They made an encampment and the swans sang to them" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They made an encampment and the swans sang to them&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>As for Bóv the Red, he came with his nobles and attendants to the shores
+of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made an encampment, and the swans
+conversed with them and sang to them. And as the thing became known,
+other tribes and clans of the People of Dana would also come from every
+part of Erinn and stay awhile to listen to the swans and depart again to
+their homes; and most of all came their own friends and fellow-pupils
+from the Hill of the White Field. No such music as theirs, say the
+historians of ancient times, ever was heard in Erinn, for foes who heard
+it were at peace, and men stricken with pain or sickness felt their ills
+no more; and the memory of it remained with them when they went away, so
+that a great peace and sweetness and gentleness was in the land of Erinn
+for those three hundred years that the swans abode in the waters of
+Derryvaragh.</p>
+
+<p>But one day Fionnuala said to her brethren, &quot;Do ye know, my dear ones,
+that the end of our time here is come, all but this night only?&quot; Then
+great sorrow and distress overcame them, for in the converse with their
+father and kinsfolk and friends they had half forgotten that they were
+no longer men, and they loved their home on Loch Derryvaragh, and feared
+the angry waves of the cold northern sea. But early next day they came
+to the lough-side to speak with Bóv the Red and with their father, and
+to bid them farewell, and Fionnuala sang to them her last lament. Then
+the four swans rose in the air and flew northward till they were
+seen no more, and great was the grief among those they left behind; and
+Bóv the Red let it be proclaimed throughout the length and breadth of
+Erin that no man should henceforth presume to kill a swan, lest it might
+chance to be one of the children of Lir.</p>
+
+<p>Far different was the dwelling-place which the swans now came to, from
+that which they had known on Loch Derryvaragh. On either side of them,
+to north and south, stretched a wide coast far as the eye could see,
+beset with black rocks and great precipices, and by it ran fiercely the
+salt, bitter tides of an ever-angry sea, cold, grey, and misty; and
+their hearts sank to behold it and to think that there they must abide
+for three hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>Ere long, one night, there came a thick murky tempest upon them, and
+Fionnuala said, &quot;In this black and violent night, my brothers, we may be
+driven apart from each other; let us therefore appoint a meeting-place
+where we may come together again when the tempest is overpast.&quot; And they
+settled to meet at the Seal Rock, for this rock they had now all learned
+to know.</p>
+
+<p>By midnight the hurricane descended upon the Straits of Moyle, and the
+waves roared upon the coast with a deafening noise, and thunder bellowed
+from the sky, and lightning was all the light they had. The swans were
+driven apart by the violence of the storm, and when at last the wind
+fell and the seas grew calm once more, Fionnuala found herself alone
+upon the ocean-tide not far from the Seal Rock. And thus she made her
+lament:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Woe is me to be yet alive!<br />
+My wings are frozen to my sides.<br />
+Wellnigh has the tempest shattered my heart,<br />
+And my comely Hugh parted from me!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;O my beloved ones, my Three,<br />
+Who slept under the shelter of my feathers,<br />
+Shall you and I ever meet again<br />
+Until the dead rise to life?</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Where is Fiachra, where is Hugh?<br />
+Where is my fair Conn?<br />
+Shall I henceforth bear my part alone?<br />
+Woe is me for this disastrous night!&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Fionnuala remained upon the Seal Rock until the morrow morn, watching
+the tossing waters in all directions around her, until at last she saw
+Conn coming towards her, and his head drooping and feathers drenched and
+disarrayed. Joyfully did the sister welcome him; and ere long, behold,
+Fiachra also approaching them, cold and wet and faint, and the speech
+was frozen in him that not a word he spake could be understood. So
+Fionnuala put her wings about him, and said, &quot;If but Hugh came now, how
+happy should we be!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In no long time after that they saw Hugh also approaching them across
+the sea, and his head was dry and his feathers fair and unruffled, for
+he had found shelter from the gale. Fionnuala put him under her breast,
+and Conn under her right wing and Fiachra under her left, and covered
+them wholly with her feathers. &quot;O children,&quot; she said to them, &quot;evil
+though ye think this night to have been, many such a one shall we know
+from this time forward.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So there the swans continued, suffering cold and misery upon the tides
+of Moyle; and one while they would be upon the coast of Alba and another
+upon the coast of Erinn, but the waters they might not leave. At length
+there came upon them a night of bitter cold and snow such as they had
+never felt before, and Fionnuala sang this lament:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Evil is this life.<br />
+The cold of this night,<br />
+The thickness of the snow,<br />
+The sharpness of the wind&mdash;</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;How long have they lain together,<br />
+Under my soft wings,<br />
+The waves beating upon us,<br />
+Conn and Hugh and Fiachra?</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Aoife has doomed us,<br />
+Us, the four of us,<br />
+To-night to this misery&mdash;<br />
+Evil is this life.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Thus for a long time they suffered, till at length there came upon the
+Straits of Moyle a night of January so piercing cold that the like of it
+had never been felt. And the swans were gathered together upon the Seal
+Rock. The waters froze into ice around them, and each of them became
+frozen in his place, so that their feet and feathers clung to the rock;
+and when the day came and they strove to leave the place, the skin of
+their feet and the feathers of their breasts clove to the rock, they
+came naked and wounded away.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Woe is me, O children of Lir,&quot; said Fionnuala, &quot;we are now indeed in
+evil case, for we cannot endure the salt water, yet we may not be away
+from it; and if the salt water gets into our sores we shall perish of
+it.&quot; And thus she sang:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;To-night we are full of keening;<br />
+No plumage to cover our bodies;<br />
+And cold to our tender feet<br />
+Are the rough rocks all awash.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Cruel to us was Aoife,<br />
+Who played her magic upon us,<br />
+And drove us out to the ocean,<br />
+Four wonderful, snow-white swans.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Our bath is the frothing brine<br />
+In the bay by red rocks guarded,<br />
+For mead at our father's table<br />
+We drink of the salt blue sea.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Three sons and a single daughter&mdash;<br />
+In clefts of the cold rocks dwelling,<br />
+The hard rocks, cruel to mortals.<br />
+&mdash;We are full of keening to-night.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So they went forth again upon the Straits of Moyle, and the brine was
+grievously sharp and bitter to them, but they could not escape it nor
+shelter themselves from it. Thus they were, till at last their feathers
+grew again and their sores were healed.</p>
+
+<p>On one day it happened that they came to the mouth of the river Bann in
+the north of Erinn, and there they perceived a fair host of horsemen
+riding on white steeds and coming steadily onward from the south-west
+&quot;Do ye know who yon riders are, children of Lir?&quot; asked Fionnuala. &quot;We
+know not,&quot; said they, &quot;but it is like they are some party of the People
+of Dana.&quot; Then they moved to the margin of the land, and the company
+they had seen came down to meet them; and behold, it was Hugh and
+Fergus, the two sons of Bóv the Red, and their nobles and attendants
+with them, who had long been seeking for the swans along the coast of
+the Straits of Moyle.</p>
+
+<p>Most lovingly and joyfully did they greet each other and the swans
+inquired concerning their father Lir, and Bóv the Red, and the rest of
+their kinsfolk.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are well,&quot; said the Danaans; &quot;and at this time they are all
+assembled together in the palace of your father at the Hill of the White
+Field, where they are holding the Festival of the Age of Youth.<a name='FNanchor_11_11'></a><a href='#Footnote_11_11'><sup>[11]</sup></a> They
+are happy and gay and have no weariness or trouble, save that you are not
+among them, and that they have not known where you were since you left them
+at Lough Derryvaragh.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is not the tale of our lives,&quot; said Fionnuala.</p>
+
+<p>After that the company of the Danaans departed and brought word of the
+swans to Bóv the Red and to Lir, who were rejoiced to hear that they
+were living, &quot;for,&quot; said they, &quot;the children shall obtain relief in the
+end of time.&quot; And the swans went back to the tides of Moyle and abode
+there till their time to be in that place had expired.</p>
+
+<p>When that day had come, Fionnuala declared it to them, and they rose up
+wheeling in the air, and flew westward across Ireland till they came to
+the Bay of Erris, and there they abode as was ordained. Here it happened
+that among those of mortal MEN whose dwellings bordered on the bay was a
+young man of gentle blood, by name Evric, who having heard the singing
+of the swans came down to speak with them, and became their friend.
+After that he would often come to hear their music, for it was very
+sweet to him; and he loved them greatly, and they him. All their story
+they told him, and he it was who set it down in order, even as it is
+here narrated.</p>
+
+<p>Much hardship did they suffer from cold and tempest in the waters of the
+Western Sea, yet not so much as they had to bear by the coasts of the
+ever-stormy Moyle, and they knew that the day of redemption was now
+drawing near. In the end of the time Fionnuala said, &quot;Brothers, let us
+fly to the Hill of the White Field, and see how Lir our father and his
+household are faring.&quot; So they arose and set forward on their airy
+journey until they reached the Hill of the White Field, and thus it was
+that they found the place: namely, desolate and thorny before them, with
+nought but green mounds where once were the palaces and homes of their
+kin, and forests of nettles growing over them, and never a house nor a
+hearth. And the four drew closely together and lamented aloud at that
+sight, for they knew that old times and things had passed away in Erinn,
+and they were lonely in a land of strangers, where no man lived who
+could recognise them when they came to their human shapes again. They
+knew not that Lir and their kin of the People of Dana yet dwelt
+invisible in the bright world within the Fairy Mounds, for their eyes
+were holden that they should not see, since other things were destined
+for them than to join the Danaan folk and be of the company of the
+immortal Shee.</p>
+
+<p>So they went back again to the Western Sea until the holy Patrick came
+into Ireland and preached the Faith of the One God and of the Christ.
+But a man of Patrick's men, namely the Saint Mochaovóg,<a name='FNanchor_12_12'></a><a href='#Footnote_12_12'><sup>[12]</sup></a> came to the
+Island of Inishglory in Erris Bay, and there built himself a little
+church of stone, and spent his life in preaching to the folk and in
+prayer. The first night he came to the island the swans heard the sound
+of his bell ringing at matins on the following morn, and they leaped in
+terror, and the three brethren left Fionnuala and fled away. Fionnuala
+cried to them, &quot;What ails you, beloved brothers?&quot; &quot;We know not,&quot; said
+they, &quot;but we have heard a thin and dreadful voice, and we cannot tell
+what it is.&quot; &quot;That is the voice of the bell of Mochaovóg,&quot; said
+Fionnuala, &quot;and it is that bell which shall deliver us and drive away
+our pains, according to the will of God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the brethren came back and hearkened to the chanting of the cleric
+until matins were performed. &quot;Let us chant our music now,&quot; said
+Fionnuala. So they began, and chanted a solemn, slow, sweet, fairy song
+in adoration of the High King of Heaven and of Earth.</p>
+
+<p>Mochaovóg heard that, and wondered, and when he saw the swans he spoke
+to them and inquired them. They told him they were the children of Lir.
+&quot;Praised be God for that,&quot; said Mochaovóg. &quot;Surely it is for your sakes
+that I have come to this island above every other island that is in
+Erinn. Come to land now, and trust in me that your salvation and release
+are at hand.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they came to land, and dwelt with Mochaovóg in his own house, and
+there they kept the canonical hours with him and heard mass. And
+Mochaovóg caused a good craftsman to make chains of silver for the
+swans, and put one chain between Fionnuala and Hugh and another between
+Conn and Fiachra; and they were a joy and solace of mind to the Saint,
+and their own woe and pain seemed to them dim and far off as a dream.</p>
+
+<p>Now at this time it happened that the King of Connacht was Lairgnen, son
+of Colman, and he was betrothed to Deoca, daughter of the King of
+Munster. And so it was that when Deoca came northward to be wedded to
+Lairgnen she heard the tale of the swans and of their singing, and she
+prayed the king that he would obtain them for her, for she longed to
+possess them. But Lairgnen would not ask them of Mochaovóg. Then Deoca
+set out homeward again, and vowed that she would never return to
+Lairgnen till she had the swans; and she came as far as the church of
+Dalua, which is now called Kildaloe, in Clare. Then Lairgnen sent
+messengers for the birds to Mochaovóg, but he would not give them up.</p>
+
+<p>At this Lairgnen was very wroth, and he went himself to Mochaovóg, and
+he found the cleric and the four birds at the altar. But Lairgnen seized
+upon the birds by their silver chains, two in each hand dragged them
+away to the place where Deoca was; and Mochaovóg followed them. But when
+they came to Deoca and she had laid her hands upon the birds, behold,
+their covering of feathers fell off and in their places were three
+shrunken and feeble old men and one lean and withered old woman,
+fleshless and bloodless from extreme old age. And Lairgnen was struck
+with amazement and fear, and went out from that place.</p>
+
+<p>Then Fionnuala said to Mochaovóg, &quot;Come now and baptize us quickly, for
+our end is near. And if you are grieved at parting from us, know that
+also to us it is a grief. Do thou make our grave when we are dead, and
+place Conn at my right side and Fiachra at my left, and Hugh before my
+face, for thus they were wont to be when I sheltered them on many a
+winter night by the tides of Moyle.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Mochaovóg baptized the three brethren and their sister; and shortly
+afterwards they found peace and death, and they were buried even as
+Fionnuala had said. And over their tomb a stone was raised, and their
+names and lineage graved on it in branching Ogham<a name='FNanchor_13_13'></a><a href='#Footnote_13_13'><sup>[13]</sup></a>; and lamentation
+and prayers were made for them, and their souls won to heaven.</p>
+
+<p>But Mochaovóg was sorrowful, and grieved after them so long as he lived
+on earth.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_II'></a><h2>CHAPTER II</h2><h2>The Quest of the Sons of Turenn</h2>
+
+<p>Long ago, when the people of Dana yet held lordship in Erinn, they were
+sorely afflicted by hordes of sea-rovers named Fomorians who used to
+harry the country and carry off youths and maidens into captivity. They
+also imposed cruel and extortionate taxes upon the people, for every
+kneading trough, and every quern for grinding corn, and every flagstone
+for baking bread had to pay its tax. And an ounce of gold was paid as a
+poll-tax for every man, and if any man would not or could not pay, his
+nose was cut off. Under this tyranny the whole country groaned, but they
+had none who was able to band them together and to lead them in battle
+against their oppressors.</p>
+
+<p>Now before this it happened that one of the lords of the Danaans named
+Kian had married with Ethlinn, daughter of Balor, a princess of the
+Fomorians. They had a son named Lugh Lamfada, or Lugh of the Long Arm,
+who grew up into a youth of surpassing beauty and strength. And if his
+body was noble and mighty, no less so was his mind, for lordship and
+authority grew to him by the gift of the Immortals, and whatever he
+purposed that would he perform, whatever it might cost in time or toil,
+in tears or in blood. Now this Lugh was not brought up in Erinn but in a
+far-off isle of the western sea, where the sea-god Mananan and the other
+Immortals nurtured and taught him, and made him fit alike for warfare or
+for sovranty, when his day should come to work their will on earth.
+Hither in due time came the report of the grievous and dishonouring
+oppression wrought by the Fomorians upon the people of Dana, and that
+report was heard by Lugh. Then Lugh said to his tutors &quot;It were a worthy
+deed to rescue my father and the people of Erinn from this tyranny; let
+me go thither and attempt it.&quot; And they said to him, &quot;Go, and blessing
+and victory be with thee.&quot; So Lugh armed himself and mounted his fairy
+steed, and called his friends and foster-brothers about him, and across
+the bright and heaving surface of the waters they rode like the wind,
+until they took land in Erinn.</p>
+
+<p>Now the chiefs of the Danaan folk were assembled upon the Hill of
+Usnach, which is upon the western side of Tara in Meath, in order to
+meet there the stewards of the Fomorians and to pay them their tribute.
+As they awaited the arrival of the Fomorians they became aware of a
+company on horseback, coming from the west, before whom rode a young man
+who seemed to command them all, and whose countenance was as radiant as
+the sun upon a dry summer's day, so that the Danaans could scarcely gaze
+upon it. He rode upon a white horse and was armed with a sword, and on
+his head was a helmet set with precious stones. The Danaan folk welcomed
+him as he came among them, and asked him of his name and his business
+among them. As they were thus talking another band drew near, numbering
+nine times nine persons, who were the stewards of the Fomorians coming
+to demand their tribute. They were men of a fierce and swarthy
+countenance, and as they came haughtily and arrogantly forward, the
+Danaans all rose up to do them honour. Then Lugh said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do ye rise up before that grim and ill-looking band and not before
+us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Said the King of Erinn, &quot;We needs must do so, for if they saw but a
+child of a month old sitting down when they came near they would hold it
+cause enough to attack and slay us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am greatly minded to slay them,&quot; said Lugh; and he repeated it, &quot;very
+greatly minded.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That would be bad for us,&quot; said the King, &quot;for our death and
+destruction would surely follow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ye are too long under oppression,&quot; said Lugh, and gave the word for
+onset. So he and his comrades rushed upon the Fomorians, and in a moment
+the hillside rang with blows and with the shouting of warriors. In no
+long time all of the Fomorians were slain save nine men, and these were
+taken alive and brought before Lugh.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ye also should be slain,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;but that I am minded to send you
+as ambassadors to your King. Tell him that he may seek homage and
+tribute where he will henceforth, but Ireland will pay him none for
+ever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Fomorians went northwards away, and the people of Dana made
+them ready for war, and made Lugh their captain and war-lord, for the
+sight of his face heartened them, and made them strong, and they
+marvelled that they had endured their slavery so long.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime word was brought to Balor of the Mighty Blows, King of
+the Fomorians, and to his queen Kethlinn of the Twisted Teeth, of the
+shame and destruction that had been done to their stewards, and they
+assembled a great host of the sea-rovers and manned their war-ships, and
+the Northern Sea was white with the foam of their oarblades as they
+swept down upon the shores of Erinn. And Balor commanded them, saying,
+&quot;When ye have utterly destroyed and subdued the people of Dana, then
+make fast your ships with cables to the land of Erinn, and tow it here
+to the north of us into the region of ice and snow, and it shall trouble
+us no longer.&quot; So the host of Balor took land by the Falls of Dara<a name='FNanchor_14_14'></a><a href='#Footnote_14_14'><sup>[14]</sup></a>
+and began plundering and devastating the province of Connacht.</p>
+
+<p>Then Lugh sent messengers abroad to bring his host together, and among them
+was his own father, Kian, son of Canta. And as Kian went northwards on his
+errand to rouse the Ulster men, and was now come to the plain of Murthemny
+near by Dundealga,<a name='FNanchor_15_15'></a><a href='#Footnote_15_15'><sup>[15]</sup></a> he saw three warriors armed and riding across the
+plain. Now these three were the sons of Turenn, by name Brian and Iuchar
+and Iucharba. And there was an ancient blood-feud between the house of
+Canta and the house of Turenn, so that they never met without bloodshed.</p>
+
+<p>Then Kian thought to himself, &quot;If my brothers Cu and Kethan were here
+there might be a pretty fight, but as they are three to one I would do
+better to fly.&quot; Now there was a herd of wild swine near by; and Kian
+changed himself by druidic sorceries into a wild pig and fell to rooting
+up the earth along with the others.</p>
+
+<p>When the sons of Turenn came up to the herd, Brian said, &quot;Brothers, did
+ye see the warrior wh' just now was journeying across the plain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We saw him,&quot; said they.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is become of him?&quot; said Brian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Truly, we cannot tell,&quot; said the brothers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is good watch ye keep in time of war!&quot; said Brian; &quot;but I know what
+has taken him out of our sight, for he struck himself with a magic wand,
+and changed himself into the form of one of yonder swine, and he is
+rooting the earth among them now. Wherefore,&quot; said Brian, &quot;I deem that
+he is no friend to us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If so, we have no help for it,&quot; said they, &quot;for the herd belongs to
+some man of the Danaans; and even if we set to and begin to kill the
+swine, the pig of druidism might be the very one to escape.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have ye learned so little in your place of studies,&quot; said Brian, &quot;that
+ye cannot distinguish a druidic beast from a natural beast?&quot; And with
+that he smote his two brothers with a magic wand, and changed them into
+two slender, fleet hounds, and they darted in among the herd. Then all
+the herd scattered and fled, but the hounds separated the druidic pig
+and chased it towards a wood where Brian awaited it. As it passed, Brian
+flung his spear, and it pierced the chest of the pig and brought it
+down. The pig screamed, &quot;Evil have you done to cast at me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Brian said, &quot;That hath the sound of human speech!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am in truth a man,&quot; said the pig, &quot;and I am Kian, son of Canta, and I
+pray you show me mercy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That will we,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba, &quot;and sorry are we for what has
+happened.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said Brian, &quot;but I swear by the Wind and the Sun that if thou
+hadst seven lives I would take them all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Grant me a favour then,&quot; said Kian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We shall grant it,&quot; said Brian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let me,&quot; said Kian, &quot;return into my own form that I may die in the
+shape of a man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I had liefer kill a man than a pig,&quot; said Brian. Then Kian became a man
+again and stood before them, the blood trickling from his breast.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have outwitted you now,&quot; cried he, &quot;for if ye had killed a pig ye
+would have paid a pig's eric,<a name='FNanchor_16_16'></a><a href='#Footnote_16_16'><sup>[16]</sup></a> but now ye shall pay the eric of a
+man. Never was greater eric in the land of Erinn than that which ye
+shall pay; and I swear that the very weapons with which ye slay me shall
+tell the tale to the avenger of blood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you shall be slain with no weapons at all,&quot; said Brian; and they
+picked up the stones on the Plain of Murthemny and rained them upon him
+till he was all one wound, and he died. So they buried him as deep as
+the height of a man, and went their way to join the host of Lugh.</p>
+
+<p>When the host was assembled, Lugh led them into Connacht and smote the
+Fomorians and drove them to their ships, but of this the tale tells not
+here. But when the fight was done, Lugh asked of his comrades if they
+had seen his father in the fight and how it fared with him. They said
+they had not seen him. Then Lugh made search among the dead, and they
+found not Kian there. &quot;Were Kian alive he would be here,&quot; said Lugh,
+&quot;and I swear by the Wind and the Sun that I will not eat or drink till I
+know what has befallen him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On their return the Danaan host passed by the Plain of Murthemny, and
+when they came near the place of the murder the stones cried aloud to
+Lugh. And Lugh listened, and they told him of the deed of the sons of
+Turenn. Then Lugh searched for the place of a new grave, and when he had
+found it he caused it to be dug, and the body of his father was raised up,
+and Lugh saw that it was but a litter of wounds. And he cried out:
+&quot;O wicked and horrible deed!&quot; and he kissed his father and said, &quot;I am sick
+from this sight, my eyes are blind from it, my ears are deaf from it, my
+heart stands still from it. Ye gods that I adore, why was I not here when
+this crime was done? a man of the children of Dana slain by his fellows.&quot;
+And he lamented long and bitterly. Then Kian was again laid in his grave,
+and a mound was heaped over it and a pillar-stone set thereon and his name
+written in Ogham, and a dirge was sung for him.</p>
+
+<p>After that Lugh departed to Tara, to the Court of the High King, and he
+charged his people to say nothing of what had happened until he himself
+had made it known.</p>
+
+<p>When he reached Tara with his victorious host the King placed Lugh at
+his own right hand before all the princes and lords of the Danaan folk.
+Lugh looked round about him, and saw the sons of Turenn sitting among
+the assembly; and they were among the best and strongest and the
+handsomest of those who were present at that time; nor had any borne
+themselves better in the fight with the sea-rovers. Then Lugh asked of
+the King that the chain of silence might be shaken; and the assembly
+heard it, and gave their attention to Lugh. And Lugh said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;O King, and ye princes of the People of Dana, I ask what vengeance
+would each of you exact upon a man who had foully murdered your father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they were all astonished, and the King answered and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely it is not the father of Lugh Lamfada who has thus been slain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou hast said it,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;and those who did the deed are
+listening to me now, and know it better than I.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King said, &quot;Not in one day would I slay the murderer of my father,
+but I would tear from him a limb day by day till he were dead.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And so spake all the lords of the Danaans, and the Sons of Turenn among
+the rest.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They have sentenced themselves, the murderers of my father,&quot; said Lugh.
+&quot;Nevertheless I shall accept an eric from them, and if they will pay it,
+it shall be well; but if not, I shall not break the peace of the King's
+Assembly and of his sanctuary, but let them beware how they leave the
+Hall Tara until they have made me satisfaction.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Had I slain your father,&quot; said the High King, &quot;glad should I be to have
+an eric accepted for his blood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Sons of Turenn whispered among themselves. &quot;It is to us that
+Lugh is speaking,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba, &quot;let us confess and have
+the eric assessed upon us, for he has got knowledge of our deed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said Brian, &quot;but he may be seeking for an open confession, and
+then perchance he would not accept an eric.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the two brethren said to Brian, &quot;Do thou confess because thou art
+the eldest, or if thou do not, then we shall.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Brian, son of Turenn, rose up and said to Lugh: &quot;It is to us thou
+hast spoken, Lugh, since thou knowest there is enmity of old time
+between our houses; and if thou wilt have it that we have slain thy
+father, then declare our eric and we shall pay it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will take an eric from you,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;and if it seem too great, I
+will remit a portion of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Declare it, then,&quot; said the Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This it is,&quot; said Lugh.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Three apples.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The skin of a pig.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A spear.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Two steeds and a chariot.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Seven swine.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A whelp of a dog.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A cooking spit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Three shouts on a hill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We would not consider heavy hundreds or thousands of these things,&quot;
+said the Sons of Turenn, &quot;but we misdoubt thou hast some secret purpose
+against us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I deem it no small eric,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;and I call to witness the High
+King and lords of the Danaans that I shall ask no more; and do ye on
+your side give me guarantees for the fulfilment of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the High King and the lords of the Danaans entered into bonds with
+Lugh and with the Sons of Turenn that the eric should be paid and should
+wipe out the blood of Kian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;it is better for me to give you fuller knowledge of
+the eric. The three apples that I have demanded of you are the apples
+that grow in the garden of the Hesperides, in the east of the world, and
+none but these will do. Thus it is with them: they are the colour of
+bright gold, and as large as the head of a month-old child; the taste of
+them is like honey; if he who eats them has any running sore or evil
+disease it is healed by them; they may be eaten and eaten and never be
+less. I doubt, O young heroes, if ye will get these apples, for those
+who guard them know well an ancient prophecy that one day three knights
+from the western world would come to attempt them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;As for the skin of the pig, that is a treasure of Tuish, the King of
+Greece. If it be laid upon a wounded man it will make him whole and
+well, if only it overtake the breath of life in him. And do ye know what
+is the spear that I demanded?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We do not,&quot; said they.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is the poisoned spear of Peisear, the King of Persia, and so fierce
+is the spirit of war in it that it must be kept in a pot of soporific
+herbs or it would fly out raging for death. And do ye know what are the
+two horses and the chariot ye must get?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We do not know,&quot; said they.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The steeds and the chariot belong to Dobar, King of Sicily. They are
+magic steeds and can go indifferently over land and sea, nor can they be
+killed by any weapon unless they be torn in pieces and their bones
+cannot be found. And the seven pigs are the swine of Asal, King of the
+Golden Pillars, which may be slain and eaten every night and the next
+morning they are alive again.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And the hound-whelp I asked of you is the whelp of the King of
+Iorroway, that can catch and slay any beast in the world; hard it is to
+get possession of that whelp.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The cooking spit is one of the spits that the fairy women of the Island
+of Finchory have in their kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And the hill on which ye must give three shouts is the hill where
+dwells Mochaen in the north of Lochlann. Now Mochaen and his sons have
+it as a sacred ordinance that they permit not any man to raise a shout
+upon their hill. With him it was that my father was trained to arms, and
+if I forgave ye his death, yet would Mochaen not forgive it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now ye know the eric which ye have to pay for the slaying of Kian,
+son of Canta.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Astonishment and despair overcame the Sons of Turenn when they learned
+the meaning of the eric of Lugh, and they went home to tell the tidings
+to their father.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is an evil tale,&quot; said Turenn; &quot;I doubt but death and doom shall
+come from your seeking of that eric, and it is but right they should.
+Yet it may be that ye shall obtain the eric if Lugh or Mananan will help
+you to it. Go now to Lugh, and ask him for the loan of the fairy steed
+of Mananan, which was given him to ride over the sea into Erinn. He will
+refuse you, for he will say that the steed is but lent to him and he may
+not make a loan of a loan. Then ask him for the loan of Ocean Sweeper,
+which is the magic boat of Mananan, and that he must give, for it is a
+sacred ordinance with Lugh not to refuse a second petition.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they went to Lugh, and it all fell out as Turenn had told them, and
+they went back to Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ye have done something towards the eric,&quot; said Turenn, &quot;but not much.
+Yet Lugh would be well pleased that ye brought him whatever might serve
+him when the Fomorians come to the battle again, and well pleased would
+he be that ye might get your death in bringing it. Go now, my sons, and
+blessing and victory be with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Sons of Turenn went down to the harbour on the Boyne river
+where the Boat of Mananan was, and Ethne their sister with them. And
+when they reached the place, Ethne broke into lamentations and weeping;
+but Brian said, &quot;Weep not, dear sister, but let us go forth gaily to
+great deeds. Better a hundred deaths in the quest of honour than to live
+and die as cowards and sluggards.&quot; But Ethne said, &quot;ye are banished from
+Erinn&mdash;never was there a sadder deed.&quot; Then they put forth from the
+river-mouth of the Boyne and soon the fair coasts of Erinn faded out of
+sight. &quot;And now,&quot; said they among themselves, &quot;what course shall we
+steer?&quot;</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL04"></a>
+<a href="./images/il34.jpg"><img src="images/il34_th.jpg" alt="'Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the Hesperides'" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;'Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the
+Hesperides'&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>&quot;No need to steer the Boat of Mananan,&quot; said Brian; and he whispered to
+the Boat, &quot;Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the
+Hesperides&quot;; and the spirit of the Boat heard him and it leaped eagerly
+forward, lifting and dipping over the rollers and throwing up an arch of
+spray each side of its bows wherein sat a rainbow when the sun shone
+upon it; and so in no long time they drew nigh to the coast where was
+the far-famed garden of the Golden Apples.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now, how shall we set about the capture of the apples?&quot; said
+Brian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Draw sword and fight for them,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba, &quot;and if we
+are the stronger, we shall win them, and if not, we shall fall, as fall
+we surely must ere the eric for Kian be paid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said Brian, &quot;but whether we live or die, let not men say of us
+that we went blind and headlong to our tasks, but rather that we made
+the head help the hand, and that we deserved to win even though we lost.
+Now my counsel is that we approach the garden in the shape of three
+hawks, strong of wing, and that we hover about until the Wardens of the
+Tree have spent all their darts and javelins in casting at us, and then
+let us swoop down suddenly and bear off each of us an apple if we may.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So it was agreed; and Brian struck himself and each of the brothers with
+a druid wand, and they became three beautiful, fierce, and strong-winged
+hawks. When the Wardens perceived them, they shouted and threw showers
+of arrows and darts at them, but the hawks evaded all of these until the
+missiles were spent, and then seized each an apple in his talons. But
+Brian seized two, for he took one in his beak as well. Then they flew as
+swiftly as they might to the shore where they had left their boat. Now
+the King of that garden had three fair daughters, to whom the apples and
+the garden were very dear, and he transformed the maidens into three
+griffins, who pursued the hawks. And the griffins threw darts of fire,
+as it were lightning, at the hawks.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Brian!&quot; then cried Iuchar and his brother, &quot;we are being burnt by these
+darts&mdash;we are lost unless we can escape them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On this, Brian changed himself and his brethren into three swans, and
+they plunged into the sea, and the burning darts were quenched. Then the
+griffins gave over the chase, and the Sons of Turenn made for their
+boat, and they embarked with the four apples. Thus their first quest was
+ended.</p>
+
+<p>After that they resolved to seek the pigskin from the King of Greece,
+and they debated how they should come before him. &quot;Let us,&quot; said Brian,
+&quot;assume the character and garb of poets and men of learning, for such
+are wont to come from Ireland and to travel foreign lands, and in that
+character shall the Greeks receive us best, for such men have honour
+among them.&quot; &quot;It is well said,&quot; replied the brothers, &quot;yet we have no
+poems in our heads, and how to compose one we know not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Howbeit they dressed their hair in the fashion of the poets of Erinn,
+and went up to the palace of Tuish the King. The doorkeeper asked of
+them who they were, and what was their business.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are bards from Ireland,&quot; they said, &quot;and we have come with a poem to
+the King.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let them be admitted,&quot; said the King, when the doorkeeper brought him
+that tale; &quot;they have doubtless come thus far to seek a powerful
+patron.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba came in and were made welcome, and were
+entertained, and then the minstrels of the King of Greece chanted the
+lays of that country before them. After that came the turn of the
+stranger bards, and Brian asked his brethren if they had anything to
+recite.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We have not,&quot; said they; &quot;we know but one art&mdash;to take what we want by
+the strong hand if we may, and if we may not, to die fighting.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is a difficult art too,&quot; said Brian; &quot;let us see how we thrive
+with the poetry.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So he rose up and recited this lay:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Mighty is thy fame, O King,<br />
+Towering like a giant oak;<br />
+For my song I ask no thing<br />
+Save a pigskin for a cloak.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;When a neighbour with his friend<br />
+Quarrels, they are ear to ear;<br />
+Who on us their store shall spend<br />
+Shall be richer than they were.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Armies of the storming wind&mdash;<br />
+Raging seas, the sword's fell stroke&mdash;<br />
+Thou hast nothing to my mind<br />
+Save thy pigskin for a cloak.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;That is a very good poem,&quot; said the King, &quot;but one word of its meaning
+I do not understand.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will interpret it for you,&quot; said Brian:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Mighty is thy fame, O King,<br />
+Towering like a giant oak.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is to say, as the oak surpasses all the other trees of the forest,
+so do you surpass all the kings of the world in goodness, in nobleness,
+and in liberality.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;A pigskin for a cloak.&quot;</p>
+<p>&quot;That is the skin of the pig of Tuish which I would fain receive as the
+reward for my lay.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;When a neighbour with his friend<br />
+Quarrels, they are ear to ear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is to signify that you and I shall be about each other's ears over
+the skin, unless you are willing to give it to me. Such is the sense of
+my poem,&quot; said Brian, son of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I would praise your poem more,&quot; said the King, &quot;if there were not so
+much about my pigskin in it. Little sense have you, O man of poetry, to
+make that request of me, for not to all the poets, scholars, and lords
+of the world would I give that skin of my own free will. But what I will
+do is this&mdash;I will give the full of that skin of red gold thrice over in
+reward for your poem.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thanks be to you,&quot; said Brian, &quot;for that. I knew that I asked too much,
+but I knew also thou wouldst redeem the skin amply and generously. And
+now let the gold be duly measured out in it, for greedy am I, and I will
+not abate an ounce of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The servants of the King were then sent with Brian and his brothers to
+the King's treasure-chamber to measure out the gold. As they did so,
+Brian suddenly snatched the skin from the hands of him who held it, and
+swiftly wrapped it round his body. Then the three brothers drew sword
+and made for the door, and a great fight arose in the King's palace. But
+they hewed and thrust manfully on every side of them, and though sorely
+wounded they fought their way through and escaped to the shore, and
+drove their boat out to sea, when the skin of the magic pig quickly made
+them whole and sound again. And thus the second quest of the Sons of
+Turenn had its end.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us now,&quot; said Brian, &quot;go to seek the spear of the King of Persia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In what manner of guise shall we go before the King of Persia?&quot; said
+his brothers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;As we did before the King of Greece,&quot; said Brian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That guise served us well with the King of Greece,&quot; replied they;
+&quot;nevertheless, O Brian, this business of professing to be poets, when we
+are but swordsmen, is painful to us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>However, they dressed their hair in the manner of poets and went up
+boldly to the palace of King Peisear of Persia, saying, as before, that
+they were wandering bards from Ireland who had a poem to recite before
+the King; and as they passed through the courtyard they marked the spear
+drowsing in its pot of sleepy herbs. They were made welcome, and after
+listening to the lays of the King's minstrel, Brian rose and sang:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;'Tis little Peisear cares for spears,<br />
+Since armies, when his face they see,<br />
+All overcome with panic fears<br />
+Without a wound they turn and flee.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The Yew is monarch of the wood,<br />
+No other tree disputes its claim.<br />
+The shining shaft in venom stewed<br />
+Flies fiercely forth to kill and maim.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;'Tis a very good poem,&quot; said the King, &quot;but, O bard from Erinn, I do
+not understand your reference to my spear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is merely this,&quot; replied Brian, &quot;that I would like your spear as a
+reward for my poem.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the King stared at Brian, and his beard bristled with anger, and he
+said, &quot;Never was a greater reward paid for any poem than not to adjudge
+you guilty of instant death for your request.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Brian flung at the king the fourth golden apple which he had taken
+from the Garden of the Hesperides, and it dashed out his brains.
+Immediately the brothers all drew sword and made for the courtyard. Here
+they seized the magic spear, and with it and with their swords they
+fought their way clear, not without many wounds, and escaped to their
+boat. And thus ended the third quest of the Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>Now having come safely and victoriously through so many straits and
+perils, they began to be merry and hoped that all the eric might yet be
+paid. So they sailed away with high hearts to the Island of Sicily, to
+get the two horses and the chariot of the King, and the Boat of Mananan
+bore them swiftly and well.</p>
+
+<p>Having arrived here, they debated among themselves as to how they should
+proceed; and they agreed to present themselves as Irish mercenary
+soldiers&mdash;for such were wont in those days to take service with foreign
+kings&mdash;until they should learn where the horses and the chariot were
+kept, and how they should come at them. Then they went forward, and
+found the King and his lords in the palace garden taking the air.</p>
+
+<p>The Sons of Turenn then paid homage to him, and he asked them of their
+business.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are Irish mercenary soldiers,&quot; they said, &quot;seeking our wages from
+the kings of the world.&quot; &quot;Are ye willing to take service with me?&quot; said
+the King. &quot;We are,&quot; said they, &quot;and to that end are we come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then their contract of military service was made, and they remained at
+the King's court for a month and a fortnight, and did not in all that
+time come to see the steeds or the chariot. At last Brian said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Things are going ill with us, my brethren, in that we know no more at
+this day of the steeds or of the chariot than when we first arrived at
+this place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What shall we do, then?&quot; said they.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us do this,&quot; said Brian. &quot;Let us gird on our arms and all our
+marching array, and tell the King that we shall quit his service unless
+he show us the chariot.</p>
+
+<p>And so they did; and the King said, &quot;To-morrow shall be a gathering and
+parade of all my host, and the chariot shall be there, and ye shall see
+it if ye have a mind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the next day the steeds were yoked and the chariot was driven round a
+great plain before the King and his lords. Now these steeds could run as
+well on sea as on dry land, and they were swifter than the winds of
+March. As the chariot came round the second time, Brian and his brothers
+seized the horses' heads, and Brian took the charioteer by the foot and
+flung him out over the rail, and they all leaped into the chariot and
+drove away. Such was the swiftness of their driving that they were out
+of sight ere the King and his men knew rightly what had befallen. And
+thus ended the fourth quest of the Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>Next they betook themselves to the court of Asal, King of the Golden
+Pillars, to get the seven swine which might be eaten every night and
+they would be whole and well on the morrow morn.</p>
+
+<p>But it had now been noised about every country that three young heroes
+from Erinn were plundering the kings of the world of their treasures in
+payment of a mighty eric; and when they arrived at the Land of the
+Golden Pillars they found the harbour guarded and a strait watch kept,
+that no one who might resemble the Sons of Turenn should enter.</p>
+
+<p>But Asal the King came to the harbour-mouth and spoke with the heroes,
+for he was desirous to see those who had done the great deeds that he
+had heard of. He asked them if it were true that they had done such
+things, and why. Then Brian told him the story of the mighty eric which
+had been laid upon them, and what they had done and suffered in
+fulfilling it. &quot;Why,&quot; said King Asal, &quot;have ye now come to my country?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For the seven swine,&quot; said Brian, &quot;to take them with us as a part of
+that eric.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How do you mean to get them?&quot; asked the King.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;With your goodwill,&quot; replied Brian, &quot;if so it may be, and to pay you
+therefore with all the wealth we now have, which is thanks and love, and
+to stand by your side hereafter in any strait or quarrel you may enter
+into. But if you will not grant us the swine, and we may not be quit of
+our eric without them, we shall even take them as we may, and as we have
+beforetime taken mighty treasures from mighty kings.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then King Asal went into counsel with his lords, and he advised that the
+swine be given to the Sons of Turenn, partly for that he was moved with
+their desperate plight and the hardihood they had shown, and partly that
+they might get them whether or no. To this they all agreed, and the Sons
+of Turenn were invited to come ashore, where they were courteously and
+hospitably entertained in the King's palace. On the morrow the pigs were
+given to them, and great was their gladness, for never before had they won
+a treasure without toil and blood. And they vowed that, if they should
+live, the name of Asal should be made by them a great and shining name,
+for his compassion and generosity which he had shown them. This, then,
+was the fifth quest of the Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And whither do ye voyage now?&quot; said Asal to them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We go,&quot; said they, &quot;to Iorroway for the hound's whelp which is there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take me with you, then,&quot; said Asal, &quot;for the King of Iorroway is
+husband to my daughter, and I may prevail upon him to grant you the
+hound without combat.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the King's ship was manned and provisioned, and the Sons of Turenn laid
+up their treasures in the Boat of Mananan, and they all sailed joyfully
+forth to the pleasant kingdom of Iorroway. But here, too, they found all
+the coasts and harbours guarded, and entrance was forbidden them. Then
+Asal declared who he was, and him they allowed to land, and he journeyed
+to where his son-in-law, the King of Iorroway, was. To him Asal related
+the whole story of the sons of Turenn, and why they were come to that
+kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou wert a fool,&quot; said the King of Iorroway, &quot;to have come on such a
+mission. There are no three heroes in the world to whom the Immortals
+have granted such grace that they should get my hound either by favour
+or by fight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is not a good word,&quot; said Asal, &quot;for the treasures they now
+possess have made them yet stronger than they were, and these they won
+in the teeth of kings as strong as thou.&quot; And much more he said to him
+to persuade him to yield up the hound, but in vain. So Asal took his way
+back to the haven where the Sons of Turenn lay, and told them his
+tidings.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Sons of Turenn seized the magic spear, and the pigskin, and
+with a rush like that of three eagles descending from a high cliff upon
+a lamb-fold they burst upon the guards of the King of Iorroway. Fierce
+and fell was the combat that ensued, and many times the brothers were
+driven apart, and all but overborne by the throng of their foes. But at
+last Brian perceived where the King of Iorroway was directing the fight,
+and he cut his way to him, and having smitten him to the ground, he
+bound him and carried him out of the press to the haven-side where Asal
+was.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There,&quot; he said, &quot;is your son-in-law for you Asal, and I swear by my
+sword that I had more easily killed him thrice than once to bring him
+thus bound to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is very like,&quot; said Asal; &quot;but now hold him to ransom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the people of Iorroway gave the hound to the Sons of Turenn as a
+ransom for their King, and the King was released, and friendship and
+alliance were made between them. And with joyful hearts the Sons of
+Turenn bade farewell to the King of Iorroway and to Asal, and departed
+on their way. Thus was the sixth of their quests fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>Now Lugh Lamfada desired to know how the Sons of Turenn had fared, and
+whether they had got any portion of the great eric that might be
+serviceable to him when the Fomorians should return for one more
+struggle. And by sorcery and divination it was revealed to him how they
+had thriven, and that nought remained to be won save the cooking-spit of
+the sea-nymphs, and to give the three shouts upon the hill. Lugh then by
+druidic art caused a spell of oblivion and forgetfulness to descend upon
+the Sons of Turenn, and put into their hearts withal a yearning and
+passion to return to their native land of Erinn. They forgot, therefore,
+that a portion of the eric was still to win, and they bade the Boat
+of Mananan bear them home with their treasures, for they deemed that
+they should now quit them of all their debt for the blood of Kian and
+live free in their father's home, having done such things and won such
+fame as no three brothers had ever done since the world began.</p>
+
+<p>At the Brugh of Boyne, where they had started on their quest, their boat
+came ashore again, and as they landed they wept for joy, and falling on
+their knees they kissed the green sod of Erinn. Then they took up their
+treasures and journeyed to Ben Edar,<a name='FNanchor_17_17'></a><a href='#Footnote_17_17'><sup>[17]</sup></a> where the High King of Ireland,
+and Lugh with him, were holding an Assembly of the People of Dana. But
+when Lugh heard that they were on their way he put on his cloak of
+invisibility and withdrew privily to Tara.</p>
+
+<p>When the brethren arrived at Ben Edar, the High King of the lords of the
+Danaans gave them welcome and applause, for all were rejoiced that the
+stain of ancient feud and bloodshed should be wiped out, and that the
+Children of Dana should be at peace within their borders. Then they
+sought for Lugh to deliver over the eric, but he was not to be found.
+And Brian said, &quot;He has gone to Tara to avoid us, having heard that we
+were coming with our treasures and weapons of war.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Word was then sent to Lugh at Tara that the Sons of Turenn were at Ben
+Edar, and the eric with them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let them pay it over to the High King,&quot; said Lugh.</p>
+
+<p>So it was done; and when Lugh had tidings that the High King had the
+eric, he returned to Ben Edar.</p>
+
+<p>Then the eric was laid before him, and Brian said, &quot;Is the debt paid, O
+Lugh, son of Kian?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lugh said, &quot;Truly there is here the price of any man's death; but it is
+not lawful to give a quittance for an eric that is not complete. Where
+is the cooking-spit from the Island of Finchory? and have ye given the
+three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this word Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba fell prone upon the ground,
+and were speechless awhile from grief and dismay. After a while they
+left the Assembly like broken men, with hanging heads and with heavy
+steps, and betook themselves to Dún Turenn, where they found their
+father, and they told him all that had befallen them since they had
+parted with him and set forth on the Quest. Thus they passed the night
+in gloom and evil forebodings, and on the morrow they went down once
+more to the place where the Boat of Mananan was moored. And Ethne their
+sister accompanied them, wailing and lamenting, but no words of cheer
+had they now to say to her, for now they began to comprehend that a
+mightier and a craftier mind had caught them in the net of fate. And
+whereas they had deemed themselves heroes and victors in the most
+glorious quest whereof the earth had record, they now knew that they
+were but as arrows in the hands of a laughing archer, who shoots one at
+a stag and one at the heart of a foe, and one, it may be, in sheer
+wantonness, and to try his bow, over a cliff edge into the sea.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL05"></a>
+<a href="./images/il46.jpg"><img src="images/il46_th.jpg" alt="There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>However, they put forth in their magic boat, but in no wise could they
+direct it to the Isle of Finchory, and a quarter of a year they
+traversed the seaways and never could get tidings of that island. At
+last Brian fashioned for himself by magic art a water-dress, with a
+helmet of crystal, and into the depths of the sea he plunged. Here, the
+story tells, he searched hither and thither for a fortnight, till at
+last he found that island, which was an island indeed with the sea over
+it and around it and beneath it. There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs
+in glittering palaces among the sea-flowers, and they wrought fair
+embroidery with gold and jewels, and sang, as they wrought, a fairy
+music like the chiming of silver bells. Three fifties of them sat or
+played in their great hall as Brian entered, and they gazed on him but
+spoke no word. Then Brian strode to the wide hearth, and without a word
+he seized from it a spit that was made of beaten gold, and turned again
+to go. But at that the laughter of the sea-maidens rippled through the
+hall and one of them said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou art a bold man, Brian, and bolder than thou knowest; for if thy
+two brothers were here, the weakest of us could vanquish all the three.
+Nevertheless, take the spit for thy daring; we had never granted it for
+thy prayers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Brian thanked them and bade farewell, and he rose to the surface of
+the water. Ere long his brethren perceived him as he shouldered the
+waves on the bosom of the deep, and they sailed to where he was and took
+him on board. And thus ended the quest for the seventh portion of the
+eric of Kian.</p>
+
+<p>After that their hopes revived a little, and they set sail for the land
+of Lochlann, in which was the Hill of Mochaen. When they had arrived at
+the hill Mochaen came out to meet them with his three sons, Corc and
+Conn and Hugh; nor did the Sons of Turenn ever behold a band of grimmer
+and mightier warriors than those four.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What seek ye here?&quot; asked Mochaen of them They told him that it had
+been laid upon them to give three shouts upon the hill.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It hath been laid upon me,&quot; said Mochaen, &quot;to prevent this thing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Brian and Mochaen drew sword and fell furiously upon each other,
+and their fighting was like that of two hungry lions or two wild bulls,
+until at last Brian drove his sword into the throat of Mochaen, and he
+died.</p>
+
+<p>With that the Sons of Mochaen and the Sons of Turenn rushed fiercely
+upon each other. Long and sore was the strife that they had, and the
+blood that fell made red the grassy place wherein they fought. Not one
+of them but received wounds that pierced him through and through, and
+that heroes of less hardihood had died of a score of times. But in the
+end the sons of Mochaen fell, and Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba lay over
+them in a swoon like death.</p>
+
+<p>After a while Brian's senses came back to him, and he said, &quot;Do ye live,
+dear brothers, or how is it with you?&quot; &quot;We are as good as dead,&quot; said
+they; &quot;let us be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Arise,&quot; then said Brian, &quot;for truly I feel death coming swiftly upon
+us, and we have yet to give the three shouts upon the hill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We cannot stir,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba. Then Brian rose to his knees
+and to his feet, and he lifted up his two brothers while the blood of
+all three streamed down to their feet, and they raised their voices as
+best they might, and gave three hoarse cries upon the Hill of Mochaen.
+And thus was the last of the epic fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>Then they bound up their wounds, and Brian placed himself between the
+two brothers, and slowly and painfully they made their way to the boat,
+and put out to sea for Ireland. And as they lay in the stupor of
+faintness in the boat, one murmured to himself, &quot;I see the Cape of Ben
+Edar and the coast of Turenn, and Tara of the Kings.&quot; Then Iuchar and
+Iucharba entreated Brian to lift their heads upon his breast. &quot;Let us
+but see the land of Erinn again,&quot; said they, &quot;the hills around Tailtin,
+and the dewy plain of Bregia, and the quiet waters of the Boyne and our
+father's Dún thereby, and healing will come to us; or if death come we
+can endure it after that.&quot; Then Brian raised them up; and they saw that
+they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the Strand of the Bull<a name='FNanchor_18_18'></a><a href='#Footnote_18_18'><sup>[18]</sup></a>
+they took land. They were then conveyed to the Dún of Turenn, and life
+was still in them when they were laid in their father's hall.</p>
+
+<p>And Brian said to Turenn, &quot;Go now, dear father, with all speed to Lugh
+at Tara. Give him the cooking-spit, and tell how thou hast found us
+after giving our three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen. Then beseech him
+that he yield thee the loan of the pigskin of the King of Greece, for if
+it be laid upon us while the life is yet in us, we shall recover. We
+have won the eric, and it may be that he will not pursue us to our
+death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Turenn went to Lugh and gave him the spit of the sea-nymphs, and
+besought him for the lives of his sons.</p>
+
+<p>Lugh was silent for a while, but his countenance did not change, and he
+said, &quot;Thou, old man, seest nought but the cloud of sorrow wherein thou
+art encompassed. But I hear from above it the singing of the Immortal
+Ones, who tell to one another the story of this land. Thy sons must die;
+yet have I shown to them more mercy than they showed to Kian. I have
+forgiven them; nor shall they live to slay their own immortality, but
+the royal bards of Erinn and the old men in the chimney corners shall
+tell of their glory and their fate as long as the land shall endure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Turenn bowed his white head and went sorrowfully back to Dún
+Turenn; and he told his sons of the words that Lugh had said. And with
+that the sons of Turenn kissed each other, and the breath of life
+departed from them, and they died. And Turenn died also, for his heart
+was broken in him; and Ethne his daughter buried them in one grave.
+Thus, then, ends the tale of the Quest of the Eric and the Fate of the
+Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_III'></a><h2>CHAPTER III</h2><h2>The Secret of Labra</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>In very ancient days there was a King in Ireland named Labra, who was
+called Labra the Sailor for a certain voyage that he made. Now Labra was
+never seen save by one man, once a year, without a hood that covered his
+head and ears. But once a year it was his habit to let his hair be
+cropped, and the person to do this was chosen by lot, for the King was
+accustomed to put to death instantly the man who had cropped him. And so
+it happened that on a certain year the lot fell on a young man who was
+the only son of a poor widow, who dwelt near by the palace of the King.
+When she heard that her son had been chosen she fell on her knees before
+the King and besought him, with tears, that her son, who was her only
+support and all she had in the world, might not suffer death as was
+customary. The King was moved by her grief and her entreaties, and at
+last he consented that the young man should not be slain provided that
+he vowed to keep secret to the day of his death what he should see. The
+youth agreed to this and he vowed by the Sun and the Wind that he would
+never, so long as he lived, reveal to man what he should learn when he
+cropped the King's hair.</p>
+
+<p>So he did what was appointed for him and went home. But when he did so
+he had no peace for the wonder of the secret that he had learned preyed
+upon his mind so that he could not rest for thinking of it and longing
+to reveal it, and at last he fell into a wasting sickness from it, and
+was near to die. Then there was brought to see him a wise druid, who was
+skilled in all maladies of the mind and body, and after he had talked
+with the youth he said to his mother, &quot;Thy son is dying of the burden of
+a secret which he may not reveal to any man, but until he reveals it he
+will have no ease. Let him, therefore, walk along the high way till he
+comes to a place where four roads meet. Let him then turn to the right,
+and the first tree that he shall meet on the roadside let him tell the
+secret to it, and so it may be he shall be relieved, and his vow will
+not be broken.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The mother told her son of the druid's advice, and next day he went upon
+his way till he came to four cross roads, and he took the road upon the
+right, and the first tree he found was a great willow-tree. So the young
+man laid his cheek against the bark, and he whispered the secret to the
+tree, and as he turned back homeward he felt lightened of his burden,
+and he leaped and sang, and ere many days were past he was as well and
+light hearted as ever he had been in his life.</p>
+
+<p>Some while after that it happened that the King's harper, namely
+Craftiny, broke the straining-post of his harp and went out to seek for
+a piece of wood wherewith to mend it. And the first timber he found that
+would fit the purpose was the willow-tree by the cross roads. He cut it
+down, therefore, and took as much as would give him a new
+straining-post, and he bore it home with him and mended his harp with
+it. That night he played after meat before the King and his lords as he
+was wont, but whatever he played and sang the folk that listened to him
+seemed to hear only one thing, &quot;Two horse's ears hath Labra the Sailor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the King plucked off his hood, and after that he made no secret of
+his ears and none suffered on account of them thenceforward.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a><h2>CHAPTER IV</h2><h2>King Iubdan and King Fergus</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>It happened on a day when Fergus son of Leda was King of Ulster, that
+Iubdan, King of the Leprecauns or Wee Folk, of the land of Faylinn, held
+a great banquet and assembly of the lords and princes of the Wee Folk.
+And all their captains and men of war came thither, to show their feats
+before the King, among whom was the strong man, namely Glowar, whose
+might was such that with his battle-axe he could hew down a thistle at
+one stroke. Thither also came the King's heir-apparent, Tiny, son of
+Tot, and the Queen Bebo with her maidens; and there were also the King's
+harpers and singing-men, and the chief poet of the court, who was called
+Eisirt.</p>
+
+<p>All these sat down to the feast in due order and precedence, with Bebo
+on the King's right hand and the poet on his left, and Glowar kept the
+door. Soon the wine began to flow from the vats of dark-red yew-wood,
+and the carvers carved busily at great haunches of roast hares and ribs
+of field-mice; and they all ate and drank, and loudly the hall rang with
+gay talk and laughter, and the drinking of toasts, and clashing of
+silver goblets.</p>
+
+<p>At last when they had put away desire of eating and drinking, Iubdan
+rose up, having in his hand the royal goblet of gold inlaid with
+precious many-coloured jewels, and the heir-apparent rose at the other
+end of the table, and they drank prosperity and victory to Faylinn. Then
+Iubdan's heart swelled with pride, and he asked of the company, &quot;Come
+now, have any of you ever seen a king more glorious and powerful than I
+am?&quot; &quot;Never, in truth,&quot; cried they all. &quot;Have ye ever seen a stronger
+man than my giant, Glowar?&quot; &quot;Never, O King,&quot; said they. &quot;Or
+battle-steeds and men-at-arms better than mine?&quot; &quot;By our words,&quot; they
+cried, &quot;we never have.&quot; &quot;Truly,&quot; went on Iubdan, &quot;I deem that he who
+would assail our kingdom of Faylinn, and carry away captives and
+hostages from us, would have his work cut out for him, so fierce and
+mighty are our warriors; yea, any one of them hath the stuff of kingship
+in him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On hearing this, Eisirt, in whom the heady wine and ale had done their
+work, burst out laughing; and the King turned to him, saying, &quot;Eisirt,
+what hath moved thee to this laughter?&quot; &quot;I know a province in Erinn,&quot;
+replied Eisirt, &quot;one man of whom would harry Faylinn in the teeth of all
+four battalions of the Wee Folk.&quot; &quot;Seize him,&quot; cried the King to his
+attendants; &quot;Eisirt shall pay dearly in chains and in prison for that
+scornful speech against our glory.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Eisirt was put in bonds, and he repented him of his brag; but ere
+they dragged him away he said, &quot;Grant me, O mighty King, but three days'
+respite, that I may travel to Erinn to the court of Fergus mac Leda, and
+if I bring not back some clear token that I have uttered nought but the
+truth, then do with me as thou wilt.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Iubdan bade them release him, and he fared away to Erinn oversea.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL06"></a>
+<a href="./images/il56.jpg"><img src="images/il56_th.jpg" alt="They all trooped out, lords and ladies, to view the wee man" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They all trooped out, lords and ladies, to view the wee man&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>After this, one day, as Fergus and his lords sat at the feast, the
+gatekeeper of the palace of Fergus in Emania heard outside a sound of
+ringing; he opened the gate, and there stood a wee man holding in his
+hand a rod of white bronze hung with little silver bells, by which poets
+are wont to procure silence for their recitations. Most noble and comely
+was the little man to look on, though the short grass of the lawn
+reached as high as to his knee. His hair was twisted in four-ply strands
+after the manner of poets and he wore a gold-embroidered tunic of silk
+and an ample scarlet cloak with a fringe of gold. On his feet he wore
+shoes of white bronze ornamented with gold, and a silken hood was on his
+head. The gatekeeper wondered at the sight of the wee man, and went to
+report the matter to King Fergus. &quot;Is he less,&quot; asked Fergus, &quot;than my
+dwarf and poet &AElig;da?&quot; &quot;Verily,&quot; said the gatekeeper, &quot;he could stand upon
+the palm of &AElig;da's hand and have room to spare.&quot; Then with much laughter
+and wonder they all trooped out, lords and ladies, to the great gate to
+view the wee man and to speak with him. But Eisirt, when he saw them,
+waved them back in alarm, crying, &quot;Avaunt, huge men; bring not your
+heavy breath so near me; but let yon man that is least among you
+approach me and bear me in&quot;. So the dwarf &AElig;da put Eisirt on his palm and
+bore him into the banqueting hall.</p>
+
+<p>Then they set him on the table, and Eisirt declared his name and
+calling. The King ordered that meat and drink should be given him, but
+Eisirt said, &quot;I will neither eat of your meat nor drink of ale.&quot; &quot;By our
+word,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;'tis a haughty wight; he ought to be dropped into a
+goblet that he might at least drink all round him.&quot; The cupbearer seized
+Eisirt and put him into a tankard of ale, and he swam on the surface of
+it. &quot;Ye wise men of Ulster,&quot; he cried, &quot;there is much knowledge and
+wisdom ye might get from me, yet ye will let me be drowned!&quot; &quot;What,
+then?&quot; cried they. Then Eisirt, beginning with the King, set out to tell
+every hidden sin that each man or woman had done, and ere he had gone
+far they with much laughter and chiding fetched him out of the ale-pot
+and dried him with fair satin napkins. &quot;Now ye have confessed that I
+know somewhat to the purpose,&quot; said Eisirt, &quot;and I will even eat of your
+food, but do ye give heed to my words, and do ill no more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Fergus then said, &quot;If thou art a poet, Eisirt, give us now a taste of
+thy delightful art.&quot; &quot;That will I,&quot; said Eisirt, &quot;and the poem that I
+shall recite to you shall be an ode in praise of my king, Iubdan the
+Great.&quot; Then he recited this lay:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&quot;A monarch of might<br />
+Is Iubdan my king.<br />
+His brow is snow-white,<br />
+His hair black as night;<br />
+As a red copper bowl<br />
+When smitten will sing,<br />
+So ringeth the voice<br />
+Of Iubdan the king.<br />
+His eyen, they roll<br />
+Majestic and bland<br />
+On the lords of his land<br />
+Arrayed for the fight,<br />
+A spectacle grand!<br />
+Like a torrent they rush<br />
+With a waving of swords<br />
+And the bridles all ringing<br />
+And cheeks all aflush,<br />
+And the battle-steeds springing,<br />
+A beautiful, terrible, death-dealing band.<br />
+Like pines, straight and tall,<br />
+Where Iubdan is king,<br />
+Are the men one and all.<br />
+The maidens are fair&mdash;<br />
+Bright gold is their hair.<br />
+From silver we quaff<br />
+The dark, heady ale<br />
+That never shall fail;<br />
+We love and we laugh.<br />
+Gold frontlets we wear;<br />
+And aye through the air<br />
+Sweet music doth ring&mdash;<br />
+O Fergus, men say<br />
+That in all Inisfail<br />
+There is not a maiden so proud or so wise<br />
+But would give her two eyes<br />
+Thy kisses to win&mdash;<br />
+But I tell thee, that there<br />
+Thou canst never compare<br />
+With the haughty, magnificent King of Faylinn!&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>At this they all applauded, and Fergus said, &quot;O youth and blameless
+bard, let us be friends henceforth.&quot; And they all heaped before him, as
+a poet's reward, gifts of rings and jewels and gold cups and weapons, as
+high as a tall man standing. Then Eisirt said, &quot;Truly a generous and a
+worthy reward have ye given me, O men of Ulster; yet take back these
+precious things I pray you, for every man in my king's household hath an
+abundance of them.&quot; But the Ulster lords said, &quot;Nothing that we have
+given may we take back.&quot; Eisirt then bade two-thirds of his reward be
+given to the bards and learned men of Ulster, and one-third to the
+horse-boys and jesters; and so it was done.</p>
+
+<p>Three days and nights did Eisirt abide in Emania, and all the King's
+court loved him and made much of him. Then he wished them blessing and
+victory, and prepared to depart to his own country. Now &AElig;da, the King's
+dwarf and minstrel, begged Eisirt to take him with him on a visit to the
+land of Faylinn; and Eisirt said, &quot;I shall not bid thee come, for then
+if kindness and hospitality be shown thee, thou wilt say it is only what
+I had undertaken; but if thou come of thine own motion, thou wilt
+perchance be grateful.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they went off together; but Eisirt could not keep up with &AElig;da, and
+&AElig;da said, &quot;I perceive that Eisirt is but a poor walker.&quot; At this Eisirt
+ran off like a flash and was soon an arrow flight in front of &AElig;da. When
+the latter at last came up with him, he said, &quot;The right thing, Eisirt,
+is not too fast and not too slow.&quot; &quot;Since I have been in Ulster,&quot; Eisirt
+replied, &quot;I have never before heard ye measure out the right.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>By and by they reached the margin of the sea. &quot;And what are we to do
+now?&quot; asked &AElig;da. &quot;Be not troubled, &AElig;da,&quot; said Eisirt, &quot;the horse of
+Iubdan will bear us easily over this.&quot; They waited awhile on the beach,
+and ere long they saw it coming toward them skimming over the surface of
+the waves. &quot;Save and protect us!&quot; cried &AElig;da at that sight; and Eisirt
+asked him what he saw. &quot;A red-maned hare,&quot; answered &AElig;da. &quot;Nay, but that
+is Iubdan's horse,&quot; said Eisirt, and with that the creature came
+prancing to land with flashing eyes and waving tail and a long
+russet-coloured mane; a bridle beset with gold it had. Eisirt mounted
+and bade &AElig;da come up behind him. &quot;Thy boat is little enough for thee
+alone,&quot; said &AElig;da. &quot;Cease fault-finding and grumbling,&quot; then said Eisirt,
+&quot;for the weight of wisdom that is in thee will not bear him down&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So &AElig;da and Eisirt mounted on the fairy horse and away they sped over the
+tops of the waves and the deeps of the ocean till at last they reached
+the Kingdom of Faylinn, and there were a great concourse of the Wee Folk
+awaiting them. &quot;Eisirt is coming! Eisirt is coming!&quot; cried they all,
+&quot;and a Fomorian giant along with him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Iubdan went forth to meet Eisirt, and he kissed him, and said,
+&quot;Why hast thou brought this Fomorian with thee to slay us?&quot; &quot;He is no
+Fomor,&quot; said Eisirt, &quot;but a learned man and a poet from Ulster. He is
+moreover the King of Ulster's dwarf, and in all that realm he is the
+smallest man. He can lie in their great men's bosoms and stand upon
+their hands as though he were a child; yet for all that you would do
+well to be careful how you behave to him.&quot; &quot;What is his name?&quot; said they
+then. &quot;He is the poet &AElig;da.&quot; said Eisirt. &quot;Uch,&quot; said they, &quot;what a giant
+thou hast brought us!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now, O King,&quot; said Eisirt to Iubdan, &quot;I challenge thee to go and
+see for thyself the region from which we have come, and make trial of
+the royal porridge which is made for Fergus King of Ulster this very
+night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this Iubdan was much dismayed, and he betook himself to Bebo his wife
+and told her how he was laid under bonds of chivalry by Eisirt to go to
+the land of the giants; and he bade her prepare to accompany him. &quot;I
+will go,&quot; said she, &quot;but you did an ill deed when you condemned Eisirt
+to prison.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they mounted, both of them, on the fairy steed, and in no long time
+they reached Emania, and it was now past midnight. And they were greatly
+afraid, and said Bebo, &quot;Let us search for that porridge and taste it, as
+we were bound, and make off again ere the folk awake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They made their way into the palace of Fergus, and soon they found a
+great porridge pot, but the rim was too high to be reached from the
+ground. &quot;Get thee up upon thy horse,&quot; said Bebo, &quot;and from thence to the
+rim of this cauldron.&quot; And thus he did, but having gained the rim of the
+pot his arm was too short to reach the silver ladle that was in it. In
+straining downward to do so, however, he slipped and in he fell, and up
+to his middle in the thick porridge he stuck fast. And when Bebo heard
+what a plight he was in, she wept, and said, &quot;Rash and hasty wert thou,
+Iubdan, to have got into this evil case, but surely there is no man
+under the sun that can make thee hear reason.&quot; And he said, &quot;Rash indeed
+it was, but thou canst not help me, Bebo, now, and it is but folly to
+stay; take the horse and flee away ere the day break.&quot; &quot;Say not so,&quot;
+replied  Bebo, &quot;for surely I will not go till I see how things fall out
+with thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At last the folk in the palace began to be stirring, and ere long they
+found Iubdan in the porridge pot.</p>
+
+<p>So they picked him out with great laughter bore him off to Fergus.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By my conscience,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;but this is not the little fellow that
+was here before, for he had yellow hair, but this one hath a shock of
+the blackest; who art thou at all, wee man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am of the Wee Folk,&quot; said Iubdan, &quot;and am indeed king over them, and
+this woman is my wife and queen, Bebo.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take him away,&quot; then said Fergus to his varlets, &quot;and guard him well&quot;;
+for he misdoubted some mischief of Faery was on foot.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, nay,&quot; cried Iubdan, &quot;but let me not be with these coarse fellows.
+I pledge thee my word that I will not quit this place till thou and
+Ulster give me leave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Could I believe that,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;I would not put thee in bonds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have never broken my word,&quot; said Iubdan, &quot;and I never will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Fergus set him free and allotted him a fair chamber for himself,
+and a trusty servingman to wait upon him. Soon there came in a gillie
+whose business it was to see to the fires, and he kindled the fire for
+Iubdan, throwing on it a woodbine together with divers other sorts of
+timber. Then Iubdan said, &quot;Man of smoke, burn not the king of the trees,
+for it is not meet to burn him. Wouldst thou but take counsel from me
+thou mightest go safely by sea or land.&quot; Iubdan then chanted to him the
+following recital of the duties of his office:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;O fire-gillie of Fergus of the Feasts, never by land or sea burn the
+King of the woods, High King of the forests of Inisfail, whom none may
+bind, but who like a strong monarch holds all the other trees in hard
+bondage. If thou burn the twining one, misfortune will come of it, peril
+at the point of spear, or drowning in the waves.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Burn not the sweet apple-tree of drooping branches, of the white
+blossoms, to whose gracious head each man puts forth his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The stubborn blackthorn wanders far and wide, the good craftsman burns
+not this timber; little though its bushes be, yet flocks of birds warble
+in them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Burn not the noble willow, the unfailing ornament of poems; bees drink
+from its blossoms, all delight in the graceful tent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The delicate, airy tree of the druids, the rowan with its berries, this
+burn; but avoid the weak tree, burn not the slender hazel.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The ash-tree of the black buds burn not&mdash;timber that speeds the wheel,
+that yields the rider his switch; the ashen spear is the scale-beam of
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The tangled, bitter bramble, burn him, the sharp and green; he flays
+and cuts the foot; he snares you and drags you back.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hottest of timber is the green oak; he will give you a pain in the head
+if you use him overmuch, a pain in the eyes will come from his biting
+fumes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Full-charged with witchcraft is the alder, the hottest tree in the
+fight; burn assuredly both the alder and the whitehorn at your will.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Holly, burn it in the green and in the dry; of all trees in the world,
+holly is absolutely the best.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The elder-tree of the rough brown bark, burn him to cinders, the steed
+of the Fairy Folk.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The drooping birch, by all means burn him too, the tree of long-lasting
+bloom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And lay low, if it pleases you, the russet aspen; late or early, burn
+the tree with the quaking plumage.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The yew is the venerable ancestor of the wood as the companion of
+feasts he is known; of him make goodly brown vats for ale and wine.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Follow my counsel, O man of the smoke, and it shall go well with you,
+body and soul.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Iubdan continued in Emania free to go and come as he pleased; and all
+the Ulstermen delighted to watch him and to hear his conversation.</p>
+
+<p>One day it chanced that he was in the chamber of the Queen, and saw her
+putting on her feet a very dainty and richly embroidered pair of shoes.
+At this Iubdan gave a laugh. &quot;Why dost thou laugh?&quot; said Fergus.
+&quot;Meseems the healing is applied very far from the hurt,&quot; replied Iubdan.
+&quot;What meanest thou by that?&quot; said Fergus. &quot;Because the Queen is making
+her feet fine in order, O Fergus, that she may attract thee to her
+lips,&quot; said Iubdan.</p>
+
+<p>Another time it chanced that Iubdan overheard one of the King's soldiers
+complaining of a pair of new brogues that had been served out to him,
+and grumbling that the soles were too thin. At this Iubdan laughed
+again, and being asked why, he said, &quot;I must need laugh to hear yon
+fellow grumbling about his brogues, for the soles of these brogues, thin
+as they are, he will never wear out.&quot; And this was a true prophecy, for
+the same night this and another of the King's men had a quarrel, and
+fought, and killed each the other.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Wee Folk determined to go in search of their king, and seven
+battalions of them marched upon Emania and encamped upon the lawn over
+against the King's Dún. Fergus and his nobles went out to confer with
+them. &quot;Give us back our king,&quot; said the Wee Folk, &quot;and we shall redeem
+him with a great ransom.&quot; &quot;What ransom, then?&quot; asked Fergus. &quot;We shall,&quot;
+said they, &quot;cause this great plain to stand thick with corn for you
+every year, and that without ploughing or sowing.&quot; &quot;I will not give up
+Iubdan for that,&quot; said Fergus. &quot;Then we shall do you a mischief,&quot; said
+the Wee Folk.</p>
+
+<p>That night every calf in the Province of Ulster got access to its dam,
+and in the morn there was no milk to be had for man or child, for the
+cows were sucked dry.</p>
+
+<p>Then said the Wee Folk to Fergus, &quot;This night, unless we get Iubdan, we
+shall defile every well and lake and river in Ulster.&quot; &quot;That is a
+trifle,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;and ye shall not get Iubdan.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Wee Folk carried out this threat, and once more they came and
+demanded Iubdan, saying, &quot;To-night we shall burn with fire the shaft of
+every mill in Ulster.&quot; &quot;Yet not so shall ye get Iubdan,&quot; said Fergus.</p>
+
+<p>This being done, they came again, saying, &quot;We shall have vengeance
+unless Iubdan be delivered to us&quot; &quot;What vengeance?&quot; said Fergus. &quot;We
+shall snip off every ear of corn in thy kingdom,&quot; said they. &quot;Even so,&quot;
+replied Fergus, &quot;I shall not deliver Iubdan.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the Wee Folk snipped off every ear of standing corn in Ulster, and
+once more they returned and demanded Iubdan. &quot;What will ye do next?&quot;
+asked Fergus. &quot;We shall shave the hair of every man and every woman in
+Ulster,&quot; said they, &quot;so that ye shall be shamed and disgraced for ever
+among the people of Erinn.&quot; &quot;By my word,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;if ye do that I
+shall slay Iubdan.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Iubdan said, &quot;I have a better counsel than that, O King; let me
+have liberty to go and speak with them, and I shall bid them make good
+what mischief they have done, and they shall return home forthwith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Fergus granted that; and when the Wee Folk saw Iubdan approaching them,
+they set up a shout of triumph that a man might have heard a bowshot
+off, for they believed they had prevailed and that Iubdan was released
+to them. But Iubdan said, &quot;My faithful people, you must now begone, and
+I may not go with you; make good also all the mischief that ye have
+done, and know that if ye do any more I must die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Wee Folk departed, very downcast and sorrowful, but they did as
+Iubdan had bidden them.</p>
+
+<p>Iubdan, however, went to Fergus and said, &quot;Take, O King, the choicest of
+my treasures, and let me go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is thy choicest treasure?&quot; said Fergus.</p>
+
+<p>Iubdan then began to recite to Fergus the list of his possessions, such
+as druidic weapons, and love-charms, and instruments of music that
+played without touch of human hand, and vats of ale that could never be
+emptied; and he named among other noble treasures a pair of shoes,
+wearing which a man could go over or under the sea as readily as on dry
+land.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time &AElig;da, the dwarf and poet of Ulster, returned hale and
+well from the land of Faylinn, and much did he entertain the King and
+all the court with tales of the smallness of the Wee Folk, and their
+marvel at his own size, and their bravery and beauty, and their marble
+palaces and matchless minstrelsy.</p>
+
+<p>So the King, Fergus mac Leda, was well content to take a ransom, namely
+the magic shoes, which he desired above all the treasures of Faylinn,
+and to let Iubdan go. And he gave him rich gifts, as did also the nobles
+of Ulster, and wished him blessing and victory; and Iubdan he departed,
+with Bebo his wife, having first bestowed upon Fergus the magical shoes.
+And of him the tale hath now no more to say.</p>
+
+<p>But Fergus never tired of donning the shoes of Iubdan and traversing the
+secret depths of the lakes and rivers of Ulster. Thereby, too, in the
+end he got his death, for as the wise say that the gifts of Faery may
+not be enjoyed without peril by mortal men, so in this case too it
+proved. For, one day as Fergus was exploring the depths of Loch Rury he
+met the monster, namely the river-horse, which inhabited that lake.
+Horrible of form it was, swelling and contracting like a blacksmith's
+bellows, and with eyes like torches, and glittering tusks, and a mane of
+coarse hair on its crest and neck. When it saw Fergus it laid back its
+ears, and its neck arched like a rainbow over his head, and the vast
+mouth gaped to devour him. Then Fergus rose quickly to the surface and
+made for the land, and the beast after him, driving before it a huge
+wave of foam. Barely did he escape with his life; but with the horror of
+the sight his features were distorted and his mouth was twisted around
+to the side of his head, so that he was called Fergus Wry-mouth from
+that day forth. And the gillie that was with him told the tale of the
+adventure.</p>
+
+<p>Now there was a law in Ireland that no man might be king who was
+disfigured by any bodily blemish. His people, therefore, loving Fergus,
+kept from him all knowledge of his condition, and the Queen let all
+mirrors that were in the palace be put away. But one day it chanced that
+a bondmaid was negligent in preparing the bath, and Fergus being
+impatient, gave her a stroke with a switch which he had in his hand. The
+maid in anger turned upon him, and cried, &quot;It would better become thee
+to avenge thyself on the riverhorse that hath twisted thy mouth, than to
+do brave deeds on women.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Fergus then bade a mirror be fetched, and when he saw his face in it, he
+said, &quot;The woman spake truth; the riverhorse of Loch Rury has done this
+thing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL07"></a>
+<a href="./images/il68.jpg"><img src="images/il68_th.jpg" alt="Fergus goes down into the lake" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;Fergus goes down into the lake&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>The next day Fergus put on the shoes of Iubdan and went forth to Loch
+Rury, and with him went the lords of Ulster. And when he reached the
+margin of the lake he drew his sword and went down into it, and soon the
+waters covered him.</p>
+
+<p>After a while those that watched upon the bank saw a bubbling and a
+mighty commotion in the waters, now here, now there, and waves of bloody
+froth broke at their feet. At last, as they strained their eyes upon the
+tossing water, they saw Fergus rise to his middle from it, pale and
+bloody. In his right hand he waved aloft his sword, his left was twisted
+in the coarse hair of the monster's head, and they saw that his
+countenance was fair and kingly as of old. &quot;Ulstermen, I have
+conquered,&quot; he cried; and as he did so he sank down again, dead with his
+dead foe, into their red grave in Loch Rury.</p>
+
+<p>And the Ulster lords went back to Emania, sorrowful yet proud, for they
+knew that a seed of honour had been sown that day in their land from
+which should spring a breed of high-hearted fighting men for many a
+generation to come.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_V'></a><h2>CHAPTER V</h2><h2>The Carving of Mac Datho's Boar</h2>
+
+<p>Once upon a time there dwelt in the province of Leinster a wealthy
+hospitable lord named Mesroda, son of Datho. Two possessions had he;
+namely, a hound which could outrun every other hound and every wild
+beast in Erinn, and a boar which was the finest and greatest in size
+that man had ever beheld.</p>
+
+<p>Now the fame of this hound was noised all about the land, and many were
+the princes and lords who longed to possess it. And it came to pass that
+Conor, King of Ulster, and Maev, Queen of Connacht, sent messengers to
+mac Datho to ask him to sell them the hound for a price, and both the
+messengers arrived at the Dún of mac Datho on the same day. Said the
+Connacht messenger, &quot;We will give thee in exchange for the hound six
+hundred milch cows, and a chariot with two horses, the best that are to
+be found in Connacht, and at the end of a year thou shalt have as much
+again.&quot; And the messenger of King Conor said, &quot;We will give no less than
+Connacht, and the friendship and alliance of Ulster, and that will be
+better for thee than the friendship of Connacht.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Mesroda mac Datho fell silent, and for three days he would not eat
+nor drink, nor could he sleep o' nights, but tossed restlessly on his
+bed. His wife observed his condition, and said to him, &quot;Thy fast hath
+been long, Mesroda, though good food is by thee in plenty; and at night
+thou turnest thy face to the wall, and well I know thou dost not sleep.
+What is the cause of thy trouble?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is a saying,&quot; replied mac Datho, &quot;'Trust not a thrall with money,
+nor a woman with a secret.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When should a man talk to a woman,&quot; said his wife, &quot;but when something
+were amiss? What thy mind cannot solve perchance another's may.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then mac Datho told his wife of the request for his hound both from
+Ulster and from Connacht at one and the same time, &quot;and whichever of
+them I deny,&quot; he said, &quot;they will harry my cattle and slay my people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then hear my counsel,&quot; said the woman. &quot;Give it to both of them, and
+bid them come and fetch it; and if there be any harrying to be done, let
+them even harry each other; but in no way mayest thou keep the hound.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On that, mac Datho rose up and shook himself, and called for food and
+drink, and made merry with himself and his guests. Then he sent
+privately for the messenger of Queen Maev, and said to him, &quot;Long have I
+doubted what to do, but now I am resolved to give the hound to Connacht.
+Let ye send for it on such a day with a train of your nobles or warriors
+and bear him forth nobly and proudly, for he is worth it; and ye shall
+all have drink and food and royal entertainment in my Dún.&quot; So the
+messenger departed, well pleased.</p>
+
+<p>To the Ulster messenger mac Datho said, &quot;After much perplexity I have
+resolved to give my hound to Conor. Let the best of the Ulstermen come
+to fetch him, and they shall be welcomed and entertained as is fitting.&quot;
+And for these he named the same day as he had done for the embassy from
+Connacht.</p>
+
+<p>When the appointed day came round, the flower of the fighting men of two
+provinces of Ireland were assembled before the Dún of the son of Datho,
+and there were also Conor, King of Ulster, and Ailill, the husband of
+Maev, Queen of Connacht. Mac Datho went forth to meet them. &quot;Welcome,
+warriors,&quot; he said to them, &quot;albeit for two armies at once we were not
+prepared.&quot; Then he bade them into the Dún, and in the great hall they
+sat down. Now in this hall there were seven doors, and between every two
+doors were benches for fifty men. Not as friends bidden to a feast did
+the men of Ulster and of Connacht look upon one another, since for three
+hundred years the provinces had ever been at war.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let the great boar be killed,&quot; said mac Datho, and it was done. For
+seven years had that boar been nourished on the milk of fifty cows; yet
+rather on venom should it have been nourished, such was the mischief
+that was to come from the carving of it.</p>
+
+<p>When the boar was roasted it was brought in, and many other kinds of
+food as side dishes, &quot;and if more be wanting to the feast,&quot; said mac
+Datho, &quot;it shall be slain for you before the morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The boar is good,&quot; said Conor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is a fine boar,&quot; said Ailill; &quot;and now, O mac Datho, how shall it be
+divided among us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There was among the Ulster company one Bricru, son of Carbad, whose
+delight was in biting speeches and in fomenting strife, though he
+himself was never known to draw sword in any quarrel. He now spoke from
+his couch in answer to Ailill:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How should the boar be divided, O son of Datho, except by appointing to
+carve it him who is best in deeds of arms? Here be all the valiant men
+of Ireland assembled; have none of us hit each other a blow on the nose
+ere now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said Ailill, &quot;so let it be done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We also agree,&quot; said Conor; &quot;there are plenty of our lads in the house
+that have many a time gone round the border of the Provinces.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will want them to-night, Conor,&quot; said an old warrior from Conlad in
+the West. &quot;They have often been seen on their backs on the roads of
+rushy Dedah, and many a fat steer have they left with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was a fat bullock thou didst have with thee once upon a day,&quot;
+replied Moonremar of Ulster, &quot;even thine own brother, and by the rushy
+road of Conlad he came and went not back.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Twas a better man than he, even Irloth, son of Fergus mac Leda, who
+fell by the hand of Echbael in Tara Luachra,&quot; replied Lugad of Munster.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Echbael?&quot; cried Keltchar, son of Uthecar Hornskin of Ulster. &quot;Is it of
+him ye boast, whom I myself slew and cut off his head?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And thus the heroes bandied about the tales and taunts of their
+victories, until at length Ket, son of Maga of the Connachtmen, arose
+and stood over the boar and took the knife into his hand. &quot;Now,&quot; he
+cried, &quot;let one man in Ulster match his deeds with mine, or else hold ye
+your peace and let me carve the boar!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For a while there was silence, and then Conor King of Ulster, said to
+Logary the Triumphant, &quot;Stay that for me.&quot; So Logary arose and said,
+&quot;Ket shall never carve the boar for all of us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not so fast, Logary,&quot; said Ket. &quot;It is the custom among you Ulstermen
+that when a youth first takes arms he comes to prove himself on us. So
+didst thou, Logary, and we met thee at the border. From that meeting I
+have thy chariot and horses, and thou hadst a spear through thy ribs Not
+thus wilt thou get the boar from me.&quot; Then Logary sat down on his bench.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ket shall never divide that pig,&quot; spake then a tall fair-haired warrior
+from Ulster, coming down the hall. &quot;Whom have we here?&quot; asked Ket. &quot;A
+better man than thou,&quot; shouted the Ulstermen, &quot;even Angus, son of Lama
+Gabad.&quot; &quot;Indeed?&quot; said Ket, &quot;and why is his father called Lama Gabad
+[wanting a hand]?&quot; &quot;We know not,&quot; said they. &quot;But I know it,&quot; said Ket.
+&quot;Once I went on a foray to the East, and was attacked by a troop, Lama
+Gabad among them. He flung a lance at me. I seized the same lance and
+flung it back, and it shore off his hand, and it lay there on the field
+before him. Shall that man's son measure himself with me?&quot; And Angus
+went to his bench and sat down.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Keep up the contest,&quot; then cried Ket tauntingly, &quot;or let me divide the
+boar.&quot; &quot;That thou shalt not,&quot; cried another Ulster warrior of great
+stature. &quot;And who is this?&quot; said Ket. &quot;Owen Mór, King of Fermag,&quot; said
+the Ulstermen. &quot;I have seen him ere now,&quot; said Ket. &quot;I took a drove of
+cattle from him before his own house. He put a spear through my shield
+and I flung it back and it tore out one of his eyes, and one-eyed he is
+to this day.&quot; Then Owen Mór sat down.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have ye any more to contest the pig with me?&quot; then said Ket. &quot;Thou hast
+not won it yet,&quot; said Moonremar, son of Gerrkind, rising up. &quot;Is that
+Moonremar?&quot; said Ket, &quot;It is,&quot; they cried.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is but three days,&quot; said Ket, &quot;since I was the last man who won
+renown of thee. Three heads of thy fighting men did I carry off from Dún
+Moonremar, and one of the three was the head of thy eldest son.&quot;
+Moonremar then sat down.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Still the contest,&quot; said Ket, &quot;or I shall carve the boar.&quot; &quot;Contest
+thou shalt have,&quot; said Mend, son of Sword-heel. &quot;Who is this?&quot; said
+Ket. &quot;'Tis Mend,&quot; cried all the Ulstermen.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall the sons of fellows with nicknames come here to contend with me?&quot;
+cried Ket. &quot;I was the priest who christened thy father that name. 'Twas
+I who cut the heel off him, so that off he went with only one. What
+brings the son of that man to contend with me?&quot; Mend then sat down in
+his seat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come to the contest,&quot; said Ket, &quot;or I shall begin to carve.&quot; Then arose
+from the Ulstermen a huge grey and terrible warrior. &quot;Who is this?&quot;
+asked Ket. '&quot;Tis Keltcar, son of Uthecar,&quot; cried they all.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wait awhile, Keltcar,&quot; said Ket, &quot;do not pound me to pieces just yet.
+Once, O Keltcar, I made a foray on thee and came in front of Dún. All
+thy folk attacked me, and thou amongst them. In a narrow pass we fought,
+and thou didst fling a spear at me and I at thee, but my spear went
+through thy loins and thou hast never been the better of it since.&quot; Then
+Keltcar sat down in his seat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who else comes to the contest,&quot; cried Ket &quot;or shall I at last divide
+the pig?&quot; Up rose then the son of King Conor, named Cuscrid the
+Stammerer &quot;Whom have we here?&quot; said Ket. &quot;'Tis Cuscrid son of Conor,&quot;
+cried they all. &quot;He has the stuff of a king in him,&quot; said Ket. &quot;No
+thanks to thee for that,&quot; said the youth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, then,&quot; said Ket, &quot;thou madest thy first foray against us
+Connachtmen, and on the border of the Provinces we met thee. A third of
+thy people, thou didst leave behind thee, and came away with my spear
+through thy throat, so that thou canst not speak rightly ever since, for
+the sinews of thy throat were severed. And hence is Cuscrid the
+Stammerer thy byname ever since.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So thus Ket laid shame and defeat on the whole Province of Ulster, nor
+was there any other warrior in the hall found to contend with him.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL08"></a>
+<a href="./images/il76.jpg"><img src="images/il76_th.jpg" alt="A mighty shout of exultation arose from the Ulstermen" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;A mighty shout of exultation arose from the Ulstermen&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>Then Ket stood up triumphing, and took the knife in his hand and
+prepared to carve the boar when a noise and trampling were heard at the
+great door of the hall, and a mighty shout of exultation arose from the
+Ulstermen. When the press parted, Ket saw coming up the centre of the
+hall Conall of the Victories, and Conor the King dashed the helmet from
+his head and sprang up for joy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Glad we are,&quot; cried Conall, &quot;that all is ready for feast; and who is
+carving the boar for us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ket, son of Maga,&quot; replied they, &quot;for none could contest the place of
+honour with him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is that so, Ket?&quot; says Conall Cearnach.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Even so,&quot; replied Ket. &quot;And now welcome to thee, O Conall, thou of the
+iron heart and fiery blood; keen as the glitter of ice, ever-victorious
+chieftain; hail mighty son of Finnchoom!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Conall said, &quot;Hail to thee, Ket, flower of heroes, lord of chariots,
+a raging sea in battle; a strong, majestic bull; hail, son of Maga!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now,&quot; went on Conall, &quot;rise up from the boar and give me place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why so?&quot; replied Ket.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dost thou seek a contest from me?&quot; said Conall; &quot;verily thou shalt have
+it. By the gods of my nation I swear that since I first took weapons in
+my hand I have never passed one day that I did not slay a Connachtman,
+nor one night that I did not make a foray on them, nor have I ever slept
+but I had the head of a Connachtman under my knee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I confess,&quot; then, said Ket, &quot;that thou art a better man than I, and I
+yield thee the boar. But if Anluan my brother were here, he would match
+thee deed for deed, and sorrow and shame it is that he is not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Anluan is here,&quot; shouted Conall, and with that he drew from his girdle
+the head of Anluan and dashed it in the face of Ket.</p>
+
+<p>Then all sprang to their feet and a wild shouting and tumult arose, and
+the swords flew out of themselves, and battle raged in the hall of mac
+Datho. Soon the hosts burst out through the doors of the Dún and smote
+and slew each other in the open field, until the Connacht host were put
+to flight. The hound of mac Datho pursued them along with the Ulstermen,
+and it came up with the chariot in which King Ailill was driving, and
+seized the pole of the chariot, but the charioteer dealt it a blow that
+cut off its head. When Ailill drew rein they found the hound's head
+still clinging to the pole, whence that place is called Ibar Cinn Chon,
+or the Yew Tree of the Hound's Head.</p>
+
+<p>Now when Conor pursued hard upon King Ailill, Ferloga, the charioteer of
+Ailill, lighted down and hid himself in the heather; and as Conor drove
+past, Ferloga leaped up behind him in the chariot and gripped him by the
+throat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will thou have of me?&quot; said Conor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give over the pursuit,&quot; said Ferloga, &quot;and take me with thee to
+Emania,<a name='FNanchor_19_19'></a><a href='#Footnote_19_19'><sup>[19]</sup></a> and let the maidens of Emania so long as I am there sing a
+serenade before my dwelling every night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Granted,&quot; said Conor. So he took Ferloga with him to Emania, and at the
+end of a year sent him back to Connacht, escorting him as far as to
+Athlone; and Ferloga had from the King of Ulster two noble horses with
+golden bridles, but the serenade from the maidens of Ulster he did not
+get, though he got the horses instead. And thus ends the tale of the
+contention between Ulster and Connacht over the Carving of mac Datho's
+Boar.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a><h2>CHAPTER VI</h2><h2>The Vengeance of Mesgedra</h2>
+
+<p>Atharna the Bard, surnamed the Extortionate, was the chief poet and
+satirist of Ulster in the reign of Conor mac Nessa. Greed and arrogance
+were in his heart and poison on his tongue, and the kings and lords of
+whom he asked rewards for his poems dared not refuse him aught, partly
+because of the poisonous satires and lampoons which he would otherwise
+make upon them for their niggardliness, and partly for that in Ireland
+at that day it was deemed shameful to refuse to a bard whatsoever he
+might ask. Once it was said that he asked of a sub-king, namely Eochy
+mac Luchta, who was famed for hospitality and generosity, the single
+thing that Eochy would have been grieved to give, namely his eye, and
+Eochy had but one eye. But the King plucked it out by the roots and gave
+it to him; and Atharna went away disappointed, for he had looked that
+Eochy would ransom his eye at a great price.</p>
+
+<p>Now Conor mac Nessa, King of Ulster, and all the Ulster lords, having
+grown very powerful and haughty, became ill neighbours to all the other
+kingdoms in Ireland. On fertile Leinster above all they fixed their
+eyes, and sought for an opportunity to attack and plunder the province.
+Conor resolved at last to move Atharna to go to the King of Leinster, in
+the hope that he himself might be rid of Atharna, by the King of
+Leinster killing him for his insolence and his exactions, and that he
+might avenge the death of his bard by the invasion of Leinster.</p>
+
+<p>Atharna therefore set out for Leinster accompanied by his train of poets
+and harpers and gillies and arrived at the great Dún of Mesgedra the
+King, at Naas in Kildare. Here he dwelt for twelve months wasting the
+substance of the Leinstermen and in the end when he was minded to return
+to Ulster he went before the King Mesgedra and the lords of Leinster and
+demanded his poet's fee.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is thy demand, Atharna?&quot; asked Mesgedra.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So many cattle and so many sheep,&quot; answered Atharna, &quot;and store of gold
+and raiment, and of the fairest dames and maidens of Leinster
+forty-five, to grind at my querns in Dún Atharna.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It shall be granted thee,&quot; said the King. Then Atharna feared some
+mischief, for the King and the nobles of Leinster had not seemed like
+men on whom shameful conditions are laid, nor had they offered to ransom
+their women. Atharna therefore judged that the Leinstermen might fall
+upon him to recover their booty when he was once beyond the border, for
+within their own borders they might not affront a guest. He sent,
+therefore, a swift messenger to Conor mac Nessa, bidding him come with a
+strong escort as quickly as he might, to meet Atharna's band on the
+marches of Leinster, and convey him safely home.</p>
+
+<p>Atharna then departed from Naas with a great herd of sheep and cattle
+and other spoils, and with thrice fifteen of the noble women of
+Leinster. He went leisurely, meaning to strike the highroad to Emania
+from Dublin; but when he came thither the Liffey was swollen with rain,
+and the ford at Dublin might not be crossed. He caused, therefore, many
+great hurdles to be made, and these were set in the river, and over them
+a causeway of boughs was laid, so that his cattle and spoils came safely
+across. Hence is the town of that place called to this day in Gaelic the
+City of the Hurdle Ford.</p>
+
+<p>On the next day Conor and the Ulstermen met him, but a great force of
+the men of Leinster was also marching from Naas to the border, to
+recover their womenfolk, even as Atharna had expected. The Leinstermen
+then broke the battle on the company from Ulster, and defeated them,
+driving them with the cows of Atharna on to the sea cape of Ben Edar
+(Howth), but they recovered the women. On Ben Edar did King Conor with
+the remnant of his troop then fortify themselves, making a great fosse
+across the neck of land by which Ben Edar is joined to the mainland, and
+here they were besieged, with hard fighting by day and night, expecting
+that help should come to them from Ulster, whither they had sent
+messengers to tell of their distress.</p>
+
+<p>Now Conall of the Victories was left behind to rule in Emania when Conor
+set forth to Leinster, and he now, on hearing how the King was beset,
+assembled a great host and marched down to Ben Edar. Here he attacked
+the host of Leinster, and a great battle was fought, many being slain on
+both sides, and the King of Leinster, Mesgedra, lost his left hand in
+the fight. In the end the men of Leinster were routed, and fled, and
+Mesgedra drove in his chariot past the City of the Hurdle Ford and Naas
+to the fords of Liffey at Clane. Here there was a sacred oak tree where
+druid rites and worship were performed, and that oak tree was sanctuary,
+so that within its shadow, guarded by mighty spells, no man might be slain
+by his enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Now Conall Cearnach had followed hard on the track of Mesgedra, and when
+he found him beneath the oak, he drove his chariot round and round the
+circuit of the sanctuary, bidding Mesgedra come forth and do battle with
+him, or be counted a dastard among the kings of Erinn. But Mesgedra
+said, &quot;Is it the fashion of the champions of Ulster to challenge
+one-armed men to battle?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Conall let his charioteer bind one of his arms to his side, and
+again he taunted Mesgedra and bade him come forth.</p>
+
+<p>Mesgedra then drew sword, and between him and Conall there was a fierce
+fight until the Liffey was reddened with their blood. At last, by a
+chance blow of the sword of Mesgedra, the bonds of Conall's left arm
+were severed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On thy head be it,&quot; said Conall, &quot;if thou release me again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he caused his arm to be bound up once more, and again they met,
+sword to sword, and again in the fury of the fight Mesgedra cut the
+thongs that bound Conall's arm. &quot;The gods themselves have doomed thee,&quot;
+shouted Conall then, and he rushed upon Mesgedra and in no long time he
+wounded him to death.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take my head,&quot; said Mesgedra then, &quot;and add my glory to thy glory, but
+be well assured this wrong shall yet be avenged by me upon Ulster,&quot; and
+he died.</p>
+
+<p>Then Conall cut off the head of Mesgedra and put it in his chariot, and
+took also the chariot of Mesgedra and fared northwards. Ere long he met
+a chariot and fifty women accompanying it. In it was Buan the Queen,
+wife of Mesgedra, returning from a visit to Meath.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who art thou, woman?&quot; said Conall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Buan, wife of Mesgedra the King.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou art to come with me,&quot; then said Conall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who hath commanded this?&quot; said Buan.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mesgedra the King,&quot; said Conall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By what token dost thou lay these commands upon me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Behold his chariot and his horses,&quot; said Conall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He gives rich gifts to many a man,&quot; answered the Queen.</p>
+
+<p>Then Conall showed her the head of her husband.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is my token,&quot; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is enough,&quot; said Buan. &quot;But give me leave to bewail him ere I go
+into captivity.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Buan rose up in her chariot and raised for Mesgedra a keen of
+sorrow so loud and piercing that her heart broke with it, and she fell
+backwards on the road and died.</p>
+
+<p>Conall Cearnach then buried her there, and laid the head of her husband
+by her side; and the fair hazel tree that grew from her grave by the
+fords of Clane was called Coll Buana, or the Hazel Tree of Buan.</p>
+
+<p>But ere Conall buried the head of Mesgedra he caused the brain to be
+taken out and mixed with lime to make a bullet for a sling, for so it
+was customary to do when a great warrior had been killed; and the
+brain-balls thus made were accounted to be the deadliest of missiles.</p>
+
+<p>So when Leinster had been harried and plundered and its king and queen
+thus slain, the Ulstermen drew northward again, and the brain-ball was
+laid up in the Dún of King Conor at Emania.</p>
+
+<p>Years afterwards it happened that the Wolf of Connacht, namely Ket, son
+of Maga, came disguised within the borders of Ulster in search of prey,
+and he entered the palace precincts of Conor in Emania. There he saw two
+jesters of the King, who had gotten the brain-ball from the shelf where
+it lay, and were rolling it about the courtyard. Ket knew it for what it
+was, and put it out of sight of the jesters and took it away with him
+while they made search for it. Thenceforth Ket carried it ever about
+with him in his girdle, hoping that he might yet use it to destroy some
+great warrior among the Ulstermen.</p>
+
+<p>One day thereafter Ket made a foray on the men of Ross, and carried away
+a spoil of cattle. The host of Ulster and King Conor with them overtook
+him as he went homeward. The men of Connacht had also mustered to the
+help of Ket, and both sides made them ready for battle.</p>
+
+<p>Now a river, namely Brosna, ran between them, and on a hill at one side
+of this were assembled a number of the noble women of Connacht, who
+desired greatly to look on the far-famed Ultonian warriors, and above
+all on Conor the King, whose presence was said to be royal and stately
+beyond any man that was then living in Erinn. Among the bushes, close to
+the women, Ket hid himself, and lay still but watchful.</p>
+
+<p>Now Conor, seeing none but womenfolk close to him at this point, and
+being willing to show them his splendour, drew near to the bank on his
+side of the stream. Then Ket leaped up, whirling his sling, and the
+bullet hummed across the river and smote King Conor on the temple. And
+his men carried him off for dead, and the men of Connacht broke the
+battle on the Ulstermen, slaying many, and driving the rest of them back
+to their own place. This battle was thenceforth called the Battle of the
+Ford of the Sling-cast, or Athnurchar; and so the place is called to
+this day.</p>
+
+<p>When Conor was brought home to Emania his chief physician, Fingen, found
+the ball half buried in his temple. &quot;If the ball be taken out,&quot; said
+Fingen, &quot;he will die; if it remain he will live, but he will bear the
+blemish of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let him bear the blemish,&quot; said the Ulster lords, &quot;that is a small
+matter compared with the death of Conor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Fingen stitched the wound over with a thread of gold, for Conor had
+curling golden hair, and bade him keep himself from all violent
+movements and from all vehement passions, and not to ride on horseback,
+and he would do well.</p>
+
+<p>After that Conor lived for seven years, and he went not to war during
+that time, and all cause of passion was kept far from him. Then one day
+at broad noon the sky darkened, and the gloom of night seemed to spread
+over the world, and all the people feared, and looked for some calamity.
+Conor called to him his chief druid, namely Bacarach, and inquired of
+him as to the cause of the gloom.</p>
+
+<p>The druid then went with Conor into a sacred grove of oaks and performed
+the rites of divination, and in a trance he spoke to Conor, saying, &quot;I
+see a hill near a great city, and three high crosses on it. To one of
+them is nailed the form of a young man who is like unto one of the
+Immortals. Round him stand soldiers with tall spears, and a great crowd
+waiting to see him die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is he, then, a malefactor?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said the druid, &quot;but holiness, innocence, and truth have come to
+earth in him, and for this cause have the druids of his land doomed him
+to die, for his teaching was not as theirs. And the heavens are darkened
+for wrath and sorrow at the sight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Conor leaped up in a fury, crying, &quot;They shall not slay him, they
+shall not slay him! Would I were there with the host of Ulster, and thus
+would I scatter his foes&quot;; and with that he snatched his sword and began
+striking at the trees that stood thickly about him in the druid grove.
+Then with the heat of his passion the sling-ball burst from his head,
+and he fell to the ground and died.</p>
+
+<p>Thus was fulfilled the vengeance of Mesgedra upon Conor mac Nessa, King
+of Ulster.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VII</h2><h2>The Story of Etain and Midir</h2>
+
+<p>Once upon a time there was a High King of the Milesian race in Ireland
+named Eochy Airem, whose power and splendour were very great, and all
+the sub-Kings, namely, Conor of Ulster, and Mesgedra of Leinster, and
+Curoi of Munster, and Ailill and Maev of Connacht, were obedient to him.
+But he was without a wife; and for this reason the sub-Kings and Princes
+of Ireland would not come to his festivals at Tara, &quot;for,&quot; said they,
+&quot;there is no noble in Ireland who is a wifeless man, and a King is no
+king without a queen.&quot; And they would not bring their own wives to Tara
+without a queen there to welcome them, nor would they come themselves
+and leave their womenfolk at home.</p>
+
+<p>So Eochy bade search be made through all the boundaries of Ireland for a
+maiden meet to be wife of the High King. And in time his messengers came
+back and said that they had found in Ulster, by the Bay of Cichmany, the
+fairest and most accomplished maiden in Ireland, and her name was Etain,
+daughter of Etar, lord of the territory called Echrad. So Eochy, when he
+had heard their report, went forth to woo the maiden.</p>
+
+<p>When he drew near his journey's end he passed by a certain spring of
+pure water where it chanced that Etain and her maids had come down that
+she might wash her hair. She held in her hand a comb of silver inlaid
+with gold, and before her was a bason of silver chased with figures of
+birds, and around the rim of it red carbuncles were set. Her mantle was
+purple with a fringe of silver, and it was fastened with a broad golden
+brooch. She wore also a tunic of green silk, stiff with embroidery of gold
+that glittered in the sun. Her hair before she loosed it was done
+in two mighty tresses, yellow like the flower of the waterflag, each
+tress being plaited in four strands, and at the end of each strand a
+little golden ball. When she laid aside her mantle her arms came through
+the armholes of her tunic, white as the snow of a single night, and her
+cheeks were ruddy as the foxglove. Even and small were her teeth, as if
+a shower of pearls had fallen in her mouth. Her eyes were hyacinth-blue,
+her lips scarlet as the rowan-berry, her shoulders round and white, her
+fingers were long and her nails smooth and pink. Her feet also were
+slim, and white as sea-foam. The radiance of the moon was in her face,
+pride in her brows, the light of wooing in her eyes. Of her it was said
+that there was no beauty among women compared with Etain's beauty, no
+sweetness compared with the sweetness of Etain.</p>
+
+<p>When the King saw her his heart burned with love for her, and when he
+had speech with her he besought her to be his bride. And she consented
+to that, and said, &quot;Many have wooed me, O King, but I would none of
+them, for since I was a little child I have loved thee, for the high
+tales that I heard of thee and of thy glory.&quot; And Eochy said, &quot;Thine
+alone will I be if thou wilt have me.&quot; So the King paid a great
+bride-price for her, and bore her away to Tara, and there they were
+wedded, and all men welcomed and honoured the Queen. Nor had she dwelt
+long in Tara before the enchantment of her beauty and her grace had
+worked upon the hearts of all about her, so that the man to whom she
+spoke grew pale at the womanly sweetness of her voice, and felt himself
+a king for that day. All fair things and bright she loved, such as
+racing steeds and shining raiment, and the sight of Eochy's warriors
+with their silken banners and shields decorated with rich ornament in
+red and blue. And she would have all about her happy and joyous, and she
+gave freely of her treasure, and of her smiles and loving words, if she
+might see the light of joy on the faces of men, but from pain or sadness
+that might not be cured she would turn away. In one thing only was
+sadness endurable to her and that was in her music, for when she sang or
+touched the harp all hearts were pierced with longing for they knew not
+what, and all eyes shed tears save hers alone, who looked as though she
+beheld, far from earth, some land more fair than words of man can tell;
+and all the wonder of that land and all its immeasurable distance were
+in her song.</p>
+
+<p>Now Eochy the King had a brother whose name was Ailill Anglounach, or
+Ailill of the Single Stain, for one dark spot only was on his life, and
+it is of this that the story now shall tell. One day, when he had come
+from his own Dún to the yearly Assembly in the great Hall of Tara, he
+ate not at the banquet but gazed as it were at something afar off, and
+his wife said to him, &quot;Why dost thou gaze so, Ailill; so do men look who
+are smitten with love?&quot; Ailill was wroth with himself and turned his
+eyes away, but he said nothing, for that on which he gazed was the face
+of Etain.</p>
+
+<p>After that Assembly was over Ailill knew that the torment of love had
+seized him for his brother's wife, and he was sorely shamed and
+wrathful, and the secret strife in his mind between his honour and the
+fierce and pitiless love that possessed him brought him into a sore
+sickness. And he went home to his Dún in Tethba and there lay ill for a
+year. Then Eochy the King went to see him, and came near him and laid
+his hand on his breast, and Ailill heaved a bitter sigh. Eochy asked,
+&quot;Why art thou not better of this sickness, how goes it with thee now?&quot;
+&quot;By my word,&quot; said Ailill, &quot;no better, but worse each day and night.&quot;
+&quot;What ails thee, then?&quot; asked Eochy. Ailill said, &quot;Verily, I know not.&quot;
+Then Eochy bade summon his chief physician, who might discover the cause
+of his brother's malady, for Ailill was wasting to death.</p>
+
+<p>So Fachtna the chief physician came and he laid his hand upon Ailill,
+and Ailill sighed. Then Fachtna said, &quot;This is no bodily disease, but
+either Ailill suffers from the pangs of envy or from the torment of
+love.&quot; But Ailill was full of shame and he would not tell what ailed
+him, and Fachtna went away.</p>
+
+<p>After this the time came that Eochy the High King should make a royal
+progress throughout his realm of Ireland, but Etain he left behind at
+Tara. Before he departed he charged her saying, &quot;Do thou be gentle and
+kind to my brother Ailill while he lives, and should he die, let his
+burial mound be heaped over him, and a pillar stone set up above it, and
+his name written thereon in letters of Ogham.&quot; Then the King took leave
+of Ailill and looked to see him again on earth no more.</p>
+
+<p>After a while Etain bethought her and said, &quot;Let us go to see how it
+fares with Ailill.&quot; So she went to where he lay in his Dún at Tethba.
+And seeing him wasted and pale she was moved with pity and distress and
+said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What ails thee, young man? Long thou hast lain prostrate, in fair
+weather and in foul, thou who wert wont to be so swift and strong?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Ailill said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Truly, I have a cause for my suffering; and I cannot eat, nor listen to
+the music makers; my affliction is very sore.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then said Etain,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Though I am a woman I am wise in many a thing; tell me what ails thee
+and thy healing shall be done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Ailill replied,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blessing be with thee, O fair one; I am not worthy of thy speech; I am
+torn by the contention of body and of soul.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Etain deemed that she knew somewhat of his trouble, and she said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If thy heart is set on any of the white maidens that are my handmaids,
+tell me of it, and I shall court her for thee and she shall come to
+thee,&quot; and then Ailill cried out,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Love indeed, O Queen, hath brought me low. It is a plague nearer than
+the skin, it overwhelms my soul as an earthquake, it is farther than the
+height of the sky, and harder to win than the treasures of the Fairy
+Folk. If I contend with it, it is like a combat with a spectre; if I fly
+to the ends of the earth from it, it is there; if I seek to seize it, it
+is a passion for an echo. It is thou, O my love, who hast brought me to
+this, and thou alone canst heal me, or I shall never rise again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Etain went away and left him. But still in her palace in Tara she
+was haunted by his passion and his misery, and, though she loved him
+not, she could not endure his pain, nor the triumph of grim death over
+his youth and beauty. So at last she went to him again and said, &quot;If it
+lies with me, Ailill, to heal thee of thy sickness, I may not let thee
+die.&quot; And she made a tryst to meet him on the morrow at a house of Ailill's
+between Dún Tethba and Tara, &quot;but be it not at Tara,&quot; she said, &quot;for that
+is the palace of the High King.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>All that night Ailill lay awake with the thought of his tryst with
+Etain. But on the morrow morn a heaviness came upon his eyelids, and a
+druid sleep overcame him, and there all day he lay buried in slumbers
+from which none could wake him, until the time of his meeting with Etain
+was overpast.</p>
+
+<p>But Etain, when she had come to the place of the tryst, looked out, and
+behold, a youth having the appearance and the garb of Ailill was
+approaching from Tethba. He entered the bower where she was; but no
+lover did she there meet, but only a sick and sorrowful man who spake
+coldly to her and lamented the sufferings of his malady, and after a
+short time he went away.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Etain went to see Ailill and to hear how he did. And Ailill
+entreated her forgiveness that he had not kept his tryst, &quot;for,&quot; said
+he, &quot;a druid slumber descended upon me, and I lay as one dead from morn
+till eve. And morever,&quot; he added, &quot;it seems as if the strange passion
+that has befallen me were washed away in that slumber, for now, Etain, I
+love thee no more but as my Queen and my sister, and I am recovered as
+if from an evil dream.&quot; Then Etain knew that powers not of earth were
+mingling in her fate, and she pondered much of these things, and grew
+less lighthearted than of old. And when the King came back, he rejoiced
+to find his brother whole and sound and merry, as Ailill had ever been,
+and he praised Etain for her gentleness and care.</p>
+
+<p>Now after a time as Etain was by herself in her sunny bower she was
+aware of a man standing by her, whom she had never seen before. Young he
+was, and grey-eyed, with curling golden hair, and in his hand he bore
+two spears. His mantle was of crimson silk, his tunic of saffron, and a
+golden helmet was on his head. And as she gazed upon him, &quot;Etain,&quot; he
+said, &quot;the time is come for thee to return; we have missed thee and
+sorrowed for thee long enough in the Land of Youth.&quot; Etain said, &quot;Of
+what land dost thou speak?&quot; Then he chanted to her a song:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Come with me, Etain, O come away,<br />
+<span class="i2">To that oversea land of mine!</span>
+Where music haunts the happy day,<br />
+<span class="i2">And rivers run with wine;</span>
+Where folk are careless, and young, and gay,<br />
+<span class="i2">And none saith 'mine' or 'thine.'</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Golden curls on the proud young head,<br />
+<span class="i2">And pearls in the tender mouth;</span>
+Manhood, womanhood, white and red,<br />
+<span class="i2">And love that grows not loth</span>
+When all the world's desires are dead,<br />
+<span class="i2">And all the dreams of youth.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Away from the cloud of Adam's sin!<br />
+<span class="i2">Away from grief and care!</span>
+This flowery land thou dwellest in<br />
+<span class="i2">Seems rude to us, and bare;</span>
+For the naked strand of the Happy Land<br />
+<span class="i2">Is twenty times as fair.&quot;</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>When Etain heard this she stood motionless and as one that dreams awake,
+for it seemed to her as if she must follow that music whithersoever it
+went on earth or beyond the earth. But at last remembrance came upon her
+and she said to the stranger, &quot;Who art thou, that I, the High King's
+wife, should follow a nameless man and betray my troth?&quot; And he said,
+&quot;Thy troth was due to me before it was due to him, and, moreover, were
+it not for me thou hadst broken it already. I am Midir the Proud, a
+prince among the people of Dana, and thy husband, Etain. Thus it was,
+that when I took thee to wife in the Land of Youth, the jealousy of thy
+rival, Fuamnach, was awakened; and having decoyed me from home by a
+false report, she changed thee by magical arts into a butterfly and
+then contrived a mighty tempest that drove thee abroad. Seven years wast
+thou borne hither and thither on the blast till chance blew thee into
+the fairy palace of Angus my kinsman, by the waters of the Boyne. But
+Angus knew thee, for the Fairy Folk may not disguise themselves from
+each other, and he built for thee a magical sunny bower with open
+windows, through which thou mightest pass, and about it were all manner
+of blossoming herbs and shrubs, and on the odour and honey of these thou
+didst live and grow fair and well nourished. But in the end Fuamnach got
+tidings of thee, and again the druid tempest descended and blew thee
+forth for another seven years of wandering and woe. Then it chanced that
+thou wert blown through the roof-window of the Dún of Etar by the Bay of
+Cichmany, and fell into the goblet from which his wife was drinking, and
+thee she drank down with that draught of ale. And in due time thou wast
+born again in the guise of a mortal maid and daughter to Etar the
+Warrior. But thou art no mortal, nor of mortal kin, for it is one
+thousand and twelve years from the time when thou wast born in Fairy
+Land till Etar's wife bore thee as a child on earth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Etain was bewildered, and her mind ran back on many a
+half-forgotten thing and she gazed as into a gulf of visions, full of
+dim shapes, strange and glorious. And Midir as she looked at him again
+seemed transfigured, taller and mightier than before, and a light flame
+flickered from his helmet's crest and moved like wings about his
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>But at last she said, &quot;I know not what thou sayest if it be truth or
+not, but this I know, that I am the wife of the High King and I will not
+break my troth.&quot; &quot;It were broken already,&quot; said Midir, &quot;but for me, for
+I it was who laid a druidic sleep on Ailill, and it was I who came to
+thee in his shape that thy honour might not be stained.&quot; Etain said, &quot;I
+learned then that honour is more than life.&quot; &quot;But if Eochy the High King
+consent to let thee go,&quot; said Midir, &quot;wilt thou then come with me to my
+land and thine?&quot; &quot;In that case,&quot; said Etain &quot;I will go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And the time went by, and Etain abode in Tara, and the High King did
+justice and made war and held the great Assembly as he was used. But one
+day in summer Eochy arose very early to breathe the morning air, and he
+stood by himself leaning on the rampart of his great Dún, and looking
+over the flowery plain of Bregia. And as he thus gazed he was aware of a
+young warrior standing by his side. Grey-eyed the youth was, and
+golden-haired, and he was splendidly armed and apparelled as beseemed
+the lord of a great clan of the Gael. Eochy bade him welcome
+courteously, and asked him of the cause of his coming. &quot;I am come,&quot; he
+said, &quot;to play a game of chess with thee, O King, for thou art renowned
+for thy skill in that game, and to test that skill am I come. And my
+name is Midir, of the People of Dana, whom they have called The Proud.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Willingly,&quot; said the King; &quot;but I have here no chessboard, and mine is
+in the chamber where the Queen is sleeping.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is easily remedied,&quot; said Midir, and he drew from his cloak a
+folding chessboard whose squares were alternate gold and silver. From a
+men-bag made of brazen chainwork he drew out a set of men adorned with
+flashing jewels, and he set them in array.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not play,&quot; then said Eochy, &quot;unless we play for a stake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For what stake shall we play, then?&quot; said Midir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I care not,&quot; said Eochy; &quot;but do thou perform tasks for me if I win and
+I shall bestow of my treasures upon thee if I lose.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they played a game, and Eochy won. Then Eochy bade Midir clear the
+plains of Meath about Tara from rocks and stones, and Midir brought at
+night a great host of the Fairy Folk, and it was done. And again he
+played with Eochy, and again he lost, and this time he cut down the
+forest of Breg. The third time Midir lost again, and his task was to
+build a causeway across the moor of Lamrach. Now at night, while Midir
+and the fairy host were labouring at the causeway and their oxen drawing
+to it innumerable loads of earth and gravel, the steward of Eochy stole
+out and hid himself to watch them, for it was a prohibition to see them
+at work. And he observed that the fairy oxen were not harnessed with a
+thong across their foreheads, that the pull might be upon their brows
+and necks, as was the manner with the Gael, but with yokes upon their
+shoulders. This he reported to Eochy, who found it good; and he ordered
+that henceforth the children of the Gael should harness their
+plough-oxen with the yoke upon their shoulders; and so it was done from
+that day forth. Hence Eochy got his name of <i>Airem</i>, or &quot;The Ploughman,&quot;
+for he was the first of the Gael to put the yoke upon the shoulder of
+the ox.</p>
+
+<p>But it was said that because the Fairy Folk were watched as they made
+that noble causeway, there came a breach in it at one place which none
+could ever rightly mend.</p>
+
+<p>When all their works were accomplished, Midir came again to Eochy, and
+this time he bore a dark and fierce countenance and was high girt as for
+war. And the King welcomed him, and Midir said, &quot;Thou hast treated me
+hardly and put slavish tasks upon me. All that seemed good to thee have
+I done, but now I am moved with anger against thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I return not anger for anger,&quot; said Eochy; &quot;say what satisfaction I can
+make thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us once more play at chess,&quot; said Midir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said Eochy, &quot;and what stake wilt thou have now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The stake to be whatever the winner shall demand,&quot; said Midir.</p>
+
+<p>Then they played for the fourth time and Eochy lost.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou hast won the game,&quot; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I had won long ago had I chosen,&quot; said Midir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What dost thou demand of me?&quot; said Eochy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To hold Etain in my arms and obtain a kiss from her,&quot; replied Midir.</p>
+
+<p>The King was silent for a while and after that he said, &quot;Come back in
+one month from this day and the stake which I have lost shall be paid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But Eochy summoned together all the host of the heroes of the Gael, and
+they surrounded Tara, ring within ring; and the King himself and Etain
+were in the palace, with the outer court of it shut and locked. For they
+looked that Midir should come with a great host of the Danaan folk to
+carry off the Queen. And on the appointed day, as the kings sat at meat,
+Etain and her handmaids were dispensing the wine to them as was wont.
+Then suddenly as they feasted and talked, behold, Midir, stood in the
+midst of them. If he was fair and noble to look on as he had appeared
+before to the King and to Etain, he was fairer now, for the splendour of
+the Immortals clothed him, and his jewels flamed as he moved like eyes of
+living light. And all the kings and lords and champions who were present
+gazed on him in amazement and were silent, as the King arose and gave
+him welcome.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou hast received me as I expected to be received,&quot; said Midir, &quot;and
+now let thy debt be paid, since I for my part faithfully performed all
+that I undertook.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I must consider the matter yet longer,&quot; said Eochy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou hast promised Etain's very self to me,&quot; said Midir; &quot;that is what
+hath come from thee.&quot; And when she heard that word Etain blushed for
+shame.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blush not,&quot; said Midir, &quot;for all the treasures of the Land of Youth
+have not availed to win thee from Eochy, and it is not of thine own will
+that thou art won, but because the time is come to return to thy kin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then said Eochy, &quot;I have not promised Etain's self to thee, but to take
+her in thine arms and kiss her, and now do so if thou wilt.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL09"></a>
+<a href="./images/il100.jpg"><img src="images/il100_th.jpg" alt="They rose up in the air" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They rose up in the air&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>Then Midir took his weapons in his left hand and placed his right around
+Etain, and when he did so they rose up in the air over the heads of the
+host, and passed through a roof-window in the palace. Then all rose up,
+tumultuous and angry, and rushed out of doors, but nothing could they
+see save two white swans that circled high in air around the Hill of
+Tara, and then flew southwards and away towards the fairy mountain of
+Slievenamon. And thus Etain the immortal rejoined the Immortals; but a
+daughter of Etain and of Eochy, who was another Etain in name and in
+beauty, became in due time a wife, and mother of kings.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2><h2>How Ethne Quitted Fairyland</h2>
+
+<p>By the banks of the River Boyne, where rises the great Fairy Mound now
+called Newgrange, there stood long ago the shining Palace of a prince of
+the People of Dana, named Angus. Of him it is that the lines are
+written&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;By the dark rolling waters of the Boyne<br />
+Where Angus Óg magnificently dwells.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When the Milesian race invaded Ireland, and after long fighting subdued
+the Danaans in spite of all their enchantments and all their valour, the
+Danaans wrought for themselves certain charms by which they and all
+their possessions became invisible to mortals, and thus they continued
+to lead their old joyous life in the holy places of the land, and their
+palaces and dancing-places and folk-motes seem to the human eye to be
+merely a green mound or rath, or a lonely hillside, or a ruined shrine
+with nettles and foxgloves growing up among its broken masonry.</p>
+
+<p>Now, after Angus and his folk had thus retreated behind the veil of
+invisibility, it happened that the steward of his palace had a daughter
+born to him whose name was Ethne. On the same day Fand, the wife of
+Mananan the Sea God, bore him a daughter, and since Angus was a friend
+of Mananan and much beloved by him, the child of the Sea God was sent to
+Brugh na Boyna, the noble dwelling-place of Angus, to be fostered and
+brought up, as the custom was. And Ethne became the handmaid of the
+young princess of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>In time Ethne grew into a fair and stately maiden Now in the Brugh of
+Angus there were two magical treasures, namely, an ale-vat which could
+never be emptied, and two swine whereof one was ever roasted and ready
+to be eaten while the other lived, and thus they were, day and day
+about. There was therefore always a store of food of faery, charged with
+magical spells, by eating of which one could never grow old or die. It
+came to be noticed that after Ethne had grown up she never ate or drank
+of the fairy food, or of any other, yet she continued to seem healthy
+and well-nourished. This was reported to Angus, and by him to Mananan,
+and Mananan by his wisdom discovered the cause of it. One of the lords
+of the Danaans, happening to be on a visit with Angus, was rendered
+distraught by the maiden's beauty, and one day he laid hands upon her
+and strove to carry her away to his own dwelling. Ethne escaped from
+him, but the blaze of resentment at the insult that lit up in her soul
+consumed in her the fairy nature, that knows not of good or evil, and
+the nature of the children of Adam took its place. Thenceforth she ate
+not of the fairy food, which is prohibited to man, and she was nourished
+miraculously by the will of the One God. But after a time it chanced
+that Mananan and Angus brought from the Holy Land two cows whose milk
+could never run dry. In this milk there was nothing of the fairy spell,
+and Ethne lived upon it many long years, milking the cows herself, nor
+did her youth and beauty suffer any change.</p>
+
+<p>Now it happened that on one very hot day the daughter of Mananan went
+down to bathe in the waters of the Boyne, and Ethne and her other
+maidens along with her. After they had refreshed themselves in the cool,
+amber-coloured water, they arrayed themselves in their silken robes and
+trooped back to the Brugh again; but ere they entered it, they
+discovered that Ethne was not among them.</p>
+
+<p>So they went back, scattering themselves along the bank and searching in
+every quiet pool of the river and in every dark recess among the great
+trees that bordered it, for Ethne was dearly loved by all of them; but
+neither trace nor tidings of her could they find, and they went
+sorrowfully home without her, to tell the tale to Angus and to her
+father.</p>
+
+<p>What had befallen Ethne was this. In taking off her garments by the
+riverside she had mislaid her fairy charm, and was become as a mortal
+maid. Nothing could she now see of her companions, and all around was
+strange to her. The fairy track that had led to the riverside was
+overgrown with briars, the palace of Angus was but a wooded hill. She
+knew not where she was, and pierced with sudden terror she fled wildly
+away, seeking for the familiar places that she had known in the fairy
+life, but which were now behind the Veil. At length she came to a high
+wall wherein was a wicket gate, and through it she saw a garden full of
+sweet herbs and flowers, which surrounded a steep-roofed building of
+stone. In the garden she saw a man in a long brown robe tied about his
+waist with a cord. He smiled at her and beckoned her to come in without
+fear. He was a monk of the holy Patrick, and the house was a convent
+church.</p>
+
+<p>When the monk had heard her tale, he marvelled greatly and brought her
+to St Patrick himself, who instructed her in the Faith, and she believed
+and was baptized.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL10"></a>
+<a href="./images/il104.jpg"><img src="images/il104_th.jpg" alt="She heard her own name called again and again" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;She heard her own name called again and again&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>But not long thereafter, as she was praying in the church by the Boyne,
+the sky darkened and she heard a sound without like the rushing of a
+great wind, and mingled in it were cries and lamentations, and her own
+name called again and again in a multitude of voices, thin and faint as
+the crying of curlews upon the moor. She sprang up and gazed around,
+calling in return, but nothing could she see, and at last the storm of
+cries died away, and everything was still again around the church except
+the singing voice of Boyne and the humming of the garden bees.</p>
+
+<p>Then Ethne sank down swooning, and the monks bore her out into the air,
+and it was long until her heart beat and her eyes unclosed again. In
+that hour she fell into a sickness from which she never recovered. In no
+long time she died with her head upon the breast of the holy Patrick,
+and she was buried in the church where she had first been received by
+the monk; and the church was called Killethne, or the Church of Ethne,
+from that day forward until now.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='THE_HIGH_DEEDS_OF_FINN'></a><h2>THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN</h2>
+
+<a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a><h2>CHAPTER IX</h2><h2>The Boyhood of Finn Mac Cumhal</h2>
+
+<p>In Ireland long ago, centuries before the English appeared in that
+country, there were kings and chiefs, lawyers and merchants, men of the
+sword and men of the book, men who tilled their own ground and men who
+tilled the ground of others, just as there are now. But there was also,
+as ancient poets and historians tell us, a great company or brotherhood
+of men who were bound to no fixed calling, unless it was to fight for the
+High King of Ireland whenever foes threatened him from within the kingdom
+or without it. This company was called the Fianna of Erinn. They were
+mighty hunters and warriors, and though they had great possessions in
+land, and rich robes, and gold ornaments, and weapons wrought with
+beautiful chasing and with coloured enamels, they lived mostly a free
+out-door life in the light hunting-booths which they made in the woods
+where the deer and the wolf ranged. There were then vast forests in
+Ireland, which are all gone now, and there were also, as there still are,
+many great and beautiful lakes and rivers, swarming with fish and
+water-fowl. In the forests and on the mountain sides roamed the wild boar
+and the wolf, and great herds of deer, some of giant size, whose enormous
+antlers are sometimes found when bogs are being drained. The Fianna chased
+these and the wolves with great dogs, whose courage and strength and beauty
+were famous throughout Europe, and which they prized and loved above all
+things. To the present day in Ireland there still remain some of this breed
+of Irish hounds, but the giant deer and the wolf are gone, and the Fianna
+of Erinn live only in the ancient books that were written of them, and in
+the tales that are still told of them in the winter evenings by the Irish
+peasant's fireside.</p>
+
+<p>The Fianna were under the rule of one great captain or chief, and at the
+time I tell of his name was Cumhal, son of Trenmor. Now a tribe or
+family of the Fianna named the Clan Morna, or Sons of Morna, rose in
+rebellion against Cumhal, for they were jealous and greedy of his power
+and glory, and sought to have the captaincy for themselves. They
+defeated and slew him at the battle of Cnucha, which is now called
+Castleknock, near the City of the Hurdle Ford, which is the name that
+Dublin still bears in the Irish tongue. Goll, son of Morna, slew Cumhal,
+and they spoiled him of the Treasure Bag of the Fianna, which was a bag
+made of a crane's skin and having in it jewels of great price, and magic
+weapons, and strange things that had come down from far-off days when
+the Fairy Folk and mortal men battled for the lordship of Ireland. The
+Bag with its treasures was given to Lia, the chief of Luachar in
+Connacht, who had the keeping of it before, for he was the treasurer of
+Cumhal, and he was the first man who had wounded Cumhal in the battle
+when he fell.</p>
+
+<p>Cumhal's wife was named Murna, and she bore him two sons. The elder was
+named Tulcha, and he fled from the country for fear of Goll and took
+service with the King of Scotland. The younger was born after Cumhal's
+death, and his name was called Demna. And because his mother feared that
+the sons of Morna would find him out and kill him, she gave him to a
+Druidess and another wise woman of Cumhal's household, and bade them
+take him away and rear him as best they could. So they took him into the
+wild woods on the Slieve Bloom Mountains, and there they trained him to
+hunt and fish and to throw the spear, and he grew strong, and as
+beautiful as a child of the Fairy Folk. If he were in the same field
+with a hare he could run so that the hare could never leave the field,
+for Demna was always before it. He could run down and slay a stag with
+no dogs to help him, and he could kill a wild duck on the wing with a
+stone from his sling. And the Druidess taught him the learning of the
+time, and also the story of his race and nation, and told him of his
+right to be captain of the Fianna of Erinn when his day of destiny
+should come.</p>
+
+<p>One day, while still a boy, he was roaming through the woods when he
+came to the mansion of a great lord, where many boys, sons of the chief
+men of Ireland, were being trained in manly arts and exercises. He found
+them playing at hurling, and they invited him to join them. He did so,
+but the side he was on won too easily, so they divided again, and yet
+again, giving fewer and fewer to Demna's side, till at last he alone
+drove the ball to the goal through them all, flashing among them as a
+salmon among a shoal of minnows. And then their anger and jealousy rose
+and grew bitter against the stranger, and instead of honouring him as
+gallant lads of gentle blood should have done they fell upon him with
+their hurling clubs and sought to kill him. But Demna felled seven of
+them to the ground and put the rest to flight, and then went his way
+home. When the boys told what had happened the chief asked them who it
+was that had defeated and routed them single-handed. They said, &quot;It was
+a tall shapely lad, and very fair (_finn_).&quot; So the name of Finn, the
+Fair One, clung to him thenceforth, and by that name he is known to this
+day.</p>
+
+<p>By and by Finn gathered round him a band of youths who loved him for his
+strength and valour and for his generous heart, and with them he went
+hunting in the forests. And Goll, and the sons of Morna, who were now
+captains of the Fianna under the High King, began to hear tales of him
+and his exploits, and they sent trackers to inquire about him, for they
+had an inkling of who this wonderful fair-haired youth might be. Finn's
+foster mothers heard of this. &quot;You must leave this place,&quot; they said to
+him, &quot;and see our faces no more, for if Goll's men find you here they
+will slay you. We have cherished the blood of Cumhal,&quot; they said, &quot;and
+now our work is done. Go, and may blessing and victory go with you.&quot; So
+Finn departed with naught but his weapons and his hunting gear, very
+sorrowful at leaving the wise and loving friends who had fostered his
+childhood; but deep in his heart was a wild and fierce delight at the
+thought of the trackless ways he would travel, and the wonders he would
+see; and all the future looked to him as beautiful and dim as the mists
+that fill a mountain glen under the morning sun.</p>
+
+<p>Now after the death of Cumhal, his brother Crimmal and a few others of
+the aged warriors of the Fianna, who had not fallen in the fight at
+Cnucha, fled away into Connacht, and lived there in the deepest recesses
+of a great forest, where they hoped the conquerors might never find
+them. Here they built themselves a poor dwelling of tree branches,
+plastered with mud and roofed with reeds from the lake, and here they
+lived on what game they could kill or snare in the wild wood; and harder
+and harder it grew, as age and feebleness crept on them, to find enough
+to eat, or to hew wood for their fire. In this retreat, never having
+seen the friendly face of man, they were one day startled to hear voices
+and the baying of hounds approaching them through the wood, and they
+thought that the sons of Morna were upon them at last, and that their
+hour of doom was at hand. Soon they perceived a company of youths coming
+towards their hut, with one in front who seemed to be their leader.
+Taller he was by a head than the rest, broad shouldered, and with masses
+of bright hair clustering round his forehead, and he carried in his hand
+a large bag made of some delicate skin and stained in patterns of red
+and blue. The old men thought when they saw him of a saying there was
+about the mighty Lugh, who was brother to the wife of Cumhal, that when
+he came among his army as they mustered for battle, men felt as though
+they beheld the rising of the sun. As they came near, the young men
+halted and looked upon the elders with pity, for their clothing of skins
+was ragged and the weapons they strove to hold were rusted and blunt,
+and except for their proud bearing and the fire in their old eyes they
+looked more like aged and worthless slaves in the household of a
+niggardly lord than men who had once been the flower of the fighting men
+of Erinn.</p>
+
+<p>But the tall youth stepped in front of his band and cried aloud&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Which of ye is Crimmal, son of Trenmor?&quot; And one of the elders said, &quot;I
+am Crimmal.&quot; Then tears filled the eyes of the youth, and he knelt down
+before the old man and put his hands in his.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My lord and chief,&quot; he said, &quot;I am Finn, son of Cumhal, and the day of
+deliverance is come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL11"></a>
+<a href="./images/il110.jpg"><img src="images/il110_th.jpg" alt="And that night there was feasting and joy in the lonely hut" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;And that night there was feasting and joy in the lonely hut&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>So the youths brought in the spoils of their hunting, and yet other
+spoils than these; and that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut. And Crimmal said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was foretold to us that one day the blood of Cumhal should be
+avenged, and the race of Cumhal should rule the Fianna again. This was
+the sign that the coming champion should give of his birth and destiny;
+he was to bear with him the Treasure Bag of Cumhal and the sacred things
+that were therein.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Finn said, &quot;Ye know the Bag and its treasures, tell us if these be
+they.&quot; And he laid his skin bag on the knees of Crimmal.</p>
+
+<p>Crimmal opened it, and he took out the jewels of sovranty the magic
+spear-head made by the smiths of the Fairy Folk, and he said, &quot;These be
+the treasures of Cumhal; truly the ripeness of the time is come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Finn then told the story of how he had won these things.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But yesterday morning,&quot; he said, &quot;we met on our way a woman of noble
+aspect, and she knelt over the body of a slain youth. When she lifted
+her head as we drew near, tears of blood ran down her cheeks, and she
+cried to me, 'Whoever thou art, I bind thee by the bonds of the sacred
+ordinances of the Gael that thou avenge my wrong. This was my son
+Glonda,' she said, 'my only son, and he was slain to-day wantonly by the
+Lord of Luachar and his men.' So we went, my company and I, to the Dún
+of the Lord of Luachar, and found an earthen rampart with a fosse before
+it, and on the top of the rampart was a fence of oaken posts interlaced
+with wattles, and over this we saw the many-coloured thatch of a great
+dwelling-house, and its white walls painted with bright colours under
+the broad eaves. So I stood forth and called to the Lord of Luachar and
+bade him make ready to pay an eric to the mother of Glonda, whatsoever
+she should demand. But he laughed at us and cursed us and bade us
+begone. Then we withdrew into the forest, but returned with a great pile
+of dry brushwood, and while some of us shot stones and arrows at whoever
+should appear above the palisade, others rushed up with bundles of
+brushwood and laid it against the palisade and set it on fire, and the
+Immortal Ones sent a blast of wind that set the brushwood and palisade
+quickly in a blaze, and through that fiery gap we charged in shouting.
+And half of the men of Luachar we killed and the rest fled, and the Lord
+of Luachar I slew in the doorway of his palace. We took a great spoil
+then, O Crimmal&mdash;these vessels of bronze and silver, and spears and
+bows, smoked bacon and skins of Greek wine; and in a great chest of
+yewwood we found this bag. All these things shall now remain with you,
+and my company shall also remain to hunt for you and protect you, for ye
+shall know want and fear no longer while ye live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Finn said, &quot;I would fain know if my mother Murna still lives, or if
+she died by the sons of Morna.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Crimmal said, &quot;After thy father's death, Finn, she was wedded to Gleor,
+Lord of Lamrigh, in the south, and she still lives in honour with him,
+and the sons of Morna have let her be. Didst thou never see her since
+she gave thee, an infant, to the wise women on the day of Cnucha?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I remember,&quot; said Finn, &quot;when I was, as they tell me, but six years
+old, there came one day to our shieling in the woods of Slieve Bloom a
+chariot with bronze-shod wheels and a bronze wolf's head at the end of
+the pole, and two horsemen riding with it, besides him who drove. A lady
+was in it, with a gold frontlet on her brow and her cloak was fastened
+with a broad golden brooch. She came into our hut and spoke long with my
+foster-mothers, and me she clasped in her arms and kissed many times,
+and I felt her tears on my face. And they told me afterwards that this
+was Murna of the White Neck, and my mother. If she have suffered no harm
+at the hands of the sons of Morna, so much the less is the debt that
+they shall one day pay.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now it is to be told what happened to Finn at the house of Finegas the
+Bard. Finn did not deem that the time had come for him to seize the
+captaincy of the Fianna until he had perfected himself in wisdom and
+learning. So on leaving the shelter of the old men in the wood he went
+to learn wisdom and the art of poetry from Finegas, who dwelt by the
+River Boyne, near to where is now the village of Slane. It was a belief
+among the poets of Ireland that the place of the revealing of poetry is
+always by the margin of water. But Finegas had another reason for the
+place where he made his dwelling, for there was an old prophecy that
+whoever should first eat of the Salmon of Knowledge that lived in the
+River Boyne, should become the wisest of men. Now this salmon was called
+Finntan in ancient times and was one of the Immortals, and he might be
+eaten and yet live. But in the time of Finegas he was called the Salmon
+of the Pool of Fec, which is the place where the fair river broadens out
+into a great still pool, with green banks softly sloping upward from the
+clear brown water. Seven years was Finegas watching the pool, but not
+until after Finn had come to be his disciple was the salmon caught. Then
+Finegas gave it to Finn to cook, and bade him eat none of it. But when
+Finegas saw him coming with the fish, he knew that something had chanced
+to the lad, for he had been used to have the eye of a young man but now
+he had the eye of a sage. Finegas said, &quot;Hast thou eaten of the salmon?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said Finn, &quot;but it burnt me as I turned it upon the spit and I
+put my thumb in my mouth&quot; And Finegas smote his hands together and was
+silent for a while. Then he said to the lad who stood by obediently,
+&quot;Take the salmon and eat it, Finn, son of Cumhal, for to thee the
+prophecy is come. And now go hence, for I can teach thee no more, and
+blessing and victory be thine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With Finegas, Finn learned the three things that make a poet, and they
+are Fire of Song, and Light of Knowledge, and the Art of Extempore
+Recitation. Before he departed he made this lay to prove his art, and it
+is called &quot;The Song of Finn in Praise of May&quot;:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>May Day! delightful day!<br />
+<span class="i2">Bright colours play the vales along.</span>
+Now wakes at morning's slender ray,<br />
+<span class="i2">Wild and gay, the blackbird's song.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Now comes the bird of dusty hue,<br />
+<span class="i2">The loud cuckoo, the summer-lover;</span>
+Branching trees are thick with leaves;<br />
+<span class="i2">The bitter, evil time is over.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Swift horses gather nigh<br />
+<span class="i2">Where half dry the river goes;</span>
+Tufted heather crowns the height;<br />
+<span class="i2">Weak and white the bogdown blows.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Corncrake sings from eve till morn,<br />
+<span class="i2">Deep in corn, a strenuous bard!</span>
+Sings the virgin waterfall,<br />
+<span class="i2">White and tall, her one sweet word.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Loaded bees of little power<br />
+<span class="i2">Goodly flower-harvest win;</span>
+Cattle roam with muddy flanks;<br />
+<span class="i2">Busy ants go out and in.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Through, the wild harp of the wood<br />
+<span class="i2">Making music roars the gale&mdash;</span>
+Now it slumbers without motion,<br />
+<span class="i2">On the ocean sleeps the sail.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Men grow mighty in the May,<br />
+<span class="i2">Proud and gay the maidens grow;</span>
+Fair is every wooded height;<br />
+<span class="i2">Fair and bright the plain below.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>A bright shaft has smit the streams,<br />
+<span class="i2">With gold gleams the water-flag;</span>
+Leaps the fish, and on the hills<br />
+<span class="i2">Ardour thrills the flying stag.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Carols loud the lark on high,<br />
+<span class="i2">Small and shy, his tireless lay,</span>
+Singing in wildest, merriest mood<br />
+<span class="i2">Of delicate-hued, delightful May.<a name='FNanchor_20_20'></a><a href='#Footnote_20_20'><sup>[20]</sup></a>
+</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<a name='CHAPTER_X'></a><h2>CHAPTER X</h2><h2>The Coming of Finn</h2>
+
+<p>And now we tell how Finn came to the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn.</p>
+
+<p>At this time Ireland was ruled by one of the mightiest of her native
+kings, Conn, son of Felimy, who was surnamed Conn of the Hundred
+Battles. And Conn sat in his great banqueting hall at Tara, while the
+yearly Assembly of the lords and princes of the Gael went forward,
+during which it was the inviolable law that no quarrel should be raised
+and no weapon drawn, so that every man who had a right to come to that
+Assembly might come there and sit next his deadliest foe in peace. Below
+him sat at meat the provincial kings and the chiefs of clans, and the
+High King's officers and fighting-men of the Fianna, with Goll and the
+sons of Morna at their head. And there, too, sat modestly a strange youth,
+tall and fair, whom no one had seen in that place before. Conn marked him
+with the eye of a king that is accustomed to mark men, and by and by he
+sent him a horn full of wine from his own table and bade the youth declare
+his name and lineage. &quot;I am Finn, son of Cumhal,&quot; said the youth, standing
+among them, tall as a warriors spear, and a start and a low murmur ran
+through the Assembly while the captains of the Fianna stared upon him like
+men who see a vision of the dead. &quot;What seek you here?&quot; said Conn, and Finn
+replied, &quot;To be your man, O King, and to do you service in war as my
+father did.&quot; &quot;It is well,&quot; said the King. &quot;Thou art a friend's son and
+the son of man of trust.&quot; So Finn put his hand in the Kind's and swore
+fealty and service to him, and Conn set him beside his own son Art, and
+all fell to talking again and wondering what new things that day would
+bring forth, and the feasting went merrily forward.</p>
+
+<p>Now at this time the people of the royal burg of Tara were sorely
+afflicted by a goblin of the Fairy Folk, who was wont to approach the
+place at night-fall, there to work what harm to man, or beast, or
+dwelling that he found in his evil mind to do. And he could not be
+resisted, for as he came he played on a magic harp a strain so keen and
+sweet, that each man who heard it must needs stand entranced and
+motionless until the fairy music had passed away. The King proclaimed a
+mighty reward to any man who would save Tara from the goblin, and Finn
+thought in his heart, &quot;I am the man to do that.&quot; So he said to the King,
+&quot;Shall I have my rightful heritage as captain of the Fianna of Erin if I
+slay the goblin?&quot; Conn said, &quot;I promise thee that,&quot; and he bound himself
+by the sureties of all the provincial Kings of Ireland and of the Druid
+Kithro and his magicians.</p>
+
+<p>Now there was among the following of Conn a man named Fiacha, who had
+been as a youth a trusty friend and follower of Cumhal. He came to Finn
+and brought with him a spear having a head of dark bronze with
+glittering edges, and fastened with thirty rivets of Arabian gold, and
+the spear-head was laced up within a leathern case. &quot;By this weapon of
+enchantment,&quot; said Fiacha, &quot;you shall overcome the enchanter,&quot; and he
+taught Finn what to do with it when the hour of need should come.</p>
+
+<p><a name="PAGE118"></a>So Finn took the spear, and left the strings of the case loose, and he
+paced with it towards night-fall around the ramparts of royal Tara. And
+when he had once made the circuit of the rampart, and the light had now
+almost quite faded from the summer sky, and the wide low plains around
+the Hill of Tara were a sea of white mist, he heard far off in the
+deepening gloom the first notes of the fairy harp. Never such music was
+made by mortal hand, for it had in it sorrows that man has never felt,
+and joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as if a man listening
+to that music might burst from time into eternity and be as one of the
+Immortals for evermore. And Finn listened, amazed and rapt, till at last
+as the triumphant melody grew nearer and louder he saw dimly a Shadow
+Shape playing as it were on a harp, and coming swiftly towards him. Then
+with a mighty effort he roused himself from dreams, and tore the cover
+from the spear-head and laid the metal to his brow. And the demoniac
+energy that had been beaten into the blade by the hammers of unearthly
+craftsmen in ancient days thrilled through him and made him
+fighting-mad, and he rushed forward shouting his battle-cry, and
+swinging the spear aloft. But the Shadow turned and fled before him, and
+Finn chased it northward to the Fairy Mound of Slieve Fuad, and there he
+drove the spear through its back. And what it was that fell there in the
+night, and what it was that passed like the shadow of a shadow into the
+Fairy Mound, none can tell, but Finn bore back with him next day a pale,
+sorrowful head on the point of Fiacha's spear, and the goblin troubled
+the folk of royal Tara no more.</p>
+
+<p>But Conn of the Hundred Battles called the Fianna together, and he set
+Finn at his right hand and said, &quot;Here is your Captain by birth-right
+and by sword-right. Let who will now obey him hence-forward, and who
+will not, let him go in peace and serve Arthur of Britain or Arist of
+Alba, or whatsoever King he will.&quot; And Goll, son of Morna, said, &quot;For my
+part I will be Finn's man under thee, O King,&quot; and he swore obedience
+and loyalty to Finn before them all. Nor was it hard for any man to step
+where Goll had gone before, so they all took their oaths of Fian service
+to Finn mac Cumhal. And thus it was that Finn came to the captaincy of
+the Fianna of Erinn, and he ruled the Fianna many a year till he died in
+battle with the Clan Urgrenn at Brea upon the Boyne.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XI</h2><h2>Finn's Chief Men</h2>
+
+ <p>With the coming of Finn did the Fianna of Erinn come to their glory, and
+with his life their glory passed away. For he ruled them as no other
+captain ever did, both strongly and wisely, and never bore a grudge
+against any, but freely forgave a man all offences save disloyalty to
+his lord. Thus it is told that Conan, son of the Lord of Luachar, him
+who had the Treasure Bag and whom Finn slew at Rath Luachar, was for
+seven years an outlaw and marauder, harrying the Fians, and killing here
+a man and there a hound, and firing their dwellings, and raiding their
+cattle. At last they ran him to a corner at Cam Lewy in Munster, and
+when he saw that he could escape no more he stole upon Finn as he sat
+down after a chase, and flung his arms round him from behind, holding
+him fast and motionless. Finn knew who held him thus and said, &quot;What
+wilt thou Conan?&quot; Conan said, &quot;To make a covenant of service and fealty
+with thee, for I may no longer evade thy wrath.&quot; So Finn laughed and
+said, &quot;Be it so, Conan, and if thou prove faithful and valiant, I also
+will keep faith.&quot; And Conan served him for thirty years, and no man of
+all the Fianna was keener and hardier in fight. There was also another
+Conan, namely, mac Morna, who was big and bald, and unwieldy in manly
+exercises, but whose tongue was bitter and scurrilous; no high brave
+thing was done that Conan the Bald did not mock and belittle. It is said
+that when he was stripped he showed down his back and buttocks a black
+sheep's fleece instead of a man's skin, and this is the way it came
+about. One day when Conan and certain others of the Fianna were hunting
+in the forest they came to a stately Dún, white-walled, with coloured
+thatching on the roof, and they entered it to seek hospitality. But when
+they were within they found! no man, but a great empty hall with pillars
+of cedar wood and silken hangings about it, like the hall of a wealthy
+lord. In the midst there was a table set forth with a sumptuous feast of
+boar's flesh and venison, and a great vat of yew wood full of red wine,
+and cups of gold and silver. So they set themselves gaily to eat and
+drink, for they were hungry from the chase, and talk and laughter were
+loud around the board. But one of them ere long started to his feet with
+a cry of fear and wonder, and they all looked round, and saw before
+their eyes the tapestried walls changing to rough wooden balks and the
+ceiling to foul sooty thatch like that of a herdsman's hut. So they knew
+they were being entrapped by some enchantment of the Fairy Folk, and all
+sprang to their feet and made for the doorway, that was no longer high
+and stately but was shrinking to the size of a fox earth,&mdash;all but Conan
+the Bald, who was gluttonously devouring the good things on the table,
+and heeded nothing else. Then they shouted to him, and as the last of
+them went out he strove to rise and follow, but found himself limed to
+the chair so that he could not stir. So two of the Fianna, seeing his
+plight, rushed back and seized his arms and tugged with all their might,
+and if they dragged him away, they left the most part of his raiment and
+his skin sticking to the chair. Then, not knowing what else to do with
+him in his sore plight they clapped upon his back the nearest thing they
+could find, which was the skin of a black sheep that they took from a
+peasant's flock hard by, and it grew there, and Conan wore it till his
+death.</p>
+
+<p>Though Conan was a coward and rarely adventured himself in battle with
+the Fianna, it is told that once a good man fell by his hand. This was
+on the day of the great battle with the pirate horde on the Hill of
+Slaughter in Kerry.<a name='FNanchor_21_21'></a><a href='#Footnote_21_21'><sup>[21]</sup></a> For Liagan, one of the invaders, stood out
+before the hosts and challenged the bravest of the Fians to single
+combat, and the Fians, in mockery, thrust Conan forth to the fight. When
+he appeared, Liagan laughed, for he had more strength than wit, and he
+said, &quot;Silly is thy visit, thou bald old man.&quot; And as Conan still
+approached, Liagan lifted his hand fiercely, and Conan said, &quot;Truly thou
+art in more peril from the man behind than from the man in front.&quot;
+Liagan looked round; and in that instant Conan swept off his head and
+then threw down his sword and ran for shelter to the ranks of the
+laughing Fians. But Finn was very wroth because he had won the victory
+by a trick.</p>
+
+<p>And one of the chiefest of the friends of Finn was Dermot of the Love
+Spot. He was so fair and noble to look on that no woman could refuse him
+love, and it was said that he never knew weariness, but his step was as
+light at the end of the longest day of battle or the chase as it was at
+the beginning. Between him and Finn there was great love until the day
+when Finn, then an old man, was to wed Grania, daughter of Cormac the
+High King; but Grania bound Dermot by the sacred ordinances of the Fian
+chivalry to fly with her on her wedding night, which thing, sorely
+against his will, he did, and thereby got his death. But Grania went
+back to Finn, and when the Fianna saw her they laughed through all the
+camp in bitter mockery, for they would not have given one of the dead
+man's fingers for twenty such as Grania.</p>
+
+<p>Others of the chief men that Finn had were Keelta mac Ronan, who was one
+of his house-stewards and a strong warrior as well as a golden-tongued
+reciter of tales and poems. And there was Oisín, the son of Finn, the
+greatest poet of the Gael, of whom more shall be told hereafter. And
+Oisín had a son Oscar, who was the fiercest fighter in battle among all
+the Fians. He slew in his maiden battle three kings, and in his fury he
+also slew by mischance his own friend and condisciple Linne. His wife
+was the fair Aideen, who died of grief after Oscar's death in the battle
+of Gowra, and Oisín buried her on Ben Edar (Howth), and raised over her
+the great cromlech which is there to this day.</p>
+
+<p>Another good man that Finn had was Geena, the son of Luga; his mother
+was the warrior-daughter of Finn, and his father was a near kinsman of
+hers. He was nurtured by a woman that bore the name of Fair Mane, who
+had brought up many of the Fianna to manhood. When his time to take arms
+was come he stood before Finn and made his covenant of fealty, and Finn
+gave him the captaincy of a band. But mac Luga proved slothful and
+selfish, for ever vaunting himself and his weapon-skill and never
+training his men to the chase of deer or boar, and he used to beat his
+hounds and his serving-men. At last the Fians under him came with their
+whole company to Finn at Loch Lena in Killarney, and there they laid
+their complaint against mac Luga, and said, &quot;Choose now, O Finn, whether
+you will have us, or the son of Luga by himself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Finn sent to mac Luga and questioned him, but mac Luga could say
+nothing to the point as to why the Fianna would none of him. Then Finn
+taught him the things befitting a youth of noble birth and a captain of
+men, and they were these:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Son of Luga, if armed service be thy design, in a great man's household
+be quiet, be surly in the narrow pass.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Without a fault of his beat not thy hound; until thou ascertain her
+guilt, bring not a charge against thy wife.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In battle, meddle not with a buffoon, for, O mac Luga, he is but a
+fool.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Censure not any if he be of grave repute; stand not up to take part in
+a brawl; have nought to do with a madman or a wicked one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Two-thirds of thy gentleness be shown to women and to those that creep
+on the floor (little children) and to poets, and be not violent to the
+common people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Utter not swaggering speech, nor say thou wilt not yield what is right;
+it is a shameful thing to speak too stiffly unless that it be feasible
+to carry out thy words.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So long as thou shalt live, thy lord forsake not; neither for gold nor
+for other reward in the world abandon one whom thou art pledged to
+protect.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To a chief do not abuse his people, for that is no work for a
+gentleman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be no talebearer, nor utterer of falsehoods; be not talkative nor
+rashly censorious. Stir not up strife against thee, however good a man
+thou be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be no frequenter of the drinking-house, nor given to carping at the
+old; meddle not with a man of mean estate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dispense thy meat freely, have no niggard for thy familiar.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Force not thyself upon a chief, nor give him cause to speak ill of
+thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Stick to thy gear, hold fast to thy arms till the stern fight with its
+weapon-glitter be well ended.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be more apt to give than to deny, and follow after gentleness, O son of
+Luga.&quot;<a name='FNanchor_22_22'></a><a href='#Footnote_22_22'><sup>[22]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>And the son of Luga, it is written, heeded these counsels and gave up
+his bad ways, and he became one of the best of Finn's men.</p>
+
+<p>Such-like things also Finn taught to all his followers, and the best of
+them became like himself in valour and gentleness and generosity. Each
+of them loved the repute of his comrades more than his own, and each
+would say that for all noble qualities there was no man in the breadth
+of the world worthy to be thought of beside Finn.</p>
+
+<p>It was said of him that &quot;he gave away gold as if it were the leaves of
+the woodland, and silver as if it were the foam of the sea,&quot; and that
+whatever he had bestowed upon any man, if he fell out with him
+afterwards, he was never known to bring it against him.</p>
+
+<p>Sang the poet Oisín of him once to St Patrick:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;These are the things that were dear to Finn&mdash;<br />
+The din of battle, the banquet's glee,<br />
+The bay of his hounds through the rough glen ringing.<br />
+And the blackbird singing in Letter Lee,</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The shingle grinding along the shore<br />
+When they dragged his war-boats down to sea,<br />
+The dawn-wind whistling his spears among,<br />
+And the magic song of his minstrels three.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In the time of Finn no one was ever admitted to be one of the Fianna of
+Erinn unless he could pass through many severe tests of his worthiness.
+He must be versed in the Twelve Books of Poetry and must himself be
+skilled to make verse in the rime and metre of the masters of Gaelic
+poesy. Then he was buried to his middle in the earth, and must, with a
+shield and a hazel stick, there defend himself against nine warriors
+casting spears at him, and if he were wounded he was not accepted. Then
+his hair was woven into braids and he was chased through the forest by
+the Fians. If he were overtaken, or if a braid of his hair were
+disturbed, or if a dry stick cracked under his foot, he was not
+accepted. He must be able to leap over a lath level with his brow and to
+run at full speed under level with his knee, and he must be able while
+running to draw out a thorn from his foot and never slacken speed. He
+must take no dowry with a wife.</p>
+
+<p>It was said that one of the Fians, namely Keelta, lived on to a great
+age, and saw St Patrick, by whom he was baptized into the faith of the
+Christ, and to whom he told many tales of Finn and his men, which
+Patrick's scribe wrote down. And once Patrick asked him how it was that
+the Fianna became so mighty and so glorious that all Ireland sang of
+their deeds, as Ireland has done ever since. Keelta answered, &quot;Truth was
+in our hearts and strength in our arms, and what we said, that we
+fulfilled.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This was also told of Keelta after he had seen St Patrick and received
+the Faith. He chanced to be one day by Leyney in Connacht, where the
+Fairy Folk of the Mound of Duma were wont to be sorely harassed and
+spoiled every year by pirates from oversea. They called Keelta to their
+aid, and by his counsel and valour the invaders were overcome and driven
+home, but Keelta was sorely wounded. Then Keelta asked that Owen the
+seer of the Fairy Folk might foretell him how long he had to live, for
+he was already a very aged man. Owen said, &quot;It will be seventeen years,
+O Keelta of fair fame, till thou fall by the pool of Tara, and grievous
+that will be to all the King's household.&quot; &quot;Even so did my chief and
+lord, my guardian and loving Protector, Finn, foretell to me,&quot; said
+Keelta. &quot;And now what fee will ye give me for my rescue of you from the
+worst affliction that ever befell you?&quot; &quot;A great reward,&quot; said the Fairy
+Folk, &quot;even youth; for by our art we shall change you into young man again
+with all the strength and activity of your prime.&quot; &quot;Nay, God forbid,&quot; said
+Keelta &quot;that I should take upon me a shape of sorcery, or any other than
+that which my Maker, the true and glorious God, hath bestowed upon me.&quot;
+And the Fairy Folk said, &quot;It is the word of a true warrior and hero, and
+the thing that thou sayest is good.&quot; So they healed his wounds, and every
+bodily evil that he had, and he wished them blessing and victory, and went
+his way.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XII</h2><h2>The Tale of Vivionn the Giantess</h2>
+
+<p>One day Finn and Goll, Keelta and Oscar, and others of the Fianna, were
+resting after the hunt on a certain hill now called the Ridge of the
+Dead Woman, and their meal was being got ready, when a girl of the kin
+of the giants came striding up and sat down among them. &quot;Didst thou ever
+see a woman so tall?&quot; asked Finn of Goll. &quot;By my troth,&quot; said Goll,
+&quot;never have I or any other seen a woman so big.&quot; She took her hand out
+of her bosom and on her long slender fingers there were three gold rings
+each as thick as an ox's yoke. &quot;Let us question her,&quot; said Goll, and
+Finn said, &quot;If we stood up, perchance she might hear us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they all rose to their feet, but the giantess, on that, rose up too.
+&quot;Maiden,&quot; said Finn, &quot;if thou have aught to say to us or to hear from
+us, sit down and lean thine elbow on the hill-side.&quot; So she lay down and
+Finn bade her say whence she came and what was her will with them. &quot;Out
+of the World Oversea where the sun sets am I come,&quot; she said, &quot;to seek
+thy protection, O mighty Finn.&quot; &quot;And what is thy name?&quot; &quot;My name is
+Vivionn of the Fair Hair, and my father Treon is called King of the Land
+of Lasses, for he has but three sons and nine and seven score daughters,
+and near him is a King who hath one daughter and eight score sons. To
+one of these, &AElig;da, was I given in marriage sorely against my will. Three
+times now have I fled from him. And this time it was fishermen whom the
+wind blew to us from off this land who told us of a mighty lord here,
+named Finn, son of Cumhal, who would let none be wronged or oppressed,
+but he would be their friend and champion. And if thou be he, to thee am
+I come.&quot; Then she laid her hand in Finn's, and he bade her do the same
+with Goll mac Morna, who was second in the Fian leadership, and she did
+so.</p>
+
+<p>Then the maiden took from her head a jewelled golden helmet, and
+immediately her hair flowed out in seven score tresses, fair, curly and
+golden, at the abundance of which all stood amazed; and Finn said, &quot;By
+the Immortals that we adore, but King Cormac and the poetess Ethne and
+the fair women-folk of the Fianna would deem it a marvel to see this
+girl. Tell us now, maiden, what portion wilt thou have of meat and
+drink? will that of a hundred of us suffice thee?&quot; The girl then saw
+Cnu, the dwarf harper of Finn, who had just been playing to them, and
+she said, &quot;Whatever thou givest to yon little man that bears the harp,
+be it much or little, the same, O Finn, will suffice for me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then she begged a drink from them, and Finn called his gillie, Saltran,
+and bade him fetch the full of a certain great goblet with water from
+the ford; now this goblet was of wood, and it held as much as nine of
+the Fianna could drink. The maiden poured some of the water into her
+right hand and drank three sips of it, and scattered the rest over the
+Fianna, and she and they burst out laughing. Finn said, &quot;On thy
+conscience, girl, what ailed thee not to drink out of the goblet?&quot;
+&quot;Never,&quot; she replied, &quot;have I drunk out of any vessel but there was a
+rim of gold to it, or at least of silver.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And now Keelta looking up perceived a tall youth coming swiftly towards
+them, who, when he approached, seemed even bigger than was the maiden.
+He wore a rough hairy cape over his shoulder and beneath that a green
+cloak fastened by a golden brooch; his tunic was of royal satin, and he
+bore a red shield slung over his shoulders, and a spear with a shaft as
+thick as a man's leg was in his hand; a gold-hilted sword hung by his
+side. And his face, which was smooth-shaven, was comelier than that of
+any of the sons of men.</p>
+
+<p>When he came near, seeing among the Fians a stir of alarm at this
+apparition, Finn said, &quot;Keep every one of you his place, let neither
+warrior nor gillie address him. Know any of you this champion?&quot; &quot;I know
+him,&quot; said the maiden; &quot;that is even he to escape from whom I am come to
+thee, O Finn.&quot; And she sat down between Finn and Goll. But the stranger
+drew near, and spake never a word, but before any one could tell what he
+would be at he thrust fiercely and suddenly with his spear at the girl,
+and the shaft stood out a hand's breadth at her back. And she fell
+gasping, but the young man drew his weapon out and passed rapidly
+through the crowd and away.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL12"></a>
+<a href="./images/il132.jpg"><img src="images/il132_th.jpg" alt="They ran him by hill and plain" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They ran him by hill and plain&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>Then Finn cried, red with wrath, &quot;Ye have seen! Avenge this wicked deed,
+or none of you aspire to Fianship again.&quot; And the whole company sprang
+to their feet and gave chase to that murderer, save only Finn and Goll,
+who stayed by the dying maiden. And they ran him by hill and plain to
+the great Bay of Tralee and down to the Tribute Point, where the traders
+from oversea were wont to pay their dues, and there he set his face to
+the West and took the water. By this time four of the Fianna had
+outstripped the rest, namely, Keelta, and Dermot, and Glas, and Oscar,
+son of Oisín. Of these Keelta was first, and just as the giant was
+mid-leg in the waves he hurled his spear and it severed the thong of the
+giant's shield so that it fell off in the water. And as the giant
+paused, Keelta seized his spear and tore it from him. But the giant
+waded on, and soon the Fians were floundering in deep water while the
+huge form, thigh deep, was seen striding towards the setting sun. And a
+great ship seemed to draw near, and it received him, and then departed
+into the light, but the Fians returned in the grey evening, bearing the
+spear and the great shield to Finn. There they found the maiden at point
+of death, and they laid the weapons before her. &quot;Goodly indeed are these
+arms,&quot; she said, &quot;for that is the Thunder Spear of the King Oversea and
+the shield is the Red Branch Shield,&quot; for it was covered with red
+arabesques. Then she bestowed her bracelets on Finn's three harpers, the
+dwarf Cnu, and Blanit his wife, and the harper Daira. And she bade Finn
+care for her burial, that it should be done becomingly, &quot;for under thy
+honour and protection I got my death, and it was to thee I came into
+Ireland.&quot; So they buried her and lamented her, and made a great far-seen
+mound over her grave, which is called the Ridge of the Dead Woman, and
+set up a pillar stone upon it with her name and lineage carved in
+Ogham-crave.<a name='FNanchor_23_23'></a><a href='#Footnote_23_23'><sup>[23]</sup></a></p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2><h2>The Chase of the Gilla Dacar</h2>
+
+<p>In the reign of Cormac mac Art, grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles,
+the order of precedence and dignity in the court of the High King at
+Tara was as follows: First came great Cormac, the kingly, the
+hospitable, warrior and poet, and he was supreme over all. Next in order
+came the five kings of the five Provinces of Ireland, namely, Ulster,
+Munster, Connacht, Leinster, and Mid-Erinn. After these ranked the
+captains of the royal host, of whom Finn, son of Cumhal, was the chief.</p>
+
+<p>Now the privileges of the Fianna of Erinn were many and great; to wit,
+in every county in Ireland one townland, and in every townland a cartron
+of land, and in the house of every gentleman the right to have a young
+deer-hound or a beagle kept at nurse from November to May, together with
+many other taxes and royalties not to be recounted here. But if they had
+these many and great privileges, yet greater than these were the toils
+and hardships which they had to endure, in guarding the coasts of all
+Ireland from oversea invaders and marauders, and in keeping down all
+robbers and outlaws and evil folk within the kingdom, for this was the
+duty laid upon them by their bond of service to the King.</p>
+
+<p>Now the summer half of the year was wont to be ended by a great hunting
+in one of the forests of Ireland, and so it was that one All-hallowtide,
+when the great banquet of Finn in his Dún on the Hill of Allen was going
+forward, and the hall resounded with cheerful talk and laughter and with
+the music of tympan and of harp, Finn asked of the assembled captains in
+what part of Erinn they should proceed to beat up game on the morrow.
+And it was agreed among them to repair to the territory of Thomond and
+Desmond in Munster; and from Allen they set out accordingly and came to
+the Hill of Knockany. Thence they threw out the hunt and sent their
+bands of beaters through many a gloomy ravine and by many a rugged
+hill-pass and many a fair open plain. Desmond's high hills, called now
+Slievelogher, they beat, and the smooth, swelling hills of Slievenamuck,
+and the green slopes of grassy Slievenamon, and the towering rough crags
+of the Decies, and thence on to the dark woods of Belachgowran.</p>
+
+<p>While the great hunt was going forward Finn with certain of his chief
+captains sat on a high mound to overlook it. There, with Finn, were Goll
+and Art mac Morna, and Liagan the swift runner, and Dermot of the Love
+Spot, and Keelta, son of Ronan, and there also was Conan the Bald, the
+man of scurrilous tongue, and a score or so more. Sweet it was to Finn
+and his companions to hear from the woods and wildernesses around them
+the many-tongued baying of the hounds and the cries and whistling of the
+beaters, the shouting of the strong men and the notes of the Fian
+hunting-horn.</p>
+
+<p>When they had sat there awhile one of Finn's men came running quickly
+towards him and said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A stranger is approaching us from the westward, O Finn, and I much
+mislike his aspect.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With that all the Fians looked up and beheld upon the hillside a huge
+man, looking like some Fomorian marauder, black-visaged and ugly, with a
+sour countenance and ungainly limbs. On his back hung a dingy black
+shield, on his misshapen left thigh he wore a sharp broad-bladed sword;
+projecting over his shoulder were two long lances with broad rusty
+heads. He wore garments that looked as if they had been buried in a
+cinder heap, and a loose ragged mantle. Behind him there shambled a
+sulky, ill-shapen mare with a bony carcase and bowed knees, and on her
+neck a clumsy iron halter. With a rope her master hauled her along, with
+violent jerks that seemed as if they would wrench her head from her
+scraggy neck, and ever and anon the mare would stand and jib, when the
+man laid on her ribs such blows from a strong ironshod cudgel that they
+sounded like the surges of the sea beating on a rocky coast. Short as
+was the distance from where the man and his horse were first perceived
+to where Finn was standing, it was long ere they traversed it. At last,
+however, he came into the presence of Finn and louted before him, doing
+obeisance. Finn lifted his hand over him and bade him speak, and declare
+his business and his name and rank. &quot;I know not,&quot; said the fellow, &quot;of
+what blood I am, gentle or simple, but only this, that I am a wight from
+oversea looking for service and wages. And as I have heard of thee, O
+Finn, that thou art not wont to refuse any man, I came to take service
+with thee if thou wilt have me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Neither shall I refuse thee,&quot; said Finn; &quot;but what brings thee here
+with a horse and no horseboy?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good enough reason,&quot; said the stranger. &quot;I have much ado to get meat
+for my own belly, seeing that I eat for a hundred men; and I will not
+have any horseboy meddling with my ration.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And what name dost thou bear?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am called the Gilla Dacar (the Hard Gillie),&quot; replied he.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why was that name given thee?&quot; asked Finn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good enough reason for that also,&quot; spake the stranger, &quot;for of all the
+lads in the world there is none harder than I am for a lord to get any
+service and obedience from.&quot; Then turning to Conan the Bald he said,
+&quot;Whether among the Fianna is a horseman's pay or a footman's the
+highest?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A horseman's surely,&quot; said Conan, &quot;seeing that he gets twice the pay of
+a footman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I am a horseman in thy service, Finn,&quot; said the gillie. &quot;I call
+thee to observe that I have here a horse, and moreover that as a
+horseman I came among the Fianna. Have I thy authority,&quot; he went on, &quot;to
+turn out my steed among thine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Turn her out,&quot; quoth Finn.</p>
+
+<p>Then the big man flung his mare the rope and immediately she galloped
+off to where the Fian horses were grazing. Here she fell to biting and
+kicking them, knocking out the eye of one and snapping off another's ear
+and breaking the leg of another with a kick.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take away thy mare, big man,&quot; cried Conan then, &quot;or by Heaven and Earth
+were it not that Finn told thee to let her loose I would let loose her
+brains. Many a bad bargain has Finn made but never a worse than thou.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By Heaven and Earth,&quot; said the gillie, &quot;that I never will, for I have
+no horseboy, and I will do no horseboy's work.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Conan mac Morna took the iron halter and laid it on the stranger's
+horse and brought the beast back to Finn and held it there.</p>
+
+<p>Said Finn to Conan, &quot;I have never seen thee do horseboy's service even
+to far better men than this gillie. How now if thou wert to leap on the
+brute's back and gallop her to death over hill and dale in payment for
+the mischief she hath wrought among our steeds?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this word Conan clambered up on the back of the big man's mare, and
+with all his might he smote his two heels into her, but the mare never
+stirred.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I perceive what ails her,&quot; said Finn. &quot;She will never stir till she has
+a weight of men on her equal to that of her own rider.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then thirteen men of the Fianna scrambled up laughing behind Conan, and
+the mare lay down under them, and then got up again, they still clinging
+to her. At this the big man said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It appears that you are making a sport and mockery of my mare, and that
+even I myself do not escape from it. It is well for me that I have not
+spent the rest of the year in your company, seeing what a jest ye have
+made of me the very first day; and I perceive, O Finn, that thou art
+very unlike the report that is made of thee. And now I bid thee
+farewell, for of thy service I have had enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So with downcast head and despondent looks the big gillie shambled
+slowly away until he had passed out of view of the Fianna, behind the
+shoulder of the hill. Having arrived here he tucked up his coat to his
+waist, and fast though be the flight of the swallow, and fast that of
+the roe-deer, and fast the rush of a roaring wind over a mountain top in
+mid-March, no faster are these than the bounding speed and furious
+flight of the big man down the hillside toward the West.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner did the mare see that her master had departed than she too
+dashed uncontrollably forward and flew down the hillside after him. And
+as the Fians saw Conan the Bald and his thirteen companions thus carried
+off, willy nilly, they broke into a roar of laughter and ran alongside
+mocking them. But Conan, seeing that they were being carried off in the
+wake of the big man of evil aspect, of whom none knew whence or who he
+was, he was terrified and began reviling and cursing, and shouted to
+Finn, &quot;A palsy seize thee, Finn; may some rascally churl, that is if
+possible of worse blood than thyself, have thy head, unless thou follow
+and rescue us wheresoever this monster shall bring us.&quot; So Finn and the
+Fianna ran, and the mare ran, over bare hills and by deep glens, till at
+last they came to Corcaguiny in Kerry, where the gillie set his face to
+the blue ocean, and the mare dashed in after him. But ere he did so,
+Liagan the Swift got two hands on the tail of the mare, though further
+he could not win, and he was towed in, still clinging to his hold, and
+over the rolling billows away they went, the fourteen Fians on the wild
+mare's back, and Liagan haled along by her tail.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is to be done now?&quot; said Oisín to Finn when they had arrived at
+the beach.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Our men are to be rescued,&quot; said Finn, &quot;for to that we are bound by the
+honour of the Fianna. Whithersoever they are gone, thither must we
+follow and win them back by fair means or foul; but to that end we must
+first fit out a galley.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So in the end it was agreed that Finn and fourteen men of his bravest
+and best champions should sail oversea in search of the Gilla Dacar and
+his captives, while Oisín remained in Erinn and exercised rule over the
+Fianna in the place of his father.
+After a while, then, a swift galley was made ready by Finn and stored
+with victual, and with arms, and also with gold and raiment to make
+gifts withal if need should be. And into the ship came the fifteen
+valiant men, and gripped their oars, while Finn steered; and soon the
+sea whitened around their oarblades, and over the restless, rolling
+masses of the many-hued and voiceful billows, the ship clove her way to
+the West. And the Fians, who were wont to be wakened by the twittering
+of birds over their hunting booths in the greenwood, now delighted to
+hear, day after day as they roused themselves at morn, the lapping of
+the wide waters of the world against their vessel's bows, or the thunder
+of pounding surges when the wind blew hard.</p>
+
+<p>At length after many days the sharpest-eyed of the men of Finn saw
+far-off what seemed a mountain rising from the sea, and to it they
+shaped their course. When they had come to that land they found
+themselves under the shadow of a great grey cliff, and beneath it
+slippery rocks covered with seaweed. Then Dermot, who was the most
+active of the company, was bidden to mount the cliff and to procure
+means of drawing up the rest of the party, but of what land might lie on
+the top of that wall of rock none of them could discover anything.
+Dermot, descending from the ship, then climbed with difficulty up the
+face of the cliff, while the others made fast their ship among the
+rocks. But Dermot having arrived at the top saw no habitation of man,
+and could compass no way of helping his companions to mount. He went
+therefore boldly forward into the unknown land, hoping to obtain some
+help, if any friendly and hospitable folk could there be found.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL13"></a>
+<a href="./images/il140.jpg"><img src="images/il140_th.jpg" alt="Dermot took the horn and would have filled it" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;Dermot took the horn and would have filled it&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>Before he had gone far he came into a wild wood, thick and tangled, and
+full of the noise of streams, and the sough of winds, and twittering of
+birds, and hum of bees. After he had traversed this wilderness for a
+while he came to a mighty tree with densely interwoven branches, and
+beneath it a pile of rocks, having on its summit a pointed drinking horn
+wreathed with rich ornament, and at its foot a well of pure bright
+water. Dermot, being now thirsty, took the horn and would have filled it
+at the well, but as he stooped down to do so he heard a loud,
+threatening murmur which seemed to rise from it. &quot;I perceive,&quot; he said
+to himself, &quot;that I am forbidden to drink from this well&quot; Nevertheless
+thirst compelled him, and he drank his fill.</p>
+
+<p>In no long time thereafter he saw an armed warrior of hostile aspect
+coming towards him through the wood. No courteous greeting did he give
+to Dermot, but began to revile him for roaming in his wood and
+wilderness, and for drinking his water. Thereupon they fought, and for
+the rest of the afternoon they took and gave hard blows neither subduing
+the other, till at last as darkness began to fall the warrior suddenly
+dived into the well and was seen no more. Dermot, vexed at this ending
+of the combat, then made him ready to spend the night in that place, but
+first he slew a deer in the wood, and made a fire, whereat he roasted
+pieces of the deer's flesh on spits of white hazel, and drank abundantly
+of the well-water, and then slept soundly through the night.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning when he awakened and went to the well he found the Champion
+of the Well standing there and awaiting him. &quot;It is not enough, Dermot,&quot;
+said he angrily, &quot;for thee to traverse my woods at will and to drink my
+water, but thou must even also slay my deer.&quot; Then they closed in combat
+again, and dealt each other blow for blow and wound for wound till
+evening parted them, and the champion dived into the well as before.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day it went even so; but as evening came on Dermot,
+watching closely, rushed at the champion just as he was about to plunge
+into the well, and gripped him in his arms. But none the less the
+Champion of the Well made his dive, and took down Dermot with him.
+And a darkness and faintness came over Dermot, but when he awoke, he
+found himself in a wide, open country, flowery and fair, and before him
+the walls and towers of a royal city. Thither the champion, sorely wounded,
+was now borne off, while a crowd of his people came round Dermot, and beat
+and wounded him, leaving him on the ground for dead.</p>
+
+<p>After night had fallen, when all the people of the city in the Land
+Undersea had departed, a stalwart champion, well-armed and of bold
+appearance, came upon Dermot and stirred him with his foot. Dermot
+thereon awoke from his swoon and, warrior-like, reached out his hand for
+his arms. But the champion said, &quot;Wait awhile, my son, I have not come
+to do thee hurt or harm. Thou hast chosen an ill place to rest and
+slumber in, before the city of thine enemy. Rise and follow me, and I
+shall bestow thee far better than that.&quot; Dermot then rose and followed
+the champion, and long and far they journeyed until they came to a
+high-towered fortress, wherein were thrice fifty valiant men-at-arms and
+fair women; and the daughter of that champion, a white-toothed,
+rosy-cheeked, smooth-handed, and black-eyebrowed maid, received Dermot,
+kindly and welcomefully, and applied healing herbs to his wounds, and in
+no long time he was made as good a man as ever. And thus he remained,
+and was entertained most royally with the best of viands and of liquors.
+The first part of every night those in that Dún were wont to spend in
+feasting, and the second in recreation and entertainment of the mind,
+with music and with poetry and bardic tales, and the third part in sound
+and healthful slumber, till the sun in his fiery journey rose over the
+heavy-clodded earth on the morrow morn.</p>
+
+<p>And the King of that country, who was the champion that had aroused
+Dermot, told him this was the land of Sorca, and that he had showed this
+kindness to Dermot for that he himself had once been on wage and service
+with Finn, son of Cumhal &quot;and a better master,&quot; said he, &quot;man never
+had.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now the story turns to tell of what befell Finn and the remainder of his
+companions when Dermot left them in the ship. After a while, seeing that
+he did not return, and being assured that some mischief or hindrance
+must have befallen him, they made an attempt to climb the cliff after
+him, having noted which way he went. With much toil and peril they
+accomplished this, and then journeying forward and following on Dermot's
+track, they came at last to the well in the wild wood, and saw near by
+the remains of the deer, and the ashes of the fire that Dermot had
+kindled to cook it. But from this place they could discover no track of
+his going. While they were debating on what should next be done, they
+saw riding towards them a tall warrior on a dark grey horse with a
+golden bridle, who greeted them courteously. From him they enquired as
+to whether he had seen aught of their companion, Dermot, in the
+wilderness. &quot;Follow me,&quot; said the warrior, &quot;and you shall shortly have
+tidings of him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they followed the strange horseman into the forest by many dark and
+winding ways, until at last they came into a rocky ravine, where they
+found the mouth of a great cavern opening into the hillside. Into this
+they went, and the way led them downward until it seemed as if they were
+going into the bowels of the earth, until at last the light began to
+shine round them, and they came out into a lovely land of flowery plains
+and green woods and singing streams. In no long time thereafter they
+came to a great royal Dún, where he who led them was hailed as king and
+lord, and here, to their joy, they found their comrade, Dermot of the
+Love Spot, who told them of all his adventures and heard from them of
+theirs. This ended, and when they had been entertained and refreshed,
+the lord of that place spoke to Finn and said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have now, O Finn, within my fortress the fifteen stoutest heroes that
+the world holds. To this end have I brought you here, that ye might make
+war with me upon mine enemy the Champion of the Well, who is king of the
+land bordering on mine, and who ceases not to persecute and to harry my
+people because, in his arrogance, he would have all the Under World
+country subject to himself alone. Say now if ye will embrace this
+enterprise and help me to defend my own: and if not I shall set you
+again upon the land of Erinn.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Finn said, &quot;What of my fifteen men that were carried away on the wild
+mare's back oversea?&quot; &quot;They are guarding the marches of my kingdom,&quot;
+said the King of Sorca, &quot;and all is well with them and shall be well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Finn agreed to take service with the King of Sorca, and next day
+they arrayed themselves for fight and went out at the head of the host.
+Ere long they came upon the army of the King of the Well, and with him was
+the King of the Greeks and a band of fierce mercenaries, and also the
+daughter of the Greek King, by name Tasha of the White Side, a maiden
+who in beauty and grace surpassed all other women of the world, as the
+Shannon surpasses all rivers of Erinn and the eagle surpasses all birds
+of the air. Now the stories of Finn and his generosity and great deeds
+had reached her since she was a child, and she had set her love on him,
+though she had never seen his face till now.</p>
+
+<p>When the hosts were met, the King of the Greeks said, &quot;Who of my men
+will stand forth and challenge the best of these men of Erinn to single
+combat that their metal may be proved, for to us it is unknown what
+manner of men they be.&quot; The son of the King of the Greeks said, &quot;I will
+go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So on the side of Finn, Oscar, son of Oisín, was chosen to match the son
+of the Greek King, and the two hosts sat down peacefully together to
+watch the weapon-play. And Tasha the princess sat by Finn, son of
+Cumhal.</p>
+
+<p>Then Oscar and the King's son stepped into their fighting place, and
+fierce was the combat that arose between them, as when two roaring
+surges of the sea dash against each other in a fissure of the rocks, and
+the spray-cloud bursts from them high into the air. Long they fought,
+and many red wounds did each of them give and receive, till at last
+Oscar beat the Greek prince to the earth and smote off his head. Then
+one host groaned for woe and discouragement, while the other shouted for
+joy of victory, and so they parted for the night, each to their own
+camp.</p>
+
+<p>And in the camp of the folk of Sorca they found Conan the Bald and the
+fourteen men that had gone with him on the mare's back.</p>
+
+<p>But when night had fallen, Tasha stole from the wizard of the Greek King
+his branch of silver bells that when shaken would lay asleep a host of
+men, and with the aid of this she passed from the camp of the Greeks,
+and through the sentinels, and came to the tent of Finn.</p>
+
+<p>On the morrow morn the King of the Greeks found that his daughter had
+fled to be the wife of Finn, son of Cumhal, and he offered a mighty
+reward to whosoever would slay Finn and bring Tasha back. But when the
+two armies closed in combat the Fians and the host of the King of Sorca
+charged so fiercely home, that they drove their foes before them as a
+winter gale drives before it a cloud of madly whirling leaves, and those
+that were not slain in the fight and the pursuit went to their own lands
+and abode there in peace; and thus was the war ended of the King of
+Sorca and the Lord of the Well.</p>
+
+<p>Then the King of Sorca had Finn and his comrades before him and gave
+them praise and thanks for their valour. &quot;And what reward,&quot; he said,
+&quot;will ye that I make you for the saving of the kingdom of Sorca?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou wert in my service awhile,&quot; said Finn, &quot;and I mind not that I paid
+thee any wage for it. Let that service even go against this, and so we
+are quits.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, then,&quot; cried Conan the Bald, &quot;but what shall I have for my ride on
+the mare of the Gilla Dacar?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What wilt thou have?&quot; said the King of Sorca.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This,&quot; said Conan, &quot;and nothing else will I accept. Let fourteen of the
+fairest women of the land of Sorca be put on that same mare, and thy
+wife, O King, clinging to its tail, and let them be thus haled across
+the sea until they come to Corcaguiny in the land of Erinn. I will have
+none of thy gold and silver, but the indignity that has been put upon me
+doth demand an honourable satisfaction.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the King of Sorca smiled, and he said, &quot;Behold thy men, Finn.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL14"></a>
+<a href="./images/il148.jpg"><img src="images/il148_th.jpg" alt="'Follow me now to the Hill of Allen'" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;'Follow me now to the Hill of Allen'&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>Finn turned his head to look round, and as he did so the plain and the
+encampment of the Fairy Host vanished from his sight, and he saw himself
+standing on the shingly strand of a little bay, with rocky heights to
+right and left, crowned with yellow whin bushes whose perfume mingled
+with the salt sea wind. It was the spot where he had seen the Gilla
+Dacar and his mare take water on the coast of Kerry. Finn stared over
+the sea, to discover, if he might, by what means he had come thither,
+but nothing could he see there save the sunlit water, and nothing hear
+but what seemed a low laughter from the twinkling ripples that broke at
+his feet. Then he looked for his men, who stood there, dazed like
+himself and rubbing their eyes; and there too stood the Princess Tasha,
+who stretched out her white arms to him. Finn went over and took her
+hands. &quot;Shoulder your spears, good lads!&quot; he called to his men. &quot;Follow
+me now to the Hill of Allen, and to the wedding feast of Tasha and of
+Finn mac Cumhal.&quot;</p>
+
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2><h2>The Birth of Oisín</h2>
+
+
+<p>One day as Finn and his companions and dogs were returning from the
+chase to their Dún on the Hill of Allen, a beautiful fawn started up on
+their path and the chase swept after her, she taking the way which led
+to their home. Soon, all the pursuers were left far behind save only
+Finn himself and his two hounds Bran and Sceolaun. Now these hounds were
+of strange breed, for Tyren, sister to Murna, the mother of Finn, had
+been changed into a hound by the enchantment of a woman of the Fairy
+Folk, who loved Tyren's husband Ullan; and the two hounds of Finn were
+the children of Tyren, born to her in that shape. Of all hounds in
+Ireland they were the best, and Finn loved them much, so that it was
+said he wept but twice in his life, and once was for the death of Bran.</p>
+
+<p>At last, as the chase went on down a valley side, Finn saw the fawn stop
+and lie down, while the two hounds began to play round her and to lick
+her face and limbs. So he gave commandment that none should hurt her,
+and she followed them to the Dún of Allen, playing with the hounds as
+she went.</p>
+
+<p>The same night Finn awoke and saw standing by his bed the fairest woman
+his eyes had ever beheld.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Saba, O Finn,&quot; she said, &quot;and I was the fawn ye chased to-day.
+Because I would not give my love to the Druid of the Fairy Folk, who is
+named the Dark, he put that shape upon me by his sorceries, and I have
+borne it these three years. But a slave of his, pitying me, once
+revealed to me that if I could win to thy great Dún of Allen, O Finn, I
+should be safe from all enchantments and my natural shape would come to
+me again. But I feared to be torn in pieces by thy dogs, or wounded by
+thy hunters, till at last I let myself be overtaken by thee alone and by
+Bran and Sceolaun, who have the nature of man and would do me no hurt.&quot;
+&quot;Have no fear, maiden,&quot; said Finn, &quot;we the Fianna, are free and our
+guest-friends are free; there is none who shall put compulsion on you
+here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Saba dwelt with Finn, and he made her his wife; and so deep was his
+love for her that neither the battle nor the chase had any delight for
+him, and for months he never left her side. She also loved him as
+deeply, and their joy in each other was like that of the Immortals in
+the Land of Youth. But at last word came to Finn that the warships of
+the Northmen were in the bay of Dublin, and he summoned his heroes to
+the fight, &quot;for,&quot; said he to Saba, &quot;the men of Erinn give us tribute and
+hospitality to defend them from the foreigner, and it were shame to take
+it from them and not to give that to which we, on our side, are
+pledged.&quot; And he called to mind that great saying of Goll mac Morna when
+they were once sore bested by a mighty host&mdash;&quot;a man,&quot; said Goll, &quot;lives
+after his life but not after his honour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Seven days was Finn absent, and he drove the Northmen from the shores of
+Erinn. But on the eighth day he returned, and when he entered his Dún he
+saw trouble in the eyes of his men and of their fair womenfolk, and Saba
+was not on the rampart expecting his return. So he bade them tell him
+what had chanced, and they said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whilst thou, our father and lord, wert afar off smiting the foreigner,
+and Saba looking ever down the pass for thy return, we saw one day as it
+were the likeness of thee approaching, and Bran and Sceolaun at thy
+heels. And we seemed also to hear the notes of the Fian hunting call
+blown on the wind. Then Saba hastened to the great gate, and we could
+not stay her, so eager was she to rush to the phantom. But when she came
+near, she halted and gave a loud and bitter cry, and the shape of thee
+smote her with a hazel wand, and lo, there was no woman there any more,
+but a deer. Then those hounds chased it, and ever as it strove to reach
+again the gate of the Dún they turned it back. We all now seized what
+arms we could and ran out to drive away the enchanter, but when we
+reached the place there was nothing to be seen, only still we heard the
+rushing of flying feet and the baying of dogs, and one thought it came
+from here, and another from there, till at last the uproar died away and
+all was still. What we could do, O Finn, we did; Saba is gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Finn then struck his hand on his breast but spoke no word, and he went
+to his own chamber. No man saw him for the rest of that day, nor for the
+day after. Then he came forth, and ordered the matters of the Fianna as
+of old, but for seven years thereafter he went searching for Saba
+through every remote glen and dark forest and cavern of Ireland, and he
+would take no hounds with him save Bran and Sceolaun. But at last he
+renounced all hope of finding her again, and went hunting as of old. One
+day as he was following the chase on Ben Gulban in Sligo, he heard the
+musical bay of the dogs change of a sudden to a fierce growling and
+yelping as though they were in combat with some beast, and running
+hastily up he and his men beheld, under a great tree, a naked boy with
+long hair, and around him the hounds struggling to seize him, but Bran
+and Sceolaun fighting with them and keeping them off. And the lad was
+tall and shapely, and as the heroes gathered round he gazed undauntedly
+on them, never heeding the rout of dogs at his feet. The Fians beat off
+the dogs and brought the lad home with them, and Finn was very silent
+and continually searched the lad's countenance with his eyes. In time,
+the use of speech came to him, and the story that he told was this:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>He had known no father, and no mother save a gentle hind with whom he
+lived in a most green and pleasant valley shut in on every side by
+towering cliffs that could not be scaled, or by deep chasms in the
+earth. In the summer he lived on fruits and such-like, and in the
+winter, store of provisions was laid for him in a cave. And there came
+to them sometimes a tall dark-visaged man, who spoke to his mother, now
+tenderly, and now in loud menace, but she always shrunk away in fear,
+and the man departed in anger. At last there came a day when the Dark
+Man spoke very long with his mother in all tones of entreaty and of
+tenderness and of rage, but she would still keep aloof and give no sign
+save of fear and abhorrence. Then at length the Dark Man drew near and
+smote her with a hazel wand; and with that he turned and went his way,
+but she, this time, followed him, still looking back at her son and
+piteously complaining. And he, when he strove to follow, found himself
+unable to move a limb; and crying out with rage and desolation he fell
+to the earth and his senses left him. When he came to himself he was on
+the mountain side, on Ben Gulban, where he remained some days, searching
+for that green and hidden valley, which he never found again. And after
+a while the dogs found him; but of the hind his mother and of the Dark
+Druid, there is no man knows the end.</p>
+
+<p>Finn called his name Oisín, and he became a warrior of fame, but far
+more famous for the songs and tales that he made; so that of all things
+to this day that are told of the Fianna of Erinn, men are wont to say,
+&quot;So sang the bard, Oisín, son of Finn.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XV</h2><h2>Oisín in the Land of Youth</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>It happened that on a misty summer morning as Finn and Oisín with many
+companions were hunting on the shores of Loch Lena they saw coming
+towards them a maiden, beautiful exceedingly, riding on a snow-white
+steed. She wore the garb of a queen; a crown of gold was on her head,
+and a dark brown mantle of silk, set with stars of red gold, fell around
+her and trailed on the ground. Silver shoes were on her horse's hoofs,
+and a crest of gold nodded on his head. When she came near she said to
+Finn, &quot;From very far away I have come, and now at last I have found
+thee, Finn, son of Cumhal.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Finn said, &quot;What is thy land and race, maiden, and what dost thou
+seek from me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My name,&quot; she said, &quot;is Niam of the Golden Hair. I am the daughter of
+the King of the Land of Youth, and that which has brought me here is the
+love of thy son Oisín.&quot; Then she turned to Oisín and she spoke to him in
+the voice of one who has never asked anything but it was granted to her,
+&quot;Wilt thou go with me, Oisín, to my father's land?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Oisín said, &quot;That will I, and to the world's end&quot;; for the fairy
+spell had so wrought upon his heart that he cared no more for any
+earthly thing but to have the love of Niam of the Head of Gold.</p>
+
+<p>Then the maiden spoke of the Land Oversea to which she had summoned her
+lover, and as she spoke a dreamy stillness fell on all things, nor did a
+horse shake his bit nor a hound bay, nor the least breath of wind stir
+in the forest trees till she had made an end. And what she said seemed
+sweeter and more wonderful as she spoke it than anything they could
+afterwards remember to have heard, but so far as they could remember it,
+it was this:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Delightful is the land beyond all dreams,<br />
+Fairer than aught thine eyes have ever seen.<br />
+There all the year the fruit is on the tree,<br />
+And all the year the bloom is on the flower.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;There with wild honey drip the forest trees;<br />
+The stores of wine and mead shall never fail.<br />
+Nor pain nor sickness knows the dweller there,<br />
+Death and decay come near him never more.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The feast shall cloy not, nor the chase shall tire,<br />
+Nor music cease for ever through the hall;<br />
+The gold and jewels of the Land of Youth<br />
+Outshine all splendours ever dreamed by man.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Thou shalt have horses of the fairy breed,<br />
+Thou shalt have hounds that can outrun the wind;<br />
+A hundred chiefs shall follow thee in war,<br />
+A hundred maidens sing thee to thy sleep.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;A crown of sovranty thy brow shall wear,<br />
+And by thy side a magic blade shall hang.<br />
+Thou shalt be lord of all the Land of Youth,<br />
+And lord of Niam of the Head of Gold.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>As the magic song ended, the Fians beheld Oisín mount the fairy steed
+and hold the maiden in his arms, and ere they could stir or speak she
+turned her horse's head and shook the ringing bridle and down the forest
+glade they fled, as a beam of light flies over the land when clouds
+drive across the sun; and never did the Fianna behold Oisín, son of
+Finn, on earth again.</p>
+
+<p>Yet what befell him afterwards is known. As his birth was strange so was
+his end, for he saw the wonders of the Land of Youth with mortal eyes
+and lived to tell them with mortal lips.</p>
+
+<p>When the white horse with its riders reached the sea it ran lightly over
+the waves and soon the green woods and headlands of Erinn faded out of
+sight. And now the sun shone fiercely down, and the riders passed into a
+golden haze in which Oisín lost all knowledge of where he was or if sea
+or dry land were beneath his horse's hoofs. But strange sights sometimes
+appeared to them in the mist, for towers and palace gateways loomed up
+and disappeared, and once a hornless doe bounded by them chased by a
+white hound with one red ear, and again they saw a young maid ride by on
+a brown steed, bearing a golden apple in her hand, and close behind her
+followed a young horseman on a white steed, a purple cloak floating at
+his back and a gold-hilted sword in his hand. And Oisín would have asked
+the princess who and what these apparitions were, but Niam bade him ask
+nothing nor seem to notice any phantom they might see until they were
+come to the Land of Youth.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL15"></a>
+<a href="./images/il156.jpg"><img src="images/il156_th.jpg" alt="They rode up to a stately palace" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They rode up to a stately palace&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>At last the sky gloomed above them, and Niam urged their steed faster.
+The wind lashed them with pelting rain, thunder roared across the sea
+and lightning blazed, but they held on their way till at length they
+came once more into a region of calm and sunshine. And now Oisín saw
+before him a shore of yellow sand, lapped by the ripples of a summer
+sea. Inland, there rose before his eye wooded hills amid which he could
+discern the roofs and towers of a noble city. The white horse bore them
+swiftly to the shore and Oisín and the maiden lighted down. And Oisín
+marvelled at everything around him, for never was water so blue or trees
+so stately as those he saw, and the forest was alive with the hum of
+bees and the song of birds, and the creatures that are wild in other
+lands, the deer and the red squirrel and the wood-dove, came, without
+fear, to be caressed. Soon, as they went forward, the walls of a city
+came in sight, and folk began to meet them on the road, some riding,
+some afoot, all of whom were either youths or maidens, all looking as
+joyous as if the morning of happy life had just begun for them, and no
+old or feeble person was to be seen. Niam led her companion through a
+towered gateway built of white and red marble, and there they were met
+by a glittering company of a hundred riders on black steeds and a
+hundred on white, and Oisín mounted a black horse and Niam her white,
+and they rode up to a stately palace where the King of the Land of Youth
+had his dwelling. And there he received them, saying in a loud voice
+that all the folk could hear, &quot;Welcome, Oisín, son of Finn. Thou art
+come to the Land of Youth, where sorrow and weariness and death shall
+never touch thee. This thou hast won by thy faithfulness and valour and
+by the songs that thou hast made for the men of Erinn, whereof the fame
+is come to us, for we have here indeed all things that are delightful
+and joyous, but poesy alone we had not. But now we have the chief poet
+of the race of men to live with us, immortal among immortals, and the
+fair and cloudless life that we lead here shall be praised in verses as
+fair; even as thou, Oisín, did'st praise and adorn the short and
+toilsome and chequered life that men live in the world thou hast left
+forever. And Niam my daughter shall be thy bride, and thou shalt be in
+all things even as myself in the Land of Youth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the heart of Oisín was filled with glory and joy, and he turned to
+Niam and saw her eyes burn with love as she gazed upon him. And they
+were wedded the same day, and the joy they had in each other grew
+sweeter and deeper with every day that passed. All that Niam had
+promised in her magic song in the wild wood when first they met, seemed
+faint beside the splendour and beauty of the life in the Land of Youth.
+In the great palace they trod on silken carpets and ate off plates of
+gold; the marble walls and doorways were wrought with carved work, or
+hung with tapestries, where forest glades, and still lakes, and flying
+deer were done in colours of unfading glow. Sunshine bathed that palace
+always, and cool winds wandered through its dim corridors, and in its
+courts there played fountains of bright water set about with flowers.
+When Oisín wished to ride, a steed of fiery but gentle temper bore him
+wherever he would through the pleasant land; when he longed to hear
+music, there came upon his thought, as though borne on the wind, crystal
+notes such as no hand ever struck from the strings of any harp on earth.</p>
+
+<p>But Oisín's hand now never touched the harp, and the desire of singing
+and of making poetry never waked in him, for no one thing seemed so much
+better than the rest, where all perfection bloomed and glowed around
+him, as to make him long to praise it and to set it apart.</p>
+
+<p>When seven days had passed, he said to Niam, &quot;I would fain go
+a-hunting.&quot; Niam said, &quot;So be it, dear love; to-morrow we shall take
+order for that.&quot; Oisín lay long awake that night, thinking of the sound
+of Finn's hunting-horn, and of the smell of green boughs when they
+kindled them to roast the deer-flesh in Fian ovens in the wildwood.</p>
+
+<p>So next day Oisín and Niam fared forth on horseback, with their company
+of knights and maidens, and dogs leaping and barking with eagerness for
+the chase. Anon they came to the forest, and the hunters with the hounds
+made a wide circuit on this side and on that, till at last the loud
+clamour of the hounds told that a stag was on foot, and Oisín saw them
+streaming down an open glen, the stag with its great antlers laid back
+and flying like the wind. So he shouted the Fian hunting-cry and rode
+furiously on their track. All day long they chased the stag through the
+echoing forest, and the fairy steed bore him unfaltering over rough
+ground and smooth, till at last as darkness began to fall the quarry was
+pulled down, and Oisín cut its throat with his hunting-knife. Long it
+seemed to him since he had felt glad and weary as he felt now, and since
+the woodland air with its odours of pine and mint and wild garlic had
+tasted so sweet in his mouth; and truly it was longer than he knew. But
+when he bade make ready the wood-oven for their meal, and build a bothy
+of boughs for their repose, Niam led him seven steps apart and seven to
+the left hand, and yet seven back to the place where they had killed the
+deer, and lo, there rose before him a stately Dún with litten windows
+and smoke drifting above its roof. When they entered, there was a table
+spread for a great company, and cooks and serving-men busy about a wide
+hearth where roast and boiled meats of every sort were being prepared.
+Casks of Greek wine stood open around the walls, and cups of gold were
+on the board. So they all ate and drank their sufficiency, and all night
+Oisín and Niam slept on a bed softer than swans-down in a chamber no
+less fair than that which they had in the City of the Land of Youth.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, at the first light of dawn, they were on foot; and soon again
+the forest rang to the baying of hounds and the music of the
+hunting-horn. Oisín's steed bore him all day, tireless and swift as
+before, and again the quarry fell at night's approach, and again a
+palace rose in the wilderness for their night's entertainment, and all
+things in it even more abundant and more sumptuous than before. And so
+for seven days they fared in that forest, and seven stags were slain.
+Then Oisín grew wearied of hunting, and as he plunged his sharp black
+hunting-knife into the throat of the last stag, he thought of the sword
+of magic temper that hung idle by his side in the City of Youth, or
+rested from its golden nail in his bed-chamber, and he said to Niam,
+&quot;Has thy father never a foe to tame, never a wrong to avenge? Surely the
+peasant is no man whose hand forgets the plough, nor the warrior whose
+hand forgets the sword hilt.&quot; Niam looked on him strangely for a while
+and as if she did not understand his words, or sought some meaning in
+them which yet she feared to find. But at last she said, &quot;If deeds of
+arms be thy desire, Oisín, thou shalt have thy sufficiency ere long.&quot;
+And so they rode home, and slept that night in the palace of the City of
+Youth.</p>
+
+<p>At daybreak on the following morn Niam roused Oisín, and she buckled on
+him his golden-hilted sword and his corselet of blue steel inlaid with
+gold. Then he put on his head a steel and gold helmet with dragon crest,
+and slung on his back a shield of bronze wrought all over with cunning
+hammer-work of serpentine lines that swelled and sank upon the surface,
+and coiled in mazy knots, or flowed in long sweeping curves like waves
+of the sea when they gather might and volume for their leap upon the
+sounding shore. In the glimmering dawn, through the empty streets of the
+fair city, they rode forth alone and took their way through fields of
+corn and by apple orchards where red fruit hung down to their hands. But
+by noontide their way began to mount upwards among blue hills that they
+had marked from the city walls toward the west, and of man's husbandry
+they saw no more, but tall red-stemmed pine trees bordered the way on
+either side, and silence and loneliness increased. At length they
+reached a broad table-land deep in the heart of the mountains, where
+nothing grew but long coarse grass, drooping by pools of black and
+motionless water, and where great boulders, bleached white or stained
+with slimy lichens of livid red, lay scattered far and wide about the
+plain. Against the sky the mountain line now showed like a threat of
+bared and angry teeth, and as they rode towards it Oisín perceived a
+huge fortress lying in the throat of a wide glen or mountain pass. White
+as death was the stone of which it was built, save where it was streaked
+with black or green from the foulness of wet mosses that clung to its
+cornices and battlements, and none seemed stirring about the place nor
+did any banner blow from its towers.</p>
+
+<p>Then said Niam, &quot;This, O Oisín, is the Dún of the giant Fovor of the
+Mighty Blows. In it he keeps prisoner a princess of the Fairy Folk whom
+he would fain make his bride, but he may not do so, nor may she escape,
+until Fovor has met in battle a champion who will undertake her cause.
+Approach, then, to the gate, if thou art fain to undertake this
+adventure, and blow the horn which hangs thereby, and then look to thy
+weapons, for soon indeed will the battle be broken upon thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Oisín rode to the gate and thrice he blew on the great horn which
+hung by it, and the clangour of it groaned drearily back from the cliffs
+that overhung the glen. Not thus indeed sounded the <i>Dord</i> of Finn as
+its call blew lust of fighting and scorn of death into the hearts of the
+Fianna amid the stress of battle. At the third blast the rusty gates
+opened, grinding on their hinges, and Oisín rode into a wide courtyard
+where servitors of evil aspect took his horse and Niam's, and led them
+into the hall of Fovor. Dark it was and low, with mouldering arras on
+its walls, and foul and withered rushes on the floor, where dogs gnawed
+the bones thrown to them at the last meal, and spilt ale and hacked
+fragments of flesh littered the bare oaken table. And here rose
+languidly to greet them a maiden bound with seven chains, to whom Niam
+spoke lovingly, saying that her champion was come and that her long
+captivity should end. And the maiden looked upon Oisín, whose proud
+bearing and jewelled armour made the mean place seem meaner still, and a
+light of hope and of joy seemed to glimmer upon her brow. So she gave
+them refreshment as she could, and afterwards they betook them once more
+to the courtyard, where the place of battle was set.</p>
+
+<p>Here, at the further side, stood a huge man clad in rusty armour, who
+when he saw Oisín rushed upon him, silent and furious, and swinging a
+great battleaxe in his hand. But doubt and langour weighed upon Oisín's
+heart, and it seemed to him as if he were in an evil dream, which he
+knew was but a dream, and would be less than nothing when the hour of
+awakening should come. Yet he raised his shield and gripped the fairy
+sword, striving to shout the Fian battle-cry as he closed with Fovor.
+But soon a heavy blow smote him to the ground, and his armour clanged
+harshly on the stones. Then a cloud seemed to pass from his spirit, and
+he leaped to his feet quicker than an arrow flies from the string, and
+thrusting fiercely at the giant his sword-point gashed the under side of
+Fovor's arm when it was raised to strike, and Oisín saw his enemy's
+blood. Then the fight raged hither and thither about the wide courtyard,
+with trampling of feet and clash of steel and ringing of armour and
+shouts of onset as the heroes closed; Oisín, agile as a wild stag,
+evading the sweep of the mighty axe and rushing in with flickering blade
+at every unguarded moment, his whole soul bent on one fierce thought, to
+drive his point into some gap at shoulder or neck in Fovor's coat of
+mail. At length, when both were weary and wounded men, with hacked and
+battered armour, Oisín's blade cut the thong of Fovor's headpiece and it
+fell clattering to the ground. Another blow laid the giant prostrate,
+and Oisín leaned, dizzy and panting, upon his sword, while Fovor's
+serving-men took off their master in a litter, and Niam came to aid her
+lord. Then Oisín stripped off his armour in the great hall, and Niam
+tended to his wounds, healing them with magic herbs and murmured
+incantations, and they saw that one of the seven rusty chains that had
+bound the princess hung loose from its iron staple in the wall.</p>
+
+<p>All night long Oisín lay in deep and healing slumber, and next day he
+arose, whole and strong, and hot to renew the fray. And the giant was
+likewise healed and his might and fierceness returned to him. So they
+fought till they were breathless and weary, and then to it again, and
+again, till in the end Oisín drove his sword to the hilt in the giant's
+shoulder where it joins the collar bone, and he fell aswoon, and was
+borne away as before. And another chain of the seven fell from the
+girdle of the captive maiden.</p>
+
+<p>Thus for seven days went on the combat, and Oisín had seven nights of
+healing and rest, with the tenderness and beauty of Niam about his
+couch; and on the seventh day the maiden was free, and her folk brought
+her away, rejoicing, with banners and with music that made a brightness
+for a while in that forlorn and evil place.</p>
+
+<p>But Oisín's heart was high with pride and victory, and a longing uprose
+in his heart with a rush like a springtide for the days when some great
+deed had been done among the Fianna, and the victors were hailed and
+lauded by the home-folk in the Dún of Allen, men and women leaving their
+toil or their pleasure to crowd round the heroes, and to question again
+and again, and to learn each thing that had passed; and the bards noting
+all to weave it into a glorious tale for after days; and more than all
+the smile and the look of Finn as he learned how his children had borne
+themselves in the face of death. And so Oisín said to Niam, &quot;Let me, for
+a short while, return to the land of Erinn, that I may see there my
+friends and kin and tell them of the glory and joy that are mine in the
+Land of Youth.&quot; But Niam wept and laid her white arms about his neck,
+entreating him to think no more of the sad world where all men live and
+move under a canopy of death, and where summer is slain by winter, and
+youth by old age, and where love itself, if it die not by falsehood and
+wrong, perishes many a time of too complete a joy. But Oisín said, &quot;The
+world of men compared with thy world is like this dreary waste compared
+with the city of thy father; yet in that city, Niam, none is better or
+worse than another, and I hunger to tell my tale to ignorant and feeble
+folk that my words can move, as words of mine have done of old, to
+wonder and delight. Then I shall return to thee, Niam, and to thy fair
+and blissful land; and having brought over to mortal men a tale that
+never man has told before, I shall be happy and at peace for ever in the
+Land of Youth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they fared back to the golden city, and next day Niam brought to
+Oisín the white steed that had borne them from Erinn, and bade him
+farewell. &quot;This our steed,&quot; she said, &quot;will carry thee across the sea to
+the land where I found thee, and whithersoever thou wilt, and what folk
+are there thou shalt see, and what tale thou hast to tell can be told.
+But never for even a moment must thou alight from his back, for if thy
+foot once touch again the soil of earth, thou shalt never win to me and
+to the Land of Youth again. And sorely do I fear some evil chance. Was
+not the love of Niam of the Head of Gold enough to fill a mortal's
+heart? But if thou must go, then go, and blessing and victory be thine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Oisín held her long in his arms and kissed her, and vowed to make
+no long stay and never to alight from the fairy steed. And then he shook
+the golden reins and the horse threw its head aloft and snorted and bore
+him away in a pace like that of flowing water for speed and smoothness.
+Anon they came to the margin of the blue sea, and still the white steed
+galloped on, brushing the crests of the waves into glittering spray. The
+sun glared upon the sea and Oisín's head swam with the heat and motion,
+and in mist and dreams he rode where no day was, nor night, nor any
+thought of time, till at last his horse's hoofs ploughed through wet,
+yellow sands, and he saw black rocks rising up at each side of a little
+bay, and inland were fields green or brown, and white cottages thatched
+with reeds, and men and women, toil-worn and clad in earth-coloured
+garments, went to and fro about their tasks or stopped gazing at the
+rider in his crimson cloak and at the golden trappings of his horse. But
+among the cottages was a small house of stone such as Oisín had never
+seen in the land of Erinn; stone was its roof as well as the walls, very
+steep and high, and near-by from a rude frame of timber there hung a
+bell of bronze. Into this house there passed one whom from his shaven
+crown Oisín guessed to be a druid, and behind him two lads in white
+apparel. The druid having seen the horseman turned his eyes again to the
+ground and passed on, regarding him not, and the lads did likewise. And
+Oisín rode on, eager to reach the Dún upon the Hill of Allen and to see
+the faces of his kin and his friends.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL16"></a>
+<a href="./images/il168.jpg"><img src="images/il168_th.jpg" alt="The white steed had vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;The white steed had vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+
+<p>At length, coming from the forest path into the great clearing where the
+Hill of Allen was wont to rise broad and green, with its rampart
+enclosing many white-walled dwellings, and the great hall towering high
+in the midst, he saw but grassy mounds overgrown with rank weeds and
+whin bushes, and among them pastured a peasant's kine.</p>
+
+<p>Then a strange horror fell upon him, and he thought some enchantment
+from the land of Faery held his eyes and mocked him with false visions.
+He threw his arms abroad and shouted the names of Finn and Oscar, but
+none replied, and he thought that perchance the hounds might hear him,
+and he cried upon Bran and Sceolaun, and strained his ears if they might
+catch the faintest rustle or whisper of the world from the sight of
+which his eyes were holden, but he heard only the sigh of the wind in
+the whins. Then he rode in terror from that place, setting his face
+towards the eastern sea, for he meant to traverse Ireland from side to
+side and end to end in the search of some escape from his enchantment.
+But when he came near to the eastern sea and was now in the place which
+is called the Valley of the Thrushes,<a name='FNanchor_24_24'></a><a href='#Footnote_24_24'><sup>[24]</sup></a> he saw in a field upon the
+hillside a crowd of men striving to roll aside a great boulder from
+their tilled land, and an overseer directing them. Towards them he rode,
+meaning to ask them concerning Finn and the Fianna. As he came near,
+they all stopped their work to gaze upon him, for to them he appeared
+like a messenger of the Fairy Folk or an angel from heaven. Taller and
+mightier he was than the men-folk they knew, with sword-blue eyes and
+brown ruddy cheeks; in his mouth, as it were, a shower of pearls, and
+bright hair clustered beneath the rim of his helmet. And as Oisín looked
+upon their puny forms, marred by toil and care, and at the stone which
+they feebly strove to heave from its bed, he was filled with pity, and
+thought to himself, &quot;not such were even the churls of Erinn when I left
+them for the Land of Youth,&quot; and he stooped from his saddle to help
+them. His hand he set to the boulder, and with a mighty heave he lifted
+it from where it lay and set it rolling down the hill. And the men
+raised a shout of wonder and applause, but their shouting changed in a
+moment into cries of terror and dismay, and they fled, jostling and
+overthrowing each other to escape from the place of fear; for a marvel
+horrible to see had taken place. For Oisín's saddle-girth had burst as
+he heaved the stone, and he fell headlong to the ground. In an instant
+the white steed had vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist, and
+that which rose, feeble and staggering, from the ground was no youthful
+warrior but a man stricken with extreme old age, white-bearded and
+withered, who stretched out groping hands and moaned with feeble and
+bitter cries. And his crimson cloak and yellow silken tunic were now but
+coarse homespun stuff tied with a hempen girdle, and the gold-hilted
+sword was a rough oaken staff such as a beggar carries who wanders the
+roads from farmer's house to house.</p>
+
+<p>When the people saw that the doom that had been wrought was not for them
+they returned, and found the old man prone on the ground with his face
+hidden in his arms. So they lifted him up and asked who he was and what
+had befallen him. Oisín gazed round on them with dim eyes, and at last
+he said, &quot;I was Oisín the son of Finn, and I pray ye tell me where he
+now dwells, for his Dún on the Hill of Allen is now a desolation, and I
+have neither seen him nor heard his hunting horn from the Western to the
+Eastern Sea.&quot; Then the men gazed strangely on each other and on Oisín,
+and the overseer asked, &quot;Of what Finn dost thou speak, for there be many
+of that name in Erinn?&quot; Oisín said, &quot;Surely of Finn mac Cumhal mac
+Trenmor, captain of the Fianna of Erinn.&quot; Then the overseer said, &quot;Thou
+art daft, old man, and thou hast made us daft to take thee for a youth
+as we did a while agone. But we at least have now our wits again, and we
+know that Finn son of Cumhal and all his generation have been dead these
+three hundred years. At the battle of Gowra fell Oscar, son of Oisín,
+and Finn at the battle of Brea, as the historians tell us; and the lays
+of Oisín, whose death no man knows the manner of, are sung by our
+harpers at great men's feasts. But now the Talkenn,<a name='FNanchor_25_25'></a><a href='#Footnote_25_25'><sup>[25]</sup></a> Patrick, has
+come into Ireland and has preached to us the One God and Christ His Son,
+by whose might these old days and ways are done away with, and Finn and
+his Fianna, with their feasting and hunting and songs of war and of
+love, have no such reverence among us as the monks and virgins of holy
+Patrick, and the psalms and prayers that go up daily to cleanse us from
+sin and to save us from the fire of judgment.&quot; But Oisín replied, half
+hearing and still less comprehending what was said to him, &quot;If thy God
+have slain Finn and Oscar, I would say that God is a strong man.&quot; Then
+they all cried out upon him, and some picked up stones, but the overseer
+bade them let him be until the Talkenn had spoken with him, and till he
+should order what was to be done.</p>
+
+<p>So they brought him to Patrick, who entreated him gently and hospitably,
+and to Patrick he told the story of all that had befallen him. But
+Patrick bade his scribes write all carefully down, that the memory of
+the heroes whom Oisín had known, and of the joyous and free life they
+had led in the woods and glens and wild places of Erinn, should never be
+forgotten among men. And Oisín, during the short span of life that yet
+remained to him, told to Patrick many tales of the Fianna and their
+deeds, but of the three hundred years that he had spent with Niam in the
+Land of Youth he rarely spoke, for they seemed to him but as a vision or
+a dream of the night, set between a sunny and a rainy day.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XVI_THE_HISTORY_OF_KING_CORMAC'></a><h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2><h2>THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC</h2>
+
+<a name='I_THE_BIRTH_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>I</h3><h3>THE BIRTH OF CORMAC</h3>
+
+<p>Of all the kings that ruled over Ireland, none had a better and more
+loyal servant than was Finn mac Cumhal, and of all the captains and
+counsellors of kings none ever served a more glorious and a nobler
+monarch than did Finn, for the time that he served Cormac, son of Art,
+son of Conn of the Hundred Battles. At the time at which this monarch
+lived and reigned, the mist of sixteen centuries hangs between us and
+the history of Ireland, but through this mist there shine a few great
+and sunlike figures whose glory cannot be altogether hidden, and of
+these figures Cormac is the greatest and the brightest. Much that is
+told about him may be true, and much is certainly fable, but the fables
+themselves are a witness to his greatness; they are like forms seen in
+the mist when a great light is shining behind it, and we cannot always
+say when we are looking at the true light and when at the reflected
+glory.</p>
+
+<p>The birth of Cormac was on this wise. His father, as we have said, was
+Art, son of Conn, and his mother was named Achta, being the daughter of
+a famous smith or ironworker of Connacht. Now before the birth of
+Cormac, Achta had a strange dream, namely, that her head was struck off
+from her body and that out of her neck there grew a great tree which
+extended its branches over all Ireland and flourished exceedingly, but a
+huge wave of the sea burst upon it and laid it low. Then from the roots
+of this tree there grew up another, but it did not attain the splendour
+of the first, and a blast of wind came from the West and overthrew it.
+On this the woman started from her sleep, and she woke her husband, Art,
+and told him her vision. &quot;It is a true dream,&quot; said Art. &quot;I am thy head,
+and this portends that I shall be violently taken from thee. But thou
+shalt bear me a son who shall be King of all Ireland, and shall rule
+with great power and glory until some disaster from the sea overtake
+him. But from him shall come yet another king, my grandson and thine,
+who shall also be cut down, and I think that the cause of his fall shall
+be the armies of the Fian host, who are swift and keen as the wind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Not long thereafter Art, son of Conn, fell in battle with the Picts and
+Britons at the Plain of the Swine, which is between Athenry and Galway
+in Connacht. Now the leader of the invaders then was mac Con, a nephew
+to Art, who had been banished out of Ireland for rising against the High
+King; and when he had slain Art he seized the sovranty of Ireland and
+reigned there unlawfully for many years.</p>
+
+<p>But before the battle, Art had counselled his wife:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If things go ill with us in the fight, and I am slain, seek out my
+faithful friend Luna who dwells in Corann in Connacht, and he will
+protect thee till thy son be born.&quot; So Achta, with one maid, fled in her
+chariot before the host of mac Con and sought to go to the Dún of Luna.
+On her way thither, however, the hour came when her child should be
+born, and the maid turned the chariot aside into the wild wood at the
+place called Creevagh (the Place of the Twigs), and there, on a couch of
+twigs and leaves, she gave birth to a noble son.</p>
+
+<p>Then Achta, when she had cherished her boy and rejoiced over him, bade
+her handmaid keep watch over both of them, and they fell asleep. But the
+maid's eyes were heavy with weariness and long travelling, and ere long
+she, too, was overpowered by slumber, and all three slept a deep sleep
+while the horses wandered away grazing through the wood.</p>
+
+<p>By and by there came a she-wolf roaming through the wood in search of
+prey for her whelps, and it came upon the sleeping woman and the little
+child. It did not wake the woman, but very softly it picked up the
+infant and bore it off to the stony cave that is hard by to Creevagh in
+the hill that was afterwards called Mount Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>After a while the mother waked up and found her child gone. Then she
+uttered a lamentable cry, and woke her handmaid, and both the women
+searched hither and thither, but no trace of the child could they find;
+and thus Luna found them; for he had heard news of the battle and the
+death of his King, and he had come to succour Achta as he had pledged
+his word to do. Luna and his men also made search for the infant, but in
+vain; and at last he conveyed the two sorrowing women to his palace; but
+Achta was somewhat comforted by her prophetic dream. Luna then
+proclaimed that whoever should discover the King's son, if he were yet
+alive, might claim of him what reward he would.</p>
+
+<p>And so the time passed, till one day a man named Grec, a clansman of
+Luna the lord of Corann, as he ranged the woods hunting, came on a stony
+cavern in the side of a hill, and before it he saw wolf-cubs at play,
+and among them a naked child on all fours gambolling with them, and a
+great she-wolf that mothered them all. &quot;Right,&quot; cried Grec, and off he
+goes to Luna his lord. &quot;What wilt thou give me for the King's son?&quot; said
+he. &quot;What wilt thou have?&quot; said Luna. So Grec asked for certain lands,
+and Luna bound himself to give them to him and to his posterity, and
+there lived and flourished the Clan Gregor for many a generation to
+come. So Luna, guided by Grec, went to the cave on Mount Cormac, and
+took the child and the wolf-cubs all together and brought them home. And
+the child they called Cormac, or the Chariot-Child. Now the lad grew up
+very comely and strong, and he abode with Luna in Connacht, and no one
+told him of his descent.</p>
+
+<a name='II_THE_JUDGEMENT_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>II</h3><h3>THE JUDGEMENT OF CORMAC</h3>
+
+
+<p>Once upon a time it happened that Cormac was at play with the two sons
+of Luna, and the lads grew angry in their play and came to blows, and
+Cormac struck one of them to the ground. &quot;Sorrow on it,&quot; cried the lad,
+&quot;here I have been beaten by one that knows not his clan or kindred, save
+that he is a fellow without a father.&quot; When Cormac heard that he was
+troubled and ashamed, and he went to Luna and told him what had been
+said.</p>
+
+<p>And Luna seeing the trouble of the youth, and also that he was strong
+and noble to look on, and wise and eloquent in speech, held that the
+time was now come to reveal to him his descent. &quot;Thou hadst indeed a
+clan and kindred,&quot; he said, &quot;and a father of the noblest, for thou art
+the son of Art, the High King of Ireland, who was slain and dispossessed
+by mac Con. But it is foretold that thou shalt yet come to thy father's
+place, and the land pines for thee even now, for there is no good yield
+from earth or sea under the unlawful rule of him who now sits on the
+throne of Art.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If that be so,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;let us go to Tara, and bide our time
+there in my father's house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the two of them set out for Tara on the morrow morn. And this was the
+retinue they had with them: a body-guard of outlawed men that had
+revolted against mac Con and other lords and had gathered themselves
+together at Corann under Luna, and four wolves that had been cubs with
+Cormac when the she-wolf suckled him.</p>
+
+<p>When they came to Tara, the folk there wondered at the fierce-eyed
+warriors and the grey beasts that played like dogs around Cormac, and
+the lad was adopted as a pupil by the King, to be taught arms and poetry
+and law. Much talk there was of his coming, and of his strange
+companions that are not wont to be the friends of man, and as the lad
+grew in comeliness and in knowledge the eyes of all were turned to him
+more and more, because the rule of mac Con was not good.</p>
+
+<p>So the time wore on, till one day a case came for judgment before the
+King, in which the Queen sued a certain wealthy woman and an owner of
+herds named Benna, for that the sheep of Benna had strayed into the
+Queen's fields and had eaten to the ground a crop of woad<a name='FNanchor_26_26'></a><a href='#Footnote_26_26'><sup>[26]</sup></a> that was
+growing there. The King gave judgment, that the sheep which had eaten
+the woad were to be given to the Queen in compensation for what they had
+destroyed. Then Cormac rose up before the people and said, &quot;Nay, but let
+the wool of the sheep, when they are next shorn, be given to the Queen,
+for the woad will grow again and so shall the wool.&quot; &quot;A true judgment, a
+true judgment,&quot; cried all the folk that were present in the place; &quot;a
+very king's son is he that hath pronounced it.&quot; And they murmured so
+loudly against mac Con that his druids counselled him to quit Tara lest
+a worse thing befall him. So he gave up the sovranty to Cormac and went
+southward into Munster to rally his friends there and recover the
+kingdom, and there he was slain by Cormac's men as he was distributing
+great largesse of gold and silver to his followers, in the place called
+The Field of the Gold.</p>
+
+<p>So Cormac, son of Art, ruled in Tara and was High King of all Ireland.
+And the land, it is said, knew its rightful lord, and yielded harvests
+such as never were known, while the forest trees dripped with the
+abundance of honey and the lakes and rivers were alive with fish. So
+much game was there, too, that the folk could have lived on that alone
+and never put a ploughshare in the soil. In Cormac's time the autumn was
+not vexed with rain, nor the spring with icy winds, nor the summer with
+parching heat, nor the winter with whelming snows. His rule in Erinn, it
+is said, was like a wand of gold laid on a dish of silver.</p>
+
+<p>Also he rebuilt the ramparts of Tara and made it strong, and he enlarged
+the great banqueting hall and made pillars of cedar in it ornamented
+with plates of bronze, and painted its lime-white walls in patterns of
+red and blue. Palaces for the women he also made there, and
+store-houses, and halls for the fighting men&mdash;never was Tara so populous
+or so glorious before or since. And for his wisdom and righteousness
+knowledge was given to him that none other in Ireland had as yet, for it
+was revealed to him that the Immortal Ones whom the Gael worshipped were
+but the names of One whom none can name, and that his message should ere
+long come to Ireland from over the eastern sea, calling the people to a
+sweeter and diviner faith.</p>
+
+<p>And to the end of his life it was his way to have wolves about him, for
+he knew their speech and they his, and they were friendly and tame with
+him and his folk, since they were foster-brothers together in the wild
+wood.</p>
+
+<a name='III_THE_MARRIAGE_OF_KING_CORMAC'></a><h3>III</h3><h3>THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC</h3>
+
+<p>It happened that in Cormac's time there was a very wealthy farmer named
+Buicad<a name='FNanchor_27_27'></a><a href='#Footnote_27_27'><sup>[27]</sup></a> who dwelt in Leinster, and had vast herds of cattle and sheep
+and horses. This Buicad and his wife had no children, but they adopted a
+foster-child named Ethne, daughter of one Dunlang. Now Buicad was the
+most hospitable of men, and never refused aught to anyone, but he kept
+open house for all the nobles of Leinster who came with their following
+and feasted there as they would, day after day; and if any man fancied
+any of the cattle or other goods of Buicad, he might take them home with
+him, and none said him nay. Thus Buicad lived in great splendour, and
+his Dún was ever full to profusion with store of food and clothing and
+rich weapons, until in time it was all wasted away in boundless
+hospitality and generosity, and so many had had a share in his goods
+that they could never be recovered nor could it be said of any man that
+he was the cause of Buicad's undoing. But undone he was at last, and
+when there remained to him but one bull and seven cows he departed by
+night with his wife and Ethne from Dún Buicad, leaving his mansion
+desolate. And he travelled till he came to a place where there was a
+grove of oak trees by a little stream in the county of Meath, near where
+Cormac had a summer palace, and there he built himself a little hut and
+tended his few cattle, and Ethne waited as a maid-servant upon him and
+his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Now on a certain day it happened that King Cormac rode out on horseback
+from his Dún in Meath, and in the course of his ride he came upon the
+little herd of Buicad towards evening, and he saw Ethne milking the
+cows. And this was the way she milked them: first she milked a portion
+of each cow's milk into a certain vessel, then she took a second vessel
+and milked into it the remaining portion, in which was the richest
+cream, and these two vessels she kept apart. Cormac watched all this.
+She then bore the vessels of milk into the hut, and came out again with
+two other vessels and a small cup. These she bore down to the
+river-side; and one of the vessels she filled by means of the cup from
+the water at the brink of the stream, but the other vessel she bore out
+into the middle of the stream and there filled it from the deepest of
+the running water. After this she took a sickle and began cutting rushes
+by the river-side, and Cormac saw that when she cut a wisp of long
+rushes she would put it on one side, and the short rushes on the other,
+and she bore them separately into the house. But Cormac stopped her and
+saluted her, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For whom, maiden, art thou making this careful choice of the milk and
+the rushes and the water?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am making it,&quot; said she, &quot;for one who is worthy that I should do far
+more than that for him, if I could.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is his name?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Buicad, the farmer,&quot; said Ethne.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it that Buicad, who was the rich farmer in Leinster that all Ireland
+has heard of?&quot; asked the King.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is even so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then thou art his foster-child, Ethne the daughter of Dunlang?&quot; said
+Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am,&quot; said Ethne.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wilt thou be my wife and Queen of Erinn?&quot; then said Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If it please my foster-father to give me to thee, O King, I am
+willing,&quot; replied Ethne. Then Cormac took Ethne by the hand and they went
+before Buicad, and he consented to give her to Cormac to wife. And Buicad
+was given rich lands and great store of cattle in the district of Odran
+close by Tara, and Ethne the Queen loved him and visited him so long as
+his life endured.</p>
+
+<a name='IV_THE_INSTRUCTIONS_OF_THE_KING'></a><h3>IV</h3><h3>THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING</h3>
+
+<p>Ethne bore to Cormac a son, her firstborn, named Cairbry, who was King
+of Ireland after Cormac. It was during the lifetime of Cormac that
+Cairbry came to the throne, for it happened that ere he died Cormac was
+wounded by a chance cast of a spear and lost one of his eyes, and it was
+forbidden that any man having a blemish should be a king in Ireland.
+Cormac therefore gave up the kingdom into the hands of Cairbry, but
+before he did so he told his son all the wisdom that he had in the
+governing of men, and this was written down in a book which is called
+<i>The Instructions of Cormac</i>.<a name='FNanchor_28_28'></a><a href='#Footnote_28_28'><sup>[28]</sup></a> These are among the things which are
+found in it, of the wisdom of Cormac:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Let him (the king) restrain the great,<br />
+Let him exalt the good,<br />
+Let him establish peace,<br />
+Let him plant law,<br />
+Let him protect the just,<br />
+Let him bind the unjust,<br />
+Let his warriors be many and his counsellors few,<br />
+Let him shine in company and be the sun of the mead-hall,<br />
+Let him punish with a full fine wrong done knowingly,<br />
+and with a half-fine wrong done in ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>Cairbry said, &quot;What are good customs for a tribe to pursue?&quot; &quot;They are
+as follows,&quot; replied Cormac:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;To have frequent assemblies,<br />
+To be ever enquiring, to question the wise men,<br />
+To keep order in assemblies,<br />
+To follow ancient lore,<br />
+Not to crush the miserable,<br />
+To keep faith in treaties,<br />
+To consolidate kinship,<br />
+Fighting-men not to be arrogant,<br />
+To keep contracts faithfully,<br />
+To guard the frontiers against every ill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell me, O Cormac,&quot; said Cairbry, &quot;what are good customs for the giver
+of a feast?&quot; and Cormac said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;To have lighted lamps,<br />
+To be active in entertaining the company,<br />
+To be liberal in dispensing ale,<br />
+To tell stories briefly,<br />
+To be of joyous countenance,<br />
+To keep silence during recitals.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell me, O Cormac,&quot; said his son once, &quot;what were thy habits when thou
+wert a lad?&quot; And Cormac said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;I was a listener in woods,<br />
+I was a gazer at stars,<br />
+I pried into no man's secrets,<br />
+I was mild in the hall,<br />
+I was fierce in the fray,<br />
+I was not given to making promises,<br />
+I reverenced the aged,<br />
+I spoke ill of no man in his absence,<br />
+I was fonder of giving than of asking.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you listen to my teaching,&quot; said Cormac:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Do not deride any old person though you be young<br />
+Nor any poor man though you be rich,<br />
+Nor any naked though you be well-clad,<br />
+Nor any lame though you be swift,<br />
+Nor any blind though you be keen-sighted,<br />
+Nor any invalid though you be robust,<br />
+Nor any dull though you be clever,<br />
+Nor any fool though you be wise.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet be not slothful, nor fierce, nor sleepy, nor niggardly, nor feckless
+nor envious, for all these are hateful before God and men.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not join in blasphemy, nor be the butt of an assembly; be not moody
+in an alehouse, and never forget a tryst.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are the most lasting things on earth?&quot; asked Cairbry.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not hard to tell,&quot; said Cormac; &quot;they are grass, copper, and a
+yew-tree.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you will listen to me,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;this is my instruction for the
+management of your household and your realm:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Let not a man with many friends be your steward,<br />
+Nor a woman with sons and foster-sons your housekeeper,<br />
+Nor a greedy man your butler,<br />
+Nor a man of much delay your miller,<br />
+Nor a violent, foul-mouthed man your messenger,<br />
+Nor a grumbling sluggard your servant,<br />
+Nor a talkative man your counsellor,<br />
+Nor a tippler your cup-bearer,<br />
+Nor a short-sighted man your watchman,<br />
+Nor a bitter, haughty man your doorkeeper,<br />
+Nor a tender-hearted man your judge,<br />
+Nor an ignorant man your leader,<br />
+Nor an unlucky man your counsellor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Such were the counsels that Cormac mac Art gave to his son Cairbry. And
+Cairbry became King after his father's abdication, and reigned seven and
+twenty years, till he and Oscar, son of Oisín, slew one another at the
+battle of Gowra.</p>
+
+<a name='V_CORMAC_SETS_UP_THE_FIRST_MILL_IN_ERINN'></a><h3>V</h3><h3>CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN</h3>
+
+<p>During the reign of Cormac it happened that some of the lords of Ulster
+made a raid upon the Picts in Alba<a name='FNanchor_29_29'></a><a href='#Footnote_29_29'><sup>[29]</sup></a> and brought home many captives.
+Among them was a Pictish maiden named Kiernit, daughter of a king of
+that nation, who was strangely beautiful, and for that the Ulstermen
+sent her as a gift to King Cormac. And Cormac gave her as a household
+slave to his wife Ethne, who set her to grinding corn with a hand-quern,
+as women in Erinn were used to do. One day as Cormac was in the palace
+of the Queen he saw Kiernit labouring at her task and weeping as she
+wrought, for the toil was heavy and she was unused to it. Then Cormac
+was moved with compassion for the women that ground corn throughout
+Ireland, and he sent to Alba for artificers to come over and set up a
+mill, for up to then there were no mills in Ireland. Now there was in
+Tara, as there is to this day, a well of water called <i>The Pearly</i>, for
+the purity and brightness of the water that sprang from it, and it ran
+in a stream down the hillside, as it still runs, but now only in a
+slender trickle. Over this stream Cormac bade them build the first mill
+that was in Ireland, and the bright water turned the wheel merrily
+round, and the women in Tara toiled at the quern no more.</p>
+
+<a name='VI_A_PLEASANT_STORY_OF_CORMACS_BREHON'></a><h3>VI</h3><h3>A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON</h3>
+
+<p>Among other affairs which Cormac regulated for himself and all kings who
+should come after him was the number and quality of the officers who
+should be in constant attendance on the King. Of these he ordained that
+there should be ten, to wit one lord, one brehon, one druid, one
+physician, one bard, one historian, one musician and three stewards. The
+function of the brehon, or judge, was to know the ancient customs and
+the laws of Ireland, and to declare them to the King whenever any matter
+relating to them came before him. Now Cormac's chief brehon was at first
+one Fithel. But Fithel's time came to die, and his son Flahari,<a name='FNanchor_30_30'></a><a href='#Footnote_30_30'><sup>[30]</sup></a> a
+wise and learned man, trained by his father in all the laws of the Gael,
+was to be brehon to the High King in his father's stead. Fithel then
+called his son to his bedside and said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou art well acquainted, my son, with all the laws and customs of the
+Gael, and worthy to be the chief brehon of King Cormac. But wisdom of
+life thou hast not yet obtained, for it is written in no law-book. This
+thou must learn for thyself, from life itself; yet somewhat of it I can
+impart unto thee, and it will keep thee in the path of safety, which is
+not easily trodden by those who are in the counsels of great kings. Mark
+now these four precepts, and obey them, and thou wilt avoid many of the
+pit-falls in thy way:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Take not a king's son in fosterage,<a name='FNanchor_31_31'></a><a href='#Footnote_31_31'><sup>[31]</sup></a><br />
+Impart no dangerous secret to thy wife,<br />
+Raise not the son of a serf to a high position,<br />
+Commit not thy purse or treasure to a sister's keeping.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Having said this Fithel died, and Flahari became chief brehon in his
+stead.</p>
+
+<p>After a time Flahari thought to himself, &quot;I am minded to test my
+father's wisdom of life and to see if it be true wisdom or but
+wise-seeming babble. For knowledge is no knowledge until it be tried by
+life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So he went before the King and said, &quot;If thou art willing, Cormac, I
+would gladly have one of thy sons in fosterage.&quot; At this Cormac was well
+pleased, and a young child of the sons of Cormac was given to Flahari to
+bring up, and Flahari took the child to his own Dún, and there began to
+nurture and to train him as it was fitting.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, however, Flahari one day took the child by the hand and
+went with him into the deep recesses of the forest where dwelt one of
+the swine-herds who minded the swine of Flahari. To him Flahari handed
+over the child and bade him guard him as the apple of his eye, and to be
+ready deliver him up again when he was required. The Flahari went home,
+and for some days went about like a man weighed down by gloomy and
+bitter thoughts. His wife marked that, and sought to know the reason,
+but Flahari put her off. At last when she continually pressed him to
+reveal the cause of his trouble, he said &quot;If them must needs learn what
+ails me, and if thou canst keep a secret full of danger to me and thee,
+know that I am gloomy and distraught because I have killed the son of
+Cormac.&quot; At this the woman cried out, &quot;Murderer parricide, hast thou
+spilled the King's blood, and shall Cormac not know it, and do justice
+on thee?&quot; And she sent word to Cormac that he should come and seize her
+husband for that crime.</p>
+
+<p>But before the officers came, Flahari took a young man, the son of his
+butler, and placed him in charge of his lands to manage them, while
+Flahari was away for his trial at Tara. And he also gave to his sister a
+treasure of gold and silver to keep for him, lest it should be made a
+spoil of while he was absent. Then he went with the officers to Tara,
+denying his offence and his confession, but when Cormac had heard all,
+and the child could not be found, he sentenced him to be put to death.</p>
+
+<p>Flahari then sent a messenger to his sister, begging her to send him at
+once a portion of the treasure he had left with her, that he might use
+it to make himself friends among the folk at court, and perchance obtain
+a remission of his sentence; but she sent the messenger back again
+empty, saying she knew not of what he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>On this Flahari deemed that the time was come to reveal the truth, so he
+obtained permission from the King to send a message to his swineherd
+before he died, and to hear the man's reply. And the message was this,
+that Murtach the herd should come without delay to Tara and bring with
+him the child that Flahari had committed to him. Howbeit this messenger
+also came back empty, and reported that on reaching Dún Flahari he had
+been met by the butler's son that was over the estate, who had
+questioned him of his errand, and had then said, &quot;Murtach the serf has
+run away as soon as he heard of his lord's downfall, and if he had any
+child in his care he has taken it away with him, and he cannot be
+found.&quot; This he said because, on hearing of the child, he guessed what
+this might mean, and he had been the bitterest of all in urging
+Flahari's death, hoping to be rewarded with a share of his lands.</p>
+
+<p>Then Flahari said to himself, &quot;Truly the proving of my father's wisdom
+of life has brought me very near to death.&quot; So he sent for the King and
+entreated him that he might be suffered to go himself to the dwelling of
+Murtach the herd, promising that the King's son should be then restored
+to him, &quot;or if not,&quot; said he, &quot;let me then be slain there without more
+ado.&quot; With great difficulty Cormac was moved to consent to this, for he
+believed it was but a subterfuge of Flahari's to put off the evil day or
+perchance to find a way of escape. But next day Flahari was straitly
+bound and set in a chariot, and, with a guard of spearmen about him and
+Cormac himself riding behind, they set out for Dún Flahari. Then Flahari
+guided them through the wild wood till at last they came to the clearing
+where stood the dwelling of Murtach the swineherd, and lo! there was the
+son of Cormac playing merrily before the door. And the child ran to his
+foster-father to kiss him, but when he saw Flahari in bonds he burst out
+weeping and would not be at peace until he was set free.</p>
+
+<p>Then Murtach slew one of the boars of his herd and made an oven in the
+earth after the manner of the Fianna, and made over it a fire of boughs
+that he had drying in a shed. And when the boar was baked he set it
+before the company with ale and mead in methers of beechwood, and they
+all feasted and were glad of heart.</p>
+
+<p>Cormac then asked of Flahari why he had suffered himself to be brought
+into this trouble. &quot;I did so,&quot; said Flahari, &quot;to prove the four counsels
+which my father gave them ere he died, and I have proved them and found
+them to be wise. In the first place, it is not wise for any man that is
+not a king to take the fosterage of a king's son, for if aught shall
+happen to the lad, his own life is in the king's hands and with his life
+he shall answer for it. Secondly, the keeping of a secret, said my
+father, is not in the nature of women in general, therefore no dangerous
+secret should be entrusted to them. The third counsel my father gave me
+was not to raise up or enrich the son of a serf, for such persons are
+apt to forget benefits conferred on them, and moreover it irks them that
+he who raised them up should know the poor estate from which they
+sprang. And good, too, is the fourth counsel my father gave me, not to
+entrust my treasure to my sister, for it is the nature of most women to
+regard as spoil any valuables that are entrusted to them to keep for
+others.&quot;</p>
+
+<a name='VII_THE_JUDGEMENT_CONCERNING_CORMACS_SWORD'></a><h3>VII</h3><h3>THE JUDGEMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD</h3>
+
+<p>When Cormac, son of Art, son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was High
+King in Erinn, great was the peace and splendour of his reign, and no
+provincial king or chief in any part of the country lifted up his head
+against Cormac. At his court in Tara were many noble youths, who were
+trained up there in all matters befitting their rank and station.</p>
+
+<p>One of these youths was named Socht, son of Fithel. Socht had a
+wonderful sword, named &quot;The Hard-headed Steeling,&quot; which was said to
+have been long ago the sword of Cuchulain. It had a hilt of gold and a
+belt of silver, and its point was double-edged. At night it shone like a
+candle. If its point were bent back to the hilt it would fly back again
+and be as straight as before. If it was held in running water and a hair
+were floated down against the edge, it would sever the hair. It was a
+saying that this sword would make two halves of a man, and for a while
+he would not perceive what had befallen him. This sword was held by
+Socht for a tribal possession from father and grandfather.</p>
+
+<p>There was at this time a famous steward to the High King in Tara whose
+name was Dubdrenn. This man asked Socht to sell him the sword. He
+promised to Socht such a ration as he, Dubdrenn, had every night, and
+four men's food for the family of Socht, and, after that, Socht to have
+the full value of the sword at his own appraisement. &quot;No,&quot; said Socht.
+&quot;I may not sell my father's treasures while he is alive.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And thus they went on, Dubdrenn's mind ever running on the sword. At
+last he bade Socht to a drinking-bout, and plied him so with wine and
+mead that Socht became drunken, and knew not where he was, and finally
+fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Then the steward takes the sword and goes to the King's brazier, by name
+Connu.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Art thou able,&quot; says Dubdrenn, &quot;to open the hilt of this sword?&quot; &quot;I am
+that,&quot; says the brazier.</p>
+
+<p>Then the brazier took apart the hilt, and within, upon the tang of the
+blade, he wrote the steward's name, even Dubdrenn, and the steward laid
+the sword again by the side of Socht.</p>
+
+<p>So it was for three months after that, and the steward continued to ask
+Socht to sell him the sword, but he could not get it from him.</p>
+
+<p>Then the steward brought a suit for the sword before the High King, and
+he claimed that it was his own and that it had been taken from him. But
+Socht declared that the sword was his by long possession and by equity,
+and he would not give it up.</p>
+
+<p>Then Socht went to his father, Fithel the brehon, and begged him to take
+part in the action and to defend his claim. But Fithel said, &quot;Nay, thou
+art too apt to blame the pleadings of other men; plead for thyself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the court was set, and Socht was called upon to prove that the sword
+was his. He swore that it was a family treasure, and thus it had come
+down to him.</p>
+
+<p>The steward said, &quot;Well, O Cormac, the oath that Socht has uttered is a
+lie.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What proof hast thou of that?&quot; asked Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not hard to declare,&quot; replied the steward. &quot;If the sword be mine, my
+name stands graved therein, concealed within the hilt of the sword.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That will soon be known,&quot; says Cormac, and therewith he had the brazier
+summoned. The brazier comes and breaks open the hilt and the name of
+Dubdrenn stands written within it. Thus a dead thing testified in law
+against a living man.</p>
+
+<p>Then Socht said, &quot;Hear ye, O men of Erinn and Cormac the King! I
+acknowledge that this man is the owner of the sword.&quot; And to Dubdrenn he
+said, &quot;The property therein and all the obligations of it pass from me
+to thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dubdrenn said, &quot;I acknowledge property in the sword and all its
+obligations.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then said Socht, &quot;This sword was found in the neck of my grandfather
+Angus, and till this day it never was known who had done that murder. Do
+justice, O King, for this crime.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Said the King to Dubdrenn, &quot;Thou art liable for more than the sword is
+worth.&quot; So he awarded to Socht the price of seven bondwomen as
+blood-fine for the slaying of Angus, and restitution of the sword to
+Socht. Then the steward confessed the story of the sword, and Cormac
+levied seven other cumals from the brazier. But Cormac said, &quot;This is in
+truth the sword of Cuchulain, and by it was slain my grandfather, even
+Conn of the Hundred Battles, at the hands of the King of Ulster, of whom
+it is written:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;With a host, with a valiant band<br />
+Well did he go into Connacht.<br />
+Alas, that he saw the blood of Conn<br />
+On the side of Cuchulain's sword!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Cormac and Fithel agreed that the sword be given to Cormac as
+blood-fine for the death of Conn, and his it was; and it was the third
+best of the royal treasures that were in Erin: namely, Cormac's Cup,
+that broke if a falsehood were spoken over it and became whole if a
+truth were spoken; and the Bell Branch that he got in Fairyland, whose
+music when it was shaken would put to sleep wounded men, and women in
+travail; and the Sword of Cuchulain, against which, and against the man
+that held it in his hand, no victory could ever be won.</p>
+
+<a name='VIII_THE_DISAPPEARANCE_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>VIII</h3><h3>THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC</h3>
+
+<p>In the chronicle of the Kings of Ireland that was written by Tierna the
+Historian in the eleventh century after Christ's coming, there is noted
+down in the annals of the year 248, &quot;Disappearance of Cormac, grandson
+of Conn, for seven months.&quot; That which happened to Cormac during these
+seven months is told in one of the bardic stories of Ireland, being the
+Story of Cormac's Journey to Fairyland, and this was the manner of it.</p>
+
+<p>One day Cormac, son of Art, was looking over the ramparts of his royal
+Dún of Tara, when he saw a young man, glorious to look on in his person
+and his apparel, coming towards him across the plain of Bregia. The
+young man bore in his hand, as it were, a branch, from which hung nine
+golden bells formed like apples. When he shook the branch the nine
+apples beat against each other and made music so sweet that there was no
+pain or sorrow in the world that a man would not forget while he
+hearkened to it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Does this branch belong to thee?&quot; asked Cormac of the youth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Truly it does,&quot; replied the youth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wilt thou sell it to me?&quot; said Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I never had aught that I would not sell for a price,&quot; said the
+young man.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is thy price?&quot; asked Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The price shall be what I will,&quot; said the young man.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will give thee whatever thou desirest of all that is mine,&quot; said
+Cormac, for he coveted the branch exceedingly, and the enchantment was
+heavy upon him.</p>
+
+<p>So the youth gave him the bell-branch, and then said, &quot;My price is thy
+wife and thy son and thy daughter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they went together into the palace and found there Cormac's wife
+and his children. &quot;That is a wonderful jewel thou hast in thy hand,
+Cormac,&quot; said Ethne.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;and great is the price I have paid for it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is that price?&quot; said Ethne.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Even thou and thy children twain,&quot; said the King.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never hast thou done such a thing,&quot; cried Ethne, &quot;as to prefer any
+treasure in the world before us three!&quot; And they all three lamented and
+implored, but Cormac shook the branch and immediately their sorrow was
+forgotten, and they went away willingly with the young man across the
+plain of Bregia until a mist hid them from the eyes of Cormac. And when
+the people murmured and complained against Cormac, for Ethne and her
+children were much beloved of them, Cormac shook the bell-branch and
+their grief was turned into joy.</p>
+
+<p>A year went by after this, and then Cormac longed for his wife and
+children again, nor could the bell-branch any longer bring him
+forgetfulness of them. So one morning he took the branch and went out
+alone from Tara over the plain, taking the direction in which they had
+passed away a year agone; and ere long little wreathes of mist began to
+curl about his feet, and then to flit by him like long trailing robes,
+and he knew no more where he was. After a time, however, he came out
+again into sunshine and clear sky, and found himself in a country of
+flowery meadows and of woods filled with singing-birds where he had
+never journeyed before. He walked on, till at last he came to a great
+and stately mansion with a crowd of builders at work upon it, and they
+were roofing it with a thatch made of the wings of strange birds. But
+when they had half covered the house, their supply of feathers ran
+short, and they rode off in haste to seek for more. While they were
+gone, however, a wind arose and whirled away the feathers already laid
+on, so that the rafters were left bare as before. And this happened
+again and again, as Cormac gazed on them for he knew not how long. At
+last his patience left him and he said, &quot;I see with that ye have been
+doing this since the beginning of the world, and that ye will still be
+doing it in the end thereof,&quot; and with that he went on his way.</p>
+
+<p>And many other strange things he saw, but of them we say nothing now,
+till he came to the gateway of a great and lofty Dún, where he entered
+in and asked hospitality. Then there came to him a tall man clad in a
+cloak of blue that changed into silver or to purple as its folds waved
+in the light, and with him was a woman more beautiful than the daughters
+of men, even she of whom it was said her beauty was as that of a tear
+when it drops from the eyelid, so crystal-pure it was and bright.<a name='FNanchor_32_32'></a><a href='#Footnote_32_32'><sup>[32]</sup></a>
+They greeted Cormac courteously and begged him to stay with them for the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Cormac then entered a great hall with pillars of cedar and many-coloured
+silken hangings on the walls. In the midst of it was a fire-place
+whereon the host threw a huge log, and shortly afterwards brought in a
+young pig which Cormac cut up to roast before the fire. He first put one
+quarter of the pig to roast, and then his host said to him,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell us a tale, stranger, and if it be a true one the quarter will be
+done as soon as the tale is told.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do thou begin,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;and then thy wife, and after that my turn
+will come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said the host. &quot;This is my tale. I have seven of these swine,
+and with their flesh the whole world could be fed. When one of them is
+killed and eaten, I need but put its bones into the pig-trough and on
+the morrow it is alive and well again.&quot; They looked at the fireplace,
+and behold, the first quarter of the pig was done and ready to be
+served.</p>
+
+<p>Then Cormac put on the second quarter, and the woman took up her tale.
+&quot;I have seven white cows,&quot; she said, &quot;and seven pails are filled with
+the milk of them each day. Though all the folk in the world were
+gathered together to drink of this milk, there would be enough and to
+spare for all.&quot; As soon as she had said that, they saw that the second
+quarter of the pig was roasted.</p>
+
+<p>Then Cormac said: &quot;I know you now, who you are; for it is Mananan that
+owns the seven swine of Faery, and it is out of the Land of Promise that
+he fetched Fand his wife and her seven cows.&quot; Then immediately the third
+quarter of the pig was done.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell us now,&quot; said Mananan, &quot;who thou art and why thou art come
+hither.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Cormac then told his story, of the branch with its nine golden apples
+and how he had bartered for it his wife and his children, and he was
+now-seeking them through the world. And when he had made an end, the
+last quarter of the pig was done.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, let us set to the feast,&quot; then said Mananan; but Cormac said,
+&quot;Never have I sat down to meat in a company of two only.&quot; &quot;Nay,&quot; said
+Mananan, &quot;but there are more to come.&quot; With that he opened a door in the
+hall and in it appeared Queen Ethne and her two children. And when they
+had embraced and rejoiced in each other Mananan said, &quot;It was I who took
+them from thee, Cormac, and who gave thee the bell-branch, for I wished
+to bring thee hither to be my guest for the sake of thy nobleness and
+thy wisdom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they all sat down to table and feasted and made merry, and when
+they had satisfied themselves with meat and drink, Mananan showed the
+wonders of his household to King Cormac. And he took up a golden cup
+which stood on the table, and said: &quot;This cup hath a magical property,
+for if a lie be spoken over it, it will immediately break in pieces, and
+if a truth be spoken it will be made whole again.&quot; &quot;Prove this to me,&quot;
+said Cormac. &quot;That is easily done,&quot; said Mananan. &quot;Thy wife hath had a
+new husband since I carried her off from thee.&quot; Straightway the cup fell
+apart into four pieces. &quot;My husband has lied to thee, Cormac,&quot; said
+Fand, and immediately the cup became whole again.</p>
+
+<p>Cormac then began to question Mananan as to the things he had seen on
+his way thither, and he told him of the house that was being thatched
+with the wings of birds, and of the men that kept returning ever and
+again to their work as the wind destroyed it. And Mananan said, &quot;These,
+O Cormac, are the men of art, who seek to gather together much money and
+gear of all kinds by the exercise of their craft, but as fast as they
+get it, so they spend it, or faster and the result is that they will
+never be rich.&quot; But when he had said this it is related that the golden
+cup broke into pieces where it stood. Then Cormac said, &quot;The explanation
+thou hast given of this mystery is not true.&quot; Mananan smiled, and said,
+&quot;Nevertheless it must suffice thee, O King, for the truth of this matter
+may not be known, lest the men of art give over the roofing of the house
+and it be covered with common thatch.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So when they had talked their fill, Cormac and his wife and children
+were brought to a chamber where they lay down to sleep. But when they
+woke up on the morrow morn, they found themselves in the Queen's chamber
+in the royal palace of Tara, and by Cormac's side were found the
+bell-branch and the magical cup and the cloth of gold that had covered
+the table where they sat in the palace of Mananan. Seven months it was
+since Cormac had gone out from Tara to search for his wife and children,
+but it seemed to him that he had been absent but for the space of a
+single day and night.</p>
+
+<a name='IX_DESCRIPTION_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>IX</h3><h3>DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC<a name='FNanchor_33_33'></a><a href='#Footnote_33_33'><sup>[33]</sup></a></h3>
+
+
+<p>&quot;A noble and illustrious king assumed the sovranty and rule of Erinn,
+namely Cormac, grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles. The world was
+full of all goodness in his time; there were fruit and fatness of the
+land, and abundant produce of the sea, with peace and ease and
+happiness. There were no killings or plunderings in his time, but
+everyone occupied his land in happiness.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The nobles of Ireland assembled to drink the Banquet of Tara with
+Cormac at a certain time.... Magnificently did Cormac come to this great
+Assembly; for no man, his equal in beauty, had preceded him, excepting
+Conary Mór or Conor son of Caffa, or Angus Óg son of the Dagda.<a name='FNanchor_34_34'></a><a href='#Footnote_34_34'><sup>[34]</sup></a>
+Splendid, indeed, was Cormac's appearance in that Assembly. His hair was
+slightly curled, and of golden colour; a scarlet shield he had, with
+engraved devices, and golden bosses and ridges of silver. A wide-folding
+purple cloak was on him with a gem-set gold brooch over his breast; a
+golden torque round his neck; a white-collared shirt embroidered with
+gold was on him; a girdle with golden buckles and studded with precious
+stones was around him; two golden net-work sandals with golden buckles
+upon his feet; two spears with golden sockets and many red bronze rivets
+in his hand; while he stood in the full glow of beauty, without defect
+or blemish. You would think it was a shower of pearls that was set in
+his mouth, his lips were rubies, his symmetrical body was as white as
+snow, his cheek was ruddy as the berry of the mountain-ash, his eyes
+were like the sloe, his brows and eye-lashes were like the sheen of a
+blue-black lance.&quot;</p>
+
+<a name='X_THE_DEATH_AND_BURIAL_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>X</h3><h3>THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC</h3>
+
+<p>Strange was the birth and childhood of Cormac strange his life and
+strange the manner of his death and burial, as we now have to narrate.</p>
+
+<p>Cormac, it is said, was the third man in Ireland who heard of the
+Christian Faith before the coming of Patrick. One was Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster, whose druid told him of the crucifixion of Christ and
+who died of that knowledge.<a name='FNanchor_35_35'></a><a href='#Footnote_35_35'><sup>[35]</sup></a> The second was the wise judge, Morann,
+and the third Cormac, son of Art. This knowledge was revealed to him by
+divine illumination, and thenceforth he refused to consult the druids or
+to worship the images which they made as emblems of the Immortal Ones.</p>
+
+<p>One day it happened that Cormac after he had laid down the kingship of
+Ireland, was present when the druids and a concourse of people were
+worshipping the great golden image which was set up in the plain called
+Moy Slaught. When the ceremony was done, the chief druid, whose name was
+Moylann, spoke to Cormac and said: &quot;Why, O Cormac, didst thou not bow
+down and adore the golden image of the god like the rest of the people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Cormac said: &quot;Never will I worship a stock<a name='FNanchor_36_36'></a><a href='#Footnote_36_36'><sup>[36]</sup></a> that my own carpenter
+has made. Rather would I worship the man that made it, for he is nobler
+than the work of his hands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then it is told that Moylann by magic art caused the image to move and
+leap before the eyes of Cormac. &quot;Seest thou that?&quot; said Moylann.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Although I see,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;I will do no worship save to the God of
+Heaven and Earth and Hell.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Cormac went to his own home at Sletty on the Boyne, for there he
+lived after he had given up the kingdom to his son Cairbry. But the
+druids of Erinn came together and consulted over this matter, and they
+determined solemnly to curse Cormac and invoke the vengeance of their
+gods upon him lest the people should think that any man could despise
+and reject their gods, and suffer no ill for it.</p>
+
+<p>So they cursed Cormac in his flesh and bones, in his waking and
+sleeping, in his down sitting and his uprising, and each day they turned
+over the Wishing Stone upon the altar of their god,<a name='FNanchor_38_37'></a><a href='#Footnote_38_37'><sup>[37]</sup></a> and wove mighty
+spells against his life. And whether it was that these took effect, or
+that the druids prevailed upon some traitorous servant of Cormac's to
+work their will, so it was that he died not long thereafter; and some
+say that he was choked by a fish bone as he sat at meat in his house at
+Sletty on the Boyne.</p>
+
+<p>But when he felt his end approaching, and had still the power to speak,
+he said to those that gathered round his bed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When I am gone I charge you that ye bury me not at Brugh of the Boyne
+where is the royal cemetery of the Kings of Erinn.<a name='FNanchor_39_38'></a><a href='#Footnote_39_38'><sup>[38]</sup></a> For all these
+kings paid adoration to gods of wood or stone, or to the Sun and the
+Elements, whose signs are carved on the walls of their tombs, but I have
+learned to know the One God, immortal, invisible, by whom the earth and
+heavens were made. Soon there will come into Erinn one from the East who
+will declare Him unto us, and then wooden gods and cursing priests shall
+plague us no longer in this land. Bury me then not at Brugh-na-Boyna,
+but on the hither-side of Boyne, at Ross-na-ree, where there is a sunny,
+eastward-sloping hill, there would I await the coming of the sun of
+truth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So spake Cormac, and he died, and there was a very great mourning for
+him in the land. But when the time came for his burial, the princes and
+lords of the Gael vowed that he should lie in Brugh with Art, his
+father, and Conn of the Hundred Battles, and many another king, in the
+great stone chambers of the royal dead. For Ross-na-ree, they said, is
+but a green hill of no note; and Cormac's expectation of the message of
+the new God they took to be but the wanderings of a dying man.</p>
+
+<p>Now Brugh-na-Boyna lay at the farther side of the Boyne from Sletty, and
+near by was a shallow ford where the river could be crossed. But when
+the funeral train came down to the ford, bearing aloft the body of the
+King, lo! the river had risen as though a tempest had burst upon it at
+its far-off sources in the hills, and between them and the farther bank
+was now a broad and foaming flood, and the stakes that marked the ford
+were washed clean away. Even so they made trial of the ford, and thrice
+the bearers waded in and thrice they were forced to turn back lest the
+flood should sweep them down. At length six of the tallest and mightiest
+of the warriors of the High King took up the bier upon their shoulders,
+and strode in. And first the watchers on the bank saw the brown water
+swirl about their knees, and then they sank thigh-deep, and at last it
+foamed against their shoulders, yet still they braced themselves against
+the current, moving forward very slowly as they found foothold among the
+slippery rocks in the river-bed. But when they had almost reached the
+mid-stream it seemed as if a great surge overwhelmed them, and caught
+the bier from their shoulders as they plunged and clutched around it,
+and they must needs make back for the shore as best they could, while
+Boyne swept down the body of Cormac to the sea.</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning, however, shepherds driving their flocks to
+pasture on the hillside of Ross-na-ree found cast upon the shore the
+body of an aged man of noble countenance, half wrapped in a silken pall;
+and knowing not who this might be they dug a grave in the grassy hill,
+and there laid the stranger, and laid the green sods over him again.</p>
+
+<p>There still sleeps Cormac the King, and neither Ogham-lettered stone nor
+sculptured cross marks his solitary grave. But he lies in the place
+where he would be, of which a poet of the Gael in our day has written:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;A tranquil spot: a hopeful sound<br />
+<span class="i2">Comes from the ever-youthful stream,</span>
+And still on daisied mead and mound<br />
+<span class="i2">The dawn delays with tenderer beam.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Round Cormac, spring renews her buds:<br />
+<span class="i2">In march perpetual by his side</span>
+Down come the earth-fresh April floods,<br />
+<span class="i2">And up the sea-fresh salmon glide;</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;And life and time rejoicing run<br />
+<span class="i2">From age to age their wonted way;</span>
+But still he waits the risen sun,<br />
+<span class="i2">For still 'tis only dawning day.&quot;<a name='FNanchor_40_39'></a><a href='#Footnote_40_39'><sup>[39]</sup></a>
+</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='Notes_on_the_Sources'></a><h2>Notes on the Sources</h2>
+
+<p><i>The Story of the Children of Lir</i> and <i>The Quest of the Sons of Turenn</i>
+are two of the three famous and popular tales entitled &quot;The Three
+Sorrows of Storytelling.&quot; The third is the <i>Tragedy of the Sons of
+Usna</i>, rendered by Miss Eleanor Hull in her volume CUCHULAIN. I have
+taken the two stories which are given here from the versions in modern
+Irish published by the Society for the Preservation of the Irish
+Language, with notes and translation. Neither of them is found in any
+very early MS., but their subject-matter certainly goes back to very
+primitive times.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Secret of Labra</i> is taken from Keating's FORUS FEASA AR EIRINN,
+edited with translation by the Rev. P.S. Dineen for the Irish Texts
+Society, vol. i. p. 172.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Carving of mac Datho's Boar.</i> This is a clean, fierce, fighting
+story, notable both for its intensely dramatic <i>dénouement</i>, and for the
+complete absence from it of the magical or supernatural element which is
+so common a feature in Gaelic tales. It has been edited and translated
+from one MS. by Dr Kuno Meyer, in <i>Hibernica Minora</i> (ANECDOTA
+OXONIENSIA), 1894, and translated from THE BOOK OF LEINSTER (twelfth
+century) in Leahy's HEROIC ROMANCES.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Vengeance of Mesgedra.</i> This story, as I have given it, is a
+combination of two tales, <i>The Siege of Howth</i> and <i>The Death of King
+Conor</i>. The second really completes the first, though they are not found
+united in Irish literature. Both pieces are given in O'Curry's MS.
+MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, and Miss Hull has printed translations of
+them in her CUCHULLIN SAGA, the translation of the <i>Siege</i> being by Dr
+Whitly Stokes and that of the <i>Death of Conor</i> by O'Curry. These are
+very ancient tales and contain a strong barbaric element. Versions of
+both of them are found in the great MS. collection known as the BOOK OF
+LEINSTER (twelfth century).</p>
+
+<p><i>King Iubdan and King Fergus</i> is a brilliant piece of fairy literature.
+The imaginative grace, the humour, and, at the close, the tragic dignity
+of this tale make it worthy of being much more widely known than it has
+yet become. The original, taken from one of the Egerton MSS. in the
+British Museum, will be found with a translation in O'Grady's SILVA
+GADELICA. For the conclusion, I have in the main followed another
+version (containing the death of Fergus only), given in the SEANCUS MOR
+and finely versified by Sir Samuel Ferguson in his POEMS, 1880.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Story of Etain and Midir.</i> This beautiful and very ancient romance
+is extant in two distinct versions, both of which are translated by Mr
+A.H. Leahy in his HEROIC ROMANCES. The tale is found in several MSS.,
+among others, in the twelfth century BOOK OF THE DUN COW (LEABHAR NA
+H-UIDHRE). It has been recently made the subject of a dramatic poem by
+&quot;Fiona Macleod.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>How Ethne quitted Fairyland</i> is taken from D'Arbois de Jubainville's
+CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS, ch. xii. 4. The original is to be found in
+the fifteenth century MS., entitled THE BOOK OF FERMOY.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Boyhood of Finn</i> is based chiefly on the MACGNIOMHARTHA FHINN,
+published in 1856, with a translation, in the <i>TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY</i>, vol. iv. I am also indebted, particularly for the
+translation of the difficult <i>Song of Finn in Praise of May</i>, to Dr Kuno
+Meyer's translation published in <i>Ériu</i> (the Journal of the School of
+Irish Learning), vol. i. pt. 2.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Coming of Finn</i>, <i>Finns Chief Men</i>, the <i>Tale of Vivionn</i> and <i>The
+Chase of the Gilla Dacar</i>, are all handfuls from that rich mine of
+Gaelic literature, Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. In the
+<i>Gilla Dacar</i> I have modified the second half of the story rather
+freely. It appears to have been originally an example of a well-known
+class of folk-tales dealing with the subject of the Rescue of Fairyland.
+The same motive occurs in the famous tale called <i>The Sickbed of
+Cuchulain</i>. The idea is that some fairy potentate, whose realm is
+invaded and oppressed, entices a mortal champion to come to his aid and
+rewards him with magical gifts. But the eighteenth century narrator
+whose MS. was edited by Mr S.H. O'Grady, apparently had not the clue to
+the real meaning of his material, and after going on brilliantly up to
+the point where Dermot plunges into the magic well, he becomes
+incoherent, and the rest of the tale is merely a string of episodes
+having no particular connexion with each other or with the central
+theme. The latter I have here endeavoured to restore to view. The
+<i>Gilla Dacar</i> is given from another Gaelic version by Dr P.W. Joyce
+in his invaluable book, OLD CELTIC ROMANCES.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Birth of Oisín</i> I have found in Patrick Kennedy's LEGENDARY
+FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. I do not know the Gaelic original.</p>
+
+<p><i>Oisín in the Land of Youth</i> is based, as regards the outlines of this
+remarkable story, on the LAOI OISÍN AR TIR NA N-ÓG, written by Michael
+Comyn about 1750, and edited with a translation by Thomas Flannery in
+1896 (Gill &amp; Son, Dublin). Comyn's poem was almost certainly based on
+earlier traditional sources, either oral or written or both, but these
+have not hitherto been discovered.</p>
+
+<p><i>The History of King Cormac.</i> The story of the birth of Cormac and his
+coming into his kingdom is to be found in SILVA GADELICA, where it is
+edited from THE BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, an MS. dating from about the year
+1400.</p>
+
+<p>The charming tale, of his marriage with Ethne ni Dunlaing is taken from
+Keating's FORUS FEASA. From this source also I have taken the tales of
+the Brehon Flahari, of Kiernit and the mill, and of Cormac's death and
+burial. The <i>Instructions of Cormac</i> have been edited and translated by
+Dr Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture Series of the Royal Irish Academy,
+xiv., April 1909. They are found in numerous MSS., and their date is
+fixed by Dr Meyer about the ninth century. With some other Irish matter
+of the same description they constitute, says Mr Alfred Nutt, &quot;the
+oldest body of gnomic wisdom&quot; extant in any European vernacular.
+(<i>FOLK-LORE</i>, Sept. 30, 1909.)</p>
+
+<p>The story of Cormac's adventures in Fairyland has been published with a
+translation by Standish Hayes O'Grady in the <i>TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY</i>, vol. iii., and is also given very fully by d'Arbois
+de Jubainvilie in his CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS. The tale is found,
+among other MSS., in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, but is known to have been
+extant at least as early as the tenth century, since in that year it
+figures in a list of Gaelic tales drawn up by the historian Tierna.</p>
+
+<p>The ingenious story of the <i>Judgment concerning Cormac's Sword</i> is found
+in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, and is printed with a translation by Dr Whitly
+Stokes in <i>IRISCHE TEXTE</i>, iii. Serie, 7 Heft, 1891.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='Pronouncing_Index'></a><h2><i>Pronouncing Index</i></h2>
+
+<p>The correct pronunciation of Gaelic proper names can only be learned
+from the living voice. It cannot be accurately represented by any
+combination of letters from the English alphabet. I have spared the
+reader as much trouble as possible on this score by simplifying, as far
+as I could, the forms of the names occurring in the text, and if the
+reader will note the following general rules, he will get quite as near
+to the pronunciation intended as there is any necessity for him to do. A
+few names which might present some unusual difficulty are given with
+their approximate English pronunciations in the Index.</p>
+
+<p>The chief rule to observe is that vowels are pronounced as in the
+Continental languages, not according to the custom peculiar to England.
+Thus <i>a</i> is like <i>a</i> in <i>father</i>, never like <i>a</i> in <i>fate, I</i>(when long)
+is like <i>ee</i>, <i>u</i> like <i>oo</i>, or like <i>u</i> in <i>put</i> (never like <i>u</i> in
+<i>tune</i>). An accent implies length, thus <i>Dún</i>, a fortress or mansion, is
+pronounced <i>Doon</i>. The letters <i>ch</i> are never to be pronounced with a
+<i>t</i> sound, as in the word <i>chip</i>, but like a rough <i>h</i> or a softened
+<i>k</i>, rather as in German. <i>Gh</i> is silent as in English, and <i>g</i> is
+always hard, as in <i>give</i>. <i>C</i> is always as <i>k</i>, never as <i>s</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the following Index an accent placed after a syllable indicates that
+the stress is to be laid on that syllable. Only those words are given,
+the pronunciation of which is not easily ascertainable by attention to
+the foregoing rules.</p>
+
+<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="4" summary="">
+<colgroup span="3"><col align="left"><col align="center"><col align="left"></colgroup>
+<tr><td></td><th>INDEX</th></tr>
+<tr><td>&AElig;da</td><td>is to be pronounced</td><td>Ee'-da. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Ailill</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Al'-yill. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Anluan</td><td>&quot;</td><td>An'-looan. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Aoife</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Ee'-fa. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bacarach</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Bac'-ara<i>h</i>. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Belachgowran</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Bel'-a<i>h</i>-gow'-ran. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cearnach</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Kar'-na<i>h</i>. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cuchulain</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Coo-<i>h</i>oo'-lin. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cumhal</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Coo'wal, Cool. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Dacar</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Dak'-ker. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Derryvaragh</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Derry-var'-a. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Eisirt</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Eye'sert. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Eochy</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Yeo'<i>h</i>ee. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Fiachra</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fee'-a<i>k</i>ra </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Fianna</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fee'-anna. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Finegas</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fin'-egas. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Fionnuala</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fee-on-oo'-ala, shortened in modern Irish into Fino'-la</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Flahari</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fla'-haree. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Iorroway</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Yor'-oway. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Iubdan</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Youb'-dan. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Iuchar</td><td>&quot;</td><td>You'-<i>h</i>ar. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Iucharba</td><td>&quot;</td><td>You-<i>h</i>ar'-ba .</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Liagan</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Lee'-agan. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lir</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Leer </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Logary</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Lo'-garee</td><td></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Maev</td><td>&quot;</td><td>rhyming to <i>wave</i>. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mananan</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Man'-anan. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mesgedra</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Mes-ged'-ra. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Midir</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Mid'-eer. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mochaen</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Mo-<i>h</i>ain'. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mochaovóg</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Mo-<i>h</i>wee'-vogue. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Moonremur</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Moon'-ray-mur. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Oisín</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Ush'-een (Ossian) </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Peisear</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Pye'-sar. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Sceolaun</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Ske-o'-lawn (the <i>e</i> very short). </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Slievenamuck</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Sleeve-na-muck' </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Slievenamon</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Sleeve-na-mon' </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Tuish</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Too'-ish. </td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<a name='FOOTNOTES'></a><h3>FOOTNOTES</h3>
+
+<a name='Footnote_1_1'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_1'>[1]</a><div class='note'><p> CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER. By Eleanor Hull.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_2'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_2'>[2]</a><div class='note'><p> There is one important tale of the Finn cycle, the <i>Pursuit
+of Dermot and Grania</i>, which I have not included. I have omitted it,
+partly because it presents the character of Finn in a light inconsistent
+with what is said of him elsewhere, and partly because it has in it a
+certain sinister and depressing element which renders it unsuitable for
+a collection intended largely for the young.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_3_3'></a><a href='#FNanchor_3_3'>[3]</a><div class='note'><p> I gave this book&mdash;<i>The History of Ireland</i> (HEROIC PERIOD)&mdash;to
+Burne-Jones in order to interest him in Irish myth and legend. &quot;I'll
+try and read it,&quot; he said. A week afterwards he came and said&mdash;It
+is a new world of thought and pleasure you have opened to me.
+I knew nothing of this, and life is quite enlarged. But now, I want
+to see all the originals. Where can I get them?&quot;
+</p><p>
+I have only spoken of prose writing above. But in poetry (and in
+Poetry well fitted to the tales), this work had already been done
+nobly, and with a fine Celtic splendour of feeling and expression, by
+Sir Samuel Ferguson.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_4_4'></a><a href='#FNanchor_4_4'>[4]</a><div class='note'><p> I speak here of the better known of the two versions of this
+encounter of the pagan with the Christian spirit. There are others
+in which the reconciliation is carried still further. One example is to
+be found in the <i>Colloquy of the Ancients</i> (SILVA GADELICA). Here
+Finn and his companions are explicitly pronounced to be saved by
+their natural virtues, and the relations of the Church and the Fenian
+warriors are most friendly.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_5_5'></a><a href='#FNanchor_5_5'>[5]</a><div class='note'><p> Everything, on the contrary, in the Mythological Cycle is
+gifted with life, all the doings and things of nature are represented as
+the work of living creatures; but it is quite possible that those in
+Ireland who made these myths were not Celts at all.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_6_6'></a><a href='#FNanchor_6_6'>[6]</a><div class='note'><p> I give one example of the way colour was laid on to animals
+just for the pleasure of it. &quot;And the eagle and cranes were red with
+green heads, and their eggs were pure crimson and blue&quot;; and deep
+in the wood the travellers found &quot;strange birds with white bodies and
+purple heads and golden beaks,&quot; and afterwards three great birds,
+&quot;one blue and his head crimson, and another crimson and his head
+green, and another speckled and his head gold.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_7_7'></a><a href='#FNanchor_7_7'>[7]</a><div class='note'><p> This word is pronounced Shee, and means &quot;the folk of the fairy
+mounds.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_8_8'></a><a href='#FNanchor_8_8'>[8]</a><div class='note'><p> This is quoted with a few omissions, from Lady Gregory's
+delightful version, in her <i>Book of Saints and Wonders</i>, of an episode
+in <i>The Colloquy of the Ancients</i> (Silva Gadelica).</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_9_9'></a><a href='#FNanchor_9_9'>[9]</a><div class='note'><p> Pronounced Eefa.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_10_10'></a><a href='#FNanchor_10_10'>[10]</a><div class='note'><p> Scotland. Inishglory is an island in the Bay of Erris, on the
+Mayo coast.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_11_11'></a><a href='#FNanchor_11_11'>[11]</a><div class='note'><p> A magic banquet which had the effect of preserving for ever
+the youth of the People of Dana.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_12_12'></a><a href='#FNanchor_12_12'>[12]</a><div class='note'><p> Pronounced Mo-chweev-ogue.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_13_13'></a><a href='#FNanchor_13_13'>[13]</a><div class='note'><p> See p. 133, <i>note</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_14_14'></a><a href='#FNanchor_14_14'>[14]</a><div class='note'><p> Ballysodare = the Town of the Falls of Dara, in Co. Sligo.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_15_15'></a><a href='#FNanchor_15_15'>[15]</a><div class='note'><p> Dundalk.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_16_16'></a><a href='#FNanchor_16_16'>[16]</a><div class='note'><p> Blood-fine.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_17_17'></a><a href='#FNanchor_17_17'>[17]</a><div class='note'><p> The Hill of Howth.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_18_18'></a><a href='#FNanchor_18_18'>[18]</a><div class='note'><p> Cluan Tarbh, Clontarf; so called from the roaring of the
+waves on the strand.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_19_19'></a><a href='#FNanchor_19_19'>[19]</a><div class='note'><p> The ancient royal residence of Ulster, near to the present
+town of Armagh.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_20_20'></a><a href='#FNanchor_20_20'>[20]</a><div class='note'><p> I am much indebted to the beautiful prose translation of
+this song, published by Dr Kuno Meyer in <i>Ériu</i> (the Journal of the
+School of Irish Learning), Vol. I. Part II. In my poetic version an
+attempt has been made to render the riming and metrical effect of the
+original, which is believed to date from about the ninth century.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_21_21'></a><a href='#FNanchor_21_21'>[21]</a><div class='note'><p> The hill still bears the name, Knockanar.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_22_22'></a><a href='#FNanchor_22_22'>[22]</a><div class='note'><p> I have in the main borrowed Standish Hayes O'Grady's vivid
+and racy translation of these adages of the Fianna. (SILVA GADELICA,
+Engl. transl., p. 115.)</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_23_23'></a><a href='#FNanchor_23_23'>[23]</a><div class='note'><p> Ogham-craobh = &quot;branching Ogham,&quot; so called because the
+letters resembled the branching of twigs from a stem. The Ogham alphabet
+was in use in Ireland in pre-Christian times, and many sepulchral
+inscriptions in it still remain.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_24_24'></a><a href='#FNanchor_24_24'>[24]</a><div class='note'><p> Glanismole, near Dublin.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_25_25'></a><a href='#FNanchor_25_25'>[25]</a><div class='note'><p> Talkenn or &quot;Adze-head&quot; was a name given to St Patrick by the
+Irish. Probably it referred to the shape of his tonsure.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_26_26'></a><a href='#FNanchor_26_26'>[26]</a><div class='note'><p> Woad is a cruciferous plant, <i>Isatis tinctoria</i>, used
+for dyeing.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_27_27'></a><a href='#FNanchor_27_27'>[27]</a><div class='note'><p> Pronounced Bweé-cad. His name is said to be preserved
+in the townland of Dunboyke, near Blessington, Co. Wicklow.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_28_28'></a><a href='#FNanchor_28_28'>[28]</a><div class='note'><p> <i>The Instructions of Cormac</i> (Tecosa Cormaic) have been
+edited with a translation by Dr. Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture Series
+of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xv., April 1909.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_29_29'></a><a href='#FNanchor_29_29'>[29]</a><div class='note'><p> Scotland.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_30_30'></a><a href='#FNanchor_30_30'>[30]</a><div class='note'><p> Pronounced Fla'-haree&mdash;accent on the first syllable.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_31_31'></a><a href='#FNanchor_31_31'>[31]</a><div class='note'><p> The institution of fosterage, by which the children of kings
+and lords were given to trusted persons among their friends or followers
+to bring up and educate, was a marked feature of social life in ancient
+Ireland, and the bonds of affection and loyalty between such foster-parents
+and their children were held peculiarly sacred.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_32_32'></a><a href='#FNanchor_32_32'>[32]</a><div class='note'><p>
+See Miss Hull's CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER, p. 175.
+The pair were Mananan, god of the sea, and Fand his wife, of
+whom a tale of great interest is told in the Cuchulain Cycle of legends.
+The sea-cloak of Mananan is the subject of a magnificent piece of
+descriptive poetry in Ferguson's CONGAL.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_33_33'></a><a href='#FNanchor_33_33'>[33]</a><div class='note'><p>
+The original from the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE (14th century) is given
+in O'Curry's MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, Appendix xxvi. I
+have in the main followed O'Curry's translation.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_34_34'></a><a href='#FNanchor_34_34'>[34]</a><div class='note'><p>
+Angus Óg was really a deity or fairy king. He appears also in
+the story of Midir and Etain. <i>q.v.</i></p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_35_35'></a><a href='#FNanchor_35_35'>[35]</a><div class='note'><p> See the conclusion of the <i>Vengeance of Mesgedra</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_36_36'></a><a href='#FNanchor_36_36'>[36]</a><div class='note'><p> The image was doubtless of wood overlaid with gold.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_38_37'></a><a href='#FNanchor_38_37'>[37]</a><div class='note'><p> There are still Wishing Stones, which are used in connexion
+with petitions for good or ill, on the ancient altars of Inishmurray and
+of Caher Island, and possibly other places on the west coast of Ireland.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_39_38'></a><a href='#FNanchor_39_38'>[38]</a><div class='note'><p> This famous cemetery of the kings of pagan Ireland lies on
+the north bank of the Boyne and consists of a number of sepulchral
+mounds, sometimes of great extent, containing, in their interior, stone
+walled chambers decorated with symbolic and ornamental carvings.
+The chief of these mounds, now known as Newgrange, has been explored
+and described by Mr George Coffey in his valuable work NEWGRANGE,
+published by the Royal Irish Academy. <i>Brugh</i>=mansion.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_40_39'></a><a href='#FNanchor_40_39'>[39]</a><div class='note'><p> These lines are taken from Sir S. Ferguson's noble poem,
+<i>The Burial of King Cormac</i>, from which I have also borrowed some of
+the details of the foregoing narrative.</p></div>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14749 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic
+Romances of Ancient Ireland, by T. W. Rolleston, et al, Illustrated by
+Stephen Reid
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland
+
+Author: T. W. Rolleston
+
+Release Date: January 21, 2005  [eBook #14749]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN AND OTHER
+BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Bethanne M. Simms-Troester, and the Project
+Gutenbert Online Distributed Proofreading Team (www.pgdp.net)
+
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+
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND
+
+by
+
+T. W. ROLLESTON
+
+With an Introduction by Stopford A. Brooke, M.A. LL.D.
+
+And with Sixteen Illustrations by Stephen Reid
+
+New York
+Thomas Y. Crowell & Company
+Publishers
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AR
+CRAOIBH CONNARTHA NA GAEDHILGE
+I NGLEANN FHAIDHLE BRONNAIM AN LEABHAR SEO:
+BEANNACHT AGUS BUAIDH
+LIBHSE GO DEO
+
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+The romantic tales here retold for the English reader belong neither
+to the category of folk-lore nor of myth, although most of them
+contain elements of both. They belong, like the tales of Cuchulain,
+which have been similarly presented by Miss Hull,[1] to the bardic
+literature of ancient Ireland, a literature written with an artistic
+purpose by men who possessed in the highest degree the native culture
+of their land and time. The aim with which these men wrote is also
+that which has been adopted by their present interpreter. I have not
+tried, in this volume, to offer to the scholar materials for the study
+of Celtic myth or folk-lore. My aim, however I may have fulfilled it,
+has been artistic, not scientific. I have tried, while carefully
+preserving the main outline of each story, to treat it exactly as the
+ancient bard treated his own material, or as Tennyson treated the
+stories of the MORT D'ARTHUR, that is to say, to present it as a fresh
+work of poetic imagination. In some cases, as in the story of the
+Children of Lir, or that of mac Datho's Boar, or the enchanting tale
+of King Iubdan and King Fergus, I have done little more than retell
+the bardic legend with merely a little compression; but in others a
+certain amount of reshaping has seemed desirable. The object in all
+cases has been the same, to bring out as clearly as possible for
+modern readers the beauty and interest which are either manifest or
+implicit in the Gaelic original.
+
+   [1] CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER. By Eleanor Hull.
+
+For stories which are only found in MSS. written in the older forms of
+the language, I have been largely indebted to the translations
+published by various scholars. Chief among these (so far as the
+present work is concerned) must be named Mr Standish Hayes
+O'Grady--whose wonderful treasure-house of Gaelic legend, SILVA
+GADELICA, can never be mentioned by the student of these matters
+without an expression of admiration and of gratitude; Mr A.H. Leahy,
+author of HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND; Dr Whitly Stokes, Professor Kuno
+Meyer, and M. d'Arbois de Jubainville, whose invaluable CYCLE
+MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS has been much in my hands, both in the original
+and in the excellent English translation of Mr R.I. Best. Particulars
+of the source of each story will be found in the Notes on the Sources
+at the end of this volume. In the same place will also be found a
+pronouncing-index of proper names. I have endeavoured, in the text, to
+avoid or to modify any names which in their original form would baffle
+the English reader, but there remain some on the pronunciation of
+which he may be glad to have a little light.
+
+The two most conspicuous figures in ancient Irish legend are
+Cuchulain, who lived--if he has any historical reality--in the reign
+of Conor mac Nessa immediately before the Christian era, and Finn son
+of Cumhal, who appears in literature as the captain of a kind of
+military order devoted to the service of the High King of Ireland
+during the third century A.D. Miss Hull's volume has been named after
+Cuchulain, and it is appropriate that mine should bear the name of
+Finn, as it is mainly devoted to his period; though, as will be seen,
+several stories belonging to other cycles of legend, which did not
+fall within the scope of Miss Hull's work, have been included here.[2]
+All the tales have been arranged roughly in chronological order. This
+does not mean according to the date of their composition, which in
+most cases is quite indiscoverable, and still less, according to the
+dates of the MSS. in which they are contained. The order is given by
+the position, in real or mythical history, of the events they deal
+with. Of course it is not practicable to dovetail them into one
+another with perfect accuracy. Where a story, like that of the
+Children of Lir, extends over nearly a thousand years, beginning with
+the mythical People of Dana and ending in the period of Christian
+monasticism, one can only decide on its place by considering where it
+will throw most light on those which come nearest to it. In this, as
+in the selection and treatment of the tales, there is of course room
+for much difference of opinion. I can only ask the critic to believe
+that nothing has been done in the framing of this collection of Gaelic
+romances without the consideration and care which the value of the
+material demands and which the writer's love of it has inspired.
+
+T.W. ROLLESTON
+
+   [2] There is one important tale of the Finn cycle, the _Pursuit
+   of Dermot and Grania_, which I have not included. I have
+   omitted it, partly because it presents the character of Finn in
+   a light inconsistent with what is said of him elsewhere, and
+   partly because it has in it a certain sinister and depressing
+   element which renders it unsuitable for a collection intended
+   largely for the young.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+   INTRODUCTION
+
+      COIS NA TEINEADH
+
+
+   BARDIC ROMANCES
+
+         I. THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN OF LIR
+
+        II. THE QUEST OF THE SONS OF TURENN
+
+       III. THE SECRET OF LABRA
+
+        IV. KING IUBDAN AND KING FERGUS
+
+         V. THE CARVING OF MAC DATHO'S BOAR
+
+        VI. THE VENGEANCE OF MESGEDRA
+
+       VII. THE STORY OF ETAIN AND MIDIR
+
+      VIII. HOW ETHNE QUITTED FAIRYLAND
+
+
+   THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+        IX. THE BOYHOOD OF FINN MAC CUMHAL
+
+         X. THE COMING OF FINN
+
+        XI. FINN'S CHIEF MEN
+
+       XII. THE TALE OF VIVIONN THE GIANTESS
+
+      XIII. THE CHASE OF THE GILLA DACAR
+
+       XIV. THE BIRTH OF OISÍN
+
+        XV. OISÍN IN THE LAND OF YOUTH
+
+
+   THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC
+
+       XVI. 1. THE BIRTH OF CORMAC
+
+            2. THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC
+
+            3. THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC
+
+            4. THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING
+
+            5. CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN
+
+            6. A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON
+
+            7. THE JUDGMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD
+
+            8. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC
+
+            9. DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC
+
+           10. DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC
+
+
+   NOTES ON THE SOURCES
+
+   PRONOUNCING INDEX
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+   "FINN HEARD FAR OFF THE FIRST NOTES OF THE FAIRY HARP" (Frontispiece)
+
+   "THERE SAT THE THREE MAIDENS WITH THE QUEEN"
+
+   "THEY MADE AN ENCAMPMENT AND THE SWANS SANG TO THEM"
+
+   "BEAR US SWIFTLY, BOAT OF MANANAN, TO THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES"
+
+   "THERE DWELT THE RED-HAIRED OCEAN-NYMPHS"
+
+   "THEY ALL TROOPED OUT, LORDS AND LADIES, TO VIEW THE WEE MAN"
+
+   "FERGUS GOES DOWN INTO THE LAKE"
+
+   "A MIGHTY SHOUT OF EXULTATION AROSE FROM THE ULSTERMEN"
+
+   "THEY ROSE UP IN THE AIR"
+
+   "SHE HEARD HER OWN NAME CALLED AGAIN AND AGAIN"
+
+   "AND THAT NIGHT THERE WAS FEASTING AND JOY IN THE LONELY HUT"
+
+   "THEY RAN HIM BY HILL AND PLAIN"
+
+   "DERMOT TOOK THE HORN AND WOULD HAVE FILLED IT"
+
+   "'FOLLOW ME NOW TO THE HILL OF ALLEN'"
+
+   "THEY RODE UP TO A STATELY PALACE"
+
+   "THE WHITE STEED HAD VANISHED FROM THEIR EYES LIKE A WREATH OF MIST"
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+Many years have passed by since, delivering the Inaugural Lecture of
+the Irish Literary Society in London, I advocated as one of its chief
+aims the recasting into modern form and in literary English of the old
+Irish legends, preserving the atmosphere of the original tales as much
+as possible, but clearing them from repetitions, redundant
+expressions, idioms interesting in Irish but repellent in English,
+and, above all, from absurdities, such as the sensational fancy of the
+later editors and bards added to the simplicities of the original
+tales.
+
+Long before I spoke of this, it had been done by P.W. Joyce in his OLD
+CELTIC ROMANCES, and by Standish O'Grady for the whole story of
+Cuchulain, but in this case with so large an imitation of the Homeric
+manner that the Celtic spirit of the story was in danger of being
+lost. This was the fault I had to find with that inspiring book,[3]
+but it was a fault which had its own attraction.
+
+   [3] I gave this book--_The History of Ireland_ (HEROIC
+   PERIOD)--to Burne-Jones in order to interest him in Irish myth
+   and legend. "I'll try and read it," he said. A week afterwards
+   he came and said--"It is a new world of thought and pleasure
+   you have opened to me. I knew nothing of this, and life is
+   quite enlarged. But now, I want to see all the originals. Where
+   can I get them?"
+
+I have only spoken of prose writing above. But in poetry (and in
+Poetry well fitted to the tales), this work had already been done
+nobly, and with a fine Celtic splendour of feeling and expression, by
+Sir Samuel Ferguson.
+
+Since then, a number of writers have translated into literary English
+a host of the Irish tales, and have done this with a just reverence
+for their originals. Being, in nearly every case, Irish themselves,
+they have tried, with varying success, to make their readers realize
+the wild scenery of Ireland, her vital union with the sea and the
+great ocean to the West, those changing dramatic skies, that mystic
+weather, the wizard woods and streams which form the constant
+background of these stories; nor have they failed to allure their
+listeners to breathe the spiritual air of Ireland, to feel its
+pathetic, heroic, imaginative thrill.
+
+They have largely succeeded in their effort. The Irish bardic tales
+have now become a part of English literature and belong not only to
+grown up persons interested in early poetry, in mythology and
+folk-customs, but to the children of Ireland and England. Our new
+imaginative stories are now told in nurseries, listened to at evening
+when the children assemble in the fire-light to hear tales from their
+parents, and eagerly read by boys at school. A fresh world of
+story-telling has been opened to the imagination of the young.
+
+This could not have been done in the right way if it had not been for
+the previous work of Celtic scholars in Ireland, and particularly on
+the Continent, in France and Germany. Having mastered medieval Irish,
+they have translated with careful accuracy many of the ancient tales,
+omitting and changing nothing; they have edited them critically,
+collating and comparing them with one another, and with other forms of
+the same stories. We have now in English, French, and German the exact
+representation of the originals with exhaustive commentaries.
+
+When this necessary work was finished--and it was absolutely
+necessary--it had two important results on all work of the kind Mr
+Rolleston has performed in this book--on the imaginative recasting and
+modernizing of the ancient tales. First, it made it lawful and easy
+for the modern artist--in sculpture, painting, poetry, or imaginative
+prose--to use the stories as he pleased in order to give pleasure to
+the modern world. It made it lawful because he could reply to those
+who objected that what he produced was not the real thing--"The real
+thing exists; you will find it, when you wish to see it, accurately
+and closely translated by critical and competent scholars. I refer you
+to the originals in the notes to this book. I have found the materials
+of my stories in these originals; and it is quite lawful for me, now
+that they have been reverently preserved, to use them as I please for
+the purpose of giving pleasure to the modern world--to make out of
+them fresh imaginative work, as the medieval writers did out of the
+original stories of Arthur and his men." This is the defence any
+re-caster of the ancient tales might make of the _lawfulness_ of his
+work, and it is a just defence; having, above all, this use--that it
+leaves the imagination of the modern artist free, yet within
+recognized and ruling limits, to play in and around his subject.
+
+One of those limits is the preservation, in any remodelling of the
+tales, of the Celtic atmosphere. To tell the Irish stories in the
+manner of Homer or Apuleius, in the manner of the Norse sagas, or in
+the manner of Malory, would be to lose their very nature, their soul,
+their nationality. We should no longer understand the men and women
+who fought and loved in Ireland, and whose characters were moulded by
+Irish surroundings, customs, thoughts, and passions. We should not see
+or feel the landscape of Ireland or its skies, the streams, the woods,
+the animals and birds, the mountain solitudes, as we feel and see
+them in the original tales. We should not hear, as we hear in their
+first form, the stormy seas between Scotland and Antrim, or the great
+waves which roar on the western isles, and beat on cliffs which still
+belong to another world than ours. The genius of Ireland would desert
+our work.
+
+And it would be a vast pity to lose the Irish atmosphere in the
+telling of the Irish tales, because it is unique; not only distinct
+from that of the stories of other races, but from that of the other
+branches of the Celtic race. It differs from the atmosphere of the
+stories of Wales, of Brittany, of the Highlands and islands of
+Scotland. It is more purely Celtic, less mixed than any of them. A
+hundred touches in feeling, in ways of thought, in sensitiveness to
+beauty, in war and voyaging, and in ideals of life, separate it from
+that of the other Celtic races.
+
+It is owing to the careful, accurate, and critical work of continental
+and Irish scholars on the manuscript materials of Irish Law, History,
+Bardic Tales, and Poetry; on customs, dress, furniture, architecture,
+ornament, on hunting and sailing; on the manners of men and women in
+war and peace, that the modern re-teller of the Irish tales is enabled
+to conserve the Irish atmosphere. And this conservation of the special
+Irish atmosphere is the second result which the work of the critical
+scholars has established. If the re-writer of the tales does not use
+the immense materials made ready to his hand for illustration,
+expansion, ornament and description in such a way that Ireland, and
+only Ireland, lives in his work from line to line, he is greatly to be
+blamed.
+
+Mr Rolleston has fulfilled these conditions with the skill and the
+feeling of an artist. He has clung closely to his originals with an
+affectionate regard for their ancientry, their ardour and their
+distinction, and yet has, within this limit, used and modified them
+with a pleasant freedom. His love of Ireland has instilled into his
+representation of these tales a passion akin to that which gave them
+birth. We feel, as we read, how deep his sympathy has been with their
+intensity, their love of wild nature, their desire for beauty, their
+interest in humanity and in character, their savagery and their
+tenderness, their fairy magic and strange imaginations that suddenly
+surprise and charm. Whenever anything lovely emerges in the tale, he
+does not draw attention to it, but touches it with so artistic a
+pencil that its loveliness is enhanced. And he has put into English
+verse the Irish poems scattered through the tales with the skill and
+the temper of a poet. I hope his book will win what it deserves--the
+glad appreciation of old and young in England, and the gratitude of
+Ireland.
+
+The stories told in this book belong to three distinct cycles of Irish
+story-telling. The first are mythological, and are concerned with the
+early races that are fabled to have dwelt and fought in Ireland Among
+these the Tuatha De Danaan were the final conquerors, and held the
+land for two hundred years They were, it is supposed, of the Celtic
+stock, but they were not the ancestors of the present Irish. These
+were the Milesians (Irish, Scots or Gaelic who, conquering the Tuatha
+De Danaan, ruled Ireland till they were overcome by the English.) The
+stories which have to do with the Tuatha De Danaan are mythical and of
+a great antiquity concerning men and women, the wisest and the best of
+whom became gods, and who appear as divine beings in the cycle of
+tales which follow after them They were always at war with a fierce
+and savage people called Fomorians, whom they finally defeated and the
+strife between them may mythically represent the ancient war between
+the good and evil principles in the world.
+
+In the next cycle we draw nearer to history, and are in the world not
+of myth but of legend. It is possible that some true history may be
+hidden underneath its sagas, that some of its personages may be
+historical, but we cannot tell. The events are supposed to occur about
+the time of the birth of Christ, and seventeen hundred years after
+those of the mythical period. This is the cycle which collects its
+wars and sorrows and splendours around the dominating figure of
+Cuchulain, and is called the Heroic or the Red Branch or the Ultonian
+cycle. Several sagas tell of the birth, the life, and the death of
+Cuchulain, and among them is the longest and the most important--the
+Táin--the _Cattle Raid of Cooley_.
+
+Others are concerned with the great King Conor mac Nessa, and the most
+known and beautiful of these is the sorrowful tale of Deirdré. There
+are many others of the various heroes and noble women who belonged to
+the courts of Conor and of his enemy Queen Maev of Connaght. The
+_Carving of mac Datho's Boar_, the story of _Etain and Midir_, and the
+_Vengeance of Mesgedra_, contained in this book belong to these
+miscellaneous tales unconnected with the main saga of Cuchulain.
+
+The second cycle is linked to the first, not by history or race, but
+by the fact that the great personages in the first have now become the
+gods who intervene in the affairs of the wars and heroes of the
+second. They take part in them as the gods do in the Iliad and the
+Odyssey. Lugh, the Long-Handed, the great Counsellor of the Tuatha De
+Danaan, is now a god, and is the real father of Cuchulain, heals him
+of his wounds in the Battle of the Ford, warns him of his coming
+death, and receives him into the immortal land. The Morrigan, who
+descends from the first cycle, is now the goddess of war, and is at
+first the enemy and afterwards the lover of Cuchulain. Angus, The
+Dagda, Mananan the sea-god, enter not only into the sagas of the
+second cycle, but into those of the third, of the cycle of Finn. And
+all along to the very end of the stories, and down indeed to the
+present day, the Tuatha De Danaan appear in various forms, slowly
+lessening in dignity and power, until they end in the fairy folk in
+whom the Irish peasants still believe. They are alive and still
+powerful in the third--the Fenian--cycle of stories, some of which are
+contained and adorned in this book. In their continued presence is the
+only connexion which exists between the three cycles. No personages of
+the first save these of the gods appear in the Heroic cycle, none of
+the Heroic cycle appears in the Fenian cycle. Seventeen hundred years,
+according to Irish annalists, separate the first from the second, more
+than two hundred years separate the second from the beginning of the
+third.
+
+The third cycle is called Fenian because its legends tell, for the
+most part, of the great deeds of the Féni or Fianna, who were the
+militia employed by the High King to support his supremacy, to keep
+Ireland in order, to defend the country from foreign invasion. They
+were, it seems, finally organized by Cormac mac Art, 227 A.D.(?) the
+grandson of Conn the Hundred Fighter. But they had loosely existed
+before in the time of Conn and his son Art, and like all mercenary
+bodies of this kind were sometimes at war with the kings who employed
+them. Finally, at the battle of Gowra, they and their power were quite
+destroyed. Long before this destruction, they were led in the reign
+of Cormac by Finn the son of Cumhal, and it is around Finn and Oisín
+the son of Finn, that most of the romances of the Fenian cycle are
+gathered. Others which tell of the battles and deeds of Conn and Art
+and Cormac and Cairbre of the Liffey, Cormac's son, are more or less
+linked on to the Fenians. On the whole, Finn and his warriors, each of
+a distinct character, warlike skill and renown, are the main
+personages of the cycle, and though Finn is not the greatest warrior,
+he is their head and master because he is the wisest; and this
+masterdom by knowledge is for the first time an element in Irish
+stories.
+
+If the tales of the first cycle are mythological and of the second
+heroic, these are romantic. The gods have lost their dreadful, even
+their savage character, and have become the Fairies, full often of
+gentleness, grace, and humour. The mysterious dwelling places of the
+gods in the sea, in unknown lands, in the wandering air, are now in
+palaces under the green hills of Ireland, or by the banks of swift
+clear rivers, like the palace of Angus near the Boyne, or across the
+seas in Tir-na-n-Óg, the land of immortal youth, whither Niam brings
+Oisín to live with her in love, as Morgan le Fay brought Ogier the
+Dane to her fairyland. The land of the Immortals in the heroic cycle,
+to which, in the story of _Etain and Midir_ in this book, Midir brings
+back Etain after she has sojourned for a time on earth, is quite
+different in conception from the Land of Youth over the far seas where
+delightfulness of life and love is perfect. This, in its conception of
+an unknown world where is immortal youth, where stormless skies, happy
+hunting, strange adventure, gentle manners dwell, where love is free
+and time is unmarked, is pure romance. So are the adventures of Finn
+against enchanters, as in the story of the _Birth of Oisín_, of
+_Dermot in the Country under the Seas_, in the story of the _Pursuit
+of the Gilla Dacar_, of the wild love-tale of _Dermot and Grania_,
+flying for many years over all Ireland from the wrath of Finn, and of
+a host of other tales of enchantments and battle, and love, and
+hunting, and feasts, and discoveries, and journeys, invasions,
+courtships, and solemn mournings. No doubt the romantic atmosphere has
+been deepened in these tales by additions made to them by successive
+generations of bardic singers and storytellers, but for all that the
+original elements in the stories are romantic as they are not in the
+previous cycles.
+
+Again, these Fenian tales are more popular than the others. Douglas
+Hyde has dwelt on this distinction. "For 1200 years at least, they
+have been," he says, "intimately bound up with the thought and
+feelings of the whole Gaelic race in Ireland and Scotland." Even at
+the present day new forms are given to the tales in the cottage homes
+of Ireland. And it is no wonder. The mysterious giant forms of the
+mythological period, removed by divinity from the sympathy of men; the
+vast heroic figures of Cuchulain and his fellows and foes, their close
+relation to supernatural beings and their doings, are far apart from
+the more natural humanity of Cormac and Finn, of Dermot and Goll, of
+Oisín and Oscar, of Keelta, and last of Conan, the coward, boaster and
+venomous tongue, whom all the Fenians mocked and yet endured. They are
+a very human band of fighting men, and though many of them, like Oisín
+and Finn and Dermot, have adventures in fairyland, they preserve in
+these their ordinary human nature. The Connacht peasant has no
+difficulty in following Finn into the cave of Slieve Cullinn, where
+the witch turned him into a withered old man, for the village where he
+lives has traditions of the same kind; the love affairs of Finn, of
+Dermot and Grania, and of many others, are quite in harmony with a
+hundred stories, and with the temper, of Irish lovers. A closer, a
+simpler humanity than that of the other cycles pervades the Fenian
+cycle, a greater chivalry, a greater courtesy, and a greater
+tenderness. We have left the primeval savagery behind, the
+multitudinous slaughtering, the crude passions of the earlier men and
+women; we are nearer to civilization, nearer to the common temper and
+character of the Irish people. No one can doubt this who will compare
+the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_ with the _Chase of the Gilla Dacar_.
+
+The elaborate courtesy with which Finn and his chief warriors receive
+all comers, as in the story of Vivionn the giantess, is quite new,
+even medieval in its chivalry; so is the elaborate code of honour; so
+also is, on the whole, the treatment of women and their relation to
+men. How far this resemblance to medieval romance has been intruded
+into the stories--(there are some in which there is not a trace of
+it)--by the after editors and re-editors of the tales, I cannot tell,
+but however that may be, their presence in the Fenian cycle is plain;
+and this brings the stories into a kindlier and more pleasurable
+atmosphere for modern readers than that which broods in thunderous
+skies and fierce light over dreadful passions and battles thick and
+bloody in the previous cycles. We are in a gentler world.
+
+Another more modern romantic element in the Fenian legends is the
+delight in hunting, and that more affectionate relation of men to
+animals which always marks an advance in civilization. Hunting, as in
+medieval romance, is one of the chief pleasures of the Fenians. Six
+months of the year they passed in the open, getting to know every part
+of the country they had to defend, and hunting through the great woods
+and over the hills for their daily food and their daily delight. The
+story of the _Chase of the Gilla Dacar_ tells, at its beginning, of a
+great hunting and of Finn's men listening with joy to the cries of the
+hunters and the loud chiding of the dogs; and many tales celebrate the
+following of the stag and the wild boar from early dawn to the
+evening. Then Finn's two great hounds, Bran and Sceolaun, are loved by
+Finn and his men as if they were dear friends; and they, when their
+master is in danger or under enchantment wail like human beings for
+his loss or pain. It is true Cuchulain's horses weep tears of blood
+when he goes forth to his last battle, foreknowing his death; but they
+are immortal steeds and have divine knowledge of fate. The dogs of
+Finn are only dogs, and the relation between him and them is a natural
+relation, quite unlike the relation between Cuchulain and the horses
+which draw his chariot. Yet Finn's dogs are not quite as other dogs.
+They have something of a human soul in them. They know that in the
+milk-white fawn they pursue there is an enchanted maiden, and they
+defend her from the other hounds till Finn arrives. And it is told of
+them that sometimes, when the moon is high, they rise from their
+graves and meet and hunt together, and speak of ancient days. The
+supernatural has lessened since the heroic cycle. But it is still
+there in the Fenian.
+
+Again, the Fenian cycle of tales is more influenced by Christianity
+than the others are. The mythological cycle is not only fully pagan,
+it is primeval. It has the vastness, the savagery, the relentlessness
+of nature-myths, and what beauty there is in it is akin to terror.
+Gentleness is unknown. There is only one exception to this, so far as
+I know, and that is in the story of _The Children of Lir_. It is
+plain, however, that the Christian ending of that sorrowful story is a
+later addition to it. It is remarkably well done, and most tenderly. I
+believe that the artist who did it imported into the rest of the tale
+the exquisite tenderness which fills it, and yet with so much
+reverence for his original that he did not make the body of the story
+Christian. He kept the definite Christian element to the very end, but
+he filled the whole with its tender atmosphere.
+
+No Christianity and very little gentleness intrude into the heroic
+cycle. The story of Christ once touches it, but he who put it in did
+not lose the pagan atmosphere, or the wild fierceness of the manners
+of the time. How it was done may be read in this book at the end of
+the story of the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_. Very late in the redaction
+of these stories a Christian tag was also added to the tale of the
+death of Cuchulain, but it was very badly done.
+
+When we come to the Fenian cycle there is a well-defined borderland
+between them and Christianity. The bulk of the stories is plainly
+pagan; their originals were frankly so. But the temper of their
+composers is more civilized than that of those who conceived the tales
+of the previous cycles; the manners, as I have already said, of their
+personages are gentler, more chivalrous; and their atmosphere is so
+much nearer to that of Christianity, that the new Christian elements
+would find themselves more at home in them than in the terrible
+vengeance of Lugh, the savage brutality of Conor to Deirdré, or the
+raging slaughterings of Cuchulain. So much was this the case that a
+story was skilfully invented which linked in imagination the Fenian
+cycle to a Christianized Ireland. This story--_Oisín in the Land of
+Youth_--is contained in this book. Oisín, or Ossian, the son of Finn,
+in an enchanted story, lives for 300 years, always young, with his
+love in Tir-na-n-Óg, and finds on his return, when he becomes a
+withered old man, St Patrick and Christianity in Ireland. He tells to
+Patrick many tales of the Fenian wars and loves and glories, and in
+the course of them paganism and Christianity are contrasted and
+intermingled. A certain sympathy with the pagan ideas of honour and
+courage and love enters into the talk of Patrick and the monks, and
+softens their pious austerity. On the other hand, the Fenian legends
+are gentled and influenced by the Christian elements, in spite of the
+scorn with which Oisín treats the rigid condemnation of his companions
+and of Finn to the Christian hell, and the ascetic and unwarlike life
+of the monks.[4] There was evidently in the Fenian cycle of
+story-telling a transition period in which the bards ran Christianity
+and paganism in and out of one another, and mingled the atmosphere of
+both, and to that period the last editing of the story of _Lir and his
+Children_ may be referred. A lovely story in this book, put into fine
+form by Mr Rolleston, is as it were an image of this transition
+time--the story or _How Ethne quitted Fairyland_. It takes us back to
+the most ancient cycle, for it tells of the great gods Angus and
+Mananan, and then of how they became, after their conquest by the race
+who live in the second cycle, the invisible dwellers in a Fairy
+country of their own during the Fenian period, and, afterwards, when
+Patrick and the monks had overcome paganism. Thus it mingles together
+elements from all the periods. The mention of the great caldron and
+the swine which always renew their food is purely mythological. The
+cows which come from the Holy Land are Christian. Ethne herself is
+born in the house of a pagan god who has become a Fairy King, but
+loses her fairy nature and becomes human; and the reason given for
+this is an interesting piece of psychology which would never have
+occurred to a pagan world. She herself is a transition maiden, and,
+suddenly finding herself outside the fairy world and lost, happens on
+a monastery and dies on the breast of St Patrick. But she dies because
+of the wild wailing for her loss of the fairy-host, whom she can hear
+but cannot see, calling to her out of the darkened sky to come back to
+her home. And in her sorrow and the battle in her between the love of
+Christ and of Faerie, she dies. That is a symbol, not intended as such
+by its conceiver, but all the more significant, of the transition
+time. Short as it is, few tales, perhaps, are more deeply charged with
+spiritual meaning.
+
+   [4] I speak here of the better known of the two versions of
+   this encounter of the pagan with the Christian spirit. There
+   are others in which the reconciliation is carried still
+   further. One example is to be found in the _Colloquy of the
+   Ancients_ (SILVA GADELICA). Here Finn and his companions are
+   explicitly pronounced to be saved by their natural virtues, and
+   the relations of the Church and the Fenian warriors are most
+   friendly.
+
+Independent of these three cycles, but often touching them here and
+there, and borrowing from them, there are a number of miscellaneous
+tales which range from the earliest times till the coming of the
+Danes. The most celebrated of these are the _Storming of the Hostel_
+with the death of Conary the High King of Ireland, and the story of
+the Boru tribute. Two examples of these miscellaneous tales of a high
+antiquity are contained in this book--_King Iubdan and King Fergus_
+and _Etain and Midir_. Both of them have great charm and
+delightfulness.
+
+Finally, the manner in which these tales grew into form must be
+remembered when we read them. At first, they were not written down,
+but recited in hall and with a harp's accompaniment by the various
+bardic story-tellers who were attached to the court of the chieftain,
+or wandered singing and reciting from court to court. Each bard, if he
+was a creator, filled up the original framework of the tale with
+ornaments of his own, or added new events or personages to the tale,
+or mixed it up with other related tales, or made new tales altogether
+attached to the main personages of the original tale--episodes in
+their lives into which the bardic fancy wandered. If these new forms
+of the tales or episodes were imaginatively true to the characters
+round which they were conceived and to the atmosphere of the time,
+they were taken up by other bards and became often separate tales, or
+if a great number attached themselves to one hero, they finally formed
+themselves into one heroic story, such as that which is gathered round
+Cuchulain, which, as it stands, is only narrative, but might in time
+have become epical. Indeed, the Táin approaches, though at some
+distance, an epic. In this way that mingling of elements out of the
+three cycles into a single Saga took place.
+
+Then when Christianity came, the Irish who always, Christians or not,
+loved their race and its stories, would not let them go. They took
+them and suffused them with a Christian tenderness, even a Christian
+forgiveness. Or they inserted Christian endings, while they left the
+rest of the stories as pagan as before. Later on, while the stories
+were still learned by the bards and recited, they were written down,
+and somewhat spoiled by a luxurious use of ornamental adjectives, and
+by the weak, roving and uninventive fancy of men and monks aspiring to
+literature but incapable of reaching it.
+
+However, in spite of all this intermingling and of the different forms
+of the same story, it is possible for an intelligent and sensitive
+criticism, well informed in comparative mythology and folklore, to
+isolate what is very old in these tales from that which is less old,
+and that in turn from that which is still less old, and that from what
+is partly historical, medieval or modern. This has been done, with
+endless controversy, by those excellent German, French, and Irish
+scholars who have, with a thirsty pleasure, recreated the ancient
+literature of Ireland, and given her once more a literary name among
+the nations--a name which, having risen again, will not lose but
+increase its brightness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As to the stories themselves, they have certain well-marked
+characteristics, and in dwelling on these, I shall chiefly refer, for
+illustration, to the stories in this book. Some of these
+characteristic elements belong to almost all mythological tales, and
+arise from human imagination, in separated lands, working in the same
+or in a similar way on the doings of Nature, and impersonating them.
+The form, however, in which these original ideas are cast is, in each
+people, modified and varied by the animal life, the climate, the
+configuration of the country, the nearness of mountain ranges and of
+the sea, the existence of wide forests or vast plains, of swift rivers
+and great inland waters.
+
+The earliest tales of Ireland are crowded with the sea that wrapt the
+island in its arms; and on the west and north the sea was the mighty
+and mysterious Ocean, in whose far infinities lay for the Irish the
+land of Immortal Youth. Between its shining shores and Ireland,
+strange islands--dwelt in by dreadful or by fair and gracious
+creatures, whose wonders Maeldun and Brendan visited--lay like jewels
+on the green and sapphire waters. Out of this vast ocean emerged also
+their fiercest enemies. Thither, beyond these islands into the
+Unknown, over the waves on a fairy steed, went Oisín with Niam;
+thither, in after years, sailed St Brendan, till it seemed he touched
+America. In the ocean depths were fair cities and well-grassed lands
+and cattle, which voyagers saw through water thin and clear. There,
+too, Brian, one of the sons of Turenn, descended in his water-dress
+and his crystal helmet, and found high-bosomed maidens weaving in a
+shining hall. Into the land beneath the wave, Mananan, the proud god
+of the sea brought Dermot and Finn and the Fianna to help him in his
+wars, as is told in the story of the _Gilla Dacar_. On these western
+seas, near the land, Lir's daughters, singing and floating, passed
+three hundred years. On other seas, in the storm and in the freezing
+sleet that trouble the dark waves of Moyle, between Antrim and the
+Scottish isles, they spent another three centuries. Half the story of
+the Sons of Usnach has to do with the crossing of seas and with the
+coast. Even Cuchulain, who is a land hero, in one of the versions of
+his death, dies fighting the sea-waves. The sound, the restlessness,
+the calm, the savour and the infinite of the sea, live in a host of
+these stories; and to cap all, the sea itself and Mananan its god
+sympathise with the fates of Erin. When great trouble threatens
+Ireland, or one of her heroes is near death, there are three huge
+waves which, at three different points, rise, roaring, out of the
+ocean, and roll, flooding every creek and bay and cave and river round
+the whole coast with tidings of sorrow and doom. Later on, in the
+Fenian tales, the sea is not so prominent. Finn and his clan are more
+concerned with the land. Their work, their hunting and adventures
+carry them over the mountains and plains, through the forests, and by
+the lakes and rivers. In the stories there is scarcely any part of
+Ireland which is not linked, almost geographically, with its scenery.
+Even the ancient gods have retired from the coast to live in the
+pleasant green hills or by the wooded shores of the great lakes or in
+hearing of the soft murmur of the rivers. This business of the sea,
+this varied aspect of the land, crept into the imagination of the
+Irish, and were used by them to embroider and adorn their poems and
+tales. They do not care as much for the doings of the sky. There does
+not seem to be any supreme god of the heaven in their mythology.
+Neither the sun nor the moon are specially worshipped. There are
+sun-heroes like Lugh, but no isolated sun-god. The great beauty of the
+cloud-tragedies of storm, the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, so
+dramatic in Ireland, or the magnificence of the starry heavens, are
+scarcely celebrated. But the Irish folk have heard the sound of the
+wind in the tree-tops and marked its cold swiftness over the moor, and
+watched with fear or love the mists of ocean and the bewilderment of
+the storm-driven snow and the sweet falling of the dew. These are
+fully celebrated.
+
+These great and small aspects of Nature are not only celebrated, they
+are loved. One cannot read the stories in this book without feeling
+that the people who conceived and made them observed Nature and her
+ways with a careful affection, which seems to be more developed in the
+Celtic folk than elsewhere in modern Europe. There is nothing which
+resembles it in Teutonic story-telling. In the story of _The Children
+of Lir_, though there is no set description of scenery, we feel the
+spirit of the landscape by the lake where Lir listened for three
+hundred years to the sweet songs of his children. And, as we read of
+their future fate, we are filled with the solitude and mystery, the
+ruthlessness and beauty of the ocean. Even its gentleness on quiet
+days enters from the tale into our imagination. Then, too, the
+mountain-glory and the mountain-gloom are again and again
+imaginatively described and loved. The windings and recesses, the
+darkness and brightness of the woods and the glades therein, enchant
+the Fenians even when they are in mortal danger. And the waters of the
+great lakes, the deep pools of the rivers, the rippling shallows, the
+green banks, the brown rushing of the torrents, are all alive in the
+prose and song of Ireland. How deep was the Irish love of these
+delightful things is plain from their belief that "the place of the
+revealing of poetry was always by the margin of water." And the Salmon
+of Knowledge, the eating of which gave Finn his pre-eminence, swam in
+a green pool, still and deep, over which hung a rowan tree that shed
+its red berries on the stream. Lovely were the places whence Art and
+Knowledge came.
+
+Then, as to all good landscape lovers, the beasts, birds, and insects
+of Nature were dear to these ancient people. One of the things Finn
+most cared for was not only his hounds, but the "blackbird singing on
+Letterlee"; and his song, on page 114, in the praise of May, tells us
+how keen was his observant eye for animal life and how much it
+delighted him. The same minute realisation of natural objects is
+illustrated in this book when King Iubdan explains to the servant the
+different characteristics of the trees of the forest, and the mystic
+elements that abide in them. It was a habit, even of Teutonic poets,
+to tell of the various trees and their uses in verse, and Spenser and
+Drayton have both done it in later times. But few of them have added,
+as the Irish story does, a spiritual element to their description, and
+made us think of malign or beneficent elements attached to them. The
+woodbine, and this is a strange fancy, is the king of the woods. The
+rowan is the tree of the magicians, and its berries are for poets. The
+bramble is inimical to man, the alder is full of witchcraft, and the
+elder is the wood of the horses of the fairies. Into every tree a
+spiritual power is infused; and the good lords of the forest are loved
+of men and birds and bees.
+
+Thus the Irish love of nature led them to spiritualise, in another way
+than mythical, certain things in nature, and afterwards to humanise,
+up to a certain point, the noble implements wrought by human skill out
+of natural materials. And this is another element in all these
+stories, as it is in the folk-lore also of other lands. In the tale of
+the Sons of Turenn, the stones of the wayside tell to Lugh the story
+of the death of his father Kian, and the boat of Mananan, indwelt by a
+spirit, flies hither and thither over the seas, obeying the commands,
+even the thought, of its steersman. The soul of some famed spears is
+so hot for slaughter that, when it is not being used in battle, its
+point must stand in a bath of blood or of drowsy herbs, lest it
+should slay the host. The swords murmur and hiss and cry out for the
+battle; the shield of the hero hums louder and louder, vibrating for
+the encouragement of the warrior. Even the wheels of Cuchulain's
+chariot roar as they whirl into the fight. This partial life given to
+the weapons of war is not specially Celtic. Indeed, it is more common
+in Teutonic than in Celtic legend, and it seems probable that it was
+owing to the Norsemen that it was established in the Hero tales of
+Ireland.
+
+This addition of life, or of some of the powers of life, to tree and
+well and boulder-stone, to river and lake and hill, and sword and
+spear, is common to all mythologies, but the special character of each
+nation or tribe modifies the form of the life-imputing stories. In
+Ireland the tree, the stream were not dwelt in by a separate living
+being, as in Grecian story; the half-living powers they had were given
+to them from without, by the gods, the demons, the fairies; and in the
+case of the weapons, the powers they had of act or sound arose from
+the impassioned thoughts and fierce emotions of their forger or their
+wielder, which, being intense, were magically transferred to them. The
+Celtic nature is too fond of reality, too impatient of illusion, to
+believe in an actual living spirit in inanimate things. At least, that
+is the case in the stories of the Hero and the Fenian Cycles.[5]
+
+   [5] Everything, on the contrary, in the Mythological Cycle is
+   gifted with life, all the doings and things of nature are
+   represented as the work of living creatures; but it is quite
+   possible that those in Ireland who made these myths were not
+   Celts at all.
+
+What the Irish of the Heroic, and still more of the Fenian Cycle, did
+make in their imagination was a world, outside of themselves, of
+living spiritual beings, in whose actuality they fully believed, and
+in whom a great number of them still believe. A nation, if I may use
+this term, dwelt under the sea. Another dwelt in the far island of the
+ocean, the Isle of the Ever-Young. Another dwelt in the land, in the
+green hills and by the streams of Ireland; and these were the ancient
+gods who had now lost their dominion over the country, but lived on,
+with all their courtiers and warriors and beautiful women in a country
+underground. As time went on, their powers were dwarfed, and they
+became small of size, less beautiful, and in our modern times are less
+inclined to enter into the lives of men and women. But the Irish
+peasant still sees them flitting by his path in the evening light, or
+dancing on the meadow round the grassy mound, singing and playing
+strange melodies; or mourns for the child they have carried away to
+live with them and forget her people, or watches with fear his
+dreaming daughter who has been touched by them, and is never again
+quite a child of this earth, or quite of the common race of man.
+
+These were the invisible lands and peoples of the Irish imagination;
+and they live in and out of many of the stories. Cuchulain is lured
+into a fairy-land, and lives for more than a year in love with Fand,
+Mananan's wife. Into another fairy-land, through zones of mist,
+Cormac, as is told here, was lured by Mananan, who now has left the
+sea to play on the land. Oisín, as I have already said, flies with
+Niam over the sea to the island of Eternal Youth. Etain, out of the
+immortal land, is born into an Irish girl and reclaimed and carried
+back to her native shore by Midir, a prince of the Fairy Host. Ethne,
+whose story also is here, has lived for all her youth in the court of
+Angus, deep in the hill beside the rushing of the Boyne.
+
+These stories are but a few out of a great number of the loves and
+wars between the men and women of the human and the fairy races.
+Curiously enough, as the stories become less ancient, the relations
+between men and the fairies are more real, more close, even more
+affectionate. Finn and the Fianna seem to be almost in daily
+companionship with the fairy host--much nearer to them than the men of
+the Heroic Cycle are to the gods. They interchange love and music and
+battle and adventure with one another. They are, for the most part,
+excellent friends; and their intercourse suffers from no doubt. It is
+as real as the intercourse between Welsh and English on the
+Borderland.
+
+There was nothing illusive, nothing merely imaginary, in these fairy
+worlds for the Irish hero or the Irish people. They believed the lands
+to be as real as their own, and the indwellers of fairyland to have
+like passions with themselves. Finn is not a bit surprised when
+Vivionn the giantess sits beside him on the hill, or Fergus when King
+Iubdan stands on his hand; or St Patrick when Ethne, out of fairyland,
+dies on his breast, or when he sees, at his spell, Cuchulain, dead
+some nine hundred years, come forth out of the dark gates of Sheol,
+high in his chariot, grasping his deadly spear, driven as of old by
+his well-loved charioteer, drawn by the immortal steeds through the
+mist, and finally talking of his deeds and claiming a place in the
+Christian heaven--a place that Patrick yields to him. The invisible
+worlds lived, loved, and thought around this visible world, and were,
+it seems, closer and more real to the Celtic than to other races.
+
+But it was not only these agreeable and lovely folk in pleasant
+habitations whom the Irish made, but also spirits of another sort, of
+lesser powers and those chiefly malignant, having no fixed
+dwelling-place, homeless in the air and drifting with it, embodying
+the venomous and deadly elements of the earth and the angers and
+cruelty of the sea, and the hypocrisy of them all--demons, some of
+whom, like the stepmother of the children of Lir, have been changed
+from men or women because of wicked doings, but the most part born of
+the evil in Nature herself. They do what harm they can to innocent
+folk; they enter into, support, and direct--like Macbeth's
+witches--the evil thoughts of men; they rejoice in the battle, in the
+wounds and pain and death of men; they shriek and scream and laugh
+around the head of the hero when he goes forth, like Cuchulain, to an
+unwearied slaughter of men. They make the blight, the deadly mist, the
+cruel tempest. To deceive is their pleasure; to discourage, to baffle,
+to ruin the hero is their happiness. Some of them are monsters of
+terrific aspect who abide in lakes or in desolate rocks, as the
+terrible tri-formed horse whom Fergus mac Leda conquered and by whom
+he died.
+
+Naturally, as a link between these supernatural worlds and the natural
+world, there arose a body of men and women in Irish legend who, by
+years of study, gained a knowledge of, and power over, the
+supernatural beings, and used these powers for hurt to the enemies of
+their kingdom, or for help to their own people. Some were wise,
+learned, and statesmanlike, and used their powers for good. These were
+the high Druids, and every king had a band of them at his court and in
+his wars. They practiced what the Middle Ages called white magic.
+Others were wizards, magicians, witches, who, like the children of
+Cailitin, the foes of Cuchulain, or the three mutilated women whom
+Maev educated in evil craft to do evil to her foes, or the dread band
+that deceived Cuchulain into his last ride of death, practised black
+magic--evil, and the ministers of evil. Magic, and the doing of it,
+runs through the whole of Irish story-telling, and not only into pagan
+but also into Christian legend; for it was easy to change the old gods
+into devils, to keep the demonic creatures as demons, to replace the
+wise Druids by the priests and saints, and the wizards by the heretics
+who gave themselves to sorcery. Thus the ancient supernaturalism of
+the Irish has continued, with modern modifications, to the present
+day. The body of thought is much the same as it was in the days of
+Conor and Finn; the clothing is a bit different.
+
+Another characteristic of the stories, especially in the mythological
+period, is the barbaric brutality which appears in them. Curiously
+mingled with this, in direct contrast, is their tenderness. These
+extreme contrasts are common in the Celtic nature. A Gael, whether of
+Ireland or the Western Isles, will pass in a short time from the
+wildest spirits, dancing and singing and drinking, into deep and grim
+depression--the child of the present, whether in love or war; and in
+the tales of Ireland there is a similar contrast between their
+brutality and their tenderness. The sudden fierce jealousy and the
+pitiless cruelty of their stepmother to the children of Lir is set
+over against the exquisite tenderness of Fionnuala, which pervades the
+story like an air from heaven. The noble tenderness of Deirdre, of
+Naisi and his brothers, in life and death, to one another, is lovelier
+in contrast with the savage and treacherous revenge of Conor. The
+great pitifulness of Cuchulain's fight with his dear friend Ferdia,
+whom he is compelled to slay; the crowning tenderness of Emer's
+recollective love in song before she dies on Cuchulain's dead body,
+are in full contrast with the savage hard-heartedness and cruelties of
+Maev, and with the ruthless slaughters Cuchulain made of his foes, out
+of which he seems often to pass, as it were, in a moment, into
+tenderness and gracious speech. Even Finn, false for once to his
+constant courtesy, revenges himself on Dermot so pitilessly that both
+his son and grandson cry shame upon him.
+
+Of course this barbaric cruelty is common to all early periods in
+every nation; and, whenever fierce passion is aroused, to civilised
+nations also. What is remarkable in the Irish tales is the
+contemporary tenderness. The Vikings were as savage as the Irish, but
+the savagery is not mingled with the Irish tenderness. At last, when
+we pass from the Hero Cycle into the Cycle of Finn, there is scarcely
+any of the ancient brutality to be found in the host of romantic
+stories which gather round the chivalry of the Fenians.
+
+There are other characteristics of these old tales on which I must
+dwell. The first is the extra-ordinary love of colour. This is not a
+characteristic of the early German, English or Scandinavian poems and
+tales. Its remarkable presence in Scottish poetry, at a time when it
+is scarcely to be found in English literature, I have traced elsewhere
+to the large admixture of Celtic blood in the Lowlands of Scotland. In
+early Irish work it is to be found everywhere. In descriptions of
+Nature, which chiefly appear in the Fenian Cycle and in Christian
+times, colour is not as much dwelt on as we should expect, for nowhere
+that I have seen is it more delicate and varied than under the Irish
+atmosphere. Yet, again and again, the amber colour of the streams as
+they come from the boglands, and the crimson and gold of the
+sunsetting, and the changing green of the trees, and the blue as it
+varies and settles down on the mountains when they go to their rest,
+and the green crystal of the sea in calm and the dark purple of it in
+storm, and the white foam of the waves when they grow black in the
+squall, and the brown of the moors, and the yellow and rose and
+crimson of the flowers, and many another interchanging of colour, are
+seen and spoken of as if it were a common thing always to dwell on
+colour. This literary custom I do not find in any other Western
+literature. It is even more remarkable in the descriptions of the
+dress and weapons of the warriors and kings. They blaze with colour;
+and as gold was plentiful in Ireland in those far-off days, yellow and
+red are continually flashing in and out of the blue and green and rich
+purple of their dress. The women are dressed in as rich colours as the
+men. When Eochy met Etain by the spring of pure water, as told in this
+book, she must have flashed in the sunlight like a great jewel. Then,
+the halls where they met and the houses of the kings are represented
+as glorious with colour, painted in rich patterns, hung with woven
+cloths dyed deep with crimson and blue and green and yellow. The
+common things in use, eating and drinking implements, the bags they
+carry, the bed-clothing, the chess-men, the tables, are embroidered or
+chased or set with red carbuncles or white stones or with interlacing
+of gold. Colour is everywhere and everywhere loved. And where colour
+is loved the arts flourish, as the decorative arts flourished in
+Ireland.
+
+Lastly, on this matter, the Irish tale-tellers, even to the present
+day, dwell with persistence on the colour of the human body as a
+special loveliness, and with as much love of it as any Venetian when
+he painted it. And they did this with a comparison of its colour to
+the colours they observed in Nature, so that the colour of one was
+harmonised with the colour of the other. I might quote many such
+descriptions of the appearance of the warriors--they are
+multitudinous--but the picture of Etain is enough to illustrate what I
+say--"Her hair before she loosed it was done in two long tresses,
+yellow like the flower of the waterflag in summer or like red gold.
+Her hands were white as the snow of a single night, and her eyes as
+blue as the dark hyacinth, and her lips red as the berries of the
+rowan-tree, and her body as white as the foam of the sea-waves. The
+radiance of the moon was in her face and the light of wooing in her
+eyes." So much for the Irish love of colour.[6]
+
+   [6] I give one example of the way colour was laid on to animals
+   just for the pleasure of it. "And the eagle and cranes were red
+   with green heads, and their eggs were pure crimson and blue";
+   and deep in the wood the travellers found "strange birds with
+   white bodies and purple heads and golden beaks," and afterwards
+   three great birds, "one blue and his head crimson, and another
+   crimson and his head green, and another speckled and his head
+   gold."
+
+Their love of music was equally great; and was also connected with
+Nature. "The sound of the flowing of streams," said one of their
+bardic clan, "is sweeter than any music of men." "The harp of the
+woods is playing music," said another. In Finn's Song to May, the
+waterfall is singing a welcome to the pool below, the loudness of
+music is around the hill, and in the green fields the stream is
+singing. The blackbird, the cuckoo, the heron and the lark are the
+musicians of the world. When Finn asks his men what music they thought
+the best, each says his say, but Oisín answers, "The music of the
+woods is sweetest to me, the sound of the wind and of the blackbird,
+and the cuckoo and the soft silence of the heron." And Finn himself,
+when asked what was his most beloved music, said first that it was
+"the sharp whistling of the wind as it went through the uplifted
+spears of the seven battalions of the Fianna," and this was fitting
+for a hero to say. But when the poet in him spoke, he said his music
+was the crying of the sea-gull, and the noise of the waves, and the
+voice of the cuckoo when summer was at hand, and the washing of the
+sea against the shore, and of the tide when it met the river of the
+White Trout, and of the wind rushing through the cloud. And many other
+sayings of the same kind this charming and poetic folk has said
+concerning those sweet, strong sounds in Nature out of which the music
+of men was born.
+
+Again, there is not much music in the Mythological Tales. Lugh, it is
+true, is a great harper, and the harp of the Dagda, into which he has
+bound his music, plays a music at whose sound all men laugh, and
+another so that all men weep, and another so enthralling that all fall
+asleep; and these three kinds of music are heard through all the
+Cycles of Tales. Yet when the old gods of the mythology became the
+Sidhe,[7] the Fairy Host, they--having left their barbaric life
+behind--became great musicians. In every green hill where the tribes
+of fairy-land lived, sweet, wonderful music was heard all day--such
+music that no man could hear but he would leave all other music to
+listen to it, which "had in it sorrows that man has never felt, and
+joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as if he who heard it
+might break from time into eternity and be one of the immortals." And
+when Finn and his people lived, they, being in great harmony and union
+with the Sidhe, heard in many adventures with them their lovely music,
+and it became their own. Indeed, Finn, who had twelve musicians, had
+as their chief one of the Fairy Host who came to dwell with him, a
+little man who played airs so divine that all weariness and sorrow
+fled away. And from him Finn's musicians learnt a more enchanted art
+than they had known before. And so it came to pass that as in every
+fairy dwelling there was this divine art, so in every palace and
+chieftain's hall, and in every farm, there were harpers harping on
+their harps, and all the land was full of sweet sounds and
+airs--shaping in music, imaginative war, and sorrows, and joys, and
+aspiration. Nor has their music failed. Still in the west and south of
+Ireland, the peasant, returning home, hears, as the evening falls from
+the haunted hills, airs unknown before, or at midnight a wild
+triumphant song from the Fairy Host rushing by, or wakes with a dream
+melody in his heart. And these are played and sung next day to the
+folk sitting round the fire. Many who heard these mystic sounds became
+themselves the makers of melodies, and went about the land singing and
+making and playing from village to village and cabin to cabin, till
+the unwritten songs of Ireland were as numerous as they were various.
+Moore collected a hundred and twenty of them, but of late more than
+five hundred he knew not of have been secured from the people and from
+manuscripts for the pleasure of the world. And in them lives on the
+spirit of the Fianna, and the mystery of the Fairy Host, and the long
+sorrow and the fleeting joy of the wild weather in the heart of the
+Irish race.
+
+   [7] This word is pronounced Shee, and means "the folk of the
+   fairy mounds."
+
+As to the poetry of Ireland, that other Art which is illustrated in
+this book, so fully has it been dwelt on by many scholars and critics
+that it needs not be touched here other than lightly and briefly. The
+honour and dignity of the art of poetry goes back in Irish mythology
+to a dim antiquity. The ancient myth said that the nine hazels of
+wisdom grew round a deep spring beneath the sea, and the hazels were
+the hazels of inspiration and of poetry--so early in Ireland were
+inspiration and poetry made identical with wisdom. Seven streams of
+wisdom flowed from that fountain-head, and when they had fed the world
+returned to it again. And all the art-makers of mankind, and of all
+arts, have drunk of their waters. Five salmon in the spring ate of the
+hazel nuts, and some haunted the rivers of Ireland; and whosoever,
+like Finn, tasted the flesh of these immortal fish, was possessed of
+the wisdom which is inspiration and poetry. Such was the ancient Irish
+conception of the art of poetry.
+
+It is always an art which grows slowly into any excellence, and it
+needs for such growth a quieter life than the Irish lived for many
+centuries. Poems appear but rarely in the mythological or heroic
+cycles, and are loosely scattered among the prose of the bardic tales.
+A few are of war, but they are chiefly dirges like the Song of Emer
+over the dead body of Cuchulain, or that of Deirdre over
+Naisi--pathetic wailings for lost love. There is an abrupt and pitiful
+pain in the brief songs of Fionnuala, but I fancy these were made and
+inserted in Christian times. Poetry was more at home among the Fianna.
+The conditions of life were easier; there was more leisure and more
+romance. And the other arts, which stimulate poetry, were more widely
+practised than in the earlier ages. Finn's Song to May, here
+translated, is of a good type, frank and observant, with a fresh air
+in it, and a fresh pleasure in its writing. I have no doubt that at
+this time began the lyric poetry of Ireland, and it reached, under
+Christian influences, a level of good, I can scarcely say excellent,
+work, at a time when no other lyrical poetry in any vernacular existed
+in Europe or the Islands. It was religious, mystic, and chiefly
+pathetic--prayers, hymns, dirges, regrets in exile, occasional stories
+of the saints whose legendary acts were mixed with pagan elements, and
+most of these were adorned with illustrations drawn from natural
+beauty or from the doings of birds and beasts--a great affection for
+whom is prominent in the Celtic nature. The Irish poets sent this
+lyric impulse into Iceland, Wales, and Scotland, and from Scotland
+into England; and the rise of English vernacular poetry instead of
+Latin in the seventh and eighth centuries is due to the impulse given
+by the Irish monasteries at Whitby and elsewhere in Northumbria. The
+first rude lyric songs of Cædmon were probably modelled on the hymns
+of Colman.
+
+One would think that poetry, which arose so early in a nation's life,
+would have developed fully. But this was not the case in Ireland. No
+narrative, dramatic, didactic, or epic poetry of any importance arose,
+and many questions and answers might be made concerning this curious
+restriction of development. The most probable solution of this problem
+is that there was never enough peace in Ireland or continuity of
+national existence or unity, to allow of a continuous development of
+any one of the arts into all its forms. Irish poetry never advanced
+beyond the lyric. In that form it lasted all through the centuries; it
+lasts still at the present day, and Douglas Hyde has proved how much
+charm belongs to it in his book on the _Love Songs of Connacht_.
+
+It has had a long, long history; it has passed through many phases; it
+has sung of love and sorrow, of national wars and hopes, of Ireland
+herself as the Queen of Sorrow, of exile regrets from alien shores, of
+rebellion, of hatred of England, of political strife, in ballads sung
+in the streets, of a thousand issues of daily life and death--but of
+world-wide affairs, of great passions and duties and fates evolving in
+epic or clashing in drama, of continuous human lives in narrative
+(except in prose), of the social life of cities or of philosophic
+thought enshrined in stately verse, it has not sung. What it may do in
+the future, if Irish again becomes a tongue of literature in lofty
+poetry, lies on the knees of the gods. I wish it well, but such a
+development seems now too late. The Irish genius, if it is to speak in
+drama, in narrative poetry or in an epic, must speak, if it is to
+influence or to charm the world beyond the Irish shore, in a
+world-language like English, and of international as well as of Irish
+humanity.
+
+These elements on which I have dwelt seem to me the most distinctive,
+the most Irish, in the Tales in this book. There are many others on
+which a more minute analysis might exercise itself, phases of feeling
+concerning war or love or friendship or honour or the passions, but
+these are not specially Irish. They belong to common human nature, and
+have their close analogies in other mythologies, in other Folk-tales,
+in other Sagas. I need not touch them here. But there is one element
+in all the Irish tales which I have not yet mentioned, and it brings
+all the others within its own circumference, and suffuses them with
+its own atmosphere. It is the love of Ireland, of the land itself for
+its own sake--a mystic, spiritual imaginative passion which in the
+soul of the dweller in the country is a constant joy, and in the heart
+of the exile is a sick yearning for return. There are not many direct
+expressions of this in the stories; but it underlies the whole of
+them, and it is also in the air they breathe. But now and again it
+does find clear expression, and in each of the cycles we have
+discussed. When the sons of Turenn are returning, wounded to death,
+from the Hill of Mochaen, they felt but one desire. "Let us but see,"
+said Iuchar and Iucharba to their brother Brian, "the land of Erin
+again, the hills round Telltown, and the dewy plain of Bregia and the
+quiet waters of the Boyne and our father's Dún thereby, and healing
+will come to us; or if death come, we can endure it after that." Then
+Brian raised them up; and they saw that they were now near by under
+Ben Edar; and at the strand of the Bull they came to land. That is
+from the Mythological Cycle.
+
+In the Heroic Cycle it appears in the longing cry for return to
+Ireland of Naisi and his brothers, which drives them out of Alba to
+their death; but otherwise it is rarely expressed. In the Fenian Cycle
+it exists, not in any clear words, but in a general delight in the
+rivers, lakes, woods, valleys, plains, and mountains of Ireland. Every
+description of them, and of life among them, is done with a loving,
+observant touch; and moreover, the veil of magic charm is thrown over
+all the land by the creation in it of the life and indwelling of the
+fairy host. The Fianna loved their country well.
+
+When Christianity came, this deep-set sentiment did not lessen. It
+grew even stronger, and in exile it became a passion. It is
+illustrated by the songs of deep regret and affection Columba made in
+Iona, from whose rocky shores he looked day after day towards the west
+while the mists rose over Ireland. One little story of great beauty
+enshrines his passion. One morning he called to his side one of his
+monks, and said, "Go to the margin of the sea on the western side of
+our isle; and there, coming from the north of Ireland, you will see a
+voyaging crane, very weary and beaten by the storms, and it will fall
+at your feet on the beach. Lift it up with pity and carry it to the
+hut, nourish it for three days, and when it is refreshed and strong
+again it will care no more to stay with us in exile, but to fly back
+to sweet Ireland, the dear country where it was born. I charge you
+thus, for it comes from the land where I was born myself." And when
+his servant returned, having done as he was ordered, Columba said,
+"May God bless you, my son. Since you have well cared for our exiled
+guest, you will see it return to its own land in three days." And so
+it was. It rose, sought its path for a moment through the sky, and
+took flight on a steady wing for Ireland. The spirit of that story has
+never died in the soul of the Irish and in their poetry up to the
+present day.
+
+Lastly, as we read these stories, even in a modern dress, an
+impression of great ancientry is made upon us, so much so that some
+scholars have tried to turn Finn into a mythical hero--but if he be as
+old as that implies, of how great an age must be the clearly mythic
+tales which gather round the Tuatha de Danaan? However this may be,
+the impression of ancientry is deep and agreeable. All myths in any
+nation are, of course, of a high antiquity, but as they treat of the
+beginning of things, they mingle an impression of youth with one of
+age. This is very pleasant to the imagination, and especially so if
+the myths, as in Ireland, have some poetic beauty or strangeness, as
+in the myth I have referred to--of the deep spring of clear water and
+the nine hazels of wisdom that encompass it. This mingling of the
+beauty of youth and the honour of ancientry runs through all the Irish
+tales. Youth and the love of it, of its beauty and strength, adorn and
+vitalize their grey antiquity. But where, in their narrative, the
+hero's youth is over and the sword weak in his hand, and the passion
+less in his and his sweetheart's blood, life is represented as
+scarcely worth the living. The famed men and women die young--the sons
+of Turenn, Cuchulain, Conall, Dermot, Emer, Deirdre, Naisi, Oscar.
+Oisín has three hundred years of youth in that far land in the
+invention of which the Irish embodied their admiration of love and
+youth. His old age, when sudden feebleness overwhelms him, is made by
+the bardic clan as miserable, as desolate as his youth was joyous.
+Again, Finn lives to be an old man, but the immortal was in him, and
+either he has been born again in several re-incarnations (for the
+Irish held from time to time the doctrine of the transmigration of
+souls), or he sleeps, like Barbarossa, in a secret cavern, with all
+his men around him, and beside him the mighty horn of the Fianna,
+which, when the day of fate and freedom comes, will awaken with three
+loud blasts the heroes and send them forth to victory. Old as she is,
+Ireland does not grow old, for she has never reached her maturity. Her
+full existence is before her, not behind her. And when she reaches it
+her ancientry and all its tales will be dearer to her than they have
+been in the past. They will be an inspiring national asset. In them
+and in their strange admixture of different and successive periods of
+customs, thoughts and emotions (caused by the continuous editing and
+re-editing of them, first in oral recitation and then at the hands of
+scribes), Ireland will see the record of her history, not the history
+of external facts, but of her soul as it grew into consciousness of
+personality; as it established in itself love of law, of moral right,
+of religion, of chivalry, of courtesy in war and daily life; as it
+rejoiced, and above all, as it suffered and was constant, in suffering
+and oppression, to its national ideals.
+
+It seems as if, once at least, this aspect of the tales of Ireland was
+seen by men of old, for there is a story which tells that heaven
+itself desired their remembrance, and that we should be diverted and
+inspired by them. In itself it is a record of the gentleness of Irish
+Christianity to Irish heathendom, and of its love of the heroic past.
+For one day when Patrick and his clerks were singing the Mass at the
+Rath of the Red Ridge, where Finn was wont to be, he saw Keelta, a
+chief of the Fianna, draw near with his companions, and Keelta's huge
+hounds were with him. They were men so tall and great that fear fell
+on the clerks, but Patrick met with and asked their chieftain's name.
+"I am Keelta," he answered, "son of Ronan of the Fianna." "Was it not
+a good lord you were with," said Patrick, "Finn, son of Cumhal?" And
+Keelta said, "If the brown leaves falling in the wood were gold, if
+the waves of the sea were silver, Finn would have given them all
+away." "What was it kept you through your lifetime?" said Patrick.
+"Truth that was in our hearts, and strength in our hands, and
+fulfilment in our tongues," said Keelta. Then Patrick gave them food
+and drink and good treatment, and talked with them. And in the morning
+the two angels who guarded him came to him, and he asked them if it
+were any harm before God, King of heaven and earth, that he should
+listen to the stories of the Fianna. And the angels answered, "Holy
+Clerk, these old fighting men do not remember more than a third of
+their tales by reason of the forgetfulness of age, but whatever they
+tell write it down on the boards of the poets and in the words of the
+poets, for it will be a diversion to the companies and the high people
+of the latter times to listen to them."[8] So spoke the angels, and
+Patrick did as he bade them, and the stories are in the world to this
+day.
+
+   [8] This is quoted with a few omissions, from Lady Gregory's
+   delightful version, in her _Book of Saints and Wonders_, of an
+   episode in _The Colloquy of the Ancients_ (Silva Gadelica).
+
+STOPFORD A. BROOKE
+
+ST PATRICK'S DAY, 1910
+
+
+
+
+COIS NA TEINEADH
+
+(_By the Fireside._)
+
+
+   Where glows the Irish hearth with peat
+     There lives a subtle spell--
+   The faint blue smoke, the gentle heat,
+     The moorland odours, tell
+
+   Of long roads running through a red
+     Untamed unfurrowed land,
+   With curlews keening overhead,
+     And streams on either hand;
+
+   Black turf-banks crowned with whispering sedge,
+     And black bog-pools below;
+   While dry stone wall or ragged hedge
+     Leads on, to meet the glow
+
+   From cottage doors, that lure us in
+     From rainy Western skies,
+   To seek the friendly warmth within,
+     The simple talk and wise;
+
+   Or tales of magic, love and arms
+     From days when princes met
+   To listen to the lay that charms
+     The Connacht peasant yet.
+
+   There Honour shines through passions dire,
+     There beauty blends with mirth--
+   Wild hearts, ye never did aspire
+     Wholly for things of earth!
+
+   Cold, cold this thousand years--yet still
+     On many a time-stained page
+   Your pride, your truth, your dauntless will,
+     Burn on from age to age.
+
+   And still around the fires of peat
+     Live on the ancient days;
+   There still do living lips repeat
+     The old and deathless lays.
+
+   And when the wavering wreaths ascend,
+     Blue in the evening air,
+   The soul of Ireland seems to bend
+     Above her children there.
+
+
+
+
+BARDIC ROMANCES
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The Story of the Children of Lir
+
+
+Long ago there dwelt in Ireland the race called by the name of De
+Danaan, or People of the Goddess Dana. They were a folk who delighted
+in beauty and gaiety, and in fighting and feasting, and loved to go
+gloriously apparelled, and to have their weapons and household vessels
+adorned with jewels and gold. They were also skilled in magic arts,
+and their harpers could make music so enchanting that a man who heard
+it would fight, or love, or sleep, or forget all earthly things, as
+they who touched the strings might will him to do. In later times the
+Danaans had to dispute the sovranty of Ireland with another race, the
+Children of Miled, whom men call the Milesians, and after much
+fighting they were vanquished. Then, by their sorceries and
+enchantments, when they could not prevail against the invaders, they
+made themselves invisible, and they have dwelt ever since in the Fairy
+Mounds and raths of Ireland, where their shining palaces are hidden
+from mortal eyes. They are now called the Shee, or Fairy Folk of
+Erinn, and the faint strains of unearthly music that may be heard at
+times by those who wander at night near to their haunts come from the
+harpers and pipers who play for the People of Dana at their revels in
+the bright world underground.
+
+At the time when the tale begins, the People of Dana were still the
+lords of Ireland, for the Milesians had not yet come. They were
+divided it is said, into many families and clans; and it seemed good
+to them that their chiefs should assemble together, and choose one to
+be king and ruler over the whole people. So they met in a great
+assembly for this purpose, and found that five of the greatest lords
+all desired the sovranty of Erin. These five were Bóv the Red, and
+Ilbrech of Assaroe, and Lir from the Hill of the White Field, which is
+on Slieve Fuad in Armagh; and Midir the Proud, who dwelt at Slieve
+Callary in Longford; and Angus of Brugh na Boyna, which is now
+Newgrange on the river Boyne, where his mighty mound is still to be
+seen. All the Danaan lords saving these five went into council
+together, and their decision was to give the sovranty to Bóv the Red,
+partly because he was the eldest, partly because his father was the
+Dagda, mightiest of the Danaans, and partly because he was himself the
+most deserving of the five.
+
+All were content with this, save only Lir, who thought himself the
+fittest for royal rule; so he went away from the assembly in anger,
+taking leave of no one. When this became known, the Danaan lords would
+have pursued Lir, to burn his palace and inflict punishment and
+wounding on himself for refusing obedience and fealty to him whom the
+assembly had chosen to reign over them. But Bóv the Red forbade them,
+for he would not have war among the Danaans; and he said, "I am none
+the less King of the People of Dana because this man will not do
+homage to me."
+
+Thus it went on for a long time. But at last a great misfortune befell
+Lir, for his wife fell ill, and after three nights she died. Sorely
+did Lir grieve for this, and he fell into a great dejection of spirit,
+for his wife was very dear to him and was much thought of by all folk,
+so that her death was counted one of the great events of that time.
+
+Now Bóv the Red came ere long to hear of it, and he said, "If Lir
+would choose to have my help and friendship now, I can serve him well,
+for his wife is no longer living, and I have three maidens, daughters
+of a friend, in fosterage with me, namely, Eva and Aoife[9] and Elva,
+and there are none fairer and of better name in Erin; one of these he
+might take to wife." And the lords of the Danaans heard what he said,
+and answered that it was true and well bethought. So messengers were
+sent to Lir, to say that if he were willing to yield the sovranty to
+Bóv the Red, he might make alliance with him and wed one of his
+foster-children. To Lir, having been thus gently entreated, it seemed
+good to end the feud, and he agreed to the marriage. So the following
+day he set out with a train of fifty chariots from the Hill of the
+White Field and journeyed straight for the palace of Bóv the Red,
+which was by Lough Derg on the river Shannon.
+
+   [9] Pronounced Eefa.
+
+Arriving there, he found about him nothing but joy and glad faces, for
+the renewal of amity and concord; and his people were welcomed, and
+well entreated, and handsomely entertained for the night.
+
+[Illustration: "There sat the three maidens with the Queen"]
+
+And there sat the three maidens on the same couch with the Danaan
+Queen, and Bóv the Red bade Lir choose which one he would have to
+wife.
+
+"The maidens are all fair and noble," said Lir, "but the eldest is
+first in consideration and honour, and it is she that I will take, if
+she be willing."
+
+"The eldest is Eva," said Bóv the Red, "and she will wed thee if it be
+pleasing to thee." "It is pleasing," said Lir, and the pair were
+wedded the same night. Lir abode for fourteen days in the palace of
+Bóv the Red, and then departed with his bride, to make a great
+wedding-feast among his own people.
+
+In due time after this Eva, wife of Lir, bore him two fair children at
+a birth, a daughter and a son. The daughter's name was called
+Fionnuala of the Fair Shoulder, and the son's name was Hugh. And
+again she bore him two sons, Fiachra and Conn; and at their birth she
+died. At this Lir was sorely grieved and afflicted, and but for the
+great love he bore to his four children he would gladly have died too.
+
+When the folk at the palace of Bóv the Red heard that, they also were
+sorely grieved at the death of their foster-child, and they lamented
+her with keening and with weeping. Bóv the Red said, "We grieve for
+this maiden on account of the good man we gave her to, and for his
+friendship and fellowship; howbeit our friendship shall not be
+sundered, for we shall give him to wife her sister, namely Aoife."
+
+Word of this was brought to Lir, and he went once more to Lough Derg
+to the palace of Bóv the Red and there he took to wife Aoife, the fair
+and wise, and brought her to his own home. And Aoife held the children
+of Lir and of her sister in honour and affection; for indeed no one
+could behold these four children without giving them the love of his
+soul.
+
+For love of them, too, came Bóv the Red often to the house of Lir, and
+he would take them to his own house at times and let them spend a
+while there, and then to their own home again. All of the People of
+Dana who came visiting and feasting to Lir had joy and delight in the
+children, for their beauty and gentleness; and the love of their
+father for them was exceeding great, so that he would rise very early
+every morning to lie down among them and play with them.
+
+Only, alas! a fire of jealousy began to burn at last in the breast of
+Aoife, and hatred and bitter ill-will grew in her mind towards the
+children of Lir. And she feigned an illness, and lay under it for the
+most of a year, meditating a black and evil deed. At last she said
+that a journey from home might recover her, and she bade her chariot
+be yoked and set out, taking with her the four children. Fionnuala was
+sorely unwilling to go with her on that journey, for she had a
+misgiving, and a prevision of treachery and of kin-slaying against her
+in the mind of Aoife. Yet she was not able to avoid the mischief that
+was destined for her.
+
+So Aoife journeyed away from the Hill of the White Field, and when she
+had come some way she spoke to her people and said, "Kill me, I pray
+ye, the four children of Lir, who have taken the love of their father
+from me, and ye may ask of me what reward ye will." "Not so," said
+they, "by us they shall never be killed; it is an evil deed that you
+have thought of, and evil it is but to have spoken of it."
+
+When they would not consent to her will, she drew a sword and would
+have slain the children herself, but her womanhood overcame her and
+she could not. So they journeyed on westward till they came to the
+shores of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made a halt and the horses
+were outspanned. Aoife bade the children bathe and swim in the lake,
+and they did so. Then Aoife by Druid spells and witchcraft put upon
+each of the children the form of a pure white swan, and she cried to
+them:--
+
+  "Out on the lake with you, children of Lir!
+  Cry with the water-fowl over the mere!
+  Breed and seed of you ne'er shall I see;
+  Woeful the tale to your friends shall be."
+
+Then the four swans turned their faces towards the woman, and
+Fionnuala spoke to her and said, "Evil is thy deed, Aoife, to destroy
+us thus without a cause, and think not that thou shalt escape
+punishment for it. Assign us even some period to the ruin and
+destruction that thou hast brought upon us."
+
+"I shall do that," said Aoife, "and it is this: in your present forms
+shall ye abide, and none shall release you till the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North. Three hundred years shall ye be
+upon the waters of Derryvaragh, and three hundred upon the Straits of
+Moyle between Erinn and Alba,[10] and three hundred in the seas by
+Erris and Inishglory, and then shall the enchantment have an end."
+
+   [10] Scotland. Inishglory is an island in the Bay of Erris, on
+   the Mayo coast.
+
+Upon this, Aoife was smitten with repentance, and she said, "Since I
+may not henceforth undo what has been done, I give you this, that ye
+shall keep your human speech, and ye shall sing a sad music such as no
+music in the world can equal, and ye shall have your reason and your
+human will, that the bird-shape may not wholly destroy you." Then she
+became as one possessed, and cried wildly like a prophetess in her
+trance:--
+
+  "Ye with the white faces! Ye with the stammering
+      Gaelic on your tongues!
+  Soft was your nurture in the King's house--
+  Now shall ye know the buffeting wind!
+  Nine hundred years upon the tide.
+
+  "The heart of Lir shall bleed!
+  None of his victories shall stead him now!
+  Woe to me that I shall hear his groan,
+  Woe that I have deserved his wrath!"
+
+Then they caught and yoked her horses, and Aoife went on her way till
+she reached the palace of Bóv the Red. Here she and her folk were
+welcomed and entertained, and Bóv the Red inquired of her why she had
+not brought with her the children of Lir.
+
+"I brought them not," she replied, "because Lir loves thee not, and he
+fears that if he sends his children to thee, thou wouldst capture them
+and hold them for hostages."
+
+"That is strange," said Bóv the Red, "for I love those children as if
+they were my own." And his mind misgave him that some treachery had
+been wrought; and he sent messengers privily northwards to the Hill of
+the White Field. "For what have ye come?" asked Lir. "Even to bring
+your children to Bóv the Red," said they. "Did they not reach you with
+Aoife?" said Lir. "Nay," said the messengers, "but Aoife said you
+would not permit them to go with her."
+
+Then fear and trouble came upon Lir, for he surmised that Aoife had
+wrought evil upon the children. So his horses were yoked and he set
+out upon his road south-westward, until he reached the shores of Loch
+Derryvaragh. But as he passed by that water, Fionnuala saw the train
+of horsemen and chariots, and she cried to her brothers to come near
+to the shore, "for," said she, "these can only be the company of our
+father who have come to follow and seek for us."
+
+Lir, by the margin of the lake, saw the four swans and heard them
+talking with human voices, and he halted and spoke to them. Then said
+Fionnuala: "Know, O Lir, that we are thy four children, and that she
+who has wrought this ruin upon us is thy wife and our mother's sister,
+through the bitterness of her jealousy." Lir was glad to know that
+they were at least living, and he said, "Is it possible to put your
+own forms upon you again?" "It is not possible," said Fionnuala, "for
+all the men on earth could not release us until the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North." Then Lir and his people cried
+aloud in grief and lamentation, and Lir entreated the swans to come on
+land and abide with him since they had their human reason and speech.
+But Fionnuala said, "That may not be, for we may not company with men
+any longer, but abide on the waters of Erinn nine hundred years. But
+we have still our Gaelic speech, and moreover we have the gift of
+uttering sad music, so that no man who hears it thinks aught worth in
+the world save to listen to that music for ever. Do you abide by the
+shore for this night and we shall sing to you."
+
+So Lir and his people listened all night to the singing of the swans,
+nor could they move nor speak till morning, for all the high sorrows
+of the world were in that music, and it plunged them in dreams that
+could not be uttered.
+
+Next day Lir took leave of his children and went on to the palace of
+Bóv the Red. Bóv reproached him that he had not brought with him his
+children. "Woe is me," said Lir, "it was not I that would not bring
+them; but Aoife there, your own foster-child and their mother's
+sister, put upon them the forms of four snow-white swans, and there
+they are on the Loch of Derryvaragh for all men to see; but they have
+kept still their reason and their human voice and their Gaelic."
+
+Bóv the Red started when he heard this, and he knew that what Lir had
+said was true. Fiercely he turned to Aoife, and said, "This treachery
+will be worse, Aoife, for you than for them, for they shall be
+released in the end of time, but thy punishment shall be for ever."
+Then he smote her with a druid wand and she became a Demon of the Air,
+and flew shrieking from the hall, and in that form she abides to this
+day.
+
+[Illustration: "They made an encampment and the swans sang to them"]
+
+As for Bóv the Red, he came with his nobles and attendants to the
+shores of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made an encampment, and the
+swans conversed with them and sang to them. And as the thing became
+known, other tribes and clans of the People of Dana would also come
+from every part of Erinn and stay awhile to listen to the swans and
+depart again to their homes; and most of all came their own friends
+and fellow-pupils from the Hill of the White Field. No such music as
+theirs, say the historians of ancient times, ever was heard in Erinn,
+for foes who heard it were at peace, and men stricken with pain or
+sickness felt their ills no more; and the memory of it remained with
+them when they went away, so that a great peace and sweetness and
+gentleness was in the land of Erinn for those three hundred years that
+the swans abode in the waters of Derryvaragh.
+
+But one day Fionnuala said to her brethren, "Do ye know, my dear
+ones, that the end of our time here is come, all but this night only?"
+Then great sorrow and distress overcame them, for in the converse with
+their father and kinsfolk and friends they had half forgotten that
+they were no longer men, and they loved their home on Loch
+Derryvaragh, and feared the angry waves of the cold northern sea. But
+early next day they came to the lough-side to speak with Bóv the Red
+and with their father, and to bid them farewell, and Fionnuala sang to
+them her last lament. Then the four swans rose in the air and flew
+northward till they were seen no more, and great was the grief among
+those they left behind; and Bóv the Red let it be proclaimed
+throughout the length and breadth of Erin that no man should
+henceforth presume to kill a swan, lest it might chance to be one of
+the children of Lir.
+
+Far different was the dwelling-place which the swans now came to, from
+that which they had known on Loch Derryvaragh. On either side of them,
+to north and south, stretched a wide coast far as the eye could see,
+beset with black rocks and great precipices, and by it ran fiercely
+the salt, bitter tides of an ever-angry sea, cold, grey, and misty;
+and their hearts sank to behold it and to think that there they must
+abide for three hundred years.
+
+Ere long, one night, there came a thick murky tempest upon them, and
+Fionnuala said, "In this black and violent night, my brothers, we may
+be driven apart from each other; let us therefore appoint a
+meeting-place where we may come together again when the tempest is
+overpast." And they settled to meet at the Seal Rock, for this rock
+they had now all learned to know.
+
+By midnight the hurricane descended upon the Straits of Moyle, and the
+waves roared upon the coast with a deafening noise, and thunder
+bellowed from the sky, and lightning was all the light they had. The
+swans were driven apart by the violence of the storm, and when at last
+the wind fell and the seas grew calm once more, Fionnuala found
+herself alone upon the ocean-tide not far from the Seal Rock. And thus
+she made her lament:--
+
+   "Woe is me to be yet alive!
+   My wings are frozen to my sides.
+   Wellnigh has the tempest shattered my heart,
+   And my comely Hugh parted from me!
+
+   "O my beloved ones, my Three,
+   Who slept under the shelter of my feathers,
+   Shall you and I ever meet again
+   Until the dead rise to life?
+
+   "Where is Fiachra, where is Hugh?
+   Where is my fair Conn?
+   Shall I henceforth bear my part alone?
+   Woe is me for this disastrous night!"
+
+Fionnuala remained upon the Seal Rock until the morrow morn, watching
+the tossing waters in all directions around her, until at last she saw
+Conn coming towards her, and his head drooping and feathers drenched
+and disarrayed. Joyfully did the sister welcome him; and ere long,
+behold, Fiachra also approaching them, cold and wet and faint, and the
+speech was frozen in him that not a word he spake could be understood.
+So Fionnuala put her wings about him, and said, "If but Hugh came now,
+how happy should we be!"
+
+In no long time after that they saw Hugh also approaching them across
+the sea, and his head was dry and his feathers fair and unruffled, for
+he had found shelter from the gale. Fionnuala put him under her
+breast, and Conn under her right wing and Fiachra under her left, and
+covered them wholly with her feathers. "O children," she said to them,
+"evil though ye think this night to have been, many such a one shall
+we know from this time forward."
+
+So there the swans continued, suffering cold and misery upon the tides
+of Moyle; and one while they would be upon the coast of Alba and
+another upon the coast of Erinn, but the waters they might not leave.
+At length there came upon them a night of bitter cold and snow such
+as they had never felt before, and Fionnuala sang this lament:--
+
+  "Evil is this life.
+  The cold of this night,
+  The thickness of the snow,
+  The sharpness of the wind--
+
+  "How long have they lain together,
+  Under my soft wings,
+  The waves beating upon us,
+  Conn and Hugh and Fiachra?
+
+  "Aoife has doomed us,
+  Us, the four of us,
+  To-night to this misery--
+  Evil is this life."
+
+Thus for a long time they suffered, till at length there came upon the
+Straits of Moyle a night of January so piercing cold that the like of
+it had never been felt. And the swans were gathered together upon the
+Seal Rock. The waters froze into ice around them, and each of them
+became frozen in his place, so that their feet and feathers clung to
+the rock; and when the day came and they strove to leave the place,
+the skin of their feet and the feathers of their breasts clove to the
+rock, they came naked and wounded away.
+
+"Woe is me, O children of Lir," said Fionnuala, "we are now indeed in
+evil case, for we cannot endure the salt water, yet we may not be away
+from it; and if the salt water gets into our sores we shall perish of
+it." And thus she sang:--
+
+   "To-night we are full of keening;
+   No plumage to cover our bodies;
+   And cold to our tender feet
+   Are the rough rocks all awash.
+
+   "Cruel to us was Aoife,
+   Who played her magic upon us,
+   And drove us out to the ocean,
+   Four wonderful, snow-white swans.
+
+   "Our bath is the frothing brine
+   In the bay by red rocks guarded,
+   For mead at our father's table
+   We drink of the salt blue sea.
+
+   "Three sons and a single daughter--
+   In clefts of the cold rocks dwelling,
+   The hard rocks, cruel to mortals.
+   --We are full of keening to-night."
+
+So they went forth again upon the Straits of Moyle, and the brine was
+grievously sharp and bitter to them, but they could not escape it nor
+shelter themselves from it. Thus they were, till at last their
+feathers grew again and their sores were healed.
+
+On one day it happened that they came to the mouth of the river Bann
+in the north of Erinn, and there they perceived a fair host of
+horsemen riding on white steeds and coming steadily onward from the
+south-west "Do ye know who yon riders are, children of Lir?" asked
+Fionnuala. "We know not," said they, "but it is like they are some
+party of the People of Dana." Then they moved to the margin of the
+land, and the company they had seen came down to meet them; and
+behold, it was Hugh and Fergus, the two sons of Bóv the Red, and their
+nobles and attendants with them, who had long been seeking for the
+swans along the coast of the Straits of Moyle.
+
+Most lovingly and joyfully did they greet each other and the swans
+inquired concerning their father Lir, and Bóv the Red, and the rest of
+their kinsfolk.
+
+"They are well," said the Danaans; "and at this time they are all
+assembled together in the palace of your father at the Hill of the
+White Field, where they are holding the Festival of the Age of
+Youth.[11] They are happy and gay and have no weariness or trouble,
+save that you are not among them, and that they have not known where
+you were since you left them at Lough Derryvaragh."
+
+   [11] A magic banquet which had the effect of preserving for
+   ever the youth of the People of Dana.
+
+"That is not the tale of our lives," said Fionnuala.
+
+After that the company of the Danaans departed and brought word of the
+swans to Bóv the Red and to Lir, who were rejoiced to hear that they
+were living, "for," said they, "the children shall obtain relief in
+the end of time." And the swans went back to the tides of Moyle and
+abode there till their time to be in that place had expired.
+
+When that day had come, Fionnuala declared it to them, and they rose
+up wheeling in the air, and flew westward across Ireland till they
+came to the Bay of Erris, and there they abode as was ordained. Here
+it happened that among those of mortal MEN whose dwellings bordered on
+the bay was a young man of gentle blood, by name Evric, who having
+heard the singing of the swans came down to speak with them, and
+became their friend. After that he would often come to hear their
+music, for it was very sweet to him; and he loved them greatly, and
+they him. All their story they told him, and he it was who set it
+down in order, even as it is here narrated.
+
+Much hardship did they suffer from cold and tempest in the waters of
+the Western Sea, yet not so much as they had to bear by the coasts of
+the ever-stormy Moyle, and they knew that the day of redemption was
+now drawing near. In the end of the time Fionnuala said, "Brothers,
+let us fly to the Hill of the White Field, and see how Lir our father
+and his household are faring." So they arose and set forward on their
+airy journey until they reached the Hill of the White Field, and thus
+it was that they found the place: namely, desolate and thorny before
+them, with nought but green mounds where once were the palaces and
+homes of their kin, and forests of nettles growing over them, and
+never a house nor a hearth. And the four drew closely together and
+lamented aloud at that sight, for they knew that old times and things
+had passed away in Erinn, and they were lonely in a land of strangers,
+where no man lived who could recognise them when they came to their
+human shapes again. They knew not that Lir and their kin of the People
+of Dana yet dwelt invisible in the bright world within the Fairy
+Mounds, for their eyes were holden that they should not see, since
+other things were destined for them than to join the Danaan folk and
+be of the company of the immortal Shee.
+
+So they went back again to the Western Sea until the holy Patrick
+came into Ireland and preached the Faith of the One God and of the
+Christ. But a man of Patrick's men, namely the Saint Mochaovóg,[12]
+came to the Island of Inishglory in Erris Bay, and there built himself
+a little church of stone, and spent his life in preaching to the folk
+and in prayer. The first night he came to the island the swans heard
+the sound of his bell ringing at matins on the following morn, and
+they leaped in terror, and the three brethren left Fionnuala and fled
+away. Fionnuala cried to them, "What ails you, beloved brothers?" "We
+know not," said they, "but we have heard a thin and dreadful voice,
+and we cannot tell what it is." "That is the voice of the bell of
+Mochaovóg," said Fionnuala, "and it is that bell which shall deliver
+us and drive away our pains, according to the will of God."
+
+   [12] Pronounced Mo-chweev-ogue.
+
+Then the brethren came back and hearkened to the chanting of the
+cleric until matins were performed. "Let us chant our music now," said
+Fionnuala. So they began, and chanted a solemn, slow, sweet, fairy
+song in adoration of the High King of Heaven and of Earth.
+
+Mochaovóg heard that, and wondered, and when he saw the swans he spoke
+to them and inquired them. They told him they were the children of
+Lir. "Praised be God for that," said Mochaovóg. "Surely it is for your
+sakes that I have come to this island above every other island that is
+in Erinn. Come to land now, and trust in me that your salvation and
+release are at hand."
+
+So they came to land, and dwelt with Mochaovóg in his own house, and
+there they kept the canonical hours with him and heard mass. And
+Mochaovóg caused a good craftsman to make chains of silver for the
+swans, and put one chain between Fionnuala and Hugh and another
+between Conn and Fiachra; and they were a joy and solace of mind to
+the Saint, and their own woe and pain seemed to them dim and far off
+as a dream.
+
+Now at this time it happened that the King of Connacht was Lairgnen,
+son of Colman, and he was betrothed to Deoca, daughter of the King of
+Munster. And so it was that when Deoca came northward to be wedded to
+Lairgnen she heard the tale of the swans and of their singing, and she
+prayed the king that he would obtain them for her, for she longed to
+possess them. But Lairgnen would not ask them of Mochaovóg. Then Deoca
+set out homeward again, and vowed that she would never return to
+Lairgnen till she had the swans; and she came as far as the church of
+Dalua, which is now called Kildaloe, in Clare. Then Lairgnen sent
+messengers for the birds to Mochaovóg, but he would not give them up.
+
+At this Lairgnen was very wroth, and he went himself to Mochaovóg, and
+he found the cleric and the four birds at the altar. But Lairgnen
+seized upon the birds by their silver chains, two in each hand dragged
+them away to the place where Deoca was; and Mochaovóg followed them.
+But when they came to Deoca and she had laid her hands upon the
+birds, behold, their covering of feathers fell off and in their places
+were three shrunken and feeble old men and one lean and withered old
+woman, fleshless and bloodless from extreme old age. And Lairgnen was
+struck with amazement and fear, and went out from that place.
+
+Then Fionnuala said to Mochaovóg, "Come now and baptize us quickly,
+for our end is near. And if you are grieved at parting from us, know
+that also to us it is a grief. Do thou make our grave when we are
+dead, and place Conn at my right side and Fiachra at my left, and Hugh
+before my face, for thus they were wont to be when I sheltered them on
+many a winter night by the tides of Moyle."
+
+So Mochaovóg baptized the three brethren and their sister; and shortly
+afterwards they found peace and death, and they were buried even as
+Fionnuala had said. And over their tomb a stone was raised, and their
+names and lineage graved on it in branching Ogham[13]; and lamentation
+and prayers were made for them, and their souls won to heaven.
+
+   [13] See p. 133, _note_.
+
+But Mochaovóg was sorrowful, and grieved after them so long as he
+lived on earth.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The Quest of the Sons of Turenn
+
+
+Long ago, when the people of Dana yet held lordship in Erinn, they
+were sorely afflicted by hordes of sea-rovers named Fomorians who used
+to harry the country and carry off youths and maidens into captivity.
+They also imposed cruel and extortionate taxes upon the people, for
+every kneading trough, and every quern for grinding corn, and every
+flagstone for baking bread had to pay its tax. And an ounce of gold
+was paid as a poll-tax for every man, and if any man would not or
+could not pay, his nose was cut off. Under this tyranny the whole
+country groaned, but they had none who was able to band them together
+and to lead them in battle against their oppressors.
+
+Now before this it happened that one of the lords of the Danaans named
+Kian had married with Ethlinn, daughter of Balor, a princess of the
+Fomorians. They had a son named Lugh Lamfada, or Lugh of the Long Arm,
+who grew up into a youth of surpassing beauty and strength. And if his
+body was noble and mighty, no less so was his mind, for lordship and
+authority grew to him by the gift of the Immortals, and whatever he
+purposed that would he perform, whatever it might cost in time or
+toil, in tears or in blood. Now this Lugh was not brought up in Erinn
+but in a far-off isle of the western sea, where the sea-god Mananan
+and the other Immortals nurtured and taught him, and made him fit
+alike for warfare or for sovranty, when his day should come to work
+their will on earth. Hither in due time came the report of the
+grievous and dishonouring oppression wrought by the Fomorians upon the
+people of Dana, and that report was heard by Lugh. Then Lugh said to
+his tutors "It were a worthy deed to rescue my father and the people
+of Erinn from this tyranny; let me go thither and attempt it." And
+they said to him, "Go, and blessing and victory be with thee." So Lugh
+armed himself and mounted his fairy steed, and called his friends and
+foster-brothers about him, and across the bright and heaving surface
+of the waters they rode like the wind, until they took land in Erinn.
+
+Now the chiefs of the Danaan folk were assembled upon the Hill of
+Usnach, which is upon the western side of Tara in Meath, in order to
+meet there the stewards of the Fomorians and to pay them their
+tribute. As they awaited the arrival of the Fomorians they became
+aware of a company on horseback, coming from the west, before whom
+rode a young man who seemed to command them all, and whose countenance
+was as radiant as the sun upon a dry summer's day, so that the Danaans
+could scarcely gaze upon it. He rode upon a white horse and was armed
+with a sword, and on his head was a helmet set with precious stones.
+The Danaan folk welcomed him as he came among them, and asked him of
+his name and his business among them. As they were thus talking
+another band drew near, numbering nine times nine persons, who were
+the stewards of the Fomorians coming to demand their tribute. They
+were men of a fierce and swarthy countenance, and as they came
+haughtily and arrogantly forward, the Danaans all rose up to do them
+honour. Then Lugh said:
+
+"Why do ye rise up before that grim and ill-looking band and not
+before us?"
+
+Said the King of Erinn, "We needs must do so, for if they saw but a
+child of a month old sitting down when they came near they would hold
+it cause enough to attack and slay us."
+
+"I am greatly minded to slay them," said Lugh; and he repeated it,
+"very greatly minded."
+
+"That would be bad for us," said the King, "for our death and
+destruction would surely follow."
+
+"Ye are too long under oppression," said Lugh, and gave the word for
+onset. So he and his comrades rushed upon the Fomorians, and in a
+moment the hillside rang with blows and with the shouting of warriors.
+In no long time all of the Fomorians were slain save nine men, and
+these were taken alive and brought before Lugh.
+
+"Ye also should be slain," said Lugh, "but that I am minded to send
+you as ambassadors to your King. Tell him that he may seek homage and
+tribute where he will henceforth, but Ireland will pay him none for
+ever."
+
+Then the Fomorians went northwards away, and the people of Dana made
+them ready for war, and made Lugh their captain and war-lord, for the
+sight of his face heartened them, and made them strong, and they
+marvelled that they had endured their slavery so long.
+
+In the meantime word was brought to Balor of the Mighty Blows, King of
+the Fomorians, and to his queen Kethlinn of the Twisted Teeth, of the
+shame and destruction that had been done to their stewards, and they
+assembled a great host of the sea-rovers and manned their war-ships,
+and the Northern Sea was white with the foam of their oarblades as
+they swept down upon the shores of Erinn. And Balor commanded them,
+saying, "When ye have utterly destroyed and subdued the people of
+Dana, then make fast your ships with cables to the land of Erinn, and
+tow it here to the north of us into the region of ice and snow, and it
+shall trouble us no longer." So the host of Balor took land by the
+Falls of Dara[14] and began plundering and devastating the province of
+Connacht.
+
+   [14] Ballysodare = the Town of the Falls of Dara, in Co. Sligo.
+
+Then Lugh sent messengers abroad to bring his host together, and
+among them was his own father, Kian, son of Canta. And as Kian went
+northwards on his errand to rouse the Ulster men, and was now come to
+the plain of Murthemny near by Dundealga,[15] he saw three warriors
+armed and riding across the plain. Now these three were the sons of
+Turenn, by name Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba. And there was an
+ancient blood-feud between the house of Canta and the house of Turenn,
+so that they never met without bloodshed.
+
+   [15] Dundalk.
+
+Then Kian thought to himself, "If my brothers Cu and Kethan were here
+there might be a pretty fight, but as they are three to one I would do
+better to fly." Now there was a herd of wild swine near by; and Kian
+changed himself by druidic sorceries into a wild pig and fell to
+rooting up the earth along with the others.
+
+When the sons of Turenn came up to the herd, Brian said, "Brothers,
+did ye see the warrior wh' just now was journeying across the plain?"
+
+"We saw him," said they.
+
+"What is become of him?" said Brian.
+
+"Truly, we cannot tell," said the brothers.
+
+"It is good watch ye keep in time of war!" said Brian; "but I know
+what has taken him out of our sight, for he struck himself with a
+magic wand, and changed himself into the form of one of yonder swine,
+and he is rooting the earth among them now. Wherefore," said Brian, "I
+deem that he is no friend to us."
+
+"If so, we have no help for it," said they, "for the herd belongs to
+some man of the Danaans; and even if we set to and begin to kill the
+swine, the pig of druidism might be the very one to escape."
+
+"Have ye learned so little in your place of studies," said Brian,
+"that ye cannot distinguish a druidic beast from a natural beast?" And
+with that he smote his two brothers with a magic wand, and changed
+them into two slender, fleet hounds, and they darted in among the
+herd. Then all the herd scattered and fled, but the hounds separated
+the druidic pig and chased it towards a wood where Brian awaited it.
+As it passed, Brian flung his spear, and it pierced the chest of the
+pig and brought it down. The pig screamed, "Evil have you done to cast
+at me."
+
+Brian said, "That hath the sound of human speech!"
+
+"I am in truth a man," said the pig, "and I am Kian, son of Canta, and
+I pray you show me mercy."
+
+"That will we," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "and sorry are we for what
+has happened."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but I swear by the Wind and the Sun that if thou
+hadst seven lives I would take them all."
+
+"Grant me a favour then," said Kian.
+
+"We shall grant it," said Brian.
+
+"Let me," said Kian, "return into my own form that I may die in the
+shape of a man."
+
+"I had liefer kill a man than a pig," said Brian. Then Kian became a
+man again and stood before them, the blood trickling from his breast.
+
+"I have outwitted you now," cried he, "for if ye had killed a pig ye
+would have paid a pig's eric,[16] but now ye shall pay the eric of a
+man. Never was greater eric in the land of Erinn than that which ye
+shall pay; and I swear that the very weapons with which ye slay me
+shall tell the tale to the avenger of blood."
+
+   [16] Blood-fine.
+
+"Then you shall be slain with no weapons at all," said Brian; and they
+picked up the stones on the Plain of Murthemny and rained them upon
+him till he was all one wound, and he died. So they buried him as
+deep as the height of a man, and went their way to join the host of
+Lugh.
+
+When the host was assembled, Lugh led them into Connacht and smote the
+Fomorians and drove them to their ships, but of this the tale tells
+not here. But when the fight was done, Lugh asked of his comrades if
+they had seen his father in the fight and how it fared with him. They
+said they had not seen him. Then Lugh made search among the dead, and
+they found not Kian there. "Were Kian alive he would be here," said
+Lugh, "and I swear by the Wind and the Sun that I will not eat or
+drink till I know what has befallen him."
+
+On their return the Danaan host passed by the Plain of Murthemny, and
+when they came near the place of the murder the stones cried aloud to
+Lugh. And Lugh listened, and they told him of the deed of the sons of
+Turenn. Then Lugh searched for the place of a new grave, and when he
+had found it he caused it to be dug, and the body of his father was
+raised up, and Lugh saw that it was but a litter of wounds. And he
+cried out: "O wicked and horrible deed!" and he kissed his father and
+said, "I am sick from this sight, my eyes are blind from it, my ears
+are deaf from it, my heart stands still from it. Ye gods that I adore,
+why was I not here when this crime was done? a man of the children of
+Dana slain by his fellows." And he lamented long and bitterly. Then
+Kian was again laid in his grave, and a mound was heaped over it and a
+pillar-stone set thereon and his name written in Ogham, and a dirge
+was sung for him.
+
+After that Lugh departed to Tara, to the Court of the High King, and
+he charged his people to say nothing of what had happened until he
+himself had made it known.
+
+When he reached Tara with his victorious host the King placed Lugh at
+his own right hand before all the princes and lords of the Danaan
+folk. Lugh looked round about him, and saw the sons of Turenn sitting
+among the assembly; and they were among the best and strongest and the
+handsomest of those who were present at that time; nor had any borne
+themselves better in the fight with the sea-rovers. Then Lugh asked of
+the King that the chain of silence might be shaken; and the assembly
+heard it, and gave their attention to Lugh. And Lugh said:
+
+"O King, and ye princes of the People of Dana, I ask what vengeance
+would each of you exact upon a man who had foully murdered your
+father?"
+
+Then they were all astonished, and the King answered and said:
+
+"Surely it is not the father of Lugh Lamfada who has thus been slain?"
+
+"Thou hast said it," said Lugh, "and those who did the deed are
+listening to me now, and know it better than I."
+
+The King said, "Not in one day would I slay the murderer of my father,
+but I would tear from him a limb day by day till he were dead."
+
+And so spake all the lords of the Danaans, and the Sons of Turenn
+among the rest.
+
+"They have sentenced themselves, the murderers of my father," said
+Lugh. "Nevertheless I shall accept an eric from them, and if they will
+pay it, it shall be well; but if not, I shall not break the peace of
+the King's Assembly and of his sanctuary, but let them beware how they
+leave the Hall Tara until they have made me satisfaction."
+
+"Had I slain your father," said the High King, "glad should I be to
+have an eric accepted for his blood."
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn whispered among themselves. "It is to us that
+Lugh is speaking," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "let us confess and have
+the eric assessed upon us, for he has got knowledge of our deed."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but he may be seeking for an open confession, and
+then perchance he would not accept an eric."
+
+But the two brethren said to Brian, "Do thou confess because thou art
+the eldest, or if thou do not, then we shall."
+
+So Brian, son of Turenn, rose up and said to Lugh: "It is to us thou
+hast spoken, Lugh, since thou knowest there is enmity of old time
+between our houses; and if thou wilt have it that we have slain thy
+father, then declare our eric and we shall pay it."
+
+"I will take an eric from you," said Lugh, "and if it seem too great,
+I will remit a portion of it."
+
+"Declare it, then," said the Sons of Turenn.
+
+"This it is," said Lugh.
+
+"Three apples.
+
+"The skin of a pig.
+
+"A spear.
+
+"Two steeds and a chariot.
+
+"Seven swine.
+
+"A whelp of a dog.
+
+"A cooking spit.
+
+"Three shouts on a hill."
+
+"We would not consider heavy hundreds or thousands of these things,"
+said the Sons of Turenn, "but we misdoubt thou hast some secret
+purpose against us."
+
+"I deem it no small eric," said Lugh, "and I call to witness the High
+King and lords of the Danaans that I shall ask no more; and do ye on
+your side give me guarantees for the fulfilment of it."
+
+So the High King and the lords of the Danaans entered into bonds with
+Lugh and with the Sons of Turenn that the eric should be paid and
+should wipe out the blood of Kian.
+
+"Now," said Lugh, "it is better for me to give you fuller knowledge of
+the eric. The three apples that I have demanded of you are the apples
+that grow in the garden of the Hesperides, in the east of the world,
+and none but these will do. Thus it is with them: they are the colour
+of bright gold, and as large as the head of a month-old child; the
+taste of them is like honey; if he who eats them has any running sore
+or evil disease it is healed by them; they may be eaten and eaten and
+never be less. I doubt, O young heroes, if ye will get these apples,
+for those who guard them know well an ancient prophecy that one day
+three knights from the western world would come to attempt them.
+
+"As for the skin of the pig, that is a treasure of Tuish, the King of
+Greece. If it be laid upon a wounded man it will make him whole and
+well, if only it overtake the breath of life in him. And do ye know
+what is the spear that I demanded?"
+
+"We do not," said they.
+
+"It is the poisoned spear of Peisear, the King of Persia, and so
+fierce is the spirit of war in it that it must be kept in a pot of
+soporific herbs or it would fly out raging for death. And do ye know
+what are the two horses and the chariot ye must get?"
+
+"We do not know," said they.
+
+"The steeds and the chariot belong to Dobar, King of Sicily. They are
+magic steeds and can go indifferently over land and sea, nor can they
+be killed by any weapon unless they be torn in pieces and their bones
+cannot be found. And the seven pigs are the swine of Asal, King of the
+Golden Pillars, which may be slain and eaten every night and the next
+morning they are alive again.
+
+"And the hound-whelp I asked of you is the whelp of the King of
+Iorroway, that can catch and slay any beast in the world; hard it is
+to get possession of that whelp.
+
+"The cooking spit is one of the spits that the fairy women of the
+Island of Finchory have in their kitchen.
+
+"And the hill on which ye must give three shouts is the hill where
+dwells Mochaen in the north of Lochlann. Now Mochaen and his sons have
+it as a sacred ordinance that they permit not any man to raise a shout
+upon their hill. With him it was that my father was trained to arms,
+and if I forgave ye his death, yet would Mochaen not forgive it.
+
+"And now ye know the eric which ye have to pay for the slaying of
+Kian, son of Canta."
+
+Astonishment and despair overcame the Sons of Turenn when they learned
+the meaning of the eric of Lugh, and they went home to tell the
+tidings to their father.
+
+"This is an evil tale," said Turenn; "I doubt but death and doom shall
+come from your seeking of that eric, and it is but right they should.
+Yet it may be that ye shall obtain the eric if Lugh or Mananan will
+help you to it. Go now to Lugh, and ask him for the loan of the fairy
+steed of Mananan, which was given him to ride over the sea into Erinn.
+He will refuse you, for he will say that the steed is but lent to him
+and he may not make a loan of a loan. Then ask him for the loan of
+Ocean Sweeper, which is the magic boat of Mananan, and that he must
+give, for it is a sacred ordinance with Lugh not to refuse a second
+petition."
+
+So they went to Lugh, and it all fell out as Turenn had told them, and
+they went back to Turenn.
+
+"Ye have done something towards the eric," said Turenn, "but not much.
+Yet Lugh would be well pleased that ye brought him whatever might
+serve him when the Fomorians come to the battle again, and well
+pleased would he be that ye might get your death in bringing it. Go
+now, my sons, and blessing and victory be with you."
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn went down to the harbour on the Boyne river
+where the Boat of Mananan was, and Ethne their sister with them. And
+when they reached the place, Ethne broke into lamentations and
+weeping; but Brian said, "Weep not, dear sister, but let us go forth
+gaily to great deeds. Better a hundred deaths in the quest of honour
+than to live and die as cowards and sluggards." But Ethne said, "ye
+are banished from Erinn--never was there a sadder deed." Then they
+put forth from the river-mouth of the Boyne and soon the fair coasts
+of Erinn faded out of sight. "And now," said they among themselves,
+"what course shall we steer?"
+
+[Illustration: "'Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of
+the Hesperides'"]
+
+"No need to steer the Boat of Mananan," said Brian; and he whispered
+to the Boat, "Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the
+Hesperides"; and the spirit of the Boat heard him and it leaped
+eagerly forward, lifting and dipping over the rollers and throwing up
+an arch of spray each side of its bows wherein sat a rainbow when the
+sun shone upon it; and so in no long time they drew nigh to the coast
+where was the far-famed garden of the Golden Apples.
+
+"And now, how shall we set about the capture of the apples?" said
+Brian.
+
+"Draw sword and fight for them," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "and if we
+are the stronger, we shall win them, and if not, we shall fall, as
+fall we surely must ere the eric for Kian be paid."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but whether we live or die, let not men say of us
+that we went blind and headlong to our tasks, but rather that we made
+the head help the hand, and that we deserved to win even though we
+lost. Now my counsel is that we approach the garden in the shape of
+three hawks, strong of wing, and that we hover about until the Wardens
+of the Tree have spent all their darts and javelins in casting at us,
+and then let us swoop down suddenly and bear off each of us an apple
+if we may."
+
+So it was agreed; and Brian struck himself and each of the brothers
+with a druid wand, and they became three beautiful, fierce, and
+strong-winged hawks. When the Wardens perceived them, they shouted and
+threw showers of arrows and darts at them, but the hawks evaded all of
+these until the missiles were spent, and then seized each an apple in
+his talons. But Brian seized two, for he took one in his beak as well.
+Then they flew as swiftly as they might to the shore where they had
+left their boat. Now the King of that garden had three fair daughters,
+to whom the apples and the garden were very dear, and he transformed
+the maidens into three griffins, who pursued the hawks. And the
+griffins threw darts of fire, as it were lightning, at the hawks.
+
+"Brian!" then cried Iuchar and his brother, "we are being burnt by
+these darts--we are lost unless we can escape them."
+
+On this, Brian changed himself and his brethren into three swans, and
+they plunged into the sea, and the burning darts were quenched. Then
+the griffins gave over the chase, and the Sons of Turenn made for
+their boat, and they embarked with the four apples. Thus their first
+quest was ended.
+
+After that they resolved to seek the pigskin from the King of Greece,
+and they debated how they should come before him. "Let us," said
+Brian, "assume the character and garb of poets and men of learning,
+for such are wont to come from Ireland and to travel foreign lands,
+and in that character shall the Greeks receive us best, for such men
+have honour among them." "It is well said," replied the brothers, "yet
+we have no poems in our heads, and how to compose one we know not."
+
+Howbeit they dressed their hair in the fashion of the poets of Erinn,
+and went up to the palace of Tuish the King. The doorkeeper asked of
+them who they were, and what was their business.
+
+"We are bards from Ireland," they said, "and we have come with a poem
+to the King."
+
+"Let them be admitted," said the King, when the doorkeeper brought him
+that tale; "they have doubtless come thus far to seek a powerful
+patron."
+
+So Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba came in and were made welcome, and
+were entertained, and then the minstrels of the King of Greece chanted
+the lays of that country before them. After that came the turn of the
+stranger bards, and Brian asked his brethren if they had anything to
+recite.
+
+"We have not," said they; "we know but one art--to take what we want
+by the strong hand if we may, and if we may not, to die fighting."
+
+"That is a difficult art too," said Brian; "let us see how we thrive
+with the poetry."
+
+So he rose up and recited this lay:--
+
+   "Mighty is thy fame, O King,
+   Towering like a giant oak;
+   For my song I ask no thing
+   Save a pigskin for a cloak.
+
+   "When a neighbour with his friend
+   Quarrels, they are ear to ear;
+   Who on us their store shall spend
+   Shall be richer than they were.
+
+   "Armies of the storming wind--
+   Raging seas, the sword's fell stroke--
+   Thou hast nothing to my mind
+   Save thy pigskin for a cloak."
+
+"That is a very good poem," said the King, "but one word of its
+meaning I do not understand."
+
+"I will interpret it for you," said Brian:--
+
+  "Mighty is thy fame, O King,
+  Towering like a giant oak."
+
+"That is to say, as the oak surpasses all the other trees of the
+forest, so do you surpass all the kings of the world in goodness, in
+nobleness, and in liberality.
+
+  "A pigskin for a cloak."
+
+"That is the skin of the pig of Tuish which I would fain receive as
+the reward for my lay."
+
+   "When a neighbour with his friend
+   Quarrels, they are ear to ear."
+
+"That is to signify that you and I shall be about each other's ears
+over the skin, unless you are willing to give it to me. Such is the
+sense of my poem," said Brian, son of Turenn.
+
+"I would praise your poem more," said the King, "if there were not so
+much about my pigskin in it. Little sense have you, O man of poetry,
+to make that request of me, for not to all the poets, scholars, and
+lords of the world would I give that skin of my own free will. But
+what I will do is this--I will give the full of that skin of red gold
+thrice over in reward for your poem."
+
+"Thanks be to you," said Brian, "for that. I knew that I asked too
+much, but I knew also thou wouldst redeem the skin amply and
+generously. And now let the gold be duly measured out in it, for
+greedy am I, and I will not abate an ounce of it."
+
+The servants of the King were then sent with Brian and his brothers to
+the King's treasure-chamber to measure out the gold. As they did so,
+Brian suddenly snatched the skin from the hands of him who held it,
+and swiftly wrapped it round his body. Then the three brothers drew
+sword and made for the door, and a great fight arose in the King's
+palace. But they hewed and thrust manfully on every side of them, and
+though sorely wounded they fought their way through and escaped to
+the shore, and drove their boat out to sea, when the skin of the magic
+pig quickly made them whole and sound again. And thus the second quest
+of the Sons of Turenn had its end.
+
+"Let us now," said Brian, "go to seek the spear of the King of
+Persia."
+
+"In what manner of guise shall we go before the King of Persia?" said
+his brothers.
+
+"As we did before the King of Greece," said Brian.
+
+"That guise served us well with the King of Greece," replied they;
+"nevertheless, O Brian, this business of professing to be poets, when
+we are but swordsmen, is painful to us."
+
+However, they dressed their hair in the manner of poets and went up
+boldly to the palace of King Peisear of Persia, saying, as before,
+that they were wandering bards from Ireland who had a poem to recite
+before the King; and as they passed through the courtyard they marked
+the spear drowsing in its pot of sleepy herbs. They were made welcome,
+and after listening to the lays of the King's minstrel, Brian rose and
+sang:--
+
+   "'Tis little Peisear cares for spears,
+   Since armies, when his face they see,
+   All overcome with panic fears
+   Without a wound they turn and flee.
+
+   "The Yew is monarch of the wood,
+   No other tree disputes its claim.
+   The shining shaft in venom stewed
+   Flies fiercely forth to kill and maim."
+
+"'Tis a very good poem," said the King, "but, O bard from Erinn, I do
+not understand your reference to my spear."
+
+"It is merely this," replied Brian, "that I would like your spear as a
+reward for my poem."
+
+Then the King stared at Brian, and his beard bristled with anger, and
+he said, "Never was a greater reward paid for any poem than not to
+adjudge you guilty of instant death for your request."
+
+Then Brian flung at the king the fourth golden apple which he had
+taken from the Garden of the Hesperides, and it dashed out his brains.
+Immediately the brothers all drew sword and made for the courtyard.
+Here they seized the magic spear, and with it and with their swords
+they fought their way clear, not without many wounds, and escaped to
+their boat. And thus ended the third quest of the Sons of Turenn.
+
+Now having come safely and victoriously through so many straits and
+perils, they began to be merry and hoped that all the eric might yet
+be paid. So they sailed away with high hearts to the Island of Sicily,
+to get the two horses and the chariot of the King, and the Boat of
+Mananan bore them swiftly and well.
+
+Having arrived here, they debated among themselves as to how they
+should proceed; and they agreed to present themselves as Irish
+mercenary soldiers--for such were wont in those days to take service
+with foreign kings--until they should learn where the horses and the
+chariot were kept, and how they should come at them. Then they went
+forward, and found the King and his lords in the palace garden taking
+the air.
+
+The Sons of Turenn then paid homage to him, and he asked them of their
+business.
+
+"We are Irish mercenary soldiers," they said, "seeking our wages from
+the kings of the world." "Are ye willing to take service with me?"
+said the King. "We are," said they, "and to that end are we come."
+
+Then their contract of military service was made, and they remained at
+the King's court for a month and a fortnight, and did not in all that
+time come to see the steeds or the chariot. At last Brian said,
+
+"Things are going ill with us, my brethren, in that we know no more at
+this day of the steeds or of the chariot than when we first arrived at
+this place."
+
+"What shall we do, then?" said they.
+
+"Let us do this," said Brian. "Let us gird on our arms and all our
+marching array, and tell the King that we shall quit his service
+unless he show us the chariot."
+
+And so they did; and the King said, "To-morrow shall be a gathering
+and parade of all my host, and the chariot shall be there, and ye
+shall see it if ye have a mind."
+
+So the next day the steeds were yoked and the chariot was driven round
+a great plain before the King and his lords. Now these steeds could
+run as well on sea as on dry land, and they were swifter than the
+winds of March. As the chariot came round the second time, Brian and
+his brothers seized the horses' heads, and Brian took the charioteer
+by the foot and flung him out over the rail, and they all leaped into
+the chariot and drove away. Such was the swiftness of their driving
+that they were out of sight ere the King and his men knew rightly
+what had befallen. And thus ended the fourth quest of the Sons of
+Turenn.
+
+Next they betook themselves to the court of Asal, King of the Golden
+Pillars, to get the seven swine which might be eaten every night and
+they would be whole and well on the morrow morn.
+
+But it had now been noised about every country that three young heroes
+from Erinn were plundering the kings of the world of their treasures
+in payment of a mighty eric; and when they arrived at the Land of the
+Golden Pillars they found the harbour guarded and a strait watch kept,
+that no one who might resemble the Sons of Turenn should enter.
+
+But Asal the King came to the harbour-mouth and spoke with the heroes,
+for he was desirous to see those who had done the great deeds that he
+had heard of. He asked them if it were true that they had done such
+things, and why. Then Brian told him the story of the mighty eric
+which had been laid upon them, and what they had done and suffered in
+fulfilling it. "Why," said King Asal, "have ye now come to my
+country?"
+
+"For the seven swine," said Brian, "to take them with us as a part of
+that eric."
+
+"How do you mean to get them?" asked the King.
+
+"With your goodwill," replied Brian, "if so it may be, and to pay you
+therefore with all the wealth we now have, which is thanks and love,
+and to stand by your side hereafter in any strait or quarrel you may
+enter into. But if you will not grant us the swine, and we may not be
+quit of our eric without them, we shall even take them as we may, and
+as we have beforetime taken mighty treasures from mighty kings."
+
+Then King Asal went into counsel with his lords, and he advised that
+the swine be given to the Sons of Turenn, partly for that he was moved
+with their desperate plight and the hardihood they had shown, and
+partly that they might get them whether or no. To this they all
+agreed, and the Sons of Turenn were invited to come ashore, where they
+were courteously and hospitably entertained in the King's palace. On
+the morrow the pigs were given to them, and great was their gladness,
+for never before had they won a treasure without toil and blood. And
+they vowed that, if they should live, the name of Asal should be made
+by them a great and shining name, for his compassion and generosity
+which he had shown them. This, then, was the fifth quest of the Sons
+of Turenn.
+
+"And whither do ye voyage now?" said Asal to them.
+
+"We go," said they, "to Iorroway for the hound's whelp which is
+there."
+
+"Take me with you, then," said Asal, "for the King of Iorroway is
+husband to my daughter, and I may prevail upon him to grant you the
+hound without combat."
+
+So the King's ship was manned and provisioned, and the Sons of Turenn
+laid up their treasures in the Boat of Mananan, and they all sailed
+joyfully forth to the pleasant kingdom of Iorroway.
+
+But here, too, they found all the coasts and harbours guarded, and
+entrance was forbidden them. Then Asal declared who he was, and him
+they allowed to land, and he journeyed to where his son-in-law, the
+King of Iorroway, was. To him Asal related the whole story of the sons
+of Turenn, and why they were come to that kingdom.
+
+"Thou wert a fool," said the King of Iorroway, "to have come on such a
+mission. There are no three heroes in the world to whom the Immortals
+have granted such grace that they should get my hound either by favour
+or by fight."
+
+"That is not a good word," said Asal, "for the treasures they now
+possess have made them yet stronger than they were, and these they won
+in the teeth of kings as strong as thou." And much more he said to him
+to persuade him to yield up the hound, but in vain. So Asal took his
+way back to the haven where the Sons of Turenn lay, and told them his
+tidings.
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn seized the magic spear, and the pigskin, and
+with a rush like that of three eagles descending from a high cliff
+upon a lamb-fold they burst upon the guards of the King of Iorroway.
+Fierce and fell was the combat that ensued, and many times the
+brothers were driven apart, and all but overborne by the throng of
+their foes. But at last Brian perceived where the King of Iorroway was
+directing the fight, and he cut his way to him, and having smitten him
+to the ground, he bound him and carried him out of the press to the
+haven-side where Asal was.
+
+"There," he said, "is your son-in-law for you Asal, and I swear by my
+sword that I had more easily killed him thrice than once to bring him
+thus bound to you."
+
+"That is very like," said Asal; "but now hold him to ransom."
+
+So the people of Iorroway gave the hound to the Sons of Turenn as a
+ransom for their King, and the King was released, and friendship and
+alliance were made between them. And with joyful hearts the Sons of
+Turenn bade farewell to the King of Iorroway and to Asal, and departed
+on their way. Thus was the sixth of their quests fulfilled.
+
+Now Lugh Lamfada desired to know how the Sons of Turenn had fared, and
+whether they had got any portion of the great eric that might be
+serviceable to him when the Fomorians should return for one more
+struggle. And by sorcery and divination it was revealed to him how
+they had thriven, and that nought remained to be won save the
+cooking-spit of the sea-nymphs, and to give the three shouts upon the
+hill. Lugh then by druidic art caused a spell of oblivion and
+forgetfulness to descend upon the Sons of Turenn, and put into their
+hearts withal a yearning and passion to return to their native land of
+Erinn. They forgot, therefore, that a portion of the eric was still to
+win, and they bade the Boat of Mananan bear them home with their
+treasures, for they deemed that they should now quit them of all their
+debt for the blood of Kian and live free in their father's home,
+having done such things and won such fame as no three brothers had
+ever done since the world began.
+
+At the Brugh of Boyne, where they had started on their quest, their
+boat came ashore again, and as they landed they wept for joy, and
+falling on their knees they kissed the green sod of Erinn. Then they
+took up their treasures and journeyed to Ben Edar,[17] where the High
+King of Ireland, and Lugh with him, were holding an Assembly of the
+People of Dana. But when Lugh heard that they were on their way he put
+on his cloak of invisibility and withdrew privily to Tara.
+
+   [17] The Hill of Howth.
+
+When the brethren arrived at Ben Edar, the High King of the lords of
+the Danaans gave them welcome and applause, for all were rejoiced that
+the stain of ancient feud and bloodshed should be wiped out, and that
+the Children of Dana should be at peace within their borders. Then
+they sought for Lugh to deliver over the eric, but he was not to be
+found. And Brian said, "He has gone to Tara to avoid us, having heard
+that we were coming with our treasures and weapons of war."
+
+Word was then sent to Lugh at Tara that the Sons of Turenn were at Ben
+Edar, and the eric with them.
+
+"Let them pay it over to the High King," said Lugh.
+
+So it was done; and when Lugh had tidings that the High King had the
+eric, he returned to Ben Edar.
+
+Then the eric was laid before him, and Brian said, "Is the debt paid,
+O Lugh, son of Kian?"
+
+Lugh said, "Truly there is here the price of any man's death; but it
+is not lawful to give a quittance for an eric that is not complete.
+Where is the cooking-spit from the Island of Finchory? and have ye
+given the three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen?"
+
+At this word Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba fell prone upon the
+ground, and were speechless awhile from grief and dismay. After a
+while they left the Assembly like broken men, with hanging heads and
+with heavy steps, and betook themselves to Dún Turenn, where they
+found their father, and they told him all that had befallen them since
+they had parted with him and set forth on the Quest. Thus they passed
+the night in gloom and evil forebodings, and on the morrow they went
+down once more to the place where the Boat of Mananan was moored. And
+Ethne their sister accompanied them, wailing and lamenting, but no
+words of cheer had they now to say to her, for now they began to
+comprehend that a mightier and a craftier mind had caught them in the
+net of fate. And whereas they had deemed themselves heroes and victors
+in the most glorious quest whereof the earth had record, they now knew
+that they were but as arrows in the hands of a laughing archer, who
+shoots one at a stag and one at the heart of a foe, and one, it may
+be, in sheer wantonness, and to try his bow, over a cliff edge into
+the sea.
+
+[Illustration: "There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs"]
+
+However, they put forth in their magic boat, but in no wise could they
+direct it to the Isle of Finchory, and a quarter of a year they
+traversed the seaways and never could get tidings of that island. At
+last Brian fashioned for himself by magic art a water-dress, with a
+helmet of crystal, and into the depths of the sea he plunged. Here,
+the story tells, he searched hither and thither for a fortnight, till
+at last he found that island, which was an island indeed with the sea
+over it and around it and beneath it. There dwelt the red-haired
+ocean-nymphs in glittering palaces among the sea-flowers, and they
+wrought fair embroidery with gold and jewels, and sang, as they
+wrought, a fairy music like the chiming of silver bells. Three fifties
+of them sat or played in their great hall as Brian entered, and they
+gazed on him but spoke no word. Then Brian strode to the wide hearth,
+and without a word he seized from it a spit that was made of beaten
+gold, and turned again to go. But at that the laughter of the
+sea-maidens rippled through the hall and one of them said:
+
+"Thou art a bold man, Brian, and bolder than thou knowest; for if
+thy two brothers were here, the weakest of us could vanquish all the
+three. Nevertheless, take the spit for thy daring; we had never
+granted it for thy prayers."
+
+So Brian thanked them and bade farewell, and he rose to the surface of
+the water. Ere long his brethren perceived him as he shouldered the
+waves on the bosom of the deep, and they sailed to where he was and
+took him on board. And thus ended the quest for the seventh portion of
+the eric of Kian.
+
+After that their hopes revived a little, and they set sail for the
+land of Lochlann, in which was the Hill of Mochaen. When they had
+arrived at the hill Mochaen came out to meet them with his three sons,
+Corc and Conn and Hugh; nor did the Sons of Turenn ever behold a band
+of grimmer and mightier warriors than those four.
+
+"What seek ye here?" asked Mochaen of them They told him that it had
+been laid upon them to give three shouts upon the hill.
+
+"It hath been laid upon me," said Mochaen, "to prevent this thing."
+
+Then Brian and Mochaen drew sword and fell furiously upon each other,
+and their fighting was like that of two hungry lions or two wild
+bulls, until at last Brian drove his sword into the throat of Mochaen,
+and he died.
+
+With that the Sons of Mochaen and the Sons of Turenn rushed fiercely
+upon each other. Long and sore was the strife that they had, and the
+blood that fell made red the grassy place wherein they fought. Not one
+of them but received wounds that pierced him through and through, and
+that heroes of less hardihood had died of a score of times. But in the
+end the sons of Mochaen fell, and Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba lay over
+them in a swoon like death.
+
+After a while Brian's senses came back to him, and he said, "Do ye
+live, dear brothers, or how is it with you?" "We are as good as dead,"
+said they; "let us be."
+
+"Arise," then said Brian, "for truly I feel death coming swiftly upon
+us, and we have yet to give the three shouts upon the hill."
+
+"We cannot stir," said Iuchar and Iucharba. Then Brian rose to his
+knees and to his feet, and he lifted up his two brothers while the
+blood of all three streamed down to their feet, and they raised their
+voices as best they might, and gave three hoarse cries upon the Hill
+of Mochaen. And thus was the last of the epic fulfilled.
+
+Then they bound up their wounds, and Brian placed himself between the
+two brothers, and slowly and painfully they made their way to the
+boat, and put out to sea for Ireland. And as they lay in the stupor of
+faintness in the boat, one murmured to himself, "I see the Cape of Ben
+Edar and the coast of Turenn, and Tara of the Kings." Then Iuchar and
+Iucharba entreated Brian to lift their heads upon his breast. "Let us
+but see the land of Erinn again," said they, "the hills around
+Tailtin, and the dewy plain of Bregia, and the quiet waters of the
+Boyne and our father's Dún thereby, and healing will come to us; or if
+death come we can endure it after that." Then Brian raised them up;
+and they saw that they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the
+Strand of the Bull[18] they took land. They were then conveyed to the
+Dún of Turenn, and life was still in them when they were laid in their
+father's hall.
+
+   [18] Cluan Tarbh, Clontarf; so called from the roaring of the
+   waves on the strand.
+
+And Brian said to Turenn, "Go now, dear father, with all speed to Lugh
+at Tara. Give him the cooking-spit, and tell how thou hast found us
+after giving our three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen. Then beseech
+him that he yield thee the loan of the pigskin of the King of Greece,
+for if it be laid upon us while the life is yet in us, we shall
+recover. We have won the eric, and it may be that he will not pursue
+us to our death."
+
+Turenn went to Lugh and gave him the spit of the sea-nymphs, and
+besought him for the lives of his sons.
+
+Lugh was silent for a while, but his countenance did not change, and
+he said, "Thou, old man, seest nought but the cloud of sorrow wherein
+thou art encompassed. But I hear from above it the singing of the
+Immortal Ones, who tell to one another the story of this land. Thy
+sons must die; yet have I shown to them more mercy than they showed to
+Kian. I have forgiven them; nor shall they live to slay their own
+immortality, but the royal bards of Erinn and the old men in the
+chimney corners shall tell of their glory and their fate as long as
+the land shall endure."
+
+Then Turenn bowed his white head and went sorrowfully back to Dún
+Turenn; and he told his sons of the words that Lugh had said. And
+with that the sons of Turenn kissed each other, and the breath of life
+departed from them, and they died. And Turenn died also, for his heart
+was broken in him; and Ethne his daughter buried them in one grave.
+Thus, then, ends the tale of the Quest of the Eric and the Fate of the
+Sons of Turenn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Secret of Labra
+
+
+In very ancient days there was a King in Ireland named Labra, who was
+called Labra the Sailor for a certain voyage that he made. Now Labra
+was never seen save by one man, once a year, without a hood that
+covered his head and ears. But once a year it was his habit to let his
+hair be cropped, and the person to do this was chosen by lot, for the
+King was accustomed to put to death instantly the man who had cropped
+him. And so it happened that on a certain year the lot fell on a young
+man who was the only son of a poor widow, who dwelt near by the palace
+of the King. When she heard that her son had been chosen she fell on
+her knees before the King and besought him, with tears, that her son,
+who was her only support and all she had in the world, might not
+suffer death as was customary. The King was moved by her grief and her
+entreaties, and at last he consented that the young man should not be
+slain provided that he vowed to keep secret to the day of his death
+what he should see. The youth agreed to this and he vowed by the Sun
+and the Wind that he would never, so long as he lived, reveal to man
+what he should learn when he cropped the King's hair.
+
+So he did what was appointed for him and went home. But when he did so
+he had no peace for the wonder of the secret that he had learned
+preyed upon his mind so that he could not rest for thinking of it and
+longing to reveal it, and at last he fell into a wasting sickness from
+it, and was near to die. Then there was brought to see him a wise
+druid, who was skilled in all maladies of the mind and body, and after
+he had talked with the youth he said to his mother, "Thy son is dying
+of the burden of a secret which he may not reveal to any man, but
+until he reveals it he will have no ease. Let him, therefore, walk
+along the high way till he comes to a place where four roads meet. Let
+him then turn to the right, and the first tree that he shall meet on
+the roadside let him tell the secret to it, and so it may be he shall
+be relieved, and his vow will not be broken."
+
+The mother told her son of the druid's advice, and next day he went
+upon his way till he came to four cross roads, and he took the road
+upon the right, and the first tree he found was a great willow-tree.
+So the young man laid his cheek against the bark, and he whispered the
+secret to the tree, and as he turned back homeward he felt lightened
+of his burden, and he leaped and sang, and ere many days were past he
+was as well and light hearted as ever he had been in his life.
+
+Some while after that it happened that the King's harper, namely
+Craftiny, broke the straining-post of his harp and went out to seek
+for a piece of wood wherewith to mend it. And the first timber he
+found that would fit the purpose was the willow-tree by the cross
+roads. He cut it down, therefore, and took as much as would give him a
+new straining-post, and he bore it home with him and mended his harp
+with it. That night he played after meat before the King and his lords
+as he was wont, but whatever he played and sang the folk that listened
+to him seemed to hear only one thing, "Two horse's ears hath Labra the
+Sailor."
+
+Then the King plucked off his hood, and after that he made no secret
+of his ears and none suffered on account of them thenceforward.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+King Iubdan and King Fergus
+
+
+It happened on a day when Fergus son of Leda was King of Ulster, that
+Iubdan, King of the Leprecauns or Wee Folk, of the land of Faylinn,
+held a great banquet and assembly of the lords and princes of the Wee
+Folk. And all their captains and men of war came thither, to show
+their feats before the King, among whom was the strong man, namely
+Glowar, whose might was such that with his battle-axe he could hew
+down a thistle at one stroke. Thither also came the King's
+heir-apparent. Tiny, son of Tot, and the Queen Bebo with her maidens;
+and there were also the King's harpers and singing-men, and the chief
+poet of the court, who was called Eisirt.
+
+All these sat down to the feast in due order and precedence, with Bebo
+on the King's right hand and the poet on his left, and Glowar kept the
+door. Soon the wine began to flow from the vats of dark-red yew-wood,
+and the carvers carved busily at great haunches of roast hares and
+ribs of field-mice; and they all ate and drank, and loudly the hall
+rang with gay talk and laughter, and the drinking of toasts, and
+clashing of silver goblets.
+
+At last when they had put away desire of eating and drinking, Iubdan
+rose up, having in his hand the royal goblet of gold inlaid with
+precious many-coloured jewels, and the heir-apparent rose at the other
+end of the table, and they drank prosperity and victory to Faylinn.
+Then Iubdan's heart swelled with pride, and he asked of the company,
+"Come now, have any of you ever seen a king more glorious and powerful
+than I am?" "Never, in truth," cried they all. "Have ye ever seen a
+stronger man than my giant, Glowar?" "Never, O King," said they. "Or
+battle-steeds and men-at-arms better than mine?" "By our words," they
+cried, "we never have." "Truly," went on Iubdan, "I deem that he who
+would assail our kingdom of Faylinn, and carry away captives and
+hostages from us, would have his work cut out for him, so fierce and
+mighty are our warriors; yea, any one of them hath the stuff of
+kingship in him."
+
+On hearing this, Eisirt, in whom the heady wine and ale had done their
+work, burst out laughing; and the King turned to him, saying, "Eisirt,
+what hath moved thee to this laughter?" "I know a province in Erinn,"
+replied Eisirt, "one man of whom would harry Faylinn in the teeth of
+all four battalions of the Wee Folk." "Seize him," cried the King to
+his attendants; "Eisirt shall pay dearly in chains and in prison for
+that scornful speech against our glory."
+
+Then Eisirt was put in bonds, and he repented him of his brag; but ere
+they dragged him away he said, "Grant me, O mighty King, but three
+days' respite, that I may travel to Erinn to the court of Fergus mac
+Leda, and if I bring not back some clear token that I have uttered
+nought but the truth, then do with me as thou wilt."
+
+So Iubdan bade them release him, and he fared away to Erinn oversea.
+
+[Illustration: "They all trooped out, lords and ladies, to view the
+wee man"]
+
+After this, one day, as Fergus and his lords sat at the feast, the
+gatekeeper of the palace of Fergus in Emania heard outside a sound of
+ringing; he opened the gate, and there stood a wee man holding in his
+hand a rod of white bronze hung with little silver bells, by which
+poets are wont to procure silence for their recitations. Most noble
+and comely was the little man to look on, though the short grass of
+the lawn reached as high as to his knee. His hair was twisted in
+four-ply strands after the manner of poets and he wore a
+gold-embroidered tunic of silk and an ample scarlet cloak with a
+fringe of gold. On his feet he wore shoes of white bronze ornamented
+with gold, and a silken hood was on his head. The gatekeeper wondered
+at the sight of the wee man, and went to report the matter to King
+Fergus. "Is he less," asked Fergus, "than my dwarf and poet Æda?"
+"Verily," said the gatekeeper, "he could stand upon the palm of Æda's
+hand and have room to spare." Then with much laughter and wonder they
+all trooped out, lords and ladies, to the great gate to view the wee
+man and to speak with him. But Eisirt, when he saw them, waved them
+back in alarm, crying, "Avaunt, huge men; bring not your heavy breath
+so near me; but let yon man that is least among you approach me and
+bear me in." So the dwarf Æda put Eisirt on his palm and bore him into
+the banqueting hall.
+
+Then they set him on the table, and Eisirt declared his name and
+calling. The King ordered that meat and drink should be given him, but
+Eisirt said, "I will neither eat of your meat nor drink of ale." "By
+our word," said Fergus, "'tis a haughty wight; he ought to be dropped
+into a goblet that he might at least drink all round him." The
+cupbearer seized Eisirt and put him into a tankard of ale, and he swam
+on the surface of it. "Ye wise men of Ulster," he cried, "there is
+much knowledge and wisdom ye might get from me, yet ye will let me be
+drowned!" "What, then?" cried they. Then Eisirt, beginning with the
+King, set out to tell every hidden sin that each man or woman had
+done, and ere he had gone far they with much laughter and chiding
+fetched him out of the ale-pot and dried him with fair satin napkins.
+"Now ye have confessed that I know somewhat to the purpose," said
+Eisirt, "and I will even eat of your food, but do ye give heed to my
+words, and do ill no more."
+
+Fergus then said, "If thou art a poet, Eisirt, give us now a taste of
+thy delightful art." "That will I," said Eisirt, "and the poem that I
+shall recite to you shall be an ode in praise of my king, Iubdan the
+Great." Then he recited this lay:--
+
+   "A monarch of might
+   Is Iubdan my king.
+   His brow is snow-white,
+   His hair black as night;
+   As a red copper bowl
+   When smitten will sing,
+   So ringeth the voice
+   Of Iubdan the king.
+   His eyen, they roll
+   Majestic and bland
+   On the lords of his land
+   Arrayed for the fight,
+   A spectacle grand!
+   Like a torrent they rush
+   With a waving of swords
+   And the bridles all ringing
+   And cheeks all aflush,
+   And the battle-steeds springing,
+   A beautiful, terrible, death-dealing band.
+   Like pines, straight and tall,
+   Where Iubdan is king,
+   Are the men one and all.
+   The maidens are fair--
+   Bright gold is their hair.
+   From silver we quaff
+   The dark, heady ale
+   That never shall fail;
+   We love and we laugh.
+   Gold frontlets we wear;
+   And aye through the air
+   Sweet music doth ring--
+   O Fergus, men say
+   That in all Inisfail
+   There is not a maiden so proud or so wise
+   But would give her two eyes
+   Thy kisses to win--
+   But I tell thee, that there
+   Thou canst never compare
+   With the haughty, magnificent King of Faylinn!"
+
+At this they all applauded, and Fergus said, "O youth and blameless
+bard, let us be friends henceforth." And they all heaped before him,
+as a poet's reward, gifts of rings and jewels and gold cups and
+weapons, as high as a tall man standing. Then Eisirt said, "Truly a
+generous and a worthy reward have ye given me, O men of Ulster; yet
+take back these precious things I pray you, for every man in my
+king's household hath an abundance of them." But the Ulster lords
+said, "Nothing that we have given may we take back." Eisirt then bade
+two-thirds of his reward be given to the bards and learned men of
+Ulster, and one-third to the horse-boys and jesters; and so it was
+done.
+
+Three days and nights did Eisirt abide in Emania, and all the King's
+court loved him and made much of him. Then he wished them blessing and
+victory, and prepared to depart to his own country. Now Æda, the
+King's dwarf and minstrel, begged Eisirt to take him with him on a
+visit to the land of Faylinn; and Eisirt said, "I shall not bid thee
+come, for then if kindness and hospitality be shown thee, thou wilt
+say it is only what I had undertaken; but if thou come of thine own
+motion, thou wilt perchance be grateful."
+
+So they went off together; but Eisirt could not keep up with Æda, and
+Æda said, "I perceive that Eisirt is but a poor walker." At this
+Eisirt ran off like a flash and was soon an arrow flight in front of
+Æda. When the latter at last came up with him, he said, "The right
+thing, Eisirt, is not too fast and not too slow." "Since I have been
+in Ulster," Eisirt replied, "I have never before heard ye measure out
+the right."
+
+By and by they reached the margin of the sea. "And what are we to do
+now?" asked Æda. "Be not troubled, Æda," said Eisirt, "the horse of
+Iubdan will bear us easily over this." They waited awhile on the
+beach, and ere long they saw it coming toward them skimming over the
+surface of the waves. "Save and protect us!" cried Æda at that sight;
+and Eisirt asked him what he saw. "A red-maned hare," answered Æda.
+"Nay, but that is Iubdan's horse," said Eisirt, and with that the
+creature came prancing to land with flashing eyes and waving tail and
+a long russet-coloured mane; a bridle beset with gold it had. Eisirt
+mounted and bade Æda come up behind him. "Thy boat is little enough
+for thee alone," said Æda. "Cease fault-finding and grumbling," then
+said Eisirt, "for the weight of wisdom that is in thee will not bear
+him down."
+
+So Æda and Eisirt mounted on the fairy horse and away they sped over
+the tops of the waves and the deeps of the ocean till at last they
+reached the Kingdom of Faylinn, and there were a great concourse of
+the Wee Folk awaiting them. "Eisirt is coming! Eisirt is coming!"
+cried they all, "and a Fomorian giant along with him."
+
+Then Iubdan went forth to meet Eisirt, and he kissed him, and said,
+"Why hast thou brought this Fomorian with thee to slay us?" "He is no
+Fomor," said Eisirt, "but a learned man and a poet from Ulster. He is
+moreover the King of Ulster's dwarf, and in all that realm he is the
+smallest man. He can lie in their great men's bosoms and stand upon
+their hands as though he were a child; yet for all that you would do
+well to be careful how you behave to him." "What is his name?" said
+they then. "He is the poet Æda," said Eisirt. "Uch," said they, "what
+a giant thou hast brought us!"
+
+"And now, O King," said Eisirt to Iubdan, "I challenge thee to go and
+see for thyself the region from which we have come, and make trial of
+the royal porridge which is made for Fergus King of Ulster this very
+night."
+
+At this Iubdan was much dismayed, and he betook himself to Bebo his
+wife and told her how he was laid under bonds of chivalry by Eisirt to
+go to the land of the giants; and he bade her prepare to accompany
+him. "I will go," said she, "but you did an ill deed when you
+condemned Eisirt to prison."
+
+So they mounted, both of them, on the fairy steed, and in no long time
+they reached Emania, and it was now past midnight. And they were
+greatly afraid, and said Bebo, "Let us search for that porridge and
+taste it, as we were bound, and make off again ere the folk awake."
+
+They made their way into the palace of Fergus, and soon they found a
+great porridge pot, but the rim was too high to be reached from the
+ground. "Get thee up upon thy horse," said Bebo, "and from thence to
+the rim of this cauldron." And thus he did, but having gained the rim
+of the pot his arm was too short to reach the silver ladle that was
+in it. In straining downward to do so, however, he slipped and in he
+fell, and up to his middle in the thick porridge he stuck fast. And
+when Bebo heard what a plight he was in, she wept, and said, "Rash and
+hasty wert thou, Iubdan, to have got into this evil case, but surely
+there is no man under the sun that can make thee hear reason." And he
+said, "Rash indeed it was, but thou canst not help me, Bebo, now, and
+it is but folly to stay; take the horse and flee away ere the day
+break." "Say not so," replied Bebo, "for surely I will not go till I
+see how things fall out with thee."
+
+
+At last the folk in the palace began to be stirring, and ere long they
+found Iubdan in the porridge pot.
+
+So they picked him out with great laughter bore him off to Fergus.
+
+"By my conscience," said Fergus, "but this is not the little fellow
+that was here before, for he had yellow hair, but this one hath a
+shock of the blackest; who art thou at all, wee man?"
+
+"I am of the Wee Folk," said Iubdan, "and am indeed king over them,
+and this woman is my wife and queen, Bebo."
+
+"Take him away," then said Fergus to his varlets, "and guard him
+well"; for he misdoubted some mischief of Faery was on foot.
+
+"Nay, nay," cried Iubdan, "but let me not be with these coarse
+fellows. I pledge thee my word that I will not quit this place till
+thou and Ulster give me leave."
+
+"Could I believe that," said Fergus, "I would not put thee in bonds."
+
+"I have never broken my word," said Iubdan, "and I never will."
+
+Then Fergus set him free and allotted him a fair chamber for himself,
+and a trusty servingman to wait upon him. Soon there came in a gillie
+whose business it was to see to the fires, and he kindled the fire for
+Iubdan, throwing on it a woodbine together with divers other sorts of
+timber. Then Iubdan said, "Man of smoke, burn not the king of the
+trees, for it is not meet to burn him. Wouldst thou but take counsel
+from me thou mightest go safely by sea or land." Iubdan then chanted
+to him the following recital of the duties of his office:--
+
+"O fire-gillie of Fergus of the Feasts, never by land or sea burn the
+King of the woods, High King of the forests of Inisfail, whom none may
+bind, but who like a strong monarch holds all the other trees in hard
+bondage. If thou burn the twining one, misfortune will come of it,
+peril at the point of spear, or drowning in the waves.
+
+"Burn not the sweet apple-tree of drooping branches, of the white
+blossoms, to whose gracious head each man puts forth his hand.
+
+"The stubborn blackthorn wanders far and wide, the good craftsman
+burns not this timber; little though its bushes be, yet flocks of
+birds warble in them.
+
+"Burn not the noble willow, the unfailing ornament of poems; bees
+drink from its blossoms, all delight in the graceful tent.
+
+"The delicate, airy tree of the druids, the rowan with its berries,
+this burn; but avoid the weak tree, burn not the slender hazel.
+
+"The ash-tree of the black buds burn not--timber that speeds the
+wheel, that yields the rider his switch; the ashen spear is the
+scale-beam of battle.
+
+"The tangled, bitter bramble, burn him, the sharp and green; he flays
+and cuts the foot; he snares you and drags you back.
+
+"Hottest of timber is the green oak; he will give you a pain in the
+head if you use him overmuch, a pain in the eyes will come from his
+biting fumes.
+
+"Full-charged with witchcraft is the alder, the hottest tree in the
+fight; burn assuredly both the alder and the whitehorn at your will.
+
+"Holly, burn it in the green and in the dry; of all trees in the
+world, holly is absolutely the best.
+
+"The elder-tree of the rough brown bark, burn him to cinders, the
+steed of the Fairy Folk.
+
+"The drooping birch, by all means burn him too, the tree of
+long-lasting bloom.
+
+"And lay low, if it pleases you, the russet aspen; late or early, burn
+the tree with the quaking plumage.
+
+"The yew is the venerable ancestor of the wood as the companion of
+feasts he is known; of him make goodly brown vats for ale and wine.
+
+"Follow my counsel, O man of the smoke, and it shall go well with you,
+body and soul."
+
+So Iubdan continued in Emania free to go and come as he pleased; and
+all the Ulstermen delighted to watch him and to hear his conversation.
+
+One day it chanced that he was in the chamber of the Queen, and saw
+her putting on her feet a very dainty and richly embroidered pair of
+shoes. At this Iubdan gave a laugh. "Why dost thou laugh?" said
+Fergus. "Meseems the healing is applied very far from the hurt,"
+replied Iubdan. "What meanest thou by that?" said Fergus. "Because the
+Queen is making her feet fine in order, O Fergus, that she may attract
+thee to her lips," said Iubdan.
+
+Another time it chanced that Iubdan overheard one of the King's
+soldiers complaining of a pair of new brogues that had been served out
+to him, and grumbling that the soles were too thin. At this Iubdan
+laughed again, and being asked why, he said, "I must need laugh to
+hear yon fellow grumbling about his brogues, for the soles of these
+brogues, thin as they are, he will never wear out." And this was a
+true prophecy, for the same night this and another of the King's men
+had a quarrel, and fought, and killed each the other.
+
+At last the Wee Folk determined to go in search of their king, and
+seven battalions of them marched upon Emania and encamped upon the
+lawn over against the King's Dún. Fergus and his nobles went out to
+confer with them. "Give us back our king," said the Wee Folk, "and we
+shall redeem him with a great ransom." "What ransom, then?" asked
+Fergus. "We shall," said they, "cause this great plain to stand thick
+with corn for you every year, and that without ploughing or sowing."
+"I will not give up Iubdan for that," said Fergus. "Then we shall do
+you a mischief," said the Wee Folk.
+
+That night every calf in the Province of Ulster got access to its dam,
+and in the morn there was no milk to be had for man or child, for the
+cows were sucked dry.
+
+Then said the Wee Folk to Fergus, "This night, unless we get Iubdan,
+we shall defile every well and lake and river in Ulster." "That is a
+trifle," said Fergus, "and ye shall not get Iubdan."
+
+The Wee Folk carried out this threat, and once more they came and
+demanded Iubdan, saying, "To-night we shall burn with fire the shaft
+of every mill in Ulster." "Yet not so shall ye get Iubdan," said
+Fergus.
+
+This being done, they came again, saying, "We shall have vengeance
+unless Iubdan be delivered to us." "What vengeance?" said Fergus. "We
+shall snip off every ear of corn in thy kingdom," said they. "Even
+so," replied Fergus, "I shall not deliver Iubdan."
+
+So the Wee Folk snipped off every ear of standing corn in Ulster, and
+once more they returned and demanded Iubdan. "What will ye do next?"
+asked Fergus. "We shall shave the hair of every man and every woman in
+Ulster," said they, "so that ye shall be shamed and disgraced for ever
+among the people of Erinn." "By my word," said Fergus, "if ye do that
+I shall slay Iubdan."
+
+Then Iubdan said, "I have a better counsel than that, O King; let me
+have liberty to go and speak with them, and I shall bid them make good
+what mischief they have done, and they shall return home forthwith."
+
+Fergus granted that; and when the Wee Folk saw Iubdan approaching
+them, they set up a shout of triumph that a man might have heard a
+bowshot off, for they believed they had prevailed and that Iubdan was
+released to them. But Iubdan said, "My faithful people, you must now
+begone, and I may not go with you; make good also all the mischief
+that ye have done, and know that if ye do any more I must die."
+
+Then the Wee Folk departed, very downcast and sorrowful, but they did
+as Iubdan had bidden them.
+
+Iubdan, however, went to Fergus and said, "Take, O King, the choicest
+of my treasures, and let me go."
+
+"What is thy choicest treasure?" said Fergus.
+
+Iubdan then began to recite to Fergus the list of his possessions,
+such as druidic weapons, and love-charms, and instruments of music
+that played without touch of human hand, and vats of ale that could
+never be emptied; and he named among other noble treasures a pair of
+shoes, wearing which a man could go over or under the sea as readily
+as on dry land.
+
+At the same time Æda, the dwarf and poet of Ulster, returned hale and
+well from the land of Faylinn, and much did he entertain the King and
+all the court with tales of the smallness of the Wee Folk, and their
+marvel at his own size, and their bravery and beauty, and their marble
+palaces and matchless minstrelsy.
+
+So the King, Fergus mac Leda, was well content to take a ransom,
+namely the magic shoes, which he desired above all the treasures of
+Faylinn, and to let Iubdan go. And he gave him rich gifts, as did also
+the nobles of Ulster, and wished him blessing and victory; and Iubdan
+he departed, with Bebo his wife, having first bestowed upon Fergus the
+magical shoes. And of him the tale hath now no more to say.
+
+But Fergus never tired of donning the shoes of Iubdan and traversing
+the secret depths of the lakes and rivers of Ulster. Thereby, too, in
+the end he got his death, for as the wise say that the gifts of Faery
+may not be enjoyed without peril by mortal men, so in this case too
+it proved. For, one day as Fergus was exploring the depths of Loch
+Rury he met the monster, namely the river-horse, which inhabited that
+lake. Horrible of form it was, swelling and contracting like a
+blacksmith's bellows, and with eyes like torches, and glittering
+tusks, and a mane of coarse hair on its crest and neck. When it saw
+Fergus it laid back its ears, and its neck arched like a rainbow over
+his head, and the vast mouth gaped to devour him. Then Fergus rose
+quickly to the surface and made for the land, and the beast after him,
+driving before it a huge wave of foam. Barely did he escape with his
+life; but with the horror of the sight his features were distorted and
+his mouth was twisted around to the side of his head, so that he was
+called Fergus Wry-mouth from that day forth. And the gillie that was
+with him told the tale of the adventure.
+
+Now there was a law in Ireland that no man might be king who was
+disfigured by any bodily blemish. His people, therefore, loving
+Fergus, kept from him all knowledge of his condition, and the Queen
+let all mirrors that were in the palace be put away. But one day it
+chanced that a bondmaid was negligent in preparing the bath, and
+Fergus being impatient, gave her a stroke with a switch which he had
+in his hand. The maid in anger turned upon him, and cried, "It would
+better become thee to avenge thyself on the riverhorse that hath
+twisted thy mouth, than to do brave deeds on women."
+
+Fergus then bade a mirror be fetched, and when he saw his face in it,
+he said, "The woman spake truth; the riverhorse of Loch Rury has done
+this thing."
+
+[Illustration: "Fergus goes down into the lake"]
+
+The next day Fergus put on the shoes of Iubdan and went forth to Loch
+Rury, and with him went the lords of Ulster. And when he reached the
+margin of the lake he drew his sword and went down into it, and soon
+the waters covered him.
+
+After a while those that watched upon the bank saw a bubbling and a
+mighty commotion in the waters, now here, now there, and waves of
+bloody froth broke at their feet. At last, as they strained their eyes
+upon the tossing water, they saw Fergus rise to his middle from it,
+pale and bloody. In his right hand he waved aloft his sword, his left
+was twisted in the coarse hair of the monster's head, and they saw
+that his countenance was fair and kingly as of old. "Ulstermen, I have
+conquered," he cried; and as he did so he sank down again, dead with
+his dead foe, into their red grave in Loch Rury.
+
+And the Ulster lords went back to Emania, sorrowful yet proud, for
+they knew that a seed of honour had been sown that day in their land
+from which should spring a breed of high-hearted fighting men for many
+a generation to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+The Carving of mac Datho's Boar
+
+
+Once upon a time there dwelt in the province of Leinster a wealthy
+hospitable lord named Mesroda, son of Datho. Two possessions had he;
+namely, a hound which could outrun every other hound and every wild
+beast in Erinn, and a boar which was the finest and greatest in size
+that man had ever beheld.
+
+Now the fame of this hound was noised all about the land, and many
+were the princes and lords who longed to possess it. And it came to
+pass that Conor, King of Ulster, and Maev, Queen of Connacht, sent
+messengers to mac Datho to ask him to sell them the hound for a price,
+and both the messengers arrived at the Dún of mac Datho on the same
+day. Said the Connacht messenger, "We will give thee in exchange for
+the hound six hundred milch cows, and a chariot with two horses, the
+best that are to be found in Connacht, and at the end of a year thou
+shalt have as much again." And the messenger of King Conor said, "We
+will give no less than Connacht, and the friendship and alliance of
+Ulster, and that will be better for thee than the friendship of
+Connacht."
+
+Then Mesroda mac Datho fell silent, and for three days he would not
+eat nor drink, nor could he sleep o' nights, but tossed restlessly on
+his bed. His wife observed his condition, and said to him, "Thy fast
+hath been long, Mesroda, though good food is by thee in plenty; and at
+night thou turnest thy face to the wall, and well I know thou dost not
+sleep. What is the cause of thy trouble?"
+
+"There is a saying," replied mac Datho, "'Trust not a thrall with
+money, nor a woman with a secret.'"
+
+"When should a man talk to a woman," said his wife, "but when
+something were amiss? What thy mind cannot solve perchance another's
+may."
+
+Then mac Datho told his wife of the request for his hound both from
+Ulster and from Connacht at one and the same time, "and whichever of
+them I deny," he said, "they will harry my cattle and slay my people."
+
+"Then hear my counsel," said the woman. "Give it to both of them, and
+bid them come and fetch it; and if there be any harrying to be done,
+let them even harry each other; but in no way mayest thou keep the
+hound."
+
+On that, mac Datho rose up and shook himself, and called for food and
+drink, and made merry with himself and his guests. Then he sent
+privately for the messenger of Queen Maev, and said to him, "Long have
+I doubted what to do, but now I am resolved to give the hound to
+Connacht. Let ye send for it on such a day with a train of your nobles
+or warriors and bear him forth nobly and proudly, for he is worth it;
+and ye shall all have drink and food and royal entertainment in my
+Dún." So the messenger departed, well pleased.
+
+To the Ulster messenger mac Datho said, "After much perplexity I have
+resolved to give my hound to Conor. Let the best of the Ulstermen come
+to fetch him, and they shall be welcomed and entertained as is
+fitting." And for these he named the same day as he had done for the
+embassy from Connacht.
+
+When the appointed day came round, the flower of the fighting men of
+two provinces of Ireland were assembled before the Dún of the son of
+Datho, and there were also Conor, King of Ulster, and Ailill, the
+husband of Maev, Queen of Connacht. Mac Datho went forth to meet them.
+"Welcome, warriors," he said to them, "albeit for two armies at once
+we were not prepared." Then he bade them into the Dún, and in the
+great hall they sat down. Now in this hall there were seven doors, and
+between every two doors were benches for fifty men. Not as friends
+bidden to a feast did the men of Ulster and of Connacht look upon one
+another, since for three hundred years the provinces had ever been at
+war.
+
+"Let the great boar be killed," said mac Datho, and it was done. For
+seven years had that boar been nourished on the milk of fifty cows;
+yet rather on venom should it have been nourished, such was the
+mischief that was to come from the carving of it.
+
+When the boar was roasted it was brought in, and many other kinds of
+food as side dishes, "and if more be wanting to the feast," said mac
+Datho, "it shall be slain for you before the morning."
+
+"The boar is good," said Conor.
+
+"It is a fine boar," said Ailill; "and now, O mac Datho, how shall it
+be divided among us?"
+
+There was among the Ulster company one Bricru, son of Carbad, whose
+delight was in biting speeches and in fomenting strife, though he
+himself was never known to draw sword in any quarrel. He now spoke
+from his couch in answer to Ailill:
+
+"How should the boar be divided, O son of Datho, except by appointing
+to carve it him who is best in deeds of arms? Here be all the valiant
+men of Ireland assembled; have none of us hit each other a blow on the
+nose ere now?"
+
+"Good," said Ailill, "so let it be done."
+
+"We also agree," said Conor; "there are plenty of our lads in the
+house that have many a time gone round the border of the Provinces."
+
+"You will want them to-night, Conor," said an old warrior from Conlad
+in the West. "They have often been seen on their backs on the roads of
+rushy Dedah, and many a fat steer have they left with me."
+
+"It was a fat bullock thou didst have with thee once upon a day,"
+replied Moonremar of Ulster, "even thine own brother, and by the rushy
+road of Conlad he came and went not back."
+
+"'Twas a better man than he, even Irloth, son of Fergus mac Leda, who
+fell by the hand of Echbael in Tara Luachra," replied Lugad of
+Munster.
+
+"Echbael?" cried Keltchar, son of Uthecar Hornskin of Ulster. "Is it
+of him ye boast, whom I myself slew and cut off his head?"
+
+And thus the heroes bandied about the tales and taunts of their
+victories, until at length Ket, son of Maga of the Connachtmen, arose
+and stood over the boar and took the knife into his hand. "Now," he
+cried, "let one man in Ulster match his deeds with mine, or else hold
+ye your peace and let me carve the boar!"
+
+For a while there was silence, and then Conor King of Ulster, said to
+Logary the Triumphant, "Stay that for me." So Logary arose and said,
+"Ket shall never carve the boar for all of us."
+
+"Not so fast, Logary," said Ket. "It is the custom among you Ulstermen
+that when a youth first takes arms he comes to prove himself on us. So
+didst thou, Logary, and we met thee at the border. From that meeting I
+have thy chariot and horses, and thou hadst a spear through thy ribs
+Not thus wilt thou get the boar from me." Then Logary sat down on his
+bench.
+
+"Ket shall never divide that pig," spake then a tall fair-haired
+warrior from Ulster, coming down the hall. "Whom have we here?" asked
+Ket. "A better man than thou," shouted the Ulstermen, "even Angus, son
+of Lama Gabad." "Indeed?" said Ket, "and why is his father called Lama
+Gabad [wanting a hand]?" "We know not," said they. "But I know it,"
+said Ket. "Once I went on a foray to the East, and was attacked by a
+troop, Lama Gabad among them. He flung a lance at me. I seized the
+same lance and flung it back, and it shore off his hand, and it lay
+there on the field before him. Shall that man's son measure himself
+with me?" And Angus went to his bench and sat down.
+
+"Keep up the contest," then cried Ket tauntingly, "or let me divide
+the boar." "That thou shalt not," cried another Ulster warrior of
+great stature. "And who is this?" said Ket. "Owen Mór, King of Fermag,"
+said the Ulstermen. "I have seen him ere now," said Ket. "I took a
+drove of cattle from him before his own house. He put a spear through
+my shield and I flung it back and it tore out one of his eyes, and
+one-eyed he is to this day." Then Owen Mór sat down.
+
+"Have ye any more to contest the pig with me?" then said Ket. "Thou
+hast not won it yet," said Moonremar, son of Gerrkind, rising up. "Is
+that Moonremar?" said Ket, "It is," they cried.
+
+"It is but three days," said Ket, "since I was the last man who won
+renown of thee. Three heads of thy fighting men did I carry off from
+Dún Moonremar, and one of the three was the head of thy eldest son."
+Moonremar then sat down.
+
+"Still the contest," said Ket, "or I shall carve the boar." "Contest
+thou shalt have," said Mend, son of Sword-heel. "Who is this?" said
+Ket. "'Tis Mend," cried all the Ulstermen.
+
+"Shall the sons of fellows with nicknames come here to contend with
+me?" cried Ket. "I was the priest who christened thy father that name.
+'Twas I who cut the heel off him, so that off he went with only one.
+What brings the son of that man to contend with me?" Mend then sat
+down in his seat.
+
+"Come to the contest," said Ket, "or I shall begin to carve." Then
+arose from the Ulstermen a huge grey and terrible warrior. "Who is
+this?" asked Ket. '"Tis Keltcar, son of Uthecar," cried they all.
+
+"Wait awhile, Keltcar," said Ket, "do not pound me to pieces just yet.
+Once, O Keltcar, I made a foray on thee and came in front of Dún. All
+thy folk attacked me, and thou amongst them. In a narrow pass we
+fought, and thou didst fling a spear at me and I at thee, but my spear
+went through thy loins and thou hast never been the better of it
+since." Then Keltcar sat down in his seat.
+
+"Who else comes to the contest," cried Ket "or shall I at last divide
+the pig?" Up rose then the son of King Conor, named Cuscrid the
+Stammerer "Whom have we here?" said Ket. "'Tis Cuscrid son of Conor,"
+cried they all. "He has the stuff of a king in him," said Ket. "No
+thanks to thee for that," said the youth.
+
+"Well, then," said Ket, "thou madest thy first foray against us
+Connachtmen, and on the border of the Provinces we met thee. A third
+of thy people, thou didst leave behind thee, and came away with my
+spear through thy throat, so that thou canst not speak rightly ever
+since, for the sinews of thy throat were severed. And hence is Cuscrid
+the Stammerer thy byname ever since."
+
+So thus Ket laid shame and defeat on the whole Province of Ulster, nor
+was there any other warrior in the hall found to contend with him.
+
+[Illustration: "A mighty shout of exultation arose from the
+Ulstermen"]
+
+Then Ket stood up triumphing, and took the knife in his hand and
+prepared to carve the boar when a noise and trampling were heard at
+the great door of the hall, and a mighty shout of exultation arose
+from the Ulstermen. When the press parted, Ket saw coming up the
+centre of the hall Conall of the Victories, and Conor the King dashed
+the helmet from his head and sprang up for joy.
+
+"Glad we are," cried Conall, "that all is ready for feast; and who is
+carving the boar for us?"
+
+"Ket, son of Maga," replied they, "for none could contest the place of
+honour with him."
+
+"Is that so, Ket?" says Conall Cearnach.
+
+"Even so," replied Ket. "And now welcome to thee, O Conall, thou of
+the iron heart and fiery blood; keen as the glitter of ice,
+ever-victorious chieftain; hail mighty son of Finnchoom!"
+
+And Conall said, "Hail to thee, Ket, flower of heroes, lord of
+chariots, a raging sea in battle; a strong, majestic bull; hail, son
+of Maga!"
+
+"And now," went on Conall, "rise up from the boar and give me place."
+
+"Why so?" replied Ket.
+
+"Dost thou seek a contest from me?" said Conall; "verily thou shalt
+have it. By the gods of my nation I swear that since I first took
+weapons in my hand I have never passed one day that I did not slay a
+Connachtman, nor one night that I did not make a foray on them, nor
+have I ever slept but I had the head of a Connachtman under my knee."
+
+"I confess," then, said Ket, "that thou art a better man than I, and I
+yield thee the boar. But if Anluan my brother were here, he would
+match thee deed for deed, and sorrow and shame it is that he is not."
+
+
+"Anluan is here," shouted Conall, and with that he drew from his
+girdle the head of Anluan and dashed it in the face of Ket.
+
+Then all sprang to their feet and a wild shouting and tumult arose,
+and the swords flew out of themselves, and battle raged in the hall of
+mac Datho. Soon the hosts burst out through the doors of the Dún and
+smote and slew each other in the open field, until the Connacht host
+were put to flight. The hound of mac Datho pursued them along with the
+Ulstermen, and it came up with the chariot in which King Ailill was
+driving, and seized the pole of the chariot, but the charioteer dealt
+it a blow that cut off its head. When Ailill drew rein they found the
+hound's head still clinging to the pole, whence that place is called
+Ibar Cinn Chon, or the Yew Tree of the Hound's Head.
+
+Now when Conor pursued hard upon King Ailill, Ferloga, the charioteer
+of Ailill, lighted down and hid himself in the heather; and as Conor
+drove past, Ferloga leaped up behind him in the chariot and gripped
+him by the throat.
+
+"What will thou have of me?" said Conor.
+
+"Give over the pursuit," said Ferloga, "and take me with thee to
+Emania,[19] and let the maidens of Emania so long as I am there sing
+a serenade before my dwelling every night."
+
+   [19] The ancient royal residence of Ulster, near to the present
+   town of Armagh.
+
+"Granted," said Conor. So he took Ferloga with him to Emania, and at
+the end of a year sent him back to Connacht, escorting him as far as
+to Athlone; and Ferloga had from the King of Ulster two noble horses
+with golden bridles, but the serenade from the maidens of Ulster he
+did not get, though he got the horses instead. And thus ends the tale
+of the contention between Ulster and Connacht over the Carving of mac
+Datho's Boar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Vengeance of Mesgedra
+
+
+Atharna the Bard, surnamed the Extortionate, was the chief poet and
+satirist of Ulster in the reign of Conor mac Nessa. Greed and
+arrogance were in his heart and poison on his tongue, and the kings
+and lords of whom he asked rewards for his poems dared not refuse him
+aught, partly because of the poisonous satires and lampoons which he
+would otherwise make upon them for their niggardliness, and partly for
+that in Ireland at that day it was deemed shameful to refuse to a bard
+whatsoever he might ask. Once it was said that he asked of a sub-king,
+namely Eochy mac Luchta, who was famed for hospitality and generosity,
+the single thing that Eochy would have been grieved to give, namely
+his eye, and Eochy had but one eye. But the King plucked it out by the
+roots and gave it to him; and Atharna went away disappointed, for he
+had looked that Eochy would ransom his eye at a great price.
+
+Now Conor mac Nessa, King of Ulster, and all the Ulster lords, having
+grown very powerful and haughty, became ill neighbours to all the
+other kingdoms in Ireland. On fertile Leinster above all they fixed
+their eyes, and sought for an opportunity to attack and plunder the
+province. Conor resolved at last to move Atharna to go to the King of
+Leinster, in the hope that he himself might be rid of Atharna, by the
+King of Leinster killing him for his insolence and his exactions, and
+that he might avenge the death of his bard by the invasion of
+Leinster.
+
+Atharna therefore set out for Leinster accompanied by his train of
+poets and harpers and gillies and arrived at the great Dún of Mesgedra
+the King, at Naas in Kildare. Here he dwelt for twelve months wasting
+the substance of the Leinstermen and in the end when he was minded to
+return to Ulster he went before the King Mesgedra and the lords of
+Leinster and demanded his poet's fee.
+
+"What is thy demand, Atharna?" asked Mesgedra.
+
+"So many cattle and so many sheep," answered Atharna, "and store of
+gold and raiment, and of the fairest dames and maidens of Leinster
+forty-five, to grind at my querns in Dún Atharna."
+
+"It shall be granted thee," said the King. Then Atharna feared some
+mischief, for the King and the nobles of Leinster had not seemed like
+men on whom shameful conditions are laid, nor had they offered to
+ransom their women. Atharna therefore judged that the Leinstermen
+might fall upon him to recover their booty when he was once beyond the
+border, for within their own borders they might not affront a guest.
+He sent, therefore, a swift messenger to Conor mac Nessa, bidding him
+come with a strong escort as quickly as he might, to meet Atharna's
+band on the marches of Leinster, and convey him safely home.
+
+Atharna then departed from Naas with a great herd of sheep and cattle
+and other spoils, and with thrice fifteen of the noble women of
+Leinster. He went leisurely, meaning to strike the highroad to Emania
+from Dublin; but when he came thither the Liffey was swollen with
+rain, and the ford at Dublin might not be crossed. He caused,
+therefore, many great hurdles to be made, and these were set in the
+river, and over them a causeway of boughs was laid, so that his
+cattle and spoils came safely across. Hence is the town of that place
+called to this day in Gaelic the City of the Hurdle Ford.
+
+On the next day Conor and the Ulstermen met him, but a great force of
+the men of Leinster was also marching from Naas to the border, to
+recover their womenfolk, even as Atharna had expected. The Leinstermen
+then broke the battle on the company from Ulster, and defeated them,
+driving them with the cows of Atharna on to the sea cape of Ben Edar
+(Howth), but they recovered the women. On Ben Edar did King Conor with
+the remnant of his troop then fortify themselves, making a great fosse
+across the neck of land by which Ben Edar is joined to the mainland,
+and here they were besieged, with hard fighting by day and night,
+expecting that help should come to them from Ulster, whither they had
+sent messengers to tell of their distress.
+
+Now Conall of the Victories was left behind to rule in Emania when
+Conor set forth to Leinster, and he now, on hearing how the King was
+beset, assembled a great host and marched down to Ben Edar. Here he
+attacked the host of Leinster, and a great battle was fought, many
+being slain on both sides, and the King of Leinster, Mesgedra, lost
+his left hand in the fight. In the end the men of Leinster were
+routed, and fled, and Mesgedra drove in his chariot past the City of
+the Hurdle Ford and Naas to the fords of Liffey at Clane. Here there
+was a sacred oak tree where druid rites and worship were performed,
+and that oak tree was sanctuary, so that within its shadow, guarded by
+mighty spells, no man might be slain by his enemy.
+
+Now Conall Cearnach had followed hard on the track of Mesgedra, and
+when he found him beneath the oak, he drove his chariot round and
+round the circuit of the sanctuary, bidding Mesgedra come forth and do
+battle with him, or be counted a dastard among the kings of Erinn. But
+Mesgedra said, "Is it the fashion of the champions of Ulster to
+challenge one-armed men to battle?"
+
+Then Conall let his charioteer bind one of his arms to his side, and
+again he taunted Mesgedra and bade him come forth.
+
+Mesgedra then drew sword, and between him and Conall there was a
+fierce fight until the Liffey was reddened with their blood. At last,
+by a chance blow of the sword of Mesgedra, the bonds of Conall's left
+arm were severed.
+
+"On thy head be it," said Conall, "if thou release me again."
+
+Then he caused his arm to be bound up once more, and again they met,
+sword to sword, and again in the fury of the fight Mesgedra cut the
+thongs that bound Conall's arm. "The gods themselves have doomed
+thee," shouted Conall then, and he rushed upon Mesgedra and in no
+long time he wounded him to death.
+
+"Take my head," said Mesgedra then, "and add my glory to thy glory,
+but be well assured this wrong shall yet be avenged by me upon
+Ulster," and he died.
+
+Then Conall cut off the head of Mesgedra and put it in his chariot,
+and took also the chariot of Mesgedra and fared northwards. Ere long
+he met a chariot and fifty women accompanying it. In it was Buan the
+Queen, wife of Mesgedra, returning from a visit to Meath.
+
+"Who art thou, woman?" said Conall.
+
+"I am Buan, wife of Mesgedra the King."
+
+"Thou art to come with me," then said Conall.
+
+"Who hath commanded this?" said Buan.
+
+"Mesgedra the King," said Conall.
+
+"By what token dost thou lay these commands upon me?"
+
+"Behold his chariot and his horses," said Conall.
+
+"He gives rich gifts to many a man," answered the Queen.
+
+Then Conall showed her the head of her husband.
+
+"This is my token," said he.
+
+"It is enough," said Buan. "But give me leave to bewail him ere I go
+into captivity."
+
+Then Buan rose up in her chariot and raised for Mesgedra a keen of
+sorrow so loud and piercing that her heart broke with it, and she fell
+backwards on the road and died.
+
+Conall Cearnach then buried her there, and laid the head of her
+husband by her side; and the fair hazel tree that grew from her grave
+by the fords of Clane was called Coll Buana, or the Hazel Tree of
+Buan.
+
+But ere Conall buried the head of Mesgedra he caused the brain to be
+taken out and mixed with lime to make a bullet for a sling, for so it
+was customary to do when a great warrior had been killed; and the
+brain-balls thus made were accounted to be the deadliest of missiles.
+
+
+So when Leinster had been harried and plundered and its king and queen
+thus slain, the Ulstermen drew northward again, and the brain-ball was
+laid up in the Dún of King Conor at Emania.
+
+Years afterwards it happened that the Wolf of Connacht, namely Ket,
+son of Maga, came disguised within the borders of Ulster in search of
+prey, and he entered the palace precincts of Conor in Emania. There he
+saw two jesters of the King, who had gotten the brain-ball from the
+shelf where it lay, and were rolling it about the courtyard. Ket knew
+it for what it was, and put it out of sight of the jesters and took it
+away with him while they made search for it. Thenceforth Ket carried
+it ever about with him in his girdle, hoping that he might yet use it
+to destroy some great warrior among the Ulstermen.
+
+One day thereafter Ket made a foray on the men of Ross, and carried
+away a spoil of cattle. The host of Ulster and King Conor with them
+overtook him as he went homeward. The men of Connacht had also
+mustered to the help of Ket, and both sides made them ready for
+battle.
+
+Now a river, namely Brosna, ran between them, and on a hill at one
+side of this were assembled a number of the noble women of Connacht,
+who desired greatly to look on the far-famed Ultonian warriors, and
+above all on Conor the King, whose presence was said to be royal and
+stately beyond any man that was then living in Erinn. Among the
+bushes, close to the women, Ket hid himself, and lay still but
+watchful.
+
+Now Conor, seeing none but womenfolk close to him at this point, and
+being willing to show them his splendour, drew near to the bank on his
+side of the stream. Then Ket leaped up, whirling his sling, and the
+bullet hummed across the river and smote King Conor on the temple. And
+his men carried him off for dead, and the men of Connacht broke the
+battle on the Ulstermen, slaying many, and driving the rest of them
+back to their own place. This battle was thenceforth called the Battle
+of the Ford of the Sling-cast, or Athnurchar; and so the place is
+called to this day.
+
+When Conor was brought home to Emania his chief physician, Fingen,
+found the ball half buried in his temple. "If the ball be taken out,"
+said Fingen, "he will die; if it remain he will live, but he will bear
+the blemish of it."
+
+"Let him bear the blemish," said the Ulster lords, "that is a small
+matter compared with the death of Conor."
+
+Then Fingen stitched the wound over with a thread of gold, for Conor
+had curling golden hair, and bade him keep himself from all violent
+movements and from all vehement passions, and not to ride on
+horseback, and he would do well.
+
+After that Conor lived for seven years, and he went not to war during
+that time, and all cause of passion was kept far from him. Then one
+day at broad noon the sky darkened, and the gloom of night seemed to
+spread over the world, and all the people feared, and looked for some
+calamity. Conor called to him his chief druid, namely Bacarach, and
+inquired of him as to the cause of the gloom.
+
+The druid then went with Conor into a sacred grove of oaks and
+performed the rites of divination, and in a trance he spoke to Conor,
+saying, "I see a hill near a great city, and three high crosses on it.
+To one of them is nailed the form of a young man who is like unto one
+of the Immortals. Round him stand soldiers with tall spears, and a
+great crowd waiting to see him die."
+
+"Is he, then, a malefactor?"
+
+"Nay," said the druid, "but holiness, innocence, and truth have come
+to earth in him, and for this cause have the druids of his land doomed
+him to die, for his teaching was not as theirs. And the heavens are
+darkened for wrath and sorrow at the sight."
+
+Then Conor leaped up in a fury, crying, "They shall not slay him,
+they shall not slay him! Would I were there with the host of Ulster,
+and thus would I scatter his foes"; and with that he snatched his
+sword and began striking at the trees that stood thickly about him in
+the druid grove. Then with the heat of his passion the sling-ball
+burst from his head, and he fell to the ground and died.
+
+Thus was fulfilled the vengeance of Mesgedra upon Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+The Story of Etain and Midir
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a High King of the Milesian race in Ireland
+named Eochy Airem, whose power and splendour were very great, and all
+the sub-Kings, namely, Conor of Ulster, and Mesgedra of Leinster, and
+Curoi of Munster, and Ailill and Maev of Connacht, were obedient to
+him. But he was without a wife; and for this reason the sub-Kings and
+Princes of Ireland would not come to his festivals at Tara, "for,"
+said they, "there is no noble in Ireland who is a wifeless man, and a
+King is no king without a queen." And they would not bring their own
+wives to Tara without a queen there to welcome them, nor would they
+come themselves and leave their womenfolk at home.
+
+So Eochy bade search be made through all the boundaries of Ireland for
+a maiden meet to be wife of the High King. And in time his messengers
+came back and said that they had found in Ulster, by the Bay of
+Cichmany, the fairest and most accomplished maiden in Ireland, and her
+name was Etain, daughter of Etar, lord of the territory called Echrad.
+So Eochy, when he had heard their report, went forth to woo the
+maiden.
+
+When he drew near his journey's end he passed by a certain spring of
+pure water where it chanced that Etain and her maids had come down
+that she might wash her hair. She held in her hand a comb of silver
+inlaid with gold, and before her was a bason of silver chased with
+figures of birds, and around the rim of it red carbuncles were set.
+Her mantle was purple with a fringe of silver, and it was fastened
+with a broad golden brooch. She wore also a tunic of green silk, stiff
+with embroidery of gold that glittered in the sun. Her hair before she
+loosed it was done in two mighty tresses, yellow like the flower of
+the waterflag, each tress being plaited in four strands, and at the
+end of each strand a little golden ball. When she laid aside her
+mantle her arms came through the armholes of her tunic, white as the
+snow of a single night, and her cheeks were ruddy as the foxglove.
+Even and small were her teeth, as if a shower of pearls had fallen in
+her mouth. Her eyes were hyacinth-blue, her lips scarlet as the
+rowan-berry, her shoulders round and white, her fingers were long and
+her nails smooth and pink. Her feet also were slim, and white as
+sea-foam. The radiance of the moon was in her face, pride in her
+brows, the light of wooing in her eyes. Of her it was said that there
+was no beauty among women compared with Etain's beauty, no sweetness
+compared with the sweetness of Etain.
+
+When the King saw her his heart burned with love for her, and when he
+had speech with her he besought her to be his bride. And she consented
+to that, and said, "Many have wooed me, O King, but I would none of
+them, for since I was a little child I have loved thee, for the high
+tales that I heard of thee and of thy glory." And Eochy said, "Thine
+alone will I be if thou wilt have me." So the King paid a great
+bride-price for her, and bore her away to Tara, and there they were
+wedded, and all men welcomed and honoured the Queen. Nor had she dwelt
+long in Tara before the enchantment of her beauty and her grace had
+worked upon the hearts of all about her, so that the man to whom she
+spoke grew pale at the womanly sweetness of her voice, and felt
+himself a king for that day. All fair things and bright she loved,
+such as racing steeds and shining raiment, and the sight of Eochy's
+warriors with their silken banners and shields decorated with rich
+ornament in red and blue. And she would have all about her happy and
+joyous, and she gave freely of her treasure, and of her smiles and
+loving words, if she might see the light of joy on the faces of men,
+but from pain or sadness that might not be cured she would turn away.
+In one thing only was sadness endurable to her and that was in her
+music, for when she sang or touched the harp all hearts were pierced
+with longing for they knew not what, and all eyes shed tears save hers
+alone, who looked as though she beheld, far from earth, some land more
+fair than words of man can tell; and all the wonder of that land and
+all its immeasurable distance were in her song.
+
+Now Eochy the King had a brother whose name was Ailill Anglounach, or
+Ailill of the Single Stain, for one dark spot only was on his life,
+and it is of this that the story now shall tell. One day, when he had
+come from his own Dún to the yearly Assembly in the great Hall of
+Tara, he ate not at the banquet but gazed as it were at something afar
+off, and his wife said to him, "Why dost thou gaze so, Ailill; so do
+men look who are smitten with love?" Ailill was wroth with himself and
+turned his eyes away, but he said nothing, for that on which he gazed
+was the face of Etain.
+
+After that Assembly was over Ailill knew that the torment of love had
+seized him for his brother's wife, and he was sorely shamed and
+wrathful, and the secret strife in his mind between his honour and the
+fierce and pitiless love that possessed him brought him into a sore
+sickness. And he went home to his Dún in Tethba and there lay ill for
+a year. Then Eochy the King went to see him, and came near him and
+laid his hand on his breast, and Ailill heaved a bitter sigh. Eochy
+asked, "Why art thou not better of this sickness, how goes it with
+thee now?" "By my word," said Ailill, "no better, but worse each day
+and night." "What ails thee, then?" asked Eochy. Ailill said, "Verily,
+I know not." Then Eochy bade summon his chief physician, who might
+discover the cause of his brother's malady, for Ailill was wasting to
+death.
+
+So Fachtna the chief physician came and he laid his hand upon Ailill,
+and Ailill sighed. Then Fachtna said, "This is no bodily disease, but
+either Ailill suffers from the pangs of envy or from the torment of
+love." But Ailill was full of shame and he would not tell what ailed
+him, and Fachtna went away.
+
+After this the time came that Eochy the High King should make a royal
+progress throughout his realm of Ireland, but Etain he left behind at
+Tara. Before he departed he charged her saying, "Do thou be gentle and
+kind to my brother Ailill while he lives, and should he die, let his
+burial mound be heaped over him, and a pillar stone set up above it,
+and his name written thereon in letters of Ogham." Then the King took
+leave of Ailill and looked to see him again on earth no more.
+
+After a while Etain bethought her and said, "Let us go to see how it
+fares with Ailill." So she went to where he lay in his Dún at Tethba.
+And seeing him wasted and pale she was moved with pity and distress
+and said,
+
+"What ails thee, young man? Long thou hast lain prostrate, in fair
+weather and in foul, thou who wert wont to be so swift and strong?"
+
+And Ailill said,
+
+"Truly, I have a cause for my suffering; and I cannot eat, nor listen
+to the music makers; my affliction is very sore."
+
+Then said Etain,
+
+"Though I am a woman I am wise in many a thing; tell me what ails thee
+and thy healing shall be done."
+
+Ailill replied,
+
+"Blessing be with thee, O fair one; I am not worthy of thy speech; I
+am torn by the contention of body and of soul."
+
+Then Etain deemed that she knew somewhat of his trouble, and she said,
+
+
+"If thy heart is set on any of the white maidens that are my
+handmaids, tell me of it, and I shall court her for thee and she shall
+come to thee," and then Ailill cried out,
+
+"Love indeed, O Queen, hath brought me low. It is a plague nearer than
+the skin, it overwhelms my soul as an earthquake, it is farther than
+the height of the sky, and harder to win than the treasures of the
+Fairy Folk. If I contend with it, it is like a combat with a spectre;
+if I fly to the ends of the earth from it, it is there; if I seek to
+seize it, it is a passion for an echo. It is thou, O my love, who hast
+brought me to this, and thou alone canst heal me, or I shall never
+rise again."
+
+Then Etain went away and left him. But still in her palace in Tara she
+was haunted by his passion and his misery, and, though she loved him
+not, she could not endure his pain, nor the triumph of grim death over
+his youth and beauty. So at last she went to him again and said, "If
+it lies with me, Ailill, to heal thee of thy sickness, I may not let
+thee die." And she made a tryst to meet him on the morrow at a house
+of Ailill's between Dún Tethba and Tara, "but be it not at Tara," she
+said, "for that is the palace of the High King."
+
+All that night Ailill lay awake with the thought of his tryst with
+Etain. But on the morrow morn a heaviness came upon his eyelids, and a
+druid sleep overcame him, and there all day he lay buried in slumbers
+from which none could wake him, until the time of his meeting with
+Etain was overpast.
+
+But Etain, when she had come to the place of the tryst, looked out,
+and behold, a youth having the appearance and the garb of Ailill was
+approaching from Tethba. He entered the bower where she was; but no
+lover did she there meet, but only a sick and sorrowful man who spake
+coldly to her and lamented the sufferings of his malady, and after a
+short time he went away.
+
+Next day Etain went to see Ailill and to hear how he did. And Ailill
+entreated her forgiveness that he had not kept his tryst, "for," said
+he, "a druid slumber descended upon me, and I lay as one dead from
+morn till eve. And morever," he added, "it seems as if the strange
+passion that has befallen me were washed away in that slumber, for
+now, Etain, I love thee no more but as my Queen and my sister, and I
+am recovered as if from an evil dream." Then Etain knew that powers
+not of earth were mingling in her fate, and she pondered much of these
+things, and grew less lighthearted than of old. And when the King came
+back, he rejoiced to find his brother whole and sound and merry, as
+Ailill had ever been, and he praised Etain for her gentleness and
+care.
+
+Now after a time as Etain was by herself in her sunny bower she was
+aware of a man standing by her, whom she had never seen before. Young
+he was, and grey-eyed, with curling golden hair, and in his hand he
+bore two spears. His mantle was of crimson silk, his tunic of saffron,
+and a golden helmet was on his head. And as she gazed upon him,
+"Etain," he said, "the time is come for thee to return; we have missed
+thee and sorrowed for thee long enough in the Land of Youth." Etain
+said, "Of what land dost thou speak?" Then he chanted to her a song:--
+
+  "Come with me, Etain, O come away,
+     To that oversea land of mine!
+   Where music haunts the happy day,
+     And rivers run with wine;
+   Where folk are careless, and young, and gay,
+     And none saith 'mine' or 'thine.'
+
+   "Golden curls on the proud young head,
+     And pearls in the tender mouth;
+   Manhood, womanhood, white and red,
+     And love that grows not loth
+   When all the world's desires are dead,
+     And all the dreams of youth.
+
+   "Away from the cloud of Adam's sin!
+     Away from grief and care!
+   This flowery land thou dwellest in
+     Seems rude to us, and bare;
+   For the naked strand of the Happy Land
+     Is twenty times as fair."
+
+When Etain heard this she stood motionless and as one that dreams
+awake, for it seemed to her as if she must follow that music
+whithersoever it went on earth or beyond the earth. But at last
+remembrance came upon her and she said to the stranger, "Who art thou,
+that I, the High King's wife, should follow a nameless man and betray
+my troth?" And he said, "Thy troth was due to me before it was due to
+him, and, moreover, were it not for me thou hadst broken it already. I
+am Midir the Proud, a prince among the people of Dana, and thy
+husband, Etain. Thus it was, that when I took thee to wife in the Land
+of Youth, the jealousy of thy rival, Fuamnach, was awakened; and
+having decoyed me from home by a false report, she changed thee by
+magical arts into a butterfly, and then contrived a mighty tempest
+that drove thee abroad. Seven years wast thou borne hither and thither
+on the blast till chance blew thee into the fairy palace of Angus my
+kinsman, by the waters of the Boyne. But Angus knew thee, for the
+Fairy Folk may not disguise themselves from each other, and he built
+for thee a magical sunny bower with open windows, through which thou
+mightest pass, and about it were all manner of blossoming herbs and
+shrubs, and on the odour and honey of these thou didst live and grow
+fair and well nourished. But in the end Fuamnach got tidings of thee,
+and again the druid tempest descended and blew thee forth for another
+seven years of wandering and woe. Then it chanced that thou wert blown
+through the roof-window of the Dún of Etar by the Bay of Cichmany, and
+fell into the goblet from which his wife was drinking, and thee she
+drank down with that draught of ale. And in due time thou wast born
+again in the guise of a mortal maid and daughter to Etar the Warrior.
+But thou art no mortal, nor of mortal kin, for it is one thousand and
+twelve years from the time when thou wast born in Fairy Land till
+Etar's wife bore thee as a child on earth."
+
+Then Etain was bewildered, and her mind ran back on many a
+half-forgotten thing and she gazed as into a gulf of visions, full of
+dim shapes, strange and glorious. And Midir as she looked at him again
+seemed transfigured, taller and mightier than before, and a light
+flame flickered from his helmet's crest and moved like wings about his
+shoulders.
+
+But at last she said, "I know not what thou sayest if it be truth or
+not, but this I know, that I am the wife of the High King and I will
+not break my troth." "It were broken already," said Midir, "but for
+me, for I it was who laid a druidic sleep on Ailill, and it was I who
+came to thee in his shape that thy honour might not be stained." Etain
+said, "I learned then that honour is more than life." "But if Eochy
+the High King consent to let thee go," said Midir, "wilt thou then
+come with me to my land and thine?" "In that case," said Etain "I
+will go."
+
+And the time went by, and Etain abode in Tara, and the High King did
+justice and made war and held the great Assembly as he was used. But
+one day in summer Eochy arose very early to breathe the morning air,
+and he stood by himself leaning on the rampart of his great Dún, and
+looking over the flowery plain of Bregia. And as he thus gazed he was
+aware of a young warrior standing by his side. Grey-eyed the youth
+was, and golden-haired, and he was splendidly armed and apparelled as
+beseemed the lord of a great clan of the Gael. Eochy bade him welcome
+courteously, and asked him of the cause of his coming. "I am come," he
+said, "to play a game of chess with thee, O King, for thou art
+renowned for thy skill in that game, and to test that skill am I come.
+And my name is Midir, of the People of Dana, whom they have called The
+Proud."
+
+"Willingly," said the King; "but I have here no chessboard, and mine
+is in the chamber where the Queen is sleeping."
+
+"That is easily remedied," said Midir, and he drew from his cloak a
+folding chessboard whose squares were alternate gold and silver. From
+a men-bag made of brazen chainwork he drew out a set of men adorned
+with flashing jewels, and he set them in array.
+
+"I will not play," then said Eochy, "unless we play for a stake."
+
+"For what stake shall we play, then?" said Midir.
+
+"I care not," said Eochy; "but do thou perform tasks for me if I win
+and I shall bestow of my treasures upon thee if I lose."
+
+So they played a game, and Eochy won. Then Eochy bade Midir clear the
+plains of Meath about Tara from rocks and stones, and Midir brought at
+night a great host of the Fairy Folk, and it was done. And again he
+played with Eochy, and again he lost, and this time he cut down the
+forest of Breg. The third time Midir lost again, and his task was to
+build a causeway across the moor of Lamrach. Now at night, while Midir
+and the fairy host were labouring at the causeway and their oxen
+drawing to it innumerable loads of earth and gravel, the steward of
+Eochy stole out and hid himself to watch them, for it was a
+prohibition to see them at work. And he observed that the fairy oxen
+were not harnessed with a thong across their foreheads, that the pull
+might be upon their brows and necks, as was the manner with the Gael,
+but with yokes upon their shoulders. This he reported to Eochy, who
+found it good; and he ordered that henceforth the children of the Gael
+should harness their plough-oxen with the yoke upon their shoulders;
+and so it was done from that day forth. Hence Eochy got his name of
+_Airem_, or "The Ploughman," for he was the first of the Gael to put
+the yoke upon the shoulder of the ox.
+
+But it was said that because the Fairy Folk were watched as they made
+that noble causeway, there came a breach in it at one place which none
+could ever rightly mend.
+
+When all their works were accomplished, Midir came again to Eochy, and
+this time he bore a dark and fierce countenance and was high girt as
+for war. And the King welcomed him, and Midir said, "Thou hast treated
+me hardly and put slavish tasks upon me. All that seemed good to thee
+have I done, but now I am moved with anger against thee."
+
+"I return not anger for anger," said Eochy; "say what satisfaction I
+can make thee."
+
+"Let us once more play at chess," said Midir.
+
+"Good," said Eochy, "and what stake wilt thou have now?"
+
+"The stake to be whatever the winner shall demand," said Midir.
+
+Then they played for the fourth time and Eochy lost.
+
+"Thou hast won the game," said he.
+
+"I had won long ago had I chosen," said Midir.
+
+"What dost thou demand of me?" said Eochy.
+
+"To hold Etain in my arms and obtain a kiss from her," replied Midir.
+
+The King was silent for a while and after that he said, "Come back in
+one month from this day and the stake which I have lost shall be
+paid."
+
+But Eochy summoned together all the host of the heroes of the Gael,
+and they surrounded Tara, ring within ring; and the King himself and
+Etain were in the palace, with the outer court of it shut and locked.
+For they looked that Midir should come with a great host of the Danaan
+folk to carry off the Queen. And on the appointed day, as the kings
+sat at meat, Etain and her handmaids were dispensing the wine to them
+as was wont. Then suddenly as they feasted and talked, behold, Midir,
+stood in the midst of them. If he was fair and noble to look on as he
+had appeared before to the King and to Etain, he was fairer now, for
+the splendour of the Immortals clothed him, and his jewels flamed as
+he moved like eyes of living light. And all the kings and lords and
+champions who were present gazed on him in amazement and were silent,
+as the King arose and gave him welcome.
+
+"Thou hast received me as I expected to be received," said Midir,
+"and now let thy debt be paid, since I for my part faithfully
+performed all that I undertook."
+
+"I must consider the matter yet longer," said Eochy.
+
+"Thou hast promised Etain's very self to me," said Midir; "that is
+what hath come from thee." And when she heard that word Etain blushed
+for shame.
+
+"Blush not," said Midir, "for all the treasures of the Land of Youth
+have not availed to win thee from Eochy, and it is not of thine own
+will that thou art won, but because the time is come to return to thy
+kin."
+
+Then said Eochy, "I have not promised Etain's self to thee, but to
+take her in thine arms and kiss her, and now do so if thou wilt."
+
+[Illustration: "They rose up in the air"]
+
+Then Midir took his weapons in his left hand and placed his right
+around Etain, and when he did so they rose up in the air over the
+heads of the host, and passed through a roof-window in the palace.
+Then all rose up, tumultuous and angry, and rushed out of doors, but
+nothing could they see save two white swans that circled high in air
+around the Hill of Tara, and then flew southwards and away towards
+the fairy mountain of Slievenamon. And thus Etain the immortal
+rejoined the Immortals; but a daughter of Etain and of Eochy, who was
+another Etain in name and in beauty, became in due time a wife, and
+mother of kings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+How Ethne Quitted Fairyland
+
+
+By the banks of the River Boyne, where rises the great Fairy Mound now
+called Newgrange, there stood long ago the shining Palace of a prince
+of the People of Dana, named Angus. Of him it is that the lines are
+written--
+
+  "By the dark rolling waters of the Boyne
+   Where Angus Óg magnificently dwells."
+
+When the Milesian race invaded Ireland, and after long fighting
+subdued the Danaans in spite of all their enchantments and all their
+valour, the Danaans wrought for themselves certain charms by which
+they and all their possessions became invisible to mortals, and thus
+they continued to lead their old joyous life in the holy places of the
+land, and their palaces and dancing-places and folk-motes seem to the
+human eye to be merely a green mound or rath, or a lonely hillside, or
+a ruined shrine with nettles and foxgloves growing up among its broken
+masonry.
+
+Now, after Angus and his folk had thus retreated behind the veil of
+invisibility, it happened that the steward of his palace had a
+daughter born to him whose name was Ethne. On the same day Fand, the
+wife of Mananan the Sea God, bore him a daughter, and since Angus was
+a friend of Mananan and much beloved by him, the child of the Sea God
+was sent to Brugh na Boyna, the noble dwelling-place of Angus, to be
+fostered and brought up, as the custom was. And Ethne became the
+handmaid of the young princess of the sea.
+
+In time Ethne grew into a fair and stately maiden Now in the Brugh of
+Angus there were two magical treasures, namely, an ale-vat which could
+never be emptied, and two swine whereof one was ever roasted and ready
+to be eaten while the other lived, and thus they were, day and day
+about. There was therefore always a store of food of faery, charged
+with magical spells, by eating of which one could never grow old or
+die. It came to be noticed that after Ethne had grown up she never ate
+or drank of the fairy food, or of any other, yet she continued to seem
+healthy and well-nourished. This was reported to Angus, and by him to
+Mananan, and Mananan by his wisdom discovered the cause of it. One of
+the lords of the Danaans, happening to be on a visit with Angus, was
+rendered distraught by the maiden's beauty, and one day he laid hands
+upon her and strove to carry her away to his own dwelling. Ethne
+escaped from him, but the blaze of resentment at the insult that lit
+up in her soul consumed in her the fairy nature, that knows not of
+good or evil, and the nature of the children of Adam took its place.
+Thenceforth she ate not of the fairy food, which is prohibited to man,
+and she was nourished miraculously by the will of the One God. But
+after a time it chanced that Mananan and Angus brought from the Holy
+Land two cows whose milk could never run dry. In this milk there was
+nothing of the fairy spell, and Ethne lived upon it many long years,
+milking the cows herself, nor did her youth and beauty suffer any
+change.
+
+Now it happened that on one very hot day the daughter of Mananan went
+down to bathe in the waters of the Boyne, and Ethne and her other
+maidens along with her. After they had refreshed themselves in the
+cool, amber-coloured water, they arrayed themselves in their silken
+robes and trooped back to the Brugh again; but ere they entered it,
+they discovered that Ethne was not among them.
+
+So they went back, scattering themselves along the bank and searching
+in every quiet pool of the river and in every dark recess among the
+great trees that bordered it, for Ethne was dearly loved by all of
+them; but neither trace nor tidings of her could they find, and they
+went sorrowfully home without her, to tell the tale to Angus and to
+her father.
+
+What had befallen Ethne was this. In taking off her garments by the
+riverside she had mislaid her fairy charm, and was become as a mortal
+maid. Nothing could she now see of her companions, and all around was
+strange to her. The fairy track that had led to the riverside was
+overgrown with briars, the palace of Angus was but a wooded hill. She
+knew not where she was, and pierced with sudden terror she fled wildly
+away, seeking for the familiar places that she had known in the fairy
+life, but which were now behind the Veil. At length she came to a high
+wall wherein was a wicket gate, and through it she saw a garden full
+of sweet herbs and flowers, which surrounded a steep-roofed building
+of stone. In the garden she saw a man in a long brown robe tied about
+his waist with a cord. He smiled at her and beckoned her to come in
+without fear. He was a monk of the holy Patrick, and the house was a
+convent church.
+
+When the monk had heard her tale, he marvelled greatly and brought her
+to St Patrick himself, who instructed her in the Faith, and she
+believed and was baptized.
+
+[Illustration: "She heard her own name called again and again"]
+
+But not long thereafter, as she was praying in the church by the
+Boyne, the sky darkened and she heard a sound without like the rushing
+of a great wind, and mingled in it were cries and lamentations, and
+her own name called again and again in a multitude of voices, thin and
+faint as the crying of curlews upon the moor. She sprang up and gazed
+around, calling in return, but nothing could she see, and at last the
+storm of cries died away, and everything was still again around the
+church except the singing voice of Boyne and the humming of the garden
+bees.
+
+Then Ethne sank down swooning, and the monks bore her out into the
+air, and it was long until her heart beat and her eyes unclosed again.
+In that hour she fell into a sickness from which she never recovered.
+In no long time she died with her head upon the breast of the holy
+Patrick, and she was buried in the church where she had first been
+received by the monk; and the church was called Killethne, or the
+Church of Ethne, from that day forward until now.
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Boyhood of Finn mac Cumhal
+
+
+In Ireland long ago, centuries before the English appeared in that
+country, there were kings and chiefs, lawyers and merchants, men of
+the sword and men of the book, men who tilled their own ground and men
+who tilled the ground of others, just as there are now. But there was
+also, as ancient poets and historians tell us, a great company or
+brotherhood of men who were bound to no fixed calling, unless it was
+to fight for the High King of Ireland whenever foes threatened him
+from within the kingdom or without it. This company was called the
+Fianna of Erinn. They were mighty hunters and warriors, and though
+they had great possessions in land, and rich robes, and gold
+ornaments, and weapons wrought with beautiful chasing and with
+coloured enamels, they lived mostly a free out-door life in the light
+hunting-booths which they made in the woods where the deer and the
+wolf ranged. There were then vast forests in Ireland, which are all
+gone now, and there were also, as there still are, many great and
+beautiful lakes and rivers, swarming with fish and water-fowl. In the
+forests and on the mountain sides roamed the wild boar and the wolf,
+and great herds of deer, some of giant size, whose enormous antlers
+are sometimes found when bogs are being drained. The Fianna chased
+these and the wolves with great dogs, whose courage and strength and
+beauty were famous throughout Europe, and which they prized and loved
+above all things. To the present day in Ireland there still remain
+some of this breed of Irish hounds, but the giant deer and the wolf
+are gone, and the Fianna of Erinn live only in the ancient books that
+were written of them, and in the tales that are still told of them in
+the winter evenings by the Irish peasant's fireside.
+
+The Fianna were under the rule of one great captain or chief, and at
+the time I tell of his name was Cumhal, son of Trenmor. Now a tribe or
+family of the Fianna named the Clan Morna, or Sons of Morna, rose in
+rebellion against Cumhal, for they were jealous and greedy of his
+power and glory, and sought to have the captaincy for themselves. They
+defeated and slew him at the battle of Cnucha, which is now called
+Castleknock, near the City of the Hurdle Ford, which is the name that
+Dublin still bears in the Irish tongue. Goll, son of Morna, slew
+Cumhal, and they spoiled him of the Treasure Bag of the Fianna, which
+was a bag made of a crane's skin and having in it jewels of great
+price, and magic weapons, and strange things that had come down from
+far-off days when the Fairy Folk and mortal men battled for the
+lordship of Ireland. The Bag with its treasures was given to Lia, the
+chief of Luachar in Connacht, who had the keeping of it before, for he
+was the treasurer of Cumhal, and he was the first man who had wounded
+Cumhal in the battle when he fell.
+
+Cumhal's wife was named Murna, and she bore him two sons. The elder
+was named Tulcha, and he fled from the country for fear of Goll and
+took service with the King of Scotland. The younger was born after
+Cumhal's death, and his name was called Demna. And because his mother
+feared that the sons of Morna would find him out and kill him, she
+gave him to a Druidess and another wise woman of Cumhal's household,
+and bade them take him away and rear him as best they could. So they
+took him into the wild woods on the Slieve Bloom Mountains, and there
+they trained him to hunt and fish and to throw the spear, and he grew
+strong, and as beautiful as a child of the Fairy Folk. If he were in
+the same field with a hare he could run so that the hare could never
+leave the field, for Demna was always before it. He could run down and
+slay a stag with no dogs to help him, and he could kill a wild duck on
+the wing with a stone from his sling. And the Druidess taught him the
+learning of the time, and also the story of his race and nation, and
+told him of his right to be captain of the Fianna of Erinn when his
+day of destiny should come.
+
+One day, while still a boy, he was roaming through the woods when he
+came to the mansion of a great lord, where many boys, sons of the
+chief men of Ireland, were being trained in manly arts and exercises.
+He found them playing at hurling, and they invited him to join them.
+He did so, but the side he was on won too easily, so they divided
+again, and yet again, giving fewer and fewer to Demna's side, till at
+last he alone drove the ball to the goal through them all, flashing
+among them as a salmon among a shoal of minnows. And then their anger
+and jealousy rose and grew bitter against the stranger, and instead of
+honouring him as gallant lads of gentle blood should have done they
+fell upon him with their hurling clubs and sought to kill him. But
+Demna felled seven of them to the ground and put the rest to flight,
+and then went his way home. When the boys told what had happened the
+chief asked them who it was that had defeated and routed them
+single-handed. They said, "It was a tall shapely lad, and very fair
+(_finn_)." So the name of Finn, the Fair One, clung to him
+thenceforth, and by that name he is known to this day.
+
+By and by Finn gathered round him a band of youths who loved him for
+his strength and valour and for his generous heart, and with them he
+went hunting in the forests. And Goll, and the sons of Morna, who were
+now captains of the Fianna under the High King, began to hear tales of
+him and his exploits, and they sent trackers to inquire about him, for
+they had an inkling of who this wonderful fair-haired youth might be.
+Finn's foster mothers heard of this. "You must leave this place," they
+said to him, "and see our faces no more, for if Goll's men find you
+here they will slay you. We have cherished the blood of Cumhal," they
+said, "and now our work is done. Go, and may blessing and victory go
+with you." So Finn departed with naught but his weapons and his
+hunting gear, very sorrowful at leaving the wise and loving friends
+who had fostered his childhood; but deep in his heart was a wild and
+fierce delight at the thought of the trackless ways he would travel,
+and the wonders he would see; and all the future looked to him as
+beautiful and dim as the mists that fill a mountain glen under the
+morning sun.
+
+Now after the death of Cumhal, his brother Crimmal and a few others of
+the aged warriors of the Fianna, who had not fallen in the fight at
+Cnucha, fled away into Connacht, and lived there in the deepest
+recesses of a great forest, where they hoped the conquerors might
+never find them. Here they built themselves a poor dwelling of tree
+branches, plastered with mud and roofed with reeds from the lake, and
+here they lived on what game they could kill or snare in the wild
+wood; and harder and harder it grew, as age and feebleness crept on
+them, to find enough to eat, or to hew wood for their fire. In this
+retreat, never having seen the friendly face of man, they were one day
+startled to hear voices and the baying of hounds approaching them
+through the wood, and they thought that the sons of Morna were upon
+them at last, and that their hour of doom was at hand. Soon they
+perceived a company of youths coming towards their hut, with one in
+front who seemed to be their leader. Taller he was by a head than the
+rest, broad shouldered, and with masses of bright hair clustering
+round his forehead, and he carried in his hand a large bag made of
+some delicate skin and stained in patterns of red and blue. The old
+men thought when they saw him of a saying there was about the mighty
+Lugh, who was brother to the wife of Cumhal, that when he came among
+his army as they mustered for battle, men felt as though they beheld
+the rising of the sun. As they came near, the young men halted and
+looked upon the elders with pity, for their clothing of skins was
+ragged and the weapons they strove to hold were rusted and blunt, and
+except for their proud bearing and the fire in their old eyes they
+looked more like aged and worthless slaves in the household of a
+niggardly lord than men who had once been the flower of the fighting
+men of Erinn.
+
+But the tall youth stepped in front of his band and cried aloud--
+
+"Which of ye is Crimmal, son of Trenmor?" And one of the elders said,
+"I am Crimmal." Then tears filled the eyes of the youth, and he knelt
+down before the old man and put his hands in his.
+
+"My lord and chief," he said, "I am Finn, son of Cumhal, and the day
+of deliverance is come."
+
+[Illustration: "And that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut"]
+
+So the youths brought in the spoils of their hunting, and yet other
+spoils than these; and that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut. And Crimmal said--
+
+"It was foretold to us that one day the blood of Cumhal should be
+avenged, and the race of Cumhal should rule the Fianna again. This was
+the sign that the coming champion should give of his birth and
+destiny; he was to bear with him the Treasure Bag of Cumhal and the
+sacred things that were therein."
+
+Finn said, "Ye know the Bag and its treasures, tell us if these be
+they." And he laid his skin bag on the knees of Crimmal.
+
+Crimmal opened it, and he took out the jewels of sovranty the magic
+spear-head made by the smiths of the Fairy Folk, and he said, "These
+be the treasures of Cumhal; truly the ripeness of the time is come."
+
+And Finn then told the story of how he had won these things.
+
+"But yesterday morning," he said, "we met on our way a woman of noble
+aspect, and she knelt over the body of a slain youth. When she lifted
+her head as we drew near, tears of blood ran down her cheeks, and she
+cried to me, 'Whoever thou art, I bind thee by the bonds of the sacred
+ordinances of the Gael that thou avenge my wrong. This was my son
+Glonda,' she said, 'my only son, and he was slain to-day wantonly by
+the Lord of Luachar and his men.' So we went, my company and I, to the
+Dún of the Lord of Luachar, and found an earthen rampart with a fosse
+before it, and on the top of the rampart was a fence of oaken posts
+interlaced with wattles, and over this we saw the many-coloured thatch
+of a great dwelling-house, and its white walls painted with bright
+colours under the broad eaves. So I stood forth and called to the Lord
+of Luachar and bade him make ready to pay an eric to the mother of
+Glonda, whatsoever she should demand. But he laughed at us and cursed
+us and bade us begone. Then we withdrew into the forest, but returned
+with a great pile of dry brushwood, and while some of us shot stones
+and arrows at whoever should appear above the palisade, others rushed
+up with bundles of brushwood and laid it against the palisade and set
+it on fire, and the Immortal Ones sent a blast of wind that set the
+brushwood and palisade quickly in a blaze, and through that fiery gap
+we charged in shouting. And half of the men of Luachar we killed and
+the rest fled, and the Lord of Luachar I slew in the doorway of his
+palace. We took a great spoil then, O Crimmal--these vessels of bronze
+and silver, and spears and bows, smoked bacon and skins of Greek wine;
+and in a great chest of yewwood we found this bag. All these things
+shall now remain with you, and my company shall also remain to hunt
+for you and protect you, for ye shall know want and fear no longer
+while ye live."
+
+And Finn said, "I would fain know if my mother Murna still lives, or
+if she died by the sons of Morna."
+
+Crimmal said, "After thy father's death, Finn, she was wedded to
+Gleor, Lord of Lamrigh, in the south, and she still lives in honour
+with him, and the sons of Morna have let her be. Didst thou never see
+her since she gave thee, an infant, to the wise women on the day of
+Cnucha?"
+
+"I remember," said Finn, "when I was, as they tell me, but six years
+old, there came one day to our shieling in the woods of Slieve Bloom a
+chariot with bronze-shod wheels and a bronze wolf's head at the end of
+the pole, and two horsemen riding with it, besides him who drove. A
+lady was in it, with a gold frontlet on her brow and her cloak was
+fastened with a broad golden brooch. She came into our hut and spoke
+long with my foster-mothers, and me she clasped in her arms and kissed
+many times, and I felt her tears on my face. And they told me
+afterwards that this was Murna of the White Neck, and my mother. If
+she have suffered no harm at the hands of the sons of Morna, so much
+the less is the debt that they shall one day pay."
+
+Now it is to be told what happened to Finn at the house of Finegas the
+Bard. Finn did not deem that the time had come for him to seize the
+captaincy of the Fianna until he had perfected himself in wisdom and
+learning. So on leaving the shelter of the old men in the wood he went
+to learn wisdom and the art of poetry from Finegas, who dwelt by the
+River Boyne, near to where is now the village of Slane. It was a
+belief among the poets of Ireland that the place of the revealing of
+poetry is always by the margin of water. But Finegas had another
+reason for the place where he made his dwelling, for there was an old
+prophecy that whoever should first eat of the Salmon of Knowledge that
+lived in the River Boyne, should become the wisest of men. Now this
+salmon was called Finntan in ancient times and was one of the
+Immortals, and he might be eaten and yet live. But in the time of
+Finegas he was called the Salmon of the Pool of Fec, which is the
+place where the fair river broadens out into a great still pool, with
+green banks softly sloping upward from the clear brown water. Seven
+years was Finegas watching the pool, but not until after Finn had come
+to be his disciple was the salmon caught. Then Finegas gave it to Finn
+to cook, and bade him eat none of it. But when Finegas saw him coming
+with the fish, he knew that something had chanced to the lad, for he
+had been used to have the eye of a young man but now he had the eye of
+a sage. Finegas said, "Hast thou eaten of the salmon?"
+
+"Nay," said Finn, "but it burnt me as I turned it upon the spit and I
+put my thumb in my mouth" And Finegas smote his hands together and was
+silent for a while. Then he said to the lad who stood by obediently,
+"Take the salmon and eat it, Finn, son of Cumhal, for to thee the
+prophecy is come. And now go hence, for I can teach thee no more, and
+blessing and victory be thine."
+
+With Finegas, Finn learned the three things that make a poet, and they
+are Fire of Song, and Light of Knowledge, and the Art of Extempore
+Recitation. Before he departed he made this lay to prove his art, and
+it is called "The Song of Finn in Praise of May":--
+
+   May Day! delightful day!
+     Bright colours play the vales along.
+   Now wakes at morning's slender ray,
+     Wild and gay, the blackbird's song.
+
+   Now comes the bird of dusty hue,
+     The loud cuckoo, the summer-lover;
+   Branching trees are thick with leaves;
+     The bitter, evil time is over.
+
+   Swift horses gather nigh
+     Where half dry the river goes;
+   Tufted heather crowns the height;
+     Weak and white the bogdown blows.
+
+   Corncrake sings from eve till morn,
+     Deep in corn, a strenuous bard!
+   Sings the virgin waterfall,
+     White and tall, her one sweet word.
+
+   Loaded bees of little power
+     Goodly flower-harvest win;
+   Cattle roam with muddy flanks;
+     Busy ants go out and in.
+
+   Through, the wild harp of the wood
+     Making music roars the gale--
+   Now it slumbers without motion,
+     On the ocean sleeps the sail.
+
+   Men grow mighty in the May,
+     Proud and gay the maidens grow;
+   Fair is every wooded height;
+     Fair and bright the plain below.
+
+   A bright shaft has smit the streams,
+     With gold gleams the water-flag;
+   Leaps the fish, and on the hills
+     Ardour thrills the flying stag.
+
+   Carols loud the lark on high,
+     Small and shy, his tireless lay,
+   Singing in wildest, merriest mood
+     Of delicate-hued, delightful May.[20]
+
+   [20] I am much indebted to the beautiful prose translation of
+   this song, published by Dr Kuno Meyer in _Ériu_ (the Journal of
+   the School of Irish Learning), Vol. I. Part II. In my poetic
+   version an attempt has been made to render the riming and
+   metrical effect of the original, which is believed to date from
+   about the ninth century.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Coming of Finn
+
+
+And now we tell how Finn came to the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn.
+
+At this time Ireland was ruled by one of the mightiest of her native
+kings, Conn, son of Felimy, who was surnamed Conn of the Hundred
+Battles. And Conn sat in his great banqueting hall at Tara, while the
+yearly Assembly of the lords and princes of the Gael went forward,
+during which it was the inviolable law that no quarrel should be
+raised and no weapon drawn, so that every man who had a right to come
+to that Assembly might come there and sit next his deadliest foe in
+peace. Below him sat at meat the provincial kings and the chiefs of
+clans, and the High King's officers and fighting-men of the Fianna,
+with Goll and the sons of Morna at their head. And there, too, sat
+modestly a strange youth, tall and fair, whom no one had seen in that
+place before. Conn marked him with the eye of a king that is
+accustomed to mark men, and by and by he sent him a horn full of wine
+from his own table and bade the youth declare his name and lineage.
+"I am Finn, son of Cumhal," said the youth, standing among them, tall
+as a warriors spear, and a start and a low murmur ran through the
+Assembly while the captains of the Fianna stared upon him like men who
+see a vision of the dead. "What seek you here?" said Conn, and Finn
+replied, "To be your man, O King, and to do you service in war as my
+father did." "It is well," said the King. "Thou art a friend's son and
+the son of man of trust." So Finn put his hand in the Kind's and swore
+fealty and service to him, and Conn set him beside his own son Art,
+and all fell to talking again and wondering what new things that day
+would bring forth, and the feasting went merrily forward.
+
+Now at this time the people of the royal burg of Tara were sorely
+afflicted by a goblin of the Fairy Folk, who was wont to approach the
+place at night-fall, there to work what harm to man, or beast, or
+dwelling that he found in his evil mind to do. And he could not be
+resisted, for as he came he played on a magic harp a strain so keen
+and sweet, that each man who heard it must needs stand entranced and
+motionless until the fairy music had passed away. The King proclaimed
+a mighty reward to any man who would save Tara from the goblin, and
+Finn thought in his heart, "I am the man to do that." So he said to
+the King, "Shall I have my rightful heritage as captain of the Fianna
+of Erin if I slay the goblin?" Conn said, "I promise thee that," and
+he bound himself by the sureties of all the provincial Kings of
+Ireland and of the Druid Kithro and his magicians.
+
+Now there was among the following of Conn a man named Fiacha, who had
+been as a youth a trusty friend and follower of Cumhal. He came to
+Finn and brought with him a spear having a head of dark bronze with
+glittering edges, and fastened with thirty rivets of Arabian gold, and
+the spear-head was laced up within a leathern case. "By this weapon of
+enchantment," said Fiacha, "you shall overcome the enchanter," and he
+taught Finn what to do with it when the hour of need should come.
+
+So Finn took the spear, and left the strings of the case loose, and he
+paced with it towards night-fall around the ramparts of royal Tara.
+And when he had once made the circuit of the rampart, and the light
+had now almost quite faded from the summer sky, and the wide low
+plains around the Hill of Tara were a sea of white mist, he heard far
+off in the deepening gloom the first notes of the fairy harp. Never
+such music was made by mortal hand, for it had in it sorrows that man
+has never felt, and joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as
+if a man listening to that music might burst from time into eternity
+and be as one of the Immortals for evermore. And Finn listened, amazed
+and rapt, till at last as the triumphant melody grew nearer and louder
+he saw dimly a Shadow Shape playing as it were on a harp, and coming
+swiftly towards him. Then with a mighty effort he roused himself from
+dreams, and tore the cover from the spear-head and laid the metal to
+his brow. And the demoniac energy that had been beaten into the blade
+by the hammers of unearthly craftsmen in ancient days thrilled
+through him and made him fighting-mad, and he rushed forward shouting
+his battle-cry, and swinging the spear aloft. But the Shadow turned
+and fled before him, and Finn chased it northward to the Fairy Mound
+of Slieve Fuad, and there he drove the spear through its back. And
+what it was that fell there in the night, and what it was that passed
+like the shadow of a shadow into the Fairy Mound, none can tell, but
+Finn bore back with him next day a pale, sorrowful head on the point
+of Fiacha's spear, and the goblin troubled the folk of royal Tara no
+more.
+
+But Conn of the Hundred Battles called the Fianna together, and he set
+Finn at his right hand and said, "Here is your Captain by birth-right
+and by sword-right. Let who will now obey him hence-forward, and who
+will not, let him go in peace and serve Arthur of Britain or Arist of
+Alba, or whatsoever King he will." And Goll, son of Morna, said, "For
+my part I will be Finn's man under thee, O King," and he swore
+obedience and loyalty to Finn before them all. Nor was it hard for any
+man to step where Goll had gone before, so they all took their oaths
+of Fian service to Finn mac Cumhal. And thus it was that Finn came to
+the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn, and he ruled the Fianna many a
+year till he died in battle with the Clan Urgrenn at Brea upon the
+Boyne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Finn's Chief Men
+
+
+With the coming of Finn did the Fianna of Erinn come to their glory,
+and with his life their glory passed away. For he ruled them as no
+other captain ever did, both strongly and wisely, and never bore a
+grudge against any, but freely forgave a man all offences save
+disloyalty to his lord. Thus it is told that Conan, son of the Lord of
+Luachar, him who had the Treasure Bag and whom Finn slew at Rath
+Luachar, was for seven years an outlaw and marauder, harrying the
+Fians, and killing here a man and there a hound, and firing their
+dwellings, and raiding their cattle. At last they ran him to a corner
+at Cam Lewy in Munster, and when he saw that he could escape no more
+he stole upon Finn as he sat down after a chase, and flung his arms
+round him from behind, holding him fast and motionless. Finn knew who
+held him thus and said, "What wilt thou Conan?" Conan said, "To make a
+covenant of service and fealty with thee, for I may no longer evade
+thy wrath." So Finn laughed and said, "Be it so, Conan, and if thou
+prove faithful and valiant, I also will keep faith." And Conan served
+him for thirty years, and no man of all the Fianna was keener and
+hardier in fight. There was also another Conan, namely, mac Morna,
+who was big and bald, and unwieldy in manly exercises, but whose
+tongue was bitter and scurrilous; no high brave thing was done that
+Conan the Bald did not mock and belittle. It is said that when he was
+stripped he showed down his back and buttocks a black sheep's fleece
+instead of a man's skin, and this is the way it came about. One day
+when Conan and certain others of the Fianna were hunting in the forest
+they came to a stately Dún, white-walled, with coloured thatching on
+the roof, and they entered it to seek hospitality. But when they were
+within they found! no man, but a great empty hall with pillars of
+cedar wood and silken hangings about it, like the hall of a wealthy
+lord. In the midst there was a table set forth with a sumptuous feast
+of boar's flesh and venison, and a great vat of yew wood full of red
+wine, and cups of gold and silver. So they set themselves gaily to eat
+and drink, for they were hungry from the chase, and talk and laughter
+were loud around the board. But one of them ere long started to his
+feet with a cry of fear and wonder, and they all looked round, and saw
+before their eyes the tapestried walls changing to rough wooden balks
+and the ceiling to foul sooty thatch like that of a herdsman's hut. So
+they knew they were being entrapped by some enchantment of the Fairy
+Folk, and all sprang to their feet and made for the doorway, that was
+no longer high and stately but was shrinking to the size of a fox
+earth,--all but Conan the Bald, who was gluttonously devouring the
+good things on the table, and heeded nothing else. Then they shouted
+to him, and as the last of them went out he strove to rise and follow,
+but found himself limed to the chair so that he could not stir. So
+two of the Fianna, seeing his plight, rushed back and seized his arms
+and tugged with all their might, and if they dragged him away, they
+left the most part of his raiment and his skin sticking to the chair.
+Then, not knowing what else to do with him in his sore plight they
+clapped upon his back the nearest thing they could find, which was the
+skin of a black sheep that they took from a peasant's flock hard by,
+and it grew there, and Conan wore it till his death.
+
+Though Conan was a coward and rarely adventured himself in battle with
+the Fianna, it is told that once a good man fell by his hand. This was
+on the day of the great battle with the pirate horde on the Hill of
+Slaughter in Kerry.[21] For Liagan, one of the invaders, stood out
+before the hosts and challenged the bravest of the Fians to single
+combat, and the Fians, in mockery, thrust Conan forth to the fight.
+When he appeared, Liagan laughed, for he had more strength than wit,
+and he said, "Silly is thy visit, thou bald old man." And as Conan
+still approached, Liagan lifted his hand fiercely, and Conan said,
+"Truly thou art in more peril from the man behind than from the man in
+front." Liagan looked round; and in that instant Conan swept off his
+head and then threw down his sword and ran for shelter to the ranks of
+the laughing Fians. But Finn was very wroth because he had won the
+victory by a trick.
+
+   [21] The hill still bears the name, Knockanar.
+
+And one of the chiefest of the friends of Finn was Dermot of the Love
+Spot. He was so fair and noble to look on that no woman could refuse
+him love, and it was said that he never knew weariness, but his step
+was as light at the end of the longest day of battle or the chase as
+it was at the beginning. Between him and Finn there was great love
+until the day when Finn, then an old man, was to wed Grania, daughter
+of Cormac the High King; but Grania bound Dermot by the sacred
+ordinances of the Fian chivalry to fly with her on her wedding night,
+which thing, sorely against his will, he did, and thereby got his
+death. But Grania went back to Finn, and when the Fianna saw her they
+laughed through all the camp in bitter mockery, for they would not
+have given one of the dead man's fingers for twenty such as Grania.
+
+Others of the chief men that Finn had were Keelta mac Ronan, who was
+one of his house-stewards and a strong warrior as well as a
+golden-tongued reciter of tales and poems. And there was Oisín, the
+son of Finn, the greatest poet of the Gael, of whom more shall be told
+hereafter. And Oisín had a son Oscar, who was the fiercest fighter in
+battle among all the Fians. He slew in his maiden battle three kings,
+and in his fury he also slew by mischance his own friend and
+condisciple Linne. His wife was the fair Aideen, who died of grief
+after Oscar's death in the battle of Gowra, and Oisín buried her on
+Ben Edar (Howth), and raised over her the great cromlech which is
+there to this day.
+
+Another good man that Finn had was Geena, the son of Luga; his mother
+was the warrior-daughter of Finn, and his father was a near kinsman of
+hers. He was nurtured by a woman that bore the name of Fair Mane, who
+had brought up many of the Fianna to manhood. When his time to take
+arms was come he stood before Finn and made his covenant of fealty,
+and Finn gave him the captaincy of a band. But mac Luga proved
+slothful and selfish, for ever vaunting himself and his weapon-skill
+and never training his men to the chase of deer or boar, and he used
+to beat his hounds and his serving-men. At last the Fians under him
+came with their whole company to Finn at Loch Lena in Killarney, and
+there they laid their complaint against mac Luga, and said, "Choose
+now, O Finn, whether you will have us, or the son of Luga by himself."
+
+Then Finn sent to mac Luga and questioned him, but mac Luga could say
+nothing to the point as to why the Fianna would none of him. Then Finn
+taught him the things befitting a youth of noble birth and a captain
+of men, and they were these:--
+
+"Son of Luga, if armed service be thy design, in a great man's
+household be quiet, be surly in the narrow pass."
+
+"Without a fault of his beat not thy hound; until thou ascertain her
+guilt, bring not a charge against thy wife."
+
+"In battle, meddle not with a buffoon, for, O mac Luga, he is but a
+fool."
+
+"Censure not any if he be of grave repute; stand not up to take part
+in a brawl; have nought to do with a madman or a wicked one."
+
+"Two-thirds of thy gentleness be shown to women and to those that
+creep on the floor (little children) and to poets, and be not violent
+to the common people."
+
+"Utter not swaggering speech, nor say thou wilt not yield what is
+right; it is a shameful thing to speak too stiffly unless that it be
+feasible to carry out thy words."
+
+"So long as thou shalt live, thy lord forsake not; neither for gold
+nor for other reward in the world abandon one whom thou art pledged to
+protect."
+
+"To a chief do not abuse his people, for that is no work for a
+gentleman."
+
+"Be no talebearer, nor utterer of falsehoods; be not talkative nor
+rashly censorious. Stir not up strife against thee, however good a man
+thou be."
+
+"Be no frequenter of the drinking-house, nor given to carping at the
+old; meddle not with a man of mean estate."
+
+"Dispense thy meat freely, have no niggard for thy familiar."
+
+"Force not thyself upon a chief, nor give him cause to speak ill of
+thee."
+
+"Stick to thy gear, hold fast to thy arms till the stern fight with
+its weapon-glitter be well ended."
+
+"Be more apt to give than to deny, and follow after gentleness, O son
+of Luga."[22]
+
+   [22] I have in the main borrowed Standish Hayes O'Grady's vivid
+   and racy translation of these adages of the Fianna. (SILVA
+   GADELICA, Engl. transl., p. 115.)
+
+And the son of Luga, it is written, heeded these counsels and gave up
+his bad ways, and he became one of the best of Finn's men.
+
+Such-like things also Finn taught to all his followers, and the best
+of them became like himself in valour and gentleness and generosity.
+Each of them loved the repute of his comrades more than his own, and
+each would say that for all noble qualities there was no man in the
+breadth of the world worthy to be thought of beside Finn.
+
+It was said of him that "he gave away gold as if it were the leaves of
+the woodland, and silver as if it were the foam of the sea," and that
+whatever he had bestowed upon any man, if he fell out with him
+afterwards, he was never known to bring it against him.
+
+Sang the poet Oisín of him once to St Patrick:--
+
+  "These are the things that were dear to Finn--
+  The din of battle, the banquet's glee,
+  The bay of his hounds through the rough glen ringing.
+  And the blackbird singing in Letter Lee,
+
+  "The shingle grinding along the shore
+  When they dragged his war-boats down to sea,
+  The dawn-wind whistling his spears among,
+  And the magic song of his minstrels three."
+
+In the time of Finn no one was ever admitted to be one of the Fianna
+of Erinn unless he could pass through many severe tests of his
+worthiness. He must be versed in the Twelve Books of Poetry and must
+himself be skilled to make verse in the rime and metre of the masters
+of Gaelic poesy. Then he was buried to his middle in the earth, and
+must, with a shield and a hazel stick, there defend himself against
+nine warriors casting spears at him, and if he were wounded he was
+not accepted. Then his hair was woven into braids and he was chased
+through the forest by the Fians. If he were overtaken, or if a braid
+of his hair were disturbed, or if a dry stick cracked under his foot,
+he was not accepted. He must be able to leap over a lath level with
+his brow and to run at full speed under level with his knee, and he
+must be able while running to draw out a thorn from his foot and never
+slacken speed. He must take no dowry with a wife.
+
+It was said that one of the Fians, namely Keelta, lived on to a great
+age, and saw St Patrick, by whom he was baptized into the faith of the
+Christ, and to whom he told many tales of Finn and his men, which
+Patrick's scribe wrote down. And once Patrick asked him how it was
+that the Fianna became so mighty and so glorious that all Ireland sang
+of their deeds, as Ireland has done ever since. Keelta answered,
+"Truth was in our hearts and strength in our arms, and what we said,
+that we fulfilled."
+
+This was also told of Keelta after he had seen St Patrick and received
+the Faith. He chanced to be one day by Leyney in Connacht, where the
+Fairy Folk of the Mound of Duma were wont to be sorely harassed and
+spoiled every year by pirates from oversea. They called Keelta to
+their aid, and by his counsel and valour the invaders were overcome
+and driven home, but Keelta was sorely wounded. Then Keelta asked
+that Owen the seer of the Fairy Folk might foretell him how long he
+had to live, for he was already a very aged man. Owen said, "It will
+be seventeen years, O Keelta of fair fame, till thou fall by the pool
+of Tara, and grievous that will be to all the King's household." "Even
+so did my chief and lord, my guardian and loving Protector, Finn,
+foretell to me," said Keelta. "And now what fee will ye give me for my
+rescue of you from the worst affliction that ever befell you?" "A
+great reward," said the Fairy Folk, "even youth; for by our art we
+shall change you into young man again with all the strength and
+activity of your prime." "Nay, God forbid," said Keelta "that I should
+take upon me a shape of sorcery, or any other than that which my
+Maker, the true and glorious God, hath bestowed upon me." And the
+Fairy Folk said, "It is the word of a true warrior and hero, and the
+thing that thou sayest is good." So they healed his wounds, and every
+bodily evil that he had, and he wished them blessing and victory, and
+went his way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Tale of Vivionn the Giantess
+
+
+One day Finn and Goll, Keelta and Oscar, and others of the Fianna,
+were resting after the hunt on a certain hill now called the Ridge of
+the Dead Woman, and their meal was being got ready, when a girl of the
+kin of the giants came striding up and sat down among them. "Didst
+thou ever see a woman so tall?" asked Finn of Goll. "By my troth,"
+said Goll, "never have I or any other seen a woman so big." She took
+her hand out of her bosom and on her long slender fingers there were
+three gold rings each as thick as an ox's yoke. "Let us question her,"
+said Goll, and Finn said, "If we stood up, perchance she might hear
+us."
+
+So they all rose to their feet, but the giantess, on that, rose up
+too. "Maiden," said Finn, "if thou have aught to say to us or to hear
+from us, sit down and lean thine elbow on the hill-side." So she lay
+down and Finn bade her say whence she came and what was her will with
+them. "Out of the World Oversea where the sun sets am I come," she
+said, "to seek thy protection, O mighty Finn." "And what is thy name?"
+"My name is Vivionn of the Fair Hair, and my father Treon is called
+King of the Land of Lasses, for he has but three sons and nine and
+seven score daughters, and near him is a King who hath one daughter
+and eight score sons. To one of these, Æda, was I given in marriage
+sorely against my will. Three times now have I fled from him. And this
+time it was fishermen whom the wind blew to us from off this land who
+told us of a mighty lord here, named Finn, son of Cumhal, who would
+let none be wronged or oppressed, but he would be their friend and
+champion. And if thou be he, to thee am I come." Then she laid her
+hand in Finn's, and he bade her do the same with Goll mac Morna, who
+was second in the Fian leadership, and she did so.
+
+Then the maiden took from her head a jewelled golden helmet, and
+immediately her hair flowed out in seven score tresses, fair, curly
+and golden, at the abundance of which all stood amazed; and Finn said,
+"By the Immortals that we adore, but King Cormac and the poetess Ethne
+and the fair women-folk of the Fianna would deem it a marvel to see
+this girl. Tell us now, maiden, what portion wilt thou have of meat
+and drink? will that of a hundred of us suffice thee?" The girl then
+saw Cnu, the dwarf harper of Finn, who had just been playing to them,
+and she said, "Whatever thou givest to yon little man that bears the
+harp, be it much or little, the same, O Finn, will suffice for me."
+
+Then she begged a drink from them, and Finn called his gillie,
+Saltran, and bade him fetch the full of a certain great goblet with
+water from the ford; now this goblet was of wood, and it held as much
+as nine of the Fianna could drink. The maiden poured some of the water
+into her right hand and drank three sips of it, and scattered the rest
+over the Fianna, and she and they burst out laughing. Finn said, "On
+thy conscience, girl, what ailed thee not to drink out of the goblet?"
+"Never," she replied, "have I drunk out of any vessel but there was a
+rim of gold to it, or at least of silver."
+
+And now Keelta looking up perceived a tall youth coming swiftly
+towards them, who, when he approached, seemed even bigger than was the
+maiden. He wore a rough hairy cape over his shoulder and beneath that
+a green cloak fastened by a golden brooch; his tunic was of royal
+satin, and he bore a red shield slung over his shoulders, and a spear
+with a shaft as thick as a man's leg was in his hand; a gold-hilted
+sword hung by his side. And his face, which was smooth-shaven, was
+comelier than that of any of the sons of men.
+
+When he came near, seeing among the Fians a stir of alarm at this
+apparition, Finn said, "Keep every one of you his place, let neither
+warrior nor gillie address him. Know any of you this champion?" "I
+know him," said the maiden; "that is even he to escape from whom I am
+come to thee, O Finn." And she sat down between Finn and Goll. But the
+stranger drew near, and spake never a word, but before any one could
+tell what he would be at he thrust fiercely and suddenly with his
+spear at the girl, and the shaft stood out a hand's breadth at her
+back. And she fell gasping, but the young man drew his weapon out and
+passed rapidly through the crowd and away.
+
+[Illustration: "They ran him by hill and plain"]
+
+Then Finn cried, red with wrath, "Ye have seen! Avenge this wicked
+deed, or none of you aspire to Fianship again." And the whole company
+sprang to their feet and gave chase to that murderer, save only Finn
+and Goll, who stayed by the dying maiden. And they ran him by hill and
+plain to the great Bay of Tralee and down to the Tribute Point, where
+the traders from oversea were wont to pay their dues, and there he set
+his face to the West and took the water. By this time four of the
+Fianna had outstripped the rest, namely, Keelta, and Dermot, and Glas,
+and Oscar, son of Oisín. Of these Keelta was first, and just as the
+giant was mid-leg in the waves he hurled his spear and it severed the
+thong of the giant's shield so that it fell off in the water. And as
+the giant paused, Keelta seized his spear and tore it from him. But
+the giant waded on, and soon the Fians were floundering in deep water
+while the huge form, thigh deep, was seen striding towards the setting
+sun. And a great ship seemed to draw near, and it received him, and
+then departed into the light, but the Fians returned in the grey
+evening, bearing the spear and the great shield to Finn. There they
+found the maiden at point of death, and they laid the weapons before
+her. "Goodly indeed are these arms," she said, "for that is the
+Thunder Spear of the King Oversea and the shield is the Red Branch
+Shield," for it was covered with red arabesques. Then she bestowed her
+bracelets on Finn's three harpers, the dwarf Cnu, and Blanit his wife,
+and the harper Daira. And she bade Finn care for her burial, that it
+should be done becomingly, "for under thy honour and protection I got
+my death, and it was to thee I came into Ireland." So they buried her
+and lamented her, and made a great far-seen mound over her grave,
+which is called the Ridge of the Dead Woman, and set up a pillar stone
+upon it with her name and lineage carved in Ogham-crave.[23]
+
+   [23] Ogham-craobh = "branching Ogham," so called because the
+   letters resembled the branching of twigs from a stem. The Ogham
+   alphabet was in use in Ireland in pre-Christian times, and many
+   sepulchral inscriptions in it still remain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+The Chase of the Gilla Dacar
+
+
+In the reign of Cormac mac Art, grandson of Conn of the Hundred
+Battles, the order of precedence and dignity in the court of the High
+King at Tara was as follows: First came great Cormac, the kingly, the
+hospitable, warrior and poet, and he was supreme over all. Next in
+order came the five kings of the five Provinces of Ireland, namely,
+Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, and Mid-Erinn. After these ranked
+the captains of the royal host, of whom Finn, son of Cumhal, was the
+chief.
+
+Now the privileges of the Fianna of Erinn were many and great; to wit,
+in every county in Ireland one townland, and in every townland a
+cartron of land, and in the house of every gentleman the right to
+have a young deer-hound or a beagle kept at nurse from November to
+May, together with many other taxes and royalties not to be recounted
+here. But if they had these many and great privileges, yet greater
+than these were the toils and hardships which they had to endure, in
+guarding the coasts of all Ireland from oversea invaders and
+marauders, and in keeping down all robbers and outlaws and evil folk
+within the kingdom, for this was the duty laid upon them by their bond
+of service to the King.
+
+Now the summer half of the year was wont to be ended by a great
+hunting in one of the forests of Ireland, and so it was that one
+All-hallowtide, when the great banquet of Finn in his Dún on the Hill
+of Allen was going forward, and the hall resounded with cheerful talk
+and laughter and with the music of tympan and of harp, Finn asked of
+the assembled captains in what part of Erinn they should proceed to
+beat up game on the morrow. And it was agreed among them to repair to
+the territory of Thomond and Desmond in Munster; and from Allen they
+set out accordingly and came to the Hill of Knockany. Thence they
+threw out the hunt and sent their bands of beaters through many a
+gloomy ravine and by many a rugged hill-pass and many a fair open
+plain. Desmond's high hills, called now Slievelogher, they beat, and
+the smooth, swelling hills of Slievenamuck, and the green slopes of
+grassy Slievenamon, and the towering rough crags of the Decies, and
+thence on to the dark woods of Belachgowran.
+
+While the great hunt was going forward Finn with certain of his chief
+captains sat on a high mound to overlook it. There, with Finn, were
+Goll and Art mac Morna, and Liagan the swift runner, and Dermot of the
+Love Spot, and Keelta, son of Ronan, and there also was Conan the
+Bald, the man of scurrilous tongue, and a score or so more. Sweet it
+was to Finn and his companions to hear from the woods and wildernesses
+around them the many-tongued baying of the hounds and the cries and
+whistling of the beaters, the shouting of the strong men and the notes
+of the Fian hunting-horn.
+
+When they had sat there awhile one of Finn's men came running quickly
+towards him and said--
+
+"A stranger is approaching us from the westward, O Finn, and I much
+mislike his aspect."
+
+With that all the Fians looked up and beheld upon the hillside a huge
+man, looking like some Fomorian marauder, black-visaged and ugly, with
+a sour countenance and ungainly limbs. On his back hung a dingy black
+shield, on his misshapen left thigh he wore a sharp broad-bladed
+sword; projecting over his shoulder were two long lances with broad
+rusty heads. He wore garments that looked as if they had been buried
+in a cinder heap, and a loose ragged mantle. Behind him there shambled
+a sulky, ill-shapen mare with a bony carcase and bowed knees, and on
+her neck a clumsy iron halter. With a rope her master hauled her
+along, with violent jerks that seemed as if they would wrench her head
+from her scraggy neck, and ever and anon the mare would stand and jib,
+when the man laid on her ribs such blows from a strong ironshod cudgel
+that they sounded like the surges of the sea beating on a rocky coast.
+Short as was the distance from where the man and his horse were first
+perceived to where Finn was standing, it was long ere they traversed
+it. At last, however, he came into the presence of Finn and louted
+before him, doing obeisance. Finn lifted his hand over him and bade
+him speak, and declare his business and his name and rank. "I know
+not," said the fellow, "of what blood I am, gentle or simple, but only
+this, that I am a wight from oversea looking for service and wages.
+And as I have heard of thee, O Finn, that thou art not wont to refuse
+any man, I came to take service with thee if thou wilt have me."
+
+"Neither shall I refuse thee," said Finn; "but what brings thee here
+with a horse and no horseboy?"
+
+"Good enough reason," said the stranger. "I have much ado to get meat
+for my own belly, seeing that I eat for a hundred men; and I will not
+have any horseboy meddling with my ration."
+
+"And what name dost thou bear?"
+
+"I am called the Gilla Dacar (the Hard Gillie)," replied he.
+
+"Why was that name given thee?" asked Finn.
+
+"Good enough reason for that also," spake the stranger, "for of all
+the lads in the world there is none harder than I am for a lord to get
+any service and obedience from." Then turning to Conan the Bald he
+said, "Whether among the Fianna is a horseman's pay or a footman's the
+highest?"
+
+"A horseman's surely," said Conan, "seeing that he gets twice the pay
+of a footman."
+
+"Then I am a horseman in thy service, Finn," said the gillie. "I call
+thee to observe that I have here a horse, and moreover that as a
+horseman I came among the Fianna. Have I thy authority," he went on,
+"to turn out my steed among thine?"
+
+"Turn her out," quoth Finn.
+
+Then the big man flung his mare the rope and immediately she galloped
+off to where the Fian horses were grazing. Here she fell to biting and
+kicking them, knocking out the eye of one and snapping off another's
+ear and breaking the leg of another with a kick.
+
+"Take away thy mare, big man," cried Conan then, "or by Heaven and
+Earth were it not that Finn told thee to let her loose I would let
+loose her brains. Many a bad bargain has Finn made but never a worse
+than thou."
+
+"By Heaven and Earth," said the gillie, "that I never will, for I have
+no horseboy, and I will do no horseboy's work."
+
+Then Conan mac Morna took the iron halter and laid it on the
+stranger's horse and brought the beast back to Finn and held it there.
+
+Said Finn to Conan, "I have never seen thee do horseboy's service even
+to far better men than this gillie. How now if thou wert to leap on
+the brute's back and gallop her to death over hill and dale in payment
+for the mischief she hath wrought among our steeds?"
+
+At this word Conan clambered up on the back of the big man's mare, and
+with all his might he smote his two heels into her, but the mare never
+stirred.
+
+"I perceive what ails her," said Finn. "She will never stir till she
+has a weight of men on her equal to that of her own rider."
+
+Then thirteen men of the Fianna scrambled up laughing behind Conan,
+and the mare lay down under them, and then got up again, they still
+clinging to her. At this the big man said,
+
+"It appears that you are making a sport and mockery of my mare, and
+that even I myself do not escape from it. It is well for me that I
+have not spent the rest of the year in your company, seeing what a
+jest ye have made of me the very first day; and I perceive, O Finn,
+that thou art very unlike the report that is made of thee. And now I
+bid thee farewell, for of thy service I have had enough."
+
+So with downcast head and despondent looks the big gillie shambled
+slowly away until he had passed out of view of the Fianna, behind the
+shoulder of the hill. Having arrived here he tucked up his coat to his
+waist, and fast though be the flight of the swallow, and fast that of
+the roe-deer, and fast the rush of a roaring wind over a mountain top
+in mid-March, no faster are these than the bounding speed and furious
+flight of the big man down the hillside toward the West.
+
+No sooner did the mare see that her master had departed than she too
+dashed uncontrollably forward and flew down the hillside after him.
+And as the Fians saw Conan the Bald and his thirteen companions thus
+carried off, willy nilly, they broke into a roar of laughter and ran
+alongside mocking them. But Conan, seeing that they were being carried
+off in the wake of the big man of evil aspect, of whom none knew
+whence or who he was, he was terrified and began reviling and cursing,
+and shouted to Finn, "A palsy seize thee, Finn; may some rascally
+churl, that is if possible of worse blood than thyself, have thy head,
+unless thou follow and rescue us wheresoever this monster shall bring
+us." So Finn and the Fianna ran, and the mare ran, over bare hills and
+by deep glens, till at last they came to Corcaguiny in Kerry, where
+the gillie set his face to the blue ocean, and the mare dashed in
+after him. But ere he did so, Liagan the Swift got two hands on the
+tail of the mare, though further he could not win, and he was towed
+in, still clinging to his hold, and over the rolling billows away they
+went, the fourteen Fians on the wild mare's back, and Liagan haled
+along by her tail.
+
+"What is to be done now?" said Oisín to Finn when they had arrived at
+the beach.
+
+"Our men are to be rescued," said Finn, "for to that we are bound by
+the honour of the Fianna. Whithersoever they are gone, thither must we
+follow and win them back by fair means or foul; but to that end we
+must first fit out a galley."
+
+So in the end it was agreed that Finn and fourteen men of his bravest
+and best champions should sail oversea in search of the Gilla Dacar
+and his captives, while Oisín remained in Erinn and exercised rule
+over the Fianna in the place of his father.
+
+After a while, then, a swift galley was made ready by Finn and stored
+with victual, and with arms, and also with gold and raiment to make
+gifts withal if need should be. And into the ship came the fifteen
+valiant men, and gripped their oars, while Finn steered; and soon the
+sea whitened around their oarblades, and over the restless, rolling
+masses of the many-hued and voiceful billows, the ship clove her way
+to the West. And the Fians, who were wont to be wakened by the
+twittering of birds over their hunting booths in the greenwood, now
+delighted to hear, day after day as they roused themselves at morn,
+the lapping of the wide waters of the world against their vessel's
+bows, or the thunder of pounding surges when the wind blew hard.
+
+At length after many days the sharpest-eyed of the men of Finn saw
+far-off what seemed a mountain rising from the sea, and to it they
+shaped their course. When they had come to that land they found
+themselves under the shadow of a great grey cliff, and beneath it
+slippery rocks covered with seaweed.
+
+Then Dermot, who was the most active of the company, was bidden to
+mount the cliff and to procure means of drawing up the rest of the
+party, but of what land might lie on the top of that wall of rock none
+of them could discover anything. Dermot, descending from the ship,
+then climbed with difficulty up the face of the cliff, while the
+others made fast their ship among the rocks. But Dermot having arrived
+at the top saw no habitation of man, and could compass no way of
+helping his companions to mount. He went therefore boldly forward into
+the unknown land, hoping to obtain some help, if any friendly and
+hospitable folk could there be found.
+
+[Illustration: "Dermot took the horn and would have filled it"]
+
+Before he had gone far he came into a wild wood, thick and tangled,
+and full of the noise of streams, and the sough of winds, and
+twittering of birds, and hum of bees. After he had traversed this
+wilderness for a while he came to a mighty tree with densely
+interwoven branches, and beneath it a pile of rocks, having on its
+summit a pointed drinking horn wreathed with rich ornament, and at its
+foot a well of pure bright water. Dermot, being now thirsty, took the
+horn and would have filled it at the well, but as he stooped down to
+do so he heard a loud, threatening murmur which seemed to rise from
+it. "I perceive," he said to himself, "that I am forbidden to drink
+from this well" Nevertheless thirst compelled him, and he drank his
+fill.
+
+In no long time thereafter he saw an armed warrior of hostile aspect
+coming towards him through the wood. No courteous greeting did he give
+to Dermot, but began to revile him for roaming in his wood and
+wilderness, and for drinking his water. Thereupon they fought, and
+for the rest of the afternoon they took and gave hard blows neither
+subduing the other, till at last as darkness began to fall the warrior
+suddenly dived into the well and was seen no more. Dermot, vexed at
+this ending of the combat, then made him ready to spend the night in
+that place, but first he slew a deer in the wood, and made a fire,
+whereat he roasted pieces of the deer's flesh on spits of white hazel,
+and drank abundantly of the well-water, and then slept soundly through
+the night.
+
+Next morning when he awakened and went to the well he found the
+Champion of the Well standing there and awaiting him. "It is not
+enough, Dermot," said he angrily, "for thee to traverse my woods at
+will and to drink my water, but thou must even also slay my deer."
+Then they closed in combat again, and dealt each other blow for blow
+and wound for wound till evening parted them, and the champion dived
+into the well as before.
+
+On the third day it went even so; but as evening came on Dermot,
+watching closely, rushed at the champion just as he was about to
+plunge into the well, and gripped him in his arms. But none the less
+the Champion of the Well made his dive, and took down Dermot with him.
+And a darkness and faintness came over Dermot, but when he awoke, he
+found himself in a wide, open country, flowery and fair, and before
+him the walls and towers of a royal city. Thither the champion, sorely
+wounded, was now borne off, while a crowd of his people came round
+Dermot, and beat and wounded him, leaving him on the ground for dead.
+
+After night had fallen, when all the people of the city in the Land
+Undersea had departed, a stalwart champion, well-armed and of bold
+appearance, came upon Dermot and stirred him with his foot. Dermot
+thereon awoke from his swoon and, warrior-like, reached out his hand
+for his arms. But the champion said, "Wait awhile, my son, I have not
+come to do thee hurt or harm. Thou hast chosen an ill place to rest
+and slumber in, before the city of thine enemy. Rise and follow me,
+and I shall bestow thee far better than that." Dermot then rose and
+followed the champion, and long and far they journeyed until they came
+to a high-towered fortress, wherein were thrice fifty valiant
+men-at-arms and fair women; and the daughter of that champion, a
+white-toothed, rosy-cheeked, smooth-handed, and black-eyebrowed maid,
+received Dermot, kindly and welcomefully, and applied healing herbs to
+his wounds, and in no long time he was made as good a man as ever. And
+thus he remained, and was entertained most royally with the best of
+viands and of liquors. The first part of every night those in that Dún
+were wont to spend in feasting, and the second in recreation and
+entertainment of the mind, with music and with poetry and bardic
+tales, and the third part in sound and healthful slumber, till the sun
+in his fiery journey rose over the heavy-clodded earth on the morrow
+morn.
+
+And the King of that country, who was the champion that had aroused
+Dermot, told him this was the land of Sorca, and that he had showed
+this kindness to Dermot for that he himself had once been on wage and
+service with Finn, son of Cumhal "and a better master," said he, "man
+never had."
+
+Now the story turns to tell of what befell Finn and the remainder of
+his companions when Dermot left them in the ship. After a while,
+seeing that he did not return, and being assured that some mischief or
+hindrance must have befallen him, they made an attempt to climb the
+cliff after him, having noted which way he went. With much toil and
+peril they accomplished this, and then journeying forward and
+following on Dermot's track, they came at last to the well in the wild
+wood, and saw near by the remains of the deer, and the ashes of the
+fire that Dermot had kindled to cook it. But from this place they
+could discover no track of his going. While they were debating on what
+should next be done, they saw riding towards them a tall warrior on a
+dark grey horse with a golden bridle, who greeted them courteously.
+From him they enquired as to whether he had seen aught of their
+companion, Dermot, in the wilderness. "Follow me," said the warrior,
+"and you shall shortly have tidings of him."
+
+Then they followed the strange horseman into the forest by many dark
+and winding ways, until at last they came into a rocky ravine, where
+they found the mouth of a great cavern opening into the hillside.
+Into this they went, and the way led them downward until it seemed as
+if they were going into the bowels of the earth, until at last the
+light began to shine round them, and they came out into a lovely land
+of flowery plains and green woods and singing streams. In no long time
+thereafter they came to a great royal Dún, where he who led them was
+hailed as king and lord, and here, to their joy, they found their
+comrade, Dermot of the Love Spot, who told them of all his adventures
+and heard from them of theirs. This ended, and when they had been
+entertained and refreshed, the lord of that place spoke to Finn and
+said:--
+
+"I have now, O Finn, within my fortress the fifteen stoutest heroes
+that the world holds. To this end have I brought you here, that ye
+might make war with me upon mine enemy the Champion of the Well, who
+is king of the land bordering on mine, and who ceases not to persecute
+and to harry my people because, in his arrogance, he would have all
+the Under World country subject to himself alone. Say now if ye will
+embrace this enterprise and help me to defend my own: and if not I
+shall set you again upon the land of Erinn."
+
+Finn said, "What of my fifteen men that were carried away on the wild
+mare's back oversea?" "They are guarding the marches of my kingdom,"
+said the King of Sorca, "and all is well with them and shall be well."
+
+Then Finn agreed to take service with the King of Sorca, and next day
+they arrayed themselves for fight and went out at the head of the
+host. Ere long they came upon the army of the King of the Well, and
+with him was the King of the Greeks and a band of fierce mercenaries,
+and also the daughter of the Greek King, by name Tasha of the White
+Side, a maiden who in beauty and grace surpassed all other women of
+the world, as the Shannon surpasses all rivers of Erinn and the eagle
+surpasses all birds of the air. Now the stories of Finn and his
+generosity and great deeds had reached her since she was a child, and
+she had set her love on him, though she had never seen his face till
+now.
+
+When the hosts were met, the King of the Greeks said, "Who of my men
+will stand forth and challenge the best of these men of Erinn to
+single combat that their metal may be proved, for to us it is unknown
+what manner of men they be." The son of the King of the Greeks said,
+"I will go."
+
+So on the side of Finn, Oscar, son of Oisín, was chosen to match the
+son of the Greek King, and the two hosts sat down peacefully together
+to watch the weapon-play. And Tasha the princess sat by Finn, son of
+Cumhal.
+
+Then Oscar and the King's son stepped into their fighting place, and
+fierce was the combat that arose between them, as when two roaring
+surges of the sea dash against each other in a fissure of the rocks,
+and the spray-cloud bursts from them high into the air. Long they
+fought, and many red wounds did each of them give and receive, till at
+last Oscar beat the Greek prince to the earth and smote off his head.
+Then one host groaned for woe and discouragement, while the other
+shouted for joy of victory, and so they parted for the night, each to
+their own camp.
+
+And in the camp of the folk of Sorca they found Conan the Bald and the
+fourteen men that had gone with him on the mare's back.
+
+But when night had fallen, Tasha stole from the wizard of the Greek
+King his branch of silver bells that when shaken would lay asleep a
+host of men, and with the aid of this she passed from the camp of the
+Greeks, and through the sentinels, and came to the tent of Finn.
+
+On the morrow morn the King of the Greeks found that his daughter had
+fled to be the wife of Finn, son of Cumhal, and he offered a mighty
+reward to whosoever would slay Finn and bring Tasha back. But when the
+two armies closed in combat the Fians and the host of the King of
+Sorca charged so fiercely home, that they drove their foes before them
+as a winter gale drives before it a cloud of madly whirling leaves,
+and those that were not slain in the fight and the pursuit went to
+their own lands and abode there in peace; and thus was the war ended
+of the King of Sorca and the Lord of the Well.
+
+Then the King of Sorca had Finn and his comrades before him and gave
+them praise and thanks for their valour. "And what reward," he said,
+"will ye that I make you for the saving of the kingdom of Sorca?"
+
+"Thou wert in my service awhile," said Finn, "and I mind not that I
+paid thee any wage for it. Let that service even go against this, and
+so we are quits."
+
+"Nay, then," cried Conan the Bald, "but what shall I have for my ride
+on the mare of the Gilla Dacar?"
+
+"What wilt thou have?" said the King of Sorca.
+
+"This," said Conan, "and nothing else will I accept. Let fourteen of
+the fairest women of the land of Sorca be put on that same mare, and
+thy wife, O King, clinging to its tail, and let them be thus haled
+across the sea until they come to Corcaguiny in the land of Erinn. I
+will have none of thy gold and silver, but the indignity that has been
+put upon me doth demand an honourable satisfaction."
+
+Then the King of Sorca smiled, and he said, "Behold thy men, Finn."
+
+[Illustration: "'Follow me now to the Hill of Allen'"]
+
+Finn turned his head to look round, and as he did so the plain and the
+encampment of the Fairy Host vanished from his sight, and he saw
+himself standing on the shingly strand of a little bay, with rocky
+heights to right and left, crowned with yellow whin bushes whose
+perfume mingled with the salt sea wind. It was the spot where he had
+seen the Gilla Dacar and his mare take water on the coast of Kerry.
+Finn stared over the sea, to discover, if he might, by what means he
+had come thither, but nothing could he see there save the sunlit
+water, and nothing hear but what seemed a low laughter from the
+twinkling ripples that broke at his feet. Then he looked for his men,
+who stood there, dazed like himself and rubbing their eyes; and there
+too stood the Princess Tasha, who stretched out her white arms to him.
+Finn went over and took her hands. "Shoulder your spears, good lads!"
+he called to his men. "Follow me now to the Hill of Allen, and to the
+wedding feast of Tasha and of Finn mac Cumhal."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Birth of Oisín
+
+
+One day as Finn and his companions and dogs were returning from the
+chase to their Dún on the Hill of Allen, a beautiful fawn started up
+on their path and the chase swept after her, she taking the way which
+led to their home. Soon, all the pursuers were left far behind save
+only Finn himself and his two hounds Bran and Sceolaun. Now these
+hounds were of strange breed, for Tyren, sister to Murna, the mother
+of Finn, had been changed into a hound by the enchantment of a woman
+of the Fairy Folk, who loved Tyren's husband Ullan; and the two hounds
+of Finn were the children of Tyren, born to her in that shape. Of all
+hounds in Ireland they were the best, and Finn loved them much, so
+that it was said he wept but twice in his life, and once was for the
+death of Bran.
+
+At last, as the chase went on down a valley side, Finn saw the fawn
+stop and lie down, while the two hounds began to play round her and to
+lick her face and limbs. So he gave commandment that none should hurt
+her, and she followed them to the Dún of Allen, playing with the
+hounds as she went.
+
+The same night Finn awoke and saw standing by his bed the fairest
+woman his eyes had ever beheld.
+
+"I am Saba, O Finn," she said, "and I was the fawn ye chased to-day.
+Because I would not give my love to the Druid of the Fairy Folk, who
+is named the Dark, he put that shape upon me by his sorceries, and I
+have borne it these three years. But a slave of his, pitying me, once
+revealed to me that if I could win to thy great Dún of Allen, O Finn,
+I should be safe from all enchantments and my natural shape would come
+to me again. But I feared to be torn in pieces by thy dogs, or wounded
+by thy hunters, till at last I let myself be overtaken by thee alone
+and by Bran and Sceolaun, who have the nature of man and would do me
+no hurt." "Have no fear, maiden," said Finn, "we the Fianna, are free
+and our guest-friends are free; there is none who shall put compulsion
+on you here."
+
+So Saba dwelt with Finn, and he made her his wife; and so deep was his
+love for her that neither the battle nor the chase had any delight for
+him, and for months he never left her side. She also loved him as
+deeply, and their joy in each other was like that of the Immortals in
+the Land of Youth. But at last word came to Finn that the warships of
+the Northmen were in the bay of Dublin, and he summoned his heroes to
+the fight, "for," said he to Saba, "the men of Erinn give us tribute
+and hospitality to defend them from the foreigner, and it were shame
+to take it from them and not to give that to which we, on our side,
+are pledged." And he called to mind that great saying of Goll mac
+Morna when they were once sore bested by a mighty host--"a man," said
+Goll, "lives after his life but not after his honour."
+
+Seven days was Finn absent, and he drove the Northmen from the shores
+of Erinn. But on the eighth day he returned, and when he entered his
+Dún he saw trouble in the eyes of his men and of their fair womenfolk,
+and Saba was not on the rampart expecting his return. So he bade them
+tell him what had chanced, and they said--
+
+"Whilst thou, our father and lord, wert afar off smiting the
+foreigner, and Saba looking ever down the pass for thy return, we saw
+one day as it were the likeness of thee approaching, and Bran and
+Sceolaun at thy heels. And we seemed also to hear the notes of the
+Fian hunting call blown on the wind. Then Saba hastened to the great
+gate, and we could not stay her, so eager was she to rush to the
+phantom. But when she came near, she halted and gave a loud and bitter
+cry, and the shape of thee smote her with a hazel wand, and lo, there
+was no woman there any more, but a deer. Then those hounds chased it,
+and ever as it strove to reach again the gate of the Dún they turned
+it back. We all now seized what arms we could and ran out to drive
+away the enchanter, but when we reached the place there was nothing to
+be seen, only still we heard the rushing of flying feet and the baying
+of dogs, and one thought it came from here, and another from there,
+till at last the uproar died away and all was still. What we could do,
+O Finn, we did; Saba is gone."
+
+Finn then struck his hand on his breast but spoke no word, and he went
+to his own chamber. No man saw him for the rest of that day, nor for
+the day after. Then he came forth, and ordered the matters of the
+Fianna as of old, but for seven years thereafter he went searching for
+Saba through every remote glen and dark forest and cavern of Ireland,
+and he would take no hounds with him save Bran and Sceolaun. But at
+last he renounced all hope of finding her again, and went hunting as
+of old. One day as he was following the chase on Ben Gulban in Sligo,
+he heard the musical bay of the dogs change of a sudden to a fierce
+growling and yelping as though they were in combat with some beast,
+and running hastily up he and his men beheld, under a great tree, a
+naked boy with long hair, and around him the hounds struggling to
+seize him, but Bran and Sceolaun fighting with them and keeping them
+off. And the lad was tall and shapely, and as the heroes gathered
+round he gazed undauntedly on them, never heeding the rout of dogs at
+his feet. The Fians beat off the dogs and brought the lad home with
+them, and Finn was very silent and continually searched the lad's
+countenance with his eyes. In time, the use of speech came to him, and
+the story that he told was this:--
+
+He had known no father, and no mother save a gentle hind with whom he
+lived in a most green and pleasant valley shut in on every side by
+towering cliffs that could not be scaled, or by deep chasms in the
+earth. In the summer he lived on fruits and such-like, and in the
+winter, store of provisions was laid for him in a cave. And there came
+to them sometimes a tall dark-visaged man, who spoke to his mother,
+now tenderly, and now in loud menace, but she always shrunk away in
+fear, and the man departed in anger. At last there came a day when the
+Dark Man spoke very long with his mother in all tones of entreaty and
+of tenderness and of rage, but she would still keep aloof and give no
+sign save of fear and abhorrence. Then at length the Dark Man drew
+near and smote her with a hazel wand; and with that he turned and went
+his way, but she, this time, followed him, still looking back at her
+son and piteously complaining. And he, when he strove to follow, found
+himself unable to move a limb; and crying out with rage and desolation
+he fell to the earth and his senses left him. When he came to himself
+he was on the mountain side, on Ben Gulban, where he remained some
+days, searching for that green and hidden valley, which he never found
+again. And after a while the dogs found him; but of the hind his
+mother and of the Dark Druid, there is no man knows the end.
+
+Finn called his name Oisín, and he became a warrior of fame, but far
+more famous for the songs and tales that he made; so that of all
+things to this day that are told of the Fianna of Erinn, men are wont
+to say, "So sang the bard, Oisín, son of Finn."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Oisín in the Land of Youth
+
+
+It happened that on a misty summer morning as Finn and Oisín with many
+companions were hunting on the shores of Loch Lena they saw coming
+towards them a maiden, beautiful exceedingly, riding on a snow-white
+steed. She wore the garb of a queen; a crown of gold was on her head,
+and a dark brown mantle of silk, set with stars of red gold, fell
+around her and trailed on the ground. Silver shoes were on her horse's
+hoofs, and a crest of gold nodded on his head. When she came near she
+said to Finn, "From very far away I have come, and now at last I have
+found thee, Finn, son of Cumhal."
+
+Then Finn said, "What is thy land and race, maiden, and what dost thou
+seek from me?"
+
+"My name," she said, "is Niam of the Golden Hair. I am the daughter of
+the King of the Land of Youth, and that which has brought me here is
+the love of thy son Oisín." Then she turned to Oisín and she spoke to
+him in the voice of one who has never asked anything but it was
+granted to her, "Wilt thou go with me, Oisín, to my father's land?"
+
+And Oisín said, "That will I, and to the world's end"; for the fairy
+spell had so wrought upon his heart that he cared no more for any
+earthly thing but to have the love of Niam of the Head of Gold.
+
+Then the maiden spoke of the Land Oversea to which she had summoned
+her lover, and as she spoke a dreamy stillness fell on all things, nor
+did a horse shake his bit nor a hound bay, nor the least breath of
+wind stir in the forest trees till she had made an end. And what she
+said seemed sweeter and more wonderful as she spoke it than anything
+they could afterwards remember to have heard, but so far as they could
+remember it, it was this:--
+
+   "Delightful is the land beyond all dreams,
+   Fairer than aught thine eyes have ever seen.
+   There all the year the fruit is on the tree,
+   And all the year the bloom is on the flower.
+
+   "There with wild honey drip the forest trees;
+   The stores of wine and mead shall never fail.
+   Nor pain nor sickness knows the dweller there,
+   Death and decay come near him never more.
+
+   "The feast shall cloy not, nor the chase shall tire,
+   Nor music cease for ever through the hall;
+   The gold and jewels of the Land of Youth
+   Outshine all splendours ever dreamed by man.
+
+   "Thou shalt have horses of the fairy breed,
+   Thou shalt have hounds that can outrun the wind;
+   A hundred chiefs shall follow thee in war,
+   A hundred maidens sing thee to thy sleep.
+
+   "A crown of sovranty thy brow shall wear,
+   And by thy side a magic blade shall hang.
+   Thou shalt be lord of all the Land of Youth,
+   And lord of Niam of the Head of Gold."
+
+As the magic song ended, the Fians beheld Oisín mount the fairy steed
+and hold the maiden in his arms, and ere they could stir or speak she
+turned her horse's head and shook the ringing bridle and down the
+forest glade they fled, as a beam of light flies over the land when
+clouds drive across the sun; and never did the Fianna behold Oisín,
+son of Finn, on earth again.
+
+Yet what befell him afterwards is known. As his birth was strange so
+was his end, for he saw the wonders of the Land of Youth with mortal
+eyes and lived to tell them with mortal lips.
+
+When the white horse with its riders reached the sea it ran lightly
+over the waves and soon the green woods and headlands of Erinn faded
+out of sight. And now the sun shone fiercely down, and the riders
+passed into a golden haze in which Oisín lost all knowledge of where
+he was or if sea or dry land were beneath his horse's hoofs. But
+strange sights sometimes appeared to them in the mist, for towers and
+palace gateways loomed up and disappeared, and once a hornless doe
+bounded by them chased by a white hound with one red ear, and again
+they saw a young maid ride by on a brown steed, bearing a golden apple
+in her hand, and close behind her followed a young horseman on a white
+steed, a purple cloak floating at his back and a gold-hilted sword in
+his hand. And Oisín would have asked the princess who and what these
+apparitions were, but Niam bade him ask nothing nor seem to notice any
+phantom they might see until they were come to the Land of Youth.
+
+[Illustration: "They rode up to a stately palace"]
+
+At last the sky gloomed above them, and Niam urged their steed faster.
+The wind lashed them with pelting rain, thunder roared across the sea
+and lightning blazed, but they held on their way till at length they
+came once more into a region of calm and sunshine. And now Oisín saw
+before him a shore of yellow sand, lapped by the ripples of a summer
+sea. Inland, there rose before his eye wooded hills amid which he
+could discern the roofs and towers of a noble city. The white horse
+bore them swiftly to the shore and Oisín and the maiden lighted down.
+And Oisín marvelled at everything around him, for never was water so
+blue or trees so stately as those he saw, and the forest was alive
+with the hum of bees and the song of birds, and the creatures that are
+wild in other lands, the deer and the red squirrel and the wood-dove,
+came, without fear, to be caressed. Soon, as they went forward, the
+walls of a city came in sight, and folk began to meet them on the
+road, some riding, some afoot, all of whom were either youths or
+maidens, all looking as joyous as if the morning of happy life had
+just begun for them, and no old or feeble person was to be seen. Niam
+led her companion through a towered gateway built of white and red
+marble, and there they were met by a glittering company of a hundred
+riders on black steeds and a hundred on white, and Oisín mounted a
+black horse and Niam her white, and they rode up to a stately palace
+where the King of the Land of Youth had his dwelling. And there he
+received them, saying in a loud voice that all the folk could hear,
+"Welcome, Oisín, son of Finn. Thou art come to the Land of Youth,
+where sorrow and weariness and death shall never touch thee. This thou
+hast won by thy faithfulness and valour and by the songs that thou
+hast made for the men of Erinn, whereof the fame is come to us, for we
+have here indeed all things that are delightful and joyous, but poesy
+alone we had not. But now we have the chief poet of the race of men to
+live with us, immortal among immortals, and the fair and cloudless
+life that we lead here shall be praised in verses as fair; even as
+thou, Oisín, did'st praise and adorn the short and toilsome and
+chequered life that men live in the world thou hast left forever. And
+Niam my daughter shall be thy bride, and thou shalt be in all things
+even as myself in the Land of Youth."
+
+Then the heart of Oisín was filled with glory and joy, and he turned
+to Niam and saw her eyes burn with love as she gazed upon him. And
+they were wedded the same day, and the joy they had in each other grew
+sweeter and deeper with every day that passed. All that Niam had
+promised in her magic song in the wild wood when first they met,
+seemed faint beside the splendour and beauty of the life in the Land
+of Youth. In the great palace they trod on silken carpets and ate off
+plates of gold; the marble walls and doorways were wrought with carved
+work, or hung with tapestries, where forest glades, and still lakes,
+and flying deer were done in colours of unfading glow. Sunshine bathed
+that palace always, and cool winds wandered through its dim corridors,
+and in its courts there played fountains of bright water set about
+with flowers. When Oisín wished to ride, a steed of fiery but gentle
+temper bore him wherever he would through the pleasant land; when he
+longed to hear music, there came upon his thought, as though borne on
+the wind, crystal notes such as no hand ever struck from the strings
+of any harp on earth.
+
+But Oisín's hand now never touched the harp, and the desire of singing
+and of making poetry never waked in him, for no one thing seemed so
+much better than the rest, where all perfection bloomed and glowed
+around him, as to make him long to praise it and to set it apart.
+
+When seven days had passed, he said to Niam, "I would fain go
+a-hunting." Niam said, "So be it, dear love; to-morrow we shall take
+order for that." Oisín lay long awake that night, thinking of the
+sound of Finn's hunting-horn, and of the smell of green boughs when
+they kindled them to roast the deer-flesh in Fian ovens in the
+wildwood.
+
+So next day Oisín and Niam fared forth on horseback, with their
+company of knights and maidens, and dogs leaping and barking with
+eagerness for the chase. Anon they came to the forest, and the hunters
+with the hounds made a wide circuit on this side and on that, till at
+last the loud clamour of the hounds told that a stag was on foot, and
+Oisín saw them streaming down an open glen, the stag with its great
+antlers laid back and flying like the wind. So he shouted the Fian
+hunting-cry and rode furiously on their track. All day long they
+chased the stag through the echoing forest, and the fairy steed bore
+him unfaltering over rough ground and smooth, till at last as darkness
+began to fall the quarry was pulled down, and Oisín cut its throat
+with his hunting-knife. Long it seemed to him since he had felt glad
+and weary as he felt now, and since the woodland air with its odours
+of pine and mint and wild garlic had tasted so sweet in his mouth; and
+truly it was longer than he knew. But when he bade make ready the
+wood-oven for their meal, and build a bothy of boughs for their
+repose, Niam led him seven steps apart and seven to the left hand, and
+yet seven back to the place where they had killed the deer, and lo,
+there rose before him a stately Dún with litten windows and smoke
+drifting above its roof. When they entered, there was a table spread
+for a great company, and cooks and serving-men busy about a wide
+hearth where roast and boiled meats of every sort were being prepared.
+Casks of Greek wine stood open around the walls, and cups of gold were
+on the board. So they all ate and drank their sufficiency, and all
+night Oisín and Niam slept on a bed softer than swans-down in a
+chamber no less fair than that which they had in the City of the Land
+of Youth.
+
+Next day, at the first light of dawn, they were on foot; and soon
+again the forest rang to the baying of hounds and the music of the
+hunting-horn. Oisín's steed bore him all day, tireless and swift as
+before, and again the quarry fell at night's approach, and again a
+palace rose in the wilderness for their night's entertainment, and all
+things in it even more abundant and more sumptuous than before. And so
+for seven days they fared in that forest, and seven stags were slain.
+Then Oisín grew wearied of hunting, and as he plunged his sharp black
+hunting-knife into the throat of the last stag, he thought of the
+sword of magic temper that hung idle by his side in the City of Youth,
+or rested from its golden nail in his bed-chamber, and he said to
+Niam, "Has thy father never a foe to tame, never a wrong to avenge?
+Surely the peasant is no man whose hand forgets the plough, nor the
+warrior whose hand forgets the sword hilt." Niam looked on him
+strangely for a while and as if she did not understand his words, or
+sought some meaning in them which yet she feared to find. But at last
+she said, "If deeds of arms be thy desire, Oisín, thou shalt have thy
+sufficiency ere long." And so they rode home, and slept that night in
+the palace of the City of Youth.
+
+At daybreak on the following morn Niam roused Oisín, and she buckled
+on him his golden-hilted sword and his corselet of blue steel inlaid
+with gold. Then he put on his head a steel and gold helmet with dragon
+crest, and slung on his back a shield of bronze wrought all over with
+cunning hammer-work of serpentine lines that swelled and sank upon the
+surface, and coiled in mazy knots, or flowed in long sweeping curves
+like waves of the sea when they gather might and volume for their leap
+upon the sounding shore. In the glimmering dawn, through the empty
+streets of the fair city, they rode forth alone and took their way
+through fields of corn and by apple orchards where red fruit hung down
+to their hands. But by noontide their way began to mount upwards among
+blue hills that they had marked from the city walls toward the west,
+and of man's husbandry they saw no more, but tall red-stemmed pine
+trees bordered the way on either side, and silence and loneliness
+increased. At length they reached a broad table-land deep in the heart
+of the mountains, where nothing grew but long coarse grass, drooping
+by pools of black and motionless water, and where great boulders,
+bleached white or stained with slimy lichens of livid red, lay
+scattered far and wide about the plain. Against the sky the mountain
+line now showed like a threat of bared and angry teeth, and as they
+rode towards it Oisín perceived a huge fortress lying in the throat of
+a wide glen or mountain pass. White as death was the stone of which it
+was built, save where it was streaked with black or green from the
+foulness of wet mosses that clung to its cornices and battlements, and
+none seemed stirring about the place nor did any banner blow from its
+towers.
+
+Then said Niam, "This, O Oisín, is the Dún of the giant Fovor of the
+Mighty Blows. In it he keeps prisoner a princess of the Fairy Folk
+whom he would fain make his bride, but he may not do so, nor may she
+escape, until Fovor has met in battle a champion who will undertake
+her cause. Approach, then, to the gate, if thou art fain to undertake
+this adventure, and blow the horn which hangs thereby, and then look
+to thy weapons, for soon indeed will the battle be broken upon thee."
+
+Then Oisín rode to the gate and thrice he blew on the great horn which
+hung by it, and the clangour of it groaned drearily back from the
+cliffs that overhung the glen. Not thus indeed sounded the _Dord_ of
+Finn as its call blew lust of fighting and scorn of death into the
+hearts of the Fianna amid the stress of battle. At the third blast the
+rusty gates opened, grinding on their hinges, and Oisín rode into a
+wide courtyard where servitors of evil aspect took his horse and
+Niam's, and led them into the hall of Fovor. Dark it was and low, with
+mouldering arras on its walls, and foul and withered rushes on the
+floor, where dogs gnawed the bones thrown to them at the last meal,
+and spilt ale and hacked fragments of flesh littered the bare oaken
+table. And here rose languidly to greet them a maiden bound with seven
+chains, to whom Niam spoke lovingly, saying that her champion was come
+and that her long captivity should end. And the maiden looked upon
+Oisín, whose proud bearing and jewelled armour made the mean place
+seem meaner still, and a light of hope and of joy seemed to glimmer
+upon her brow. So she gave them refreshment as she could, and
+afterwards they betook them once more to the courtyard, where the
+place of battle was set.
+
+Here, at the further side, stood a huge man clad in rusty armour, who
+when he saw Oisín rushed upon him, silent and furious, and swinging a
+great battleaxe in his hand. But doubt and langour weighed upon
+Oisín's heart, and it seemed to him as if he were in an evil dream,
+which he knew was but a dream, and would be less than nothing when the
+hour of awakening should come. Yet he raised his shield and gripped
+the fairy sword, striving to shout the Fian battle-cry as he closed
+with Fovor. But soon a heavy blow smote him to the ground, and his
+armour clanged harshly on the stones. Then a cloud seemed to pass from
+his spirit, and he leaped to his feet quicker than an arrow flies from
+the string, and thrusting fiercely at the giant his sword-point gashed
+the under side of Fovor's arm when it was raised to strike, and Oisín
+saw his enemy's blood. Then the fight raged hither and thither about
+the wide courtyard, with trampling of feet and clash of steel and
+ringing of armour and shouts of onset as the heroes closed; Oisín,
+agile as a wild stag, evading the sweep of the mighty axe and rushing
+in with flickering blade at every unguarded moment, his whole soul
+bent on one fierce thought, to drive his point into some gap at
+shoulder or neck in Fovor's coat of mail. At length, when both were
+weary and wounded men, with hacked and battered armour, Oisín's blade
+cut the thong of Fovor's headpiece and it fell clattering to the
+ground. Another blow laid the giant prostrate, and Oisín leaned, dizzy
+and panting, upon his sword, while Fovor's serving-men took off their
+master in a litter, and Niam came to aid her lord. Then Oisín stripped
+off his armour in the great hall, and Niam tended to his wounds,
+healing them with magic herbs and murmured incantations, and they saw
+that one of the seven rusty chains that had bound the princess hung
+loose from its iron staple in the wall.
+
+All night long Oisín lay in deep and healing slumber, and next day he
+arose, whole and strong, and hot to renew the fray. And the giant was
+likewise healed and his might and fierceness returned to him. So they
+fought till they were breathless and weary, and then to it again, and
+again, till in the end Oisín drove his sword to the hilt in the
+giant's shoulder where it joins the collar bone, and he fell aswoon,
+and was borne away as before. And another chain of the seven fell from
+the girdle of the captive maiden.
+
+Thus for seven days went on the combat, and Oisín had seven nights of
+healing and rest, with the tenderness and beauty of Niam about his
+couch; and on the seventh day the maiden was free, and her folk
+brought her away, rejoicing, with banners and with music that made a
+brightness for a while in that forlorn and evil place.
+
+But Oisín's heart was high with pride and victory, and a longing
+uprose in his heart with a rush like a springtide for the days when
+some great deed had been done among the Fianna, and the victors were
+hailed and lauded by the home-folk in the Dún of Allen, men and women
+leaving their toil or their pleasure to crowd round the heroes, and to
+question again and again, and to learn each thing that had passed; and
+the bards noting all to weave it into a glorious tale for after days;
+and more than all the smile and the look of Finn as he learned how his
+children had borne themselves in the face of death. And so Oisín said
+to Niam, "Let me, for a short while, return to the land of Erinn, that
+I may see there my friends and kin and tell them of the glory and joy
+that are mine in the Land of Youth." But Niam wept and laid her white
+arms about his neck, entreating him to think no more of the sad world
+where all men live and move under a canopy of death, and where summer
+is slain by winter, and youth by old age, and where love itself, if it
+die not by falsehood and wrong, perishes many a time of too complete
+a joy. But Oisín said, "The world of men compared with thy world is
+like this dreary waste compared with the city of thy father; yet in
+that city, Niam, none is better or worse than another, and I hunger to
+tell my tale to ignorant and feeble folk that my words can move, as
+words of mine have done of old, to wonder and delight. Then I shall
+return to thee, Niam, and to thy fair and blissful land; and having
+brought over to mortal men a tale that never man has told before, I
+shall be happy and at peace for ever in the Land of Youth."
+
+So they fared back to the golden city, and next day Niam brought to
+Oisín the white steed that had borne them from Erinn, and bade him
+farewell. "This our steed," she said, "will carry thee across the sea
+to the land where I found thee, and whithersoever thou wilt, and what
+folk are there thou shalt see, and what tale thou hast to tell can be
+told. But never for even a moment must thou alight from his back, for
+if thy foot once touch again the soil of earth, thou shalt never win
+to me and to the Land of Youth again. And sorely do I fear some evil
+chance. Was not the love of Niam of the Head of Gold enough to fill a
+mortal's heart? But if thou must go, then go, and blessing and victory
+be thine."
+
+Then Oisín held her long in his arms and kissed her, and vowed to make
+no long stay and never to alight from the fairy steed. And then he
+shook the golden reins and the horse threw its head aloft and snorted
+and bore him away in a pace like that of flowing water for speed and
+smoothness. Anon they came to the margin of the blue sea, and still
+the white steed galloped on, brushing the crests of the waves into
+glittering spray. The sun glared upon the sea and Oisín's head swam
+with the heat and motion, and in mist and dreams he rode where no day
+was, nor night, nor any thought of time, till at last his horse's
+hoofs ploughed through wet, yellow sands, and he saw black rocks
+rising up at each side of a little bay, and inland were fields green
+or brown, and white cottages thatched with reeds, and men and women,
+toil-worn and clad in earth-coloured garments, went to and fro about
+their tasks or stopped gazing at the rider in his crimson cloak and at
+the golden trappings of his horse. But among the cottages was a small
+house of stone such as Oisín had never seen in the land of Erinn;
+stone was its roof as well as the walls, very steep and high, and
+near-by from a rude frame of timber there hung a bell of bronze. Into
+this house there passed one whom from his shaven crown Oisín guessed
+to be a druid, and behind him two lads in white apparel. The druid
+having seen the horseman turned his eyes again to the ground and
+passed on, regarding him not, and the lads did likewise. And Oisín
+rode on, eager to reach the Dún upon the Hill of Allen and to see the
+faces of his kin and his friends.
+
+[Illustration: "The white steed had vanished from their eyes like a
+wreath of mist"]
+
+At length, coming from the forest path into the great clearing where
+the Hill of Allen was wont to rise broad and green, with its rampart
+enclosing many white-walled dwellings, and the great hall towering
+high in the midst, he saw but grassy mounds overgrown with rank weeds
+and whin bushes, and among them pastured a peasant's kine.
+
+Then a strange horror fell upon him, and he thought some enchantment
+from the land of Faery held his eyes and mocked him with false
+visions. He threw his arms abroad and shouted the names of Finn and
+Oscar, but none replied, and he thought that perchance the hounds
+might hear him, and he cried upon Bran and Sceolaun, and strained his
+ears if they might catch the faintest rustle or whisper of the world
+from the sight of which his eyes were holden, but he heard only the
+sigh of the wind in the whins. Then he rode in terror from that place,
+setting his face towards the eastern sea, for he meant to traverse
+Ireland from side to side and end to end in the search of some escape
+from his enchantment. But when he came near to the eastern sea and was
+now in the place which is called the Valley of the Thrushes,[24] he
+saw in a field upon the hillside a crowd of men striving to roll aside
+a great boulder from their tilled land, and an overseer directing
+them. Towards them he rode, meaning to ask them concerning Finn and
+the Fianna. As he came near, they all stopped their work to gaze upon
+him, for to them he appeared like a messenger of the Fairy Folk or an
+angel from heaven. Taller and mightier he was than the men-folk they
+knew, with sword-blue eyes and brown ruddy cheeks; in his mouth, as
+it were, a shower of pearls, and bright hair clustered beneath the rim
+of his helmet. And as Oisín looked upon their puny forms, marred by
+toil and care, and at the stone which they feebly strove to heave from
+its bed, he was filled with pity, and thought to himself, "not such
+were even the churls of Erinn when I left them for the Land of Youth,"
+and he stooped from his saddle to help them. His hand he set to the
+boulder, and with a mighty heave he lifted it from where it lay and
+set it rolling down the hill. And the men raised a shout of wonder and
+applause, but their shouting changed in a moment into cries of terror
+and dismay, and they fled, jostling and overthrowing each other to
+escape from the place of fear; for a marvel horrible to see had taken
+place. For Oisín's saddle-girth had burst as he heaved the stone, and
+he fell headlong to the ground. In an instant the white steed had
+vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist, and that which rose,
+feeble and staggering, from the ground was no youthful warrior but a
+man stricken with extreme old age, white-bearded and withered, who
+stretched out groping hands and moaned with feeble and bitter cries.
+And his crimson cloak and yellow silken tunic were now but coarse
+homespun stuff tied with a hempen girdle, and the gold-hilted sword
+was a rough oaken staff such as a beggar carries who wanders the roads
+from farmer's house to house.
+
+   [24] Glanismole, near Dublin.
+
+When the people saw that the doom that had been wrought was not for
+them they returned, and found the old man prone on the ground with
+his face hidden in his arms. So they lifted him up and asked who he
+was and what had befallen him. Oisín gazed round on them with dim
+eyes, and at last he said, "I was Oisín the son of Finn, and I pray ye
+tell me where he now dwells, for his Dún on the Hill of Allen is now a
+desolation, and I have neither seen him nor heard his hunting horn
+from the Western to the Eastern Sea." Then the men gazed strangely on
+each other and on Oisín, and the overseer asked, "Of what Finn dost
+thou speak, for there be many of that name in Erinn?" Oisín said,
+"Surely of Finn mac Cumhal mac Trenmor, captain of the Fianna of
+Erinn." Then the overseer said, "Thou art daft, old man, and thou hast
+made us daft to take thee for a youth as we did a while agone. But we
+at least have now our wits again, and we know that Finn son of Cumhal
+and all his generation have been dead these three hundred years. At
+the battle of Gowra fell Oscar, son of Oisín, and Finn at the battle
+of Brea, as the historians tell us; and the lays of Oisín, whose death
+no man knows the manner of, are sung by our harpers at great men's
+feasts. But now the Talkenn,[25] Patrick, has come into Ireland and
+has preached to us the One God and Christ His Son, by whose might
+these old days and ways are done away with, and Finn and his Fianna,
+with their feasting and hunting and songs of war and of love, have no
+such reverence among us as the monks and virgins of holy Patrick, and
+the psalms and prayers that go up daily to cleanse us from sin and to
+save us from the fire of judgment." But Oisín replied, half hearing
+and still less comprehending what was said to him, "If thy God have
+slain Finn and Oscar, I would say that God is a strong man." Then they
+all cried out upon him, and some picked up stones, but the overseer
+bade them let him be until the Talkenn had spoken with him, and till
+he should order what was to be done.
+
+   [25] Talkenn or "Adze-head" was a name given to St Patrick by
+   the Irish. Probably it referred to the shape of his tonsure.
+
+So they brought him to Patrick, who entreated him gently and
+hospitably, and to Patrick he told the story of all that had befallen
+him. But Patrick bade his scribes write all carefully down, that the
+memory of the heroes whom Oisín had known, and of the joyous and free
+life they had led in the woods and glens and wild places of Erinn,
+should never be forgotten among men. And Oisín, during the short span
+of life that yet remained to him, told to Patrick many tales of the
+Fianna and their deeds, but of the three hundred years that he had
+spent with Niam in the Land of Youth he rarely spoke, for they seemed
+to him but as a vision or a dream of the night, set between a sunny
+and a rainy day.
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+I
+
+THE BIRTH OF CORMAC
+
+Of all the kings that ruled over Ireland, none had a better and more
+loyal servant than was Finn mac Cumhal, and of all the captains and
+counsellors of kings none ever served a more glorious and a nobler
+monarch than did Finn, for the time that he served Cormac, son of Art,
+son of Conn of the Hundred Battles. At the time at which this monarch
+lived and reigned, the mist of sixteen centuries hangs between us and
+the history of Ireland, but through this mist there shine a few great
+and sunlike figures whose glory cannot be altogether hidden, and of
+these figures Cormac is the greatest and the brightest. Much that is
+told about him may be true, and much is certainly fable, but the
+fables themselves are a witness to his greatness; they are like forms
+seen in the mist when a great light is shining behind it, and we
+cannot always say when we are looking at the true light and when at
+the reflected glory.
+
+The birth of Cormac was on this wise. His father, as we have said, was
+Art, son of Conn, and his mother was named Achta, being the daughter
+of a famous smith or ironworker of Connacht. Now before the birth of
+Cormac, Achta had a strange dream, namely, that her head was struck
+off from her body and that out of her neck there grew a great tree
+which extended its branches over all Ireland and flourished
+exceedingly, but a huge wave of the sea burst upon it and laid it low.
+Then from the roots of this tree there grew up another, but it did not
+attain the splendour of the first, and a blast of wind came from the
+West and overthrew it. On this the woman started from her sleep, and
+she woke her husband, Art, and told him her vision. "It is a true
+dream," said Art. "I am thy head, and this portends that I shall be
+violently taken from thee. But thou shalt bear me a son who shall be
+King of all Ireland, and shall rule with great power and glory until
+some disaster from the sea overtake him. But from him shall come yet
+another king, my grandson and thine, who shall also be cut down, and I
+think that the cause of his fall shall be the armies of the Fian host,
+who are swift and keen as the wind."
+
+Not long thereafter Art, son of Conn, fell in battle with the Picts
+and Britons at the Plain of the Swine, which is between Athenry and
+Galway in Connacht. Now the leader of the invaders then was mac Con, a
+nephew to Art, who had been banished out of Ireland for rising against
+the High King; and when he had slain Art he seized the sovranty of
+Ireland and reigned there unlawfully for many years.
+
+But before the battle, Art had counselled his wife:
+
+"If things go ill with us in the fight, and I am slain, seek out my
+faithful friend Luna who dwells in Corann in Connacht, and he will
+protect thee till thy son be born." So Achta, with one maid, fled in
+her chariot before the host of mac Con and sought to go to the Dún of
+Luna. On her way thither, however, the hour came when her child should
+be born, and the maid turned the chariot aside into the wild wood at
+the place called Creevagh (the Place of the Twigs), and there, on a
+couch of twigs and leaves, she gave birth to a noble son.
+
+Then Achta, when she had cherished her boy and rejoiced over him, bade
+her handmaid keep watch over both of them, and they fell asleep. But
+the maid's eyes were heavy with weariness and long travelling, and ere
+long she, too, was overpowered by slumber, and all three slept a deep
+sleep while the horses wandered away grazing through the wood.
+
+By and by there came a she-wolf roaming through the wood in search of
+prey for her whelps, and it came upon the sleeping woman and the
+little child. It did not wake the woman, but very softly it picked up
+the infant and bore it off to the stony cave that is hard by to
+Creevagh in the hill that was afterwards called Mount Cormac.
+
+After a while the mother waked up and found her child gone. Then she
+uttered a lamentable cry, and woke her handmaid, and both the women
+searched hither and thither, but no trace of the child could they
+find; and thus Luna found them; for he had heard news of the battle
+and the death of his King, and he had come to succour Achta as he had
+pledged his word to do. Luna and his men also made search for the
+infant, but in vain; and at last he conveyed the two sorrowing women
+to his palace; but Achta was somewhat comforted by her prophetic
+dream. Luna then proclaimed that whoever should discover the King's
+son, if he were yet alive, might claim of him what reward he would.
+
+And so the time passed, till one day a man named Grec, a clansman of
+Luna the lord of Corann, as he ranged the woods hunting, came on a
+stony cavern in the side of a hill, and before it he saw wolf-cubs at
+play, and among them a naked child on all fours gambolling with them,
+and a great she-wolf that mothered them all. "Right," cried Grec, and
+off he goes to Luna his lord. "What wilt thou give me for the King's
+son?" said he. "What wilt thou have?" said Luna. So Grec asked for
+certain lands, and Luna bound himself to give them to him and to his
+posterity, and there lived and flourished the Clan Gregor for many a
+generation to come. So Luna, guided by Grec, went to the cave on Mount
+Cormac, and took the child and the wolf-cubs all together and brought
+them home. And the child they called Cormac, or the Chariot-Child. Now
+the lad grew up very comely and strong, and he abode with Luna in
+Connacht, and no one told him of his descent.
+
+
+II
+
+THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC
+
+Once upon a time it happened that Cormac was at play with the two sons
+of Luna, and the lads grew angry in their play and came to blows, and
+Cormac struck one of them to the ground. "Sorrow on it," cried the
+lad, "here I have been beaten by one that knows not his clan or
+kindred, save that he is a fellow without a father." When Cormac heard
+that he was troubled and ashamed, and he went to Luna and told him
+what had been said.
+
+And Luna seeing the trouble of the youth, and also that he was strong
+and noble to look on, and wise and eloquent in speech, held that the
+time was now come to reveal to him his descent. "Thou hadst indeed a
+clan and kindred," he said, "and a father of the noblest, for thou art
+the son of Art, the High King of Ireland, who was slain and
+dispossessed by mac Con. But it is foretold that thou shalt yet come
+to thy father's place, and the land pines for thee even now, for there
+is no good yield from earth or sea under the unlawful rule of him who
+now sits on the throne of Art."
+
+"If that be so," said Cormac, "let us go to Tara, and bide our time
+there in my father's house."
+
+So the two of them set out for Tara on the morrow morn. And this was
+the retinue they had with them: a body-guard of outlawed men that had
+revolted against mac Con and other lords and had gathered themselves
+together at Corann under Luna, and four wolves that had been cubs with
+Cormac when the she-wolf suckled him.
+
+
+When they came to Tara, the folk there wondered at the fierce-eyed
+warriors and the grey beasts that played like dogs around Cormac, and
+the lad was adopted as a pupil by the King, to be taught arms and
+poetry and law. Much talk there was of his coming, and of his strange
+companions that are not wont to be the friends of man, and as the lad
+grew in comeliness and in knowledge the eyes of all were turned to him
+more and more, because the rule of mac Con was not good.
+
+So the time wore on, till one day a case came for judgment before the
+King, in which the Queen sued a certain wealthy woman and an owner of
+herds named Benna, for that the sheep of Benna had strayed into the
+Queen's fields and had eaten to the ground a crop of woad[26] that was
+growing there. The King gave judgment, that the sheep which had eaten
+the woad were to be given to the Queen in compensation for what they
+had destroyed. Then Cormac rose up before the people and said, "Nay,
+but let the wool of the sheep, when they are next shorn, be given to
+the Queen, for the woad will grow again and so shall the wool." "A
+true judgment, a true judgment," cried all the folk that were present
+in the place; "a very king's son is he that hath pronounced it." And
+they murmured so loudly against mac Con that his druids counselled him
+to quit Tara lest a worse thing befall him. So he gave up the sovranty
+to Cormac and went southward into Munster to rally his friends there
+and recover the kingdom, and there he was slain by Cormac's men as he
+was distributing great largesse of gold and silver to his followers,
+in the place called The Field of the Gold.
+
+   [26] Woad is a cruciferous plant, _Isatis tinctoria_, used for
+   dyeing.
+
+So Cormac, son of Art, ruled in Tara and was High King of all Ireland.
+And the land, it is said, knew its rightful lord, and yielded harvests
+such as never were known, while the forest trees dripped with the
+abundance of honey and the lakes and rivers were alive with fish. So
+much game was there, too, that the folk could have lived on that alone
+and never put a ploughshare in the soil. In Cormac's time the autumn
+was not vexed with rain, nor the spring with icy winds, nor the summer
+with parching heat, nor the winter with whelming snows. His rule in
+Erinn, it is said, was like a wand of gold laid on a dish of silver.
+
+Also he rebuilt the ramparts of Tara and made it strong, and he
+enlarged the great banqueting hall and made pillars of cedar in it
+ornamented with plates of bronze, and painted its lime-white walls in
+patterns of red and blue. Palaces for the women he also made there,
+and store-houses, and halls for the fighting men--never was Tara so
+populous or so glorious before or since. And for his wisdom and
+righteousness knowledge was given to him that none other in Ireland
+had as yet, for it was revealed to him that the Immortal Ones whom the
+Gael worshipped were but the names of One whom none can name, and that
+his message should ere long come to Ireland from over the eastern sea,
+calling the people to a sweeter and diviner faith.
+
+And to the end of his life it was his way to have wolves about him,
+for he knew their speech and they his, and they were friendly and tame
+with him and his folk, since they were foster-brothers together in the
+wild wood.
+
+
+III
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC
+
+It happened that in Cormac's time there was a very wealthy farmer
+named Buicad[27] who dwelt in Leinster, and had vast herds of cattle
+and sheep and horses. This Buicad and his wife had no children, but
+they adopted a foster-child named Ethne, daughter of one Dunlang. Now
+Buicad was the most hospitable of men, and never refused aught to
+anyone, but he kept open house for all the nobles of Leinster who
+came with their following and feasted there as they would, day after
+day; and if any man fancied any of the cattle or other goods of
+Buicad, he might take them home with him, and none said him nay. Thus
+Buicad lived in great splendour, and his Dún was ever full to
+profusion with store of food and clothing and rich weapons, until in
+time it was all wasted away in boundless hospitality and generosity,
+and so many had had a share in his goods that they could never be
+recovered nor could it be said of any man that he was the cause of
+Buicad's undoing. But undone he was at last, and when there remained
+to him but one bull and seven cows he departed by night with his wife
+and Ethne from Dún Buicad, leaving his mansion desolate. And he
+travelled till he came to a place where there was a grove of oak trees
+by a little stream in the county of Meath, near where Cormac had a
+summer palace, and there he built himself a little hut and tended his
+few cattle, and Ethne waited as a maid-servant upon him and his wife.
+
+   [27] Pronounced Bweé-cad. His name is said to be preserved in
+   the townland of Dunboyke, near Blessington, Co. Wicklow.
+
+Now on a certain day it happened that King Cormac rode out on
+horseback from his Dún in Meath, and in the course of his ride he came
+upon the little herd of Buicad towards evening, and he saw Ethne
+milking the cows. And this was the way she milked them: first she
+milked a portion of each cow's milk into a certain vessel, then she
+took a second vessel and milked into it the remaining portion, in
+which was the richest cream, and these two vessels she kept apart.
+Cormac watched all this. She then bore the vessels of milk into the
+hut, and came out again with two other vessels and a small cup. These
+she bore down to the river-side; and one of the vessels she filled by
+means of the cup from the water at the brink of the stream, but the
+other vessel she bore out into the middle of the stream and there
+filled it from the deepest of the running water. After this she took a
+sickle and began cutting rushes by the river-side, and Cormac saw that
+when she cut a wisp of long rushes she would put it on one side, and
+the short rushes on the other, and she bore them separately into the
+house. But Cormac stopped her and saluted her, and said:
+
+"For whom, maiden, art thou making this careful choice of the milk and
+the rushes and the water?"
+
+"I am making it," said she, "for one who is worthy that I should do
+far more than that for him, if I could."
+
+"What is his name?"
+
+"Buicad, the farmer," said Ethne.
+
+"Is it that Buicad, who was the rich farmer in Leinster that all
+Ireland has heard of?" asked the King.
+
+"It is even so."
+
+"Then thou art his foster-child, Ethne the daughter of Dunlang?" said
+Cormac.
+
+"I am," said Ethne.
+
+"Wilt thou be my wife and Queen of Erinn?" then said Cormac.
+
+"If it please my foster-father to give me to thee, O King, I am
+willing," replied Ethne.
+
+Then Cormac took Ethne by the hand and they went before Buicad, and he
+consented to give her to Cormac to wife. And Buicad was given rich
+lands and great store of cattle in the district of Odran close by
+Tara, and Ethne the Queen loved him and visited him so long as his
+life endured.
+
+
+IV
+
+THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING
+
+Ethne bore to Cormac a son, her firstborn, named Cairbry, who was King
+of Ireland after Cormac. It was during the lifetime of Cormac that
+Cairbry came to the throne, for it happened that ere he died Cormac
+was wounded by a chance cast of a spear and lost one of his eyes, and
+it was forbidden that any man having a blemish should be a king in
+Ireland. Cormac therefore gave up the kingdom into the hands of
+Cairbry, but before he did so he told his son all the wisdom that he
+had in the governing of men, and this was written down in a book which
+is called _The Instructions of Cormac_.[28] These are among the things
+which are found in it, of the wisdom of Cormac:--
+
+   [28] _The Instructions of Cormac_ (Tecosa Cormaic) have been
+   edited with a translation by Dr. Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture
+   Series of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xv., April 1909.
+
+  "Let him (the king) restrain the great,
+   Let him exalt the good,
+   Let him establish peace,
+   Let him plant law,
+   Let him protect the just,
+   Let him bind the unjust,
+   Let his warriors be many and his counsellors few,
+   Let him shine in company and be the sun of the mead-hall,
+   Let him punish with a full fine wrong done knowingly,
+    and with a half-fine wrong done in ignorance."
+
+Cairbry said, "What are good customs for a tribe to pursue?" "They are
+as follows," replied Cormac:--
+
+   "To have frequent assemblies,
+    To be ever enquiring, to question the wise men,
+    To keep order in assemblies,
+    To follow ancient lore,
+    Not to crush the miserable,
+    To keep faith in treaties,
+    To consolidate kinship,
+    Fighting-men not to be arrogant,
+    To keep contracts faithfully,
+    To guard the frontiers against every ill."
+
+"Tell me, O Cormac," said Cairbry, "what are good customs for the
+giver of a feast?" and Cormac said:--
+
+  "To have lighted lamps,
+   To be active in entertaining the company,
+   To be liberal in dispensing ale,
+   To tell stories briefly,
+   To be of joyous countenance,
+   To keep silence during recitals."
+
+"Tell me, O Cormac," said his son once, "what were thy habits when
+thou wert a lad?" And Cormac said:--
+
+   "I was a listener in woods,
+    I was a gazer at stars,
+    I pried into no man's secrets,
+    I was mild in the hall,
+    I was fierce in the fray,
+    I was not given to making promises,
+    I reverenced the aged,
+    I spoke ill of no man in his absence,
+    I was fonder of giving than of asking."
+
+"If you listen to my teaching," said Cormac:--
+
+  "Do not deride any old person though you be young
+   Nor any poor man though you be rich,
+   Nor any naked though you be well-clad,
+   Nor any lame though you be swift,
+   Nor any blind though you be keen-sighted,
+   Nor any invalid though you be robust,
+   Nor any dull though you be clever,
+   Nor any fool though you be wise.
+
+"Yet be not slothful, nor fierce, nor sleepy, nor niggardly, nor
+feckless nor envious, for all these are hateful before God and men.
+
+"Do not join in blasphemy, nor be the butt of an assembly; be not
+moody in an alehouse, and never forget a tryst."
+
+"What are the most lasting things on earth?" asked Cairbry.
+
+"Not hard to tell," said Cormac; "they are grass, copper, and a
+yew-tree."
+
+"If you will listen to me," said Cormac, "this is my instruction for
+the management of your household and your realm:--
+
+  "Let not a man with many friends be your steward,
+  Nor a woman with sons and foster-sons your housekeeper,
+  Nor a greedy man your butler,
+  Nor a man of much delay your miller,
+  Nor a violent, foul-mouthed man your messenger,
+  Nor a grumbling sluggard your servant,
+  Nor a talkative man your counsellor,
+  Nor a tippler your cup-bearer,
+  Nor a short-sighted man your watchman,
+  Nor a bitter, haughty man your doorkeeper,
+  Nor a tender-hearted man your judge,
+  Nor an ignorant man your leader,
+  Nor an unlucky man your counsellor."
+
+
+Such were the counsels that Cormac mac Art gave to his son Cairbry.
+And Cairbry became King after his father's abdication, and reigned
+seven and twenty years, till he and Oscar, son of Oisín, slew one
+another at the battle of Gowra.
+
+
+V
+
+CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN
+
+During the reign of Cormac it happened that some of the lords of
+Ulster made a raid upon the Picts in Alba[29] and brought home many
+captives. Among them was a Pictish maiden named Kiernit, daughter of a
+king of that nation, who was strangely beautiful, and for that the
+Ulstermen sent her as a gift to King Cormac. And Cormac gave her as a
+household slave to his wife Ethne, who set her to grinding corn with a
+hand-quern, as women in Erinn were used to do. One day as Cormac was
+in the palace of the Queen he saw Kiernit labouring at her task and
+weeping as she wrought, for the toil was heavy and she was unused to
+it. Then Cormac was moved with compassion for the women that ground
+corn throughout Ireland, and he sent to Alba for artificers to come
+over and set up a mill, for up to then there were no mills in Ireland.
+Now there was in Tara, as there is to this day, a well of water
+called _The Pearly_, for the purity and brightness of the water that
+sprang from it, and it ran in a stream down the hillside, as it still
+runs, but now only in a slender trickle. Over this stream Cormac bade
+them build the first mill that was in Ireland, and the bright water
+turned the wheel merrily round, and the women in Tara toiled at the
+quern no more.
+
+   [29] Scotland.
+
+
+VI
+
+A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON
+
+Among other affairs which Cormac regulated for himself and all kings
+who should come after him was the number and quality of the officers
+who should be in constant attendance on the King. Of these he ordained
+that there should be ten, to wit one lord, one brehon, one druid, one
+physician, one bard, one historian, one musician and three stewards.
+The function of the brehon, or judge, was to know the ancient customs
+and the laws of Ireland, and to declare them to the King whenever any
+matter relating to them came before him. Now Cormac's chief brehon was
+at first one Fithel. But Fithel's time came to die, and his son
+Flahari,[30] a wise and learned man, trained by his father in all the
+laws of the Gael, was to be brehon to the High King in his father's
+stead. Fithel then called his son to his bedside and said:--
+
+   [30] Pronounced Fla'-haree--accent on the first syllable.
+
+"Thou art well acquainted, my son, with all the laws and customs of
+the Gael, and worthy to be the chief brehon of King Cormac. But wisdom
+of life thou hast not yet obtained, for it is written in no law-book.
+This thou must learn for thyself, from life itself; yet somewhat of it
+I can impart unto thee, and it will keep thee in the path of safety,
+which is not easily trodden by those who are in the counsels of great
+kings. Mark now these four precepts, and obey them, and thou wilt
+avoid many of the pit-falls in thy way:--
+
+  "Take not a king's son in fosterage,[31]
+  Impart no dangerous secret to thy wife,
+  Raise not the son of a serf to a high position,
+  Commit not thy purse or treasure to a sister's keeping."
+
+   [31] The institution of fosterage, by which the children of
+   kings and lords were given to trusted persons among their
+   friends or followers to bring up and educate, was a marked
+   feature of social life in ancient Ireland, and the bonds of
+   affection and loyalty between such foster-parents and their
+   children were held peculiarly sacred.
+
+Having said this Fithel died, and Flahari became chief brehon in his
+stead.
+
+After a time Flahari thought to himself, "I am minded to test my
+father's wisdom of life and to see if it be true wisdom or but
+wise-seeming babble. For knowledge is no knowledge until it be tried
+by life."
+
+So he went before the King and said, "If thou art willing, Cormac, I
+would gladly have one of thy sons in fosterage." At this Cormac was
+well pleased, and a young child of the sons of Cormac was given to
+Flahari to bring up, and Flahari took the child to his own Dún, and
+there began to nurture and to train him as it was fitting.
+
+After a time, however, Flahari one day took the child by the hand and
+went with him into the deep recesses of the forest where dwelt one of
+the swine-herds who minded the swine of Flahari. To him Flahari handed
+over the child and bade him guard him as the apple of his eye, and to
+be ready deliver him up again when he was required. The Flahari went
+home, and for some days went about like a man weighed down by gloomy
+and bitter thoughts. His wife marked that, and sought to know the
+reason, but Flahari put her off. At last when she continually pressed
+him to reveal the cause of his trouble, he said "If them must needs
+learn what ails me, and if thou canst keep a secret full of danger to
+me and thee, know that I am gloomy and distraught because I have
+killed the son of Cormac." At this the woman cried out, "Murderer
+parricide, hast thou spilled the King's blood, and shall Cormac not
+know it, and do justice on thee?" And she sent word to Cormac that he
+should come and seize her husband for that crime.
+
+But before the officers came, Flahari took a young man, the son of his
+butler, and placed him in charge of his lands to manage them, while
+Flahari was away for his trial at Tara. And he also gave to his sister
+a treasure of gold and silver to keep for him, lest it should be made
+a spoil of while he was absent. Then he went with the officers to
+Tara, denying his offence and his confession, but when Cormac had
+heard all, and the child could not be found, he sentenced him to be
+put to death.
+
+Flahari then sent a messenger to his sister, begging her to send him
+at once a portion of the treasure he had left with her, that he might
+use it to make himself friends among the folk at court, and perchance
+obtain a remission of his sentence; but she sent the messenger back
+again empty, saying she knew not of what he spoke.
+
+On this Flahari deemed that the time was come to reveal the truth, so
+he obtained permission from the King to send a message to his
+swineherd before he died, and to hear the man's reply. And the message
+was this, that Murtach the herd should come without delay to Tara and
+bring with him the child that Flahari had committed to him. Howbeit
+this messenger also came back empty, and reported that on reaching Dún
+Flahari he had been met by the butler's son that was over the estate,
+who had questioned him of his errand, and had then said, "Murtach the
+serf has run away as soon as he heard of his lord's downfall, and if
+he had any child in his care he has taken it away with him, and he
+cannot be found." This he said because, on hearing of the child, he
+guessed what this might mean, and he had been the bitterest of all in
+urging Flahari's death, hoping to be rewarded with a share of his
+lands.
+
+Then Flahari said to himself, "Truly the proving of my father's wisdom
+of life has brought me very near to death." So he sent for the King
+and entreated him that he might be suffered to go himself to the
+dwelling of Murtach the herd, promising that the King's son should be
+then restored to him, "or if not," said he, "let me then be slain
+there without more ado." With great difficulty Cormac was moved to
+consent to this, for he believed it was but a subterfuge of Flahari's
+to put off the evil day or perchance to find a way of escape. But next
+day Flahari was straitly bound and set in a chariot, and, with a guard
+of spearmen about him and Cormac himself riding behind, they set out
+for Dún Flahari. Then Flahari guided them through the wild wood till
+at last they came to the clearing where stood the dwelling of Murtach
+the swineherd, and lo! there was the son of Cormac playing merrily
+before the door. And the child ran to his foster-father to kiss him,
+but when he saw Flahari in bonds he burst out weeping and would not be
+at peace until he was set free.
+
+Then Murtach slew one of the boars of his herd and made an oven in the
+earth after the manner of the Fianna, and made over it a fire of
+boughs that he had drying in a shed. And when the boar was baked he
+set it before the company with ale and mead in methers of beechwood,
+and they all feasted and were glad of heart.
+
+Cormac then asked of Flahari why he had suffered himself to be
+brought into this trouble. "I did so," said Flahari, "to prove the
+four counsels which my father gave them ere he died, and I have proved
+them and found them to be wise. In the first place, it is not wise for
+any man that is not a king to take the fosterage of a king's son, for
+if aught shall happen to the lad, his own life is in the king's hands
+and with his life he shall answer for it. Secondly, the keeping of a
+secret, said my father, is not in the nature of women in general,
+therefore no dangerous secret should be entrusted to them. The third
+counsel my father gave me was not to raise up or enrich the son of a
+serf, for such persons are apt to forget benefits conferred on them,
+and moreover it irks them that he who raised them up should know the
+poor estate from which they sprang. And good, too, is the fourth
+counsel my father gave me, not to entrust my treasure to my sister,
+for it is the nature of most women to regard as spoil any valuables
+that are entrusted to them to keep for others."
+
+
+VII
+
+THE JUDGMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD
+
+When Cormac, son of Art, son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was High
+King in Erinn, great was the peace and splendour of his reign, and no
+provincial king or chief in any part of the country lifted up his
+head against Cormac. At his court in Tara were many noble youths, who
+were trained up there in all matters befitting their rank and station.
+
+One of these youths was named Socht, son of Fithel. Socht had a
+wonderful sword, named "The Hard-headed Steeling," which was said to
+have been long ago the sword of Cuchulain. It had a hilt of gold and a
+belt of silver, and its point was double-edged. At night it shone like
+a candle. If its point were bent back to the hilt it would fly back
+again and be as straight as before. If it was held in running water
+and a hair were floated down against the edge, it would sever the
+hair. It was a saying that this sword would make two halves of a man,
+and for a while he would not perceive what had befallen him. This
+sword was held by Socht for a tribal possession from father and
+grandfather.
+
+There was at this time a famous steward to the High King in Tara whose
+name was Dubdrenn. This man asked Socht to sell him the sword. He
+promised to Socht such a ration as he, Dubdrenn, had every night, and
+four men's food for the family of Socht, and, after that, Socht to
+have the full value of the sword at his own appraisement. "No," said
+Socht. "I may not sell my father's treasures while he is alive."
+
+And thus they went on, Dubdrenn's mind ever running on the sword. At
+last he bade Socht to a drinking-bout, and plied him so with wine and
+mead that Socht became drunken, and knew not where he was, and
+finally fell asleep.
+
+Then the steward takes the sword and goes to the King's brazier, by
+name Connu.
+
+"Art thou able," says Dubdrenn, "to open the hilt of this sword?" "I
+am that," says the brazier.
+
+Then the brazier took apart the hilt, and within, upon the tang of the
+blade, he wrote the steward's name, even Dubdrenn, and the steward
+laid the sword again by the side of Socht.
+
+So it was for three months after that, and the steward continued to
+ask Socht to sell him the sword, but he could not get it from him.
+
+Then the steward brought a suit for the sword before the High King,
+and he claimed that it was his own and that it had been taken from
+him. But Socht declared that the sword was his by long possession and
+by equity, and he would not give it up.
+
+Then Socht went to his father, Fithel the brehon, and begged him to
+take part in the action and to defend his claim. But Fithel said,
+"Nay, thou art too apt to blame the pleadings of other men; plead for
+thyself."
+
+So the court was set, and Socht was called upon to prove that the
+sword was his. He swore that it was a family treasure, and thus it had
+come down to him.
+
+The steward said, "Well, O Cormac, the oath that Socht has uttered is
+a lie."
+
+"What proof hast thou of that?" asked Cormac.
+
+"Not hard to declare," replied the steward. "If the sword be mine, my
+name stands graved therein, concealed within the hilt of the sword."
+
+"That will soon be known," says Cormac, and therewith he had the
+brazier summoned. The brazier comes and breaks open the hilt and the
+name of Dubdrenn stands written within it. Thus a dead thing testified
+in law against a living man.
+
+Then Socht said, "Hear ye, O men of Erinn and Cormac the King! I
+acknowledge that this man is the owner of the sword." And to Dubdrenn
+he said, "The property therein and all the obligations of it pass from
+me to thee."
+
+Dubdrenn said, "I acknowledge property in the sword and all its
+obligations."
+
+Then said Socht, "This sword was found in the neck of my grandfather
+Angus, and till this day it never was known who had done that murder.
+Do justice, O King, for this crime."
+
+Said the King to Dubdrenn, "Thou art liable for more than the sword is
+worth." So he awarded to Socht the price of seven bondwomen as
+blood-fine for the slaying of Angus, and restitution of the sword to
+Socht. Then the steward confessed the story of the sword, and Cormac
+levied seven other cumals from the brazier. But Cormac said, "This is
+in truth the sword of Cuchulain, and by it was slain my grandfather,
+even Conn of the Hundred Battles, at the hands of the King of Ulster,
+of whom it is written:--
+
+"With a host, with a valiant band Well did he go into Connacht. Alas,
+that he saw the blood of Conn On the side of Cuchulain's sword!"
+
+Then Cormac and Fithel agreed that the sword be given to Cormac as
+blood-fine for the death of Conn, and his it was; and it was the third
+best of the royal treasures that were in Erin: namely, Cormac's Cup,
+that broke if a falsehood were spoken over it and became whole if a
+truth were spoken; and the Bell Branch that he got in Fairyland, whose
+music when it was shaken would put to sleep wounded men, and women in
+travail; and the Sword of Cuchulain, against which, and against the
+man that held it in his hand, no victory could ever be won.
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC
+
+In the chronicle of the Kings of Ireland that was written by Tierna
+the Historian in the eleventh century after Christ's coming, there is
+noted down in the annals of the year 248, "Disappearance of Cormac,
+grandson of Conn, for seven months." That which happened to Cormac
+during these seven months is told in one of the bardic stories of
+Ireland, being the Story of Cormac's Journey to Fairyland, and this
+was the manner of it.
+
+One day Cormac, son of Art, was looking over the ramparts of his royal
+Dún of Tara, when he saw a young man, glorious to look on in his
+person and his apparel, coming towards him across the plain of Bregia.
+The young man bore in his hand, as it were, a branch, from which hung
+nine golden bells formed like apples. When he shook the branch the
+nine apples beat against each other and made music so sweet that there
+was no pain or sorrow in the world that a man would not forget while
+he hearkened to it.
+
+"Does this branch belong to thee?" asked Cormac of the youth.
+
+"Truly it does," replied the youth.
+
+"Wilt thou sell it to me?" said Cormac.
+
+"I never had aught that I would not sell for a price," said the young
+man.
+
+"What is thy price?" asked Cormac.
+
+"The price shall be what I will," said the young man.
+
+"I will give thee whatever thou desirest of all that is mine," said
+Cormac, for he coveted the branch exceedingly, and the enchantment was
+heavy upon him.
+
+So the youth gave him the bell-branch, and then said, "My price is thy
+wife and thy son and thy daughter."
+
+Then they went together into the palace and found there Cormac's wife
+and his children. "That is a wonderful jewel thou hast in thy hand,
+Cormac," said Ethne.
+
+"It is," said Cormac, "and great is the price I have paid for it."
+
+"What is that price?" said Ethne.
+
+"Even thou and thy children twain," said the King.
+
+"Never hast thou done such a thing," cried Ethne, "as to prefer any
+treasure in the world before us three!" And they all three lamented
+and implored, but Cormac shook the branch and immediately their sorrow
+was forgotten, and they went away willingly with the young man across
+the plain of Bregia until a mist hid them from the eyes of Cormac. And
+when the people murmured and complained against Cormac, for Ethne and
+her children were much beloved of them, Cormac shook the bell-branch
+and their grief was turned into joy.
+
+A year went by after this, and then Cormac longed for his wife and
+children again, nor could the bell-branch any longer bring him
+forgetfulness of them. So one morning he took the branch and went out
+alone from Tara over the plain, taking the direction in which they had
+passed away a year agone; and ere long little wreathes of mist began
+to curl about his feet, and then to flit by him like long trailing
+robes, and he knew no more where he was. After a time, however, he
+came out again into sunshine and clear sky, and found himself in a
+country of flowery meadows and of woods filled with singing-birds
+where he had never journeyed before. He walked on, till at last he
+came to a great and stately mansion with a crowd of builders at work
+upon it, and they were roofing it with a thatch made of the wings of
+strange birds. But when they had half covered the house, their supply
+of feathers ran short, and they rode off in haste to seek for more.
+While they were gone, however, a wind arose and whirled away the
+feathers already laid on, so that the rafters were left bare as
+before. And this happened again and again, as Cormac gazed on them for
+he knew not how long. At last his patience left him and he said, "I
+see with that ye have been doing this since the beginning of the
+world, and that ye will still be doing it in the end thereof," and
+with that he went on his way.
+
+And many other strange things he saw, but of them we say nothing now,
+till he came to the gateway of a great and lofty Dún, where he entered
+in and asked hospitality. Then there came to him a tall man clad in a
+cloak of blue that changed into silver or to purple as its folds waved
+in the light, and with him was a woman more beautiful than the
+daughters of men, even she of whom it was said her beauty was as that
+of a tear when it drops from the eyelid, so crystal-pure it was and
+bright.[32] They greeted Cormac courteously and begged him to stay
+with them for the night.
+
+   [32] See Miss Hull's CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER, p. 175.
+   The pair were Mananan, god of the sea, and Fand his wife, of
+   whom a tale of great interest is told in the Cuchulain Cycle of
+   legends. The sea-cloak of Mananan is the subject of a
+   magnificent piece of descriptive poetry in Ferguson's CONGAL.
+
+Cormac then entered a great hall with pillars of cedar and
+many-coloured silken hangings on the walls. In the midst of it was a
+fire-place whereon the host threw a huge log, and shortly afterwards
+brought in a young pig which Cormac cut up to roast before the fire.
+He first put one quarter of the pig to roast, and then his host said
+to him,
+
+"Tell us a tale, stranger, and if it be a true one the quarter will be
+done as soon as the tale is told."
+
+"Do thou begin," said Cormac, "and then thy wife, and after that my
+turn will come."
+
+"Good," said the host. "This is my tale. I have seven of these swine,
+and with their flesh the whole world could be fed. When one of them is
+killed and eaten, I need but put its bones into the pig-trough and on
+the morrow it is alive and well again." They looked at the fireplace,
+and behold, the first quarter of the pig was done and ready to be
+served.
+
+Then Cormac put on the second quarter, and the woman took up her tale.
+"I have seven white cows," she said, "and seven pails are filled with
+the milk of them each day. Though all the folk in the world were
+gathered together to drink of this milk, there would be enough and to
+spare for all." As soon as she had said that, they saw that the second
+quarter of the pig was roasted.
+
+Then Cormac said: "I know you now, who you are; for it is Mananan that
+owns the seven swine of Faery, and it is out of the Land of Promise
+that he fetched Fand his wife and her seven cows." Then immediately
+the third quarter of the pig was done.
+
+"Tell us now," said Mananan, "who thou art and why thou art come
+hither."
+
+Cormac then told his story, of the branch with its nine golden apples
+and how he had bartered for it his wife and his children, and he was
+now-seeking them through the world. And when he had made an end, the
+last quarter of the pig was done.
+
+"Come, let us set to the feast," then said Mananan; but Cormac said,
+"Never have I sat down to meat in a company of two only." "Nay," said
+Mananan, "but there are more to come." With that he opened a door in
+the hall and in it appeared Queen Ethne and her two children. And when
+they had embraced and rejoiced in each other Mananan said, "It was I
+who took them from thee, Cormac, and who gave thee the bell-branch,
+for I wished to bring thee hither to be my guest for the sake of thy
+nobleness and thy wisdom."
+
+Then they all sat down to table and feasted and made merry, and when
+they had satisfied themselves with meat and drink, Mananan showed the
+wonders of his household to King Cormac. And he took up a golden cup
+which stood on the table, and said: "This cup hath a magical property,
+for if a lie be spoken over it, it will immediately break in pieces,
+and if a truth be spoken it will be made whole again." "Prove this to
+me," said Cormac. "That is easily done," said Mananan. "Thy wife hath
+had a new husband since I carried her off from thee." Straightway the
+cup fell apart into four pieces. "My husband has lied to thee,
+Cormac," said Fand, and immediately the cup became whole again.
+
+Cormac then began to question Mananan as to the things he had seen on
+his way thither, and he told him of the house that was being thatched
+with the wings of birds, and of the men that kept returning ever and
+again to their work as the wind destroyed it. And Mananan said,
+"These, O Cormac, are the men of art, who seek to gather together much
+money and gear of all kinds by the exercise of their craft, but as
+fast as they get it, so they spend it, or faster and the result is
+that they will never be rich." But when he had said this it is related
+that the golden cup broke into pieces where it stood. Then Cormac
+said, "The explanation thou hast given of this mystery is not true."
+Mananan smiled, and said, "Nevertheless it must suffice thee, O King,
+for the truth of this matter may not be known, lest the men of art
+give over the roofing of the house and it be covered with common
+thatch."
+
+So when they had talked their fill, Cormac and his wife and children
+were brought to a chamber where they lay down to sleep. But when they
+woke up on the morrow morn, they found themselves in the Queen's
+chamber in the royal palace of Tara, and by Cormac's side were found
+the bell-branch and the magical cup and the cloth of gold that had
+covered the table where they sat in the palace of Mananan. Seven
+months it was since Cormac had gone out from Tara to search for his
+wife and children, but it seemed to him that he had been absent but
+for the space of a single day and night.
+
+
+IX
+
+DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC[33]
+
+   [33] The original from the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE (14th century) is
+   given in O'Curry's MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, Appendix
+   xxvi. I have in the main followed O'Curry's translation.
+
+"A noble and illustrious king assumed the sovranty and rule of Erinn,
+namely Cormac, grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles. The world was
+full of all goodness in his time; there were fruit and fatness of the
+land, and abundant produce of the sea, with peace and ease and
+happiness. There were no killings or plunderings in his time, but
+everyone occupied his land in happiness.
+
+"The nobles of Ireland assembled to drink the Banquet of Tara with
+Cormac at a certain time.... Magnificently did Cormac come to this
+great Assembly; for no man, his equal in beauty, had preceded him,
+excepting Conary Mór or Conor son of Caffa, or Angus Óg son of the
+Dagda.[34] Splendid, indeed, was Cormac's appearance in that Assembly.
+His hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour; a scarlet shield
+he had, with engraved devices, and golden bosses and ridges of silver.
+A wide-folding purple cloak was on him with a gem-set gold brooch over
+his breast; a golden torque round his neck; a white-collared shirt
+embroidered with gold was on him; a girdle with golden buckles and
+studded with precious stones was around him; two golden net-work
+sandals with golden buckles upon his feet; two spears with golden
+sockets and many red bronze rivets in his hand; while he stood in the
+full glow of beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was
+a shower of pearls that was set in his mouth, his lips were rubies,
+his symmetrical body was as white as snow, his cheek was ruddy as the
+berry of the mountain-ash, his eyes were like the sloe, his brows and
+eye-lashes were like the sheen of a blue-black lance."
+
+   [34] Angus Óg was really a deity or fairy king. He appears also
+   in the story of Midir and Etain. _q.v._
+
+
+X
+
+THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC
+
+Strange was the birth and childhood of Cormac strange his life and
+strange the manner of his death and burial, as we now have to narrate.
+
+Cormac, it is said, was the third man in Ireland who heard of the
+Christian Faith before the coming of Patrick. One was Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster, whose druid told him of the crucifixion of Christ and
+who died of that knowledge.[35] The second was the wise judge, Morann,
+and the third Cormac, son of Art. This knowledge was revealed to him
+by divine illumination, and thenceforth he refused to consult the
+druids or to worship the images which they made as emblems of the
+Immortal Ones.
+
+   [35] See the conclusion of the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_.
+
+One day it happened that Cormac after he had laid down the kingship of
+Ireland, was present when the druids and a concourse of people were
+worshipping the great golden image which was set up in the plain
+called Moy Slaught. When the ceremony was done, the chief druid, whose
+name was Moylann, spoke to Cormac and said: "Why, O Cormac, didst thou
+not bow down and adore the golden image of the god like the rest of
+the people?"
+
+And Cormac said: "Never will I worship a stock[36] that my own
+carpenter has made. Rather would I worship the man that made it, for
+he is nobler than the work of his hands."
+
+   [36] The image was doubtless of wood overlaid with gold.
+
+Then it is told that Moylann by magic art caused the image to move and
+leap before the eyes of Cormac. "Seest thou that?" said Moylann.
+
+"Although I see," said Cormac, "I will do no worship save to the God
+of Heaven and Earth and Hell."
+
+Then Cormac went to his own home at Sletty on the Boyne, for there he
+lived after he had given up the kingdom to his son Cairbry. But the
+druids of Erinn came together and consulted over this matter, and they
+determined solemnly to curse Cormac and invoke the vengeance of their
+gods upon him lest the people should think that any man could despise
+and reject their gods, and suffer no ill for it.
+
+So they cursed Cormac in his flesh and bones, in his waking and
+sleeping, in his down sitting and his uprising, and each day they
+turned over the Wishing Stone upon the altar of their god,[37] and
+wove mighty spells against his life. And whether it was that these
+took effect, or that the druids prevailed upon some traitorous servant
+of Cormac's to work their will, so it was that he died not long
+thereafter; and some say that he was choked by a fish bone as he sat
+at meat in his house at Sletty on the Boyne.
+
+   [37] There are still Wishing Stones, which are used in
+   connexion with petitions for good or ill, on the ancient altars
+   of Inishmurray and of Caher Island, and possibly other places
+   on the west coast of Ireland.
+
+But when he felt his end approaching, and had still the power to
+speak, he said to those that gathered round his bed:--"When I am gone
+I charge you that ye bury me not at Brugh of the Boyne where is the
+royal cemetery of the Kings of Erinn.[38] For all these kings paid
+adoration to gods of wood or stone, or to the Sun and the Elements,
+whose signs are carved on the walls of their tombs, but I have learned
+to know the One God, immortal, invisible, by whom the earth and
+heavens were made. Soon there will come into Erinn one from the East
+who will declare Him unto us, and then wooden gods and cursing priests
+shall plague us no longer in this land. Bury me then not at
+Brugh-na-Boyna, but on the hither-side of Boyne, at Ross-na-ree, where
+there is a sunny, eastward-sloping hill, there would I await the
+coming of the sun of truth."
+
+   [38] This famous cemetery of the kings of pagan Ireland lies on
+   the north bank of the Boyne and consists of a number of
+   sepulchral mounds, sometimes of great extent, containing, in
+   their interior, stone walled chambers decorated with symbolic
+   and ornamental carvings. The chief of these mounds, now known
+   as Newgrange, has been explored and described by Mr George
+   Coffey in his valuable work NEWGRANGE, published by the Royal
+   Irish Academy. _Brugh_=mansion.
+
+So spake Cormac, and he died, and there was a very great mourning for
+him in the land. But when the time came for his burial, the princes
+and lords of the Gael vowed that he should lie in Brugh with Art, his
+father, and Conn of the Hundred Battles, and many another king, in the
+great stone chambers of the royal dead. For Ross-na-ree, they said, is
+but a green hill of no note; and Cormac's expectation of the message
+of the new God they took to be but the wanderings of a dying man.
+
+Now Brugh-na-Boyna lay at the farther side of the Boyne from Sletty,
+and near by was a shallow ford where the river could be crossed. But
+when the funeral train came down to the ford, bearing aloft the body
+of the King, lo! the river had risen as though a tempest had burst
+upon it at its far-off sources in the hills, and between them and the
+farther bank was now a broad and foaming flood, and the stakes that
+marked the ford were washed clean away. Even so they made trial of the
+ford, and thrice the bearers waded in and thrice they were forced to
+turn back lest the flood should sweep them down. At length six of the
+tallest and mightiest of the warriors of the High King took up the
+bier upon their shoulders, and strode in. And first the watchers on
+the bank saw the brown water swirl about their knees, and then they
+sank thigh-deep, and at last it foamed against their shoulders, yet
+still they braced themselves against the current, moving forward very
+slowly as they found foothold among the slippery rocks in the
+river-bed. But when they had almost reached the mid-stream it seemed
+as if a great surge overwhelmed them, and caught the bier from their
+shoulders as they plunged and clutched around it, and they must needs
+make back for the shore as best they could, while Boyne swept down the
+body of Cormac to the sea.
+
+On the following morning, however, shepherds driving their flocks to
+pasture on the hillside of Ross-na-ree found cast upon the shore the
+body of an aged man of noble countenance, half wrapped in a silken
+pall; and knowing not who this might be they dug a grave in the grassy
+hill, and there laid the stranger, and laid the green sods over him
+again.
+
+There still sleeps Cormac the King, and neither Ogham-lettered stone
+nor sculptured cross marks his solitary grave. But he lies in the
+place where he would be, of which a poet of the Gael in our day has
+written:--
+
+  "A tranquil spot: a hopeful sound
+     Comes from the ever-youthful stream,
+   And still on daisied mead and mound
+     The dawn delays with tenderer beam.
+
+   "Round Cormac, spring renews her buds:
+     In march perpetual by his side
+   Down come the earth-fresh April floods,
+     And up the sea-fresh salmon glide;
+
+   "And life and time rejoicing run
+     From age to age their wonted way;
+   But still he waits the risen sun,
+     For still 'tis only dawning day."[39]
+
+   [39] These lines are taken from Sir S. Ferguson's noble poem,
+   _The Burial of King Cormac_, from which I have also borrowed
+   some of the details of the foregoing narrative.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Notes on the Sources
+
+
+_The Story of the Children of Lir_ and _The Quest of the Sons of
+Turenn_ are two of the three famous and popular tales entitled "The
+Three Sorrows of Storytelling." The third is the _Tragedy of the Sons
+of Usna_, rendered by Miss Eleanor Hull in her volume CUCHULAIN. I
+have taken the two stories which are given here from the versions in
+modern Irish published by the Society for the Preservation of the
+Irish Language, with notes and translation. Neither of them is found
+in any very early MS., but their subject-matter certainly goes back to
+very primitive times.
+
+
+_The Secret of Labra_ is taken from Keating's FORUS FEASA AR EIRINN,
+edited with translation by the Rev. P.S. Dineen for the Irish Texts
+Society, vol. i. p. 172.
+
+
+_The Carving of mac Datho's Boar_. This is a clean, fierce, fighting
+story, notable both for its intensely dramatic _dénouement_, and for
+the complete absence from it of the magical or supernatural element
+which is so common a feature in Gaelic tales. It has been edited and
+translated from one MS. by Dr Kuno Meyer, in _Hibernica Minora_
+(ANECDOTA OXONIENSIA), 1894, and translated from THE BOOK OF LEINSTER
+(twelfth century) in Leahy's HEROIC ROMANCES.
+
+
+_The Vengeance of Mesgedra_. This story, as I have given it, is a
+combination of two tales, _The Siege of Howth_ and _The Death of King
+Conor_. The second really completes the first, though they are not
+found united in Irish literature. Both pieces are given in O'Curry's
+MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, and Miss Hull has printed translations
+of them in her CUCHULLIN SAGA, the translation of the _Siege_ being by
+Dr Whitly Stokes and that of the _Death of Conor_ by O'Curry. These
+are very ancient tales and contain a strong barbaric element. Versions
+of both of them are found in the great MS. collection known as the
+BOOK OF LEINSTER (twelfth century).
+
+
+_King Iubdan and King Fergus_ is a brilliant piece of fairy
+literature. The imaginative grace, the humour, and, at the close, the
+tragic dignity of this tale make it worthy of being much more widely
+known than it has yet become. The original, taken from one of the
+Egerton MSS. in the British Museum, will be found with a translation
+in O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. For the conclusion, I have in the main
+followed another version (containing the death of Fergus only), given
+in the SEANCUS MOR and finely versified by Sir Samuel Ferguson in his
+POEMS, 1880.
+
+
+_The Story of Etain and Midir_. This beautiful and very ancient
+romance is extant in two distinct versions, both of which are
+translated by Mr A.H. Leahy in his HEROIC ROMANCES. The tale is found
+in several MSS., among others, in the twelfth century BOOK OF THE DUN
+COW (LEABHAR NA H-UIDHRE). It has been recently made the subject of a
+dramatic poem by "Fiona Macleod."
+
+
+_How Ethne quitted Fairyland_ is taken from D'Arbois de Jubainville's
+CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS, ch. xii. 4. The original is to be found
+in the fifteenth century MS., entitled THE BOOK OF FERMOY.
+
+
+_The Boyhood of Finn_ is based chiefly on the MACGNIOMHARTHA FHINN,
+published in 1856, with a translation, in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol. iv. I am also indebted, particularly for the
+translation of the difficult _Song of Finn in Praise of May_, to Dr
+Kuno Meyer's translation published in _Ériu_ (the Journal of the
+School of Irish Learning), vol. i. pt. 2.
+
+
+_The Coming of Finn_, _Finns Chief Men_, the _Tale of Vivionn_ and
+_The Chase of the Gilla Dacar_, are all handfuls from that rich mine
+of Gaelic literature, Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. In
+the _Gilla Dacar_ I have modified the second half of the story rather
+freely. It appears to have been originally an example of a well-known
+class of folk-tales dealing with the subject of the Rescue of
+Fairyland. The same motive occurs in the famous tale called _The
+Sickbed of Cuchulain_. The idea is that some fairy potentate, whose
+realm is invaded and oppressed, entices a mortal champion to come to
+his aid and rewards him with magical gifts. But the eighteenth
+century narrator whose MS. was edited by Mr S.H. O'Grady, apparently
+had not the clue to the real meaning of his material, and after going
+on brilliantly up to the point where Dermot plunges into the magic
+well, he becomes incoherent, and the rest of the tale is merely a
+string of episodes having no particular connexion with each other or
+with the central theme. The latter I have here endeavoured to restore
+to view. The _Gilla Dacar_ is given from another Gaelic version by Dr
+P.W. Joyce in his invaluable book, OLD CELTIC ROMANCES.
+
+
+_The Birth of Oisín_ I have found in Patrick Kennedy's LEGENDARY
+FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. I do not know the Gaelic original.
+
+
+_Oisín in the Land of Youth_ is based, as regards the outlines of this
+remarkable story, on the LAOI OISÍN AR TIR NA N-ÓG, written by Michael
+Comyn about 1750, and edited with a translation by Thomas Flannery in
+1896 (Gill & Son, Dublin). Comyn's poem was almost certainly based on
+earlier traditional sources, either oral or written or both, but these
+have not hitherto been discovered.
+
+
+_The History of King Cormac_. The story of the birth of Cormac and his
+coming into his kingdom is to be found in SILVA GADELICA, where it is
+edited from THE BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, an MS. dating from about the year
+1400.
+
+The charming tale, of his marriage with Ethne ni Dunlaing is taken
+from Keating's FORUS FEASA. From this source also I have taken the
+tales of the Brehon Flahari, of Kiernit and the mill, and of Cormac's
+death and burial. The _Instructions of Cormac_ have been edited and
+translated by Dr Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture Series of the Royal
+Irish Academy, xiv., April 1909. They are found in numerous MSS., and
+their date is fixed by Dr Meyer about the ninth century. With some
+other Irish matter of the same description they constitute, says Mr
+Alfred Nutt, "the oldest body of gnomic wisdom" extant in any European
+vernacular. (_FOLK-LORE_, Sept. 30, 1909.)
+
+The story of Cormac's adventures in Fairyland has been published with
+a translation by Standish Hayes O'Grady in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol. iii., and is also given very fully by d'Arbois
+de Jubainvilie in his CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS. The tale is found,
+among other MSS., in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, but is known to have been
+extant at least as early as the tenth century, since in that year it
+figures in a list of Gaelic tales drawn up by the historian Tierna.
+
+The ingenious story of the _Judgment concerning Cormac's Sword_ is
+found in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, and is printed with a translation by
+Dr Whitly Stokes in _IRISCHE TEXTE_, iii. Serie, 7 Heft, 1891.
+
+
+
+
+Pronouncing Index
+
+
+The correct pronunciation of Gaelic proper names can only be learned
+from the living voice. It cannot be accurately represented by any
+combination of letters from the English alphabet. I have spared the
+reader as much trouble as possible on this score by simplifying, as
+far as I could, the forms of the names occurring in the text, and if
+the reader will note the following general rules, he will get quite as
+near to the pronunciation intended as there is any necessity for him
+to do. A few names which might present some unusual difficulty are
+given with their approximate English pronunciations in the Index.
+
+The chief rule to observe is that vowels are pronounced as in the
+Continental languages, not according to the custom peculiar to
+England. Thus _a_ is like _a_ in _father_, never like _a_ in _fate,
+I_(when long) is like _ee_, _u_ like _oo_, or like _u_ in _put_ (never
+like _u_ in _tune_). An accent implies length, thus _Dún_, a fortress
+or mansion, is pronounced _Doon_. The letters _ch_ are never to be
+pronounced with a _t_ sound, as in the word _chip_, but like a rough
+_h_ or a softened _k_, rather as in German. _Gh_ is silent as in
+English, and _g_ is always hard, as in _give_. _C_ is always as _k_,
+never as _s_.
+
+In the following Index an accent placed after a syllable indicates
+that the stress is to be laid on that syllable. Only those words are
+given, the pronunciation of which is not easily ascertainable by
+attention to the foregoing rules.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+Æda is to be pronounced  Ee'-da.
+Ailill          "        Al'-yill.
+Anluan          "        An'-looan.
+Aoife           "        Ee'-fa.
+Bacarach        "        Bac'-ara_h_.
+Belachgowran    "        Bel'-a_h_-gow'-ran.
+Cearnach        "        Kar'-na_h_.
+Cuchulain       "        Coo-_h_oo'-lin.
+Cumhal          "        Coo'wal, Cool.
+Dacar           "        Dak'-ker.
+Derryvaragh     "        Derry-var'-a.
+
+Eisirt          "        Eye'sert.
+Eochy           "        Yeo'_h_ee.
+
+Fiachra         "        Fee'-a_k_ra.
+Fianna          "        Fee'-anna.
+Finegas         "        Fin'-egas.
+Fionnuala       "        Fee-on-oo'-ala, shortened in modern Irish
+                          into Fino'-la.
+
+Flahari         "        Fla'-haree.
+
+Iorroway        "        Yor'-oway.
+Iubdan          "        Youb'-dan.
+Iuchar          "        You'-_h_ar.
+Iucharba        "        You-_h_ar'-ba.
+
+Liagan          "        Lee'-agan.
+Lir             "        Leer.
+Logary          "        Lo'-garee.
+
+Maev            "        rhyming to _wave_.
+Mananan         "        Man'-anan.
+Mesgedra        "        Mes-ged'-ra.
+Midir           "        Mid'-eer.
+Mochaen         "        Mo-_hain'.
+Mochaovóg       "        Mo-_h_wee'-vogue.
+Moonremur       "        Moon'-ray-mur.
+
+Oisín           "        Ush'-een (Ossian).
+
+Peisear         "        Pye'-sar.
+
+Sceolaun        "        Ske-o'-lawn (the _e_ very short).
+Slievenamuck    "        Sleeve-na-muck'.
+Slievenamon     "        Sleeve-na-mon'.
+
+Tuish           "        Too'-ish.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN AND OTHER
+BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND***
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland, by T. W. Rolleston, et al</title>
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+    .poem .stanza     {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic
+Romances of Ancient Ireland, by T. W. Rolleston, et al, Illustrated by
+Stephen Reid</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland</p>
+<p>Author: T. W. Rolleston</p>
+<p>Release Date: January 21, 2005  [eBook #14749]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND***</p>
+<br><br><h3>E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Bethanne M. Simms-Troester,<br>
+            and the Project Gutenbert Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br>
+            (www.pgdp.net)</h3><br><br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<br>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL01"></a>
+<a href="./images/il-front.jpg"><img src="images/il-front_th.jpg" alt="Finn heard far off the first notes of the fairy harp" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;Finn heard far off the first notes of the fairy harp&quot;
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN</h1>
+
+<h1>AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES <br />OF ANCIENT IRELAND</h1>
+
+<h3>BY </h3>
+
+<h2>T. W. ROLLESTON</h2>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3><i>WITH AN INTRODUCTION<br /> BY</i> <br />
+STOPFORD A. BROOKE M.A. LL.D.</h3>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3><i>AND<br /> WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS<br /> BY</i> <br />
+STEPHEN REID</h3>
+<hr />
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h6>New York<br />
+Thomas Y. Crowell &amp; Company<br />
+Publishers</h6>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr />
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>AR <br />
+CRAOIBH CONNARTHA NA GAEDHILGE <br />
+I NGLEANN FHAIDHLE BRONNAIM AN LEABHAR SEO: <br />
+BEANNACHT AGUS BUAIDH <br />
+LIBHSE GO DEO
+</center>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr />
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN</h1>
+
+<ul class="none">
+<li> <a href='#Preface'><b>Preface</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+<h2>Contents</h2>
+<ul class="none">
+<li> <a href='#Introduction'><b>Introduction</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#COIS_NA_TEINEADH'><b>COIS NA TEINEADH</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<h3><a href='#BARDIC_ROMANCES'>BARDIC ROMANCES</a></h3>
+<ol class="uroman">
+<li><a href='#CHAPTER_I'><b>THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN OF LIR</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_II'><b>THE QUEST OF THE SONS OF TURENN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_III'><b>THE SECRET OF LABRA</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_IV'><b>KING IUBDAN AND KING FERGUS</b></a> </li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_V'><b>THE CARVING OF MAC DATHO'S BOAR</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_VI'><b>THE VENGEANCE OF MESGEDRA</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_VII'><b>THE STORY OF ETAIN AND MIDIR</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_VIII'><b>HOW ETHNE QUITTED FAIRYLAND</b></a></li>
+</ol>
+<h3><a href='#THE_HIGH_DEEDS_OF_FINN'>THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN</a></h3>
+<ol class="uroman" start="9">
+<li><a href='#CHAPTER_IX'><b>THE BOYHOOD OF FINN MAC CUMHAL</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_X'><b>THE COMING OF FINN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XI'><b>FINN'S CHIEF MEN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XII'><b>THE TALE OF VIVIONN THE GIANTESS</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XIII'><b>THE CHASE OF THE GILLA DACAR</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XIV'><b>THE BIRTH OF OISÍN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#CHAPTER_XV'><b>OISÍN IN THE LAND OF YOUTH</b></a></li>
+</ol>
+<h3><a href='#CHAPTER_XVI_THE_HISTORY_OF_KING_CORMAC'>THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC</a></h3>
+<ol class="uroman" start="16"><li>
+<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
+<li> <a href='#I_THE_BIRTH_OF_CORMAC'><b>THE BIRTH OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#II_THE_JUDGEMENT_OF_CORMAC'><b>THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#III_THE_MARRIAGE_OF_KING_CORMAC'><b>THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#IV_THE_INSTRUCTIONS_OF_THE_KING'><b>THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#V_CORMAC_SETS_UP_THE_FIRST_MILL_IN_ERINN'><b>CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#VI_A_PLEASANT_STORY_OF_CORMACS_BREHON'><b>A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#VII_THE_JUDGEMENT_CONCERNING_CORMACS_SWORD'><b>THE JUDGEMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#VIII_THE_DISAPPEARANCE_OF_CORMAC'><b>THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#IX_DESCRIPTION_OF_CORMAC'><b>DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+<li> <a href='#X_THE_DEATH_AND_BURIAL_OF_CORMAC'><b>THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC</b></a></li>
+</ol></li></ol>
+
+<ul class="none">
+<li><a href='#Notes_on_the_Sources'><b>Notes on the Sources</b></a></li>
+<li><a href='#Pronouncing_Index'><b><i>Pronouncing Index</i></b></a></li>
+<li><a href='#FOOTNOTES'><b>FOOTNOTES</b></a></li></ul>
+
+
+<h2>Illustrations</h2>
+<ul style="list-style-type: none;"><li><a href="#IL01">&quot;FINN HEARD FAR OFF THE FIRST NOTES OF THE FAIRY HARP&quot;</a>
+(see <a href="#PAGE118"><i>here</i></a>)</li>
+<li><a href="#IL02">&quot;THERE SAT THE THREE MAIDENS WITH THE QUEEN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL03">&quot;THEY MADE AN ENCAMPMENT AND THE SWANS SANG TO THEM&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL04">&quot;BEAR US SWIFTLY, BOAT OF MANANAN, TO THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL05">&quot;THERE DWELT THE RED-HAIRED OCEAN-NYMPHS&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL06">&quot;THEY ALL TROOPED OUT, LORDS AND LADIES, TO VIEW THE WEE MAN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL07">&quot;FERGUS GOES DOWN INTO THE LAKE&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL08">&quot;A MIGHTY SHOUT OF EXULTATION AROSE FROM THE ULSTERMEN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL09">&quot;THEY ROSE UP IN THE AIR&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL10">&quot;SHE HEARD HER OWN NAME CALLED AGAIN AND AGAIN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL11">&quot;AND THAT NIGHT THERE WAS FEASTING AND JOY IN THE LONELY HUT&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL12">&quot;THEY RAN HIM BY HILL AND PLAIN&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL13">&quot;DERMOT TOOK THE HORN AND WOULD HAVE FILLED IT&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL14">&quot;'FOLLOW ME NOW TO THE HILL OF ALLEN'&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL15">&quot;THEY RODE UP TO A STATELY PALACE&quot;</a></li>
+<li><a href="#IL16">&quot;THE WHITE STEED HAD VANISHED FROM THEIR EYES LIKE A WREATH OF MIST&quot;</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='Preface'></a><h2>Preface</h2>
+
+<p>The romantic tales here retold for the English reader belong neither to
+the category of folk-lore nor of myth, although most of them contain
+elements of both. They belong, like the tales of Cuchulain, which have
+been similarly presented by Miss Hull,<a name='FNanchor_1_1'></a><a href='#Footnote_1_1'><sup>[1]</sup></a> to the bardic literature of
+ancient Ireland, a literature written with an artistic purpose by men
+who possessed in the highest degree the native culture of their land and
+time. The aim with which these men wrote is also that which has been
+adopted by their present interpreter. I have not tried, in this volume,
+to offer to the scholar materials for the study of Celtic myth or
+folk-lore. My aim, however I may have fulfilled it, has been artistic,
+not scientific. I have tried, while carefully preserving the main
+outline of each story, to treat it exactly as the ancient bard treated
+his own material, or as Tennyson treated the stories of the MORT
+D'ARTHUR, that is to say, to present it as a fresh work of poetic
+imagination. In some cases, as in the story of the Children of Lir, or
+that of mac Datho's Boar, or the enchanting tale of King Iubdan and King
+Fergus, I have done little more than retell the bardic legend with
+merely a little compression; but in others a certain amount of reshaping
+has seemed desirable. The object in all cases has been the same, to
+bring out as clearly as possible for modern readers the beauty and
+interest which are either manifest or implicit in the Gaelic original.</p>
+
+<p>For stories which are only found in MSS. written in the older forms of
+the language, I have been largely indebted to the translations published
+by various scholars. Chief among these (so far as the present work is
+concerned) must be named Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady&mdash;whose wonderful
+treasure-house of Gaelic legend, SILVA GADELICA, can never be mentioned
+by the student of these matters without an expression of admiration and
+of gratitude; Mr A.H. Leahy, author of HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND; Dr
+Whitly Stokes, Professor Kuno Meyer, and M. d'Arbois de Jubainville,
+whose invaluable CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS has been much in my hands,
+both in the original and in the excellent English translation of Mr R.I.
+Best. Particulars of the source of each story will be found in the Notes
+on the Sources at the end of this volume. In the same place will also be
+found a pronouncing-index of proper names. I have endeavoured, in the
+text, to avoid or to modify any names which in their original form would
+baffle the English reader, but there remain some on the pronunciation of
+which he may be glad to have a little light.</p>
+
+<p>The two most conspicuous figures in ancient Irish legend are Cuchulain,
+who lived&mdash;if he has any historical reality&mdash;in the reign of Conor mac
+Nessa immediately before the Christian era, and Finn son of Cumhal, who
+appears in literature as the captain of a kind of military order devoted
+to the service of the High King of Ireland during the third century A.D.
+Miss Hull's volume has been named after Cuchulain, and it is appropriate
+that mine should bear the name of Finn, as it is mainly devoted to his
+period; though, as will be seen, several stories belonging to other
+cycles of legend, which did not fall within the scope of Miss Hull's
+work, have been included here.<a name='FNanchor_2_2'></a><a href='#Footnote_2_2'><sup>[2]</sup></a> All the tales have been arranged
+roughly in chronological order. This does not mean according to the date
+of their composition, which in most cases is quite indiscoverable, and
+still less, according to the dates of the MSS. in which they are
+contained. The order is given by the position, in real or mythical
+history, of the events they deal with. Of course it is not practicable
+to dovetail them into one another with perfect accuracy. Where a story,
+like that of the Children of Lir, extends over nearly a thousand years,
+beginning with the mythical People of Dana and ending in the period of
+Christian monasticism, one can only decide on its place by considering
+where it will throw most light on those which come nearest to it. In this,
+as in the selection and treatment of the tales, there is of course room
+for much difference of opinion. I can only ask the critic to believe that
+nothing has been done in the framing of this collection of Gaelic romances
+without the consideration and care which the value of the material demands
+and which the writer's love of it has inspired.</p>
+
+<p class="rgt">T. W. ROLLESTON</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<a name='Introduction'></a><h2>Introduction</h2>
+
+<p>Many years have passed by since, delivering the Inaugural Lecture of the
+Irish Literary Society in London, I advocated as one of its chief aims
+the recasting into modern form and in literary English of the old Irish
+legends, preserving the atmosphere of the original tales as much as
+possible, but clearing them from repetitions, redundant expressions,
+idioms interesting in Irish but repellent in English, and, above all,
+from absurdities, such as the sensational fancy of the later editors and
+bards added to the simplicities of the original tales.</p>
+
+<p>Long before I spoke of this, it had been done by P.W. Joyce in his OLD
+CELTIC ROMANCES, and by Standish O'Grady for the whole story of
+Cuchulain, but in this case with so large an imitation of the Homeric
+manner that the Celtic spirit of the story was in danger of being lost.
+This was the fault I had to find with that inspiring book,<a name='FNanchor_3_3'></a><a href='#Footnote_3_3'><sup>[3]</sup></a> but it was
+a fault which had its own attraction.</p>
+
+<p>Since then, a number of writers have translated into literary English a
+host of the Irish tales, and have done this with a just reverence for
+their originals. Being, in nearly every case, Irish themselves, they
+have tried, with varying success, to make their readers realize the wild
+scenery of Ireland, her vital union with the sea and the great ocean to
+the West, those changing dramatic skies, that mystic weather, the wizard
+woods and streams which form the constant background of these stories;
+nor have they failed to allure their listeners to breathe the spiritual
+air of Ireland, to feel its pathetic, heroic, imaginative thrill.</p>
+
+<p>They have largely succeeded in their effort. The Irish bardic tales have
+now become a part of English literature and belong not only to grown up
+persons interested in early poetry, in mythology and folk-customs, but
+to the children of Ireland and England. Our new imaginative stories are
+now told in nurseries, listened to at evening when the children assemble
+in the fire-light to hear tales from their parents, and eagerly read by
+boys at school. A fresh world of story-telling has been opened to the
+imagination of the young.</p>
+
+<p>This could not have been done in the right way if it had not been for
+the previous work of Celtic scholars in Ireland, and particularly on the
+Continent, in France and Germany. Having mastered medieval Irish, they
+have translated with careful accuracy many of the ancient tales,
+omitting and changing nothing; they have edited them critically,
+collating and comparing them with one another, and with other forms of
+the same stories. We have now in English, French, and German the exact
+representation of the originals with exhaustive commentaries.</p>
+
+<p>When this necessary work was finished&mdash;and it was absolutely
+necessary&mdash;it had two important results on all work of the kind Mr
+Rolleston has performed in this book&mdash;on the imaginative recasting and
+modernizing of the ancient tales. First, it made it lawful and easy for
+the modern artist&mdash;in sculpture, painting, poetry, or imaginative
+prose&mdash;to use the stories as he pleased in order to give pleasure to the
+modern world. It made it lawful because he could reply to those who
+objected that what he produced was not the real thing&mdash;&quot;The real thing
+exists; you will find it, when you wish to see it, accurately and
+closely translated by critical and competent scholars. I refer you to
+the originals in the notes to this book. I have found the materials of
+my stories in these originals; and it is quite lawful for me, now that
+they have been reverently preserved, to use them as I please for the
+purpose of giving pleasure to the modern world&mdash;to make out of them
+fresh imaginative work, as the medieval writers did out of the original
+stories of Arthur and his men.&quot; This is the defence any re-caster of the
+ancient tales might make of the <i>lawfulness</i> of his work, and it is a
+just defence; having, above all, this use&mdash;that it leaves the
+imagination of the modern artist free, yet within recognized and ruling
+limits, to play in and around his subject.</p>
+
+<p>One of those limits is the preservation, in any remodelling of the
+tales, of the Celtic atmosphere. To tell the Irish stories in the manner
+of Homer or Apuleius, in the manner of the Norse sagas, or in the manner
+of Malory, would be to lose their very nature, their soul, their
+nationality. We should no longer understand the men and women who fought
+and loved in Ireland, and whose characters were moulded by Irish
+surroundings, customs, thoughts, and passions. We should not see or feel
+the landscape of Ireland or its skies, the streams, the woods, the
+animals and birds, the mountain solitudes, as we feel and see them in
+the original tales. We should not hear, as we hear in their first form,
+the stormy seas between Scotland and Antrim, or the great waves which
+roar on the western isles, and beat on cliffs which still belong to
+another world than ours. The genius of Ireland would desert our work.</p>
+
+<p>And it would be a vast pity to lose the Irish atmosphere in the telling
+of the Irish tales, because it is unique; not only distinct from that of
+the stories of other races, but from that of the other branches of the
+Celtic race. It differs from the atmosphere of the stories of Wales, of
+Brittany, of the Highlands and islands of Scotland. It is more purely
+Celtic, less mixed than any of them. A hundred touches in feeling, in
+ways of thought, in sensitiveness to beauty, in war and voyaging, and in
+ideals of life, separate it from that of the other Celtic races.</p>
+
+<p>It is owing to the careful, accurate, and critical work of continental
+and Irish scholars on the manuscript materials of Irish Law, History,
+Bardic Tales, and Poetry; on customs, dress, furniture, architecture,
+ornament, on hunting and sailing; on the manners of men and women in war
+and peace, that the modern re-teller of the Irish tales is enabled to
+conserve the Irish atmosphere. And this conservation of the special
+Irish atmosphere is the second result which the work of the critical
+scholars has established. If the re-writer of the tales does not use the
+immense materials made ready to his hand for illustration, expansion,
+ornament and description in such a way that Ireland, and only Ireland,
+lives in his work from line to line, he is greatly to be blamed.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Rolleston has fulfilled these conditions with the skill and the
+feeling of an artist. He has clung closely to his originals with an
+affectionate regard for their ancientry, their ardour and their
+distinction, and yet has, within this limit, used and modified them with
+a pleasant freedom. His love of Ireland has instilled into his
+representation of these tales a passion akin to that which gave them
+birth. We feel, as we read, how deep his sympathy has been with their
+intensity, their love of wild nature, their desire for beauty, their
+interest in humanity and in character, their savagery and their
+tenderness, their fairy magic and strange imaginations that suddenly
+surprise and charm. Whenever anything lovely emerges in the tale, he
+does not draw attention to it, but touches it with so artistic a pencil
+that its loveliness is enhanced. And he has put into English verse the
+Irish poems scattered through the tales with the skill and the temper of
+a poet. I hope his book will win what it deserves&mdash;the glad appreciation
+of old and young in England, and the gratitude of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>The stories told in this book belong to three distinct cycles of Irish
+story-telling. The first are mythological, and are concerned with the
+early races that are fabled to have dwelt and fought in Ireland Among
+these the Tuatha De Danaan were the final conquerors, and held the land
+for two hundred years They were, it is supposed, of the Celtic stock,
+but they were not the ancestors of the present Irish. These were the
+Milesians (Irish, Scots or Gaelic who, conquering the Tuatha De Danaan,
+ruled Ireland till they were overcome by the English.) The stories which
+have to do with the Tuatha De Danaan are mythical and of a great
+antiquity concerning men and women, the wisest and the best of whom
+became gods, and who appear as divine beings in the cycle of tales which
+follow after them They were always at war with a fierce and savage
+people called Fomorians, whom they finally defeated and the strife
+between them may mythically represent the ancient war between the good
+and evil principles in the world.</p>
+
+<p>In the next cycle we draw nearer to history, and are in the world not of
+myth but of legend. It is possible that some true history may be hidden
+underneath its sagas, that some of its personages may be historical, but
+we cannot tell. The events are supposed to occur about the time of the
+birth of Christ, and seventeen hundred years after those of the mythical
+period. This is the cycle which collects its wars and sorrows and
+splendours around the dominating figure of Cuchulain, and is called the
+Heroic or the Red Branch or the Ultonian cycle. Several sagas tell of
+the birth, the life, and the death of Cuchulain, and among them is the
+longest and the most important&mdash;the Táin&mdash;the <i>Cattle Raid of Cooley</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Others are concerned with the great King Conor mac Nessa, and the most
+known and beautiful of these is the sorrowful tale of Deirdré. There are
+many others of the various heroes and noble women who belonged to the
+courts of Conor and of his enemy Queen Maev of Connaght. The <i>Carving of
+mac Datho's Boar</i>, the story of <i>Etain and Midir</i>, and the <i>Vengeance of
+Mesgedra</i>, contained in this book belong to these miscellaneous tales
+unconnected with the main saga of Cuchulain.</p>
+
+<p>The second cycle is linked to the first, not by history or race, but by
+the fact that the great personages in the first have now become the gods
+who intervene in the affairs of the wars and heroes of the second. They
+take part in them as the gods do in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Lugh, the
+Long-Handed, the great Counsellor of the Tuatha De Danaan, is now a god,
+and is the real father of Cuchulain, heals him of his wounds in the
+Battle of the Ford, warns him of his coming death, and receives him into
+the immortal land. The Morrigan, who descends from the first cycle, is
+now the goddess of war, and is at first the enemy and afterwards the
+lover of Cuchulain. Angus, The Dagda, Mananan the sea-god, enter not
+only into the sagas of the second cycle, but into those of the third, of
+the cycle of Finn. And all along to the very end of the stories, and
+down indeed to the present day, the Tuatha De Danaan appear in various
+forms, slowly lessening in dignity and power, until they end in the
+fairy folk in whom the Irish peasants still believe. They are alive and
+still powerful in the third&mdash;the Fenian&mdash;cycle of stories, some of which
+are contained and adorned in this book. In their continued presence is
+the only connexion which exists between the three cycles. No personages
+of the first save these of the gods appear in the Heroic cycle, none of
+the Heroic cycle appears in the Fenian cycle. Seventeen hundred years,
+according to Irish annalists, separate the first from the second, more
+than two hundred years separate the second from the beginning of the
+third.</p>
+
+<p>The third cycle is called Fenian because its legends tell, for the most
+part, of the great deeds of the Féni or Fianna, who were the militia
+employed by the High King to support his supremacy, to keep Ireland in
+order, to defend the country from foreign invasion. They were, it seems,
+finally organized by Cormac mac Art, 227 A.D.(?) the grandson of Conn
+the Hundred Fighter. But they had loosely existed before in the time of
+Conn and his son Art, and like all mercenary bodies of this kind were
+sometimes at war with the kings who employed them. Finally, at the
+battle of Gowra, they and their power were quite destroyed. Long before
+this destruction, they were led in the reign of Cormac by Finn the son
+of Cumhal, and it is around Finn and Oisín the son of Finn, that most of
+the romances of the Fenian cycle are gathered. Others which tell of the
+battles and deeds of Conn and Art and Cormac and Cairbre of the Liffey,
+Cormac's son, are more or less linked on to the Fenians. On the whole,
+Finn and his warriors, each of a distinct character, warlike skill and
+renown, are the main personages of the cycle, and though Finn is not the
+greatest warrior, he is their head and master because he is the wisest;
+and this masterdom by knowledge is for the first time an element in
+Irish stories.</p>
+
+<p>If the tales of the first cycle are mythological and of the second
+heroic, these are romantic. The gods have lost their dreadful, even
+their savage character, and have become the Fairies, full often of
+gentleness, grace, and humour. The mysterious dwelling places of the
+gods in the sea, in unknown lands, in the wandering air, are now in
+palaces under the green hills of Ireland, or by the banks of swift clear
+rivers, like the palace of Angus near the Boyne, or across the seas in
+Tir-na-n-Óg, the land of immortal youth, whither Niam brings Oisín to
+live with her in love, as Morgan le Fay brought Ogier the Dane to her
+fairyland. The land of the Immortals in the heroic cycle, to which, in
+the story of <i>Etain and Midir</i> in this book, Midir brings back Etain
+after she has sojourned for a time on earth, is quite different in
+conception from the Land of Youth over the far seas where delightfulness
+of life and love is perfect. This, in its conception of an unknown world
+where is immortal youth, where stormless skies, happy hunting, strange
+adventure, gentle manners dwell, where love is free and time is
+unmarked, is pure romance. So are the adventures of Finn against
+enchanters, as in the story of the <i>Birth of Oisín</i>, of <i>Dermot in the
+Country under the Seas</i>, in the story of the <i>Pursuit of the Gilla
+Dacar</i>, of the wild love-tale of <i>Dermot and Grania</i>, flying for many
+years over all Ireland from the wrath of Finn, and of a host of other
+tales of enchantments and battle, and love, and hunting, and feasts, and
+discoveries, and journeys, invasions, courtships, and solemn mournings.
+No doubt the romantic atmosphere has been deepened in these tales by
+additions made to them by successive generations of bardic singers and
+storytellers, but for all that the original elements in the stories are
+romantic as they are not in the previous cycles.</p>
+
+<p>Again, these Fenian tales are more popular than the others. Douglas Hyde
+has dwelt on this distinction. &quot;For 1200 years at least, they have
+been,&quot; he says, &quot;intimately bound up with the thought and feelings of
+the whole Gaelic race in Ireland and Scotland.&quot; Even at the present day
+new forms are given to the tales in the cottage homes of Ireland. And it
+is no wonder. The mysterious giant forms of the mythological period,
+removed by divinity from the sympathy of men; the vast heroic figures of
+Cuchulain and his fellows and foes, their close relation to supernatural
+beings and their doings, are far apart from the more natural humanity of
+Cormac and Finn, of Dermot and Goll, of Oisín and Oscar, of Keelta, and
+last of Conan, the coward, boaster and venomous tongue, whom all the
+Fenians mocked and yet endured. They are a very human band of fighting
+men, and though many of them, like Oisín and Finn and Dermot, have
+adventures in fairyland, they preserve in these their ordinary human
+nature. The Connacht peasant has no difficulty in following Finn into
+the cave of Slieve Cullinn, where the witch turned him into a withered
+old man, for the village where he lives has traditions of the same kind;
+the love affairs of Finn, of Dermot and Grania, and of many others, are
+quite in harmony with a hundred stories, and with the temper, of Irish
+lovers. A closer, a simpler humanity than that of the other cycles
+pervades the Fenian cycle, a greater chivalry, a greater courtesy, and a
+greater tenderness. We have left the primeval savagery behind, the
+multitudinous slaughtering, the crude passions of the earlier men and
+women; we are nearer to civilization, nearer to the common temper and
+character of the Irish people. No one can doubt this who will compare
+the <i>Vengeance of Mesgedra</i> with the <i>Chase of the Gilla Dacar</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The elaborate courtesy with which Finn and his chief warriors receive
+all comers, as in the story of Vivionn the giantess, is quite new, even
+medieval in its chivalry; so is the elaborate code of honour; so also
+is, on the whole, the treatment of women and their relation to men. How
+far this resemblance to medieval romance has been intruded into the
+stories&mdash;(there are some in which there is not a trace of it)&mdash;by the
+after editors and re-editors of the tales, I cannot tell, but however
+that may be, their presence in the Fenian cycle is plain; and this
+brings the stories into a kindlier and more pleasurable atmosphere for
+modern readers than that which broods in thunderous skies and fierce
+light over dreadful passions and battles thick and bloody in the
+previous cycles. We are in a gentler world.</p>
+
+<p>Another more modern romantic element in the Fenian legends is the
+delight in hunting, and that more affectionate relation of men to
+animals which always marks an advance in civilization. Hunting, as in
+medieval romance, is one of the chief pleasures of the Fenians. Six
+months of the year they passed in the open, getting to know every part
+of the country they had to defend, and hunting through the great woods
+and over the hills for their daily food and their daily delight. The
+story of the <i>Chase of the Gilla Dacar</i> tells, at its beginning, of a
+great hunting and of Finn's men listening with joy to the cries of the
+hunters and the loud chiding of the dogs; and many tales celebrate the
+following of the stag and the wild boar from early dawn to the evening.
+Then Finn's two great hounds, Bran and Sceolaun, are loved by Finn and
+his men as if they were dear friends; and they, when their master is in
+danger or under enchantment wail like human beings for his loss or pain.
+It is true Cuchulain's horses weep tears of blood when he goes forth to
+his last battle, foreknowing his death; but they are immortal steeds and
+have divine knowledge of fate. The dogs of Finn are only dogs, and the
+relation between him and them is a natural relation, quite unlike the
+relation between Cuchulain and the horses which draw his chariot. Yet
+Finn's dogs are not quite as other dogs. They have something of a human
+soul in them. They know that in the milk-white fawn they pursue there is
+an enchanted maiden, and they defend her from the other hounds till Finn
+arrives. And it is told of them that sometimes, when the moon is high,
+they rise from their graves and meet and hunt together, and speak of
+ancient days. The supernatural has lessened since the heroic cycle. But
+it is still there in the Fenian.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the Fenian cycle of tales is more influenced by Christianity than
+the others are. The mythological cycle is not only fully pagan, it is
+primeval. It has the vastness, the savagery, the relentlessness of
+nature-myths, and what beauty there is in it is akin to terror.
+Gentleness is unknown. There is only one exception to this, so far as I
+know, and that is in the story of <i>The Children of Lir</i>. It is plain,
+however, that the Christian ending of that sorrowful story is a later
+addition to it. It is remarkably well done, and most tenderly. I believe
+that the artist who did it imported into the rest of the tale the
+exquisite tenderness which fills it, and yet with so much reverence for
+his original that he did not make the body of the story Christian. He
+kept the definite Christian element to the very end, but he filled the
+whole with its tender atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>No Christianity and very little gentleness intrude into the heroic
+cycle. The story of Christ once touches it, but he who put it in did not
+lose the pagan atmosphere, or the wild fierceness of the manners of the
+time. How it was done may be read in this book at the end of the story
+of the <i>Vengeance of Mesgedra</i>. Very late in the redaction of these
+stories a Christian tag was also added to the tale of the death of
+Cuchulain, but it was very badly done.</p>
+
+<p>When we come to the Fenian cycle there is a well-defined borderland
+between them and Christianity. The bulk of the stories is plainly pagan;
+their originals were frankly so. But the temper of their composers is
+more civilized than that of those who conceived the tales of the
+previous cycles; the manners, as I have already said, of their
+personages are gentler, more chivalrous; and their atmosphere is so much
+nearer to that of Christianity, that the new Christian elements would
+find themselves more at home in them than in the terrible vengeance of
+Lugh, the savage brutality of Conor to Deirdré, or the raging
+slaughterings of Cuchulain. So much was this the case that a story was
+skilfully invented which linked in imagination the Fenian cycle to a
+Christianized Ireland. This story&mdash;<i>Oisín in the Land of Youth</i>&mdash;is
+contained in this book. Oisín, or Ossian, the son of Finn, in an
+enchanted story, lives for 300 years, always young, with his love in
+Tir-na-n-Óg, and finds on his return, when he becomes a withered old
+man, St Patrick and Christianity in Ireland. He tells to Patrick many
+tales of the Fenian wars and loves and glories, and in the course of
+them paganism and Christianity are contrasted and intermingled. A
+certain sympathy with the pagan ideas of honour and courage and love
+enters into the talk of Patrick and the monks, and softens their pious
+austerity. On the other hand, the Fenian legends are gentled and
+influenced by the Christian elements, in spite of the scorn with which
+Oisín treats the rigid condemnation of his companions and of Finn to the
+Christian hell, and the ascetic and unwarlike life of the monks.<a name='FNanchor_4_4'></a><a href='#Footnote_4_4'><sup>[4]</sup></a>
+There was evidently in the Fenian cycle of story-telling a transition
+period in which the bards ran Christianity and paganism in and out of
+one another, and mingled the atmosphere of both, and to that period the
+last editing of the story of <i>Lir and his Children</i> may be referred. A
+lovely story in this book, put into fine form by Mr Rolleston, is as it
+were an image of this transition time&mdash;the story or <i>How Ethne quitted
+Fairyland</i>. It takes us back to the most ancient cycle, for it tells of
+the great gods Angus and Mananan, and then of how they became, after
+their conquest by the race who live in the second cycle, the invisible
+dwellers in a Fairy country of their own during the Fenian period, and,
+afterwards, when Patrick and the monks had overcome paganism. Thus it
+mingles together elements from all the periods. The mention of the great
+caldron and the swine which always renew their food is purely
+mythological. The cows which come from the Holy Land are Christian.
+Ethne herself is born in the house of a pagan god who has become a Fairy
+King, but loses her fairy nature and becomes human; and the reason given
+for this is an interesting piece of psychology which would never have
+occurred to a pagan world. She herself is a transition maiden, and,
+suddenly finding herself outside the fairy world and lost, happens on a
+monastery and dies on the breast of St Patrick. But she dies because of
+the wild wailing for her loss of the fairy-host, whom she can hear but
+cannot see, calling to her out of the darkened sky to come back to her
+home. And in her sorrow and the battle in her between the love of Christ
+and of Faerie, she dies. That is a symbol, not intended as such by its
+conceiver, but all the more significant, of the transition time. Short
+as it is, few tales, perhaps, are more deeply charged with spiritual
+meaning.</p>
+
+<p>Independent of these three cycles, but often touching them here and
+there, and borrowing from them, there are a number of miscellaneous
+tales which range from the earliest times till the coming of the Danes.
+The most celebrated of these are the <i>Storming of the Hostel</i> with the
+death of Conary the High King of Ireland, and the story of the Boru
+tribute. Two examples of these miscellaneous tales of a high antiquity
+are contained in this book&mdash;<i>King Iubdan and King Fergus</i> and <i>Etain and
+Midir</i>. Both of them have great charm and delightfulness.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, the manner in which these tales grew into form must be
+remembered when we read them. At first, they were not written down, but
+recited in hall and with a harp's accompaniment by the various bardic
+story-tellers who were attached to the court of the chieftain, or
+wandered singing and reciting from court to court. Each bard, if he was
+a creator, filled up the original framework of the tale with ornaments
+of his own, or added new events or personages to the tale, or mixed it
+up with other related tales, or made new tales altogether attached to
+the main personages of the original tale&mdash;episodes in their lives into
+which the bardic fancy wandered. If these new forms of the tales or
+episodes were imaginatively true to the characters round which they were
+conceived and to the atmosphere of the time, they were taken up by other
+bards and became often separate tales, or if a great number attached
+themselves to one hero, they finally formed themselves into one heroic
+story, such as that which is gathered round Cuchulain, which, as it
+stands, is only narrative, but might in time have become epical. Indeed,
+the Táin approaches, though at some distance, an epic. In this way that
+mingling of elements out of the three cycles into a single Saga took
+place.</p>
+
+<p>Then when Christianity came, the Irish who always, Christians or not,
+loved their race and its stories, would not let them go. They took them
+and suffused them with a Christian tenderness, even a Christian
+forgiveness. Or they inserted Christian endings, while they left the
+rest of the stories as pagan as before. Later on, while the stories were
+still learned by the bards and recited, they were written down, and
+somewhat spoiled by a luxurious use of ornamental adjectives, and by the
+weak, roving and uninventive fancy of men and monks aspiring to
+literature but incapable of reaching it.</p>
+
+<p>However, in spite of all this intermingling and of the different forms
+of the same story, it is possible for an intelligent and sensitive
+criticism, well informed in comparative mythology and folklore, to
+isolate what is very old in these tales from that which is less old,
+and that in turn from that which is still less old, and that from what
+is partly historical, medieval or modern. This has been done, with
+endless controversy, by those excellent German, French, and Irish
+scholars who have, with a thirsty pleasure, recreated the ancient
+literature of Ireland, and given her once more a literary name among
+the nations&mdash;a name which, having risen again, will not lose but increase
+its brightness.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>As to the stories themselves, they have certain well-marked
+characteristics, and in dwelling on these, I shall chiefly refer, for
+illustration, to the stories in this book. Some of these characteristic
+elements belong to almost all mythological tales, and arise from human
+imagination, in separated lands, working in the same or in a similar way
+on the doings of Nature, and impersonating them. The form, however, in
+which these original ideas are cast is, in each people, modified and
+varied by the animal life, the climate, the configuration of the
+country, the nearness of mountain ranges and of the sea, the existence
+of wide forests or vast plains, of swift rivers and great inland waters.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest tales of Ireland are crowded with the sea that wrapt the
+island in its arms; and on the west and north the sea was the mighty and
+mysterious Ocean, in whose far infinities lay for the Irish the land of
+Immortal Youth. Between its shining shores and Ireland, strange
+islands&mdash;dwelt in by dreadful or by fair and gracious creatures, whose
+wonders Maeldun and Brendan visited&mdash;lay like jewels on the green and
+sapphire waters. Out of this vast ocean emerged also their fiercest
+enemies. Thither, beyond these islands into the Unknown, over the waves
+on a fairy steed, went Oisín with Niam; thither, in after years, sailed
+St Brendan, till it seemed he touched America. In the ocean depths were
+fair cities and well-grassed lands and cattle, which voyagers saw
+through water thin and clear. There, too, Brian, one of the sons of
+Turenn, descended in his water-dress and his crystal helmet, and found
+high-bosomed maidens weaving in a shining hall. Into the land beneath
+the wave, Mananan, the proud god of the sea brought Dermot and Finn and
+the Fianna to help him in his wars, as is told in the story of the
+<i>Gilla Dacar</i>. On these western seas, near the land, Lir's daughters,
+singing and floating, passed three hundred years. On other seas, in the
+storm and in the freezing sleet that trouble the dark waves of Moyle,
+between Antrim and the Scottish isles, they spent another three
+centuries. Half the story of the Sons of Usnach has to do with the
+crossing of seas and with the coast. Even Cuchulain, who is a land hero,
+in one of the versions of his death, dies fighting the sea-waves. The
+sound, the restlessness, the calm, the savour and the infinite of the
+sea, live in a host of these stories; and to cap all, the sea itself and
+Mananan its god sympathise with the fates of Erin. When great trouble
+threatens Ireland, or one of her heroes is near death, there are three
+huge waves which, at three different points, rise, roaring, out of the
+ocean, and roll, flooding every creek and bay and cave and river round
+the whole coast with tidings of sorrow and doom. Later on, in the Fenian
+tales, the sea is not so prominent. Finn and his clan are more concerned
+with the land. Their work, their hunting and adventures carry them over
+the mountains and plains, through the forests, and by the lakes and
+rivers. In the stories there is scarcely any part of Ireland which is
+not linked, almost geographically, with its scenery. Even the ancient
+gods have retired from the coast to live in the pleasant green hills or
+by the wooded shores of the great lakes or in hearing of the soft murmur
+of the rivers. This business of the sea, this varied aspect of the land,
+crept into the imagination of the Irish, and were used by them to
+embroider and adorn their poems and tales. They do not care as much for
+the doings of the sky. There does not seem to be any supreme god of the
+heaven in their mythology. Neither the sun nor the moon are specially
+worshipped. There are sun-heroes like Lugh, but no isolated sun-god. The
+great beauty of the cloud-tragedies of storm, the gorgeous sunrises and
+sunsets, so dramatic in Ireland, or the magnificence of the starry
+heavens, are scarcely celebrated. But the Irish folk have heard the
+sound of the wind in the tree-tops and marked its cold swiftness over
+the moor, and watched with fear or love the mists of ocean and the
+bewilderment of the storm-driven snow and the sweet falling of the dew.
+These are fully celebrated.</p>
+
+<p>These great and small aspects of Nature are not only celebrated, they
+are loved. One cannot read the stories in this book without feeling that
+the people who conceived and made them observed Nature and her ways with
+a careful affection, which seems to be more developed in the Celtic folk
+than elsewhere in modern Europe. There is nothing which resembles it in
+Teutonic story-telling. In the story of <i>The Children of Lir</i>, though
+there is no set description of scenery, we feel the spirit of the
+landscape by the lake where Lir listened for three hundred years to the
+sweet songs of his children. And, as we read of their future fate, we
+are filled with the solitude and mystery, the ruthlessness and beauty of
+the ocean. Even its gentleness on quiet days enters from the tale into
+our imagination. Then, too, the mountain-glory and the mountain-gloom
+are again and again imaginatively described and loved. The windings and
+recesses, the darkness and brightness of the woods and the glades
+therein, enchant the Fenians even when they are in mortal danger. And
+the waters of the great lakes, the deep pools of the rivers, the
+rippling shallows, the green banks, the brown rushing of the torrents,
+are all alive in the prose and song of Ireland. How deep was the Irish
+love of these delightful things is plain from their belief that &quot;the
+place of the revealing of poetry was always by the margin of water.&quot; And
+the Salmon of Knowledge, the eating of which gave Finn his pre-eminence,
+swam in a green pool, still and deep, over which hung a rowan tree that
+shed its red berries on the stream. Lovely were the places whence Art
+and Knowledge came.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as to all good landscape lovers, the beasts, birds, and insects of
+Nature were dear to these ancient people. One of the things Finn most
+cared for was not only his hounds, but the &quot;blackbird singing on
+Letterlee&quot;; and his song, on page 114, in the praise of May, tells us
+how keen was his observant eye for animal life and how much it delighted
+him. The same minute realisation of natural objects is illustrated in
+this book when King Iubdan explains to the servant the different
+characteristics of the trees of the forest, and the mystic elements that
+abide in them. It was a habit, even of Teutonic poets, to tell of the
+various trees and their uses in verse, and Spenser and Drayton have both
+done it in later times. But few of them have added, as the Irish story
+does, a spiritual element to their description, and made us think of
+malign or beneficent elements attached to them. The woodbine, and this
+is a strange fancy, is the king of the woods. The rowan is the tree of
+the magicians, and its berries are for poets. The bramble is inimical to
+man, the alder is full of witchcraft, and the elder is the wood of the
+horses of the fairies. Into every tree a spiritual power is infused; and
+the good lords of the forest are loved of men and birds and bees.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the Irish love of nature led them to spiritualise, in another way
+than mythical, certain things in nature, and afterwards to humanise, up
+to a certain point, the noble implements wrought by human skill out of
+natural materials. And this is another element in all these stories, as
+it is in the folk-lore also of other lands. In the tale of the Sons of
+Turenn, the stones of the wayside tell to Lugh the story of the death of
+his father Kian, and the boat of Mananan, indwelt by a spirit, flies
+hither and thither over the seas, obeying the commands, even the
+thought, of its steersman. The soul of some famed spears is so hot for
+slaughter that, when it is not being used in battle, its point must
+stand in a bath of blood or of drowsy herbs, lest it should slay the
+host. The swords murmur and hiss and cry out for the battle; the shield
+of the hero hums louder and louder, vibrating for the encouragement of
+the warrior. Even the wheels of Cuchulain's chariot roar as they whirl
+into the fight. This partial life given to the weapons of war is not
+specially Celtic. Indeed, it is more common in Teutonic than in Celtic
+legend, and it seems probable that it was owing to the Norsemen that it
+was established in the Hero tales of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>This addition of life, or of some of the powers of life, to tree and
+well and boulder-stone, to river and lake and hill, and sword and spear,
+is common to all mythologies, but the special character of each nation
+or tribe modifies the form of the life-imputing stories. In Ireland the
+tree, the stream were not dwelt in by a separate living being, as in
+Grecian story; the half-living powers they had were given to them from
+without, by the gods, the demons, the fairies; and in the case of the
+weapons, the powers they had of act or sound arose from the impassioned
+thoughts and fierce emotions of their forger or their wielder, which,
+being intense, were magically transferred to them. The Celtic nature is
+too fond of reality, too impatient of illusion, to believe in an actual
+living spirit in inanimate things. At least, that is the case in the
+stories of the Hero and the Fenian Cycles.<a name='FNanchor_5_5'></a><a href='#Footnote_5_5'><sup>[5]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>What the Irish of the Heroic, and still more of the Fenian Cycle, did
+make in their imagination was a world, outside of themselves, of living
+spiritual beings, in whose actuality they fully believed, and in whom a
+great number of them still believe. A nation, if I may use this term,
+dwelt under the sea. Another dwelt in the far island of the ocean, the
+Isle of the Ever-Young. Another dwelt in the land, in the green hills
+and by the streams of Ireland; and these were the ancient gods who had
+now lost their dominion over the country, but lived on, with all their
+courtiers and warriors and beautiful women in a country underground. As
+time went on, their powers were dwarfed, and they became small of size,
+less beautiful, and in our modern times are less inclined to enter into
+the lives of men and women. But the Irish peasant still sees them
+flitting by his path in the evening light, or dancing on the meadow
+round the grassy mound, singing and playing strange melodies; or mourns
+for the child they have carried away to live with them and forget her
+people, or watches with fear his dreaming daughter who has been touched
+by them, and is never again quite a child of this earth, or quite of the
+common race of man.</p>
+
+<p>These were the invisible lands and peoples of the Irish imagination; and
+they live in and out of many of the stories. Cuchulain is lured into a
+fairy-land, and lives for more than a year in love with Fand, Mananan's
+wife. Into another fairy-land, through zones of mist, Cormac, as is told
+here, was lured by Mananan, who now has left the sea to play on the
+land. Oisín, as I have already said, flies with Niam over the sea to the
+island of Eternal Youth. Etain, out of the immortal land, is born into
+an Irish girl and reclaimed and carried back to her native shore by
+Midir, a prince of the Fairy Host. Ethne, whose story also is here, has
+lived for all her youth in the court of Angus, deep in the hill beside
+the rushing of the Boyne.</p>
+
+<p>These stories are but a few out of a great number of the loves and wars
+between the men and women of the human and the fairy races. Curiously
+enough, as the stories become less ancient, the relations between men
+and the fairies are more real, more close, even more affectionate. Finn
+and the Fianna seem to be almost in daily companionship with the fairy
+host&mdash;much nearer to them than the men of the Heroic Cycle are to the
+gods. They interchange love and music and battle and adventure with one
+another. They are, for the most part, excellent friends; and their
+intercourse suffers from no doubt. It is as real as the intercourse
+between Welsh and English on the Borderland.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing illusive, nothing merely imaginary, in these fairy
+worlds for the Irish hero or the Irish people. They believed the lands
+to be as real as their own, and the indwellers of fairyland to have like
+passions with themselves. Finn is not a bit surprised when Vivionn the
+giantess sits beside him on the hill, or Fergus when King Iubdan stands
+on his hand; or St Patrick when Ethne, out of fairyland, dies on his
+breast, or when he sees, at his spell, Cuchulain, dead some nine hundred
+years, come forth out of the dark gates of Sheol, high in his chariot,
+grasping his deadly spear, driven as of old by his well-loved
+charioteer, drawn by the immortal steeds through the mist, and finally
+talking of his deeds and claiming a place in the Christian heaven&mdash;a
+place that Patrick yields to him. The invisible worlds lived, loved, and
+thought around this visible world, and were, it seems, closer and more
+real to the Celtic than to other races.</p>
+
+<p>But it was not only these agreeable and lovely folk in pleasant
+habitations whom the Irish made, but also spirits of another sort, of
+lesser powers and those chiefly malignant, having no fixed
+dwelling-place, homeless in the air and drifting with it, embodying the
+venomous and deadly elements of the earth and the angers and cruelty of
+the sea, and the hypocrisy of them all&mdash;demons, some of whom, like the
+stepmother of the children of Lir, have been changed from men or women
+because of wicked doings, but the most part born of the evil in Nature
+herself. They do what harm they can to innocent folk; they enter into,
+support, and direct&mdash;like Macbeth's witches&mdash;the evil thoughts of men;
+they rejoice in the battle, in the wounds and pain and death of men; they
+shriek and scream and laugh around the head of the hero when he goes forth,
+like Cuchulain, to an unwearied slaughter of men. They make the blight,
+the deadly mist, the cruel tempest. To deceive is their pleasure; to
+discourage, to baffle, to ruin the hero is their happiness. Some of them
+are monsters of terrific aspect who abide in lakes or in desolate rocks,
+as the terrible tri-formed horse whom Fergus mac Leda conquered and by
+whom he died.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, as a link between these supernatural worlds and the natural
+world, there arose a body of men and women in Irish legend who, by years
+of study, gained a knowledge of, and power over, the supernatural
+beings, and used these powers for hurt to the enemies of their kingdom,
+or for help to their own people. Some were wise, learned, and
+statesmanlike, and used their powers for good. These were the high
+Druids, and every king had a band of them at his court and in his wars.
+They practiced what the Middle Ages called white magic. Others were
+wizards, magicians, witches, who, like the children of Cailitin, the
+foes of Cuchulain, or the three mutilated women whom Maev educated in
+evil craft to do evil to her foes, or the dread band that deceived
+Cuchulain into his last ride of death, practised black magic&mdash;evil, and
+the ministers of evil. Magic, and the doing of it, runs through the
+whole of Irish story-telling, and not only into pagan but also into
+Christian legend; for it was easy to change the old gods into devils, to
+keep the demonic creatures as demons, to replace the wise Druids by the
+priests and saints, and the wizards by the heretics who gave themselves
+to sorcery. Thus the ancient supernaturalism of the Irish has continued,
+with modern modifications, to the present day. The body of thought is
+much the same as it was in the days of Conor and Finn; the clothing is a
+bit different.</p>
+
+<p>Another characteristic of the stories, especially in the mythological
+period, is the barbaric brutality which appears in them. Curiously
+mingled with this, in direct contrast, is their tenderness. These
+extreme contrasts are common in the Celtic nature. A Gael, whether of
+Ireland or the Western Isles, will pass in a short time from the wildest
+spirits, dancing and singing and drinking, into deep and grim
+depression&mdash;the child of the present, whether in love or war; and in the
+tales of Ireland there is a similar contrast between their brutality and
+their tenderness. The sudden fierce jealousy and the pitiless cruelty of
+their stepmother to the children of Lir is set over against the
+exquisite tenderness of Fionnuala, which pervades the story like an air
+from heaven. The noble tenderness of Deirdre, of Naisi and his brothers,
+in life and death, to one another, is lovelier in contrast with the
+savage and treacherous revenge of Conor. The great pitifulness of
+Cuchulain's fight with his dear friend Ferdia, whom he is compelled to
+slay; the crowning tenderness of Emer's recollective love in song before
+she dies on Cuchulain's dead body, are in full contrast with the savage
+hard-heartedness and cruelties of Maev, and with the ruthless slaughters
+Cuchulain made of his foes, out of which he seems often to pass, as it
+were, in a moment, into tenderness and gracious speech. Even Finn, false
+for once to his constant courtesy, revenges himself on Dermot so
+pitilessly that both his son and grandson cry shame upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Of course this barbaric cruelty is common to all early periods in every
+nation; and, whenever fierce passion is aroused, to civilised nations
+also. What is remarkable in the Irish tales is the contemporary
+tenderness. The Vikings were as savage as the Irish, but the savagery is
+not mingled with the Irish tenderness. At last, when we pass from the
+Hero Cycle into the Cycle of Finn, there is scarcely any of the ancient
+brutality to be found in the host of romantic stories which gather round
+the chivalry of the Fenians.</p>
+
+<p>There are other characteristics of these old tales on which I must
+dwell. The first is the extra-ordinary love of colour. This is not a
+characteristic of the early German, English or Scandinavian poems and
+tales. Its remarkable presence in Scottish poetry, at a time when it is
+scarcely to be found in English literature, I have traced elsewhere to
+the large admixture of Celtic blood in the Lowlands of Scotland. In
+early Irish work it is to be found everywhere. In descriptions of
+Nature, which chiefly appear in the Fenian Cycle and in Christian times,
+colour is not as much dwelt on as we should expect, for nowhere that I
+have seen is it more delicate and varied than under the Irish
+atmosphere. Yet, again and again, the amber colour of the streams as
+they come from the boglands, and the crimson and gold of the sunsetting,
+and the changing green of the trees, and the blue as it varies and
+settles down on the mountains when they go to their rest, and the green
+crystal of the sea in calm and the dark purple of it in storm, and the
+white foam of the waves when they grow black in the squall, and the
+brown of the moors, and the yellow and rose and crimson of the flowers,
+and many another interchanging of colour, are seen and spoken of as if
+it were a common thing always to dwell on colour. This literary custom I
+do not find in any other Western literature. It is even more remarkable
+in the descriptions of the dress and weapons of the warriors and kings.
+They blaze with colour; and as gold was plentiful in Ireland in those
+far-off days, yellow and red are continually flashing in and out of the
+blue and green and rich purple of their dress. The women are dressed in
+as rich colours as the men. When Eochy met Etain by the spring of pure
+water, as told in this book, she must have flashed in the sunlight like
+a great jewel. Then, the halls where they met and the houses of the
+kings are represented as glorious with colour, painted in rich patterns,
+hung with woven cloths dyed deep with crimson and blue and green and
+yellow. The common things in use, eating and drinking implements, the
+bags they carry, the bed-clothing, the chess-men, the tables, are
+embroidered or chased or set with red carbuncles or white stones or with
+interlacing of gold. Colour is everywhere and everywhere loved. And
+where colour is loved the arts flourish, as the decorative arts
+flourished in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, on this matter, the Irish tale-tellers, even to the present day,
+dwell with persistence on the colour of the human body as a special
+loveliness, and with as much love of it as any Venetian when he painted
+it. And they did this with a comparison of its colour to the colours
+they observed in Nature, so that the colour of one was harmonised with
+the colour of the other. I might quote many such descriptions of the
+appearance of the warriors&mdash;they are multitudinous&mdash;but the picture of
+Etain is enough to illustrate what I say&mdash;&quot;Her hair before she loosed it
+was done in two long tresses, yellow like the flower of the waterflag in
+summer or like red gold. Her hands were white as the snow of a single
+night, and her eyes as blue as the dark hyacinth, and her lips red as
+the berries of the rowan-tree, and her body as white as the foam of the
+sea-waves. The radiance of the moon was in her face and the light of
+wooing in her eyes.&quot; So much for the Irish love of colour.<a name='FNanchor_6_6'></a><a href='#Footnote_6_6'><sup>[6]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Their love of music was equally great; and was also connected with
+Nature. &quot;The sound of the flowing of streams.&quot; said one of their bardic
+clan, &quot;is sweeter than any music of men.&quot; &quot;The harp of the woods is
+playing music,&quot; said another. In Finn's Song to May, the waterfall is
+singing a welcome to the pool below, the loudness of music is around the
+hill, and in the green fields the stream is singing. The blackbird, the
+cuckoo, the heron and the lark are the musicians of the world. When Finn
+asks his men what music they thought the best, each says his say, but
+Oisín answers, &quot;The music of the woods is sweetest to me, the sound of
+the wind and of the blackbird, and the cuckoo and the soft silence of
+the heron.&quot; And Finn himself, when asked what was his most beloved
+music, said first that it was &quot;the sharp whistling of the wind as it
+went through the uplifted spears of the seven battalions of the Fianna,&quot;
+and this was fitting for a hero to say. But when the poet in him spoke,
+he said his music was the crying of the sea-gull, and the noise of the
+waves, and the voice of the cuckoo when summer was at hand, and the
+washing of the sea against the shore, and of the tide when it met the
+river of the White Trout, and of the wind rushing through the cloud. And
+many other sayings of the same kind this charming and poetic folk has
+said concerning those sweet, strong sounds in Nature out of which the
+music of men was born.</p>
+
+<p>Again, there is not much music in the Mythological Tales. Lugh, it is
+true, is a great harper, and the harp of the Dagda, into which he has
+bound his music, plays a music at whose sound all men laugh, and another
+so that all men weep, and another so enthralling that all fall asleep;
+and these three kinds of music are heard through all the Cycles of
+Tales. Yet when the old gods of the mythology became the Sidhe,<a name='FNanchor_7_7'></a><a href='#Footnote_7_7'><sup>[7]</sup></a> the
+Fairy Host, they&mdash;having left their barbaric life behind&mdash;became great
+musicians. In every green hill where the tribes of fairy-land lived,
+sweet, wonderful music was heard all day&mdash;such music that no man could
+hear but he would leave all other music to listen to it, which &quot;had in
+it sorrows that man has never felt, and joys for which man has no name,
+and it seemed as if he who heard it might break from time into eternity
+and be one of the immortals.&quot; And when Finn and his people lived, they,
+being in great harmony and union with the Sidhe, heard in many
+adventures with them their lovely music, and it became their own.
+Indeed, Finn, who had twelve musicians, had as their chief one of the
+Fairy Host who came to dwell with him, a little man who played airs so
+divine that all weariness and sorrow fled away. And from him Finn's
+musicians learnt a more enchanted art than they had known before. And so
+it came to pass that as in every fairy dwelling there was this divine
+art, so in every palace and chieftain's hall, and in every farm, there
+were harpers harping on their harps, and all the land was full of sweet
+sounds and airs&mdash;shaping in music, imaginative war, and sorrows, and
+joys, and aspiration. Nor has their music failed. Still in the west and
+south of Ireland, the peasant, returning home, hears, as the evening
+falls from the haunted hills, airs unknown before, or at midnight a wild
+triumphant song from the Fairy Host rushing by, or wakes with a dream
+melody in his heart. And these are played and sung next day to the folk
+sitting round the fire. Many who heard these mystic sounds became
+themselves the makers of melodies, and went about the land singing and
+making and playing from village to village and cabin to cabin, till the
+unwritten songs of Ireland were as numerous as they were various. Moore
+collected a hundred and twenty of them, but of late more than five
+hundred he knew not of have been secured from the people and from
+manuscripts for the pleasure of the world. And in them lives on the
+spirit of the Fianna, and the mystery of the Fairy Host, and the long
+sorrow and the fleeting joy of the wild weather in the heart of the
+Irish race.</p>
+
+<p>As to the poetry of Ireland, that other Art which is illustrated in this
+book, so fully has it been dwelt on by many scholars and critics that it
+needs not be touched here other than lightly and briefly. The honour and
+dignity of the art of poetry goes back in Irish mythology to a dim
+antiquity. The ancient myth said that the nine hazels of wisdom grew
+round a deep spring beneath the sea, and the hazels were the hazels of
+inspiration and of poetry&mdash;so early in Ireland were inspiration and
+poetry made identical with wisdom. Seven streams of wisdom flowed from
+that fountain-head, and when they had fed the world returned to it
+again. And all the art-makers of mankind, and of all arts, have drunk of
+their waters. Five salmon in the spring ate of the hazel nuts, and some
+haunted the rivers of Ireland; and whosoever, like Finn, tasted the
+flesh of these immortal fish, was possessed of the wisdom which is
+inspiration and poetry. Such was the ancient Irish conception of the art
+of poetry.</p>
+
+<p>It is always an art which grows slowly into any excellence, and it needs
+for such growth a quieter life than the Irish lived for many centuries.
+Poems appear but rarely in the mythological or heroic cycles, and are
+loosely scattered among the prose of the bardic tales. A few are of war,
+but they are chiefly dirges like the Song of Emer over the dead body of
+Cuchulain, or that of Deirdre over Naisi&mdash;pathetic wailings for lost
+love. There is an abrupt and pitiful pain in the brief songs of
+Fionnuala, but I fancy these were made and inserted in Christian times.
+Poetry was more at home among the Fianna. The conditions of life were
+easier; there was more leisure and more romance. And the other arts,
+which stimulate poetry, were more widely practised than in the earlier
+ages. Finn's Song to May, here translated, is of a good type, frank and
+observant, with a fresh air in it, and a fresh pleasure in its writing.
+I have no doubt that at this time began the lyric poetry of Ireland, and
+it reached, under Christian influences, a level of good, I can scarcely
+say excellent, work, at a time when no other lyrical poetry in any
+vernacular existed in Europe or the Islands. It was religious, mystic,
+and chiefly pathetic&mdash;prayers, hymns, dirges, regrets in exile,
+occasional stories of the saints whose legendary acts were mixed with
+pagan elements, and most of these were adorned with illustrations drawn
+from natural beauty or from the doings of birds and beasts&mdash;a great
+affection for whom is prominent in the Celtic nature. The Irish poets
+sent this lyric impulse into Iceland, Wales, and Scotland, and from
+Scotland into England; and the rise of English vernacular poetry instead
+of Latin in the seventh and eighth centuries is due to the impulse given
+by the Irish monasteries at Whitby and elsewhere in Northumbria. The
+first rude lyric songs of C&aelig;dmon were probably modelled on the hymns of
+Colman.</p>
+
+<p>One would think that poetry, which arose so early in a nation's life,
+would have developed fully. But this was not the case in Ireland. No
+narrative, dramatic, didactic, or epic poetry of any importance arose,
+and many questions and answers might be made concerning this curious
+restriction of development. The most probable solution of this problem
+is that there was never enough peace in Ireland or continuity of
+national existence or unity, to allow of a continuous development of any
+one of the arts into all its forms. Irish poetry never advanced beyond
+the lyric. In that form it lasted all through the centuries; it lasts
+still at the present day, and Douglas Hyde has proved how much charm
+belongs to it in his book on the <i>Love Songs of Connacht</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It has had a long, long history; it has passed through many phases; it
+has sung of love and sorrow, of national wars and hopes, of Ireland
+herself as the Queen of Sorrow, of exile regrets from alien shores, of
+rebellion, of hatred of England, of political strife, in ballads sung in
+the streets, of a thousand issues of daily life and death&mdash;but of
+world-wide affairs, of great passions and duties and fates evolving in
+epic or clashing in drama, of continuous human lives in narrative
+(except in prose), of the social life of cities or of philosophic
+thought enshrined in stately verse, it has not sung. What it may do in
+the future, if Irish again becomes a tongue of literature in lofty
+poetry, lies on the knees of the gods. I wish it well, but such a
+development seems now too late. The Irish genius, if it is to speak in
+drama, in narrative poetry or in an epic, must speak, if it is to
+influence or to charm the world beyond the Irish shore, in a
+world-language like English, and of international as well as of Irish
+humanity.</p>
+
+<p>These elements on which I have dwelt seem to me the most distinctive,
+the most Irish, in the Tales in this book. There are many others on
+which a more minute analysis might exercise itself, phases of feeling
+concerning war or love or friendship or honour or the passions, but
+these are not specially Irish. They belong to common human nature, and
+have their close analogies in other mythologies, in other Folk-tales, in
+other Sagas. I need not touch them here. But there is one element in all
+the Irish tales which I have not yet mentioned, and it brings all the
+others within its own circumference, and suffuses them with its own
+atmosphere. It is the love of Ireland, of the land itself for its own
+sake&mdash;a mystic, spiritual imaginative passion which in the soul of the
+dweller in the country is a constant joy, and in the heart of the exile
+is a sick yearning for return. There are not many direct expressions of
+this in the stories; but it underlies the whole of them, and it is also
+in the air they breathe. But now and again it does find clear
+expression, and in each of the cycles we have discussed. When the sons
+of Turenn are returning, wounded to death, from the Hill of Mochaen,
+they felt but one desire. &quot;Let us but see,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba to
+their brother Brian, &quot;the land of Erin again, the hills round Telltown,
+and the dewy plain of Bregia and the quiet waters of the Boyne and our
+father's Dún thereby, and healing will come to us; or if death come, we
+can endure it after that.&quot; Then Brian raised them up; and they saw that
+they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the strand of the Bull they
+came to land. That is from the Mythological Cycle.</p>
+
+<p>In the Heroic Cycle it appears in the longing cry for return to Ireland
+of Naisi and his brothers, which drives them out of Alba to their death;
+but otherwise it is rarely expressed. In the Fenian Cycle it exists, not
+in any clear words, but in a general delight in the rivers, lakes,
+woods, valleys, plains, and mountains of Ireland. Every description of
+them, and of life among them, is done with a loving, observant touch;
+and moreover, the veil of magic charm is thrown over all the land by the
+creation in it of the life and indwelling of the fairy host. The Fianna
+loved their country well.</p>
+
+<p>When Christianity came, this deep-set sentiment did not lessen. It grew
+even stronger, and in exile it became a passion. It is illustrated by
+the songs of deep regret and affection Columba made in Iona, from whose
+rocky shores he looked day after day towards the west while the mists
+rose over Ireland. One little story of great beauty enshrines his
+passion. One morning he called to his side one of his monks, and said,
+&quot;Go to the margin of the sea on the western side of our isle; and there,
+coming from the north of Ireland, you will see a voyaging crane, very
+weary and beaten by the storms, and it will fall at your feet on the
+beach. Lift it up with pity and carry it to the hut, nourish it for
+three days, and when it is refreshed and strong again it will care no
+more to stay with us in exile, but to fly back to sweet Ireland, the
+dear country where it was born. I charge you thus, for it comes from the
+land where I was born myself.&quot; And when his servant returned, having
+done as he was ordered, Columba said, &quot;May God bless you, my son. Since
+you have well cared for our exiled guest, you will see it return to its
+own land in three days.&quot; And so it was. It rose, sought its path for a
+moment through the sky, and took flight on a steady wing for Ireland.
+The spirit of that story has never died in the soul of the Irish and in
+their poetry up to the present day.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, as we read these stories, even in a modern dress, an impression
+of great ancientry is made upon us, so much so that some scholars have
+tried to turn Finn into a mythical hero&mdash;but if he be as old as that
+implies, of how great an age must be the clearly mythic tales which
+gather round the Tuatha de Danaan? However this may be, the impression
+of ancientry is deep and agreeable. All myths in any nation are, of
+course, of a high antiquity, but as they treat of the beginning of
+things, they mingle an impression of youth with one of age. This is very
+pleasant to the imagination, and especially so if the myths, as in
+Ireland, have some poetic beauty or strangeness, as in the myth I have
+referred to&mdash;of the deep spring of clear water and the nine hazels of
+wisdom that encompass it. This mingling of the beauty of youth and the
+honour of ancientry runs through all the Irish tales. Youth and the love
+of it, of its beauty and strength, adorn and vitalize their grey
+antiquity. But where, in their narrative, the hero's youth is over and
+the sword weak in his hand, and the passion less in his and his
+sweetheart's blood, life is represented as scarcely worth the living.
+The famed men and women die young&mdash;the sons of Turenn, Cuchulain,
+Conall, Dermot, Emer, Deirdre, Naisi, Oscar. Oisín has three hundred
+years of youth in that far land in the invention of which the Irish
+embodied their admiration of love and youth. His old age, when sudden
+feebleness overwhelms him, is made by the bardic clan as miserable, as
+desolate as his youth was joyous. Again, Finn lives to be an old man,
+but the immortal was in him, and either he has been born again in
+several re-incarnations (for the Irish held from time to time the
+doctrine of the transmigration of souls), or he sleeps, like Barbarossa,
+in a secret cavern, with all his men around him, and beside him the
+mighty horn of the Fianna, which, when the day of fate and freedom
+comes, will awaken with three loud blasts the heroes and send them forth
+to victory. Old as she is, Ireland does not grow old, for she has never
+reached her maturity. Her full existence is before her, not behind her.
+And when she reaches it her ancientry and all its tales will be dearer
+to her than they have been in the past. They will be an inspiring
+national asset. In them and in their strange admixture of different and
+successive periods of customs, thoughts and emotions (caused by the
+continuous editing and re-editing of them, first in oral recitation and
+then at the hands of scribes), Ireland will see the record of her
+history, not the history of external facts, but of her soul as it grew
+into consciousness of personality; as it established in itself love of
+law, of moral right, of religion, of chivalry, of courtesy in war and
+daily life; as it rejoiced, and above all, as it suffered and was
+constant, in suffering and oppression, to its national ideals.</p>
+
+<p>It seems as if, once at least, this aspect of the tales of Ireland was
+seen by men of old, for there is a story which tells that heaven itself
+desired their remembrance, and that we should be diverted and inspired
+by them. In itself it is a record of the gentleness of Irish
+Christianity to Irish heathendom, and of its love of the heroic past.
+For one day when Patrick and his clerks were singing the Mass at the
+Rath of the Red Ridge, where Finn was wont to be, he saw Keelta, a chief
+of the Fianna, draw near with his companions, and Keelta's huge hounds
+were with him. They were men so tall and great that fear fell on the
+clerks, but Patrick met with and asked their chieftain's name. &quot;I am
+Keelta,&quot; he answered, &quot;son of Ronan of the Fianna.&quot; &quot;Was it not a good
+lord you were with,&quot; said Patrick, &quot;Finn, son of Cumhal?&quot; And Keelta
+said, &quot;If the brown leaves falling in the wood were gold, if the waves
+of the sea were silver, Finn would have given them all away.&quot; &quot;What was
+it kept you through your lifetime?&quot; said Patrick. &quot;Truth that was in our
+hearts, and strength in our hands, and fulfilment in our tongues,&quot; said
+Keelta. Then Patrick gave them food and drink and good treatment, and
+talked with them. And in the morning the two angels who guarded him came
+to him, and he asked them if it were any harm before God, King of heaven
+and earth, that he should listen to the stories of the Fianna. And the
+angels answered, &quot;Holy Clerk, these old fighting men do not remember
+more than a third of their tales by reason of the forgetfulness of age,
+but whatever they tell write it down on the boards of the poets and in
+the words of the poets, for it will be a diversion to the companies and
+the high people of the latter times to listen to them.&quot;<a name='FNanchor_8_8'></a><a href='#Footnote_8_8'><sup>[8]</sup></a> So spoke the
+angels, and Patrick did as he bade them, and the stories are in the
+world to this day.</p>
+
+<p class="rgt">STOPFORD A. BROOKE</p>
+
+<p>ST PATRICK'S DAY, 1910</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='COIS_NA_TEINEADH'></a><h2>COIS NA TEINEADH</h2>
+
+<h3>(<i>By the Fireside</i>.)</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>Where glows the Irish hearth with peat<br />
+<span class="i2">There lives a subtle spell&mdash;</span>
+The faint blue smoke, the gentle heat,<br />
+<span class="i2">The moorland odours, tell</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Of long roads running through a red<br />
+<span class="i2">Untamed unfurrowed land,</span>
+With curlews keening overhead,<br />
+<span class="i2">And streams on either hand;</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Black turf-banks crowned with whispering sedge,<br />
+<span class="i2">And black bog-pools below;</span>
+While dry stone wall or ragged hedge<br />
+<span class="i2">Leads on, to meet the glow</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>From cottage doors, that lure us in<br />
+<span class="i2">From rainy Western skies,</span>
+To seek the friendly warmth within,<br />
+<span class="i2">The simple talk and wise;</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Or tales of magic, love and arms<br />
+<span class="i2">From days when princes met</span>
+To listen to the lay that charms<br />
+<span class="i2">The Connacht peasant yet.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>There Honour shines through passions dire,<br />
+<span class="i2">There beauty blends with mirth&mdash;</span>
+Wild hearts, ye never did aspire<br />
+<span class="i2">Wholly for things of earth!</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Cold, cold this thousand years&mdash;yet still<br />
+<span class="i2">On many a time-stained page</span>
+Your pride, your truth, your dauntless will,<br />
+<span class="i2">Burn on from age to age.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>And still around the fires of peat<br />
+<span class="i2">Live on the ancient days;</span>
+There still do living lips repeat<br />
+<span class="i2">The old and deathless lays.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>And when the wavering wreaths ascend,<br />
+<span class="i2">Blue in the evening air,</span>
+The soul of Ireland seems to bend<br />
+<span class="i2">Above her children there.</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='BARDIC_ROMANCES'></a><h2>BARDIC ROMANCES</h2>
+
+<a name='CHAPTER_I'></a><h2>CHAPTER I</h2><h2>The Story of the Children of Lir</h2>
+
+<p>Long ago there dwelt in Ireland the race called by the name of De
+Danaan, or People of the Goddess Dana. They were a folk who delighted in
+beauty and gaiety, and in fighting and feasting, and loved to go
+gloriously apparelled, and to have their weapons and household vessels
+adorned with jewels and gold. They were also skilled in magic arts, and
+their harpers could make music so enchanting that a man who heard it
+would fight, or love, or sleep, or forget all earthly things, as they
+who touched the strings might will him to do. In later times the Danaans
+had to dispute the sovranty of Ireland with another race, the Children
+of Miled, whom men call the Milesians, and after much fighting they were
+vanquished. Then, by their sorceries and enchantments, when they could
+not prevail against the invaders, they made themselves invisible, and
+they have dwelt ever since in the Fairy Mounds and raths of Ireland,
+where their shining palaces are hidden from mortal eyes. They are now
+called the Shee, or Fairy Folk of Erinn, and the faint strains of
+unearthly music that may be heard at times by those who wander at night
+near to their haunts come from the harpers and pipers who play for the
+People of Dana at their revels in the bright world underground.</p>
+
+<p>At the time when the tale begins, the People of Dana were still the
+lords of Ireland, for the Milesians had not yet come. They were divided
+it is said, into many families and clans; and it seemed good to them
+that their chiefs should assemble together, and choose one to be king
+and ruler over the whole people. So they met in a great assembly for
+this purpose, and found that five of the greatest lords all desired the
+sovranty of Erin. These five were Bóv the Red, and Ilbrech of Assaroe,
+and Lir from the Hill of the White Field, which is on Slieve Fuad in
+Armagh; and Midir the Proud, who dwelt at Slieve Callary in Longford;
+and Angus of Brugh na Boyna, which is now Newgrange on the river Boyne,
+where his mighty mound is still to be seen. All the Danaan lords saving
+these five went into council together, and their decision was to give
+the sovranty to Bóv the Red, partly because he was the eldest, partly
+because his father was the Dagda, mightiest of the Danaans, and partly
+because he was himself the most deserving of the five.</p>
+
+<p>All were content with this, save only Lir, who thought himself the
+fittest for royal rule; so he went away from the assembly in anger,
+taking leave of no one. When this became known, the Danaan lords would
+have pursued Lir, to burn his palace and inflict punishment and wounding
+on himself for refusing obedience and fealty to him whom the assembly had
+chosen to reign over them. But Bóv the Red forbade them, for he would not
+have war among the Danaans; and he said, &quot;I am none the less King of the
+People of Dana because this man will not do homage to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Thus it went on for a long time. But at last a great misfortune befell
+Lir, for his wife fell ill, and after three nights she died. Sorely did
+Lir grieve for this, and he fell into a great dejection of spirit, for
+his wife was very dear to him and was much thought of by all folk, so
+that her death was counted one of the great events of that time.</p>
+
+<p>Now Bóv the Red came ere long to hear of it, and he said, &quot;If Lir would
+choose to have my help and friendship now, I can serve him well, for his
+wife is no longer living, and I have three maidens, daughters of a
+friend, in fosterage with me, namely, Eva and Aoife<a name='FNanchor_9_9'></a><a href='#Footnote_9_9'><sup>[9]</sup></a> and Elva, and
+there are none fairer and of better name in Erin; one of these he might
+take to wife.&quot; And the lords of the Danaans heard what he said, and
+answered that it was true and well bethought. So messengers were sent to
+Lir, to say that if he were willing to yield the sovranty to Bóv the
+Red, he might make alliance with him and wed one of his foster-children.
+To Lir, having been thus gently entreated, it seemed good to end the
+feud, and he agreed to the marriage. So the following day he set out
+with a train of fifty chariots from the Hill of the White Field and
+journeyed straight for the palace of Bóv the Red, which was by Lough
+Derg on the river Shannon.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving there, he found about him nothing but joy and glad faces, for
+the renewal of amity and concord; and his people were welcomed, and well
+entreated, and handsomely entertained for the night.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL02"></a>
+<a href="./images/il6.jpg"><img src="images/il6_th.jpg" alt="There sat the three maidens with the Queen" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;There sat the three maidens with the Queen&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>And there sat the three maidens on the same couch with the Danaan Queen,
+and Bóv the Red bade Lir choose which one he would have to wife.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The maidens are all fair and noble,&quot; said Lir, &quot;but the eldest is first
+in consideration and honour, and it is she that I will take, if she be
+willing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The eldest is Eva,&quot; said Bóv the Red, &quot;and she will wed thee if it be
+pleasing to thee.&quot; &quot;It is pleasing,&quot; said Lir, and the pair were wedded
+the same night. Lir abode for fourteen days in the palace of Bóv the
+Red, and then departed with his bride, to make a great wedding-feast
+among his own people.</p>
+
+<p>In due time after this Eva, wife of Lir, bore him two fair children at a
+birth, a daughter and a son. The daughter's name was called Fionnuala of
+the Fair Shoulder, and the son's name was Hugh. And again she bore him
+two sons, Fiachra and Conn; and at their birth she died. At this Lir was
+sorely grieved and afflicted, and but for the great love he bore to his
+four children he would gladly have died too.</p>
+
+<p>When the folk at the palace of Bóv the Red heard that, they also were
+sorely grieved at the death of their foster-child, and they lamented her
+with keening and with weeping. Bóv the Red said, &quot;We grieve for this
+maiden on account of the good man we gave her to, and for his friendship
+and fellowship; howbeit our friendship shall not be sundered, for we shall
+give him to wife her sister, namely Aoife.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Word of this was brought to Lir, and he went once more to Lough Derg to
+the palace of Bóv the Red and there he took to wife Aoife, the fair and
+wise, and brought her to his own home. And Aoife held the children of
+Lir and of her sister in honour and affection; for indeed no one could
+behold these four children without giving them the love of his soul.</p>
+
+<p>For love of them, too, came Bóv the Red often to the house of Lir, and
+he would take them to his own house at times and let them spend a while
+there, and then to their own home again. All of the People of Dana who
+came visiting and feasting to Lir had joy and delight in the children,
+for their beauty and gentleness; and the love of their father for them
+was exceeding great, so that he would rise very early every morning to
+lie down among them and play with them.</p>
+
+<p>Only, alas! a fire of jealousy began to burn at last in the breast of
+Aoife, and hatred and bitter ill-will grew in her mind towards the
+children of Lir. And she feigned an illness, and lay under it for the
+most of a year, meditating a black and evil deed. At last she said that
+a journey from home might recover her, and she bade her chariot be yoked
+and set out, taking with her the four children. Fionnuala was sorely
+unwilling to go with her on that journey, for she had a misgiving, and a
+prevision of treachery and of kin-slaying against her in the mind of
+Aoife. Yet she was not able to avoid the mischief that was destined for
+her.</p>
+
+<p>So Aoife journeyed away from the Hill of the White Field, and when she
+had come some way she spoke to her people and said, &quot;Kill me, I pray ye,
+the four children of Lir, who have taken the love of their father from
+me, and ye may ask of me what reward ye will.&quot; &quot;Not so,&quot; said they, &quot;by
+us they shall never be killed; it is an evil deed that you have thought
+of, and evil it is but to have spoken of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When they would not consent to her will, she drew a sword and would have
+slain the children herself, but her womanhood overcame her and she could
+not. So they journeyed on westward till they came to the shores of Loch
+Derryvaragh, and there they made a halt and the horses were outspanned.
+Aoife bade the children bathe and swim in the lake, and they did so.
+Then Aoife by Druid spells and witchcraft put upon each of the children
+the form of a pure white swan, and she cried to them:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Out on the lake with you, children of Lir!<br />
+Cry with the water-fowl over the mere!<br />
+Breed and seed of you ne'er shall I see;<br />
+Woeful the tale to your friends shall be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the four swans turned their faces towards the woman, and Fionnuala
+spoke to her and said, &quot;Evil is thy deed, Aoife, to destroy us thus
+without a cause, and think not that thou shalt escape punishment for it.
+Assign us even some period to the ruin and destruction that thou hast
+brought upon us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall do that,&quot; said Aoife, &quot;and it is this: in your present forms
+shall ye abide, and none shall release you till the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North. Three hundred years shall ye be upon
+the waters of Derryvaragh, and three hundred upon the Straits of Moyle
+between Erinn and Alba,<a name='FNanchor_10_10'></a><a href='#Footnote_10_10'><sup>[10]</sup></a> and three hundred in the seas by Erris and
+Inishglory, and then shall the enchantment have an end.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Upon this, Aoife was smitten with repentance, and she said, &quot;Since I may
+not henceforth undo what has been done, I give you this, that ye shall
+keep your human speech, and ye shall sing a sad music such as no music
+in the world can equal, and ye shall have your reason and your human
+will, that the bird-shape may not wholly destroy you.&quot; Then she became
+as one possessed, and cried wildly like a prophetess in her trance:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Ye with the white faces! Ye with the stammering Gaelic on your tongues!<br />
+Soft was your nurture in the King's house&mdash;<br />
+Now shall ye know the buffeting wind!<br />
+Nine hundred years upon the tide.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The heart of Lir shall bleed!<br />
+None of his victories shall stead him now!<br />
+Woe to me that I shall hear his groan,<br />
+Woe that I have deserved his wrath!&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then they caught and yoked her horses, and Aoife went on her way till
+she reached the palace of Bóv the Red. Here she and her folk were
+welcomed and entertained, and Bóv the Red inquired of her why she had
+not brought with her the children of Lir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I brought them not,&quot; she replied, &quot;because Lir loves thee not, and he
+fears that if he sends his children to thee, thou wouldst capture them
+and hold them for hostages.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is strange,&quot; said Bóv the Red, &quot;for I love those children as if
+they were my own.&quot; And his mind misgave him that some treachery had been
+wrought; and he sent messengers privily northwards to the Hill of the
+White Field. &quot;For what have ye come?&quot; asked Lir. &quot;Even to bring your
+children to Bóv the Red,&quot; said they. &quot;Did they not reach you with
+Aoife?&quot; said Lir. &quot;Nay,&quot; said the messengers, &quot;but Aoife said you would
+not permit them to go with her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then fear and trouble came upon Lir, for he surmised that Aoife had
+wrought evil upon the children. So his horses were yoked and he set out
+upon his road south-westward, until he reached the shores of Loch
+Derryvaragh. But as he passed by that water, Fionnuala saw the train of
+horsemen and chariots, and she cried to her brothers to come near to the
+shore, &quot;for,&quot; said she, &quot;these can only be the company of our father who
+have come to follow and seek for us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lir, by the margin of the lake, saw the four swans and heard them
+talking with human voices, and he halted and spoke to them. Then said
+Fionnuala: &quot;Know, O Lir, that we are thy four children, and that she who
+has wrought this ruin upon us is thy wife and our mother's sister, through
+the bitterness of her jealousy.&quot; Lir was glad to know that they were at
+least living, and he said, &quot;Is it possible to put your own forms upon you
+again?&quot; &quot;It is not possible,&quot; said Fionnuala, &quot;for all the men on earth
+could not release us until the woman of the South be mated with the man of
+the North.&quot; Then Lir and his people cried aloud in grief and lamentation,
+and Lir entreated the swans to come on land and abide with him since they
+had their human reason and speech. But Fionnuala said, &quot;That may not be,
+for we may not company with men any longer, but abide on the waters of
+Erinn nine hundred years. But we have still our Gaelic speech, and moreover
+we have the gift of uttering sad music, so that no man who hears it thinks
+aught worth in the world save to listen to that music for ever. Do you
+abide by the shore for this night and we shall sing to you.</p>
+
+<p>So Lir and his people listened all night to the singing of the swans,
+nor could they move nor speak till morning, for all the high sorrows of
+the world were in that music, and it plunged them in dreams that could
+not be uttered.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Lir took leave of his children and went on to the palace of Bóv
+the Red. Bóv reproached him that he had not brought with him his
+children. &quot;Woe is me,&quot; said Lir, &quot;it was not I that would not bring
+them; but Aoife there, your own foster-child and their mother's sister,
+put upon them the forms of four snow-white swans, and there they are on
+the Loch of Derryvaragh for all men to see; but they have kept still
+their reason and their human voice and their Gaelic.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bóv the Red started when he heard this, and he knew that what Lir had
+said was true. Fiercely he turned to Aoife, and said, &quot;This treachery
+will be worse, Aoife, for you than for them, for they shall be released
+in the end of time, but thy punishment shall be for ever.&quot; Then he smote
+her with a druid wand and she became a Demon of the Air, and flew
+shrieking from the hall, and in that form she abides to this day.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL03"></a>
+<a href="./images/il12.jpg"><img src="images/il12_th.jpg" alt="They made an encampment and the swans sang to them" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They made an encampment and the swans sang to them&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>As for Bóv the Red, he came with his nobles and attendants to the shores
+of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made an encampment, and the swans
+conversed with them and sang to them. And as the thing became known,
+other tribes and clans of the People of Dana would also come from every
+part of Erinn and stay awhile to listen to the swans and depart again to
+their homes; and most of all came their own friends and fellow-pupils
+from the Hill of the White Field. No such music as theirs, say the
+historians of ancient times, ever was heard in Erinn, for foes who heard
+it were at peace, and men stricken with pain or sickness felt their ills
+no more; and the memory of it remained with them when they went away, so
+that a great peace and sweetness and gentleness was in the land of Erinn
+for those three hundred years that the swans abode in the waters of
+Derryvaragh.</p>
+
+<p>But one day Fionnuala said to her brethren, &quot;Do ye know, my dear ones,
+that the end of our time here is come, all but this night only?&quot; Then
+great sorrow and distress overcame them, for in the converse with their
+father and kinsfolk and friends they had half forgotten that they were
+no longer men, and they loved their home on Loch Derryvaragh, and feared
+the angry waves of the cold northern sea. But early next day they came
+to the lough-side to speak with Bóv the Red and with their father, and
+to bid them farewell, and Fionnuala sang to them her last lament. Then
+the four swans rose in the air and flew northward till they were
+seen no more, and great was the grief among those they left behind; and
+Bóv the Red let it be proclaimed throughout the length and breadth of
+Erin that no man should henceforth presume to kill a swan, lest it might
+chance to be one of the children of Lir.</p>
+
+<p>Far different was the dwelling-place which the swans now came to, from
+that which they had known on Loch Derryvaragh. On either side of them,
+to north and south, stretched a wide coast far as the eye could see,
+beset with black rocks and great precipices, and by it ran fiercely the
+salt, bitter tides of an ever-angry sea, cold, grey, and misty; and
+their hearts sank to behold it and to think that there they must abide
+for three hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>Ere long, one night, there came a thick murky tempest upon them, and
+Fionnuala said, &quot;In this black and violent night, my brothers, we may be
+driven apart from each other; let us therefore appoint a meeting-place
+where we may come together again when the tempest is overpast.&quot; And they
+settled to meet at the Seal Rock, for this rock they had now all learned
+to know.</p>
+
+<p>By midnight the hurricane descended upon the Straits of Moyle, and the
+waves roared upon the coast with a deafening noise, and thunder bellowed
+from the sky, and lightning was all the light they had. The swans were
+driven apart by the violence of the storm, and when at last the wind
+fell and the seas grew calm once more, Fionnuala found herself alone
+upon the ocean-tide not far from the Seal Rock. And thus she made her
+lament:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Woe is me to be yet alive!<br />
+My wings are frozen to my sides.<br />
+Wellnigh has the tempest shattered my heart,<br />
+And my comely Hugh parted from me!</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;O my beloved ones, my Three,<br />
+Who slept under the shelter of my feathers,<br />
+Shall you and I ever meet again<br />
+Until the dead rise to life?</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Where is Fiachra, where is Hugh?<br />
+Where is my fair Conn?<br />
+Shall I henceforth bear my part alone?<br />
+Woe is me for this disastrous night!&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Fionnuala remained upon the Seal Rock until the morrow morn, watching
+the tossing waters in all directions around her, until at last she saw
+Conn coming towards her, and his head drooping and feathers drenched and
+disarrayed. Joyfully did the sister welcome him; and ere long, behold,
+Fiachra also approaching them, cold and wet and faint, and the speech
+was frozen in him that not a word he spake could be understood. So
+Fionnuala put her wings about him, and said, &quot;If but Hugh came now, how
+happy should we be!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In no long time after that they saw Hugh also approaching them across
+the sea, and his head was dry and his feathers fair and unruffled, for
+he had found shelter from the gale. Fionnuala put him under her breast,
+and Conn under her right wing and Fiachra under her left, and covered
+them wholly with her feathers. &quot;O children,&quot; she said to them, &quot;evil
+though ye think this night to have been, many such a one shall we know
+from this time forward.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So there the swans continued, suffering cold and misery upon the tides
+of Moyle; and one while they would be upon the coast of Alba and another
+upon the coast of Erinn, but the waters they might not leave. At length
+there came upon them a night of bitter cold and snow such as they had
+never felt before, and Fionnuala sang this lament:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Evil is this life.<br />
+The cold of this night,<br />
+The thickness of the snow,<br />
+The sharpness of the wind&mdash;</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;How long have they lain together,<br />
+Under my soft wings,<br />
+The waves beating upon us,<br />
+Conn and Hugh and Fiachra?</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Aoife has doomed us,<br />
+Us, the four of us,<br />
+To-night to this misery&mdash;<br />
+Evil is this life.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Thus for a long time they suffered, till at length there came upon the
+Straits of Moyle a night of January so piercing cold that the like of it
+had never been felt. And the swans were gathered together upon the Seal
+Rock. The waters froze into ice around them, and each of them became
+frozen in his place, so that their feet and feathers clung to the rock;
+and when the day came and they strove to leave the place, the skin of
+their feet and the feathers of their breasts clove to the rock, they
+came naked and wounded away.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Woe is me, O children of Lir,&quot; said Fionnuala, &quot;we are now indeed in
+evil case, for we cannot endure the salt water, yet we may not be away
+from it; and if the salt water gets into our sores we shall perish of
+it.&quot; And thus she sang:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;To-night we are full of keening;<br />
+No plumage to cover our bodies;<br />
+And cold to our tender feet<br />
+Are the rough rocks all awash.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Cruel to us was Aoife,<br />
+Who played her magic upon us,<br />
+And drove us out to the ocean,<br />
+Four wonderful, snow-white swans.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Our bath is the frothing brine<br />
+In the bay by red rocks guarded,<br />
+For mead at our father's table<br />
+We drink of the salt blue sea.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Three sons and a single daughter&mdash;<br />
+In clefts of the cold rocks dwelling,<br />
+The hard rocks, cruel to mortals.<br />
+&mdash;We are full of keening to-night.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So they went forth again upon the Straits of Moyle, and the brine was
+grievously sharp and bitter to them, but they could not escape it nor
+shelter themselves from it. Thus they were, till at last their feathers
+grew again and their sores were healed.</p>
+
+<p>On one day it happened that they came to the mouth of the river Bann in
+the north of Erinn, and there they perceived a fair host of horsemen
+riding on white steeds and coming steadily onward from the south-west
+&quot;Do ye know who yon riders are, children of Lir?&quot; asked Fionnuala. &quot;We
+know not,&quot; said they, &quot;but it is like they are some party of the People
+of Dana.&quot; Then they moved to the margin of the land, and the company
+they had seen came down to meet them; and behold, it was Hugh and
+Fergus, the two sons of Bóv the Red, and their nobles and attendants
+with them, who had long been seeking for the swans along the coast of
+the Straits of Moyle.</p>
+
+<p>Most lovingly and joyfully did they greet each other and the swans
+inquired concerning their father Lir, and Bóv the Red, and the rest of
+their kinsfolk.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They are well,&quot; said the Danaans; &quot;and at this time they are all
+assembled together in the palace of your father at the Hill of the White
+Field, where they are holding the Festival of the Age of Youth.<a name='FNanchor_11_11'></a><a href='#Footnote_11_11'><sup>[11]</sup></a> They
+are happy and gay and have no weariness or trouble, save that you are not
+among them, and that they have not known where you were since you left them
+at Lough Derryvaragh.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is not the tale of our lives,&quot; said Fionnuala.</p>
+
+<p>After that the company of the Danaans departed and brought word of the
+swans to Bóv the Red and to Lir, who were rejoiced to hear that they
+were living, &quot;for,&quot; said they, &quot;the children shall obtain relief in the
+end of time.&quot; And the swans went back to the tides of Moyle and abode
+there till their time to be in that place had expired.</p>
+
+<p>When that day had come, Fionnuala declared it to them, and they rose up
+wheeling in the air, and flew westward across Ireland till they came to
+the Bay of Erris, and there they abode as was ordained. Here it happened
+that among those of mortal MEN whose dwellings bordered on the bay was a
+young man of gentle blood, by name Evric, who having heard the singing
+of the swans came down to speak with them, and became their friend.
+After that he would often come to hear their music, for it was very
+sweet to him; and he loved them greatly, and they him. All their story
+they told him, and he it was who set it down in order, even as it is
+here narrated.</p>
+
+<p>Much hardship did they suffer from cold and tempest in the waters of the
+Western Sea, yet not so much as they had to bear by the coasts of the
+ever-stormy Moyle, and they knew that the day of redemption was now
+drawing near. In the end of the time Fionnuala said, &quot;Brothers, let us
+fly to the Hill of the White Field, and see how Lir our father and his
+household are faring.&quot; So they arose and set forward on their airy
+journey until they reached the Hill of the White Field, and thus it was
+that they found the place: namely, desolate and thorny before them, with
+nought but green mounds where once were the palaces and homes of their
+kin, and forests of nettles growing over them, and never a house nor a
+hearth. And the four drew closely together and lamented aloud at that
+sight, for they knew that old times and things had passed away in Erinn,
+and they were lonely in a land of strangers, where no man lived who
+could recognise them when they came to their human shapes again. They
+knew not that Lir and their kin of the People of Dana yet dwelt
+invisible in the bright world within the Fairy Mounds, for their eyes
+were holden that they should not see, since other things were destined
+for them than to join the Danaan folk and be of the company of the
+immortal Shee.</p>
+
+<p>So they went back again to the Western Sea until the holy Patrick came
+into Ireland and preached the Faith of the One God and of the Christ.
+But a man of Patrick's men, namely the Saint Mochaovóg,<a name='FNanchor_12_12'></a><a href='#Footnote_12_12'><sup>[12]</sup></a> came to the
+Island of Inishglory in Erris Bay, and there built himself a little
+church of stone, and spent his life in preaching to the folk and in
+prayer. The first night he came to the island the swans heard the sound
+of his bell ringing at matins on the following morn, and they leaped in
+terror, and the three brethren left Fionnuala and fled away. Fionnuala
+cried to them, &quot;What ails you, beloved brothers?&quot; &quot;We know not,&quot; said
+they, &quot;but we have heard a thin and dreadful voice, and we cannot tell
+what it is.&quot; &quot;That is the voice of the bell of Mochaovóg,&quot; said
+Fionnuala, &quot;and it is that bell which shall deliver us and drive away
+our pains, according to the will of God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the brethren came back and hearkened to the chanting of the cleric
+until matins were performed. &quot;Let us chant our music now,&quot; said
+Fionnuala. So they began, and chanted a solemn, slow, sweet, fairy song
+in adoration of the High King of Heaven and of Earth.</p>
+
+<p>Mochaovóg heard that, and wondered, and when he saw the swans he spoke
+to them and inquired them. They told him they were the children of Lir.
+&quot;Praised be God for that,&quot; said Mochaovóg. &quot;Surely it is for your sakes
+that I have come to this island above every other island that is in
+Erinn. Come to land now, and trust in me that your salvation and release
+are at hand.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they came to land, and dwelt with Mochaovóg in his own house, and
+there they kept the canonical hours with him and heard mass. And
+Mochaovóg caused a good craftsman to make chains of silver for the
+swans, and put one chain between Fionnuala and Hugh and another between
+Conn and Fiachra; and they were a joy and solace of mind to the Saint,
+and their own woe and pain seemed to them dim and far off as a dream.</p>
+
+<p>Now at this time it happened that the King of Connacht was Lairgnen, son
+of Colman, and he was betrothed to Deoca, daughter of the King of
+Munster. And so it was that when Deoca came northward to be wedded to
+Lairgnen she heard the tale of the swans and of their singing, and she
+prayed the king that he would obtain them for her, for she longed to
+possess them. But Lairgnen would not ask them of Mochaovóg. Then Deoca
+set out homeward again, and vowed that she would never return to
+Lairgnen till she had the swans; and she came as far as the church of
+Dalua, which is now called Kildaloe, in Clare. Then Lairgnen sent
+messengers for the birds to Mochaovóg, but he would not give them up.</p>
+
+<p>At this Lairgnen was very wroth, and he went himself to Mochaovóg, and
+he found the cleric and the four birds at the altar. But Lairgnen seized
+upon the birds by their silver chains, two in each hand dragged them
+away to the place where Deoca was; and Mochaovóg followed them. But when
+they came to Deoca and she had laid her hands upon the birds, behold,
+their covering of feathers fell off and in their places were three
+shrunken and feeble old men and one lean and withered old woman,
+fleshless and bloodless from extreme old age. And Lairgnen was struck
+with amazement and fear, and went out from that place.</p>
+
+<p>Then Fionnuala said to Mochaovóg, &quot;Come now and baptize us quickly, for
+our end is near. And if you are grieved at parting from us, know that
+also to us it is a grief. Do thou make our grave when we are dead, and
+place Conn at my right side and Fiachra at my left, and Hugh before my
+face, for thus they were wont to be when I sheltered them on many a
+winter night by the tides of Moyle.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Mochaovóg baptized the three brethren and their sister; and shortly
+afterwards they found peace and death, and they were buried even as
+Fionnuala had said. And over their tomb a stone was raised, and their
+names and lineage graved on it in branching Ogham<a name='FNanchor_13_13'></a><a href='#Footnote_13_13'><sup>[13]</sup></a>; and lamentation
+and prayers were made for them, and their souls won to heaven.</p>
+
+<p>But Mochaovóg was sorrowful, and grieved after them so long as he lived
+on earth.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_II'></a><h2>CHAPTER II</h2><h2>The Quest of the Sons of Turenn</h2>
+
+<p>Long ago, when the people of Dana yet held lordship in Erinn, they were
+sorely afflicted by hordes of sea-rovers named Fomorians who used to
+harry the country and carry off youths and maidens into captivity. They
+also imposed cruel and extortionate taxes upon the people, for every
+kneading trough, and every quern for grinding corn, and every flagstone
+for baking bread had to pay its tax. And an ounce of gold was paid as a
+poll-tax for every man, and if any man would not or could not pay, his
+nose was cut off. Under this tyranny the whole country groaned, but they
+had none who was able to band them together and to lead them in battle
+against their oppressors.</p>
+
+<p>Now before this it happened that one of the lords of the Danaans named
+Kian had married with Ethlinn, daughter of Balor, a princess of the
+Fomorians. They had a son named Lugh Lamfada, or Lugh of the Long Arm,
+who grew up into a youth of surpassing beauty and strength. And if his
+body was noble and mighty, no less so was his mind, for lordship and
+authority grew to him by the gift of the Immortals, and whatever he
+purposed that would he perform, whatever it might cost in time or toil,
+in tears or in blood. Now this Lugh was not brought up in Erinn but in a
+far-off isle of the western sea, where the sea-god Mananan and the other
+Immortals nurtured and taught him, and made him fit alike for warfare or
+for sovranty, when his day should come to work their will on earth.
+Hither in due time came the report of the grievous and dishonouring
+oppression wrought by the Fomorians upon the people of Dana, and that
+report was heard by Lugh. Then Lugh said to his tutors &quot;It were a worthy
+deed to rescue my father and the people of Erinn from this tyranny; let
+me go thither and attempt it.&quot; And they said to him, &quot;Go, and blessing
+and victory be with thee.&quot; So Lugh armed himself and mounted his fairy
+steed, and called his friends and foster-brothers about him, and across
+the bright and heaving surface of the waters they rode like the wind,
+until they took land in Erinn.</p>
+
+<p>Now the chiefs of the Danaan folk were assembled upon the Hill of
+Usnach, which is upon the western side of Tara in Meath, in order to
+meet there the stewards of the Fomorians and to pay them their tribute.
+As they awaited the arrival of the Fomorians they became aware of a
+company on horseback, coming from the west, before whom rode a young man
+who seemed to command them all, and whose countenance was as radiant as
+the sun upon a dry summer's day, so that the Danaans could scarcely gaze
+upon it. He rode upon a white horse and was armed with a sword, and on
+his head was a helmet set with precious stones. The Danaan folk welcomed
+him as he came among them, and asked him of his name and his business
+among them. As they were thus talking another band drew near, numbering
+nine times nine persons, who were the stewards of the Fomorians coming
+to demand their tribute. They were men of a fierce and swarthy
+countenance, and as they came haughtily and arrogantly forward, the
+Danaans all rose up to do them honour. Then Lugh said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why do ye rise up before that grim and ill-looking band and not before
+us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Said the King of Erinn, &quot;We needs must do so, for if they saw but a
+child of a month old sitting down when they came near they would hold it
+cause enough to attack and slay us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am greatly minded to slay them,&quot; said Lugh; and he repeated it, &quot;very
+greatly minded.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That would be bad for us,&quot; said the King, &quot;for our death and
+destruction would surely follow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ye are too long under oppression,&quot; said Lugh, and gave the word for
+onset. So he and his comrades rushed upon the Fomorians, and in a moment
+the hillside rang with blows and with the shouting of warriors. In no
+long time all of the Fomorians were slain save nine men, and these were
+taken alive and brought before Lugh.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ye also should be slain,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;but that I am minded to send you
+as ambassadors to your King. Tell him that he may seek homage and
+tribute where he will henceforth, but Ireland will pay him none for
+ever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Fomorians went northwards away, and the people of Dana made
+them ready for war, and made Lugh their captain and war-lord, for the
+sight of his face heartened them, and made them strong, and they
+marvelled that they had endured their slavery so long.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime word was brought to Balor of the Mighty Blows, King of
+the Fomorians, and to his queen Kethlinn of the Twisted Teeth, of the
+shame and destruction that had been done to their stewards, and they
+assembled a great host of the sea-rovers and manned their war-ships, and
+the Northern Sea was white with the foam of their oarblades as they
+swept down upon the shores of Erinn. And Balor commanded them, saying,
+&quot;When ye have utterly destroyed and subdued the people of Dana, then
+make fast your ships with cables to the land of Erinn, and tow it here
+to the north of us into the region of ice and snow, and it shall trouble
+us no longer.&quot; So the host of Balor took land by the Falls of Dara<a name='FNanchor_14_14'></a><a href='#Footnote_14_14'><sup>[14]</sup></a>
+and began plundering and devastating the province of Connacht.</p>
+
+<p>Then Lugh sent messengers abroad to bring his host together, and among them
+was his own father, Kian, son of Canta. And as Kian went northwards on his
+errand to rouse the Ulster men, and was now come to the plain of Murthemny
+near by Dundealga,<a name='FNanchor_15_15'></a><a href='#Footnote_15_15'><sup>[15]</sup></a> he saw three warriors armed and riding across the
+plain. Now these three were the sons of Turenn, by name Brian and Iuchar
+and Iucharba. And there was an ancient blood-feud between the house of
+Canta and the house of Turenn, so that they never met without bloodshed.</p>
+
+<p>Then Kian thought to himself, &quot;If my brothers Cu and Kethan were here
+there might be a pretty fight, but as they are three to one I would do
+better to fly.&quot; Now there was a herd of wild swine near by; and Kian
+changed himself by druidic sorceries into a wild pig and fell to rooting
+up the earth along with the others.</p>
+
+<p>When the sons of Turenn came up to the herd, Brian said, &quot;Brothers, did
+ye see the warrior wh' just now was journeying across the plain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We saw him,&quot; said they.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is become of him?&quot; said Brian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Truly, we cannot tell,&quot; said the brothers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is good watch ye keep in time of war!&quot; said Brian; &quot;but I know what
+has taken him out of our sight, for he struck himself with a magic wand,
+and changed himself into the form of one of yonder swine, and he is
+rooting the earth among them now. Wherefore,&quot; said Brian, &quot;I deem that
+he is no friend to us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If so, we have no help for it,&quot; said they, &quot;for the herd belongs to
+some man of the Danaans; and even if we set to and begin to kill the
+swine, the pig of druidism might be the very one to escape.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have ye learned so little in your place of studies,&quot; said Brian, &quot;that
+ye cannot distinguish a druidic beast from a natural beast?&quot; And with
+that he smote his two brothers with a magic wand, and changed them into
+two slender, fleet hounds, and they darted in among the herd. Then all
+the herd scattered and fled, but the hounds separated the druidic pig
+and chased it towards a wood where Brian awaited it. As it passed, Brian
+flung his spear, and it pierced the chest of the pig and brought it
+down. The pig screamed, &quot;Evil have you done to cast at me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Brian said, &quot;That hath the sound of human speech!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am in truth a man,&quot; said the pig, &quot;and I am Kian, son of Canta, and I
+pray you show me mercy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That will we,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba, &quot;and sorry are we for what has
+happened.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said Brian, &quot;but I swear by the Wind and the Sun that if thou
+hadst seven lives I would take them all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Grant me a favour then,&quot; said Kian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We shall grant it,&quot; said Brian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let me,&quot; said Kian, &quot;return into my own form that I may die in the
+shape of a man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I had liefer kill a man than a pig,&quot; said Brian. Then Kian became a man
+again and stood before them, the blood trickling from his breast.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have outwitted you now,&quot; cried he, &quot;for if ye had killed a pig ye
+would have paid a pig's eric,<a name='FNanchor_16_16'></a><a href='#Footnote_16_16'><sup>[16]</sup></a> but now ye shall pay the eric of a
+man. Never was greater eric in the land of Erinn than that which ye
+shall pay; and I swear that the very weapons with which ye slay me shall
+tell the tale to the avenger of blood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you shall be slain with no weapons at all,&quot; said Brian; and they
+picked up the stones on the Plain of Murthemny and rained them upon him
+till he was all one wound, and he died. So they buried him as deep as
+the height of a man, and went their way to join the host of Lugh.</p>
+
+<p>When the host was assembled, Lugh led them into Connacht and smote the
+Fomorians and drove them to their ships, but of this the tale tells not
+here. But when the fight was done, Lugh asked of his comrades if they
+had seen his father in the fight and how it fared with him. They said
+they had not seen him. Then Lugh made search among the dead, and they
+found not Kian there. &quot;Were Kian alive he would be here,&quot; said Lugh,
+&quot;and I swear by the Wind and the Sun that I will not eat or drink till I
+know what has befallen him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On their return the Danaan host passed by the Plain of Murthemny, and
+when they came near the place of the murder the stones cried aloud to
+Lugh. And Lugh listened, and they told him of the deed of the sons of
+Turenn. Then Lugh searched for the place of a new grave, and when he had
+found it he caused it to be dug, and the body of his father was raised up,
+and Lugh saw that it was but a litter of wounds. And he cried out:
+&quot;O wicked and horrible deed!&quot; and he kissed his father and said, &quot;I am sick
+from this sight, my eyes are blind from it, my ears are deaf from it, my
+heart stands still from it. Ye gods that I adore, why was I not here when
+this crime was done? a man of the children of Dana slain by his fellows.&quot;
+And he lamented long and bitterly. Then Kian was again laid in his grave,
+and a mound was heaped over it and a pillar-stone set thereon and his name
+written in Ogham, and a dirge was sung for him.</p>
+
+<p>After that Lugh departed to Tara, to the Court of the High King, and he
+charged his people to say nothing of what had happened until he himself
+had made it known.</p>
+
+<p>When he reached Tara with his victorious host the King placed Lugh at
+his own right hand before all the princes and lords of the Danaan folk.
+Lugh looked round about him, and saw the sons of Turenn sitting among
+the assembly; and they were among the best and strongest and the
+handsomest of those who were present at that time; nor had any borne
+themselves better in the fight with the sea-rovers. Then Lugh asked of
+the King that the chain of silence might be shaken; and the assembly
+heard it, and gave their attention to Lugh. And Lugh said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;O King, and ye princes of the People of Dana, I ask what vengeance
+would each of you exact upon a man who had foully murdered your father?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they were all astonished, and the King answered and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Surely it is not the father of Lugh Lamfada who has thus been slain?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou hast said it,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;and those who did the deed are
+listening to me now, and know it better than I.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The King said, &quot;Not in one day would I slay the murderer of my father,
+but I would tear from him a limb day by day till he were dead.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And so spake all the lords of the Danaans, and the Sons of Turenn among
+the rest.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They have sentenced themselves, the murderers of my father,&quot; said Lugh.
+&quot;Nevertheless I shall accept an eric from them, and if they will pay it,
+it shall be well; but if not, I shall not break the peace of the King's
+Assembly and of his sanctuary, but let them beware how they leave the
+Hall Tara until they have made me satisfaction.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Had I slain your father,&quot; said the High King, &quot;glad should I be to have
+an eric accepted for his blood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Sons of Turenn whispered among themselves. &quot;It is to us that
+Lugh is speaking,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba, &quot;let us confess and have
+the eric assessed upon us, for he has got knowledge of our deed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said Brian, &quot;but he may be seeking for an open confession, and
+then perchance he would not accept an eric.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the two brethren said to Brian, &quot;Do thou confess because thou art
+the eldest, or if thou do not, then we shall.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Brian, son of Turenn, rose up and said to Lugh: &quot;It is to us thou
+hast spoken, Lugh, since thou knowest there is enmity of old time
+between our houses; and if thou wilt have it that we have slain thy
+father, then declare our eric and we shall pay it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will take an eric from you,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;and if it seem too great, I
+will remit a portion of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Declare it, then,&quot; said the Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This it is,&quot; said Lugh.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Three apples.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The skin of a pig.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A spear.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Two steeds and a chariot.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Seven swine.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A whelp of a dog.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A cooking spit.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Three shouts on a hill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We would not consider heavy hundreds or thousands of these things,&quot;
+said the Sons of Turenn, &quot;but we misdoubt thou hast some secret purpose
+against us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I deem it no small eric,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;and I call to witness the High
+King and lords of the Danaans that I shall ask no more; and do ye on
+your side give me guarantees for the fulfilment of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the High King and the lords of the Danaans entered into bonds with
+Lugh and with the Sons of Turenn that the eric should be paid and should
+wipe out the blood of Kian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now,&quot; said Lugh, &quot;it is better for me to give you fuller knowledge of
+the eric. The three apples that I have demanded of you are the apples
+that grow in the garden of the Hesperides, in the east of the world, and
+none but these will do. Thus it is with them: they are the colour of
+bright gold, and as large as the head of a month-old child; the taste of
+them is like honey; if he who eats them has any running sore or evil
+disease it is healed by them; they may be eaten and eaten and never be
+less. I doubt, O young heroes, if ye will get these apples, for those
+who guard them know well an ancient prophecy that one day three knights
+from the western world would come to attempt them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;As for the skin of the pig, that is a treasure of Tuish, the King of
+Greece. If it be laid upon a wounded man it will make him whole and
+well, if only it overtake the breath of life in him. And do ye know what
+is the spear that I demanded?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We do not,&quot; said they.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is the poisoned spear of Peisear, the King of Persia, and so fierce
+is the spirit of war in it that it must be kept in a pot of soporific
+herbs or it would fly out raging for death. And do ye know what are the
+two horses and the chariot ye must get?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We do not know,&quot; said they.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The steeds and the chariot belong to Dobar, King of Sicily. They are
+magic steeds and can go indifferently over land and sea, nor can they be
+killed by any weapon unless they be torn in pieces and their bones
+cannot be found. And the seven pigs are the swine of Asal, King of the
+Golden Pillars, which may be slain and eaten every night and the next
+morning they are alive again.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And the hound-whelp I asked of you is the whelp of the King of
+Iorroway, that can catch and slay any beast in the world; hard it is to
+get possession of that whelp.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The cooking spit is one of the spits that the fairy women of the Island
+of Finchory have in their kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And the hill on which ye must give three shouts is the hill where
+dwells Mochaen in the north of Lochlann. Now Mochaen and his sons have
+it as a sacred ordinance that they permit not any man to raise a shout
+upon their hill. With him it was that my father was trained to arms, and
+if I forgave ye his death, yet would Mochaen not forgive it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now ye know the eric which ye have to pay for the slaying of Kian,
+son of Canta.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Astonishment and despair overcame the Sons of Turenn when they learned
+the meaning of the eric of Lugh, and they went home to tell the tidings
+to their father.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is an evil tale,&quot; said Turenn; &quot;I doubt but death and doom shall
+come from your seeking of that eric, and it is but right they should.
+Yet it may be that ye shall obtain the eric if Lugh or Mananan will help
+you to it. Go now to Lugh, and ask him for the loan of the fairy steed
+of Mananan, which was given him to ride over the sea into Erinn. He will
+refuse you, for he will say that the steed is but lent to him and he may
+not make a loan of a loan. Then ask him for the loan of Ocean Sweeper,
+which is the magic boat of Mananan, and that he must give, for it is a
+sacred ordinance with Lugh not to refuse a second petition.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they went to Lugh, and it all fell out as Turenn had told them, and
+they went back to Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ye have done something towards the eric,&quot; said Turenn, &quot;but not much.
+Yet Lugh would be well pleased that ye brought him whatever might serve
+him when the Fomorians come to the battle again, and well pleased would
+he be that ye might get your death in bringing it. Go now, my sons, and
+blessing and victory be with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Sons of Turenn went down to the harbour on the Boyne river
+where the Boat of Mananan was, and Ethne their sister with them. And
+when they reached the place, Ethne broke into lamentations and weeping;
+but Brian said, &quot;Weep not, dear sister, but let us go forth gaily to
+great deeds. Better a hundred deaths in the quest of honour than to live
+and die as cowards and sluggards.&quot; But Ethne said, &quot;ye are banished from
+Erinn&mdash;never was there a sadder deed.&quot; Then they put forth from the
+river-mouth of the Boyne and soon the fair coasts of Erinn faded out of
+sight. &quot;And now,&quot; said they among themselves, &quot;what course shall we
+steer?&quot;</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL04"></a>
+<a href="./images/il34.jpg"><img src="images/il34_th.jpg" alt="'Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the Hesperides'" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;'Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the
+Hesperides'&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>&quot;No need to steer the Boat of Mananan,&quot; said Brian; and he whispered to
+the Boat, &quot;Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the
+Hesperides&quot;; and the spirit of the Boat heard him and it leaped eagerly
+forward, lifting and dipping over the rollers and throwing up an arch of
+spray each side of its bows wherein sat a rainbow when the sun shone
+upon it; and so in no long time they drew nigh to the coast where was
+the far-famed garden of the Golden Apples.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now, how shall we set about the capture of the apples?&quot; said
+Brian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Draw sword and fight for them,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba, &quot;and if we
+are the stronger, we shall win them, and if not, we shall fall, as fall
+we surely must ere the eric for Kian be paid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said Brian, &quot;but whether we live or die, let not men say of us
+that we went blind and headlong to our tasks, but rather that we made
+the head help the hand, and that we deserved to win even though we lost.
+Now my counsel is that we approach the garden in the shape of three
+hawks, strong of wing, and that we hover about until the Wardens of the
+Tree have spent all their darts and javelins in casting at us, and then
+let us swoop down suddenly and bear off each of us an apple if we may.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So it was agreed; and Brian struck himself and each of the brothers with
+a druid wand, and they became three beautiful, fierce, and strong-winged
+hawks. When the Wardens perceived them, they shouted and threw showers
+of arrows and darts at them, but the hawks evaded all of these until the
+missiles were spent, and then seized each an apple in his talons. But
+Brian seized two, for he took one in his beak as well. Then they flew as
+swiftly as they might to the shore where they had left their boat. Now
+the King of that garden had three fair daughters, to whom the apples and
+the garden were very dear, and he transformed the maidens into three
+griffins, who pursued the hawks. And the griffins threw darts of fire,
+as it were lightning, at the hawks.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Brian!&quot; then cried Iuchar and his brother, &quot;we are being burnt by these
+darts&mdash;we are lost unless we can escape them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On this, Brian changed himself and his brethren into three swans, and
+they plunged into the sea, and the burning darts were quenched. Then the
+griffins gave over the chase, and the Sons of Turenn made for their
+boat, and they embarked with the four apples. Thus their first quest was
+ended.</p>
+
+<p>After that they resolved to seek the pigskin from the King of Greece,
+and they debated how they should come before him. &quot;Let us,&quot; said Brian,
+&quot;assume the character and garb of poets and men of learning, for such
+are wont to come from Ireland and to travel foreign lands, and in that
+character shall the Greeks receive us best, for such men have honour
+among them.&quot; &quot;It is well said,&quot; replied the brothers, &quot;yet we have no
+poems in our heads, and how to compose one we know not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Howbeit they dressed their hair in the fashion of the poets of Erinn,
+and went up to the palace of Tuish the King. The doorkeeper asked of
+them who they were, and what was their business.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are bards from Ireland,&quot; they said, &quot;and we have come with a poem to
+the King.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let them be admitted,&quot; said the King, when the doorkeeper brought him
+that tale; &quot;they have doubtless come thus far to seek a powerful
+patron.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba came in and were made welcome, and were
+entertained, and then the minstrels of the King of Greece chanted the
+lays of that country before them. After that came the turn of the
+stranger bards, and Brian asked his brethren if they had anything to
+recite.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We have not,&quot; said they; &quot;we know but one art&mdash;to take what we want by
+the strong hand if we may, and if we may not, to die fighting.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is a difficult art too,&quot; said Brian; &quot;let us see how we thrive
+with the poetry.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So he rose up and recited this lay:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Mighty is thy fame, O King,<br />
+Towering like a giant oak;<br />
+For my song I ask no thing<br />
+Save a pigskin for a cloak.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;When a neighbour with his friend<br />
+Quarrels, they are ear to ear;<br />
+Who on us their store shall spend<br />
+Shall be richer than they were.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Armies of the storming wind&mdash;<br />
+Raging seas, the sword's fell stroke&mdash;<br />
+Thou hast nothing to my mind<br />
+Save thy pigskin for a cloak.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;That is a very good poem,&quot; said the King, &quot;but one word of its meaning
+I do not understand.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will interpret it for you,&quot; said Brian:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Mighty is thy fame, O King,<br />
+Towering like a giant oak.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is to say, as the oak surpasses all the other trees of the forest,
+so do you surpass all the kings of the world in goodness, in nobleness,
+and in liberality.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;A pigskin for a cloak.&quot;</p>
+<p>&quot;That is the skin of the pig of Tuish which I would fain receive as the
+reward for my lay.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;When a neighbour with his friend<br />
+Quarrels, they are ear to ear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is to signify that you and I shall be about each other's ears over
+the skin, unless you are willing to give it to me. Such is the sense of
+my poem,&quot; said Brian, son of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I would praise your poem more,&quot; said the King, &quot;if there were not so
+much about my pigskin in it. Little sense have you, O man of poetry, to
+make that request of me, for not to all the poets, scholars, and lords
+of the world would I give that skin of my own free will. But what I will
+do is this&mdash;I will give the full of that skin of red gold thrice over in
+reward for your poem.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thanks be to you,&quot; said Brian, &quot;for that. I knew that I asked too much,
+but I knew also thou wouldst redeem the skin amply and generously. And
+now let the gold be duly measured out in it, for greedy am I, and I will
+not abate an ounce of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The servants of the King were then sent with Brian and his brothers to
+the King's treasure-chamber to measure out the gold. As they did so,
+Brian suddenly snatched the skin from the hands of him who held it, and
+swiftly wrapped it round his body. Then the three brothers drew sword
+and made for the door, and a great fight arose in the King's palace. But
+they hewed and thrust manfully on every side of them, and though sorely
+wounded they fought their way through and escaped to the shore, and
+drove their boat out to sea, when the skin of the magic pig quickly made
+them whole and sound again. And thus the second quest of the Sons of
+Turenn had its end.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us now,&quot; said Brian, &quot;go to seek the spear of the King of Persia.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In what manner of guise shall we go before the King of Persia?&quot; said
+his brothers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;As we did before the King of Greece,&quot; said Brian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That guise served us well with the King of Greece,&quot; replied they;
+&quot;nevertheless, O Brian, this business of professing to be poets, when we
+are but swordsmen, is painful to us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>However, they dressed their hair in the manner of poets and went up
+boldly to the palace of King Peisear of Persia, saying, as before, that
+they were wandering bards from Ireland who had a poem to recite before
+the King; and as they passed through the courtyard they marked the spear
+drowsing in its pot of sleepy herbs. They were made welcome, and after
+listening to the lays of the King's minstrel, Brian rose and sang:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;'Tis little Peisear cares for spears,<br />
+Since armies, when his face they see,<br />
+All overcome with panic fears<br />
+Without a wound they turn and flee.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The Yew is monarch of the wood,<br />
+No other tree disputes its claim.<br />
+The shining shaft in venom stewed<br />
+Flies fiercely forth to kill and maim.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;'Tis a very good poem,&quot; said the King, &quot;but, O bard from Erinn, I do
+not understand your reference to my spear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is merely this,&quot; replied Brian, &quot;that I would like your spear as a
+reward for my poem.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the King stared at Brian, and his beard bristled with anger, and he
+said, &quot;Never was a greater reward paid for any poem than not to adjudge
+you guilty of instant death for your request.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Brian flung at the king the fourth golden apple which he had taken
+from the Garden of the Hesperides, and it dashed out his brains.
+Immediately the brothers all drew sword and made for the courtyard. Here
+they seized the magic spear, and with it and with their swords they
+fought their way clear, not without many wounds, and escaped to their
+boat. And thus ended the third quest of the Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>Now having come safely and victoriously through so many straits and
+perils, they began to be merry and hoped that all the eric might yet be
+paid. So they sailed away with high hearts to the Island of Sicily, to
+get the two horses and the chariot of the King, and the Boat of Mananan
+bore them swiftly and well.</p>
+
+<p>Having arrived here, they debated among themselves as to how they should
+proceed; and they agreed to present themselves as Irish mercenary
+soldiers&mdash;for such were wont in those days to take service with foreign
+kings&mdash;until they should learn where the horses and the chariot were
+kept, and how they should come at them. Then they went forward, and
+found the King and his lords in the palace garden taking the air.</p>
+
+<p>The Sons of Turenn then paid homage to him, and he asked them of their
+business.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We are Irish mercenary soldiers,&quot; they said, &quot;seeking our wages from
+the kings of the world.&quot; &quot;Are ye willing to take service with me?&quot; said
+the King. &quot;We are,&quot; said they, &quot;and to that end are we come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then their contract of military service was made, and they remained at
+the King's court for a month and a fortnight, and did not in all that
+time come to see the steeds or the chariot. At last Brian said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Things are going ill with us, my brethren, in that we know no more at
+this day of the steeds or of the chariot than when we first arrived at
+this place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What shall we do, then?&quot; said they.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us do this,&quot; said Brian. &quot;Let us gird on our arms and all our
+marching array, and tell the King that we shall quit his service unless
+he show us the chariot.</p>
+
+<p>And so they did; and the King said, &quot;To-morrow shall be a gathering and
+parade of all my host, and the chariot shall be there, and ye shall see
+it if ye have a mind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the next day the steeds were yoked and the chariot was driven round a
+great plain before the King and his lords. Now these steeds could run as
+well on sea as on dry land, and they were swifter than the winds of
+March. As the chariot came round the second time, Brian and his brothers
+seized the horses' heads, and Brian took the charioteer by the foot and
+flung him out over the rail, and they all leaped into the chariot and
+drove away. Such was the swiftness of their driving that they were out
+of sight ere the King and his men knew rightly what had befallen. And
+thus ended the fourth quest of the Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>Next they betook themselves to the court of Asal, King of the Golden
+Pillars, to get the seven swine which might be eaten every night and
+they would be whole and well on the morrow morn.</p>
+
+<p>But it had now been noised about every country that three young heroes
+from Erinn were plundering the kings of the world of their treasures in
+payment of a mighty eric; and when they arrived at the Land of the
+Golden Pillars they found the harbour guarded and a strait watch kept,
+that no one who might resemble the Sons of Turenn should enter.</p>
+
+<p>But Asal the King came to the harbour-mouth and spoke with the heroes,
+for he was desirous to see those who had done the great deeds that he
+had heard of. He asked them if it were true that they had done such
+things, and why. Then Brian told him the story of the mighty eric which
+had been laid upon them, and what they had done and suffered in
+fulfilling it. &quot;Why,&quot; said King Asal, &quot;have ye now come to my country?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For the seven swine,&quot; said Brian, &quot;to take them with us as a part of
+that eric.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How do you mean to get them?&quot; asked the King.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;With your goodwill,&quot; replied Brian, &quot;if so it may be, and to pay you
+therefore with all the wealth we now have, which is thanks and love, and
+to stand by your side hereafter in any strait or quarrel you may enter
+into. But if you will not grant us the swine, and we may not be quit of
+our eric without them, we shall even take them as we may, and as we have
+beforetime taken mighty treasures from mighty kings.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then King Asal went into counsel with his lords, and he advised that the
+swine be given to the Sons of Turenn, partly for that he was moved with
+their desperate plight and the hardihood they had shown, and partly that
+they might get them whether or no. To this they all agreed, and the Sons
+of Turenn were invited to come ashore, where they were courteously and
+hospitably entertained in the King's palace. On the morrow the pigs were
+given to them, and great was their gladness, for never before had they won
+a treasure without toil and blood. And they vowed that, if they should
+live, the name of Asal should be made by them a great and shining name,
+for his compassion and generosity which he had shown them. This, then,
+was the fifth quest of the Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And whither do ye voyage now?&quot; said Asal to them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We go,&quot; said they, &quot;to Iorroway for the hound's whelp which is there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take me with you, then,&quot; said Asal, &quot;for the King of Iorroway is
+husband to my daughter, and I may prevail upon him to grant you the
+hound without combat.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the King's ship was manned and provisioned, and the Sons of Turenn laid
+up their treasures in the Boat of Mananan, and they all sailed joyfully
+forth to the pleasant kingdom of Iorroway. But here, too, they found all
+the coasts and harbours guarded, and entrance was forbidden them. Then
+Asal declared who he was, and him they allowed to land, and he journeyed
+to where his son-in-law, the King of Iorroway, was. To him Asal related
+the whole story of the sons of Turenn, and why they were come to that
+kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou wert a fool,&quot; said the King of Iorroway, &quot;to have come on such a
+mission. There are no three heroes in the world to whom the Immortals
+have granted such grace that they should get my hound either by favour
+or by fight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is not a good word,&quot; said Asal, &quot;for the treasures they now
+possess have made them yet stronger than they were, and these they won
+in the teeth of kings as strong as thou.&quot; And much more he said to him
+to persuade him to yield up the hound, but in vain. So Asal took his way
+back to the haven where the Sons of Turenn lay, and told them his
+tidings.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Sons of Turenn seized the magic spear, and the pigskin, and
+with a rush like that of three eagles descending from a high cliff upon
+a lamb-fold they burst upon the guards of the King of Iorroway. Fierce
+and fell was the combat that ensued, and many times the brothers were
+driven apart, and all but overborne by the throng of their foes. But at
+last Brian perceived where the King of Iorroway was directing the fight,
+and he cut his way to him, and having smitten him to the ground, he
+bound him and carried him out of the press to the haven-side where Asal
+was.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There,&quot; he said, &quot;is your son-in-law for you Asal, and I swear by my
+sword that I had more easily killed him thrice than once to bring him
+thus bound to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is very like,&quot; said Asal; &quot;but now hold him to ransom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the people of Iorroway gave the hound to the Sons of Turenn as a
+ransom for their King, and the King was released, and friendship and
+alliance were made between them. And with joyful hearts the Sons of
+Turenn bade farewell to the King of Iorroway and to Asal, and departed
+on their way. Thus was the sixth of their quests fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>Now Lugh Lamfada desired to know how the Sons of Turenn had fared, and
+whether they had got any portion of the great eric that might be
+serviceable to him when the Fomorians should return for one more
+struggle. And by sorcery and divination it was revealed to him how they
+had thriven, and that nought remained to be won save the cooking-spit of
+the sea-nymphs, and to give the three shouts upon the hill. Lugh then by
+druidic art caused a spell of oblivion and forgetfulness to descend upon
+the Sons of Turenn, and put into their hearts withal a yearning and
+passion to return to their native land of Erinn. They forgot, therefore,
+that a portion of the eric was still to win, and they bade the Boat
+of Mananan bear them home with their treasures, for they deemed that
+they should now quit them of all their debt for the blood of Kian and
+live free in their father's home, having done such things and won such
+fame as no three brothers had ever done since the world began.</p>
+
+<p>At the Brugh of Boyne, where they had started on their quest, their boat
+came ashore again, and as they landed they wept for joy, and falling on
+their knees they kissed the green sod of Erinn. Then they took up their
+treasures and journeyed to Ben Edar,<a name='FNanchor_17_17'></a><a href='#Footnote_17_17'><sup>[17]</sup></a> where the High King of Ireland,
+and Lugh with him, were holding an Assembly of the People of Dana. But
+when Lugh heard that they were on their way he put on his cloak of
+invisibility and withdrew privily to Tara.</p>
+
+<p>When the brethren arrived at Ben Edar, the High King of the lords of the
+Danaans gave them welcome and applause, for all were rejoiced that the
+stain of ancient feud and bloodshed should be wiped out, and that the
+Children of Dana should be at peace within their borders. Then they
+sought for Lugh to deliver over the eric, but he was not to be found.
+And Brian said, &quot;He has gone to Tara to avoid us, having heard that we
+were coming with our treasures and weapons of war.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Word was then sent to Lugh at Tara that the Sons of Turenn were at Ben
+Edar, and the eric with them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let them pay it over to the High King,&quot; said Lugh.</p>
+
+<p>So it was done; and when Lugh had tidings that the High King had the
+eric, he returned to Ben Edar.</p>
+
+<p>Then the eric was laid before him, and Brian said, &quot;Is the debt paid, O
+Lugh, son of Kian?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lugh said, &quot;Truly there is here the price of any man's death; but it is
+not lawful to give a quittance for an eric that is not complete. Where
+is the cooking-spit from the Island of Finchory? and have ye given the
+three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this word Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba fell prone upon the ground,
+and were speechless awhile from grief and dismay. After a while they
+left the Assembly like broken men, with hanging heads and with heavy
+steps, and betook themselves to Dún Turenn, where they found their
+father, and they told him all that had befallen them since they had
+parted with him and set forth on the Quest. Thus they passed the night
+in gloom and evil forebodings, and on the morrow they went down once
+more to the place where the Boat of Mananan was moored. And Ethne their
+sister accompanied them, wailing and lamenting, but no words of cheer
+had they now to say to her, for now they began to comprehend that a
+mightier and a craftier mind had caught them in the net of fate. And
+whereas they had deemed themselves heroes and victors in the most
+glorious quest whereof the earth had record, they now knew that they
+were but as arrows in the hands of a laughing archer, who shoots one at
+a stag and one at the heart of a foe, and one, it may be, in sheer
+wantonness, and to try his bow, over a cliff edge into the sea.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL05"></a>
+<a href="./images/il46.jpg"><img src="images/il46_th.jpg" alt="There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>However, they put forth in their magic boat, but in no wise could they
+direct it to the Isle of Finchory, and a quarter of a year they
+traversed the seaways and never could get tidings of that island. At
+last Brian fashioned for himself by magic art a water-dress, with a
+helmet of crystal, and into the depths of the sea he plunged. Here, the
+story tells, he searched hither and thither for a fortnight, till at
+last he found that island, which was an island indeed with the sea over
+it and around it and beneath it. There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs
+in glittering palaces among the sea-flowers, and they wrought fair
+embroidery with gold and jewels, and sang, as they wrought, a fairy
+music like the chiming of silver bells. Three fifties of them sat or
+played in their great hall as Brian entered, and they gazed on him but
+spoke no word. Then Brian strode to the wide hearth, and without a word
+he seized from it a spit that was made of beaten gold, and turned again
+to go. But at that the laughter of the sea-maidens rippled through the
+hall and one of them said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou art a bold man, Brian, and bolder than thou knowest; for if thy
+two brothers were here, the weakest of us could vanquish all the three.
+Nevertheless, take the spit for thy daring; we had never granted it for
+thy prayers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Brian thanked them and bade farewell, and he rose to the surface of
+the water. Ere long his brethren perceived him as he shouldered the
+waves on the bosom of the deep, and they sailed to where he was and took
+him on board. And thus ended the quest for the seventh portion of the
+eric of Kian.</p>
+
+<p>After that their hopes revived a little, and they set sail for the land
+of Lochlann, in which was the Hill of Mochaen. When they had arrived at
+the hill Mochaen came out to meet them with his three sons, Corc and
+Conn and Hugh; nor did the Sons of Turenn ever behold a band of grimmer
+and mightier warriors than those four.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What seek ye here?&quot; asked Mochaen of them They told him that it had
+been laid upon them to give three shouts upon the hill.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It hath been laid upon me,&quot; said Mochaen, &quot;to prevent this thing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Brian and Mochaen drew sword and fell furiously upon each other,
+and their fighting was like that of two hungry lions or two wild bulls,
+until at last Brian drove his sword into the throat of Mochaen, and he
+died.</p>
+
+<p>With that the Sons of Mochaen and the Sons of Turenn rushed fiercely
+upon each other. Long and sore was the strife that they had, and the
+blood that fell made red the grassy place wherein they fought. Not one
+of them but received wounds that pierced him through and through, and
+that heroes of less hardihood had died of a score of times. But in the
+end the sons of Mochaen fell, and Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba lay over
+them in a swoon like death.</p>
+
+<p>After a while Brian's senses came back to him, and he said, &quot;Do ye live,
+dear brothers, or how is it with you?&quot; &quot;We are as good as dead,&quot; said
+they; &quot;let us be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Arise,&quot; then said Brian, &quot;for truly I feel death coming swiftly upon
+us, and we have yet to give the three shouts upon the hill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We cannot stir,&quot; said Iuchar and Iucharba. Then Brian rose to his knees
+and to his feet, and he lifted up his two brothers while the blood of
+all three streamed down to their feet, and they raised their voices as
+best they might, and gave three hoarse cries upon the Hill of Mochaen.
+And thus was the last of the epic fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>Then they bound up their wounds, and Brian placed himself between the
+two brothers, and slowly and painfully they made their way to the boat,
+and put out to sea for Ireland. And as they lay in the stupor of
+faintness in the boat, one murmured to himself, &quot;I see the Cape of Ben
+Edar and the coast of Turenn, and Tara of the Kings.&quot; Then Iuchar and
+Iucharba entreated Brian to lift their heads upon his breast. &quot;Let us
+but see the land of Erinn again,&quot; said they, &quot;the hills around Tailtin,
+and the dewy plain of Bregia, and the quiet waters of the Boyne and our
+father's Dún thereby, and healing will come to us; or if death come we
+can endure it after that.&quot; Then Brian raised them up; and they saw that
+they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the Strand of the Bull<a name='FNanchor_18_18'></a><a href='#Footnote_18_18'><sup>[18]</sup></a>
+they took land. They were then conveyed to the Dún of Turenn, and life
+was still in them when they were laid in their father's hall.</p>
+
+<p>And Brian said to Turenn, &quot;Go now, dear father, with all speed to Lugh
+at Tara. Give him the cooking-spit, and tell how thou hast found us
+after giving our three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen. Then beseech him
+that he yield thee the loan of the pigskin of the King of Greece, for if
+it be laid upon us while the life is yet in us, we shall recover. We
+have won the eric, and it may be that he will not pursue us to our
+death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Turenn went to Lugh and gave him the spit of the sea-nymphs, and
+besought him for the lives of his sons.</p>
+
+<p>Lugh was silent for a while, but his countenance did not change, and he
+said, &quot;Thou, old man, seest nought but the cloud of sorrow wherein thou
+art encompassed. But I hear from above it the singing of the Immortal
+Ones, who tell to one another the story of this land. Thy sons must die;
+yet have I shown to them more mercy than they showed to Kian. I have
+forgiven them; nor shall they live to slay their own immortality, but
+the royal bards of Erinn and the old men in the chimney corners shall
+tell of their glory and their fate as long as the land shall endure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Turenn bowed his white head and went sorrowfully back to Dún
+Turenn; and he told his sons of the words that Lugh had said. And with
+that the sons of Turenn kissed each other, and the breath of life
+departed from them, and they died. And Turenn died also, for his heart
+was broken in him; and Ethne his daughter buried them in one grave.
+Thus, then, ends the tale of the Quest of the Eric and the Fate of the
+Sons of Turenn.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_III'></a><h2>CHAPTER III</h2><h2>The Secret of Labra</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>In very ancient days there was a King in Ireland named Labra, who was
+called Labra the Sailor for a certain voyage that he made. Now Labra was
+never seen save by one man, once a year, without a hood that covered his
+head and ears. But once a year it was his habit to let his hair be
+cropped, and the person to do this was chosen by lot, for the King was
+accustomed to put to death instantly the man who had cropped him. And so
+it happened that on a certain year the lot fell on a young man who was
+the only son of a poor widow, who dwelt near by the palace of the King.
+When she heard that her son had been chosen she fell on her knees before
+the King and besought him, with tears, that her son, who was her only
+support and all she had in the world, might not suffer death as was
+customary. The King was moved by her grief and her entreaties, and at
+last he consented that the young man should not be slain provided that
+he vowed to keep secret to the day of his death what he should see. The
+youth agreed to this and he vowed by the Sun and the Wind that he would
+never, so long as he lived, reveal to man what he should learn when he
+cropped the King's hair.</p>
+
+<p>So he did what was appointed for him and went home. But when he did so
+he had no peace for the wonder of the secret that he had learned preyed
+upon his mind so that he could not rest for thinking of it and longing
+to reveal it, and at last he fell into a wasting sickness from it, and
+was near to die. Then there was brought to see him a wise druid, who was
+skilled in all maladies of the mind and body, and after he had talked
+with the youth he said to his mother, &quot;Thy son is dying of the burden of
+a secret which he may not reveal to any man, but until he reveals it he
+will have no ease. Let him, therefore, walk along the high way till he
+comes to a place where four roads meet. Let him then turn to the right,
+and the first tree that he shall meet on the roadside let him tell the
+secret to it, and so it may be he shall be relieved, and his vow will
+not be broken.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The mother told her son of the druid's advice, and next day he went upon
+his way till he came to four cross roads, and he took the road upon the
+right, and the first tree he found was a great willow-tree. So the young
+man laid his cheek against the bark, and he whispered the secret to the
+tree, and as he turned back homeward he felt lightened of his burden,
+and he leaped and sang, and ere many days were past he was as well and
+light hearted as ever he had been in his life.</p>
+
+<p>Some while after that it happened that the King's harper, namely
+Craftiny, broke the straining-post of his harp and went out to seek for
+a piece of wood wherewith to mend it. And the first timber he found that
+would fit the purpose was the willow-tree by the cross roads. He cut it
+down, therefore, and took as much as would give him a new
+straining-post, and he bore it home with him and mended his harp with
+it. That night he played after meat before the King and his lords as he
+was wont, but whatever he played and sang the folk that listened to him
+seemed to hear only one thing, &quot;Two horse's ears hath Labra the Sailor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the King plucked off his hood, and after that he made no secret of
+his ears and none suffered on account of them thenceforward.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a><h2>CHAPTER IV</h2><h2>King Iubdan and King Fergus</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>It happened on a day when Fergus son of Leda was King of Ulster, that
+Iubdan, King of the Leprecauns or Wee Folk, of the land of Faylinn, held
+a great banquet and assembly of the lords and princes of the Wee Folk.
+And all their captains and men of war came thither, to show their feats
+before the King, among whom was the strong man, namely Glowar, whose
+might was such that with his battle-axe he could hew down a thistle at
+one stroke. Thither also came the King's heir-apparent, Tiny, son of
+Tot, and the Queen Bebo with her maidens; and there were also the King's
+harpers and singing-men, and the chief poet of the court, who was called
+Eisirt.</p>
+
+<p>All these sat down to the feast in due order and precedence, with Bebo
+on the King's right hand and the poet on his left, and Glowar kept the
+door. Soon the wine began to flow from the vats of dark-red yew-wood,
+and the carvers carved busily at great haunches of roast hares and ribs
+of field-mice; and they all ate and drank, and loudly the hall rang with
+gay talk and laughter, and the drinking of toasts, and clashing of
+silver goblets.</p>
+
+<p>At last when they had put away desire of eating and drinking, Iubdan
+rose up, having in his hand the royal goblet of gold inlaid with
+precious many-coloured jewels, and the heir-apparent rose at the other
+end of the table, and they drank prosperity and victory to Faylinn. Then
+Iubdan's heart swelled with pride, and he asked of the company, &quot;Come
+now, have any of you ever seen a king more glorious and powerful than I
+am?&quot; &quot;Never, in truth,&quot; cried they all. &quot;Have ye ever seen a stronger
+man than my giant, Glowar?&quot; &quot;Never, O King,&quot; said they. &quot;Or
+battle-steeds and men-at-arms better than mine?&quot; &quot;By our words,&quot; they
+cried, &quot;we never have.&quot; &quot;Truly,&quot; went on Iubdan, &quot;I deem that he who
+would assail our kingdom of Faylinn, and carry away captives and
+hostages from us, would have his work cut out for him, so fierce and
+mighty are our warriors; yea, any one of them hath the stuff of kingship
+in him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On hearing this, Eisirt, in whom the heady wine and ale had done their
+work, burst out laughing; and the King turned to him, saying, &quot;Eisirt,
+what hath moved thee to this laughter?&quot; &quot;I know a province in Erinn,&quot;
+replied Eisirt, &quot;one man of whom would harry Faylinn in the teeth of all
+four battalions of the Wee Folk.&quot; &quot;Seize him,&quot; cried the King to his
+attendants; &quot;Eisirt shall pay dearly in chains and in prison for that
+scornful speech against our glory.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Eisirt was put in bonds, and he repented him of his brag; but ere
+they dragged him away he said, &quot;Grant me, O mighty King, but three days'
+respite, that I may travel to Erinn to the court of Fergus mac Leda, and
+if I bring not back some clear token that I have uttered nought but the
+truth, then do with me as thou wilt.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Iubdan bade them release him, and he fared away to Erinn oversea.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL06"></a>
+<a href="./images/il56.jpg"><img src="images/il56_th.jpg" alt="They all trooped out, lords and ladies, to view the wee man" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They all trooped out, lords and ladies, to view the wee man&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>After this, one day, as Fergus and his lords sat at the feast, the
+gatekeeper of the palace of Fergus in Emania heard outside a sound of
+ringing; he opened the gate, and there stood a wee man holding in his
+hand a rod of white bronze hung with little silver bells, by which poets
+are wont to procure silence for their recitations. Most noble and comely
+was the little man to look on, though the short grass of the lawn
+reached as high as to his knee. His hair was twisted in four-ply strands
+after the manner of poets and he wore a gold-embroidered tunic of silk
+and an ample scarlet cloak with a fringe of gold. On his feet he wore
+shoes of white bronze ornamented with gold, and a silken hood was on his
+head. The gatekeeper wondered at the sight of the wee man, and went to
+report the matter to King Fergus. &quot;Is he less,&quot; asked Fergus, &quot;than my
+dwarf and poet &AElig;da?&quot; &quot;Verily,&quot; said the gatekeeper, &quot;he could stand upon
+the palm of &AElig;da's hand and have room to spare.&quot; Then with much laughter
+and wonder they all trooped out, lords and ladies, to the great gate to
+view the wee man and to speak with him. But Eisirt, when he saw them,
+waved them back in alarm, crying, &quot;Avaunt, huge men; bring not your
+heavy breath so near me; but let yon man that is least among you
+approach me and bear me in&quot;. So the dwarf &AElig;da put Eisirt on his palm and
+bore him into the banqueting hall.</p>
+
+<p>Then they set him on the table, and Eisirt declared his name and
+calling. The King ordered that meat and drink should be given him, but
+Eisirt said, &quot;I will neither eat of your meat nor drink of ale.&quot; &quot;By our
+word,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;'tis a haughty wight; he ought to be dropped into a
+goblet that he might at least drink all round him.&quot; The cupbearer seized
+Eisirt and put him into a tankard of ale, and he swam on the surface of
+it. &quot;Ye wise men of Ulster,&quot; he cried, &quot;there is much knowledge and
+wisdom ye might get from me, yet ye will let me be drowned!&quot; &quot;What,
+then?&quot; cried they. Then Eisirt, beginning with the King, set out to tell
+every hidden sin that each man or woman had done, and ere he had gone
+far they with much laughter and chiding fetched him out of the ale-pot
+and dried him with fair satin napkins. &quot;Now ye have confessed that I
+know somewhat to the purpose,&quot; said Eisirt, &quot;and I will even eat of your
+food, but do ye give heed to my words, and do ill no more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Fergus then said, &quot;If thou art a poet, Eisirt, give us now a taste of
+thy delightful art.&quot; &quot;That will I,&quot; said Eisirt, &quot;and the poem that I
+shall recite to you shall be an ode in praise of my king, Iubdan the
+Great.&quot; Then he recited this lay:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&quot;A monarch of might<br />
+Is Iubdan my king.<br />
+His brow is snow-white,<br />
+His hair black as night;<br />
+As a red copper bowl<br />
+When smitten will sing,<br />
+So ringeth the voice<br />
+Of Iubdan the king.<br />
+His eyen, they roll<br />
+Majestic and bland<br />
+On the lords of his land<br />
+Arrayed for the fight,<br />
+A spectacle grand!<br />
+Like a torrent they rush<br />
+With a waving of swords<br />
+And the bridles all ringing<br />
+And cheeks all aflush,<br />
+And the battle-steeds springing,<br />
+A beautiful, terrible, death-dealing band.<br />
+Like pines, straight and tall,<br />
+Where Iubdan is king,<br />
+Are the men one and all.<br />
+The maidens are fair&mdash;<br />
+Bright gold is their hair.<br />
+From silver we quaff<br />
+The dark, heady ale<br />
+That never shall fail;<br />
+We love and we laugh.<br />
+Gold frontlets we wear;<br />
+And aye through the air<br />
+Sweet music doth ring&mdash;<br />
+O Fergus, men say<br />
+That in all Inisfail<br />
+There is not a maiden so proud or so wise<br />
+But would give her two eyes<br />
+Thy kisses to win&mdash;<br />
+But I tell thee, that there<br />
+Thou canst never compare<br />
+With the haughty, magnificent King of Faylinn!&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>At this they all applauded, and Fergus said, &quot;O youth and blameless
+bard, let us be friends henceforth.&quot; And they all heaped before him, as
+a poet's reward, gifts of rings and jewels and gold cups and weapons, as
+high as a tall man standing. Then Eisirt said, &quot;Truly a generous and a
+worthy reward have ye given me, O men of Ulster; yet take back these
+precious things I pray you, for every man in my king's household hath an
+abundance of them.&quot; But the Ulster lords said, &quot;Nothing that we have
+given may we take back.&quot; Eisirt then bade two-thirds of his reward be
+given to the bards and learned men of Ulster, and one-third to the
+horse-boys and jesters; and so it was done.</p>
+
+<p>Three days and nights did Eisirt abide in Emania, and all the King's
+court loved him and made much of him. Then he wished them blessing and
+victory, and prepared to depart to his own country. Now &AElig;da, the King's
+dwarf and minstrel, begged Eisirt to take him with him on a visit to the
+land of Faylinn; and Eisirt said, &quot;I shall not bid thee come, for then
+if kindness and hospitality be shown thee, thou wilt say it is only what
+I had undertaken; but if thou come of thine own motion, thou wilt
+perchance be grateful.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they went off together; but Eisirt could not keep up with &AElig;da, and
+&AElig;da said, &quot;I perceive that Eisirt is but a poor walker.&quot; At this Eisirt
+ran off like a flash and was soon an arrow flight in front of &AElig;da. When
+the latter at last came up with him, he said, &quot;The right thing, Eisirt,
+is not too fast and not too slow.&quot; &quot;Since I have been in Ulster,&quot; Eisirt
+replied, &quot;I have never before heard ye measure out the right.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>By and by they reached the margin of the sea. &quot;And what are we to do
+now?&quot; asked &AElig;da. &quot;Be not troubled, &AElig;da,&quot; said Eisirt, &quot;the horse of
+Iubdan will bear us easily over this.&quot; They waited awhile on the beach,
+and ere long they saw it coming toward them skimming over the surface of
+the waves. &quot;Save and protect us!&quot; cried &AElig;da at that sight; and Eisirt
+asked him what he saw. &quot;A red-maned hare,&quot; answered &AElig;da. &quot;Nay, but that
+is Iubdan's horse,&quot; said Eisirt, and with that the creature came
+prancing to land with flashing eyes and waving tail and a long
+russet-coloured mane; a bridle beset with gold it had. Eisirt mounted
+and bade &AElig;da come up behind him. &quot;Thy boat is little enough for thee
+alone,&quot; said &AElig;da. &quot;Cease fault-finding and grumbling,&quot; then said Eisirt,
+&quot;for the weight of wisdom that is in thee will not bear him down&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So &AElig;da and Eisirt mounted on the fairy horse and away they sped over the
+tops of the waves and the deeps of the ocean till at last they reached
+the Kingdom of Faylinn, and there were a great concourse of the Wee Folk
+awaiting them. &quot;Eisirt is coming! Eisirt is coming!&quot; cried they all,
+&quot;and a Fomorian giant along with him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Iubdan went forth to meet Eisirt, and he kissed him, and said,
+&quot;Why hast thou brought this Fomorian with thee to slay us?&quot; &quot;He is no
+Fomor,&quot; said Eisirt, &quot;but a learned man and a poet from Ulster. He is
+moreover the King of Ulster's dwarf, and in all that realm he is the
+smallest man. He can lie in their great men's bosoms and stand upon
+their hands as though he were a child; yet for all that you would do
+well to be careful how you behave to him.&quot; &quot;What is his name?&quot; said they
+then. &quot;He is the poet &AElig;da.&quot; said Eisirt. &quot;Uch,&quot; said they, &quot;what a giant
+thou hast brought us!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now, O King,&quot; said Eisirt to Iubdan, &quot;I challenge thee to go and
+see for thyself the region from which we have come, and make trial of
+the royal porridge which is made for Fergus King of Ulster this very
+night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this Iubdan was much dismayed, and he betook himself to Bebo his wife
+and told her how he was laid under bonds of chivalry by Eisirt to go to
+the land of the giants; and he bade her prepare to accompany him. &quot;I
+will go,&quot; said she, &quot;but you did an ill deed when you condemned Eisirt
+to prison.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they mounted, both of them, on the fairy steed, and in no long time
+they reached Emania, and it was now past midnight. And they were greatly
+afraid, and said Bebo, &quot;Let us search for that porridge and taste it, as
+we were bound, and make off again ere the folk awake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They made their way into the palace of Fergus, and soon they found a
+great porridge pot, but the rim was too high to be reached from the
+ground. &quot;Get thee up upon thy horse,&quot; said Bebo, &quot;and from thence to the
+rim of this cauldron.&quot; And thus he did, but having gained the rim of the
+pot his arm was too short to reach the silver ladle that was in it. In
+straining downward to do so, however, he slipped and in he fell, and up
+to his middle in the thick porridge he stuck fast. And when Bebo heard
+what a plight he was in, she wept, and said, &quot;Rash and hasty wert thou,
+Iubdan, to have got into this evil case, but surely there is no man
+under the sun that can make thee hear reason.&quot; And he said, &quot;Rash indeed
+it was, but thou canst not help me, Bebo, now, and it is but folly to
+stay; take the horse and flee away ere the day break.&quot; &quot;Say not so,&quot;
+replied  Bebo, &quot;for surely I will not go till I see how things fall out
+with thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At last the folk in the palace began to be stirring, and ere long they
+found Iubdan in the porridge pot.</p>
+
+<p>So they picked him out with great laughter bore him off to Fergus.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By my conscience,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;but this is not the little fellow that
+was here before, for he had yellow hair, but this one hath a shock of
+the blackest; who art thou at all, wee man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am of the Wee Folk,&quot; said Iubdan, &quot;and am indeed king over them, and
+this woman is my wife and queen, Bebo.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take him away,&quot; then said Fergus to his varlets, &quot;and guard him well&quot;;
+for he misdoubted some mischief of Faery was on foot.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, nay,&quot; cried Iubdan, &quot;but let me not be with these coarse fellows.
+I pledge thee my word that I will not quit this place till thou and
+Ulster give me leave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Could I believe that,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;I would not put thee in bonds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have never broken my word,&quot; said Iubdan, &quot;and I never will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Fergus set him free and allotted him a fair chamber for himself,
+and a trusty servingman to wait upon him. Soon there came in a gillie
+whose business it was to see to the fires, and he kindled the fire for
+Iubdan, throwing on it a woodbine together with divers other sorts of
+timber. Then Iubdan said, &quot;Man of smoke, burn not the king of the trees,
+for it is not meet to burn him. Wouldst thou but take counsel from me
+thou mightest go safely by sea or land.&quot; Iubdan then chanted to him the
+following recital of the duties of his office:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;O fire-gillie of Fergus of the Feasts, never by land or sea burn the
+King of the woods, High King of the forests of Inisfail, whom none may
+bind, but who like a strong monarch holds all the other trees in hard
+bondage. If thou burn the twining one, misfortune will come of it, peril
+at the point of spear, or drowning in the waves.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Burn not the sweet apple-tree of drooping branches, of the white
+blossoms, to whose gracious head each man puts forth his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The stubborn blackthorn wanders far and wide, the good craftsman burns
+not this timber; little though its bushes be, yet flocks of birds warble
+in them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Burn not the noble willow, the unfailing ornament of poems; bees drink
+from its blossoms, all delight in the graceful tent.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The delicate, airy tree of the druids, the rowan with its berries, this
+burn; but avoid the weak tree, burn not the slender hazel.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The ash-tree of the black buds burn not&mdash;timber that speeds the wheel,
+that yields the rider his switch; the ashen spear is the scale-beam of
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The tangled, bitter bramble, burn him, the sharp and green; he flays
+and cuts the foot; he snares you and drags you back.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hottest of timber is the green oak; he will give you a pain in the head
+if you use him overmuch, a pain in the eyes will come from his biting
+fumes.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Full-charged with witchcraft is the alder, the hottest tree in the
+fight; burn assuredly both the alder and the whitehorn at your will.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Holly, burn it in the green and in the dry; of all trees in the world,
+holly is absolutely the best.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The elder-tree of the rough brown bark, burn him to cinders, the steed
+of the Fairy Folk.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The drooping birch, by all means burn him too, the tree of long-lasting
+bloom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And lay low, if it pleases you, the russet aspen; late or early, burn
+the tree with the quaking plumage.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The yew is the venerable ancestor of the wood as the companion of
+feasts he is known; of him make goodly brown vats for ale and wine.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Follow my counsel, O man of the smoke, and it shall go well with you,
+body and soul.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Iubdan continued in Emania free to go and come as he pleased; and all
+the Ulstermen delighted to watch him and to hear his conversation.</p>
+
+<p>One day it chanced that he was in the chamber of the Queen, and saw her
+putting on her feet a very dainty and richly embroidered pair of shoes.
+At this Iubdan gave a laugh. &quot;Why dost thou laugh?&quot; said Fergus.
+&quot;Meseems the healing is applied very far from the hurt,&quot; replied Iubdan.
+&quot;What meanest thou by that?&quot; said Fergus. &quot;Because the Queen is making
+her feet fine in order, O Fergus, that she may attract thee to her
+lips,&quot; said Iubdan.</p>
+
+<p>Another time it chanced that Iubdan overheard one of the King's soldiers
+complaining of a pair of new brogues that had been served out to him,
+and grumbling that the soles were too thin. At this Iubdan laughed
+again, and being asked why, he said, &quot;I must need laugh to hear yon
+fellow grumbling about his brogues, for the soles of these brogues, thin
+as they are, he will never wear out.&quot; And this was a true prophecy, for
+the same night this and another of the King's men had a quarrel, and
+fought, and killed each the other.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Wee Folk determined to go in search of their king, and seven
+battalions of them marched upon Emania and encamped upon the lawn over
+against the King's Dún. Fergus and his nobles went out to confer with
+them. &quot;Give us back our king,&quot; said the Wee Folk, &quot;and we shall redeem
+him with a great ransom.&quot; &quot;What ransom, then?&quot; asked Fergus. &quot;We shall,&quot;
+said they, &quot;cause this great plain to stand thick with corn for you
+every year, and that without ploughing or sowing.&quot; &quot;I will not give up
+Iubdan for that,&quot; said Fergus. &quot;Then we shall do you a mischief,&quot; said
+the Wee Folk.</p>
+
+<p>That night every calf in the Province of Ulster got access to its dam,
+and in the morn there was no milk to be had for man or child, for the
+cows were sucked dry.</p>
+
+<p>Then said the Wee Folk to Fergus, &quot;This night, unless we get Iubdan, we
+shall defile every well and lake and river in Ulster.&quot; &quot;That is a
+trifle,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;and ye shall not get Iubdan.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Wee Folk carried out this threat, and once more they came and
+demanded Iubdan, saying, &quot;To-night we shall burn with fire the shaft of
+every mill in Ulster.&quot; &quot;Yet not so shall ye get Iubdan,&quot; said Fergus.</p>
+
+<p>This being done, they came again, saying, &quot;We shall have vengeance
+unless Iubdan be delivered to us&quot; &quot;What vengeance?&quot; said Fergus. &quot;We
+shall snip off every ear of corn in thy kingdom,&quot; said they. &quot;Even so,&quot;
+replied Fergus, &quot;I shall not deliver Iubdan.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the Wee Folk snipped off every ear of standing corn in Ulster, and
+once more they returned and demanded Iubdan. &quot;What will ye do next?&quot;
+asked Fergus. &quot;We shall shave the hair of every man and every woman in
+Ulster,&quot; said they, &quot;so that ye shall be shamed and disgraced for ever
+among the people of Erinn.&quot; &quot;By my word,&quot; said Fergus, &quot;if ye do that I
+shall slay Iubdan.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Iubdan said, &quot;I have a better counsel than that, O King; let me
+have liberty to go and speak with them, and I shall bid them make good
+what mischief they have done, and they shall return home forthwith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Fergus granted that; and when the Wee Folk saw Iubdan approaching them,
+they set up a shout of triumph that a man might have heard a bowshot
+off, for they believed they had prevailed and that Iubdan was released
+to them. But Iubdan said, &quot;My faithful people, you must now begone, and
+I may not go with you; make good also all the mischief that ye have
+done, and know that if ye do any more I must die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the Wee Folk departed, very downcast and sorrowful, but they did as
+Iubdan had bidden them.</p>
+
+<p>Iubdan, however, went to Fergus and said, &quot;Take, O King, the choicest of
+my treasures, and let me go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is thy choicest treasure?&quot; said Fergus.</p>
+
+<p>Iubdan then began to recite to Fergus the list of his possessions, such
+as druidic weapons, and love-charms, and instruments of music that
+played without touch of human hand, and vats of ale that could never be
+emptied; and he named among other noble treasures a pair of shoes,
+wearing which a man could go over or under the sea as readily as on dry
+land.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time &AElig;da, the dwarf and poet of Ulster, returned hale and
+well from the land of Faylinn, and much did he entertain the King and
+all the court with tales of the smallness of the Wee Folk, and their
+marvel at his own size, and their bravery and beauty, and their marble
+palaces and matchless minstrelsy.</p>
+
+<p>So the King, Fergus mac Leda, was well content to take a ransom, namely
+the magic shoes, which he desired above all the treasures of Faylinn,
+and to let Iubdan go. And he gave him rich gifts, as did also the nobles
+of Ulster, and wished him blessing and victory; and Iubdan he departed,
+with Bebo his wife, having first bestowed upon Fergus the magical shoes.
+And of him the tale hath now no more to say.</p>
+
+<p>But Fergus never tired of donning the shoes of Iubdan and traversing the
+secret depths of the lakes and rivers of Ulster. Thereby, too, in the
+end he got his death, for as the wise say that the gifts of Faery may
+not be enjoyed without peril by mortal men, so in this case too it
+proved. For, one day as Fergus was exploring the depths of Loch Rury he
+met the monster, namely the river-horse, which inhabited that lake.
+Horrible of form it was, swelling and contracting like a blacksmith's
+bellows, and with eyes like torches, and glittering tusks, and a mane of
+coarse hair on its crest and neck. When it saw Fergus it laid back its
+ears, and its neck arched like a rainbow over his head, and the vast
+mouth gaped to devour him. Then Fergus rose quickly to the surface and
+made for the land, and the beast after him, driving before it a huge
+wave of foam. Barely did he escape with his life; but with the horror of
+the sight his features were distorted and his mouth was twisted around
+to the side of his head, so that he was called Fergus Wry-mouth from
+that day forth. And the gillie that was with him told the tale of the
+adventure.</p>
+
+<p>Now there was a law in Ireland that no man might be king who was
+disfigured by any bodily blemish. His people, therefore, loving Fergus,
+kept from him all knowledge of his condition, and the Queen let all
+mirrors that were in the palace be put away. But one day it chanced that
+a bondmaid was negligent in preparing the bath, and Fergus being
+impatient, gave her a stroke with a switch which he had in his hand. The
+maid in anger turned upon him, and cried, &quot;It would better become thee
+to avenge thyself on the riverhorse that hath twisted thy mouth, than to
+do brave deeds on women.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Fergus then bade a mirror be fetched, and when he saw his face in it, he
+said, &quot;The woman spake truth; the riverhorse of Loch Rury has done this
+thing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL07"></a>
+<a href="./images/il68.jpg"><img src="images/il68_th.jpg" alt="Fergus goes down into the lake" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;Fergus goes down into the lake&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>The next day Fergus put on the shoes of Iubdan and went forth to Loch
+Rury, and with him went the lords of Ulster. And when he reached the
+margin of the lake he drew his sword and went down into it, and soon the
+waters covered him.</p>
+
+<p>After a while those that watched upon the bank saw a bubbling and a
+mighty commotion in the waters, now here, now there, and waves of bloody
+froth broke at their feet. At last, as they strained their eyes upon the
+tossing water, they saw Fergus rise to his middle from it, pale and
+bloody. In his right hand he waved aloft his sword, his left was twisted
+in the coarse hair of the monster's head, and they saw that his
+countenance was fair and kingly as of old. &quot;Ulstermen, I have
+conquered,&quot; he cried; and as he did so he sank down again, dead with his
+dead foe, into their red grave in Loch Rury.</p>
+
+<p>And the Ulster lords went back to Emania, sorrowful yet proud, for they
+knew that a seed of honour had been sown that day in their land from
+which should spring a breed of high-hearted fighting men for many a
+generation to come.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_V'></a><h2>CHAPTER V</h2><h2>The Carving of Mac Datho's Boar</h2>
+
+<p>Once upon a time there dwelt in the province of Leinster a wealthy
+hospitable lord named Mesroda, son of Datho. Two possessions had he;
+namely, a hound which could outrun every other hound and every wild
+beast in Erinn, and a boar which was the finest and greatest in size
+that man had ever beheld.</p>
+
+<p>Now the fame of this hound was noised all about the land, and many were
+the princes and lords who longed to possess it. And it came to pass that
+Conor, King of Ulster, and Maev, Queen of Connacht, sent messengers to
+mac Datho to ask him to sell them the hound for a price, and both the
+messengers arrived at the Dún of mac Datho on the same day. Said the
+Connacht messenger, &quot;We will give thee in exchange for the hound six
+hundred milch cows, and a chariot with two horses, the best that are to
+be found in Connacht, and at the end of a year thou shalt have as much
+again.&quot; And the messenger of King Conor said, &quot;We will give no less than
+Connacht, and the friendship and alliance of Ulster, and that will be
+better for thee than the friendship of Connacht.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Mesroda mac Datho fell silent, and for three days he would not eat
+nor drink, nor could he sleep o' nights, but tossed restlessly on his
+bed. His wife observed his condition, and said to him, &quot;Thy fast hath
+been long, Mesroda, though good food is by thee in plenty; and at night
+thou turnest thy face to the wall, and well I know thou dost not sleep.
+What is the cause of thy trouble?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There is a saying,&quot; replied mac Datho, &quot;'Trust not a thrall with money,
+nor a woman with a secret.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When should a man talk to a woman,&quot; said his wife, &quot;but when something
+were amiss? What thy mind cannot solve perchance another's may.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then mac Datho told his wife of the request for his hound both from
+Ulster and from Connacht at one and the same time, &quot;and whichever of
+them I deny,&quot; he said, &quot;they will harry my cattle and slay my people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then hear my counsel,&quot; said the woman. &quot;Give it to both of them, and
+bid them come and fetch it; and if there be any harrying to be done, let
+them even harry each other; but in no way mayest thou keep the hound.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On that, mac Datho rose up and shook himself, and called for food and
+drink, and made merry with himself and his guests. Then he sent
+privately for the messenger of Queen Maev, and said to him, &quot;Long have I
+doubted what to do, but now I am resolved to give the hound to Connacht.
+Let ye send for it on such a day with a train of your nobles or warriors
+and bear him forth nobly and proudly, for he is worth it; and ye shall
+all have drink and food and royal entertainment in my Dún.&quot; So the
+messenger departed, well pleased.</p>
+
+<p>To the Ulster messenger mac Datho said, &quot;After much perplexity I have
+resolved to give my hound to Conor. Let the best of the Ulstermen come
+to fetch him, and they shall be welcomed and entertained as is fitting.&quot;
+And for these he named the same day as he had done for the embassy from
+Connacht.</p>
+
+<p>When the appointed day came round, the flower of the fighting men of two
+provinces of Ireland were assembled before the Dún of the son of Datho,
+and there were also Conor, King of Ulster, and Ailill, the husband of
+Maev, Queen of Connacht. Mac Datho went forth to meet them. &quot;Welcome,
+warriors,&quot; he said to them, &quot;albeit for two armies at once we were not
+prepared.&quot; Then he bade them into the Dún, and in the great hall they
+sat down. Now in this hall there were seven doors, and between every two
+doors were benches for fifty men. Not as friends bidden to a feast did
+the men of Ulster and of Connacht look upon one another, since for three
+hundred years the provinces had ever been at war.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let the great boar be killed,&quot; said mac Datho, and it was done. For
+seven years had that boar been nourished on the milk of fifty cows; yet
+rather on venom should it have been nourished, such was the mischief
+that was to come from the carving of it.</p>
+
+<p>When the boar was roasted it was brought in, and many other kinds of
+food as side dishes, &quot;and if more be wanting to the feast,&quot; said mac
+Datho, &quot;it shall be slain for you before the morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The boar is good,&quot; said Conor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is a fine boar,&quot; said Ailill; &quot;and now, O mac Datho, how shall it be
+divided among us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There was among the Ulster company one Bricru, son of Carbad, whose
+delight was in biting speeches and in fomenting strife, though he
+himself was never known to draw sword in any quarrel. He now spoke from
+his couch in answer to Ailill:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How should the boar be divided, O son of Datho, except by appointing to
+carve it him who is best in deeds of arms? Here be all the valiant men
+of Ireland assembled; have none of us hit each other a blow on the nose
+ere now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said Ailill, &quot;so let it be done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We also agree,&quot; said Conor; &quot;there are plenty of our lads in the house
+that have many a time gone round the border of the Provinces.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will want them to-night, Conor,&quot; said an old warrior from Conlad in
+the West. &quot;They have often been seen on their backs on the roads of
+rushy Dedah, and many a fat steer have they left with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was a fat bullock thou didst have with thee once upon a day,&quot;
+replied Moonremar of Ulster, &quot;even thine own brother, and by the rushy
+road of Conlad he came and went not back.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Twas a better man than he, even Irloth, son of Fergus mac Leda, who
+fell by the hand of Echbael in Tara Luachra,&quot; replied Lugad of Munster.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Echbael?&quot; cried Keltchar, son of Uthecar Hornskin of Ulster. &quot;Is it of
+him ye boast, whom I myself slew and cut off his head?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And thus the heroes bandied about the tales and taunts of their
+victories, until at length Ket, son of Maga of the Connachtmen, arose
+and stood over the boar and took the knife into his hand. &quot;Now,&quot; he
+cried, &quot;let one man in Ulster match his deeds with mine, or else hold ye
+your peace and let me carve the boar!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For a while there was silence, and then Conor King of Ulster, said to
+Logary the Triumphant, &quot;Stay that for me.&quot; So Logary arose and said,
+&quot;Ket shall never carve the boar for all of us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not so fast, Logary,&quot; said Ket. &quot;It is the custom among you Ulstermen
+that when a youth first takes arms he comes to prove himself on us. So
+didst thou, Logary, and we met thee at the border. From that meeting I
+have thy chariot and horses, and thou hadst a spear through thy ribs Not
+thus wilt thou get the boar from me.&quot; Then Logary sat down on his bench.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ket shall never divide that pig,&quot; spake then a tall fair-haired warrior
+from Ulster, coming down the hall. &quot;Whom have we here?&quot; asked Ket. &quot;A
+better man than thou,&quot; shouted the Ulstermen, &quot;even Angus, son of Lama
+Gabad.&quot; &quot;Indeed?&quot; said Ket, &quot;and why is his father called Lama Gabad
+[wanting a hand]?&quot; &quot;We know not,&quot; said they. &quot;But I know it,&quot; said Ket.
+&quot;Once I went on a foray to the East, and was attacked by a troop, Lama
+Gabad among them. He flung a lance at me. I seized the same lance and
+flung it back, and it shore off his hand, and it lay there on the field
+before him. Shall that man's son measure himself with me?&quot; And Angus
+went to his bench and sat down.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Keep up the contest,&quot; then cried Ket tauntingly, &quot;or let me divide the
+boar.&quot; &quot;That thou shalt not,&quot; cried another Ulster warrior of great
+stature. &quot;And who is this?&quot; said Ket. &quot;Owen Mór, King of Fermag,&quot; said
+the Ulstermen. &quot;I have seen him ere now,&quot; said Ket. &quot;I took a drove of
+cattle from him before his own house. He put a spear through my shield
+and I flung it back and it tore out one of his eyes, and one-eyed he is
+to this day.&quot; Then Owen Mór sat down.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have ye any more to contest the pig with me?&quot; then said Ket. &quot;Thou hast
+not won it yet,&quot; said Moonremar, son of Gerrkind, rising up. &quot;Is that
+Moonremar?&quot; said Ket, &quot;It is,&quot; they cried.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is but three days,&quot; said Ket, &quot;since I was the last man who won
+renown of thee. Three heads of thy fighting men did I carry off from Dún
+Moonremar, and one of the three was the head of thy eldest son.&quot;
+Moonremar then sat down.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Still the contest,&quot; said Ket, &quot;or I shall carve the boar.&quot; &quot;Contest
+thou shalt have,&quot; said Mend, son of Sword-heel. &quot;Who is this?&quot; said
+Ket. &quot;'Tis Mend,&quot; cried all the Ulstermen.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall the sons of fellows with nicknames come here to contend with me?&quot;
+cried Ket. &quot;I was the priest who christened thy father that name. 'Twas
+I who cut the heel off him, so that off he went with only one. What
+brings the son of that man to contend with me?&quot; Mend then sat down in
+his seat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come to the contest,&quot; said Ket, &quot;or I shall begin to carve.&quot; Then arose
+from the Ulstermen a huge grey and terrible warrior. &quot;Who is this?&quot;
+asked Ket. '&quot;Tis Keltcar, son of Uthecar,&quot; cried they all.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wait awhile, Keltcar,&quot; said Ket, &quot;do not pound me to pieces just yet.
+Once, O Keltcar, I made a foray on thee and came in front of Dún. All
+thy folk attacked me, and thou amongst them. In a narrow pass we fought,
+and thou didst fling a spear at me and I at thee, but my spear went
+through thy loins and thou hast never been the better of it since.&quot; Then
+Keltcar sat down in his seat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who else comes to the contest,&quot; cried Ket &quot;or shall I at last divide
+the pig?&quot; Up rose then the son of King Conor, named Cuscrid the
+Stammerer &quot;Whom have we here?&quot; said Ket. &quot;'Tis Cuscrid son of Conor,&quot;
+cried they all. &quot;He has the stuff of a king in him,&quot; said Ket. &quot;No
+thanks to thee for that,&quot; said the youth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, then,&quot; said Ket, &quot;thou madest thy first foray against us
+Connachtmen, and on the border of the Provinces we met thee. A third of
+thy people, thou didst leave behind thee, and came away with my spear
+through thy throat, so that thou canst not speak rightly ever since, for
+the sinews of thy throat were severed. And hence is Cuscrid the
+Stammerer thy byname ever since.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So thus Ket laid shame and defeat on the whole Province of Ulster, nor
+was there any other warrior in the hall found to contend with him.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL08"></a>
+<a href="./images/il76.jpg"><img src="images/il76_th.jpg" alt="A mighty shout of exultation arose from the Ulstermen" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;A mighty shout of exultation arose from the Ulstermen&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>Then Ket stood up triumphing, and took the knife in his hand and
+prepared to carve the boar when a noise and trampling were heard at the
+great door of the hall, and a mighty shout of exultation arose from the
+Ulstermen. When the press parted, Ket saw coming up the centre of the
+hall Conall of the Victories, and Conor the King dashed the helmet from
+his head and sprang up for joy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Glad we are,&quot; cried Conall, &quot;that all is ready for feast; and who is
+carving the boar for us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ket, son of Maga,&quot; replied they, &quot;for none could contest the place of
+honour with him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is that so, Ket?&quot; says Conall Cearnach.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Even so,&quot; replied Ket. &quot;And now welcome to thee, O Conall, thou of the
+iron heart and fiery blood; keen as the glitter of ice, ever-victorious
+chieftain; hail mighty son of Finnchoom!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Conall said, &quot;Hail to thee, Ket, flower of heroes, lord of chariots,
+a raging sea in battle; a strong, majestic bull; hail, son of Maga!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now,&quot; went on Conall, &quot;rise up from the boar and give me place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why so?&quot; replied Ket.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dost thou seek a contest from me?&quot; said Conall; &quot;verily thou shalt have
+it. By the gods of my nation I swear that since I first took weapons in
+my hand I have never passed one day that I did not slay a Connachtman,
+nor one night that I did not make a foray on them, nor have I ever slept
+but I had the head of a Connachtman under my knee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I confess,&quot; then, said Ket, &quot;that thou art a better man than I, and I
+yield thee the boar. But if Anluan my brother were here, he would match
+thee deed for deed, and sorrow and shame it is that he is not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Anluan is here,&quot; shouted Conall, and with that he drew from his girdle
+the head of Anluan and dashed it in the face of Ket.</p>
+
+<p>Then all sprang to their feet and a wild shouting and tumult arose, and
+the swords flew out of themselves, and battle raged in the hall of mac
+Datho. Soon the hosts burst out through the doors of the Dún and smote
+and slew each other in the open field, until the Connacht host were put
+to flight. The hound of mac Datho pursued them along with the Ulstermen,
+and it came up with the chariot in which King Ailill was driving, and
+seized the pole of the chariot, but the charioteer dealt it a blow that
+cut off its head. When Ailill drew rein they found the hound's head
+still clinging to the pole, whence that place is called Ibar Cinn Chon,
+or the Yew Tree of the Hound's Head.</p>
+
+<p>Now when Conor pursued hard upon King Ailill, Ferloga, the charioteer of
+Ailill, lighted down and hid himself in the heather; and as Conor drove
+past, Ferloga leaped up behind him in the chariot and gripped him by the
+throat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What will thou have of me?&quot; said Conor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Give over the pursuit,&quot; said Ferloga, &quot;and take me with thee to
+Emania,<a name='FNanchor_19_19'></a><a href='#Footnote_19_19'><sup>[19]</sup></a> and let the maidens of Emania so long as I am there sing a
+serenade before my dwelling every night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Granted,&quot; said Conor. So he took Ferloga with him to Emania, and at the
+end of a year sent him back to Connacht, escorting him as far as to
+Athlone; and Ferloga had from the King of Ulster two noble horses with
+golden bridles, but the serenade from the maidens of Ulster he did not
+get, though he got the horses instead. And thus ends the tale of the
+contention between Ulster and Connacht over the Carving of mac Datho's
+Boar.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a><h2>CHAPTER VI</h2><h2>The Vengeance of Mesgedra</h2>
+
+<p>Atharna the Bard, surnamed the Extortionate, was the chief poet and
+satirist of Ulster in the reign of Conor mac Nessa. Greed and arrogance
+were in his heart and poison on his tongue, and the kings and lords of
+whom he asked rewards for his poems dared not refuse him aught, partly
+because of the poisonous satires and lampoons which he would otherwise
+make upon them for their niggardliness, and partly for that in Ireland
+at that day it was deemed shameful to refuse to a bard whatsoever he
+might ask. Once it was said that he asked of a sub-king, namely Eochy
+mac Luchta, who was famed for hospitality and generosity, the single
+thing that Eochy would have been grieved to give, namely his eye, and
+Eochy had but one eye. But the King plucked it out by the roots and gave
+it to him; and Atharna went away disappointed, for he had looked that
+Eochy would ransom his eye at a great price.</p>
+
+<p>Now Conor mac Nessa, King of Ulster, and all the Ulster lords, having
+grown very powerful and haughty, became ill neighbours to all the other
+kingdoms in Ireland. On fertile Leinster above all they fixed their
+eyes, and sought for an opportunity to attack and plunder the province.
+Conor resolved at last to move Atharna to go to the King of Leinster, in
+the hope that he himself might be rid of Atharna, by the King of
+Leinster killing him for his insolence and his exactions, and that he
+might avenge the death of his bard by the invasion of Leinster.</p>
+
+<p>Atharna therefore set out for Leinster accompanied by his train of poets
+and harpers and gillies and arrived at the great Dún of Mesgedra the
+King, at Naas in Kildare. Here he dwelt for twelve months wasting the
+substance of the Leinstermen and in the end when he was minded to return
+to Ulster he went before the King Mesgedra and the lords of Leinster and
+demanded his poet's fee.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is thy demand, Atharna?&quot; asked Mesgedra.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So many cattle and so many sheep,&quot; answered Atharna, &quot;and store of gold
+and raiment, and of the fairest dames and maidens of Leinster
+forty-five, to grind at my querns in Dún Atharna.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It shall be granted thee,&quot; said the King. Then Atharna feared some
+mischief, for the King and the nobles of Leinster had not seemed like
+men on whom shameful conditions are laid, nor had they offered to ransom
+their women. Atharna therefore judged that the Leinstermen might fall
+upon him to recover their booty when he was once beyond the border, for
+within their own borders they might not affront a guest. He sent,
+therefore, a swift messenger to Conor mac Nessa, bidding him come with a
+strong escort as quickly as he might, to meet Atharna's band on the
+marches of Leinster, and convey him safely home.</p>
+
+<p>Atharna then departed from Naas with a great herd of sheep and cattle
+and other spoils, and with thrice fifteen of the noble women of
+Leinster. He went leisurely, meaning to strike the highroad to Emania
+from Dublin; but when he came thither the Liffey was swollen with rain,
+and the ford at Dublin might not be crossed. He caused, therefore, many
+great hurdles to be made, and these were set in the river, and over them
+a causeway of boughs was laid, so that his cattle and spoils came safely
+across. Hence is the town of that place called to this day in Gaelic the
+City of the Hurdle Ford.</p>
+
+<p>On the next day Conor and the Ulstermen met him, but a great force of
+the men of Leinster was also marching from Naas to the border, to
+recover their womenfolk, even as Atharna had expected. The Leinstermen
+then broke the battle on the company from Ulster, and defeated them,
+driving them with the cows of Atharna on to the sea cape of Ben Edar
+(Howth), but they recovered the women. On Ben Edar did King Conor with
+the remnant of his troop then fortify themselves, making a great fosse
+across the neck of land by which Ben Edar is joined to the mainland, and
+here they were besieged, with hard fighting by day and night, expecting
+that help should come to them from Ulster, whither they had sent
+messengers to tell of their distress.</p>
+
+<p>Now Conall of the Victories was left behind to rule in Emania when Conor
+set forth to Leinster, and he now, on hearing how the King was beset,
+assembled a great host and marched down to Ben Edar. Here he attacked
+the host of Leinster, and a great battle was fought, many being slain on
+both sides, and the King of Leinster, Mesgedra, lost his left hand in
+the fight. In the end the men of Leinster were routed, and fled, and
+Mesgedra drove in his chariot past the City of the Hurdle Ford and Naas
+to the fords of Liffey at Clane. Here there was a sacred oak tree where
+druid rites and worship were performed, and that oak tree was sanctuary,
+so that within its shadow, guarded by mighty spells, no man might be slain
+by his enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Now Conall Cearnach had followed hard on the track of Mesgedra, and when
+he found him beneath the oak, he drove his chariot round and round the
+circuit of the sanctuary, bidding Mesgedra come forth and do battle with
+him, or be counted a dastard among the kings of Erinn. But Mesgedra
+said, &quot;Is it the fashion of the champions of Ulster to challenge
+one-armed men to battle?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Conall let his charioteer bind one of his arms to his side, and
+again he taunted Mesgedra and bade him come forth.</p>
+
+<p>Mesgedra then drew sword, and between him and Conall there was a fierce
+fight until the Liffey was reddened with their blood. At last, by a
+chance blow of the sword of Mesgedra, the bonds of Conall's left arm
+were severed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On thy head be it,&quot; said Conall, &quot;if thou release me again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he caused his arm to be bound up once more, and again they met,
+sword to sword, and again in the fury of the fight Mesgedra cut the
+thongs that bound Conall's arm. &quot;The gods themselves have doomed thee,&quot;
+shouted Conall then, and he rushed upon Mesgedra and in no long time he
+wounded him to death.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take my head,&quot; said Mesgedra then, &quot;and add my glory to thy glory, but
+be well assured this wrong shall yet be avenged by me upon Ulster,&quot; and
+he died.</p>
+
+<p>Then Conall cut off the head of Mesgedra and put it in his chariot, and
+took also the chariot of Mesgedra and fared northwards. Ere long he met
+a chariot and fifty women accompanying it. In it was Buan the Queen,
+wife of Mesgedra, returning from a visit to Meath.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who art thou, woman?&quot; said Conall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Buan, wife of Mesgedra the King.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou art to come with me,&quot; then said Conall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who hath commanded this?&quot; said Buan.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mesgedra the King,&quot; said Conall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By what token dost thou lay these commands upon me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Behold his chariot and his horses,&quot; said Conall.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He gives rich gifts to many a man,&quot; answered the Queen.</p>
+
+<p>Then Conall showed her the head of her husband.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This is my token,&quot; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is enough,&quot; said Buan. &quot;But give me leave to bewail him ere I go
+into captivity.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Buan rose up in her chariot and raised for Mesgedra a keen of
+sorrow so loud and piercing that her heart broke with it, and she fell
+backwards on the road and died.</p>
+
+<p>Conall Cearnach then buried her there, and laid the head of her husband
+by her side; and the fair hazel tree that grew from her grave by the
+fords of Clane was called Coll Buana, or the Hazel Tree of Buan.</p>
+
+<p>But ere Conall buried the head of Mesgedra he caused the brain to be
+taken out and mixed with lime to make a bullet for a sling, for so it
+was customary to do when a great warrior had been killed; and the
+brain-balls thus made were accounted to be the deadliest of missiles.</p>
+
+<p>So when Leinster had been harried and plundered and its king and queen
+thus slain, the Ulstermen drew northward again, and the brain-ball was
+laid up in the Dún of King Conor at Emania.</p>
+
+<p>Years afterwards it happened that the Wolf of Connacht, namely Ket, son
+of Maga, came disguised within the borders of Ulster in search of prey,
+and he entered the palace precincts of Conor in Emania. There he saw two
+jesters of the King, who had gotten the brain-ball from the shelf where
+it lay, and were rolling it about the courtyard. Ket knew it for what it
+was, and put it out of sight of the jesters and took it away with him
+while they made search for it. Thenceforth Ket carried it ever about
+with him in his girdle, hoping that he might yet use it to destroy some
+great warrior among the Ulstermen.</p>
+
+<p>One day thereafter Ket made a foray on the men of Ross, and carried away
+a spoil of cattle. The host of Ulster and King Conor with them overtook
+him as he went homeward. The men of Connacht had also mustered to the
+help of Ket, and both sides made them ready for battle.</p>
+
+<p>Now a river, namely Brosna, ran between them, and on a hill at one side
+of this were assembled a number of the noble women of Connacht, who
+desired greatly to look on the far-famed Ultonian warriors, and above
+all on Conor the King, whose presence was said to be royal and stately
+beyond any man that was then living in Erinn. Among the bushes, close to
+the women, Ket hid himself, and lay still but watchful.</p>
+
+<p>Now Conor, seeing none but womenfolk close to him at this point, and
+being willing to show them his splendour, drew near to the bank on his
+side of the stream. Then Ket leaped up, whirling his sling, and the
+bullet hummed across the river and smote King Conor on the temple. And
+his men carried him off for dead, and the men of Connacht broke the
+battle on the Ulstermen, slaying many, and driving the rest of them back
+to their own place. This battle was thenceforth called the Battle of the
+Ford of the Sling-cast, or Athnurchar; and so the place is called to
+this day.</p>
+
+<p>When Conor was brought home to Emania his chief physician, Fingen, found
+the ball half buried in his temple. &quot;If the ball be taken out,&quot; said
+Fingen, &quot;he will die; if it remain he will live, but he will bear the
+blemish of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let him bear the blemish,&quot; said the Ulster lords, &quot;that is a small
+matter compared with the death of Conor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Fingen stitched the wound over with a thread of gold, for Conor had
+curling golden hair, and bade him keep himself from all violent
+movements and from all vehement passions, and not to ride on horseback,
+and he would do well.</p>
+
+<p>After that Conor lived for seven years, and he went not to war during
+that time, and all cause of passion was kept far from him. Then one day
+at broad noon the sky darkened, and the gloom of night seemed to spread
+over the world, and all the people feared, and looked for some calamity.
+Conor called to him his chief druid, namely Bacarach, and inquired of
+him as to the cause of the gloom.</p>
+
+<p>The druid then went with Conor into a sacred grove of oaks and performed
+the rites of divination, and in a trance he spoke to Conor, saying, &quot;I
+see a hill near a great city, and three high crosses on it. To one of
+them is nailed the form of a young man who is like unto one of the
+Immortals. Round him stand soldiers with tall spears, and a great crowd
+waiting to see him die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is he, then, a malefactor?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said the druid, &quot;but holiness, innocence, and truth have come to
+earth in him, and for this cause have the druids of his land doomed him
+to die, for his teaching was not as theirs. And the heavens are darkened
+for wrath and sorrow at the sight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Conor leaped up in a fury, crying, &quot;They shall not slay him, they
+shall not slay him! Would I were there with the host of Ulster, and thus
+would I scatter his foes&quot;; and with that he snatched his sword and began
+striking at the trees that stood thickly about him in the druid grove.
+Then with the heat of his passion the sling-ball burst from his head,
+and he fell to the ground and died.</p>
+
+<p>Thus was fulfilled the vengeance of Mesgedra upon Conor mac Nessa, King
+of Ulster.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VII</h2><h2>The Story of Etain and Midir</h2>
+
+<p>Once upon a time there was a High King of the Milesian race in Ireland
+named Eochy Airem, whose power and splendour were very great, and all
+the sub-Kings, namely, Conor of Ulster, and Mesgedra of Leinster, and
+Curoi of Munster, and Ailill and Maev of Connacht, were obedient to him.
+But he was without a wife; and for this reason the sub-Kings and Princes
+of Ireland would not come to his festivals at Tara, &quot;for,&quot; said they,
+&quot;there is no noble in Ireland who is a wifeless man, and a King is no
+king without a queen.&quot; And they would not bring their own wives to Tara
+without a queen there to welcome them, nor would they come themselves
+and leave their womenfolk at home.</p>
+
+<p>So Eochy bade search be made through all the boundaries of Ireland for a
+maiden meet to be wife of the High King. And in time his messengers came
+back and said that they had found in Ulster, by the Bay of Cichmany, the
+fairest and most accomplished maiden in Ireland, and her name was Etain,
+daughter of Etar, lord of the territory called Echrad. So Eochy, when he
+had heard their report, went forth to woo the maiden.</p>
+
+<p>When he drew near his journey's end he passed by a certain spring of
+pure water where it chanced that Etain and her maids had come down that
+she might wash her hair. She held in her hand a comb of silver inlaid
+with gold, and before her was a bason of silver chased with figures of
+birds, and around the rim of it red carbuncles were set. Her mantle was
+purple with a fringe of silver, and it was fastened with a broad golden
+brooch. She wore also a tunic of green silk, stiff with embroidery of gold
+that glittered in the sun. Her hair before she loosed it was done
+in two mighty tresses, yellow like the flower of the waterflag, each
+tress being plaited in four strands, and at the end of each strand a
+little golden ball. When she laid aside her mantle her arms came through
+the armholes of her tunic, white as the snow of a single night, and her
+cheeks were ruddy as the foxglove. Even and small were her teeth, as if
+a shower of pearls had fallen in her mouth. Her eyes were hyacinth-blue,
+her lips scarlet as the rowan-berry, her shoulders round and white, her
+fingers were long and her nails smooth and pink. Her feet also were
+slim, and white as sea-foam. The radiance of the moon was in her face,
+pride in her brows, the light of wooing in her eyes. Of her it was said
+that there was no beauty among women compared with Etain's beauty, no
+sweetness compared with the sweetness of Etain.</p>
+
+<p>When the King saw her his heart burned with love for her, and when he
+had speech with her he besought her to be his bride. And she consented
+to that, and said, &quot;Many have wooed me, O King, but I would none of
+them, for since I was a little child I have loved thee, for the high
+tales that I heard of thee and of thy glory.&quot; And Eochy said, &quot;Thine
+alone will I be if thou wilt have me.&quot; So the King paid a great
+bride-price for her, and bore her away to Tara, and there they were
+wedded, and all men welcomed and honoured the Queen. Nor had she dwelt
+long in Tara before the enchantment of her beauty and her grace had
+worked upon the hearts of all about her, so that the man to whom she
+spoke grew pale at the womanly sweetness of her voice, and felt himself
+a king for that day. All fair things and bright she loved, such as
+racing steeds and shining raiment, and the sight of Eochy's warriors
+with their silken banners and shields decorated with rich ornament in
+red and blue. And she would have all about her happy and joyous, and she
+gave freely of her treasure, and of her smiles and loving words, if she
+might see the light of joy on the faces of men, but from pain or sadness
+that might not be cured she would turn away. In one thing only was
+sadness endurable to her and that was in her music, for when she sang or
+touched the harp all hearts were pierced with longing for they knew not
+what, and all eyes shed tears save hers alone, who looked as though she
+beheld, far from earth, some land more fair than words of man can tell;
+and all the wonder of that land and all its immeasurable distance were
+in her song.</p>
+
+<p>Now Eochy the King had a brother whose name was Ailill Anglounach, or
+Ailill of the Single Stain, for one dark spot only was on his life, and
+it is of this that the story now shall tell. One day, when he had come
+from his own Dún to the yearly Assembly in the great Hall of Tara, he
+ate not at the banquet but gazed as it were at something afar off, and
+his wife said to him, &quot;Why dost thou gaze so, Ailill; so do men look who
+are smitten with love?&quot; Ailill was wroth with himself and turned his
+eyes away, but he said nothing, for that on which he gazed was the face
+of Etain.</p>
+
+<p>After that Assembly was over Ailill knew that the torment of love had
+seized him for his brother's wife, and he was sorely shamed and
+wrathful, and the secret strife in his mind between his honour and the
+fierce and pitiless love that possessed him brought him into a sore
+sickness. And he went home to his Dún in Tethba and there lay ill for a
+year. Then Eochy the King went to see him, and came near him and laid
+his hand on his breast, and Ailill heaved a bitter sigh. Eochy asked,
+&quot;Why art thou not better of this sickness, how goes it with thee now?&quot;
+&quot;By my word,&quot; said Ailill, &quot;no better, but worse each day and night.&quot;
+&quot;What ails thee, then?&quot; asked Eochy. Ailill said, &quot;Verily, I know not.&quot;
+Then Eochy bade summon his chief physician, who might discover the cause
+of his brother's malady, for Ailill was wasting to death.</p>
+
+<p>So Fachtna the chief physician came and he laid his hand upon Ailill,
+and Ailill sighed. Then Fachtna said, &quot;This is no bodily disease, but
+either Ailill suffers from the pangs of envy or from the torment of
+love.&quot; But Ailill was full of shame and he would not tell what ailed
+him, and Fachtna went away.</p>
+
+<p>After this the time came that Eochy the High King should make a royal
+progress throughout his realm of Ireland, but Etain he left behind at
+Tara. Before he departed he charged her saying, &quot;Do thou be gentle and
+kind to my brother Ailill while he lives, and should he die, let his
+burial mound be heaped over him, and a pillar stone set up above it, and
+his name written thereon in letters of Ogham.&quot; Then the King took leave
+of Ailill and looked to see him again on earth no more.</p>
+
+<p>After a while Etain bethought her and said, &quot;Let us go to see how it
+fares with Ailill.&quot; So she went to where he lay in his Dún at Tethba.
+And seeing him wasted and pale she was moved with pity and distress and
+said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What ails thee, young man? Long thou hast lain prostrate, in fair
+weather and in foul, thou who wert wont to be so swift and strong?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Ailill said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Truly, I have a cause for my suffering; and I cannot eat, nor listen to
+the music makers; my affliction is very sore.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then said Etain,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Though I am a woman I am wise in many a thing; tell me what ails thee
+and thy healing shall be done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Ailill replied,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blessing be with thee, O fair one; I am not worthy of thy speech; I am
+torn by the contention of body and of soul.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Etain deemed that she knew somewhat of his trouble, and she said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If thy heart is set on any of the white maidens that are my handmaids,
+tell me of it, and I shall court her for thee and she shall come to
+thee,&quot; and then Ailill cried out,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Love indeed, O Queen, hath brought me low. It is a plague nearer than
+the skin, it overwhelms my soul as an earthquake, it is farther than the
+height of the sky, and harder to win than the treasures of the Fairy
+Folk. If I contend with it, it is like a combat with a spectre; if I fly
+to the ends of the earth from it, it is there; if I seek to seize it, it
+is a passion for an echo. It is thou, O my love, who hast brought me to
+this, and thou alone canst heal me, or I shall never rise again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Etain went away and left him. But still in her palace in Tara she
+was haunted by his passion and his misery, and, though she loved him
+not, she could not endure his pain, nor the triumph of grim death over
+his youth and beauty. So at last she went to him again and said, &quot;If it
+lies with me, Ailill, to heal thee of thy sickness, I may not let thee
+die.&quot; And she made a tryst to meet him on the morrow at a house of Ailill's
+between Dún Tethba and Tara, &quot;but be it not at Tara,&quot; she said, &quot;for that
+is the palace of the High King.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>All that night Ailill lay awake with the thought of his tryst with
+Etain. But on the morrow morn a heaviness came upon his eyelids, and a
+druid sleep overcame him, and there all day he lay buried in slumbers
+from which none could wake him, until the time of his meeting with Etain
+was overpast.</p>
+
+<p>But Etain, when she had come to the place of the tryst, looked out, and
+behold, a youth having the appearance and the garb of Ailill was
+approaching from Tethba. He entered the bower where she was; but no
+lover did she there meet, but only a sick and sorrowful man who spake
+coldly to her and lamented the sufferings of his malady, and after a
+short time he went away.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Etain went to see Ailill and to hear how he did. And Ailill
+entreated her forgiveness that he had not kept his tryst, &quot;for,&quot; said
+he, &quot;a druid slumber descended upon me, and I lay as one dead from morn
+till eve. And morever,&quot; he added, &quot;it seems as if the strange passion
+that has befallen me were washed away in that slumber, for now, Etain, I
+love thee no more but as my Queen and my sister, and I am recovered as
+if from an evil dream.&quot; Then Etain knew that powers not of earth were
+mingling in her fate, and she pondered much of these things, and grew
+less lighthearted than of old. And when the King came back, he rejoiced
+to find his brother whole and sound and merry, as Ailill had ever been,
+and he praised Etain for her gentleness and care.</p>
+
+<p>Now after a time as Etain was by herself in her sunny bower she was
+aware of a man standing by her, whom she had never seen before. Young he
+was, and grey-eyed, with curling golden hair, and in his hand he bore
+two spears. His mantle was of crimson silk, his tunic of saffron, and a
+golden helmet was on his head. And as she gazed upon him, &quot;Etain,&quot; he
+said, &quot;the time is come for thee to return; we have missed thee and
+sorrowed for thee long enough in the Land of Youth.&quot; Etain said, &quot;Of
+what land dost thou speak?&quot; Then he chanted to her a song:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Come with me, Etain, O come away,<br />
+<span class="i2">To that oversea land of mine!</span>
+Where music haunts the happy day,<br />
+<span class="i2">And rivers run with wine;</span>
+Where folk are careless, and young, and gay,<br />
+<span class="i2">And none saith 'mine' or 'thine.'</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Golden curls on the proud young head,<br />
+<span class="i2">And pearls in the tender mouth;</span>
+Manhood, womanhood, white and red,<br />
+<span class="i2">And love that grows not loth</span>
+When all the world's desires are dead,<br />
+<span class="i2">And all the dreams of youth.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Away from the cloud of Adam's sin!<br />
+<span class="i2">Away from grief and care!</span>
+This flowery land thou dwellest in<br />
+<span class="i2">Seems rude to us, and bare;</span>
+For the naked strand of the Happy Land<br />
+<span class="i2">Is twenty times as fair.&quot;</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>When Etain heard this she stood motionless and as one that dreams awake,
+for it seemed to her as if she must follow that music whithersoever it
+went on earth or beyond the earth. But at last remembrance came upon her
+and she said to the stranger, &quot;Who art thou, that I, the High King's
+wife, should follow a nameless man and betray my troth?&quot; And he said,
+&quot;Thy troth was due to me before it was due to him, and, moreover, were
+it not for me thou hadst broken it already. I am Midir the Proud, a
+prince among the people of Dana, and thy husband, Etain. Thus it was,
+that when I took thee to wife in the Land of Youth, the jealousy of thy
+rival, Fuamnach, was awakened; and having decoyed me from home by a
+false report, she changed thee by magical arts into a butterfly and
+then contrived a mighty tempest that drove thee abroad. Seven years wast
+thou borne hither and thither on the blast till chance blew thee into
+the fairy palace of Angus my kinsman, by the waters of the Boyne. But
+Angus knew thee, for the Fairy Folk may not disguise themselves from
+each other, and he built for thee a magical sunny bower with open
+windows, through which thou mightest pass, and about it were all manner
+of blossoming herbs and shrubs, and on the odour and honey of these thou
+didst live and grow fair and well nourished. But in the end Fuamnach got
+tidings of thee, and again the druid tempest descended and blew thee
+forth for another seven years of wandering and woe. Then it chanced that
+thou wert blown through the roof-window of the Dún of Etar by the Bay of
+Cichmany, and fell into the goblet from which his wife was drinking, and
+thee she drank down with that draught of ale. And in due time thou wast
+born again in the guise of a mortal maid and daughter to Etar the
+Warrior. But thou art no mortal, nor of mortal kin, for it is one
+thousand and twelve years from the time when thou wast born in Fairy
+Land till Etar's wife bore thee as a child on earth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Etain was bewildered, and her mind ran back on many a
+half-forgotten thing and she gazed as into a gulf of visions, full of
+dim shapes, strange and glorious. And Midir as she looked at him again
+seemed transfigured, taller and mightier than before, and a light flame
+flickered from his helmet's crest and moved like wings about his
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>But at last she said, &quot;I know not what thou sayest if it be truth or
+not, but this I know, that I am the wife of the High King and I will not
+break my troth.&quot; &quot;It were broken already,&quot; said Midir, &quot;but for me, for
+I it was who laid a druidic sleep on Ailill, and it was I who came to
+thee in his shape that thy honour might not be stained.&quot; Etain said, &quot;I
+learned then that honour is more than life.&quot; &quot;But if Eochy the High King
+consent to let thee go,&quot; said Midir, &quot;wilt thou then come with me to my
+land and thine?&quot; &quot;In that case,&quot; said Etain &quot;I will go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And the time went by, and Etain abode in Tara, and the High King did
+justice and made war and held the great Assembly as he was used. But one
+day in summer Eochy arose very early to breathe the morning air, and he
+stood by himself leaning on the rampart of his great Dún, and looking
+over the flowery plain of Bregia. And as he thus gazed he was aware of a
+young warrior standing by his side. Grey-eyed the youth was, and
+golden-haired, and he was splendidly armed and apparelled as beseemed
+the lord of a great clan of the Gael. Eochy bade him welcome
+courteously, and asked him of the cause of his coming. &quot;I am come,&quot; he
+said, &quot;to play a game of chess with thee, O King, for thou art renowned
+for thy skill in that game, and to test that skill am I come. And my
+name is Midir, of the People of Dana, whom they have called The Proud.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Willingly,&quot; said the King; &quot;but I have here no chessboard, and mine is
+in the chamber where the Queen is sleeping.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is easily remedied,&quot; said Midir, and he drew from his cloak a
+folding chessboard whose squares were alternate gold and silver. From a
+men-bag made of brazen chainwork he drew out a set of men adorned with
+flashing jewels, and he set them in array.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will not play,&quot; then said Eochy, &quot;unless we play for a stake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For what stake shall we play, then?&quot; said Midir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I care not,&quot; said Eochy; &quot;but do thou perform tasks for me if I win and
+I shall bestow of my treasures upon thee if I lose.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they played a game, and Eochy won. Then Eochy bade Midir clear the
+plains of Meath about Tara from rocks and stones, and Midir brought at
+night a great host of the Fairy Folk, and it was done. And again he
+played with Eochy, and again he lost, and this time he cut down the
+forest of Breg. The third time Midir lost again, and his task was to
+build a causeway across the moor of Lamrach. Now at night, while Midir
+and the fairy host were labouring at the causeway and their oxen drawing
+to it innumerable loads of earth and gravel, the steward of Eochy stole
+out and hid himself to watch them, for it was a prohibition to see them
+at work. And he observed that the fairy oxen were not harnessed with a
+thong across their foreheads, that the pull might be upon their brows
+and necks, as was the manner with the Gael, but with yokes upon their
+shoulders. This he reported to Eochy, who found it good; and he ordered
+that henceforth the children of the Gael should harness their
+plough-oxen with the yoke upon their shoulders; and so it was done from
+that day forth. Hence Eochy got his name of <i>Airem</i>, or &quot;The Ploughman,&quot;
+for he was the first of the Gael to put the yoke upon the shoulder of
+the ox.</p>
+
+<p>But it was said that because the Fairy Folk were watched as they made
+that noble causeway, there came a breach in it at one place which none
+could ever rightly mend.</p>
+
+<p>When all their works were accomplished, Midir came again to Eochy, and
+this time he bore a dark and fierce countenance and was high girt as for
+war. And the King welcomed him, and Midir said, &quot;Thou hast treated me
+hardly and put slavish tasks upon me. All that seemed good to thee have
+I done, but now I am moved with anger against thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I return not anger for anger,&quot; said Eochy; &quot;say what satisfaction I can
+make thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Let us once more play at chess,&quot; said Midir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said Eochy, &quot;and what stake wilt thou have now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The stake to be whatever the winner shall demand,&quot; said Midir.</p>
+
+<p>Then they played for the fourth time and Eochy lost.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou hast won the game,&quot; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I had won long ago had I chosen,&quot; said Midir.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What dost thou demand of me?&quot; said Eochy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To hold Etain in my arms and obtain a kiss from her,&quot; replied Midir.</p>
+
+<p>The King was silent for a while and after that he said, &quot;Come back in
+one month from this day and the stake which I have lost shall be paid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But Eochy summoned together all the host of the heroes of the Gael, and
+they surrounded Tara, ring within ring; and the King himself and Etain
+were in the palace, with the outer court of it shut and locked. For they
+looked that Midir should come with a great host of the Danaan folk to
+carry off the Queen. And on the appointed day, as the kings sat at meat,
+Etain and her handmaids were dispensing the wine to them as was wont.
+Then suddenly as they feasted and talked, behold, Midir, stood in the
+midst of them. If he was fair and noble to look on as he had appeared
+before to the King and to Etain, he was fairer now, for the splendour of
+the Immortals clothed him, and his jewels flamed as he moved like eyes of
+living light. And all the kings and lords and champions who were present
+gazed on him in amazement and were silent, as the King arose and gave
+him welcome.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou hast received me as I expected to be received,&quot; said Midir, &quot;and
+now let thy debt be paid, since I for my part faithfully performed all
+that I undertook.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I must consider the matter yet longer,&quot; said Eochy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou hast promised Etain's very self to me,&quot; said Midir; &quot;that is what
+hath come from thee.&quot; And when she heard that word Etain blushed for
+shame.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Blush not,&quot; said Midir, &quot;for all the treasures of the Land of Youth
+have not availed to win thee from Eochy, and it is not of thine own will
+that thou art won, but because the time is come to return to thy kin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then said Eochy, &quot;I have not promised Etain's self to thee, but to take
+her in thine arms and kiss her, and now do so if thou wilt.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL09"></a>
+<a href="./images/il100.jpg"><img src="images/il100_th.jpg" alt="They rose up in the air" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They rose up in the air&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>Then Midir took his weapons in his left hand and placed his right around
+Etain, and when he did so they rose up in the air over the heads of the
+host, and passed through a roof-window in the palace. Then all rose up,
+tumultuous and angry, and rushed out of doors, but nothing could they
+see save two white swans that circled high in air around the Hill of
+Tara, and then flew southwards and away towards the fairy mountain of
+Slievenamon. And thus Etain the immortal rejoined the Immortals; but a
+daughter of Etain and of Eochy, who was another Etain in name and in
+beauty, became in due time a wife, and mother of kings.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2><h2>How Ethne Quitted Fairyland</h2>
+
+<p>By the banks of the River Boyne, where rises the great Fairy Mound now
+called Newgrange, there stood long ago the shining Palace of a prince of
+the People of Dana, named Angus. Of him it is that the lines are
+written&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;By the dark rolling waters of the Boyne<br />
+Where Angus Óg magnificently dwells.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When the Milesian race invaded Ireland, and after long fighting subdued
+the Danaans in spite of all their enchantments and all their valour, the
+Danaans wrought for themselves certain charms by which they and all
+their possessions became invisible to mortals, and thus they continued
+to lead their old joyous life in the holy places of the land, and their
+palaces and dancing-places and folk-motes seem to the human eye to be
+merely a green mound or rath, or a lonely hillside, or a ruined shrine
+with nettles and foxgloves growing up among its broken masonry.</p>
+
+<p>Now, after Angus and his folk had thus retreated behind the veil of
+invisibility, it happened that the steward of his palace had a daughter
+born to him whose name was Ethne. On the same day Fand, the wife of
+Mananan the Sea God, bore him a daughter, and since Angus was a friend
+of Mananan and much beloved by him, the child of the Sea God was sent to
+Brugh na Boyna, the noble dwelling-place of Angus, to be fostered and
+brought up, as the custom was. And Ethne became the handmaid of the
+young princess of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>In time Ethne grew into a fair and stately maiden Now in the Brugh of
+Angus there were two magical treasures, namely, an ale-vat which could
+never be emptied, and two swine whereof one was ever roasted and ready
+to be eaten while the other lived, and thus they were, day and day
+about. There was therefore always a store of food of faery, charged with
+magical spells, by eating of which one could never grow old or die. It
+came to be noticed that after Ethne had grown up she never ate or drank
+of the fairy food, or of any other, yet she continued to seem healthy
+and well-nourished. This was reported to Angus, and by him to Mananan,
+and Mananan by his wisdom discovered the cause of it. One of the lords
+of the Danaans, happening to be on a visit with Angus, was rendered
+distraught by the maiden's beauty, and one day he laid hands upon her
+and strove to carry her away to his own dwelling. Ethne escaped from
+him, but the blaze of resentment at the insult that lit up in her soul
+consumed in her the fairy nature, that knows not of good or evil, and
+the nature of the children of Adam took its place. Thenceforth she ate
+not of the fairy food, which is prohibited to man, and she was nourished
+miraculously by the will of the One God. But after a time it chanced
+that Mananan and Angus brought from the Holy Land two cows whose milk
+could never run dry. In this milk there was nothing of the fairy spell,
+and Ethne lived upon it many long years, milking the cows herself, nor
+did her youth and beauty suffer any change.</p>
+
+<p>Now it happened that on one very hot day the daughter of Mananan went
+down to bathe in the waters of the Boyne, and Ethne and her other
+maidens along with her. After they had refreshed themselves in the cool,
+amber-coloured water, they arrayed themselves in their silken robes and
+trooped back to the Brugh again; but ere they entered it, they
+discovered that Ethne was not among them.</p>
+
+<p>So they went back, scattering themselves along the bank and searching in
+every quiet pool of the river and in every dark recess among the great
+trees that bordered it, for Ethne was dearly loved by all of them; but
+neither trace nor tidings of her could they find, and they went
+sorrowfully home without her, to tell the tale to Angus and to her
+father.</p>
+
+<p>What had befallen Ethne was this. In taking off her garments by the
+riverside she had mislaid her fairy charm, and was become as a mortal
+maid. Nothing could she now see of her companions, and all around was
+strange to her. The fairy track that had led to the riverside was
+overgrown with briars, the palace of Angus was but a wooded hill. She
+knew not where she was, and pierced with sudden terror she fled wildly
+away, seeking for the familiar places that she had known in the fairy
+life, but which were now behind the Veil. At length she came to a high
+wall wherein was a wicket gate, and through it she saw a garden full of
+sweet herbs and flowers, which surrounded a steep-roofed building of
+stone. In the garden she saw a man in a long brown robe tied about his
+waist with a cord. He smiled at her and beckoned her to come in without
+fear. He was a monk of the holy Patrick, and the house was a convent
+church.</p>
+
+<p>When the monk had heard her tale, he marvelled greatly and brought her
+to St Patrick himself, who instructed her in the Faith, and she believed
+and was baptized.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL10"></a>
+<a href="./images/il104.jpg"><img src="images/il104_th.jpg" alt="She heard her own name called again and again" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;She heard her own name called again and again&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>But not long thereafter, as she was praying in the church by the Boyne,
+the sky darkened and she heard a sound without like the rushing of a
+great wind, and mingled in it were cries and lamentations, and her own
+name called again and again in a multitude of voices, thin and faint as
+the crying of curlews upon the moor. She sprang up and gazed around,
+calling in return, but nothing could she see, and at last the storm of
+cries died away, and everything was still again around the church except
+the singing voice of Boyne and the humming of the garden bees.</p>
+
+<p>Then Ethne sank down swooning, and the monks bore her out into the air,
+and it was long until her heart beat and her eyes unclosed again. In
+that hour she fell into a sickness from which she never recovered. In no
+long time she died with her head upon the breast of the holy Patrick,
+and she was buried in the church where she had first been received by
+the monk; and the church was called Killethne, or the Church of Ethne,
+from that day forward until now.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='THE_HIGH_DEEDS_OF_FINN'></a><h2>THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN</h2>
+
+<a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a><h2>CHAPTER IX</h2><h2>The Boyhood of Finn Mac Cumhal</h2>
+
+<p>In Ireland long ago, centuries before the English appeared in that
+country, there were kings and chiefs, lawyers and merchants, men of the
+sword and men of the book, men who tilled their own ground and men who
+tilled the ground of others, just as there are now. But there was also,
+as ancient poets and historians tell us, a great company or brotherhood
+of men who were bound to no fixed calling, unless it was to fight for the
+High King of Ireland whenever foes threatened him from within the kingdom
+or without it. This company was called the Fianna of Erinn. They were
+mighty hunters and warriors, and though they had great possessions in
+land, and rich robes, and gold ornaments, and weapons wrought with
+beautiful chasing and with coloured enamels, they lived mostly a free
+out-door life in the light hunting-booths which they made in the woods
+where the deer and the wolf ranged. There were then vast forests in
+Ireland, which are all gone now, and there were also, as there still are,
+many great and beautiful lakes and rivers, swarming with fish and
+water-fowl. In the forests and on the mountain sides roamed the wild boar
+and the wolf, and great herds of deer, some of giant size, whose enormous
+antlers are sometimes found when bogs are being drained. The Fianna chased
+these and the wolves with great dogs, whose courage and strength and beauty
+were famous throughout Europe, and which they prized and loved above all
+things. To the present day in Ireland there still remain some of this breed
+of Irish hounds, but the giant deer and the wolf are gone, and the Fianna
+of Erinn live only in the ancient books that were written of them, and in
+the tales that are still told of them in the winter evenings by the Irish
+peasant's fireside.</p>
+
+<p>The Fianna were under the rule of one great captain or chief, and at the
+time I tell of his name was Cumhal, son of Trenmor. Now a tribe or
+family of the Fianna named the Clan Morna, or Sons of Morna, rose in
+rebellion against Cumhal, for they were jealous and greedy of his power
+and glory, and sought to have the captaincy for themselves. They
+defeated and slew him at the battle of Cnucha, which is now called
+Castleknock, near the City of the Hurdle Ford, which is the name that
+Dublin still bears in the Irish tongue. Goll, son of Morna, slew Cumhal,
+and they spoiled him of the Treasure Bag of the Fianna, which was a bag
+made of a crane's skin and having in it jewels of great price, and magic
+weapons, and strange things that had come down from far-off days when
+the Fairy Folk and mortal men battled for the lordship of Ireland. The
+Bag with its treasures was given to Lia, the chief of Luachar in
+Connacht, who had the keeping of it before, for he was the treasurer of
+Cumhal, and he was the first man who had wounded Cumhal in the battle
+when he fell.</p>
+
+<p>Cumhal's wife was named Murna, and she bore him two sons. The elder was
+named Tulcha, and he fled from the country for fear of Goll and took
+service with the King of Scotland. The younger was born after Cumhal's
+death, and his name was called Demna. And because his mother feared that
+the sons of Morna would find him out and kill him, she gave him to a
+Druidess and another wise woman of Cumhal's household, and bade them
+take him away and rear him as best they could. So they took him into the
+wild woods on the Slieve Bloom Mountains, and there they trained him to
+hunt and fish and to throw the spear, and he grew strong, and as
+beautiful as a child of the Fairy Folk. If he were in the same field
+with a hare he could run so that the hare could never leave the field,
+for Demna was always before it. He could run down and slay a stag with
+no dogs to help him, and he could kill a wild duck on the wing with a
+stone from his sling. And the Druidess taught him the learning of the
+time, and also the story of his race and nation, and told him of his
+right to be captain of the Fianna of Erinn when his day of destiny
+should come.</p>
+
+<p>One day, while still a boy, he was roaming through the woods when he
+came to the mansion of a great lord, where many boys, sons of the chief
+men of Ireland, were being trained in manly arts and exercises. He found
+them playing at hurling, and they invited him to join them. He did so,
+but the side he was on won too easily, so they divided again, and yet
+again, giving fewer and fewer to Demna's side, till at last he alone
+drove the ball to the goal through them all, flashing among them as a
+salmon among a shoal of minnows. And then their anger and jealousy rose
+and grew bitter against the stranger, and instead of honouring him as
+gallant lads of gentle blood should have done they fell upon him with
+their hurling clubs and sought to kill him. But Demna felled seven of
+them to the ground and put the rest to flight, and then went his way
+home. When the boys told what had happened the chief asked them who it
+was that had defeated and routed them single-handed. They said, &quot;It was
+a tall shapely lad, and very fair (_finn_).&quot; So the name of Finn, the
+Fair One, clung to him thenceforth, and by that name he is known to this
+day.</p>
+
+<p>By and by Finn gathered round him a band of youths who loved him for his
+strength and valour and for his generous heart, and with them he went
+hunting in the forests. And Goll, and the sons of Morna, who were now
+captains of the Fianna under the High King, began to hear tales of him
+and his exploits, and they sent trackers to inquire about him, for they
+had an inkling of who this wonderful fair-haired youth might be. Finn's
+foster mothers heard of this. &quot;You must leave this place,&quot; they said to
+him, &quot;and see our faces no more, for if Goll's men find you here they
+will slay you. We have cherished the blood of Cumhal,&quot; they said, &quot;and
+now our work is done. Go, and may blessing and victory go with you.&quot; So
+Finn departed with naught but his weapons and his hunting gear, very
+sorrowful at leaving the wise and loving friends who had fostered his
+childhood; but deep in his heart was a wild and fierce delight at the
+thought of the trackless ways he would travel, and the wonders he would
+see; and all the future looked to him as beautiful and dim as the mists
+that fill a mountain glen under the morning sun.</p>
+
+<p>Now after the death of Cumhal, his brother Crimmal and a few others of
+the aged warriors of the Fianna, who had not fallen in the fight at
+Cnucha, fled away into Connacht, and lived there in the deepest recesses
+of a great forest, where they hoped the conquerors might never find
+them. Here they built themselves a poor dwelling of tree branches,
+plastered with mud and roofed with reeds from the lake, and here they
+lived on what game they could kill or snare in the wild wood; and harder
+and harder it grew, as age and feebleness crept on them, to find enough
+to eat, or to hew wood for their fire. In this retreat, never having
+seen the friendly face of man, they were one day startled to hear voices
+and the baying of hounds approaching them through the wood, and they
+thought that the sons of Morna were upon them at last, and that their
+hour of doom was at hand. Soon they perceived a company of youths coming
+towards their hut, with one in front who seemed to be their leader.
+Taller he was by a head than the rest, broad shouldered, and with masses
+of bright hair clustering round his forehead, and he carried in his hand
+a large bag made of some delicate skin and stained in patterns of red
+and blue. The old men thought when they saw him of a saying there was
+about the mighty Lugh, who was brother to the wife of Cumhal, that when
+he came among his army as they mustered for battle, men felt as though
+they beheld the rising of the sun. As they came near, the young men
+halted and looked upon the elders with pity, for their clothing of skins
+was ragged and the weapons they strove to hold were rusted and blunt,
+and except for their proud bearing and the fire in their old eyes they
+looked more like aged and worthless slaves in the household of a
+niggardly lord than men who had once been the flower of the fighting men
+of Erinn.</p>
+
+<p>But the tall youth stepped in front of his band and cried aloud&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Which of ye is Crimmal, son of Trenmor?&quot; And one of the elders said, &quot;I
+am Crimmal.&quot; Then tears filled the eyes of the youth, and he knelt down
+before the old man and put his hands in his.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My lord and chief,&quot; he said, &quot;I am Finn, son of Cumhal, and the day of
+deliverance is come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL11"></a>
+<a href="./images/il110.jpg"><img src="images/il110_th.jpg" alt="And that night there was feasting and joy in the lonely hut" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;And that night there was feasting and joy in the lonely hut&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>So the youths brought in the spoils of their hunting, and yet other
+spoils than these; and that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut. And Crimmal said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was foretold to us that one day the blood of Cumhal should be
+avenged, and the race of Cumhal should rule the Fianna again. This was
+the sign that the coming champion should give of his birth and destiny;
+he was to bear with him the Treasure Bag of Cumhal and the sacred things
+that were therein.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Finn said, &quot;Ye know the Bag and its treasures, tell us if these be
+they.&quot; And he laid his skin bag on the knees of Crimmal.</p>
+
+<p>Crimmal opened it, and he took out the jewels of sovranty the magic
+spear-head made by the smiths of the Fairy Folk, and he said, &quot;These be
+the treasures of Cumhal; truly the ripeness of the time is come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Finn then told the story of how he had won these things.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But yesterday morning,&quot; he said, &quot;we met on our way a woman of noble
+aspect, and she knelt over the body of a slain youth. When she lifted
+her head as we drew near, tears of blood ran down her cheeks, and she
+cried to me, 'Whoever thou art, I bind thee by the bonds of the sacred
+ordinances of the Gael that thou avenge my wrong. This was my son
+Glonda,' she said, 'my only son, and he was slain to-day wantonly by the
+Lord of Luachar and his men.' So we went, my company and I, to the Dún
+of the Lord of Luachar, and found an earthen rampart with a fosse before
+it, and on the top of the rampart was a fence of oaken posts interlaced
+with wattles, and over this we saw the many-coloured thatch of a great
+dwelling-house, and its white walls painted with bright colours under
+the broad eaves. So I stood forth and called to the Lord of Luachar and
+bade him make ready to pay an eric to the mother of Glonda, whatsoever
+she should demand. But he laughed at us and cursed us and bade us
+begone. Then we withdrew into the forest, but returned with a great pile
+of dry brushwood, and while some of us shot stones and arrows at whoever
+should appear above the palisade, others rushed up with bundles of
+brushwood and laid it against the palisade and set it on fire, and the
+Immortal Ones sent a blast of wind that set the brushwood and palisade
+quickly in a blaze, and through that fiery gap we charged in shouting.
+And half of the men of Luachar we killed and the rest fled, and the Lord
+of Luachar I slew in the doorway of his palace. We took a great spoil
+then, O Crimmal&mdash;these vessels of bronze and silver, and spears and
+bows, smoked bacon and skins of Greek wine; and in a great chest of
+yewwood we found this bag. All these things shall now remain with you,
+and my company shall also remain to hunt for you and protect you, for ye
+shall know want and fear no longer while ye live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Finn said, &quot;I would fain know if my mother Murna still lives, or if
+she died by the sons of Morna.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Crimmal said, &quot;After thy father's death, Finn, she was wedded to Gleor,
+Lord of Lamrigh, in the south, and she still lives in honour with him,
+and the sons of Morna have let her be. Didst thou never see her since
+she gave thee, an infant, to the wise women on the day of Cnucha?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I remember,&quot; said Finn, &quot;when I was, as they tell me, but six years
+old, there came one day to our shieling in the woods of Slieve Bloom a
+chariot with bronze-shod wheels and a bronze wolf's head at the end of
+the pole, and two horsemen riding with it, besides him who drove. A lady
+was in it, with a gold frontlet on her brow and her cloak was fastened
+with a broad golden brooch. She came into our hut and spoke long with my
+foster-mothers, and me she clasped in her arms and kissed many times,
+and I felt her tears on my face. And they told me afterwards that this
+was Murna of the White Neck, and my mother. If she have suffered no harm
+at the hands of the sons of Morna, so much the less is the debt that
+they shall one day pay.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now it is to be told what happened to Finn at the house of Finegas the
+Bard. Finn did not deem that the time had come for him to seize the
+captaincy of the Fianna until he had perfected himself in wisdom and
+learning. So on leaving the shelter of the old men in the wood he went
+to learn wisdom and the art of poetry from Finegas, who dwelt by the
+River Boyne, near to where is now the village of Slane. It was a belief
+among the poets of Ireland that the place of the revealing of poetry is
+always by the margin of water. But Finegas had another reason for the
+place where he made his dwelling, for there was an old prophecy that
+whoever should first eat of the Salmon of Knowledge that lived in the
+River Boyne, should become the wisest of men. Now this salmon was called
+Finntan in ancient times and was one of the Immortals, and he might be
+eaten and yet live. But in the time of Finegas he was called the Salmon
+of the Pool of Fec, which is the place where the fair river broadens out
+into a great still pool, with green banks softly sloping upward from the
+clear brown water. Seven years was Finegas watching the pool, but not
+until after Finn had come to be his disciple was the salmon caught. Then
+Finegas gave it to Finn to cook, and bade him eat none of it. But when
+Finegas saw him coming with the fish, he knew that something had chanced
+to the lad, for he had been used to have the eye of a young man but now
+he had the eye of a sage. Finegas said, &quot;Hast thou eaten of the salmon?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay,&quot; said Finn, &quot;but it burnt me as I turned it upon the spit and I
+put my thumb in my mouth&quot; And Finegas smote his hands together and was
+silent for a while. Then he said to the lad who stood by obediently,
+&quot;Take the salmon and eat it, Finn, son of Cumhal, for to thee the
+prophecy is come. And now go hence, for I can teach thee no more, and
+blessing and victory be thine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With Finegas, Finn learned the three things that make a poet, and they
+are Fire of Song, and Light of Knowledge, and the Art of Extempore
+Recitation. Before he departed he made this lay to prove his art, and it
+is called &quot;The Song of Finn in Praise of May&quot;:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>May Day! delightful day!<br />
+<span class="i2">Bright colours play the vales along.</span>
+Now wakes at morning's slender ray,<br />
+<span class="i2">Wild and gay, the blackbird's song.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Now comes the bird of dusty hue,<br />
+<span class="i2">The loud cuckoo, the summer-lover;</span>
+Branching trees are thick with leaves;<br />
+<span class="i2">The bitter, evil time is over.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Swift horses gather nigh<br />
+<span class="i2">Where half dry the river goes;</span>
+Tufted heather crowns the height;<br />
+<span class="i2">Weak and white the bogdown blows.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Corncrake sings from eve till morn,<br />
+<span class="i2">Deep in corn, a strenuous bard!</span>
+Sings the virgin waterfall,<br />
+<span class="i2">White and tall, her one sweet word.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Loaded bees of little power<br />
+<span class="i2">Goodly flower-harvest win;</span>
+Cattle roam with muddy flanks;<br />
+<span class="i2">Busy ants go out and in.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Through, the wild harp of the wood<br />
+<span class="i2">Making music roars the gale&mdash;</span>
+Now it slumbers without motion,<br />
+<span class="i2">On the ocean sleeps the sail.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Men grow mighty in the May,<br />
+<span class="i2">Proud and gay the maidens grow;</span>
+Fair is every wooded height;<br />
+<span class="i2">Fair and bright the plain below.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>A bright shaft has smit the streams,<br />
+<span class="i2">With gold gleams the water-flag;</span>
+Leaps the fish, and on the hills<br />
+<span class="i2">Ardour thrills the flying stag.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>Carols loud the lark on high,<br />
+<span class="i2">Small and shy, his tireless lay,</span>
+Singing in wildest, merriest mood<br />
+<span class="i2">Of delicate-hued, delightful May.<a name='FNanchor_20_20'></a><a href='#Footnote_20_20'><sup>[20]</sup></a>
+</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<a name='CHAPTER_X'></a><h2>CHAPTER X</h2><h2>The Coming of Finn</h2>
+
+<p>And now we tell how Finn came to the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn.</p>
+
+<p>At this time Ireland was ruled by one of the mightiest of her native
+kings, Conn, son of Felimy, who was surnamed Conn of the Hundred
+Battles. And Conn sat in his great banqueting hall at Tara, while the
+yearly Assembly of the lords and princes of the Gael went forward,
+during which it was the inviolable law that no quarrel should be raised
+and no weapon drawn, so that every man who had a right to come to that
+Assembly might come there and sit next his deadliest foe in peace. Below
+him sat at meat the provincial kings and the chiefs of clans, and the
+High King's officers and fighting-men of the Fianna, with Goll and the
+sons of Morna at their head. And there, too, sat modestly a strange youth,
+tall and fair, whom no one had seen in that place before. Conn marked him
+with the eye of a king that is accustomed to mark men, and by and by he
+sent him a horn full of wine from his own table and bade the youth declare
+his name and lineage. &quot;I am Finn, son of Cumhal,&quot; said the youth, standing
+among them, tall as a warriors spear, and a start and a low murmur ran
+through the Assembly while the captains of the Fianna stared upon him like
+men who see a vision of the dead. &quot;What seek you here?&quot; said Conn, and Finn
+replied, &quot;To be your man, O King, and to do you service in war as my
+father did.&quot; &quot;It is well,&quot; said the King. &quot;Thou art a friend's son and
+the son of man of trust.&quot; So Finn put his hand in the Kind's and swore
+fealty and service to him, and Conn set him beside his own son Art, and
+all fell to talking again and wondering what new things that day would
+bring forth, and the feasting went merrily forward.</p>
+
+<p>Now at this time the people of the royal burg of Tara were sorely
+afflicted by a goblin of the Fairy Folk, who was wont to approach the
+place at night-fall, there to work what harm to man, or beast, or
+dwelling that he found in his evil mind to do. And he could not be
+resisted, for as he came he played on a magic harp a strain so keen and
+sweet, that each man who heard it must needs stand entranced and
+motionless until the fairy music had passed away. The King proclaimed a
+mighty reward to any man who would save Tara from the goblin, and Finn
+thought in his heart, &quot;I am the man to do that.&quot; So he said to the King,
+&quot;Shall I have my rightful heritage as captain of the Fianna of Erin if I
+slay the goblin?&quot; Conn said, &quot;I promise thee that,&quot; and he bound himself
+by the sureties of all the provincial Kings of Ireland and of the Druid
+Kithro and his magicians.</p>
+
+<p>Now there was among the following of Conn a man named Fiacha, who had
+been as a youth a trusty friend and follower of Cumhal. He came to Finn
+and brought with him a spear having a head of dark bronze with
+glittering edges, and fastened with thirty rivets of Arabian gold, and
+the spear-head was laced up within a leathern case. &quot;By this weapon of
+enchantment,&quot; said Fiacha, &quot;you shall overcome the enchanter,&quot; and he
+taught Finn what to do with it when the hour of need should come.</p>
+
+<p><a name="PAGE118"></a>So Finn took the spear, and left the strings of the case loose, and he
+paced with it towards night-fall around the ramparts of royal Tara. And
+when he had once made the circuit of the rampart, and the light had now
+almost quite faded from the summer sky, and the wide low plains around
+the Hill of Tara were a sea of white mist, he heard far off in the
+deepening gloom the first notes of the fairy harp. Never such music was
+made by mortal hand, for it had in it sorrows that man has never felt,
+and joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as if a man listening
+to that music might burst from time into eternity and be as one of the
+Immortals for evermore. And Finn listened, amazed and rapt, till at last
+as the triumphant melody grew nearer and louder he saw dimly a Shadow
+Shape playing as it were on a harp, and coming swiftly towards him. Then
+with a mighty effort he roused himself from dreams, and tore the cover
+from the spear-head and laid the metal to his brow. And the demoniac
+energy that had been beaten into the blade by the hammers of unearthly
+craftsmen in ancient days thrilled through him and made him
+fighting-mad, and he rushed forward shouting his battle-cry, and
+swinging the spear aloft. But the Shadow turned and fled before him, and
+Finn chased it northward to the Fairy Mound of Slieve Fuad, and there he
+drove the spear through its back. And what it was that fell there in the
+night, and what it was that passed like the shadow of a shadow into the
+Fairy Mound, none can tell, but Finn bore back with him next day a pale,
+sorrowful head on the point of Fiacha's spear, and the goblin troubled
+the folk of royal Tara no more.</p>
+
+<p>But Conn of the Hundred Battles called the Fianna together, and he set
+Finn at his right hand and said, &quot;Here is your Captain by birth-right
+and by sword-right. Let who will now obey him hence-forward, and who
+will not, let him go in peace and serve Arthur of Britain or Arist of
+Alba, or whatsoever King he will.&quot; And Goll, son of Morna, said, &quot;For my
+part I will be Finn's man under thee, O King,&quot; and he swore obedience
+and loyalty to Finn before them all. Nor was it hard for any man to step
+where Goll had gone before, so they all took their oaths of Fian service
+to Finn mac Cumhal. And thus it was that Finn came to the captaincy of
+the Fianna of Erinn, and he ruled the Fianna many a year till he died in
+battle with the Clan Urgrenn at Brea upon the Boyne.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XI</h2><h2>Finn's Chief Men</h2>
+
+ <p>With the coming of Finn did the Fianna of Erinn come to their glory, and
+with his life their glory passed away. For he ruled them as no other
+captain ever did, both strongly and wisely, and never bore a grudge
+against any, but freely forgave a man all offences save disloyalty to
+his lord. Thus it is told that Conan, son of the Lord of Luachar, him
+who had the Treasure Bag and whom Finn slew at Rath Luachar, was for
+seven years an outlaw and marauder, harrying the Fians, and killing here
+a man and there a hound, and firing their dwellings, and raiding their
+cattle. At last they ran him to a corner at Cam Lewy in Munster, and
+when he saw that he could escape no more he stole upon Finn as he sat
+down after a chase, and flung his arms round him from behind, holding
+him fast and motionless. Finn knew who held him thus and said, &quot;What
+wilt thou Conan?&quot; Conan said, &quot;To make a covenant of service and fealty
+with thee, for I may no longer evade thy wrath.&quot; So Finn laughed and
+said, &quot;Be it so, Conan, and if thou prove faithful and valiant, I also
+will keep faith.&quot; And Conan served him for thirty years, and no man of
+all the Fianna was keener and hardier in fight. There was also another
+Conan, namely, mac Morna, who was big and bald, and unwieldy in manly
+exercises, but whose tongue was bitter and scurrilous; no high brave
+thing was done that Conan the Bald did not mock and belittle. It is said
+that when he was stripped he showed down his back and buttocks a black
+sheep's fleece instead of a man's skin, and this is the way it came
+about. One day when Conan and certain others of the Fianna were hunting
+in the forest they came to a stately Dún, white-walled, with coloured
+thatching on the roof, and they entered it to seek hospitality. But when
+they were within they found! no man, but a great empty hall with pillars
+of cedar wood and silken hangings about it, like the hall of a wealthy
+lord. In the midst there was a table set forth with a sumptuous feast of
+boar's flesh and venison, and a great vat of yew wood full of red wine,
+and cups of gold and silver. So they set themselves gaily to eat and
+drink, for they were hungry from the chase, and talk and laughter were
+loud around the board. But one of them ere long started to his feet with
+a cry of fear and wonder, and they all looked round, and saw before
+their eyes the tapestried walls changing to rough wooden balks and the
+ceiling to foul sooty thatch like that of a herdsman's hut. So they knew
+they were being entrapped by some enchantment of the Fairy Folk, and all
+sprang to their feet and made for the doorway, that was no longer high
+and stately but was shrinking to the size of a fox earth,&mdash;all but Conan
+the Bald, who was gluttonously devouring the good things on the table,
+and heeded nothing else. Then they shouted to him, and as the last of
+them went out he strove to rise and follow, but found himself limed to
+the chair so that he could not stir. So two of the Fianna, seeing his
+plight, rushed back and seized his arms and tugged with all their might,
+and if they dragged him away, they left the most part of his raiment and
+his skin sticking to the chair. Then, not knowing what else to do with
+him in his sore plight they clapped upon his back the nearest thing they
+could find, which was the skin of a black sheep that they took from a
+peasant's flock hard by, and it grew there, and Conan wore it till his
+death.</p>
+
+<p>Though Conan was a coward and rarely adventured himself in battle with
+the Fianna, it is told that once a good man fell by his hand. This was
+on the day of the great battle with the pirate horde on the Hill of
+Slaughter in Kerry.<a name='FNanchor_21_21'></a><a href='#Footnote_21_21'><sup>[21]</sup></a> For Liagan, one of the invaders, stood out
+before the hosts and challenged the bravest of the Fians to single
+combat, and the Fians, in mockery, thrust Conan forth to the fight. When
+he appeared, Liagan laughed, for he had more strength than wit, and he
+said, &quot;Silly is thy visit, thou bald old man.&quot; And as Conan still
+approached, Liagan lifted his hand fiercely, and Conan said, &quot;Truly thou
+art in more peril from the man behind than from the man in front.&quot;
+Liagan looked round; and in that instant Conan swept off his head and
+then threw down his sword and ran for shelter to the ranks of the
+laughing Fians. But Finn was very wroth because he had won the victory
+by a trick.</p>
+
+<p>And one of the chiefest of the friends of Finn was Dermot of the Love
+Spot. He was so fair and noble to look on that no woman could refuse him
+love, and it was said that he never knew weariness, but his step was as
+light at the end of the longest day of battle or the chase as it was at
+the beginning. Between him and Finn there was great love until the day
+when Finn, then an old man, was to wed Grania, daughter of Cormac the
+High King; but Grania bound Dermot by the sacred ordinances of the Fian
+chivalry to fly with her on her wedding night, which thing, sorely
+against his will, he did, and thereby got his death. But Grania went
+back to Finn, and when the Fianna saw her they laughed through all the
+camp in bitter mockery, for they would not have given one of the dead
+man's fingers for twenty such as Grania.</p>
+
+<p>Others of the chief men that Finn had were Keelta mac Ronan, who was one
+of his house-stewards and a strong warrior as well as a golden-tongued
+reciter of tales and poems. And there was Oisín, the son of Finn, the
+greatest poet of the Gael, of whom more shall be told hereafter. And
+Oisín had a son Oscar, who was the fiercest fighter in battle among all
+the Fians. He slew in his maiden battle three kings, and in his fury he
+also slew by mischance his own friend and condisciple Linne. His wife
+was the fair Aideen, who died of grief after Oscar's death in the battle
+of Gowra, and Oisín buried her on Ben Edar (Howth), and raised over her
+the great cromlech which is there to this day.</p>
+
+<p>Another good man that Finn had was Geena, the son of Luga; his mother
+was the warrior-daughter of Finn, and his father was a near kinsman of
+hers. He was nurtured by a woman that bore the name of Fair Mane, who
+had brought up many of the Fianna to manhood. When his time to take arms
+was come he stood before Finn and made his covenant of fealty, and Finn
+gave him the captaincy of a band. But mac Luga proved slothful and
+selfish, for ever vaunting himself and his weapon-skill and never
+training his men to the chase of deer or boar, and he used to beat his
+hounds and his serving-men. At last the Fians under him came with their
+whole company to Finn at Loch Lena in Killarney, and there they laid
+their complaint against mac Luga, and said, &quot;Choose now, O Finn, whether
+you will have us, or the son of Luga by himself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Finn sent to mac Luga and questioned him, but mac Luga could say
+nothing to the point as to why the Fianna would none of him. Then Finn
+taught him the things befitting a youth of noble birth and a captain of
+men, and they were these:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Son of Luga, if armed service be thy design, in a great man's household
+be quiet, be surly in the narrow pass.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Without a fault of his beat not thy hound; until thou ascertain her
+guilt, bring not a charge against thy wife.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In battle, meddle not with a buffoon, for, O mac Luga, he is but a
+fool.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Censure not any if he be of grave repute; stand not up to take part in
+a brawl; have nought to do with a madman or a wicked one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Two-thirds of thy gentleness be shown to women and to those that creep
+on the floor (little children) and to poets, and be not violent to the
+common people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Utter not swaggering speech, nor say thou wilt not yield what is right;
+it is a shameful thing to speak too stiffly unless that it be feasible
+to carry out thy words.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So long as thou shalt live, thy lord forsake not; neither for gold nor
+for other reward in the world abandon one whom thou art pledged to
+protect.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To a chief do not abuse his people, for that is no work for a
+gentleman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be no talebearer, nor utterer of falsehoods; be not talkative nor
+rashly censorious. Stir not up strife against thee, however good a man
+thou be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be no frequenter of the drinking-house, nor given to carping at the
+old; meddle not with a man of mean estate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dispense thy meat freely, have no niggard for thy familiar.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Force not thyself upon a chief, nor give him cause to speak ill of
+thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Stick to thy gear, hold fast to thy arms till the stern fight with its
+weapon-glitter be well ended.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be more apt to give than to deny, and follow after gentleness, O son of
+Luga.&quot;<a name='FNanchor_22_22'></a><a href='#Footnote_22_22'><sup>[22]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>And the son of Luga, it is written, heeded these counsels and gave up
+his bad ways, and he became one of the best of Finn's men.</p>
+
+<p>Such-like things also Finn taught to all his followers, and the best of
+them became like himself in valour and gentleness and generosity. Each
+of them loved the repute of his comrades more than his own, and each
+would say that for all noble qualities there was no man in the breadth
+of the world worthy to be thought of beside Finn.</p>
+
+<p>It was said of him that &quot;he gave away gold as if it were the leaves of
+the woodland, and silver as if it were the foam of the sea,&quot; and that
+whatever he had bestowed upon any man, if he fell out with him
+afterwards, he was never known to bring it against him.</p>
+
+<p>Sang the poet Oisín of him once to St Patrick:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;These are the things that were dear to Finn&mdash;<br />
+The din of battle, the banquet's glee,<br />
+The bay of his hounds through the rough glen ringing.<br />
+And the blackbird singing in Letter Lee,</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The shingle grinding along the shore<br />
+When they dragged his war-boats down to sea,<br />
+The dawn-wind whistling his spears among,<br />
+And the magic song of his minstrels three.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In the time of Finn no one was ever admitted to be one of the Fianna of
+Erinn unless he could pass through many severe tests of his worthiness.
+He must be versed in the Twelve Books of Poetry and must himself be
+skilled to make verse in the rime and metre of the masters of Gaelic
+poesy. Then he was buried to his middle in the earth, and must, with a
+shield and a hazel stick, there defend himself against nine warriors
+casting spears at him, and if he were wounded he was not accepted. Then
+his hair was woven into braids and he was chased through the forest by
+the Fians. If he were overtaken, or if a braid of his hair were
+disturbed, or if a dry stick cracked under his foot, he was not
+accepted. He must be able to leap over a lath level with his brow and to
+run at full speed under level with his knee, and he must be able while
+running to draw out a thorn from his foot and never slacken speed. He
+must take no dowry with a wife.</p>
+
+<p>It was said that one of the Fians, namely Keelta, lived on to a great
+age, and saw St Patrick, by whom he was baptized into the faith of the
+Christ, and to whom he told many tales of Finn and his men, which
+Patrick's scribe wrote down. And once Patrick asked him how it was that
+the Fianna became so mighty and so glorious that all Ireland sang of
+their deeds, as Ireland has done ever since. Keelta answered, &quot;Truth was
+in our hearts and strength in our arms, and what we said, that we
+fulfilled.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This was also told of Keelta after he had seen St Patrick and received
+the Faith. He chanced to be one day by Leyney in Connacht, where the
+Fairy Folk of the Mound of Duma were wont to be sorely harassed and
+spoiled every year by pirates from oversea. They called Keelta to their
+aid, and by his counsel and valour the invaders were overcome and driven
+home, but Keelta was sorely wounded. Then Keelta asked that Owen the
+seer of the Fairy Folk might foretell him how long he had to live, for
+he was already a very aged man. Owen said, &quot;It will be seventeen years,
+O Keelta of fair fame, till thou fall by the pool of Tara, and grievous
+that will be to all the King's household.&quot; &quot;Even so did my chief and
+lord, my guardian and loving Protector, Finn, foretell to me,&quot; said
+Keelta. &quot;And now what fee will ye give me for my rescue of you from the
+worst affliction that ever befell you?&quot; &quot;A great reward,&quot; said the Fairy
+Folk, &quot;even youth; for by our art we shall change you into young man again
+with all the strength and activity of your prime.&quot; &quot;Nay, God forbid,&quot; said
+Keelta &quot;that I should take upon me a shape of sorcery, or any other than
+that which my Maker, the true and glorious God, hath bestowed upon me.&quot;
+And the Fairy Folk said, &quot;It is the word of a true warrior and hero, and
+the thing that thou sayest is good.&quot; So they healed his wounds, and every
+bodily evil that he had, and he wished them blessing and victory, and went
+his way.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XII</h2><h2>The Tale of Vivionn the Giantess</h2>
+
+<p>One day Finn and Goll, Keelta and Oscar, and others of the Fianna, were
+resting after the hunt on a certain hill now called the Ridge of the
+Dead Woman, and their meal was being got ready, when a girl of the kin
+of the giants came striding up and sat down among them. &quot;Didst thou ever
+see a woman so tall?&quot; asked Finn of Goll. &quot;By my troth,&quot; said Goll,
+&quot;never have I or any other seen a woman so big.&quot; She took her hand out
+of her bosom and on her long slender fingers there were three gold rings
+each as thick as an ox's yoke. &quot;Let us question her,&quot; said Goll, and
+Finn said, &quot;If we stood up, perchance she might hear us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they all rose to their feet, but the giantess, on that, rose up too.
+&quot;Maiden,&quot; said Finn, &quot;if thou have aught to say to us or to hear from
+us, sit down and lean thine elbow on the hill-side.&quot; So she lay down and
+Finn bade her say whence she came and what was her will with them. &quot;Out
+of the World Oversea where the sun sets am I come,&quot; she said, &quot;to seek
+thy protection, O mighty Finn.&quot; &quot;And what is thy name?&quot; &quot;My name is
+Vivionn of the Fair Hair, and my father Treon is called King of the Land
+of Lasses, for he has but three sons and nine and seven score daughters,
+and near him is a King who hath one daughter and eight score sons. To
+one of these, &AElig;da, was I given in marriage sorely against my will. Three
+times now have I fled from him. And this time it was fishermen whom the
+wind blew to us from off this land who told us of a mighty lord here,
+named Finn, son of Cumhal, who would let none be wronged or oppressed,
+but he would be their friend and champion. And if thou be he, to thee am
+I come.&quot; Then she laid her hand in Finn's, and he bade her do the same
+with Goll mac Morna, who was second in the Fian leadership, and she did
+so.</p>
+
+<p>Then the maiden took from her head a jewelled golden helmet, and
+immediately her hair flowed out in seven score tresses, fair, curly and
+golden, at the abundance of which all stood amazed; and Finn said, &quot;By
+the Immortals that we adore, but King Cormac and the poetess Ethne and
+the fair women-folk of the Fianna would deem it a marvel to see this
+girl. Tell us now, maiden, what portion wilt thou have of meat and
+drink? will that of a hundred of us suffice thee?&quot; The girl then saw
+Cnu, the dwarf harper of Finn, who had just been playing to them, and
+she said, &quot;Whatever thou givest to yon little man that bears the harp,
+be it much or little, the same, O Finn, will suffice for me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then she begged a drink from them, and Finn called his gillie, Saltran,
+and bade him fetch the full of a certain great goblet with water from
+the ford; now this goblet was of wood, and it held as much as nine of
+the Fianna could drink. The maiden poured some of the water into her
+right hand and drank three sips of it, and scattered the rest over the
+Fianna, and she and they burst out laughing. Finn said, &quot;On thy
+conscience, girl, what ailed thee not to drink out of the goblet?&quot;
+&quot;Never,&quot; she replied, &quot;have I drunk out of any vessel but there was a
+rim of gold to it, or at least of silver.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And now Keelta looking up perceived a tall youth coming swiftly towards
+them, who, when he approached, seemed even bigger than was the maiden.
+He wore a rough hairy cape over his shoulder and beneath that a green
+cloak fastened by a golden brooch; his tunic was of royal satin, and he
+bore a red shield slung over his shoulders, and a spear with a shaft as
+thick as a man's leg was in his hand; a gold-hilted sword hung by his
+side. And his face, which was smooth-shaven, was comelier than that of
+any of the sons of men.</p>
+
+<p>When he came near, seeing among the Fians a stir of alarm at this
+apparition, Finn said, &quot;Keep every one of you his place, let neither
+warrior nor gillie address him. Know any of you this champion?&quot; &quot;I know
+him,&quot; said the maiden; &quot;that is even he to escape from whom I am come to
+thee, O Finn.&quot; And she sat down between Finn and Goll. But the stranger
+drew near, and spake never a word, but before any one could tell what he
+would be at he thrust fiercely and suddenly with his spear at the girl,
+and the shaft stood out a hand's breadth at her back. And she fell
+gasping, but the young man drew his weapon out and passed rapidly
+through the crowd and away.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL12"></a>
+<a href="./images/il132.jpg"><img src="images/il132_th.jpg" alt="They ran him by hill and plain" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They ran him by hill and plain&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>Then Finn cried, red with wrath, &quot;Ye have seen! Avenge this wicked deed,
+or none of you aspire to Fianship again.&quot; And the whole company sprang
+to their feet and gave chase to that murderer, save only Finn and Goll,
+who stayed by the dying maiden. And they ran him by hill and plain to
+the great Bay of Tralee and down to the Tribute Point, where the traders
+from oversea were wont to pay their dues, and there he set his face to
+the West and took the water. By this time four of the Fianna had
+outstripped the rest, namely, Keelta, and Dermot, and Glas, and Oscar,
+son of Oisín. Of these Keelta was first, and just as the giant was
+mid-leg in the waves he hurled his spear and it severed the thong of the
+giant's shield so that it fell off in the water. And as the giant
+paused, Keelta seized his spear and tore it from him. But the giant
+waded on, and soon the Fians were floundering in deep water while the
+huge form, thigh deep, was seen striding towards the setting sun. And a
+great ship seemed to draw near, and it received him, and then departed
+into the light, but the Fians returned in the grey evening, bearing the
+spear and the great shield to Finn. There they found the maiden at point
+of death, and they laid the weapons before her. &quot;Goodly indeed are these
+arms,&quot; she said, &quot;for that is the Thunder Spear of the King Oversea and
+the shield is the Red Branch Shield,&quot; for it was covered with red
+arabesques. Then she bestowed her bracelets on Finn's three harpers, the
+dwarf Cnu, and Blanit his wife, and the harper Daira. And she bade Finn
+care for her burial, that it should be done becomingly, &quot;for under thy
+honour and protection I got my death, and it was to thee I came into
+Ireland.&quot; So they buried her and lamented her, and made a great far-seen
+mound over her grave, which is called the Ridge of the Dead Woman, and
+set up a pillar stone upon it with her name and lineage carved in
+Ogham-crave.<a name='FNanchor_23_23'></a><a href='#Footnote_23_23'><sup>[23]</sup></a></p>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2><h2>The Chase of the Gilla Dacar</h2>
+
+<p>In the reign of Cormac mac Art, grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles,
+the order of precedence and dignity in the court of the High King at
+Tara was as follows: First came great Cormac, the kingly, the
+hospitable, warrior and poet, and he was supreme over all. Next in order
+came the five kings of the five Provinces of Ireland, namely, Ulster,
+Munster, Connacht, Leinster, and Mid-Erinn. After these ranked the
+captains of the royal host, of whom Finn, son of Cumhal, was the chief.</p>
+
+<p>Now the privileges of the Fianna of Erinn were many and great; to wit,
+in every county in Ireland one townland, and in every townland a cartron
+of land, and in the house of every gentleman the right to have a young
+deer-hound or a beagle kept at nurse from November to May, together with
+many other taxes and royalties not to be recounted here. But if they had
+these many and great privileges, yet greater than these were the toils
+and hardships which they had to endure, in guarding the coasts of all
+Ireland from oversea invaders and marauders, and in keeping down all
+robbers and outlaws and evil folk within the kingdom, for this was the
+duty laid upon them by their bond of service to the King.</p>
+
+<p>Now the summer half of the year was wont to be ended by a great hunting
+in one of the forests of Ireland, and so it was that one All-hallowtide,
+when the great banquet of Finn in his Dún on the Hill of Allen was going
+forward, and the hall resounded with cheerful talk and laughter and with
+the music of tympan and of harp, Finn asked of the assembled captains in
+what part of Erinn they should proceed to beat up game on the morrow.
+And it was agreed among them to repair to the territory of Thomond and
+Desmond in Munster; and from Allen they set out accordingly and came to
+the Hill of Knockany. Thence they threw out the hunt and sent their
+bands of beaters through many a gloomy ravine and by many a rugged
+hill-pass and many a fair open plain. Desmond's high hills, called now
+Slievelogher, they beat, and the smooth, swelling hills of Slievenamuck,
+and the green slopes of grassy Slievenamon, and the towering rough crags
+of the Decies, and thence on to the dark woods of Belachgowran.</p>
+
+<p>While the great hunt was going forward Finn with certain of his chief
+captains sat on a high mound to overlook it. There, with Finn, were Goll
+and Art mac Morna, and Liagan the swift runner, and Dermot of the Love
+Spot, and Keelta, son of Ronan, and there also was Conan the Bald, the
+man of scurrilous tongue, and a score or so more. Sweet it was to Finn
+and his companions to hear from the woods and wildernesses around them
+the many-tongued baying of the hounds and the cries and whistling of the
+beaters, the shouting of the strong men and the notes of the Fian
+hunting-horn.</p>
+
+<p>When they had sat there awhile one of Finn's men came running quickly
+towards him and said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A stranger is approaching us from the westward, O Finn, and I much
+mislike his aspect.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With that all the Fians looked up and beheld upon the hillside a huge
+man, looking like some Fomorian marauder, black-visaged and ugly, with a
+sour countenance and ungainly limbs. On his back hung a dingy black
+shield, on his misshapen left thigh he wore a sharp broad-bladed sword;
+projecting over his shoulder were two long lances with broad rusty
+heads. He wore garments that looked as if they had been buried in a
+cinder heap, and a loose ragged mantle. Behind him there shambled a
+sulky, ill-shapen mare with a bony carcase and bowed knees, and on her
+neck a clumsy iron halter. With a rope her master hauled her along, with
+violent jerks that seemed as if they would wrench her head from her
+scraggy neck, and ever and anon the mare would stand and jib, when the
+man laid on her ribs such blows from a strong ironshod cudgel that they
+sounded like the surges of the sea beating on a rocky coast. Short as
+was the distance from where the man and his horse were first perceived
+to where Finn was standing, it was long ere they traversed it. At last,
+however, he came into the presence of Finn and louted before him, doing
+obeisance. Finn lifted his hand over him and bade him speak, and declare
+his business and his name and rank. &quot;I know not,&quot; said the fellow, &quot;of
+what blood I am, gentle or simple, but only this, that I am a wight from
+oversea looking for service and wages. And as I have heard of thee, O
+Finn, that thou art not wont to refuse any man, I came to take service
+with thee if thou wilt have me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Neither shall I refuse thee,&quot; said Finn; &quot;but what brings thee here
+with a horse and no horseboy?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good enough reason,&quot; said the stranger. &quot;I have much ado to get meat
+for my own belly, seeing that I eat for a hundred men; and I will not
+have any horseboy meddling with my ration.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And what name dost thou bear?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am called the Gilla Dacar (the Hard Gillie),&quot; replied he.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why was that name given thee?&quot; asked Finn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good enough reason for that also,&quot; spake the stranger, &quot;for of all the
+lads in the world there is none harder than I am for a lord to get any
+service and obedience from.&quot; Then turning to Conan the Bald he said,
+&quot;Whether among the Fianna is a horseman's pay or a footman's the
+highest?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A horseman's surely,&quot; said Conan, &quot;seeing that he gets twice the pay of
+a footman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then I am a horseman in thy service, Finn,&quot; said the gillie. &quot;I call
+thee to observe that I have here a horse, and moreover that as a
+horseman I came among the Fianna. Have I thy authority,&quot; he went on, &quot;to
+turn out my steed among thine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Turn her out,&quot; quoth Finn.</p>
+
+<p>Then the big man flung his mare the rope and immediately she galloped
+off to where the Fian horses were grazing. Here she fell to biting and
+kicking them, knocking out the eye of one and snapping off another's ear
+and breaking the leg of another with a kick.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Take away thy mare, big man,&quot; cried Conan then, &quot;or by Heaven and Earth
+were it not that Finn told thee to let her loose I would let loose her
+brains. Many a bad bargain has Finn made but never a worse than thou.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By Heaven and Earth,&quot; said the gillie, &quot;that I never will, for I have
+no horseboy, and I will do no horseboy's work.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Conan mac Morna took the iron halter and laid it on the stranger's
+horse and brought the beast back to Finn and held it there.</p>
+
+<p>Said Finn to Conan, &quot;I have never seen thee do horseboy's service even
+to far better men than this gillie. How now if thou wert to leap on the
+brute's back and gallop her to death over hill and dale in payment for
+the mischief she hath wrought among our steeds?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this word Conan clambered up on the back of the big man's mare, and
+with all his might he smote his two heels into her, but the mare never
+stirred.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I perceive what ails her,&quot; said Finn. &quot;She will never stir till she has
+a weight of men on her equal to that of her own rider.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then thirteen men of the Fianna scrambled up laughing behind Conan, and
+the mare lay down under them, and then got up again, they still clinging
+to her. At this the big man said,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It appears that you are making a sport and mockery of my mare, and that
+even I myself do not escape from it. It is well for me that I have not
+spent the rest of the year in your company, seeing what a jest ye have
+made of me the very first day; and I perceive, O Finn, that thou art
+very unlike the report that is made of thee. And now I bid thee
+farewell, for of thy service I have had enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So with downcast head and despondent looks the big gillie shambled
+slowly away until he had passed out of view of the Fianna, behind the
+shoulder of the hill. Having arrived here he tucked up his coat to his
+waist, and fast though be the flight of the swallow, and fast that of
+the roe-deer, and fast the rush of a roaring wind over a mountain top in
+mid-March, no faster are these than the bounding speed and furious
+flight of the big man down the hillside toward the West.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner did the mare see that her master had departed than she too
+dashed uncontrollably forward and flew down the hillside after him. And
+as the Fians saw Conan the Bald and his thirteen companions thus carried
+off, willy nilly, they broke into a roar of laughter and ran alongside
+mocking them. But Conan, seeing that they were being carried off in the
+wake of the big man of evil aspect, of whom none knew whence or who he
+was, he was terrified and began reviling and cursing, and shouted to
+Finn, &quot;A palsy seize thee, Finn; may some rascally churl, that is if
+possible of worse blood than thyself, have thy head, unless thou follow
+and rescue us wheresoever this monster shall bring us.&quot; So Finn and the
+Fianna ran, and the mare ran, over bare hills and by deep glens, till at
+last they came to Corcaguiny in Kerry, where the gillie set his face to
+the blue ocean, and the mare dashed in after him. But ere he did so,
+Liagan the Swift got two hands on the tail of the mare, though further
+he could not win, and he was towed in, still clinging to his hold, and
+over the rolling billows away they went, the fourteen Fians on the wild
+mare's back, and Liagan haled along by her tail.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is to be done now?&quot; said Oisín to Finn when they had arrived at
+the beach.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Our men are to be rescued,&quot; said Finn, &quot;for to that we are bound by the
+honour of the Fianna. Whithersoever they are gone, thither must we
+follow and win them back by fair means or foul; but to that end we must
+first fit out a galley.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So in the end it was agreed that Finn and fourteen men of his bravest
+and best champions should sail oversea in search of the Gilla Dacar and
+his captives, while Oisín remained in Erinn and exercised rule over the
+Fianna in the place of his father.
+After a while, then, a swift galley was made ready by Finn and stored
+with victual, and with arms, and also with gold and raiment to make
+gifts withal if need should be. And into the ship came the fifteen
+valiant men, and gripped their oars, while Finn steered; and soon the
+sea whitened around their oarblades, and over the restless, rolling
+masses of the many-hued and voiceful billows, the ship clove her way to
+the West. And the Fians, who were wont to be wakened by the twittering
+of birds over their hunting booths in the greenwood, now delighted to
+hear, day after day as they roused themselves at morn, the lapping of
+the wide waters of the world against their vessel's bows, or the thunder
+of pounding surges when the wind blew hard.</p>
+
+<p>At length after many days the sharpest-eyed of the men of Finn saw
+far-off what seemed a mountain rising from the sea, and to it they
+shaped their course. When they had come to that land they found
+themselves under the shadow of a great grey cliff, and beneath it
+slippery rocks covered with seaweed. Then Dermot, who was the most
+active of the company, was bidden to mount the cliff and to procure
+means of drawing up the rest of the party, but of what land might lie on
+the top of that wall of rock none of them could discover anything.
+Dermot, descending from the ship, then climbed with difficulty up the
+face of the cliff, while the others made fast their ship among the
+rocks. But Dermot having arrived at the top saw no habitation of man,
+and could compass no way of helping his companions to mount. He went
+therefore boldly forward into the unknown land, hoping to obtain some
+help, if any friendly and hospitable folk could there be found.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL13"></a>
+<a href="./images/il140.jpg"><img src="images/il140_th.jpg" alt="Dermot took the horn and would have filled it" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;Dermot took the horn and would have filled it&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>Before he had gone far he came into a wild wood, thick and tangled, and
+full of the noise of streams, and the sough of winds, and twittering of
+birds, and hum of bees. After he had traversed this wilderness for a
+while he came to a mighty tree with densely interwoven branches, and
+beneath it a pile of rocks, having on its summit a pointed drinking horn
+wreathed with rich ornament, and at its foot a well of pure bright
+water. Dermot, being now thirsty, took the horn and would have filled it
+at the well, but as he stooped down to do so he heard a loud,
+threatening murmur which seemed to rise from it. &quot;I perceive,&quot; he said
+to himself, &quot;that I am forbidden to drink from this well&quot; Nevertheless
+thirst compelled him, and he drank his fill.</p>
+
+<p>In no long time thereafter he saw an armed warrior of hostile aspect
+coming towards him through the wood. No courteous greeting did he give
+to Dermot, but began to revile him for roaming in his wood and
+wilderness, and for drinking his water. Thereupon they fought, and for
+the rest of the afternoon they took and gave hard blows neither subduing
+the other, till at last as darkness began to fall the warrior suddenly
+dived into the well and was seen no more. Dermot, vexed at this ending
+of the combat, then made him ready to spend the night in that place, but
+first he slew a deer in the wood, and made a fire, whereat he roasted
+pieces of the deer's flesh on spits of white hazel, and drank abundantly
+of the well-water, and then slept soundly through the night.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning when he awakened and went to the well he found the Champion
+of the Well standing there and awaiting him. &quot;It is not enough, Dermot,&quot;
+said he angrily, &quot;for thee to traverse my woods at will and to drink my
+water, but thou must even also slay my deer.&quot; Then they closed in combat
+again, and dealt each other blow for blow and wound for wound till
+evening parted them, and the champion dived into the well as before.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day it went even so; but as evening came on Dermot,
+watching closely, rushed at the champion just as he was about to plunge
+into the well, and gripped him in his arms. But none the less the
+Champion of the Well made his dive, and took down Dermot with him.
+And a darkness and faintness came over Dermot, but when he awoke, he
+found himself in a wide, open country, flowery and fair, and before him
+the walls and towers of a royal city. Thither the champion, sorely wounded,
+was now borne off, while a crowd of his people came round Dermot, and beat
+and wounded him, leaving him on the ground for dead.</p>
+
+<p>After night had fallen, when all the people of the city in the Land
+Undersea had departed, a stalwart champion, well-armed and of bold
+appearance, came upon Dermot and stirred him with his foot. Dermot
+thereon awoke from his swoon and, warrior-like, reached out his hand for
+his arms. But the champion said, &quot;Wait awhile, my son, I have not come
+to do thee hurt or harm. Thou hast chosen an ill place to rest and
+slumber in, before the city of thine enemy. Rise and follow me, and I
+shall bestow thee far better than that.&quot; Dermot then rose and followed
+the champion, and long and far they journeyed until they came to a
+high-towered fortress, wherein were thrice fifty valiant men-at-arms and
+fair women; and the daughter of that champion, a white-toothed,
+rosy-cheeked, smooth-handed, and black-eyebrowed maid, received Dermot,
+kindly and welcomefully, and applied healing herbs to his wounds, and in
+no long time he was made as good a man as ever. And thus he remained,
+and was entertained most royally with the best of viands and of liquors.
+The first part of every night those in that Dún were wont to spend in
+feasting, and the second in recreation and entertainment of the mind,
+with music and with poetry and bardic tales, and the third part in sound
+and healthful slumber, till the sun in his fiery journey rose over the
+heavy-clodded earth on the morrow morn.</p>
+
+<p>And the King of that country, who was the champion that had aroused
+Dermot, told him this was the land of Sorca, and that he had showed this
+kindness to Dermot for that he himself had once been on wage and service
+with Finn, son of Cumhal &quot;and a better master,&quot; said he, &quot;man never
+had.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now the story turns to tell of what befell Finn and the remainder of his
+companions when Dermot left them in the ship. After a while, seeing that
+he did not return, and being assured that some mischief or hindrance
+must have befallen him, they made an attempt to climb the cliff after
+him, having noted which way he went. With much toil and peril they
+accomplished this, and then journeying forward and following on Dermot's
+track, they came at last to the well in the wild wood, and saw near by
+the remains of the deer, and the ashes of the fire that Dermot had
+kindled to cook it. But from this place they could discover no track of
+his going. While they were debating on what should next be done, they
+saw riding towards them a tall warrior on a dark grey horse with a
+golden bridle, who greeted them courteously. From him they enquired as
+to whether he had seen aught of their companion, Dermot, in the
+wilderness. &quot;Follow me,&quot; said the warrior, &quot;and you shall shortly have
+tidings of him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they followed the strange horseman into the forest by many dark and
+winding ways, until at last they came into a rocky ravine, where they
+found the mouth of a great cavern opening into the hillside. Into this
+they went, and the way led them downward until it seemed as if they were
+going into the bowels of the earth, until at last the light began to
+shine round them, and they came out into a lovely land of flowery plains
+and green woods and singing streams. In no long time thereafter they
+came to a great royal Dún, where he who led them was hailed as king and
+lord, and here, to their joy, they found their comrade, Dermot of the
+Love Spot, who told them of all his adventures and heard from them of
+theirs. This ended, and when they had been entertained and refreshed,
+the lord of that place spoke to Finn and said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have now, O Finn, within my fortress the fifteen stoutest heroes that
+the world holds. To this end have I brought you here, that ye might make
+war with me upon mine enemy the Champion of the Well, who is king of the
+land bordering on mine, and who ceases not to persecute and to harry my
+people because, in his arrogance, he would have all the Under World
+country subject to himself alone. Say now if ye will embrace this
+enterprise and help me to defend my own: and if not I shall set you
+again upon the land of Erinn.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Finn said, &quot;What of my fifteen men that were carried away on the wild
+mare's back oversea?&quot; &quot;They are guarding the marches of my kingdom,&quot;
+said the King of Sorca, &quot;and all is well with them and shall be well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Finn agreed to take service with the King of Sorca, and next day
+they arrayed themselves for fight and went out at the head of the host.
+Ere long they came upon the army of the King of the Well, and with him was
+the King of the Greeks and a band of fierce mercenaries, and also the
+daughter of the Greek King, by name Tasha of the White Side, a maiden
+who in beauty and grace surpassed all other women of the world, as the
+Shannon surpasses all rivers of Erinn and the eagle surpasses all birds
+of the air. Now the stories of Finn and his generosity and great deeds
+had reached her since she was a child, and she had set her love on him,
+though she had never seen his face till now.</p>
+
+<p>When the hosts were met, the King of the Greeks said, &quot;Who of my men
+will stand forth and challenge the best of these men of Erinn to single
+combat that their metal may be proved, for to us it is unknown what
+manner of men they be.&quot; The son of the King of the Greeks said, &quot;I will
+go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So on the side of Finn, Oscar, son of Oisín, was chosen to match the son
+of the Greek King, and the two hosts sat down peacefully together to
+watch the weapon-play. And Tasha the princess sat by Finn, son of
+Cumhal.</p>
+
+<p>Then Oscar and the King's son stepped into their fighting place, and
+fierce was the combat that arose between them, as when two roaring
+surges of the sea dash against each other in a fissure of the rocks, and
+the spray-cloud bursts from them high into the air. Long they fought,
+and many red wounds did each of them give and receive, till at last
+Oscar beat the Greek prince to the earth and smote off his head. Then
+one host groaned for woe and discouragement, while the other shouted for
+joy of victory, and so they parted for the night, each to their own
+camp.</p>
+
+<p>And in the camp of the folk of Sorca they found Conan the Bald and the
+fourteen men that had gone with him on the mare's back.</p>
+
+<p>But when night had fallen, Tasha stole from the wizard of the Greek King
+his branch of silver bells that when shaken would lay asleep a host of
+men, and with the aid of this she passed from the camp of the Greeks,
+and through the sentinels, and came to the tent of Finn.</p>
+
+<p>On the morrow morn the King of the Greeks found that his daughter had
+fled to be the wife of Finn, son of Cumhal, and he offered a mighty
+reward to whosoever would slay Finn and bring Tasha back. But when the
+two armies closed in combat the Fians and the host of the King of Sorca
+charged so fiercely home, that they drove their foes before them as a
+winter gale drives before it a cloud of madly whirling leaves, and those
+that were not slain in the fight and the pursuit went to their own lands
+and abode there in peace; and thus was the war ended of the King of
+Sorca and the Lord of the Well.</p>
+
+<p>Then the King of Sorca had Finn and his comrades before him and gave
+them praise and thanks for their valour. &quot;And what reward,&quot; he said,
+&quot;will ye that I make you for the saving of the kingdom of Sorca?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou wert in my service awhile,&quot; said Finn, &quot;and I mind not that I paid
+thee any wage for it. Let that service even go against this, and so we
+are quits.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, then,&quot; cried Conan the Bald, &quot;but what shall I have for my ride on
+the mare of the Gilla Dacar?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What wilt thou have?&quot; said the King of Sorca.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This,&quot; said Conan, &quot;and nothing else will I accept. Let fourteen of the
+fairest women of the land of Sorca be put on that same mare, and thy
+wife, O King, clinging to its tail, and let them be thus haled across
+the sea until they come to Corcaguiny in the land of Erinn. I will have
+none of thy gold and silver, but the indignity that has been put upon me
+doth demand an honourable satisfaction.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the King of Sorca smiled, and he said, &quot;Behold thy men, Finn.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL14"></a>
+<a href="./images/il148.jpg"><img src="images/il148_th.jpg" alt="'Follow me now to the Hill of Allen'" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;'Follow me now to the Hill of Allen'&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>Finn turned his head to look round, and as he did so the plain and the
+encampment of the Fairy Host vanished from his sight, and he saw himself
+standing on the shingly strand of a little bay, with rocky heights to
+right and left, crowned with yellow whin bushes whose perfume mingled
+with the salt sea wind. It was the spot where he had seen the Gilla
+Dacar and his mare take water on the coast of Kerry. Finn stared over
+the sea, to discover, if he might, by what means he had come thither,
+but nothing could he see there save the sunlit water, and nothing hear
+but what seemed a low laughter from the twinkling ripples that broke at
+his feet. Then he looked for his men, who stood there, dazed like
+himself and rubbing their eyes; and there too stood the Princess Tasha,
+who stretched out her white arms to him. Finn went over and took her
+hands. &quot;Shoulder your spears, good lads!&quot; he called to his men. &quot;Follow
+me now to the Hill of Allen, and to the wedding feast of Tasha and of
+Finn mac Cumhal.&quot;</p>
+
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2><h2>The Birth of Oisín</h2>
+
+
+<p>One day as Finn and his companions and dogs were returning from the
+chase to their Dún on the Hill of Allen, a beautiful fawn started up on
+their path and the chase swept after her, she taking the way which led
+to their home. Soon, all the pursuers were left far behind save only
+Finn himself and his two hounds Bran and Sceolaun. Now these hounds were
+of strange breed, for Tyren, sister to Murna, the mother of Finn, had
+been changed into a hound by the enchantment of a woman of the Fairy
+Folk, who loved Tyren's husband Ullan; and the two hounds of Finn were
+the children of Tyren, born to her in that shape. Of all hounds in
+Ireland they were the best, and Finn loved them much, so that it was
+said he wept but twice in his life, and once was for the death of Bran.</p>
+
+<p>At last, as the chase went on down a valley side, Finn saw the fawn stop
+and lie down, while the two hounds began to play round her and to lick
+her face and limbs. So he gave commandment that none should hurt her,
+and she followed them to the Dún of Allen, playing with the hounds as
+she went.</p>
+
+<p>The same night Finn awoke and saw standing by his bed the fairest woman
+his eyes had ever beheld.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am Saba, O Finn,&quot; she said, &quot;and I was the fawn ye chased to-day.
+Because I would not give my love to the Druid of the Fairy Folk, who is
+named the Dark, he put that shape upon me by his sorceries, and I have
+borne it these three years. But a slave of his, pitying me, once
+revealed to me that if I could win to thy great Dún of Allen, O Finn, I
+should be safe from all enchantments and my natural shape would come to
+me again. But I feared to be torn in pieces by thy dogs, or wounded by
+thy hunters, till at last I let myself be overtaken by thee alone and by
+Bran and Sceolaun, who have the nature of man and would do me no hurt.&quot;
+&quot;Have no fear, maiden,&quot; said Finn, &quot;we the Fianna, are free and our
+guest-friends are free; there is none who shall put compulsion on you
+here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Saba dwelt with Finn, and he made her his wife; and so deep was his
+love for her that neither the battle nor the chase had any delight for
+him, and for months he never left her side. She also loved him as
+deeply, and their joy in each other was like that of the Immortals in
+the Land of Youth. But at last word came to Finn that the warships of
+the Northmen were in the bay of Dublin, and he summoned his heroes to
+the fight, &quot;for,&quot; said he to Saba, &quot;the men of Erinn give us tribute and
+hospitality to defend them from the foreigner, and it were shame to take
+it from them and not to give that to which we, on our side, are
+pledged.&quot; And he called to mind that great saying of Goll mac Morna when
+they were once sore bested by a mighty host&mdash;&quot;a man,&quot; said Goll, &quot;lives
+after his life but not after his honour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Seven days was Finn absent, and he drove the Northmen from the shores of
+Erinn. But on the eighth day he returned, and when he entered his Dún he
+saw trouble in the eyes of his men and of their fair womenfolk, and Saba
+was not on the rampart expecting his return. So he bade them tell him
+what had chanced, and they said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Whilst thou, our father and lord, wert afar off smiting the foreigner,
+and Saba looking ever down the pass for thy return, we saw one day as it
+were the likeness of thee approaching, and Bran and Sceolaun at thy
+heels. And we seemed also to hear the notes of the Fian hunting call
+blown on the wind. Then Saba hastened to the great gate, and we could
+not stay her, so eager was she to rush to the phantom. But when she came
+near, she halted and gave a loud and bitter cry, and the shape of thee
+smote her with a hazel wand, and lo, there was no woman there any more,
+but a deer. Then those hounds chased it, and ever as it strove to reach
+again the gate of the Dún they turned it back. We all now seized what
+arms we could and ran out to drive away the enchanter, but when we
+reached the place there was nothing to be seen, only still we heard the
+rushing of flying feet and the baying of dogs, and one thought it came
+from here, and another from there, till at last the uproar died away and
+all was still. What we could do, O Finn, we did; Saba is gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Finn then struck his hand on his breast but spoke no word, and he went
+to his own chamber. No man saw him for the rest of that day, nor for the
+day after. Then he came forth, and ordered the matters of the Fianna as
+of old, but for seven years thereafter he went searching for Saba
+through every remote glen and dark forest and cavern of Ireland, and he
+would take no hounds with him save Bran and Sceolaun. But at last he
+renounced all hope of finding her again, and went hunting as of old. One
+day as he was following the chase on Ben Gulban in Sligo, he heard the
+musical bay of the dogs change of a sudden to a fierce growling and
+yelping as though they were in combat with some beast, and running
+hastily up he and his men beheld, under a great tree, a naked boy with
+long hair, and around him the hounds struggling to seize him, but Bran
+and Sceolaun fighting with them and keeping them off. And the lad was
+tall and shapely, and as the heroes gathered round he gazed undauntedly
+on them, never heeding the rout of dogs at his feet. The Fians beat off
+the dogs and brought the lad home with them, and Finn was very silent
+and continually searched the lad's countenance with his eyes. In time,
+the use of speech came to him, and the story that he told was this:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>He had known no father, and no mother save a gentle hind with whom he
+lived in a most green and pleasant valley shut in on every side by
+towering cliffs that could not be scaled, or by deep chasms in the
+earth. In the summer he lived on fruits and such-like, and in the
+winter, store of provisions was laid for him in a cave. And there came
+to them sometimes a tall dark-visaged man, who spoke to his mother, now
+tenderly, and now in loud menace, but she always shrunk away in fear,
+and the man departed in anger. At last there came a day when the Dark
+Man spoke very long with his mother in all tones of entreaty and of
+tenderness and of rage, but she would still keep aloof and give no sign
+save of fear and abhorrence. Then at length the Dark Man drew near and
+smote her with a hazel wand; and with that he turned and went his way,
+but she, this time, followed him, still looking back at her son and
+piteously complaining. And he, when he strove to follow, found himself
+unable to move a limb; and crying out with rage and desolation he fell
+to the earth and his senses left him. When he came to himself he was on
+the mountain side, on Ben Gulban, where he remained some days, searching
+for that green and hidden valley, which he never found again. And after
+a while the dogs found him; but of the hind his mother and of the Dark
+Druid, there is no man knows the end.</p>
+
+<p>Finn called his name Oisín, and he became a warrior of fame, but far
+more famous for the songs and tales that he made; so that of all things
+to this day that are told of the Fianna of Erinn, men are wont to say,
+&quot;So sang the bard, Oisín, son of Finn.&quot;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XV</h2><h2>Oisín in the Land of Youth</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>It happened that on a misty summer morning as Finn and Oisín with many
+companions were hunting on the shores of Loch Lena they saw coming
+towards them a maiden, beautiful exceedingly, riding on a snow-white
+steed. She wore the garb of a queen; a crown of gold was on her head,
+and a dark brown mantle of silk, set with stars of red gold, fell around
+her and trailed on the ground. Silver shoes were on her horse's hoofs,
+and a crest of gold nodded on his head. When she came near she said to
+Finn, &quot;From very far away I have come, and now at last I have found
+thee, Finn, son of Cumhal.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Finn said, &quot;What is thy land and race, maiden, and what dost thou
+seek from me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My name,&quot; she said, &quot;is Niam of the Golden Hair. I am the daughter of
+the King of the Land of Youth, and that which has brought me here is the
+love of thy son Oisín.&quot; Then she turned to Oisín and she spoke to him in
+the voice of one who has never asked anything but it was granted to her,
+&quot;Wilt thou go with me, Oisín, to my father's land?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Oisín said, &quot;That will I, and to the world's end&quot;; for the fairy
+spell had so wrought upon his heart that he cared no more for any
+earthly thing but to have the love of Niam of the Head of Gold.</p>
+
+<p>Then the maiden spoke of the Land Oversea to which she had summoned her
+lover, and as she spoke a dreamy stillness fell on all things, nor did a
+horse shake his bit nor a hound bay, nor the least breath of wind stir
+in the forest trees till she had made an end. And what she said seemed
+sweeter and more wonderful as she spoke it than anything they could
+afterwards remember to have heard, but so far as they could remember it,
+it was this:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Delightful is the land beyond all dreams,<br />
+Fairer than aught thine eyes have ever seen.<br />
+There all the year the fruit is on the tree,<br />
+And all the year the bloom is on the flower.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;There with wild honey drip the forest trees;<br />
+The stores of wine and mead shall never fail.<br />
+Nor pain nor sickness knows the dweller there,<br />
+Death and decay come near him never more.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;The feast shall cloy not, nor the chase shall tire,<br />
+Nor music cease for ever through the hall;<br />
+The gold and jewels of the Land of Youth<br />
+Outshine all splendours ever dreamed by man.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Thou shalt have horses of the fairy breed,<br />
+Thou shalt have hounds that can outrun the wind;<br />
+A hundred chiefs shall follow thee in war,<br />
+A hundred maidens sing thee to thy sleep.</p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;A crown of sovranty thy brow shall wear,<br />
+And by thy side a magic blade shall hang.<br />
+Thou shalt be lord of all the Land of Youth,<br />
+And lord of Niam of the Head of Gold.&quot;</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>As the magic song ended, the Fians beheld Oisín mount the fairy steed
+and hold the maiden in his arms, and ere they could stir or speak she
+turned her horse's head and shook the ringing bridle and down the forest
+glade they fled, as a beam of light flies over the land when clouds
+drive across the sun; and never did the Fianna behold Oisín, son of
+Finn, on earth again.</p>
+
+<p>Yet what befell him afterwards is known. As his birth was strange so was
+his end, for he saw the wonders of the Land of Youth with mortal eyes
+and lived to tell them with mortal lips.</p>
+
+<p>When the white horse with its riders reached the sea it ran lightly over
+the waves and soon the green woods and headlands of Erinn faded out of
+sight. And now the sun shone fiercely down, and the riders passed into a
+golden haze in which Oisín lost all knowledge of where he was or if sea
+or dry land were beneath his horse's hoofs. But strange sights sometimes
+appeared to them in the mist, for towers and palace gateways loomed up
+and disappeared, and once a hornless doe bounded by them chased by a
+white hound with one red ear, and again they saw a young maid ride by on
+a brown steed, bearing a golden apple in her hand, and close behind her
+followed a young horseman on a white steed, a purple cloak floating at
+his back and a gold-hilted sword in his hand. And Oisín would have asked
+the princess who and what these apparitions were, but Niam bade him ask
+nothing nor seem to notice any phantom they might see until they were
+come to the Land of Youth.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL15"></a>
+<a href="./images/il156.jpg"><img src="images/il156_th.jpg" alt="They rode up to a stately palace" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;They rode up to a stately palace&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>At last the sky gloomed above them, and Niam urged their steed faster.
+The wind lashed them with pelting rain, thunder roared across the sea
+and lightning blazed, but they held on their way till at length they
+came once more into a region of calm and sunshine. And now Oisín saw
+before him a shore of yellow sand, lapped by the ripples of a summer
+sea. Inland, there rose before his eye wooded hills amid which he could
+discern the roofs and towers of a noble city. The white horse bore them
+swiftly to the shore and Oisín and the maiden lighted down. And Oisín
+marvelled at everything around him, for never was water so blue or trees
+so stately as those he saw, and the forest was alive with the hum of
+bees and the song of birds, and the creatures that are wild in other
+lands, the deer and the red squirrel and the wood-dove, came, without
+fear, to be caressed. Soon, as they went forward, the walls of a city
+came in sight, and folk began to meet them on the road, some riding,
+some afoot, all of whom were either youths or maidens, all looking as
+joyous as if the morning of happy life had just begun for them, and no
+old or feeble person was to be seen. Niam led her companion through a
+towered gateway built of white and red marble, and there they were met
+by a glittering company of a hundred riders on black steeds and a
+hundred on white, and Oisín mounted a black horse and Niam her white,
+and they rode up to a stately palace where the King of the Land of Youth
+had his dwelling. And there he received them, saying in a loud voice
+that all the folk could hear, &quot;Welcome, Oisín, son of Finn. Thou art
+come to the Land of Youth, where sorrow and weariness and death shall
+never touch thee. This thou hast won by thy faithfulness and valour and
+by the songs that thou hast made for the men of Erinn, whereof the fame
+is come to us, for we have here indeed all things that are delightful
+and joyous, but poesy alone we had not. But now we have the chief poet
+of the race of men to live with us, immortal among immortals, and the
+fair and cloudless life that we lead here shall be praised in verses as
+fair; even as thou, Oisín, did'st praise and adorn the short and
+toilsome and chequered life that men live in the world thou hast left
+forever. And Niam my daughter shall be thy bride, and thou shalt be in
+all things even as myself in the Land of Youth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the heart of Oisín was filled with glory and joy, and he turned to
+Niam and saw her eyes burn with love as she gazed upon him. And they
+were wedded the same day, and the joy they had in each other grew
+sweeter and deeper with every day that passed. All that Niam had
+promised in her magic song in the wild wood when first they met, seemed
+faint beside the splendour and beauty of the life in the Land of Youth.
+In the great palace they trod on silken carpets and ate off plates of
+gold; the marble walls and doorways were wrought with carved work, or
+hung with tapestries, where forest glades, and still lakes, and flying
+deer were done in colours of unfading glow. Sunshine bathed that palace
+always, and cool winds wandered through its dim corridors, and in its
+courts there played fountains of bright water set about with flowers.
+When Oisín wished to ride, a steed of fiery but gentle temper bore him
+wherever he would through the pleasant land; when he longed to hear
+music, there came upon his thought, as though borne on the wind, crystal
+notes such as no hand ever struck from the strings of any harp on earth.</p>
+
+<p>But Oisín's hand now never touched the harp, and the desire of singing
+and of making poetry never waked in him, for no one thing seemed so much
+better than the rest, where all perfection bloomed and glowed around
+him, as to make him long to praise it and to set it apart.</p>
+
+<p>When seven days had passed, he said to Niam, &quot;I would fain go
+a-hunting.&quot; Niam said, &quot;So be it, dear love; to-morrow we shall take
+order for that.&quot; Oisín lay long awake that night, thinking of the sound
+of Finn's hunting-horn, and of the smell of green boughs when they
+kindled them to roast the deer-flesh in Fian ovens in the wildwood.</p>
+
+<p>So next day Oisín and Niam fared forth on horseback, with their company
+of knights and maidens, and dogs leaping and barking with eagerness for
+the chase. Anon they came to the forest, and the hunters with the hounds
+made a wide circuit on this side and on that, till at last the loud
+clamour of the hounds told that a stag was on foot, and Oisín saw them
+streaming down an open glen, the stag with its great antlers laid back
+and flying like the wind. So he shouted the Fian hunting-cry and rode
+furiously on their track. All day long they chased the stag through the
+echoing forest, and the fairy steed bore him unfaltering over rough
+ground and smooth, till at last as darkness began to fall the quarry was
+pulled down, and Oisín cut its throat with his hunting-knife. Long it
+seemed to him since he had felt glad and weary as he felt now, and since
+the woodland air with its odours of pine and mint and wild garlic had
+tasted so sweet in his mouth; and truly it was longer than he knew. But
+when he bade make ready the wood-oven for their meal, and build a bothy
+of boughs for their repose, Niam led him seven steps apart and seven to
+the left hand, and yet seven back to the place where they had killed the
+deer, and lo, there rose before him a stately Dún with litten windows
+and smoke drifting above its roof. When they entered, there was a table
+spread for a great company, and cooks and serving-men busy about a wide
+hearth where roast and boiled meats of every sort were being prepared.
+Casks of Greek wine stood open around the walls, and cups of gold were
+on the board. So they all ate and drank their sufficiency, and all night
+Oisín and Niam slept on a bed softer than swans-down in a chamber no
+less fair than that which they had in the City of the Land of Youth.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, at the first light of dawn, they were on foot; and soon again
+the forest rang to the baying of hounds and the music of the
+hunting-horn. Oisín's steed bore him all day, tireless and swift as
+before, and again the quarry fell at night's approach, and again a
+palace rose in the wilderness for their night's entertainment, and all
+things in it even more abundant and more sumptuous than before. And so
+for seven days they fared in that forest, and seven stags were slain.
+Then Oisín grew wearied of hunting, and as he plunged his sharp black
+hunting-knife into the throat of the last stag, he thought of the sword
+of magic temper that hung idle by his side in the City of Youth, or
+rested from its golden nail in his bed-chamber, and he said to Niam,
+&quot;Has thy father never a foe to tame, never a wrong to avenge? Surely the
+peasant is no man whose hand forgets the plough, nor the warrior whose
+hand forgets the sword hilt.&quot; Niam looked on him strangely for a while
+and as if she did not understand his words, or sought some meaning in
+them which yet she feared to find. But at last she said, &quot;If deeds of
+arms be thy desire, Oisín, thou shalt have thy sufficiency ere long.&quot;
+And so they rode home, and slept that night in the palace of the City of
+Youth.</p>
+
+<p>At daybreak on the following morn Niam roused Oisín, and she buckled on
+him his golden-hilted sword and his corselet of blue steel inlaid with
+gold. Then he put on his head a steel and gold helmet with dragon crest,
+and slung on his back a shield of bronze wrought all over with cunning
+hammer-work of serpentine lines that swelled and sank upon the surface,
+and coiled in mazy knots, or flowed in long sweeping curves like waves
+of the sea when they gather might and volume for their leap upon the
+sounding shore. In the glimmering dawn, through the empty streets of the
+fair city, they rode forth alone and took their way through fields of
+corn and by apple orchards where red fruit hung down to their hands. But
+by noontide their way began to mount upwards among blue hills that they
+had marked from the city walls toward the west, and of man's husbandry
+they saw no more, but tall red-stemmed pine trees bordered the way on
+either side, and silence and loneliness increased. At length they
+reached a broad table-land deep in the heart of the mountains, where
+nothing grew but long coarse grass, drooping by pools of black and
+motionless water, and where great boulders, bleached white or stained
+with slimy lichens of livid red, lay scattered far and wide about the
+plain. Against the sky the mountain line now showed like a threat of
+bared and angry teeth, and as they rode towards it Oisín perceived a
+huge fortress lying in the throat of a wide glen or mountain pass. White
+as death was the stone of which it was built, save where it was streaked
+with black or green from the foulness of wet mosses that clung to its
+cornices and battlements, and none seemed stirring about the place nor
+did any banner blow from its towers.</p>
+
+<p>Then said Niam, &quot;This, O Oisín, is the Dún of the giant Fovor of the
+Mighty Blows. In it he keeps prisoner a princess of the Fairy Folk whom
+he would fain make his bride, but he may not do so, nor may she escape,
+until Fovor has met in battle a champion who will undertake her cause.
+Approach, then, to the gate, if thou art fain to undertake this
+adventure, and blow the horn which hangs thereby, and then look to thy
+weapons, for soon indeed will the battle be broken upon thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Oisín rode to the gate and thrice he blew on the great horn which
+hung by it, and the clangour of it groaned drearily back from the cliffs
+that overhung the glen. Not thus indeed sounded the <i>Dord</i> of Finn as
+its call blew lust of fighting and scorn of death into the hearts of the
+Fianna amid the stress of battle. At the third blast the rusty gates
+opened, grinding on their hinges, and Oisín rode into a wide courtyard
+where servitors of evil aspect took his horse and Niam's, and led them
+into the hall of Fovor. Dark it was and low, with mouldering arras on
+its walls, and foul and withered rushes on the floor, where dogs gnawed
+the bones thrown to them at the last meal, and spilt ale and hacked
+fragments of flesh littered the bare oaken table. And here rose
+languidly to greet them a maiden bound with seven chains, to whom Niam
+spoke lovingly, saying that her champion was come and that her long
+captivity should end. And the maiden looked upon Oisín, whose proud
+bearing and jewelled armour made the mean place seem meaner still, and a
+light of hope and of joy seemed to glimmer upon her brow. So she gave
+them refreshment as she could, and afterwards they betook them once more
+to the courtyard, where the place of battle was set.</p>
+
+<p>Here, at the further side, stood a huge man clad in rusty armour, who
+when he saw Oisín rushed upon him, silent and furious, and swinging a
+great battleaxe in his hand. But doubt and langour weighed upon Oisín's
+heart, and it seemed to him as if he were in an evil dream, which he
+knew was but a dream, and would be less than nothing when the hour of
+awakening should come. Yet he raised his shield and gripped the fairy
+sword, striving to shout the Fian battle-cry as he closed with Fovor.
+But soon a heavy blow smote him to the ground, and his armour clanged
+harshly on the stones. Then a cloud seemed to pass from his spirit, and
+he leaped to his feet quicker than an arrow flies from the string, and
+thrusting fiercely at the giant his sword-point gashed the under side of
+Fovor's arm when it was raised to strike, and Oisín saw his enemy's
+blood. Then the fight raged hither and thither about the wide courtyard,
+with trampling of feet and clash of steel and ringing of armour and
+shouts of onset as the heroes closed; Oisín, agile as a wild stag,
+evading the sweep of the mighty axe and rushing in with flickering blade
+at every unguarded moment, his whole soul bent on one fierce thought, to
+drive his point into some gap at shoulder or neck in Fovor's coat of
+mail. At length, when both were weary and wounded men, with hacked and
+battered armour, Oisín's blade cut the thong of Fovor's headpiece and it
+fell clattering to the ground. Another blow laid the giant prostrate,
+and Oisín leaned, dizzy and panting, upon his sword, while Fovor's
+serving-men took off their master in a litter, and Niam came to aid her
+lord. Then Oisín stripped off his armour in the great hall, and Niam
+tended to his wounds, healing them with magic herbs and murmured
+incantations, and they saw that one of the seven rusty chains that had
+bound the princess hung loose from its iron staple in the wall.</p>
+
+<p>All night long Oisín lay in deep and healing slumber, and next day he
+arose, whole and strong, and hot to renew the fray. And the giant was
+likewise healed and his might and fierceness returned to him. So they
+fought till they were breathless and weary, and then to it again, and
+again, till in the end Oisín drove his sword to the hilt in the giant's
+shoulder where it joins the collar bone, and he fell aswoon, and was
+borne away as before. And another chain of the seven fell from the
+girdle of the captive maiden.</p>
+
+<p>Thus for seven days went on the combat, and Oisín had seven nights of
+healing and rest, with the tenderness and beauty of Niam about his
+couch; and on the seventh day the maiden was free, and her folk brought
+her away, rejoicing, with banners and with music that made a brightness
+for a while in that forlorn and evil place.</p>
+
+<p>But Oisín's heart was high with pride and victory, and a longing uprose
+in his heart with a rush like a springtide for the days when some great
+deed had been done among the Fianna, and the victors were hailed and
+lauded by the home-folk in the Dún of Allen, men and women leaving their
+toil or their pleasure to crowd round the heroes, and to question again
+and again, and to learn each thing that had passed; and the bards noting
+all to weave it into a glorious tale for after days; and more than all
+the smile and the look of Finn as he learned how his children had borne
+themselves in the face of death. And so Oisín said to Niam, &quot;Let me, for
+a short while, return to the land of Erinn, that I may see there my
+friends and kin and tell them of the glory and joy that are mine in the
+Land of Youth.&quot; But Niam wept and laid her white arms about his neck,
+entreating him to think no more of the sad world where all men live and
+move under a canopy of death, and where summer is slain by winter, and
+youth by old age, and where love itself, if it die not by falsehood and
+wrong, perishes many a time of too complete a joy. But Oisín said, &quot;The
+world of men compared with thy world is like this dreary waste compared
+with the city of thy father; yet in that city, Niam, none is better or
+worse than another, and I hunger to tell my tale to ignorant and feeble
+folk that my words can move, as words of mine have done of old, to
+wonder and delight. Then I shall return to thee, Niam, and to thy fair
+and blissful land; and having brought over to mortal men a tale that
+never man has told before, I shall be happy and at peace for ever in the
+Land of Youth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they fared back to the golden city, and next day Niam brought to
+Oisín the white steed that had borne them from Erinn, and bade him
+farewell. &quot;This our steed,&quot; she said, &quot;will carry thee across the sea to
+the land where I found thee, and whithersoever thou wilt, and what folk
+are there thou shalt see, and what tale thou hast to tell can be told.
+But never for even a moment must thou alight from his back, for if thy
+foot once touch again the soil of earth, thou shalt never win to me and
+to the Land of Youth again. And sorely do I fear some evil chance. Was
+not the love of Niam of the Head of Gold enough to fill a mortal's
+heart? But if thou must go, then go, and blessing and victory be thine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Oisín held her long in his arms and kissed her, and vowed to make
+no long stay and never to alight from the fairy steed. And then he shook
+the golden reins and the horse threw its head aloft and snorted and bore
+him away in a pace like that of flowing water for speed and smoothness.
+Anon they came to the margin of the blue sea, and still the white steed
+galloped on, brushing the crests of the waves into glittering spray. The
+sun glared upon the sea and Oisín's head swam with the heat and motion,
+and in mist and dreams he rode where no day was, nor night, nor any
+thought of time, till at last his horse's hoofs ploughed through wet,
+yellow sands, and he saw black rocks rising up at each side of a little
+bay, and inland were fields green or brown, and white cottages thatched
+with reeds, and men and women, toil-worn and clad in earth-coloured
+garments, went to and fro about their tasks or stopped gazing at the
+rider in his crimson cloak and at the golden trappings of his horse. But
+among the cottages was a small house of stone such as Oisín had never
+seen in the land of Erinn; stone was its roof as well as the walls, very
+steep and high, and near-by from a rude frame of timber there hung a
+bell of bronze. Into this house there passed one whom from his shaven
+crown Oisín guessed to be a druid, and behind him two lads in white
+apparel. The druid having seen the horseman turned his eyes again to the
+ground and passed on, regarding him not, and the lads did likewise. And
+Oisín rode on, eager to reach the Dún upon the Hill of Allen and to see
+the faces of his kin and his friends.</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><a name="IL16"></a>
+<a href="./images/il168.jpg"><img src="images/il168_th.jpg" alt="The white steed had vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist" title="" /></a><br />
+&quot;The white steed had vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist&quot;
+</p>
+
+
+
+<p>At length, coming from the forest path into the great clearing where the
+Hill of Allen was wont to rise broad and green, with its rampart
+enclosing many white-walled dwellings, and the great hall towering high
+in the midst, he saw but grassy mounds overgrown with rank weeds and
+whin bushes, and among them pastured a peasant's kine.</p>
+
+<p>Then a strange horror fell upon him, and he thought some enchantment
+from the land of Faery held his eyes and mocked him with false visions.
+He threw his arms abroad and shouted the names of Finn and Oscar, but
+none replied, and he thought that perchance the hounds might hear him,
+and he cried upon Bran and Sceolaun, and strained his ears if they might
+catch the faintest rustle or whisper of the world from the sight of
+which his eyes were holden, but he heard only the sigh of the wind in
+the whins. Then he rode in terror from that place, setting his face
+towards the eastern sea, for he meant to traverse Ireland from side to
+side and end to end in the search of some escape from his enchantment.
+But when he came near to the eastern sea and was now in the place which
+is called the Valley of the Thrushes,<a name='FNanchor_24_24'></a><a href='#Footnote_24_24'><sup>[24]</sup></a> he saw in a field upon the
+hillside a crowd of men striving to roll aside a great boulder from
+their tilled land, and an overseer directing them. Towards them he rode,
+meaning to ask them concerning Finn and the Fianna. As he came near,
+they all stopped their work to gaze upon him, for to them he appeared
+like a messenger of the Fairy Folk or an angel from heaven. Taller and
+mightier he was than the men-folk they knew, with sword-blue eyes and
+brown ruddy cheeks; in his mouth, as it were, a shower of pearls, and
+bright hair clustered beneath the rim of his helmet. And as Oisín looked
+upon their puny forms, marred by toil and care, and at the stone which
+they feebly strove to heave from its bed, he was filled with pity, and
+thought to himself, &quot;not such were even the churls of Erinn when I left
+them for the Land of Youth,&quot; and he stooped from his saddle to help
+them. His hand he set to the boulder, and with a mighty heave he lifted
+it from where it lay and set it rolling down the hill. And the men
+raised a shout of wonder and applause, but their shouting changed in a
+moment into cries of terror and dismay, and they fled, jostling and
+overthrowing each other to escape from the place of fear; for a marvel
+horrible to see had taken place. For Oisín's saddle-girth had burst as
+he heaved the stone, and he fell headlong to the ground. In an instant
+the white steed had vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist, and
+that which rose, feeble and staggering, from the ground was no youthful
+warrior but a man stricken with extreme old age, white-bearded and
+withered, who stretched out groping hands and moaned with feeble and
+bitter cries. And his crimson cloak and yellow silken tunic were now but
+coarse homespun stuff tied with a hempen girdle, and the gold-hilted
+sword was a rough oaken staff such as a beggar carries who wanders the
+roads from farmer's house to house.</p>
+
+<p>When the people saw that the doom that had been wrought was not for them
+they returned, and found the old man prone on the ground with his face
+hidden in his arms. So they lifted him up and asked who he was and what
+had befallen him. Oisín gazed round on them with dim eyes, and at last
+he said, &quot;I was Oisín the son of Finn, and I pray ye tell me where he
+now dwells, for his Dún on the Hill of Allen is now a desolation, and I
+have neither seen him nor heard his hunting horn from the Western to the
+Eastern Sea.&quot; Then the men gazed strangely on each other and on Oisín,
+and the overseer asked, &quot;Of what Finn dost thou speak, for there be many
+of that name in Erinn?&quot; Oisín said, &quot;Surely of Finn mac Cumhal mac
+Trenmor, captain of the Fianna of Erinn.&quot; Then the overseer said, &quot;Thou
+art daft, old man, and thou hast made us daft to take thee for a youth
+as we did a while agone. But we at least have now our wits again, and we
+know that Finn son of Cumhal and all his generation have been dead these
+three hundred years. At the battle of Gowra fell Oscar, son of Oisín,
+and Finn at the battle of Brea, as the historians tell us; and the lays
+of Oisín, whose death no man knows the manner of, are sung by our
+harpers at great men's feasts. But now the Talkenn,<a name='FNanchor_25_25'></a><a href='#Footnote_25_25'><sup>[25]</sup></a> Patrick, has
+come into Ireland and has preached to us the One God and Christ His Son,
+by whose might these old days and ways are done away with, and Finn and
+his Fianna, with their feasting and hunting and songs of war and of
+love, have no such reverence among us as the monks and virgins of holy
+Patrick, and the psalms and prayers that go up daily to cleanse us from
+sin and to save us from the fire of judgment.&quot; But Oisín replied, half
+hearing and still less comprehending what was said to him, &quot;If thy God
+have slain Finn and Oscar, I would say that God is a strong man.&quot; Then
+they all cried out upon him, and some picked up stones, but the overseer
+bade them let him be until the Talkenn had spoken with him, and till he
+should order what was to be done.</p>
+
+<p>So they brought him to Patrick, who entreated him gently and hospitably,
+and to Patrick he told the story of all that had befallen him. But
+Patrick bade his scribes write all carefully down, that the memory of
+the heroes whom Oisín had known, and of the joyous and free life they
+had led in the woods and glens and wild places of Erinn, should never be
+forgotten among men. And Oisín, during the short span of life that yet
+remained to him, told to Patrick many tales of the Fianna and their
+deeds, but of the three hundred years that he had spent with Niam in the
+Land of Youth he rarely spoke, for they seemed to him but as a vision or
+a dream of the night, set between a sunny and a rainy day.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='CHAPTER_XVI_THE_HISTORY_OF_KING_CORMAC'></a><h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2><h2>THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC</h2>
+
+<a name='I_THE_BIRTH_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>I</h3><h3>THE BIRTH OF CORMAC</h3>
+
+<p>Of all the kings that ruled over Ireland, none had a better and more
+loyal servant than was Finn mac Cumhal, and of all the captains and
+counsellors of kings none ever served a more glorious and a nobler
+monarch than did Finn, for the time that he served Cormac, son of Art,
+son of Conn of the Hundred Battles. At the time at which this monarch
+lived and reigned, the mist of sixteen centuries hangs between us and
+the history of Ireland, but through this mist there shine a few great
+and sunlike figures whose glory cannot be altogether hidden, and of
+these figures Cormac is the greatest and the brightest. Much that is
+told about him may be true, and much is certainly fable, but the fables
+themselves are a witness to his greatness; they are like forms seen in
+the mist when a great light is shining behind it, and we cannot always
+say when we are looking at the true light and when at the reflected
+glory.</p>
+
+<p>The birth of Cormac was on this wise. His father, as we have said, was
+Art, son of Conn, and his mother was named Achta, being the daughter of
+a famous smith or ironworker of Connacht. Now before the birth of
+Cormac, Achta had a strange dream, namely, that her head was struck off
+from her body and that out of her neck there grew a great tree which
+extended its branches over all Ireland and flourished exceedingly, but a
+huge wave of the sea burst upon it and laid it low. Then from the roots
+of this tree there grew up another, but it did not attain the splendour
+of the first, and a blast of wind came from the West and overthrew it.
+On this the woman started from her sleep, and she woke her husband, Art,
+and told him her vision. &quot;It is a true dream,&quot; said Art. &quot;I am thy head,
+and this portends that I shall be violently taken from thee. But thou
+shalt bear me a son who shall be King of all Ireland, and shall rule
+with great power and glory until some disaster from the sea overtake
+him. But from him shall come yet another king, my grandson and thine,
+who shall also be cut down, and I think that the cause of his fall shall
+be the armies of the Fian host, who are swift and keen as the wind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Not long thereafter Art, son of Conn, fell in battle with the Picts and
+Britons at the Plain of the Swine, which is between Athenry and Galway
+in Connacht. Now the leader of the invaders then was mac Con, a nephew
+to Art, who had been banished out of Ireland for rising against the High
+King; and when he had slain Art he seized the sovranty of Ireland and
+reigned there unlawfully for many years.</p>
+
+<p>But before the battle, Art had counselled his wife:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If things go ill with us in the fight, and I am slain, seek out my
+faithful friend Luna who dwells in Corann in Connacht, and he will
+protect thee till thy son be born.&quot; So Achta, with one maid, fled in her
+chariot before the host of mac Con and sought to go to the Dún of Luna.
+On her way thither, however, the hour came when her child should be
+born, and the maid turned the chariot aside into the wild wood at the
+place called Creevagh (the Place of the Twigs), and there, on a couch of
+twigs and leaves, she gave birth to a noble son.</p>
+
+<p>Then Achta, when she had cherished her boy and rejoiced over him, bade
+her handmaid keep watch over both of them, and they fell asleep. But the
+maid's eyes were heavy with weariness and long travelling, and ere long
+she, too, was overpowered by slumber, and all three slept a deep sleep
+while the horses wandered away grazing through the wood.</p>
+
+<p>By and by there came a she-wolf roaming through the wood in search of
+prey for her whelps, and it came upon the sleeping woman and the little
+child. It did not wake the woman, but very softly it picked up the
+infant and bore it off to the stony cave that is hard by to Creevagh in
+the hill that was afterwards called Mount Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>After a while the mother waked up and found her child gone. Then she
+uttered a lamentable cry, and woke her handmaid, and both the women
+searched hither and thither, but no trace of the child could they find;
+and thus Luna found them; for he had heard news of the battle and the
+death of his King, and he had come to succour Achta as he had pledged
+his word to do. Luna and his men also made search for the infant, but in
+vain; and at last he conveyed the two sorrowing women to his palace; but
+Achta was somewhat comforted by her prophetic dream. Luna then
+proclaimed that whoever should discover the King's son, if he were yet
+alive, might claim of him what reward he would.</p>
+
+<p>And so the time passed, till one day a man named Grec, a clansman of
+Luna the lord of Corann, as he ranged the woods hunting, came on a stony
+cavern in the side of a hill, and before it he saw wolf-cubs at play,
+and among them a naked child on all fours gambolling with them, and a
+great she-wolf that mothered them all. &quot;Right,&quot; cried Grec, and off he
+goes to Luna his lord. &quot;What wilt thou give me for the King's son?&quot; said
+he. &quot;What wilt thou have?&quot; said Luna. So Grec asked for certain lands,
+and Luna bound himself to give them to him and to his posterity, and
+there lived and flourished the Clan Gregor for many a generation to
+come. So Luna, guided by Grec, went to the cave on Mount Cormac, and
+took the child and the wolf-cubs all together and brought them home. And
+the child they called Cormac, or the Chariot-Child. Now the lad grew up
+very comely and strong, and he abode with Luna in Connacht, and no one
+told him of his descent.</p>
+
+<a name='II_THE_JUDGEMENT_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>II</h3><h3>THE JUDGEMENT OF CORMAC</h3>
+
+
+<p>Once upon a time it happened that Cormac was at play with the two sons
+of Luna, and the lads grew angry in their play and came to blows, and
+Cormac struck one of them to the ground. &quot;Sorrow on it,&quot; cried the lad,
+&quot;here I have been beaten by one that knows not his clan or kindred, save
+that he is a fellow without a father.&quot; When Cormac heard that he was
+troubled and ashamed, and he went to Luna and told him what had been
+said.</p>
+
+<p>And Luna seeing the trouble of the youth, and also that he was strong
+and noble to look on, and wise and eloquent in speech, held that the
+time was now come to reveal to him his descent. &quot;Thou hadst indeed a
+clan and kindred,&quot; he said, &quot;and a father of the noblest, for thou art
+the son of Art, the High King of Ireland, who was slain and dispossessed
+by mac Con. But it is foretold that thou shalt yet come to thy father's
+place, and the land pines for thee even now, for there is no good yield
+from earth or sea under the unlawful rule of him who now sits on the
+throne of Art.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If that be so,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;let us go to Tara, and bide our time
+there in my father's house.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the two of them set out for Tara on the morrow morn. And this was the
+retinue they had with them: a body-guard of outlawed men that had
+revolted against mac Con and other lords and had gathered themselves
+together at Corann under Luna, and four wolves that had been cubs with
+Cormac when the she-wolf suckled him.</p>
+
+<p>When they came to Tara, the folk there wondered at the fierce-eyed
+warriors and the grey beasts that played like dogs around Cormac, and
+the lad was adopted as a pupil by the King, to be taught arms and poetry
+and law. Much talk there was of his coming, and of his strange
+companions that are not wont to be the friends of man, and as the lad
+grew in comeliness and in knowledge the eyes of all were turned to him
+more and more, because the rule of mac Con was not good.</p>
+
+<p>So the time wore on, till one day a case came for judgment before the
+King, in which the Queen sued a certain wealthy woman and an owner of
+herds named Benna, for that the sheep of Benna had strayed into the
+Queen's fields and had eaten to the ground a crop of woad<a name='FNanchor_26_26'></a><a href='#Footnote_26_26'><sup>[26]</sup></a> that was
+growing there. The King gave judgment, that the sheep which had eaten
+the woad were to be given to the Queen in compensation for what they had
+destroyed. Then Cormac rose up before the people and said, &quot;Nay, but let
+the wool of the sheep, when they are next shorn, be given to the Queen,
+for the woad will grow again and so shall the wool.&quot; &quot;A true judgment, a
+true judgment,&quot; cried all the folk that were present in the place; &quot;a
+very king's son is he that hath pronounced it.&quot; And they murmured so
+loudly against mac Con that his druids counselled him to quit Tara lest
+a worse thing befall him. So he gave up the sovranty to Cormac and went
+southward into Munster to rally his friends there and recover the
+kingdom, and there he was slain by Cormac's men as he was distributing
+great largesse of gold and silver to his followers, in the place called
+The Field of the Gold.</p>
+
+<p>So Cormac, son of Art, ruled in Tara and was High King of all Ireland.
+And the land, it is said, knew its rightful lord, and yielded harvests
+such as never were known, while the forest trees dripped with the
+abundance of honey and the lakes and rivers were alive with fish. So
+much game was there, too, that the folk could have lived on that alone
+and never put a ploughshare in the soil. In Cormac's time the autumn was
+not vexed with rain, nor the spring with icy winds, nor the summer with
+parching heat, nor the winter with whelming snows. His rule in Erinn, it
+is said, was like a wand of gold laid on a dish of silver.</p>
+
+<p>Also he rebuilt the ramparts of Tara and made it strong, and he enlarged
+the great banqueting hall and made pillars of cedar in it ornamented
+with plates of bronze, and painted its lime-white walls in patterns of
+red and blue. Palaces for the women he also made there, and
+store-houses, and halls for the fighting men&mdash;never was Tara so populous
+or so glorious before or since. And for his wisdom and righteousness
+knowledge was given to him that none other in Ireland had as yet, for it
+was revealed to him that the Immortal Ones whom the Gael worshipped were
+but the names of One whom none can name, and that his message should ere
+long come to Ireland from over the eastern sea, calling the people to a
+sweeter and diviner faith.</p>
+
+<p>And to the end of his life it was his way to have wolves about him, for
+he knew their speech and they his, and they were friendly and tame with
+him and his folk, since they were foster-brothers together in the wild
+wood.</p>
+
+<a name='III_THE_MARRIAGE_OF_KING_CORMAC'></a><h3>III</h3><h3>THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC</h3>
+
+<p>It happened that in Cormac's time there was a very wealthy farmer named
+Buicad<a name='FNanchor_27_27'></a><a href='#Footnote_27_27'><sup>[27]</sup></a> who dwelt in Leinster, and had vast herds of cattle and sheep
+and horses. This Buicad and his wife had no children, but they adopted a
+foster-child named Ethne, daughter of one Dunlang. Now Buicad was the
+most hospitable of men, and never refused aught to anyone, but he kept
+open house for all the nobles of Leinster who came with their following
+and feasted there as they would, day after day; and if any man fancied
+any of the cattle or other goods of Buicad, he might take them home with
+him, and none said him nay. Thus Buicad lived in great splendour, and
+his Dún was ever full to profusion with store of food and clothing and
+rich weapons, until in time it was all wasted away in boundless
+hospitality and generosity, and so many had had a share in his goods
+that they could never be recovered nor could it be said of any man that
+he was the cause of Buicad's undoing. But undone he was at last, and
+when there remained to him but one bull and seven cows he departed by
+night with his wife and Ethne from Dún Buicad, leaving his mansion
+desolate. And he travelled till he came to a place where there was a
+grove of oak trees by a little stream in the county of Meath, near where
+Cormac had a summer palace, and there he built himself a little hut and
+tended his few cattle, and Ethne waited as a maid-servant upon him and
+his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Now on a certain day it happened that King Cormac rode out on horseback
+from his Dún in Meath, and in the course of his ride he came upon the
+little herd of Buicad towards evening, and he saw Ethne milking the
+cows. And this was the way she milked them: first she milked a portion
+of each cow's milk into a certain vessel, then she took a second vessel
+and milked into it the remaining portion, in which was the richest
+cream, and these two vessels she kept apart. Cormac watched all this.
+She then bore the vessels of milk into the hut, and came out again with
+two other vessels and a small cup. These she bore down to the
+river-side; and one of the vessels she filled by means of the cup from
+the water at the brink of the stream, but the other vessel she bore out
+into the middle of the stream and there filled it from the deepest of
+the running water. After this she took a sickle and began cutting rushes
+by the river-side, and Cormac saw that when she cut a wisp of long
+rushes she would put it on one side, and the short rushes on the other,
+and she bore them separately into the house. But Cormac stopped her and
+saluted her, and said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For whom, maiden, art thou making this careful choice of the milk and
+the rushes and the water?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am making it,&quot; said she, &quot;for one who is worthy that I should do far
+more than that for him, if I could.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is his name?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Buicad, the farmer,&quot; said Ethne.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it that Buicad, who was the rich farmer in Leinster that all Ireland
+has heard of?&quot; asked the King.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is even so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then thou art his foster-child, Ethne the daughter of Dunlang?&quot; said
+Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am,&quot; said Ethne.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wilt thou be my wife and Queen of Erinn?&quot; then said Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If it please my foster-father to give me to thee, O King, I am
+willing,&quot; replied Ethne. Then Cormac took Ethne by the hand and they went
+before Buicad, and he consented to give her to Cormac to wife. And Buicad
+was given rich lands and great store of cattle in the district of Odran
+close by Tara, and Ethne the Queen loved him and visited him so long as
+his life endured.</p>
+
+<a name='IV_THE_INSTRUCTIONS_OF_THE_KING'></a><h3>IV</h3><h3>THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING</h3>
+
+<p>Ethne bore to Cormac a son, her firstborn, named Cairbry, who was King
+of Ireland after Cormac. It was during the lifetime of Cormac that
+Cairbry came to the throne, for it happened that ere he died Cormac was
+wounded by a chance cast of a spear and lost one of his eyes, and it was
+forbidden that any man having a blemish should be a king in Ireland.
+Cormac therefore gave up the kingdom into the hands of Cairbry, but
+before he did so he told his son all the wisdom that he had in the
+governing of men, and this was written down in a book which is called
+<i>The Instructions of Cormac</i>.<a name='FNanchor_28_28'></a><a href='#Footnote_28_28'><sup>[28]</sup></a> These are among the things which are
+found in it, of the wisdom of Cormac:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">Let him (the king) restrain the great,<br />
+Let him exalt the good,<br />
+Let him establish peace,<br />
+Let him plant law,<br />
+Let him protect the just,<br />
+Let him bind the unjust,<br />
+Let his warriors be many and his counsellors few,<br />
+Let him shine in company and be the sun of the mead-hall,<br />
+Let him punish with a full fine wrong done knowingly,<br />
+and with a half-fine wrong done in ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>Cairbry said, &quot;What are good customs for a tribe to pursue?&quot; &quot;They are
+as follows,&quot; replied Cormac:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;To have frequent assemblies,<br />
+To be ever enquiring, to question the wise men,<br />
+To keep order in assemblies,<br />
+To follow ancient lore,<br />
+Not to crush the miserable,<br />
+To keep faith in treaties,<br />
+To consolidate kinship,<br />
+Fighting-men not to be arrogant,<br />
+To keep contracts faithfully,<br />
+To guard the frontiers against every ill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell me, O Cormac,&quot; said Cairbry, &quot;what are good customs for the giver
+of a feast?&quot; and Cormac said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;To have lighted lamps,<br />
+To be active in entertaining the company,<br />
+To be liberal in dispensing ale,<br />
+To tell stories briefly,<br />
+To be of joyous countenance,<br />
+To keep silence during recitals.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell me, O Cormac,&quot; said his son once, &quot;what were thy habits when thou
+wert a lad?&quot; And Cormac said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;I was a listener in woods,<br />
+I was a gazer at stars,<br />
+I pried into no man's secrets,<br />
+I was mild in the hall,<br />
+I was fierce in the fray,<br />
+I was not given to making promises,<br />
+I reverenced the aged,<br />
+I spoke ill of no man in his absence,<br />
+I was fonder of giving than of asking.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you listen to my teaching,&quot; said Cormac:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Do not deride any old person though you be young<br />
+Nor any poor man though you be rich,<br />
+Nor any naked though you be well-clad,<br />
+Nor any lame though you be swift,<br />
+Nor any blind though you be keen-sighted,<br />
+Nor any invalid though you be robust,<br />
+Nor any dull though you be clever,<br />
+Nor any fool though you be wise.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet be not slothful, nor fierce, nor sleepy, nor niggardly, nor feckless
+nor envious, for all these are hateful before God and men.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do not join in blasphemy, nor be the butt of an assembly; be not moody
+in an alehouse, and never forget a tryst.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are the most lasting things on earth?&quot; asked Cairbry.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not hard to tell,&quot; said Cormac; &quot;they are grass, copper, and a
+yew-tree.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you will listen to me,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;this is my instruction for the
+management of your household and your realm:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Let not a man with many friends be your steward,<br />
+Nor a woman with sons and foster-sons your housekeeper,<br />
+Nor a greedy man your butler,<br />
+Nor a man of much delay your miller,<br />
+Nor a violent, foul-mouthed man your messenger,<br />
+Nor a grumbling sluggard your servant,<br />
+Nor a talkative man your counsellor,<br />
+Nor a tippler your cup-bearer,<br />
+Nor a short-sighted man your watchman,<br />
+Nor a bitter, haughty man your doorkeeper,<br />
+Nor a tender-hearted man your judge,<br />
+Nor an ignorant man your leader,<br />
+Nor an unlucky man your counsellor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Such were the counsels that Cormac mac Art gave to his son Cairbry. And
+Cairbry became King after his father's abdication, and reigned seven and
+twenty years, till he and Oscar, son of Oisín, slew one another at the
+battle of Gowra.</p>
+
+<a name='V_CORMAC_SETS_UP_THE_FIRST_MILL_IN_ERINN'></a><h3>V</h3><h3>CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN</h3>
+
+<p>During the reign of Cormac it happened that some of the lords of Ulster
+made a raid upon the Picts in Alba<a name='FNanchor_29_29'></a><a href='#Footnote_29_29'><sup>[29]</sup></a> and brought home many captives.
+Among them was a Pictish maiden named Kiernit, daughter of a king of
+that nation, who was strangely beautiful, and for that the Ulstermen
+sent her as a gift to King Cormac. And Cormac gave her as a household
+slave to his wife Ethne, who set her to grinding corn with a hand-quern,
+as women in Erinn were used to do. One day as Cormac was in the palace
+of the Queen he saw Kiernit labouring at her task and weeping as she
+wrought, for the toil was heavy and she was unused to it. Then Cormac
+was moved with compassion for the women that ground corn throughout
+Ireland, and he sent to Alba for artificers to come over and set up a
+mill, for up to then there were no mills in Ireland. Now there was in
+Tara, as there is to this day, a well of water called <i>The Pearly</i>, for
+the purity and brightness of the water that sprang from it, and it ran
+in a stream down the hillside, as it still runs, but now only in a
+slender trickle. Over this stream Cormac bade them build the first mill
+that was in Ireland, and the bright water turned the wheel merrily
+round, and the women in Tara toiled at the quern no more.</p>
+
+<a name='VI_A_PLEASANT_STORY_OF_CORMACS_BREHON'></a><h3>VI</h3><h3>A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON</h3>
+
+<p>Among other affairs which Cormac regulated for himself and all kings who
+should come after him was the number and quality of the officers who
+should be in constant attendance on the King. Of these he ordained that
+there should be ten, to wit one lord, one brehon, one druid, one
+physician, one bard, one historian, one musician and three stewards. The
+function of the brehon, or judge, was to know the ancient customs and
+the laws of Ireland, and to declare them to the King whenever any matter
+relating to them came before him. Now Cormac's chief brehon was at first
+one Fithel. But Fithel's time came to die, and his son Flahari,<a name='FNanchor_30_30'></a><a href='#Footnote_30_30'><sup>[30]</sup></a> a
+wise and learned man, trained by his father in all the laws of the Gael,
+was to be brehon to the High King in his father's stead. Fithel then
+called his son to his bedside and said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thou art well acquainted, my son, with all the laws and customs of the
+Gael, and worthy to be the chief brehon of King Cormac. But wisdom of
+life thou hast not yet obtained, for it is written in no law-book. This
+thou must learn for thyself, from life itself; yet somewhat of it I can
+impart unto thee, and it will keep thee in the path of safety, which is
+not easily trodden by those who are in the counsels of great kings. Mark
+now these four precepts, and obey them, and thou wilt avoid many of the
+pit-falls in thy way:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;Take not a king's son in fosterage,<a name='FNanchor_31_31'></a><a href='#Footnote_31_31'><sup>[31]</sup></a><br />
+Impart no dangerous secret to thy wife,<br />
+Raise not the son of a serf to a high position,<br />
+Commit not thy purse or treasure to a sister's keeping.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Having said this Fithel died, and Flahari became chief brehon in his
+stead.</p>
+
+<p>After a time Flahari thought to himself, &quot;I am minded to test my
+father's wisdom of life and to see if it be true wisdom or but
+wise-seeming babble. For knowledge is no knowledge until it be tried by
+life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So he went before the King and said, &quot;If thou art willing, Cormac, I
+would gladly have one of thy sons in fosterage.&quot; At this Cormac was well
+pleased, and a young child of the sons of Cormac was given to Flahari to
+bring up, and Flahari took the child to his own Dún, and there began to
+nurture and to train him as it was fitting.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, however, Flahari one day took the child by the hand and
+went with him into the deep recesses of the forest where dwelt one of
+the swine-herds who minded the swine of Flahari. To him Flahari handed
+over the child and bade him guard him as the apple of his eye, and to be
+ready deliver him up again when he was required. The Flahari went home,
+and for some days went about like a man weighed down by gloomy and
+bitter thoughts. His wife marked that, and sought to know the reason,
+but Flahari put her off. At last when she continually pressed him to
+reveal the cause of his trouble, he said &quot;If them must needs learn what
+ails me, and if thou canst keep a secret full of danger to me and thee,
+know that I am gloomy and distraught because I have killed the son of
+Cormac.&quot; At this the woman cried out, &quot;Murderer parricide, hast thou
+spilled the King's blood, and shall Cormac not know it, and do justice
+on thee?&quot; And she sent word to Cormac that he should come and seize her
+husband for that crime.</p>
+
+<p>But before the officers came, Flahari took a young man, the son of his
+butler, and placed him in charge of his lands to manage them, while
+Flahari was away for his trial at Tara. And he also gave to his sister a
+treasure of gold and silver to keep for him, lest it should be made a
+spoil of while he was absent. Then he went with the officers to Tara,
+denying his offence and his confession, but when Cormac had heard all,
+and the child could not be found, he sentenced him to be put to death.</p>
+
+<p>Flahari then sent a messenger to his sister, begging her to send him at
+once a portion of the treasure he had left with her, that he might use
+it to make himself friends among the folk at court, and perchance obtain
+a remission of his sentence; but she sent the messenger back again
+empty, saying she knew not of what he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>On this Flahari deemed that the time was come to reveal the truth, so he
+obtained permission from the King to send a message to his swineherd
+before he died, and to hear the man's reply. And the message was this,
+that Murtach the herd should come without delay to Tara and bring with
+him the child that Flahari had committed to him. Howbeit this messenger
+also came back empty, and reported that on reaching Dún Flahari he had
+been met by the butler's son that was over the estate, who had
+questioned him of his errand, and had then said, &quot;Murtach the serf has
+run away as soon as he heard of his lord's downfall, and if he had any
+child in his care he has taken it away with him, and he cannot be
+found.&quot; This he said because, on hearing of the child, he guessed what
+this might mean, and he had been the bitterest of all in urging
+Flahari's death, hoping to be rewarded with a share of his lands.</p>
+
+<p>Then Flahari said to himself, &quot;Truly the proving of my father's wisdom
+of life has brought me very near to death.&quot; So he sent for the King and
+entreated him that he might be suffered to go himself to the dwelling of
+Murtach the herd, promising that the King's son should be then restored
+to him, &quot;or if not,&quot; said he, &quot;let me then be slain there without more
+ado.&quot; With great difficulty Cormac was moved to consent to this, for he
+believed it was but a subterfuge of Flahari's to put off the evil day or
+perchance to find a way of escape. But next day Flahari was straitly
+bound and set in a chariot, and, with a guard of spearmen about him and
+Cormac himself riding behind, they set out for Dún Flahari. Then Flahari
+guided them through the wild wood till at last they came to the clearing
+where stood the dwelling of Murtach the swineherd, and lo! there was the
+son of Cormac playing merrily before the door. And the child ran to his
+foster-father to kiss him, but when he saw Flahari in bonds he burst out
+weeping and would not be at peace until he was set free.</p>
+
+<p>Then Murtach slew one of the boars of his herd and made an oven in the
+earth after the manner of the Fianna, and made over it a fire of boughs
+that he had drying in a shed. And when the boar was baked he set it
+before the company with ale and mead in methers of beechwood, and they
+all feasted and were glad of heart.</p>
+
+<p>Cormac then asked of Flahari why he had suffered himself to be brought
+into this trouble. &quot;I did so,&quot; said Flahari, &quot;to prove the four counsels
+which my father gave them ere he died, and I have proved them and found
+them to be wise. In the first place, it is not wise for any man that is
+not a king to take the fosterage of a king's son, for if aught shall
+happen to the lad, his own life is in the king's hands and with his life
+he shall answer for it. Secondly, the keeping of a secret, said my
+father, is not in the nature of women in general, therefore no dangerous
+secret should be entrusted to them. The third counsel my father gave me
+was not to raise up or enrich the son of a serf, for such persons are
+apt to forget benefits conferred on them, and moreover it irks them that
+he who raised them up should know the poor estate from which they
+sprang. And good, too, is the fourth counsel my father gave me, not to
+entrust my treasure to my sister, for it is the nature of most women to
+regard as spoil any valuables that are entrusted to them to keep for
+others.&quot;</p>
+
+<a name='VII_THE_JUDGEMENT_CONCERNING_CORMACS_SWORD'></a><h3>VII</h3><h3>THE JUDGEMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD</h3>
+
+<p>When Cormac, son of Art, son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was High
+King in Erinn, great was the peace and splendour of his reign, and no
+provincial king or chief in any part of the country lifted up his head
+against Cormac. At his court in Tara were many noble youths, who were
+trained up there in all matters befitting their rank and station.</p>
+
+<p>One of these youths was named Socht, son of Fithel. Socht had a
+wonderful sword, named &quot;The Hard-headed Steeling,&quot; which was said to
+have been long ago the sword of Cuchulain. It had a hilt of gold and a
+belt of silver, and its point was double-edged. At night it shone like a
+candle. If its point were bent back to the hilt it would fly back again
+and be as straight as before. If it was held in running water and a hair
+were floated down against the edge, it would sever the hair. It was a
+saying that this sword would make two halves of a man, and for a while
+he would not perceive what had befallen him. This sword was held by
+Socht for a tribal possession from father and grandfather.</p>
+
+<p>There was at this time a famous steward to the High King in Tara whose
+name was Dubdrenn. This man asked Socht to sell him the sword. He
+promised to Socht such a ration as he, Dubdrenn, had every night, and
+four men's food for the family of Socht, and, after that, Socht to have
+the full value of the sword at his own appraisement. &quot;No,&quot; said Socht.
+&quot;I may not sell my father's treasures while he is alive.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And thus they went on, Dubdrenn's mind ever running on the sword. At
+last he bade Socht to a drinking-bout, and plied him so with wine and
+mead that Socht became drunken, and knew not where he was, and finally
+fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Then the steward takes the sword and goes to the King's brazier, by name
+Connu.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Art thou able,&quot; says Dubdrenn, &quot;to open the hilt of this sword?&quot; &quot;I am
+that,&quot; says the brazier.</p>
+
+<p>Then the brazier took apart the hilt, and within, upon the tang of the
+blade, he wrote the steward's name, even Dubdrenn, and the steward laid
+the sword again by the side of Socht.</p>
+
+<p>So it was for three months after that, and the steward continued to ask
+Socht to sell him the sword, but he could not get it from him.</p>
+
+<p>Then the steward brought a suit for the sword before the High King, and
+he claimed that it was his own and that it had been taken from him. But
+Socht declared that the sword was his by long possession and by equity,
+and he would not give it up.</p>
+
+<p>Then Socht went to his father, Fithel the brehon, and begged him to take
+part in the action and to defend his claim. But Fithel said, &quot;Nay, thou
+art too apt to blame the pleadings of other men; plead for thyself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the court was set, and Socht was called upon to prove that the sword
+was his. He swore that it was a family treasure, and thus it had come
+down to him.</p>
+
+<p>The steward said, &quot;Well, O Cormac, the oath that Socht has uttered is a
+lie.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What proof hast thou of that?&quot; asked Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not hard to declare,&quot; replied the steward. &quot;If the sword be mine, my
+name stands graved therein, concealed within the hilt of the sword.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That will soon be known,&quot; says Cormac, and therewith he had the brazier
+summoned. The brazier comes and breaks open the hilt and the name of
+Dubdrenn stands written within it. Thus a dead thing testified in law
+against a living man.</p>
+
+<p>Then Socht said, &quot;Hear ye, O men of Erinn and Cormac the King! I
+acknowledge that this man is the owner of the sword.&quot; And to Dubdrenn he
+said, &quot;The property therein and all the obligations of it pass from me
+to thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dubdrenn said, &quot;I acknowledge property in the sword and all its
+obligations.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then said Socht, &quot;This sword was found in the neck of my grandfather
+Angus, and till this day it never was known who had done that murder. Do
+justice, O King, for this crime.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Said the King to Dubdrenn, &quot;Thou art liable for more than the sword is
+worth.&quot; So he awarded to Socht the price of seven bondwomen as
+blood-fine for the slaying of Angus, and restitution of the sword to
+Socht. Then the steward confessed the story of the sword, and Cormac
+levied seven other cumals from the brazier. But Cormac said, &quot;This is in
+truth the sword of Cuchulain, and by it was slain my grandfather, even
+Conn of the Hundred Battles, at the hands of the King of Ulster, of whom
+it is written:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&quot;With a host, with a valiant band<br />
+Well did he go into Connacht.<br />
+Alas, that he saw the blood of Conn<br />
+On the side of Cuchulain's sword!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Cormac and Fithel agreed that the sword be given to Cormac as
+blood-fine for the death of Conn, and his it was; and it was the third
+best of the royal treasures that were in Erin: namely, Cormac's Cup,
+that broke if a falsehood were spoken over it and became whole if a
+truth were spoken; and the Bell Branch that he got in Fairyland, whose
+music when it was shaken would put to sleep wounded men, and women in
+travail; and the Sword of Cuchulain, against which, and against the man
+that held it in his hand, no victory could ever be won.</p>
+
+<a name='VIII_THE_DISAPPEARANCE_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>VIII</h3><h3>THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC</h3>
+
+<p>In the chronicle of the Kings of Ireland that was written by Tierna the
+Historian in the eleventh century after Christ's coming, there is noted
+down in the annals of the year 248, &quot;Disappearance of Cormac, grandson
+of Conn, for seven months.&quot; That which happened to Cormac during these
+seven months is told in one of the bardic stories of Ireland, being the
+Story of Cormac's Journey to Fairyland, and this was the manner of it.</p>
+
+<p>One day Cormac, son of Art, was looking over the ramparts of his royal
+Dún of Tara, when he saw a young man, glorious to look on in his person
+and his apparel, coming towards him across the plain of Bregia. The
+young man bore in his hand, as it were, a branch, from which hung nine
+golden bells formed like apples. When he shook the branch the nine
+apples beat against each other and made music so sweet that there was no
+pain or sorrow in the world that a man would not forget while he
+hearkened to it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Does this branch belong to thee?&quot; asked Cormac of the youth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Truly it does,&quot; replied the youth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wilt thou sell it to me?&quot; said Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I never had aught that I would not sell for a price,&quot; said the
+young man.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is thy price?&quot; asked Cormac.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The price shall be what I will,&quot; said the young man.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I will give thee whatever thou desirest of all that is mine,&quot; said
+Cormac, for he coveted the branch exceedingly, and the enchantment was
+heavy upon him.</p>
+
+<p>So the youth gave him the bell-branch, and then said, &quot;My price is thy
+wife and thy son and thy daughter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they went together into the palace and found there Cormac's wife
+and his children. &quot;That is a wonderful jewel thou hast in thy hand,
+Cormac,&quot; said Ethne.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;and great is the price I have paid for it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is that price?&quot; said Ethne.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Even thou and thy children twain,&quot; said the King.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never hast thou done such a thing,&quot; cried Ethne, &quot;as to prefer any
+treasure in the world before us three!&quot; And they all three lamented and
+implored, but Cormac shook the branch and immediately their sorrow was
+forgotten, and they went away willingly with the young man across the
+plain of Bregia until a mist hid them from the eyes of Cormac. And when
+the people murmured and complained against Cormac, for Ethne and her
+children were much beloved of them, Cormac shook the bell-branch and
+their grief was turned into joy.</p>
+
+<p>A year went by after this, and then Cormac longed for his wife and
+children again, nor could the bell-branch any longer bring him
+forgetfulness of them. So one morning he took the branch and went out
+alone from Tara over the plain, taking the direction in which they had
+passed away a year agone; and ere long little wreathes of mist began to
+curl about his feet, and then to flit by him like long trailing robes,
+and he knew no more where he was. After a time, however, he came out
+again into sunshine and clear sky, and found himself in a country of
+flowery meadows and of woods filled with singing-birds where he had
+never journeyed before. He walked on, till at last he came to a great
+and stately mansion with a crowd of builders at work upon it, and they
+were roofing it with a thatch made of the wings of strange birds. But
+when they had half covered the house, their supply of feathers ran
+short, and they rode off in haste to seek for more. While they were
+gone, however, a wind arose and whirled away the feathers already laid
+on, so that the rafters were left bare as before. And this happened
+again and again, as Cormac gazed on them for he knew not how long. At
+last his patience left him and he said, &quot;I see with that ye have been
+doing this since the beginning of the world, and that ye will still be
+doing it in the end thereof,&quot; and with that he went on his way.</p>
+
+<p>And many other strange things he saw, but of them we say nothing now,
+till he came to the gateway of a great and lofty Dún, where he entered
+in and asked hospitality. Then there came to him a tall man clad in a
+cloak of blue that changed into silver or to purple as its folds waved
+in the light, and with him was a woman more beautiful than the daughters
+of men, even she of whom it was said her beauty was as that of a tear
+when it drops from the eyelid, so crystal-pure it was and bright.<a name='FNanchor_32_32'></a><a href='#Footnote_32_32'><sup>[32]</sup></a>
+They greeted Cormac courteously and begged him to stay with them for the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Cormac then entered a great hall with pillars of cedar and many-coloured
+silken hangings on the walls. In the midst of it was a fire-place
+whereon the host threw a huge log, and shortly afterwards brought in a
+young pig which Cormac cut up to roast before the fire. He first put one
+quarter of the pig to roast, and then his host said to him,</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell us a tale, stranger, and if it be a true one the quarter will be
+done as soon as the tale is told.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do thou begin,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;and then thy wife, and after that my turn
+will come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good,&quot; said the host. &quot;This is my tale. I have seven of these swine,
+and with their flesh the whole world could be fed. When one of them is
+killed and eaten, I need but put its bones into the pig-trough and on
+the morrow it is alive and well again.&quot; They looked at the fireplace,
+and behold, the first quarter of the pig was done and ready to be
+served.</p>
+
+<p>Then Cormac put on the second quarter, and the woman took up her tale.
+&quot;I have seven white cows,&quot; she said, &quot;and seven pails are filled with
+the milk of them each day. Though all the folk in the world were
+gathered together to drink of this milk, there would be enough and to
+spare for all.&quot; As soon as she had said that, they saw that the second
+quarter of the pig was roasted.</p>
+
+<p>Then Cormac said: &quot;I know you now, who you are; for it is Mananan that
+owns the seven swine of Faery, and it is out of the Land of Promise that
+he fetched Fand his wife and her seven cows.&quot; Then immediately the third
+quarter of the pig was done.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Tell us now,&quot; said Mananan, &quot;who thou art and why thou art come
+hither.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Cormac then told his story, of the branch with its nine golden apples
+and how he had bartered for it his wife and his children, and he was
+now-seeking them through the world. And when he had made an end, the
+last quarter of the pig was done.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, let us set to the feast,&quot; then said Mananan; but Cormac said,
+&quot;Never have I sat down to meat in a company of two only.&quot; &quot;Nay,&quot; said
+Mananan, &quot;but there are more to come.&quot; With that he opened a door in the
+hall and in it appeared Queen Ethne and her two children. And when they
+had embraced and rejoiced in each other Mananan said, &quot;It was I who took
+them from thee, Cormac, and who gave thee the bell-branch, for I wished
+to bring thee hither to be my guest for the sake of thy nobleness and
+thy wisdom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then they all sat down to table and feasted and made merry, and when
+they had satisfied themselves with meat and drink, Mananan showed the
+wonders of his household to King Cormac. And he took up a golden cup
+which stood on the table, and said: &quot;This cup hath a magical property,
+for if a lie be spoken over it, it will immediately break in pieces, and
+if a truth be spoken it will be made whole again.&quot; &quot;Prove this to me,&quot;
+said Cormac. &quot;That is easily done,&quot; said Mananan. &quot;Thy wife hath had a
+new husband since I carried her off from thee.&quot; Straightway the cup fell
+apart into four pieces. &quot;My husband has lied to thee, Cormac,&quot; said
+Fand, and immediately the cup became whole again.</p>
+
+<p>Cormac then began to question Mananan as to the things he had seen on
+his way thither, and he told him of the house that was being thatched
+with the wings of birds, and of the men that kept returning ever and
+again to their work as the wind destroyed it. And Mananan said, &quot;These,
+O Cormac, are the men of art, who seek to gather together much money and
+gear of all kinds by the exercise of their craft, but as fast as they
+get it, so they spend it, or faster and the result is that they will
+never be rich.&quot; But when he had said this it is related that the golden
+cup broke into pieces where it stood. Then Cormac said, &quot;The explanation
+thou hast given of this mystery is not true.&quot; Mananan smiled, and said,
+&quot;Nevertheless it must suffice thee, O King, for the truth of this matter
+may not be known, lest the men of art give over the roofing of the house
+and it be covered with common thatch.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So when they had talked their fill, Cormac and his wife and children
+were brought to a chamber where they lay down to sleep. But when they
+woke up on the morrow morn, they found themselves in the Queen's chamber
+in the royal palace of Tara, and by Cormac's side were found the
+bell-branch and the magical cup and the cloth of gold that had covered
+the table where they sat in the palace of Mananan. Seven months it was
+since Cormac had gone out from Tara to search for his wife and children,
+but it seemed to him that he had been absent but for the space of a
+single day and night.</p>
+
+<a name='IX_DESCRIPTION_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>IX</h3><h3>DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC<a name='FNanchor_33_33'></a><a href='#Footnote_33_33'><sup>[33]</sup></a></h3>
+
+
+<p>&quot;A noble and illustrious king assumed the sovranty and rule of Erinn,
+namely Cormac, grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles. The world was
+full of all goodness in his time; there were fruit and fatness of the
+land, and abundant produce of the sea, with peace and ease and
+happiness. There were no killings or plunderings in his time, but
+everyone occupied his land in happiness.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The nobles of Ireland assembled to drink the Banquet of Tara with
+Cormac at a certain time.... Magnificently did Cormac come to this great
+Assembly; for no man, his equal in beauty, had preceded him, excepting
+Conary Mór or Conor son of Caffa, or Angus Óg son of the Dagda.<a name='FNanchor_34_34'></a><a href='#Footnote_34_34'><sup>[34]</sup></a>
+Splendid, indeed, was Cormac's appearance in that Assembly. His hair was
+slightly curled, and of golden colour; a scarlet shield he had, with
+engraved devices, and golden bosses and ridges of silver. A wide-folding
+purple cloak was on him with a gem-set gold brooch over his breast; a
+golden torque round his neck; a white-collared shirt embroidered with
+gold was on him; a girdle with golden buckles and studded with precious
+stones was around him; two golden net-work sandals with golden buckles
+upon his feet; two spears with golden sockets and many red bronze rivets
+in his hand; while he stood in the full glow of beauty, without defect
+or blemish. You would think it was a shower of pearls that was set in
+his mouth, his lips were rubies, his symmetrical body was as white as
+snow, his cheek was ruddy as the berry of the mountain-ash, his eyes
+were like the sloe, his brows and eye-lashes were like the sheen of a
+blue-black lance.&quot;</p>
+
+<a name='X_THE_DEATH_AND_BURIAL_OF_CORMAC'></a><h3>X</h3><h3>THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC</h3>
+
+<p>Strange was the birth and childhood of Cormac strange his life and
+strange the manner of his death and burial, as we now have to narrate.</p>
+
+<p>Cormac, it is said, was the third man in Ireland who heard of the
+Christian Faith before the coming of Patrick. One was Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster, whose druid told him of the crucifixion of Christ and
+who died of that knowledge.<a name='FNanchor_35_35'></a><a href='#Footnote_35_35'><sup>[35]</sup></a> The second was the wise judge, Morann,
+and the third Cormac, son of Art. This knowledge was revealed to him by
+divine illumination, and thenceforth he refused to consult the druids or
+to worship the images which they made as emblems of the Immortal Ones.</p>
+
+<p>One day it happened that Cormac after he had laid down the kingship of
+Ireland, was present when the druids and a concourse of people were
+worshipping the great golden image which was set up in the plain called
+Moy Slaught. When the ceremony was done, the chief druid, whose name was
+Moylann, spoke to Cormac and said: &quot;Why, O Cormac, didst thou not bow
+down and adore the golden image of the god like the rest of the people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And Cormac said: &quot;Never will I worship a stock<a name='FNanchor_36_36'></a><a href='#Footnote_36_36'><sup>[36]</sup></a> that my own carpenter
+has made. Rather would I worship the man that made it, for he is nobler
+than the work of his hands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then it is told that Moylann by magic art caused the image to move and
+leap before the eyes of Cormac. &quot;Seest thou that?&quot; said Moylann.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Although I see,&quot; said Cormac, &quot;I will do no worship save to the God of
+Heaven and Earth and Hell.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Cormac went to his own home at Sletty on the Boyne, for there he
+lived after he had given up the kingdom to his son Cairbry. But the
+druids of Erinn came together and consulted over this matter, and they
+determined solemnly to curse Cormac and invoke the vengeance of their
+gods upon him lest the people should think that any man could despise
+and reject their gods, and suffer no ill for it.</p>
+
+<p>So they cursed Cormac in his flesh and bones, in his waking and
+sleeping, in his down sitting and his uprising, and each day they turned
+over the Wishing Stone upon the altar of their god,<a name='FNanchor_38_37'></a><a href='#Footnote_38_37'><sup>[37]</sup></a> and wove mighty
+spells against his life. And whether it was that these took effect, or
+that the druids prevailed upon some traitorous servant of Cormac's to
+work their will, so it was that he died not long thereafter; and some
+say that he was choked by a fish bone as he sat at meat in his house at
+Sletty on the Boyne.</p>
+
+<p>But when he felt his end approaching, and had still the power to speak,
+he said to those that gathered round his bed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When I am gone I charge you that ye bury me not at Brugh of the Boyne
+where is the royal cemetery of the Kings of Erinn.<a name='FNanchor_39_38'></a><a href='#Footnote_39_38'><sup>[38]</sup></a> For all these
+kings paid adoration to gods of wood or stone, or to the Sun and the
+Elements, whose signs are carved on the walls of their tombs, but I have
+learned to know the One God, immortal, invisible, by whom the earth and
+heavens were made. Soon there will come into Erinn one from the East who
+will declare Him unto us, and then wooden gods and cursing priests shall
+plague us no longer in this land. Bury me then not at Brugh-na-Boyna,
+but on the hither-side of Boyne, at Ross-na-ree, where there is a sunny,
+eastward-sloping hill, there would I await the coming of the sun of
+truth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So spake Cormac, and he died, and there was a very great mourning for
+him in the land. But when the time came for his burial, the princes and
+lords of the Gael vowed that he should lie in Brugh with Art, his
+father, and Conn of the Hundred Battles, and many another king, in the
+great stone chambers of the royal dead. For Ross-na-ree, they said, is
+but a green hill of no note; and Cormac's expectation of the message of
+the new God they took to be but the wanderings of a dying man.</p>
+
+<p>Now Brugh-na-Boyna lay at the farther side of the Boyne from Sletty, and
+near by was a shallow ford where the river could be crossed. But when
+the funeral train came down to the ford, bearing aloft the body of the
+King, lo! the river had risen as though a tempest had burst upon it at
+its far-off sources in the hills, and between them and the farther bank
+was now a broad and foaming flood, and the stakes that marked the ford
+were washed clean away. Even so they made trial of the ford, and thrice
+the bearers waded in and thrice they were forced to turn back lest the
+flood should sweep them down. At length six of the tallest and mightiest
+of the warriors of the High King took up the bier upon their shoulders,
+and strode in. And first the watchers on the bank saw the brown water
+swirl about their knees, and then they sank thigh-deep, and at last it
+foamed against their shoulders, yet still they braced themselves against
+the current, moving forward very slowly as they found foothold among the
+slippery rocks in the river-bed. But when they had almost reached the
+mid-stream it seemed as if a great surge overwhelmed them, and caught
+the bier from their shoulders as they plunged and clutched around it,
+and they must needs make back for the shore as best they could, while
+Boyne swept down the body of Cormac to the sea.</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning, however, shepherds driving their flocks to
+pasture on the hillside of Ross-na-ree found cast upon the shore the
+body of an aged man of noble countenance, half wrapped in a silken pall;
+and knowing not who this might be they dug a grave in the grassy hill,
+and there laid the stranger, and laid the green sods over him again.</p>
+
+<p>There still sleeps Cormac the King, and neither Ogham-lettered stone nor
+sculptured cross marks his solitary grave. But he lies in the place
+where he would be, of which a poet of the Gael in our day has written:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;A tranquil spot: a hopeful sound<br />
+<span class="i2">Comes from the ever-youthful stream,</span>
+And still on daisied mead and mound<br />
+<span class="i2">The dawn delays with tenderer beam.</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;Round Cormac, spring renews her buds:<br />
+<span class="i2">In march perpetual by his side</span>
+Down come the earth-fresh April floods,<br />
+<span class="i2">And up the sea-fresh salmon glide;</span></p>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>&quot;And life and time rejoicing run<br />
+<span class="i2">From age to age their wonted way;</span>
+But still he waits the risen sun,<br />
+<span class="i2">For still 'tis only dawning day.&quot;<a name='FNanchor_40_39'></a><a href='#Footnote_40_39'><sup>[39]</sup></a>
+</span></p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr />
+<a name='Notes_on_the_Sources'></a><h2>Notes on the Sources</h2>
+
+<p><i>The Story of the Children of Lir</i> and <i>The Quest of the Sons of Turenn</i>
+are two of the three famous and popular tales entitled &quot;The Three
+Sorrows of Storytelling.&quot; The third is the <i>Tragedy of the Sons of
+Usna</i>, rendered by Miss Eleanor Hull in her volume CUCHULAIN. I have
+taken the two stories which are given here from the versions in modern
+Irish published by the Society for the Preservation of the Irish
+Language, with notes and translation. Neither of them is found in any
+very early MS., but their subject-matter certainly goes back to very
+primitive times.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Secret of Labra</i> is taken from Keating's FORUS FEASA AR EIRINN,
+edited with translation by the Rev. P.S. Dineen for the Irish Texts
+Society, vol. i. p. 172.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Carving of mac Datho's Boar.</i> This is a clean, fierce, fighting
+story, notable both for its intensely dramatic <i>dénouement</i>, and for the
+complete absence from it of the magical or supernatural element which is
+so common a feature in Gaelic tales. It has been edited and translated
+from one MS. by Dr Kuno Meyer, in <i>Hibernica Minora</i> (ANECDOTA
+OXONIENSIA), 1894, and translated from THE BOOK OF LEINSTER (twelfth
+century) in Leahy's HEROIC ROMANCES.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Vengeance of Mesgedra.</i> This story, as I have given it, is a
+combination of two tales, <i>The Siege of Howth</i> and <i>The Death of King
+Conor</i>. The second really completes the first, though they are not found
+united in Irish literature. Both pieces are given in O'Curry's MS.
+MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, and Miss Hull has printed translations of
+them in her CUCHULLIN SAGA, the translation of the <i>Siege</i> being by Dr
+Whitly Stokes and that of the <i>Death of Conor</i> by O'Curry. These are
+very ancient tales and contain a strong barbaric element. Versions of
+both of them are found in the great MS. collection known as the BOOK OF
+LEINSTER (twelfth century).</p>
+
+<p><i>King Iubdan and King Fergus</i> is a brilliant piece of fairy literature.
+The imaginative grace, the humour, and, at the close, the tragic dignity
+of this tale make it worthy of being much more widely known than it has
+yet become. The original, taken from one of the Egerton MSS. in the
+British Museum, will be found with a translation in O'Grady's SILVA
+GADELICA. For the conclusion, I have in the main followed another
+version (containing the death of Fergus only), given in the SEANCUS MOR
+and finely versified by Sir Samuel Ferguson in his POEMS, 1880.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Story of Etain and Midir.</i> This beautiful and very ancient romance
+is extant in two distinct versions, both of which are translated by Mr
+A.H. Leahy in his HEROIC ROMANCES. The tale is found in several MSS.,
+among others, in the twelfth century BOOK OF THE DUN COW (LEABHAR NA
+H-UIDHRE). It has been recently made the subject of a dramatic poem by
+&quot;Fiona Macleod.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>How Ethne quitted Fairyland</i> is taken from D'Arbois de Jubainville's
+CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS, ch. xii. 4. The original is to be found in
+the fifteenth century MS., entitled THE BOOK OF FERMOY.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Boyhood of Finn</i> is based chiefly on the MACGNIOMHARTHA FHINN,
+published in 1856, with a translation, in the <i>TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY</i>, vol. iv. I am also indebted, particularly for the
+translation of the difficult <i>Song of Finn in Praise of May</i>, to Dr Kuno
+Meyer's translation published in <i>Ériu</i> (the Journal of the School of
+Irish Learning), vol. i. pt. 2.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Coming of Finn</i>, <i>Finns Chief Men</i>, the <i>Tale of Vivionn</i> and <i>The
+Chase of the Gilla Dacar</i>, are all handfuls from that rich mine of
+Gaelic literature, Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. In the
+<i>Gilla Dacar</i> I have modified the second half of the story rather
+freely. It appears to have been originally an example of a well-known
+class of folk-tales dealing with the subject of the Rescue of Fairyland.
+The same motive occurs in the famous tale called <i>The Sickbed of
+Cuchulain</i>. The idea is that some fairy potentate, whose realm is
+invaded and oppressed, entices a mortal champion to come to his aid and
+rewards him with magical gifts. But the eighteenth century narrator
+whose MS. was edited by Mr S.H. O'Grady, apparently had not the clue to
+the real meaning of his material, and after going on brilliantly up to
+the point where Dermot plunges into the magic well, he becomes
+incoherent, and the rest of the tale is merely a string of episodes
+having no particular connexion with each other or with the central
+theme. The latter I have here endeavoured to restore to view. The
+<i>Gilla Dacar</i> is given from another Gaelic version by Dr P.W. Joyce
+in his invaluable book, OLD CELTIC ROMANCES.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Birth of Oisín</i> I have found in Patrick Kennedy's LEGENDARY
+FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. I do not know the Gaelic original.</p>
+
+<p><i>Oisín in the Land of Youth</i> is based, as regards the outlines of this
+remarkable story, on the LAOI OISÍN AR TIR NA N-ÓG, written by Michael
+Comyn about 1750, and edited with a translation by Thomas Flannery in
+1896 (Gill &amp; Son, Dublin). Comyn's poem was almost certainly based on
+earlier traditional sources, either oral or written or both, but these
+have not hitherto been discovered.</p>
+
+<p><i>The History of King Cormac.</i> The story of the birth of Cormac and his
+coming into his kingdom is to be found in SILVA GADELICA, where it is
+edited from THE BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, an MS. dating from about the year
+1400.</p>
+
+<p>The charming tale, of his marriage with Ethne ni Dunlaing is taken from
+Keating's FORUS FEASA. From this source also I have taken the tales of
+the Brehon Flahari, of Kiernit and the mill, and of Cormac's death and
+burial. The <i>Instructions of Cormac</i> have been edited and translated by
+Dr Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture Series of the Royal Irish Academy,
+xiv., April 1909. They are found in numerous MSS., and their date is
+fixed by Dr Meyer about the ninth century. With some other Irish matter
+of the same description they constitute, says Mr Alfred Nutt, &quot;the
+oldest body of gnomic wisdom&quot; extant in any European vernacular.
+(<i>FOLK-LORE</i>, Sept. 30, 1909.)</p>
+
+<p>The story of Cormac's adventures in Fairyland has been published with a
+translation by Standish Hayes O'Grady in the <i>TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY</i>, vol. iii., and is also given very fully by d'Arbois
+de Jubainvilie in his CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS. The tale is found,
+among other MSS., in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, but is known to have been
+extant at least as early as the tenth century, since in that year it
+figures in a list of Gaelic tales drawn up by the historian Tierna.</p>
+
+<p>The ingenious story of the <i>Judgment concerning Cormac's Sword</i> is found
+in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, and is printed with a translation by Dr Whitly
+Stokes in <i>IRISCHE TEXTE</i>, iii. Serie, 7 Heft, 1891.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<a name='Pronouncing_Index'></a><h2><i>Pronouncing Index</i></h2>
+
+<p>The correct pronunciation of Gaelic proper names can only be learned
+from the living voice. It cannot be accurately represented by any
+combination of letters from the English alphabet. I have spared the
+reader as much trouble as possible on this score by simplifying, as far
+as I could, the forms of the names occurring in the text, and if the
+reader will note the following general rules, he will get quite as near
+to the pronunciation intended as there is any necessity for him to do. A
+few names which might present some unusual difficulty are given with
+their approximate English pronunciations in the Index.</p>
+
+<p>The chief rule to observe is that vowels are pronounced as in the
+Continental languages, not according to the custom peculiar to England.
+Thus <i>a</i> is like <i>a</i> in <i>father</i>, never like <i>a</i> in <i>fate, I</i>(when long)
+is like <i>ee</i>, <i>u</i> like <i>oo</i>, or like <i>u</i> in <i>put</i> (never like <i>u</i> in
+<i>tune</i>). An accent implies length, thus <i>Dún</i>, a fortress or mansion, is
+pronounced <i>Doon</i>. The letters <i>ch</i> are never to be pronounced with a
+<i>t</i> sound, as in the word <i>chip</i>, but like a rough <i>h</i> or a softened
+<i>k</i>, rather as in German. <i>Gh</i> is silent as in English, and <i>g</i> is
+always hard, as in <i>give</i>. <i>C</i> is always as <i>k</i>, never as <i>s</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the following Index an accent placed after a syllable indicates that
+the stress is to be laid on that syllable. Only those words are given,
+the pronunciation of which is not easily ascertainable by attention to
+the foregoing rules.</p>
+
+<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="4" summary="">
+<colgroup span="3"><col align="left"><col align="center"><col align="left"></colgroup>
+<tr><td></td><th>INDEX</th></tr>
+<tr><td>&AElig;da</td><td>is to be pronounced</td><td>Ee'-da. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Ailill</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Al'-yill. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Anluan</td><td>&quot;</td><td>An'-looan. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Aoife</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Ee'-fa. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bacarach</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Bac'-ara<i>h</i>. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Belachgowran</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Bel'-a<i>h</i>-gow'-ran. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cearnach</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Kar'-na<i>h</i>. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cuchulain</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Coo-<i>h</i>oo'-lin. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cumhal</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Coo'wal, Cool. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Dacar</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Dak'-ker. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Derryvaragh</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Derry-var'-a. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Eisirt</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Eye'sert. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Eochy</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Yeo'<i>h</i>ee. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Fiachra</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fee'-a<i>k</i>ra </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Fianna</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fee'-anna. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Finegas</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fin'-egas. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Fionnuala</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fee-on-oo'-ala, shortened in modern Irish into Fino'-la</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Flahari</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Fla'-haree. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Iorroway</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Yor'-oway. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Iubdan</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Youb'-dan. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Iuchar</td><td>&quot;</td><td>You'-<i>h</i>ar. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Iucharba</td><td>&quot;</td><td>You-<i>h</i>ar'-ba .</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Liagan</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Lee'-agan. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lir</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Leer </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Logary</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Lo'-garee</td><td></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Maev</td><td>&quot;</td><td>rhyming to <i>wave</i>. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mananan</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Man'-anan. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mesgedra</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Mes-ged'-ra. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Midir</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Mid'-eer. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mochaen</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Mo-<i>h</i>ain'. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Mochaovóg</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Mo-<i>h</i>wee'-vogue. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Moonremur</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Moon'-ray-mur. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Oisín</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Ush'-een (Ossian) </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Peisear</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Pye'-sar. </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Sceolaun</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Ske-o'-lawn (the <i>e</i> very short). </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Slievenamuck</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Sleeve-na-muck' </td></tr>
+<tr><td>Slievenamon</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Sleeve-na-mon' </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Tuish</td><td>&quot;</td><td>Too'-ish. </td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<a name='FOOTNOTES'></a><h3>FOOTNOTES</h3>
+
+<a name='Footnote_1_1'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_1'>[1]</a><div class='note'><p> CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER. By Eleanor Hull.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_2'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_2'>[2]</a><div class='note'><p> There is one important tale of the Finn cycle, the <i>Pursuit
+of Dermot and Grania</i>, which I have not included. I have omitted it,
+partly because it presents the character of Finn in a light inconsistent
+with what is said of him elsewhere, and partly because it has in it a
+certain sinister and depressing element which renders it unsuitable for
+a collection intended largely for the young.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_3_3'></a><a href='#FNanchor_3_3'>[3]</a><div class='note'><p> I gave this book&mdash;<i>The History of Ireland</i> (HEROIC PERIOD)&mdash;to
+Burne-Jones in order to interest him in Irish myth and legend. &quot;I'll
+try and read it,&quot; he said. A week afterwards he came and said&mdash;It
+is a new world of thought and pleasure you have opened to me.
+I knew nothing of this, and life is quite enlarged. But now, I want
+to see all the originals. Where can I get them?&quot;
+</p><p>
+I have only spoken of prose writing above. But in poetry (and in
+Poetry well fitted to the tales), this work had already been done
+nobly, and with a fine Celtic splendour of feeling and expression, by
+Sir Samuel Ferguson.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_4_4'></a><a href='#FNanchor_4_4'>[4]</a><div class='note'><p> I speak here of the better known of the two versions of this
+encounter of the pagan with the Christian spirit. There are others
+in which the reconciliation is carried still further. One example is to
+be found in the <i>Colloquy of the Ancients</i> (SILVA GADELICA). Here
+Finn and his companions are explicitly pronounced to be saved by
+their natural virtues, and the relations of the Church and the Fenian
+warriors are most friendly.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_5_5'></a><a href='#FNanchor_5_5'>[5]</a><div class='note'><p> Everything, on the contrary, in the Mythological Cycle is
+gifted with life, all the doings and things of nature are represented as
+the work of living creatures; but it is quite possible that those in
+Ireland who made these myths were not Celts at all.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_6_6'></a><a href='#FNanchor_6_6'>[6]</a><div class='note'><p> I give one example of the way colour was laid on to animals
+just for the pleasure of it. &quot;And the eagle and cranes were red with
+green heads, and their eggs were pure crimson and blue&quot;; and deep
+in the wood the travellers found &quot;strange birds with white bodies and
+purple heads and golden beaks,&quot; and afterwards three great birds,
+&quot;one blue and his head crimson, and another crimson and his head
+green, and another speckled and his head gold.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_7_7'></a><a href='#FNanchor_7_7'>[7]</a><div class='note'><p> This word is pronounced Shee, and means &quot;the folk of the fairy
+mounds.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_8_8'></a><a href='#FNanchor_8_8'>[8]</a><div class='note'><p> This is quoted with a few omissions, from Lady Gregory's
+delightful version, in her <i>Book of Saints and Wonders</i>, of an episode
+in <i>The Colloquy of the Ancients</i> (Silva Gadelica).</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_9_9'></a><a href='#FNanchor_9_9'>[9]</a><div class='note'><p> Pronounced Eefa.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_10_10'></a><a href='#FNanchor_10_10'>[10]</a><div class='note'><p> Scotland. Inishglory is an island in the Bay of Erris, on the
+Mayo coast.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_11_11'></a><a href='#FNanchor_11_11'>[11]</a><div class='note'><p> A magic banquet which had the effect of preserving for ever
+the youth of the People of Dana.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_12_12'></a><a href='#FNanchor_12_12'>[12]</a><div class='note'><p> Pronounced Mo-chweev-ogue.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_13_13'></a><a href='#FNanchor_13_13'>[13]</a><div class='note'><p> See p. 133, <i>note</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_14_14'></a><a href='#FNanchor_14_14'>[14]</a><div class='note'><p> Ballysodare = the Town of the Falls of Dara, in Co. Sligo.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_15_15'></a><a href='#FNanchor_15_15'>[15]</a><div class='note'><p> Dundalk.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_16_16'></a><a href='#FNanchor_16_16'>[16]</a><div class='note'><p> Blood-fine.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_17_17'></a><a href='#FNanchor_17_17'>[17]</a><div class='note'><p> The Hill of Howth.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_18_18'></a><a href='#FNanchor_18_18'>[18]</a><div class='note'><p> Cluan Tarbh, Clontarf; so called from the roaring of the
+waves on the strand.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_19_19'></a><a href='#FNanchor_19_19'>[19]</a><div class='note'><p> The ancient royal residence of Ulster, near to the present
+town of Armagh.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_20_20'></a><a href='#FNanchor_20_20'>[20]</a><div class='note'><p> I am much indebted to the beautiful prose translation of
+this song, published by Dr Kuno Meyer in <i>Ériu</i> (the Journal of the
+School of Irish Learning), Vol. I. Part II. In my poetic version an
+attempt has been made to render the riming and metrical effect of the
+original, which is believed to date from about the ninth century.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_21_21'></a><a href='#FNanchor_21_21'>[21]</a><div class='note'><p> The hill still bears the name, Knockanar.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_22_22'></a><a href='#FNanchor_22_22'>[22]</a><div class='note'><p> I have in the main borrowed Standish Hayes O'Grady's vivid
+and racy translation of these adages of the Fianna. (SILVA GADELICA,
+Engl. transl., p. 115.)</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_23_23'></a><a href='#FNanchor_23_23'>[23]</a><div class='note'><p> Ogham-craobh = &quot;branching Ogham,&quot; so called because the
+letters resembled the branching of twigs from a stem. The Ogham alphabet
+was in use in Ireland in pre-Christian times, and many sepulchral
+inscriptions in it still remain.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_24_24'></a><a href='#FNanchor_24_24'>[24]</a><div class='note'><p> Glanismole, near Dublin.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_25_25'></a><a href='#FNanchor_25_25'>[25]</a><div class='note'><p> Talkenn or &quot;Adze-head&quot; was a name given to St Patrick by the
+Irish. Probably it referred to the shape of his tonsure.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_26_26'></a><a href='#FNanchor_26_26'>[26]</a><div class='note'><p> Woad is a cruciferous plant, <i>Isatis tinctoria</i>, used
+for dyeing.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_27_27'></a><a href='#FNanchor_27_27'>[27]</a><div class='note'><p> Pronounced Bweé-cad. His name is said to be preserved
+in the townland of Dunboyke, near Blessington, Co. Wicklow.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_28_28'></a><a href='#FNanchor_28_28'>[28]</a><div class='note'><p> <i>The Instructions of Cormac</i> (Tecosa Cormaic) have been
+edited with a translation by Dr. Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture Series
+of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xv., April 1909.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_29_29'></a><a href='#FNanchor_29_29'>[29]</a><div class='note'><p> Scotland.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_30_30'></a><a href='#FNanchor_30_30'>[30]</a><div class='note'><p> Pronounced Fla'-haree&mdash;accent on the first syllable.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_31_31'></a><a href='#FNanchor_31_31'>[31]</a><div class='note'><p> The institution of fosterage, by which the children of kings
+and lords were given to trusted persons among their friends or followers
+to bring up and educate, was a marked feature of social life in ancient
+Ireland, and the bonds of affection and loyalty between such foster-parents
+and their children were held peculiarly sacred.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_32_32'></a><a href='#FNanchor_32_32'>[32]</a><div class='note'><p>
+See Miss Hull's CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER, p. 175.
+The pair were Mananan, god of the sea, and Fand his wife, of
+whom a tale of great interest is told in the Cuchulain Cycle of legends.
+The sea-cloak of Mananan is the subject of a magnificent piece of
+descriptive poetry in Ferguson's CONGAL.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_33_33'></a><a href='#FNanchor_33_33'>[33]</a><div class='note'><p>
+The original from the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE (14th century) is given
+in O'Curry's MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, Appendix xxvi. I
+have in the main followed O'Curry's translation.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_34_34'></a><a href='#FNanchor_34_34'>[34]</a><div class='note'><p>
+Angus Óg was really a deity or fairy king. He appears also in
+the story of Midir and Etain. <i>q.v.</i></p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_35_35'></a><a href='#FNanchor_35_35'>[35]</a><div class='note'><p> See the conclusion of the <i>Vengeance of Mesgedra</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_36_36'></a><a href='#FNanchor_36_36'>[36]</a><div class='note'><p> The image was doubtless of wood overlaid with gold.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_38_37'></a><a href='#FNanchor_38_37'>[37]</a><div class='note'><p> There are still Wishing Stones, which are used in connexion
+with petitions for good or ill, on the ancient altars of Inishmurray and
+of Caher Island, and possibly other places on the west coast of Ireland.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_39_38'></a><a href='#FNanchor_39_38'>[38]</a><div class='note'><p> This famous cemetery of the kings of pagan Ireland lies on
+the north bank of the Boyne and consists of a number of sepulchral
+mounds, sometimes of great extent, containing, in their interior, stone
+walled chambers decorated with symbolic and ornamental carvings.
+The chief of these mounds, now known as Newgrange, has been explored
+and described by Mr George Coffey in his valuable work NEWGRANGE,
+published by the Royal Irish Academy. <i>Brugh</i>=mansion.</p></div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_40_39'></a><a href='#FNanchor_40_39'>[39]</a><div class='note'><p> These lines are taken from Sir S. Ferguson's noble poem,
+<i>The Burial of King Cormac</i>, from which I have also borrowed some of
+the details of the foregoing narrative.</p></div>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic
+Romances of Ancient Ireland, by T. W. Rolleston, et al, Illustrated by
+Stephen Reid
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland
+
+Author: T. W. Rolleston
+
+Release Date: January 21, 2005  [eBook #14749]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN AND OTHER
+BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Bethanne M. Simms-Troester, and the Project
+Gutenbert Online Distributed Proofreading Team (www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original lovely illustrations.
+      See 14749-h.htm or 14749-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/4/14749/14749-h/14749-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/4/14749/14749-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND
+
+by
+
+T. W. ROLLESTON
+
+With an Introduction by Stopford A. Brooke, M.A. LL.D.
+
+And with Sixteen Illustrations by Stephen Reid
+
+New York
+Thomas Y. Crowell & Company
+Publishers
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AR
+CRAOIBH CONNARTHA NA GAEDHILGE
+I NGLEANN FHAIDHLE BRONNAIM AN LEABHAR SEO:
+BEANNACHT AGUS BUAIDH
+LIBHSE GO DEO
+
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+The romantic tales here retold for the English reader belong neither
+to the category of folk-lore nor of myth, although most of them
+contain elements of both. They belong, like the tales of Cuchulain,
+which have been similarly presented by Miss Hull,[1] to the bardic
+literature of ancient Ireland, a literature written with an artistic
+purpose by men who possessed in the highest degree the native culture
+of their land and time. The aim with which these men wrote is also
+that which has been adopted by their present interpreter. I have not
+tried, in this volume, to offer to the scholar materials for the study
+of Celtic myth or folk-lore. My aim, however I may have fulfilled it,
+has been artistic, not scientific. I have tried, while carefully
+preserving the main outline of each story, to treat it exactly as the
+ancient bard treated his own material, or as Tennyson treated the
+stories of the MORT D'ARTHUR, that is to say, to present it as a fresh
+work of poetic imagination. In some cases, as in the story of the
+Children of Lir, or that of mac Datho's Boar, or the enchanting tale
+of King Iubdan and King Fergus, I have done little more than retell
+the bardic legend with merely a little compression; but in others a
+certain amount of reshaping has seemed desirable. The object in all
+cases has been the same, to bring out as clearly as possible for
+modern readers the beauty and interest which are either manifest or
+implicit in the Gaelic original.
+
+   [1] CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER. By Eleanor Hull.
+
+For stories which are only found in MSS. written in the older forms of
+the language, I have been largely indebted to the translations
+published by various scholars. Chief among these (so far as the
+present work is concerned) must be named Mr Standish Hayes
+O'Grady--whose wonderful treasure-house of Gaelic legend, SILVA
+GADELICA, can never be mentioned by the student of these matters
+without an expression of admiration and of gratitude; Mr A.H. Leahy,
+author of HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND; Dr Whitly Stokes, Professor Kuno
+Meyer, and M. d'Arbois de Jubainville, whose invaluable CYCLE
+MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS has been much in my hands, both in the original
+and in the excellent English translation of Mr R.I. Best. Particulars
+of the source of each story will be found in the Notes on the Sources
+at the end of this volume. In the same place will also be found a
+pronouncing-index of proper names. I have endeavoured, in the text, to
+avoid or to modify any names which in their original form would baffle
+the English reader, but there remain some on the pronunciation of
+which he may be glad to have a little light.
+
+The two most conspicuous figures in ancient Irish legend are
+Cuchulain, who lived--if he has any historical reality--in the reign
+of Conor mac Nessa immediately before the Christian era, and Finn son
+of Cumhal, who appears in literature as the captain of a kind of
+military order devoted to the service of the High King of Ireland
+during the third century A.D. Miss Hull's volume has been named after
+Cuchulain, and it is appropriate that mine should bear the name of
+Finn, as it is mainly devoted to his period; though, as will be seen,
+several stories belonging to other cycles of legend, which did not
+fall within the scope of Miss Hull's work, have been included here.[2]
+All the tales have been arranged roughly in chronological order. This
+does not mean according to the date of their composition, which in
+most cases is quite indiscoverable, and still less, according to the
+dates of the MSS. in which they are contained. The order is given by
+the position, in real or mythical history, of the events they deal
+with. Of course it is not practicable to dovetail them into one
+another with perfect accuracy. Where a story, like that of the
+Children of Lir, extends over nearly a thousand years, beginning with
+the mythical People of Dana and ending in the period of Christian
+monasticism, one can only decide on its place by considering where it
+will throw most light on those which come nearest to it. In this, as
+in the selection and treatment of the tales, there is of course room
+for much difference of opinion. I can only ask the critic to believe
+that nothing has been done in the framing of this collection of Gaelic
+romances without the consideration and care which the value of the
+material demands and which the writer's love of it has inspired.
+
+T.W. ROLLESTON
+
+   [2] There is one important tale of the Finn cycle, the _Pursuit
+   of Dermot and Grania_, which I have not included. I have
+   omitted it, partly because it presents the character of Finn in
+   a light inconsistent with what is said of him elsewhere, and
+   partly because it has in it a certain sinister and depressing
+   element which renders it unsuitable for a collection intended
+   largely for the young.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+   INTRODUCTION
+
+      COIS NA TEINEADH
+
+
+   BARDIC ROMANCES
+
+         I. THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN OF LIR
+
+        II. THE QUEST OF THE SONS OF TURENN
+
+       III. THE SECRET OF LABRA
+
+        IV. KING IUBDAN AND KING FERGUS
+
+         V. THE CARVING OF MAC DATHO'S BOAR
+
+        VI. THE VENGEANCE OF MESGEDRA
+
+       VII. THE STORY OF ETAIN AND MIDIR
+
+      VIII. HOW ETHNE QUITTED FAIRYLAND
+
+
+   THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+        IX. THE BOYHOOD OF FINN MAC CUMHAL
+
+         X. THE COMING OF FINN
+
+        XI. FINN'S CHIEF MEN
+
+       XII. THE TALE OF VIVIONN THE GIANTESS
+
+      XIII. THE CHASE OF THE GILLA DACAR
+
+       XIV. THE BIRTH OF OIS�N
+
+        XV. OIS�N IN THE LAND OF YOUTH
+
+
+   THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC
+
+       XVI. 1. THE BIRTH OF CORMAC
+
+            2. THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC
+
+            3. THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC
+
+            4. THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING
+
+            5. CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN
+
+            6. A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON
+
+            7. THE JUDGMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD
+
+            8. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC
+
+            9. DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC
+
+           10. DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC
+
+
+   NOTES ON THE SOURCES
+
+   PRONOUNCING INDEX
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+   "FINN HEARD FAR OFF THE FIRST NOTES OF THE FAIRY HARP" (Frontispiece)
+
+   "THERE SAT THE THREE MAIDENS WITH THE QUEEN"
+
+   "THEY MADE AN ENCAMPMENT AND THE SWANS SANG TO THEM"
+
+   "BEAR US SWIFTLY, BOAT OF MANANAN, TO THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES"
+
+   "THERE DWELT THE RED-HAIRED OCEAN-NYMPHS"
+
+   "THEY ALL TROOPED OUT, LORDS AND LADIES, TO VIEW THE WEE MAN"
+
+   "FERGUS GOES DOWN INTO THE LAKE"
+
+   "A MIGHTY SHOUT OF EXULTATION AROSE FROM THE ULSTERMEN"
+
+   "THEY ROSE UP IN THE AIR"
+
+   "SHE HEARD HER OWN NAME CALLED AGAIN AND AGAIN"
+
+   "AND THAT NIGHT THERE WAS FEASTING AND JOY IN THE LONELY HUT"
+
+   "THEY RAN HIM BY HILL AND PLAIN"
+
+   "DERMOT TOOK THE HORN AND WOULD HAVE FILLED IT"
+
+   "'FOLLOW ME NOW TO THE HILL OF ALLEN'"
+
+   "THEY RODE UP TO A STATELY PALACE"
+
+   "THE WHITE STEED HAD VANISHED FROM THEIR EYES LIKE A WREATH OF MIST"
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+Many years have passed by since, delivering the Inaugural Lecture of
+the Irish Literary Society in London, I advocated as one of its chief
+aims the recasting into modern form and in literary English of the old
+Irish legends, preserving the atmosphere of the original tales as much
+as possible, but clearing them from repetitions, redundant
+expressions, idioms interesting in Irish but repellent in English,
+and, above all, from absurdities, such as the sensational fancy of the
+later editors and bards added to the simplicities of the original
+tales.
+
+Long before I spoke of this, it had been done by P.W. Joyce in his OLD
+CELTIC ROMANCES, and by Standish O'Grady for the whole story of
+Cuchulain, but in this case with so large an imitation of the Homeric
+manner that the Celtic spirit of the story was in danger of being
+lost. This was the fault I had to find with that inspiring book,[3]
+but it was a fault which had its own attraction.
+
+   [3] I gave this book--_The History of Ireland_ (HEROIC
+   PERIOD)--to Burne-Jones in order to interest him in Irish myth
+   and legend. "I'll try and read it," he said. A week afterwards
+   he came and said--"It is a new world of thought and pleasure
+   you have opened to me. I knew nothing of this, and life is
+   quite enlarged. But now, I want to see all the originals. Where
+   can I get them?"
+
+I have only spoken of prose writing above. But in poetry (and in
+Poetry well fitted to the tales), this work had already been done
+nobly, and with a fine Celtic splendour of feeling and expression, by
+Sir Samuel Ferguson.
+
+Since then, a number of writers have translated into literary English
+a host of the Irish tales, and have done this with a just reverence
+for their originals. Being, in nearly every case, Irish themselves,
+they have tried, with varying success, to make their readers realize
+the wild scenery of Ireland, her vital union with the sea and the
+great ocean to the West, those changing dramatic skies, that mystic
+weather, the wizard woods and streams which form the constant
+background of these stories; nor have they failed to allure their
+listeners to breathe the spiritual air of Ireland, to feel its
+pathetic, heroic, imaginative thrill.
+
+They have largely succeeded in their effort. The Irish bardic tales
+have now become a part of English literature and belong not only to
+grown up persons interested in early poetry, in mythology and
+folk-customs, but to the children of Ireland and England. Our new
+imaginative stories are now told in nurseries, listened to at evening
+when the children assemble in the fire-light to hear tales from their
+parents, and eagerly read by boys at school. A fresh world of
+story-telling has been opened to the imagination of the young.
+
+This could not have been done in the right way if it had not been for
+the previous work of Celtic scholars in Ireland, and particularly on
+the Continent, in France and Germany. Having mastered medieval Irish,
+they have translated with careful accuracy many of the ancient tales,
+omitting and changing nothing; they have edited them critically,
+collating and comparing them with one another, and with other forms of
+the same stories. We have now in English, French, and German the exact
+representation of the originals with exhaustive commentaries.
+
+When this necessary work was finished--and it was absolutely
+necessary--it had two important results on all work of the kind Mr
+Rolleston has performed in this book--on the imaginative recasting and
+modernizing of the ancient tales. First, it made it lawful and easy
+for the modern artist--in sculpture, painting, poetry, or imaginative
+prose--to use the stories as he pleased in order to give pleasure to
+the modern world. It made it lawful because he could reply to those
+who objected that what he produced was not the real thing--"The real
+thing exists; you will find it, when you wish to see it, accurately
+and closely translated by critical and competent scholars. I refer you
+to the originals in the notes to this book. I have found the materials
+of my stories in these originals; and it is quite lawful for me, now
+that they have been reverently preserved, to use them as I please for
+the purpose of giving pleasure to the modern world--to make out of
+them fresh imaginative work, as the medieval writers did out of the
+original stories of Arthur and his men." This is the defence any
+re-caster of the ancient tales might make of the _lawfulness_ of his
+work, and it is a just defence; having, above all, this use--that it
+leaves the imagination of the modern artist free, yet within
+recognized and ruling limits, to play in and around his subject.
+
+One of those limits is the preservation, in any remodelling of the
+tales, of the Celtic atmosphere. To tell the Irish stories in the
+manner of Homer or Apuleius, in the manner of the Norse sagas, or in
+the manner of Malory, would be to lose their very nature, their soul,
+their nationality. We should no longer understand the men and women
+who fought and loved in Ireland, and whose characters were moulded by
+Irish surroundings, customs, thoughts, and passions. We should not see
+or feel the landscape of Ireland or its skies, the streams, the woods,
+the animals and birds, the mountain solitudes, as we feel and see
+them in the original tales. We should not hear, as we hear in their
+first form, the stormy seas between Scotland and Antrim, or the great
+waves which roar on the western isles, and beat on cliffs which still
+belong to another world than ours. The genius of Ireland would desert
+our work.
+
+And it would be a vast pity to lose the Irish atmosphere in the
+telling of the Irish tales, because it is unique; not only distinct
+from that of the stories of other races, but from that of the other
+branches of the Celtic race. It differs from the atmosphere of the
+stories of Wales, of Brittany, of the Highlands and islands of
+Scotland. It is more purely Celtic, less mixed than any of them. A
+hundred touches in feeling, in ways of thought, in sensitiveness to
+beauty, in war and voyaging, and in ideals of life, separate it from
+that of the other Celtic races.
+
+It is owing to the careful, accurate, and critical work of continental
+and Irish scholars on the manuscript materials of Irish Law, History,
+Bardic Tales, and Poetry; on customs, dress, furniture, architecture,
+ornament, on hunting and sailing; on the manners of men and women in
+war and peace, that the modern re-teller of the Irish tales is enabled
+to conserve the Irish atmosphere. And this conservation of the special
+Irish atmosphere is the second result which the work of the critical
+scholars has established. If the re-writer of the tales does not use
+the immense materials made ready to his hand for illustration,
+expansion, ornament and description in such a way that Ireland, and
+only Ireland, lives in his work from line to line, he is greatly to be
+blamed.
+
+Mr Rolleston has fulfilled these conditions with the skill and the
+feeling of an artist. He has clung closely to his originals with an
+affectionate regard for their ancientry, their ardour and their
+distinction, and yet has, within this limit, used and modified them
+with a pleasant freedom. His love of Ireland has instilled into his
+representation of these tales a passion akin to that which gave them
+birth. We feel, as we read, how deep his sympathy has been with their
+intensity, their love of wild nature, their desire for beauty, their
+interest in humanity and in character, their savagery and their
+tenderness, their fairy magic and strange imaginations that suddenly
+surprise and charm. Whenever anything lovely emerges in the tale, he
+does not draw attention to it, but touches it with so artistic a
+pencil that its loveliness is enhanced. And he has put into English
+verse the Irish poems scattered through the tales with the skill and
+the temper of a poet. I hope his book will win what it deserves--the
+glad appreciation of old and young in England, and the gratitude of
+Ireland.
+
+The stories told in this book belong to three distinct cycles of Irish
+story-telling. The first are mythological, and are concerned with the
+early races that are fabled to have dwelt and fought in Ireland Among
+these the Tuatha De Danaan were the final conquerors, and held the
+land for two hundred years They were, it is supposed, of the Celtic
+stock, but they were not the ancestors of the present Irish. These
+were the Milesians (Irish, Scots or Gaelic who, conquering the Tuatha
+De Danaan, ruled Ireland till they were overcome by the English.) The
+stories which have to do with the Tuatha De Danaan are mythical and of
+a great antiquity concerning men and women, the wisest and the best of
+whom became gods, and who appear as divine beings in the cycle of
+tales which follow after them They were always at war with a fierce
+and savage people called Fomorians, whom they finally defeated and the
+strife between them may mythically represent the ancient war between
+the good and evil principles in the world.
+
+In the next cycle we draw nearer to history, and are in the world not
+of myth but of legend. It is possible that some true history may be
+hidden underneath its sagas, that some of its personages may be
+historical, but we cannot tell. The events are supposed to occur about
+the time of the birth of Christ, and seventeen hundred years after
+those of the mythical period. This is the cycle which collects its
+wars and sorrows and splendours around the dominating figure of
+Cuchulain, and is called the Heroic or the Red Branch or the Ultonian
+cycle. Several sagas tell of the birth, the life, and the death of
+Cuchulain, and among them is the longest and the most important--the
+T�in--the _Cattle Raid of Cooley_.
+
+Others are concerned with the great King Conor mac Nessa, and the most
+known and beautiful of these is the sorrowful tale of Deirdr�. There
+are many others of the various heroes and noble women who belonged to
+the courts of Conor and of his enemy Queen Maev of Connaght. The
+_Carving of mac Datho's Boar_, the story of _Etain and Midir_, and the
+_Vengeance of Mesgedra_, contained in this book belong to these
+miscellaneous tales unconnected with the main saga of Cuchulain.
+
+The second cycle is linked to the first, not by history or race, but
+by the fact that the great personages in the first have now become the
+gods who intervene in the affairs of the wars and heroes of the
+second. They take part in them as the gods do in the Iliad and the
+Odyssey. Lugh, the Long-Handed, the great Counsellor of the Tuatha De
+Danaan, is now a god, and is the real father of Cuchulain, heals him
+of his wounds in the Battle of the Ford, warns him of his coming
+death, and receives him into the immortal land. The Morrigan, who
+descends from the first cycle, is now the goddess of war, and is at
+first the enemy and afterwards the lover of Cuchulain. Angus, The
+Dagda, Mananan the sea-god, enter not only into the sagas of the
+second cycle, but into those of the third, of the cycle of Finn. And
+all along to the very end of the stories, and down indeed to the
+present day, the Tuatha De Danaan appear in various forms, slowly
+lessening in dignity and power, until they end in the fairy folk in
+whom the Irish peasants still believe. They are alive and still
+powerful in the third--the Fenian--cycle of stories, some of which are
+contained and adorned in this book. In their continued presence is the
+only connexion which exists between the three cycles. No personages of
+the first save these of the gods appear in the Heroic cycle, none of
+the Heroic cycle appears in the Fenian cycle. Seventeen hundred years,
+according to Irish annalists, separate the first from the second, more
+than two hundred years separate the second from the beginning of the
+third.
+
+The third cycle is called Fenian because its legends tell, for the
+most part, of the great deeds of the F�ni or Fianna, who were the
+militia employed by the High King to support his supremacy, to keep
+Ireland in order, to defend the country from foreign invasion. They
+were, it seems, finally organized by Cormac mac Art, 227 A.D.(?) the
+grandson of Conn the Hundred Fighter. But they had loosely existed
+before in the time of Conn and his son Art, and like all mercenary
+bodies of this kind were sometimes at war with the kings who employed
+them. Finally, at the battle of Gowra, they and their power were quite
+destroyed. Long before this destruction, they were led in the reign
+of Cormac by Finn the son of Cumhal, and it is around Finn and Ois�n
+the son of Finn, that most of the romances of the Fenian cycle are
+gathered. Others which tell of the battles and deeds of Conn and Art
+and Cormac and Cairbre of the Liffey, Cormac's son, are more or less
+linked on to the Fenians. On the whole, Finn and his warriors, each of
+a distinct character, warlike skill and renown, are the main
+personages of the cycle, and though Finn is not the greatest warrior,
+he is their head and master because he is the wisest; and this
+masterdom by knowledge is for the first time an element in Irish
+stories.
+
+If the tales of the first cycle are mythological and of the second
+heroic, these are romantic. The gods have lost their dreadful, even
+their savage character, and have become the Fairies, full often of
+gentleness, grace, and humour. The mysterious dwelling places of the
+gods in the sea, in unknown lands, in the wandering air, are now in
+palaces under the green hills of Ireland, or by the banks of swift
+clear rivers, like the palace of Angus near the Boyne, or across the
+seas in Tir-na-n-�g, the land of immortal youth, whither Niam brings
+Ois�n to live with her in love, as Morgan le Fay brought Ogier the
+Dane to her fairyland. The land of the Immortals in the heroic cycle,
+to which, in the story of _Etain and Midir_ in this book, Midir brings
+back Etain after she has sojourned for a time on earth, is quite
+different in conception from the Land of Youth over the far seas where
+delightfulness of life and love is perfect. This, in its conception of
+an unknown world where is immortal youth, where stormless skies, happy
+hunting, strange adventure, gentle manners dwell, where love is free
+and time is unmarked, is pure romance. So are the adventures of Finn
+against enchanters, as in the story of the _Birth of Ois�n_, of
+_Dermot in the Country under the Seas_, in the story of the _Pursuit
+of the Gilla Dacar_, of the wild love-tale of _Dermot and Grania_,
+flying for many years over all Ireland from the wrath of Finn, and of
+a host of other tales of enchantments and battle, and love, and
+hunting, and feasts, and discoveries, and journeys, invasions,
+courtships, and solemn mournings. No doubt the romantic atmosphere has
+been deepened in these tales by additions made to them by successive
+generations of bardic singers and storytellers, but for all that the
+original elements in the stories are romantic as they are not in the
+previous cycles.
+
+Again, these Fenian tales are more popular than the others. Douglas
+Hyde has dwelt on this distinction. "For 1200 years at least, they
+have been," he says, "intimately bound up with the thought and
+feelings of the whole Gaelic race in Ireland and Scotland." Even at
+the present day new forms are given to the tales in the cottage homes
+of Ireland. And it is no wonder. The mysterious giant forms of the
+mythological period, removed by divinity from the sympathy of men; the
+vast heroic figures of Cuchulain and his fellows and foes, their close
+relation to supernatural beings and their doings, are far apart from
+the more natural humanity of Cormac and Finn, of Dermot and Goll, of
+Ois�n and Oscar, of Keelta, and last of Conan, the coward, boaster and
+venomous tongue, whom all the Fenians mocked and yet endured. They are
+a very human band of fighting men, and though many of them, like Ois�n
+and Finn and Dermot, have adventures in fairyland, they preserve in
+these their ordinary human nature. The Connacht peasant has no
+difficulty in following Finn into the cave of Slieve Cullinn, where
+the witch turned him into a withered old man, for the village where he
+lives has traditions of the same kind; the love affairs of Finn, of
+Dermot and Grania, and of many others, are quite in harmony with a
+hundred stories, and with the temper, of Irish lovers. A closer, a
+simpler humanity than that of the other cycles pervades the Fenian
+cycle, a greater chivalry, a greater courtesy, and a greater
+tenderness. We have left the primeval savagery behind, the
+multitudinous slaughtering, the crude passions of the earlier men and
+women; we are nearer to civilization, nearer to the common temper and
+character of the Irish people. No one can doubt this who will compare
+the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_ with the _Chase of the Gilla Dacar_.
+
+The elaborate courtesy with which Finn and his chief warriors receive
+all comers, as in the story of Vivionn the giantess, is quite new,
+even medieval in its chivalry; so is the elaborate code of honour; so
+also is, on the whole, the treatment of women and their relation to
+men. How far this resemblance to medieval romance has been intruded
+into the stories--(there are some in which there is not a trace of
+it)--by the after editors and re-editors of the tales, I cannot tell,
+but however that may be, their presence in the Fenian cycle is plain;
+and this brings the stories into a kindlier and more pleasurable
+atmosphere for modern readers than that which broods in thunderous
+skies and fierce light over dreadful passions and battles thick and
+bloody in the previous cycles. We are in a gentler world.
+
+Another more modern romantic element in the Fenian legends is the
+delight in hunting, and that more affectionate relation of men to
+animals which always marks an advance in civilization. Hunting, as in
+medieval romance, is one of the chief pleasures of the Fenians. Six
+months of the year they passed in the open, getting to know every part
+of the country they had to defend, and hunting through the great woods
+and over the hills for their daily food and their daily delight. The
+story of the _Chase of the Gilla Dacar_ tells, at its beginning, of a
+great hunting and of Finn's men listening with joy to the cries of the
+hunters and the loud chiding of the dogs; and many tales celebrate the
+following of the stag and the wild boar from early dawn to the
+evening. Then Finn's two great hounds, Bran and Sceolaun, are loved by
+Finn and his men as if they were dear friends; and they, when their
+master is in danger or under enchantment wail like human beings for
+his loss or pain. It is true Cuchulain's horses weep tears of blood
+when he goes forth to his last battle, foreknowing his death; but they
+are immortal steeds and have divine knowledge of fate. The dogs of
+Finn are only dogs, and the relation between him and them is a natural
+relation, quite unlike the relation between Cuchulain and the horses
+which draw his chariot. Yet Finn's dogs are not quite as other dogs.
+They have something of a human soul in them. They know that in the
+milk-white fawn they pursue there is an enchanted maiden, and they
+defend her from the other hounds till Finn arrives. And it is told of
+them that sometimes, when the moon is high, they rise from their
+graves and meet and hunt together, and speak of ancient days. The
+supernatural has lessened since the heroic cycle. But it is still
+there in the Fenian.
+
+Again, the Fenian cycle of tales is more influenced by Christianity
+than the others are. The mythological cycle is not only fully pagan,
+it is primeval. It has the vastness, the savagery, the relentlessness
+of nature-myths, and what beauty there is in it is akin to terror.
+Gentleness is unknown. There is only one exception to this, so far as
+I know, and that is in the story of _The Children of Lir_. It is
+plain, however, that the Christian ending of that sorrowful story is a
+later addition to it. It is remarkably well done, and most tenderly. I
+believe that the artist who did it imported into the rest of the tale
+the exquisite tenderness which fills it, and yet with so much
+reverence for his original that he did not make the body of the story
+Christian. He kept the definite Christian element to the very end, but
+he filled the whole with its tender atmosphere.
+
+No Christianity and very little gentleness intrude into the heroic
+cycle. The story of Christ once touches it, but he who put it in did
+not lose the pagan atmosphere, or the wild fierceness of the manners
+of the time. How it was done may be read in this book at the end of
+the story of the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_. Very late in the redaction
+of these stories a Christian tag was also added to the tale of the
+death of Cuchulain, but it was very badly done.
+
+When we come to the Fenian cycle there is a well-defined borderland
+between them and Christianity. The bulk of the stories is plainly
+pagan; their originals were frankly so. But the temper of their
+composers is more civilized than that of those who conceived the tales
+of the previous cycles; the manners, as I have already said, of their
+personages are gentler, more chivalrous; and their atmosphere is so
+much nearer to that of Christianity, that the new Christian elements
+would find themselves more at home in them than in the terrible
+vengeance of Lugh, the savage brutality of Conor to Deirdr�, or the
+raging slaughterings of Cuchulain. So much was this the case that a
+story was skilfully invented which linked in imagination the Fenian
+cycle to a Christianized Ireland. This story--_Ois�n in the Land of
+Youth_--is contained in this book. Ois�n, or Ossian, the son of Finn,
+in an enchanted story, lives for 300 years, always young, with his
+love in Tir-na-n-�g, and finds on his return, when he becomes a
+withered old man, St Patrick and Christianity in Ireland. He tells to
+Patrick many tales of the Fenian wars and loves and glories, and in
+the course of them paganism and Christianity are contrasted and
+intermingled. A certain sympathy with the pagan ideas of honour and
+courage and love enters into the talk of Patrick and the monks, and
+softens their pious austerity. On the other hand, the Fenian legends
+are gentled and influenced by the Christian elements, in spite of the
+scorn with which Ois�n treats the rigid condemnation of his companions
+and of Finn to the Christian hell, and the ascetic and unwarlike life
+of the monks.[4] There was evidently in the Fenian cycle of
+story-telling a transition period in which the bards ran Christianity
+and paganism in and out of one another, and mingled the atmosphere of
+both, and to that period the last editing of the story of _Lir and his
+Children_ may be referred. A lovely story in this book, put into fine
+form by Mr Rolleston, is as it were an image of this transition
+time--the story or _How Ethne quitted Fairyland_. It takes us back to
+the most ancient cycle, for it tells of the great gods Angus and
+Mananan, and then of how they became, after their conquest by the race
+who live in the second cycle, the invisible dwellers in a Fairy
+country of their own during the Fenian period, and, afterwards, when
+Patrick and the monks had overcome paganism. Thus it mingles together
+elements from all the periods. The mention of the great caldron and
+the swine which always renew their food is purely mythological. The
+cows which come from the Holy Land are Christian. Ethne herself is
+born in the house of a pagan god who has become a Fairy King, but
+loses her fairy nature and becomes human; and the reason given for
+this is an interesting piece of psychology which would never have
+occurred to a pagan world. She herself is a transition maiden, and,
+suddenly finding herself outside the fairy world and lost, happens on
+a monastery and dies on the breast of St Patrick. But she dies because
+of the wild wailing for her loss of the fairy-host, whom she can hear
+but cannot see, calling to her out of the darkened sky to come back to
+her home. And in her sorrow and the battle in her between the love of
+Christ and of Faerie, she dies. That is a symbol, not intended as such
+by its conceiver, but all the more significant, of the transition
+time. Short as it is, few tales, perhaps, are more deeply charged with
+spiritual meaning.
+
+   [4] I speak here of the better known of the two versions of
+   this encounter of the pagan with the Christian spirit. There
+   are others in which the reconciliation is carried still
+   further. One example is to be found in the _Colloquy of the
+   Ancients_ (SILVA GADELICA). Here Finn and his companions are
+   explicitly pronounced to be saved by their natural virtues, and
+   the relations of the Church and the Fenian warriors are most
+   friendly.
+
+Independent of these three cycles, but often touching them here and
+there, and borrowing from them, there are a number of miscellaneous
+tales which range from the earliest times till the coming of the
+Danes. The most celebrated of these are the _Storming of the Hostel_
+with the death of Conary the High King of Ireland, and the story of
+the Boru tribute. Two examples of these miscellaneous tales of a high
+antiquity are contained in this book--_King Iubdan and King Fergus_
+and _Etain and Midir_. Both of them have great charm and
+delightfulness.
+
+Finally, the manner in which these tales grew into form must be
+remembered when we read them. At first, they were not written down,
+but recited in hall and with a harp's accompaniment by the various
+bardic story-tellers who were attached to the court of the chieftain,
+or wandered singing and reciting from court to court. Each bard, if he
+was a creator, filled up the original framework of the tale with
+ornaments of his own, or added new events or personages to the tale,
+or mixed it up with other related tales, or made new tales altogether
+attached to the main personages of the original tale--episodes in
+their lives into which the bardic fancy wandered. If these new forms
+of the tales or episodes were imaginatively true to the characters
+round which they were conceived and to the atmosphere of the time,
+they were taken up by other bards and became often separate tales, or
+if a great number attached themselves to one hero, they finally formed
+themselves into one heroic story, such as that which is gathered round
+Cuchulain, which, as it stands, is only narrative, but might in time
+have become epical. Indeed, the T�in approaches, though at some
+distance, an epic. In this way that mingling of elements out of the
+three cycles into a single Saga took place.
+
+Then when Christianity came, the Irish who always, Christians or not,
+loved their race and its stories, would not let them go. They took
+them and suffused them with a Christian tenderness, even a Christian
+forgiveness. Or they inserted Christian endings, while they left the
+rest of the stories as pagan as before. Later on, while the stories
+were still learned by the bards and recited, they were written down,
+and somewhat spoiled by a luxurious use of ornamental adjectives, and
+by the weak, roving and uninventive fancy of men and monks aspiring to
+literature but incapable of reaching it.
+
+However, in spite of all this intermingling and of the different forms
+of the same story, it is possible for an intelligent and sensitive
+criticism, well informed in comparative mythology and folklore, to
+isolate what is very old in these tales from that which is less old,
+and that in turn from that which is still less old, and that from what
+is partly historical, medieval or modern. This has been done, with
+endless controversy, by those excellent German, French, and Irish
+scholars who have, with a thirsty pleasure, recreated the ancient
+literature of Ireland, and given her once more a literary name among
+the nations--a name which, having risen again, will not lose but
+increase its brightness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As to the stories themselves, they have certain well-marked
+characteristics, and in dwelling on these, I shall chiefly refer, for
+illustration, to the stories in this book. Some of these
+characteristic elements belong to almost all mythological tales, and
+arise from human imagination, in separated lands, working in the same
+or in a similar way on the doings of Nature, and impersonating them.
+The form, however, in which these original ideas are cast is, in each
+people, modified and varied by the animal life, the climate, the
+configuration of the country, the nearness of mountain ranges and of
+the sea, the existence of wide forests or vast plains, of swift rivers
+and great inland waters.
+
+The earliest tales of Ireland are crowded with the sea that wrapt the
+island in its arms; and on the west and north the sea was the mighty
+and mysterious Ocean, in whose far infinities lay for the Irish the
+land of Immortal Youth. Between its shining shores and Ireland,
+strange islands--dwelt in by dreadful or by fair and gracious
+creatures, whose wonders Maeldun and Brendan visited--lay like jewels
+on the green and sapphire waters. Out of this vast ocean emerged also
+their fiercest enemies. Thither, beyond these islands into the
+Unknown, over the waves on a fairy steed, went Ois�n with Niam;
+thither, in after years, sailed St Brendan, till it seemed he touched
+America. In the ocean depths were fair cities and well-grassed lands
+and cattle, which voyagers saw through water thin and clear. There,
+too, Brian, one of the sons of Turenn, descended in his water-dress
+and his crystal helmet, and found high-bosomed maidens weaving in a
+shining hall. Into the land beneath the wave, Mananan, the proud god
+of the sea brought Dermot and Finn and the Fianna to help him in his
+wars, as is told in the story of the _Gilla Dacar_. On these western
+seas, near the land, Lir's daughters, singing and floating, passed
+three hundred years. On other seas, in the storm and in the freezing
+sleet that trouble the dark waves of Moyle, between Antrim and the
+Scottish isles, they spent another three centuries. Half the story of
+the Sons of Usnach has to do with the crossing of seas and with the
+coast. Even Cuchulain, who is a land hero, in one of the versions of
+his death, dies fighting the sea-waves. The sound, the restlessness,
+the calm, the savour and the infinite of the sea, live in a host of
+these stories; and to cap all, the sea itself and Mananan its god
+sympathise with the fates of Erin. When great trouble threatens
+Ireland, or one of her heroes is near death, there are three huge
+waves which, at three different points, rise, roaring, out of the
+ocean, and roll, flooding every creek and bay and cave and river round
+the whole coast with tidings of sorrow and doom. Later on, in the
+Fenian tales, the sea is not so prominent. Finn and his clan are more
+concerned with the land. Their work, their hunting and adventures
+carry them over the mountains and plains, through the forests, and by
+the lakes and rivers. In the stories there is scarcely any part of
+Ireland which is not linked, almost geographically, with its scenery.
+Even the ancient gods have retired from the coast to live in the
+pleasant green hills or by the wooded shores of the great lakes or in
+hearing of the soft murmur of the rivers. This business of the sea,
+this varied aspect of the land, crept into the imagination of the
+Irish, and were used by them to embroider and adorn their poems and
+tales. They do not care as much for the doings of the sky. There does
+not seem to be any supreme god of the heaven in their mythology.
+Neither the sun nor the moon are specially worshipped. There are
+sun-heroes like Lugh, but no isolated sun-god. The great beauty of the
+cloud-tragedies of storm, the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, so
+dramatic in Ireland, or the magnificence of the starry heavens, are
+scarcely celebrated. But the Irish folk have heard the sound of the
+wind in the tree-tops and marked its cold swiftness over the moor, and
+watched with fear or love the mists of ocean and the bewilderment of
+the storm-driven snow and the sweet falling of the dew. These are
+fully celebrated.
+
+These great and small aspects of Nature are not only celebrated, they
+are loved. One cannot read the stories in this book without feeling
+that the people who conceived and made them observed Nature and her
+ways with a careful affection, which seems to be more developed in the
+Celtic folk than elsewhere in modern Europe. There is nothing which
+resembles it in Teutonic story-telling. In the story of _The Children
+of Lir_, though there is no set description of scenery, we feel the
+spirit of the landscape by the lake where Lir listened for three
+hundred years to the sweet songs of his children. And, as we read of
+their future fate, we are filled with the solitude and mystery, the
+ruthlessness and beauty of the ocean. Even its gentleness on quiet
+days enters from the tale into our imagination. Then, too, the
+mountain-glory and the mountain-gloom are again and again
+imaginatively described and loved. The windings and recesses, the
+darkness and brightness of the woods and the glades therein, enchant
+the Fenians even when they are in mortal danger. And the waters of the
+great lakes, the deep pools of the rivers, the rippling shallows, the
+green banks, the brown rushing of the torrents, are all alive in the
+prose and song of Ireland. How deep was the Irish love of these
+delightful things is plain from their belief that "the place of the
+revealing of poetry was always by the margin of water." And the Salmon
+of Knowledge, the eating of which gave Finn his pre-eminence, swam in
+a green pool, still and deep, over which hung a rowan tree that shed
+its red berries on the stream. Lovely were the places whence Art and
+Knowledge came.
+
+Then, as to all good landscape lovers, the beasts, birds, and insects
+of Nature were dear to these ancient people. One of the things Finn
+most cared for was not only his hounds, but the "blackbird singing on
+Letterlee"; and his song, on page 114, in the praise of May, tells us
+how keen was his observant eye for animal life and how much it
+delighted him. The same minute realisation of natural objects is
+illustrated in this book when King Iubdan explains to the servant the
+different characteristics of the trees of the forest, and the mystic
+elements that abide in them. It was a habit, even of Teutonic poets,
+to tell of the various trees and their uses in verse, and Spenser and
+Drayton have both done it in later times. But few of them have added,
+as the Irish story does, a spiritual element to their description, and
+made us think of malign or beneficent elements attached to them. The
+woodbine, and this is a strange fancy, is the king of the woods. The
+rowan is the tree of the magicians, and its berries are for poets. The
+bramble is inimical to man, the alder is full of witchcraft, and the
+elder is the wood of the horses of the fairies. Into every tree a
+spiritual power is infused; and the good lords of the forest are loved
+of men and birds and bees.
+
+Thus the Irish love of nature led them to spiritualise, in another way
+than mythical, certain things in nature, and afterwards to humanise,
+up to a certain point, the noble implements wrought by human skill out
+of natural materials. And this is another element in all these
+stories, as it is in the folk-lore also of other lands. In the tale of
+the Sons of Turenn, the stones of the wayside tell to Lugh the story
+of the death of his father Kian, and the boat of Mananan, indwelt by a
+spirit, flies hither and thither over the seas, obeying the commands,
+even the thought, of its steersman. The soul of some famed spears is
+so hot for slaughter that, when it is not being used in battle, its
+point must stand in a bath of blood or of drowsy herbs, lest it
+should slay the host. The swords murmur and hiss and cry out for the
+battle; the shield of the hero hums louder and louder, vibrating for
+the encouragement of the warrior. Even the wheels of Cuchulain's
+chariot roar as they whirl into the fight. This partial life given to
+the weapons of war is not specially Celtic. Indeed, it is more common
+in Teutonic than in Celtic legend, and it seems probable that it was
+owing to the Norsemen that it was established in the Hero tales of
+Ireland.
+
+This addition of life, or of some of the powers of life, to tree and
+well and boulder-stone, to river and lake and hill, and sword and
+spear, is common to all mythologies, but the special character of each
+nation or tribe modifies the form of the life-imputing stories. In
+Ireland the tree, the stream were not dwelt in by a separate living
+being, as in Grecian story; the half-living powers they had were given
+to them from without, by the gods, the demons, the fairies; and in the
+case of the weapons, the powers they had of act or sound arose from
+the impassioned thoughts and fierce emotions of their forger or their
+wielder, which, being intense, were magically transferred to them. The
+Celtic nature is too fond of reality, too impatient of illusion, to
+believe in an actual living spirit in inanimate things. At least, that
+is the case in the stories of the Hero and the Fenian Cycles.[5]
+
+   [5] Everything, on the contrary, in the Mythological Cycle is
+   gifted with life, all the doings and things of nature are
+   represented as the work of living creatures; but it is quite
+   possible that those in Ireland who made these myths were not
+   Celts at all.
+
+What the Irish of the Heroic, and still more of the Fenian Cycle, did
+make in their imagination was a world, outside of themselves, of
+living spiritual beings, in whose actuality they fully believed, and
+in whom a great number of them still believe. A nation, if I may use
+this term, dwelt under the sea. Another dwelt in the far island of the
+ocean, the Isle of the Ever-Young. Another dwelt in the land, in the
+green hills and by the streams of Ireland; and these were the ancient
+gods who had now lost their dominion over the country, but lived on,
+with all their courtiers and warriors and beautiful women in a country
+underground. As time went on, their powers were dwarfed, and they
+became small of size, less beautiful, and in our modern times are less
+inclined to enter into the lives of men and women. But the Irish
+peasant still sees them flitting by his path in the evening light, or
+dancing on the meadow round the grassy mound, singing and playing
+strange melodies; or mourns for the child they have carried away to
+live with them and forget her people, or watches with fear his
+dreaming daughter who has been touched by them, and is never again
+quite a child of this earth, or quite of the common race of man.
+
+These were the invisible lands and peoples of the Irish imagination;
+and they live in and out of many of the stories. Cuchulain is lured
+into a fairy-land, and lives for more than a year in love with Fand,
+Mananan's wife. Into another fairy-land, through zones of mist,
+Cormac, as is told here, was lured by Mananan, who now has left the
+sea to play on the land. Ois�n, as I have already said, flies with
+Niam over the sea to the island of Eternal Youth. Etain, out of the
+immortal land, is born into an Irish girl and reclaimed and carried
+back to her native shore by Midir, a prince of the Fairy Host. Ethne,
+whose story also is here, has lived for all her youth in the court of
+Angus, deep in the hill beside the rushing of the Boyne.
+
+These stories are but a few out of a great number of the loves and
+wars between the men and women of the human and the fairy races.
+Curiously enough, as the stories become less ancient, the relations
+between men and the fairies are more real, more close, even more
+affectionate. Finn and the Fianna seem to be almost in daily
+companionship with the fairy host--much nearer to them than the men of
+the Heroic Cycle are to the gods. They interchange love and music and
+battle and adventure with one another. They are, for the most part,
+excellent friends; and their intercourse suffers from no doubt. It is
+as real as the intercourse between Welsh and English on the
+Borderland.
+
+There was nothing illusive, nothing merely imaginary, in these fairy
+worlds for the Irish hero or the Irish people. They believed the lands
+to be as real as their own, and the indwellers of fairyland to have
+like passions with themselves. Finn is not a bit surprised when
+Vivionn the giantess sits beside him on the hill, or Fergus when King
+Iubdan stands on his hand; or St Patrick when Ethne, out of fairyland,
+dies on his breast, or when he sees, at his spell, Cuchulain, dead
+some nine hundred years, come forth out of the dark gates of Sheol,
+high in his chariot, grasping his deadly spear, driven as of old by
+his well-loved charioteer, drawn by the immortal steeds through the
+mist, and finally talking of his deeds and claiming a place in the
+Christian heaven--a place that Patrick yields to him. The invisible
+worlds lived, loved, and thought around this visible world, and were,
+it seems, closer and more real to the Celtic than to other races.
+
+But it was not only these agreeable and lovely folk in pleasant
+habitations whom the Irish made, but also spirits of another sort, of
+lesser powers and those chiefly malignant, having no fixed
+dwelling-place, homeless in the air and drifting with it, embodying
+the venomous and deadly elements of the earth and the angers and
+cruelty of the sea, and the hypocrisy of them all--demons, some of
+whom, like the stepmother of the children of Lir, have been changed
+from men or women because of wicked doings, but the most part born of
+the evil in Nature herself. They do what harm they can to innocent
+folk; they enter into, support, and direct--like Macbeth's
+witches--the evil thoughts of men; they rejoice in the battle, in the
+wounds and pain and death of men; they shriek and scream and laugh
+around the head of the hero when he goes forth, like Cuchulain, to an
+unwearied slaughter of men. They make the blight, the deadly mist, the
+cruel tempest. To deceive is their pleasure; to discourage, to baffle,
+to ruin the hero is their happiness. Some of them are monsters of
+terrific aspect who abide in lakes or in desolate rocks, as the
+terrible tri-formed horse whom Fergus mac Leda conquered and by whom
+he died.
+
+Naturally, as a link between these supernatural worlds and the natural
+world, there arose a body of men and women in Irish legend who, by
+years of study, gained a knowledge of, and power over, the
+supernatural beings, and used these powers for hurt to the enemies of
+their kingdom, or for help to their own people. Some were wise,
+learned, and statesmanlike, and used their powers for good. These were
+the high Druids, and every king had a band of them at his court and in
+his wars. They practiced what the Middle Ages called white magic.
+Others were wizards, magicians, witches, who, like the children of
+Cailitin, the foes of Cuchulain, or the three mutilated women whom
+Maev educated in evil craft to do evil to her foes, or the dread band
+that deceived Cuchulain into his last ride of death, practised black
+magic--evil, and the ministers of evil. Magic, and the doing of it,
+runs through the whole of Irish story-telling, and not only into pagan
+but also into Christian legend; for it was easy to change the old gods
+into devils, to keep the demonic creatures as demons, to replace the
+wise Druids by the priests and saints, and the wizards by the heretics
+who gave themselves to sorcery. Thus the ancient supernaturalism of
+the Irish has continued, with modern modifications, to the present
+day. The body of thought is much the same as it was in the days of
+Conor and Finn; the clothing is a bit different.
+
+Another characteristic of the stories, especially in the mythological
+period, is the barbaric brutality which appears in them. Curiously
+mingled with this, in direct contrast, is their tenderness. These
+extreme contrasts are common in the Celtic nature. A Gael, whether of
+Ireland or the Western Isles, will pass in a short time from the
+wildest spirits, dancing and singing and drinking, into deep and grim
+depression--the child of the present, whether in love or war; and in
+the tales of Ireland there is a similar contrast between their
+brutality and their tenderness. The sudden fierce jealousy and the
+pitiless cruelty of their stepmother to the children of Lir is set
+over against the exquisite tenderness of Fionnuala, which pervades the
+story like an air from heaven. The noble tenderness of Deirdre, of
+Naisi and his brothers, in life and death, to one another, is lovelier
+in contrast with the savage and treacherous revenge of Conor. The
+great pitifulness of Cuchulain's fight with his dear friend Ferdia,
+whom he is compelled to slay; the crowning tenderness of Emer's
+recollective love in song before she dies on Cuchulain's dead body,
+are in full contrast with the savage hard-heartedness and cruelties of
+Maev, and with the ruthless slaughters Cuchulain made of his foes, out
+of which he seems often to pass, as it were, in a moment, into
+tenderness and gracious speech. Even Finn, false for once to his
+constant courtesy, revenges himself on Dermot so pitilessly that both
+his son and grandson cry shame upon him.
+
+Of course this barbaric cruelty is common to all early periods in
+every nation; and, whenever fierce passion is aroused, to civilised
+nations also. What is remarkable in the Irish tales is the
+contemporary tenderness. The Vikings were as savage as the Irish, but
+the savagery is not mingled with the Irish tenderness. At last, when
+we pass from the Hero Cycle into the Cycle of Finn, there is scarcely
+any of the ancient brutality to be found in the host of romantic
+stories which gather round the chivalry of the Fenians.
+
+There are other characteristics of these old tales on which I must
+dwell. The first is the extra-ordinary love of colour. This is not a
+characteristic of the early German, English or Scandinavian poems and
+tales. Its remarkable presence in Scottish poetry, at a time when it
+is scarcely to be found in English literature, I have traced elsewhere
+to the large admixture of Celtic blood in the Lowlands of Scotland. In
+early Irish work it is to be found everywhere. In descriptions of
+Nature, which chiefly appear in the Fenian Cycle and in Christian
+times, colour is not as much dwelt on as we should expect, for nowhere
+that I have seen is it more delicate and varied than under the Irish
+atmosphere. Yet, again and again, the amber colour of the streams as
+they come from the boglands, and the crimson and gold of the
+sunsetting, and the changing green of the trees, and the blue as it
+varies and settles down on the mountains when they go to their rest,
+and the green crystal of the sea in calm and the dark purple of it in
+storm, and the white foam of the waves when they grow black in the
+squall, and the brown of the moors, and the yellow and rose and
+crimson of the flowers, and many another interchanging of colour, are
+seen and spoken of as if it were a common thing always to dwell on
+colour. This literary custom I do not find in any other Western
+literature. It is even more remarkable in the descriptions of the
+dress and weapons of the warriors and kings. They blaze with colour;
+and as gold was plentiful in Ireland in those far-off days, yellow and
+red are continually flashing in and out of the blue and green and rich
+purple of their dress. The women are dressed in as rich colours as the
+men. When Eochy met Etain by the spring of pure water, as told in this
+book, she must have flashed in the sunlight like a great jewel. Then,
+the halls where they met and the houses of the kings are represented
+as glorious with colour, painted in rich patterns, hung with woven
+cloths dyed deep with crimson and blue and green and yellow. The
+common things in use, eating and drinking implements, the bags they
+carry, the bed-clothing, the chess-men, the tables, are embroidered or
+chased or set with red carbuncles or white stones or with interlacing
+of gold. Colour is everywhere and everywhere loved. And where colour
+is loved the arts flourish, as the decorative arts flourished in
+Ireland.
+
+Lastly, on this matter, the Irish tale-tellers, even to the present
+day, dwell with persistence on the colour of the human body as a
+special loveliness, and with as much love of it as any Venetian when
+he painted it. And they did this with a comparison of its colour to
+the colours they observed in Nature, so that the colour of one was
+harmonised with the colour of the other. I might quote many such
+descriptions of the appearance of the warriors--they are
+multitudinous--but the picture of Etain is enough to illustrate what I
+say--"Her hair before she loosed it was done in two long tresses,
+yellow like the flower of the waterflag in summer or like red gold.
+Her hands were white as the snow of a single night, and her eyes as
+blue as the dark hyacinth, and her lips red as the berries of the
+rowan-tree, and her body as white as the foam of the sea-waves. The
+radiance of the moon was in her face and the light of wooing in her
+eyes." So much for the Irish love of colour.[6]
+
+   [6] I give one example of the way colour was laid on to animals
+   just for the pleasure of it. "And the eagle and cranes were red
+   with green heads, and their eggs were pure crimson and blue";
+   and deep in the wood the travellers found "strange birds with
+   white bodies and purple heads and golden beaks," and afterwards
+   three great birds, "one blue and his head crimson, and another
+   crimson and his head green, and another speckled and his head
+   gold."
+
+Their love of music was equally great; and was also connected with
+Nature. "The sound of the flowing of streams," said one of their
+bardic clan, "is sweeter than any music of men." "The harp of the
+woods is playing music," said another. In Finn's Song to May, the
+waterfall is singing a welcome to the pool below, the loudness of
+music is around the hill, and in the green fields the stream is
+singing. The blackbird, the cuckoo, the heron and the lark are the
+musicians of the world. When Finn asks his men what music they thought
+the best, each says his say, but Ois�n answers, "The music of the
+woods is sweetest to me, the sound of the wind and of the blackbird,
+and the cuckoo and the soft silence of the heron." And Finn himself,
+when asked what was his most beloved music, said first that it was
+"the sharp whistling of the wind as it went through the uplifted
+spears of the seven battalions of the Fianna," and this was fitting
+for a hero to say. But when the poet in him spoke, he said his music
+was the crying of the sea-gull, and the noise of the waves, and the
+voice of the cuckoo when summer was at hand, and the washing of the
+sea against the shore, and of the tide when it met the river of the
+White Trout, and of the wind rushing through the cloud. And many other
+sayings of the same kind this charming and poetic folk has said
+concerning those sweet, strong sounds in Nature out of which the music
+of men was born.
+
+Again, there is not much music in the Mythological Tales. Lugh, it is
+true, is a great harper, and the harp of the Dagda, into which he has
+bound his music, plays a music at whose sound all men laugh, and
+another so that all men weep, and another so enthralling that all fall
+asleep; and these three kinds of music are heard through all the
+Cycles of Tales. Yet when the old gods of the mythology became the
+Sidhe,[7] the Fairy Host, they--having left their barbaric life
+behind--became great musicians. In every green hill where the tribes
+of fairy-land lived, sweet, wonderful music was heard all day--such
+music that no man could hear but he would leave all other music to
+listen to it, which "had in it sorrows that man has never felt, and
+joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as if he who heard it
+might break from time into eternity and be one of the immortals." And
+when Finn and his people lived, they, being in great harmony and union
+with the Sidhe, heard in many adventures with them their lovely music,
+and it became their own. Indeed, Finn, who had twelve musicians, had
+as their chief one of the Fairy Host who came to dwell with him, a
+little man who played airs so divine that all weariness and sorrow
+fled away. And from him Finn's musicians learnt a more enchanted art
+than they had known before. And so it came to pass that as in every
+fairy dwelling there was this divine art, so in every palace and
+chieftain's hall, and in every farm, there were harpers harping on
+their harps, and all the land was full of sweet sounds and
+airs--shaping in music, imaginative war, and sorrows, and joys, and
+aspiration. Nor has their music failed. Still in the west and south of
+Ireland, the peasant, returning home, hears, as the evening falls from
+the haunted hills, airs unknown before, or at midnight a wild
+triumphant song from the Fairy Host rushing by, or wakes with a dream
+melody in his heart. And these are played and sung next day to the
+folk sitting round the fire. Many who heard these mystic sounds became
+themselves the makers of melodies, and went about the land singing and
+making and playing from village to village and cabin to cabin, till
+the unwritten songs of Ireland were as numerous as they were various.
+Moore collected a hundred and twenty of them, but of late more than
+five hundred he knew not of have been secured from the people and from
+manuscripts for the pleasure of the world. And in them lives on the
+spirit of the Fianna, and the mystery of the Fairy Host, and the long
+sorrow and the fleeting joy of the wild weather in the heart of the
+Irish race.
+
+   [7] This word is pronounced Shee, and means "the folk of the
+   fairy mounds."
+
+As to the poetry of Ireland, that other Art which is illustrated in
+this book, so fully has it been dwelt on by many scholars and critics
+that it needs not be touched here other than lightly and briefly. The
+honour and dignity of the art of poetry goes back in Irish mythology
+to a dim antiquity. The ancient myth said that the nine hazels of
+wisdom grew round a deep spring beneath the sea, and the hazels were
+the hazels of inspiration and of poetry--so early in Ireland were
+inspiration and poetry made identical with wisdom. Seven streams of
+wisdom flowed from that fountain-head, and when they had fed the world
+returned to it again. And all the art-makers of mankind, and of all
+arts, have drunk of their waters. Five salmon in the spring ate of the
+hazel nuts, and some haunted the rivers of Ireland; and whosoever,
+like Finn, tasted the flesh of these immortal fish, was possessed of
+the wisdom which is inspiration and poetry. Such was the ancient Irish
+conception of the art of poetry.
+
+It is always an art which grows slowly into any excellence, and it
+needs for such growth a quieter life than the Irish lived for many
+centuries. Poems appear but rarely in the mythological or heroic
+cycles, and are loosely scattered among the prose of the bardic tales.
+A few are of war, but they are chiefly dirges like the Song of Emer
+over the dead body of Cuchulain, or that of Deirdre over
+Naisi--pathetic wailings for lost love. There is an abrupt and pitiful
+pain in the brief songs of Fionnuala, but I fancy these were made and
+inserted in Christian times. Poetry was more at home among the Fianna.
+The conditions of life were easier; there was more leisure and more
+romance. And the other arts, which stimulate poetry, were more widely
+practised than in the earlier ages. Finn's Song to May, here
+translated, is of a good type, frank and observant, with a fresh air
+in it, and a fresh pleasure in its writing. I have no doubt that at
+this time began the lyric poetry of Ireland, and it reached, under
+Christian influences, a level of good, I can scarcely say excellent,
+work, at a time when no other lyrical poetry in any vernacular existed
+in Europe or the Islands. It was religious, mystic, and chiefly
+pathetic--prayers, hymns, dirges, regrets in exile, occasional stories
+of the saints whose legendary acts were mixed with pagan elements, and
+most of these were adorned with illustrations drawn from natural
+beauty or from the doings of birds and beasts--a great affection for
+whom is prominent in the Celtic nature. The Irish poets sent this
+lyric impulse into Iceland, Wales, and Scotland, and from Scotland
+into England; and the rise of English vernacular poetry instead of
+Latin in the seventh and eighth centuries is due to the impulse given
+by the Irish monasteries at Whitby and elsewhere in Northumbria. The
+first rude lyric songs of C�dmon were probably modelled on the hymns
+of Colman.
+
+One would think that poetry, which arose so early in a nation's life,
+would have developed fully. But this was not the case in Ireland. No
+narrative, dramatic, didactic, or epic poetry of any importance arose,
+and many questions and answers might be made concerning this curious
+restriction of development. The most probable solution of this problem
+is that there was never enough peace in Ireland or continuity of
+national existence or unity, to allow of a continuous development of
+any one of the arts into all its forms. Irish poetry never advanced
+beyond the lyric. In that form it lasted all through the centuries; it
+lasts still at the present day, and Douglas Hyde has proved how much
+charm belongs to it in his book on the _Love Songs of Connacht_.
+
+It has had a long, long history; it has passed through many phases; it
+has sung of love and sorrow, of national wars and hopes, of Ireland
+herself as the Queen of Sorrow, of exile regrets from alien shores, of
+rebellion, of hatred of England, of political strife, in ballads sung
+in the streets, of a thousand issues of daily life and death--but of
+world-wide affairs, of great passions and duties and fates evolving in
+epic or clashing in drama, of continuous human lives in narrative
+(except in prose), of the social life of cities or of philosophic
+thought enshrined in stately verse, it has not sung. What it may do in
+the future, if Irish again becomes a tongue of literature in lofty
+poetry, lies on the knees of the gods. I wish it well, but such a
+development seems now too late. The Irish genius, if it is to speak in
+drama, in narrative poetry or in an epic, must speak, if it is to
+influence or to charm the world beyond the Irish shore, in a
+world-language like English, and of international as well as of Irish
+humanity.
+
+These elements on which I have dwelt seem to me the most distinctive,
+the most Irish, in the Tales in this book. There are many others on
+which a more minute analysis might exercise itself, phases of feeling
+concerning war or love or friendship or honour or the passions, but
+these are not specially Irish. They belong to common human nature, and
+have their close analogies in other mythologies, in other Folk-tales,
+in other Sagas. I need not touch them here. But there is one element
+in all the Irish tales which I have not yet mentioned, and it brings
+all the others within its own circumference, and suffuses them with
+its own atmosphere. It is the love of Ireland, of the land itself for
+its own sake--a mystic, spiritual imaginative passion which in the
+soul of the dweller in the country is a constant joy, and in the heart
+of the exile is a sick yearning for return. There are not many direct
+expressions of this in the stories; but it underlies the whole of
+them, and it is also in the air they breathe. But now and again it
+does find clear expression, and in each of the cycles we have
+discussed. When the sons of Turenn are returning, wounded to death,
+from the Hill of Mochaen, they felt but one desire. "Let us but see,"
+said Iuchar and Iucharba to their brother Brian, "the land of Erin
+again, the hills round Telltown, and the dewy plain of Bregia and the
+quiet waters of the Boyne and our father's D�n thereby, and healing
+will come to us; or if death come, we can endure it after that." Then
+Brian raised them up; and they saw that they were now near by under
+Ben Edar; and at the strand of the Bull they came to land. That is
+from the Mythological Cycle.
+
+In the Heroic Cycle it appears in the longing cry for return to
+Ireland of Naisi and his brothers, which drives them out of Alba to
+their death; but otherwise it is rarely expressed. In the Fenian Cycle
+it exists, not in any clear words, but in a general delight in the
+rivers, lakes, woods, valleys, plains, and mountains of Ireland. Every
+description of them, and of life among them, is done with a loving,
+observant touch; and moreover, the veil of magic charm is thrown over
+all the land by the creation in it of the life and indwelling of the
+fairy host. The Fianna loved their country well.
+
+When Christianity came, this deep-set sentiment did not lessen. It
+grew even stronger, and in exile it became a passion. It is
+illustrated by the songs of deep regret and affection Columba made in
+Iona, from whose rocky shores he looked day after day towards the west
+while the mists rose over Ireland. One little story of great beauty
+enshrines his passion. One morning he called to his side one of his
+monks, and said, "Go to the margin of the sea on the western side of
+our isle; and there, coming from the north of Ireland, you will see a
+voyaging crane, very weary and beaten by the storms, and it will fall
+at your feet on the beach. Lift it up with pity and carry it to the
+hut, nourish it for three days, and when it is refreshed and strong
+again it will care no more to stay with us in exile, but to fly back
+to sweet Ireland, the dear country where it was born. I charge you
+thus, for it comes from the land where I was born myself." And when
+his servant returned, having done as he was ordered, Columba said,
+"May God bless you, my son. Since you have well cared for our exiled
+guest, you will see it return to its own land in three days." And so
+it was. It rose, sought its path for a moment through the sky, and
+took flight on a steady wing for Ireland. The spirit of that story has
+never died in the soul of the Irish and in their poetry up to the
+present day.
+
+Lastly, as we read these stories, even in a modern dress, an
+impression of great ancientry is made upon us, so much so that some
+scholars have tried to turn Finn into a mythical hero--but if he be as
+old as that implies, of how great an age must be the clearly mythic
+tales which gather round the Tuatha de Danaan? However this may be,
+the impression of ancientry is deep and agreeable. All myths in any
+nation are, of course, of a high antiquity, but as they treat of the
+beginning of things, they mingle an impression of youth with one of
+age. This is very pleasant to the imagination, and especially so if
+the myths, as in Ireland, have some poetic beauty or strangeness, as
+in the myth I have referred to--of the deep spring of clear water and
+the nine hazels of wisdom that encompass it. This mingling of the
+beauty of youth and the honour of ancientry runs through all the Irish
+tales. Youth and the love of it, of its beauty and strength, adorn and
+vitalize their grey antiquity. But where, in their narrative, the
+hero's youth is over and the sword weak in his hand, and the passion
+less in his and his sweetheart's blood, life is represented as
+scarcely worth the living. The famed men and women die young--the sons
+of Turenn, Cuchulain, Conall, Dermot, Emer, Deirdre, Naisi, Oscar.
+Ois�n has three hundred years of youth in that far land in the
+invention of which the Irish embodied their admiration of love and
+youth. His old age, when sudden feebleness overwhelms him, is made by
+the bardic clan as miserable, as desolate as his youth was joyous.
+Again, Finn lives to be an old man, but the immortal was in him, and
+either he has been born again in several re-incarnations (for the
+Irish held from time to time the doctrine of the transmigration of
+souls), or he sleeps, like Barbarossa, in a secret cavern, with all
+his men around him, and beside him the mighty horn of the Fianna,
+which, when the day of fate and freedom comes, will awaken with three
+loud blasts the heroes and send them forth to victory. Old as she is,
+Ireland does not grow old, for she has never reached her maturity. Her
+full existence is before her, not behind her. And when she reaches it
+her ancientry and all its tales will be dearer to her than they have
+been in the past. They will be an inspiring national asset. In them
+and in their strange admixture of different and successive periods of
+customs, thoughts and emotions (caused by the continuous editing and
+re-editing of them, first in oral recitation and then at the hands of
+scribes), Ireland will see the record of her history, not the history
+of external facts, but of her soul as it grew into consciousness of
+personality; as it established in itself love of law, of moral right,
+of religion, of chivalry, of courtesy in war and daily life; as it
+rejoiced, and above all, as it suffered and was constant, in suffering
+and oppression, to its national ideals.
+
+It seems as if, once at least, this aspect of the tales of Ireland was
+seen by men of old, for there is a story which tells that heaven
+itself desired their remembrance, and that we should be diverted and
+inspired by them. In itself it is a record of the gentleness of Irish
+Christianity to Irish heathendom, and of its love of the heroic past.
+For one day when Patrick and his clerks were singing the Mass at the
+Rath of the Red Ridge, where Finn was wont to be, he saw Keelta, a
+chief of the Fianna, draw near with his companions, and Keelta's huge
+hounds were with him. They were men so tall and great that fear fell
+on the clerks, but Patrick met with and asked their chieftain's name.
+"I am Keelta," he answered, "son of Ronan of the Fianna." "Was it not
+a good lord you were with," said Patrick, "Finn, son of Cumhal?" And
+Keelta said, "If the brown leaves falling in the wood were gold, if
+the waves of the sea were silver, Finn would have given them all
+away." "What was it kept you through your lifetime?" said Patrick.
+"Truth that was in our hearts, and strength in our hands, and
+fulfilment in our tongues," said Keelta. Then Patrick gave them food
+and drink and good treatment, and talked with them. And in the morning
+the two angels who guarded him came to him, and he asked them if it
+were any harm before God, King of heaven and earth, that he should
+listen to the stories of the Fianna. And the angels answered, "Holy
+Clerk, these old fighting men do not remember more than a third of
+their tales by reason of the forgetfulness of age, but whatever they
+tell write it down on the boards of the poets and in the words of the
+poets, for it will be a diversion to the companies and the high people
+of the latter times to listen to them."[8] So spoke the angels, and
+Patrick did as he bade them, and the stories are in the world to this
+day.
+
+   [8] This is quoted with a few omissions, from Lady Gregory's
+   delightful version, in her _Book of Saints and Wonders_, of an
+   episode in _The Colloquy of the Ancients_ (Silva Gadelica).
+
+STOPFORD A. BROOKE
+
+ST PATRICK'S DAY, 1910
+
+
+
+
+COIS NA TEINEADH
+
+(_By the Fireside._)
+
+
+   Where glows the Irish hearth with peat
+     There lives a subtle spell--
+   The faint blue smoke, the gentle heat,
+     The moorland odours, tell
+
+   Of long roads running through a red
+     Untamed unfurrowed land,
+   With curlews keening overhead,
+     And streams on either hand;
+
+   Black turf-banks crowned with whispering sedge,
+     And black bog-pools below;
+   While dry stone wall or ragged hedge
+     Leads on, to meet the glow
+
+   From cottage doors, that lure us in
+     From rainy Western skies,
+   To seek the friendly warmth within,
+     The simple talk and wise;
+
+   Or tales of magic, love and arms
+     From days when princes met
+   To listen to the lay that charms
+     The Connacht peasant yet.
+
+   There Honour shines through passions dire,
+     There beauty blends with mirth--
+   Wild hearts, ye never did aspire
+     Wholly for things of earth!
+
+   Cold, cold this thousand years--yet still
+     On many a time-stained page
+   Your pride, your truth, your dauntless will,
+     Burn on from age to age.
+
+   And still around the fires of peat
+     Live on the ancient days;
+   There still do living lips repeat
+     The old and deathless lays.
+
+   And when the wavering wreaths ascend,
+     Blue in the evening air,
+   The soul of Ireland seems to bend
+     Above her children there.
+
+
+
+
+BARDIC ROMANCES
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The Story of the Children of Lir
+
+
+Long ago there dwelt in Ireland the race called by the name of De
+Danaan, or People of the Goddess Dana. They were a folk who delighted
+in beauty and gaiety, and in fighting and feasting, and loved to go
+gloriously apparelled, and to have their weapons and household vessels
+adorned with jewels and gold. They were also skilled in magic arts,
+and their harpers could make music so enchanting that a man who heard
+it would fight, or love, or sleep, or forget all earthly things, as
+they who touched the strings might will him to do. In later times the
+Danaans had to dispute the sovranty of Ireland with another race, the
+Children of Miled, whom men call the Milesians, and after much
+fighting they were vanquished. Then, by their sorceries and
+enchantments, when they could not prevail against the invaders, they
+made themselves invisible, and they have dwelt ever since in the Fairy
+Mounds and raths of Ireland, where their shining palaces are hidden
+from mortal eyes. They are now called the Shee, or Fairy Folk of
+Erinn, and the faint strains of unearthly music that may be heard at
+times by those who wander at night near to their haunts come from the
+harpers and pipers who play for the People of Dana at their revels in
+the bright world underground.
+
+At the time when the tale begins, the People of Dana were still the
+lords of Ireland, for the Milesians had not yet come. They were
+divided it is said, into many families and clans; and it seemed good
+to them that their chiefs should assemble together, and choose one to
+be king and ruler over the whole people. So they met in a great
+assembly for this purpose, and found that five of the greatest lords
+all desired the sovranty of Erin. These five were B�v the Red, and
+Ilbrech of Assaroe, and Lir from the Hill of the White Field, which is
+on Slieve Fuad in Armagh; and Midir the Proud, who dwelt at Slieve
+Callary in Longford; and Angus of Brugh na Boyna, which is now
+Newgrange on the river Boyne, where his mighty mound is still to be
+seen. All the Danaan lords saving these five went into council
+together, and their decision was to give the sovranty to B�v the Red,
+partly because he was the eldest, partly because his father was the
+Dagda, mightiest of the Danaans, and partly because he was himself the
+most deserving of the five.
+
+All were content with this, save only Lir, who thought himself the
+fittest for royal rule; so he went away from the assembly in anger,
+taking leave of no one. When this became known, the Danaan lords would
+have pursued Lir, to burn his palace and inflict punishment and
+wounding on himself for refusing obedience and fealty to him whom the
+assembly had chosen to reign over them. But B�v the Red forbade them,
+for he would not have war among the Danaans; and he said, "I am none
+the less King of the People of Dana because this man will not do
+homage to me."
+
+Thus it went on for a long time. But at last a great misfortune befell
+Lir, for his wife fell ill, and after three nights she died. Sorely
+did Lir grieve for this, and he fell into a great dejection of spirit,
+for his wife was very dear to him and was much thought of by all folk,
+so that her death was counted one of the great events of that time.
+
+Now B�v the Red came ere long to hear of it, and he said, "If Lir
+would choose to have my help and friendship now, I can serve him well,
+for his wife is no longer living, and I have three maidens, daughters
+of a friend, in fosterage with me, namely, Eva and Aoife[9] and Elva,
+and there are none fairer and of better name in Erin; one of these he
+might take to wife." And the lords of the Danaans heard what he said,
+and answered that it was true and well bethought. So messengers were
+sent to Lir, to say that if he were willing to yield the sovranty to
+B�v the Red, he might make alliance with him and wed one of his
+foster-children. To Lir, having been thus gently entreated, it seemed
+good to end the feud, and he agreed to the marriage. So the following
+day he set out with a train of fifty chariots from the Hill of the
+White Field and journeyed straight for the palace of B�v the Red,
+which was by Lough Derg on the river Shannon.
+
+   [9] Pronounced Eefa.
+
+Arriving there, he found about him nothing but joy and glad faces, for
+the renewal of amity and concord; and his people were welcomed, and
+well entreated, and handsomely entertained for the night.
+
+[Illustration: "There sat the three maidens with the Queen"]
+
+And there sat the three maidens on the same couch with the Danaan
+Queen, and B�v the Red bade Lir choose which one he would have to
+wife.
+
+"The maidens are all fair and noble," said Lir, "but the eldest is
+first in consideration and honour, and it is she that I will take, if
+she be willing."
+
+"The eldest is Eva," said B�v the Red, "and she will wed thee if it be
+pleasing to thee." "It is pleasing," said Lir, and the pair were
+wedded the same night. Lir abode for fourteen days in the palace of
+B�v the Red, and then departed with his bride, to make a great
+wedding-feast among his own people.
+
+In due time after this Eva, wife of Lir, bore him two fair children at
+a birth, a daughter and a son. The daughter's name was called
+Fionnuala of the Fair Shoulder, and the son's name was Hugh. And
+again she bore him two sons, Fiachra and Conn; and at their birth she
+died. At this Lir was sorely grieved and afflicted, and but for the
+great love he bore to his four children he would gladly have died too.
+
+When the folk at the palace of B�v the Red heard that, they also were
+sorely grieved at the death of their foster-child, and they lamented
+her with keening and with weeping. B�v the Red said, "We grieve for
+this maiden on account of the good man we gave her to, and for his
+friendship and fellowship; howbeit our friendship shall not be
+sundered, for we shall give him to wife her sister, namely Aoife."
+
+Word of this was brought to Lir, and he went once more to Lough Derg
+to the palace of B�v the Red and there he took to wife Aoife, the fair
+and wise, and brought her to his own home. And Aoife held the children
+of Lir and of her sister in honour and affection; for indeed no one
+could behold these four children without giving them the love of his
+soul.
+
+For love of them, too, came B�v the Red often to the house of Lir, and
+he would take them to his own house at times and let them spend a
+while there, and then to their own home again. All of the People of
+Dana who came visiting and feasting to Lir had joy and delight in the
+children, for their beauty and gentleness; and the love of their
+father for them was exceeding great, so that he would rise very early
+every morning to lie down among them and play with them.
+
+Only, alas! a fire of jealousy began to burn at last in the breast of
+Aoife, and hatred and bitter ill-will grew in her mind towards the
+children of Lir. And she feigned an illness, and lay under it for the
+most of a year, meditating a black and evil deed. At last she said
+that a journey from home might recover her, and she bade her chariot
+be yoked and set out, taking with her the four children. Fionnuala was
+sorely unwilling to go with her on that journey, for she had a
+misgiving, and a prevision of treachery and of kin-slaying against her
+in the mind of Aoife. Yet she was not able to avoid the mischief that
+was destined for her.
+
+So Aoife journeyed away from the Hill of the White Field, and when she
+had come some way she spoke to her people and said, "Kill me, I pray
+ye, the four children of Lir, who have taken the love of their father
+from me, and ye may ask of me what reward ye will." "Not so," said
+they, "by us they shall never be killed; it is an evil deed that you
+have thought of, and evil it is but to have spoken of it."
+
+When they would not consent to her will, she drew a sword and would
+have slain the children herself, but her womanhood overcame her and
+she could not. So they journeyed on westward till they came to the
+shores of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made a halt and the horses
+were outspanned. Aoife bade the children bathe and swim in the lake,
+and they did so. Then Aoife by Druid spells and witchcraft put upon
+each of the children the form of a pure white swan, and she cried to
+them:--
+
+  "Out on the lake with you, children of Lir!
+  Cry with the water-fowl over the mere!
+  Breed and seed of you ne'er shall I see;
+  Woeful the tale to your friends shall be."
+
+Then the four swans turned their faces towards the woman, and
+Fionnuala spoke to her and said, "Evil is thy deed, Aoife, to destroy
+us thus without a cause, and think not that thou shalt escape
+punishment for it. Assign us even some period to the ruin and
+destruction that thou hast brought upon us."
+
+"I shall do that," said Aoife, "and it is this: in your present forms
+shall ye abide, and none shall release you till the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North. Three hundred years shall ye be
+upon the waters of Derryvaragh, and three hundred upon the Straits of
+Moyle between Erinn and Alba,[10] and three hundred in the seas by
+Erris and Inishglory, and then shall the enchantment have an end."
+
+   [10] Scotland. Inishglory is an island in the Bay of Erris, on
+   the Mayo coast.
+
+Upon this, Aoife was smitten with repentance, and she said, "Since I
+may not henceforth undo what has been done, I give you this, that ye
+shall keep your human speech, and ye shall sing a sad music such as no
+music in the world can equal, and ye shall have your reason and your
+human will, that the bird-shape may not wholly destroy you." Then she
+became as one possessed, and cried wildly like a prophetess in her
+trance:--
+
+  "Ye with the white faces! Ye with the stammering
+      Gaelic on your tongues!
+  Soft was your nurture in the King's house--
+  Now shall ye know the buffeting wind!
+  Nine hundred years upon the tide.
+
+  "The heart of Lir shall bleed!
+  None of his victories shall stead him now!
+  Woe to me that I shall hear his groan,
+  Woe that I have deserved his wrath!"
+
+Then they caught and yoked her horses, and Aoife went on her way till
+she reached the palace of B�v the Red. Here she and her folk were
+welcomed and entertained, and B�v the Red inquired of her why she had
+not brought with her the children of Lir.
+
+"I brought them not," she replied, "because Lir loves thee not, and he
+fears that if he sends his children to thee, thou wouldst capture them
+and hold them for hostages."
+
+"That is strange," said B�v the Red, "for I love those children as if
+they were my own." And his mind misgave him that some treachery had
+been wrought; and he sent messengers privily northwards to the Hill of
+the White Field. "For what have ye come?" asked Lir. "Even to bring
+your children to B�v the Red," said they. "Did they not reach you with
+Aoife?" said Lir. "Nay," said the messengers, "but Aoife said you
+would not permit them to go with her."
+
+Then fear and trouble came upon Lir, for he surmised that Aoife had
+wrought evil upon the children. So his horses were yoked and he set
+out upon his road south-westward, until he reached the shores of Loch
+Derryvaragh. But as he passed by that water, Fionnuala saw the train
+of horsemen and chariots, and she cried to her brothers to come near
+to the shore, "for," said she, "these can only be the company of our
+father who have come to follow and seek for us."
+
+Lir, by the margin of the lake, saw the four swans and heard them
+talking with human voices, and he halted and spoke to them. Then said
+Fionnuala: "Know, O Lir, that we are thy four children, and that she
+who has wrought this ruin upon us is thy wife and our mother's sister,
+through the bitterness of her jealousy." Lir was glad to know that
+they were at least living, and he said, "Is it possible to put your
+own forms upon you again?" "It is not possible," said Fionnuala, "for
+all the men on earth could not release us until the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North." Then Lir and his people cried
+aloud in grief and lamentation, and Lir entreated the swans to come on
+land and abide with him since they had their human reason and speech.
+But Fionnuala said, "That may not be, for we may not company with men
+any longer, but abide on the waters of Erinn nine hundred years. But
+we have still our Gaelic speech, and moreover we have the gift of
+uttering sad music, so that no man who hears it thinks aught worth in
+the world save to listen to that music for ever. Do you abide by the
+shore for this night and we shall sing to you."
+
+So Lir and his people listened all night to the singing of the swans,
+nor could they move nor speak till morning, for all the high sorrows
+of the world were in that music, and it plunged them in dreams that
+could not be uttered.
+
+Next day Lir took leave of his children and went on to the palace of
+B�v the Red. B�v reproached him that he had not brought with him his
+children. "Woe is me," said Lir, "it was not I that would not bring
+them; but Aoife there, your own foster-child and their mother's
+sister, put upon them the forms of four snow-white swans, and there
+they are on the Loch of Derryvaragh for all men to see; but they have
+kept still their reason and their human voice and their Gaelic."
+
+B�v the Red started when he heard this, and he knew that what Lir had
+said was true. Fiercely he turned to Aoife, and said, "This treachery
+will be worse, Aoife, for you than for them, for they shall be
+released in the end of time, but thy punishment shall be for ever."
+Then he smote her with a druid wand and she became a Demon of the Air,
+and flew shrieking from the hall, and in that form she abides to this
+day.
+
+[Illustration: "They made an encampment and the swans sang to them"]
+
+As for B�v the Red, he came with his nobles and attendants to the
+shores of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made an encampment, and the
+swans conversed with them and sang to them. And as the thing became
+known, other tribes and clans of the People of Dana would also come
+from every part of Erinn and stay awhile to listen to the swans and
+depart again to their homes; and most of all came their own friends
+and fellow-pupils from the Hill of the White Field. No such music as
+theirs, say the historians of ancient times, ever was heard in Erinn,
+for foes who heard it were at peace, and men stricken with pain or
+sickness felt their ills no more; and the memory of it remained with
+them when they went away, so that a great peace and sweetness and
+gentleness was in the land of Erinn for those three hundred years that
+the swans abode in the waters of Derryvaragh.
+
+But one day Fionnuala said to her brethren, "Do ye know, my dear
+ones, that the end of our time here is come, all but this night only?"
+Then great sorrow and distress overcame them, for in the converse with
+their father and kinsfolk and friends they had half forgotten that
+they were no longer men, and they loved their home on Loch
+Derryvaragh, and feared the angry waves of the cold northern sea. But
+early next day they came to the lough-side to speak with B�v the Red
+and with their father, and to bid them farewell, and Fionnuala sang to
+them her last lament. Then the four swans rose in the air and flew
+northward till they were seen no more, and great was the grief among
+those they left behind; and B�v the Red let it be proclaimed
+throughout the length and breadth of Erin that no man should
+henceforth presume to kill a swan, lest it might chance to be one of
+the children of Lir.
+
+Far different was the dwelling-place which the swans now came to, from
+that which they had known on Loch Derryvaragh. On either side of them,
+to north and south, stretched a wide coast far as the eye could see,
+beset with black rocks and great precipices, and by it ran fiercely
+the salt, bitter tides of an ever-angry sea, cold, grey, and misty;
+and their hearts sank to behold it and to think that there they must
+abide for three hundred years.
+
+Ere long, one night, there came a thick murky tempest upon them, and
+Fionnuala said, "In this black and violent night, my brothers, we may
+be driven apart from each other; let us therefore appoint a
+meeting-place where we may come together again when the tempest is
+overpast." And they settled to meet at the Seal Rock, for this rock
+they had now all learned to know.
+
+By midnight the hurricane descended upon the Straits of Moyle, and the
+waves roared upon the coast with a deafening noise, and thunder
+bellowed from the sky, and lightning was all the light they had. The
+swans were driven apart by the violence of the storm, and when at last
+the wind fell and the seas grew calm once more, Fionnuala found
+herself alone upon the ocean-tide not far from the Seal Rock. And thus
+she made her lament:--
+
+   "Woe is me to be yet alive!
+   My wings are frozen to my sides.
+   Wellnigh has the tempest shattered my heart,
+   And my comely Hugh parted from me!
+
+   "O my beloved ones, my Three,
+   Who slept under the shelter of my feathers,
+   Shall you and I ever meet again
+   Until the dead rise to life?
+
+   "Where is Fiachra, where is Hugh?
+   Where is my fair Conn?
+   Shall I henceforth bear my part alone?
+   Woe is me for this disastrous night!"
+
+Fionnuala remained upon the Seal Rock until the morrow morn, watching
+the tossing waters in all directions around her, until at last she saw
+Conn coming towards her, and his head drooping and feathers drenched
+and disarrayed. Joyfully did the sister welcome him; and ere long,
+behold, Fiachra also approaching them, cold and wet and faint, and the
+speech was frozen in him that not a word he spake could be understood.
+So Fionnuala put her wings about him, and said, "If but Hugh came now,
+how happy should we be!"
+
+In no long time after that they saw Hugh also approaching them across
+the sea, and his head was dry and his feathers fair and unruffled, for
+he had found shelter from the gale. Fionnuala put him under her
+breast, and Conn under her right wing and Fiachra under her left, and
+covered them wholly with her feathers. "O children," she said to them,
+"evil though ye think this night to have been, many such a one shall
+we know from this time forward."
+
+So there the swans continued, suffering cold and misery upon the tides
+of Moyle; and one while they would be upon the coast of Alba and
+another upon the coast of Erinn, but the waters they might not leave.
+At length there came upon them a night of bitter cold and snow such
+as they had never felt before, and Fionnuala sang this lament:--
+
+  "Evil is this life.
+  The cold of this night,
+  The thickness of the snow,
+  The sharpness of the wind--
+
+  "How long have they lain together,
+  Under my soft wings,
+  The waves beating upon us,
+  Conn and Hugh and Fiachra?
+
+  "Aoife has doomed us,
+  Us, the four of us,
+  To-night to this misery--
+  Evil is this life."
+
+Thus for a long time they suffered, till at length there came upon the
+Straits of Moyle a night of January so piercing cold that the like of
+it had never been felt. And the swans were gathered together upon the
+Seal Rock. The waters froze into ice around them, and each of them
+became frozen in his place, so that their feet and feathers clung to
+the rock; and when the day came and they strove to leave the place,
+the skin of their feet and the feathers of their breasts clove to the
+rock, they came naked and wounded away.
+
+"Woe is me, O children of Lir," said Fionnuala, "we are now indeed in
+evil case, for we cannot endure the salt water, yet we may not be away
+from it; and if the salt water gets into our sores we shall perish of
+it." And thus she sang:--
+
+   "To-night we are full of keening;
+   No plumage to cover our bodies;
+   And cold to our tender feet
+   Are the rough rocks all awash.
+
+   "Cruel to us was Aoife,
+   Who played her magic upon us,
+   And drove us out to the ocean,
+   Four wonderful, snow-white swans.
+
+   "Our bath is the frothing brine
+   In the bay by red rocks guarded,
+   For mead at our father's table
+   We drink of the salt blue sea.
+
+   "Three sons and a single daughter--
+   In clefts of the cold rocks dwelling,
+   The hard rocks, cruel to mortals.
+   --We are full of keening to-night."
+
+So they went forth again upon the Straits of Moyle, and the brine was
+grievously sharp and bitter to them, but they could not escape it nor
+shelter themselves from it. Thus they were, till at last their
+feathers grew again and their sores were healed.
+
+On one day it happened that they came to the mouth of the river Bann
+in the north of Erinn, and there they perceived a fair host of
+horsemen riding on white steeds and coming steadily onward from the
+south-west "Do ye know who yon riders are, children of Lir?" asked
+Fionnuala. "We know not," said they, "but it is like they are some
+party of the People of Dana." Then they moved to the margin of the
+land, and the company they had seen came down to meet them; and
+behold, it was Hugh and Fergus, the two sons of B�v the Red, and their
+nobles and attendants with them, who had long been seeking for the
+swans along the coast of the Straits of Moyle.
+
+Most lovingly and joyfully did they greet each other and the swans
+inquired concerning their father Lir, and B�v the Red, and the rest of
+their kinsfolk.
+
+"They are well," said the Danaans; "and at this time they are all
+assembled together in the palace of your father at the Hill of the
+White Field, where they are holding the Festival of the Age of
+Youth.[11] They are happy and gay and have no weariness or trouble,
+save that you are not among them, and that they have not known where
+you were since you left them at Lough Derryvaragh."
+
+   [11] A magic banquet which had the effect of preserving for
+   ever the youth of the People of Dana.
+
+"That is not the tale of our lives," said Fionnuala.
+
+After that the company of the Danaans departed and brought word of the
+swans to B�v the Red and to Lir, who were rejoiced to hear that they
+were living, "for," said they, "the children shall obtain relief in
+the end of time." And the swans went back to the tides of Moyle and
+abode there till their time to be in that place had expired.
+
+When that day had come, Fionnuala declared it to them, and they rose
+up wheeling in the air, and flew westward across Ireland till they
+came to the Bay of Erris, and there they abode as was ordained. Here
+it happened that among those of mortal MEN whose dwellings bordered on
+the bay was a young man of gentle blood, by name Evric, who having
+heard the singing of the swans came down to speak with them, and
+became their friend. After that he would often come to hear their
+music, for it was very sweet to him; and he loved them greatly, and
+they him. All their story they told him, and he it was who set it
+down in order, even as it is here narrated.
+
+Much hardship did they suffer from cold and tempest in the waters of
+the Western Sea, yet not so much as they had to bear by the coasts of
+the ever-stormy Moyle, and they knew that the day of redemption was
+now drawing near. In the end of the time Fionnuala said, "Brothers,
+let us fly to the Hill of the White Field, and see how Lir our father
+and his household are faring." So they arose and set forward on their
+airy journey until they reached the Hill of the White Field, and thus
+it was that they found the place: namely, desolate and thorny before
+them, with nought but green mounds where once were the palaces and
+homes of their kin, and forests of nettles growing over them, and
+never a house nor a hearth. And the four drew closely together and
+lamented aloud at that sight, for they knew that old times and things
+had passed away in Erinn, and they were lonely in a land of strangers,
+where no man lived who could recognise them when they came to their
+human shapes again. They knew not that Lir and their kin of the People
+of Dana yet dwelt invisible in the bright world within the Fairy
+Mounds, for their eyes were holden that they should not see, since
+other things were destined for them than to join the Danaan folk and
+be of the company of the immortal Shee.
+
+So they went back again to the Western Sea until the holy Patrick
+came into Ireland and preached the Faith of the One God and of the
+Christ. But a man of Patrick's men, namely the Saint Mochaov�g,[12]
+came to the Island of Inishglory in Erris Bay, and there built himself
+a little church of stone, and spent his life in preaching to the folk
+and in prayer. The first night he came to the island the swans heard
+the sound of his bell ringing at matins on the following morn, and
+they leaped in terror, and the three brethren left Fionnuala and fled
+away. Fionnuala cried to them, "What ails you, beloved brothers?" "We
+know not," said they, "but we have heard a thin and dreadful voice,
+and we cannot tell what it is." "That is the voice of the bell of
+Mochaov�g," said Fionnuala, "and it is that bell which shall deliver
+us and drive away our pains, according to the will of God."
+
+   [12] Pronounced Mo-chweev-ogue.
+
+Then the brethren came back and hearkened to the chanting of the
+cleric until matins were performed. "Let us chant our music now," said
+Fionnuala. So they began, and chanted a solemn, slow, sweet, fairy
+song in adoration of the High King of Heaven and of Earth.
+
+Mochaov�g heard that, and wondered, and when he saw the swans he spoke
+to them and inquired them. They told him they were the children of
+Lir. "Praised be God for that," said Mochaov�g. "Surely it is for your
+sakes that I have come to this island above every other island that is
+in Erinn. Come to land now, and trust in me that your salvation and
+release are at hand."
+
+So they came to land, and dwelt with Mochaov�g in his own house, and
+there they kept the canonical hours with him and heard mass. And
+Mochaov�g caused a good craftsman to make chains of silver for the
+swans, and put one chain between Fionnuala and Hugh and another
+between Conn and Fiachra; and they were a joy and solace of mind to
+the Saint, and their own woe and pain seemed to them dim and far off
+as a dream.
+
+Now at this time it happened that the King of Connacht was Lairgnen,
+son of Colman, and he was betrothed to Deoca, daughter of the King of
+Munster. And so it was that when Deoca came northward to be wedded to
+Lairgnen she heard the tale of the swans and of their singing, and she
+prayed the king that he would obtain them for her, for she longed to
+possess them. But Lairgnen would not ask them of Mochaov�g. Then Deoca
+set out homeward again, and vowed that she would never return to
+Lairgnen till she had the swans; and she came as far as the church of
+Dalua, which is now called Kildaloe, in Clare. Then Lairgnen sent
+messengers for the birds to Mochaov�g, but he would not give them up.
+
+At this Lairgnen was very wroth, and he went himself to Mochaov�g, and
+he found the cleric and the four birds at the altar. But Lairgnen
+seized upon the birds by their silver chains, two in each hand dragged
+them away to the place where Deoca was; and Mochaov�g followed them.
+But when they came to Deoca and she had laid her hands upon the
+birds, behold, their covering of feathers fell off and in their places
+were three shrunken and feeble old men and one lean and withered old
+woman, fleshless and bloodless from extreme old age. And Lairgnen was
+struck with amazement and fear, and went out from that place.
+
+Then Fionnuala said to Mochaov�g, "Come now and baptize us quickly,
+for our end is near. And if you are grieved at parting from us, know
+that also to us it is a grief. Do thou make our grave when we are
+dead, and place Conn at my right side and Fiachra at my left, and Hugh
+before my face, for thus they were wont to be when I sheltered them on
+many a winter night by the tides of Moyle."
+
+So Mochaov�g baptized the three brethren and their sister; and shortly
+afterwards they found peace and death, and they were buried even as
+Fionnuala had said. And over their tomb a stone was raised, and their
+names and lineage graved on it in branching Ogham[13]; and lamentation
+and prayers were made for them, and their souls won to heaven.
+
+   [13] See p. 133, _note_.
+
+But Mochaov�g was sorrowful, and grieved after them so long as he
+lived on earth.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The Quest of the Sons of Turenn
+
+
+Long ago, when the people of Dana yet held lordship in Erinn, they
+were sorely afflicted by hordes of sea-rovers named Fomorians who used
+to harry the country and carry off youths and maidens into captivity.
+They also imposed cruel and extortionate taxes upon the people, for
+every kneading trough, and every quern for grinding corn, and every
+flagstone for baking bread had to pay its tax. And an ounce of gold
+was paid as a poll-tax for every man, and if any man would not or
+could not pay, his nose was cut off. Under this tyranny the whole
+country groaned, but they had none who was able to band them together
+and to lead them in battle against their oppressors.
+
+Now before this it happened that one of the lords of the Danaans named
+Kian had married with Ethlinn, daughter of Balor, a princess of the
+Fomorians. They had a son named Lugh Lamfada, or Lugh of the Long Arm,
+who grew up into a youth of surpassing beauty and strength. And if his
+body was noble and mighty, no less so was his mind, for lordship and
+authority grew to him by the gift of the Immortals, and whatever he
+purposed that would he perform, whatever it might cost in time or
+toil, in tears or in blood. Now this Lugh was not brought up in Erinn
+but in a far-off isle of the western sea, where the sea-god Mananan
+and the other Immortals nurtured and taught him, and made him fit
+alike for warfare or for sovranty, when his day should come to work
+their will on earth. Hither in due time came the report of the
+grievous and dishonouring oppression wrought by the Fomorians upon the
+people of Dana, and that report was heard by Lugh. Then Lugh said to
+his tutors "It were a worthy deed to rescue my father and the people
+of Erinn from this tyranny; let me go thither and attempt it." And
+they said to him, "Go, and blessing and victory be with thee." So Lugh
+armed himself and mounted his fairy steed, and called his friends and
+foster-brothers about him, and across the bright and heaving surface
+of the waters they rode like the wind, until they took land in Erinn.
+
+Now the chiefs of the Danaan folk were assembled upon the Hill of
+Usnach, which is upon the western side of Tara in Meath, in order to
+meet there the stewards of the Fomorians and to pay them their
+tribute. As they awaited the arrival of the Fomorians they became
+aware of a company on horseback, coming from the west, before whom
+rode a young man who seemed to command them all, and whose countenance
+was as radiant as the sun upon a dry summer's day, so that the Danaans
+could scarcely gaze upon it. He rode upon a white horse and was armed
+with a sword, and on his head was a helmet set with precious stones.
+The Danaan folk welcomed him as he came among them, and asked him of
+his name and his business among them. As they were thus talking
+another band drew near, numbering nine times nine persons, who were
+the stewards of the Fomorians coming to demand their tribute. They
+were men of a fierce and swarthy countenance, and as they came
+haughtily and arrogantly forward, the Danaans all rose up to do them
+honour. Then Lugh said:
+
+"Why do ye rise up before that grim and ill-looking band and not
+before us?"
+
+Said the King of Erinn, "We needs must do so, for if they saw but a
+child of a month old sitting down when they came near they would hold
+it cause enough to attack and slay us."
+
+"I am greatly minded to slay them," said Lugh; and he repeated it,
+"very greatly minded."
+
+"That would be bad for us," said the King, "for our death and
+destruction would surely follow."
+
+"Ye are too long under oppression," said Lugh, and gave the word for
+onset. So he and his comrades rushed upon the Fomorians, and in a
+moment the hillside rang with blows and with the shouting of warriors.
+In no long time all of the Fomorians were slain save nine men, and
+these were taken alive and brought before Lugh.
+
+"Ye also should be slain," said Lugh, "but that I am minded to send
+you as ambassadors to your King. Tell him that he may seek homage and
+tribute where he will henceforth, but Ireland will pay him none for
+ever."
+
+Then the Fomorians went northwards away, and the people of Dana made
+them ready for war, and made Lugh their captain and war-lord, for the
+sight of his face heartened them, and made them strong, and they
+marvelled that they had endured their slavery so long.
+
+In the meantime word was brought to Balor of the Mighty Blows, King of
+the Fomorians, and to his queen Kethlinn of the Twisted Teeth, of the
+shame and destruction that had been done to their stewards, and they
+assembled a great host of the sea-rovers and manned their war-ships,
+and the Northern Sea was white with the foam of their oarblades as
+they swept down upon the shores of Erinn. And Balor commanded them,
+saying, "When ye have utterly destroyed and subdued the people of
+Dana, then make fast your ships with cables to the land of Erinn, and
+tow it here to the north of us into the region of ice and snow, and it
+shall trouble us no longer." So the host of Balor took land by the
+Falls of Dara[14] and began plundering and devastating the province of
+Connacht.
+
+   [14] Ballysodare = the Town of the Falls of Dara, in Co. Sligo.
+
+Then Lugh sent messengers abroad to bring his host together, and
+among them was his own father, Kian, son of Canta. And as Kian went
+northwards on his errand to rouse the Ulster men, and was now come to
+the plain of Murthemny near by Dundealga,[15] he saw three warriors
+armed and riding across the plain. Now these three were the sons of
+Turenn, by name Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba. And there was an
+ancient blood-feud between the house of Canta and the house of Turenn,
+so that they never met without bloodshed.
+
+   [15] Dundalk.
+
+Then Kian thought to himself, "If my brothers Cu and Kethan were here
+there might be a pretty fight, but as they are three to one I would do
+better to fly." Now there was a herd of wild swine near by; and Kian
+changed himself by druidic sorceries into a wild pig and fell to
+rooting up the earth along with the others.
+
+When the sons of Turenn came up to the herd, Brian said, "Brothers,
+did ye see the warrior wh' just now was journeying across the plain?"
+
+"We saw him," said they.
+
+"What is become of him?" said Brian.
+
+"Truly, we cannot tell," said the brothers.
+
+"It is good watch ye keep in time of war!" said Brian; "but I know
+what has taken him out of our sight, for he struck himself with a
+magic wand, and changed himself into the form of one of yonder swine,
+and he is rooting the earth among them now. Wherefore," said Brian, "I
+deem that he is no friend to us."
+
+"If so, we have no help for it," said they, "for the herd belongs to
+some man of the Danaans; and even if we set to and begin to kill the
+swine, the pig of druidism might be the very one to escape."
+
+"Have ye learned so little in your place of studies," said Brian,
+"that ye cannot distinguish a druidic beast from a natural beast?" And
+with that he smote his two brothers with a magic wand, and changed
+them into two slender, fleet hounds, and they darted in among the
+herd. Then all the herd scattered and fled, but the hounds separated
+the druidic pig and chased it towards a wood where Brian awaited it.
+As it passed, Brian flung his spear, and it pierced the chest of the
+pig and brought it down. The pig screamed, "Evil have you done to cast
+at me."
+
+Brian said, "That hath the sound of human speech!"
+
+"I am in truth a man," said the pig, "and I am Kian, son of Canta, and
+I pray you show me mercy."
+
+"That will we," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "and sorry are we for what
+has happened."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but I swear by the Wind and the Sun that if thou
+hadst seven lives I would take them all."
+
+"Grant me a favour then," said Kian.
+
+"We shall grant it," said Brian.
+
+"Let me," said Kian, "return into my own form that I may die in the
+shape of a man."
+
+"I had liefer kill a man than a pig," said Brian. Then Kian became a
+man again and stood before them, the blood trickling from his breast.
+
+"I have outwitted you now," cried he, "for if ye had killed a pig ye
+would have paid a pig's eric,[16] but now ye shall pay the eric of a
+man. Never was greater eric in the land of Erinn than that which ye
+shall pay; and I swear that the very weapons with which ye slay me
+shall tell the tale to the avenger of blood."
+
+   [16] Blood-fine.
+
+"Then you shall be slain with no weapons at all," said Brian; and they
+picked up the stones on the Plain of Murthemny and rained them upon
+him till he was all one wound, and he died. So they buried him as
+deep as the height of a man, and went their way to join the host of
+Lugh.
+
+When the host was assembled, Lugh led them into Connacht and smote the
+Fomorians and drove them to their ships, but of this the tale tells
+not here. But when the fight was done, Lugh asked of his comrades if
+they had seen his father in the fight and how it fared with him. They
+said they had not seen him. Then Lugh made search among the dead, and
+they found not Kian there. "Were Kian alive he would be here," said
+Lugh, "and I swear by the Wind and the Sun that I will not eat or
+drink till I know what has befallen him."
+
+On their return the Danaan host passed by the Plain of Murthemny, and
+when they came near the place of the murder the stones cried aloud to
+Lugh. And Lugh listened, and they told him of the deed of the sons of
+Turenn. Then Lugh searched for the place of a new grave, and when he
+had found it he caused it to be dug, and the body of his father was
+raised up, and Lugh saw that it was but a litter of wounds. And he
+cried out: "O wicked and horrible deed!" and he kissed his father and
+said, "I am sick from this sight, my eyes are blind from it, my ears
+are deaf from it, my heart stands still from it. Ye gods that I adore,
+why was I not here when this crime was done? a man of the children of
+Dana slain by his fellows." And he lamented long and bitterly. Then
+Kian was again laid in his grave, and a mound was heaped over it and a
+pillar-stone set thereon and his name written in Ogham, and a dirge
+was sung for him.
+
+After that Lugh departed to Tara, to the Court of the High King, and
+he charged his people to say nothing of what had happened until he
+himself had made it known.
+
+When he reached Tara with his victorious host the King placed Lugh at
+his own right hand before all the princes and lords of the Danaan
+folk. Lugh looked round about him, and saw the sons of Turenn sitting
+among the assembly; and they were among the best and strongest and the
+handsomest of those who were present at that time; nor had any borne
+themselves better in the fight with the sea-rovers. Then Lugh asked of
+the King that the chain of silence might be shaken; and the assembly
+heard it, and gave their attention to Lugh. And Lugh said:
+
+"O King, and ye princes of the People of Dana, I ask what vengeance
+would each of you exact upon a man who had foully murdered your
+father?"
+
+Then they were all astonished, and the King answered and said:
+
+"Surely it is not the father of Lugh Lamfada who has thus been slain?"
+
+"Thou hast said it," said Lugh, "and those who did the deed are
+listening to me now, and know it better than I."
+
+The King said, "Not in one day would I slay the murderer of my father,
+but I would tear from him a limb day by day till he were dead."
+
+And so spake all the lords of the Danaans, and the Sons of Turenn
+among the rest.
+
+"They have sentenced themselves, the murderers of my father," said
+Lugh. "Nevertheless I shall accept an eric from them, and if they will
+pay it, it shall be well; but if not, I shall not break the peace of
+the King's Assembly and of his sanctuary, but let them beware how they
+leave the Hall Tara until they have made me satisfaction."
+
+"Had I slain your father," said the High King, "glad should I be to
+have an eric accepted for his blood."
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn whispered among themselves. "It is to us that
+Lugh is speaking," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "let us confess and have
+the eric assessed upon us, for he has got knowledge of our deed."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but he may be seeking for an open confession, and
+then perchance he would not accept an eric."
+
+But the two brethren said to Brian, "Do thou confess because thou art
+the eldest, or if thou do not, then we shall."
+
+So Brian, son of Turenn, rose up and said to Lugh: "It is to us thou
+hast spoken, Lugh, since thou knowest there is enmity of old time
+between our houses; and if thou wilt have it that we have slain thy
+father, then declare our eric and we shall pay it."
+
+"I will take an eric from you," said Lugh, "and if it seem too great,
+I will remit a portion of it."
+
+"Declare it, then," said the Sons of Turenn.
+
+"This it is," said Lugh.
+
+"Three apples.
+
+"The skin of a pig.
+
+"A spear.
+
+"Two steeds and a chariot.
+
+"Seven swine.
+
+"A whelp of a dog.
+
+"A cooking spit.
+
+"Three shouts on a hill."
+
+"We would not consider heavy hundreds or thousands of these things,"
+said the Sons of Turenn, "but we misdoubt thou hast some secret
+purpose against us."
+
+"I deem it no small eric," said Lugh, "and I call to witness the High
+King and lords of the Danaans that I shall ask no more; and do ye on
+your side give me guarantees for the fulfilment of it."
+
+So the High King and the lords of the Danaans entered into bonds with
+Lugh and with the Sons of Turenn that the eric should be paid and
+should wipe out the blood of Kian.
+
+"Now," said Lugh, "it is better forme to give you fuller knowledge of
+the eric. The three apples that I have demanded of you are the apples
+that grow in the garden of the Hesperides, in the east of the world,
+and none but these will do. Thus it is with them: they are the colour
+of bright gold, and as large as the head of a month-old child; the
+taste of them is like honey; if he who eats them has any running sore
+or evil disease it is healed by them; they may be eaten and eaten and
+never be less. I doubt, O young heroes, if ye will get these apples,
+for those who guard them know well an ancient prophecy that one day
+three knights from the western world would come to attempt them.
+
+"As for the skin of the pig, that is a treasure of Tuish, the King of
+Greece. If it be laid upon a wounded man it will make him whole and
+well, if only it overtake the breath of life in him. And do ye know
+what is the spear that I demanded?"
+
+"We do not," said they.
+
+"It is the poisoned spear of Peisear, the King of Persia, and so
+fierce is the spirit of war in it that it must be kept in a pot of
+soporific herbs or it would fly out raging for death. And do ye know
+what are the two horses and the chariot ye must get?"
+
+"We do not know," said they.
+
+"The steeds and the chariot belong to Dobar, King of Sicily. They are
+magic steeds and can go indifferently over land and sea, nor can they
+be killed by any weapon unless they be torn in pieces and their bones
+cannot be found. And the seven pigs are the swine of Asal, King of the
+Golden Pillars, which may be slain and eaten every night and the next
+morning they are alive again.
+
+"And the hound-whelp I asked of you is the whelp of the King of
+Iorroway, that can catch and slay any beast in the world; hard it is
+to get possession of that whelp.
+
+"The cooking spit is one of the spits that the fairy women of the
+Island of Finchory have in their kitchen.
+
+"And the hill on which ye must give three shouts is the hill where
+dwells Mochaen in the north of Lochlann. Now Mochaen and his sons have
+it as a sacred ordinance that they permit not any man to raise a shout
+upon their hill. With him it was that my father was trained to arms,
+and if I forgave ye his death, yet would Mochaen not forgive it.
+
+"And now ye know the eric which ye have to pay for the slaying of
+Kian, son of Canta."
+
+Astonishment and despair overcame the Sons of Turenn when they learned
+the meaning of the eric of Lugh, and they went home to tell the
+tidings to their father.
+
+"This is an evil tale," said Turenn; "I doubt but death and doom shall
+come from your seeking of that eric, and it is but right they should.
+Yet it may be that ye shall obtain the eric if Lugh or Mananan will
+help you to it. Go now to Lugh, and ask him for the loan of the fairy
+steed of Mananan, which was given him to ride over the sea into Erinn.
+He will refuse you, for he will say that the steed is but lent to him
+and he may not make a loan of a loan. Then ask him for the loan of
+Ocean Sweeper, which is the magic boat of Mananan, and that he must
+give, for it is a sacred ordinance with Lugh not to refuse a second
+petition."
+
+So they went to Lugh, and it all fell out as Turenn had told them, and
+they went back to Turenn.
+
+"Ye have done something towards the eric," said Turenn, "but not much.
+Yet Lugh would be well pleased that ye brought him whatever might
+serve him when the Fomorians come to the battle again, and well
+pleased would he be that ye might get your death in bringing it. Go
+now, my sons, and blessing and victory be with you."
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn went down to the harbour on the Boyne river
+where the Boat of Mananan was, and Ethne their sister with them. And
+when they reached the place, Ethne broke into lamentations and
+weeping; but Brian said, "Weep not, dear sister, but let us go forth
+gaily to great deeds. Better a hundred deaths in the quest of honour
+than to live and die as cowards and sluggards." But Ethne said, "ye
+are banished from Erinn--never was there a sadder deed." Then they
+put forth from the river-mouth of the Boyne and soon the fair coasts
+of Erinn faded out of sight. "And now," said they among themselves,
+"what course shall we steer?"
+
+[Illustration: "'Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of
+the Hesperides'"]
+
+"No need to steer the Boat of Mananan," said Brian; and he whispered
+to the Boat, "Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the
+Hesperides"; and the spirit of the Boat heard him and it leaped
+eagerly forward, lifting and dipping over the rollers and throwing up
+an arch of spray each side of its bows wherein sat a rainbow when the
+sun shone upon it; and so in no long time they drew nigh to the coast
+where was the far-famed garden of the Golden Apples.
+
+"And now, how shall we set about the capture of the apples?" said
+Brian.
+
+"Draw sword and fight for them," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "and if we
+are the stronger, we shall win them, and if not, we shall fall, as
+fall we surely must ere the eric for Kian be paid."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but whether we live or die, let not men say of us
+that we went blind and headlong to our tasks, but rather that we made
+the head help the hand, and that we deserved to win even though we
+lost. Now my counsel is that we approach the garden in the shape of
+three hawks, strong of wing, and that we hover about until the Wardens
+of the Tree have spent all their darts and javelins in casting at us,
+and then let us swoop down suddenly and bear off each of us an apple
+if we may."
+
+So it was agreed; and Brian struck himself and each of the brothers
+with a druid wand, and they became three beautiful, fierce, and
+strong-winged hawks. When the Wardens perceived them, they shouted and
+threw showers of arrows and darts at them, but the hawks evaded all of
+these until the missiles were spent, and then seized each an apple in
+his talons. But Brian seized two, for he took one in his beak as well.
+Then they flew as swiftly as they might to the shore where they had
+left their boat. Now the King of that garden had three fair daughters,
+to whom the apples and the garden were very dear, and he transformed
+the maidens into three griffins, who pursued the hawks. And the
+griffins threw darts of fire, as it were lightning, at the hawks.
+
+"Brian!" then cried Iuchar and his brother, "we are being burnt by
+these darts--we are lost unless we can escape them."
+
+On this, Brian changed himself and his brethren into three swans, and
+they plunged into the sea, and the burning darts were quenched. Then
+the griffins gave over the chase, and the Sons of Turenn made for
+their boat, and they embarked with the four apples. Thus their first
+quest was ended.
+
+After that they resolved to seek the pigskin from the King of Greece,
+and they debated how they should come before him. "Let us," said
+Brian, "assume the character and garb of poets and men of learning,
+for such are wont to come from Ireland and to travel foreign lands,
+and in that character shall the Greeks receive us best, for such men
+have honour among them." "It is well said," replied the brothers, "yet
+we have no poems in our heads, and how to compose one we know not."
+
+Howbeit they dressed their hair in the fashion of the poets of Erinn,
+and went up to the palace of Tuish the King. The doorkeeper asked of
+them who they were, and what was their business.
+
+"We are bards from Ireland," they said, "and we have come with a poem
+to the King."
+
+"Let them be admitted," said the King, when the doorkeeper brought him
+that tale; "they have doubtless come thus far to seek a powerful
+patron."
+
+So Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba came in and were made welcome, and
+were entertained, and then the minstrels of the King of Greece chanted
+the lays of that country before them. After that came the turn of the
+stranger bards, and Brian asked his brethren if they had anything to
+recite.
+
+"We have not," said they; "we know but one art--to take what we want
+by the strong hand if we may, and if we may not, to die fighting."
+
+"That is a difficult art too," said Brian; "let us see how we thrive
+with the poetry."
+
+So he rose up and recited this lay:--
+
+   "Mighty is thy fame, O King,
+   Towering like a giant oak;
+   For my song I ask no thing
+   Save a pigskin for a cloak.
+
+   "When a neighbour with his friend
+   Quarrels, they are ear to ear;
+   Who on us their store shall spend
+   Shall be richer than they were.
+
+   "Armies of the storming wind--
+   Raging seas, the sword's fell stroke--
+   Thou hast nothing to my mind
+   Save thy pigskin for a cloak."
+
+"That is a very good poem," said the King, "but one word of its
+meaning I do not understand."
+
+"I will interpret it for you," said Brian:--
+
+  "Mighty is thy fame, O King,
+  Towering like a giant oak."
+
+"That is to say, as the oak surpasses all the other trees of the
+forest, so do you surpass all the kings of the world in goodness, in
+nobleness, and in liberality.
+
+  "A pigskin for a cloak."
+
+"That is the skin of the pig of Tuish which I would fain receive as
+the reward for my lay."
+
+   "When a neighbour with his friend
+   Quarrels, they are ear to ear."
+
+"That is to signify that you and I shall be about each other's ears
+over the skin, unless you are willing to give it to me. Such is the
+sense of my poem," said Brian, son of Turenn.
+
+"I would praise your poem more," said the King, "if there were not so
+much about my pigskin in it. Little sense have you, O man of poetry,
+to make that request of me, for not to all the poets, scholars, and
+lords of the world would I give that skin of my own free will. But
+what I will do is this--I will give the full of that skin of red gold
+thrice over in reward for your poem."
+
+"Thanks be to you," said Brian, "for that. I knew that I asked too
+much, but I knew also thou wouldst redeem the skin amply and
+generously. And now let the gold be duly measured out in it, for
+greedy am I, and I will not abate an ounce of it."
+
+The servants of the King were then sent with Brian and his brothers to
+the King's treasure-chamber to measure out the gold. As they did so,
+Brian suddenly snatched the skin from the hands of him who held it,
+and swiftly wrapped it round his body. Then the three brothers drew
+sword and made for the door, and a great fight arose in the King's
+palace. But they hewed and thrust manfully on every side of them, and
+though sorely wounded they fought their way through and escaped to
+the shore, and drove their boat out to sea, when the skin of the magic
+pig quickly made them whole and sound again. And thus the second quest
+of the Sons of Turenn had its end.
+
+"Let us now," said Brian, "go to seek the spear of the King of
+Persia."
+
+"In what manner of guise shall we go before the King of Persia?" said
+his brothers.
+
+"As we did before the King of Greece," said Brian.
+
+"That guise served us well with the King of Greece," replied they;
+"nevertheless, O Brian, this business of professing to be poets, when
+we are but swordsmen, is painful to us."
+
+However, they dressed their hair in the manner of poets and went up
+boldly to the palace of King Peisear of Persia, saying, as before,
+that they were wandering bards from Ireland who had a poem to recite
+before the King; and as they passed through the courtyard they marked
+the spear drowsing in its pot of sleepy herbs. They were made welcome,
+and after listening to the lays of the King's minstrel, Brian rose and
+sang:--
+
+   "'Tis little Peisear cares for spears,
+   Since armies, when his face they see,
+   All overcome with panic fears
+   Without a wound they turn and flee.
+
+   "The Yew is monarch of the wood,
+   No other tree disputes its claim.
+   The shining shaft in venom stewed
+   Flies fiercely forth to kill and maim."
+
+"'Tis a very good poem," said the King, "but, O bard from Erinn, I do
+not understand your reference to my spear."
+
+"It is merely this," replied Brian, "that I would like your spear as a
+reward for my poem."
+
+Then the King stared at Brian, and his beard bristled with anger, and
+he said, "Never was a greater reward paid for any poem than not to
+adjudge you guilty of instant death for your request."
+
+Then Brian flung at the king the fourth golden apple which he had
+taken from the Garden of the Hesperides, and it dashed out his brains.
+Immediately the brothers all drew sword and made for the courtyard.
+Here they seized the magic spear, and with it and with their swords
+they fought their way clear, not without many wounds, and escaped to
+their boat. And thus ended the third quest of the Sons of Turenn.
+
+Now having come safely and victoriously through so many straits and
+perils, they began to be merry and hoped that all the eric might yet
+be paid. So they sailed away with high hearts to the Island of Sicily,
+to get the two horses and the chariot of the King, and the Boat of
+Mananan bore them swiftly and well.
+
+Having arrived here, they debated among themselves as to how they
+should proceed; and they agreed to present themselves as Irish
+mercenary soldiers--for such were wont in those days to take service
+with foreign kings--until they should learn where the horses and the
+chariot were kept, and how they should come at them. Then they went
+forward, and found the King and his lords in the palace garden taking
+the air.
+
+The Sons of Turenn then paid homage to him, and he asked them of their
+business.
+
+"We are Irish mercenary soldiers," they said, "seeking our wages from
+the kings of the world." "Are ye willing to take service with me?"
+said the King. "We are," said they, "and to that end are we come."
+
+Then their contract of military service was made, and they remained at
+the King's court for a month and a fortnight, and did not in all that
+time come to see the steeds or the chariot. At last Brian said,
+
+"Things are going ill with us, my brethren, in that we know no more at
+this day of the steeds or of the chariot than when we first arrived at
+this place."
+
+"What shall we do, then?" said they.
+
+"Let us do this," said Brian. "Let us gird on our arms and all our
+marching array, and tell the King that we shall quit his service
+unless he show us the chariot."
+
+And so they did; and the King said, "To-morrow shall be a gathering
+and parade of all my host, and the chariot shall be there, and ye
+shall see it if ye have a mind."
+
+So the next day the steeds were yoked and the chariot was driven round
+a great plain before the King and his lords. Now these steeds could
+run as well on sea as on dry land, and they were swifter than the
+winds of March. As the chariot came round the second time, Brian and
+his brothers seized the horses' heads, and Brian took the charioteer
+by the foot and flung him out over the rail, and they all leaped into
+the chariot and drove away. Such was the swiftness of their driving
+that they were out of sight ere the King and his men knew rightly
+what had befallen. And thus ended the fourth quest of the Sons of
+Turenn.
+
+Next they betook themselves to the court of Asal, King of the Golden
+Pillars, to get the seven swine which might be eaten every night and
+they would be whole and well on the morrow morn.
+
+But it had now been noised about every country that three young heroes
+from Erinn were plundering the kings of the world of their treasures
+in payment of a mighty eric; and when they arrived at the Land of the
+Golden Pillars they found the harbour guarded and a strait watch kept,
+that no one who might resemble the Sons of Turenn should enter.
+
+But Asal the King came to the harbour-mouth and spoke with the heroes,
+for he was desirous to see those who had done the great deeds that he
+had heard of. He asked them if it were true that they had done such
+things, and why. Then Brian told him the story of the mighty eric
+which had been laid upon them, and what they had done and suffered in
+fulfilling it. "Why," said King Asal, "have ye now come to my
+country?"
+
+"For the seven swine," said Brian, "to take them with us as a part of
+that eric."
+
+"How do you mean to get them?" asked the King.
+
+"With your goodwill," replied Brian, "if so it may be, and to pay you
+therefore with all the wealth we now have, which is thanks and love,
+and to stand by your side hereafter in any strait or quarrel you may
+enter into. But if you will not grant us the swine, and we may not be
+quit of our eric without them, we shall even take them as we may, and
+as we have beforetime taken mighty treasures from mighty kings."
+
+Then King Asal went into counsel with his lords, and he advised that
+the swine be given to the Sons of Turenn, partly for that he was moved
+with their desperate plight and the hardihood they had shown, and
+partly that they might get them whether or no. To this they all
+agreed, and the Sons of Turenn were invited to come ashore, where they
+were courteously and hospitably entertained in the King's palace. On
+the morrow the pigs were given to them, and great was their gladness,
+for never before had they won a treasure without toil and blood. And
+they vowed that, if they should live, the name of Asal should be made
+by them a great and shining name, for his compassion and generosity
+which he had shown them. This, then, was the fifth quest of the Sons
+of Turenn.
+
+"And whither do ye voyage now?" said Asal to them.
+
+"We go," said they, "to Iorroway for the hound's whelp which is
+there."
+
+"Take me with you, then," said Asal, "for the King of Iorroway is
+husband to my daughter, and I may prevail upon him to grant you the
+hound without combat."
+
+So the King's ship was manned and provisioned, and the Sons of Turenn
+laid up their treasures in the Boat of Mananan, and they all sailed
+joyfully forth to the pleasant kingdom of Iorroway.
+
+But here, too, they found all the coasts and harbours guarded, and
+entrance was forbidden them. Then Asal declared who he was, and him
+they allowed to land, and he journeyed to where his son-in-law, the
+King of Iorroway, was. To him Asal related the whole story of the sons
+of Turenn, and why they were come to that kingdom.
+
+"Thou wert a fool," said the King of Iorroway, "to have come on such a
+mission. There are no three heroes in the world to whom the Immortals
+have granted such grace that they should get my hound either by favour
+or by fight."
+
+"That is not a good word," said Asal, "for the treasures they now
+possess have made them yet stronger than they were, and these they won
+in the teeth of kings as strong as thou." And much more he said to him
+to persuade him to yield up the hound, but in vain. So Asal took his
+way back to the haven where the Sons of Turenn lay, and told them his
+tidings.
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn seized the magic spear, and the pigskin, and
+with a rush like that of three eagles descending from a high cliff
+upon a lamb-fold they burst upon the guards of the King of Iorroway.
+Fierce and fell was the combat that ensued, and many times the
+brothers were driven apart, and all but overborne by the throng of
+their foes. But at last Brian perceived where the King of Iorroway was
+directing the fight, and he cut his way to him, and having smitten him
+to the ground, he bound him and carried him out of the press to the
+haven-side where Asal was.
+
+"There," he said, "is your son-in-law for you Asal, and I swear by my
+sword that I had more easily killed him thrice than once to bring him
+thus bound to you."
+
+"That is very like," said Asal; "but now hold him to ransom."
+
+So the people of Iorroway gave the hound to the Sons of Turenn as a
+ransom for their King, and the King was released, and friendship and
+alliance were made between them. And with joyful hearts the Sons of
+Turenn bade farewell to the King of Iorroway and to Asal, and departed
+on their way. Thus was the sixth of their quests fulfilled.
+
+Now Lugh Lamfada desired to know how the Sons of Turenn had fared, and
+whether they had got any portion of the great eric that might be
+serviceable to him when the Fomorians should return for one more
+struggle. And by sorcery and divination it was revealed to him how
+they had thriven, and that nought remained to be won save the
+cooking-spit of the sea-nymphs, and to give the three shouts upon the
+hill. Lugh then by druidic art caused a spell of oblivion and
+forgetfulness to descend upon the Sons of Turenn, and put into their
+hearts withal a yearning and passion to return to their native land of
+Erinn. They forgot, therefore, that a portion of the eric was still to
+win, and they bade the Boat of Mananan bear them home with their
+treasures, for they deemed that they should now quit them of all their
+debt for the blood of Kian and live free in their father's home,
+having done such things and won such fame as no three brothers had
+ever done since the world began.
+
+At the Brugh of Boyne, where they had started on their quest, their
+boat came ashore again, and as they landed they wept for joy, and
+falling on their knees they kissed the green sod of Erinn. Then they
+took up their treasures and journeyed to Ben Edar,[17] where the High
+King of Ireland, and Lugh with him, were holding an Assembly of the
+People of Dana. But when Lugh heard that they were on their way he put
+on his cloak of invisibility and withdrew privily to Tara.
+
+   [17] The Hill of Howth.
+
+When the brethren arrived at Ben Edar, the High King of the lords of
+the Danaans gave them welcome and applause, for all were rejoiced that
+the stain of ancient feud and bloodshed should be wiped out, and that
+the Children of Dana should be at peace within their borders. Then
+they sought for Lugh to deliver over the eric, but he was not to be
+found. And Brian said, "He has gone to Tara to avoid us, having heard
+that we were coming with our treasures and weapons of war."
+
+Word was then sent to Lugh at Tara that the Sons of Turenn were at Ben
+Edar, and the eric with them.
+
+"Let them pay it over to the High King," said Lugh.
+
+So it was done; and when Lugh had tidings that the High King had the
+eric, he returned to Ben Edar.
+
+Then the eric was laid before him, and Brian said, "Is the debt paid,
+O Lugh, son of Kian?"
+
+Lugh said, "Truly there is here the price of any man's death; but it
+is not lawful to give a quittance for an eric that is not complete.
+Where is the cooking-spit from the Island of Finchory? and have ye
+given the three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen?"
+
+At this word Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba fell prone upon the
+ground, and were speechless awhile from grief and dismay. After a
+while they left the Assembly like broken men, with hanging heads and
+with heavy steps, and betook themselves to D�n Turenn, where they
+found their father, and they told him all that had befallen them since
+they had parted with him and set forth on the Quest. Thus they passed
+the night in gloom and evil forebodings, and on the morrow they went
+down once more to the place where the Boat of Mananan was moored. And
+Ethne their sister accompanied them, wailing and lamenting, but no
+words of cheer had they now to say to her, for now they began to
+comprehend that a mightier and a craftier mind had caught them in the
+net of fate. And whereas they had deemed themselves heroes and victors
+in the most glorious quest whereof the earth had record, they now knew
+that they were but as arrows in the hands of a laughing archer, who
+shoots one at a stag and one at the heart of a foe, and one, it may
+be, in sheer wantonness, and to try his bow, over a cliff edge into
+the sea.
+
+[Illustration: "There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs"]
+
+However, they put forth in their magic boat, but in no wise could they
+direct it to the Isle of Finchory, and a quarter of a year they
+traversed the seaways and never could get tidings of that island. At
+last Brian fashioned for himself by magic art a water-dress, with a
+helmet of crystal, and into the depths of the sea he plunged. Here,
+the story tells, he searched hither and thither for a fortnight, till
+at last he found that island, which was an island indeed with the sea
+over it and around it and beneath it. There dwelt the red-haired
+ocean-nymphs in glittering palaces among the sea-flowers, and they
+wrought fair embroidery with gold and jewels, and sang, as they
+wrought, a fairy music like the chiming of silver bells. Three fifties
+of them sat or played in their great hall as Brian entered, and they
+gazed on him but spoke no word. Then Brian strode to the wide hearth,
+and without a word he seized from it a spit that was made of beaten
+gold, and turned again to go. But at that the laughter of the
+sea-maidens rippled through the hall and one of them said:
+
+"Thou art a bold man, Brian, and bolder than thou knowest; for if
+thy two brothers were here, the weakest of us could vanquish all the
+three. Nevertheless, take the spit for thy daring; we had never
+granted it for thy prayers."
+
+So Brian thanked them and bade farewell, and he rose to the surface of
+the water. Ere long his brethren perceived him as he shouldered the
+waves on the bosom of the deep, and they sailed to where he was and
+took him on board. And thus ended the quest for the seventh portion of
+the eric of Kian.
+
+After that their hopes revived a little, and they set sail for the
+land of Lochlann, in which was the Hill of Mochaen. When they had
+arrived at the hill Mochaen came out to meet them with his three sons,
+Corc and Conn and Hugh; nor did the Sons of Turenn ever behold a band
+of grimmer and mightier warriors than those four.
+
+"What seek ye here?" asked Mochaen of them They told him that it had
+been laid upon them to give three shouts upon the hill.
+
+"It hath been laid upon me," said Mochaen, "to prevent this thing."
+
+Then Brian and Mochaen drew sword and fell furiously upon each other,
+and their fighting was like that of two hungry lions or two wild
+bulls, until at last Brian drove his sword into the throat of Mochaen,
+and he died.
+
+With that the Sons of Mochaen and the Sons of Turenn rushed fiercely
+upon each other. Long and sore was the strife that they had, and the
+blood that fell made red the grassy place wherein they fought. Not one
+of them but received wounds that pierced him through and through, and
+that heroes of less hardihood had died of a score of times. But in the
+end the sons of Mochaen fell, and Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba lay over
+them in a swoon like death.
+
+After a while Brian's senses came back to him, and he said, "Do ye
+live, dear brothers, or how is it with you?" "We are as good as dead,"
+said they; "let us be."
+
+"Arise," then said Brian, "for truly I feel death coming swiftly upon
+us, and we have yet to give the three shouts upon the hill."
+
+"We cannot stir," said Iuchar and Iucharba. Then Brian rose to his
+knees and to his feet, and he lifted up his two brothers while the
+blood of all three streamed down to their feet, and they raised their
+voices as best they might, and gave three hoarse cries upon the Hill
+of Mochaen. And thus was the last of the epic fulfilled.
+
+Then they bound up their wounds, and Brian placed himself between the
+two brothers, and slowly and painfully they made their way to the
+boat, and put out to sea for Ireland. And as they lay in the stupor of
+faintness in the boat, one murmured to himself, "I see the Cape of Ben
+Edar and the coast of Turenn, and Tara of the Kings." Then Iuchar and
+Iucharba entreated Brian to lift their heads upon his breast. "Let us
+but see the land of Erinn again," said they, "the hills around
+Tailtin, and the dewy plain of Bregia, and the quiet waters of the
+Boyne and our father's D�n thereby, and healing will come to us; or if
+death come we can endure it after that." Then Brian raised them up;
+and they saw that they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the
+Strand of the Bull[18] they took land. They were then conveyed to the
+D�n of Turenn, and life was still in them when they were laid in their
+father's hall.
+
+   [18] Cluan Tarbh, Clontarf; so called from the roaring of the
+   waves on the strand.
+
+And Brian said to Turenn, "Go now, dear father, with all speed to Lugh
+at Tara. Give him the cooking-spit, and tell how thou hast found us
+after giving our three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen. Then beseech
+him that he yield thee the loan of the pigskin of the King of Greece,
+for if it be laid upon us while the life is yet in us, we shall
+recover. We have won the eric, and it may be that he will not pursue
+us to our death."
+
+Turenn went to Lugh and gave him the spit of the sea-nymphs, and
+besought him for the lives of his sons.
+
+Lugh was silent for a while, but his countenance did not change, and
+he said, "Thou, old man, seest nought but the cloud of sorrow wherein
+thou art encompassed. But I hear from above it the singing of the
+Immortal Ones, who tell to one another the story of this land. Thy
+sons must die; yet have I shown to them more mercy than they showed to
+Kian. I have forgiven them; nor shall they live to slay their own
+immortality, but the royal bards of Erinn and the old men in the
+chimney corners shall tell of their glory and their fate as long as
+the land shall endure."
+
+Then Turenn bowed his white head and went sorrowfully back to D�n
+Turenn; and he told his sons of the words that Lugh had said. And
+with that the sons of Turenn kissed each other, and the breath of life
+departed from them, and they died. And Turenn died also, for his heart
+was broken in him; and Ethne his daughter buried them in one grave.
+Thus, then, ends the tale of the Quest of the Eric and the Fate of the
+Sons of Turenn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Secret of Labra
+
+
+In very ancient days there was a King in Ireland named Labra, who was
+called Labra the Sailor for a certain voyage that he made. Now Labra
+was never seen save by one man, once a year, without a hood that
+covered his head and ears. But once a year it was his habit to let his
+hair be cropped, and the person to do this was chosen by lot, for the
+King was accustomed to put to death instantly the man who had cropped
+him. And so it happened that on a certain year the lot fell on a young
+man who was the only son of a poor widow, who dwelt near by the palace
+of the King. When she heard that her son had been chosen she fell on
+her knees before the King and besought him, with tears, that her son,
+who was her only support and all she had in the world, might not
+suffer death as was customary. The King was moved by her grief and her
+entreaties, and at last he consented that the young man should not be
+slain provided that he vowed to keep secret to the day of his death
+what he should see. The youth agreed to this and he vowed by the Sun
+and the Wind that he would never, so long as he lived, reveal to man
+what he should learn when he cropped the King's hair.
+
+So he did what was appointed for him and went home. But when he did so
+he had no peace for the wonder of the secret that he had learned
+preyed upon his mind so that he could not rest for thinking of it and
+longing to reveal it, and at last he fell into a wasting sickness from
+it, and was near to die. Then there was brought to see him a wise
+druid, who was skilled in all maladies of the mind and body, and after
+he had talked with the youth he said to his mother, "Thy son is dying
+of the burden of a secret which he may not reveal to any man, but
+until he reveals it he will have no ease. Let him, therefore, walk
+along the high way till he comes to a place where four roads meet. Let
+him then turn to the right, and the first tree that he shall meet on
+the roadside let him tell the secret to it, and so it may be he shall
+be relieved, and his vow will not be broken."
+
+The mother told her son of the druid's advice, and next day he went
+upon his way till he came to four cross roads, and he took the road
+upon the right, and the first tree he found was a great willow-tree.
+So the young man laid his cheek against the bark, and he whispered the
+secret to the tree, and as he turned back homeward he felt lightened
+of his burden, and he leaped and sang, and ere many days were past he
+was as well and light hearted as ever he had been in his life.
+
+Some while after that it happened that the King's harper, namely
+Craftiny, broke the straining-post of his harp and went out to seek
+for a piece of wood wherewith to mend it. And the first timber he
+found that would fit the purpose was the willow-tree by the cross
+roads. He cut it down, therefore, and took as much as would give him a
+new straining-post, and he bore it home with him and mended his harp
+with it. That night he played after meat before the King and his lords
+as he was wont, but whatever he played and sang the folk that listened
+to him seemed to hear only one thing, "Two horse's ears hath Labra the
+Sailor."
+
+Then the King plucked off his hood, and after that he made no secret
+of his ears and none suffered on account of them thenceforward.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+King Iubdan and King Fergus
+
+
+It happened on a day when Fergus son of Leda was King of Ulster, that
+Iubdan, King of the Leprecauns or Wee Folk, of the land of Faylinn,
+held a great banquet and assembly of the lords and princes of the Wee
+Folk. And all their captains and men of war came thither, to show
+their feats before the King, among whom was the strong man, namely
+Glowar, whose might was such that with his battle-axe he could hew
+down a thistle at one stroke. Thither also came the King's
+heir-apparent. Tiny, son of Tot, and the Queen Bebo with her maidens;
+and there were also the King's harpers and singing-men, and the chief
+poet of the court, who was called Eisirt.
+
+All these sat down to the feast in due order and precedence, with Bebo
+on the King's right hand and the poet on his left, and Glowar kept the
+door. Soon the wine began to flow from the vats of dark-red yew-wood,
+and the carvers carved busily at great haunches of roast hares and
+ribs of field-mice; and they all ate and drank, and loudly the hall
+rang with gay talk and laughter, and the drinking of toasts, and
+clashing of silver goblets.
+
+At last when they had put away desire of eating and drinking, Iubdan
+rose up, having in his hand the royal goblet of gold inlaid with
+precious many-coloured jewels, and the heir-apparent rose at the other
+end of the table, and they drank prosperity and victory to Faylinn.
+Then Iubdan's heart swelled with pride, and he asked of the company,
+"Come now, have any of you ever seen a king more glorious and powerful
+than I am?" "Never, in truth," cried they all. "Have ye ever seen a
+stronger man than my giant, Glowar?" "Never, O King," said they. "Or
+battle-steeds and men-at-arms better than mine?" "By our words," they
+cried, "we never have." "Truly," went on Iubdan, "I deem that he who
+would assail our kingdom of Faylinn, and carry away captives and
+hostages from us, would have his work cut out for him, so fierce and
+mighty are our warriors; yea, any one of them hath the stuff of
+kingship in him."
+
+On hearing this, Eisirt, in whom the heady wine and ale had done their
+work, burst out laughing; and the King turned to him, saying, "Eisirt,
+what hath moved thee to this laughter?" "I know a province in Erinn,"
+replied Eisirt, "one man of whom would harry Faylinn in the teeth of
+all four battalions of the Wee Folk." "Seize him," cried the King to
+his attendants; "Eisirt shall pay dearly in chains and in prison for
+that scornful speech against our glory."
+
+Then Eisirt was put in bonds, and he repented him of his brag; but ere
+they dragged him away he said, "Grant me, O mighty King, but three
+days' respite, that I may travel to Erinn to the court of Fergus mac
+Leda, and if I bring not back some clear token that I have uttered
+nought but the truth, then do with me as thou wilt."
+
+So Iubdan bade them release him, and he fared away to Erinn oversea.
+
+[Illustration: "They all trooped out, lords and ladies, to view the
+wee man"]
+
+After this, one day, as Fergus and his lords sat at the feast, the
+gatekeeper of the palace of Fergus in Emania heard outside a sound of
+ringing; he opened the gate, and there stood a wee man holding in his
+hand a rod of white bronze hung with little silver bells, by which
+poets are wont to procure silence for their recitations. Most noble
+and comely was the little man to look on, though the short grass of
+the lawn reached as high as to his knee. His hair was twisted in
+four-ply strands after the manner of poets and he wore a
+gold-embroidered tunic of silk and an ample scarlet cloak with a
+fringe of gold. On his feet he wore shoes of white bronze ornamented
+with gold, and a silken hood was on his head. The gatekeeper wondered
+at the sight of the wee man, and went to report the matter to King
+Fergus. "Is he less," asked Fergus, "than my dwarf and poet �da?"
+"Verily," said the gatekeeper, "he could stand upon the palm of �da's
+hand and have room to spare." Then with much laughter and wonder they
+all trooped out, lords and ladies, to the great gate to view the wee
+man and to speak with him. But Eisirt, when he saw them, waved them
+back in alarm, crying, "Avaunt, huge men; bring not your heavy breath
+so near me; but let yon man that is least among you approach me and
+bear me in." So the dwarf �da put Eisirt on his palm and bore him into
+the banqueting hall.
+
+Then they set him on the table, and Eisirt declared his name and
+calling. The King ordered that meat and drink should be given him, but
+Eisirt said, "I will neither eat of your meat nor drink of ale." "By
+our word," said Fergus, "'tis a haughty wight; he ought to be dropped
+into a goblet that he might at least drink all round him." The
+cupbearer seized Eisirt and put him into a tankard of ale, and he swam
+on the surface of it. "Ye wise men of Ulster," he cried, "there is
+much knowledge and wisdom ye might get from me, yet ye will let me be
+drowned!" "What, then?" cried they. Then Eisirt, beginning with the
+King, set out to tell every hidden sin that each man or woman had
+done, and ere he had gone far they with much laughter and chiding
+fetched him out of the ale-pot and dried him with fair satin napkins.
+"Now ye have confessed that I know somewhat to the purpose," said
+Eisirt, "and I will even eat of your food, but do ye give heed to my
+words, and do ill no more."
+
+Fergus then said, "If thou art a poet, Eisirt, give us now a taste of
+thy delightful art." "That will I," said Eisirt, "and the poem that I
+shall recite to you shall be an ode in praise of my king, Iubdan the
+Great." Then he recited this lay:--
+
+   "A monarch of might
+   Is Iubdan my king.
+   His brow is snow-white,
+   His hair black as night;
+   As a red copper bowl
+   When smitten will sing,
+   So ringeth the voice
+   Of Iubdan the king.
+   His eyen, they roll
+   Majestic and bland
+   On the lords of his land
+   Arrayed for the fight,
+   A spectacle grand!
+   Like a torrent they rush
+   With a waving of swords
+   And the bridles all ringing
+   And cheeks all aflush,
+   And the battle-steeds springing,
+   A beautiful, terrible, death-dealing band.
+   Like pines, straight and tall,
+   Where Iubdan is king,
+   Are the men one and all.
+   The maidens are fair--
+   Bright gold is their hair.
+   From silver we quaff
+   The dark, heady ale
+   That never shall fail;
+   We love and we laugh.
+   Gold frontlets we wear;
+   And aye through the air
+   Sweet music doth ring--
+   O Fergus, men say
+   That in all Inisfail
+   There is not a maiden so proud or so wise
+   But would give her two eyes
+   Thy kisses to win--
+   But I tell thee, that there
+   Thou canst never compare
+   With the haughty, magnificent King of Faylinn!"
+
+At this they all applauded, and Fergus said, "O youth and blameless
+bard, let us be friends henceforth." And they all heaped before him,
+as a poet's reward, gifts of rings and jewels and gold cups and
+weapons, as high as a tall man standing. Then Eisirt said, "Truly a
+generous and a worthy reward have ye given me, O men of Ulster; yet
+take back these precious things I pray you, for every man in my
+king's household hath an abundance of them." But the Ulster lords
+said, "Nothing that we have given may we take back." Eisirt then bade
+two-thirds of his reward be given to the bards and learned men of
+Ulster, and one-third to the horse-boys and jesters; and so it was
+done.
+
+Three days and nights did Eisirt abide in Emania, and all the King's
+court loved him and made much of him. Then he wished them blessing and
+victory, and prepared to depart to his own country. Now �da, the
+King's dwarf and minstrel, begged Eisirt to take him with him on a
+visit to the land of Faylinn; and Eisirt said, "I shall not bid thee
+come, for then if kindness and hospitality be shown thee, thou wilt
+say it is only what I had undertaken; but if thou come of thine own
+motion, thou wilt perchance be grateful."
+
+So they went off together; but Eisirt could not keep up with �da, and
+�da said, "I perceive that Eisirt is but a poor walker." At this
+Eisirt ran off like a flash and was soon an arrow flight in front of
+�da. When the latter at last came up with him, he said, "The right
+thing, Eisirt, is not too fast and not too slow." "Since I have been
+in Ulster," Eisirt replied, "I have never before heard ye measure out
+the right."
+
+By and by they reached the margin of the sea. "And what are we to do
+now?" asked �da. "Be not troubled, �da," said Eisirt, "the horse of
+Iubdan will bear us easily over this." They waited awhile on the
+beach, and ere long they saw it coming toward them skimming over the
+surface of the waves. "Save and protect us!" cried �da at that sight;
+and Eisirt asked him what he saw. "A red-maned hare," answered �da.
+"Nay, but that is Iubdan's horse," said Eisirt, and with that the
+creature came prancing to land with flashing eyes and waving tail and
+a long russet-coloured mane; a bridle beset with gold it had. Eisirt
+mounted and bade �da come up behind him. "Thy boat is little enough
+for thee alone," said �da. "Cease fault-finding and grumbling," then
+said Eisirt, "for the weight of wisdom that is in thee will not bear
+him down."
+
+So �da and Eisirt mounted on the fairy horse and away they sped over
+the tops of the waves and the deeps of the ocean till at last they
+reached the Kingdom of Faylinn, and there were a great concourse of
+the Wee Folk awaiting them. "Eisirt is coming! Eisirt is coming!"
+cried they all, "and a Fomorian giant along with him."
+
+Then Iubdan went forth to meet Eisirt, and he kissed him, and said,
+"Why hast thou brought this Fomorian with thee to slay us?" "He is no
+Fomor," said Eisirt, "but a learned man and a poet from Ulster. He is
+moreover the King of Ulster's dwarf, and in all that realm he is the
+smallest man. He can lie in their great men's bosoms and stand upon
+their hands as though he were a child; yet for all that you would do
+well to be careful how you behave to him." "What is his name?" said
+they then. "He is the poet �da," said Eisirt. "Uch," said they, "what
+a giant thou hast brought us!"
+
+"And now, O King," said Eisirt to Iubdan, "I challenge thee to go and
+see for thyself the region from which we have come, and make trial of
+the royal porridge which is made for Fergus King of Ulster this very
+night."
+
+At this Iubdan was much dismayed, and he betook himself to Bebo his
+wife and told her how he was laid under bonds of chivalry by Eisirt to
+go to the land of the giants; and he bade her prepare to accompany
+him. "I will go," said she, "but you did an ill deed when you
+condemned Eisirt to prison."
+
+So they mounted, both of them, on the fairy steed, and in no long time
+they reached Emania, and it was now past midnight. And they were
+greatly afraid, and said Bebo, "Let us search for that porridge and
+taste it, as we were bound, and make off again ere the folk awake."
+
+They made their way into the palace of Fergus, and soon they found a
+great porridge pot, but the rim was too high to be reached from the
+ground. "Get thee up upon thy horse," said Bebo, "and from thence to
+the rim of this cauldron." And thus he did, but having gained the rim
+of the pot his arm was too short to reach the silver ladle that was
+in it. In straining downward to do so, however, he slipped and in he
+fell, and up to his middle in the thick porridge he stuck fast. And
+when Bebo heard what a plight he was in, she wept, and said, "Rash and
+hasty wert thou, Iubdan, to have got into this evil case, but surely
+there is no man under the sun that can make thee hear reason." And he
+said, "Rash indeed it was, but thou canst not help me, Bebo, now, and
+it is but folly to stay; take the horse and flee away ere the day
+break." "Say not so," replied Bebo, "for surely I will not go till I
+see how things fall out with thee."
+
+
+At last the folk in the palace began to be stirring, and ere long they
+found Iubdan in the porridge pot.
+
+So they picked him out with great laughter bore him off to Fergus.
+
+"By my conscience," said Fergus, "but this is not the little fellow
+that was here before, for he had yellow hair, but this one hath a
+shock of the blackest; who art thou at all, wee man?"
+
+"I am of the Wee Folk," said Iubdan, "and am indeed king over them,
+and this woman is my wife and queen, Bebo."
+
+"Take him away," then said Fergus to his varlets, "and guard him
+well"; for he misdoubted some mischief of Faery was on foot.
+
+"Nay, nay," cried Iubdan, "but let me not be with these coarse
+fellows. I pledge thee my word that I will not quit this place till
+thou and Ulster give me leave."
+
+"Could I believe that," said Fergus, "I would not put thee in bonds."
+
+"I have never broken my word," said Iubdan, "and I never will."
+
+Then Fergus set him free and allotted him a fair chamber for himself,
+and a trusty servingman to wait upon him. Soon there came in a gillie
+whose business it was to see to the fires, and he kindled the fire for
+Iubdan, throwing on it a woodbine together with divers other sorts of
+timber. Then Iubdan said, "Man of smoke, burn not the king of the
+trees, for it is not meet to burn him. Wouldst thou but take counsel
+from me thou mightest go safely by sea or land." Iubdan then chanted
+to him the following recital of the duties of his office:--
+
+"O fire-gillie of Fergus of the Feasts, never by land or sea burn the
+King of the woods, High King of the forests of Inisfail, whom none may
+bind, but who like a strong monarch holds all the other trees in hard
+bondage. If thou burn the twining one, misfortune will come of it,
+peril at the point of spear, or drowning in the waves.
+
+"Burn not the sweet apple-tree of drooping branches, of the white
+blossoms, to whose gracious head each man puts forth his hand.
+
+"The stubborn blackthorn wanders far and wide, the good craftsman
+burns not this timber; little though its bushes be, yet flocks of
+birds warble in them.
+
+"Burn not the noble willow, the unfailing ornament of poems; bees
+drink from its blossoms, all delight in the graceful tent.
+
+"The delicate, airy tree of the druids, the rowan with its berries,
+this burn; but avoid the weak tree, burn not the slender hazel.
+
+"The ash-tree of the black buds burn not--timber that speeds the
+wheel, that yields the rider his switch; the ashen spear is the
+scale-beam of battle.
+
+"The tangled, bitter bramble, burn him, the sharp and green; he flays
+and cuts the foot; he snares you and drags you back.
+
+"Hottest of timber is the green oak; he will give you a pain in the
+head if you use him overmuch, a pain in the eyes will come from his
+biting fumes.
+
+"Full-charged with witchcraft is the alder, the hottest tree in the
+fight; burn assuredly both the alder and the whitehorn at your will.
+
+"Holly, burn it in the green and in the dry; of all trees in the
+world, holly is absolutely the best.
+
+"The elder-tree of the rough brown bark, burn him to cinders, the
+steed of the Fairy Folk.
+
+"The drooping birch, by all means burn him too, the tree of
+long-lasting bloom.
+
+"And lay low, if it pleases you, the russet aspen; late or early, burn
+the tree with the quaking plumage.
+
+"The yew is the venerable ancestor of the wood as the companion of
+feasts he is known; of him make goodly brown vats for ale and wine.
+
+"Follow my counsel, O man of the smoke, and it shall go well with you,
+body and soul."
+
+So Iubdan continued in Emania free to go and come as he pleased; and
+all the Ulstermen delighted to watch him and to hear his conversation.
+
+One day it chanced that he was in the chamber of the Queen, and saw
+her putting on her feet a very dainty and richly embroidered pair of
+shoes. At this Iubdan gave a laugh. "Why dost thou laugh?" said
+Fergus. "Meseems the healing is applied very far from the hurt,"
+replied Iubdan. "What meanest thou by that?" said Fergus. "Because the
+Queen is making her feet fine in order, O Fergus, that she may attract
+thee to her lips," said Iubdan.
+
+Another time it chanced that Iubdan overheard one of the King's
+soldiers complaining of a pair of new brogues that had been served out
+to him, and grumbling that the soles were too thin. At this Iubdan
+laughed again, and being asked why, he said, "I must need laugh to
+hear yon fellow grumbling about his brogues, for the soles of these
+brogues, thin as they are, he will never wear out." And this was a
+true prophecy, for the same night this and another of the King's men
+had a quarrel, and fought, and killed each the other.
+
+At last the Wee Folk determined to go in search of their king, and
+seven battalions of them marched upon Emania and encamped upon the
+lawn over against the King's D�n. Fergus and his nobles went out to
+confer with them. "Give us back our king," said the Wee Folk, "and we
+shall redeem him with a great ransom." "What ransom, then?" asked
+Fergus. "We shall," said they, "cause this great plain to stand thick
+with corn for you every year, and that without ploughing or sowing."
+"I will not give up Iubdan for that," said Fergus. "Then we shall do
+you a mischief," said the Wee Folk.
+
+That night every calf in the Province of Ulster got access to its dam,
+and in the morn there was no milk to be had for man or child, for the
+cows were sucked dry.
+
+Then said the Wee Folk to Fergus, "This night, unless we get Iubdan,
+we shall defile every well and lake and river in Ulster." "That is a
+trifle," said Fergus, "and ye shall not get Iubdan."
+
+The Wee Folk carried out this threat, and once more they came and
+demanded Iubdan, saying, "To-night we shall burn with fire the shaft
+of every mill in Ulster." "Yet not so shall ye get Iubdan," said
+Fergus.
+
+This being done, they came again, saying, "We shall have vengeance
+unless Iubdan be delivered to us." "What vengeance?" said Fergus. "We
+shall snip off every ear of corn in thy kingdom," said they. "Even
+so," replied Fergus, "I shall not deliver Iubdan."
+
+So the Wee Folk snipped off every ear of standing corn in Ulster, and
+once more they returned and demanded Iubdan. "What will ye do next?"
+asked Fergus. "We shall shave the hair of every man and every woman in
+Ulster," said they, "so that ye shall be shamed and disgraced for ever
+among the people of Erinn." "By my word," said Fergus, "if ye do that
+I shall slay Iubdan."
+
+Then Iubdan said, "I have a better counsel than that, O King; let me
+have liberty to go and speak with them, and I shall bid them make good
+what mischief they have done, and they shall return home forthwith."
+
+Fergus granted that; and when the Wee Folk saw Iubdan approaching
+them, they set up a shout of triumph that a man might have heard a
+bowshot off, for they believed they had prevailed and that Iubdan was
+released to them. But Iubdan said, "My faithful people, you must now
+begone, and I may not go with you; make good also all the mischief
+that ye have done, and know that if ye do any more I must die."
+
+Then the Wee Folk departed, very downcast and sorrowful, but they did
+as Iubdan had bidden them.
+
+Iubdan, however, went to Fergus and said, "Take, O King, the choicest
+of my treasures, and let me go."
+
+"What is thy choicest treasure?" said Fergus.
+
+Iubdan then began to recite to Fergus the list of his possessions,
+such as druidic weapons, and love-charms, and instruments of music
+that played without touch of human hand, and vats of ale that could
+never be emptied; and he named among other noble treasures a pair of
+shoes, wearing which a man could go over or under the sea as readily
+as on dry land.
+
+At the same time �da, the dwarf and poet of Ulster, returned hale and
+well from the land of Faylinn, and much did he entertain the King and
+all the court with tales of the smallness of the Wee Folk, and their
+marvel at his own size, and their bravery and beauty, and their marble
+palaces and matchless minstrelsy.
+
+So the King, Fergus mac Leda, was well content to take a ransom,
+namely the magic shoes, which he desired above all the treasures of
+Faylinn, and to let Iubdan go. And he gave him rich gifts, as did also
+the nobles of Ulster, and wished him blessing and victory; and Iubdan
+he departed, with Bebo his wife, having first bestowed upon Fergus the
+magical shoes. And of him the tale hath now no more to say.
+
+But Fergus never tired of donning the shoes of Iubdan and traversing
+the secret depths of the lakes and rivers of Ulster. Thereby, too, in
+the end he got his death, for as the wise say that the gifts of Faery
+may not be enjoyed without peril by mortal men, so in this case too
+it proved. For, one day as Fergus was exploring the depths of Loch
+Rury he met the monster, namely the river-horse, which inhabited that
+lake. Horrible of form it was, swelling and contracting like a
+blacksmith's bellows, and with eyes like torches, and glittering
+tusks, and a mane of coarse hair on its crest and neck. When it saw
+Fergus it laid back its ears, and its neck arched like a rainbow over
+his head, and the vast mouth gaped to devour him. Then Fergus rose
+quickly to the surface and made for the land, and the beast after him,
+driving before it a huge wave of foam. Barely did he escape with his
+life; but with the horror of the sight his features were distorted and
+his mouth was twisted around to the side of his head, so that he was
+called Fergus Wry-mouth from that day forth. And the gillie that was
+with him told the tale of the adventure.
+
+Now there was a law in Ireland that no man might be king who was
+disfigured by any bodily blemish. His people, therefore, loving
+Fergus, kept from him all knowledge of his condition, and the Queen
+let all mirrors that were in the palace be put away. But one day it
+chanced that a bondmaid was negligent in preparing the bath, and
+Fergus being impatient, gave her a stroke with a switch which he had
+in his hand. The maid in anger turned upon him, and cried, "It would
+better become thee to avenge thyself on the riverhorse that hath
+twisted thy mouth, than to do brave deeds on women."
+
+Fergus then bade a mirror be fetched, and when he saw his face in it,
+he said, "The woman spake truth; the riverhorse of Loch Rury has done
+this thing."
+
+[Illustration: "Fergus goes down into the lake"]
+
+The next day Fergus put on the shoes of Iubdan and went forth to Loch
+Rury, and with him went the lords of Ulster. And when he reached the
+margin of the lake he drew his sword and went down into it, and soon
+the waters covered him.
+
+After a while those that watched upon the bank saw a bubbling and a
+mighty commotion in the waters, now here, now there, and waves of
+bloody froth broke at their feet. At last, as they strained their eyes
+upon the tossing water, they saw Fergus rise to his middle from it,
+pale and bloody. In his right hand he waved aloft his sword, his left
+was twisted in the coarse hair of the monster's head, and they saw
+that his countenance was fair and kingly as of old. "Ulstermen, I have
+conquered," he cried; and as he did so he sank down again, dead with
+his dead foe, into their red grave in Loch Rury.
+
+And the Ulster lords went back to Emania, sorrowful yet proud, for
+they knew that a seed of honour had been sown that day in their land
+from which should spring a breed of high-hearted fighting men for many
+a generation to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+The Carving of mac Datho's Boar
+
+
+Once upon a time there dwelt in the province of Leinster a wealthy
+hospitable lord named Mesroda, son of Datho. Two possessions had he;
+namely, a hound which could outrun every other hound and every wild
+beast in Erinn, and a boar which was the finest and greatest in size
+that man had ever beheld.
+
+Now the fame of this hound was noised all about the land, and many
+were the princes and lords who longed to possess it. And it came to
+pass that Conor, King of Ulster, and Maev, Queen of Connacht, sent
+messengers to mac Datho to ask him to sell them the hound for a price,
+and both the messengers arrived at the D�n of mac Datho on the same
+day. Said the Connacht messenger, "We will give thee in exchange for
+the hound six hundred milch cows, and a chariot with two horses, the
+best that are to be found in Connacht, and at the end of a year thou
+shalt have as much again." And the messenger of King Conor said, "We
+will give no less than Connacht, and the friendship and alliance of
+Ulster, and that will be better for thee than the friendship of
+Connacht."
+
+Then Mesroda mac Datho fell silent, and for three days he would not
+eat nor drink, nor could he sleep o' nights, but tossed restlessly on
+his bed. His wife observed his condition, and said to him, "Thy fast
+hath been long, Mesroda, though good food is by thee in plenty; and at
+night thou turnest thy face to the wall, and well I know thou dost not
+sleep. What is the cause of thy trouble?"
+
+"There is a saying," replied mac Datho, "'Trust not a thrall with
+money, nor a woman with a secret.'"
+
+"When should a man talk to a woman," said his wife, "but when
+something were amiss? What thy mind cannot solve perchance another's
+may."
+
+Then mac Datho told his wife of the request for his hound both from
+Ulster and from Connacht at one and the same time, "and whichever of
+them I deny," he said, "they will harry my cattle and slay my people."
+
+"Then hear my counsel," said the woman. "Give it to both of them, and
+bid them come and fetch it; and if there be any harrying to be done,
+let them even harry each other; but in no way mayest thou keep the
+hound."
+
+On that, mac Datho rose up and shook himself, and called for food and
+drink, and made merry with himself and his guests. Then he sent
+privately for the messenger of Queen Maev, and said to him, "Long have
+I doubted what to do, but now I am resolved to give the hound to
+Connacht. Let ye send for it on such a day with a train of your nobles
+or warriors and bear him forth nobly and proudly, for he is worth it;
+and ye shall all have drink and food and royal entertainment in my
+D�n." So the messenger departed, well pleased.
+
+To the Ulster messenger mac Datho said, "After much perplexity I have
+resolved to give my hound to Conor. Let the best of the Ulstermen come
+to fetch him, and they shall be welcomed and entertained as is
+fitting." And for these he named the same day as he had done for the
+embassy from Connacht.
+
+When the appointed day came round, the flower of the fighting men of
+two provinces of Ireland were assembled before the D�n of the son of
+Datho, and there were also Conor, King of Ulster, and Ailill, the
+husband of Maev, Queen of Connacht. Mac Datho went forth to meet them.
+"Welcome, warriors," he said to them, "albeit for two armies at once
+we were not prepared." Then he bade them into the D�n, and in the
+great hall they sat down. Now in this hall there were seven doors, and
+between every two doors were benches for fifty men. Not as friends
+bidden to a feast did the men of Ulster and of Connacht look upon one
+another, since for three hundred years the provinces had ever been at
+war.
+
+"Let the great boar be killed," said mac Datho, and it was done. For
+seven years had that boar been nourished on the milk of fifty cows;
+yet rather on venom should it have been nourished, such was the
+mischief that was to come from the carving of it.
+
+When the boar was roasted it was brought in, and many other kinds of
+food as side dishes, "and if more be wanting to the feast," said mac
+Datho, "it shall be slain for you before the morning."
+
+"The boar is good," said Conor.
+
+"It is a fine boar," said Ailill; "and now, O mac Datho, how shall it
+be divided among us?"
+
+There was among the Ulster company one Bricru, son of Carbad, whose
+delight was in biting speeches and in fomenting strife, though he
+himself was never known to draw sword in any quarrel. He now spoke
+from his couch in answer to Ailill:
+
+"How should the boar be divided, O son of Datho, except by appointing
+to carve it him who is best in deeds of arms? Here be all the valiant
+men of Ireland assembled; have none of us hit each other a blow on the
+nose ere now?"
+
+"Good," said Ailill, "so let it be done."
+
+"We also agree," said Conor; "there are plenty of our lads in the
+house that have many a time gone round the border of the Provinces."
+
+"You will want them to-night, Conor," said an old warrior from Conlad
+in the West. "They have often been seen on their backs on the roads of
+rushy Dedah, and many a fat steer have they left with me."
+
+"It was a fat bullock thou didst have with thee once upon a day,"
+replied Moonremar of Ulster, "even thine own brother, and by the rushy
+road of Conlad he came and went not back."
+
+"'Twas a better man than he, even Irloth, son of Fergus mac Leda, who
+fell by the hand of Echbael in Tara Luachra," replied Lugad of
+Munster.
+
+"Echbael?" cried Keltchar, son of Uthecar Hornskin of Ulster. "Is it
+of him ye boast, whom I myself slew and cut off his head?"
+
+And thus the heroes bandied about the tales and taunts of their
+victories, until at length Ket, son of Maga of the Connachtmen, arose
+and stood over the boar and took the knife into his hand. "Now," he
+cried, "let one man in Ulster match his deeds with mine, or else hold
+ye your peace and let me carve the boar!"
+
+For a while there was silence, and then Conor King of Ulster, said to
+Logary the Triumphant, "Stay that for me." So Logary arose and said,
+"Ket shall never carve the boar for all of us."
+
+"Not so fast, Logary," said Ket. "It is the custom among you Ulstermen
+that when a youth first takes arms he comes to prove himself on us. So
+didst thou, Logary, and we met thee at the border. From that meeting I
+have thy chariot and horses, and thou hadst a spear through thy ribs
+Not thus wilt thou get the boar from me." Then Logary sat down on his
+bench.
+
+"Ket shall never divide that pig," spake then a tall fair-haired
+warrior from Ulster, coming down the hall. "Whom have we here?" asked
+Ket. "A better man than thou," shouted the Ulstermen, "even Angus, son
+of Lama Gabad." "Indeed?" said Ket, "and why is his father called Lama
+Gabad [wanting a hand]?" "We know not," said they. "But I know it,"
+said Ket. "Once I went on a foray to the East, and was attacked by a
+troop, Lama Gabad among them. He flung a lance at me. I seized the
+same lance and flung it back, and it shore off his hand, and it lay
+there on the field before him. Shall that man's son measure himself
+with me?" And Angus went to his bench and sat down.
+
+"Keep up the contest," then cried Ket tauntingly, "or let me divide
+the boar." "That thou shalt not," cried another Ulster warrior of
+great stature. "And who is this?" said Ket. "Owen M�r, King of Fermag,"
+said the Ulstermen. "I have seen him ere now," said Ket. "I took a
+drove of cattle from him before his own house. He put a spear through
+my shield and I flung it back and it tore out one of his eyes, and
+one-eyed he is to this day." Then Owen M�r sat down.
+
+"Have ye any more to contest the pig with me?" then said Ket. "Thou
+hast not won it yet," said Moonremar, son of Gerrkind, rising up. "Is
+that Moonremar?" said Ket, "It is," they cried.
+
+"It is but three days," said Ket, "since I was the last man who won
+renown of thee. Three heads of thy fighting men did I carry off from
+D�n Moonremar, and one of the three was the head of thy eldest son."
+Moonremar then sat down.
+
+"Still the contest," said Ket, "or I shall carve the boar." "Contest
+thou shalt have," said Mend, son of Sword-heel. "Who is this?" said
+Ket. "'Tis Mend," cried all the Ulstermen.
+
+"Shall the sons of fellows with nicknames come here to contend with
+me?" cried Ket. "I was the priest who christened thy father that name.
+'Twas I who cut the heel off him, so that off he went with only one.
+What brings the son of that man to contend with me?" Mend then sat
+down in his seat.
+
+"Come to the contest," said Ket, "or I shall begin to carve." Then
+arose from the Ulstermen a huge grey and terrible warrior. "Who is
+this?" asked Ket. '"Tis Keltcar, son of Uthecar," cried they all.
+
+"Wait awhile, Keltcar," said Ket, "do not pound me to pieces just yet.
+Once, O Keltcar, I made a foray on thee and came in front of D�n. All
+thy folk attacked me, and thou amongst them. In a narrow pass we
+fought, and thou didst fling a spear at me and I at thee, but my spear
+went through thy loins and thou hast never been the better of it
+since." Then Keltcar sat down in his seat.
+
+"Who else comes to the contest," cried Ket "or shall I at last divide
+the pig?" Up rose then the son of King Conor, named Cuscrid the
+Stammerer "Whom have we here?" said Ket. "'Tis Cuscrid son of Conor,"
+cried they all. "He has the stuff of a king in him," said Ket. "No
+thanks to thee for that," said the youth.
+
+"Well, then," said Ket, "thou madest thy first foray against us
+Connachtmen, and on the border of the Provinces we met thee. A third
+of thy people, thou didst leave behind thee, and came away with my
+spear through thy throat, so that thou canst not speak rightly ever
+since, for the sinews of thy throat were severed. And hence is Cuscrid
+the Stammerer thy byname ever since."
+
+So thus Ket laid shame and defeat on the whole Province of Ulster, nor
+was there any other warrior in the hall found to contend with him.
+
+[Illustration: "A mighty shout of exultation arose from the
+Ulstermen"]
+
+Then Ket stood up triumphing, and took the knife in his hand and
+prepared to carve the boar when a noise and trampling were heard at
+the great door of the hall, and a mighty shout of exultation arose
+from the Ulstermen. When the press parted, Ket saw coming up the
+centre of the hall Conall of the Victories, and Conor the King dashed
+the helmet from his head and sprang up for joy.
+
+"Glad we are," cried Conall, "that all is ready for feast; and who is
+carving the boar for us?"
+
+"Ket, son of Maga," replied they, "for none could contest the place of
+honour with him."
+
+"Is that so, Ket?" says Conall Cearnach.
+
+"Even so," replied Ket. "And now welcome to thee, O Conall, thou of
+the iron heart and fiery blood; keen as the glitter of ice,
+ever-victorious chieftain; hail mighty son of Finnchoom!"
+
+And Conall said, "Hail to thee, Ket, flower of heroes, lord of
+chariots, a raging sea in battle; a strong, majestic bull; hail, son
+of Maga!"
+
+"And now," went on Conall, "rise up from the boar and give me place."
+
+"Why so?" replied Ket.
+
+"Dost thou seek a contest from me?" said Conall; "verily thou shalt
+have it. By the gods of my nation I swear that since I first took
+weapons in my hand I have never passed one day that I did not slay a
+Connachtman, nor one night that I did not make a foray on them, nor
+have I ever slept but I had the head of a Connachtman under my knee."
+
+"I confess," then, said Ket, "that thou art a better man than I, and I
+yield thee the boar. But if Anluan my brother were here, he would
+match thee deed for deed, and sorrow and shame it is that he is not."
+
+
+"Anluan is here," shouted Conall, and with that he drew from his
+girdle the head of Anluan and dashed it in the face of Ket.
+
+Then all sprang to their feet and a wild shouting and tumult arose,
+and the swords flew out of themselves, and battle raged in the hall of
+mac Datho. Soon the hosts burst out through the doors of the D�n and
+smote and slew each other in the open field, until the Connacht host
+were put to flight. The hound of mac Datho pursued them along with the
+Ulstermen, and it came up with the chariot in which King Ailill was
+driving, and seized the pole of the chariot, but the charioteer dealt
+it a blow that cut off its head. When Ailill drew rein they found the
+hound's head still clinging to the pole, whence that place is called
+Ibar Cinn Chon, or the Yew Tree of the Hound's Head.
+
+Now when Conor pursued hard upon King Ailill, Ferloga, the charioteer
+of Ailill, lighted down and hid himself in the heather; and as Conor
+drove past, Ferloga leaped up behind him in the chariot and gripped
+him by the throat.
+
+"What will thou have of me?" said Conor.
+
+"Give over the pursuit," said Ferloga, "and take me with thee to
+Emania,[19] and let the maidens of Emania so long as I am there sing
+a serenade before my dwelling every night."
+
+   [19] The ancient royal residence of Ulster, near to the present
+   town of Armagh.
+
+"Granted," said Conor. So he took Ferloga with him to Emania, and at
+the end of a year sent him back to Connacht, escorting him as far as
+to Athlone; and Ferloga had from the King of Ulster two noble horses
+with golden bridles, but the serenade from the maidens of Ulster he
+did not get, though he got the horses instead. And thus ends the tale
+of the contention between Ulster and Connacht over the Carving of mac
+Datho's Boar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Vengeance of Mesgedra
+
+
+Atharna the Bard, surnamed the Extortionate, was the chief poet and
+satirist of Ulster in the reign of Conor mac Nessa. Greed and
+arrogance were in his heart and poison on his tongue, and the kings
+and lords of whom he asked rewards for his poems dared not refuse him
+aught, partly because of the poisonous satires and lampoons which he
+would otherwise make upon them for their niggardliness, and partly for
+that in Ireland at that day it was deemed shameful to refuse to a bard
+whatsoever he might ask. Once it was said that he asked of a sub-king,
+namely Eochy mac Luchta, who was famed for hospitality and generosity,
+the single thing that Eochy would have been grieved to give, namely
+his eye, and Eochy had but one eye. But the King plucked it out by the
+roots and gave it to him; and Atharna went away disappointed, for he
+had looked that Eochy would ransom his eye at a great price.
+
+Now Conor mac Nessa, King of Ulster, and all the Ulster lords, having
+grown very powerful and haughty, became ill neighbours to all the
+other kingdoms in Ireland. On fertile Leinster above all they fixed
+their eyes, and sought for an opportunity to attack and plunder the
+province. Conor resolved at last to move Atharna to go to the King of
+Leinster, in the hope that he himself might be rid of Atharna, by the
+King of Leinster killing him for his insolence and his exactions, and
+that he might avenge the death of his bard by the invasion of
+Leinster.
+
+Atharna therefore set out for Leinster accompanied by his train of
+poets and harpers and gillies and arrived at the great D�n of Mesgedra
+the King, at Naas in Kildare. Here he dwelt for twelve months wasting
+the substance of the Leinstermen and in the end when he was minded to
+return to Ulster he went before the King Mesgedra and the lords of
+Leinster and demanded his poet's fee.
+
+"What is thy demand, Atharna?" asked Mesgedra.
+
+"So many cattle and so many sheep," answered Atharna, "and store of
+gold and raiment, and of the fairest dames and maidens of Leinster
+forty-five, to grind at my querns in D�n Atharna."
+
+"It shall be granted thee," said the King. Then Atharna feared some
+mischief, for the King and the nobles of Leinster had not seemed like
+men on whom shameful conditions are laid, nor had they offered to
+ransom their women. Atharna therefore judged that the Leinstermen
+might fall upon him to recover their booty when he was once beyond the
+border, for within their own borders they might not affront a guest.
+He sent, therefore, a swift messenger to Conor mac Nessa, bidding him
+come with a strong escort as quickly as he might, to meet Atharna's
+band on the marches of Leinster, and convey him safely home.
+
+Atharna then departed from Naas with a great herd of sheep and cattle
+and other spoils, and with thrice fifteen of the noble women of
+Leinster. He went leisurely, meaning to strike the highroad to Emania
+from Dublin; but when he came thither the Liffey was swollen with
+rain, and the ford at Dublin might not be crossed. He caused,
+therefore, many great hurdles to be made, and these were set in the
+river, and over them a causeway of boughs was laid, so that his
+cattle and spoils came safely across. Hence is the town of that place
+called to this day in Gaelic the City of the Hurdle Ford.
+
+On the next day Conor and the Ulstermen met him, but a great force of
+the men of Leinster was also marching from Naas to the border, to
+recover their womenfolk, even as Atharna had expected. The Leinstermen
+then broke the battle on the company from Ulster, and defeated them,
+driving them with the cows of Atharna on to the sea cape of Ben Edar
+(Howth), but they recovered the women. On Ben Edar did King Conor with
+the remnant of his troop then fortify themselves, making a great fosse
+across the neck of land by which Ben Edar is joined to the mainland,
+and here they were besieged, with hard fighting by day and night,
+expecting that help should come to them from Ulster, whither they had
+sent messengers to tell of their distress.
+
+Now Conall of the Victories was left behind to rule in Emania when
+Conor set forth to Leinster, and he now, on hearing how the King was
+beset, assembled a great host and marched down to Ben Edar. Here he
+attacked the host of Leinster, and a great battle was fought, many
+being slain on both sides, and the King of Leinster, Mesgedra, lost
+his left hand in the fight. In the end the men of Leinster were
+routed, and fled, and Mesgedra drove in his chariot past the City of
+the Hurdle Ford and Naas to the fords of Liffey at Clane. Here there
+was a sacred oak tree where druid rites and worship were performed,
+and that oak tree was sanctuary, so that within its shadow, guarded by
+mighty spells, no man might be slain by his enemy.
+
+Now Conall Cearnach had followed hard on the track of Mesgedra, and
+when he found him beneath the oak, he drove his chariot round and
+round the circuit of the sanctuary, bidding Mesgedra come forth and do
+battle with him, or be counted a dastard among the kings of Erinn. But
+Mesgedra said, "Is it the fashion of the champions of Ulster to
+challenge one-armed men to battle?"
+
+Then Conall let his charioteer bind one of his arms to his side, and
+again he taunted Mesgedra and bade him come forth.
+
+Mesgedra then drew sword, and between him and Conall there was a
+fierce fight until the Liffey was reddened with their blood. At last,
+by a chance blow of the sword of Mesgedra, the bonds of Conall's left
+arm were severed.
+
+"On thy head be it," said Conall, "if thou release me again."
+
+Then he caused his arm to be bound up once more, and again they met,
+sword to sword, and again in the fury of the fight Mesgedra cut the
+thongs that bound Conall's arm. "The gods themselves have doomed
+thee," shouted Conall then, and he rushed upon Mesgedra and in no
+long time he wounded him to death.
+
+"Take my head," said Mesgedra then, "and add my glory to thy glory,
+but be well assured this wrong shall yet be avenged by me upon
+Ulster," and he died.
+
+Then Conall cut off the head of Mesgedra and put it in his chariot,
+and took also the chariot of Mesgedra and fared northwards. Ere long
+he met a chariot and fifty women accompanying it. In it was Buan the
+Queen, wife of Mesgedra, returning from a visit to Meath.
+
+"Who art thou, woman?" said Conall.
+
+"I am Buan, wife of Mesgedra the King."
+
+"Thou art to come with me," then said Conall.
+
+"Who hath commanded this?" said Buan.
+
+"Mesgedra the King," said Conall.
+
+"By what token dost thou lay these commands upon me?"
+
+"Behold his chariot and his horses," said Conall.
+
+"He gives rich gifts to many a man," answered the Queen.
+
+Then Conall showed her the head of her husband.
+
+"This is my token," said he.
+
+"It is enough," said Buan. "But give me leave to bewail him ere I go
+into captivity."
+
+Then Buan rose up in her chariot and raised for Mesgedra a keen of
+sorrow so loud and piercing that her heart broke with it, and she fell
+backwards on the road and died.
+
+Conall Cearnach then buried her there, and laid the head of her
+husband by her side; and the fair hazel tree that grew from her grave
+by the fords of Clane was called Coll Buana, or the Hazel Tree of
+Buan.
+
+But ere Conall buried the head of Mesgedra he caused the brain to be
+taken out and mixed with lime to make a bullet for a sling, for so it
+was customary to do when a great warrior had been killed; and the
+brain-balls thus made were accounted to be the deadliest of missiles.
+
+
+So when Leinster had been harried and plundered and its king and queen
+thus slain, the Ulstermen drew northward again, and the brain-ball was
+laid up in the D�n of King Conor at Emania.
+
+Years afterwards it happened that the Wolf of Connacht, namely Ket,
+son of Maga, came disguised within the borders of Ulster in search of
+prey, and he entered the palace precincts of Conor in Emania. There he
+saw two jesters of the King, who had gotten the brain-ball from the
+shelf where it lay, and were rolling it about the courtyard. Ket knew
+it for what it was, and put it out of sight of the jesters and took it
+away with him while they made search for it. Thenceforth Ket carried
+it ever about with him in his girdle, hoping that he might yet use it
+to destroy some great warrior among the Ulstermen.
+
+One day thereafter Ket made a foray on the men of Ross, and carried
+away a spoil of cattle. The host of Ulster and King Conor with them
+overtook him as he went homeward. The men of Connacht had also
+mustered to the help of Ket, and both sides made them ready for
+battle.
+
+Now a river, namely Brosna, ran between them, and on a hill at one
+side of this were assembled a number of the noble women of Connacht,
+who desired greatly to look on the far-famed Ultonian warriors, and
+above all on Conor the King, whose presence was said to be royal and
+stately beyond any man that was then living in Erinn. Among the
+bushes, close to the women, Ket hid himself, and lay still but
+watchful.
+
+Now Conor, seeing none but womenfolk close to him at this point, and
+being willing to show them his splendour, drew near to the bank on his
+side of the stream. Then Ket leaped up, whirling his sling, and the
+bullet hummed across the river and smote King Conor on the temple. And
+his men carried him off for dead, and the men of Connacht broke the
+battle on the Ulstermen, slaying many, and driving the rest of them
+back to their own place. This battle was thenceforth called the Battle
+of the Ford of the Sling-cast, or Athnurchar; and so the place is
+called to this day.
+
+When Conor was brought home to Emania his chief physician, Fingen,
+found the ball half buried in his temple. "If the ball be taken out,"
+said Fingen, "he will die; if it remain he will live, but he will bear
+the blemish of it."
+
+"Let him bear the blemish," said the Ulster lords, "that is a small
+matter compared with the death of Conor."
+
+Then Fingen stitched the wound over with a thread of gold, for Conor
+had curling golden hair, and bade him keep himself from all violent
+movements and from all vehement passions, and not to ride on
+horseback, and he would do well.
+
+After that Conor lived for seven years, and he went not to war during
+that time, and all cause of passion was kept far from him. Then one
+day at broad noon the sky darkened, and the gloom of night seemed to
+spread over the world, and all the people feared, and looked for some
+calamity. Conor called to him his chief druid, namely Bacarach, and
+inquired of him as to the cause of the gloom.
+
+The druid then went with Conor into a sacred grove of oaks and
+performed the rites of divination, and in a trance he spoke to Conor,
+saying, "I see a hill near a great city, and three high crosses on it.
+To one of them is nailed the form of a young man who is like unto one
+of the Immortals. Round him stand soldiers with tall spears, and a
+great crowd waiting to see him die."
+
+"Is he, then, a malefactor?"
+
+"Nay," said the druid, "but holiness, innocence, and truth have come
+to earth in him, and for this cause have the druids of his land doomed
+him to die, for his teaching was not as theirs. And the heavens are
+darkened for wrath and sorrow at the sight."
+
+Then Conor leaped up in a fury, crying, "They shall not slay him,
+they shall not slay him! Would I were there with the host of Ulster,
+and thus would I scatter his foes"; and with that he snatched his
+sword and began striking at the trees that stood thickly about him in
+the druid grove. Then with the heat of his passion the sling-ball
+burst from his head, and he fell to the ground and died.
+
+Thus was fulfilled the vengeance of Mesgedra upon Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+The Story of Etain and Midir
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a High King of the Milesian race in Ireland
+named Eochy Airem, whose power and splendour were very great, and all
+the sub-Kings, namely, Conor of Ulster, and Mesgedra of Leinster, and
+Curoi of Munster, and Ailill and Maev of Connacht, were obedient to
+him. But he was without a wife; and for this reason the sub-Kings and
+Princes of Ireland would not come to his festivals at Tara, "for,"
+said they, "there is no noble in Ireland who is a wifeless man, and a
+King is no king without a queen." And they would not bring their own
+wives to Tara without a queen there to welcome them, nor would they
+come themselves and leave their womenfolk at home.
+
+So Eochy bade search be made through all the boundaries of Ireland for
+a maiden meet to be wife of the High King. And in time his messengers
+came back and said that they had found in Ulster, by the Bay of
+Cichmany, the fairest and most accomplished maiden in Ireland, and her
+name was Etain, daughter of Etar, lord of the territory called Echrad.
+So Eochy, when he had heard their report, went forth to woo the
+maiden.
+
+When he drew near his journey's end he passed by a certain spring of
+pure water where it chanced that Etain and her maids had come down
+that she might wash her hair. She held in her hand a comb of silver
+inlaid with gold, and before her was a bason of silver chased with
+figures of birds, and around the rim of it red carbuncles were set.
+Her mantle was purple with a fringe of silver, and it was fastened
+with a broad golden brooch. She wore also a tunic of green silk, stiff
+with embroidery of gold that glittered in the sun. Her hair before she
+loosed it was done in two mighty tresses, yellow like the flower of
+the waterflag, each tress being plaited in four strands, and at the
+end of each strand a little golden ball. When she laid aside her
+mantle her arms came through the armholes of her tunic, white as the
+snow of a single night, and her cheeks were ruddy as the foxglove.
+Even and small were her teeth, as if a shower of pearls had fallen in
+her mouth. Her eyes were hyacinth-blue, her lips scarlet as the
+rowan-berry, her shoulders round and white, her fingers were long and
+her nails smooth and pink. Her feet also were slim, and white as
+sea-foam. The radiance of the moon was in her face, pride in her
+brows, the light of wooing in her eyes. Of her it was said that there
+was no beauty among women compared with Etain's beauty, no sweetness
+compared with the sweetness of Etain.
+
+When the King saw her his heart burned with love for her, and when he
+had speech with her he besought her to be his bride. And she consented
+to that, and said, "Many have wooed me, O King, but I would none of
+them, for since I was a little child I have loved thee, for the high
+tales that I heard of thee and of thy glory." And Eochy said, "Thine
+alone will I be if thou wilt have me." So the King paid a great
+bride-price for her, and bore her away to Tara, and there they were
+wedded, and all men welcomed and honoured the Queen. Nor had she dwelt
+long in Tara before the enchantment of her beauty and her grace had
+worked upon the hearts of all about her, so that the man to whom she
+spoke grew pale at the womanly sweetness of her voice, and felt
+himself a king for that day. All fair things and bright she loved,
+such as racing steeds and shining raiment, and the sight of Eochy's
+warriors with their silken banners and shields decorated with rich
+ornament in red and blue. And she would have all about her happy and
+joyous, and she gave freely of her treasure, and of her smiles and
+loving words, if she might see the light of joy on the faces of men,
+but from pain or sadness that might not be cured she would turn away.
+In one thing only was sadness endurable to her and that was in her
+music, for when she sang or touched the harp all hearts were pierced
+with longing for they knew not what, and all eyes shed tears save hers
+alone, who looked as though she beheld, far from earth, some land more
+fair than words of man can tell; and all the wonder of that land and
+all its immeasurable distance were in her song.
+
+Now Eochy the King had a brother whose name was Ailill Anglounach, or
+Ailill of the Single Stain, for one dark spot only was on his life,
+and it is of this that the story now shall tell. One day, when he had
+come from his own D�n to the yearly Assembly in the great Hall of
+Tara, he ate not at the banquet but gazed as it were at something afar
+off, and his wife said to him, "Why dost thou gaze so, Ailill; so do
+men look who are smitten with love?" Ailill was wroth with himself and
+turned his eyes away, but he said nothing, for that on which he gazed
+was the face of Etain.
+
+After that Assembly was over Ailill knew that the torment of love had
+seized him for his brother's wife, and he was sorely shamed and
+wrathful, and the secret strife in his mind between his honour and the
+fierce and pitiless love that possessed him brought him into a sore
+sickness. And he went home to his D�n in Tethba and there lay ill for
+a year. Then Eochy the King went to see him, and came near him and
+laid his hand on his breast, and Ailill heaved a bitter sigh. Eochy
+asked, "Why art thou not better of this sickness, how goes it with
+thee now?" "By my word," said Ailill, "no better, but worse each day
+and night." "What ails thee, then?" asked Eochy. Ailill said, "Verily,
+I know not." Then Eochy bade summon his chief physician, who might
+discover the cause of his brother's malady, for Ailill was wasting to
+death.
+
+So Fachtna the chief physician came and he laid his hand upon Ailill,
+and Ailill sighed. Then Fachtna said, "This is no bodily disease, but
+either Ailill suffers from the pangs of envy or from the torment of
+love." But Ailill was full of shame and he would not tell what ailed
+him, and Fachtna went away.
+
+After this the time came that Eochy the High King should make a royal
+progress throughout his realm of Ireland, but Etain he left behind at
+Tara. Before he departed he charged her saying, "Do thou be gentle and
+kind to my brother Ailill while he lives, and should he die, let his
+burial mound be heaped over him, and a pillar stone set up above it,
+and his name written thereon in letters of Ogham." Then the King took
+leave of Ailill and looked to see him again on earth no more.
+
+After a while Etain bethought her and said, "Let us go to see how it
+fares with Ailill." So she went to where he lay in his D�n at Tethba.
+And seeing him wasted and pale she was moved with pity and distress
+and said,
+
+"What ails thee, young man? Long thou hast lain prostrate, in fair
+weather and in foul, thou who wert wont to be so swift and strong?"
+
+And Ailill said,
+
+"Truly, I have a cause for my suffering; and I cannot eat, nor listen
+to the music makers; my affliction is very sore."
+
+Then said Etain,
+
+"Though I am a woman I am wise in many a thing; tell me what ails thee
+and thy healing shall be done."
+
+Ailill replied,
+
+"Blessing be with thee, O fair one; I am not worthy of thy speech; I
+am torn by the contention of body and of soul."
+
+Then Etain deemed that she knew somewhat of his trouble, and she said,
+
+
+"If thy heart is set on any of the white maidens that are my
+handmaids, tell me of it, and I shall court her for thee and she shall
+come to thee," and then Ailill cried out,
+
+"Love indeed, O Queen, hath brought me low. It is a plague nearer than
+the skin, it overwhelms my soul as an earthquake, it is farther than
+the height of the sky, and harder to win than the treasures of the
+Fairy Folk. If I contend with it, it is like a combat with a spectre;
+if I fly to the ends of the earth from it, it is there; if I seek to
+seize it, it is a passion for an echo. It is thou, O my love, who hast
+brought me to this, and thou alone canst heal me, or I shall never
+rise again."
+
+Then Etain went away and left him. But still in her palace in Tara she
+was haunted by his passion and his misery, and, though she loved him
+not, she could not endure his pain, nor the triumph of grim death over
+his youth and beauty. So at last she went to him again and said, "If
+it lies with me, Ailill, to heal thee of thy sickness, I may not let
+thee die." And she made a tryst to meet him on the morrow at a house
+of Ailill's between D�n Tethba and Tara, "but be it not at Tara," she
+said, "for that is the palace of the High King."
+
+All that night Ailill lay awake with the thought of his tryst with
+Etain. But on the morrow morn a heaviness came upon his eyelids, and a
+druid sleep overcame him, and there all day he lay buried in slumbers
+from which none could wake him, until the time of his meeting with
+Etain was overpast.
+
+But Etain, when she had come to the place of the tryst, looked out,
+and behold, a youth having the appearance and the garb of Ailill was
+approaching from Tethba. He entered the bower where she was; but no
+lover did she there meet, but only a sick and sorrowful man who spake
+coldly to her and lamented the sufferings of his malady, and after a
+short time he went away.
+
+Next day Etain went to see Ailill and to hear how he did. And Ailill
+entreated her forgiveness that he had not kept his tryst, "for," said
+he, "a druid slumber descended upon me, and I lay as one dead from
+morn till eve. And morever," he added, "it seems as if the strange
+passion that has befallen me were washed away in that slumber, for
+now, Etain, I love thee no more but as my Queen and my sister, and I
+am recovered as if from an evil dream." Then Etain knew that powers
+not of earth were mingling in her fate, and she pondered much of these
+things, and grew less lighthearted than of old. And when the King came
+back, he rejoiced to find his brother whole and sound and merry, as
+Ailill had ever been, and he praised Etain for her gentleness and
+care.
+
+Now after a time as Etain was by herself in her sunny bower she was
+aware of a man standing by her, whom she had never seen before. Young
+he was, and grey-eyed, with curling golden hair, and in his hand he
+bore two spears. His mantle was of crimson silk, his tunic of saffron,
+and a golden helmet was on his head. And as she gazed upon him,
+"Etain," he said, "the time is come for thee to return; we have missed
+thee and sorrowed for thee long enough in the Land of Youth." Etain
+said, "Of what land dost thou speak?" Then he chanted to her a song:--
+
+  "Come with me, Etain, O come away,
+     To that oversea land of mine!
+   Where music haunts the happy day,
+     And rivers run with wine;
+   Where folk are careless, and young, and gay,
+     And none saith 'mine' or 'thine.'
+
+   "Golden curls on the proud young head,
+     And pearls in the tender mouth;
+   Manhood, womanhood, white and red,
+     And love that grows not loth
+   When all the world's desires are dead,
+     And all the dreams of youth.
+
+   "Away from the cloud of Adam's sin!
+     Away from grief and care!
+   This flowery land thou dwellest in
+     Seems rude to us, and bare;
+   For the naked strand of the Happy Land
+     Is twenty times as fair."
+
+When Etain heard this she stood motionless and as one that dreams
+awake, for it seemed to her as if she must follow that music
+whithersoever it went on earth or beyond the earth. But at last
+remembrance came upon her and she said to the stranger, "Who art thou,
+that I, the High King's wife, should follow a nameless man and betray
+my troth?" And he said, "Thy troth was due to me before it was due to
+him, and, moreover, were it not for me thou hadst broken it already. I
+am Midir the Proud, a prince among the people of Dana, and thy
+husband, Etain. Thus it was, that when I took thee to wife in the Land
+of Youth, the jealousy of thy rival, Fuamnach, was awakened; and
+having decoyed me from home by a false report, she changed thee by
+magical arts into a butterfly, and then contrived a mighty tempest
+that drove thee abroad. Seven years wast thou borne hither and thither
+on the blast till chance blew thee into the fairy palace of Angus my
+kinsman, by the waters of the Boyne. But Angus knew thee, for the
+Fairy Folk may not disguise themselves from each other, and he built
+for thee a magical sunny bower with open windows, through which thou
+mightest pass, and about it were all manner of blossoming herbs and
+shrubs, and on the odour and honey of these thou didst live and grow
+fair and well nourished. But in the end Fuamnach got tidings of thee,
+and again the druid tempest descended and blew thee forth for another
+seven years of wandering and woe. Then it chanced that thou wert blown
+through the roof-window of the D�n of Etar by the Bay of Cichmany, and
+fell into the goblet from which his wife was drinking, and thee she
+drank down with that draught of ale. And in due time thou wast born
+again in the guise of a mortal maid and daughter to Etar the Warrior.
+But thou art no mortal, nor of mortal kin, for it is one thousand and
+twelve years from the time when thou wast born in Fairy Land till
+Etar's wife bore thee as a child on earth."
+
+Then Etain was bewildered, and her mind ran back on many a
+half-forgotten thing and she gazed as into a gulf of visions, full of
+dim shapes, strange and glorious. And Midir as she looked at him again
+seemed transfigured, taller and mightier than before, and a light
+flame flickered from his helmet's crest and moved like wings about his
+shoulders.
+
+But at last she said, "I know not what thou sayest if it be truth or
+not, but this I know, that I am the wife of the High King and I will
+not break my troth." "It were broken already," said Midir, "but for
+me, for I it was who laid a druidic sleep on Ailill, and it was I who
+came to thee in his shape that thy honour might not be stained." Etain
+said, "I learned then that honour is more than life." "But if Eochy
+the High King consent to let thee go," said Midir, "wilt thou then
+come with me to my land and thine?" "In that case," said Etain "I
+will go."
+
+And the time went by, and Etain abode in Tara, and the High King did
+justice and made war and held the great Assembly as he was used. But
+one day in summer Eochy arose very early to breathe the morning air,
+and he stood by himself leaning on the rampart of his great D�n, and
+looking over the flowery plain of Bregia. And as he thus gazed he was
+aware of a young warrior standing by his side. Grey-eyed the youth
+was, and golden-haired, and he was splendidly armed and apparelled as
+beseemed the lord of a great clan of the Gael. Eochy bade him welcome
+courteously, and asked him of the cause of his coming. "I am come," he
+said, "to play a game of chess with thee, O King, for thou art
+renowned for thy skill in that game, and to test that skill am I come.
+And my name is Midir, of the People of Dana, whom they have called The
+Proud."
+
+"Willingly," said the King; "but I have here no chessboard, and mine
+is in the chamber where the Queen is sleeping."
+
+"That is easily remedied," said Midir, and he drew from his cloak a
+folding chessboard whose squares were alternate gold and silver. From
+a men-bag made of brazen chainwork he drew out a set of men adorned
+with flashing jewels, and he set them in array.
+
+"I will not play," then said Eochy, "unless we play for a stake."
+
+"For what stake shall we play, then?" said Midir.
+
+"I care not," said Eochy; "but do thou perform tasks for me if I win
+and I shall bestow of my treasures upon thee if I lose."
+
+So they played a game, and Eochy won. Then Eochy bade Midir clear the
+plains of Meath about Tara from rocks and stones, and Midir brought at
+night a great host of the Fairy Folk, and it was done. And again he
+played with Eochy, and again he lost, and this time he cut down the
+forest of Breg. The third time Midir lost again, and his task was to
+build a causeway across the moor of Lamrach. Now at night, while Midir
+and the fairy host were labouring at the causeway and their oxen
+drawing to it innumerable loads of earth and gravel, the steward of
+Eochy stole out and hid himself to watch them, for it was a
+prohibition to see them at work. And he observed that the fairy oxen
+were not harnessed with a thong across their foreheads, that the pull
+might be upon their brows and necks, as was the manner with the Gael,
+but with yokes upon their shoulders. This he reported to Eochy, who
+found it good; and he ordered that henceforth the children of the Gael
+should harness their plough-oxen with the yoke upon their shoulders;
+and so it was done from that day forth. Hence Eochy got his name of
+_Airem_, or "The Ploughman," for he was the first of the Gael to put
+the yoke upon the shoulder of the ox.
+
+But it was said that because the Fairy Folk were watched as they made
+that noble causeway, there came a breach in it at one place which none
+could ever rightly mend.
+
+When all their works were accomplished, Midir came again to Eochy, and
+this time he bore a dark and fierce countenance and was high girt as
+for war. And the King welcomed him, and Midir said, "Thou hast treated
+me hardly and put slavish tasks upon me. All that seemed good to thee
+have I done, but now I am moved with anger against thee."
+
+"I return not anger for anger," said Eochy; "say what satisfaction I
+can make thee."
+
+"Let us once more play at chess," said Midir.
+
+"Good," said Eochy, "and what stake wilt thou have now?"
+
+"The stake to be whatever the winner shall demand," said Midir.
+
+Then they played for the fourth time and Eochy lost.
+
+"Thou hast won the game," said he.
+
+"I had won long ago had I chosen," said Midir.
+
+"What dost thou demand of me?" said Eochy.
+
+"To hold Etain in my arms and obtain a kiss from her," replied Midir.
+
+The King was silent for a while and after that he said, "Come back in
+one month from this day and the stake which I have lost shall be
+paid."
+
+But Eochy summoned together all the host of the heroes of the Gael,
+and they surrounded Tara, ring within ring; and the King himself and
+Etain were in the palace, with the outer court of it shut and locked.
+For they looked that Midir should come with a great host of the Danaan
+folk to carry off the Queen. And on the appointed day, as the kings
+sat at meat, Etain and her handmaids were dispensing the wine to them
+as was wont. Then suddenly as they feasted and talked, behold, Midir,
+stood in the midst of them. If he was fair and noble to look on as he
+had appeared before to the King and to Etain, he was fairer now, for
+the splendour of the Immortals clothed him, and his jewels flamed as
+he moved like eyes of living light. And all the kings and lords and
+champions who were present gazed on him in amazement and were silent,
+as the King arose and gave him welcome.
+
+"Thou hast received me as I expected to be received," said Midir,
+"and now let thy debt be paid, since I for my part faithfully
+performed all that I undertook."
+
+"I must consider the matter yet longer," said Eochy.
+
+"Thou hast promised Etain's very self to me," said Midir; "that is
+what hath come from thee." And when she heard that word Etain blushed
+for shame.
+
+"Blush not," said Midir, "for all the treasures of the Land of Youth
+have not availed to win thee from Eochy, and it is not of thine own
+will that thou art won, but because the time is come to return to thy
+kin."
+
+Then said Eochy, "I have not promised Etain's self to thee, but to
+take her in thine arms and kiss her, and now do so if thou wilt."
+
+[Illustration: "They rose up in the air"]
+
+Then Midir took his weapons in his left hand and placed his right
+around Etain, and when he did so they rose up in the air over the
+heads of the host, and passed through a roof-window in the palace.
+Then all rose up, tumultuous and angry, and rushed out of doors, but
+nothing could they see save two white swans that circled high in air
+around the Hill of Tara, and then flew southwards and away towards
+the fairy mountain of Slievenamon. And thus Etain the immortal
+rejoined the Immortals; but a daughter of Etain and of Eochy, who was
+another Etain in name and in beauty, became in due time a wife, and
+mother of kings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+How Ethne Quitted Fairyland
+
+
+By the banks of the River Boyne, where rises the great Fairy Mound now
+called Newgrange, there stood long ago the shining Palace of a prince
+of the People of Dana, named Angus. Of him it is that the lines are
+written--
+
+  "By the dark rolling waters of the Boyne
+   Where Angus �g magnificently dwells."
+
+When the Milesian race invaded Ireland, and after long fighting
+subdued the Danaans in spite of all their enchantments and all their
+valour, the Danaans wrought for themselves certain charms by which
+they and all their possessions became invisible to mortals, and thus
+they continued to lead their old joyous life in the holy places of the
+land, and their palaces and dancing-places and folk-motes seem to the
+human eye to be merely a green mound or rath, or a lonely hillside, or
+a ruined shrine with nettles and foxgloves growing up among its broken
+masonry.
+
+Now, after Angus and his folk had thus retreated behind the veil of
+invisibility, it happened that the steward of his palace had a
+daughter born to him whose name was Ethne. On the same day Fand, the
+wife of Mananan the Sea God, bore him a daughter, and since Angus was
+a friend of Mananan and much beloved by him, the child of the Sea God
+was sent to Brugh na Boyna, the noble dwelling-place of Angus, to be
+fostered and brought up, as the custom was. And Ethne became the
+handmaid of the young princess of the sea.
+
+In time Ethne grew into a fair and stately maiden Now in the Brugh of
+Angus there were two magical treasures, namely, an ale-vat which could
+never be emptied, and two swine whereof one was ever roasted and ready
+to be eaten while the other lived, and thus they were, day and day
+about. There was therefore always a store of food of faery, charged
+with magical spells, by eating of which one could never grow old or
+die. It came to be noticed that after Ethne had grown up she never ate
+or drank of the fairy food, or of any other, yet she continued to seem
+healthy and well-nourished. This was reported to Angus, and by him to
+Mananan, and Mananan by his wisdom discovered the cause of it. One of
+the lords of the Danaans, happening to be on a visit with Angus, was
+rendered distraught by the maiden's beauty, and one day he laid hands
+upon her and strove to carry her away to his own dwelling. Ethne
+escaped from him, but the blaze of resentment at the insult that lit
+up in her soul consumed in her the fairy nature, that knows not of
+good or evil, and the nature of the children of Adam took its place.
+Thenceforth she ate not of the fairy food, which is prohibited to man,
+and she was nourished miraculously by the will of the One God. But
+after a time it chanced that Mananan and Angus brought from the Holy
+Land two cows whose milk could never run dry. In this milk there was
+nothing of the fairy spell, and Ethne lived upon it many long years,
+milking the cows herself, nor did her youth and beauty suffer any
+change.
+
+Now it happened that on one very hot day the daughter of Mananan went
+down to bathe in the waters of the Boyne, and Ethne and her other
+maidens along with her. After they had refreshed themselves in the
+cool, amber-coloured water, they arrayed themselves in their silken
+robes and trooped back to the Brugh again; but ere they entered it,
+they discovered that Ethne was not among them.
+
+So they went back, scattering themselves along the bank and searching
+in every quiet pool of the river and in every dark recess among the
+great trees that bordered it, for Ethne was dearly loved by all of
+them; but neither trace nor tidings of her could they find, and they
+went sorrowfully home without her, to tell the tale to Angus and to
+her father.
+
+What had befallen Ethne was this. In taking off her garments by the
+riverside she had mislaid her fairy charm, and was become as a mortal
+maid. Nothing could she now see of her companions, and all around was
+strange to her. The fairy track that had led to the riverside was
+overgrown with briars, the palace of Angus was but a wooded hill. She
+knew not where she was, and pierced with sudden terror she fled wildly
+away, seeking for the familiar places that she had known in the fairy
+life, but which were now behind the Veil. At length she came to a high
+wall wherein was a wicket gate, and through it she saw a garden full
+of sweet herbs and flowers, which surrounded a steep-roofed building
+of stone. In the garden she saw a man in a long brown robe tied about
+his waist with a cord. He smiled at her and beckoned her to come in
+without fear. He was a monk of the holy Patrick, and the house was a
+convent church.
+
+When the monk had heard her tale, he marvelled greatly and brought her
+to St Patrick himself, who instructed her in the Faith, and she
+believed and was baptized.
+
+[Illustration: "She heard her own name called again and again"]
+
+But not long thereafter, as she was praying in the church by the
+Boyne, the sky darkened and she heard a sound without like the rushing
+of a great wind, and mingled in it were cries and lamentations, and
+her own name called again and again in a multitude of voices, thin and
+faint as the crying of curlews upon the moor. She sprang up and gazed
+around, calling in return, but nothing could she see, and at last the
+storm of cries died away, and everything was still again around the
+church except the singing voice of Boyne and the humming of the garden
+bees.
+
+Then Ethne sank down swooning, and the monks bore her out into the
+air, and it was long until her heart beat and her eyes unclosed again.
+In that hour she fell into a sickness from which she never recovered.
+In no long time she died with her head upon the breast of the holy
+Patrick, and she was buried in the church where she had first been
+received by the monk; and the church was called Killethne, or the
+Church of Ethne, from that day forward until now.
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Boyhood of Finn mac Cumhal
+
+
+In Ireland long ago, centuries before the English appeared in that
+country, there were kings and chiefs, lawyers and merchants, men of
+the sword and men of the book, men who tilled their own ground and men
+who tilled the ground of others, just as there are now. But there was
+also, as ancient poets and historians tell us, a great company or
+brotherhood of men who were bound to no fixed calling, unless it was
+to fight for the High King of Ireland whenever foes threatened him
+from within the kingdom or without it. This company was called the
+Fianna of Erinn. They were mighty hunters and warriors, and though
+they had great possessions in land, and rich robes, and gold
+ornaments, and weapons wrought with beautiful chasing and with
+coloured enamels, they lived mostly a free out-door life in the light
+hunting-booths which they made in the woods where the deer and the
+wolf ranged. There were then vast forests in Ireland, which are all
+gone now, and there were also, as there still are, many great and
+beautiful lakes and rivers, swarming with fish and water-fowl. In the
+forests and on the mountain sides roamed the wild boar and the wolf,
+and great herds of deer, some of giant size, whose enormous antlers
+are sometimes found when bogs are being drained. The Fianna chased
+these and the wolves with great dogs, whose courage and strength and
+beauty were famous throughout Europe, and which they prized and loved
+above all things. To the present day in Ireland there still remain
+some of this breed of Irish hounds, but the giant deer and the wolf
+are gone, and the Fianna of Erinn live only in the ancient books that
+were written of them, and in the tales that are still told of them in
+the winter evenings by the Irish peasant's fireside.
+
+The Fianna were under the rule of one great captain or chief, and at
+the time I tell of his name was Cumhal, son of Trenmor. Now a tribe or
+family of the Fianna named the Clan Morna, or Sons of Morna, rose in
+rebellion against Cumhal, for they were jealous and greedy of his
+power and glory, and sought to have the captaincy for themselves. They
+defeated and slew him at the battle of Cnucha, which is now called
+Castleknock, near the City of the Hurdle Ford, which is the name that
+Dublin still bears in the Irish tongue. Goll, son of Morna, slew
+Cumhal, and they spoiled him of the Treasure Bag of the Fianna, which
+was a bag made of a crane's skin and having in it jewels of great
+price, and magic weapons, and strange things that had come down from
+far-off days when the Fairy Folk and mortal men battled for the
+lordship of Ireland. The Bag with its treasures was given to Lia, the
+chief of Luachar in Connacht, who had the keeping of it before, for he
+was the treasurer of Cumhal, and he was the first man who had wounded
+Cumhal in the battle when he fell.
+
+Cumhal's wife was named Murna, and she bore him two sons. The elder
+was named Tulcha, and he fled from the country for fear of Goll and
+took service with the King of Scotland. The younger was born after
+Cumhal's death, and his name was called Demna. And because his mother
+feared that the sons of Morna would find him out and kill him, she
+gave him to a Druidess and another wise woman of Cumhal's household,
+and bade them take him away and rear him as best they could. So they
+took him into the wild woods on the Slieve Bloom Mountains, and there
+they trained him to hunt and fish and to throw the spear, and he grew
+strong, and as beautiful as a child of the Fairy Folk. If he were in
+the same field with a hare he could run so that the hare could never
+leave the field, for Demna was always before it. He could run down and
+slay a stag with no dogs to help him, and he could kill a wild duck on
+the wing with a stone from his sling. And the Druidess taught him the
+learning of the time, and also the story of his race and nation, and
+told him of his right to be captain of the Fianna of Erinn when his
+day of destiny should come.
+
+One day, while still a boy, he was roaming through the woods when he
+came to the mansion of a great lord, where many boys, sons of the
+chief men of Ireland, were being trained in manly arts and exercises.
+He found them playing at hurling, and they invited him to join them.
+He did so, but the side he was on won too easily, so they divided
+again, and yet again, giving fewer and fewer to Demna's side, till at
+last he alone drove the ball to the goal through them all, flashing
+among them as a salmon among a shoal of minnows. And then their anger
+and jealousy rose and grew bitter against the stranger, and instead of
+honouring him as gallant lads of gentle blood should have done they
+fell upon him with their hurling clubs and sought to kill him. But
+Demna felled seven of them to the ground and put the rest to flight,
+and then went his way home. When the boys told what had happened the
+chief asked them who it was that had defeated and routed them
+single-handed. They said, "It was a tall shapely lad, and very fair
+(_finn_)." So the name of Finn, the Fair One, clung to him
+thenceforth, and by that name he is known to this day.
+
+By and by Finn gathered round him a band of youths who loved him for
+his strength and valour and for his generous heart, and with them he
+went hunting in the forests. And Goll, and the sons of Morna, who were
+now captains of the Fianna under the High King, began to hear tales of
+him and his exploits, and they sent trackers to inquire about him, for
+they had an inkling of who this wonderful fair-haired youth might be.
+Finn's foster mothers heard of this. "You must leave this place," they
+said to him, "and see our faces no more, for if Goll's men find you
+here they will slay you. We have cherished the blood of Cumhal," they
+said, "and now our work is done. Go, and may blessing and victory go
+with you." So Finn departed with naught but his weapons and his
+hunting gear, very sorrowful at leaving the wise and loving friends
+who had fostered his childhood; but deep in his heart was a wild and
+fierce delight at the thought of the trackless ways he would travel,
+and the wonders he would see; and all the future looked to him as
+beautiful and dim as the mists that fill a mountain glen under the
+morning sun.
+
+Now after the death of Cumhal, his brother Crimmal and a few others of
+the aged warriors of the Fianna, who had not fallen in the fight at
+Cnucha, fled away into Connacht, and lived there in the deepest
+recesses of a great forest, where they hoped the conquerors might
+never find them. Here they built themselves a poor dwelling of tree
+branches, plastered with mud and roofed with reeds from the lake, and
+here they lived on what game they could kill or snare in the wild
+wood; and harder and harder it grew, as age and feebleness crept on
+them, to find enough to eat, or to hew wood for their fire. In this
+retreat, never having seen the friendly face of man, they were one day
+startled to hear voices and the baying of hounds approaching them
+through the wood, and they thought that the sons of Morna were upon
+them at last, and that their hour of doom was at hand. Soon they
+perceived a company of youths coming towards their hut, with one in
+front who seemed to be their leader. Taller he was by a head than the
+rest, broad shouldered, and with masses of bright hair clustering
+round his forehead, and he carried in his hand a large bag made of
+some delicate skin and stained in patterns of red and blue. The old
+men thought when they saw him of a saying there was about the mighty
+Lugh, who was brother to the wife of Cumhal, that when he came among
+his army as they mustered for battle, men felt as though they beheld
+the rising of the sun. As they came near, the young men halted and
+looked upon the elders with pity, for their clothing of skins was
+ragged and the weapons they strove to hold were rusted and blunt, and
+except for their proud bearing and the fire in their old eyes they
+looked more like aged and worthless slaves in the household of a
+niggardly lord than men who had once been the flower of the fighting
+men of Erinn.
+
+But the tall youth stepped in front of his band and cried aloud--
+
+"Which of ye is Crimmal, son of Trenmor?" And one of the elders said,
+"I am Crimmal." Then tears filled the eyes of the youth, and he knelt
+down before the old man and put his hands in his.
+
+"My lord and chief," he said, "I am Finn, son of Cumhal, and the day
+of deliverance is come."
+
+[Illustration: "And that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut"]
+
+So the youths brought in the spoils of their hunting, and yet other
+spoils than these; and that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut. And Crimmal said--
+
+"It was foretold to us that one day the blood of Cumhal should be
+avenged, and the race of Cumhal should rule the Fianna again. This was
+the sign that the coming champion should give of his birth and
+destiny; he was to bear with him the Treasure Bag of Cumhal and the
+sacred things that were therein."
+
+Finn said, "Ye know the Bag and its treasures, tell us if these be
+they." And he laid his skin bag on the knees of Crimmal.
+
+Crimmal opened it, and he took out the jewels of sovranty the magic
+spear-head made by the smiths of the Fairy Folk, and he said, "These
+be the treasures of Cumhal; truly the ripeness of the time is come."
+
+And Finn then told the story of how he had won these things.
+
+"But yesterday morning," he said, "we met on our way a woman of noble
+aspect, and she knelt over the body of a slain youth. When she lifted
+her head as we drew near, tears of blood ran down her cheeks, and she
+cried to me, 'Whoever thou art, I bind thee by the bonds of the sacred
+ordinances of the Gael that thou avenge my wrong. This was my son
+Glonda,' she said, 'my only son, and he was slain to-day wantonly by
+the Lord of Luachar and his men.' So we went, my company and I, to the
+D�n of the Lord of Luachar, and found an earthen rampart with a fosse
+before it, and on the top of the rampart was a fence of oaken posts
+interlaced with wattles, and over this we saw the many-coloured thatch
+of a great dwelling-house, and its white walls painted with bright
+colours under the broad eaves. So I stood forth and called to the Lord
+of Luachar and bade him make ready to pay an eric to the mother of
+Glonda, whatsoever she should demand. But he laughed at us and cursed
+us and bade us begone. Then we withdrew into the forest, but returned
+with a great pile of dry brushwood, and while some of us shot stones
+and arrows at whoever should appear above the palisade, others rushed
+up with bundles of brushwood and laid it against the palisade and set
+it on fire, and the Immortal Ones sent a blast of wind that set the
+brushwood and palisade quickly in a blaze, and through that fiery gap
+we charged in shouting. And half of the men of Luachar we killed and
+the rest fled, and the Lord of Luachar I slew in the doorway of his
+palace. We took a great spoil then, O Crimmal--these vessels of bronze
+and silver, and spears and bows, smoked bacon and skins of Greek wine;
+and in a great chest of yewwood we found this bag. All these things
+shall now remain with you, and my company shall also remain to hunt
+for you and protect you, for ye shall know want and fear no longer
+while ye live."
+
+And Finn said, "I would fain know if my mother Murna still lives, or
+if she died by the sons of Morna."
+
+Crimmal said, "After thy father's death, Finn, she was wedded to
+Gleor, Lord of Lamrigh, in the south, and she still lives in honour
+with him, and the sons of Morna have let her be. Didst thou never see
+her since she gave thee, an infant, to the wise women on the day of
+Cnucha?"
+
+"I remember," said Finn, "when I was, as they tell me, but six years
+old, there came one day to our shieling in the woods of Slieve Bloom a
+chariot with bronze-shod wheels and a bronze wolf's head at the end of
+the pole, and two horsemen riding with it, besides him who drove. A
+lady was in it, with a gold frontlet on her brow and her cloak was
+fastened with a broad golden brooch. She came into our hut and spoke
+long with my foster-mothers, and me she clasped in her arms and kissed
+many times, and I felt her tears on my face. And they told me
+afterwards that this was Murna of the White Neck, and my mother. If
+she have suffered no harm at the hands of the sons of Morna, so much
+the less is the debt that they shall one day pay."
+
+Now it is to be told what happened to Finn at the house of Finegas the
+Bard. Finn did not deem that the time had come for him to seize the
+captaincy of the Fianna until he had perfected himself in wisdom and
+learning. So on leaving the shelter of the old men in the wood he went
+to learn wisdom and the art of poetry from Finegas, who dwelt by the
+River Boyne, near to where is now the village of Slane. It was a
+belief among the poets of Ireland that the place of the revealing of
+poetry is always by the margin of water. But Finegas had another
+reason for the place where he made his dwelling, for there was an old
+prophecy that whoever should first eat of the Salmon of Knowledge that
+lived in the River Boyne, should become the wisest of men. Now this
+salmon was called Finntan in ancient times and was one of the
+Immortals, and he might be eaten and yet live. But in the time of
+Finegas he was called the Salmon of the Pool of Fec, which is the
+place where the fair river broadens out into a great still pool, with
+green banks softly sloping upward from the clear brown water. Seven
+years was Finegas watching the pool, but not until after Finn had come
+to be his disciple was the salmon caught. Then Finegas gave it to Finn
+to cook, and bade him eat none of it. But when Finegas saw him coming
+with the fish, he knew that something had chanced to the lad, for he
+had been used to have the eye of a young man but now he had the eye of
+a sage. Finegas said, "Hast thou eaten of the salmon?"
+
+"Nay," said Finn, "but it burnt me as I turned it upon the spit and I
+put my thumb in my mouth" And Finegas smote his hands together and was
+silent for a while. Then he said to the lad who stood by obediently,
+"Take the salmon and eat it, Finn, son of Cumhal, for to thee the
+prophecy is come. And now go hence, for I can teach thee no more, and
+blessing and victory be thine."
+
+With Finegas, Finn learned the three things that make a poet, and they
+are Fire of Song, and Light of Knowledge, and the Art of Extempore
+Recitation. Before he departed he made this lay to prove his art, and
+it is called "The Song of Finn in Praise of May":--
+
+   May Day! delightful day!
+     Bright colours play the vales along.
+   Now wakes at morning's slender ray,
+     Wild and gay, the blackbird's song.
+
+   Now comes the bird of dusty hue,
+     The loud cuckoo, the summer-lover;
+   Branching trees are thick with leaves;
+     The bitter, evil time is over.
+
+   Swift horses gather nigh
+     Where half dry the river goes;
+   Tufted heather crowns the height;
+     Weak and white the bogdown blows.
+
+   Corncrake sings from eve till morn,
+     Deep in corn, a strenuous bard!
+   Sings the virgin waterfall,
+     White and tall, her one sweet word.
+
+   Loaded bees of little power
+     Goodly flower-harvest win;
+   Cattle roam with muddy flanks;
+     Busy ants go out and in.
+
+   Through, the wild harp of the wood
+     Making music roars the gale--
+   Now it slumbers without motion,
+     On the ocean sleeps the sail.
+
+   Men grow mighty in the May,
+     Proud and gay the maidens grow;
+   Fair is every wooded height;
+     Fair and bright the plain below.
+
+   A bright shaft has smit the streams,
+     With gold gleams the water-flag;
+   Leaps the fish, and on the hills
+     Ardour thrills the flying stag.
+
+   Carols loud the lark on high,
+     Small and shy, his tireless lay,
+   Singing in wildest, merriest mood
+     Of delicate-hued, delightful May.[20]
+
+   [20] I am much indebted to the beautiful prose translation of
+   this song, published by Dr Kuno Meyer in _�riu_ (the Journal of
+   the School of Irish Learning), Vol. I. Part II. In my poetic
+   version an attempt has been made to render the riming and
+   metrical effect of the original, which is believed to date from
+   about the ninth century.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Coming of Finn
+
+
+And now we tell how Finn came to the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn.
+
+At this time Ireland was ruled by one of the mightiest of her native
+kings, Conn, son of Felimy, who was surnamed Conn of the Hundred
+Battles. And Conn sat in his great banqueting hall at Tara, while the
+yearly Assembly of the lords and princes of the Gael went forward,
+during which it was the inviolable law that no quarrel should be
+raised and no weapon drawn, so that every man who had a right to come
+to that Assembly might come there and sit next his deadliest foe in
+peace. Below him sat at meat the provincial kings and the chiefs of
+clans, and the High King's officers and fighting-men of the Fianna,
+with Goll and the sons of Morna at their head. And there, too, sat
+modestly a strange youth, tall and fair, whom no one had seen in that
+place before. Conn marked him with the eye of a king that is
+accustomed to mark men, and by and by he sent him a horn full of wine
+from his own table and bade the youth declare his name and lineage.
+"I am Finn, son of Cumhal," said the youth, standing among them, tall
+as a warriors spear, and a start and a low murmur ran through the
+Assembly while the captains of the Fianna stared upon him like men who
+see a vision of the dead. "What seek you here?" said Conn, and Finn
+replied, "To be your man, O King, and to do you service in war as my
+father did." "It is well," said the King. "Thou art a friend's son and
+the son of man of trust." So Finn put his hand in the Kind's and swore
+fealty and service to him, and Conn set him beside his own son Art,
+and all fell to talking again and wondering what new things that day
+would bring forth, and the feasting went merrily forward.
+
+Now at this time the people of the royal burg of Tara were sorely
+afflicted by a goblin of the Fairy Folk, who was wont to approach the
+place at night-fall, there to work what harm to man, or beast, or
+dwelling that he found in his evil mind to do. And he could not be
+resisted, for as he came he played on a magic harp a strain so keen
+and sweet, that each man who heard it must needs stand entranced and
+motionless until the fairy music had passed away. The King proclaimed
+a mighty reward to any man who would save Tara from the goblin, and
+Finn thought in his heart, "I am the man to do that." So he said to
+the King, "Shall I have my rightful heritage as captain of the Fianna
+of Erin if I slay the goblin?" Conn said, "I promise thee that," and
+he bound himself by the sureties of all the provincial Kings of
+Ireland and of the Druid Kithro and his magicians.
+
+Now there was among the following of Conn a man named Fiacha, who had
+been as a youth a trusty friend and follower of Cumhal. He came to
+Finn and brought with him a spear having a head of dark bronze with
+glittering edges, and fastened with thirty rivets of Arabian gold, and
+the spear-head was laced up within a leathern case. "By this weapon of
+enchantment," said Fiacha, "you shall overcome the enchanter," and he
+taught Finn what to do with it when the hour of need should come.
+
+So Finn took the spear, and left the strings of the case loose, and he
+paced with it towards night-fall around the ramparts of royal Tara.
+And when he had once made the circuit of the rampart, and the light
+had now almost quite faded from the summer sky, and the wide low
+plains around the Hill of Tara were a sea of white mist, he heard far
+off in the deepening gloom the first notes of the fairy harp. Never
+such music was made by mortal hand, for it had in it sorrows that man
+has never felt, and joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as
+if a man listening to that music might burst from time into eternity
+and be as one of the Immortals for evermore. And Finn listened, amazed
+and rapt, till at last as the triumphant melody grew nearer and louder
+he saw dimly a Shadow Shape playing as it were on a harp, and coming
+swiftly towards him. Then with a mighty effort he roused himself from
+dreams, and tore the cover from the spear-head and laid the metal to
+his brow. And the demoniac energy that had been beaten into the blade
+by the hammers of unearthly craftsmen in ancient days thrilled
+through him and made him fighting-mad, and he rushed forward shouting
+his battle-cry, and swinging the spear aloft. But the Shadow turned
+and fled before him, and Finn chased it northward to the Fairy Mound
+of Slieve Fuad, and there he drove the spear through its back. And
+what it was that fell there in the night, and what it was that passed
+like the shadow of a shadow into the Fairy Mound, none can tell, but
+Finn bore back with him next day a pale, sorrowful head on the point
+of Fiacha's spear, and the goblin troubled the folk of royal Tara no
+more.
+
+But Conn of the Hundred Battles called the Fianna together, and he set
+Finn at his right hand and said, "Here is your Captain by birth-right
+and by sword-right. Let who will now obey him hence-forward, and who
+will not, let him go in peace and serve Arthur of Britain or Arist of
+Alba, or whatsoever King he will." And Goll, son of Morna, said, "For
+my part I will be Finn's man under thee, O King," and he swore
+obedience and loyalty to Finn before them all. Nor was it hard for any
+man to step where Goll had gone before, so they all took their oaths
+of Fian service to Finn mac Cumhal. And thus it was that Finn came to
+the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn, and he ruled the Fianna many a
+year till he died in battle with the Clan Urgrenn at Brea upon the
+Boyne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Finn's Chief Men
+
+
+With the coming of Finn did the Fianna of Erinn come to their glory,
+and with his life their glory passed away. For he ruled them as no
+other captain ever did, both strongly and wisely, and never bore a
+grudge against any, but freely forgave a man all offences save
+disloyalty to his lord. Thus it is told that Conan, son of the Lord of
+Luachar, him who had the Treasure Bag and whom Finn slew at Rath
+Luachar, was for seven years an outlaw and marauder, harrying the
+Fians, and killing here a man and there a hound, and firing their
+dwellings, and raiding their cattle. At last they ran him to a corner
+at Cam Lewy in Munster, and when he saw that he could escape no more
+he stole upon Finn as he sat down after a chase, and flung his arms
+round him from behind, holding him fast and motionless. Finn knew who
+held him thus and said, "What wilt thou Conan?" Conan said, "To make a
+covenant of service and fealty with thee, for I may no longer evade
+thy wrath." So Finn laughed and said, "Be it so, Conan, and if thou
+prove faithful and valiant, I also will keep faith." And Conan served
+him for thirty years, and no man of all the Fianna was keener and
+hardier in fight. There was also another Conan, namely, mac Morna,
+who was big and bald, and unwieldy in manly exercises, but whose
+tongue was bitter and scurrilous; no high brave thing was done that
+Conan the Bald did not mock and belittle. It is said that when he was
+stripped he showed down his back and buttocks a black sheep's fleece
+instead of a man's skin, and this is the way it came about. One day
+when Conan and certain others of the Fianna were hunting in the forest
+they came to a stately D�n, white-walled, with coloured thatching on
+the roof, and they entered it to seek hospitality. But when they were
+within they found! no man, but a great empty hall with pillars of
+cedar wood and silken hangings about it, like the hall of a wealthy
+lord. In the midst there was a table set forth with a sumptuous feast
+of boar's flesh and venison, and a great vat of yew wood full of red
+wine, and cups of gold and silver. So they set themselves gaily to eat
+and drink, for they were hungry from the chase, and talk and laughter
+were loud around the board. But one of them ere long started to his
+feet with a cry of fear and wonder, and they all looked round, and saw
+before their eyes the tapestried walls changing to rough wooden balks
+and the ceiling to foul sooty thatch like that of a herdsman's hut. So
+they knew they were being entrapped by some enchantment of the Fairy
+Folk, and all sprang to their feet and made for the doorway, that was
+no longer high and stately but was shrinking to the size of a fox
+earth,--all but Conan the Bald, who was gluttonously devouring the
+good things on the table, and heeded nothing else. Then they shouted
+to him, and as the last of them went out he strove to rise and follow,
+but found himself limed to the chair so that he could not stir. So
+two of the Fianna, seeing his plight, rushed back and seized his arms
+and tugged with all their might, and if they dragged him away, they
+left the most part of his raiment and his skin sticking to the chair.
+Then, not knowing what else to do with him in his sore plight they
+clapped upon his back the nearest thing they could find, which was the
+skin of a black sheep that they took from a peasant's flock hard by,
+and it grew there, and Conan wore it till his death.
+
+Though Conan was a coward and rarely adventured himself in battle with
+the Fianna, it is told that once a good man fell by his hand. This was
+on the day of the great battle with the pirate horde on the Hill of
+Slaughter in Kerry.[21] For Liagan, one of the invaders, stood out
+before the hosts and challenged the bravest of the Fians to single
+combat, and the Fians, in mockery, thrust Conan forth to the fight.
+When he appeared, Liagan laughed, for he had more strength than wit,
+and he said, "Silly is thy visit, thou bald old man." And as Conan
+still approached, Liagan lifted his hand fiercely, and Conan said,
+"Truly thou art in more peril from the man behind than from the man in
+front." Liagan looked round; and in that instant Conan swept off his
+head and then threw down his sword and ran for shelter to the ranks of
+the laughing Fians. But Finn was very wroth because he had won the
+victory by a trick.
+
+   [21] The hill still bears the name, Knockanar.
+
+And one of the chiefest of the friends of Finn was Dermot of the Love
+Spot. He was so fair and noble to look on that no woman could refuse
+him love, and it was said that he never knew weariness, but his step
+was as light at the end of the longest day of battle or the chase as
+it was at the beginning. Between him and Finn there was great love
+until the day when Finn, then an old man, was to wed Grania, daughter
+of Cormac the High King; but Grania bound Dermot by the sacred
+ordinances of the Fian chivalry to fly with her on her wedding night,
+which thing, sorely against his will, he did, and thereby got his
+death. But Grania went back to Finn, and when the Fianna saw her they
+laughed through all the camp in bitter mockery, for they would not
+have given one of the dead man's fingers for twenty such as Grania.
+
+Others of the chief men that Finn had were Keelta mac Ronan, who was
+one of his house-stewards and a strong warrior as well as a
+golden-tongued reciter of tales and poems. And there was Ois�n, the
+son of Finn, the greatest poet of the Gael, of whom more shall be told
+hereafter. And Ois�n had a son Oscar, who was the fiercest fighter in
+battle among all the Fians. He slew in his maiden battle three kings,
+and in his fury he also slew by mischance his own friend and
+condisciple Linne. His wife was the fair Aideen, who died of grief
+after Oscar's death in the battle of Gowra, and Ois�n buried her on
+Ben Edar (Howth), and raised over her the great cromlech which is
+there to this day.
+
+Another good man that Finn had was Geena, the son of Luga; his mother
+was the warrior-daughter of Finn, and his father was a near kinsman of
+hers. He was nurtured by a woman that bore the name of Fair Mane, who
+had brought up many of the Fianna to manhood. When his time to take
+arms was come he stood before Finn and made his covenant of fealty,
+and Finn gave him the captaincy of a band. But mac Luga proved
+slothful and selfish, for ever vaunting himself and his weapon-skill
+and never training his men to the chase of deer or boar, and he used
+to beat his hounds and his serving-men. At last the Fians under him
+came with their whole company to Finn at Loch Lena in Killarney, and
+there they laid their complaint against mac Luga, and said, "Choose
+now, O Finn, whether you will have us, or the son of Luga by himself."
+
+Then Finn sent to mac Luga and questioned him, but mac Luga could say
+nothing to the point as to why the Fianna would none of him. Then Finn
+taught him the things befitting a youth of noble birth and a captain
+of men, and they were these:--
+
+"Son of Luga, if armed service be thy design, in a great man's
+household be quiet, be surly in the narrow pass."
+
+"Without a fault of his beat not thy hound; until thou ascertain her
+guilt, bring not a charge against thy wife."
+
+"In battle, meddle not with a buffoon, for, O mac Luga, he is but a
+fool."
+
+"Censure not any if he be of grave repute; stand not up to take part
+in a brawl; have nought to do with a madman or a wicked one."
+
+"Two-thirds of thy gentleness be shown to women and to those that
+creep on the floor (little children) and to poets, and be not violent
+to the common people."
+
+"Utter not swaggering speech, nor say thou wilt not yield what is
+right; it is a shameful thing to speak too stiffly unless that it be
+feasible to carry out thy words."
+
+"So long as thou shalt live, thy lord forsake not; neither for gold
+nor for other reward in the world abandon one whom thou art pledged to
+protect."
+
+"To a chief do not abuse his people, for that is no work for a
+gentleman."
+
+"Be no talebearer, nor utterer of falsehoods; be not talkative nor
+rashly censorious. Stir not up strife against thee, however good a man
+thou be."
+
+"Be no frequenter of the drinking-house, nor given to carping at the
+old; meddle not with a man of mean estate."
+
+"Dispense thy meat freely, have no niggard for thy familiar."
+
+"Force not thyself upon a chief, nor give him cause to speak ill of
+thee."
+
+"Stick to thy gear, hold fast to thy arms till the stern fight with
+its weapon-glitter be well ended."
+
+"Be more apt to give than to deny, and follow after gentleness, O son
+of Luga."[22]
+
+   [22] I have in the main borrowed Standish Hayes O'Grady's vivid
+   and racy translation of these adages of the Fianna. (SILVA
+   GADELICA, Engl. transl., p. 115.)
+
+And the son of Luga, it is written, heeded these counsels and gave up
+his bad ways, and he became one of the best of Finn's men.
+
+Such-like things also Finn taught to all his followers, and the best
+of them became like himself in valour and gentleness and generosity.
+Each of them loved the repute of his comrades more than his own, and
+each would say that for all noble qualities there was no man in the
+breadth of the world worthy to be thought of beside Finn.
+
+It was said of him that "he gave away gold as if it were the leaves of
+the woodland, and silver as if it were the foam of the sea," and that
+whatever he had bestowed upon any man, if he fell out with him
+afterwards, he was never known to bring it against him.
+
+Sang the poet Ois�n of him once to St Patrick:--
+
+  "These are the things that were dear to Finn--
+  The din of battle, the banquet's glee,
+  The bay of his hounds through the rough glen ringing.
+  And the blackbird singing in Letter Lee,
+
+  "The shingle grinding along the shore
+  When they dragged his war-boats down to sea,
+  The dawn-wind whistling his spears among,
+  And the magic song of his minstrels three."
+
+In the time of Finn no one was ever admitted to be one of the Fianna
+of Erinn unless he could pass through many severe tests of his
+worthiness. He must be versed in the Twelve Books of Poetry and must
+himself be skilled to make verse in the rime and metre of the masters
+of Gaelic poesy. Then he was buried to his middle in the earth, and
+must, with a shield and a hazel stick, there defend himself against
+nine warriors casting spears at him, and if he were wounded he was
+not accepted. Then his hair was woven into braids and he was chased
+through the forest by the Fians. If he were overtaken, or if a braid
+of his hair were disturbed, or if a dry stick cracked under his foot,
+he was not accepted. He must be able to leap over a lath level with
+his brow and to run at full speed under level with his knee, and he
+must be able while running to draw out a thorn from his foot and never
+slacken speed. He must take no dowry with a wife.
+
+It was said that one of the Fians, namely Keelta, lived on to a great
+age, and saw St Patrick, by whom he was baptized into the faith of the
+Christ, and to whom he told many tales of Finn and his men, which
+Patrick's scribe wrote down. And once Patrick asked him how it was
+that the Fianna became so mighty and so glorious that all Ireland sang
+of their deeds, as Ireland has done ever since. Keelta answered,
+"Truth was in our hearts and strength in our arms, and what we said,
+that we fulfilled."
+
+This was also told of Keelta after he had seen St Patrick and received
+the Faith. He chanced to be one day by Leyney in Connacht, where the
+Fairy Folk of the Mound of Duma were wont to be sorely harassed and
+spoiled every year by pirates from oversea. They called Keelta to
+their aid, and by his counsel and valour the invaders were overcome
+and driven home, but Keelta was sorely wounded. Then Keelta asked
+that Owen the seer of the Fairy Folk might foretell him how long he
+had to live, for he was already a very aged man. Owen said, "It will
+be seventeen years, O Keelta of fair fame, till thou fall by the pool
+of Tara, and grievous that will be to all the King's household." "Even
+so did my chief and lord, my guardian and loving Protector, Finn,
+foretell to me," said Keelta. "And now what fee will ye give me for my
+rescue of you from the worst affliction that ever befell you?" "A
+great reward," said the Fairy Folk, "even youth; for by our art we
+shall change you into young man again with all the strength and
+activity of your prime." "Nay, God forbid," said Keelta "that I should
+take upon me a shape of sorcery, or any other than that which my
+Maker, the true and glorious God, hath bestowed upon me." And the
+Fairy Folk said, "It is the word of a true warrior and hero, and the
+thing that thou sayest is good." So they healed his wounds, and every
+bodily evil that he had, and he wished them blessing and victory, and
+went his way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Tale of Vivionn the Giantess
+
+
+One day Finn and Goll, Keelta and Oscar, and others of the Fianna,
+were resting after the hunt on a certain hill now called the Ridge of
+the Dead Woman, and their meal was being got ready, when a girl of the
+kin of the giants came striding up and sat down among them. "Didst
+thou ever see a woman so tall?" asked Finn of Goll. "By my troth,"
+said Goll, "never have I or any other seen a woman so big." She took
+her hand out of her bosom and on her long slender fingers there were
+three gold rings each as thick as an ox's yoke. "Let us question her,"
+said Goll, and Finn said, "If we stood up, perchance she might hear
+us."
+
+So they all rose to their feet, but the giantess, on that, rose up
+too. "Maiden," said Finn, "if thou have aught to say to us or to hear
+from us, sit down and lean thine elbow on the hill-side." So she lay
+down and Finn bade her say whence she came and what was her will with
+them. "Out of the World Oversea where the sun sets am I come," she
+said, "to seek thy protection, O mighty Finn." "And what is thy name?"
+"My name is Vivionn of the Fair Hair, and my father Treon is called
+King of the Land of Lasses, for he has but three sons and nine and
+seven score daughters, and near him is a King who hath one daughter
+and eight score sons. To one of these, �da, was I given in marriage
+sorely against my will. Three times now have I fled from him. And this
+time it was fishermen whom the wind blew to us from off this land who
+told us of a mighty lord here, named Finn, son of Cumhal, who would
+let none be wronged or oppressed, but he would be their friend and
+champion. And if thou be he, to thee am I come." Then she laid her
+hand in Finn's, and he bade her do the same with Goll mac Morna, who
+was second in the Fian leadership, and she did so.
+
+Then the maiden took from her head a jewelled golden helmet, and
+immediately her hair flowed out in seven score tresses, fair, curly
+and golden, at the abundance of which all stood amazed; and Finn said,
+"By the Immortals that we adore, but King Cormac and the poetess Ethne
+and the fair women-folk of the Fianna would deem it a marvel to see
+this girl. Tell us now, maiden, what portion wilt thou have of meat
+and drink? will that of a hundred of us suffice thee?" The girl then
+saw Cnu, the dwarf harper of Finn, who had just been playing to them,
+and she said, "Whatever thou givest to yon little man that bears the
+harp, be it much or little, the same, O Finn, will suffice for me."
+
+Then she begged a drink from them, and Finn called his gillie,
+Saltran, and bade him fetch the full of a certain great goblet with
+water from the ford; now this goblet was of wood, and it held as much
+as nine of the Fianna could drink. The maiden poured some of the water
+into her right hand and drank three sips of it, and scattered the rest
+over the Fianna, and she and they burst out laughing. Finn said, "On
+thy conscience, girl, what ailed thee not to drink out of the goblet?"
+"Never," she replied, "have I drunk out of any vessel but there was a
+rim of gold to it, or at least of silver."
+
+And now Keelta looking up perceived a tall youth coming swiftly
+towards them, who, when he approached, seemed even bigger than was the
+maiden. He wore a rough hairy cape over his shoulder and beneath that
+a green cloak fastened by a golden brooch; his tunic was of royal
+satin, and he bore a red shield slung over his shoulders, and a spear
+with a shaft as thick as a man's leg was in his hand; a gold-hilted
+sword hung by his side. And his face, which was smooth-shaven, was
+comelier than that of any of the sons of men.
+
+When he came near, seeing among the Fians a stir of alarm at this
+apparition, Finn said, "Keep every one of you his place, let neither
+warrior nor gillie address him. Know any of you this champion?" "I
+know him," said the maiden; "that is even he to escape from whom I am
+come to thee, O Finn." And she sat down between Finn and Goll. But the
+stranger drew near, and spake never a word, but before any one could
+tell what he would be at he thrust fiercely and suddenly with his
+spear at the girl, and the shaft stood out a hand's breadth at her
+back. And she fell gasping, but the young man drew his weapon out and
+passed rapidly through the crowd and away.
+
+[Illustration: "They ran him by hill and plain"]
+
+Then Finn cried, red with wrath, "Ye have seen! Avenge this wicked
+deed, or none of you aspire to Fianship again." And the whole company
+sprang to their feet and gave chase to that murderer, save only Finn
+and Goll, who stayed by the dying maiden. And they ran him by hill and
+plain to the great Bay of Tralee and down to the Tribute Point, where
+the traders from oversea were wont to pay their dues, and there he set
+his face to the West and took the water. By this time four of the
+Fianna had outstripped the rest, namely, Keelta, and Dermot, and Glas,
+and Oscar, son of Ois�n. Of these Keelta was first, and just as the
+giant was mid-leg in the waves he hurled his spear and it severed the
+thong of the giant's shield so that it fell off in the water. And as
+the giant paused, Keelta seized his spear and tore it from him. But
+the giant waded on, and soon the Fians were floundering in deep water
+while the huge form, thigh deep, was seen striding towards the setting
+sun. And a great ship seemed to draw near, and it received him, and
+then departed into the light, but the Fians returned in the grey
+evening, bearing the spear and the great shield to Finn. There they
+found the maiden at point of death, and they laid the weapons before
+her. "Goodly indeed are these arms," she said, "for that is the
+Thunder Spear of the King Oversea and the shield is the Red Branch
+Shield," for it was covered with red arabesques. Then she bestowed her
+bracelets on Finn's three harpers, the dwarf Cnu, and Blanit his wife,
+and the harper Daira. And she bade Finn care for her burial, that it
+should be done becomingly, "for under thy honour and protection I got
+my death, and it was to thee I came into Ireland." So they buried her
+and lamented her, and made a great far-seen mound over her grave,
+which is called the Ridge of the Dead Woman, and set up a pillar stone
+upon it with her name and lineage carved in Ogham-crave.[23]
+
+   [23] Ogham-craobh = "branching Ogham," so called because the
+   letters resembled the branching of twigs from a stem. The Ogham
+   alphabet was in use in Ireland in pre-Christian times, and many
+   sepulchral inscriptions in it still remain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+The Chase of the Gilla Dacar
+
+
+In the reign of Cormac mac Art, grandson of Conn of the Hundred
+Battles, the order of precedence and dignity in the court of the High
+King at Tara was as follows: First came great Cormac, the kingly, the
+hospitable, warrior and poet, and he was supreme over all. Next in
+order came the five kings of the five Provinces of Ireland, namely,
+Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, and Mid-Erinn. After these ranked
+the captains of the royal host, of whom Finn, son of Cumhal, was the
+chief.
+
+Now the privileges of the Fianna of Erinn were many and great; to wit,
+in every county in Ireland one townland, and in every townland a
+cartron of land, and in the house of every gentleman the right to
+have a young deer-hound or a beagle kept at nurse from November to
+May, together with many other taxes and royalties not to be recounted
+here. But if they had these many and great privileges, yet greater
+than these were the toils and hardships which they had to endure, in
+guarding the coasts of all Ireland from oversea invaders and
+marauders, and in keeping down all robbers and outlaws and evil folk
+within the kingdom, for this was the duty laid upon them by their bond
+of service to the King.
+
+Now the summer half of the year was wont to be ended by a great
+hunting in one of the forests of Ireland, and so it was that one
+All-hallowtide, when the great banquet of Finn in his D�n on the Hill
+of Allen was going forward, and the hall resounded with cheerful talk
+and laughter and with the music of tympan and of harp, Finn asked of
+the assembled captains in what part of Erinn they should proceed to
+beat up game on the morrow. And it was agreed among them to repair to
+the territory of Thomond and Desmond in Munster; and from Allen they
+set out accordingly and came to the Hill of Knockany. Thence they
+threw out the hunt and sent their bands of beaters through many a
+gloomy ravine and by many a rugged hill-pass and many a fair open
+plain. Desmond's high hills, called now Slievelogher, they beat, and
+the smooth, swelling hills of Slievenamuck, and the green slopes of
+grassy Slievenamon, and the towering rough crags of the Decies, and
+thence on to the dark woods of Belachgowran.
+
+While the great hunt was going forward Finn with certain of his chief
+captains sat on a high mound to overlook it. There, with Finn, were
+Goll and Art mac Morna, and Liagan the swift runner, and Dermot of the
+Love Spot, and Keelta, son of Ronan, and there also was Conan the
+Bald, the man of scurrilous tongue, and a score or so more. Sweet it
+was to Finn and his companions to hear from the woods and wildernesses
+around them the many-tongued baying of the hounds and the cries and
+whistling of the beaters, the shouting of the strong men and the notes
+of the Fian hunting-horn.
+
+When they had sat there awhile one of Finn's men came running quickly
+towards him and said--
+
+"A stranger is approaching us from the westward, O Finn, and I much
+mislike his aspect."
+
+With that all the Fians looked up and beheld upon the hillside a huge
+man, looking like some Fomorian marauder, black-visaged and ugly, with
+a sour countenance and ungainly limbs. On his back hung a dingy black
+shield, on his misshapen left thigh he wore a sharp broad-bladed
+sword; projecting over his shoulder were two long lances with broad
+rusty heads. He wore garments that looked as if they had been buried
+in a cinder heap, and a loose ragged mantle. Behind him there shambled
+a sulky, ill-shapen mare with a bony carcase and bowed knees, and on
+her neck a clumsy iron halter. With a rope her master hauled her
+along, with violent jerks that seemed as if they would wrench her head
+from her scraggy neck, and ever and anon the mare would stand and jib,
+when the man laid on her ribs such blows from a strong ironshod cudgel
+that they sounded like the surges of the sea beating on a rocky coast.
+Short as was the distance from where the man and his horse were first
+perceived to where Finn was standing, it was long ere they traversed
+it. At last, however, he came into the presence of Finn and louted
+before him, doing obeisance. Finn lifted his hand over him and bade
+him speak, and declare his business and his name and rank. "I know
+not," said the fellow, "of what blood I am, gentle or simple, but only
+this, that I am a wight from oversea looking for service and wages.
+And as I have heard of thee, O Finn, that thou art not wont to refuse
+any man, I came to take service with thee if thou wilt have me."
+
+"Neither shall I refuse thee," said Finn; "but what brings thee here
+with a horse and no horseboy?"
+
+"Good enough reason," said the stranger. "I have much ado to get meat
+for my own belly, seeing that I eat for a hundred men; and I will not
+have any horseboy meddling with my ration."
+
+"And what name dost thou bear?"
+
+"I am called the Gilla Dacar (the Hard Gillie)," replied he.
+
+"Why was that name given thee?" asked Finn.
+
+"Good enough reason for that also," spake the stranger, "for of all
+the lads in the world there is none harder than I am for a lord to get
+any service and obedience from." Then turning to Conan the Bald he
+said, "Whether among the Fianna is a horseman's pay or a footman's the
+highest?"
+
+"A horseman's surely," said Conan, "seeing that he gets twice the pay
+of a footman."
+
+"Then I am a horseman in thy service, Finn," said the gillie. "I call
+thee to observe that I have here a horse, and moreover that as a
+horseman I came among the Fianna. Have I thy authority," he went on,
+"to turn out my steed among thine?"
+
+"Turn her out," quoth Finn.
+
+Then the big man flung his mare the rope and immediately she galloped
+off to where the Fian horses were grazing. Here she fell to biting and
+kicking them, knocking out the eye of one and snapping off another's
+ear and breaking the leg of another with a kick.
+
+"Take away thy mare, big man," cried Conan then, "or by Heaven and
+Earth were it not that Finn told thee to let her loose I would let
+loose her brains. Many a bad bargain has Finn made but never a worse
+than thou."
+
+"By Heaven and Earth," said the gillie, "that I never will, for I have
+no horseboy, and I will do no horseboy's work."
+
+Then Conan mac Morna took the iron halter and laid it on the
+stranger's horse and brought the beast back to Finn and held it there.
+
+Said Finn to Conan, "I have never seen thee do horseboy's service even
+to far better men than this gillie. How now if thou wert to leap on
+the brute's back and gallop her to death over hill and dale in payment
+for the mischief she hath wrought among our steeds?"
+
+At this word Conan clambered up on the back of the big man's mare, and
+with all his might he smote his two heels into her, but the mare never
+stirred.
+
+"I perceive what ails her," said Finn. "She will never stir till she
+has a weight of men on her equal to that of her own rider."
+
+Then thirteen men of the Fianna scrambled up laughing behind Conan,
+and the mare lay down under them, and then got up again, they still
+clinging to her. At this the big man said,
+
+"It appears that you are making a sport and mockery of my mare, and
+that even I myself do not escape from it. It is well for me that I
+have not spent the rest of the year in your company, seeing what a
+jest ye have made of me the very first day; and I perceive, O Finn,
+that thou art very unlike the report that is made of thee. And now I
+bid thee farewell, for of thy service I have had enough."
+
+So with downcast head and despondent looks the big gillie shambled
+slowly away until he had passed out of view of the Fianna, behind the
+shoulder of the hill. Having arrived here he tucked up his coat to his
+waist, and fast though be the flight of the swallow, and fast that of
+the roe-deer, and fast the rush of a roaring wind over a mountain top
+in mid-March, no faster are these than the bounding speed and furious
+flight of the big man down the hillside toward the West.
+
+No sooner did the mare see that her master had departed than she too
+dashed uncontrollably forward and flew down the hillside after him.
+And as the Fians saw Conan the Bald and his thirteen companions thus
+carried off, willy nilly, they broke into a roar of laughter and ran
+alongside mocking them. But Conan, seeing that they were being carried
+off in the wake of the big man of evil aspect, of whom none knew
+whence or who he was, he was terrified and began reviling and cursing,
+and shouted to Finn, "A palsy seize thee, Finn; may some rascally
+churl, that is if possible of worse blood than thyself, have thy head,
+unless thou follow and rescue us wheresoever this monster shall bring
+us." So Finn and the Fianna ran, and the mare ran, over bare hills and
+by deep glens, till at last they came to Corcaguiny in Kerry, where
+the gillie set his face to the blue ocean, and the mare dashed in
+after him. But ere he did so, Liagan the Swift got two hands on the
+tail of the mare, though further he could not win, and he was towed
+in, still clinging to his hold, and over the rolling billows away they
+went, the fourteen Fians on the wild mare's back, and Liagan haled
+along by her tail.
+
+"What is to be done now?" said Ois�n to Finn when they had arrived at
+the beach.
+
+"Our men are to be rescued," said Finn, "for to that we are bound by
+the honour of the Fianna. Whithersoever they are gone, thither must we
+follow and win them back by fair means or foul; but to that end we
+must first fit out a galley."
+
+So in the end it was agreed that Finn and fourteen men of his bravest
+and best champions should sail oversea in search of the Gilla Dacar
+and his captives, while Ois�n remained in Erinn and exercised rule
+over the Fianna in the place of his father.
+
+After a while, then, a swift galley was made ready by Finn and stored
+with victual, and with arms, and also with gold and raiment to make
+gifts withal if need should be. And into the ship came the fifteen
+valiant men, and gripped their oars, while Finn steered; and soon the
+sea whitened around their oarblades, and over the restless, rolling
+masses of the many-hued and voiceful billows, the ship clove her way
+to the West. And the Fians, who were wont to be wakened by the
+twittering of birds over their hunting booths in the greenwood, now
+delighted to hear, day after day as they roused themselves at morn,
+the lapping of the wide waters of the world against their vessel's
+bows, or the thunder of pounding surges when the wind blew hard.
+
+At length after many days the sharpest-eyed of the men of Finn saw
+far-off what seemed a mountain rising from the sea, and to it they
+shaped their course. When they had come to that land they found
+themselves under the shadow of a great grey cliff, and beneath it
+slippery rocks covered with seaweed.
+
+Then Dermot, who was the most active of the company, was bidden to
+mount the cliff and to procure means of drawing up the rest of the
+party, but of what land might lie on the top of that wall of rock none
+of them could discover anything. Dermot, descending from the ship,
+then climbed with difficulty up the face of the cliff, while the
+others made fast their ship among the rocks. But Dermot having arrived
+at the top saw no habitation of man, and could compass no way of
+helping his companions to mount. He went therefore boldly forward into
+the unknown land, hoping to obtain some help, if any friendly and
+hospitable folk could there be found.
+
+[Illustration: "Dermot took the horn and would have filled it"]
+
+Before he had gone far he came into a wild wood, thick and tangled,
+and full of the noise of streams, and the sough of winds, and
+twittering of birds, and hum of bees. After he had traversed this
+wilderness for a while he came to a mighty tree with densely
+interwoven branches, and beneath it a pile of rocks, having on its
+summit a pointed drinking horn wreathed with rich ornament, and at its
+foot a well of pure bright water. Dermot, being now thirsty, took the
+horn and would have filled it at the well, but as he stooped down to
+do so he heard a loud, threatening murmur which seemed to rise from
+it. "I perceive," he said to himself, "that I am forbidden to drink
+from this well" Nevertheless thirst compelled him, and he drank his
+fill.
+
+In no long time thereafter he saw an armed warrior of hostile aspect
+coming towards him through the wood. No courteous greeting did he give
+to Dermot, but began to revile him for roaming in his wood and
+wilderness, and for drinking his water. Thereupon they fought, and
+for the rest of the afternoon they took and gave hard blows neither
+subduing the other, till at last as darkness began to fall the warrior
+suddenly dived into the well and was seen no more. Dermot, vexed at
+this ending of the combat, then made him ready to spend the night in
+that place, but first he slew a deer in the wood, and made a fire,
+whereat he roasted pieces of the deer's flesh on spits of white hazel,
+and drank abundantly of the well-water, and then slept soundly through
+the night.
+
+Next morning when he awakened and went to the well he found the
+Champion of the Well standing there and awaiting him. "It is not
+enough, Dermot," said he angrily, "for thee to traverse my woods at
+will and to drink my water, but thou must even also slay my deer."
+Then they closed in combat again, and dealt each other blow for blow
+and wound for wound till evening parted them, and the champion dived
+into the well as before.
+
+On the third day it went even so; but as evening came on Dermot,
+watching closely, rushed at the champion just as he was about to
+plunge into the well, and gripped him in his arms. But none the less
+the Champion of the Well made his dive, and took down Dermot with him.
+And a darkness and faintness came over Dermot, but when he awoke, he
+found himself in a wide, open country, flowery and fair, and before
+him the walls and towers of a royal city. Thither the champion, sorely
+wounded, was now borne off, while a crowd of his people came round
+Dermot, and beat and wounded him, leaving him on the ground for dead.
+
+After night had fallen, when all the people of the city in the Land
+Undersea had departed, a stalwart champion, well-armed and of bold
+appearance, came upon Dermot and stirred him with his foot. Dermot
+thereon awoke from his swoon and, warrior-like, reached out his hand
+for his arms. But the champion said, "Wait awhile, my son, I have not
+come to do thee hurt or harm. Thou hast chosen an ill place to rest
+and slumber in, before the city of thine enemy. Rise and follow me,
+and I shall bestow thee far better than that." Dermot then rose and
+followed the champion, and long and far they journeyed until they came
+to a high-towered fortress, wherein were thrice fifty valiant
+men-at-arms and fair women; and the daughter of that champion, a
+white-toothed, rosy-cheeked, smooth-handed, and black-eyebrowed maid,
+received Dermot, kindly and welcomefully, and applied healing herbs to
+his wounds, and in no long time he was made as good a man as ever. And
+thus he remained, and was entertained most royally with the best of
+viands and of liquors. The first part of every night those in that D�n
+were wont to spend in feasting, and the second in recreation and
+entertainment of the mind, with music and with poetry and bardic
+tales, and the third part in sound and healthful slumber, till the sun
+in his fiery journey rose over the heavy-clodded earth on the morrow
+morn.
+
+And the King of that country, who was the champion that had aroused
+Dermot, told him this was the land of Sorca, and that he had showed
+this kindness to Dermot for that he himself had once been on wage and
+service with Finn, son of Cumhal "and a better master," said he, "man
+never had."
+
+Now the story turns to tell of what befell Finn and the remainder of
+his companions when Dermot left them in the ship. After a while,
+seeing that he did not return, and being assured that some mischief or
+hindrance must have befallen him, they made an attempt to climb the
+cliff after him, having noted which way he went. With much toil and
+peril they accomplished this, and then journeying forward and
+following on Dermot's track, they came at last to the well in the wild
+wood, and saw near by the remains of the deer, and the ashes of the
+fire that Dermot had kindled to cook it. But from this place they
+could discover no track of his going. While they were debating on what
+should next be done, they saw riding towards them a tall warrior on a
+dark grey horse with a golden bridle, who greeted them courteously.
+From him they enquired as to whether he had seen aught of their
+companion, Dermot, in the wilderness. "Follow me," said the warrior,
+"and you shall shortly have tidings of him."
+
+Then they followed the strange horseman into the forest by many dark
+and winding ways, until at last they came into a rocky ravine, where
+they found the mouth of a great cavern opening into the hillside.
+Into this they went, and the way led them downward until it seemed as
+if they were going into the bowels of the earth, until at last the
+light began to shine round them, and they came out into a lovely land
+of flowery plains and green woods and singing streams. In no long time
+thereafter they came to a great royal D�n, where he who led them was
+hailed as king and lord, and here, to their joy, they found their
+comrade, Dermot of the Love Spot, who told them of all his adventures
+and heard from them of theirs. This ended, and when they had been
+entertained and refreshed, the lord of that place spoke to Finn and
+said:--
+
+"I have now, O Finn, within my fortress the fifteen stoutest heroes
+that the world holds. To this end have I brought you here, that ye
+might make war with me upon mine enemy the Champion of the Well, who
+is king of the land bordering on mine, and who ceases not to persecute
+and to harry my people because, in his arrogance, he would have all
+the Under World country subject to himself alone. Say now if ye will
+embrace this enterprise and help me to defend my own: and if not I
+shall set you again upon the land of Erinn."
+
+Finn said, "What of my fifteen men that were carried away on the wild
+mare's back oversea?" "They are guarding the marches of my kingdom,"
+said the King of Sorca, "and all is well with them and shall be well."
+
+Then Finn agreed to take service with the King of Sorca, and next day
+they arrayed themselves for fight and went out at the head of the
+host. Ere long they came upon the army of the King of the Well, and
+with him was the King of the Greeks and a band of fierce mercenaries,
+and also the daughter of the Greek King, by name Tasha of the White
+Side, a maiden who in beauty and grace surpassed all other women of
+the world, as the Shannon surpasses all rivers of Erinn and the eagle
+surpasses all birds of the air. Now the stories of Finn and his
+generosity and great deeds had reached her since she was a child, and
+she had set her love on him, though she had never seen his face till
+now.
+
+When the hosts were met, the King of the Greeks said, "Who of my men
+will stand forth and challenge the best of these men of Erinn to
+single combat that their metal may be proved, for to us it is unknown
+what manner of men they be." The son of the King of the Greeks said,
+"I will go."
+
+So on the side of Finn, Oscar, son of Ois�n, was chosen to match the
+son of the Greek King, and the two hosts sat down peacefully together
+to watch the weapon-play. And Tasha the princess sat by Finn, son of
+Cumhal.
+
+Then Oscar and the King's son stepped into their fighting place, and
+fierce was the combat that arose between them, as when two roaring
+surges of the sea dash against each other in a fissure of the rocks,
+and the spray-cloud bursts from them high into the air. Long they
+fought, and many red wounds did each of them give and receive, till at
+last Oscar beat the Greek prince to the earth and smote off his head.
+Then one host groaned for woe and discouragement, while the other
+shouted for joy of victory, and so they parted for the night, each to
+their own camp.
+
+And in the camp of the folk of Sorca they found Conan the Bald and the
+fourteen men that had gone with him on the mare's back.
+
+But when night had fallen, Tasha stole from the wizard of the Greek
+King his branch of silver bells that when shaken would lay asleep a
+host of men, and with the aid of this she passed from the camp of the
+Greeks, and through the sentinels, and came to the tent of Finn.
+
+On the morrow morn the King of the Greeks found that his daughter had
+fled to be the wife of Finn, son of Cumhal, and he offered a mighty
+reward to whosoever would slay Finn and bring Tasha back. But when the
+two armies closed in combat the Fians and the host of the King of
+Sorca charged so fiercely home, that they drove their foes before them
+as a winter gale drives before it a cloud of madly whirling leaves,
+and those that were not slain in the fight and the pursuit went to
+their own lands and abode there in peace; and thus was the war ended
+of the King of Sorca and the Lord of the Well.
+
+Then the King of Sorca had Finn and his comrades before him and gave
+them praise and thanks for their valour. "And what reward," he said,
+"will ye that I make you for the saving of the kingdom of Sorca?"
+
+"Thou wert in my service awhile," said Finn, "and I mind not that I
+paid thee any wage for it. Let that service even go against this, and
+so we are quits."
+
+"Nay, then," cried Conan the Bald, "but what shall I have for my ride
+on the mare of the Gilla Dacar?"
+
+"What wilt thou have?" said the King of Sorca.
+
+"This," said Conan, "and nothing else will I accept. Let fourteen of
+the fairest women of the land of Sorca be put on that same mare, and
+thy wife, O King, clinging to its tail, and let them be thus haled
+across the sea until they come to Corcaguiny in the land of Erinn. I
+will have none of thy gold and silver, but the indignity that has been
+put upon me doth demand an honourable satisfaction."
+
+Then the King of Sorca smiled, and he said, "Behold thy men, Finn."
+
+[Illustration: "'Follow me now to the Hill of Allen'"]
+
+Finn turned his head to look round, and as he did so the plain and the
+encampment of the Fairy Host vanished from his sight, and he saw
+himself standing on the shingly strand of a little bay, with rocky
+heights to right and left, crowned with yellow whin bushes whose
+perfume mingled with the salt sea wind. It was the spot where he had
+seen the Gilla Dacar and his mare take water on the coast of Kerry.
+Finn stared over the sea, to discover, if he might, by what means he
+had come thither, but nothing could he see there save the sunlit
+water, and nothing hear but what seemed a low laughter from the
+twinkling ripples that broke at his feet. Then he looked for his men,
+who stood there, dazed like himself and rubbing their eyes; and there
+too stood the Princess Tasha, who stretched out her white arms to him.
+Finn went over and took her hands. "Shoulder your spears, good lads!"
+he called to his men. "Follow me now to the Hill of Allen, and to the
+wedding feast of Tasha and of Finn mac Cumhal."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Birth of Ois�n
+
+
+One day as Finn and his companions and dogs were returning from the
+chase to their D�n on the Hill of Allen, a beautiful fawn started up
+on their path and the chase swept after her, she taking the way which
+led to their home. Soon, all the pursuers were left far behind save
+only Finn himself and his two hounds Bran and Sceolaun. Now these
+hounds were of strange breed, for Tyren, sister to Murna, the mother
+of Finn, had been changed into a hound by the enchantment of a woman
+of the Fairy Folk, who loved Tyren's husband Ullan; and the two hounds
+of Finn were the children of Tyren, born to her in that shape. Of all
+hounds in Ireland they were the best, and Finn loved them much, so
+that it was said he wept but twice in his life, and once was for the
+death of Bran.
+
+At last, as the chase went on down a valley side, Finn saw the fawn
+stop and lie down, while the two hounds began to play round her and to
+lick her face and limbs. So he gave commandment that none should hurt
+her, and she followed them to the D�n of Allen, playing with the
+hounds as she went.
+
+The same night Finn awoke and saw standing by his bed the fairest
+woman his eyes had ever beheld.
+
+"I am Saba, O Finn," she said, "and I was the fawn ye chased to-day.
+Because I would not give my love to the Druid of the Fairy Folk, who
+is named the Dark, he put that shape upon me by his sorceries, and I
+have borne it these three years. But a slave of his, pitying me, once
+revealed to me that if I could win to thy great D�n of Allen, O Finn,
+I should be safe from all enchantments and my natural shape would come
+to me again. But I feared to be torn in pieces by thy dogs, or wounded
+by thy hunters, till at last I let myself be overtaken by thee alone
+and by Bran and Sceolaun, who have the nature of man and would do me
+no hurt." "Have no fear, maiden," said Finn, "we the Fianna, are free
+and our guest-friends are free; there is none who shall put compulsion
+on you here."
+
+So Saba dwelt with Finn, and he made her his wife; and so deep was his
+love for her that neither the battle nor the chase had any delight for
+him, and for months he never left her side. She also loved him as
+deeply, and their joy in each other was like that of the Immortals in
+the Land of Youth. But at last word came to Finn that the warships of
+the Northmen were in the bay of Dublin, and he summoned his heroes to
+the fight, "for," said he to Saba, "the men of Erinn give us tribute
+and hospitality to defend them from the foreigner, and it were shame
+to take it from them and not to give that to which we, on our side,
+are pledged." And he called to mind that great saying of Goll mac
+Morna when they were once sore bested by a mighty host--"a man," said
+Goll, "lives after his life but not after his honour."
+
+Seven days was Finn absent, and he drove the Northmen from the shores
+of Erinn. But on the eighth day he returned, and when he entered his
+D�n he saw trouble in the eyes of his men and of their fair womenfolk,
+and Saba was not on the rampart expecting his return. So he bade them
+tell him what had chanced, and they said--
+
+"Whilst thou, our father and lord, wert afar off smiting the
+foreigner, and Saba looking ever down the pass for thy return, we saw
+one day as it were the likeness of thee approaching, and Bran and
+Sceolaun at thy heels. And we seemed also to hear the notes of the
+Fian hunting call blown on the wind. Then Saba hastened to the great
+gate, and we could not stay her, so eager was she to rush to the
+phantom. But when she came near, she halted and gave a loud and bitter
+cry, and the shape of thee smote her with a hazel wand, and lo, there
+was no woman there any more, but a deer. Then those hounds chased it,
+and ever as it strove to reach again the gate of the D�n they turned
+it back. We all now seized what arms we could and ran out to drive
+away the enchanter, but when we reached the place there was nothing to
+be seen, only still we heard the rushing of flying feet and the baying
+of dogs, and one thought it came from here, and another from there,
+till at last the uproar died away and all was still. What we could do,
+O Finn, we did; Saba is gone."
+
+Finn then struck his hand on his breast but spoke no word, and he went
+to his own chamber. No man saw him for the rest of that day, nor for
+the day after. Then he came forth, and ordered the matters of the
+Fianna as of old, but for seven years thereafter he went searching for
+Saba through every remote glen and dark forest and cavern of Ireland,
+and he would take no hounds with him save Bran and Sceolaun. But at
+last he renounced all hope of finding her again, and went hunting as
+of old. One day as he was following the chase on Ben Gulban in Sligo,
+he heard the musical bay of the dogs change of a sudden to a fierce
+growling and yelping as though they were in combat with some beast,
+and running hastily up he and his men beheld, under a great tree, a
+naked boy with long hair, and around him the hounds struggling to
+seize him, but Bran and Sceolaun fighting with them and keeping them
+off. And the lad was tall and shapely, and as the heroes gathered
+round he gazed undauntedly on them, never heeding the rout of dogs at
+his feet. The Fians beat off the dogs and brought the lad home with
+them, and Finn was very silent and continually searched the lad's
+countenance with his eyes. In time, the use of speech came to him, and
+the story that he told was this:--
+
+He had known no father, and no mother save a gentle hind with whom he
+lived in a most green and pleasant valley shut in on every side by
+towering cliffs that could not be scaled, or by deep chasms in the
+earth. In the summer he lived on fruits and such-like, and in the
+winter, store of provisions was laid for him in a cave. And there came
+to them sometimes a tall dark-visaged man, who spoke to his mother,
+now tenderly, and now in loud menace, but she always shrunk away in
+fear, and the man departed in anger. At last there came a day when the
+Dark Man spoke very long with his mother in all tones of entreaty and
+of tenderness and of rage, but she would still keep aloof and give no
+sign save of fear and abhorrence. Then at length the Dark Man drew
+near and smote her with a hazel wand; and with that he turned and went
+his way, but she, this time, followed him, still looking back at her
+son and piteously complaining. And he, when he strove to follow, found
+himself unable to move a limb; and crying out with rage and desolation
+he fell to the earth and his senses left him. When he came to himself
+he was on the mountain side, on Ben Gulban, where he remained some
+days, searching for that green and hidden valley, which he never found
+again. And after a while the dogs found him; but of the hind his
+mother and of the Dark Druid, there is no man knows the end.
+
+Finn called his name Ois�n, and he became a warrior of fame, but far
+more famous for the songs and tales that he made; so that of all
+things to this day that are told of the Fianna of Erinn, men are wont
+to say, "So sang the bard, Ois�n, son of Finn."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Ois�n in the Land of Youth
+
+
+It happened that on a misty summer morning as Finn and Ois�n with many
+companions were hunting on the shores of Loch Lena they saw coming
+towards them a maiden, beautiful exceedingly, riding on a snow-white
+steed. She wore the garb of a queen; a crown of gold was on her head,
+and a dark brown mantle of silk, set with stars of red gold, fell
+around her and trailed on the ground. Silver shoes were on her horse's
+hoofs, and a crest of gold nodded on his head. When she came near she
+said to Finn, "From very far away I have come, and now at last I have
+found thee, Finn, son of Cumhal."
+
+Then Finn said, "What is thy land and race, maiden, and what dost thou
+seek from me?"
+
+"My name," she said, "is Niam of the Golden Hair. I am the daughter of
+the King of the Land of Youth, and that which has brought me here is
+the love of thy son Ois�n." Then she turned to Ois�n and she spoke to
+him in the voice of one who has never asked anything but it was
+granted to her, "Wilt thou go with me, Ois�n, to my father's land?"
+
+And Ois�n said, "That will I, and to the world's end"; for the fairy
+spell had so wrought upon his heart that he cared no more for any
+earthly thing but to have the love of Niam of the Head of Gold.
+
+Then the maiden spoke of the Land Oversea to which she had summoned
+her lover, and as she spoke a dreamy stillness fell on all things, nor
+did a horse shake his bit nor a hound bay, nor the least breath of
+wind stir in the forest trees till she had made an end. And what she
+said seemed sweeter and more wonderful as she spoke it than anything
+they could afterwards remember to have heard, but so far as they could
+remember it, it was this:--
+
+   "Delightful is the land beyond all dreams,
+   Fairer than aught thine eyes have ever seen.
+   There all the year the fruit is on the tree,
+   And all the year the bloom is on the flower.
+
+   "There with wild honey drip the forest trees;
+   The stores of wine and mead shall never fail.
+   Nor pain nor sickness knows the dweller there,
+   Death and decay come near him never more.
+
+   "The feast shall cloy not, nor the chase shall tire,
+   Nor music cease for ever through the hall;
+   The gold and jewels of the Land of Youth
+   Outshine all splendours ever dreamed by man.
+
+   "Thou shalt have horses of the fairy breed,
+   Thou shalt have hounds that can outrun the wind;
+   A hundred chiefs shall follow thee in war,
+   A hundred maidens sing thee to thy sleep.
+
+   "A crown of sovranty thy brow shall wear,
+   And by thy side a magic blade shall hang.
+   Thou shalt be lord of all the Land of Youth,
+   And lord of Niam of the Head of Gold."
+
+As the magic song ended, the Fians beheld Ois�n mount the fairy steed
+and hold the maiden in his arms, and ere they could stir or speak she
+turned her horse's head and shook the ringing bridle and down the
+forest glade they fled, as a beam of light flies over the land when
+clouds drive across the sun; and never did the Fianna behold Ois�n,
+son of Finn, on earth again.
+
+Yet what befell him afterwards is known. As his birth was strange so
+was his end, for he saw the wonders of the Land of Youth with mortal
+eyes and lived to tell them with mortal lips.
+
+When the white horse with its riders reached the sea it ran lightly
+over the waves and soon the green woods and headlands of Erinn faded
+out of sight. And now the sun shone fiercely down, and the riders
+passed into a golden haze in which Ois�n lost all knowledge of where
+he was or if sea or dry land were beneath his horse's hoofs. But
+strange sights sometimes appeared to them in the mist, for towers and
+palace gateways loomed up and disappeared, and once a hornless doe
+bounded by them chased by a white hound with one red ear, and again
+they saw a young maid ride by on a brown steed, bearing a golden apple
+in her hand, and close behind her followed a young horseman on a white
+steed, a purple cloak floating at his back and a gold-hilted sword in
+his hand. And Ois�n would have asked the princess who and what these
+apparitions were, but Niam bade him ask nothing nor seem to notice any
+phantom they might see until they were come to the Land of Youth.
+
+[Illustration: "They rode up to a stately palace"]
+
+At last the sky gloomed above them, and Niam urged their steed faster.
+The wind lashed them with pelting rain, thunder roared across the sea
+and lightning blazed, but they held on their way till at length they
+came once more into a region of calm and sunshine. And now Ois�n saw
+before him a shore of yellow sand, lapped by the ripples of a summer
+sea. Inland, there rose before his eye wooded hills amid which he
+could discern the roofs and towers of a noble city. The white horse
+bore them swiftly to the shore and Ois�n and the maiden lighted down.
+And Ois�n marvelled at everything around him, for never was water so
+blue or trees so stately as those he saw, and the forest was alive
+with the hum of bees and the song of birds, and the creatures that are
+wild in other lands, the deer and the red squirrel and the wood-dove,
+came, without fear, to be caressed. Soon, as they went forward, the
+walls of a city came in sight, and folk began to meet them on the
+road, some riding, some afoot, all of whom were either youths or
+maidens, all looking as joyous as if the morning of happy life had
+just begun for them, and no old or feeble person was to be seen. Niam
+led her companion through a towered gateway built of white and red
+marble, and there they were met by a glittering company of a hundred
+riders on black steeds and a hundred on white, and Ois�n mounted a
+black horse and Niam her white, and they rode up to a stately palace
+where the King of the Land of Youth had his dwelling. And there he
+received them, saying in a loud voice that all the folk could hear,
+"Welcome, Ois�n, son of Finn. Thou art come to the Land of Youth,
+where sorrow and weariness and death shall never touch thee. This thou
+hast won by thy faithfulness and valour and by the songs that thou
+hast made for the men of Erinn, whereof the fame is come to us, for we
+have here indeed all things that are delightful and joyous, but poesy
+alone we had not. But now we have the chief poet of the race of men to
+live with us, immortal among immortals, and the fair and cloudless
+life that we lead here shall be praised in verses as fair; even as
+thou, Ois�n, did'st praise and adorn the short and toilsome and
+chequered life that men live in the world thou hast left forever. And
+Niam my daughter shall be thy bride, and thou shalt be in all things
+even as myself in the Land of Youth."
+
+Then the heart of Ois�n was filled with glory and joy, and he turned
+to Niam and saw her eyes burn with love as she gazed upon him. And
+they were wedded the same day, and the joy they had in each other grew
+sweeter and deeper with every day that passed. All that Niam had
+promised in her magic song in the wild wood when first they met,
+seemed faint beside the splendour and beauty of the life in the Land
+of Youth. In the great palace they trod on silken carpets and ate off
+plates of gold; the marble walls and doorways were wrought with carved
+work, or hung with tapestries, where forest glades, and still lakes,
+and flying deer were done in colours of unfading glow. Sunshine bathed
+that palace always, and cool winds wandered through its dim corridors,
+and in its courts there played fountains of bright water set about
+with flowers. When Ois�n wished to ride, a steed of fiery but gentle
+temper bore him wherever he would through the pleasant land; when he
+longed to hear music, there came upon his thought, as though borne on
+the wind, crystal notes such as no hand ever struck from the strings
+of any harp on earth.
+
+But Ois�n's hand now never touched the harp, and the desire of singing
+and of making poetry never waked in him, for no one thing seemed so
+much better than the rest, where all perfection bloomed and glowed
+around him, as to make him long to praise it and to set it apart.
+
+When seven days had passed, he said to Niam, "I would fain go
+a-hunting." Niam said, "So be it, dear love; to-morrow we shall take
+order for that." Ois�n lay long awake that night, thinking of the
+sound of Finn's hunting-horn, and of the smell of green boughs when
+they kindled them to roast the deer-flesh in Fian ovens in the
+wildwood.
+
+So next day Ois�n and Niam fared forth on horseback, with their
+company of knights and maidens, and dogs leaping and barking with
+eagerness for the chase. Anon they came to the forest, and the hunters
+with the hounds made a wide circuit on this side and on that, till at
+last the loud clamour of the hounds told that a stag was on foot, and
+Ois�n saw them streaming down an open glen, the stag with its great
+antlers laid back and flying like the wind. So he shouted the Fian
+hunting-cry and rode furiously on their track. All day long they
+chased the stag through the echoing forest, and the fairy steed bore
+him unfaltering over rough ground and smooth, till at last as darkness
+began to fall the quarry was pulled down, and Ois�n cut its throat
+with his hunting-knife. Long it seemed to him since he had felt glad
+and weary as he felt now, and since the woodland air with its odours
+of pine and mint and wild garlic had tasted so sweet in his mouth; and
+truly it was longer than he knew. But when he bade make ready the
+wood-oven for their meal, and build a bothy of boughs for their
+repose, Niam led him seven steps apart and seven to the left hand, and
+yet seven back to the place where they had killed the deer, and lo,
+there rose before him a stately D�n with litten windows and smoke
+drifting above its roof. When they entered, there was a table spread
+for a great company, and cooks and serving-men busy about a wide
+hearth where roast and boiled meats of every sort were being prepared.
+Casks of Greek wine stood open around the walls, and cups of gold were
+on the board. So they all ate and drank their sufficiency, and all
+night Ois�n and Niam slept on a bed softer than swans-down in a
+chamber no less fair than that which they had in the City of the Land
+of Youth.
+
+Next day, at the first light of dawn, they were on foot; and soon
+again the forest rang to the baying of hounds and the music of the
+hunting-horn. Ois�n's steed bore him all day, tireless and swift as
+before, and again the quarry fell at night's approach, and again a
+palace rose in the wilderness for their night's entertainment, and all
+things in it even more abundant and more sumptuous than before. And so
+for seven days they fared in that forest, and seven stags were slain.
+Then Ois�n grew wearied of hunting, and as he plunged his sharp black
+hunting-knife into the throat of the last stag, he thought of the
+sword of magic temper that hung idle by his side in the City of Youth,
+or rested from its golden nail in his bed-chamber, and he said to
+Niam, "Has thy father never a foe to tame, never a wrong to avenge?
+Surely the peasant is no man whose hand forgets the plough, nor the
+warrior whose hand forgets the sword hilt." Niam looked on him
+strangely for a while and as if she did not understand his words, or
+sought some meaning in them which yet she feared to find. But at last
+she said, "If deeds of arms be thy desire, Ois�n, thou shalt have thy
+sufficiency ere long." And so they rode home, and slept that night in
+the palace of the City of Youth.
+
+At daybreak on the following morn Niam roused Ois�n, and she buckled
+on him his golden-hilted sword and his corselet of blue steel inlaid
+with gold. Then he put on his head a steel and gold helmet with dragon
+crest, and slung on his back a shield of bronze wrought all over with
+cunning hammer-work of serpentine lines that swelled and sank upon the
+surface, and coiled in mazy knots, or flowed in long sweeping curves
+like waves of the sea when they gather might and volume for their leap
+upon the sounding shore. In the glimmering dawn, through the empty
+streets of the fair city, they rode forth alone and took their way
+through fields of corn and by apple orchards where red fruit hung down
+to their hands. But by noontide their way began to mount upwards among
+blue hills that they had marked from the city walls toward the west,
+and of man's husbandry they saw no more, but tall red-stemmed pine
+trees bordered the way on either side, and silence and loneliness
+increased. At length they reached a broad table-land deep in the heart
+of the mountains, where nothing grew but long coarse grass, drooping
+by pools of black and motionless water, and where great boulders,
+bleached white or stained with slimy lichens of livid red, lay
+scattered far and wide about the plain. Against the sky the mountain
+line now showed like a threat of bared and angry teeth, and as they
+rode towards it Ois�n perceived a huge fortress lying in the throat of
+a wide glen or mountain pass. White as death was the stone of which it
+was built, save where it was streaked with black or green from the
+foulness of wet mosses that clung to its cornices and battlements, and
+none seemed stirring about the place nor did any banner blow from its
+towers.
+
+Then said Niam, "This, O Ois�n, is the D�n of the giant Fovor of the
+Mighty Blows. In it he keeps prisoner a princess of the Fairy Folk
+whom he would fain make his bride, but he may not do so, nor may she
+escape, until Fovor has met in battle a champion who will undertake
+her cause. Approach, then, to the gate, if thou art fain to undertake
+this adventure, and blow the horn which hangs thereby, and then look
+to thy weapons, for soon indeed will the battle be broken upon thee."
+
+Then Ois�n rode to the gate and thrice he blew on the great horn which
+hung by it, and the clangour of it groaned drearily back from the
+cliffs that overhung the glen. Not thus indeed sounded the _Dord_ of
+Finn as its call blew lust of fighting and scorn of death into the
+hearts of the Fianna amid the stress of battle. At the third blast the
+rusty gates opened, grinding on their hinges, and Ois�n rode into a
+wide courtyard where servitors of evil aspect took his horse and
+Niam's, and led them into the hall of Fovor. Dark it was and low, with
+mouldering arras on its walls, and foul and withered rushes on the
+floor, where dogs gnawed the bones thrown to them at the last meal,
+and spilt ale and hacked fragments of flesh littered the bare oaken
+table. And here rose languidly to greet them a maiden bound with seven
+chains, to whom Niam spoke lovingly, saying that her champion was come
+and that her long captivity should end. And the maiden looked upon
+Ois�n, whose proud bearing and jewelled armour made the mean place
+seem meaner still, and a light of hope and of joy seemed to glimmer
+upon her brow. So she gave them refreshment as she could, and
+afterwards they betook them once more to the courtyard, where the
+place of battle was set.
+
+Here, at the further side, stood a huge man clad in rusty armour, who
+when he saw Ois�n rushed upon him, silent and furious, and swinging a
+great battleaxe in his hand. But doubt and langour weighed upon
+Ois�n's heart, and it seemed to him as if he were in an evil dream,
+which he knew was but a dream, and would be less than nothing when the
+hour of awakening should come. Yet he raised his shield and gripped
+the fairy sword, striving to shout the Fian battle-cry as he closed
+with Fovor. But soon a heavy blow smote him to the ground, and his
+armour clanged harshly on the stones. Then a cloud seemed to pass from
+his spirit, and he leaped to his feet quicker than an arrow flies from
+the string, and thrusting fiercely at the giant his sword-point gashed
+the under side of Fovor's arm when it was raised to strike, and Ois�n
+saw his enemy's blood. Then the fight raged hither and thither about
+the wide courtyard, with trampling of feet and clash of steel and
+ringing of armour and shouts of onset as the heroes closed; Ois�n,
+agile as a wild stag, evading the sweep of the mighty axe and rushing
+in with flickering blade at every unguarded moment, his whole soul
+bent on one fierce thought, to drive his point into some gap at
+shoulder or neck in Fovor's coat of mail. At length, when both were
+weary and wounded men, with hacked and battered armour, Ois�n's blade
+cut the thong of Fovor's headpiece and it fell clattering to the
+ground. Another blow laid the giant prostrate, and Ois�n leaned, dizzy
+and panting, upon his sword, while Fovor's serving-men took off their
+master in a litter, and Niam came to aid her lord. Then Ois�n stripped
+off his armour in the great hall, and Niam tended to his wounds,
+healing them with magic herbs and murmured incantations, and they saw
+that one of the seven rusty chains that had bound the princess hung
+loose from its iron staple in the wall.
+
+All night long Ois�n lay in deep and healing slumber, and next day he
+arose, whole and strong, and hot to renew the fray. And the giant was
+likewise healed and his might and fierceness returned to him. So they
+fought till they were breathless and weary, and then to it again, and
+again, till in the end Ois�n drove his sword to the hilt in the
+giant's shoulder where it joins the collar bone, and he fell aswoon,
+and was borne away as before. And another chain of the seven fell from
+the girdle of the captive maiden.
+
+Thus for seven days went on the combat, and Ois�n had seven nights of
+healing and rest, with the tenderness and beauty of Niam about his
+couch; and on the seventh day the maiden was free, and her folk
+brought her away, rejoicing, with banners and with music that made a
+brightness for a while in that forlorn and evil place.
+
+But Ois�n's heart was high with pride and victory, and a longing
+uprose in his heart with a rush like a springtide for the days when
+some great deed had been done among the Fianna, and the victors were
+hailed and lauded by the home-folk in the D�n of Allen, men and women
+leaving their toil or their pleasure to crowd round the heroes, and to
+question again and again, and to learn each thing that had passed; and
+the bards noting all to weave it into a glorious tale for after days;
+and more than all the smile and the look of Finn as he learned how his
+children had borne themselves in the face of death. And so Ois�n said
+to Niam, "Let me, for a short while, return to the land of Erinn, that
+I may see there my friends and kin and tell them of the glory and joy
+that are mine in the Land of Youth." But Niam wept and laid her white
+arms about his neck, entreating him to think no more of the sad world
+where all men live and move under a canopy of death, and where summer
+is slain by winter, and youth by old age, and where love itself, if it
+die not by falsehood and wrong, perishes many a time of too complete
+a joy. But Ois�n said, "The world of men compared with thy world is
+like this dreary waste compared with the city of thy father; yet in
+that city, Niam, none is better or worse than another, and I hunger to
+tell my tale to ignorant and feeble folk that my words can move, as
+words of mine have done of old, to wonder and delight. Then I shall
+return to thee, Niam, and to thy fair and blissful land; and having
+brought over to mortal men a tale that never man has told before, I
+shall be happy and at peace for ever in the Land of Youth."
+
+So they fared back to the golden city, and next day Niam brought to
+Ois�n the white steed that had borne them from Erinn, and bade him
+farewell. "This our steed," she said, "will carry thee across the sea
+to the land where I found thee, and whithersoever thou wilt, and what
+folk are there thou shalt see, and what tale thou hast to tell can be
+told. But never for even a moment must thou alight from his back, for
+if thy foot once touch again the soil of earth, thou shalt never win
+to me and to the Land of Youth again. And sorely do I fear some evil
+chance. Was not the love of Niam of the Head of Gold enough to fill a
+mortal's heart? But if thou must go, then go, and blessing and victory
+be thine."
+
+Then Ois�n held her long in his arms and kissed her, and vowed to make
+no long stay and never to alight from the fairy steed. And then he
+shook the golden reins and the horse threw its head aloft and snorted
+and bore him away in a pace like that of flowing water for speed and
+smoothness. Anon they came to the margin of the blue sea, and still
+the white steed galloped on, brushing the crests of the waves into
+glittering spray. The sun glared upon the sea and Ois�n's head swam
+with the heat and motion, and in mist and dreams he rode where no day
+was, nor night, nor any thought of time, till at last his horse's
+hoofs ploughed through wet, yellow sands, and he saw black rocks
+rising up at each side of a little bay, and inland were fields green
+or brown, and white cottages thatched with reeds, and men and women,
+toil-worn and clad in earth-coloured garments, went to and fro about
+their tasks or stopped gazing at the rider in his crimson cloak and at
+the golden trappings of his horse. But among the cottages was a small
+house of stone such as Ois�n had never seen in the land of Erinn;
+stone was its roof as well as the walls, very steep and high, and
+near-by from a rude frame of timber there hung a bell of bronze. Into
+this house there passed one whom from his shaven crown Ois�n guessed
+to be a druid, and behind him two lads in white apparel. The druid
+having seen the horseman turned his eyes again to the ground and
+passed on, regarding him not, and the lads did likewise. And Ois�n
+rode on, eager to reach the D�n upon the Hill of Allen and to see the
+faces of his kin and his friends.
+
+[Illustration: "The white steed had vanished from their eyes like a
+wreath of mist"]
+
+At length, coming from the forest path into the great clearing where
+the Hill of Allen was wont to rise broad and green, with its rampart
+enclosing many white-walled dwellings, and the great hall towering
+high in the midst, he saw but grassy mounds overgrown with rank weeds
+and whin bushes, and among them pastured a peasant's kine.
+
+Then a strange horror fell upon him, and he thought some enchantment
+from the land of Faery held his eyes and mocked him with false
+visions. He threw his arms abroad and shouted the names of Finn and
+Oscar, but none replied, and he thought that perchance the hounds
+might hear him, and he cried upon Bran and Sceolaun, and strained his
+ears if they might catch the faintest rustle or whisper of the world
+from the sight of which his eyes were holden, but he heard only the
+sigh of the wind in the whins. Then he rode in terror from that place,
+setting his face towards the eastern sea, for he meant to traverse
+Ireland from side to side and end to end in the search of some escape
+from his enchantment. But when he came near to the eastern sea and was
+now in the place which is called the Valley of the Thrushes,[24] he
+saw in a field upon the hillside a crowd of men striving to roll aside
+a great boulder from their tilled land, and an overseer directing
+them. Towards them he rode, meaning to ask them concerning Finn and
+the Fianna. As he came near, they all stopped their work to gaze upon
+him, for to them he appeared like a messenger of the Fairy Folk or an
+angel from heaven. Taller and mightier he was than the men-folk they
+knew, with sword-blue eyes and brown ruddy cheeks; in his mouth, as
+it were, a shower of pearls, and bright hair clustered beneath the rim
+of his helmet. And as Ois�n looked upon their puny forms, marred by
+toil and care, and at the stone which they feebly strove to heave from
+its bed, he was filled with pity, and thought to himself, "not such
+were even the churls of Erinn when I left them for the Land of Youth,"
+and he stooped from his saddle to help them. His hand he set to the
+boulder, and with a mighty heave he lifted it from where it lay and
+set it rolling down the hill. And the men raised a shout of wonder and
+applause, but their shouting changed in a moment into cries of terror
+and dismay, and they fled, jostling and overthrowing each other to
+escape from the place of fear; for a marvel horrible to see had taken
+place. For Ois�n's saddle-girth had burst as he heaved the stone, and
+he fell headlong to the ground. In an instant the white steed had
+vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist, and that which rose,
+feeble and staggering, from the ground was no youthful warrior but a
+man stricken with extreme old age, white-bearded and withered, who
+stretched out groping hands and moaned with feeble and bitter cries.
+And his crimson cloak and yellow silken tunic were now but coarse
+homespun stuff tied with a hempen girdle, and the gold-hilted sword
+was a rough oaken staff such as a beggar carries who wanders the roads
+from farmer's house to house.
+
+   [24] Glanismole, near Dublin.
+
+When the people saw that the doom that had been wrought was not for
+them they returned, and found the old man prone on the ground with
+his face hidden in his arms. So they lifted him up and asked who he
+was and what had befallen him. Ois�n gazed round on them with dim
+eyes, and at last he said, "I was Ois�n the son of Finn, and I pray ye
+tell me where he now dwells, for his D�n on the Hill of Allen is now a
+desolation, and I have neither seen him nor heard his hunting horn
+from the Western to the Eastern Sea." Then the men gazed strangely on
+each other and on Ois�n, and the overseer asked, "Of what Finn dost
+thou speak, for there be many of that name in Erinn?" Ois�n said,
+"Surely of Finn mac Cumhal mac Trenmor, captain of the Fianna of
+Erinn." Then the overseer said, "Thou art daft, old man, and thou hast
+made us daft to take thee for a youth as we did a while agone. But we
+at least have now our wits again, and we know that Finn son of Cumhal
+and all his generation have been dead these three hundred years. At
+the battle of Gowra fell Oscar, son of Ois�n, and Finn at the battle
+of Brea, as the historians tell us; and the lays of Ois�n, whose death
+no man knows the manner of, are sung by our harpers at great men's
+feasts. But now the Talkenn,[25] Patrick, has come into Ireland and
+has preached to us the One God and Christ His Son, by whose might
+these old days and ways are done away with, and Finn and his Fianna,
+with their feasting and hunting and songs of war and of love, have no
+such reverence among us as the monks and virgins of holy Patrick, and
+the psalms and prayers that go up daily to cleanse us from sin and to
+save us from the fire of judgment." But Ois�n replied, half hearing
+and still less comprehending what was said to him, "If thy God have
+slain Finn and Oscar, I would say that God is a strong man." Then they
+all cried out upon him, and some picked up stones, but the overseer
+bade them let him be until the Talkenn had spoken with him, and till
+he should order what was to be done.
+
+   [25] Talkenn or "Adze-head" was a name given to St Patrick by
+   the Irish. Probably it referred to the shape of his tonsure.
+
+So they brought him to Patrick, who entreated him gently and
+hospitably, and to Patrick he told the story of all that had befallen
+him. But Patrick bade his scribes write all carefully down, that the
+memory of the heroes whom Ois�n had known, and of the joyous and free
+life they had led in the woods and glens and wild places of Erinn,
+should never be forgotten among men. And Ois�n, during the short span
+of life that yet remained to him, told to Patrick many tales of the
+Fianna and their deeds, but of the three hundred years that he had
+spent with Niam in the Land of Youth he rarely spoke, for they seemed
+to him but as a vision or a dream of the night, set between a sunny
+and a rainy day.
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+I
+
+THE BIRTH OF CORMAC
+
+Of all the kings that ruled over Ireland, none had a better and more
+loyal servant than was Finn mac Cumhal, and of all the captains and
+counsellors of kings none ever served a more glorious and a nobler
+monarch than did Finn, for the time that he served Cormac, son of Art,
+son of Conn of the Hundred Battles. At the time at which this monarch
+lived and reigned, the mist of sixteen centuries hangs between us and
+the history of Ireland, but through this mist there shine a few great
+and sunlike figures whose glory cannot be altogether hidden, and of
+these figures Cormac is the greatest and the brightest. Much that is
+told about him may be true, and much is certainly fable, but the
+fables themselves are a witness to his greatness; they are like forms
+seen in the mist when a great light is shining behind it, and we
+cannot always say when we are looking at the true light and when at
+the reflected glory.
+
+The birth of Cormac was on this wise. His father, as we have said, was
+Art, son of Conn, and his mother was named Achta, being the daughter
+of a famous smith or ironworker of Connacht. Now before the birth of
+Cormac, Achta had a strange dream, namely, that her head was struck
+off from her body and that out of her neck there grew a great tree
+which extended its branches over all Ireland and flourished
+exceedingly, but a huge wave of the sea burst upon it and laid it low.
+Then from the roots of this tree there grew up another, but it did not
+attain the splendour of the first, and a blast of wind came from the
+West and overthrew it. On this the woman started from her sleep, and
+she woke her husband, Art, and told him her vision. "It is a true
+dream," said Art. "I am thy head, and this portends that I shall be
+violently taken from thee. But thou shalt bear me a son who shall be
+King of all Ireland, and shall rule with great power and glory until
+some disaster from the sea overtake him. But from him shall come yet
+another king, my grandson and thine, who shall also be cut down, and I
+think that the cause of his fall shall be the armies of the Fian host,
+who are swift and keen as the wind."
+
+Not long thereafter Art, son of Conn, fell in battle with the Picts
+and Britons at the Plain of the Swine, which is between Athenry and
+Galway in Connacht. Now the leader of the invaders then was mac Con, a
+nephew to Art, who had been banished out of Ireland for rising against
+the High King; and when he had slain Art he seized the sovranty of
+Ireland and reigned there unlawfully for many years.
+
+But before the battle, Art had counselled his wife:
+
+"If things go ill with us in the fight, and I am slain, seek out my
+faithful friend Luna who dwells in Corann in Connacht, and he will
+protect thee till thy son be born." So Achta, with one maid, fled in
+her chariot before the host of mac Con and sought to go to the D�n of
+Luna. On her way thither, however, the hour came when her child should
+be born, and the maid turned the chariot aside into the wild wood at
+the place called Creevagh (the Place of the Twigs), and there, on a
+couch of twigs and leaves, she gave birth to a noble son.
+
+Then Achta, when she had cherished her boy and rejoiced over him, bade
+her handmaid keep watch over both of them, and they fell asleep. But
+the maid's eyes were heavy with weariness and long travelling, and ere
+long she, too, was overpowered by slumber, and all three slept a deep
+sleep while the horses wandered away grazing through the wood.
+
+By and by there came a she-wolf roaming through the wood in search of
+prey for her whelps, and it came upon the sleeping woman and the
+little child. It did not wake the woman, but very softly it picked up
+the infant and bore it off to the stony cave that is hard by to
+Creevagh in the hill that was afterwards called Mount Cormac.
+
+After a while the mother waked up and found her child gone. Then she
+uttered a lamentable cry, and woke her handmaid, and both the women
+searched hither and thither, but no trace of the child could they
+find; and thus Luna found them; for he had heard news of the battle
+and the death of his King, and he had come to succour Achta as he had
+pledged his word to do. Luna and his men also made search for the
+infant, but in vain; and at last he conveyed the two sorrowing women
+to his palace; but Achta was somewhat comforted by her prophetic
+dream. Luna then proclaimed that whoever should discover the King's
+son, if he were yet alive, might claim of him what reward he would.
+
+And so the time passed, till one day a man named Grec, a clansman of
+Luna the lord of Corann, as he ranged the woods hunting, came on a
+stony cavern in the side of a hill, and before it he saw wolf-cubs at
+play, and among them a naked child on all fours gambolling with them,
+and a great she-wolf that mothered them all. "Right," cried Grec, and
+off he goes to Luna his lord. "What wilt thou give me for the King's
+son?" said he. "What wilt thou have?" said Luna. So Grec asked for
+certain lands, and Luna bound himself to give them to him and to his
+posterity, and there lived and flourished the Clan Gregor for many a
+generation to come. So Luna, guided by Grec, went to the cave on Mount
+Cormac, and took the child and the wolf-cubs all together and brought
+them home. And the child they called Cormac, or the Chariot-Child. Now
+the lad grew up very comely and strong, and he abode with Luna in
+Connacht, and no one told him of his descent.
+
+
+II
+
+THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC
+
+Once upon a time it happened that Cormac was at play with the two sons
+of Luna, and the lads grew angry in their play and came to blows, and
+Cormac struck one of them to the ground. "Sorrow on it," cried the
+lad, "here I have been beaten by one that knows not his clan or
+kindred, save that he is a fellow without a father." When Cormac heard
+that he was troubled and ashamed, and he went to Luna and told him
+what had been said.
+
+And Luna seeing the trouble of the youth, and also that he was strong
+and noble to look on, and wise and eloquent in speech, held that the
+time was now come to reveal to him his descent. "Thou hadst indeed a
+clan and kindred," he said, "and a father of the noblest, for thou art
+the son of Art, the High King of Ireland, who was slain and
+dispossessed by mac Con. But it is foretold that thou shalt yet come
+to thy father's place, and the land pines for thee even now, for there
+is no good yield from earth or sea under the unlawful rule of him who
+now sits on the throne of Art."
+
+"If that be so," said Cormac, "let us go to Tara, and bide our time
+there in my father's house."
+
+So the two of them set out for Tara on the morrow morn. And this was
+the retinue they had with them: a body-guard of outlawed men that had
+revolted against mac Con and other lords and had gathered themselves
+together at Corann under Luna, and four wolves that had been cubs with
+Cormac when the she-wolf suckled him.
+
+
+When they came to Tara, the folk there wondered at the fierce-eyed
+warriors and the grey beasts that played like dogs around Cormac, and
+the lad was adopted as a pupil by the King, to be taught arms and
+poetry and law. Much talk there was of his coming, and of his strange
+companions that are not wont to be the friends of man, and as the lad
+grew in comeliness and in knowledge the eyes of all were turned to him
+more and more, because the rule of mac Con was not good.
+
+So the time wore on, till one day a case came for judgment before the
+King, in which the Queen sued a certain wealthy woman and an owner of
+herds named Benna, for that the sheep of Benna had strayed into the
+Queen's fields and had eaten to the ground a crop of woad[26] that was
+growing there. The King gave judgment, that the sheep which had eaten
+the woad were to be given to the Queen in compensation for what they
+had destroyed. Then Cormac rose up before the people and said, "Nay,
+but let the wool of the sheep, when they are next shorn, be given to
+the Queen, for the woad will grow again and so shall the wool." "A
+true judgment, a true judgment," cried all the folk that were present
+in the place; "a very king's son is he that hath pronounced it." And
+they murmured so loudly against mac Con that his druids counselled him
+to quit Tara lest a worse thing befall him. So he gave up the sovranty
+to Cormac and went southward into Munster to rally his friends there
+and recover the kingdom, and there he was slain by Cormac's men as he
+was distributing great largesse of gold and silver to his followers,
+in the place called The Field of the Gold.
+
+   [26] Woad is a cruciferous plant, _Isatis tinctoria_, used for
+   dyeing.
+
+So Cormac, son of Art, ruled in Tara and was High King of all Ireland.
+And the land, it is said, knew its rightful lord, and yielded harvests
+such as never were known, while the forest trees dripped with the
+abundance of honey and the lakes and rivers were alive with fish. So
+much game was there, too, that the folk could have lived on that alone
+and never put a ploughshare in the soil. In Cormac's time the autumn
+was not vexed with rain, nor the spring with icy winds, nor the summer
+with parching heat, nor the winter with whelming snows. His rule in
+Erinn, it is said, was like a wand of gold laid on a dish of silver.
+
+Also he rebuilt the ramparts of Tara and made it strong, and he
+enlarged the great banqueting hall and made pillars of cedar in it
+ornamented with plates of bronze, and painted its lime-white walls in
+patterns of red and blue. Palaces for the women he also made there,
+and store-houses, and halls for the fighting men--never was Tara so
+populous or so glorious before or since. And for his wisdom and
+righteousness knowledge was given to him that none other in Ireland
+had as yet, for it was revealed to him that the Immortal Ones whom the
+Gael worshipped were but the names of One whom none can name, and that
+his message should ere long come to Ireland from over the eastern sea,
+calling the people to a sweeter and diviner faith.
+
+And to the end of his life it was his way to have wolves about him,
+for he knew their speech and they his, and they were friendly and tame
+with him and his folk, since they were foster-brothers together in the
+wild wood.
+
+
+III
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC
+
+It happened that in Cormac's time there was a very wealthy farmer
+named Buicad[27] who dwelt in Leinster, and had vast herds of cattle
+and sheep and horses. This Buicad and his wife had no children, but
+they adopted a foster-child named Ethne, daughter of one Dunlang. Now
+Buicad was the most hospitable of men, and never refused aught to
+anyone, but he kept open house for all the nobles of Leinster who
+came with their following and feasted there as they would, day after
+day; and if any man fancied any of the cattle or other goods of
+Buicad, he might take them home with him, and none said him nay. Thus
+Buicad lived in great splendour, and his D�n was ever full to
+profusion with store of food and clothing and rich weapons, until in
+time it was all wasted away in boundless hospitality and generosity,
+and so many had had a share in his goods that they could never be
+recovered nor could it be said of any man that he was the cause of
+Buicad's undoing. But undone he was at last, and when there remained
+to him but one bull and seven cows he departed by night with his wife
+and Ethne from D�n Buicad, leaving his mansion desolate. And he
+travelled till he came to a place where there was a grove of oak trees
+by a little stream in the county of Meath, near where Cormac had a
+summer palace, and there he built himself a little hut and tended his
+few cattle, and Ethne waited as a maid-servant upon him and his wife.
+
+   [27] Pronounced Bwe�-cad. His name is said to be preserved in
+   the townland of Dunboyke, near Blessington, Co. Wicklow.
+
+Now on a certain day it happened that King Cormac rode out on
+horseback from his D�n in Meath, and in the course of his ride he came
+upon the little herd of Buicad towards evening, and he saw Ethne
+milking the cows. And this was the way she milked them: first she
+milked a portion of each cow's milk into a certain vessel, then she
+took a second vessel and milked into it the remaining portion, in
+which was the richest cream, and these two vessels she kept apart.
+Cormac watched all this. She then bore the vessels of milk into the
+hut, and came out again with two other vessels and a small cup. These
+she bore down to the river-side; and one of the vessels she filled by
+means of the cup from the water at the brink of the stream, but the
+other vessel she bore out into the middle of the stream and there
+filled it from the deepest of the running water. After this she took a
+sickle and began cutting rushes by the river-side, and Cormac saw that
+when she cut a wisp of long rushes she would put it on one side, and
+the short rushes on the other, and she bore them separately into the
+house. But Cormac stopped her and saluted her, and said:
+
+"For whom, maiden, art thou making this careful choice of the milk and
+the rushes and the water?"
+
+"I am making it," said she, "for one who is worthy that I should do
+far more than that for him, if I could."
+
+"What is his name?"
+
+"Buicad, the farmer," said Ethne.
+
+"Is it that Buicad, who was the rich farmer in Leinster that all
+Ireland has heard of?" asked the King.
+
+"It is even so."
+
+"Then thou art his foster-child, Ethne the daughter of Dunlang?" said
+Cormac.
+
+"I am," said Ethne.
+
+"Wilt thou be my wife and Queen of Erinn?" then said Cormac.
+
+"If it please my foster-father to give me to thee, O King, I am
+willing," replied Ethne.
+
+Then Cormac took Ethne by the hand and they went before Buicad, and he
+consented to give her to Cormac to wife. And Buicad was given rich
+lands and great store of cattle in the district of Odran close by
+Tara, and Ethne the Queen loved him and visited him so long as his
+life endured.
+
+
+IV
+
+THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING
+
+Ethne bore to Cormac a son, her firstborn, named Cairbry, who was King
+of Ireland after Cormac. It was during the lifetime of Cormac that
+Cairbry came to the throne, for it happened that ere he died Cormac
+was wounded by a chance cast of a spear and lost one of his eyes, and
+it was forbidden that any man having a blemish should be a king in
+Ireland. Cormac therefore gave up the kingdom into the hands of
+Cairbry, but before he did so he told his son all the wisdom that he
+had in the governing of men, and this was written down in a book which
+is called _The Instructions of Cormac_.[28] These are among the things
+which are found in it, of the wisdom of Cormac:--
+
+   [28] _The Instructions of Cormac_ (Tecosa Cormaic) have been
+   edited with a translation by Dr. Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture
+   Series of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xv., April 1909.
+
+  "Let him (the king) restrain the great,
+   Let him exalt the good,
+   Let him establish peace,
+   Let him plant law,
+   Let him protect the just,
+   Let him bind the unjust,
+   Let his warriors be many and his counsellors few,
+   Let him shine in company and be the sun of the mead-hall,
+   Let him punish with a full fine wrong done knowingly,
+    and with a half-fine wrong done in ignorance."
+
+Cairbry said, "What are good customs for a tribe to pursue?" "They are
+as follows," replied Cormac:--
+
+   "To have frequent assemblies,
+    To be ever enquiring, to question the wise men,
+    To keep order in assemblies,
+    To follow ancient lore,
+    Not to crush the miserable,
+    To keep faith in treaties,
+    To consolidate kinship,
+    Fighting-men not to be arrogant,
+    To keep contracts faithfully,
+    To guard the frontiers against every ill."
+
+"Tell me, O Cormac," said Cairbry, "what are good customs for the
+giver of a feast?" and Cormac said:--
+
+  "To have lighted lamps,
+   To be active in entertaining the company,
+   To be liberal in dispensing ale,
+   To tell stories briefly,
+   To be of joyous countenance,
+   To keep silence during recitals."
+
+"Tell me, O Cormac," said his son once, "what were thy habits when
+thou wert a lad?" And Cormac said:--
+
+   "I was a listener in woods,
+    I was a gazer at stars,
+    I pried into no man's secrets,
+    I was mild in the hall,
+    I was fierce in the fray,
+    I was not given to making promises,
+    I reverenced the aged,
+    I spoke ill of no man in his absence,
+    I was fonder of giving than of asking."
+
+"If you listen to my teaching," said Cormac:--
+
+  "Do not deride any old person though you be young
+   Nor any poor man though you be rich,
+   Nor any naked though you be well-clad,
+   Nor any lame though you be swift,
+   Nor any blind though you be keen-sighted,
+   Nor any invalid though you be robust,
+   Nor any dull though you be clever,
+   Nor any fool though you be wise.
+
+"Yet be not slothful, nor fierce, nor sleepy, nor niggardly, nor
+feckless nor envious, for all these are hateful before God and men.
+
+"Do not join in blasphemy, nor be the butt of an assembly; be not
+moody in an alehouse, and never forget a tryst."
+
+"What are the most lasting things on earth?" asked Cairbry.
+
+"Not hard to tell," said Cormac; "they are grass, copper, and a
+yew-tree."
+
+"If you will listen to me," said Cormac, "this is my instruction for
+the management of your household and your realm:--
+
+  "Let not a man with many friends be your steward,
+  Nor a woman with sons and foster-sons your housekeeper,
+  Nor a greedy man your butler,
+  Nor a man of much delay your miller,
+  Nor a violent, foul-mouthed man your messenger,
+  Nor a grumbling sluggard your servant,
+  Nor a talkative man your counsellor,
+  Nor a tippler your cup-bearer,
+  Nor a short-sighted man your watchman,
+  Nor a bitter, haughty man your doorkeeper,
+  Nor a tender-hearted man your judge,
+  Nor an ignorant man your leader,
+  Nor an unlucky man your counsellor."
+
+
+Such were the counsels that Cormac mac Art gave to his son Cairbry.
+And Cairbry became King after his father's abdication, and reigned
+seven and twenty years, till he and Oscar, son of Ois�n, slew one
+another at the battle of Gowra.
+
+
+V
+
+CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN
+
+During the reign of Cormac it happened that some of the lords of
+Ulster made a raid upon the Picts in Alba[29] and brought home many
+captives. Among them was a Pictish maiden named Kiernit, daughter of a
+king of that nation, who was strangely beautiful, and for that the
+Ulstermen sent her as a gift to King Cormac. And Cormac gave her as a
+household slave to his wife Ethne, who set her to grinding corn with a
+hand-quern, as women in Erinn were used to do. One day as Cormac was
+in the palace of the Queen he saw Kiernit labouring at her task and
+weeping as she wrought, for the toil was heavy and she was unused to
+it. Then Cormac was moved with compassion for the women that ground
+corn throughout Ireland, and he sent to Alba for artificers to come
+over and set up a mill, for up to then there were no mills in Ireland.
+Now there was in Tara, as there is to this day, a well of water
+called _The Pearly_, for the purity and brightness of the water that
+sprang from it, and it ran in a stream down the hillside, as it still
+runs, but now only in a slender trickle. Over this stream Cormac bade
+them build the first mill that was in Ireland, and the bright water
+turned the wheel merrily round, and the women in Tara toiled at the
+quern no more.
+
+   [29] Scotland.
+
+
+VI
+
+A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON
+
+Among other affairs which Cormac regulated for himself and all kings
+who should come after him was the number and quality of the officers
+who should be in constant attendance on the King. Of these he ordained
+that there should be ten, to wit one lord, one brehon, one druid, one
+physician, one bard, one historian, one musician and three stewards.
+The function of the brehon, or judge, was to know the ancient customs
+and the laws of Ireland, and to declare them to the King whenever any
+matter relating to them came before him. Now Cormac's chief brehon was
+at first one Fithel. But Fithel's time came to die, and his son
+Flahari,[30] a wise and learned man, trained by his father in all the
+laws of the Gael, was to be brehon to the High King in his father's
+stead. Fithel then called his son to his bedside and said:--
+
+   [30] Pronounced Fla'-haree--accent on the first syllable.
+
+"Thou art well acquainted, my son, with all the laws and customs of
+the Gael, and worthy to be the chief brehon of King Cormac. But wisdom
+of life thou hast not yet obtained, for it is written in no law-book.
+This thou must learn for thyself, from life itself; yet somewhat of it
+I can impart unto thee, and it will keep thee in the path of safety,
+which is not easily trodden by those who are in the counsels of great
+kings. Mark now these four precepts, and obey them, and thou wilt
+avoid many of the pit-falls in thy way:--
+
+  "Take not a king's son in fosterage,[31]
+  Impart no dangerous secret to thy wife,
+  Raise not the son of a serf to a high position,
+  Commit not thy purse or treasure to a sister's keeping."
+
+   [31] The institution of fosterage, by which the children of
+   kings and lords were given to trusted persons among their
+   friends or followers to bring up and educate, was a marked
+   feature of social life in ancient Ireland, and the bonds of
+   affection and loyalty between such foster-parents and their
+   children were held peculiarly sacred.
+
+Having said this Fithel died, and Flahari became chief brehon in his
+stead.
+
+After a time Flahari thought to himself, "I am minded to test my
+father's wisdom of life and to see if it be true wisdom or but
+wise-seeming babble. For knowledge is no knowledge until it be tried
+by life."
+
+So he went before the King and said, "If thou art willing, Cormac, I
+would gladly have one of thy sons in fosterage." At this Cormac was
+well pleased, and a young child of the sons of Cormac was given to
+Flahari to bring up, and Flahari took the child to his own D�n, and
+there began to nurture and to train him as it was fitting.
+
+After a time, however, Flahari one day took the child by the hand and
+went with him into the deep recesses of the forest where dwelt one of
+the swine-herds who minded the swine of Flahari. To him Flahari handed
+over the child and bade him guard him as the apple of his eye, and to
+be ready deliver him up again when he was required. The Flahari went
+home, and for some days went about like a man weighed down by gloomy
+and bitter thoughts. His wife marked that, and sought to know the
+reason, but Flahari put her off. At last when she continually pressed
+him to reveal the cause of his trouble, he said "If them must needs
+learn what ails me, and if thou canst keep a secret full of danger to
+me and thee, know that I am gloomy and distraught because I have
+killed the son of Cormac." At this the woman cried out, "Murderer
+parricide, hast thou spilled the King's blood, and shall Cormac not
+know it, and do justice on thee?" And she sent word to Cormac that he
+should come and seize her husband for that crime.
+
+But before the officers came, Flahari took a young man, the son of his
+butler, and placed him in charge of his lands to manage them, while
+Flahari was away for his trial at Tara. And he also gave to his sister
+a treasure of gold and silver to keep for him, lest it should be made
+a spoil of while he was absent. Then he went with the officers to
+Tara, denying his offence and his confession, but when Cormac had
+heard all, and the child could not be found, he sentenced him to be
+put to death.
+
+Flahari then sent a messenger to his sister, begging her to send him
+at once a portion of the treasure he had left with her, that he might
+use it to make himself friends among the folk at court, and perchance
+obtain a remission of his sentence; but she sent the messenger back
+again empty, saying she knew not of what he spoke.
+
+On this Flahari deemed that the time was come to reveal the truth, so
+he obtained permission from the King to send a message to his
+swineherd before he died, and to hear the man's reply. And the message
+was this, that Murtach the herd should come without delay to Tara and
+bring with him the child that Flahari had committed to him. Howbeit
+this messenger also came back empty, and reported that on reaching D�n
+Flahari he had been met by the butler's son that was over the estate,
+who had questioned him of his errand, and had then said, "Murtach the
+serf has run away as soon as he heard of his lord's downfall, and if
+he had any child in his care he has taken it away with him, and he
+cannot be found." This he said because, on hearing of the child, he
+guessed what this might mean, and he had been the bitterest of all in
+urging Flahari's death, hoping to be rewarded with a share of his
+lands.
+
+Then Flahari said to himself, "Truly the proving of my father's wisdom
+of life has brought me very near to death." So he sent for the King
+and entreated him that he might be suffered to go himself to the
+dwelling of Murtach the herd, promising that the King's son should be
+then restored to him, "or if not," said he, "let me then be slain
+there without more ado." With great difficulty Cormac was moved to
+consent to this, for he believed it was but a subterfuge of Flahari's
+to put off the evil day or perchance to find a way of escape. But next
+day Flahari was straitly bound and set in a chariot, and, with a guard
+of spearmen about him and Cormac himself riding behind, they set out
+for D�n Flahari. Then Flahari guided them through the wild wood till
+at last they came to the clearing where stood the dwelling of Murtach
+the swineherd, and lo! there was the son of Cormac playing merrily
+before the door. And the child ran to his foster-father to kiss him,
+but when he saw Flahari in bonds he burst out weeping and would not be
+at peace until he was set free.
+
+Then Murtach slew one of the boars of his herd and made an oven in the
+earth after the manner of the Fianna, and made over it a fire of
+boughs that he had drying in a shed. And when the boar was baked he
+set it before the company with ale and mead in methers of beechwood,
+and they all feasted and were glad of heart.
+
+Cormac then asked of Flahari why he had suffered himself to be
+brought into this trouble. "I did so," said Flahari, "to prove the
+four counsels which my father gave them ere he died, and I have proved
+them and found them to be wise. In the first place, it is not wise for
+any man that is not a king to take the fosterage of a king's son, for
+if aught shall happen to the lad, his own life is in the king's hands
+and with his life he shall answer for it. Secondly, the keeping of a
+secret, said my father, is not in the nature of women in general,
+therefore no dangerous secret should be entrusted to them. The third
+counsel my father gave me was not to raise up or enrich the son of a
+serf, for such persons are apt to forget benefits conferred on them,
+and moreover it irks them that he who raised them up should know the
+poor estate from which they sprang. And good, too, is the fourth
+counsel my father gave me, not to entrust my treasure to my sister,
+for it is the nature of most women to regard as spoil any valuables
+that are entrusted to them to keep for others."
+
+
+VII
+
+THE JUDGMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD
+
+When Cormac, son of Art, son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was High
+King in Erinn, great was the peace and splendour of his reign, and no
+provincial king or chief in any part of the country lifted up his
+head against Cormac. At his court in Tara were many noble youths, who
+were trained up there in all matters befitting their rank and station.
+
+One of these youths was named Socht, son of Fithel. Socht had a
+wonderful sword, named "The Hard-headed Steeling," which was said to
+have been long ago the sword of Cuchulain. It had a hilt of gold and a
+belt of silver, and its point was double-edged. At night it shone like
+a candle. If its point were bent back to the hilt it would fly back
+again and be as straight as before. If it was held in running water
+and a hair were floated down against the edge, it would sever the
+hair. It was a saying that this sword would make two halves of a man,
+and for a while he would not perceive what had befallen him. This
+sword was held by Socht for a tribal possession from father and
+grandfather.
+
+There was at this time a famous steward to the High King in Tara whose
+name was Dubdrenn. This man asked Socht to sell him the sword. He
+promised to Socht such a ration as he, Dubdrenn, had every night, and
+four men's food for the family of Socht, and, after that, Socht to
+have the full value of the sword at his own appraisement. "No," said
+Socht. "I may not sell my father's treasures while he is alive."
+
+And thus they went on, Dubdrenn's mind ever running on the sword. At
+last he bade Socht to a drinking-bout, and plied him so with wine and
+mead that Socht became drunken, and knew not where he was, and
+finally fell asleep.
+
+Then the steward takes the sword and goes to the King's brazier, by
+name Connu.
+
+"Art thou able," says Dubdrenn, "to open the hilt of this sword?" "I
+am that," says the brazier.
+
+Then the brazier took apart the hilt, and within, upon the tang of the
+blade, he wrote the steward's name, even Dubdrenn, and the steward
+laid the sword again by the side of Socht.
+
+So it was for three months after that, and the steward continued to
+ask Socht to sell him the sword, but he could not get it from him.
+
+Then the steward brought a suit for the sword before the High King,
+and he claimed that it was his own and that it had been taken from
+him. But Socht declared that the sword was his by long possession and
+by equity, and he would not give it up.
+
+Then Socht went to his father, Fithel the brehon, and begged him to
+take part in the action and to defend his claim. But Fithel said,
+"Nay, thou art too apt to blame the pleadings of other men; plead for
+thyself."
+
+So the court was set, and Socht was called upon to prove that the
+sword was his. He swore that it was a family treasure, and thus it had
+come down to him.
+
+The steward said, "Well, O Cormac, the oath that Socht has uttered is
+a lie."
+
+"What proof hast thou of that?" asked Cormac.
+
+"Not hard to declare," replied the steward. "If the sword be mine, my
+name stands graved therein, concealed within the hilt of the sword."
+
+"That will soon be known," says Cormac, and therewith he had the
+brazier summoned. The brazier comes and breaks open the hilt and the
+name of Dubdrenn stands written within it. Thus a dead thing testified
+in law against a living man.
+
+Then Socht said, "Hear ye, O men of Erinn and Cormac the King! I
+acknowledge that this man is the owner of the sword." And to Dubdrenn
+he said, "The property therein and all the obligations of it pass from
+me to thee."
+
+Dubdrenn said, "I acknowledge property in the sword and all its
+obligations."
+
+Then said Socht, "This sword was found in the neck of my grandfather
+Angus, and till this day it never was known who had done that murder.
+Do justice, O King, for this crime."
+
+Said the King to Dubdrenn, "Thou art liable for more than the sword is
+worth." So he awarded to Socht the price of seven bondwomen as
+blood-fine for the slaying of Angus, and restitution of the sword to
+Socht. Then the steward confessed the story of the sword, and Cormac
+levied seven other cumals from the brazier. But Cormac said, "This is
+in truth the sword of Cuchulain, and by it was slain my grandfather,
+even Conn of the Hundred Battles, at the hands of the King of Ulster,
+of whom it is written:--
+
+"With a host, with a valiant band Well did he go into Connacht. Alas,
+that he saw the blood of Conn On the side of Cuchulain's sword!"
+
+Then Cormac and Fithel agreed that the sword be given to Cormac as
+blood-fine for the death of Conn, and his it was; and it was the third
+best of the royal treasures that were in Erin: namely, Cormac's Cup,
+that broke if a falsehood were spoken over it and became whole if a
+truth were spoken; and the Bell Branch that he got in Fairyland, whose
+music when it was shaken would put to sleep wounded men, and women in
+travail; and the Sword of Cuchulain, against which, and against the
+man that held it in his hand, no victory could ever be won.
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC
+
+In the chronicle of the Kings of Ireland that was written by Tierna
+the Historian in the eleventh century after Christ's coming, there is
+noted down in the annals of the year 248, "Disappearance of Cormac,
+grandson of Conn, for seven months." That which happened to Cormac
+during these seven months is told in one of the bardic stories of
+Ireland, being the Story of Cormac's Journey to Fairyland, and this
+was the manner of it.
+
+One day Cormac, son of Art, was looking over the ramparts of his royal
+D�n of Tara, when he saw a young man, glorious to look on in his
+person and his apparel, coming towards him across the plain of Bregia.
+The young man bore in his hand, as it were, a branch, from which hung
+nine golden bells formed like apples. When he shook the branch the
+nine apples beat against each other and made music so sweet that there
+was no pain or sorrow in the world that a man would not forget while
+he hearkened to it.
+
+"Does this branch belong to thee?" asked Cormac of the youth.
+
+"Truly it does," replied the youth.
+
+"Wilt thou sell it to me?" said Cormac.
+
+"I never had aught that I would not sell for a price," said the young
+man.
+
+"What is thy price?" asked Cormac.
+
+"The price shall be what I will," said the young man.
+
+"I will give thee whatever thou desirest of all that is mine," said
+Cormac, for he coveted the branch exceedingly, and the enchantment was
+heavy upon him.
+
+So the youth gave him the bell-branch, and then said, "My price is thy
+wife and thy son and thy daughter."
+
+Then they went together into the palace and found there Cormac's wife
+and his children. "That is a wonderful jewel thou hast in thy hand,
+Cormac," said Ethne.
+
+"It is," said Cormac, "and great is the price I have paid for it."
+
+"What is that price?" said Ethne.
+
+"Even thou and thy children twain," said the King.
+
+"Never hast thou done such a thing," cried Ethne, "as to prefer any
+treasure in the world before us three!" And they all three lamented
+and implored, but Cormac shook the branch and immediately their sorrow
+was forgotten, and they went away willingly with the young man across
+the plain of Bregia until a mist hid them from the eyes of Cormac. And
+when the people murmured and complained against Cormac, for Ethne and
+her children were much beloved of them, Cormac shook the bell-branch
+and their grief was turned into joy.
+
+A year went by after this, and then Cormac longed for his wife and
+children again, nor could the bell-branch any longer bring him
+forgetfulness of them. So one morning he took the branch and went out
+alone from Tara over the plain, taking the direction in which they had
+passed away a year agone; and ere long little wreathes of mist began
+to curl about his feet, and then to flit by him like long trailing
+robes, and he knew no more where he was. After a time, however, he
+came out again into sunshine and clear sky, and found himself in a
+country of flowery meadows and of woods filled with singing-birds
+where he had never journeyed before. He walked on, till at last he
+came to a great and stately mansion with a crowd of builders at work
+upon it, and they were roofing it with a thatch made of the wings of
+strange birds. But when they had half covered the house, their supply
+of feathers ran short, and they rode off in haste to seek for more.
+While they were gone, however, a wind arose and whirled away the
+feathers already laid on, so that the rafters were left bare as
+before. And this happened again and again, as Cormac gazed on them for
+he knew not how long. At last his patience left him and he said, "I
+see with that ye have been doing this since the beginning of the
+world, and that ye will still be doing it in the end thereof," and
+with that he went on his way.
+
+And many other strange things he saw, but of them we say nothing now,
+till he came to the gateway of a great and lofty D�n, where he entered
+in and asked hospitality. Then there came to him a tall man clad in a
+cloak of blue that changed into silver or to purple as its folds waved
+in the light, and with him was a woman more beautiful than the
+daughters of men, even she of whom it was said her beauty was as that
+of a tear when it drops from the eyelid, so crystal-pure it was and
+bright.[32] They greeted Cormac courteously and begged him to stay
+with them for the night.
+
+   [32] See Miss Hull's CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER, p. 175.
+   The pair were Mananan, god of the sea, and Fand his wife, of
+   whom a tale of great interest is told in the Cuchulain Cycle of
+   legends. The sea-cloak of Mananan is the subject of a
+   magnificent piece of descriptive poetry in Ferguson's CONGAL.
+
+Cormac then entered a great hall with pillars of cedar and
+many-coloured silken hangings on the walls. In the midst of it was a
+fire-place whereon the host threw a huge log, and shortly afterwards
+brought in a young pig which Cormac cut up to roast before the fire.
+He first put one quarter of the pig to roast, and then his host said
+to him,
+
+"Tell us a tale, stranger, and if it be a true one the quarter will be
+done as soon as the tale is told."
+
+"Do thou begin," said Cormac, "and then thy wife, and after that my
+turn will come."
+
+"Good," said the host. "This is my tale. I have seven of these swine,
+and with their flesh the whole world could be fed. When one of them is
+killed and eaten, I need but put its bones into the pig-trough and on
+the morrow it is alive and well again." They looked at the fireplace,
+and behold, the first quarter of the pig was done and ready to be
+served.
+
+Then Cormac put on the second quarter, and the woman took up her tale.
+"I have seven white cows," she said, "and seven pails are filled with
+the milk of them each day. Though all the folk in the world were
+gathered together to drink of this milk, there would be enough and to
+spare for all." As soon as she had said that, they saw that the second
+quarter of the pig was roasted.
+
+Then Cormac said: "I know you now, who you are; for it is Mananan that
+owns the seven swine of Faery, and it is out of the Land of Promise
+that he fetched Fand his wife and her seven cows." Then immediately
+the third quarter of the pig was done.
+
+"Tell us now," said Mananan, "who thou art and why thou art come
+hither."
+
+Cormac then told his story, of the branch with its nine golden apples
+and how he had bartered for it his wife and his children, and he was
+now-seeking them through the world. And when he had made an end, the
+last quarter of the pig was done.
+
+"Come, let us set to the feast," then said Mananan; but Cormac said,
+"Never have I sat down to meat in a company of two only." "Nay," said
+Mananan, "but there are more to come." With that he opened a door in
+the hall and in it appeared Queen Ethne and her two children. And when
+they had embraced and rejoiced in each other Mananan said, "It was I
+who took them from thee, Cormac, and who gave thee the bell-branch,
+for I wished to bring thee hither to be my guest for the sake of thy
+nobleness and thy wisdom."
+
+Then they all sat down to table and feasted and made merry, and when
+they had satisfied themselves with meat and drink, Mananan showed the
+wonders of his household to King Cormac. And he took up a golden cup
+which stood on the table, and said: "This cup hath a magical property,
+for if a lie be spoken over it, it will immediately break in pieces,
+and if a truth be spoken it will be made whole again." "Prove this to
+me," said Cormac. "That is easily done," said Mananan. "Thy wife hath
+had a new husband since I carried her off from thee." Straightway the
+cup fell apart into four pieces. "My husband has lied to thee,
+Cormac," said Fand, and immediately the cup became whole again.
+
+Cormac then began to question Mananan as to the things he had seen on
+his way thither, and he told him of the house that was being thatched
+with the wings of birds, and of the men that kept returning ever and
+again to their work as the wind destroyed it. And Mananan said,
+"These, O Cormac, are the men of art, who seek to gather together much
+money and gear of all kinds by the exercise of their craft, but as
+fast as they get it, so they spend it, or faster and the result is
+that they will never be rich." But when he had said this it is related
+that the golden cup broke into pieces where it stood. Then Cormac
+said, "The explanation thou hast given of this mystery is not true."
+Mananan smiled, and said, "Nevertheless it must suffice thee, O King,
+for the truth of this matter may not be known, lest the men of art
+give over the roofing of the house and it be covered with common
+thatch."
+
+So when they had talked their fill, Cormac and his wife and children
+were brought to a chamber where they lay down to sleep. But when they
+woke up on the morrow morn, they found themselves in the Queen's
+chamber in the royal palace of Tara, and by Cormac's side were found
+the bell-branch and the magical cup and the cloth of gold that had
+covered the table where they sat in the palace of Mananan. Seven
+months it was since Cormac had gone out from Tara to search for his
+wife and children, but it seemed to him that he had been absent but
+for the space of a single day and night.
+
+
+IX
+
+DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC[33]
+
+   [33] The original from the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE (14th century) is
+   given in O'Curry's MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, Appendix
+   xxvi. I have in the main followed O'Curry's translation.
+
+"A noble and illustrious king assumed the sovranty and rule of Erinn,
+namely Cormac, grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles. The world was
+full of all goodness in his time; there were fruit and fatness of the
+land, and abundant produce of the sea, with peace and ease and
+happiness. There were no killings or plunderings in his time, but
+everyone occupied his land in happiness.
+
+"The nobles of Ireland assembled to drink the Banquet of Tara with
+Cormac at a certain time.... Magnificently did Cormac come to this
+great Assembly; for no man, his equal in beauty, had preceded him,
+excepting Conary M�r or Conor son of Caffa, or Angus �g son of the
+Dagda.[34] Splendid, indeed, was Cormac's appearance in that Assembly.
+His hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour; a scarlet shield
+he had, with engraved devices, and golden bosses and ridges of silver.
+A wide-folding purple cloak was on him with a gem-set gold brooch over
+his breast; a golden torque round his neck; a white-collared shirt
+embroidered with gold was on him; a girdle with golden buckles and
+studded with precious stones was around him; two golden net-work
+sandals with golden buckles upon his feet; two spears with golden
+sockets and many red bronze rivets in his hand; while he stood in the
+full glow of beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was
+a shower of pearls that was set in his mouth, his lips were rubies,
+his symmetrical body was as white as snow, his cheek was ruddy as the
+berry of the mountain-ash, his eyes were like the sloe, his brows and
+eye-lashes were like the sheen of a blue-black lance."
+
+   [34] Angus �g was really a deity or fairy king. He appears also
+   in the story of Midir and Etain. _q.v._
+
+
+X
+
+THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC
+
+Strange was the birth and childhood of Cormac strange his life and
+strange the manner of his death and burial, as we now have to narrate.
+
+Cormac, it is said, was the third man in Ireland who heard of the
+Christian Faith before the coming of Patrick. One was Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster, whose druid told him of the crucifixion of Christ and
+who died of that knowledge.[35] The second was the wise judge, Morann,
+and the third Cormac, son of Art. This knowledge was revealed to him
+by divine illumination, and thenceforth he refused to consult the
+druids or to worship the images which they made as emblems of the
+Immortal Ones.
+
+   [35] See the conclusion of the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_.
+
+One day it happened that Cormac after he had laid down the kingship of
+Ireland, was present when the druids and a concourse of people were
+worshipping the great golden image which was set up in the plain
+called Moy Slaught. When the ceremony was done, the chief druid, whose
+name was Moylann, spoke to Cormac and said: "Why, O Cormac, didst thou
+not bow down and adore the golden image of the god like the rest of
+the people?"
+
+And Cormac said: "Never will I worship a stock[36] that my own
+carpenter has made. Rather would I worship the man that made it, for
+he is nobler than the work of his hands."
+
+   [36] The image was doubtless of wood overlaid with gold.
+
+Then it is told that Moylann by magic art caused the image to move and
+leap before the eyes of Cormac. "Seest thou that?" said Moylann.
+
+"Although I see," said Cormac, "I will do no worship save to the God
+of Heaven and Earth and Hell."
+
+Then Cormac went to his own home at Sletty on the Boyne, for there he
+lived after he had given up the kingdom to his son Cairbry. But the
+druids of Erinn came together and consulted over this matter, and they
+determined solemnly to curse Cormac and invoke the vengeance of their
+gods upon him lest the people should think that any man could despise
+and reject their gods, and suffer no ill for it.
+
+So they cursed Cormac in his flesh and bones, in his waking and
+sleeping, in his down sitting and his uprising, and each day they
+turned over the Wishing Stone upon the altar of their god,[37] and
+wove mighty spells against his life. And whether it was that these
+took effect, or that the druids prevailed upon some traitorous servant
+of Cormac's to work their will, so it was that he died not long
+thereafter; and some say that he was choked by a fish bone as he sat
+at meat in his house at Sletty on the Boyne.
+
+   [37] There are still Wishing Stones, which are used in
+   connexion with petitions for good or ill, on the ancient altars
+   of Inishmurray and of Caher Island, and possibly other places
+   on the west coast of Ireland.
+
+But when he felt his end approaching, and had still the power to
+speak, he said to those that gathered round his bed:--"When I am gone
+I charge you that ye bury me not at Brugh of the Boyne where is the
+royal cemetery of the Kings of Erinn.[38] For all these kings paid
+adoration to gods of wood or stone, or to the Sun and the Elements,
+whose signs are carved on the walls of their tombs, but I have learned
+to know the One God, immortal, invisible, by whom the earth and
+heavens were made. Soon there will come into Erinn one from the East
+who will declare Him unto us, and then wooden gods and cursing priests
+shall plague us no longer in this land. Bury me then not at
+Brugh-na-Boyna, but on the hither-side of Boyne, at Ross-na-ree, where
+there is a sunny, eastward-sloping hill, there would I await the
+coming of the sun of truth."
+
+   [38] This famous cemetery of the kings of pagan Ireland lies on
+   the north bank of the Boyne and consists of a number of
+   sepulchral mounds, sometimes of great extent, containing, in
+   their interior, stone walled chambers decorated with symbolic
+   and ornamental carvings. The chief of these mounds, now known
+   as Newgrange, has been explored and described by Mr George
+   Coffey in his valuable work NEWGRANGE, published by the Royal
+   Irish Academy. _Brugh_=mansion.
+
+So spake Cormac, and he died, and there was a very great mourning for
+him in the land. But when the time came for his burial, the princes
+and lords of the Gael vowed that he should lie in Brugh with Art, his
+father, and Conn of the Hundred Battles, and many another king, in the
+great stone chambers of the royal dead. For Ross-na-ree, they said, is
+but a green hill of no note; and Cormac's expectation of the message
+of the new God they took to be but the wanderings of a dying man.
+
+Now Brugh-na-Boyna lay at the farther side of the Boyne from Sletty,
+and near by was a shallow ford where the river could be crossed. But
+when the funeral train came down to the ford, bearing aloft the body
+of the King, lo! the river had risen as though a tempest had burst
+upon it at its far-off sources in the hills, and between them and the
+farther bank was now a broad and foaming flood, and the stakes that
+marked the ford were washed clean away. Even so they made trial of the
+ford, and thrice the bearers waded in and thrice they were forced to
+turn back lest the flood should sweep them down. At length six of the
+tallest and mightiest of the warriors of the High King took up the
+bier upon their shoulders, and strode in. And first the watchers on
+the bank saw the brown water swirl about their knees, and then they
+sank thigh-deep, and at last it foamed against their shoulders, yet
+still they braced themselves against the current, moving forward very
+slowly as they found foothold among the slippery rocks in the
+river-bed. But when they had almost reached the mid-stream it seemed
+as if a great surge overwhelmed them, and caught the bier from their
+shoulders as they plunged and clutched around it, and they must needs
+make back for the shore as best they could, while Boyne swept down the
+body of Cormac to the sea.
+
+On the following morning, however, shepherds driving their flocks to
+pasture on the hillside of Ross-na-ree found cast upon the shore the
+body of an aged man of noble countenance, half wrapped in a silken
+pall; and knowing not who this might be they dug a grave in the grassy
+hill, and there laid the stranger, and laid the green sods over him
+again.
+
+There still sleeps Cormac the King, and neither Ogham-lettered stone
+nor sculptured cross marks his solitary grave. But he lies in the
+place where he would be, of which a poet of the Gael in our day has
+written:--
+
+  "A tranquil spot: a hopeful sound
+     Comes from the ever-youthful stream,
+   And still on daisied mead and mound
+     The dawn delays with tenderer beam.
+
+   "Round Cormac, spring renews her buds:
+     In march perpetual by his side
+   Down come the earth-fresh April floods,
+     And up the sea-fresh salmon glide;
+
+   "And life and time rejoicing run
+     From age to age their wonted way;
+   But still he waits the risen sun,
+     For still 'tis only dawning day."[39]
+
+   [39] These lines are taken from Sir S. Ferguson's noble poem,
+   _The Burial of King Cormac_, from which I have also borrowed
+   some of the details of the foregoing narrative.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Notes on the Sources
+
+
+_The Story of the Children of Lir_ and _The Quest of the Sons of
+Turenn_ are two of the three famous and popular tales entitled "The
+Three Sorrows of Storytelling." The third is the _Tragedy of the Sons
+of Usna_, rendered by Miss Eleanor Hull in her volume CUCHULAIN. I
+have taken the two stories which are given here from the versions in
+modern Irish published by the Society for the Preservation of the
+Irish Language, with notes and translation. Neither of them is found
+in any very early MS., but their subject-matter certainly goes back to
+very primitive times.
+
+
+_The Secret of Labra_ is taken from Keating's FORUS FEASA AR EIRINN,
+edited with translation by the Rev. P.S. Dineen for the Irish Texts
+Society, vol. i. p. 172.
+
+
+_The Carving of mac Datho's Boar_. This is a clean, fierce, fighting
+story, notable both for its intensely dramatic _d�nouement_, and for
+the complete absence from it of the magical or supernatural element
+which is so common a feature in Gaelic tales. It has been edited and
+translated from one MS. by Dr Kuno Meyer, in _Hibernica Minora_
+(ANECDOTA OXONIENSIA), 1894, and translated from THE BOOK OF LEINSTER
+(twelfth century) in Leahy's HEROIC ROMANCES.
+
+
+_The Vengeance of Mesgedra_. This story, as I have given it, is a
+combination of two tales, _The Siege of Howth_ and _The Death of King
+Conor_. The second really completes the first, though they are not
+found united in Irish literature. Both pieces are given in O'Curry's
+MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, and Miss Hull has printed translations
+of them in her CUCHULLIN SAGA, the translation of the _Siege_ being by
+Dr Whitly Stokes and that of the _Death of Conor_ by O'Curry. These
+are very ancient tales and contain a strong barbaric element. Versions
+of both of them are found in the great MS. collection known as the
+BOOK OF LEINSTER (twelfth century).
+
+
+_King Iubdan and King Fergus_ is a brilliant piece of fairy
+literature. The imaginative grace, the humour, and, at the close, the
+tragic dignity of this tale make it worthy of being much more widely
+known than it has yet become. The original, taken from one of the
+Egerton MSS. in the British Museum, will be found with a translation
+in O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. For the conclusion, I have in the main
+followed another version (containing the death of Fergus only), given
+in the SEANCUS MOR and finely versified by Sir Samuel Ferguson in his
+POEMS, 1880.
+
+
+_The Story of Etain and Midir_. This beautiful and very ancient
+romance is extant in two distinct versions, both of which are
+translated by Mr A.H. Leahy in his HEROIC ROMANCES. The tale is found
+in several MSS., among others, in the twelfth century BOOK OF THE DUN
+COW (LEABHAR NA H-UIDHRE). It has been recently made the subject of a
+dramatic poem by "Fiona Macleod."
+
+
+_How Ethne quitted Fairyland_ is taken from D'Arbois de Jubainville's
+CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS, ch. xii. 4. The original is to be found
+in the fifteenth century MS., entitled THE BOOK OF FERMOY.
+
+
+_The Boyhood of Finn_ is based chiefly on the MACGNIOMHARTHA FHINN,
+published in 1856, with a translation, in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol. iv. I am also indebted, particularly for the
+translation of the difficult _Song of Finn in Praise of May_, to Dr
+Kuno Meyer's translation published in _�riu_ (the Journal of the
+School of Irish Learning), vol. i. pt. 2.
+
+
+_The Coming of Finn_, _Finns Chief Men_, the _Tale of Vivionn_ and
+_The Chase of the Gilla Dacar_, are all handfuls from that rich mine
+of Gaelic literature, Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. In
+the _Gilla Dacar_ I have modified the second half of the story rather
+freely. It appears to have been originally an example of a well-known
+class of folk-tales dealing with the subject of the Rescue of
+Fairyland. The same motive occurs in the famous tale called _The
+Sickbed of Cuchulain_. The idea is that some fairy potentate, whose
+realm is invaded and oppressed, entices a mortal champion to come to
+his aid and rewards him with magical gifts. But the eighteenth
+century narrator whose MS. was edited by Mr S.H. O'Grady, apparently
+had not the clue to the real meaning of his material, and after going
+on brilliantly up to the point where Dermot plunges into the magic
+well, he becomes incoherent, and the rest of the tale is merely a
+string of episodes having no particular connexion with each other or
+with the central theme. The latter I have here endeavoured to restore
+to view. The _Gilla Dacar_ is given from another Gaelic version by Dr
+P.W. Joyce in his invaluable book, OLD CELTIC ROMANCES.
+
+
+_The Birth of Ois�n_ I have found in Patrick Kennedy's LEGENDARY
+FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. I do not know the Gaelic original.
+
+
+_Ois�n in the Land of Youth_ is based, as regards the outlines of this
+remarkable story, on the LAOI OIS�N AR TIR NA N-�G, written by Michael
+Comyn about 1750, and edited with a translation by Thomas Flannery in
+1896 (Gill & Son, Dublin). Comyn's poem was almost certainly based on
+earlier traditional sources, either oral or written or both, but these
+have not hitherto been discovered.
+
+
+_The History of King Cormac_. The story of the birth of Cormac and his
+coming into his kingdom is to be found in SILVA GADELICA, where it is
+edited from THE BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, an MS. dating from about the year
+1400.
+
+The charming tale, of his marriage with Ethne ni Dunlaing is taken
+from Keating's FORUS FEASA. From this source also I have taken the
+tales of the Brehon Flahari, of Kiernit and the mill, and of Cormac's
+death and burial. The _Instructions of Cormac_ have been edited and
+translated by Dr Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture Series of the Royal
+Irish Academy, xiv., April 1909. They are found in numerous MSS., and
+their date is fixed by Dr Meyer about the ninth century. With some
+other Irish matter of the same description they constitute, says Mr
+Alfred Nutt, "the oldest body of gnomic wisdom" extant in any European
+vernacular. (_FOLK-LORE_, Sept. 30, 1909.)
+
+The story of Cormac's adventures in Fairyland has been published with
+a translation by Standish Hayes O'Grady in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol. iii., and is also given very fully by d'Arbois
+de Jubainvilie in his CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS. The tale is found,
+among other MSS., in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, but is known to have been
+extant at least as early as the tenth century, since in that year it
+figures in a list of Gaelic tales drawn up by the historian Tierna.
+
+The ingenious story of the _Judgment concerning Cormac's Sword_ is
+found in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, and is printed with a translation by
+Dr Whitly Stokes in _IRISCHE TEXTE_, iii. Serie, 7 Heft, 1891.
+
+
+
+
+Pronouncing Index
+
+
+The correct pronunciation of Gaelic proper names can only be learned
+from the living voice. It cannot be accurately represented by any
+combination of letters from the English alphabet. I have spared the
+reader as much trouble as possible on this score by simplifying, as
+far as I could, the forms of the names occurring in the text, and if
+the reader will note the following general rules, he will get quite as
+near to the pronunciation intended as there is any necessity for him
+to do. A few names which might present some unusual difficulty are
+given with their approximate English pronunciations in the Index.
+
+The chief rule to observe is that vowels are pronounced as in the
+Continental languages, not according to the custom peculiar to
+England. Thus _a_ is like _a_ in _father_, never like _a_ in _fate,
+I_(when long) is like _ee_, _u_ like _oo_, or like _u_ in _put_ (never
+like _u_ in _tune_). An accent implies length, thus _D�n_, a fortress
+or mansion, is pronounced _Doon_. The letters _ch_ are never to be
+pronounced with a _t_ sound, as in the word _chip_, but like a rough
+_h_ or a softened _k_, rather as in German. _Gh_ is silent as in
+English, and _g_ is always hard, as in _give_. _C_ is always as _k_,
+never as _s_.
+
+In the following Index an accent placed after a syllable indicates
+that the stress is to be laid on that syllable. Only those words are
+given, the pronunciation of which is not easily ascertainable by
+attention to the foregoing rules.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+�da is to be pronounced  Ee'-da.
+Ailill          "        Al'-yill.
+Anluan          "        An'-looan.
+Aoife           "        Ee'-fa.
+Bacarach        "        Bac'-ara_h_.
+Belachgowran    "        Bel'-a_h_-gow'-ran.
+Cearnach        "        Kar'-na_h_.
+Cuchulain       "        Coo-_h_oo'-lin.
+Cumhal          "        Coo'wal, Cool.
+Dacar           "        Dak'-ker.
+Derryvaragh     "        Derry-var'-a.
+
+Eisirt          "        Eye'sert.
+Eochy           "        Yeo'_h_ee.
+
+Fiachra         "        Fee'-a_k_ra.
+Fianna          "        Fee'-anna.
+Finegas         "        Fin'-egas.
+Fionnuala       "        Fee-on-oo'-ala, shortened in modern Irish
+                          into Fino'-la.
+
+Flahari         "        Fla'-haree.
+
+Iorroway        "        Yor'-oway.
+Iubdan          "        Youb'-dan.
+Iuchar          "        You'-_h_ar.
+Iucharba        "        You-_h_ar'-ba.
+
+Liagan          "        Lee'-agan.
+Lir             "        Leer.
+Logary          "        Lo'-garee.
+
+Maev            "        rhyming to _wave_.
+Mananan         "        Man'-anan.
+Mesgedra        "        Mes-ged'-ra.
+Midir           "        Mid'-eer.
+Mochaen         "        Mo-_hain'.
+Mochaov�g       "        Mo-_h_wee'-vogue.
+Moonremur       "        Moon'-ray-mur.
+
+Ois�n           "        Ush'-een (Ossian).
+
+Peisear         "        Pye'-sar.
+
+Sceolaun        "        Ske-o'-lawn (the _e_ very short).
+Slievenamuck    "        Sleeve-na-muck'.
+Slievenamon     "        Sleeve-na-mon'.
+
+Tuish           "        Too'-ish.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN AND OTHER
+BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND***
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic
+Romances of Ancient Ireland, by T. W. Rolleston, et al, Illustrated by
+Stephen Reid
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland
+
+Author: T. W. Rolleston
+
+Release Date: January 21, 2005  [eBook #14749]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN AND OTHER
+BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Bethanne M. Simms-Troester, and the Project
+Gutenbert Online Distributed Proofreading Team (www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original lovely illustrations.
+      See 14749-h.htm or 14749-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/4/14749/14749-h/14749-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/4/14749/14749-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+AND OTHER BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND
+
+by
+
+T. W. ROLLESTON
+
+With an Introduction by Stopford A. Brooke, M.A. LL.D.
+
+And with Sixteen Illustrations by Stephen Reid
+
+New York
+Thomas Y. Crowell & Company
+Publishers
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AR
+CRAOIBH CONNARTHA NA GAEDHILGE
+I NGLEANN FHAIDHLE BRONNAIM AN LEABHAR SEO:
+BEANNACHT AGUS BUAIDH
+LIBHSE GO DEO
+
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+The romantic tales here retold for the English reader belong neither
+to the category of folk-lore nor of myth, although most of them
+contain elements of both. They belong, like the tales of Cuchulain,
+which have been similarly presented by Miss Hull,[1] to the bardic
+literature of ancient Ireland, a literature written with an artistic
+purpose by men who possessed in the highest degree the native culture
+of their land and time. The aim with which these men wrote is also
+that which has been adopted by their present interpreter. I have not
+tried, in this volume, to offer to the scholar materials for the study
+of Celtic myth or folk-lore. My aim, however I may have fulfilled it,
+has been artistic, not scientific. I have tried, while carefully
+preserving the main outline of each story, to treat it exactly as the
+ancient bard treated his own material, or as Tennyson treated the
+stories of the MORT D'ARTHUR, that is to say, to present it as a fresh
+work of poetic imagination. In some cases, as in the story of the
+Children of Lir, or that of mac Datho's Boar, or the enchanting tale
+of King Iubdan and King Fergus, I have done little more than retell
+the bardic legend with merely a little compression; but in others a
+certain amount of reshaping has seemed desirable. The object in all
+cases has been the same, to bring out as clearly as possible for
+modern readers the beauty and interest which are either manifest or
+implicit in the Gaelic original.
+
+   [1] CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER. By Eleanor Hull.
+
+For stories which are only found in MSS. written in the older forms of
+the language, I have been largely indebted to the translations
+published by various scholars. Chief among these (so far as the
+present work is concerned) must be named Mr Standish Hayes
+O'Grady--whose wonderful treasure-house of Gaelic legend, SILVA
+GADELICA, can never be mentioned by the student of these matters
+without an expression of admiration and of gratitude; Mr A.H. Leahy,
+author of HEROIC ROMANCES OF IRELAND; Dr Whitly Stokes, Professor Kuno
+Meyer, and M. d'Arbois de Jubainville, whose invaluable CYCLE
+MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS has been much in my hands, both in the original
+and in the excellent English translation of Mr R.I. Best. Particulars
+of the source of each story will be found in the Notes on the Sources
+at the end of this volume. In the same place will also be found a
+pronouncing-index of proper names. I have endeavoured, in the text, to
+avoid or to modify any names which in their original form would baffle
+the English reader, but there remain some on the pronunciation of
+which he may be glad to have a little light.
+
+The two most conspicuous figures in ancient Irish legend are
+Cuchulain, who lived--if he has any historical reality--in the reign
+of Conor mac Nessa immediately before the Christian era, and Finn son
+of Cumhal, who appears in literature as the captain of a kind of
+military order devoted to the service of the High King of Ireland
+during the third century A.D. Miss Hull's volume has been named after
+Cuchulain, and it is appropriate that mine should bear the name of
+Finn, as it is mainly devoted to his period; though, as will be seen,
+several stories belonging to other cycles of legend, which did not
+fall within the scope of Miss Hull's work, have been included here.[2]
+All the tales have been arranged roughly in chronological order. This
+does not mean according to the date of their composition, which in
+most cases is quite indiscoverable, and still less, according to the
+dates of the MSS. in which they are contained. The order is given by
+the position, in real or mythical history, of the events they deal
+with. Of course it is not practicable to dovetail them into one
+another with perfect accuracy. Where a story, like that of the
+Children of Lir, extends over nearly a thousand years, beginning with
+the mythical People of Dana and ending in the period of Christian
+monasticism, one can only decide on its place by considering where it
+will throw most light on those which come nearest to it. In this, as
+in the selection and treatment of the tales, there is of course room
+for much difference of opinion. I can only ask the critic to believe
+that nothing has been done in the framing of this collection of Gaelic
+romances without the consideration and care which the value of the
+material demands and which the writer's love of it has inspired.
+
+T.W. ROLLESTON
+
+   [2] There is one important tale of the Finn cycle, the _Pursuit
+   of Dermot and Grania_, which I have not included. I have
+   omitted it, partly because it presents the character of Finn in
+   a light inconsistent with what is said of him elsewhere, and
+   partly because it has in it a certain sinister and depressing
+   element which renders it unsuitable for a collection intended
+   largely for the young.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+   INTRODUCTION
+
+      COIS NA TEINEADH
+
+
+   BARDIC ROMANCES
+
+         I. THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN OF LIR
+
+        II. THE QUEST OF THE SONS OF TURENN
+
+       III. THE SECRET OF LABRA
+
+        IV. KING IUBDAN AND KING FERGUS
+
+         V. THE CARVING OF MAC DATHO'S BOAR
+
+        VI. THE VENGEANCE OF MESGEDRA
+
+       VII. THE STORY OF ETAIN AND MIDIR
+
+      VIII. HOW ETHNE QUITTED FAIRYLAND
+
+
+   THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+        IX. THE BOYHOOD OF FINN MAC CUMHAL
+
+         X. THE COMING OF FINN
+
+        XI. FINN'S CHIEF MEN
+
+       XII. THE TALE OF VIVIONN THE GIANTESS
+
+      XIII. THE CHASE OF THE GILLA DACAR
+
+       XIV. THE BIRTH OF OISIN
+
+        XV. OISIN IN THE LAND OF YOUTH
+
+
+   THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC
+
+       XVI. 1. THE BIRTH OF CORMAC
+
+            2. THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC
+
+            3. THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC
+
+            4. THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING
+
+            5. CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN
+
+            6. A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON
+
+            7. THE JUDGMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD
+
+            8. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC
+
+            9. DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC
+
+           10. DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC
+
+
+   NOTES ON THE SOURCES
+
+   PRONOUNCING INDEX
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+   "FINN HEARD FAR OFF THE FIRST NOTES OF THE FAIRY HARP" (Frontispiece)
+
+   "THERE SAT THE THREE MAIDENS WITH THE QUEEN"
+
+   "THEY MADE AN ENCAMPMENT AND THE SWANS SANG TO THEM"
+
+   "BEAR US SWIFTLY, BOAT OF MANANAN, TO THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES"
+
+   "THERE DWELT THE RED-HAIRED OCEAN-NYMPHS"
+
+   "THEY ALL TROOPED OUT, LORDS AND LADIES, TO VIEW THE WEE MAN"
+
+   "FERGUS GOES DOWN INTO THE LAKE"
+
+   "A MIGHTY SHOUT OF EXULTATION AROSE FROM THE ULSTERMEN"
+
+   "THEY ROSE UP IN THE AIR"
+
+   "SHE HEARD HER OWN NAME CALLED AGAIN AND AGAIN"
+
+   "AND THAT NIGHT THERE WAS FEASTING AND JOY IN THE LONELY HUT"
+
+   "THEY RAN HIM BY HILL AND PLAIN"
+
+   "DERMOT TOOK THE HORN AND WOULD HAVE FILLED IT"
+
+   "'FOLLOW ME NOW TO THE HILL OF ALLEN'"
+
+   "THEY RODE UP TO A STATELY PALACE"
+
+   "THE WHITE STEED HAD VANISHED FROM THEIR EYES LIKE A WREATH OF MIST"
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+Many years have passed by since, delivering the Inaugural Lecture of
+the Irish Literary Society in London, I advocated as one of its chief
+aims the recasting into modern form and in literary English of the old
+Irish legends, preserving the atmosphere of the original tales as much
+as possible, but clearing them from repetitions, redundant
+expressions, idioms interesting in Irish but repellent in English,
+and, above all, from absurdities, such as the sensational fancy of the
+later editors and bards added to the simplicities of the original
+tales.
+
+Long before I spoke of this, it had been done by P.W. Joyce in his OLD
+CELTIC ROMANCES, and by Standish O'Grady for the whole story of
+Cuchulain, but in this case with so large an imitation of the Homeric
+manner that the Celtic spirit of the story was in danger of being
+lost. This was the fault I had to find with that inspiring book,[3]
+but it was a fault which had its own attraction.
+
+   [3] I gave this book--_The History of Ireland_ (HEROIC
+   PERIOD)--to Burne-Jones in order to interest him in Irish myth
+   and legend. "I'll try and read it," he said. A week afterwards
+   he came and said--"It is a new world of thought and pleasure
+   you have opened to me. I knew nothing of this, and life is
+   quite enlarged. But now, I want to see all the originals. Where
+   can I get them?"
+
+I have only spoken of prose writing above. But in poetry (and in
+Poetry well fitted to the tales), this work had already been done
+nobly, and with a fine Celtic splendour of feeling and expression, by
+Sir Samuel Ferguson.
+
+Since then, a number of writers have translated into literary English
+a host of the Irish tales, and have done this with a just reverence
+for their originals. Being, in nearly every case, Irish themselves,
+they have tried, with varying success, to make their readers realize
+the wild scenery of Ireland, her vital union with the sea and the
+great ocean to the West, those changing dramatic skies, that mystic
+weather, the wizard woods and streams which form the constant
+background of these stories; nor have they failed to allure their
+listeners to breathe the spiritual air of Ireland, to feel its
+pathetic, heroic, imaginative thrill.
+
+They have largely succeeded in their effort. The Irish bardic tales
+have now become a part of English literature and belong not only to
+grown up persons interested in early poetry, in mythology and
+folk-customs, but to the children of Ireland and England. Our new
+imaginative stories are now told in nurseries, listened to at evening
+when the children assemble in the fire-light to hear tales from their
+parents, and eagerly read by boys at school. A fresh world of
+story-telling has been opened to the imagination of the young.
+
+This could not have been done in the right way if it had not been for
+the previous work of Celtic scholars in Ireland, and particularly on
+the Continent, in France and Germany. Having mastered medieval Irish,
+they have translated with careful accuracy many of the ancient tales,
+omitting and changing nothing; they have edited them critically,
+collating and comparing them with one another, and with other forms of
+the same stories. We have now in English, French, and German the exact
+representation of the originals with exhaustive commentaries.
+
+When this necessary work was finished--and it was absolutely
+necessary--it had two important results on all work of the kind Mr
+Rolleston has performed in this book--on the imaginative recasting and
+modernizing of the ancient tales. First, it made it lawful and easy
+for the modern artist--in sculpture, painting, poetry, or imaginative
+prose--to use the stories as he pleased in order to give pleasure to
+the modern world. It made it lawful because he could reply to those
+who objected that what he produced was not the real thing--"The real
+thing exists; you will find it, when you wish to see it, accurately
+and closely translated by critical and competent scholars. I refer you
+to the originals in the notes to this book. I have found the materials
+of my stories in these originals; and it is quite lawful for me, now
+that they have been reverently preserved, to use them as I please for
+the purpose of giving pleasure to the modern world--to make out of
+them fresh imaginative work, as the medieval writers did out of the
+original stories of Arthur and his men." This is the defence any
+re-caster of the ancient tales might make of the _lawfulness_ of his
+work, and it is a just defence; having, above all, this use--that it
+leaves the imagination of the modern artist free, yet within
+recognized and ruling limits, to play in and around his subject.
+
+One of those limits is the preservation, in any remodelling of the
+tales, of the Celtic atmosphere. To tell the Irish stories in the
+manner of Homer or Apuleius, in the manner of the Norse sagas, or in
+the manner of Malory, would be to lose their very nature, their soul,
+their nationality. We should no longer understand the men and women
+who fought and loved in Ireland, and whose characters were moulded by
+Irish surroundings, customs, thoughts, and passions. We should not see
+or feel the landscape of Ireland or its skies, the streams, the woods,
+the animals and birds, the mountain solitudes, as we feel and see
+them in the original tales. We should not hear, as we hear in their
+first form, the stormy seas between Scotland and Antrim, or the great
+waves which roar on the western isles, and beat on cliffs which still
+belong to another world than ours. The genius of Ireland would desert
+our work.
+
+And it would be a vast pity to lose the Irish atmosphere in the
+telling of the Irish tales, because it is unique; not only distinct
+from that of the stories of other races, but from that of the other
+branches of the Celtic race. It differs from the atmosphere of the
+stories of Wales, of Brittany, of the Highlands and islands of
+Scotland. It is more purely Celtic, less mixed than any of them. A
+hundred touches in feeling, in ways of thought, in sensitiveness to
+beauty, in war and voyaging, and in ideals of life, separate it from
+that of the other Celtic races.
+
+It is owing to the careful, accurate, and critical work of continental
+and Irish scholars on the manuscript materials of Irish Law, History,
+Bardic Tales, and Poetry; on customs, dress, furniture, architecture,
+ornament, on hunting and sailing; on the manners of men and women in
+war and peace, that the modern re-teller of the Irish tales is enabled
+to conserve the Irish atmosphere. And this conservation of the special
+Irish atmosphere is the second result which the work of the critical
+scholars has established. If the re-writer of the tales does not use
+the immense materials made ready to his hand for illustration,
+expansion, ornament and description in such a way that Ireland, and
+only Ireland, lives in his work from line to line, he is greatly to be
+blamed.
+
+Mr Rolleston has fulfilled these conditions with the skill and the
+feeling of an artist. He has clung closely to his originals with an
+affectionate regard for their ancientry, their ardour and their
+distinction, and yet has, within this limit, used and modified them
+with a pleasant freedom. His love of Ireland has instilled into his
+representation of these tales a passion akin to that which gave them
+birth. We feel, as we read, how deep his sympathy has been with their
+intensity, their love of wild nature, their desire for beauty, their
+interest in humanity and in character, their savagery and their
+tenderness, their fairy magic and strange imaginations that suddenly
+surprise and charm. Whenever anything lovely emerges in the tale, he
+does not draw attention to it, but touches it with so artistic a
+pencil that its loveliness is enhanced. And he has put into English
+verse the Irish poems scattered through the tales with the skill and
+the temper of a poet. I hope his book will win what it deserves--the
+glad appreciation of old and young in England, and the gratitude of
+Ireland.
+
+The stories told in this book belong to three distinct cycles of Irish
+story-telling. The first are mythological, and are concerned with the
+early races that are fabled to have dwelt and fought in Ireland Among
+these the Tuatha De Danaan were the final conquerors, and held the
+land for two hundred years They were, it is supposed, of the Celtic
+stock, but they were not the ancestors of the present Irish. These
+were the Milesians (Irish, Scots or Gaelic who, conquering the Tuatha
+De Danaan, ruled Ireland till they were overcome by the English.) The
+stories which have to do with the Tuatha De Danaan are mythical and of
+a great antiquity concerning men and women, the wisest and the best of
+whom became gods, and who appear as divine beings in the cycle of
+tales which follow after them They were always at war with a fierce
+and savage people called Fomorians, whom they finally defeated and the
+strife between them may mythically represent the ancient war between
+the good and evil principles in the world.
+
+In the next cycle we draw nearer to history, and are in the world not
+of myth but of legend. It is possible that some true history may be
+hidden underneath its sagas, that some of its personages may be
+historical, but we cannot tell. The events are supposed to occur about
+the time of the birth of Christ, and seventeen hundred years after
+those of the mythical period. This is the cycle which collects its
+wars and sorrows and splendours around the dominating figure of
+Cuchulain, and is called the Heroic or the Red Branch or the Ultonian
+cycle. Several sagas tell of the birth, the life, and the death of
+Cuchulain, and among them is the longest and the most important--the
+Tain--the _Cattle Raid of Cooley_.
+
+Others are concerned with the great King Conor mac Nessa, and the most
+known and beautiful of these is the sorrowful tale of Deirdre. There
+are many others of the various heroes and noble women who belonged to
+the courts of Conor and of his enemy Queen Maev of Connaght. The
+_Carving of mac Datho's Boar_, the story of _Etain and Midir_, and the
+_Vengeance of Mesgedra_, contained in this book belong to these
+miscellaneous tales unconnected with the main saga of Cuchulain.
+
+The second cycle is linked to the first, not by history or race, but
+by the fact that the great personages in the first have now become the
+gods who intervene in the affairs of the wars and heroes of the
+second. They take part in them as the gods do in the Iliad and the
+Odyssey. Lugh, the Long-Handed, the great Counsellor of the Tuatha De
+Danaan, is now a god, and is the real father of Cuchulain, heals him
+of his wounds in the Battle of the Ford, warns him of his coming
+death, and receives him into the immortal land. The Morrigan, who
+descends from the first cycle, is now the goddess of war, and is at
+first the enemy and afterwards the lover of Cuchulain. Angus, The
+Dagda, Mananan the sea-god, enter not only into the sagas of the
+second cycle, but into those of the third, of the cycle of Finn. And
+all along to the very end of the stories, and down indeed to the
+present day, the Tuatha De Danaan appear in various forms, slowly
+lessening in dignity and power, until they end in the fairy folk in
+whom the Irish peasants still believe. They are alive and still
+powerful in the third--the Fenian--cycle of stories, some of which are
+contained and adorned in this book. In their continued presence is the
+only connexion which exists between the three cycles. No personages of
+the first save these of the gods appear in the Heroic cycle, none of
+the Heroic cycle appears in the Fenian cycle. Seventeen hundred years,
+according to Irish annalists, separate the first from the second, more
+than two hundred years separate the second from the beginning of the
+third.
+
+The third cycle is called Fenian because its legends tell, for the
+most part, of the great deeds of the Feni or Fianna, who were the
+militia employed by the High King to support his supremacy, to keep
+Ireland in order, to defend the country from foreign invasion. They
+were, it seems, finally organized by Cormac mac Art, 227 A.D.(?) the
+grandson of Conn the Hundred Fighter. But they had loosely existed
+before in the time of Conn and his son Art, and like all mercenary
+bodies of this kind were sometimes at war with the kings who employed
+them. Finally, at the battle of Gowra, they and their power were quite
+destroyed. Long before this destruction, they were led in the reign
+of Cormac by Finn the son of Cumhal, and it is around Finn and Oisin
+the son of Finn, that most of the romances of the Fenian cycle are
+gathered. Others which tell of the battles and deeds of Conn and Art
+and Cormac and Cairbre of the Liffey, Cormac's son, are more or less
+linked on to the Fenians. On the whole, Finn and his warriors, each of
+a distinct character, warlike skill and renown, are the main
+personages of the cycle, and though Finn is not the greatest warrior,
+he is their head and master because he is the wisest; and this
+masterdom by knowledge is for the first time an element in Irish
+stories.
+
+If the tales of the first cycle are mythological and of the second
+heroic, these are romantic. The gods have lost their dreadful, even
+their savage character, and have become the Fairies, full often of
+gentleness, grace, and humour. The mysterious dwelling places of the
+gods in the sea, in unknown lands, in the wandering air, are now in
+palaces under the green hills of Ireland, or by the banks of swift
+clear rivers, like the palace of Angus near the Boyne, or across the
+seas in Tir-na-n-Og, the land of immortal youth, whither Niam brings
+Oisin to live with her in love, as Morgan le Fay brought Ogier the
+Dane to her fairyland. The land of the Immortals in the heroic cycle,
+to which, in the story of _Etain and Midir_ in this book, Midir brings
+back Etain after she has sojourned for a time on earth, is quite
+different in conception from the Land of Youth over the far seas where
+delightfulness of life and love is perfect. This, in its conception of
+an unknown world where is immortal youth, where stormless skies, happy
+hunting, strange adventure, gentle manners dwell, where love is free
+and time is unmarked, is pure romance. So are the adventures of Finn
+against enchanters, as in the story of the _Birth of Oisin_, of
+_Dermot in the Country under the Seas_, in the story of the _Pursuit
+of the Gilla Dacar_, of the wild love-tale of _Dermot and Grania_,
+flying for many years over all Ireland from the wrath of Finn, and of
+a host of other tales of enchantments and battle, and love, and
+hunting, and feasts, and discoveries, and journeys, invasions,
+courtships, and solemn mournings. No doubt the romantic atmosphere has
+been deepened in these tales by additions made to them by successive
+generations of bardic singers and storytellers, but for all that the
+original elements in the stories are romantic as they are not in the
+previous cycles.
+
+Again, these Fenian tales are more popular than the others. Douglas
+Hyde has dwelt on this distinction. "For 1200 years at least, they
+have been," he says, "intimately bound up with the thought and
+feelings of the whole Gaelic race in Ireland and Scotland." Even at
+the present day new forms are given to the tales in the cottage homes
+of Ireland. And it is no wonder. The mysterious giant forms of the
+mythological period, removed by divinity from the sympathy of men; the
+vast heroic figures of Cuchulain and his fellows and foes, their close
+relation to supernatural beings and their doings, are far apart from
+the more natural humanity of Cormac and Finn, of Dermot and Goll, of
+Oisin and Oscar, of Keelta, and last of Conan, the coward, boaster and
+venomous tongue, whom all the Fenians mocked and yet endured. They are
+a very human band of fighting men, and though many of them, like Oisin
+and Finn and Dermot, have adventures in fairyland, they preserve in
+these their ordinary human nature. The Connacht peasant has no
+difficulty in following Finn into the cave of Slieve Cullinn, where
+the witch turned him into a withered old man, for the village where he
+lives has traditions of the same kind; the love affairs of Finn, of
+Dermot and Grania, and of many others, are quite in harmony with a
+hundred stories, and with the temper, of Irish lovers. A closer, a
+simpler humanity than that of the other cycles pervades the Fenian
+cycle, a greater chivalry, a greater courtesy, and a greater
+tenderness. We have left the primeval savagery behind, the
+multitudinous slaughtering, the crude passions of the earlier men and
+women; we are nearer to civilization, nearer to the common temper and
+character of the Irish people. No one can doubt this who will compare
+the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_ with the _Chase of the Gilla Dacar_.
+
+The elaborate courtesy with which Finn and his chief warriors receive
+all comers, as in the story of Vivionn the giantess, is quite new,
+even medieval in its chivalry; so is the elaborate code of honour; so
+also is, on the whole, the treatment of women and their relation to
+men. How far this resemblance to medieval romance has been intruded
+into the stories--(there are some in which there is not a trace of
+it)--by the after editors and re-editors of the tales, I cannot tell,
+but however that may be, their presence in the Fenian cycle is plain;
+and this brings the stories into a kindlier and more pleasurable
+atmosphere for modern readers than that which broods in thunderous
+skies and fierce light over dreadful passions and battles thick and
+bloody in the previous cycles. We are in a gentler world.
+
+Another more modern romantic element in the Fenian legends is the
+delight in hunting, and that more affectionate relation of men to
+animals which always marks an advance in civilization. Hunting, as in
+medieval romance, is one of the chief pleasures of the Fenians. Six
+months of the year they passed in the open, getting to know every part
+of the country they had to defend, and hunting through the great woods
+and over the hills for their daily food and their daily delight. The
+story of the _Chase of the Gilla Dacar_ tells, at its beginning, of a
+great hunting and of Finn's men listening with joy to the cries of the
+hunters and the loud chiding of the dogs; and many tales celebrate the
+following of the stag and the wild boar from early dawn to the
+evening. Then Finn's two great hounds, Bran and Sceolaun, are loved by
+Finn and his men as if they were dear friends; and they, when their
+master is in danger or under enchantment wail like human beings for
+his loss or pain. It is true Cuchulain's horses weep tears of blood
+when he goes forth to his last battle, foreknowing his death; but they
+are immortal steeds and have divine knowledge of fate. The dogs of
+Finn are only dogs, and the relation between him and them is a natural
+relation, quite unlike the relation between Cuchulain and the horses
+which draw his chariot. Yet Finn's dogs are not quite as other dogs.
+They have something of a human soul in them. They know that in the
+milk-white fawn they pursue there is an enchanted maiden, and they
+defend her from the other hounds till Finn arrives. And it is told of
+them that sometimes, when the moon is high, they rise from their
+graves and meet and hunt together, and speak of ancient days. The
+supernatural has lessened since the heroic cycle. But it is still
+there in the Fenian.
+
+Again, the Fenian cycle of tales is more influenced by Christianity
+than the others are. The mythological cycle is not only fully pagan,
+it is primeval. It has the vastness, the savagery, the relentlessness
+of nature-myths, and what beauty there is in it is akin to terror.
+Gentleness is unknown. There is only one exception to this, so far as
+I know, and that is in the story of _The Children of Lir_. It is
+plain, however, that the Christian ending of that sorrowful story is a
+later addition to it. It is remarkably well done, and most tenderly. I
+believe that the artist who did it imported into the rest of the tale
+the exquisite tenderness which fills it, and yet with so much
+reverence for his original that he did not make the body of the story
+Christian. He kept the definite Christian element to the very end, but
+he filled the whole with its tender atmosphere.
+
+No Christianity and very little gentleness intrude into the heroic
+cycle. The story of Christ once touches it, but he who put it in did
+not lose the pagan atmosphere, or the wild fierceness of the manners
+of the time. How it was done may be read in this book at the end of
+the story of the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_. Very late in the redaction
+of these stories a Christian tag was also added to the tale of the
+death of Cuchulain, but it was very badly done.
+
+When we come to the Fenian cycle there is a well-defined borderland
+between them and Christianity. The bulk of the stories is plainly
+pagan; their originals were frankly so. But the temper of their
+composers is more civilized than that of those who conceived the tales
+of the previous cycles; the manners, as I have already said, of their
+personages are gentler, more chivalrous; and their atmosphere is so
+much nearer to that of Christianity, that the new Christian elements
+would find themselves more at home in them than in the terrible
+vengeance of Lugh, the savage brutality of Conor to Deirdre, or the
+raging slaughterings of Cuchulain. So much was this the case that a
+story was skilfully invented which linked in imagination the Fenian
+cycle to a Christianized Ireland. This story--_Oisin in the Land of
+Youth_--is contained in this book. Oisin, or Ossian, the son of Finn,
+in an enchanted story, lives for 300 years, always young, with his
+love in Tir-na-n-Og, and finds on his return, when he becomes a
+withered old man, St Patrick and Christianity in Ireland. He tells to
+Patrick many tales of the Fenian wars and loves and glories, and in
+the course of them paganism and Christianity are contrasted and
+intermingled. A certain sympathy with the pagan ideas of honour and
+courage and love enters into the talk of Patrick and the monks, and
+softens their pious austerity. On the other hand, the Fenian legends
+are gentled and influenced by the Christian elements, in spite of the
+scorn with which Oisin treats the rigid condemnation of his companions
+and of Finn to the Christian hell, and the ascetic and unwarlike life
+of the monks.[4] There was evidently in the Fenian cycle of
+story-telling a transition period in which the bards ran Christianity
+and paganism in and out of one another, and mingled the atmosphere of
+both, and to that period the last editing of the story of _Lir and his
+Children_ may be referred. A lovely story in this book, put into fine
+form by Mr Rolleston, is as it were an image of this transition
+time--the story or _How Ethne quitted Fairyland_. It takes us back to
+the most ancient cycle, for it tells of the great gods Angus and
+Mananan, and then of how they became, after their conquest by the race
+who live in the second cycle, the invisible dwellers in a Fairy
+country of their own during the Fenian period, and, afterwards, when
+Patrick and the monks had overcome paganism. Thus it mingles together
+elements from all the periods. The mention of the great caldron and
+the swine which always renew their food is purely mythological. The
+cows which come from the Holy Land are Christian. Ethne herself is
+born in the house of a pagan god who has become a Fairy King, but
+loses her fairy nature and becomes human; and the reason given for
+this is an interesting piece of psychology which would never have
+occurred to a pagan world. She herself is a transition maiden, and,
+suddenly finding herself outside the fairy world and lost, happens on
+a monastery and dies on the breast of St Patrick. But she dies because
+of the wild wailing for her loss of the fairy-host, whom she can hear
+but cannot see, calling to her out of the darkened sky to come back to
+her home. And in her sorrow and the battle in her between the love of
+Christ and of Faerie, she dies. That is a symbol, not intended as such
+by its conceiver, but all the more significant, of the transition
+time. Short as it is, few tales, perhaps, are more deeply charged with
+spiritual meaning.
+
+   [4] I speak here of the better known of the two versions of
+   this encounter of the pagan with the Christian spirit. There
+   are others in which the reconciliation is carried still
+   further. One example is to be found in the _Colloquy of the
+   Ancients_ (SILVA GADELICA). Here Finn and his companions are
+   explicitly pronounced to be saved by their natural virtues, and
+   the relations of the Church and the Fenian warriors are most
+   friendly.
+
+Independent of these three cycles, but often touching them here and
+there, and borrowing from them, there are a number of miscellaneous
+tales which range from the earliest times till the coming of the
+Danes. The most celebrated of these are the _Storming of the Hostel_
+with the death of Conary the High King of Ireland, and the story of
+the Boru tribute. Two examples of these miscellaneous tales of a high
+antiquity are contained in this book--_King Iubdan and King Fergus_
+and _Etain and Midir_. Both of them have great charm and
+delightfulness.
+
+Finally, the manner in which these tales grew into form must be
+remembered when we read them. At first, they were not written down,
+but recited in hall and with a harp's accompaniment by the various
+bardic story-tellers who were attached to the court of the chieftain,
+or wandered singing and reciting from court to court. Each bard, if he
+was a creator, filled up the original framework of the tale with
+ornaments of his own, or added new events or personages to the tale,
+or mixed it up with other related tales, or made new tales altogether
+attached to the main personages of the original tale--episodes in
+their lives into which the bardic fancy wandered. If these new forms
+of the tales or episodes were imaginatively true to the characters
+round which they were conceived and to the atmosphere of the time,
+they were taken up by other bards and became often separate tales, or
+if a great number attached themselves to one hero, they finally formed
+themselves into one heroic story, such as that which is gathered round
+Cuchulain, which, as it stands, is only narrative, but might in time
+have become epical. Indeed, the Tain approaches, though at some
+distance, an epic. In this way that mingling of elements out of the
+three cycles into a single Saga took place.
+
+Then when Christianity came, the Irish who always, Christians or not,
+loved their race and its stories, would not let them go. They took
+them and suffused them with a Christian tenderness, even a Christian
+forgiveness. Or they inserted Christian endings, while they left the
+rest of the stories as pagan as before. Later on, while the stories
+were still learned by the bards and recited, they were written down,
+and somewhat spoiled by a luxurious use of ornamental adjectives, and
+by the weak, roving and uninventive fancy of men and monks aspiring to
+literature but incapable of reaching it.
+
+However, in spite of all this intermingling and of the different forms
+of the same story, it is possible for an intelligent and sensitive
+criticism, well informed in comparative mythology and folklore, to
+isolate what is very old in these tales from that which is less old,
+and that in turn from that which is still less old, and that from what
+is partly historical, medieval or modern. This has been done, with
+endless controversy, by those excellent German, French, and Irish
+scholars who have, with a thirsty pleasure, recreated the ancient
+literature of Ireland, and given her once more a literary name among
+the nations--a name which, having risen again, will not lose but
+increase its brightness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As to the stories themselves, they have certain well-marked
+characteristics, and in dwelling on these, I shall chiefly refer, for
+illustration, to the stories in this book. Some of these
+characteristic elements belong to almost all mythological tales, and
+arise from human imagination, in separated lands, working in the same
+or in a similar way on the doings of Nature, and impersonating them.
+The form, however, in which these original ideas are cast is, in each
+people, modified and varied by the animal life, the climate, the
+configuration of the country, the nearness of mountain ranges and of
+the sea, the existence of wide forests or vast plains, of swift rivers
+and great inland waters.
+
+The earliest tales of Ireland are crowded with the sea that wrapt the
+island in its arms; and on the west and north the sea was the mighty
+and mysterious Ocean, in whose far infinities lay for the Irish the
+land of Immortal Youth. Between its shining shores and Ireland,
+strange islands--dwelt in by dreadful or by fair and gracious
+creatures, whose wonders Maeldun and Brendan visited--lay like jewels
+on the green and sapphire waters. Out of this vast ocean emerged also
+their fiercest enemies. Thither, beyond these islands into the
+Unknown, over the waves on a fairy steed, went Oisin with Niam;
+thither, in after years, sailed St Brendan, till it seemed he touched
+America. In the ocean depths were fair cities and well-grassed lands
+and cattle, which voyagers saw through water thin and clear. There,
+too, Brian, one of the sons of Turenn, descended in his water-dress
+and his crystal helmet, and found high-bosomed maidens weaving in a
+shining hall. Into the land beneath the wave, Mananan, the proud god
+of the sea brought Dermot and Finn and the Fianna to help him in his
+wars, as is told in the story of the _Gilla Dacar_. On these western
+seas, near the land, Lir's daughters, singing and floating, passed
+three hundred years. On other seas, in the storm and in the freezing
+sleet that trouble the dark waves of Moyle, between Antrim and the
+Scottish isles, they spent another three centuries. Half the story of
+the Sons of Usnach has to do with the crossing of seas and with the
+coast. Even Cuchulain, who is a land hero, in one of the versions of
+his death, dies fighting the sea-waves. The sound, the restlessness,
+the calm, the savour and the infinite of the sea, live in a host of
+these stories; and to cap all, the sea itself and Mananan its god
+sympathise with the fates of Erin. When great trouble threatens
+Ireland, or one of her heroes is near death, there are three huge
+waves which, at three different points, rise, roaring, out of the
+ocean, and roll, flooding every creek and bay and cave and river round
+the whole coast with tidings of sorrow and doom. Later on, in the
+Fenian tales, the sea is not so prominent. Finn and his clan are more
+concerned with the land. Their work, their hunting and adventures
+carry them over the mountains and plains, through the forests, and by
+the lakes and rivers. In the stories there is scarcely any part of
+Ireland which is not linked, almost geographically, with its scenery.
+Even the ancient gods have retired from the coast to live in the
+pleasant green hills or by the wooded shores of the great lakes or in
+hearing of the soft murmur of the rivers. This business of the sea,
+this varied aspect of the land, crept into the imagination of the
+Irish, and were used by them to embroider and adorn their poems and
+tales. They do not care as much for the doings of the sky. There does
+not seem to be any supreme god of the heaven in their mythology.
+Neither the sun nor the moon are specially worshipped. There are
+sun-heroes like Lugh, but no isolated sun-god. The great beauty of the
+cloud-tragedies of storm, the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, so
+dramatic in Ireland, or the magnificence of the starry heavens, are
+scarcely celebrated. But the Irish folk have heard the sound of the
+wind in the tree-tops and marked its cold swiftness over the moor, and
+watched with fear or love the mists of ocean and the bewilderment of
+the storm-driven snow and the sweet falling of the dew. These are
+fully celebrated.
+
+These great and small aspects of Nature are not only celebrated, they
+are loved. One cannot read the stories in this book without feeling
+that the people who conceived and made them observed Nature and her
+ways with a careful affection, which seems to be more developed in the
+Celtic folk than elsewhere in modern Europe. There is nothing which
+resembles it in Teutonic story-telling. In the story of _The Children
+of Lir_, though there is no set description of scenery, we feel the
+spirit of the landscape by the lake where Lir listened for three
+hundred years to the sweet songs of his children. And, as we read of
+their future fate, we are filled with the solitude and mystery, the
+ruthlessness and beauty of the ocean. Even its gentleness on quiet
+days enters from the tale into our imagination. Then, too, the
+mountain-glory and the mountain-gloom are again and again
+imaginatively described and loved. The windings and recesses, the
+darkness and brightness of the woods and the glades therein, enchant
+the Fenians even when they are in mortal danger. And the waters of the
+great lakes, the deep pools of the rivers, the rippling shallows, the
+green banks, the brown rushing of the torrents, are all alive in the
+prose and song of Ireland. How deep was the Irish love of these
+delightful things is plain from their belief that "the place of the
+revealing of poetry was always by the margin of water." And the Salmon
+of Knowledge, the eating of which gave Finn his pre-eminence, swam in
+a green pool, still and deep, over which hung a rowan tree that shed
+its red berries on the stream. Lovely were the places whence Art and
+Knowledge came.
+
+Then, as to all good landscape lovers, the beasts, birds, and insects
+of Nature were dear to these ancient people. One of the things Finn
+most cared for was not only his hounds, but the "blackbird singing on
+Letterlee"; and his song, on page 114, in the praise of May, tells us
+how keen was his observant eye for animal life and how much it
+delighted him. The same minute realisation of natural objects is
+illustrated in this book when King Iubdan explains to the servant the
+different characteristics of the trees of the forest, and the mystic
+elements that abide in them. It was a habit, even of Teutonic poets,
+to tell of the various trees and their uses in verse, and Spenser and
+Drayton have both done it in later times. But few of them have added,
+as the Irish story does, a spiritual element to their description, and
+made us think of malign or beneficent elements attached to them. The
+woodbine, and this is a strange fancy, is the king of the woods. The
+rowan is the tree of the magicians, and its berries are for poets. The
+bramble is inimical to man, the alder is full of witchcraft, and the
+elder is the wood of the horses of the fairies. Into every tree a
+spiritual power is infused; and the good lords of the forest are loved
+of men and birds and bees.
+
+Thus the Irish love of nature led them to spiritualise, in another way
+than mythical, certain things in nature, and afterwards to humanise,
+up to a certain point, the noble implements wrought by human skill out
+of natural materials. And this is another element in all these
+stories, as it is in the folk-lore also of other lands. In the tale of
+the Sons of Turenn, the stones of the wayside tell to Lugh the story
+of the death of his father Kian, and the boat of Mananan, indwelt by a
+spirit, flies hither and thither over the seas, obeying the commands,
+even the thought, of its steersman. The soul of some famed spears is
+so hot for slaughter that, when it is not being used in battle, its
+point must stand in a bath of blood or of drowsy herbs, lest it
+should slay the host. The swords murmur and hiss and cry out for the
+battle; the shield of the hero hums louder and louder, vibrating for
+the encouragement of the warrior. Even the wheels of Cuchulain's
+chariot roar as they whirl into the fight. This partial life given to
+the weapons of war is not specially Celtic. Indeed, it is more common
+in Teutonic than in Celtic legend, and it seems probable that it was
+owing to the Norsemen that it was established in the Hero tales of
+Ireland.
+
+This addition of life, or of some of the powers of life, to tree and
+well and boulder-stone, to river and lake and hill, and sword and
+spear, is common to all mythologies, but the special character of each
+nation or tribe modifies the form of the life-imputing stories. In
+Ireland the tree, the stream were not dwelt in by a separate living
+being, as in Grecian story; the half-living powers they had were given
+to them from without, by the gods, the demons, the fairies; and in the
+case of the weapons, the powers they had of act or sound arose from
+the impassioned thoughts and fierce emotions of their forger or their
+wielder, which, being intense, were magically transferred to them. The
+Celtic nature is too fond of reality, too impatient of illusion, to
+believe in an actual living spirit in inanimate things. At least, that
+is the case in the stories of the Hero and the Fenian Cycles.[5]
+
+   [5] Everything, on the contrary, in the Mythological Cycle is
+   gifted with life, all the doings and things of nature are
+   represented as the work of living creatures; but it is quite
+   possible that those in Ireland who made these myths were not
+   Celts at all.
+
+What the Irish of the Heroic, and still more of the Fenian Cycle, did
+make in their imagination was a world, outside of themselves, of
+living spiritual beings, in whose actuality they fully believed, and
+in whom a great number of them still believe. A nation, if I may use
+this term, dwelt under the sea. Another dwelt in the far island of the
+ocean, the Isle of the Ever-Young. Another dwelt in the land, in the
+green hills and by the streams of Ireland; and these were the ancient
+gods who had now lost their dominion over the country, but lived on,
+with all their courtiers and warriors and beautiful women in a country
+underground. As time went on, their powers were dwarfed, and they
+became small of size, less beautiful, and in our modern times are less
+inclined to enter into the lives of men and women. But the Irish
+peasant still sees them flitting by his path in the evening light, or
+dancing on the meadow round the grassy mound, singing and playing
+strange melodies; or mourns for the child they have carried away to
+live with them and forget her people, or watches with fear his
+dreaming daughter who has been touched by them, and is never again
+quite a child of this earth, or quite of the common race of man.
+
+These were the invisible lands and peoples of the Irish imagination;
+and they live in and out of many of the stories. Cuchulain is lured
+into a fairy-land, and lives for more than a year in love with Fand,
+Mananan's wife. Into another fairy-land, through zones of mist,
+Cormac, as is told here, was lured by Mananan, who now has left the
+sea to play on the land. Oisin, as I have already said, flies with
+Niam over the sea to the island of Eternal Youth. Etain, out of the
+immortal land, is born into an Irish girl and reclaimed and carried
+back to her native shore by Midir, a prince of the Fairy Host. Ethne,
+whose story also is here, has lived for all her youth in the court of
+Angus, deep in the hill beside the rushing of the Boyne.
+
+These stories are but a few out of a great number of the loves and
+wars between the men and women of the human and the fairy races.
+Curiously enough, as the stories become less ancient, the relations
+between men and the fairies are more real, more close, even more
+affectionate. Finn and the Fianna seem to be almost in daily
+companionship with the fairy host--much nearer to them than the men of
+the Heroic Cycle are to the gods. They interchange love and music and
+battle and adventure with one another. They are, for the most part,
+excellent friends; and their intercourse suffers from no doubt. It is
+as real as the intercourse between Welsh and English on the
+Borderland.
+
+There was nothing illusive, nothing merely imaginary, in these fairy
+worlds for the Irish hero or the Irish people. They believed the lands
+to be as real as their own, and the indwellers of fairyland to have
+like passions with themselves. Finn is not a bit surprised when
+Vivionn the giantess sits beside him on the hill, or Fergus when King
+Iubdan stands on his hand; or St Patrick when Ethne, out of fairyland,
+dies on his breast, or when he sees, at his spell, Cuchulain, dead
+some nine hundred years, come forth out of the dark gates of Sheol,
+high in his chariot, grasping his deadly spear, driven as of old by
+his well-loved charioteer, drawn by the immortal steeds through the
+mist, and finally talking of his deeds and claiming a place in the
+Christian heaven--a place that Patrick yields to him. The invisible
+worlds lived, loved, and thought around this visible world, and were,
+it seems, closer and more real to the Celtic than to other races.
+
+But it was not only these agreeable and lovely folk in pleasant
+habitations whom the Irish made, but also spirits of another sort, of
+lesser powers and those chiefly malignant, having no fixed
+dwelling-place, homeless in the air and drifting with it, embodying
+the venomous and deadly elements of the earth and the angers and
+cruelty of the sea, and the hypocrisy of them all--demons, some of
+whom, like the stepmother of the children of Lir, have been changed
+from men or women because of wicked doings, but the most part born of
+the evil in Nature herself. They do what harm they can to innocent
+folk; they enter into, support, and direct--like Macbeth's
+witches--the evil thoughts of men; they rejoice in the battle, in the
+wounds and pain and death of men; they shriek and scream and laugh
+around the head of the hero when he goes forth, like Cuchulain, to an
+unwearied slaughter of men. They make the blight, the deadly mist, the
+cruel tempest. To deceive is their pleasure; to discourage, to baffle,
+to ruin the hero is their happiness. Some of them are monsters of
+terrific aspect who abide in lakes or in desolate rocks, as the
+terrible tri-formed horse whom Fergus mac Leda conquered and by whom
+he died.
+
+Naturally, as a link between these supernatural worlds and the natural
+world, there arose a body of men and women in Irish legend who, by
+years of study, gained a knowledge of, and power over, the
+supernatural beings, and used these powers for hurt to the enemies of
+their kingdom, or for help to their own people. Some were wise,
+learned, and statesmanlike, and used their powers for good. These were
+the high Druids, and every king had a band of them at his court and in
+his wars. They practiced what the Middle Ages called white magic.
+Others were wizards, magicians, witches, who, like the children of
+Cailitin, the foes of Cuchulain, or the three mutilated women whom
+Maev educated in evil craft to do evil to her foes, or the dread band
+that deceived Cuchulain into his last ride of death, practised black
+magic--evil, and the ministers of evil. Magic, and the doing of it,
+runs through the whole of Irish story-telling, and not only into pagan
+but also into Christian legend; for it was easy to change the old gods
+into devils, to keep the demonic creatures as demons, to replace the
+wise Druids by the priests and saints, and the wizards by the heretics
+who gave themselves to sorcery. Thus the ancient supernaturalism of
+the Irish has continued, with modern modifications, to the present
+day. The body of thought is much the same as it was in the days of
+Conor and Finn; the clothing is a bit different.
+
+Another characteristic of the stories, especially in the mythological
+period, is the barbaric brutality which appears in them. Curiously
+mingled with this, in direct contrast, is their tenderness. These
+extreme contrasts are common in the Celtic nature. A Gael, whether of
+Ireland or the Western Isles, will pass in a short time from the
+wildest spirits, dancing and singing and drinking, into deep and grim
+depression--the child of the present, whether in love or war; and in
+the tales of Ireland there is a similar contrast between their
+brutality and their tenderness. The sudden fierce jealousy and the
+pitiless cruelty of their stepmother to the children of Lir is set
+over against the exquisite tenderness of Fionnuala, which pervades the
+story like an air from heaven. The noble tenderness of Deirdre, of
+Naisi and his brothers, in life and death, to one another, is lovelier
+in contrast with the savage and treacherous revenge of Conor. The
+great pitifulness of Cuchulain's fight with his dear friend Ferdia,
+whom he is compelled to slay; the crowning tenderness of Emer's
+recollective love in song before she dies on Cuchulain's dead body,
+are in full contrast with the savage hard-heartedness and cruelties of
+Maev, and with the ruthless slaughters Cuchulain made of his foes, out
+of which he seems often to pass, as it were, in a moment, into
+tenderness and gracious speech. Even Finn, false for once to his
+constant courtesy, revenges himself on Dermot so pitilessly that both
+his son and grandson cry shame upon him.
+
+Of course this barbaric cruelty is common to all early periods in
+every nation; and, whenever fierce passion is aroused, to civilised
+nations also. What is remarkable in the Irish tales is the
+contemporary tenderness. The Vikings were as savage as the Irish, but
+the savagery is not mingled with the Irish tenderness. At last, when
+we pass from the Hero Cycle into the Cycle of Finn, there is scarcely
+any of the ancient brutality to be found in the host of romantic
+stories which gather round the chivalry of the Fenians.
+
+There are other characteristics of these old tales on which I must
+dwell. The first is the extra-ordinary love of colour. This is not a
+characteristic of the early German, English or Scandinavian poems and
+tales. Its remarkable presence in Scottish poetry, at a time when it
+is scarcely to be found in English literature, I have traced elsewhere
+to the large admixture of Celtic blood in the Lowlands of Scotland. In
+early Irish work it is to be found everywhere. In descriptions of
+Nature, which chiefly appear in the Fenian Cycle and in Christian
+times, colour is not as much dwelt on as we should expect, for nowhere
+that I have seen is it more delicate and varied than under the Irish
+atmosphere. Yet, again and again, the amber colour of the streams as
+they come from the boglands, and the crimson and gold of the
+sunsetting, and the changing green of the trees, and the blue as it
+varies and settles down on the mountains when they go to their rest,
+and the green crystal of the sea in calm and the dark purple of it in
+storm, and the white foam of the waves when they grow black in the
+squall, and the brown of the moors, and the yellow and rose and
+crimson of the flowers, and many another interchanging of colour, are
+seen and spoken of as if it were a common thing always to dwell on
+colour. This literary custom I do not find in any other Western
+literature. It is even more remarkable in the descriptions of the
+dress and weapons of the warriors and kings. They blaze with colour;
+and as gold was plentiful in Ireland in those far-off days, yellow and
+red are continually flashing in and out of the blue and green and rich
+purple of their dress. The women are dressed in as rich colours as the
+men. When Eochy met Etain by the spring of pure water, as told in this
+book, she must have flashed in the sunlight like a great jewel. Then,
+the halls where they met and the houses of the kings are represented
+as glorious with colour, painted in rich patterns, hung with woven
+cloths dyed deep with crimson and blue and green and yellow. The
+common things in use, eating and drinking implements, the bags they
+carry, the bed-clothing, the chess-men, the tables, are embroidered or
+chased or set with red carbuncles or white stones or with interlacing
+of gold. Colour is everywhere and everywhere loved. And where colour
+is loved the arts flourish, as the decorative arts flourished in
+Ireland.
+
+Lastly, on this matter, the Irish tale-tellers, even to the present
+day, dwell with persistence on the colour of the human body as a
+special loveliness, and with as much love of it as any Venetian when
+he painted it. And they did this with a comparison of its colour to
+the colours they observed in Nature, so that the colour of one was
+harmonised with the colour of the other. I might quote many such
+descriptions of the appearance of the warriors--they are
+multitudinous--but the picture of Etain is enough to illustrate what I
+say--"Her hair before she loosed it was done in two long tresses,
+yellow like the flower of the waterflag in summer or like red gold.
+Her hands were white as the snow of a single night, and her eyes as
+blue as the dark hyacinth, and her lips red as the berries of the
+rowan-tree, and her body as white as the foam of the sea-waves. The
+radiance of the moon was in her face and the light of wooing in her
+eyes." So much for the Irish love of colour.[6]
+
+   [6] I give one example of the way colour was laid on to animals
+   just for the pleasure of it. "And the eagle and cranes were red
+   with green heads, and their eggs were pure crimson and blue";
+   and deep in the wood the travellers found "strange birds with
+   white bodies and purple heads and golden beaks," and afterwards
+   three great birds, "one blue and his head crimson, and another
+   crimson and his head green, and another speckled and his head
+   gold."
+
+Their love of music was equally great; and was also connected with
+Nature. "The sound of the flowing of streams," said one of their
+bardic clan, "is sweeter than any music of men." "The harp of the
+woods is playing music," said another. In Finn's Song to May, the
+waterfall is singing a welcome to the pool below, the loudness of
+music is around the hill, and in the green fields the stream is
+singing. The blackbird, the cuckoo, the heron and the lark are the
+musicians of the world. When Finn asks his men what music they thought
+the best, each says his say, but Oisin answers, "The music of the
+woods is sweetest to me, the sound of the wind and of the blackbird,
+and the cuckoo and the soft silence of the heron." And Finn himself,
+when asked what was his most beloved music, said first that it was
+"the sharp whistling of the wind as it went through the uplifted
+spears of the seven battalions of the Fianna," and this was fitting
+for a hero to say. But when the poet in him spoke, he said his music
+was the crying of the sea-gull, and the noise of the waves, and the
+voice of the cuckoo when summer was at hand, and the washing of the
+sea against the shore, and of the tide when it met the river of the
+White Trout, and of the wind rushing through the cloud. And many other
+sayings of the same kind this charming and poetic folk has said
+concerning those sweet, strong sounds in Nature out of which the music
+of men was born.
+
+Again, there is not much music in the Mythological Tales. Lugh, it is
+true, is a great harper, and the harp of the Dagda, into which he has
+bound his music, plays a music at whose sound all men laugh, and
+another so that all men weep, and another so enthralling that all fall
+asleep; and these three kinds of music are heard through all the
+Cycles of Tales. Yet when the old gods of the mythology became the
+Sidhe,[7] the Fairy Host, they--having left their barbaric life
+behind--became great musicians. In every green hill where the tribes
+of fairy-land lived, sweet, wonderful music was heard all day--such
+music that no man could hear but he would leave all other music to
+listen to it, which "had in it sorrows that man has never felt, and
+joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as if he who heard it
+might break from time into eternity and be one of the immortals." And
+when Finn and his people lived, they, being in great harmony and union
+with the Sidhe, heard in many adventures with them their lovely music,
+and it became their own. Indeed, Finn, who had twelve musicians, had
+as their chief one of the Fairy Host who came to dwell with him, a
+little man who played airs so divine that all weariness and sorrow
+fled away. And from him Finn's musicians learnt a more enchanted art
+than they had known before. And so it came to pass that as in every
+fairy dwelling there was this divine art, so in every palace and
+chieftain's hall, and in every farm, there were harpers harping on
+their harps, and all the land was full of sweet sounds and
+airs--shaping in music, imaginative war, and sorrows, and joys, and
+aspiration. Nor has their music failed. Still in the west and south of
+Ireland, the peasant, returning home, hears, as the evening falls from
+the haunted hills, airs unknown before, or at midnight a wild
+triumphant song from the Fairy Host rushing by, or wakes with a dream
+melody in his heart. And these are played and sung next day to the
+folk sitting round the fire. Many who heard these mystic sounds became
+themselves the makers of melodies, and went about the land singing and
+making and playing from village to village and cabin to cabin, till
+the unwritten songs of Ireland were as numerous as they were various.
+Moore collected a hundred and twenty of them, but of late more than
+five hundred he knew not of have been secured from the people and from
+manuscripts for the pleasure of the world. And in them lives on the
+spirit of the Fianna, and the mystery of the Fairy Host, and the long
+sorrow and the fleeting joy of the wild weather in the heart of the
+Irish race.
+
+   [7] This word is pronounced Shee, and means "the folk of the
+   fairy mounds."
+
+As to the poetry of Ireland, that other Art which is illustrated in
+this book, so fully has it been dwelt on by many scholars and critics
+that it needs not be touched here other than lightly and briefly. The
+honour and dignity of the art of poetry goes back in Irish mythology
+to a dim antiquity. The ancient myth said that the nine hazels of
+wisdom grew round a deep spring beneath the sea, and the hazels were
+the hazels of inspiration and of poetry--so early in Ireland were
+inspiration and poetry made identical with wisdom. Seven streams of
+wisdom flowed from that fountain-head, and when they had fed the world
+returned to it again. And all the art-makers of mankind, and of all
+arts, have drunk of their waters. Five salmon in the spring ate of the
+hazel nuts, and some haunted the rivers of Ireland; and whosoever,
+like Finn, tasted the flesh of these immortal fish, was possessed of
+the wisdom which is inspiration and poetry. Such was the ancient Irish
+conception of the art of poetry.
+
+It is always an art which grows slowly into any excellence, and it
+needs for such growth a quieter life than the Irish lived for many
+centuries. Poems appear but rarely in the mythological or heroic
+cycles, and are loosely scattered among the prose of the bardic tales.
+A few are of war, but they are chiefly dirges like the Song of Emer
+over the dead body of Cuchulain, or that of Deirdre over
+Naisi--pathetic wailings for lost love. There is an abrupt and pitiful
+pain in the brief songs of Fionnuala, but I fancy these were made and
+inserted in Christian times. Poetry was more at home among the Fianna.
+The conditions of life were easier; there was more leisure and more
+romance. And the other arts, which stimulate poetry, were more widely
+practised than in the earlier ages. Finn's Song to May, here
+translated, is of a good type, frank and observant, with a fresh air
+in it, and a fresh pleasure in its writing. I have no doubt that at
+this time began the lyric poetry of Ireland, and it reached, under
+Christian influences, a level of good, I can scarcely say excellent,
+work, at a time when no other lyrical poetry in any vernacular existed
+in Europe or the Islands. It was religious, mystic, and chiefly
+pathetic--prayers, hymns, dirges, regrets in exile, occasional stories
+of the saints whose legendary acts were mixed with pagan elements, and
+most of these were adorned with illustrations drawn from natural
+beauty or from the doings of birds and beasts--a great affection for
+whom is prominent in the Celtic nature. The Irish poets sent this
+lyric impulse into Iceland, Wales, and Scotland, and from Scotland
+into England; and the rise of English vernacular poetry instead of
+Latin in the seventh and eighth centuries is due to the impulse given
+by the Irish monasteries at Whitby and elsewhere in Northumbria. The
+first rude lyric songs of Caedmon were probably modelled on the hymns
+of Colman.
+
+One would think that poetry, which arose so early in a nation's life,
+would have developed fully. But this was not the case in Ireland. No
+narrative, dramatic, didactic, or epic poetry of any importance arose,
+and many questions and answers might be made concerning this curious
+restriction of development. The most probable solution of this problem
+is that there was never enough peace in Ireland or continuity of
+national existence or unity, to allow of a continuous development of
+any one of the arts into all its forms. Irish poetry never advanced
+beyond the lyric. In that form it lasted all through the centuries; it
+lasts still at the present day, and Douglas Hyde has proved how much
+charm belongs to it in his book on the _Love Songs of Connacht_.
+
+It has had a long, long history; it has passed through many phases; it
+has sung of love and sorrow, of national wars and hopes, of Ireland
+herself as the Queen of Sorrow, of exile regrets from alien shores, of
+rebellion, of hatred of England, of political strife, in ballads sung
+in the streets, of a thousand issues of daily life and death--but of
+world-wide affairs, of great passions and duties and fates evolving in
+epic or clashing in drama, of continuous human lives in narrative
+(except in prose), of the social life of cities or of philosophic
+thought enshrined in stately verse, it has not sung. What it may do in
+the future, if Irish again becomes a tongue of literature in lofty
+poetry, lies on the knees of the gods. I wish it well, but such a
+development seems now too late. The Irish genius, if it is to speak in
+drama, in narrative poetry or in an epic, must speak, if it is to
+influence or to charm the world beyond the Irish shore, in a
+world-language like English, and of international as well as of Irish
+humanity.
+
+These elements on which I have dwelt seem to me the most distinctive,
+the most Irish, in the Tales in this book. There are many others on
+which a more minute analysis might exercise itself, phases of feeling
+concerning war or love or friendship or honour or the passions, but
+these are not specially Irish. They belong to common human nature, and
+have their close analogies in other mythologies, in other Folk-tales,
+in other Sagas. I need not touch them here. But there is one element
+in all the Irish tales which I have not yet mentioned, and it brings
+all the others within its own circumference, and suffuses them with
+its own atmosphere. It is the love of Ireland, of the land itself for
+its own sake--a mystic, spiritual imaginative passion which in the
+soul of the dweller in the country is a constant joy, and in the heart
+of the exile is a sick yearning for return. There are not many direct
+expressions of this in the stories; but it underlies the whole of
+them, and it is also in the air they breathe. But now and again it
+does find clear expression, and in each of the cycles we have
+discussed. When the sons of Turenn are returning, wounded to death,
+from the Hill of Mochaen, they felt but one desire. "Let us but see,"
+said Iuchar and Iucharba to their brother Brian, "the land of Erin
+again, the hills round Telltown, and the dewy plain of Bregia and the
+quiet waters of the Boyne and our father's Dun thereby, and healing
+will come to us; or if death come, we can endure it after that." Then
+Brian raised them up; and they saw that they were now near by under
+Ben Edar; and at the strand of the Bull they came to land. That is
+from the Mythological Cycle.
+
+In the Heroic Cycle it appears in the longing cry for return to
+Ireland of Naisi and his brothers, which drives them out of Alba to
+their death; but otherwise it is rarely expressed. In the Fenian Cycle
+it exists, not in any clear words, but in a general delight in the
+rivers, lakes, woods, valleys, plains, and mountains of Ireland. Every
+description of them, and of life among them, is done with a loving,
+observant touch; and moreover, the veil of magic charm is thrown over
+all the land by the creation in it of the life and indwelling of the
+fairy host. The Fianna loved their country well.
+
+When Christianity came, this deep-set sentiment did not lessen. It
+grew even stronger, and in exile it became a passion. It is
+illustrated by the songs of deep regret and affection Columba made in
+Iona, from whose rocky shores he looked day after day towards the west
+while the mists rose over Ireland. One little story of great beauty
+enshrines his passion. One morning he called to his side one of his
+monks, and said, "Go to the margin of the sea on the western side of
+our isle; and there, coming from the north of Ireland, you will see a
+voyaging crane, very weary and beaten by the storms, and it will fall
+at your feet on the beach. Lift it up with pity and carry it to the
+hut, nourish it for three days, and when it is refreshed and strong
+again it will care no more to stay with us in exile, but to fly back
+to sweet Ireland, the dear country where it was born. I charge you
+thus, for it comes from the land where I was born myself." And when
+his servant returned, having done as he was ordered, Columba said,
+"May God bless you, my son. Since you have well cared for our exiled
+guest, you will see it return to its own land in three days." And so
+it was. It rose, sought its path for a moment through the sky, and
+took flight on a steady wing for Ireland. The spirit of that story has
+never died in the soul of the Irish and in their poetry up to the
+present day.
+
+Lastly, as we read these stories, even in a modern dress, an
+impression of great ancientry is made upon us, so much so that some
+scholars have tried to turn Finn into a mythical hero--but if he be as
+old as that implies, of how great an age must be the clearly mythic
+tales which gather round the Tuatha de Danaan? However this may be,
+the impression of ancientry is deep and agreeable. All myths in any
+nation are, of course, of a high antiquity, but as they treat of the
+beginning of things, they mingle an impression of youth with one of
+age. This is very pleasant to the imagination, and especially so if
+the myths, as in Ireland, have some poetic beauty or strangeness, as
+in the myth I have referred to--of the deep spring of clear water and
+the nine hazels of wisdom that encompass it. This mingling of the
+beauty of youth and the honour of ancientry runs through all the Irish
+tales. Youth and the love of it, of its beauty and strength, adorn and
+vitalize their grey antiquity. But where, in their narrative, the
+hero's youth is over and the sword weak in his hand, and the passion
+less in his and his sweetheart's blood, life is represented as
+scarcely worth the living. The famed men and women die young--the sons
+of Turenn, Cuchulain, Conall, Dermot, Emer, Deirdre, Naisi, Oscar.
+Oisin has three hundred years of youth in that far land in the
+invention of which the Irish embodied their admiration of love and
+youth. His old age, when sudden feebleness overwhelms him, is made by
+the bardic clan as miserable, as desolate as his youth was joyous.
+Again, Finn lives to be an old man, but the immortal was in him, and
+either he has been born again in several re-incarnations (for the
+Irish held from time to time the doctrine of the transmigration of
+souls), or he sleeps, like Barbarossa, in a secret cavern, with all
+his men around him, and beside him the mighty horn of the Fianna,
+which, when the day of fate and freedom comes, will awaken with three
+loud blasts the heroes and send them forth to victory. Old as she is,
+Ireland does not grow old, for she has never reached her maturity. Her
+full existence is before her, not behind her. And when she reaches it
+her ancientry and all its tales will be dearer to her than they have
+been in the past. They will be an inspiring national asset. In them
+and in their strange admixture of different and successive periods of
+customs, thoughts and emotions (caused by the continuous editing and
+re-editing of them, first in oral recitation and then at the hands of
+scribes), Ireland will see the record of her history, not the history
+of external facts, but of her soul as it grew into consciousness of
+personality; as it established in itself love of law, of moral right,
+of religion, of chivalry, of courtesy in war and daily life; as it
+rejoiced, and above all, as it suffered and was constant, in suffering
+and oppression, to its national ideals.
+
+It seems as if, once at least, this aspect of the tales of Ireland was
+seen by men of old, for there is a story which tells that heaven
+itself desired their remembrance, and that we should be diverted and
+inspired by them. In itself it is a record of the gentleness of Irish
+Christianity to Irish heathendom, and of its love of the heroic past.
+For one day when Patrick and his clerks were singing the Mass at the
+Rath of the Red Ridge, where Finn was wont to be, he saw Keelta, a
+chief of the Fianna, draw near with his companions, and Keelta's huge
+hounds were with him. They were men so tall and great that fear fell
+on the clerks, but Patrick met with and asked their chieftain's name.
+"I am Keelta," he answered, "son of Ronan of the Fianna." "Was it not
+a good lord you were with," said Patrick, "Finn, son of Cumhal?" And
+Keelta said, "If the brown leaves falling in the wood were gold, if
+the waves of the sea were silver, Finn would have given them all
+away." "What was it kept you through your lifetime?" said Patrick.
+"Truth that was in our hearts, and strength in our hands, and
+fulfilment in our tongues," said Keelta. Then Patrick gave them food
+and drink and good treatment, and talked with them. And in the morning
+the two angels who guarded him came to him, and he asked them if it
+were any harm before God, King of heaven and earth, that he should
+listen to the stories of the Fianna. And the angels answered, "Holy
+Clerk, these old fighting men do not remember more than a third of
+their tales by reason of the forgetfulness of age, but whatever they
+tell write it down on the boards of the poets and in the words of the
+poets, for it will be a diversion to the companies and the high people
+of the latter times to listen to them."[8] So spoke the angels, and
+Patrick did as he bade them, and the stories are in the world to this
+day.
+
+   [8] This is quoted with a few omissions, from Lady Gregory's
+   delightful version, in her _Book of Saints and Wonders_, of an
+   episode in _The Colloquy of the Ancients_ (Silva Gadelica).
+
+STOPFORD A. BROOKE
+
+ST PATRICK'S DAY, 1910
+
+
+
+
+COIS NA TEINEADH
+
+(_By the Fireside._)
+
+
+   Where glows the Irish hearth with peat
+     There lives a subtle spell--
+   The faint blue smoke, the gentle heat,
+     The moorland odours, tell
+
+   Of long roads running through a red
+     Untamed unfurrowed land,
+   With curlews keening overhead,
+     And streams on either hand;
+
+   Black turf-banks crowned with whispering sedge,
+     And black bog-pools below;
+   While dry stone wall or ragged hedge
+     Leads on, to meet the glow
+
+   From cottage doors, that lure us in
+     From rainy Western skies,
+   To seek the friendly warmth within,
+     The simple talk and wise;
+
+   Or tales of magic, love and arms
+     From days when princes met
+   To listen to the lay that charms
+     The Connacht peasant yet.
+
+   There Honour shines through passions dire,
+     There beauty blends with mirth--
+   Wild hearts, ye never did aspire
+     Wholly for things of earth!
+
+   Cold, cold this thousand years--yet still
+     On many a time-stained page
+   Your pride, your truth, your dauntless will,
+     Burn on from age to age.
+
+   And still around the fires of peat
+     Live on the ancient days;
+   There still do living lips repeat
+     The old and deathless lays.
+
+   And when the wavering wreaths ascend,
+     Blue in the evening air,
+   The soul of Ireland seems to bend
+     Above her children there.
+
+
+
+
+BARDIC ROMANCES
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The Story of the Children of Lir
+
+
+Long ago there dwelt in Ireland the race called by the name of De
+Danaan, or People of the Goddess Dana. They were a folk who delighted
+in beauty and gaiety, and in fighting and feasting, and loved to go
+gloriously apparelled, and to have their weapons and household vessels
+adorned with jewels and gold. They were also skilled in magic arts,
+and their harpers could make music so enchanting that a man who heard
+it would fight, or love, or sleep, or forget all earthly things, as
+they who touched the strings might will him to do. In later times the
+Danaans had to dispute the sovranty of Ireland with another race, the
+Children of Miled, whom men call the Milesians, and after much
+fighting they were vanquished. Then, by their sorceries and
+enchantments, when they could not prevail against the invaders, they
+made themselves invisible, and they have dwelt ever since in the Fairy
+Mounds and raths of Ireland, where their shining palaces are hidden
+from mortal eyes. They are now called the Shee, or Fairy Folk of
+Erinn, and the faint strains of unearthly music that may be heard at
+times by those who wander at night near to their haunts come from the
+harpers and pipers who play for the People of Dana at their revels in
+the bright world underground.
+
+At the time when the tale begins, the People of Dana were still the
+lords of Ireland, for the Milesians had not yet come. They were
+divided it is said, into many families and clans; and it seemed good
+to them that their chiefs should assemble together, and choose one to
+be king and ruler over the whole people. So they met in a great
+assembly for this purpose, and found that five of the greatest lords
+all desired the sovranty of Erin. These five were Bov the Red, and
+Ilbrech of Assaroe, and Lir from the Hill of the White Field, which is
+on Slieve Fuad in Armagh; and Midir the Proud, who dwelt at Slieve
+Callary in Longford; and Angus of Brugh na Boyna, which is now
+Newgrange on the river Boyne, where his mighty mound is still to be
+seen. All the Danaan lords saving these five went into council
+together, and their decision was to give the sovranty to Bov the Red,
+partly because he was the eldest, partly because his father was the
+Dagda, mightiest of the Danaans, and partly because he was himself the
+most deserving of the five.
+
+All were content with this, save only Lir, who thought himself the
+fittest for royal rule; so he went away from the assembly in anger,
+taking leave of no one. When this became known, the Danaan lords would
+have pursued Lir, to burn his palace and inflict punishment and
+wounding on himself for refusing obedience and fealty to him whom the
+assembly had chosen to reign over them. But Bov the Red forbade them,
+for he would not have war among the Danaans; and he said, "I am none
+the less King of the People of Dana because this man will not do
+homage to me."
+
+Thus it went on for a long time. But at last a great misfortune befell
+Lir, for his wife fell ill, and after three nights she died. Sorely
+did Lir grieve for this, and he fell into a great dejection of spirit,
+for his wife was very dear to him and was much thought of by all folk,
+so that her death was counted one of the great events of that time.
+
+Now Bov the Red came ere long to hear of it, and he said, "If Lir
+would choose to have my help and friendship now, I can serve him well,
+for his wife is no longer living, and I have three maidens, daughters
+of a friend, in fosterage with me, namely, Eva and Aoife[9] and Elva,
+and there are none fairer and of better name in Erin; one of these he
+might take to wife." And the lords of the Danaans heard what he said,
+and answered that it was true and well bethought. So messengers were
+sent to Lir, to say that if he were willing to yield the sovranty to
+Bov the Red, he might make alliance with him and wed one of his
+foster-children. To Lir, having been thus gently entreated, it seemed
+good to end the feud, and he agreed to the marriage. So the following
+day he set out with a train of fifty chariots from the Hill of the
+White Field and journeyed straight for the palace of Bov the Red,
+which was by Lough Derg on the river Shannon.
+
+   [9] Pronounced Eefa.
+
+Arriving there, he found about him nothing but joy and glad faces, for
+the renewal of amity and concord; and his people were welcomed, and
+well entreated, and handsomely entertained for the night.
+
+[Illustration: "There sat the three maidens with the Queen"]
+
+And there sat the three maidens on the same couch with the Danaan
+Queen, and Bov the Red bade Lir choose which one he would have to
+wife.
+
+"The maidens are all fair and noble," said Lir, "but the eldest is
+first in consideration and honour, and it is she that I will take, if
+she be willing."
+
+"The eldest is Eva," said Bov the Red, "and she will wed thee if it be
+pleasing to thee." "It is pleasing," said Lir, and the pair were
+wedded the same night. Lir abode for fourteen days in the palace of
+Bov the Red, and then departed with his bride, to make a great
+wedding-feast among his own people.
+
+In due time after this Eva, wife of Lir, bore him two fair children at
+a birth, a daughter and a son. The daughter's name was called
+Fionnuala of the Fair Shoulder, and the son's name was Hugh. And
+again she bore him two sons, Fiachra and Conn; and at their birth she
+died. At this Lir was sorely grieved and afflicted, and but for the
+great love he bore to his four children he would gladly have died too.
+
+When the folk at the palace of Bov the Red heard that, they also were
+sorely grieved at the death of their foster-child, and they lamented
+her with keening and with weeping. Bov the Red said, "We grieve for
+this maiden on account of the good man we gave her to, and for his
+friendship and fellowship; howbeit our friendship shall not be
+sundered, for we shall give him to wife her sister, namely Aoife."
+
+Word of this was brought to Lir, and he went once more to Lough Derg
+to the palace of Bov the Red and there he took to wife Aoife, the fair
+and wise, and brought her to his own home. And Aoife held the children
+of Lir and of her sister in honour and affection; for indeed no one
+could behold these four children without giving them the love of his
+soul.
+
+For love of them, too, came Bov the Red often to the house of Lir, and
+he would take them to his own house at times and let them spend a
+while there, and then to their own home again. All of the People of
+Dana who came visiting and feasting to Lir had joy and delight in the
+children, for their beauty and gentleness; and the love of their
+father for them was exceeding great, so that he would rise very early
+every morning to lie down among them and play with them.
+
+Only, alas! a fire of jealousy began to burn at last in the breast of
+Aoife, and hatred and bitter ill-will grew in her mind towards the
+children of Lir. And she feigned an illness, and lay under it for the
+most of a year, meditating a black and evil deed. At last she said
+that a journey from home might recover her, and she bade her chariot
+be yoked and set out, taking with her the four children. Fionnuala was
+sorely unwilling to go with her on that journey, for she had a
+misgiving, and a prevision of treachery and of kin-slaying against her
+in the mind of Aoife. Yet she was not able to avoid the mischief that
+was destined for her.
+
+So Aoife journeyed away from the Hill of the White Field, and when she
+had come some way she spoke to her people and said, "Kill me, I pray
+ye, the four children of Lir, who have taken the love of their father
+from me, and ye may ask of me what reward ye will." "Not so," said
+they, "by us they shall never be killed; it is an evil deed that you
+have thought of, and evil it is but to have spoken of it."
+
+When they would not consent to her will, she drew a sword and would
+have slain the children herself, but her womanhood overcame her and
+she could not. So they journeyed on westward till they came to the
+shores of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made a halt and the horses
+were outspanned. Aoife bade the children bathe and swim in the lake,
+and they did so. Then Aoife by Druid spells and witchcraft put upon
+each of the children the form of a pure white swan, and she cried to
+them:--
+
+  "Out on the lake with you, children of Lir!
+  Cry with the water-fowl over the mere!
+  Breed and seed of you ne'er shall I see;
+  Woeful the tale to your friends shall be."
+
+Then the four swans turned their faces towards the woman, and
+Fionnuala spoke to her and said, "Evil is thy deed, Aoife, to destroy
+us thus without a cause, and think not that thou shalt escape
+punishment for it. Assign us even some period to the ruin and
+destruction that thou hast brought upon us."
+
+"I shall do that," said Aoife, "and it is this: in your present forms
+shall ye abide, and none shall release you till the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North. Three hundred years shall ye be
+upon the waters of Derryvaragh, and three hundred upon the Straits of
+Moyle between Erinn and Alba,[10] and three hundred in the seas by
+Erris and Inishglory, and then shall the enchantment have an end."
+
+   [10] Scotland. Inishglory is an island in the Bay of Erris, on
+   the Mayo coast.
+
+Upon this, Aoife was smitten with repentance, and she said, "Since I
+may not henceforth undo what has been done, I give you this, that ye
+shall keep your human speech, and ye shall sing a sad music such as no
+music in the world can equal, and ye shall have your reason and your
+human will, that the bird-shape may not wholly destroy you." Then she
+became as one possessed, and cried wildly like a prophetess in her
+trance:--
+
+  "Ye with the white faces! Ye with the stammering
+      Gaelic on your tongues!
+  Soft was your nurture in the King's house--
+  Now shall ye know the buffeting wind!
+  Nine hundred years upon the tide.
+
+  "The heart of Lir shall bleed!
+  None of his victories shall stead him now!
+  Woe to me that I shall hear his groan,
+  Woe that I have deserved his wrath!"
+
+Then they caught and yoked her horses, and Aoife went on her way till
+she reached the palace of Bov the Red. Here she and her folk were
+welcomed and entertained, and Bov the Red inquired of her why she had
+not brought with her the children of Lir.
+
+"I brought them not," she replied, "because Lir loves thee not, and he
+fears that if he sends his children to thee, thou wouldst capture them
+and hold them for hostages."
+
+"That is strange," said Bov the Red, "for I love those children as if
+they were my own." And his mind misgave him that some treachery had
+been wrought; and he sent messengers privily northwards to the Hill of
+the White Field. "For what have ye come?" asked Lir. "Even to bring
+your children to Bov the Red," said they. "Did they not reach you with
+Aoife?" said Lir. "Nay," said the messengers, "but Aoife said you
+would not permit them to go with her."
+
+Then fear and trouble came upon Lir, for he surmised that Aoife had
+wrought evil upon the children. So his horses were yoked and he set
+out upon his road south-westward, until he reached the shores of Loch
+Derryvaragh. But as he passed by that water, Fionnuala saw the train
+of horsemen and chariots, and she cried to her brothers to come near
+to the shore, "for," said she, "these can only be the company of our
+father who have come to follow and seek for us."
+
+Lir, by the margin of the lake, saw the four swans and heard them
+talking with human voices, and he halted and spoke to them. Then said
+Fionnuala: "Know, O Lir, that we are thy four children, and that she
+who has wrought this ruin upon us is thy wife and our mother's sister,
+through the bitterness of her jealousy." Lir was glad to know that
+they were at least living, and he said, "Is it possible to put your
+own forms upon you again?" "It is not possible," said Fionnuala, "for
+all the men on earth could not release us until the woman of the South
+be mated with the man of the North." Then Lir and his people cried
+aloud in grief and lamentation, and Lir entreated the swans to come on
+land and abide with him since they had their human reason and speech.
+But Fionnuala said, "That may not be, for we may not company with men
+any longer, but abide on the waters of Erinn nine hundred years. But
+we have still our Gaelic speech, and moreover we have the gift of
+uttering sad music, so that no man who hears it thinks aught worth in
+the world save to listen to that music for ever. Do you abide by the
+shore for this night and we shall sing to you."
+
+So Lir and his people listened all night to the singing of the swans,
+nor could they move nor speak till morning, for all the high sorrows
+of the world were in that music, and it plunged them in dreams that
+could not be uttered.
+
+Next day Lir took leave of his children and went on to the palace of
+Bov the Red. Bov reproached him that he had not brought with him his
+children. "Woe is me," said Lir, "it was not I that would not bring
+them; but Aoife there, your own foster-child and their mother's
+sister, put upon them the forms of four snow-white swans, and there
+they are on the Loch of Derryvaragh for all men to see; but they have
+kept still their reason and their human voice and their Gaelic."
+
+Bov the Red started when he heard this, and he knew that what Lir had
+said was true. Fiercely he turned to Aoife, and said, "This treachery
+will be worse, Aoife, for you than for them, for they shall be
+released in the end of time, but thy punishment shall be for ever."
+Then he smote her with a druid wand and she became a Demon of the Air,
+and flew shrieking from the hall, and in that form she abides to this
+day.
+
+[Illustration: "They made an encampment and the swans sang to them"]
+
+As for Bov the Red, he came with his nobles and attendants to the
+shores of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made an encampment, and the
+swans conversed with them and sang to them. And as the thing became
+known, other tribes and clans of the People of Dana would also come
+from every part of Erinn and stay awhile to listen to the swans and
+depart again to their homes; and most of all came their own friends
+and fellow-pupils from the Hill of the White Field. No such music as
+theirs, say the historians of ancient times, ever was heard in Erinn,
+for foes who heard it were at peace, and men stricken with pain or
+sickness felt their ills no more; and the memory of it remained with
+them when they went away, so that a great peace and sweetness and
+gentleness was in the land of Erinn for those three hundred years that
+the swans abode in the waters of Derryvaragh.
+
+But one day Fionnuala said to her brethren, "Do ye know, my dear
+ones, that the end of our time here is come, all but this night only?"
+Then great sorrow and distress overcame them, for in the converse with
+their father and kinsfolk and friends they had half forgotten that
+they were no longer men, and they loved their home on Loch
+Derryvaragh, and feared the angry waves of the cold northern sea. But
+early next day they came to the lough-side to speak with Bov the Red
+and with their father, and to bid them farewell, and Fionnuala sang to
+them her last lament. Then the four swans rose in the air and flew
+northward till they were seen no more, and great was the grief among
+those they left behind; and Bov the Red let it be proclaimed
+throughout the length and breadth of Erin that no man should
+henceforth presume to kill a swan, lest it might chance to be one of
+the children of Lir.
+
+Far different was the dwelling-place which the swans now came to, from
+that which they had known on Loch Derryvaragh. On either side of them,
+to north and south, stretched a wide coast far as the eye could see,
+beset with black rocks and great precipices, and by it ran fiercely
+the salt, bitter tides of an ever-angry sea, cold, grey, and misty;
+and their hearts sank to behold it and to think that there they must
+abide for three hundred years.
+
+Ere long, one night, there came a thick murky tempest upon them, and
+Fionnuala said, "In this black and violent night, my brothers, we may
+be driven apart from each other; let us therefore appoint a
+meeting-place where we may come together again when the tempest is
+overpast." And they settled to meet at the Seal Rock, for this rock
+they had now all learned to know.
+
+By midnight the hurricane descended upon the Straits of Moyle, and the
+waves roared upon the coast with a deafening noise, and thunder
+bellowed from the sky, and lightning was all the light they had. The
+swans were driven apart by the violence of the storm, and when at last
+the wind fell and the seas grew calm once more, Fionnuala found
+herself alone upon the ocean-tide not far from the Seal Rock. And thus
+she made her lament:--
+
+   "Woe is me to be yet alive!
+   My wings are frozen to my sides.
+   Wellnigh has the tempest shattered my heart,
+   And my comely Hugh parted from me!
+
+   "O my beloved ones, my Three,
+   Who slept under the shelter of my feathers,
+   Shall you and I ever meet again
+   Until the dead rise to life?
+
+   "Where is Fiachra, where is Hugh?
+   Where is my fair Conn?
+   Shall I henceforth bear my part alone?
+   Woe is me for this disastrous night!"
+
+Fionnuala remained upon the Seal Rock until the morrow morn, watching
+the tossing waters in all directions around her, until at last she saw
+Conn coming towards her, and his head drooping and feathers drenched
+and disarrayed. Joyfully did the sister welcome him; and ere long,
+behold, Fiachra also approaching them, cold and wet and faint, and the
+speech was frozen in him that not a word he spake could be understood.
+So Fionnuala put her wings about him, and said, "If but Hugh came now,
+how happy should we be!"
+
+In no long time after that they saw Hugh also approaching them across
+the sea, and his head was dry and his feathers fair and unruffled, for
+he had found shelter from the gale. Fionnuala put him under her
+breast, and Conn under her right wing and Fiachra under her left, and
+covered them wholly with her feathers. "O children," she said to them,
+"evil though ye think this night to have been, many such a one shall
+we know from this time forward."
+
+So there the swans continued, suffering cold and misery upon the tides
+of Moyle; and one while they would be upon the coast of Alba and
+another upon the coast of Erinn, but the waters they might not leave.
+At length there came upon them a night of bitter cold and snow such
+as they had never felt before, and Fionnuala sang this lament:--
+
+  "Evil is this life.
+  The cold of this night,
+  The thickness of the snow,
+  The sharpness of the wind--
+
+  "How long have they lain together,
+  Under my soft wings,
+  The waves beating upon us,
+  Conn and Hugh and Fiachra?
+
+  "Aoife has doomed us,
+  Us, the four of us,
+  To-night to this misery--
+  Evil is this life."
+
+Thus for a long time they suffered, till at length there came upon the
+Straits of Moyle a night of January so piercing cold that the like of
+it had never been felt. And the swans were gathered together upon the
+Seal Rock. The waters froze into ice around them, and each of them
+became frozen in his place, so that their feet and feathers clung to
+the rock; and when the day came and they strove to leave the place,
+the skin of their feet and the feathers of their breasts clove to the
+rock, they came naked and wounded away.
+
+"Woe is me, O children of Lir," said Fionnuala, "we are now indeed in
+evil case, for we cannot endure the salt water, yet we may not be away
+from it; and if the salt water gets into our sores we shall perish of
+it." And thus she sang:--
+
+   "To-night we are full of keening;
+   No plumage to cover our bodies;
+   And cold to our tender feet
+   Are the rough rocks all awash.
+
+   "Cruel to us was Aoife,
+   Who played her magic upon us,
+   And drove us out to the ocean,
+   Four wonderful, snow-white swans.
+
+   "Our bath is the frothing brine
+   In the bay by red rocks guarded,
+   For mead at our father's table
+   We drink of the salt blue sea.
+
+   "Three sons and a single daughter--
+   In clefts of the cold rocks dwelling,
+   The hard rocks, cruel to mortals.
+   --We are full of keening to-night."
+
+So they went forth again upon the Straits of Moyle, and the brine was
+grievously sharp and bitter to them, but they could not escape it nor
+shelter themselves from it. Thus they were, till at last their
+feathers grew again and their sores were healed.
+
+On one day it happened that they came to the mouth of the river Bann
+in the north of Erinn, and there they perceived a fair host of
+horsemen riding on white steeds and coming steadily onward from the
+south-west "Do ye know who yon riders are, children of Lir?" asked
+Fionnuala. "We know not," said they, "but it is like they are some
+party of the People of Dana." Then they moved to the margin of the
+land, and the company they had seen came down to meet them; and
+behold, it was Hugh and Fergus, the two sons of Bov the Red, and their
+nobles and attendants with them, who had long been seeking for the
+swans along the coast of the Straits of Moyle.
+
+Most lovingly and joyfully did they greet each other and the swans
+inquired concerning their father Lir, and Bov the Red, and the rest of
+their kinsfolk.
+
+"They are well," said the Danaans; "and at this time they are all
+assembled together in the palace of your father at the Hill of the
+White Field, where they are holding the Festival of the Age of
+Youth.[11] They are happy and gay and have no weariness or trouble,
+save that you are not among them, and that they have not known where
+you were since you left them at Lough Derryvaragh."
+
+   [11] A magic banquet which had the effect of preserving for
+   ever the youth of the People of Dana.
+
+"That is not the tale of our lives," said Fionnuala.
+
+After that the company of the Danaans departed and brought word of the
+swans to Bov the Red and to Lir, who were rejoiced to hear that they
+were living, "for," said they, "the children shall obtain relief in
+the end of time." And the swans went back to the tides of Moyle and
+abode there till their time to be in that place had expired.
+
+When that day had come, Fionnuala declared it to them, and they rose
+up wheeling in the air, and flew westward across Ireland till they
+came to the Bay of Erris, and there they abode as was ordained. Here
+it happened that among those of mortal MEN whose dwellings bordered on
+the bay was a young man of gentle blood, by name Evric, who having
+heard the singing of the swans came down to speak with them, and
+became their friend. After that he would often come to hear their
+music, for it was very sweet to him; and he loved them greatly, and
+they him. All their story they told him, and he it was who set it
+down in order, even as it is here narrated.
+
+Much hardship did they suffer from cold and tempest in the waters of
+the Western Sea, yet not so much as they had to bear by the coasts of
+the ever-stormy Moyle, and they knew that the day of redemption was
+now drawing near. In the end of the time Fionnuala said, "Brothers,
+let us fly to the Hill of the White Field, and see how Lir our father
+and his household are faring." So they arose and set forward on their
+airy journey until they reached the Hill of the White Field, and thus
+it was that they found the place: namely, desolate and thorny before
+them, with nought but green mounds where once were the palaces and
+homes of their kin, and forests of nettles growing over them, and
+never a house nor a hearth. And the four drew closely together and
+lamented aloud at that sight, for they knew that old times and things
+had passed away in Erinn, and they were lonely in a land of strangers,
+where no man lived who could recognise them when they came to their
+human shapes again. They knew not that Lir and their kin of the People
+of Dana yet dwelt invisible in the bright world within the Fairy
+Mounds, for their eyes were holden that they should not see, since
+other things were destined for them than to join the Danaan folk and
+be of the company of the immortal Shee.
+
+So they went back again to the Western Sea until the holy Patrick
+came into Ireland and preached the Faith of the One God and of the
+Christ. But a man of Patrick's men, namely the Saint Mochaovog,[12]
+came to the Island of Inishglory in Erris Bay, and there built himself
+a little church of stone, and spent his life in preaching to the folk
+and in prayer. The first night he came to the island the swans heard
+the sound of his bell ringing at matins on the following morn, and
+they leaped in terror, and the three brethren left Fionnuala and fled
+away. Fionnuala cried to them, "What ails you, beloved brothers?" "We
+know not," said they, "but we have heard a thin and dreadful voice,
+and we cannot tell what it is." "That is the voice of the bell of
+Mochaovog," said Fionnuala, "and it is that bell which shall deliver
+us and drive away our pains, according to the will of God."
+
+   [12] Pronounced Mo-chweev-ogue.
+
+Then the brethren came back and hearkened to the chanting of the
+cleric until matins were performed. "Let us chant our music now," said
+Fionnuala. So they began, and chanted a solemn, slow, sweet, fairy
+song in adoration of the High King of Heaven and of Earth.
+
+Mochaovog heard that, and wondered, and when he saw the swans he spoke
+to them and inquired them. They told him they were the children of
+Lir. "Praised be God for that," said Mochaovog. "Surely it is for your
+sakes that I have come to this island above every other island that is
+in Erinn. Come to land now, and trust in me that your salvation and
+release are at hand."
+
+So they came to land, and dwelt with Mochaovog in his own house, and
+there they kept the canonical hours with him and heard mass. And
+Mochaovog caused a good craftsman to make chains of silver for the
+swans, and put one chain between Fionnuala and Hugh and another
+between Conn and Fiachra; and they were a joy and solace of mind to
+the Saint, and their own woe and pain seemed to them dim and far off
+as a dream.
+
+Now at this time it happened that the King of Connacht was Lairgnen,
+son of Colman, and he was betrothed to Deoca, daughter of the King of
+Munster. And so it was that when Deoca came northward to be wedded to
+Lairgnen she heard the tale of the swans and of their singing, and she
+prayed the king that he would obtain them for her, for she longed to
+possess them. But Lairgnen would not ask them of Mochaovog. Then Deoca
+set out homeward again, and vowed that she would never return to
+Lairgnen till she had the swans; and she came as far as the church of
+Dalua, which is now called Kildaloe, in Clare. Then Lairgnen sent
+messengers for the birds to Mochaovog, but he would not give them up.
+
+At this Lairgnen was very wroth, and he went himself to Mochaovog, and
+he found the cleric and the four birds at the altar. But Lairgnen
+seized upon the birds by their silver chains, two in each hand dragged
+them away to the place where Deoca was; and Mochaovog followed them.
+But when they came to Deoca and she had laid her hands upon the
+birds, behold, their covering of feathers fell off and in their places
+were three shrunken and feeble old men and one lean and withered old
+woman, fleshless and bloodless from extreme old age. And Lairgnen was
+struck with amazement and fear, and went out from that place.
+
+Then Fionnuala said to Mochaovog, "Come now and baptize us quickly,
+for our end is near. And if you are grieved at parting from us, know
+that also to us it is a grief. Do thou make our grave when we are
+dead, and place Conn at my right side and Fiachra at my left, and Hugh
+before my face, for thus they were wont to be when I sheltered them on
+many a winter night by the tides of Moyle."
+
+So Mochaovog baptized the three brethren and their sister; and shortly
+afterwards they found peace and death, and they were buried even as
+Fionnuala had said. And over their tomb a stone was raised, and their
+names and lineage graved on it in branching Ogham[13]; and lamentation
+and prayers were made for them, and their souls won to heaven.
+
+   [13] See p. 133, _note_.
+
+But Mochaovog was sorrowful, and grieved after them so long as he
+lived on earth.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The Quest of the Sons of Turenn
+
+
+Long ago, when the people of Dana yet held lordship in Erinn, they
+were sorely afflicted by hordes of sea-rovers named Fomorians who used
+to harry the country and carry off youths and maidens into captivity.
+They also imposed cruel and extortionate taxes upon the people, for
+every kneading trough, and every quern for grinding corn, and every
+flagstone for baking bread had to pay its tax. And an ounce of gold
+was paid as a poll-tax for every man, and if any man would not or
+could not pay, his nose was cut off. Under this tyranny the whole
+country groaned, but they had none who was able to band them together
+and to lead them in battle against their oppressors.
+
+Now before this it happened that one of the lords of the Danaans named
+Kian had married with Ethlinn, daughter of Balor, a princess of the
+Fomorians. They had a son named Lugh Lamfada, or Lugh of the Long Arm,
+who grew up into a youth of surpassing beauty and strength. And if his
+body was noble and mighty, no less so was his mind, for lordship and
+authority grew to him by the gift of the Immortals, and whatever he
+purposed that would he perform, whatever it might cost in time or
+toil, in tears or in blood. Now this Lugh was not brought up in Erinn
+but in a far-off isle of the western sea, where the sea-god Mananan
+and the other Immortals nurtured and taught him, and made him fit
+alike for warfare or for sovranty, when his day should come to work
+their will on earth. Hither in due time came the report of the
+grievous and dishonouring oppression wrought by the Fomorians upon the
+people of Dana, and that report was heard by Lugh. Then Lugh said to
+his tutors "It were a worthy deed to rescue my father and the people
+of Erinn from this tyranny; let me go thither and attempt it." And
+they said to him, "Go, and blessing and victory be with thee." So Lugh
+armed himself and mounted his fairy steed, and called his friends and
+foster-brothers about him, and across the bright and heaving surface
+of the waters they rode like the wind, until they took land in Erinn.
+
+Now the chiefs of the Danaan folk were assembled upon the Hill of
+Usnach, which is upon the western side of Tara in Meath, in order to
+meet there the stewards of the Fomorians and to pay them their
+tribute. As they awaited the arrival of the Fomorians they became
+aware of a company on horseback, coming from the west, before whom
+rode a young man who seemed to command them all, and whose countenance
+was as radiant as the sun upon a dry summer's day, so that the Danaans
+could scarcely gaze upon it. He rode upon a white horse and was armed
+with a sword, and on his head was a helmet set with precious stones.
+The Danaan folk welcomed him as he came among them, and asked him of
+his name and his business among them. As they were thus talking
+another band drew near, numbering nine times nine persons, who were
+the stewards of the Fomorians coming to demand their tribute. They
+were men of a fierce and swarthy countenance, and as they came
+haughtily and arrogantly forward, the Danaans all rose up to do them
+honour. Then Lugh said:
+
+"Why do ye rise up before that grim and ill-looking band and not
+before us?"
+
+Said the King of Erinn, "We needs must do so, for if they saw but a
+child of a month old sitting down when they came near they would hold
+it cause enough to attack and slay us."
+
+"I am greatly minded to slay them," said Lugh; and he repeated it,
+"very greatly minded."
+
+"That would be bad for us," said the King, "for our death and
+destruction would surely follow."
+
+"Ye are too long under oppression," said Lugh, and gave the word for
+onset. So he and his comrades rushed upon the Fomorians, and in a
+moment the hillside rang with blows and with the shouting of warriors.
+In no long time all of the Fomorians were slain save nine men, and
+these were taken alive and brought before Lugh.
+
+"Ye also should be slain," said Lugh, "but that I am minded to send
+you as ambassadors to your King. Tell him that he may seek homage and
+tribute where he will henceforth, but Ireland will pay him none for
+ever."
+
+Then the Fomorians went northwards away, and the people of Dana made
+them ready for war, and made Lugh their captain and war-lord, for the
+sight of his face heartened them, and made them strong, and they
+marvelled that they had endured their slavery so long.
+
+In the meantime word was brought to Balor of the Mighty Blows, King of
+the Fomorians, and to his queen Kethlinn of the Twisted Teeth, of the
+shame and destruction that had been done to their stewards, and they
+assembled a great host of the sea-rovers and manned their war-ships,
+and the Northern Sea was white with the foam of their oarblades as
+they swept down upon the shores of Erinn. And Balor commanded them,
+saying, "When ye have utterly destroyed and subdued the people of
+Dana, then make fast your ships with cables to the land of Erinn, and
+tow it here to the north of us into the region of ice and snow, and it
+shall trouble us no longer." So the host of Balor took land by the
+Falls of Dara[14] and began plundering and devastating the province of
+Connacht.
+
+   [14] Ballysodare = the Town of the Falls of Dara, in Co. Sligo.
+
+Then Lugh sent messengers abroad to bring his host together, and
+among them was his own father, Kian, son of Canta. And as Kian went
+northwards on his errand to rouse the Ulster men, and was now come to
+the plain of Murthemny near by Dundealga,[15] he saw three warriors
+armed and riding across the plain. Now these three were the sons of
+Turenn, by name Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba. And there was an
+ancient blood-feud between the house of Canta and the house of Turenn,
+so that they never met without bloodshed.
+
+   [15] Dundalk.
+
+Then Kian thought to himself, "If my brothers Cu and Kethan were here
+there might be a pretty fight, but as they are three to one I would do
+better to fly." Now there was a herd of wild swine near by; and Kian
+changed himself by druidic sorceries into a wild pig and fell to
+rooting up the earth along with the others.
+
+When the sons of Turenn came up to the herd, Brian said, "Brothers,
+did ye see the warrior wh' just now was journeying across the plain?"
+
+"We saw him," said they.
+
+"What is become of him?" said Brian.
+
+"Truly, we cannot tell," said the brothers.
+
+"It is good watch ye keep in time of war!" said Brian; "but I know
+what has taken him out of our sight, for he struck himself with a
+magic wand, and changed himself into the form of one of yonder swine,
+and he is rooting the earth among them now. Wherefore," said Brian, "I
+deem that he is no friend to us."
+
+"If so, we have no help for it," said they, "for the herd belongs to
+some man of the Danaans; and even if we set to and begin to kill the
+swine, the pig of druidism might be the very one to escape."
+
+"Have ye learned so little in your place of studies," said Brian,
+"that ye cannot distinguish a druidic beast from a natural beast?" And
+with that he smote his two brothers with a magic wand, and changed
+them into two slender, fleet hounds, and they darted in among the
+herd. Then all the herd scattered and fled, but the hounds separated
+the druidic pig and chased it towards a wood where Brian awaited it.
+As it passed, Brian flung his spear, and it pierced the chest of the
+pig and brought it down. The pig screamed, "Evil have you done to cast
+at me."
+
+Brian said, "That hath the sound of human speech!"
+
+"I am in truth a man," said the pig, "and I am Kian, son of Canta, and
+I pray you show me mercy."
+
+"That will we," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "and sorry are we for what
+has happened."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but I swear by the Wind and the Sun that if thou
+hadst seven lives I would take them all."
+
+"Grant me a favour then," said Kian.
+
+"We shall grant it," said Brian.
+
+"Let me," said Kian, "return into my own form that I may die in the
+shape of a man."
+
+"I had liefer kill a man than a pig," said Brian. Then Kian became a
+man again and stood before them, the blood trickling from his breast.
+
+"I have outwitted you now," cried he, "for if ye had killed a pig ye
+would have paid a pig's eric,[16] but now ye shall pay the eric of a
+man. Never was greater eric in the land of Erinn than that which ye
+shall pay; and I swear that the very weapons with which ye slay me
+shall tell the tale to the avenger of blood."
+
+   [16] Blood-fine.
+
+"Then you shall be slain with no weapons at all," said Brian; and they
+picked up the stones on the Plain of Murthemny and rained them upon
+him till he was all one wound, and he died. So they buried him as
+deep as the height of a man, and went their way to join the host of
+Lugh.
+
+When the host was assembled, Lugh led them into Connacht and smote the
+Fomorians and drove them to their ships, but of this the tale tells
+not here. But when the fight was done, Lugh asked of his comrades if
+they had seen his father in the fight and how it fared with him. They
+said they had not seen him. Then Lugh made search among the dead, and
+they found not Kian there. "Were Kian alive he would be here," said
+Lugh, "and I swear by the Wind and the Sun that I will not eat or
+drink till I know what has befallen him."
+
+On their return the Danaan host passed by the Plain of Murthemny, and
+when they came near the place of the murder the stones cried aloud to
+Lugh. And Lugh listened, and they told him of the deed of the sons of
+Turenn. Then Lugh searched for the place of a new grave, and when he
+had found it he caused it to be dug, and the body of his father was
+raised up, and Lugh saw that it was but a litter of wounds. And he
+cried out: "O wicked and horrible deed!" and he kissed his father and
+said, "I am sick from this sight, my eyes are blind from it, my ears
+are deaf from it, my heart stands still from it. Ye gods that I adore,
+why was I not here when this crime was done? a man of the children of
+Dana slain by his fellows." And he lamented long and bitterly. Then
+Kian was again laid in his grave, and a mound was heaped over it and a
+pillar-stone set thereon and his name written in Ogham, and a dirge
+was sung for him.
+
+After that Lugh departed to Tara, to the Court of the High King, and
+he charged his people to say nothing of what had happened until he
+himself had made it known.
+
+When he reached Tara with his victorious host the King placed Lugh at
+his own right hand before all the princes and lords of the Danaan
+folk. Lugh looked round about him, and saw the sons of Turenn sitting
+among the assembly; and they were among the best and strongest and the
+handsomest of those who were present at that time; nor had any borne
+themselves better in the fight with the sea-rovers. Then Lugh asked of
+the King that the chain of silence might be shaken; and the assembly
+heard it, and gave their attention to Lugh. And Lugh said:
+
+"O King, and ye princes of the People of Dana, I ask what vengeance
+would each of you exact upon a man who had foully murdered your
+father?"
+
+Then they were all astonished, and the King answered and said:
+
+"Surely it is not the father of Lugh Lamfada who has thus been slain?"
+
+"Thou hast said it," said Lugh, "and those who did the deed are
+listening to me now, and know it better than I."
+
+The King said, "Not in one day would I slay the murderer of my father,
+but I would tear from him a limb day by day till he were dead."
+
+And so spake all the lords of the Danaans, and the Sons of Turenn
+among the rest.
+
+"They have sentenced themselves, the murderers of my father," said
+Lugh. "Nevertheless I shall accept an eric from them, and if they will
+pay it, it shall be well; but if not, I shall not break the peace of
+the King's Assembly and of his sanctuary, but let them beware how they
+leave the Hall Tara until they have made me satisfaction."
+
+"Had I slain your father," said the High King, "glad should I be to
+have an eric accepted for his blood."
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn whispered among themselves. "It is to us that
+Lugh is speaking," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "let us confess and have
+the eric assessed upon us, for he has got knowledge of our deed."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but he may be seeking for an open confession, and
+then perchance he would not accept an eric."
+
+But the two brethren said to Brian, "Do thou confess because thou art
+the eldest, or if thou do not, then we shall."
+
+So Brian, son of Turenn, rose up and said to Lugh: "It is to us thou
+hast spoken, Lugh, since thou knowest there is enmity of old time
+between our houses; and if thou wilt have it that we have slain thy
+father, then declare our eric and we shall pay it."
+
+"I will take an eric from you," said Lugh, "and if it seem too great,
+I will remit a portion of it."
+
+"Declare it, then," said the Sons of Turenn.
+
+"This it is," said Lugh.
+
+"Three apples.
+
+"The skin of a pig.
+
+"A spear.
+
+"Two steeds and a chariot.
+
+"Seven swine.
+
+"A whelp of a dog.
+
+"A cooking spit.
+
+"Three shouts on a hill."
+
+"We would not consider heavy hundreds or thousands of these things,"
+said the Sons of Turenn, "but we misdoubt thou hast some secret
+purpose against us."
+
+"I deem it no small eric," said Lugh, "and I call to witness the High
+King and lords of the Danaans that I shall ask no more; and do ye on
+your side give me guarantees for the fulfilment of it."
+
+So the High King and the lords of the Danaans entered into bonds with
+Lugh and with the Sons of Turenn that the eric should be paid and
+should wipe out the blood of Kian.
+
+"Now," said Lugh, "it is better forme to give you fuller knowledge of
+the eric. The three apples that I have demanded of you are the apples
+that grow in the garden of the Hesperides, in the east of the world,
+and none but these will do. Thus it is with them: they are the colour
+of bright gold, and as large as the head of a month-old child; the
+taste of them is like honey; if he who eats them has any running sore
+or evil disease it is healed by them; they may be eaten and eaten and
+never be less. I doubt, O young heroes, if ye will get these apples,
+for those who guard them know well an ancient prophecy that one day
+three knights from the western world would come to attempt them.
+
+"As for the skin of the pig, that is a treasure of Tuish, the King of
+Greece. If it be laid upon a wounded man it will make him whole and
+well, if only it overtake the breath of life in him. And do ye know
+what is the spear that I demanded?"
+
+"We do not," said they.
+
+"It is the poisoned spear of Peisear, the King of Persia, and so
+fierce is the spirit of war in it that it must be kept in a pot of
+soporific herbs or it would fly out raging for death. And do ye know
+what are the two horses and the chariot ye must get?"
+
+"We do not know," said they.
+
+"The steeds and the chariot belong to Dobar, King of Sicily. They are
+magic steeds and can go indifferently over land and sea, nor can they
+be killed by any weapon unless they be torn in pieces and their bones
+cannot be found. And the seven pigs are the swine of Asal, King of the
+Golden Pillars, which may be slain and eaten every night and the next
+morning they are alive again.
+
+"And the hound-whelp I asked of you is the whelp of the King of
+Iorroway, that can catch and slay any beast in the world; hard it is
+to get possession of that whelp.
+
+"The cooking spit is one of the spits that the fairy women of the
+Island of Finchory have in their kitchen.
+
+"And the hill on which ye must give three shouts is the hill where
+dwells Mochaen in the north of Lochlann. Now Mochaen and his sons have
+it as a sacred ordinance that they permit not any man to raise a shout
+upon their hill. With him it was that my father was trained to arms,
+and if I forgave ye his death, yet would Mochaen not forgive it.
+
+"And now ye know the eric which ye have to pay for the slaying of
+Kian, son of Canta."
+
+Astonishment and despair overcame the Sons of Turenn when they learned
+the meaning of the eric of Lugh, and they went home to tell the
+tidings to their father.
+
+"This is an evil tale," said Turenn; "I doubt but death and doom shall
+come from your seeking of that eric, and it is but right they should.
+Yet it may be that ye shall obtain the eric if Lugh or Mananan will
+help you to it. Go now to Lugh, and ask him for the loan of the fairy
+steed of Mananan, which was given him to ride over the sea into Erinn.
+He will refuse you, for he will say that the steed is but lent to him
+and he may not make a loan of a loan. Then ask him for the loan of
+Ocean Sweeper, which is the magic boat of Mananan, and that he must
+give, for it is a sacred ordinance with Lugh not to refuse a second
+petition."
+
+So they went to Lugh, and it all fell out as Turenn had told them, and
+they went back to Turenn.
+
+"Ye have done something towards the eric," said Turenn, "but not much.
+Yet Lugh would be well pleased that ye brought him whatever might
+serve him when the Fomorians come to the battle again, and well
+pleased would he be that ye might get your death in bringing it. Go
+now, my sons, and blessing and victory be with you."
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn went down to the harbour on the Boyne river
+where the Boat of Mananan was, and Ethne their sister with them. And
+when they reached the place, Ethne broke into lamentations and
+weeping; but Brian said, "Weep not, dear sister, but let us go forth
+gaily to great deeds. Better a hundred deaths in the quest of honour
+than to live and die as cowards and sluggards." But Ethne said, "ye
+are banished from Erinn--never was there a sadder deed." Then they
+put forth from the river-mouth of the Boyne and soon the fair coasts
+of Erinn faded out of sight. "And now," said they among themselves,
+"what course shall we steer?"
+
+[Illustration: "'Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of
+the Hesperides'"]
+
+"No need to steer the Boat of Mananan," said Brian; and he whispered
+to the Boat, "Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the
+Hesperides"; and the spirit of the Boat heard him and it leaped
+eagerly forward, lifting and dipping over the rollers and throwing up
+an arch of spray each side of its bows wherein sat a rainbow when the
+sun shone upon it; and so in no long time they drew nigh to the coast
+where was the far-famed garden of the Golden Apples.
+
+"And now, how shall we set about the capture of the apples?" said
+Brian.
+
+"Draw sword and fight for them," said Iuchar and Iucharba, "and if we
+are the stronger, we shall win them, and if not, we shall fall, as
+fall we surely must ere the eric for Kian be paid."
+
+"Nay," said Brian, "but whether we live or die, let not men say of us
+that we went blind and headlong to our tasks, but rather that we made
+the head help the hand, and that we deserved to win even though we
+lost. Now my counsel is that we approach the garden in the shape of
+three hawks, strong of wing, and that we hover about until the Wardens
+of the Tree have spent all their darts and javelins in casting at us,
+and then let us swoop down suddenly and bear off each of us an apple
+if we may."
+
+So it was agreed; and Brian struck himself and each of the brothers
+with a druid wand, and they became three beautiful, fierce, and
+strong-winged hawks. When the Wardens perceived them, they shouted and
+threw showers of arrows and darts at them, but the hawks evaded all of
+these until the missiles were spent, and then seized each an apple in
+his talons. But Brian seized two, for he took one in his beak as well.
+Then they flew as swiftly as they might to the shore where they had
+left their boat. Now the King of that garden had three fair daughters,
+to whom the apples and the garden were very dear, and he transformed
+the maidens into three griffins, who pursued the hawks. And the
+griffins threw darts of fire, as it were lightning, at the hawks.
+
+"Brian!" then cried Iuchar and his brother, "we are being burnt by
+these darts--we are lost unless we can escape them."
+
+On this, Brian changed himself and his brethren into three swans, and
+they plunged into the sea, and the burning darts were quenched. Then
+the griffins gave over the chase, and the Sons of Turenn made for
+their boat, and they embarked with the four apples. Thus their first
+quest was ended.
+
+After that they resolved to seek the pigskin from the King of Greece,
+and they debated how they should come before him. "Let us," said
+Brian, "assume the character and garb of poets and men of learning,
+for such are wont to come from Ireland and to travel foreign lands,
+and in that character shall the Greeks receive us best, for such men
+have honour among them." "It is well said," replied the brothers, "yet
+we have no poems in our heads, and how to compose one we know not."
+
+Howbeit they dressed their hair in the fashion of the poets of Erinn,
+and went up to the palace of Tuish the King. The doorkeeper asked of
+them who they were, and what was their business.
+
+"We are bards from Ireland," they said, "and we have come with a poem
+to the King."
+
+"Let them be admitted," said the King, when the doorkeeper brought him
+that tale; "they have doubtless come thus far to seek a powerful
+patron."
+
+So Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba came in and were made welcome, and
+were entertained, and then the minstrels of the King of Greece chanted
+the lays of that country before them. After that came the turn of the
+stranger bards, and Brian asked his brethren if they had anything to
+recite.
+
+"We have not," said they; "we know but one art--to take what we want
+by the strong hand if we may, and if we may not, to die fighting."
+
+"That is a difficult art too," said Brian; "let us see how we thrive
+with the poetry."
+
+So he rose up and recited this lay:--
+
+   "Mighty is thy fame, O King,
+   Towering like a giant oak;
+   For my song I ask no thing
+   Save a pigskin for a cloak.
+
+   "When a neighbour with his friend
+   Quarrels, they are ear to ear;
+   Who on us their store shall spend
+   Shall be richer than they were.
+
+   "Armies of the storming wind--
+   Raging seas, the sword's fell stroke--
+   Thou hast nothing to my mind
+   Save thy pigskin for a cloak."
+
+"That is a very good poem," said the King, "but one word of its
+meaning I do not understand."
+
+"I will interpret it for you," said Brian:--
+
+  "Mighty is thy fame, O King,
+  Towering like a giant oak."
+
+"That is to say, as the oak surpasses all the other trees of the
+forest, so do you surpass all the kings of the world in goodness, in
+nobleness, and in liberality.
+
+  "A pigskin for a cloak."
+
+"That is the skin of the pig of Tuish which I would fain receive as
+the reward for my lay."
+
+   "When a neighbour with his friend
+   Quarrels, they are ear to ear."
+
+"That is to signify that you and I shall be about each other's ears
+over the skin, unless you are willing to give it to me. Such is the
+sense of my poem," said Brian, son of Turenn.
+
+"I would praise your poem more," said the King, "if there were not so
+much about my pigskin in it. Little sense have you, O man of poetry,
+to make that request of me, for not to all the poets, scholars, and
+lords of the world would I give that skin of my own free will. But
+what I will do is this--I will give the full of that skin of red gold
+thrice over in reward for your poem."
+
+"Thanks be to you," said Brian, "for that. I knew that I asked too
+much, but I knew also thou wouldst redeem the skin amply and
+generously. And now let the gold be duly measured out in it, for
+greedy am I, and I will not abate an ounce of it."
+
+The servants of the King were then sent with Brian and his brothers to
+the King's treasure-chamber to measure out the gold. As they did so,
+Brian suddenly snatched the skin from the hands of him who held it,
+and swiftly wrapped it round his body. Then the three brothers drew
+sword and made for the door, and a great fight arose in the King's
+palace. But they hewed and thrust manfully on every side of them, and
+though sorely wounded they fought their way through and escaped to
+the shore, and drove their boat out to sea, when the skin of the magic
+pig quickly made them whole and sound again. And thus the second quest
+of the Sons of Turenn had its end.
+
+"Let us now," said Brian, "go to seek the spear of the King of
+Persia."
+
+"In what manner of guise shall we go before the King of Persia?" said
+his brothers.
+
+"As we did before the King of Greece," said Brian.
+
+"That guise served us well with the King of Greece," replied they;
+"nevertheless, O Brian, this business of professing to be poets, when
+we are but swordsmen, is painful to us."
+
+However, they dressed their hair in the manner of poets and went up
+boldly to the palace of King Peisear of Persia, saying, as before,
+that they were wandering bards from Ireland who had a poem to recite
+before the King; and as they passed through the courtyard they marked
+the spear drowsing in its pot of sleepy herbs. They were made welcome,
+and after listening to the lays of the King's minstrel, Brian rose and
+sang:--
+
+   "'Tis little Peisear cares for spears,
+   Since armies, when his face they see,
+   All overcome with panic fears
+   Without a wound they turn and flee.
+
+   "The Yew is monarch of the wood,
+   No other tree disputes its claim.
+   The shining shaft in venom stewed
+   Flies fiercely forth to kill and maim."
+
+"'Tis a very good poem," said the King, "but, O bard from Erinn, I do
+not understand your reference to my spear."
+
+"It is merely this," replied Brian, "that I would like your spear as a
+reward for my poem."
+
+Then the King stared at Brian, and his beard bristled with anger, and
+he said, "Never was a greater reward paid for any poem than not to
+adjudge you guilty of instant death for your request."
+
+Then Brian flung at the king the fourth golden apple which he had
+taken from the Garden of the Hesperides, and it dashed out his brains.
+Immediately the brothers all drew sword and made for the courtyard.
+Here they seized the magic spear, and with it and with their swords
+they fought their way clear, not without many wounds, and escaped to
+their boat. And thus ended the third quest of the Sons of Turenn.
+
+Now having come safely and victoriously through so many straits and
+perils, they began to be merry and hoped that all the eric might yet
+be paid. So they sailed away with high hearts to the Island of Sicily,
+to get the two horses and the chariot of the King, and the Boat of
+Mananan bore them swiftly and well.
+
+Having arrived here, they debated among themselves as to how they
+should proceed; and they agreed to present themselves as Irish
+mercenary soldiers--for such were wont in those days to take service
+with foreign kings--until they should learn where the horses and the
+chariot were kept, and how they should come at them. Then they went
+forward, and found the King and his lords in the palace garden taking
+the air.
+
+The Sons of Turenn then paid homage to him, and he asked them of their
+business.
+
+"We are Irish mercenary soldiers," they said, "seeking our wages from
+the kings of the world." "Are ye willing to take service with me?"
+said the King. "We are," said they, "and to that end are we come."
+
+Then their contract of military service was made, and they remained at
+the King's court for a month and a fortnight, and did not in all that
+time come to see the steeds or the chariot. At last Brian said,
+
+"Things are going ill with us, my brethren, in that we know no more at
+this day of the steeds or of the chariot than when we first arrived at
+this place."
+
+"What shall we do, then?" said they.
+
+"Let us do this," said Brian. "Let us gird on our arms and all our
+marching array, and tell the King that we shall quit his service
+unless he show us the chariot."
+
+And so they did; and the King said, "To-morrow shall be a gathering
+and parade of all my host, and the chariot shall be there, and ye
+shall see it if ye have a mind."
+
+So the next day the steeds were yoked and the chariot was driven round
+a great plain before the King and his lords. Now these steeds could
+run as well on sea as on dry land, and they were swifter than the
+winds of March. As the chariot came round the second time, Brian and
+his brothers seized the horses' heads, and Brian took the charioteer
+by the foot and flung him out over the rail, and they all leaped into
+the chariot and drove away. Such was the swiftness of their driving
+that they were out of sight ere the King and his men knew rightly
+what had befallen. And thus ended the fourth quest of the Sons of
+Turenn.
+
+Next they betook themselves to the court of Asal, King of the Golden
+Pillars, to get the seven swine which might be eaten every night and
+they would be whole and well on the morrow morn.
+
+But it had now been noised about every country that three young heroes
+from Erinn were plundering the kings of the world of their treasures
+in payment of a mighty eric; and when they arrived at the Land of the
+Golden Pillars they found the harbour guarded and a strait watch kept,
+that no one who might resemble the Sons of Turenn should enter.
+
+But Asal the King came to the harbour-mouth and spoke with the heroes,
+for he was desirous to see those who had done the great deeds that he
+had heard of. He asked them if it were true that they had done such
+things, and why. Then Brian told him the story of the mighty eric
+which had been laid upon them, and what they had done and suffered in
+fulfilling it. "Why," said King Asal, "have ye now come to my
+country?"
+
+"For the seven swine," said Brian, "to take them with us as a part of
+that eric."
+
+"How do you mean to get them?" asked the King.
+
+"With your goodwill," replied Brian, "if so it may be, and to pay you
+therefore with all the wealth we now have, which is thanks and love,
+and to stand by your side hereafter in any strait or quarrel you may
+enter into. But if you will not grant us the swine, and we may not be
+quit of our eric without them, we shall even take them as we may, and
+as we have beforetime taken mighty treasures from mighty kings."
+
+Then King Asal went into counsel with his lords, and he advised that
+the swine be given to the Sons of Turenn, partly for that he was moved
+with their desperate plight and the hardihood they had shown, and
+partly that they might get them whether or no. To this they all
+agreed, and the Sons of Turenn were invited to come ashore, where they
+were courteously and hospitably entertained in the King's palace. On
+the morrow the pigs were given to them, and great was their gladness,
+for never before had they won a treasure without toil and blood. And
+they vowed that, if they should live, the name of Asal should be made
+by them a great and shining name, for his compassion and generosity
+which he had shown them. This, then, was the fifth quest of the Sons
+of Turenn.
+
+"And whither do ye voyage now?" said Asal to them.
+
+"We go," said they, "to Iorroway for the hound's whelp which is
+there."
+
+"Take me with you, then," said Asal, "for the King of Iorroway is
+husband to my daughter, and I may prevail upon him to grant you the
+hound without combat."
+
+So the King's ship was manned and provisioned, and the Sons of Turenn
+laid up their treasures in the Boat of Mananan, and they all sailed
+joyfully forth to the pleasant kingdom of Iorroway.
+
+But here, too, they found all the coasts and harbours guarded, and
+entrance was forbidden them. Then Asal declared who he was, and him
+they allowed to land, and he journeyed to where his son-in-law, the
+King of Iorroway, was. To him Asal related the whole story of the sons
+of Turenn, and why they were come to that kingdom.
+
+"Thou wert a fool," said the King of Iorroway, "to have come on such a
+mission. There are no three heroes in the world to whom the Immortals
+have granted such grace that they should get my hound either by favour
+or by fight."
+
+"That is not a good word," said Asal, "for the treasures they now
+possess have made them yet stronger than they were, and these they won
+in the teeth of kings as strong as thou." And much more he said to him
+to persuade him to yield up the hound, but in vain. So Asal took his
+way back to the haven where the Sons of Turenn lay, and told them his
+tidings.
+
+Then the Sons of Turenn seized the magic spear, and the pigskin, and
+with a rush like that of three eagles descending from a high cliff
+upon a lamb-fold they burst upon the guards of the King of Iorroway.
+Fierce and fell was the combat that ensued, and many times the
+brothers were driven apart, and all but overborne by the throng of
+their foes. But at last Brian perceived where the King of Iorroway was
+directing the fight, and he cut his way to him, and having smitten him
+to the ground, he bound him and carried him out of the press to the
+haven-side where Asal was.
+
+"There," he said, "is your son-in-law for you Asal, and I swear by my
+sword that I had more easily killed him thrice than once to bring him
+thus bound to you."
+
+"That is very like," said Asal; "but now hold him to ransom."
+
+So the people of Iorroway gave the hound to the Sons of Turenn as a
+ransom for their King, and the King was released, and friendship and
+alliance were made between them. And with joyful hearts the Sons of
+Turenn bade farewell to the King of Iorroway and to Asal, and departed
+on their way. Thus was the sixth of their quests fulfilled.
+
+Now Lugh Lamfada desired to know how the Sons of Turenn had fared, and
+whether they had got any portion of the great eric that might be
+serviceable to him when the Fomorians should return for one more
+struggle. And by sorcery and divination it was revealed to him how
+they had thriven, and that nought remained to be won save the
+cooking-spit of the sea-nymphs, and to give the three shouts upon the
+hill. Lugh then by druidic art caused a spell of oblivion and
+forgetfulness to descend upon the Sons of Turenn, and put into their
+hearts withal a yearning and passion to return to their native land of
+Erinn. They forgot, therefore, that a portion of the eric was still to
+win, and they bade the Boat of Mananan bear them home with their
+treasures, for they deemed that they should now quit them of all their
+debt for the blood of Kian and live free in their father's home,
+having done such things and won such fame as no three brothers had
+ever done since the world began.
+
+At the Brugh of Boyne, where they had started on their quest, their
+boat came ashore again, and as they landed they wept for joy, and
+falling on their knees they kissed the green sod of Erinn. Then they
+took up their treasures and journeyed to Ben Edar,[17] where the High
+King of Ireland, and Lugh with him, were holding an Assembly of the
+People of Dana. But when Lugh heard that they were on their way he put
+on his cloak of invisibility and withdrew privily to Tara.
+
+   [17] The Hill of Howth.
+
+When the brethren arrived at Ben Edar, the High King of the lords of
+the Danaans gave them welcome and applause, for all were rejoiced that
+the stain of ancient feud and bloodshed should be wiped out, and that
+the Children of Dana should be at peace within their borders. Then
+they sought for Lugh to deliver over the eric, but he was not to be
+found. And Brian said, "He has gone to Tara to avoid us, having heard
+that we were coming with our treasures and weapons of war."
+
+Word was then sent to Lugh at Tara that the Sons of Turenn were at Ben
+Edar, and the eric with them.
+
+"Let them pay it over to the High King," said Lugh.
+
+So it was done; and when Lugh had tidings that the High King had the
+eric, he returned to Ben Edar.
+
+Then the eric was laid before him, and Brian said, "Is the debt paid,
+O Lugh, son of Kian?"
+
+Lugh said, "Truly there is here the price of any man's death; but it
+is not lawful to give a quittance for an eric that is not complete.
+Where is the cooking-spit from the Island of Finchory? and have ye
+given the three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen?"
+
+At this word Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba fell prone upon the
+ground, and were speechless awhile from grief and dismay. After a
+while they left the Assembly like broken men, with hanging heads and
+with heavy steps, and betook themselves to Dun Turenn, where they
+found their father, and they told him all that had befallen them since
+they had parted with him and set forth on the Quest. Thus they passed
+the night in gloom and evil forebodings, and on the morrow they went
+down once more to the place where the Boat of Mananan was moored. And
+Ethne their sister accompanied them, wailing and lamenting, but no
+words of cheer had they now to say to her, for now they began to
+comprehend that a mightier and a craftier mind had caught them in the
+net of fate. And whereas they had deemed themselves heroes and victors
+in the most glorious quest whereof the earth had record, they now knew
+that they were but as arrows in the hands of a laughing archer, who
+shoots one at a stag and one at the heart of a foe, and one, it may
+be, in sheer wantonness, and to try his bow, over a cliff edge into
+the sea.
+
+[Illustration: "There dwelt the red-haired ocean-nymphs"]
+
+However, they put forth in their magic boat, but in no wise could they
+direct it to the Isle of Finchory, and a quarter of a year they
+traversed the seaways and never could get tidings of that island. At
+last Brian fashioned for himself by magic art a water-dress, with a
+helmet of crystal, and into the depths of the sea he plunged. Here,
+the story tells, he searched hither and thither for a fortnight, till
+at last he found that island, which was an island indeed with the sea
+over it and around it and beneath it. There dwelt the red-haired
+ocean-nymphs in glittering palaces among the sea-flowers, and they
+wrought fair embroidery with gold and jewels, and sang, as they
+wrought, a fairy music like the chiming of silver bells. Three fifties
+of them sat or played in their great hall as Brian entered, and they
+gazed on him but spoke no word. Then Brian strode to the wide hearth,
+and without a word he seized from it a spit that was made of beaten
+gold, and turned again to go. But at that the laughter of the
+sea-maidens rippled through the hall and one of them said:
+
+"Thou art a bold man, Brian, and bolder than thou knowest; for if
+thy two brothers were here, the weakest of us could vanquish all the
+three. Nevertheless, take the spit for thy daring; we had never
+granted it for thy prayers."
+
+So Brian thanked them and bade farewell, and he rose to the surface of
+the water. Ere long his brethren perceived him as he shouldered the
+waves on the bosom of the deep, and they sailed to where he was and
+took him on board. And thus ended the quest for the seventh portion of
+the eric of Kian.
+
+After that their hopes revived a little, and they set sail for the
+land of Lochlann, in which was the Hill of Mochaen. When they had
+arrived at the hill Mochaen came out to meet them with his three sons,
+Corc and Conn and Hugh; nor did the Sons of Turenn ever behold a band
+of grimmer and mightier warriors than those four.
+
+"What seek ye here?" asked Mochaen of them They told him that it had
+been laid upon them to give three shouts upon the hill.
+
+"It hath been laid upon me," said Mochaen, "to prevent this thing."
+
+Then Brian and Mochaen drew sword and fell furiously upon each other,
+and their fighting was like that of two hungry lions or two wild
+bulls, until at last Brian drove his sword into the throat of Mochaen,
+and he died.
+
+With that the Sons of Mochaen and the Sons of Turenn rushed fiercely
+upon each other. Long and sore was the strife that they had, and the
+blood that fell made red the grassy place wherein they fought. Not one
+of them but received wounds that pierced him through and through, and
+that heroes of less hardihood had died of a score of times. But in the
+end the sons of Mochaen fell, and Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba lay over
+them in a swoon like death.
+
+After a while Brian's senses came back to him, and he said, "Do ye
+live, dear brothers, or how is it with you?" "We are as good as dead,"
+said they; "let us be."
+
+"Arise," then said Brian, "for truly I feel death coming swiftly upon
+us, and we have yet to give the three shouts upon the hill."
+
+"We cannot stir," said Iuchar and Iucharba. Then Brian rose to his
+knees and to his feet, and he lifted up his two brothers while the
+blood of all three streamed down to their feet, and they raised their
+voices as best they might, and gave three hoarse cries upon the Hill
+of Mochaen. And thus was the last of the epic fulfilled.
+
+Then they bound up their wounds, and Brian placed himself between the
+two brothers, and slowly and painfully they made their way to the
+boat, and put out to sea for Ireland. And as they lay in the stupor of
+faintness in the boat, one murmured to himself, "I see the Cape of Ben
+Edar and the coast of Turenn, and Tara of the Kings." Then Iuchar and
+Iucharba entreated Brian to lift their heads upon his breast. "Let us
+but see the land of Erinn again," said they, "the hills around
+Tailtin, and the dewy plain of Bregia, and the quiet waters of the
+Boyne and our father's Dun thereby, and healing will come to us; or if
+death come we can endure it after that." Then Brian raised them up;
+and they saw that they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the
+Strand of the Bull[18] they took land. They were then conveyed to the
+Dun of Turenn, and life was still in them when they were laid in their
+father's hall.
+
+   [18] Cluan Tarbh, Clontarf; so called from the roaring of the
+   waves on the strand.
+
+And Brian said to Turenn, "Go now, dear father, with all speed to Lugh
+at Tara. Give him the cooking-spit, and tell how thou hast found us
+after giving our three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen. Then beseech
+him that he yield thee the loan of the pigskin of the King of Greece,
+for if it be laid upon us while the life is yet in us, we shall
+recover. We have won the eric, and it may be that he will not pursue
+us to our death."
+
+Turenn went to Lugh and gave him the spit of the sea-nymphs, and
+besought him for the lives of his sons.
+
+Lugh was silent for a while, but his countenance did not change, and
+he said, "Thou, old man, seest nought but the cloud of sorrow wherein
+thou art encompassed. But I hear from above it the singing of the
+Immortal Ones, who tell to one another the story of this land. Thy
+sons must die; yet have I shown to them more mercy than they showed to
+Kian. I have forgiven them; nor shall they live to slay their own
+immortality, but the royal bards of Erinn and the old men in the
+chimney corners shall tell of their glory and their fate as long as
+the land shall endure."
+
+Then Turenn bowed his white head and went sorrowfully back to Dun
+Turenn; and he told his sons of the words that Lugh had said. And
+with that the sons of Turenn kissed each other, and the breath of life
+departed from them, and they died. And Turenn died also, for his heart
+was broken in him; and Ethne his daughter buried them in one grave.
+Thus, then, ends the tale of the Quest of the Eric and the Fate of the
+Sons of Turenn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Secret of Labra
+
+
+In very ancient days there was a King in Ireland named Labra, who was
+called Labra the Sailor for a certain voyage that he made. Now Labra
+was never seen save by one man, once a year, without a hood that
+covered his head and ears. But once a year it was his habit to let his
+hair be cropped, and the person to do this was chosen by lot, for the
+King was accustomed to put to death instantly the man who had cropped
+him. And so it happened that on a certain year the lot fell on a young
+man who was the only son of a poor widow, who dwelt near by the palace
+of the King. When she heard that her son had been chosen she fell on
+her knees before the King and besought him, with tears, that her son,
+who was her only support and all she had in the world, might not
+suffer death as was customary. The King was moved by her grief and her
+entreaties, and at last he consented that the young man should not be
+slain provided that he vowed to keep secret to the day of his death
+what he should see. The youth agreed to this and he vowed by the Sun
+and the Wind that he would never, so long as he lived, reveal to man
+what he should learn when he cropped the King's hair.
+
+So he did what was appointed for him and went home. But when he did so
+he had no peace for the wonder of the secret that he had learned
+preyed upon his mind so that he could not rest for thinking of it and
+longing to reveal it, and at last he fell into a wasting sickness from
+it, and was near to die. Then there was brought to see him a wise
+druid, who was skilled in all maladies of the mind and body, and after
+he had talked with the youth he said to his mother, "Thy son is dying
+of the burden of a secret which he may not reveal to any man, but
+until he reveals it he will have no ease. Let him, therefore, walk
+along the high way till he comes to a place where four roads meet. Let
+him then turn to the right, and the first tree that he shall meet on
+the roadside let him tell the secret to it, and so it may be he shall
+be relieved, and his vow will not be broken."
+
+The mother told her son of the druid's advice, and next day he went
+upon his way till he came to four cross roads, and he took the road
+upon the right, and the first tree he found was a great willow-tree.
+So the young man laid his cheek against the bark, and he whispered the
+secret to the tree, and as he turned back homeward he felt lightened
+of his burden, and he leaped and sang, and ere many days were past he
+was as well and light hearted as ever he had been in his life.
+
+Some while after that it happened that the King's harper, namely
+Craftiny, broke the straining-post of his harp and went out to seek
+for a piece of wood wherewith to mend it. And the first timber he
+found that would fit the purpose was the willow-tree by the cross
+roads. He cut it down, therefore, and took as much as would give him a
+new straining-post, and he bore it home with him and mended his harp
+with it. That night he played after meat before the King and his lords
+as he was wont, but whatever he played and sang the folk that listened
+to him seemed to hear only one thing, "Two horse's ears hath Labra the
+Sailor."
+
+Then the King plucked off his hood, and after that he made no secret
+of his ears and none suffered on account of them thenceforward.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+King Iubdan and King Fergus
+
+
+It happened on a day when Fergus son of Leda was King of Ulster, that
+Iubdan, King of the Leprecauns or Wee Folk, of the land of Faylinn,
+held a great banquet and assembly of the lords and princes of the Wee
+Folk. And all their captains and men of war came thither, to show
+their feats before the King, among whom was the strong man, namely
+Glowar, whose might was such that with his battle-axe he could hew
+down a thistle at one stroke. Thither also came the King's
+heir-apparent. Tiny, son of Tot, and the Queen Bebo with her maidens;
+and there were also the King's harpers and singing-men, and the chief
+poet of the court, who was called Eisirt.
+
+All these sat down to the feast in due order and precedence, with Bebo
+on the King's right hand and the poet on his left, and Glowar kept the
+door. Soon the wine began to flow from the vats of dark-red yew-wood,
+and the carvers carved busily at great haunches of roast hares and
+ribs of field-mice; and they all ate and drank, and loudly the hall
+rang with gay talk and laughter, and the drinking of toasts, and
+clashing of silver goblets.
+
+At last when they had put away desire of eating and drinking, Iubdan
+rose up, having in his hand the royal goblet of gold inlaid with
+precious many-coloured jewels, and the heir-apparent rose at the other
+end of the table, and they drank prosperity and victory to Faylinn.
+Then Iubdan's heart swelled with pride, and he asked of the company,
+"Come now, have any of you ever seen a king more glorious and powerful
+than I am?" "Never, in truth," cried they all. "Have ye ever seen a
+stronger man than my giant, Glowar?" "Never, O King," said they. "Or
+battle-steeds and men-at-arms better than mine?" "By our words," they
+cried, "we never have." "Truly," went on Iubdan, "I deem that he who
+would assail our kingdom of Faylinn, and carry away captives and
+hostages from us, would have his work cut out for him, so fierce and
+mighty are our warriors; yea, any one of them hath the stuff of
+kingship in him."
+
+On hearing this, Eisirt, in whom the heady wine and ale had done their
+work, burst out laughing; and the King turned to him, saying, "Eisirt,
+what hath moved thee to this laughter?" "I know a province in Erinn,"
+replied Eisirt, "one man of whom would harry Faylinn in the teeth of
+all four battalions of the Wee Folk." "Seize him," cried the King to
+his attendants; "Eisirt shall pay dearly in chains and in prison for
+that scornful speech against our glory."
+
+Then Eisirt was put in bonds, and he repented him of his brag; but ere
+they dragged him away he said, "Grant me, O mighty King, but three
+days' respite, that I may travel to Erinn to the court of Fergus mac
+Leda, and if I bring not back some clear token that I have uttered
+nought but the truth, then do with me as thou wilt."
+
+So Iubdan bade them release him, and he fared away to Erinn oversea.
+
+[Illustration: "They all trooped out, lords and ladies, to view the
+wee man"]
+
+After this, one day, as Fergus and his lords sat at the feast, the
+gatekeeper of the palace of Fergus in Emania heard outside a sound of
+ringing; he opened the gate, and there stood a wee man holding in his
+hand a rod of white bronze hung with little silver bells, by which
+poets are wont to procure silence for their recitations. Most noble
+and comely was the little man to look on, though the short grass of
+the lawn reached as high as to his knee. His hair was twisted in
+four-ply strands after the manner of poets and he wore a
+gold-embroidered tunic of silk and an ample scarlet cloak with a
+fringe of gold. On his feet he wore shoes of white bronze ornamented
+with gold, and a silken hood was on his head. The gatekeeper wondered
+at the sight of the wee man, and went to report the matter to King
+Fergus. "Is he less," asked Fergus, "than my dwarf and poet AEda?"
+"Verily," said the gatekeeper, "he could stand upon the palm of AEda's
+hand and have room to spare." Then with much laughter and wonder they
+all trooped out, lords and ladies, to the great gate to view the wee
+man and to speak with him. But Eisirt, when he saw them, waved them
+back in alarm, crying, "Avaunt, huge men; bring not your heavy breath
+so near me; but let yon man that is least among you approach me and
+bear me in." So the dwarf AEda put Eisirt on his palm and bore him into
+the banqueting hall.
+
+Then they set him on the table, and Eisirt declared his name and
+calling. The King ordered that meat and drink should be given him, but
+Eisirt said, "I will neither eat of your meat nor drink of ale." "By
+our word," said Fergus, "'tis a haughty wight; he ought to be dropped
+into a goblet that he might at least drink all round him." The
+cupbearer seized Eisirt and put him into a tankard of ale, and he swam
+on the surface of it. "Ye wise men of Ulster," he cried, "there is
+much knowledge and wisdom ye might get from me, yet ye will let me be
+drowned!" "What, then?" cried they. Then Eisirt, beginning with the
+King, set out to tell every hidden sin that each man or woman had
+done, and ere he had gone far they with much laughter and chiding
+fetched him out of the ale-pot and dried him with fair satin napkins.
+"Now ye have confessed that I know somewhat to the purpose," said
+Eisirt, "and I will even eat of your food, but do ye give heed to my
+words, and do ill no more."
+
+Fergus then said, "If thou art a poet, Eisirt, give us now a taste of
+thy delightful art." "That will I," said Eisirt, "and the poem that I
+shall recite to you shall be an ode in praise of my king, Iubdan the
+Great." Then he recited this lay:--
+
+   "A monarch of might
+   Is Iubdan my king.
+   His brow is snow-white,
+   His hair black as night;
+   As a red copper bowl
+   When smitten will sing,
+   So ringeth the voice
+   Of Iubdan the king.
+   His eyen, they roll
+   Majestic and bland
+   On the lords of his land
+   Arrayed for the fight,
+   A spectacle grand!
+   Like a torrent they rush
+   With a waving of swords
+   And the bridles all ringing
+   And cheeks all aflush,
+   And the battle-steeds springing,
+   A beautiful, terrible, death-dealing band.
+   Like pines, straight and tall,
+   Where Iubdan is king,
+   Are the men one and all.
+   The maidens are fair--
+   Bright gold is their hair.
+   From silver we quaff
+   The dark, heady ale
+   That never shall fail;
+   We love and we laugh.
+   Gold frontlets we wear;
+   And aye through the air
+   Sweet music doth ring--
+   O Fergus, men say
+   That in all Inisfail
+   There is not a maiden so proud or so wise
+   But would give her two eyes
+   Thy kisses to win--
+   But I tell thee, that there
+   Thou canst never compare
+   With the haughty, magnificent King of Faylinn!"
+
+At this they all applauded, and Fergus said, "O youth and blameless
+bard, let us be friends henceforth." And they all heaped before him,
+as a poet's reward, gifts of rings and jewels and gold cups and
+weapons, as high as a tall man standing. Then Eisirt said, "Truly a
+generous and a worthy reward have ye given me, O men of Ulster; yet
+take back these precious things I pray you, for every man in my
+king's household hath an abundance of them." But the Ulster lords
+said, "Nothing that we have given may we take back." Eisirt then bade
+two-thirds of his reward be given to the bards and learned men of
+Ulster, and one-third to the horse-boys and jesters; and so it was
+done.
+
+Three days and nights did Eisirt abide in Emania, and all the King's
+court loved him and made much of him. Then he wished them blessing and
+victory, and prepared to depart to his own country. Now AEda, the
+King's dwarf and minstrel, begged Eisirt to take him with him on a
+visit to the land of Faylinn; and Eisirt said, "I shall not bid thee
+come, for then if kindness and hospitality be shown thee, thou wilt
+say it is only what I had undertaken; but if thou come of thine own
+motion, thou wilt perchance be grateful."
+
+So they went off together; but Eisirt could not keep up with AEda, and
+AEda said, "I perceive that Eisirt is but a poor walker." At this
+Eisirt ran off like a flash and was soon an arrow flight in front of
+AEda. When the latter at last came up with him, he said, "The right
+thing, Eisirt, is not too fast and not too slow." "Since I have been
+in Ulster," Eisirt replied, "I have never before heard ye measure out
+the right."
+
+By and by they reached the margin of the sea. "And what are we to do
+now?" asked AEda. "Be not troubled, AEda," said Eisirt, "the horse of
+Iubdan will bear us easily over this." They waited awhile on the
+beach, and ere long they saw it coming toward them skimming over the
+surface of the waves. "Save and protect us!" cried AEda at that sight;
+and Eisirt asked him what he saw. "A red-maned hare," answered AEda.
+"Nay, but that is Iubdan's horse," said Eisirt, and with that the
+creature came prancing to land with flashing eyes and waving tail and
+a long russet-coloured mane; a bridle beset with gold it had. Eisirt
+mounted and bade AEda come up behind him. "Thy boat is little enough
+for thee alone," said AEda. "Cease fault-finding and grumbling," then
+said Eisirt, "for the weight of wisdom that is in thee will not bear
+him down."
+
+So AEda and Eisirt mounted on the fairy horse and away they sped over
+the tops of the waves and the deeps of the ocean till at last they
+reached the Kingdom of Faylinn, and there were a great concourse of
+the Wee Folk awaiting them. "Eisirt is coming! Eisirt is coming!"
+cried they all, "and a Fomorian giant along with him."
+
+Then Iubdan went forth to meet Eisirt, and he kissed him, and said,
+"Why hast thou brought this Fomorian with thee to slay us?" "He is no
+Fomor," said Eisirt, "but a learned man and a poet from Ulster. He is
+moreover the King of Ulster's dwarf, and in all that realm he is the
+smallest man. He can lie in their great men's bosoms and stand upon
+their hands as though he were a child; yet for all that you would do
+well to be careful how you behave to him." "What is his name?" said
+they then. "He is the poet AEda," said Eisirt. "Uch," said they, "what
+a giant thou hast brought us!"
+
+"And now, O King," said Eisirt to Iubdan, "I challenge thee to go and
+see for thyself the region from which we have come, and make trial of
+the royal porridge which is made for Fergus King of Ulster this very
+night."
+
+At this Iubdan was much dismayed, and he betook himself to Bebo his
+wife and told her how he was laid under bonds of chivalry by Eisirt to
+go to the land of the giants; and he bade her prepare to accompany
+him. "I will go," said she, "but you did an ill deed when you
+condemned Eisirt to prison."
+
+So they mounted, both of them, on the fairy steed, and in no long time
+they reached Emania, and it was now past midnight. And they were
+greatly afraid, and said Bebo, "Let us search for that porridge and
+taste it, as we were bound, and make off again ere the folk awake."
+
+They made their way into the palace of Fergus, and soon they found a
+great porridge pot, but the rim was too high to be reached from the
+ground. "Get thee up upon thy horse," said Bebo, "and from thence to
+the rim of this cauldron." And thus he did, but having gained the rim
+of the pot his arm was too short to reach the silver ladle that was
+in it. In straining downward to do so, however, he slipped and in he
+fell, and up to his middle in the thick porridge he stuck fast. And
+when Bebo heard what a plight he was in, she wept, and said, "Rash and
+hasty wert thou, Iubdan, to have got into this evil case, but surely
+there is no man under the sun that can make thee hear reason." And he
+said, "Rash indeed it was, but thou canst not help me, Bebo, now, and
+it is but folly to stay; take the horse and flee away ere the day
+break." "Say not so," replied Bebo, "for surely I will not go till I
+see how things fall out with thee."
+
+
+At last the folk in the palace began to be stirring, and ere long they
+found Iubdan in the porridge pot.
+
+So they picked him out with great laughter bore him off to Fergus.
+
+"By my conscience," said Fergus, "but this is not the little fellow
+that was here before, for he had yellow hair, but this one hath a
+shock of the blackest; who art thou at all, wee man?"
+
+"I am of the Wee Folk," said Iubdan, "and am indeed king over them,
+and this woman is my wife and queen, Bebo."
+
+"Take him away," then said Fergus to his varlets, "and guard him
+well"; for he misdoubted some mischief of Faery was on foot.
+
+"Nay, nay," cried Iubdan, "but let me not be with these coarse
+fellows. I pledge thee my word that I will not quit this place till
+thou and Ulster give me leave."
+
+"Could I believe that," said Fergus, "I would not put thee in bonds."
+
+"I have never broken my word," said Iubdan, "and I never will."
+
+Then Fergus set him free and allotted him a fair chamber for himself,
+and a trusty servingman to wait upon him. Soon there came in a gillie
+whose business it was to see to the fires, and he kindled the fire for
+Iubdan, throwing on it a woodbine together with divers other sorts of
+timber. Then Iubdan said, "Man of smoke, burn not the king of the
+trees, for it is not meet to burn him. Wouldst thou but take counsel
+from me thou mightest go safely by sea or land." Iubdan then chanted
+to him the following recital of the duties of his office:--
+
+"O fire-gillie of Fergus of the Feasts, never by land or sea burn the
+King of the woods, High King of the forests of Inisfail, whom none may
+bind, but who like a strong monarch holds all the other trees in hard
+bondage. If thou burn the twining one, misfortune will come of it,
+peril at the point of spear, or drowning in the waves.
+
+"Burn not the sweet apple-tree of drooping branches, of the white
+blossoms, to whose gracious head each man puts forth his hand.
+
+"The stubborn blackthorn wanders far and wide, the good craftsman
+burns not this timber; little though its bushes be, yet flocks of
+birds warble in them.
+
+"Burn not the noble willow, the unfailing ornament of poems; bees
+drink from its blossoms, all delight in the graceful tent.
+
+"The delicate, airy tree of the druids, the rowan with its berries,
+this burn; but avoid the weak tree, burn not the slender hazel.
+
+"The ash-tree of the black buds burn not--timber that speeds the
+wheel, that yields the rider his switch; the ashen spear is the
+scale-beam of battle.
+
+"The tangled, bitter bramble, burn him, the sharp and green; he flays
+and cuts the foot; he snares you and drags you back.
+
+"Hottest of timber is the green oak; he will give you a pain in the
+head if you use him overmuch, a pain in the eyes will come from his
+biting fumes.
+
+"Full-charged with witchcraft is the alder, the hottest tree in the
+fight; burn assuredly both the alder and the whitehorn at your will.
+
+"Holly, burn it in the green and in the dry; of all trees in the
+world, holly is absolutely the best.
+
+"The elder-tree of the rough brown bark, burn him to cinders, the
+steed of the Fairy Folk.
+
+"The drooping birch, by all means burn him too, the tree of
+long-lasting bloom.
+
+"And lay low, if it pleases you, the russet aspen; late or early, burn
+the tree with the quaking plumage.
+
+"The yew is the venerable ancestor of the wood as the companion of
+feasts he is known; of him make goodly brown vats for ale and wine.
+
+"Follow my counsel, O man of the smoke, and it shall go well with you,
+body and soul."
+
+So Iubdan continued in Emania free to go and come as he pleased; and
+all the Ulstermen delighted to watch him and to hear his conversation.
+
+One day it chanced that he was in the chamber of the Queen, and saw
+her putting on her feet a very dainty and richly embroidered pair of
+shoes. At this Iubdan gave a laugh. "Why dost thou laugh?" said
+Fergus. "Meseems the healing is applied very far from the hurt,"
+replied Iubdan. "What meanest thou by that?" said Fergus. "Because the
+Queen is making her feet fine in order, O Fergus, that she may attract
+thee to her lips," said Iubdan.
+
+Another time it chanced that Iubdan overheard one of the King's
+soldiers complaining of a pair of new brogues that had been served out
+to him, and grumbling that the soles were too thin. At this Iubdan
+laughed again, and being asked why, he said, "I must need laugh to
+hear yon fellow grumbling about his brogues, for the soles of these
+brogues, thin as they are, he will never wear out." And this was a
+true prophecy, for the same night this and another of the King's men
+had a quarrel, and fought, and killed each the other.
+
+At last the Wee Folk determined to go in search of their king, and
+seven battalions of them marched upon Emania and encamped upon the
+lawn over against the King's Dun. Fergus and his nobles went out to
+confer with them. "Give us back our king," said the Wee Folk, "and we
+shall redeem him with a great ransom." "What ransom, then?" asked
+Fergus. "We shall," said they, "cause this great plain to stand thick
+with corn for you every year, and that without ploughing or sowing."
+"I will not give up Iubdan for that," said Fergus. "Then we shall do
+you a mischief," said the Wee Folk.
+
+That night every calf in the Province of Ulster got access to its dam,
+and in the morn there was no milk to be had for man or child, for the
+cows were sucked dry.
+
+Then said the Wee Folk to Fergus, "This night, unless we get Iubdan,
+we shall defile every well and lake and river in Ulster." "That is a
+trifle," said Fergus, "and ye shall not get Iubdan."
+
+The Wee Folk carried out this threat, and once more they came and
+demanded Iubdan, saying, "To-night we shall burn with fire the shaft
+of every mill in Ulster." "Yet not so shall ye get Iubdan," said
+Fergus.
+
+This being done, they came again, saying, "We shall have vengeance
+unless Iubdan be delivered to us." "What vengeance?" said Fergus. "We
+shall snip off every ear of corn in thy kingdom," said they. "Even
+so," replied Fergus, "I shall not deliver Iubdan."
+
+So the Wee Folk snipped off every ear of standing corn in Ulster, and
+once more they returned and demanded Iubdan. "What will ye do next?"
+asked Fergus. "We shall shave the hair of every man and every woman in
+Ulster," said they, "so that ye shall be shamed and disgraced for ever
+among the people of Erinn." "By my word," said Fergus, "if ye do that
+I shall slay Iubdan."
+
+Then Iubdan said, "I have a better counsel than that, O King; let me
+have liberty to go and speak with them, and I shall bid them make good
+what mischief they have done, and they shall return home forthwith."
+
+Fergus granted that; and when the Wee Folk saw Iubdan approaching
+them, they set up a shout of triumph that a man might have heard a
+bowshot off, for they believed they had prevailed and that Iubdan was
+released to them. But Iubdan said, "My faithful people, you must now
+begone, and I may not go with you; make good also all the mischief
+that ye have done, and know that if ye do any more I must die."
+
+Then the Wee Folk departed, very downcast and sorrowful, but they did
+as Iubdan had bidden them.
+
+Iubdan, however, went to Fergus and said, "Take, O King, the choicest
+of my treasures, and let me go."
+
+"What is thy choicest treasure?" said Fergus.
+
+Iubdan then began to recite to Fergus the list of his possessions,
+such as druidic weapons, and love-charms, and instruments of music
+that played without touch of human hand, and vats of ale that could
+never be emptied; and he named among other noble treasures a pair of
+shoes, wearing which a man could go over or under the sea as readily
+as on dry land.
+
+At the same time AEda, the dwarf and poet of Ulster, returned hale and
+well from the land of Faylinn, and much did he entertain the King and
+all the court with tales of the smallness of the Wee Folk, and their
+marvel at his own size, and their bravery and beauty, and their marble
+palaces and matchless minstrelsy.
+
+So the King, Fergus mac Leda, was well content to take a ransom,
+namely the magic shoes, which he desired above all the treasures of
+Faylinn, and to let Iubdan go. And he gave him rich gifts, as did also
+the nobles of Ulster, and wished him blessing and victory; and Iubdan
+he departed, with Bebo his wife, having first bestowed upon Fergus the
+magical shoes. And of him the tale hath now no more to say.
+
+But Fergus never tired of donning the shoes of Iubdan and traversing
+the secret depths of the lakes and rivers of Ulster. Thereby, too, in
+the end he got his death, for as the wise say that the gifts of Faery
+may not be enjoyed without peril by mortal men, so in this case too
+it proved. For, one day as Fergus was exploring the depths of Loch
+Rury he met the monster, namely the river-horse, which inhabited that
+lake. Horrible of form it was, swelling and contracting like a
+blacksmith's bellows, and with eyes like torches, and glittering
+tusks, and a mane of coarse hair on its crest and neck. When it saw
+Fergus it laid back its ears, and its neck arched like a rainbow over
+his head, and the vast mouth gaped to devour him. Then Fergus rose
+quickly to the surface and made for the land, and the beast after him,
+driving before it a huge wave of foam. Barely did he escape with his
+life; but with the horror of the sight his features were distorted and
+his mouth was twisted around to the side of his head, so that he was
+called Fergus Wry-mouth from that day forth. And the gillie that was
+with him told the tale of the adventure.
+
+Now there was a law in Ireland that no man might be king who was
+disfigured by any bodily blemish. His people, therefore, loving
+Fergus, kept from him all knowledge of his condition, and the Queen
+let all mirrors that were in the palace be put away. But one day it
+chanced that a bondmaid was negligent in preparing the bath, and
+Fergus being impatient, gave her a stroke with a switch which he had
+in his hand. The maid in anger turned upon him, and cried, "It would
+better become thee to avenge thyself on the riverhorse that hath
+twisted thy mouth, than to do brave deeds on women."
+
+Fergus then bade a mirror be fetched, and when he saw his face in it,
+he said, "The woman spake truth; the riverhorse of Loch Rury has done
+this thing."
+
+[Illustration: "Fergus goes down into the lake"]
+
+The next day Fergus put on the shoes of Iubdan and went forth to Loch
+Rury, and with him went the lords of Ulster. And when he reached the
+margin of the lake he drew his sword and went down into it, and soon
+the waters covered him.
+
+After a while those that watched upon the bank saw a bubbling and a
+mighty commotion in the waters, now here, now there, and waves of
+bloody froth broke at their feet. At last, as they strained their eyes
+upon the tossing water, they saw Fergus rise to his middle from it,
+pale and bloody. In his right hand he waved aloft his sword, his left
+was twisted in the coarse hair of the monster's head, and they saw
+that his countenance was fair and kingly as of old. "Ulstermen, I have
+conquered," he cried; and as he did so he sank down again, dead with
+his dead foe, into their red grave in Loch Rury.
+
+And the Ulster lords went back to Emania, sorrowful yet proud, for
+they knew that a seed of honour had been sown that day in their land
+from which should spring a breed of high-hearted fighting men for many
+a generation to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+The Carving of mac Datho's Boar
+
+
+Once upon a time there dwelt in the province of Leinster a wealthy
+hospitable lord named Mesroda, son of Datho. Two possessions had he;
+namely, a hound which could outrun every other hound and every wild
+beast in Erinn, and a boar which was the finest and greatest in size
+that man had ever beheld.
+
+Now the fame of this hound was noised all about the land, and many
+were the princes and lords who longed to possess it. And it came to
+pass that Conor, King of Ulster, and Maev, Queen of Connacht, sent
+messengers to mac Datho to ask him to sell them the hound for a price,
+and both the messengers arrived at the Dun of mac Datho on the same
+day. Said the Connacht messenger, "We will give thee in exchange for
+the hound six hundred milch cows, and a chariot with two horses, the
+best that are to be found in Connacht, and at the end of a year thou
+shalt have as much again." And the messenger of King Conor said, "We
+will give no less than Connacht, and the friendship and alliance of
+Ulster, and that will be better for thee than the friendship of
+Connacht."
+
+Then Mesroda mac Datho fell silent, and for three days he would not
+eat nor drink, nor could he sleep o' nights, but tossed restlessly on
+his bed. His wife observed his condition, and said to him, "Thy fast
+hath been long, Mesroda, though good food is by thee in plenty; and at
+night thou turnest thy face to the wall, and well I know thou dost not
+sleep. What is the cause of thy trouble?"
+
+"There is a saying," replied mac Datho, "'Trust not a thrall with
+money, nor a woman with a secret.'"
+
+"When should a man talk to a woman," said his wife, "but when
+something were amiss? What thy mind cannot solve perchance another's
+may."
+
+Then mac Datho told his wife of the request for his hound both from
+Ulster and from Connacht at one and the same time, "and whichever of
+them I deny," he said, "they will harry my cattle and slay my people."
+
+"Then hear my counsel," said the woman. "Give it to both of them, and
+bid them come and fetch it; and if there be any harrying to be done,
+let them even harry each other; but in no way mayest thou keep the
+hound."
+
+On that, mac Datho rose up and shook himself, and called for food and
+drink, and made merry with himself and his guests. Then he sent
+privately for the messenger of Queen Maev, and said to him, "Long have
+I doubted what to do, but now I am resolved to give the hound to
+Connacht. Let ye send for it on such a day with a train of your nobles
+or warriors and bear him forth nobly and proudly, for he is worth it;
+and ye shall all have drink and food and royal entertainment in my
+Dun." So the messenger departed, well pleased.
+
+To the Ulster messenger mac Datho said, "After much perplexity I have
+resolved to give my hound to Conor. Let the best of the Ulstermen come
+to fetch him, and they shall be welcomed and entertained as is
+fitting." And for these he named the same day as he had done for the
+embassy from Connacht.
+
+When the appointed day came round, the flower of the fighting men of
+two provinces of Ireland were assembled before the Dun of the son of
+Datho, and there were also Conor, King of Ulster, and Ailill, the
+husband of Maev, Queen of Connacht. Mac Datho went forth to meet them.
+"Welcome, warriors," he said to them, "albeit for two armies at once
+we were not prepared." Then he bade them into the Dun, and in the
+great hall they sat down. Now in this hall there were seven doors, and
+between every two doors were benches for fifty men. Not as friends
+bidden to a feast did the men of Ulster and of Connacht look upon one
+another, since for three hundred years the provinces had ever been at
+war.
+
+"Let the great boar be killed," said mac Datho, and it was done. For
+seven years had that boar been nourished on the milk of fifty cows;
+yet rather on venom should it have been nourished, such was the
+mischief that was to come from the carving of it.
+
+When the boar was roasted it was brought in, and many other kinds of
+food as side dishes, "and if more be wanting to the feast," said mac
+Datho, "it shall be slain for you before the morning."
+
+"The boar is good," said Conor.
+
+"It is a fine boar," said Ailill; "and now, O mac Datho, how shall it
+be divided among us?"
+
+There was among the Ulster company one Bricru, son of Carbad, whose
+delight was in biting speeches and in fomenting strife, though he
+himself was never known to draw sword in any quarrel. He now spoke
+from his couch in answer to Ailill:
+
+"How should the boar be divided, O son of Datho, except by appointing
+to carve it him who is best in deeds of arms? Here be all the valiant
+men of Ireland assembled; have none of us hit each other a blow on the
+nose ere now?"
+
+"Good," said Ailill, "so let it be done."
+
+"We also agree," said Conor; "there are plenty of our lads in the
+house that have many a time gone round the border of the Provinces."
+
+"You will want them to-night, Conor," said an old warrior from Conlad
+in the West. "They have often been seen on their backs on the roads of
+rushy Dedah, and many a fat steer have they left with me."
+
+"It was a fat bullock thou didst have with thee once upon a day,"
+replied Moonremar of Ulster, "even thine own brother, and by the rushy
+road of Conlad he came and went not back."
+
+"'Twas a better man than he, even Irloth, son of Fergus mac Leda, who
+fell by the hand of Echbael in Tara Luachra," replied Lugad of
+Munster.
+
+"Echbael?" cried Keltchar, son of Uthecar Hornskin of Ulster. "Is it
+of him ye boast, whom I myself slew and cut off his head?"
+
+And thus the heroes bandied about the tales and taunts of their
+victories, until at length Ket, son of Maga of the Connachtmen, arose
+and stood over the boar and took the knife into his hand. "Now," he
+cried, "let one man in Ulster match his deeds with mine, or else hold
+ye your peace and let me carve the boar!"
+
+For a while there was silence, and then Conor King of Ulster, said to
+Logary the Triumphant, "Stay that for me." So Logary arose and said,
+"Ket shall never carve the boar for all of us."
+
+"Not so fast, Logary," said Ket. "It is the custom among you Ulstermen
+that when a youth first takes arms he comes to prove himself on us. So
+didst thou, Logary, and we met thee at the border. From that meeting I
+have thy chariot and horses, and thou hadst a spear through thy ribs
+Not thus wilt thou get the boar from me." Then Logary sat down on his
+bench.
+
+"Ket shall never divide that pig," spake then a tall fair-haired
+warrior from Ulster, coming down the hall. "Whom have we here?" asked
+Ket. "A better man than thou," shouted the Ulstermen, "even Angus, son
+of Lama Gabad." "Indeed?" said Ket, "and why is his father called Lama
+Gabad [wanting a hand]?" "We know not," said they. "But I know it,"
+said Ket. "Once I went on a foray to the East, and was attacked by a
+troop, Lama Gabad among them. He flung a lance at me. I seized the
+same lance and flung it back, and it shore off his hand, and it lay
+there on the field before him. Shall that man's son measure himself
+with me?" And Angus went to his bench and sat down.
+
+"Keep up the contest," then cried Ket tauntingly, "or let me divide
+the boar." "That thou shalt not," cried another Ulster warrior of
+great stature. "And who is this?" said Ket. "Owen Mor, King of Fermag,"
+said the Ulstermen. "I have seen him ere now," said Ket. "I took a
+drove of cattle from him before his own house. He put a spear through
+my shield and I flung it back and it tore out one of his eyes, and
+one-eyed he is to this day." Then Owen Mor sat down.
+
+"Have ye any more to contest the pig with me?" then said Ket. "Thou
+hast not won it yet," said Moonremar, son of Gerrkind, rising up. "Is
+that Moonremar?" said Ket, "It is," they cried.
+
+"It is but three days," said Ket, "since I was the last man who won
+renown of thee. Three heads of thy fighting men did I carry off from
+Dun Moonremar, and one of the three was the head of thy eldest son."
+Moonremar then sat down.
+
+"Still the contest," said Ket, "or I shall carve the boar." "Contest
+thou shalt have," said Mend, son of Sword-heel. "Who is this?" said
+Ket. "'Tis Mend," cried all the Ulstermen.
+
+"Shall the sons of fellows with nicknames come here to contend with
+me?" cried Ket. "I was the priest who christened thy father that name.
+'Twas I who cut the heel off him, so that off he went with only one.
+What brings the son of that man to contend with me?" Mend then sat
+down in his seat.
+
+"Come to the contest," said Ket, "or I shall begin to carve." Then
+arose from the Ulstermen a huge grey and terrible warrior. "Who is
+this?" asked Ket. '"Tis Keltcar, son of Uthecar," cried they all.
+
+"Wait awhile, Keltcar," said Ket, "do not pound me to pieces just yet.
+Once, O Keltcar, I made a foray on thee and came in front of Dun. All
+thy folk attacked me, and thou amongst them. In a narrow pass we
+fought, and thou didst fling a spear at me and I at thee, but my spear
+went through thy loins and thou hast never been the better of it
+since." Then Keltcar sat down in his seat.
+
+"Who else comes to the contest," cried Ket "or shall I at last divide
+the pig?" Up rose then the son of King Conor, named Cuscrid the
+Stammerer "Whom have we here?" said Ket. "'Tis Cuscrid son of Conor,"
+cried they all. "He has the stuff of a king in him," said Ket. "No
+thanks to thee for that," said the youth.
+
+"Well, then," said Ket, "thou madest thy first foray against us
+Connachtmen, and on the border of the Provinces we met thee. A third
+of thy people, thou didst leave behind thee, and came away with my
+spear through thy throat, so that thou canst not speak rightly ever
+since, for the sinews of thy throat were severed. And hence is Cuscrid
+the Stammerer thy byname ever since."
+
+So thus Ket laid shame and defeat on the whole Province of Ulster, nor
+was there any other warrior in the hall found to contend with him.
+
+[Illustration: "A mighty shout of exultation arose from the
+Ulstermen"]
+
+Then Ket stood up triumphing, and took the knife in his hand and
+prepared to carve the boar when a noise and trampling were heard at
+the great door of the hall, and a mighty shout of exultation arose
+from the Ulstermen. When the press parted, Ket saw coming up the
+centre of the hall Conall of the Victories, and Conor the King dashed
+the helmet from his head and sprang up for joy.
+
+"Glad we are," cried Conall, "that all is ready for feast; and who is
+carving the boar for us?"
+
+"Ket, son of Maga," replied they, "for none could contest the place of
+honour with him."
+
+"Is that so, Ket?" says Conall Cearnach.
+
+"Even so," replied Ket. "And now welcome to thee, O Conall, thou of
+the iron heart and fiery blood; keen as the glitter of ice,
+ever-victorious chieftain; hail mighty son of Finnchoom!"
+
+And Conall said, "Hail to thee, Ket, flower of heroes, lord of
+chariots, a raging sea in battle; a strong, majestic bull; hail, son
+of Maga!"
+
+"And now," went on Conall, "rise up from the boar and give me place."
+
+"Why so?" replied Ket.
+
+"Dost thou seek a contest from me?" said Conall; "verily thou shalt
+have it. By the gods of my nation I swear that since I first took
+weapons in my hand I have never passed one day that I did not slay a
+Connachtman, nor one night that I did not make a foray on them, nor
+have I ever slept but I had the head of a Connachtman under my knee."
+
+"I confess," then, said Ket, "that thou art a better man than I, and I
+yield thee the boar. But if Anluan my brother were here, he would
+match thee deed for deed, and sorrow and shame it is that he is not."
+
+
+"Anluan is here," shouted Conall, and with that he drew from his
+girdle the head of Anluan and dashed it in the face of Ket.
+
+Then all sprang to their feet and a wild shouting and tumult arose,
+and the swords flew out of themselves, and battle raged in the hall of
+mac Datho. Soon the hosts burst out through the doors of the Dun and
+smote and slew each other in the open field, until the Connacht host
+were put to flight. The hound of mac Datho pursued them along with the
+Ulstermen, and it came up with the chariot in which King Ailill was
+driving, and seized the pole of the chariot, but the charioteer dealt
+it a blow that cut off its head. When Ailill drew rein they found the
+hound's head still clinging to the pole, whence that place is called
+Ibar Cinn Chon, or the Yew Tree of the Hound's Head.
+
+Now when Conor pursued hard upon King Ailill, Ferloga, the charioteer
+of Ailill, lighted down and hid himself in the heather; and as Conor
+drove past, Ferloga leaped up behind him in the chariot and gripped
+him by the throat.
+
+"What will thou have of me?" said Conor.
+
+"Give over the pursuit," said Ferloga, "and take me with thee to
+Emania,[19] and let the maidens of Emania so long as I am there sing
+a serenade before my dwelling every night."
+
+   [19] The ancient royal residence of Ulster, near to the present
+   town of Armagh.
+
+"Granted," said Conor. So he took Ferloga with him to Emania, and at
+the end of a year sent him back to Connacht, escorting him as far as
+to Athlone; and Ferloga had from the King of Ulster two noble horses
+with golden bridles, but the serenade from the maidens of Ulster he
+did not get, though he got the horses instead. And thus ends the tale
+of the contention between Ulster and Connacht over the Carving of mac
+Datho's Boar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Vengeance of Mesgedra
+
+
+Atharna the Bard, surnamed the Extortionate, was the chief poet and
+satirist of Ulster in the reign of Conor mac Nessa. Greed and
+arrogance were in his heart and poison on his tongue, and the kings
+and lords of whom he asked rewards for his poems dared not refuse him
+aught, partly because of the poisonous satires and lampoons which he
+would otherwise make upon them for their niggardliness, and partly for
+that in Ireland at that day it was deemed shameful to refuse to a bard
+whatsoever he might ask. Once it was said that he asked of a sub-king,
+namely Eochy mac Luchta, who was famed for hospitality and generosity,
+the single thing that Eochy would have been grieved to give, namely
+his eye, and Eochy had but one eye. But the King plucked it out by the
+roots and gave it to him; and Atharna went away disappointed, for he
+had looked that Eochy would ransom his eye at a great price.
+
+Now Conor mac Nessa, King of Ulster, and all the Ulster lords, having
+grown very powerful and haughty, became ill neighbours to all the
+other kingdoms in Ireland. On fertile Leinster above all they fixed
+their eyes, and sought for an opportunity to attack and plunder the
+province. Conor resolved at last to move Atharna to go to the King of
+Leinster, in the hope that he himself might be rid of Atharna, by the
+King of Leinster killing him for his insolence and his exactions, and
+that he might avenge the death of his bard by the invasion of
+Leinster.
+
+Atharna therefore set out for Leinster accompanied by his train of
+poets and harpers and gillies and arrived at the great Dun of Mesgedra
+the King, at Naas in Kildare. Here he dwelt for twelve months wasting
+the substance of the Leinstermen and in the end when he was minded to
+return to Ulster he went before the King Mesgedra and the lords of
+Leinster and demanded his poet's fee.
+
+"What is thy demand, Atharna?" asked Mesgedra.
+
+"So many cattle and so many sheep," answered Atharna, "and store of
+gold and raiment, and of the fairest dames and maidens of Leinster
+forty-five, to grind at my querns in Dun Atharna."
+
+"It shall be granted thee," said the King. Then Atharna feared some
+mischief, for the King and the nobles of Leinster had not seemed like
+men on whom shameful conditions are laid, nor had they offered to
+ransom their women. Atharna therefore judged that the Leinstermen
+might fall upon him to recover their booty when he was once beyond the
+border, for within their own borders they might not affront a guest.
+He sent, therefore, a swift messenger to Conor mac Nessa, bidding him
+come with a strong escort as quickly as he might, to meet Atharna's
+band on the marches of Leinster, and convey him safely home.
+
+Atharna then departed from Naas with a great herd of sheep and cattle
+and other spoils, and with thrice fifteen of the noble women of
+Leinster. He went leisurely, meaning to strike the highroad to Emania
+from Dublin; but when he came thither the Liffey was swollen with
+rain, and the ford at Dublin might not be crossed. He caused,
+therefore, many great hurdles to be made, and these were set in the
+river, and over them a causeway of boughs was laid, so that his
+cattle and spoils came safely across. Hence is the town of that place
+called to this day in Gaelic the City of the Hurdle Ford.
+
+On the next day Conor and the Ulstermen met him, but a great force of
+the men of Leinster was also marching from Naas to the border, to
+recover their womenfolk, even as Atharna had expected. The Leinstermen
+then broke the battle on the company from Ulster, and defeated them,
+driving them with the cows of Atharna on to the sea cape of Ben Edar
+(Howth), but they recovered the women. On Ben Edar did King Conor with
+the remnant of his troop then fortify themselves, making a great fosse
+across the neck of land by which Ben Edar is joined to the mainland,
+and here they were besieged, with hard fighting by day and night,
+expecting that help should come to them from Ulster, whither they had
+sent messengers to tell of their distress.
+
+Now Conall of the Victories was left behind to rule in Emania when
+Conor set forth to Leinster, and he now, on hearing how the King was
+beset, assembled a great host and marched down to Ben Edar. Here he
+attacked the host of Leinster, and a great battle was fought, many
+being slain on both sides, and the King of Leinster, Mesgedra, lost
+his left hand in the fight. In the end the men of Leinster were
+routed, and fled, and Mesgedra drove in his chariot past the City of
+the Hurdle Ford and Naas to the fords of Liffey at Clane. Here there
+was a sacred oak tree where druid rites and worship were performed,
+and that oak tree was sanctuary, so that within its shadow, guarded by
+mighty spells, no man might be slain by his enemy.
+
+Now Conall Cearnach had followed hard on the track of Mesgedra, and
+when he found him beneath the oak, he drove his chariot round and
+round the circuit of the sanctuary, bidding Mesgedra come forth and do
+battle with him, or be counted a dastard among the kings of Erinn. But
+Mesgedra said, "Is it the fashion of the champions of Ulster to
+challenge one-armed men to battle?"
+
+Then Conall let his charioteer bind one of his arms to his side, and
+again he taunted Mesgedra and bade him come forth.
+
+Mesgedra then drew sword, and between him and Conall there was a
+fierce fight until the Liffey was reddened with their blood. At last,
+by a chance blow of the sword of Mesgedra, the bonds of Conall's left
+arm were severed.
+
+"On thy head be it," said Conall, "if thou release me again."
+
+Then he caused his arm to be bound up once more, and again they met,
+sword to sword, and again in the fury of the fight Mesgedra cut the
+thongs that bound Conall's arm. "The gods themselves have doomed
+thee," shouted Conall then, and he rushed upon Mesgedra and in no
+long time he wounded him to death.
+
+"Take my head," said Mesgedra then, "and add my glory to thy glory,
+but be well assured this wrong shall yet be avenged by me upon
+Ulster," and he died.
+
+Then Conall cut off the head of Mesgedra and put it in his chariot,
+and took also the chariot of Mesgedra and fared northwards. Ere long
+he met a chariot and fifty women accompanying it. In it was Buan the
+Queen, wife of Mesgedra, returning from a visit to Meath.
+
+"Who art thou, woman?" said Conall.
+
+"I am Buan, wife of Mesgedra the King."
+
+"Thou art to come with me," then said Conall.
+
+"Who hath commanded this?" said Buan.
+
+"Mesgedra the King," said Conall.
+
+"By what token dost thou lay these commands upon me?"
+
+"Behold his chariot and his horses," said Conall.
+
+"He gives rich gifts to many a man," answered the Queen.
+
+Then Conall showed her the head of her husband.
+
+"This is my token," said he.
+
+"It is enough," said Buan. "But give me leave to bewail him ere I go
+into captivity."
+
+Then Buan rose up in her chariot and raised for Mesgedra a keen of
+sorrow so loud and piercing that her heart broke with it, and she fell
+backwards on the road and died.
+
+Conall Cearnach then buried her there, and laid the head of her
+husband by her side; and the fair hazel tree that grew from her grave
+by the fords of Clane was called Coll Buana, or the Hazel Tree of
+Buan.
+
+But ere Conall buried the head of Mesgedra he caused the brain to be
+taken out and mixed with lime to make a bullet for a sling, for so it
+was customary to do when a great warrior had been killed; and the
+brain-balls thus made were accounted to be the deadliest of missiles.
+
+
+So when Leinster had been harried and plundered and its king and queen
+thus slain, the Ulstermen drew northward again, and the brain-ball was
+laid up in the Dun of King Conor at Emania.
+
+Years afterwards it happened that the Wolf of Connacht, namely Ket,
+son of Maga, came disguised within the borders of Ulster in search of
+prey, and he entered the palace precincts of Conor in Emania. There he
+saw two jesters of the King, who had gotten the brain-ball from the
+shelf where it lay, and were rolling it about the courtyard. Ket knew
+it for what it was, and put it out of sight of the jesters and took it
+away with him while they made search for it. Thenceforth Ket carried
+it ever about with him in his girdle, hoping that he might yet use it
+to destroy some great warrior among the Ulstermen.
+
+One day thereafter Ket made a foray on the men of Ross, and carried
+away a spoil of cattle. The host of Ulster and King Conor with them
+overtook him as he went homeward. The men of Connacht had also
+mustered to the help of Ket, and both sides made them ready for
+battle.
+
+Now a river, namely Brosna, ran between them, and on a hill at one
+side of this were assembled a number of the noble women of Connacht,
+who desired greatly to look on the far-famed Ultonian warriors, and
+above all on Conor the King, whose presence was said to be royal and
+stately beyond any man that was then living in Erinn. Among the
+bushes, close to the women, Ket hid himself, and lay still but
+watchful.
+
+Now Conor, seeing none but womenfolk close to him at this point, and
+being willing to show them his splendour, drew near to the bank on his
+side of the stream. Then Ket leaped up, whirling his sling, and the
+bullet hummed across the river and smote King Conor on the temple. And
+his men carried him off for dead, and the men of Connacht broke the
+battle on the Ulstermen, slaying many, and driving the rest of them
+back to their own place. This battle was thenceforth called the Battle
+of the Ford of the Sling-cast, or Athnurchar; and so the place is
+called to this day.
+
+When Conor was brought home to Emania his chief physician, Fingen,
+found the ball half buried in his temple. "If the ball be taken out,"
+said Fingen, "he will die; if it remain he will live, but he will bear
+the blemish of it."
+
+"Let him bear the blemish," said the Ulster lords, "that is a small
+matter compared with the death of Conor."
+
+Then Fingen stitched the wound over with a thread of gold, for Conor
+had curling golden hair, and bade him keep himself from all violent
+movements and from all vehement passions, and not to ride on
+horseback, and he would do well.
+
+After that Conor lived for seven years, and he went not to war during
+that time, and all cause of passion was kept far from him. Then one
+day at broad noon the sky darkened, and the gloom of night seemed to
+spread over the world, and all the people feared, and looked for some
+calamity. Conor called to him his chief druid, namely Bacarach, and
+inquired of him as to the cause of the gloom.
+
+The druid then went with Conor into a sacred grove of oaks and
+performed the rites of divination, and in a trance he spoke to Conor,
+saying, "I see a hill near a great city, and three high crosses on it.
+To one of them is nailed the form of a young man who is like unto one
+of the Immortals. Round him stand soldiers with tall spears, and a
+great crowd waiting to see him die."
+
+"Is he, then, a malefactor?"
+
+"Nay," said the druid, "but holiness, innocence, and truth have come
+to earth in him, and for this cause have the druids of his land doomed
+him to die, for his teaching was not as theirs. And the heavens are
+darkened for wrath and sorrow at the sight."
+
+Then Conor leaped up in a fury, crying, "They shall not slay him,
+they shall not slay him! Would I were there with the host of Ulster,
+and thus would I scatter his foes"; and with that he snatched his
+sword and began striking at the trees that stood thickly about him in
+the druid grove. Then with the heat of his passion the sling-ball
+burst from his head, and he fell to the ground and died.
+
+Thus was fulfilled the vengeance of Mesgedra upon Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+The Story of Etain and Midir
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a High King of the Milesian race in Ireland
+named Eochy Airem, whose power and splendour were very great, and all
+the sub-Kings, namely, Conor of Ulster, and Mesgedra of Leinster, and
+Curoi of Munster, and Ailill and Maev of Connacht, were obedient to
+him. But he was without a wife; and for this reason the sub-Kings and
+Princes of Ireland would not come to his festivals at Tara, "for,"
+said they, "there is no noble in Ireland who is a wifeless man, and a
+King is no king without a queen." And they would not bring their own
+wives to Tara without a queen there to welcome them, nor would they
+come themselves and leave their womenfolk at home.
+
+So Eochy bade search be made through all the boundaries of Ireland for
+a maiden meet to be wife of the High King. And in time his messengers
+came back and said that they had found in Ulster, by the Bay of
+Cichmany, the fairest and most accomplished maiden in Ireland, and her
+name was Etain, daughter of Etar, lord of the territory called Echrad.
+So Eochy, when he had heard their report, went forth to woo the
+maiden.
+
+When he drew near his journey's end he passed by a certain spring of
+pure water where it chanced that Etain and her maids had come down
+that she might wash her hair. She held in her hand a comb of silver
+inlaid with gold, and before her was a bason of silver chased with
+figures of birds, and around the rim of it red carbuncles were set.
+Her mantle was purple with a fringe of silver, and it was fastened
+with a broad golden brooch. She wore also a tunic of green silk, stiff
+with embroidery of gold that glittered in the sun. Her hair before she
+loosed it was done in two mighty tresses, yellow like the flower of
+the waterflag, each tress being plaited in four strands, and at the
+end of each strand a little golden ball. When she laid aside her
+mantle her arms came through the armholes of her tunic, white as the
+snow of a single night, and her cheeks were ruddy as the foxglove.
+Even and small were her teeth, as if a shower of pearls had fallen in
+her mouth. Her eyes were hyacinth-blue, her lips scarlet as the
+rowan-berry, her shoulders round and white, her fingers were long and
+her nails smooth and pink. Her feet also were slim, and white as
+sea-foam. The radiance of the moon was in her face, pride in her
+brows, the light of wooing in her eyes. Of her it was said that there
+was no beauty among women compared with Etain's beauty, no sweetness
+compared with the sweetness of Etain.
+
+When the King saw her his heart burned with love for her, and when he
+had speech with her he besought her to be his bride. And she consented
+to that, and said, "Many have wooed me, O King, but I would none of
+them, for since I was a little child I have loved thee, for the high
+tales that I heard of thee and of thy glory." And Eochy said, "Thine
+alone will I be if thou wilt have me." So the King paid a great
+bride-price for her, and bore her away to Tara, and there they were
+wedded, and all men welcomed and honoured the Queen. Nor had she dwelt
+long in Tara before the enchantment of her beauty and her grace had
+worked upon the hearts of all about her, so that the man to whom she
+spoke grew pale at the womanly sweetness of her voice, and felt
+himself a king for that day. All fair things and bright she loved,
+such as racing steeds and shining raiment, and the sight of Eochy's
+warriors with their silken banners and shields decorated with rich
+ornament in red and blue. And she would have all about her happy and
+joyous, and she gave freely of her treasure, and of her smiles and
+loving words, if she might see the light of joy on the faces of men,
+but from pain or sadness that might not be cured she would turn away.
+In one thing only was sadness endurable to her and that was in her
+music, for when she sang or touched the harp all hearts were pierced
+with longing for they knew not what, and all eyes shed tears save hers
+alone, who looked as though she beheld, far from earth, some land more
+fair than words of man can tell; and all the wonder of that land and
+all its immeasurable distance were in her song.
+
+Now Eochy the King had a brother whose name was Ailill Anglounach, or
+Ailill of the Single Stain, for one dark spot only was on his life,
+and it is of this that the story now shall tell. One day, when he had
+come from his own Dun to the yearly Assembly in the great Hall of
+Tara, he ate not at the banquet but gazed as it were at something afar
+off, and his wife said to him, "Why dost thou gaze so, Ailill; so do
+men look who are smitten with love?" Ailill was wroth with himself and
+turned his eyes away, but he said nothing, for that on which he gazed
+was the face of Etain.
+
+After that Assembly was over Ailill knew that the torment of love had
+seized him for his brother's wife, and he was sorely shamed and
+wrathful, and the secret strife in his mind between his honour and the
+fierce and pitiless love that possessed him brought him into a sore
+sickness. And he went home to his Dun in Tethba and there lay ill for
+a year. Then Eochy the King went to see him, and came near him and
+laid his hand on his breast, and Ailill heaved a bitter sigh. Eochy
+asked, "Why art thou not better of this sickness, how goes it with
+thee now?" "By my word," said Ailill, "no better, but worse each day
+and night." "What ails thee, then?" asked Eochy. Ailill said, "Verily,
+I know not." Then Eochy bade summon his chief physician, who might
+discover the cause of his brother's malady, for Ailill was wasting to
+death.
+
+So Fachtna the chief physician came and he laid his hand upon Ailill,
+and Ailill sighed. Then Fachtna said, "This is no bodily disease, but
+either Ailill suffers from the pangs of envy or from the torment of
+love." But Ailill was full of shame and he would not tell what ailed
+him, and Fachtna went away.
+
+After this the time came that Eochy the High King should make a royal
+progress throughout his realm of Ireland, but Etain he left behind at
+Tara. Before he departed he charged her saying, "Do thou be gentle and
+kind to my brother Ailill while he lives, and should he die, let his
+burial mound be heaped over him, and a pillar stone set up above it,
+and his name written thereon in letters of Ogham." Then the King took
+leave of Ailill and looked to see him again on earth no more.
+
+After a while Etain bethought her and said, "Let us go to see how it
+fares with Ailill." So she went to where he lay in his Dun at Tethba.
+And seeing him wasted and pale she was moved with pity and distress
+and said,
+
+"What ails thee, young man? Long thou hast lain prostrate, in fair
+weather and in foul, thou who wert wont to be so swift and strong?"
+
+And Ailill said,
+
+"Truly, I have a cause for my suffering; and I cannot eat, nor listen
+to the music makers; my affliction is very sore."
+
+Then said Etain,
+
+"Though I am a woman I am wise in many a thing; tell me what ails thee
+and thy healing shall be done."
+
+Ailill replied,
+
+"Blessing be with thee, O fair one; I am not worthy of thy speech; I
+am torn by the contention of body and of soul."
+
+Then Etain deemed that she knew somewhat of his trouble, and she said,
+
+
+"If thy heart is set on any of the white maidens that are my
+handmaids, tell me of it, and I shall court her for thee and she shall
+come to thee," and then Ailill cried out,
+
+"Love indeed, O Queen, hath brought me low. It is a plague nearer than
+the skin, it overwhelms my soul as an earthquake, it is farther than
+the height of the sky, and harder to win than the treasures of the
+Fairy Folk. If I contend with it, it is like a combat with a spectre;
+if I fly to the ends of the earth from it, it is there; if I seek to
+seize it, it is a passion for an echo. It is thou, O my love, who hast
+brought me to this, and thou alone canst heal me, or I shall never
+rise again."
+
+Then Etain went away and left him. But still in her palace in Tara she
+was haunted by his passion and his misery, and, though she loved him
+not, she could not endure his pain, nor the triumph of grim death over
+his youth and beauty. So at last she went to him again and said, "If
+it lies with me, Ailill, to heal thee of thy sickness, I may not let
+thee die." And she made a tryst to meet him on the morrow at a house
+of Ailill's between Dun Tethba and Tara, "but be it not at Tara," she
+said, "for that is the palace of the High King."
+
+All that night Ailill lay awake with the thought of his tryst with
+Etain. But on the morrow morn a heaviness came upon his eyelids, and a
+druid sleep overcame him, and there all day he lay buried in slumbers
+from which none could wake him, until the time of his meeting with
+Etain was overpast.
+
+But Etain, when she had come to the place of the tryst, looked out,
+and behold, a youth having the appearance and the garb of Ailill was
+approaching from Tethba. He entered the bower where she was; but no
+lover did she there meet, but only a sick and sorrowful man who spake
+coldly to her and lamented the sufferings of his malady, and after a
+short time he went away.
+
+Next day Etain went to see Ailill and to hear how he did. And Ailill
+entreated her forgiveness that he had not kept his tryst, "for," said
+he, "a druid slumber descended upon me, and I lay as one dead from
+morn till eve. And morever," he added, "it seems as if the strange
+passion that has befallen me were washed away in that slumber, for
+now, Etain, I love thee no more but as my Queen and my sister, and I
+am recovered as if from an evil dream." Then Etain knew that powers
+not of earth were mingling in her fate, and she pondered much of these
+things, and grew less lighthearted than of old. And when the King came
+back, he rejoiced to find his brother whole and sound and merry, as
+Ailill had ever been, and he praised Etain for her gentleness and
+care.
+
+Now after a time as Etain was by herself in her sunny bower she was
+aware of a man standing by her, whom she had never seen before. Young
+he was, and grey-eyed, with curling golden hair, and in his hand he
+bore two spears. His mantle was of crimson silk, his tunic of saffron,
+and a golden helmet was on his head. And as she gazed upon him,
+"Etain," he said, "the time is come for thee to return; we have missed
+thee and sorrowed for thee long enough in the Land of Youth." Etain
+said, "Of what land dost thou speak?" Then he chanted to her a song:--
+
+  "Come with me, Etain, O come away,
+     To that oversea land of mine!
+   Where music haunts the happy day,
+     And rivers run with wine;
+   Where folk are careless, and young, and gay,
+     And none saith 'mine' or 'thine.'
+
+   "Golden curls on the proud young head,
+     And pearls in the tender mouth;
+   Manhood, womanhood, white and red,
+     And love that grows not loth
+   When all the world's desires are dead,
+     And all the dreams of youth.
+
+   "Away from the cloud of Adam's sin!
+     Away from grief and care!
+   This flowery land thou dwellest in
+     Seems rude to us, and bare;
+   For the naked strand of the Happy Land
+     Is twenty times as fair."
+
+When Etain heard this she stood motionless and as one that dreams
+awake, for it seemed to her as if she must follow that music
+whithersoever it went on earth or beyond the earth. But at last
+remembrance came upon her and she said to the stranger, "Who art thou,
+that I, the High King's wife, should follow a nameless man and betray
+my troth?" And he said, "Thy troth was due to me before it was due to
+him, and, moreover, were it not for me thou hadst broken it already. I
+am Midir the Proud, a prince among the people of Dana, and thy
+husband, Etain. Thus it was, that when I took thee to wife in the Land
+of Youth, the jealousy of thy rival, Fuamnach, was awakened; and
+having decoyed me from home by a false report, she changed thee by
+magical arts into a butterfly, and then contrived a mighty tempest
+that drove thee abroad. Seven years wast thou borne hither and thither
+on the blast till chance blew thee into the fairy palace of Angus my
+kinsman, by the waters of the Boyne. But Angus knew thee, for the
+Fairy Folk may not disguise themselves from each other, and he built
+for thee a magical sunny bower with open windows, through which thou
+mightest pass, and about it were all manner of blossoming herbs and
+shrubs, and on the odour and honey of these thou didst live and grow
+fair and well nourished. But in the end Fuamnach got tidings of thee,
+and again the druid tempest descended and blew thee forth for another
+seven years of wandering and woe. Then it chanced that thou wert blown
+through the roof-window of the Dun of Etar by the Bay of Cichmany, and
+fell into the goblet from which his wife was drinking, and thee she
+drank down with that draught of ale. And in due time thou wast born
+again in the guise of a mortal maid and daughter to Etar the Warrior.
+But thou art no mortal, nor of mortal kin, for it is one thousand and
+twelve years from the time when thou wast born in Fairy Land till
+Etar's wife bore thee as a child on earth."
+
+Then Etain was bewildered, and her mind ran back on many a
+half-forgotten thing and she gazed as into a gulf of visions, full of
+dim shapes, strange and glorious. And Midir as she looked at him again
+seemed transfigured, taller and mightier than before, and a light
+flame flickered from his helmet's crest and moved like wings about his
+shoulders.
+
+But at last she said, "I know not what thou sayest if it be truth or
+not, but this I know, that I am the wife of the High King and I will
+not break my troth." "It were broken already," said Midir, "but for
+me, for I it was who laid a druidic sleep on Ailill, and it was I who
+came to thee in his shape that thy honour might not be stained." Etain
+said, "I learned then that honour is more than life." "But if Eochy
+the High King consent to let thee go," said Midir, "wilt thou then
+come with me to my land and thine?" "In that case," said Etain "I
+will go."
+
+And the time went by, and Etain abode in Tara, and the High King did
+justice and made war and held the great Assembly as he was used. But
+one day in summer Eochy arose very early to breathe the morning air,
+and he stood by himself leaning on the rampart of his great Dun, and
+looking over the flowery plain of Bregia. And as he thus gazed he was
+aware of a young warrior standing by his side. Grey-eyed the youth
+was, and golden-haired, and he was splendidly armed and apparelled as
+beseemed the lord of a great clan of the Gael. Eochy bade him welcome
+courteously, and asked him of the cause of his coming. "I am come," he
+said, "to play a game of chess with thee, O King, for thou art
+renowned for thy skill in that game, and to test that skill am I come.
+And my name is Midir, of the People of Dana, whom they have called The
+Proud."
+
+"Willingly," said the King; "but I have here no chessboard, and mine
+is in the chamber where the Queen is sleeping."
+
+"That is easily remedied," said Midir, and he drew from his cloak a
+folding chessboard whose squares were alternate gold and silver. From
+a men-bag made of brazen chainwork he drew out a set of men adorned
+with flashing jewels, and he set them in array.
+
+"I will not play," then said Eochy, "unless we play for a stake."
+
+"For what stake shall we play, then?" said Midir.
+
+"I care not," said Eochy; "but do thou perform tasks for me if I win
+and I shall bestow of my treasures upon thee if I lose."
+
+So they played a game, and Eochy won. Then Eochy bade Midir clear the
+plains of Meath about Tara from rocks and stones, and Midir brought at
+night a great host of the Fairy Folk, and it was done. And again he
+played with Eochy, and again he lost, and this time he cut down the
+forest of Breg. The third time Midir lost again, and his task was to
+build a causeway across the moor of Lamrach. Now at night, while Midir
+and the fairy host were labouring at the causeway and their oxen
+drawing to it innumerable loads of earth and gravel, the steward of
+Eochy stole out and hid himself to watch them, for it was a
+prohibition to see them at work. And he observed that the fairy oxen
+were not harnessed with a thong across their foreheads, that the pull
+might be upon their brows and necks, as was the manner with the Gael,
+but with yokes upon their shoulders. This he reported to Eochy, who
+found it good; and he ordered that henceforth the children of the Gael
+should harness their plough-oxen with the yoke upon their shoulders;
+and so it was done from that day forth. Hence Eochy got his name of
+_Airem_, or "The Ploughman," for he was the first of the Gael to put
+the yoke upon the shoulder of the ox.
+
+But it was said that because the Fairy Folk were watched as they made
+that noble causeway, there came a breach in it at one place which none
+could ever rightly mend.
+
+When all their works were accomplished, Midir came again to Eochy, and
+this time he bore a dark and fierce countenance and was high girt as
+for war. And the King welcomed him, and Midir said, "Thou hast treated
+me hardly and put slavish tasks upon me. All that seemed good to thee
+have I done, but now I am moved with anger against thee."
+
+"I return not anger for anger," said Eochy; "say what satisfaction I
+can make thee."
+
+"Let us once more play at chess," said Midir.
+
+"Good," said Eochy, "and what stake wilt thou have now?"
+
+"The stake to be whatever the winner shall demand," said Midir.
+
+Then they played for the fourth time and Eochy lost.
+
+"Thou hast won the game," said he.
+
+"I had won long ago had I chosen," said Midir.
+
+"What dost thou demand of me?" said Eochy.
+
+"To hold Etain in my arms and obtain a kiss from her," replied Midir.
+
+The King was silent for a while and after that he said, "Come back in
+one month from this day and the stake which I have lost shall be
+paid."
+
+But Eochy summoned together all the host of the heroes of the Gael,
+and they surrounded Tara, ring within ring; and the King himself and
+Etain were in the palace, with the outer court of it shut and locked.
+For they looked that Midir should come with a great host of the Danaan
+folk to carry off the Queen. And on the appointed day, as the kings
+sat at meat, Etain and her handmaids were dispensing the wine to them
+as was wont. Then suddenly as they feasted and talked, behold, Midir,
+stood in the midst of them. If he was fair and noble to look on as he
+had appeared before to the King and to Etain, he was fairer now, for
+the splendour of the Immortals clothed him, and his jewels flamed as
+he moved like eyes of living light. And all the kings and lords and
+champions who were present gazed on him in amazement and were silent,
+as the King arose and gave him welcome.
+
+"Thou hast received me as I expected to be received," said Midir,
+"and now let thy debt be paid, since I for my part faithfully
+performed all that I undertook."
+
+"I must consider the matter yet longer," said Eochy.
+
+"Thou hast promised Etain's very self to me," said Midir; "that is
+what hath come from thee." And when she heard that word Etain blushed
+for shame.
+
+"Blush not," said Midir, "for all the treasures of the Land of Youth
+have not availed to win thee from Eochy, and it is not of thine own
+will that thou art won, but because the time is come to return to thy
+kin."
+
+Then said Eochy, "I have not promised Etain's self to thee, but to
+take her in thine arms and kiss her, and now do so if thou wilt."
+
+[Illustration: "They rose up in the air"]
+
+Then Midir took his weapons in his left hand and placed his right
+around Etain, and when he did so they rose up in the air over the
+heads of the host, and passed through a roof-window in the palace.
+Then all rose up, tumultuous and angry, and rushed out of doors, but
+nothing could they see save two white swans that circled high in air
+around the Hill of Tara, and then flew southwards and away towards
+the fairy mountain of Slievenamon. And thus Etain the immortal
+rejoined the Immortals; but a daughter of Etain and of Eochy, who was
+another Etain in name and in beauty, became in due time a wife, and
+mother of kings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+How Ethne Quitted Fairyland
+
+
+By the banks of the River Boyne, where rises the great Fairy Mound now
+called Newgrange, there stood long ago the shining Palace of a prince
+of the People of Dana, named Angus. Of him it is that the lines are
+written--
+
+  "By the dark rolling waters of the Boyne
+   Where Angus Og magnificently dwells."
+
+When the Milesian race invaded Ireland, and after long fighting
+subdued the Danaans in spite of all their enchantments and all their
+valour, the Danaans wrought for themselves certain charms by which
+they and all their possessions became invisible to mortals, and thus
+they continued to lead their old joyous life in the holy places of the
+land, and their palaces and dancing-places and folk-motes seem to the
+human eye to be merely a green mound or rath, or a lonely hillside, or
+a ruined shrine with nettles and foxgloves growing up among its broken
+masonry.
+
+Now, after Angus and his folk had thus retreated behind the veil of
+invisibility, it happened that the steward of his palace had a
+daughter born to him whose name was Ethne. On the same day Fand, the
+wife of Mananan the Sea God, bore him a daughter, and since Angus was
+a friend of Mananan and much beloved by him, the child of the Sea God
+was sent to Brugh na Boyna, the noble dwelling-place of Angus, to be
+fostered and brought up, as the custom was. And Ethne became the
+handmaid of the young princess of the sea.
+
+In time Ethne grew into a fair and stately maiden Now in the Brugh of
+Angus there were two magical treasures, namely, an ale-vat which could
+never be emptied, and two swine whereof one was ever roasted and ready
+to be eaten while the other lived, and thus they were, day and day
+about. There was therefore always a store of food of faery, charged
+with magical spells, by eating of which one could never grow old or
+die. It came to be noticed that after Ethne had grown up she never ate
+or drank of the fairy food, or of any other, yet she continued to seem
+healthy and well-nourished. This was reported to Angus, and by him to
+Mananan, and Mananan by his wisdom discovered the cause of it. One of
+the lords of the Danaans, happening to be on a visit with Angus, was
+rendered distraught by the maiden's beauty, and one day he laid hands
+upon her and strove to carry her away to his own dwelling. Ethne
+escaped from him, but the blaze of resentment at the insult that lit
+up in her soul consumed in her the fairy nature, that knows not of
+good or evil, and the nature of the children of Adam took its place.
+Thenceforth she ate not of the fairy food, which is prohibited to man,
+and she was nourished miraculously by the will of the One God. But
+after a time it chanced that Mananan and Angus brought from the Holy
+Land two cows whose milk could never run dry. In this milk there was
+nothing of the fairy spell, and Ethne lived upon it many long years,
+milking the cows herself, nor did her youth and beauty suffer any
+change.
+
+Now it happened that on one very hot day the daughter of Mananan went
+down to bathe in the waters of the Boyne, and Ethne and her other
+maidens along with her. After they had refreshed themselves in the
+cool, amber-coloured water, they arrayed themselves in their silken
+robes and trooped back to the Brugh again; but ere they entered it,
+they discovered that Ethne was not among them.
+
+So they went back, scattering themselves along the bank and searching
+in every quiet pool of the river and in every dark recess among the
+great trees that bordered it, for Ethne was dearly loved by all of
+them; but neither trace nor tidings of her could they find, and they
+went sorrowfully home without her, to tell the tale to Angus and to
+her father.
+
+What had befallen Ethne was this. In taking off her garments by the
+riverside she had mislaid her fairy charm, and was become as a mortal
+maid. Nothing could she now see of her companions, and all around was
+strange to her. The fairy track that had led to the riverside was
+overgrown with briars, the palace of Angus was but a wooded hill. She
+knew not where she was, and pierced with sudden terror she fled wildly
+away, seeking for the familiar places that she had known in the fairy
+life, but which were now behind the Veil. At length she came to a high
+wall wherein was a wicket gate, and through it she saw a garden full
+of sweet herbs and flowers, which surrounded a steep-roofed building
+of stone. In the garden she saw a man in a long brown robe tied about
+his waist with a cord. He smiled at her and beckoned her to come in
+without fear. He was a monk of the holy Patrick, and the house was a
+convent church.
+
+When the monk had heard her tale, he marvelled greatly and brought her
+to St Patrick himself, who instructed her in the Faith, and she
+believed and was baptized.
+
+[Illustration: "She heard her own name called again and again"]
+
+But not long thereafter, as she was praying in the church by the
+Boyne, the sky darkened and she heard a sound without like the rushing
+of a great wind, and mingled in it were cries and lamentations, and
+her own name called again and again in a multitude of voices, thin and
+faint as the crying of curlews upon the moor. She sprang up and gazed
+around, calling in return, but nothing could she see, and at last the
+storm of cries died away, and everything was still again around the
+church except the singing voice of Boyne and the humming of the garden
+bees.
+
+Then Ethne sank down swooning, and the monks bore her out into the
+air, and it was long until her heart beat and her eyes unclosed again.
+In that hour she fell into a sickness from which she never recovered.
+In no long time she died with her head upon the breast of the holy
+Patrick, and she was buried in the church where she had first been
+received by the monk; and the church was called Killethne, or the
+Church of Ethne, from that day forward until now.
+
+
+
+
+THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The Boyhood of Finn mac Cumhal
+
+
+In Ireland long ago, centuries before the English appeared in that
+country, there were kings and chiefs, lawyers and merchants, men of
+the sword and men of the book, men who tilled their own ground and men
+who tilled the ground of others, just as there are now. But there was
+also, as ancient poets and historians tell us, a great company or
+brotherhood of men who were bound to no fixed calling, unless it was
+to fight for the High King of Ireland whenever foes threatened him
+from within the kingdom or without it. This company was called the
+Fianna of Erinn. They were mighty hunters and warriors, and though
+they had great possessions in land, and rich robes, and gold
+ornaments, and weapons wrought with beautiful chasing and with
+coloured enamels, they lived mostly a free out-door life in the light
+hunting-booths which they made in the woods where the deer and the
+wolf ranged. There were then vast forests in Ireland, which are all
+gone now, and there were also, as there still are, many great and
+beautiful lakes and rivers, swarming with fish and water-fowl. In the
+forests and on the mountain sides roamed the wild boar and the wolf,
+and great herds of deer, some of giant size, whose enormous antlers
+are sometimes found when bogs are being drained. The Fianna chased
+these and the wolves with great dogs, whose courage and strength and
+beauty were famous throughout Europe, and which they prized and loved
+above all things. To the present day in Ireland there still remain
+some of this breed of Irish hounds, but the giant deer and the wolf
+are gone, and the Fianna of Erinn live only in the ancient books that
+were written of them, and in the tales that are still told of them in
+the winter evenings by the Irish peasant's fireside.
+
+The Fianna were under the rule of one great captain or chief, and at
+the time I tell of his name was Cumhal, son of Trenmor. Now a tribe or
+family of the Fianna named the Clan Morna, or Sons of Morna, rose in
+rebellion against Cumhal, for they were jealous and greedy of his
+power and glory, and sought to have the captaincy for themselves. They
+defeated and slew him at the battle of Cnucha, which is now called
+Castleknock, near the City of the Hurdle Ford, which is the name that
+Dublin still bears in the Irish tongue. Goll, son of Morna, slew
+Cumhal, and they spoiled him of the Treasure Bag of the Fianna, which
+was a bag made of a crane's skin and having in it jewels of great
+price, and magic weapons, and strange things that had come down from
+far-off days when the Fairy Folk and mortal men battled for the
+lordship of Ireland. The Bag with its treasures was given to Lia, the
+chief of Luachar in Connacht, who had the keeping of it before, for he
+was the treasurer of Cumhal, and he was the first man who had wounded
+Cumhal in the battle when he fell.
+
+Cumhal's wife was named Murna, and she bore him two sons. The elder
+was named Tulcha, and he fled from the country for fear of Goll and
+took service with the King of Scotland. The younger was born after
+Cumhal's death, and his name was called Demna. And because his mother
+feared that the sons of Morna would find him out and kill him, she
+gave him to a Druidess and another wise woman of Cumhal's household,
+and bade them take him away and rear him as best they could. So they
+took him into the wild woods on the Slieve Bloom Mountains, and there
+they trained him to hunt and fish and to throw the spear, and he grew
+strong, and as beautiful as a child of the Fairy Folk. If he were in
+the same field with a hare he could run so that the hare could never
+leave the field, for Demna was always before it. He could run down and
+slay a stag with no dogs to help him, and he could kill a wild duck on
+the wing with a stone from his sling. And the Druidess taught him the
+learning of the time, and also the story of his race and nation, and
+told him of his right to be captain of the Fianna of Erinn when his
+day of destiny should come.
+
+One day, while still a boy, he was roaming through the woods when he
+came to the mansion of a great lord, where many boys, sons of the
+chief men of Ireland, were being trained in manly arts and exercises.
+He found them playing at hurling, and they invited him to join them.
+He did so, but the side he was on won too easily, so they divided
+again, and yet again, giving fewer and fewer to Demna's side, till at
+last he alone drove the ball to the goal through them all, flashing
+among them as a salmon among a shoal of minnows. And then their anger
+and jealousy rose and grew bitter against the stranger, and instead of
+honouring him as gallant lads of gentle blood should have done they
+fell upon him with their hurling clubs and sought to kill him. But
+Demna felled seven of them to the ground and put the rest to flight,
+and then went his way home. When the boys told what had happened the
+chief asked them who it was that had defeated and routed them
+single-handed. They said, "It was a tall shapely lad, and very fair
+(_finn_)." So the name of Finn, the Fair One, clung to him
+thenceforth, and by that name he is known to this day.
+
+By and by Finn gathered round him a band of youths who loved him for
+his strength and valour and for his generous heart, and with them he
+went hunting in the forests. And Goll, and the sons of Morna, who were
+now captains of the Fianna under the High King, began to hear tales of
+him and his exploits, and they sent trackers to inquire about him, for
+they had an inkling of who this wonderful fair-haired youth might be.
+Finn's foster mothers heard of this. "You must leave this place," they
+said to him, "and see our faces no more, for if Goll's men find you
+here they will slay you. We have cherished the blood of Cumhal," they
+said, "and now our work is done. Go, and may blessing and victory go
+with you." So Finn departed with naught but his weapons and his
+hunting gear, very sorrowful at leaving the wise and loving friends
+who had fostered his childhood; but deep in his heart was a wild and
+fierce delight at the thought of the trackless ways he would travel,
+and the wonders he would see; and all the future looked to him as
+beautiful and dim as the mists that fill a mountain glen under the
+morning sun.
+
+Now after the death of Cumhal, his brother Crimmal and a few others of
+the aged warriors of the Fianna, who had not fallen in the fight at
+Cnucha, fled away into Connacht, and lived there in the deepest
+recesses of a great forest, where they hoped the conquerors might
+never find them. Here they built themselves a poor dwelling of tree
+branches, plastered with mud and roofed with reeds from the lake, and
+here they lived on what game they could kill or snare in the wild
+wood; and harder and harder it grew, as age and feebleness crept on
+them, to find enough to eat, or to hew wood for their fire. In this
+retreat, never having seen the friendly face of man, they were one day
+startled to hear voices and the baying of hounds approaching them
+through the wood, and they thought that the sons of Morna were upon
+them at last, and that their hour of doom was at hand. Soon they
+perceived a company of youths coming towards their hut, with one in
+front who seemed to be their leader. Taller he was by a head than the
+rest, broad shouldered, and with masses of bright hair clustering
+round his forehead, and he carried in his hand a large bag made of
+some delicate skin and stained in patterns of red and blue. The old
+men thought when they saw him of a saying there was about the mighty
+Lugh, who was brother to the wife of Cumhal, that when he came among
+his army as they mustered for battle, men felt as though they beheld
+the rising of the sun. As they came near, the young men halted and
+looked upon the elders with pity, for their clothing of skins was
+ragged and the weapons they strove to hold were rusted and blunt, and
+except for their proud bearing and the fire in their old eyes they
+looked more like aged and worthless slaves in the household of a
+niggardly lord than men who had once been the flower of the fighting
+men of Erinn.
+
+But the tall youth stepped in front of his band and cried aloud--
+
+"Which of ye is Crimmal, son of Trenmor?" And one of the elders said,
+"I am Crimmal." Then tears filled the eyes of the youth, and he knelt
+down before the old man and put his hands in his.
+
+"My lord and chief," he said, "I am Finn, son of Cumhal, and the day
+of deliverance is come."
+
+[Illustration: "And that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut"]
+
+So the youths brought in the spoils of their hunting, and yet other
+spoils than these; and that night there was feasting and joy in the
+lonely hut. And Crimmal said--
+
+"It was foretold to us that one day the blood of Cumhal should be
+avenged, and the race of Cumhal should rule the Fianna again. This was
+the sign that the coming champion should give of his birth and
+destiny; he was to bear with him the Treasure Bag of Cumhal and the
+sacred things that were therein."
+
+Finn said, "Ye know the Bag and its treasures, tell us if these be
+they." And he laid his skin bag on the knees of Crimmal.
+
+Crimmal opened it, and he took out the jewels of sovranty the magic
+spear-head made by the smiths of the Fairy Folk, and he said, "These
+be the treasures of Cumhal; truly the ripeness of the time is come."
+
+And Finn then told the story of how he had won these things.
+
+"But yesterday morning," he said, "we met on our way a woman of noble
+aspect, and she knelt over the body of a slain youth. When she lifted
+her head as we drew near, tears of blood ran down her cheeks, and she
+cried to me, 'Whoever thou art, I bind thee by the bonds of the sacred
+ordinances of the Gael that thou avenge my wrong. This was my son
+Glonda,' she said, 'my only son, and he was slain to-day wantonly by
+the Lord of Luachar and his men.' So we went, my company and I, to the
+Dun of the Lord of Luachar, and found an earthen rampart with a fosse
+before it, and on the top of the rampart was a fence of oaken posts
+interlaced with wattles, and over this we saw the many-coloured thatch
+of a great dwelling-house, and its white walls painted with bright
+colours under the broad eaves. So I stood forth and called to the Lord
+of Luachar and bade him make ready to pay an eric to the mother of
+Glonda, whatsoever she should demand. But he laughed at us and cursed
+us and bade us begone. Then we withdrew into the forest, but returned
+with a great pile of dry brushwood, and while some of us shot stones
+and arrows at whoever should appear above the palisade, others rushed
+up with bundles of brushwood and laid it against the palisade and set
+it on fire, and the Immortal Ones sent a blast of wind that set the
+brushwood and palisade quickly in a blaze, and through that fiery gap
+we charged in shouting. And half of the men of Luachar we killed and
+the rest fled, and the Lord of Luachar I slew in the doorway of his
+palace. We took a great spoil then, O Crimmal--these vessels of bronze
+and silver, and spears and bows, smoked bacon and skins of Greek wine;
+and in a great chest of yewwood we found this bag. All these things
+shall now remain with you, and my company shall also remain to hunt
+for you and protect you, for ye shall know want and fear no longer
+while ye live."
+
+And Finn said, "I would fain know if my mother Murna still lives, or
+if she died by the sons of Morna."
+
+Crimmal said, "After thy father's death, Finn, she was wedded to
+Gleor, Lord of Lamrigh, in the south, and she still lives in honour
+with him, and the sons of Morna have let her be. Didst thou never see
+her since she gave thee, an infant, to the wise women on the day of
+Cnucha?"
+
+"I remember," said Finn, "when I was, as they tell me, but six years
+old, there came one day to our shieling in the woods of Slieve Bloom a
+chariot with bronze-shod wheels and a bronze wolf's head at the end of
+the pole, and two horsemen riding with it, besides him who drove. A
+lady was in it, with a gold frontlet on her brow and her cloak was
+fastened with a broad golden brooch. She came into our hut and spoke
+long with my foster-mothers, and me she clasped in her arms and kissed
+many times, and I felt her tears on my face. And they told me
+afterwards that this was Murna of the White Neck, and my mother. If
+she have suffered no harm at the hands of the sons of Morna, so much
+the less is the debt that they shall one day pay."
+
+Now it is to be told what happened to Finn at the house of Finegas the
+Bard. Finn did not deem that the time had come for him to seize the
+captaincy of the Fianna until he had perfected himself in wisdom and
+learning. So on leaving the shelter of the old men in the wood he went
+to learn wisdom and the art of poetry from Finegas, who dwelt by the
+River Boyne, near to where is now the village of Slane. It was a
+belief among the poets of Ireland that the place of the revealing of
+poetry is always by the margin of water. But Finegas had another
+reason for the place where he made his dwelling, for there was an old
+prophecy that whoever should first eat of the Salmon of Knowledge that
+lived in the River Boyne, should become the wisest of men. Now this
+salmon was called Finntan in ancient times and was one of the
+Immortals, and he might be eaten and yet live. But in the time of
+Finegas he was called the Salmon of the Pool of Fec, which is the
+place where the fair river broadens out into a great still pool, with
+green banks softly sloping upward from the clear brown water. Seven
+years was Finegas watching the pool, but not until after Finn had come
+to be his disciple was the salmon caught. Then Finegas gave it to Finn
+to cook, and bade him eat none of it. But when Finegas saw him coming
+with the fish, he knew that something had chanced to the lad, for he
+had been used to have the eye of a young man but now he had the eye of
+a sage. Finegas said, "Hast thou eaten of the salmon?"
+
+"Nay," said Finn, "but it burnt me as I turned it upon the spit and I
+put my thumb in my mouth" And Finegas smote his hands together and was
+silent for a while. Then he said to the lad who stood by obediently,
+"Take the salmon and eat it, Finn, son of Cumhal, for to thee the
+prophecy is come. And now go hence, for I can teach thee no more, and
+blessing and victory be thine."
+
+With Finegas, Finn learned the three things that make a poet, and they
+are Fire of Song, and Light of Knowledge, and the Art of Extempore
+Recitation. Before he departed he made this lay to prove his art, and
+it is called "The Song of Finn in Praise of May":--
+
+   May Day! delightful day!
+     Bright colours play the vales along.
+   Now wakes at morning's slender ray,
+     Wild and gay, the blackbird's song.
+
+   Now comes the bird of dusty hue,
+     The loud cuckoo, the summer-lover;
+   Branching trees are thick with leaves;
+     The bitter, evil time is over.
+
+   Swift horses gather nigh
+     Where half dry the river goes;
+   Tufted heather crowns the height;
+     Weak and white the bogdown blows.
+
+   Corncrake sings from eve till morn,
+     Deep in corn, a strenuous bard!
+   Sings the virgin waterfall,
+     White and tall, her one sweet word.
+
+   Loaded bees of little power
+     Goodly flower-harvest win;
+   Cattle roam with muddy flanks;
+     Busy ants go out and in.
+
+   Through, the wild harp of the wood
+     Making music roars the gale--
+   Now it slumbers without motion,
+     On the ocean sleeps the sail.
+
+   Men grow mighty in the May,
+     Proud and gay the maidens grow;
+   Fair is every wooded height;
+     Fair and bright the plain below.
+
+   A bright shaft has smit the streams,
+     With gold gleams the water-flag;
+   Leaps the fish, and on the hills
+     Ardour thrills the flying stag.
+
+   Carols loud the lark on high,
+     Small and shy, his tireless lay,
+   Singing in wildest, merriest mood
+     Of delicate-hued, delightful May.[20]
+
+   [20] I am much indebted to the beautiful prose translation of
+   this song, published by Dr Kuno Meyer in _Eriu_ (the Journal of
+   the School of Irish Learning), Vol. I. Part II. In my poetic
+   version an attempt has been made to render the riming and
+   metrical effect of the original, which is believed to date from
+   about the ninth century.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Coming of Finn
+
+
+And now we tell how Finn came to the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn.
+
+At this time Ireland was ruled by one of the mightiest of her native
+kings, Conn, son of Felimy, who was surnamed Conn of the Hundred
+Battles. And Conn sat in his great banqueting hall at Tara, while the
+yearly Assembly of the lords and princes of the Gael went forward,
+during which it was the inviolable law that no quarrel should be
+raised and no weapon drawn, so that every man who had a right to come
+to that Assembly might come there and sit next his deadliest foe in
+peace. Below him sat at meat the provincial kings and the chiefs of
+clans, and the High King's officers and fighting-men of the Fianna,
+with Goll and the sons of Morna at their head. And there, too, sat
+modestly a strange youth, tall and fair, whom no one had seen in that
+place before. Conn marked him with the eye of a king that is
+accustomed to mark men, and by and by he sent him a horn full of wine
+from his own table and bade the youth declare his name and lineage.
+"I am Finn, son of Cumhal," said the youth, standing among them, tall
+as a warriors spear, and a start and a low murmur ran through the
+Assembly while the captains of the Fianna stared upon him like men who
+see a vision of the dead. "What seek you here?" said Conn, and Finn
+replied, "To be your man, O King, and to do you service in war as my
+father did." "It is well," said the King. "Thou art a friend's son and
+the son of man of trust." So Finn put his hand in the Kind's and swore
+fealty and service to him, and Conn set him beside his own son Art,
+and all fell to talking again and wondering what new things that day
+would bring forth, and the feasting went merrily forward.
+
+Now at this time the people of the royal burg of Tara were sorely
+afflicted by a goblin of the Fairy Folk, who was wont to approach the
+place at night-fall, there to work what harm to man, or beast, or
+dwelling that he found in his evil mind to do. And he could not be
+resisted, for as he came he played on a magic harp a strain so keen
+and sweet, that each man who heard it must needs stand entranced and
+motionless until the fairy music had passed away. The King proclaimed
+a mighty reward to any man who would save Tara from the goblin, and
+Finn thought in his heart, "I am the man to do that." So he said to
+the King, "Shall I have my rightful heritage as captain of the Fianna
+of Erin if I slay the goblin?" Conn said, "I promise thee that," and
+he bound himself by the sureties of all the provincial Kings of
+Ireland and of the Druid Kithro and his magicians.
+
+Now there was among the following of Conn a man named Fiacha, who had
+been as a youth a trusty friend and follower of Cumhal. He came to
+Finn and brought with him a spear having a head of dark bronze with
+glittering edges, and fastened with thirty rivets of Arabian gold, and
+the spear-head was laced up within a leathern case. "By this weapon of
+enchantment," said Fiacha, "you shall overcome the enchanter," and he
+taught Finn what to do with it when the hour of need should come.
+
+So Finn took the spear, and left the strings of the case loose, and he
+paced with it towards night-fall around the ramparts of royal Tara.
+And when he had once made the circuit of the rampart, and the light
+had now almost quite faded from the summer sky, and the wide low
+plains around the Hill of Tara were a sea of white mist, he heard far
+off in the deepening gloom the first notes of the fairy harp. Never
+such music was made by mortal hand, for it had in it sorrows that man
+has never felt, and joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as
+if a man listening to that music might burst from time into eternity
+and be as one of the Immortals for evermore. And Finn listened, amazed
+and rapt, till at last as the triumphant melody grew nearer and louder
+he saw dimly a Shadow Shape playing as it were on a harp, and coming
+swiftly towards him. Then with a mighty effort he roused himself from
+dreams, and tore the cover from the spear-head and laid the metal to
+his brow. And the demoniac energy that had been beaten into the blade
+by the hammers of unearthly craftsmen in ancient days thrilled
+through him and made him fighting-mad, and he rushed forward shouting
+his battle-cry, and swinging the spear aloft. But the Shadow turned
+and fled before him, and Finn chased it northward to the Fairy Mound
+of Slieve Fuad, and there he drove the spear through its back. And
+what it was that fell there in the night, and what it was that passed
+like the shadow of a shadow into the Fairy Mound, none can tell, but
+Finn bore back with him next day a pale, sorrowful head on the point
+of Fiacha's spear, and the goblin troubled the folk of royal Tara no
+more.
+
+But Conn of the Hundred Battles called the Fianna together, and he set
+Finn at his right hand and said, "Here is your Captain by birth-right
+and by sword-right. Let who will now obey him hence-forward, and who
+will not, let him go in peace and serve Arthur of Britain or Arist of
+Alba, or whatsoever King he will." And Goll, son of Morna, said, "For
+my part I will be Finn's man under thee, O King," and he swore
+obedience and loyalty to Finn before them all. Nor was it hard for any
+man to step where Goll had gone before, so they all took their oaths
+of Fian service to Finn mac Cumhal. And thus it was that Finn came to
+the captaincy of the Fianna of Erinn, and he ruled the Fianna many a
+year till he died in battle with the Clan Urgrenn at Brea upon the
+Boyne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+Finn's Chief Men
+
+
+With the coming of Finn did the Fianna of Erinn come to their glory,
+and with his life their glory passed away. For he ruled them as no
+other captain ever did, both strongly and wisely, and never bore a
+grudge against any, but freely forgave a man all offences save
+disloyalty to his lord. Thus it is told that Conan, son of the Lord of
+Luachar, him who had the Treasure Bag and whom Finn slew at Rath
+Luachar, was for seven years an outlaw and marauder, harrying the
+Fians, and killing here a man and there a hound, and firing their
+dwellings, and raiding their cattle. At last they ran him to a corner
+at Cam Lewy in Munster, and when he saw that he could escape no more
+he stole upon Finn as he sat down after a chase, and flung his arms
+round him from behind, holding him fast and motionless. Finn knew who
+held him thus and said, "What wilt thou Conan?" Conan said, "To make a
+covenant of service and fealty with thee, for I may no longer evade
+thy wrath." So Finn laughed and said, "Be it so, Conan, and if thou
+prove faithful and valiant, I also will keep faith." And Conan served
+him for thirty years, and no man of all the Fianna was keener and
+hardier in fight. There was also another Conan, namely, mac Morna,
+who was big and bald, and unwieldy in manly exercises, but whose
+tongue was bitter and scurrilous; no high brave thing was done that
+Conan the Bald did not mock and belittle. It is said that when he was
+stripped he showed down his back and buttocks a black sheep's fleece
+instead of a man's skin, and this is the way it came about. One day
+when Conan and certain others of the Fianna were hunting in the forest
+they came to a stately Dun, white-walled, with coloured thatching on
+the roof, and they entered it to seek hospitality. But when they were
+within they found! no man, but a great empty hall with pillars of
+cedar wood and silken hangings about it, like the hall of a wealthy
+lord. In the midst there was a table set forth with a sumptuous feast
+of boar's flesh and venison, and a great vat of yew wood full of red
+wine, and cups of gold and silver. So they set themselves gaily to eat
+and drink, for they were hungry from the chase, and talk and laughter
+were loud around the board. But one of them ere long started to his
+feet with a cry of fear and wonder, and they all looked round, and saw
+before their eyes the tapestried walls changing to rough wooden balks
+and the ceiling to foul sooty thatch like that of a herdsman's hut. So
+they knew they were being entrapped by some enchantment of the Fairy
+Folk, and all sprang to their feet and made for the doorway, that was
+no longer high and stately but was shrinking to the size of a fox
+earth,--all but Conan the Bald, who was gluttonously devouring the
+good things on the table, and heeded nothing else. Then they shouted
+to him, and as the last of them went out he strove to rise and follow,
+but found himself limed to the chair so that he could not stir. So
+two of the Fianna, seeing his plight, rushed back and seized his arms
+and tugged with all their might, and if they dragged him away, they
+left the most part of his raiment and his skin sticking to the chair.
+Then, not knowing what else to do with him in his sore plight they
+clapped upon his back the nearest thing they could find, which was the
+skin of a black sheep that they took from a peasant's flock hard by,
+and it grew there, and Conan wore it till his death.
+
+Though Conan was a coward and rarely adventured himself in battle with
+the Fianna, it is told that once a good man fell by his hand. This was
+on the day of the great battle with the pirate horde on the Hill of
+Slaughter in Kerry.[21] For Liagan, one of the invaders, stood out
+before the hosts and challenged the bravest of the Fians to single
+combat, and the Fians, in mockery, thrust Conan forth to the fight.
+When he appeared, Liagan laughed, for he had more strength than wit,
+and he said, "Silly is thy visit, thou bald old man." And as Conan
+still approached, Liagan lifted his hand fiercely, and Conan said,
+"Truly thou art in more peril from the man behind than from the man in
+front." Liagan looked round; and in that instant Conan swept off his
+head and then threw down his sword and ran for shelter to the ranks of
+the laughing Fians. But Finn was very wroth because he had won the
+victory by a trick.
+
+   [21] The hill still bears the name, Knockanar.
+
+And one of the chiefest of the friends of Finn was Dermot of the Love
+Spot. He was so fair and noble to look on that no woman could refuse
+him love, and it was said that he never knew weariness, but his step
+was as light at the end of the longest day of battle or the chase as
+it was at the beginning. Between him and Finn there was great love
+until the day when Finn, then an old man, was to wed Grania, daughter
+of Cormac the High King; but Grania bound Dermot by the sacred
+ordinances of the Fian chivalry to fly with her on her wedding night,
+which thing, sorely against his will, he did, and thereby got his
+death. But Grania went back to Finn, and when the Fianna saw her they
+laughed through all the camp in bitter mockery, for they would not
+have given one of the dead man's fingers for twenty such as Grania.
+
+Others of the chief men that Finn had were Keelta mac Ronan, who was
+one of his house-stewards and a strong warrior as well as a
+golden-tongued reciter of tales and poems. And there was Oisin, the
+son of Finn, the greatest poet of the Gael, of whom more shall be told
+hereafter. And Oisin had a son Oscar, who was the fiercest fighter in
+battle among all the Fians. He slew in his maiden battle three kings,
+and in his fury he also slew by mischance his own friend and
+condisciple Linne. His wife was the fair Aideen, who died of grief
+after Oscar's death in the battle of Gowra, and Oisin buried her on
+Ben Edar (Howth), and raised over her the great cromlech which is
+there to this day.
+
+Another good man that Finn had was Geena, the son of Luga; his mother
+was the warrior-daughter of Finn, and his father was a near kinsman of
+hers. He was nurtured by a woman that bore the name of Fair Mane, who
+had brought up many of the Fianna to manhood. When his time to take
+arms was come he stood before Finn and made his covenant of fealty,
+and Finn gave him the captaincy of a band. But mac Luga proved
+slothful and selfish, for ever vaunting himself and his weapon-skill
+and never training his men to the chase of deer or boar, and he used
+to beat his hounds and his serving-men. At last the Fians under him
+came with their whole company to Finn at Loch Lena in Killarney, and
+there they laid their complaint against mac Luga, and said, "Choose
+now, O Finn, whether you will have us, or the son of Luga by himself."
+
+Then Finn sent to mac Luga and questioned him, but mac Luga could say
+nothing to the point as to why the Fianna would none of him. Then Finn
+taught him the things befitting a youth of noble birth and a captain
+of men, and they were these:--
+
+"Son of Luga, if armed service be thy design, in a great man's
+household be quiet, be surly in the narrow pass."
+
+"Without a fault of his beat not thy hound; until thou ascertain her
+guilt, bring not a charge against thy wife."
+
+"In battle, meddle not with a buffoon, for, O mac Luga, he is but a
+fool."
+
+"Censure not any if he be of grave repute; stand not up to take part
+in a brawl; have nought to do with a madman or a wicked one."
+
+"Two-thirds of thy gentleness be shown to women and to those that
+creep on the floor (little children) and to poets, and be not violent
+to the common people."
+
+"Utter not swaggering speech, nor say thou wilt not yield what is
+right; it is a shameful thing to speak too stiffly unless that it be
+feasible to carry out thy words."
+
+"So long as thou shalt live, thy lord forsake not; neither for gold
+nor for other reward in the world abandon one whom thou art pledged to
+protect."
+
+"To a chief do not abuse his people, for that is no work for a
+gentleman."
+
+"Be no talebearer, nor utterer of falsehoods; be not talkative nor
+rashly censorious. Stir not up strife against thee, however good a man
+thou be."
+
+"Be no frequenter of the drinking-house, nor given to carping at the
+old; meddle not with a man of mean estate."
+
+"Dispense thy meat freely, have no niggard for thy familiar."
+
+"Force not thyself upon a chief, nor give him cause to speak ill of
+thee."
+
+"Stick to thy gear, hold fast to thy arms till the stern fight with
+its weapon-glitter be well ended."
+
+"Be more apt to give than to deny, and follow after gentleness, O son
+of Luga."[22]
+
+   [22] I have in the main borrowed Standish Hayes O'Grady's vivid
+   and racy translation of these adages of the Fianna. (SILVA
+   GADELICA, Engl. transl., p. 115.)
+
+And the son of Luga, it is written, heeded these counsels and gave up
+his bad ways, and he became one of the best of Finn's men.
+
+Such-like things also Finn taught to all his followers, and the best
+of them became like himself in valour and gentleness and generosity.
+Each of them loved the repute of his comrades more than his own, and
+each would say that for all noble qualities there was no man in the
+breadth of the world worthy to be thought of beside Finn.
+
+It was said of him that "he gave away gold as if it were the leaves of
+the woodland, and silver as if it were the foam of the sea," and that
+whatever he had bestowed upon any man, if he fell out with him
+afterwards, he was never known to bring it against him.
+
+Sang the poet Oisin of him once to St Patrick:--
+
+  "These are the things that were dear to Finn--
+  The din of battle, the banquet's glee,
+  The bay of his hounds through the rough glen ringing.
+  And the blackbird singing in Letter Lee,
+
+  "The shingle grinding along the shore
+  When they dragged his war-boats down to sea,
+  The dawn-wind whistling his spears among,
+  And the magic song of his minstrels three."
+
+In the time of Finn no one was ever admitted to be one of the Fianna
+of Erinn unless he could pass through many severe tests of his
+worthiness. He must be versed in the Twelve Books of Poetry and must
+himself be skilled to make verse in the rime and metre of the masters
+of Gaelic poesy. Then he was buried to his middle in the earth, and
+must, with a shield and a hazel stick, there defend himself against
+nine warriors casting spears at him, and if he were wounded he was
+not accepted. Then his hair was woven into braids and he was chased
+through the forest by the Fians. If he were overtaken, or if a braid
+of his hair were disturbed, or if a dry stick cracked under his foot,
+he was not accepted. He must be able to leap over a lath level with
+his brow and to run at full speed under level with his knee, and he
+must be able while running to draw out a thorn from his foot and never
+slacken speed. He must take no dowry with a wife.
+
+It was said that one of the Fians, namely Keelta, lived on to a great
+age, and saw St Patrick, by whom he was baptized into the faith of the
+Christ, and to whom he told many tales of Finn and his men, which
+Patrick's scribe wrote down. And once Patrick asked him how it was
+that the Fianna became so mighty and so glorious that all Ireland sang
+of their deeds, as Ireland has done ever since. Keelta answered,
+"Truth was in our hearts and strength in our arms, and what we said,
+that we fulfilled."
+
+This was also told of Keelta after he had seen St Patrick and received
+the Faith. He chanced to be one day by Leyney in Connacht, where the
+Fairy Folk of the Mound of Duma were wont to be sorely harassed and
+spoiled every year by pirates from oversea. They called Keelta to
+their aid, and by his counsel and valour the invaders were overcome
+and driven home, but Keelta was sorely wounded. Then Keelta asked
+that Owen the seer of the Fairy Folk might foretell him how long he
+had to live, for he was already a very aged man. Owen said, "It will
+be seventeen years, O Keelta of fair fame, till thou fall by the pool
+of Tara, and grievous that will be to all the King's household." "Even
+so did my chief and lord, my guardian and loving Protector, Finn,
+foretell to me," said Keelta. "And now what fee will ye give me for my
+rescue of you from the worst affliction that ever befell you?" "A
+great reward," said the Fairy Folk, "even youth; for by our art we
+shall change you into young man again with all the strength and
+activity of your prime." "Nay, God forbid," said Keelta "that I should
+take upon me a shape of sorcery, or any other than that which my
+Maker, the true and glorious God, hath bestowed upon me." And the
+Fairy Folk said, "It is the word of a true warrior and hero, and the
+thing that thou sayest is good." So they healed his wounds, and every
+bodily evil that he had, and he wished them blessing and victory, and
+went his way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Tale of Vivionn the Giantess
+
+
+One day Finn and Goll, Keelta and Oscar, and others of the Fianna,
+were resting after the hunt on a certain hill now called the Ridge of
+the Dead Woman, and their meal was being got ready, when a girl of the
+kin of the giants came striding up and sat down among them. "Didst
+thou ever see a woman so tall?" asked Finn of Goll. "By my troth,"
+said Goll, "never have I or any other seen a woman so big." She took
+her hand out of her bosom and on her long slender fingers there were
+three gold rings each as thick as an ox's yoke. "Let us question her,"
+said Goll, and Finn said, "If we stood up, perchance she might hear
+us."
+
+So they all rose to their feet, but the giantess, on that, rose up
+too. "Maiden," said Finn, "if thou have aught to say to us or to hear
+from us, sit down and lean thine elbow on the hill-side." So she lay
+down and Finn bade her say whence she came and what was her will with
+them. "Out of the World Oversea where the sun sets am I come," she
+said, "to seek thy protection, O mighty Finn." "And what is thy name?"
+"My name is Vivionn of the Fair Hair, and my father Treon is called
+King of the Land of Lasses, for he has but three sons and nine and
+seven score daughters, and near him is a King who hath one daughter
+and eight score sons. To one of these, AEda, was I given in marriage
+sorely against my will. Three times now have I fled from him. And this
+time it was fishermen whom the wind blew to us from off this land who
+told us of a mighty lord here, named Finn, son of Cumhal, who would
+let none be wronged or oppressed, but he would be their friend and
+champion. And if thou be he, to thee am I come." Then she laid her
+hand in Finn's, and he bade her do the same with Goll mac Morna, who
+was second in the Fian leadership, and she did so.
+
+Then the maiden took from her head a jewelled golden helmet, and
+immediately her hair flowed out in seven score tresses, fair, curly
+and golden, at the abundance of which all stood amazed; and Finn said,
+"By the Immortals that we adore, but King Cormac and the poetess Ethne
+and the fair women-folk of the Fianna would deem it a marvel to see
+this girl. Tell us now, maiden, what portion wilt thou have of meat
+and drink? will that of a hundred of us suffice thee?" The girl then
+saw Cnu, the dwarf harper of Finn, who had just been playing to them,
+and she said, "Whatever thou givest to yon little man that bears the
+harp, be it much or little, the same, O Finn, will suffice for me."
+
+Then she begged a drink from them, and Finn called his gillie,
+Saltran, and bade him fetch the full of a certain great goblet with
+water from the ford; now this goblet was of wood, and it held as much
+as nine of the Fianna could drink. The maiden poured some of the water
+into her right hand and drank three sips of it, and scattered the rest
+over the Fianna, and she and they burst out laughing. Finn said, "On
+thy conscience, girl, what ailed thee not to drink out of the goblet?"
+"Never," she replied, "have I drunk out of any vessel but there was a
+rim of gold to it, or at least of silver."
+
+And now Keelta looking up perceived a tall youth coming swiftly
+towards them, who, when he approached, seemed even bigger than was the
+maiden. He wore a rough hairy cape over his shoulder and beneath that
+a green cloak fastened by a golden brooch; his tunic was of royal
+satin, and he bore a red shield slung over his shoulders, and a spear
+with a shaft as thick as a man's leg was in his hand; a gold-hilted
+sword hung by his side. And his face, which was smooth-shaven, was
+comelier than that of any of the sons of men.
+
+When he came near, seeing among the Fians a stir of alarm at this
+apparition, Finn said, "Keep every one of you his place, let neither
+warrior nor gillie address him. Know any of you this champion?" "I
+know him," said the maiden; "that is even he to escape from whom I am
+come to thee, O Finn." And she sat down between Finn and Goll. But the
+stranger drew near, and spake never a word, but before any one could
+tell what he would be at he thrust fiercely and suddenly with his
+spear at the girl, and the shaft stood out a hand's breadth at her
+back. And she fell gasping, but the young man drew his weapon out and
+passed rapidly through the crowd and away.
+
+[Illustration: "They ran him by hill and plain"]
+
+Then Finn cried, red with wrath, "Ye have seen! Avenge this wicked
+deed, or none of you aspire to Fianship again." And the whole company
+sprang to their feet and gave chase to that murderer, save only Finn
+and Goll, who stayed by the dying maiden. And they ran him by hill and
+plain to the great Bay of Tralee and down to the Tribute Point, where
+the traders from oversea were wont to pay their dues, and there he set
+his face to the West and took the water. By this time four of the
+Fianna had outstripped the rest, namely, Keelta, and Dermot, and Glas,
+and Oscar, son of Oisin. Of these Keelta was first, and just as the
+giant was mid-leg in the waves he hurled his spear and it severed the
+thong of the giant's shield so that it fell off in the water. And as
+the giant paused, Keelta seized his spear and tore it from him. But
+the giant waded on, and soon the Fians were floundering in deep water
+while the huge form, thigh deep, was seen striding towards the setting
+sun. And a great ship seemed to draw near, and it received him, and
+then departed into the light, but the Fians returned in the grey
+evening, bearing the spear and the great shield to Finn. There they
+found the maiden at point of death, and they laid the weapons before
+her. "Goodly indeed are these arms," she said, "for that is the
+Thunder Spear of the King Oversea and the shield is the Red Branch
+Shield," for it was covered with red arabesques. Then she bestowed her
+bracelets on Finn's three harpers, the dwarf Cnu, and Blanit his wife,
+and the harper Daira. And she bade Finn care for her burial, that it
+should be done becomingly, "for under thy honour and protection I got
+my death, and it was to thee I came into Ireland." So they buried her
+and lamented her, and made a great far-seen mound over her grave,
+which is called the Ridge of the Dead Woman, and set up a pillar stone
+upon it with her name and lineage carved in Ogham-crave.[23]
+
+   [23] Ogham-craobh = "branching Ogham," so called because the
+   letters resembled the branching of twigs from a stem. The Ogham
+   alphabet was in use in Ireland in pre-Christian times, and many
+   sepulchral inscriptions in it still remain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+The Chase of the Gilla Dacar
+
+
+In the reign of Cormac mac Art, grandson of Conn of the Hundred
+Battles, the order of precedence and dignity in the court of the High
+King at Tara was as follows: First came great Cormac, the kingly, the
+hospitable, warrior and poet, and he was supreme over all. Next in
+order came the five kings of the five Provinces of Ireland, namely,
+Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, and Mid-Erinn. After these ranked
+the captains of the royal host, of whom Finn, son of Cumhal, was the
+chief.
+
+Now the privileges of the Fianna of Erinn were many and great; to wit,
+in every county in Ireland one townland, and in every townland a
+cartron of land, and in the house of every gentleman the right to
+have a young deer-hound or a beagle kept at nurse from November to
+May, together with many other taxes and royalties not to be recounted
+here. But if they had these many and great privileges, yet greater
+than these were the toils and hardships which they had to endure, in
+guarding the coasts of all Ireland from oversea invaders and
+marauders, and in keeping down all robbers and outlaws and evil folk
+within the kingdom, for this was the duty laid upon them by their bond
+of service to the King.
+
+Now the summer half of the year was wont to be ended by a great
+hunting in one of the forests of Ireland, and so it was that one
+All-hallowtide, when the great banquet of Finn in his Dun on the Hill
+of Allen was going forward, and the hall resounded with cheerful talk
+and laughter and with the music of tympan and of harp, Finn asked of
+the assembled captains in what part of Erinn they should proceed to
+beat up game on the morrow. And it was agreed among them to repair to
+the territory of Thomond and Desmond in Munster; and from Allen they
+set out accordingly and came to the Hill of Knockany. Thence they
+threw out the hunt and sent their bands of beaters through many a
+gloomy ravine and by many a rugged hill-pass and many a fair open
+plain. Desmond's high hills, called now Slievelogher, they beat, and
+the smooth, swelling hills of Slievenamuck, and the green slopes of
+grassy Slievenamon, and the towering rough crags of the Decies, and
+thence on to the dark woods of Belachgowran.
+
+While the great hunt was going forward Finn with certain of his chief
+captains sat on a high mound to overlook it. There, with Finn, were
+Goll and Art mac Morna, and Liagan the swift runner, and Dermot of the
+Love Spot, and Keelta, son of Ronan, and there also was Conan the
+Bald, the man of scurrilous tongue, and a score or so more. Sweet it
+was to Finn and his companions to hear from the woods and wildernesses
+around them the many-tongued baying of the hounds and the cries and
+whistling of the beaters, the shouting of the strong men and the notes
+of the Fian hunting-horn.
+
+When they had sat there awhile one of Finn's men came running quickly
+towards him and said--
+
+"A stranger is approaching us from the westward, O Finn, and I much
+mislike his aspect."
+
+With that all the Fians looked up and beheld upon the hillside a huge
+man, looking like some Fomorian marauder, black-visaged and ugly, with
+a sour countenance and ungainly limbs. On his back hung a dingy black
+shield, on his misshapen left thigh he wore a sharp broad-bladed
+sword; projecting over his shoulder were two long lances with broad
+rusty heads. He wore garments that looked as if they had been buried
+in a cinder heap, and a loose ragged mantle. Behind him there shambled
+a sulky, ill-shapen mare with a bony carcase and bowed knees, and on
+her neck a clumsy iron halter. With a rope her master hauled her
+along, with violent jerks that seemed as if they would wrench her head
+from her scraggy neck, and ever and anon the mare would stand and jib,
+when the man laid on her ribs such blows from a strong ironshod cudgel
+that they sounded like the surges of the sea beating on a rocky coast.
+Short as was the distance from where the man and his horse were first
+perceived to where Finn was standing, it was long ere they traversed
+it. At last, however, he came into the presence of Finn and louted
+before him, doing obeisance. Finn lifted his hand over him and bade
+him speak, and declare his business and his name and rank. "I know
+not," said the fellow, "of what blood I am, gentle or simple, but only
+this, that I am a wight from oversea looking for service and wages.
+And as I have heard of thee, O Finn, that thou art not wont to refuse
+any man, I came to take service with thee if thou wilt have me."
+
+"Neither shall I refuse thee," said Finn; "but what brings thee here
+with a horse and no horseboy?"
+
+"Good enough reason," said the stranger. "I have much ado to get meat
+for my own belly, seeing that I eat for a hundred men; and I will not
+have any horseboy meddling with my ration."
+
+"And what name dost thou bear?"
+
+"I am called the Gilla Dacar (the Hard Gillie)," replied he.
+
+"Why was that name given thee?" asked Finn.
+
+"Good enough reason for that also," spake the stranger, "for of all
+the lads in the world there is none harder than I am for a lord to get
+any service and obedience from." Then turning to Conan the Bald he
+said, "Whether among the Fianna is a horseman's pay or a footman's the
+highest?"
+
+"A horseman's surely," said Conan, "seeing that he gets twice the pay
+of a footman."
+
+"Then I am a horseman in thy service, Finn," said the gillie. "I call
+thee to observe that I have here a horse, and moreover that as a
+horseman I came among the Fianna. Have I thy authority," he went on,
+"to turn out my steed among thine?"
+
+"Turn her out," quoth Finn.
+
+Then the big man flung his mare the rope and immediately she galloped
+off to where the Fian horses were grazing. Here she fell to biting and
+kicking them, knocking out the eye of one and snapping off another's
+ear and breaking the leg of another with a kick.
+
+"Take away thy mare, big man," cried Conan then, "or by Heaven and
+Earth were it not that Finn told thee to let her loose I would let
+loose her brains. Many a bad bargain has Finn made but never a worse
+than thou."
+
+"By Heaven and Earth," said the gillie, "that I never will, for I have
+no horseboy, and I will do no horseboy's work."
+
+Then Conan mac Morna took the iron halter and laid it on the
+stranger's horse and brought the beast back to Finn and held it there.
+
+Said Finn to Conan, "I have never seen thee do horseboy's service even
+to far better men than this gillie. How now if thou wert to leap on
+the brute's back and gallop her to death over hill and dale in payment
+for the mischief she hath wrought among our steeds?"
+
+At this word Conan clambered up on the back of the big man's mare, and
+with all his might he smote his two heels into her, but the mare never
+stirred.
+
+"I perceive what ails her," said Finn. "She will never stir till she
+has a weight of men on her equal to that of her own rider."
+
+Then thirteen men of the Fianna scrambled up laughing behind Conan,
+and the mare lay down under them, and then got up again, they still
+clinging to her. At this the big man said,
+
+"It appears that you are making a sport and mockery of my mare, and
+that even I myself do not escape from it. It is well for me that I
+have not spent the rest of the year in your company, seeing what a
+jest ye have made of me the very first day; and I perceive, O Finn,
+that thou art very unlike the report that is made of thee. And now I
+bid thee farewell, for of thy service I have had enough."
+
+So with downcast head and despondent looks the big gillie shambled
+slowly away until he had passed out of view of the Fianna, behind the
+shoulder of the hill. Having arrived here he tucked up his coat to his
+waist, and fast though be the flight of the swallow, and fast that of
+the roe-deer, and fast the rush of a roaring wind over a mountain top
+in mid-March, no faster are these than the bounding speed and furious
+flight of the big man down the hillside toward the West.
+
+No sooner did the mare see that her master had departed than she too
+dashed uncontrollably forward and flew down the hillside after him.
+And as the Fians saw Conan the Bald and his thirteen companions thus
+carried off, willy nilly, they broke into a roar of laughter and ran
+alongside mocking them. But Conan, seeing that they were being carried
+off in the wake of the big man of evil aspect, of whom none knew
+whence or who he was, he was terrified and began reviling and cursing,
+and shouted to Finn, "A palsy seize thee, Finn; may some rascally
+churl, that is if possible of worse blood than thyself, have thy head,
+unless thou follow and rescue us wheresoever this monster shall bring
+us." So Finn and the Fianna ran, and the mare ran, over bare hills and
+by deep glens, till at last they came to Corcaguiny in Kerry, where
+the gillie set his face to the blue ocean, and the mare dashed in
+after him. But ere he did so, Liagan the Swift got two hands on the
+tail of the mare, though further he could not win, and he was towed
+in, still clinging to his hold, and over the rolling billows away they
+went, the fourteen Fians on the wild mare's back, and Liagan haled
+along by her tail.
+
+"What is to be done now?" said Oisin to Finn when they had arrived at
+the beach.
+
+"Our men are to be rescued," said Finn, "for to that we are bound by
+the honour of the Fianna. Whithersoever they are gone, thither must we
+follow and win them back by fair means or foul; but to that end we
+must first fit out a galley."
+
+So in the end it was agreed that Finn and fourteen men of his bravest
+and best champions should sail oversea in search of the Gilla Dacar
+and his captives, while Oisin remained in Erinn and exercised rule
+over the Fianna in the place of his father.
+
+After a while, then, a swift galley was made ready by Finn and stored
+with victual, and with arms, and also with gold and raiment to make
+gifts withal if need should be. And into the ship came the fifteen
+valiant men, and gripped their oars, while Finn steered; and soon the
+sea whitened around their oarblades, and over the restless, rolling
+masses of the many-hued and voiceful billows, the ship clove her way
+to the West. And the Fians, who were wont to be wakened by the
+twittering of birds over their hunting booths in the greenwood, now
+delighted to hear, day after day as they roused themselves at morn,
+the lapping of the wide waters of the world against their vessel's
+bows, or the thunder of pounding surges when the wind blew hard.
+
+At length after many days the sharpest-eyed of the men of Finn saw
+far-off what seemed a mountain rising from the sea, and to it they
+shaped their course. When they had come to that land they found
+themselves under the shadow of a great grey cliff, and beneath it
+slippery rocks covered with seaweed.
+
+Then Dermot, who was the most active of the company, was bidden to
+mount the cliff and to procure means of drawing up the rest of the
+party, but of what land might lie on the top of that wall of rock none
+of them could discover anything. Dermot, descending from the ship,
+then climbed with difficulty up the face of the cliff, while the
+others made fast their ship among the rocks. But Dermot having arrived
+at the top saw no habitation of man, and could compass no way of
+helping his companions to mount. He went therefore boldly forward into
+the unknown land, hoping to obtain some help, if any friendly and
+hospitable folk could there be found.
+
+[Illustration: "Dermot took the horn and would have filled it"]
+
+Before he had gone far he came into a wild wood, thick and tangled,
+and full of the noise of streams, and the sough of winds, and
+twittering of birds, and hum of bees. After he had traversed this
+wilderness for a while he came to a mighty tree with densely
+interwoven branches, and beneath it a pile of rocks, having on its
+summit a pointed drinking horn wreathed with rich ornament, and at its
+foot a well of pure bright water. Dermot, being now thirsty, took the
+horn and would have filled it at the well, but as he stooped down to
+do so he heard a loud, threatening murmur which seemed to rise from
+it. "I perceive," he said to himself, "that I am forbidden to drink
+from this well" Nevertheless thirst compelled him, and he drank his
+fill.
+
+In no long time thereafter he saw an armed warrior of hostile aspect
+coming towards him through the wood. No courteous greeting did he give
+to Dermot, but began to revile him for roaming in his wood and
+wilderness, and for drinking his water. Thereupon they fought, and
+for the rest of the afternoon they took and gave hard blows neither
+subduing the other, till at last as darkness began to fall the warrior
+suddenly dived into the well and was seen no more. Dermot, vexed at
+this ending of the combat, then made him ready to spend the night in
+that place, but first he slew a deer in the wood, and made a fire,
+whereat he roasted pieces of the deer's flesh on spits of white hazel,
+and drank abundantly of the well-water, and then slept soundly through
+the night.
+
+Next morning when he awakened and went to the well he found the
+Champion of the Well standing there and awaiting him. "It is not
+enough, Dermot," said he angrily, "for thee to traverse my woods at
+will and to drink my water, but thou must even also slay my deer."
+Then they closed in combat again, and dealt each other blow for blow
+and wound for wound till evening parted them, and the champion dived
+into the well as before.
+
+On the third day it went even so; but as evening came on Dermot,
+watching closely, rushed at the champion just as he was about to
+plunge into the well, and gripped him in his arms. But none the less
+the Champion of the Well made his dive, and took down Dermot with him.
+And a darkness and faintness came over Dermot, but when he awoke, he
+found himself in a wide, open country, flowery and fair, and before
+him the walls and towers of a royal city. Thither the champion, sorely
+wounded, was now borne off, while a crowd of his people came round
+Dermot, and beat and wounded him, leaving him on the ground for dead.
+
+After night had fallen, when all the people of the city in the Land
+Undersea had departed, a stalwart champion, well-armed and of bold
+appearance, came upon Dermot and stirred him with his foot. Dermot
+thereon awoke from his swoon and, warrior-like, reached out his hand
+for his arms. But the champion said, "Wait awhile, my son, I have not
+come to do thee hurt or harm. Thou hast chosen an ill place to rest
+and slumber in, before the city of thine enemy. Rise and follow me,
+and I shall bestow thee far better than that." Dermot then rose and
+followed the champion, and long and far they journeyed until they came
+to a high-towered fortress, wherein were thrice fifty valiant
+men-at-arms and fair women; and the daughter of that champion, a
+white-toothed, rosy-cheeked, smooth-handed, and black-eyebrowed maid,
+received Dermot, kindly and welcomefully, and applied healing herbs to
+his wounds, and in no long time he was made as good a man as ever. And
+thus he remained, and was entertained most royally with the best of
+viands and of liquors. The first part of every night those in that Dun
+were wont to spend in feasting, and the second in recreation and
+entertainment of the mind, with music and with poetry and bardic
+tales, and the third part in sound and healthful slumber, till the sun
+in his fiery journey rose over the heavy-clodded earth on the morrow
+morn.
+
+And the King of that country, who was the champion that had aroused
+Dermot, told him this was the land of Sorca, and that he had showed
+this kindness to Dermot for that he himself had once been on wage and
+service with Finn, son of Cumhal "and a better master," said he, "man
+never had."
+
+Now the story turns to tell of what befell Finn and the remainder of
+his companions when Dermot left them in the ship. After a while,
+seeing that he did not return, and being assured that some mischief or
+hindrance must have befallen him, they made an attempt to climb the
+cliff after him, having noted which way he went. With much toil and
+peril they accomplished this, and then journeying forward and
+following on Dermot's track, they came at last to the well in the wild
+wood, and saw near by the remains of the deer, and the ashes of the
+fire that Dermot had kindled to cook it. But from this place they
+could discover no track of his going. While they were debating on what
+should next be done, they saw riding towards them a tall warrior on a
+dark grey horse with a golden bridle, who greeted them courteously.
+From him they enquired as to whether he had seen aught of their
+companion, Dermot, in the wilderness. "Follow me," said the warrior,
+"and you shall shortly have tidings of him."
+
+Then they followed the strange horseman into the forest by many dark
+and winding ways, until at last they came into a rocky ravine, where
+they found the mouth of a great cavern opening into the hillside.
+Into this they went, and the way led them downward until it seemed as
+if they were going into the bowels of the earth, until at last the
+light began to shine round them, and they came out into a lovely land
+of flowery plains and green woods and singing streams. In no long time
+thereafter they came to a great royal Dun, where he who led them was
+hailed as king and lord, and here, to their joy, they found their
+comrade, Dermot of the Love Spot, who told them of all his adventures
+and heard from them of theirs. This ended, and when they had been
+entertained and refreshed, the lord of that place spoke to Finn and
+said:--
+
+"I have now, O Finn, within my fortress the fifteen stoutest heroes
+that the world holds. To this end have I brought you here, that ye
+might make war with me upon mine enemy the Champion of the Well, who
+is king of the land bordering on mine, and who ceases not to persecute
+and to harry my people because, in his arrogance, he would have all
+the Under World country subject to himself alone. Say now if ye will
+embrace this enterprise and help me to defend my own: and if not I
+shall set you again upon the land of Erinn."
+
+Finn said, "What of my fifteen men that were carried away on the wild
+mare's back oversea?" "They are guarding the marches of my kingdom,"
+said the King of Sorca, "and all is well with them and shall be well."
+
+Then Finn agreed to take service with the King of Sorca, and next day
+they arrayed themselves for fight and went out at the head of the
+host. Ere long they came upon the army of the King of the Well, and
+with him was the King of the Greeks and a band of fierce mercenaries,
+and also the daughter of the Greek King, by name Tasha of the White
+Side, a maiden who in beauty and grace surpassed all other women of
+the world, as the Shannon surpasses all rivers of Erinn and the eagle
+surpasses all birds of the air. Now the stories of Finn and his
+generosity and great deeds had reached her since she was a child, and
+she had set her love on him, though she had never seen his face till
+now.
+
+When the hosts were met, the King of the Greeks said, "Who of my men
+will stand forth and challenge the best of these men of Erinn to
+single combat that their metal may be proved, for to us it is unknown
+what manner of men they be." The son of the King of the Greeks said,
+"I will go."
+
+So on the side of Finn, Oscar, son of Oisin, was chosen to match the
+son of the Greek King, and the two hosts sat down peacefully together
+to watch the weapon-play. And Tasha the princess sat by Finn, son of
+Cumhal.
+
+Then Oscar and the King's son stepped into their fighting place, and
+fierce was the combat that arose between them, as when two roaring
+surges of the sea dash against each other in a fissure of the rocks,
+and the spray-cloud bursts from them high into the air. Long they
+fought, and many red wounds did each of them give and receive, till at
+last Oscar beat the Greek prince to the earth and smote off his head.
+Then one host groaned for woe and discouragement, while the other
+shouted for joy of victory, and so they parted for the night, each to
+their own camp.
+
+And in the camp of the folk of Sorca they found Conan the Bald and the
+fourteen men that had gone with him on the mare's back.
+
+But when night had fallen, Tasha stole from the wizard of the Greek
+King his branch of silver bells that when shaken would lay asleep a
+host of men, and with the aid of this she passed from the camp of the
+Greeks, and through the sentinels, and came to the tent of Finn.
+
+On the morrow morn the King of the Greeks found that his daughter had
+fled to be the wife of Finn, son of Cumhal, and he offered a mighty
+reward to whosoever would slay Finn and bring Tasha back. But when the
+two armies closed in combat the Fians and the host of the King of
+Sorca charged so fiercely home, that they drove their foes before them
+as a winter gale drives before it a cloud of madly whirling leaves,
+and those that were not slain in the fight and the pursuit went to
+their own lands and abode there in peace; and thus was the war ended
+of the King of Sorca and the Lord of the Well.
+
+Then the King of Sorca had Finn and his comrades before him and gave
+them praise and thanks for their valour. "And what reward," he said,
+"will ye that I make you for the saving of the kingdom of Sorca?"
+
+"Thou wert in my service awhile," said Finn, "and I mind not that I
+paid thee any wage for it. Let that service even go against this, and
+so we are quits."
+
+"Nay, then," cried Conan the Bald, "but what shall I have for my ride
+on the mare of the Gilla Dacar?"
+
+"What wilt thou have?" said the King of Sorca.
+
+"This," said Conan, "and nothing else will I accept. Let fourteen of
+the fairest women of the land of Sorca be put on that same mare, and
+thy wife, O King, clinging to its tail, and let them be thus haled
+across the sea until they come to Corcaguiny in the land of Erinn. I
+will have none of thy gold and silver, but the indignity that has been
+put upon me doth demand an honourable satisfaction."
+
+Then the King of Sorca smiled, and he said, "Behold thy men, Finn."
+
+[Illustration: "'Follow me now to the Hill of Allen'"]
+
+Finn turned his head to look round, and as he did so the plain and the
+encampment of the Fairy Host vanished from his sight, and he saw
+himself standing on the shingly strand of a little bay, with rocky
+heights to right and left, crowned with yellow whin bushes whose
+perfume mingled with the salt sea wind. It was the spot where he had
+seen the Gilla Dacar and his mare take water on the coast of Kerry.
+Finn stared over the sea, to discover, if he might, by what means he
+had come thither, but nothing could he see there save the sunlit
+water, and nothing hear but what seemed a low laughter from the
+twinkling ripples that broke at his feet. Then he looked for his men,
+who stood there, dazed like himself and rubbing their eyes; and there
+too stood the Princess Tasha, who stretched out her white arms to him.
+Finn went over and took her hands. "Shoulder your spears, good lads!"
+he called to his men. "Follow me now to the Hill of Allen, and to the
+wedding feast of Tasha and of Finn mac Cumhal."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Birth of Oisin
+
+
+One day as Finn and his companions and dogs were returning from the
+chase to their Dun on the Hill of Allen, a beautiful fawn started up
+on their path and the chase swept after her, she taking the way which
+led to their home. Soon, all the pursuers were left far behind save
+only Finn himself and his two hounds Bran and Sceolaun. Now these
+hounds were of strange breed, for Tyren, sister to Murna, the mother
+of Finn, had been changed into a hound by the enchantment of a woman
+of the Fairy Folk, who loved Tyren's husband Ullan; and the two hounds
+of Finn were the children of Tyren, born to her in that shape. Of all
+hounds in Ireland they were the best, and Finn loved them much, so
+that it was said he wept but twice in his life, and once was for the
+death of Bran.
+
+At last, as the chase went on down a valley side, Finn saw the fawn
+stop and lie down, while the two hounds began to play round her and to
+lick her face and limbs. So he gave commandment that none should hurt
+her, and she followed them to the Dun of Allen, playing with the
+hounds as she went.
+
+The same night Finn awoke and saw standing by his bed the fairest
+woman his eyes had ever beheld.
+
+"I am Saba, O Finn," she said, "and I was the fawn ye chased to-day.
+Because I would not give my love to the Druid of the Fairy Folk, who
+is named the Dark, he put that shape upon me by his sorceries, and I
+have borne it these three years. But a slave of his, pitying me, once
+revealed to me that if I could win to thy great Dun of Allen, O Finn,
+I should be safe from all enchantments and my natural shape would come
+to me again. But I feared to be torn in pieces by thy dogs, or wounded
+by thy hunters, till at last I let myself be overtaken by thee alone
+and by Bran and Sceolaun, who have the nature of man and would do me
+no hurt." "Have no fear, maiden," said Finn, "we the Fianna, are free
+and our guest-friends are free; there is none who shall put compulsion
+on you here."
+
+So Saba dwelt with Finn, and he made her his wife; and so deep was his
+love for her that neither the battle nor the chase had any delight for
+him, and for months he never left her side. She also loved him as
+deeply, and their joy in each other was like that of the Immortals in
+the Land of Youth. But at last word came to Finn that the warships of
+the Northmen were in the bay of Dublin, and he summoned his heroes to
+the fight, "for," said he to Saba, "the men of Erinn give us tribute
+and hospitality to defend them from the foreigner, and it were shame
+to take it from them and not to give that to which we, on our side,
+are pledged." And he called to mind that great saying of Goll mac
+Morna when they were once sore bested by a mighty host--"a man," said
+Goll, "lives after his life but not after his honour."
+
+Seven days was Finn absent, and he drove the Northmen from the shores
+of Erinn. But on the eighth day he returned, and when he entered his
+Dun he saw trouble in the eyes of his men and of their fair womenfolk,
+and Saba was not on the rampart expecting his return. So he bade them
+tell him what had chanced, and they said--
+
+"Whilst thou, our father and lord, wert afar off smiting the
+foreigner, and Saba looking ever down the pass for thy return, we saw
+one day as it were the likeness of thee approaching, and Bran and
+Sceolaun at thy heels. And we seemed also to hear the notes of the
+Fian hunting call blown on the wind. Then Saba hastened to the great
+gate, and we could not stay her, so eager was she to rush to the
+phantom. But when she came near, she halted and gave a loud and bitter
+cry, and the shape of thee smote her with a hazel wand, and lo, there
+was no woman there any more, but a deer. Then those hounds chased it,
+and ever as it strove to reach again the gate of the Dun they turned
+it back. We all now seized what arms we could and ran out to drive
+away the enchanter, but when we reached the place there was nothing to
+be seen, only still we heard the rushing of flying feet and the baying
+of dogs, and one thought it came from here, and another from there,
+till at last the uproar died away and all was still. What we could do,
+O Finn, we did; Saba is gone."
+
+Finn then struck his hand on his breast but spoke no word, and he went
+to his own chamber. No man saw him for the rest of that day, nor for
+the day after. Then he came forth, and ordered the matters of the
+Fianna as of old, but for seven years thereafter he went searching for
+Saba through every remote glen and dark forest and cavern of Ireland,
+and he would take no hounds with him save Bran and Sceolaun. But at
+last he renounced all hope of finding her again, and went hunting as
+of old. One day as he was following the chase on Ben Gulban in Sligo,
+he heard the musical bay of the dogs change of a sudden to a fierce
+growling and yelping as though they were in combat with some beast,
+and running hastily up he and his men beheld, under a great tree, a
+naked boy with long hair, and around him the hounds struggling to
+seize him, but Bran and Sceolaun fighting with them and keeping them
+off. And the lad was tall and shapely, and as the heroes gathered
+round he gazed undauntedly on them, never heeding the rout of dogs at
+his feet. The Fians beat off the dogs and brought the lad home with
+them, and Finn was very silent and continually searched the lad's
+countenance with his eyes. In time, the use of speech came to him, and
+the story that he told was this:--
+
+He had known no father, and no mother save a gentle hind with whom he
+lived in a most green and pleasant valley shut in on every side by
+towering cliffs that could not be scaled, or by deep chasms in the
+earth. In the summer he lived on fruits and such-like, and in the
+winter, store of provisions was laid for him in a cave. And there came
+to them sometimes a tall dark-visaged man, who spoke to his mother,
+now tenderly, and now in loud menace, but she always shrunk away in
+fear, and the man departed in anger. At last there came a day when the
+Dark Man spoke very long with his mother in all tones of entreaty and
+of tenderness and of rage, but she would still keep aloof and give no
+sign save of fear and abhorrence. Then at length the Dark Man drew
+near and smote her with a hazel wand; and with that he turned and went
+his way, but she, this time, followed him, still looking back at her
+son and piteously complaining. And he, when he strove to follow, found
+himself unable to move a limb; and crying out with rage and desolation
+he fell to the earth and his senses left him. When he came to himself
+he was on the mountain side, on Ben Gulban, where he remained some
+days, searching for that green and hidden valley, which he never found
+again. And after a while the dogs found him; but of the hind his
+mother and of the Dark Druid, there is no man knows the end.
+
+Finn called his name Oisin, and he became a warrior of fame, but far
+more famous for the songs and tales that he made; so that of all
+things to this day that are told of the Fianna of Erinn, men are wont
+to say, "So sang the bard, Oisin, son of Finn."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Oisin in the Land of Youth
+
+
+It happened that on a misty summer morning as Finn and Oisin with many
+companions were hunting on the shores of Loch Lena they saw coming
+towards them a maiden, beautiful exceedingly, riding on a snow-white
+steed. She wore the garb of a queen; a crown of gold was on her head,
+and a dark brown mantle of silk, set with stars of red gold, fell
+around her and trailed on the ground. Silver shoes were on her horse's
+hoofs, and a crest of gold nodded on his head. When she came near she
+said to Finn, "From very far away I have come, and now at last I have
+found thee, Finn, son of Cumhal."
+
+Then Finn said, "What is thy land and race, maiden, and what dost thou
+seek from me?"
+
+"My name," she said, "is Niam of the Golden Hair. I am the daughter of
+the King of the Land of Youth, and that which has brought me here is
+the love of thy son Oisin." Then she turned to Oisin and she spoke to
+him in the voice of one who has never asked anything but it was
+granted to her, "Wilt thou go with me, Oisin, to my father's land?"
+
+And Oisin said, "That will I, and to the world's end"; for the fairy
+spell had so wrought upon his heart that he cared no more for any
+earthly thing but to have the love of Niam of the Head of Gold.
+
+Then the maiden spoke of the Land Oversea to which she had summoned
+her lover, and as she spoke a dreamy stillness fell on all things, nor
+did a horse shake his bit nor a hound bay, nor the least breath of
+wind stir in the forest trees till she had made an end. And what she
+said seemed sweeter and more wonderful as she spoke it than anything
+they could afterwards remember to have heard, but so far as they could
+remember it, it was this:--
+
+   "Delightful is the land beyond all dreams,
+   Fairer than aught thine eyes have ever seen.
+   There all the year the fruit is on the tree,
+   And all the year the bloom is on the flower.
+
+   "There with wild honey drip the forest trees;
+   The stores of wine and mead shall never fail.
+   Nor pain nor sickness knows the dweller there,
+   Death and decay come near him never more.
+
+   "The feast shall cloy not, nor the chase shall tire,
+   Nor music cease for ever through the hall;
+   The gold and jewels of the Land of Youth
+   Outshine all splendours ever dreamed by man.
+
+   "Thou shalt have horses of the fairy breed,
+   Thou shalt have hounds that can outrun the wind;
+   A hundred chiefs shall follow thee in war,
+   A hundred maidens sing thee to thy sleep.
+
+   "A crown of sovranty thy brow shall wear,
+   And by thy side a magic blade shall hang.
+   Thou shalt be lord of all the Land of Youth,
+   And lord of Niam of the Head of Gold."
+
+As the magic song ended, the Fians beheld Oisin mount the fairy steed
+and hold the maiden in his arms, and ere they could stir or speak she
+turned her horse's head and shook the ringing bridle and down the
+forest glade they fled, as a beam of light flies over the land when
+clouds drive across the sun; and never did the Fianna behold Oisin,
+son of Finn, on earth again.
+
+Yet what befell him afterwards is known. As his birth was strange so
+was his end, for he saw the wonders of the Land of Youth with mortal
+eyes and lived to tell them with mortal lips.
+
+When the white horse with its riders reached the sea it ran lightly
+over the waves and soon the green woods and headlands of Erinn faded
+out of sight. And now the sun shone fiercely down, and the riders
+passed into a golden haze in which Oisin lost all knowledge of where
+he was or if sea or dry land were beneath his horse's hoofs. But
+strange sights sometimes appeared to them in the mist, for towers and
+palace gateways loomed up and disappeared, and once a hornless doe
+bounded by them chased by a white hound with one red ear, and again
+they saw a young maid ride by on a brown steed, bearing a golden apple
+in her hand, and close behind her followed a young horseman on a white
+steed, a purple cloak floating at his back and a gold-hilted sword in
+his hand. And Oisin would have asked the princess who and what these
+apparitions were, but Niam bade him ask nothing nor seem to notice any
+phantom they might see until they were come to the Land of Youth.
+
+[Illustration: "They rode up to a stately palace"]
+
+At last the sky gloomed above them, and Niam urged their steed faster.
+The wind lashed them with pelting rain, thunder roared across the sea
+and lightning blazed, but they held on their way till at length they
+came once more into a region of calm and sunshine. And now Oisin saw
+before him a shore of yellow sand, lapped by the ripples of a summer
+sea. Inland, there rose before his eye wooded hills amid which he
+could discern the roofs and towers of a noble city. The white horse
+bore them swiftly to the shore and Oisin and the maiden lighted down.
+And Oisin marvelled at everything around him, for never was water so
+blue or trees so stately as those he saw, and the forest was alive
+with the hum of bees and the song of birds, and the creatures that are
+wild in other lands, the deer and the red squirrel and the wood-dove,
+came, without fear, to be caressed. Soon, as they went forward, the
+walls of a city came in sight, and folk began to meet them on the
+road, some riding, some afoot, all of whom were either youths or
+maidens, all looking as joyous as if the morning of happy life had
+just begun for them, and no old or feeble person was to be seen. Niam
+led her companion through a towered gateway built of white and red
+marble, and there they were met by a glittering company of a hundred
+riders on black steeds and a hundred on white, and Oisin mounted a
+black horse and Niam her white, and they rode up to a stately palace
+where the King of the Land of Youth had his dwelling. And there he
+received them, saying in a loud voice that all the folk could hear,
+"Welcome, Oisin, son of Finn. Thou art come to the Land of Youth,
+where sorrow and weariness and death shall never touch thee. This thou
+hast won by thy faithfulness and valour and by the songs that thou
+hast made for the men of Erinn, whereof the fame is come to us, for we
+have here indeed all things that are delightful and joyous, but poesy
+alone we had not. But now we have the chief poet of the race of men to
+live with us, immortal among immortals, and the fair and cloudless
+life that we lead here shall be praised in verses as fair; even as
+thou, Oisin, did'st praise and adorn the short and toilsome and
+chequered life that men live in the world thou hast left forever. And
+Niam my daughter shall be thy bride, and thou shalt be in all things
+even as myself in the Land of Youth."
+
+Then the heart of Oisin was filled with glory and joy, and he turned
+to Niam and saw her eyes burn with love as she gazed upon him. And
+they were wedded the same day, and the joy they had in each other grew
+sweeter and deeper with every day that passed. All that Niam had
+promised in her magic song in the wild wood when first they met,
+seemed faint beside the splendour and beauty of the life in the Land
+of Youth. In the great palace they trod on silken carpets and ate off
+plates of gold; the marble walls and doorways were wrought with carved
+work, or hung with tapestries, where forest glades, and still lakes,
+and flying deer were done in colours of unfading glow. Sunshine bathed
+that palace always, and cool winds wandered through its dim corridors,
+and in its courts there played fountains of bright water set about
+with flowers. When Oisin wished to ride, a steed of fiery but gentle
+temper bore him wherever he would through the pleasant land; when he
+longed to hear music, there came upon his thought, as though borne on
+the wind, crystal notes such as no hand ever struck from the strings
+of any harp on earth.
+
+But Oisin's hand now never touched the harp, and the desire of singing
+and of making poetry never waked in him, for no one thing seemed so
+much better than the rest, where all perfection bloomed and glowed
+around him, as to make him long to praise it and to set it apart.
+
+When seven days had passed, he said to Niam, "I would fain go
+a-hunting." Niam said, "So be it, dear love; to-morrow we shall take
+order for that." Oisin lay long awake that night, thinking of the
+sound of Finn's hunting-horn, and of the smell of green boughs when
+they kindled them to roast the deer-flesh in Fian ovens in the
+wildwood.
+
+So next day Oisin and Niam fared forth on horseback, with their
+company of knights and maidens, and dogs leaping and barking with
+eagerness for the chase. Anon they came to the forest, and the hunters
+with the hounds made a wide circuit on this side and on that, till at
+last the loud clamour of the hounds told that a stag was on foot, and
+Oisin saw them streaming down an open glen, the stag with its great
+antlers laid back and flying like the wind. So he shouted the Fian
+hunting-cry and rode furiously on their track. All day long they
+chased the stag through the echoing forest, and the fairy steed bore
+him unfaltering over rough ground and smooth, till at last as darkness
+began to fall the quarry was pulled down, and Oisin cut its throat
+with his hunting-knife. Long it seemed to him since he had felt glad
+and weary as he felt now, and since the woodland air with its odours
+of pine and mint and wild garlic had tasted so sweet in his mouth; and
+truly it was longer than he knew. But when he bade make ready the
+wood-oven for their meal, and build a bothy of boughs for their
+repose, Niam led him seven steps apart and seven to the left hand, and
+yet seven back to the place where they had killed the deer, and lo,
+there rose before him a stately Dun with litten windows and smoke
+drifting above its roof. When they entered, there was a table spread
+for a great company, and cooks and serving-men busy about a wide
+hearth where roast and boiled meats of every sort were being prepared.
+Casks of Greek wine stood open around the walls, and cups of gold were
+on the board. So they all ate and drank their sufficiency, and all
+night Oisin and Niam slept on a bed softer than swans-down in a
+chamber no less fair than that which they had in the City of the Land
+of Youth.
+
+Next day, at the first light of dawn, they were on foot; and soon
+again the forest rang to the baying of hounds and the music of the
+hunting-horn. Oisin's steed bore him all day, tireless and swift as
+before, and again the quarry fell at night's approach, and again a
+palace rose in the wilderness for their night's entertainment, and all
+things in it even more abundant and more sumptuous than before. And so
+for seven days they fared in that forest, and seven stags were slain.
+Then Oisin grew wearied of hunting, and as he plunged his sharp black
+hunting-knife into the throat of the last stag, he thought of the
+sword of magic temper that hung idle by his side in the City of Youth,
+or rested from its golden nail in his bed-chamber, and he said to
+Niam, "Has thy father never a foe to tame, never a wrong to avenge?
+Surely the peasant is no man whose hand forgets the plough, nor the
+warrior whose hand forgets the sword hilt." Niam looked on him
+strangely for a while and as if she did not understand his words, or
+sought some meaning in them which yet she feared to find. But at last
+she said, "If deeds of arms be thy desire, Oisin, thou shalt have thy
+sufficiency ere long." And so they rode home, and slept that night in
+the palace of the City of Youth.
+
+At daybreak on the following morn Niam roused Oisin, and she buckled
+on him his golden-hilted sword and his corselet of blue steel inlaid
+with gold. Then he put on his head a steel and gold helmet with dragon
+crest, and slung on his back a shield of bronze wrought all over with
+cunning hammer-work of serpentine lines that swelled and sank upon the
+surface, and coiled in mazy knots, or flowed in long sweeping curves
+like waves of the sea when they gather might and volume for their leap
+upon the sounding shore. In the glimmering dawn, through the empty
+streets of the fair city, they rode forth alone and took their way
+through fields of corn and by apple orchards where red fruit hung down
+to their hands. But by noontide their way began to mount upwards among
+blue hills that they had marked from the city walls toward the west,
+and of man's husbandry they saw no more, but tall red-stemmed pine
+trees bordered the way on either side, and silence and loneliness
+increased. At length they reached a broad table-land deep in the heart
+of the mountains, where nothing grew but long coarse grass, drooping
+by pools of black and motionless water, and where great boulders,
+bleached white or stained with slimy lichens of livid red, lay
+scattered far and wide about the plain. Against the sky the mountain
+line now showed like a threat of bared and angry teeth, and as they
+rode towards it Oisin perceived a huge fortress lying in the throat of
+a wide glen or mountain pass. White as death was the stone of which it
+was built, save where it was streaked with black or green from the
+foulness of wet mosses that clung to its cornices and battlements, and
+none seemed stirring about the place nor did any banner blow from its
+towers.
+
+Then said Niam, "This, O Oisin, is the Dun of the giant Fovor of the
+Mighty Blows. In it he keeps prisoner a princess of the Fairy Folk
+whom he would fain make his bride, but he may not do so, nor may she
+escape, until Fovor has met in battle a champion who will undertake
+her cause. Approach, then, to the gate, if thou art fain to undertake
+this adventure, and blow the horn which hangs thereby, and then look
+to thy weapons, for soon indeed will the battle be broken upon thee."
+
+Then Oisin rode to the gate and thrice he blew on the great horn which
+hung by it, and the clangour of it groaned drearily back from the
+cliffs that overhung the glen. Not thus indeed sounded the _Dord_ of
+Finn as its call blew lust of fighting and scorn of death into the
+hearts of the Fianna amid the stress of battle. At the third blast the
+rusty gates opened, grinding on their hinges, and Oisin rode into a
+wide courtyard where servitors of evil aspect took his horse and
+Niam's, and led them into the hall of Fovor. Dark it was and low, with
+mouldering arras on its walls, and foul and withered rushes on the
+floor, where dogs gnawed the bones thrown to them at the last meal,
+and spilt ale and hacked fragments of flesh littered the bare oaken
+table. And here rose languidly to greet them a maiden bound with seven
+chains, to whom Niam spoke lovingly, saying that her champion was come
+and that her long captivity should end. And the maiden looked upon
+Oisin, whose proud bearing and jewelled armour made the mean place
+seem meaner still, and a light of hope and of joy seemed to glimmer
+upon her brow. So she gave them refreshment as she could, and
+afterwards they betook them once more to the courtyard, where the
+place of battle was set.
+
+Here, at the further side, stood a huge man clad in rusty armour, who
+when he saw Oisin rushed upon him, silent and furious, and swinging a
+great battleaxe in his hand. But doubt and langour weighed upon
+Oisin's heart, and it seemed to him as if he were in an evil dream,
+which he knew was but a dream, and would be less than nothing when the
+hour of awakening should come. Yet he raised his shield and gripped
+the fairy sword, striving to shout the Fian battle-cry as he closed
+with Fovor. But soon a heavy blow smote him to the ground, and his
+armour clanged harshly on the stones. Then a cloud seemed to pass from
+his spirit, and he leaped to his feet quicker than an arrow flies from
+the string, and thrusting fiercely at the giant his sword-point gashed
+the under side of Fovor's arm when it was raised to strike, and Oisin
+saw his enemy's blood. Then the fight raged hither and thither about
+the wide courtyard, with trampling of feet and clash of steel and
+ringing of armour and shouts of onset as the heroes closed; Oisin,
+agile as a wild stag, evading the sweep of the mighty axe and rushing
+in with flickering blade at every unguarded moment, his whole soul
+bent on one fierce thought, to drive his point into some gap at
+shoulder or neck in Fovor's coat of mail. At length, when both were
+weary and wounded men, with hacked and battered armour, Oisin's blade
+cut the thong of Fovor's headpiece and it fell clattering to the
+ground. Another blow laid the giant prostrate, and Oisin leaned, dizzy
+and panting, upon his sword, while Fovor's serving-men took off their
+master in a litter, and Niam came to aid her lord. Then Oisin stripped
+off his armour in the great hall, and Niam tended to his wounds,
+healing them with magic herbs and murmured incantations, and they saw
+that one of the seven rusty chains that had bound the princess hung
+loose from its iron staple in the wall.
+
+All night long Oisin lay in deep and healing slumber, and next day he
+arose, whole and strong, and hot to renew the fray. And the giant was
+likewise healed and his might and fierceness returned to him. So they
+fought till they were breathless and weary, and then to it again, and
+again, till in the end Oisin drove his sword to the hilt in the
+giant's shoulder where it joins the collar bone, and he fell aswoon,
+and was borne away as before. And another chain of the seven fell from
+the girdle of the captive maiden.
+
+Thus for seven days went on the combat, and Oisin had seven nights of
+healing and rest, with the tenderness and beauty of Niam about his
+couch; and on the seventh day the maiden was free, and her folk
+brought her away, rejoicing, with banners and with music that made a
+brightness for a while in that forlorn and evil place.
+
+But Oisin's heart was high with pride and victory, and a longing
+uprose in his heart with a rush like a springtide for the days when
+some great deed had been done among the Fianna, and the victors were
+hailed and lauded by the home-folk in the Dun of Allen, men and women
+leaving their toil or their pleasure to crowd round the heroes, and to
+question again and again, and to learn each thing that had passed; and
+the bards noting all to weave it into a glorious tale for after days;
+and more than all the smile and the look of Finn as he learned how his
+children had borne themselves in the face of death. And so Oisin said
+to Niam, "Let me, for a short while, return to the land of Erinn, that
+I may see there my friends and kin and tell them of the glory and joy
+that are mine in the Land of Youth." But Niam wept and laid her white
+arms about his neck, entreating him to think no more of the sad world
+where all men live and move under a canopy of death, and where summer
+is slain by winter, and youth by old age, and where love itself, if it
+die not by falsehood and wrong, perishes many a time of too complete
+a joy. But Oisin said, "The world of men compared with thy world is
+like this dreary waste compared with the city of thy father; yet in
+that city, Niam, none is better or worse than another, and I hunger to
+tell my tale to ignorant and feeble folk that my words can move, as
+words of mine have done of old, to wonder and delight. Then I shall
+return to thee, Niam, and to thy fair and blissful land; and having
+brought over to mortal men a tale that never man has told before, I
+shall be happy and at peace for ever in the Land of Youth."
+
+So they fared back to the golden city, and next day Niam brought to
+Oisin the white steed that had borne them from Erinn, and bade him
+farewell. "This our steed," she said, "will carry thee across the sea
+to the land where I found thee, and whithersoever thou wilt, and what
+folk are there thou shalt see, and what tale thou hast to tell can be
+told. But never for even a moment must thou alight from his back, for
+if thy foot once touch again the soil of earth, thou shalt never win
+to me and to the Land of Youth again. And sorely do I fear some evil
+chance. Was not the love of Niam of the Head of Gold enough to fill a
+mortal's heart? But if thou must go, then go, and blessing and victory
+be thine."
+
+Then Oisin held her long in his arms and kissed her, and vowed to make
+no long stay and never to alight from the fairy steed. And then he
+shook the golden reins and the horse threw its head aloft and snorted
+and bore him away in a pace like that of flowing water for speed and
+smoothness. Anon they came to the margin of the blue sea, and still
+the white steed galloped on, brushing the crests of the waves into
+glittering spray. The sun glared upon the sea and Oisin's head swam
+with the heat and motion, and in mist and dreams he rode where no day
+was, nor night, nor any thought of time, till at last his horse's
+hoofs ploughed through wet, yellow sands, and he saw black rocks
+rising up at each side of a little bay, and inland were fields green
+or brown, and white cottages thatched with reeds, and men and women,
+toil-worn and clad in earth-coloured garments, went to and fro about
+their tasks or stopped gazing at the rider in his crimson cloak and at
+the golden trappings of his horse. But among the cottages was a small
+house of stone such as Oisin had never seen in the land of Erinn;
+stone was its roof as well as the walls, very steep and high, and
+near-by from a rude frame of timber there hung a bell of bronze. Into
+this house there passed one whom from his shaven crown Oisin guessed
+to be a druid, and behind him two lads in white apparel. The druid
+having seen the horseman turned his eyes again to the ground and
+passed on, regarding him not, and the lads did likewise. And Oisin
+rode on, eager to reach the Dun upon the Hill of Allen and to see the
+faces of his kin and his friends.
+
+[Illustration: "The white steed had vanished from their eyes like a
+wreath of mist"]
+
+At length, coming from the forest path into the great clearing where
+the Hill of Allen was wont to rise broad and green, with its rampart
+enclosing many white-walled dwellings, and the great hall towering
+high in the midst, he saw but grassy mounds overgrown with rank weeds
+and whin bushes, and among them pastured a peasant's kine.
+
+Then a strange horror fell upon him, and he thought some enchantment
+from the land of Faery held his eyes and mocked him with false
+visions. He threw his arms abroad and shouted the names of Finn and
+Oscar, but none replied, and he thought that perchance the hounds
+might hear him, and he cried upon Bran and Sceolaun, and strained his
+ears if they might catch the faintest rustle or whisper of the world
+from the sight of which his eyes were holden, but he heard only the
+sigh of the wind in the whins. Then he rode in terror from that place,
+setting his face towards the eastern sea, for he meant to traverse
+Ireland from side to side and end to end in the search of some escape
+from his enchantment. But when he came near to the eastern sea and was
+now in the place which is called the Valley of the Thrushes,[24] he
+saw in a field upon the hillside a crowd of men striving to roll aside
+a great boulder from their tilled land, and an overseer directing
+them. Towards them he rode, meaning to ask them concerning Finn and
+the Fianna. As he came near, they all stopped their work to gaze upon
+him, for to them he appeared like a messenger of the Fairy Folk or an
+angel from heaven. Taller and mightier he was than the men-folk they
+knew, with sword-blue eyes and brown ruddy cheeks; in his mouth, as
+it were, a shower of pearls, and bright hair clustered beneath the rim
+of his helmet. And as Oisin looked upon their puny forms, marred by
+toil and care, and at the stone which they feebly strove to heave from
+its bed, he was filled with pity, and thought to himself, "not such
+were even the churls of Erinn when I left them for the Land of Youth,"
+and he stooped from his saddle to help them. His hand he set to the
+boulder, and with a mighty heave he lifted it from where it lay and
+set it rolling down the hill. And the men raised a shout of wonder and
+applause, but their shouting changed in a moment into cries of terror
+and dismay, and they fled, jostling and overthrowing each other to
+escape from the place of fear; for a marvel horrible to see had taken
+place. For Oisin's saddle-girth had burst as he heaved the stone, and
+he fell headlong to the ground. In an instant the white steed had
+vanished from their eyes like a wreath of mist, and that which rose,
+feeble and staggering, from the ground was no youthful warrior but a
+man stricken with extreme old age, white-bearded and withered, who
+stretched out groping hands and moaned with feeble and bitter cries.
+And his crimson cloak and yellow silken tunic were now but coarse
+homespun stuff tied with a hempen girdle, and the gold-hilted sword
+was a rough oaken staff such as a beggar carries who wanders the roads
+from farmer's house to house.
+
+   [24] Glanismole, near Dublin.
+
+When the people saw that the doom that had been wrought was not for
+them they returned, and found the old man prone on the ground with
+his face hidden in his arms. So they lifted him up and asked who he
+was and what had befallen him. Oisin gazed round on them with dim
+eyes, and at last he said, "I was Oisin the son of Finn, and I pray ye
+tell me where he now dwells, for his Dun on the Hill of Allen is now a
+desolation, and I have neither seen him nor heard his hunting horn
+from the Western to the Eastern Sea." Then the men gazed strangely on
+each other and on Oisin, and the overseer asked, "Of what Finn dost
+thou speak, for there be many of that name in Erinn?" Oisin said,
+"Surely of Finn mac Cumhal mac Trenmor, captain of the Fianna of
+Erinn." Then the overseer said, "Thou art daft, old man, and thou hast
+made us daft to take thee for a youth as we did a while agone. But we
+at least have now our wits again, and we know that Finn son of Cumhal
+and all his generation have been dead these three hundred years. At
+the battle of Gowra fell Oscar, son of Oisin, and Finn at the battle
+of Brea, as the historians tell us; and the lays of Oisin, whose death
+no man knows the manner of, are sung by our harpers at great men's
+feasts. But now the Talkenn,[25] Patrick, has come into Ireland and
+has preached to us the One God and Christ His Son, by whose might
+these old days and ways are done away with, and Finn and his Fianna,
+with their feasting and hunting and songs of war and of love, have no
+such reverence among us as the monks and virgins of holy Patrick, and
+the psalms and prayers that go up daily to cleanse us from sin and to
+save us from the fire of judgment." But Oisin replied, half hearing
+and still less comprehending what was said to him, "If thy God have
+slain Finn and Oscar, I would say that God is a strong man." Then they
+all cried out upon him, and some picked up stones, but the overseer
+bade them let him be until the Talkenn had spoken with him, and till
+he should order what was to be done.
+
+   [25] Talkenn or "Adze-head" was a name given to St Patrick by
+   the Irish. Probably it referred to the shape of his tonsure.
+
+So they brought him to Patrick, who entreated him gently and
+hospitably, and to Patrick he told the story of all that had befallen
+him. But Patrick bade his scribes write all carefully down, that the
+memory of the heroes whom Oisin had known, and of the joyous and free
+life they had led in the woods and glens and wild places of Erinn,
+should never be forgotten among men. And Oisin, during the short span
+of life that yet remained to him, told to Patrick many tales of the
+Fianna and their deeds, but of the three hundred years that he had
+spent with Niam in the Land of Youth he rarely spoke, for they seemed
+to him but as a vision or a dream of the night, set between a sunny
+and a rainy day.
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF KING CORMAC
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+I
+
+THE BIRTH OF CORMAC
+
+Of all the kings that ruled over Ireland, none had a better and more
+loyal servant than was Finn mac Cumhal, and of all the captains and
+counsellors of kings none ever served a more glorious and a nobler
+monarch than did Finn, for the time that he served Cormac, son of Art,
+son of Conn of the Hundred Battles. At the time at which this monarch
+lived and reigned, the mist of sixteen centuries hangs between us and
+the history of Ireland, but through this mist there shine a few great
+and sunlike figures whose glory cannot be altogether hidden, and of
+these figures Cormac is the greatest and the brightest. Much that is
+told about him may be true, and much is certainly fable, but the
+fables themselves are a witness to his greatness; they are like forms
+seen in the mist when a great light is shining behind it, and we
+cannot always say when we are looking at the true light and when at
+the reflected glory.
+
+The birth of Cormac was on this wise. His father, as we have said, was
+Art, son of Conn, and his mother was named Achta, being the daughter
+of a famous smith or ironworker of Connacht. Now before the birth of
+Cormac, Achta had a strange dream, namely, that her head was struck
+off from her body and that out of her neck there grew a great tree
+which extended its branches over all Ireland and flourished
+exceedingly, but a huge wave of the sea burst upon it and laid it low.
+Then from the roots of this tree there grew up another, but it did not
+attain the splendour of the first, and a blast of wind came from the
+West and overthrew it. On this the woman started from her sleep, and
+she woke her husband, Art, and told him her vision. "It is a true
+dream," said Art. "I am thy head, and this portends that I shall be
+violently taken from thee. But thou shalt bear me a son who shall be
+King of all Ireland, and shall rule with great power and glory until
+some disaster from the sea overtake him. But from him shall come yet
+another king, my grandson and thine, who shall also be cut down, and I
+think that the cause of his fall shall be the armies of the Fian host,
+who are swift and keen as the wind."
+
+Not long thereafter Art, son of Conn, fell in battle with the Picts
+and Britons at the Plain of the Swine, which is between Athenry and
+Galway in Connacht. Now the leader of the invaders then was mac Con, a
+nephew to Art, who had been banished out of Ireland for rising against
+the High King; and when he had slain Art he seized the sovranty of
+Ireland and reigned there unlawfully for many years.
+
+But before the battle, Art had counselled his wife:
+
+"If things go ill with us in the fight, and I am slain, seek out my
+faithful friend Luna who dwells in Corann in Connacht, and he will
+protect thee till thy son be born." So Achta, with one maid, fled in
+her chariot before the host of mac Con and sought to go to the Dun of
+Luna. On her way thither, however, the hour came when her child should
+be born, and the maid turned the chariot aside into the wild wood at
+the place called Creevagh (the Place of the Twigs), and there, on a
+couch of twigs and leaves, she gave birth to a noble son.
+
+Then Achta, when she had cherished her boy and rejoiced over him, bade
+her handmaid keep watch over both of them, and they fell asleep. But
+the maid's eyes were heavy with weariness and long travelling, and ere
+long she, too, was overpowered by slumber, and all three slept a deep
+sleep while the horses wandered away grazing through the wood.
+
+By and by there came a she-wolf roaming through the wood in search of
+prey for her whelps, and it came upon the sleeping woman and the
+little child. It did not wake the woman, but very softly it picked up
+the infant and bore it off to the stony cave that is hard by to
+Creevagh in the hill that was afterwards called Mount Cormac.
+
+After a while the mother waked up and found her child gone. Then she
+uttered a lamentable cry, and woke her handmaid, and both the women
+searched hither and thither, but no trace of the child could they
+find; and thus Luna found them; for he had heard news of the battle
+and the death of his King, and he had come to succour Achta as he had
+pledged his word to do. Luna and his men also made search for the
+infant, but in vain; and at last he conveyed the two sorrowing women
+to his palace; but Achta was somewhat comforted by her prophetic
+dream. Luna then proclaimed that whoever should discover the King's
+son, if he were yet alive, might claim of him what reward he would.
+
+And so the time passed, till one day a man named Grec, a clansman of
+Luna the lord of Corann, as he ranged the woods hunting, came on a
+stony cavern in the side of a hill, and before it he saw wolf-cubs at
+play, and among them a naked child on all fours gambolling with them,
+and a great she-wolf that mothered them all. "Right," cried Grec, and
+off he goes to Luna his lord. "What wilt thou give me for the King's
+son?" said he. "What wilt thou have?" said Luna. So Grec asked for
+certain lands, and Luna bound himself to give them to him and to his
+posterity, and there lived and flourished the Clan Gregor for many a
+generation to come. So Luna, guided by Grec, went to the cave on Mount
+Cormac, and took the child and the wolf-cubs all together and brought
+them home. And the child they called Cormac, or the Chariot-Child. Now
+the lad grew up very comely and strong, and he abode with Luna in
+Connacht, and no one told him of his descent.
+
+
+II
+
+THE JUDGMENT OF CORMAC
+
+Once upon a time it happened that Cormac was at play with the two sons
+of Luna, and the lads grew angry in their play and came to blows, and
+Cormac struck one of them to the ground. "Sorrow on it," cried the
+lad, "here I have been beaten by one that knows not his clan or
+kindred, save that he is a fellow without a father." When Cormac heard
+that he was troubled and ashamed, and he went to Luna and told him
+what had been said.
+
+And Luna seeing the trouble of the youth, and also that he was strong
+and noble to look on, and wise and eloquent in speech, held that the
+time was now come to reveal to him his descent. "Thou hadst indeed a
+clan and kindred," he said, "and a father of the noblest, for thou art
+the son of Art, the High King of Ireland, who was slain and
+dispossessed by mac Con. But it is foretold that thou shalt yet come
+to thy father's place, and the land pines for thee even now, for there
+is no good yield from earth or sea under the unlawful rule of him who
+now sits on the throne of Art."
+
+"If that be so," said Cormac, "let us go to Tara, and bide our time
+there in my father's house."
+
+So the two of them set out for Tara on the morrow morn. And this was
+the retinue they had with them: a body-guard of outlawed men that had
+revolted against mac Con and other lords and had gathered themselves
+together at Corann under Luna, and four wolves that had been cubs with
+Cormac when the she-wolf suckled him.
+
+
+When they came to Tara, the folk there wondered at the fierce-eyed
+warriors and the grey beasts that played like dogs around Cormac, and
+the lad was adopted as a pupil by the King, to be taught arms and
+poetry and law. Much talk there was of his coming, and of his strange
+companions that are not wont to be the friends of man, and as the lad
+grew in comeliness and in knowledge the eyes of all were turned to him
+more and more, because the rule of mac Con was not good.
+
+So the time wore on, till one day a case came for judgment before the
+King, in which the Queen sued a certain wealthy woman and an owner of
+herds named Benna, for that the sheep of Benna had strayed into the
+Queen's fields and had eaten to the ground a crop of woad[26] that was
+growing there. The King gave judgment, that the sheep which had eaten
+the woad were to be given to the Queen in compensation for what they
+had destroyed. Then Cormac rose up before the people and said, "Nay,
+but let the wool of the sheep, when they are next shorn, be given to
+the Queen, for the woad will grow again and so shall the wool." "A
+true judgment, a true judgment," cried all the folk that were present
+in the place; "a very king's son is he that hath pronounced it." And
+they murmured so loudly against mac Con that his druids counselled him
+to quit Tara lest a worse thing befall him. So he gave up the sovranty
+to Cormac and went southward into Munster to rally his friends there
+and recover the kingdom, and there he was slain by Cormac's men as he
+was distributing great largesse of gold and silver to his followers,
+in the place called The Field of the Gold.
+
+   [26] Woad is a cruciferous plant, _Isatis tinctoria_, used for
+   dyeing.
+
+So Cormac, son of Art, ruled in Tara and was High King of all Ireland.
+And the land, it is said, knew its rightful lord, and yielded harvests
+such as never were known, while the forest trees dripped with the
+abundance of honey and the lakes and rivers were alive with fish. So
+much game was there, too, that the folk could have lived on that alone
+and never put a ploughshare in the soil. In Cormac's time the autumn
+was not vexed with rain, nor the spring with icy winds, nor the summer
+with parching heat, nor the winter with whelming snows. His rule in
+Erinn, it is said, was like a wand of gold laid on a dish of silver.
+
+Also he rebuilt the ramparts of Tara and made it strong, and he
+enlarged the great banqueting hall and made pillars of cedar in it
+ornamented with plates of bronze, and painted its lime-white walls in
+patterns of red and blue. Palaces for the women he also made there,
+and store-houses, and halls for the fighting men--never was Tara so
+populous or so glorious before or since. And for his wisdom and
+righteousness knowledge was given to him that none other in Ireland
+had as yet, for it was revealed to him that the Immortal Ones whom the
+Gael worshipped were but the names of One whom none can name, and that
+his message should ere long come to Ireland from over the eastern sea,
+calling the people to a sweeter and diviner faith.
+
+And to the end of his life it was his way to have wolves about him,
+for he knew their speech and they his, and they were friendly and tame
+with him and his folk, since they were foster-brothers together in the
+wild wood.
+
+
+III
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF KING CORMAC
+
+It happened that in Cormac's time there was a very wealthy farmer
+named Buicad[27] who dwelt in Leinster, and had vast herds of cattle
+and sheep and horses. This Buicad and his wife had no children, but
+they adopted a foster-child named Ethne, daughter of one Dunlang. Now
+Buicad was the most hospitable of men, and never refused aught to
+anyone, but he kept open house for all the nobles of Leinster who
+came with their following and feasted there as they would, day after
+day; and if any man fancied any of the cattle or other goods of
+Buicad, he might take them home with him, and none said him nay. Thus
+Buicad lived in great splendour, and his Dun was ever full to
+profusion with store of food and clothing and rich weapons, until in
+time it was all wasted away in boundless hospitality and generosity,
+and so many had had a share in his goods that they could never be
+recovered nor could it be said of any man that he was the cause of
+Buicad's undoing. But undone he was at last, and when there remained
+to him but one bull and seven cows he departed by night with his wife
+and Ethne from Dun Buicad, leaving his mansion desolate. And he
+travelled till he came to a place where there was a grove of oak trees
+by a little stream in the county of Meath, near where Cormac had a
+summer palace, and there he built himself a little hut and tended his
+few cattle, and Ethne waited as a maid-servant upon him and his wife.
+
+   [27] Pronounced Bwee-cad. His name is said to be preserved in
+   the townland of Dunboyke, near Blessington, Co. Wicklow.
+
+Now on a certain day it happened that King Cormac rode out on
+horseback from his Dun in Meath, and in the course of his ride he came
+upon the little herd of Buicad towards evening, and he saw Ethne
+milking the cows. And this was the way she milked them: first she
+milked a portion of each cow's milk into a certain vessel, then she
+took a second vessel and milked into it the remaining portion, in
+which was the richest cream, and these two vessels she kept apart.
+Cormac watched all this. She then bore the vessels of milk into the
+hut, and came out again with two other vessels and a small cup. These
+she bore down to the river-side; and one of the vessels she filled by
+means of the cup from the water at the brink of the stream, but the
+other vessel she bore out into the middle of the stream and there
+filled it from the deepest of the running water. After this she took a
+sickle and began cutting rushes by the river-side, and Cormac saw that
+when she cut a wisp of long rushes she would put it on one side, and
+the short rushes on the other, and she bore them separately into the
+house. But Cormac stopped her and saluted her, and said:
+
+"For whom, maiden, art thou making this careful choice of the milk and
+the rushes and the water?"
+
+"I am making it," said she, "for one who is worthy that I should do
+far more than that for him, if I could."
+
+"What is his name?"
+
+"Buicad, the farmer," said Ethne.
+
+"Is it that Buicad, who was the rich farmer in Leinster that all
+Ireland has heard of?" asked the King.
+
+"It is even so."
+
+"Then thou art his foster-child, Ethne the daughter of Dunlang?" said
+Cormac.
+
+"I am," said Ethne.
+
+"Wilt thou be my wife and Queen of Erinn?" then said Cormac.
+
+"If it please my foster-father to give me to thee, O King, I am
+willing," replied Ethne.
+
+Then Cormac took Ethne by the hand and they went before Buicad, and he
+consented to give her to Cormac to wife. And Buicad was given rich
+lands and great store of cattle in the district of Odran close by
+Tara, and Ethne the Queen loved him and visited him so long as his
+life endured.
+
+
+IV
+
+THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE KING
+
+Ethne bore to Cormac a son, her firstborn, named Cairbry, who was King
+of Ireland after Cormac. It was during the lifetime of Cormac that
+Cairbry came to the throne, for it happened that ere he died Cormac
+was wounded by a chance cast of a spear and lost one of his eyes, and
+it was forbidden that any man having a blemish should be a king in
+Ireland. Cormac therefore gave up the kingdom into the hands of
+Cairbry, but before he did so he told his son all the wisdom that he
+had in the governing of men, and this was written down in a book which
+is called _The Instructions of Cormac_.[28] These are among the things
+which are found in it, of the wisdom of Cormac:--
+
+   [28] _The Instructions of Cormac_ (Tecosa Cormaic) have been
+   edited with a translation by Dr. Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture
+   Series of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xv., April 1909.
+
+  "Let him (the king) restrain the great,
+   Let him exalt the good,
+   Let him establish peace,
+   Let him plant law,
+   Let him protect the just,
+   Let him bind the unjust,
+   Let his warriors be many and his counsellors few,
+   Let him shine in company and be the sun of the mead-hall,
+   Let him punish with a full fine wrong done knowingly,
+    and with a half-fine wrong done in ignorance."
+
+Cairbry said, "What are good customs for a tribe to pursue?" "They are
+as follows," replied Cormac:--
+
+   "To have frequent assemblies,
+    To be ever enquiring, to question the wise men,
+    To keep order in assemblies,
+    To follow ancient lore,
+    Not to crush the miserable,
+    To keep faith in treaties,
+    To consolidate kinship,
+    Fighting-men not to be arrogant,
+    To keep contracts faithfully,
+    To guard the frontiers against every ill."
+
+"Tell me, O Cormac," said Cairbry, "what are good customs for the
+giver of a feast?" and Cormac said:--
+
+  "To have lighted lamps,
+   To be active in entertaining the company,
+   To be liberal in dispensing ale,
+   To tell stories briefly,
+   To be of joyous countenance,
+   To keep silence during recitals."
+
+"Tell me, O Cormac," said his son once, "what were thy habits when
+thou wert a lad?" And Cormac said:--
+
+   "I was a listener in woods,
+    I was a gazer at stars,
+    I pried into no man's secrets,
+    I was mild in the hall,
+    I was fierce in the fray,
+    I was not given to making promises,
+    I reverenced the aged,
+    I spoke ill of no man in his absence,
+    I was fonder of giving than of asking."
+
+"If you listen to my teaching," said Cormac:--
+
+  "Do not deride any old person though you be young
+   Nor any poor man though you be rich,
+   Nor any naked though you be well-clad,
+   Nor any lame though you be swift,
+   Nor any blind though you be keen-sighted,
+   Nor any invalid though you be robust,
+   Nor any dull though you be clever,
+   Nor any fool though you be wise.
+
+"Yet be not slothful, nor fierce, nor sleepy, nor niggardly, nor
+feckless nor envious, for all these are hateful before God and men.
+
+"Do not join in blasphemy, nor be the butt of an assembly; be not
+moody in an alehouse, and never forget a tryst."
+
+"What are the most lasting things on earth?" asked Cairbry.
+
+"Not hard to tell," said Cormac; "they are grass, copper, and a
+yew-tree."
+
+"If you will listen to me," said Cormac, "this is my instruction for
+the management of your household and your realm:--
+
+  "Let not a man with many friends be your steward,
+  Nor a woman with sons and foster-sons your housekeeper,
+  Nor a greedy man your butler,
+  Nor a man of much delay your miller,
+  Nor a violent, foul-mouthed man your messenger,
+  Nor a grumbling sluggard your servant,
+  Nor a talkative man your counsellor,
+  Nor a tippler your cup-bearer,
+  Nor a short-sighted man your watchman,
+  Nor a bitter, haughty man your doorkeeper,
+  Nor a tender-hearted man your judge,
+  Nor an ignorant man your leader,
+  Nor an unlucky man your counsellor."
+
+
+Such were the counsels that Cormac mac Art gave to his son Cairbry.
+And Cairbry became King after his father's abdication, and reigned
+seven and twenty years, till he and Oscar, son of Oisin, slew one
+another at the battle of Gowra.
+
+
+V
+
+CORMAC SETS UP THE FIRST MILL IN ERINN
+
+During the reign of Cormac it happened that some of the lords of
+Ulster made a raid upon the Picts in Alba[29] and brought home many
+captives. Among them was a Pictish maiden named Kiernit, daughter of a
+king of that nation, who was strangely beautiful, and for that the
+Ulstermen sent her as a gift to King Cormac. And Cormac gave her as a
+household slave to his wife Ethne, who set her to grinding corn with a
+hand-quern, as women in Erinn were used to do. One day as Cormac was
+in the palace of the Queen he saw Kiernit labouring at her task and
+weeping as she wrought, for the toil was heavy and she was unused to
+it. Then Cormac was moved with compassion for the women that ground
+corn throughout Ireland, and he sent to Alba for artificers to come
+over and set up a mill, for up to then there were no mills in Ireland.
+Now there was in Tara, as there is to this day, a well of water
+called _The Pearly_, for the purity and brightness of the water that
+sprang from it, and it ran in a stream down the hillside, as it still
+runs, but now only in a slender trickle. Over this stream Cormac bade
+them build the first mill that was in Ireland, and the bright water
+turned the wheel merrily round, and the women in Tara toiled at the
+quern no more.
+
+   [29] Scotland.
+
+
+VI
+
+A PLEASANT STORY OF CORMAC'S BREHON
+
+Among other affairs which Cormac regulated for himself and all kings
+who should come after him was the number and quality of the officers
+who should be in constant attendance on the King. Of these he ordained
+that there should be ten, to wit one lord, one brehon, one druid, one
+physician, one bard, one historian, one musician and three stewards.
+The function of the brehon, or judge, was to know the ancient customs
+and the laws of Ireland, and to declare them to the King whenever any
+matter relating to them came before him. Now Cormac's chief brehon was
+at first one Fithel. But Fithel's time came to die, and his son
+Flahari,[30] a wise and learned man, trained by his father in all the
+laws of the Gael, was to be brehon to the High King in his father's
+stead. Fithel then called his son to his bedside and said:--
+
+   [30] Pronounced Fla'-haree--accent on the first syllable.
+
+"Thou art well acquainted, my son, with all the laws and customs of
+the Gael, and worthy to be the chief brehon of King Cormac. But wisdom
+of life thou hast not yet obtained, for it is written in no law-book.
+This thou must learn for thyself, from life itself; yet somewhat of it
+I can impart unto thee, and it will keep thee in the path of safety,
+which is not easily trodden by those who are in the counsels of great
+kings. Mark now these four precepts, and obey them, and thou wilt
+avoid many of the pit-falls in thy way:--
+
+  "Take not a king's son in fosterage,[31]
+  Impart no dangerous secret to thy wife,
+  Raise not the son of a serf to a high position,
+  Commit not thy purse or treasure to a sister's keeping."
+
+   [31] The institution of fosterage, by which the children of
+   kings and lords were given to trusted persons among their
+   friends or followers to bring up and educate, was a marked
+   feature of social life in ancient Ireland, and the bonds of
+   affection and loyalty between such foster-parents and their
+   children were held peculiarly sacred.
+
+Having said this Fithel died, and Flahari became chief brehon in his
+stead.
+
+After a time Flahari thought to himself, "I am minded to test my
+father's wisdom of life and to see if it be true wisdom or but
+wise-seeming babble. For knowledge is no knowledge until it be tried
+by life."
+
+So he went before the King and said, "If thou art willing, Cormac, I
+would gladly have one of thy sons in fosterage." At this Cormac was
+well pleased, and a young child of the sons of Cormac was given to
+Flahari to bring up, and Flahari took the child to his own Dun, and
+there began to nurture and to train him as it was fitting.
+
+After a time, however, Flahari one day took the child by the hand and
+went with him into the deep recesses of the forest where dwelt one of
+the swine-herds who minded the swine of Flahari. To him Flahari handed
+over the child and bade him guard him as the apple of his eye, and to
+be ready deliver him up again when he was required. The Flahari went
+home, and for some days went about like a man weighed down by gloomy
+and bitter thoughts. His wife marked that, and sought to know the
+reason, but Flahari put her off. At last when she continually pressed
+him to reveal the cause of his trouble, he said "If them must needs
+learn what ails me, and if thou canst keep a secret full of danger to
+me and thee, know that I am gloomy and distraught because I have
+killed the son of Cormac." At this the woman cried out, "Murderer
+parricide, hast thou spilled the King's blood, and shall Cormac not
+know it, and do justice on thee?" And she sent word to Cormac that he
+should come and seize her husband for that crime.
+
+But before the officers came, Flahari took a young man, the son of his
+butler, and placed him in charge of his lands to manage them, while
+Flahari was away for his trial at Tara. And he also gave to his sister
+a treasure of gold and silver to keep for him, lest it should be made
+a spoil of while he was absent. Then he went with the officers to
+Tara, denying his offence and his confession, but when Cormac had
+heard all, and the child could not be found, he sentenced him to be
+put to death.
+
+Flahari then sent a messenger to his sister, begging her to send him
+at once a portion of the treasure he had left with her, that he might
+use it to make himself friends among the folk at court, and perchance
+obtain a remission of his sentence; but she sent the messenger back
+again empty, saying she knew not of what he spoke.
+
+On this Flahari deemed that the time was come to reveal the truth, so
+he obtained permission from the King to send a message to his
+swineherd before he died, and to hear the man's reply. And the message
+was this, that Murtach the herd should come without delay to Tara and
+bring with him the child that Flahari had committed to him. Howbeit
+this messenger also came back empty, and reported that on reaching Dun
+Flahari he had been met by the butler's son that was over the estate,
+who had questioned him of his errand, and had then said, "Murtach the
+serf has run away as soon as he heard of his lord's downfall, and if
+he had any child in his care he has taken it away with him, and he
+cannot be found." This he said because, on hearing of the child, he
+guessed what this might mean, and he had been the bitterest of all in
+urging Flahari's death, hoping to be rewarded with a share of his
+lands.
+
+Then Flahari said to himself, "Truly the proving of my father's wisdom
+of life has brought me very near to death." So he sent for the King
+and entreated him that he might be suffered to go himself to the
+dwelling of Murtach the herd, promising that the King's son should be
+then restored to him, "or if not," said he, "let me then be slain
+there without more ado." With great difficulty Cormac was moved to
+consent to this, for he believed it was but a subterfuge of Flahari's
+to put off the evil day or perchance to find a way of escape. But next
+day Flahari was straitly bound and set in a chariot, and, with a guard
+of spearmen about him and Cormac himself riding behind, they set out
+for Dun Flahari. Then Flahari guided them through the wild wood till
+at last they came to the clearing where stood the dwelling of Murtach
+the swineherd, and lo! there was the son of Cormac playing merrily
+before the door. And the child ran to his foster-father to kiss him,
+but when he saw Flahari in bonds he burst out weeping and would not be
+at peace until he was set free.
+
+Then Murtach slew one of the boars of his herd and made an oven in the
+earth after the manner of the Fianna, and made over it a fire of
+boughs that he had drying in a shed. And when the boar was baked he
+set it before the company with ale and mead in methers of beechwood,
+and they all feasted and were glad of heart.
+
+Cormac then asked of Flahari why he had suffered himself to be
+brought into this trouble. "I did so," said Flahari, "to prove the
+four counsels which my father gave them ere he died, and I have proved
+them and found them to be wise. In the first place, it is not wise for
+any man that is not a king to take the fosterage of a king's son, for
+if aught shall happen to the lad, his own life is in the king's hands
+and with his life he shall answer for it. Secondly, the keeping of a
+secret, said my father, is not in the nature of women in general,
+therefore no dangerous secret should be entrusted to them. The third
+counsel my father gave me was not to raise up or enrich the son of a
+serf, for such persons are apt to forget benefits conferred on them,
+and moreover it irks them that he who raised them up should know the
+poor estate from which they sprang. And good, too, is the fourth
+counsel my father gave me, not to entrust my treasure to my sister,
+for it is the nature of most women to regard as spoil any valuables
+that are entrusted to them to keep for others."
+
+
+VII
+
+THE JUDGMENT CONCERNING CORMAC'S SWORD
+
+When Cormac, son of Art, son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was High
+King in Erinn, great was the peace and splendour of his reign, and no
+provincial king or chief in any part of the country lifted up his
+head against Cormac. At his court in Tara were many noble youths, who
+were trained up there in all matters befitting their rank and station.
+
+One of these youths was named Socht, son of Fithel. Socht had a
+wonderful sword, named "The Hard-headed Steeling," which was said to
+have been long ago the sword of Cuchulain. It had a hilt of gold and a
+belt of silver, and its point was double-edged. At night it shone like
+a candle. If its point were bent back to the hilt it would fly back
+again and be as straight as before. If it was held in running water
+and a hair were floated down against the edge, it would sever the
+hair. It was a saying that this sword would make two halves of a man,
+and for a while he would not perceive what had befallen him. This
+sword was held by Socht for a tribal possession from father and
+grandfather.
+
+There was at this time a famous steward to the High King in Tara whose
+name was Dubdrenn. This man asked Socht to sell him the sword. He
+promised to Socht such a ration as he, Dubdrenn, had every night, and
+four men's food for the family of Socht, and, after that, Socht to
+have the full value of the sword at his own appraisement. "No," said
+Socht. "I may not sell my father's treasures while he is alive."
+
+And thus they went on, Dubdrenn's mind ever running on the sword. At
+last he bade Socht to a drinking-bout, and plied him so with wine and
+mead that Socht became drunken, and knew not where he was, and
+finally fell asleep.
+
+Then the steward takes the sword and goes to the King's brazier, by
+name Connu.
+
+"Art thou able," says Dubdrenn, "to open the hilt of this sword?" "I
+am that," says the brazier.
+
+Then the brazier took apart the hilt, and within, upon the tang of the
+blade, he wrote the steward's name, even Dubdrenn, and the steward
+laid the sword again by the side of Socht.
+
+So it was for three months after that, and the steward continued to
+ask Socht to sell him the sword, but he could not get it from him.
+
+Then the steward brought a suit for the sword before the High King,
+and he claimed that it was his own and that it had been taken from
+him. But Socht declared that the sword was his by long possession and
+by equity, and he would not give it up.
+
+Then Socht went to his father, Fithel the brehon, and begged him to
+take part in the action and to defend his claim. But Fithel said,
+"Nay, thou art too apt to blame the pleadings of other men; plead for
+thyself."
+
+So the court was set, and Socht was called upon to prove that the
+sword was his. He swore that it was a family treasure, and thus it had
+come down to him.
+
+The steward said, "Well, O Cormac, the oath that Socht has uttered is
+a lie."
+
+"What proof hast thou of that?" asked Cormac.
+
+"Not hard to declare," replied the steward. "If the sword be mine, my
+name stands graved therein, concealed within the hilt of the sword."
+
+"That will soon be known," says Cormac, and therewith he had the
+brazier summoned. The brazier comes and breaks open the hilt and the
+name of Dubdrenn stands written within it. Thus a dead thing testified
+in law against a living man.
+
+Then Socht said, "Hear ye, O men of Erinn and Cormac the King! I
+acknowledge that this man is the owner of the sword." And to Dubdrenn
+he said, "The property therein and all the obligations of it pass from
+me to thee."
+
+Dubdrenn said, "I acknowledge property in the sword and all its
+obligations."
+
+Then said Socht, "This sword was found in the neck of my grandfather
+Angus, and till this day it never was known who had done that murder.
+Do justice, O King, for this crime."
+
+Said the King to Dubdrenn, "Thou art liable for more than the sword is
+worth." So he awarded to Socht the price of seven bondwomen as
+blood-fine for the slaying of Angus, and restitution of the sword to
+Socht. Then the steward confessed the story of the sword, and Cormac
+levied seven other cumals from the brazier. But Cormac said, "This is
+in truth the sword of Cuchulain, and by it was slain my grandfather,
+even Conn of the Hundred Battles, at the hands of the King of Ulster,
+of whom it is written:--
+
+"With a host, with a valiant band Well did he go into Connacht. Alas,
+that he saw the blood of Conn On the side of Cuchulain's sword!"
+
+Then Cormac and Fithel agreed that the sword be given to Cormac as
+blood-fine for the death of Conn, and his it was; and it was the third
+best of the royal treasures that were in Erin: namely, Cormac's Cup,
+that broke if a falsehood were spoken over it and became whole if a
+truth were spoken; and the Bell Branch that he got in Fairyland, whose
+music when it was shaken would put to sleep wounded men, and women in
+travail; and the Sword of Cuchulain, against which, and against the
+man that held it in his hand, no victory could ever be won.
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORMAC
+
+In the chronicle of the Kings of Ireland that was written by Tierna
+the Historian in the eleventh century after Christ's coming, there is
+noted down in the annals of the year 248, "Disappearance of Cormac,
+grandson of Conn, for seven months." That which happened to Cormac
+during these seven months is told in one of the bardic stories of
+Ireland, being the Story of Cormac's Journey to Fairyland, and this
+was the manner of it.
+
+One day Cormac, son of Art, was looking over the ramparts of his royal
+Dun of Tara, when he saw a young man, glorious to look on in his
+person and his apparel, coming towards him across the plain of Bregia.
+The young man bore in his hand, as it were, a branch, from which hung
+nine golden bells formed like apples. When he shook the branch the
+nine apples beat against each other and made music so sweet that there
+was no pain or sorrow in the world that a man would not forget while
+he hearkened to it.
+
+"Does this branch belong to thee?" asked Cormac of the youth.
+
+"Truly it does," replied the youth.
+
+"Wilt thou sell it to me?" said Cormac.
+
+"I never had aught that I would not sell for a price," said the young
+man.
+
+"What is thy price?" asked Cormac.
+
+"The price shall be what I will," said the young man.
+
+"I will give thee whatever thou desirest of all that is mine," said
+Cormac, for he coveted the branch exceedingly, and the enchantment was
+heavy upon him.
+
+So the youth gave him the bell-branch, and then said, "My price is thy
+wife and thy son and thy daughter."
+
+Then they went together into the palace and found there Cormac's wife
+and his children. "That is a wonderful jewel thou hast in thy hand,
+Cormac," said Ethne.
+
+"It is," said Cormac, "and great is the price I have paid for it."
+
+"What is that price?" said Ethne.
+
+"Even thou and thy children twain," said the King.
+
+"Never hast thou done such a thing," cried Ethne, "as to prefer any
+treasure in the world before us three!" And they all three lamented
+and implored, but Cormac shook the branch and immediately their sorrow
+was forgotten, and they went away willingly with the young man across
+the plain of Bregia until a mist hid them from the eyes of Cormac. And
+when the people murmured and complained against Cormac, for Ethne and
+her children were much beloved of them, Cormac shook the bell-branch
+and their grief was turned into joy.
+
+A year went by after this, and then Cormac longed for his wife and
+children again, nor could the bell-branch any longer bring him
+forgetfulness of them. So one morning he took the branch and went out
+alone from Tara over the plain, taking the direction in which they had
+passed away a year agone; and ere long little wreathes of mist began
+to curl about his feet, and then to flit by him like long trailing
+robes, and he knew no more where he was. After a time, however, he
+came out again into sunshine and clear sky, and found himself in a
+country of flowery meadows and of woods filled with singing-birds
+where he had never journeyed before. He walked on, till at last he
+came to a great and stately mansion with a crowd of builders at work
+upon it, and they were roofing it with a thatch made of the wings of
+strange birds. But when they had half covered the house, their supply
+of feathers ran short, and they rode off in haste to seek for more.
+While they were gone, however, a wind arose and whirled away the
+feathers already laid on, so that the rafters were left bare as
+before. And this happened again and again, as Cormac gazed on them for
+he knew not how long. At last his patience left him and he said, "I
+see with that ye have been doing this since the beginning of the
+world, and that ye will still be doing it in the end thereof," and
+with that he went on his way.
+
+And many other strange things he saw, but of them we say nothing now,
+till he came to the gateway of a great and lofty Dun, where he entered
+in and asked hospitality. Then there came to him a tall man clad in a
+cloak of blue that changed into silver or to purple as its folds waved
+in the light, and with him was a woman more beautiful than the
+daughters of men, even she of whom it was said her beauty was as that
+of a tear when it drops from the eyelid, so crystal-pure it was and
+bright.[32] They greeted Cormac courteously and begged him to stay
+with them for the night.
+
+   [32] See Miss Hull's CUCHULAIN, THE HOUND OF ULSTER, p. 175.
+   The pair were Mananan, god of the sea, and Fand his wife, of
+   whom a tale of great interest is told in the Cuchulain Cycle of
+   legends. The sea-cloak of Mananan is the subject of a
+   magnificent piece of descriptive poetry in Ferguson's CONGAL.
+
+Cormac then entered a great hall with pillars of cedar and
+many-coloured silken hangings on the walls. In the midst of it was a
+fire-place whereon the host threw a huge log, and shortly afterwards
+brought in a young pig which Cormac cut up to roast before the fire.
+He first put one quarter of the pig to roast, and then his host said
+to him,
+
+"Tell us a tale, stranger, and if it be a true one the quarter will be
+done as soon as the tale is told."
+
+"Do thou begin," said Cormac, "and then thy wife, and after that my
+turn will come."
+
+"Good," said the host. "This is my tale. I have seven of these swine,
+and with their flesh the whole world could be fed. When one of them is
+killed and eaten, I need but put its bones into the pig-trough and on
+the morrow it is alive and well again." They looked at the fireplace,
+and behold, the first quarter of the pig was done and ready to be
+served.
+
+Then Cormac put on the second quarter, and the woman took up her tale.
+"I have seven white cows," she said, "and seven pails are filled with
+the milk of them each day. Though all the folk in the world were
+gathered together to drink of this milk, there would be enough and to
+spare for all." As soon as she had said that, they saw that the second
+quarter of the pig was roasted.
+
+Then Cormac said: "I know you now, who you are; for it is Mananan that
+owns the seven swine of Faery, and it is out of the Land of Promise
+that he fetched Fand his wife and her seven cows." Then immediately
+the third quarter of the pig was done.
+
+"Tell us now," said Mananan, "who thou art and why thou art come
+hither."
+
+Cormac then told his story, of the branch with its nine golden apples
+and how he had bartered for it his wife and his children, and he was
+now-seeking them through the world. And when he had made an end, the
+last quarter of the pig was done.
+
+"Come, let us set to the feast," then said Mananan; but Cormac said,
+"Never have I sat down to meat in a company of two only." "Nay," said
+Mananan, "but there are more to come." With that he opened a door in
+the hall and in it appeared Queen Ethne and her two children. And when
+they had embraced and rejoiced in each other Mananan said, "It was I
+who took them from thee, Cormac, and who gave thee the bell-branch,
+for I wished to bring thee hither to be my guest for the sake of thy
+nobleness and thy wisdom."
+
+Then they all sat down to table and feasted and made merry, and when
+they had satisfied themselves with meat and drink, Mananan showed the
+wonders of his household to King Cormac. And he took up a golden cup
+which stood on the table, and said: "This cup hath a magical property,
+for if a lie be spoken over it, it will immediately break in pieces,
+and if a truth be spoken it will be made whole again." "Prove this to
+me," said Cormac. "That is easily done," said Mananan. "Thy wife hath
+had a new husband since I carried her off from thee." Straightway the
+cup fell apart into four pieces. "My husband has lied to thee,
+Cormac," said Fand, and immediately the cup became whole again.
+
+Cormac then began to question Mananan as to the things he had seen on
+his way thither, and he told him of the house that was being thatched
+with the wings of birds, and of the men that kept returning ever and
+again to their work as the wind destroyed it. And Mananan said,
+"These, O Cormac, are the men of art, who seek to gather together much
+money and gear of all kinds by the exercise of their craft, but as
+fast as they get it, so they spend it, or faster and the result is
+that they will never be rich." But when he had said this it is related
+that the golden cup broke into pieces where it stood. Then Cormac
+said, "The explanation thou hast given of this mystery is not true."
+Mananan smiled, and said, "Nevertheless it must suffice thee, O King,
+for the truth of this matter may not be known, lest the men of art
+give over the roofing of the house and it be covered with common
+thatch."
+
+So when they had talked their fill, Cormac and his wife and children
+were brought to a chamber where they lay down to sleep. But when they
+woke up on the morrow morn, they found themselves in the Queen's
+chamber in the royal palace of Tara, and by Cormac's side were found
+the bell-branch and the magical cup and the cloth of gold that had
+covered the table where they sat in the palace of Mananan. Seven
+months it was since Cormac had gone out from Tara to search for his
+wife and children, but it seemed to him that he had been absent but
+for the space of a single day and night.
+
+
+IX
+
+DESCRIPTION OF CORMAC[33]
+
+   [33] The original from the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE (14th century) is
+   given in O'Curry's MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, Appendix
+   xxvi. I have in the main followed O'Curry's translation.
+
+"A noble and illustrious king assumed the sovranty and rule of Erinn,
+namely Cormac, grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles. The world was
+full of all goodness in his time; there were fruit and fatness of the
+land, and abundant produce of the sea, with peace and ease and
+happiness. There were no killings or plunderings in his time, but
+everyone occupied his land in happiness.
+
+"The nobles of Ireland assembled to drink the Banquet of Tara with
+Cormac at a certain time.... Magnificently did Cormac come to this
+great Assembly; for no man, his equal in beauty, had preceded him,
+excepting Conary Mor or Conor son of Caffa, or Angus Og son of the
+Dagda.[34] Splendid, indeed, was Cormac's appearance in that Assembly.
+His hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour; a scarlet shield
+he had, with engraved devices, and golden bosses and ridges of silver.
+A wide-folding purple cloak was on him with a gem-set gold brooch over
+his breast; a golden torque round his neck; a white-collared shirt
+embroidered with gold was on him; a girdle with golden buckles and
+studded with precious stones was around him; two golden net-work
+sandals with golden buckles upon his feet; two spears with golden
+sockets and many red bronze rivets in his hand; while he stood in the
+full glow of beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was
+a shower of pearls that was set in his mouth, his lips were rubies,
+his symmetrical body was as white as snow, his cheek was ruddy as the
+berry of the mountain-ash, his eyes were like the sloe, his brows and
+eye-lashes were like the sheen of a blue-black lance."
+
+   [34] Angus Og was really a deity or fairy king. He appears also
+   in the story of Midir and Etain. _q.v._
+
+
+X
+
+THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF CORMAC
+
+Strange was the birth and childhood of Cormac strange his life and
+strange the manner of his death and burial, as we now have to narrate.
+
+Cormac, it is said, was the third man in Ireland who heard of the
+Christian Faith before the coming of Patrick. One was Conor mac Nessa,
+King of Ulster, whose druid told him of the crucifixion of Christ and
+who died of that knowledge.[35] The second was the wise judge, Morann,
+and the third Cormac, son of Art. This knowledge was revealed to him
+by divine illumination, and thenceforth he refused to consult the
+druids or to worship the images which they made as emblems of the
+Immortal Ones.
+
+   [35] See the conclusion of the _Vengeance of Mesgedra_.
+
+One day it happened that Cormac after he had laid down the kingship of
+Ireland, was present when the druids and a concourse of people were
+worshipping the great golden image which was set up in the plain
+called Moy Slaught. When the ceremony was done, the chief druid, whose
+name was Moylann, spoke to Cormac and said: "Why, O Cormac, didst thou
+not bow down and adore the golden image of the god like the rest of
+the people?"
+
+And Cormac said: "Never will I worship a stock[36] that my own
+carpenter has made. Rather would I worship the man that made it, for
+he is nobler than the work of his hands."
+
+   [36] The image was doubtless of wood overlaid with gold.
+
+Then it is told that Moylann by magic art caused the image to move and
+leap before the eyes of Cormac. "Seest thou that?" said Moylann.
+
+"Although I see," said Cormac, "I will do no worship save to the God
+of Heaven and Earth and Hell."
+
+Then Cormac went to his own home at Sletty on the Boyne, for there he
+lived after he had given up the kingdom to his son Cairbry. But the
+druids of Erinn came together and consulted over this matter, and they
+determined solemnly to curse Cormac and invoke the vengeance of their
+gods upon him lest the people should think that any man could despise
+and reject their gods, and suffer no ill for it.
+
+So they cursed Cormac in his flesh and bones, in his waking and
+sleeping, in his down sitting and his uprising, and each day they
+turned over the Wishing Stone upon the altar of their god,[37] and
+wove mighty spells against his life. And whether it was that these
+took effect, or that the druids prevailed upon some traitorous servant
+of Cormac's to work their will, so it was that he died not long
+thereafter; and some say that he was choked by a fish bone as he sat
+at meat in his house at Sletty on the Boyne.
+
+   [37] There are still Wishing Stones, which are used in
+   connexion with petitions for good or ill, on the ancient altars
+   of Inishmurray and of Caher Island, and possibly other places
+   on the west coast of Ireland.
+
+But when he felt his end approaching, and had still the power to
+speak, he said to those that gathered round his bed:--"When I am gone
+I charge you that ye bury me not at Brugh of the Boyne where is the
+royal cemetery of the Kings of Erinn.[38] For all these kings paid
+adoration to gods of wood or stone, or to the Sun and the Elements,
+whose signs are carved on the walls of their tombs, but I have learned
+to know the One God, immortal, invisible, by whom the earth and
+heavens were made. Soon there will come into Erinn one from the East
+who will declare Him unto us, and then wooden gods and cursing priests
+shall plague us no longer in this land. Bury me then not at
+Brugh-na-Boyna, but on the hither-side of Boyne, at Ross-na-ree, where
+there is a sunny, eastward-sloping hill, there would I await the
+coming of the sun of truth."
+
+   [38] This famous cemetery of the kings of pagan Ireland lies on
+   the north bank of the Boyne and consists of a number of
+   sepulchral mounds, sometimes of great extent, containing, in
+   their interior, stone walled chambers decorated with symbolic
+   and ornamental carvings. The chief of these mounds, now known
+   as Newgrange, has been explored and described by Mr George
+   Coffey in his valuable work NEWGRANGE, published by the Royal
+   Irish Academy. _Brugh_=mansion.
+
+So spake Cormac, and he died, and there was a very great mourning for
+him in the land. But when the time came for his burial, the princes
+and lords of the Gael vowed that he should lie in Brugh with Art, his
+father, and Conn of the Hundred Battles, and many another king, in the
+great stone chambers of the royal dead. For Ross-na-ree, they said, is
+but a green hill of no note; and Cormac's expectation of the message
+of the new God they took to be but the wanderings of a dying man.
+
+Now Brugh-na-Boyna lay at the farther side of the Boyne from Sletty,
+and near by was a shallow ford where the river could be crossed. But
+when the funeral train came down to the ford, bearing aloft the body
+of the King, lo! the river had risen as though a tempest had burst
+upon it at its far-off sources in the hills, and between them and the
+farther bank was now a broad and foaming flood, and the stakes that
+marked the ford were washed clean away. Even so they made trial of the
+ford, and thrice the bearers waded in and thrice they were forced to
+turn back lest the flood should sweep them down. At length six of the
+tallest and mightiest of the warriors of the High King took up the
+bier upon their shoulders, and strode in. And first the watchers on
+the bank saw the brown water swirl about their knees, and then they
+sank thigh-deep, and at last it foamed against their shoulders, yet
+still they braced themselves against the current, moving forward very
+slowly as they found foothold among the slippery rocks in the
+river-bed. But when they had almost reached the mid-stream it seemed
+as if a great surge overwhelmed them, and caught the bier from their
+shoulders as they plunged and clutched around it, and they must needs
+make back for the shore as best they could, while Boyne swept down the
+body of Cormac to the sea.
+
+On the following morning, however, shepherds driving their flocks to
+pasture on the hillside of Ross-na-ree found cast upon the shore the
+body of an aged man of noble countenance, half wrapped in a silken
+pall; and knowing not who this might be they dug a grave in the grassy
+hill, and there laid the stranger, and laid the green sods over him
+again.
+
+There still sleeps Cormac the King, and neither Ogham-lettered stone
+nor sculptured cross marks his solitary grave. But he lies in the
+place where he would be, of which a poet of the Gael in our day has
+written:--
+
+  "A tranquil spot: a hopeful sound
+     Comes from the ever-youthful stream,
+   And still on daisied mead and mound
+     The dawn delays with tenderer beam.
+
+   "Round Cormac, spring renews her buds:
+     In march perpetual by his side
+   Down come the earth-fresh April floods,
+     And up the sea-fresh salmon glide;
+
+   "And life and time rejoicing run
+     From age to age their wonted way;
+   But still he waits the risen sun,
+     For still 'tis only dawning day."[39]
+
+   [39] These lines are taken from Sir S. Ferguson's noble poem,
+   _The Burial of King Cormac_, from which I have also borrowed
+   some of the details of the foregoing narrative.
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Notes on the Sources
+
+
+_The Story of the Children of Lir_ and _The Quest of the Sons of
+Turenn_ are two of the three famous and popular tales entitled "The
+Three Sorrows of Storytelling." The third is the _Tragedy of the Sons
+of Usna_, rendered by Miss Eleanor Hull in her volume CUCHULAIN. I
+have taken the two stories which are given here from the versions in
+modern Irish published by the Society for the Preservation of the
+Irish Language, with notes and translation. Neither of them is found
+in any very early MS., but their subject-matter certainly goes back to
+very primitive times.
+
+
+_The Secret of Labra_ is taken from Keating's FORUS FEASA AR EIRINN,
+edited with translation by the Rev. P.S. Dineen for the Irish Texts
+Society, vol. i. p. 172.
+
+
+_The Carving of mac Datho's Boar_. This is a clean, fierce, fighting
+story, notable both for its intensely dramatic _denouement_, and for
+the complete absence from it of the magical or supernatural element
+which is so common a feature in Gaelic tales. It has been edited and
+translated from one MS. by Dr Kuno Meyer, in _Hibernica Minora_
+(ANECDOTA OXONIENSIA), 1894, and translated from THE BOOK OF LEINSTER
+(twelfth century) in Leahy's HEROIC ROMANCES.
+
+
+_The Vengeance of Mesgedra_. This story, as I have given it, is a
+combination of two tales, _The Siege of Howth_ and _The Death of King
+Conor_. The second really completes the first, though they are not
+found united in Irish literature. Both pieces are given in O'Curry's
+MS. MATERIALS OF IRISH HISTORY, and Miss Hull has printed translations
+of them in her CUCHULLIN SAGA, the translation of the _Siege_ being by
+Dr Whitly Stokes and that of the _Death of Conor_ by O'Curry. These
+are very ancient tales and contain a strong barbaric element. Versions
+of both of them are found in the great MS. collection known as the
+BOOK OF LEINSTER (twelfth century).
+
+
+_King Iubdan and King Fergus_ is a brilliant piece of fairy
+literature. The imaginative grace, the humour, and, at the close, the
+tragic dignity of this tale make it worthy of being much more widely
+known than it has yet become. The original, taken from one of the
+Egerton MSS. in the British Museum, will be found with a translation
+in O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. For the conclusion, I have in the main
+followed another version (containing the death of Fergus only), given
+in the SEANCUS MOR and finely versified by Sir Samuel Ferguson in his
+POEMS, 1880.
+
+
+_The Story of Etain and Midir_. This beautiful and very ancient
+romance is extant in two distinct versions, both of which are
+translated by Mr A.H. Leahy in his HEROIC ROMANCES. The tale is found
+in several MSS., among others, in the twelfth century BOOK OF THE DUN
+COW (LEABHAR NA H-UIDHRE). It has been recently made the subject of a
+dramatic poem by "Fiona Macleod."
+
+
+_How Ethne quitted Fairyland_ is taken from D'Arbois de Jubainville's
+CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS, ch. xii. 4. The original is to be found
+in the fifteenth century MS., entitled THE BOOK OF FERMOY.
+
+
+_The Boyhood of Finn_ is based chiefly on the MACGNIOMHARTHA FHINN,
+published in 1856, with a translation, in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol. iv. I am also indebted, particularly for the
+translation of the difficult _Song of Finn in Praise of May_, to Dr
+Kuno Meyer's translation published in _Eriu_ (the Journal of the
+School of Irish Learning), vol. i. pt. 2.
+
+
+_The Coming of Finn_, _Finns Chief Men_, the _Tale of Vivionn_ and
+_The Chase of the Gilla Dacar_, are all handfuls from that rich mine
+of Gaelic literature, Mr Standish Hayes O'Grady's SILVA GADELICA. In
+the _Gilla Dacar_ I have modified the second half of the story rather
+freely. It appears to have been originally an example of a well-known
+class of folk-tales dealing with the subject of the Rescue of
+Fairyland. The same motive occurs in the famous tale called _The
+Sickbed of Cuchulain_. The idea is that some fairy potentate, whose
+realm is invaded and oppressed, entices a mortal champion to come to
+his aid and rewards him with magical gifts. But the eighteenth
+century narrator whose MS. was edited by Mr S.H. O'Grady, apparently
+had not the clue to the real meaning of his material, and after going
+on brilliantly up to the point where Dermot plunges into the magic
+well, he becomes incoherent, and the rest of the tale is merely a
+string of episodes having no particular connexion with each other or
+with the central theme. The latter I have here endeavoured to restore
+to view. The _Gilla Dacar_ is given from another Gaelic version by Dr
+P.W. Joyce in his invaluable book, OLD CELTIC ROMANCES.
+
+
+_The Birth of Oisin_ I have found in Patrick Kennedy's LEGENDARY
+FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. I do not know the Gaelic original.
+
+
+_Oisin in the Land of Youth_ is based, as regards the outlines of this
+remarkable story, on the LAOI OISIN AR TIR NA N-OG, written by Michael
+Comyn about 1750, and edited with a translation by Thomas Flannery in
+1896 (Gill & Son, Dublin). Comyn's poem was almost certainly based on
+earlier traditional sources, either oral or written or both, but these
+have not hitherto been discovered.
+
+
+_The History of King Cormac_. The story of the birth of Cormac and his
+coming into his kingdom is to be found in SILVA GADELICA, where it is
+edited from THE BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, an MS. dating from about the year
+1400.
+
+The charming tale, of his marriage with Ethne ni Dunlaing is taken
+from Keating's FORUS FEASA. From this source also I have taken the
+tales of the Brehon Flahari, of Kiernit and the mill, and of Cormac's
+death and burial. The _Instructions of Cormac_ have been edited and
+translated by Dr Kuno Meyer in the Todd Lecture Series of the Royal
+Irish Academy, xiv., April 1909. They are found in numerous MSS., and
+their date is fixed by Dr Meyer about the ninth century. With some
+other Irish matter of the same description they constitute, says Mr
+Alfred Nutt, "the oldest body of gnomic wisdom" extant in any European
+vernacular. (_FOLK-LORE_, Sept. 30, 1909.)
+
+The story of Cormac's adventures in Fairyland has been published with
+a translation by Standish Hayes O'Grady in the _TRANSACTIONS OF THE
+OSSIANIC SOCIETY_, vol. iii., and is also given very fully by d'Arbois
+de Jubainvilie in his CYCLE MYTHOLOGIQUE IRLANDAIS. The tale is found,
+among other MSS., in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, but is known to have been
+extant at least as early as the tenth century, since in that year it
+figures in a list of Gaelic tales drawn up by the historian Tierna.
+
+The ingenious story of the _Judgment concerning Cormac's Sword_ is
+found in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE, and is printed with a translation by
+Dr Whitly Stokes in _IRISCHE TEXTE_, iii. Serie, 7 Heft, 1891.
+
+
+
+
+Pronouncing Index
+
+
+The correct pronunciation of Gaelic proper names can only be learned
+from the living voice. It cannot be accurately represented by any
+combination of letters from the English alphabet. I have spared the
+reader as much trouble as possible on this score by simplifying, as
+far as I could, the forms of the names occurring in the text, and if
+the reader will note the following general rules, he will get quite as
+near to the pronunciation intended as there is any necessity for him
+to do. A few names which might present some unusual difficulty are
+given with their approximate English pronunciations in the Index.
+
+The chief rule to observe is that vowels are pronounced as in the
+Continental languages, not according to the custom peculiar to
+England. Thus _a_ is like _a_ in _father_, never like _a_ in _fate,
+I_(when long) is like _ee_, _u_ like _oo_, or like _u_ in _put_ (never
+like _u_ in _tune_). An accent implies length, thus _Dun_, a fortress
+or mansion, is pronounced _Doon_. The letters _ch_ are never to be
+pronounced with a _t_ sound, as in the word _chip_, but like a rough
+_h_ or a softened _k_, rather as in German. _Gh_ is silent as in
+English, and _g_ is always hard, as in _give_. _C_ is always as _k_,
+never as _s_.
+
+In the following Index an accent placed after a syllable indicates
+that the stress is to be laid on that syllable. Only those words are
+given, the pronunciation of which is not easily ascertainable by
+attention to the foregoing rules.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+AEda is to be pronounced  Ee'-da.
+Ailill          "        Al'-yill.
+Anluan          "        An'-looan.
+Aoife           "        Ee'-fa.
+Bacarach        "        Bac'-ara_h_.
+Belachgowran    "        Bel'-a_h_-gow'-ran.
+Cearnach        "        Kar'-na_h_.
+Cuchulain       "        Coo-_h_oo'-lin.
+Cumhal          "        Coo'wal, Cool.
+Dacar           "        Dak'-ker.
+Derryvaragh     "        Derry-var'-a.
+
+Eisirt          "        Eye'sert.
+Eochy           "        Yeo'_h_ee.
+
+Fiachra         "        Fee'-a_k_ra.
+Fianna          "        Fee'-anna.
+Finegas         "        Fin'-egas.
+Fionnuala       "        Fee-on-oo'-ala, shortened in modern Irish
+                          into Fino'-la.
+
+Flahari         "        Fla'-haree.
+
+Iorroway        "        Yor'-oway.
+Iubdan          "        Youb'-dan.
+Iuchar          "        You'-_h_ar.
+Iucharba        "        You-_h_ar'-ba.
+
+Liagan          "        Lee'-agan.
+Lir             "        Leer.
+Logary          "        Lo'-garee.
+
+Maev            "        rhyming to _wave_.
+Mananan         "        Man'-anan.
+Mesgedra        "        Mes-ged'-ra.
+Midir           "        Mid'-eer.
+Mochaen         "        Mo-_hain'.
+Mochaovog       "        Mo-_h_wee'-vogue.
+Moonremur       "        Moon'-ray-mur.
+
+Oisin           "        Ush'-een (Ossian).
+
+Peisear         "        Pye'-sar.
+
+Sceolaun        "        Ske-o'-lawn (the _e_ very short).
+Slievenamuck    "        Sleeve-na-muck'.
+Slievenamon     "        Sleeve-na-mon'.
+
+Tuish           "        Too'-ish.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGH DEEDS OF FINN AND OTHER
+BARDIC ROMANCES OF ANCIENT IRELAND***
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