Lady Augusta Gregory

by Irish Myths

  then to his own inside room, and his people saw him no more for

  that day, or till the sun rose over Magh Life on the mo row.

  And through the length of seven years from that time, whenever he was not out fighting against the enemies of Ireland, he went searching and ever searching in every far comer for beautiful Sadbh. And there was great trouble on him all the time, unless he might throw it off for a while in hunting or in battle. And

  through all that time he never brought out to any hunting but the

  five hounds he had most trust in, Bran and Sceolan and Lomaire

  and Brod and Lomluath, the way there would be no danger for

  Sadbh if ever he came on her track.

  But after the end of seven years, Finn and some of his chief

  men were hunting on the sides of Beinn Gulbain and they heard a

  great outcry among the hounds, that were gone into some narrow

  place. And when they followed them there, they saw the five

  hounds of Finn in a ring, and they keeping back the other hounds,

  and in the middle of the ring was a young boy, with high looks,

  and he naked and having long hair. And he was no way daunted

  by the noise of the hounds, and did not look at them at all, but at

  the men that were coming up. And as soon as the fight was

  stopped Bran and Sceolan went up to the little lad, and whined

  and licked him, that any one would think they had forgotten their

  master. Finn and the others came up to him then, and put their

  hands on his head, and made much of him. And they brought

  him to their own hunting cabin, and he ate and drank with them,

  and before long he lost his wildness and was the same as themselves. And as to Bran and Sceolan, they were never tired playing about him.

  And it is what Finn thought, there was some look of Sadbh in

  his face, and that it might be he was her son, and he kept him

  always beside him. And little by little when the boy had learned

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  their talk, he told them all he could remember. He used to be with

  a deer he loved very much , he said, and that cared and sheltered

  him, and it was in a wide place they used to be, having hills and

  valleys and streams and woods in it, but that was shut in with

  high cliffs on every side, that there was no way of escape from it.

  And he used to be eating fruits and roots in the summer, and in

  the winter there was food left for him in the shelter of a cave. And

  a dark-looking man used to be coming to the place, and sometimes he would speak to the deer softly and gently, and sometimes with a loud angry voice. But whatever way he spoke, she would

  always draw away from him with the appearance of great dread

  on her, and the man would go away in great anger. And the last

  time he saw the deer, his mother, the dark man was speaking to

  her for a long time, from softness to anger. And at the end he

  struck her with a hazel rod, and with that she was forced to follow him, and she looking back all the while at the child, and crying after him that any one would pity her. And he tried hard to

  follow after her, and made every attempt, and cried out with grief

  and rage, but he had no power to move, and when he could hear

  his mother no more he fell on the grass and his wits went from

  him. And when he awoke it is on the side of the hill he was,

  where the hounds found him. And he searched a long time for the

  place where he was brought up, but he could not find it.

  And the name the Fianna gave him was Oisin, and it is he was

  their maker of poems, and their good fighter afterwards.

  CHAPTER V.

  THE BEST MEN OF THE FIANNA

  And while Oisin was in his young youth, Finn had other good

  men along with him, and the best of them were Goll, son of

  Moma, and Caoilte, son of Ronan, and Lugaidh's Son.

  As to Goll, that was of Connacht, he was very tall and lighthaired, and some say he was the strongest of all the Fianna. Finn

  FINN, SON OF CUMHAL

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  made a poem in praise of him one time when some stranger was

  asking what sort he was, saying how hardy he was and brave in

  battle, and as strong as a hound or as the waves, and with all that

  so kind and so gentle, and open-handed and sweet-voiced, and

  faithful to his friends.

  And the chessboard he had was called the Solustairtech, the

  Shining Thing, and some of the chessmen were made of gold, and

  some of them of silver, and each one of them was as big as the fist

  of the biggest man of the Fianna; and after the death of Goll it

  was buried in Slieve Baune.

  And as to Caoilte, that was a grey thin man, he was the best

  runner of them all. And he did a good many great deeds; a big

  man of the Fomor he killed one time, and he killed a five-headed

  giant in a wheeling door, and another time he made an end of an

  enchanted boar that no one else could get near, and he killed a

  grey stag that had got away from the Fianna through twentyseven years. And another time he brought Finn out of Teamhair, where he was kept by force by the High King, because of some

  rebellion the Fianna had stirred up. And when Caoilte heard Finn

  had been brought away to Teamhair, he went out to avenge him.

  And the first he killed was Cuireach, a king of Leinster that had a

  great name, and he brought his head up to the hill that is above

  Buadhmaic. And after that he made a great rout through Ireland,

  bringing sorrow into every house for the sake of Finn, killing a

  man in every place, and killing the calves with the cows.

  And every door the red wind from the east blew on, he would

  throw it open, and go in and destroy all before him, setting fire to

  the fields, and giving the wife of one man to another.

  And when he came to Teamhair, he came to the palace, and

  took the clothes off the door-keeper, and he left his own sword

  that was worn thin in the king's sheath, and took the king's sword

  that had great power in it. And he went into the palace then in

  the disguise of a servant, to see how he could best free Finn.

  And when evening came Caoilte held the candle at the king's

  feast in the great hall, and after a while the king said: "You will

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  wonder at what I tell you, Finn, that the two eyes of Caoilte are in

  my candlestick." "Do not say that," said Finn, "and do not put

  reproach on my people although I myself am your prisoner; for as

  to Caoilte," he said, "that is not the way with him, for it is a high

  mind he has, and he only does high deeds, and he would not

  stand serving with a candle for all the gold of the whole world. "

  After that Caoilte was serving the King o f Ireland with drink,

  and when he was standing beside him he gave out a high sorrowful lament. "There is the smell of Caoilte's skin on that lament,"

  said the king. And when Caoilte saw he knew him he spoke out

  and he said: "Tell me what way I can get freedom for my master. "

  "There is no way to get freedom for him, but by doing one thing,"

  said the king, "and that is a thing you can never do. If you can

  bring me together a couple of all the wild creatures of Ireland," he

  said, "I will give up your master to you then. "

  When Caoilte heard
him say that he made no delay, but he set

  out from Teamhair, and went through the whole of Ireland to do

  that work for the sake of Finn. It is with the flocks of birds he

  began, though they were scattered in every part, and from them

  he went on to the beasts. And he gathered together two of every

  sort, two ravens from Fiodh da Bheann; two wild ducks from

  Loch na Seillein; two foxes from Slieve Cuilinn; two wild oxen

  from Burren; two swans from blue Dobhran; two owls from the

  wood of Faradhruim; two polecats from the branchy wood on the

  side of Druim da Raoin, the Ridge of the Victories; two gulls from

  the strand of Loch Leith; four woodpeckers from white Brosna;

  two plovers from Carraigh Dhain; two thrushes from Leith

  Lomard; two wrens from Dun Aoibh; two herons from Corrain

  Clebh; two eagles from Carraig of the stones; two hawks from

  Fiodh Chonnach; two sows from Loch Meilghe; two water-hens

  from Loch Erne; two moor-hens from Monadh Maith; two sparrow-hawks from Dubhloch; two stonechats from Magh Cuillean; two tomtits from Magh Tuallainn; two swallows from Sean Abhla;

  two cormorants from Ath Cliath; two wolves from Broit Cliathach;

  two blackbirds from the Strand of the Two Women; two roebucks

  FINN, SON OF CUMHAL

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  from Luachair Ire; two pigeons from Ceas Chuir; two nightingales

  from Leiter Ruadh; two starlings from green-sided Teamhair; two

  rabbits from Sith Dubh Donn; two wild pigs from Cluaidh Chuir;

  two cuckoos from Drom Daibh; two lapwings from Leanain na

  Furraich; two woodcocks from Craobh Ruadh; two hawks from

  the Bright Mountain; two grey mice from Luimneach; two otters

  from the Boinn; two larks from the Great Bog; two bats from the

  Cave of the Nuts; two badgers from the province of Ulster; two

  landrail from the banks of the Sionnan; two wagtails from Port

  Lairrge; two curlews from the harbour of Gallimh; two hares from

  Muirthemne ; two deer from Sith Buidhe; two peacocks from

  Magh Mell; two cormorants from Ath Cliath; two eels from Duth

  Dur; two goldfinches from Slieve na-n Eun; two birds of slaughter

  from Magh Bhuilg; two bright swallows from Granard; two redbreasts from the Great Wood; two rock-cod from Cala Chairge; two sea-pigs from the great sea; two wrens from Mios an Chuil;

  two salmon from Eas Mhic Muime; two clean deer from Gleann

  na Smoil; two cows from Magh Mor; two cats from the Cave of

  Cruachan; two sheep from bright Sidhe Diobhlain; two pigs of the

  pigs of the son of Lir; a ram and a crimson sheep from Innis.

  And along with all these he brought ten hounds of the hounds

  of the Fianna, and a horse and a mare of the beautiful horses

  of Manannan.

  And when Caoilte had gathered all these, he brought them to

  the one place. But when he tried to keep them together, they scattered here and there from him; the raven went away southward, and that vexed him greatly, but he overtook it again in Gleann da

  Bheann, beside Loch Lurcan. And then his wild duck went away

  from him, and it was not easy to get it again, but he followed it

  through every stream to grey Accuill till he took it by the neck

  and brought it back, and it no way willing.

  And indeed through the length of his life Caoilte remembered

  well all he went through that time with the birds, big and little,

  travelling over hills and ditches and striving to bring them with

  him, that he might set Finn his master free.

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  And when he came to Teamhair he had more to go through

  yet, for the king would not let him bring them in before morning,

  but gave him a house having nine doors in it to put them up in

  for the night. And no sooner were they put in than they raised a

  loud screech all together, for a little ray of light was coming to

  them through fifty openings, and they were trying to make their

  escape. And if they were not easy in the house, Caoilte was not

  easy outside it, watching every door till the rising of the sun on

  the morrow.

  And when he brought out his troop, the name the people gave

  them was "Caoilte's Rabble," and there was no wonder at all in that.

  But all the profit the King of Ireland got from them was to see

  them together for that one time. For no sooner did Finn get his

  freedom than the whole of them scattered here and there, and no

  two of them went by the same road out of Teamhair.

  And that was one of the best things Caoilte, son of Ronan, ever

  did. And another time he ran from the wave of Cliodna in the

  south to the wave of Rudraige in the north. And Colla his son was

  a very good runner too, and one time he ran a race backwards

  against the three battalions of the Fianna for a chessboard. And he

  won the race, but if he did, he went backward over Beinn Edair

  into the sea.

  And very good hearing Caoilte had. One time he heard the

  King of the Luigne of Connacht at his hunting, and Blathmec that

  was with him said, "What is that hunt, Caoilte?" "A hunt of three

  packs of hounds," he said, "and three sorts of wild creatures

  before them. The first hunt," he said, "is after stags and large deer

  and the second hunt is after swift small hares, and the third is a

  furious hunt after heavy boars." "And what is the fourth hunt,

  Caoilte ? " said Blathmec . "It is the hunt of heavy-sided, lowbellied badgers." And then they heard coming after the hunt the shouts of the lads and of the readiest of the men and the servingmen that were best at carrying burdens. And Blathmec went out to see the hunting, and just as Caoilte had told him, that was the

  way it was.

  FINN, SON OF CUMHAL

  18 3

  And he understood the use of herbs, and one time he met with

  two women that were very downhearted because their husbands

  had gone from them to take other wives. And Caoilte gave them

  Druid herbs, and they put them in the water of a bath and washed

  in it, and the love of their husbands came back to them, and they

  sent away the new wives they had taken.

  And as to Lugaidh's Son, that was of Finn's blood, and another

  of the best men of the Fianna, he was put into Finn's arms as a

  child, and he was reared up by Duban's daughter, that had reared

  eight hundred fighting men of the Fianna, till his twelfth year,

  and then she gave him all he wanted of arms and of armour, and

  he went to Chorraig Conluain and the mountains of Slieve

  Bladhma, where Finn and the Fianna were at that time.

  And Finn gave him a very gentle welcome, and he struck his

  hand in Finn's hand, and made his agreement of service with him.

  And he stopped through the length of a year with the Fianna; but

  he was someway sluggish through all that time, so that under his

  leading not more than nine of the Fianna got to kill so much as a

  boar or a deer. And along with that, he used to beat both his servants and his hounds.

  And at last the three battalions of the Fianna went to where

  Finn was, at the Point of the Fianna on the edge of Loch Lein,

  and they made their complaint against Lugaidh's Son, and it is

  what they said: "Make your choice now, will you have us with

  you, or will you ha
ve Lugaidh's Son by himself. "

  Then Lugaidhs Son came to Finn, and Finn asked him, "What is

  it has put the whole of the Fianna against you?" "By my word," said

  the lad, "I do not know the reason, unless it might be they do not

  like me to be doing my feats and casting my spears among them. "

  Then Finn gave him an advice, and it is what he said: "If you

  have a mind to be a good champion, be quiet in a great man's

  house; be surly in the narrow pass. Do not beat your hound without a cause; do not bring a charge against your wife without having knowledge of her guilt; do not hurt a fool in fighting, for

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  he is without his wits. Do not find fault with high-up persons;

  do not stand up to take part in a quarrel; have no dealings with a

  bad man or a foolish man. Let two-thirds of your gentleness be

  showed to women and to little children that are creeping on the

  floor, and to men of learning that make the poems, and do not be

  rough with the common people. Do not give your reverence to

  all; do not be ready to have one bed with your companions. Do

  not threaten or speak big words, for it is a shameful thing to

  speak stiffiy unless you can carry it out afterwards. Do not forsake

  your lord so long as you live; so not give up any man that puts

  himself under your protection for all the treasures of the world.

  Do not speak against others to their lord, that is not work for a

  good man. Do not be a bearer of lying stories, or a tale-bearer that

  is always chattering. Do not be talking too much; do not find fault

  hastily; however brave you may be, do not raise factions against

  you. Do not be going to drinking-houses, or finding fault with old

  men; do not meddle with low people; this is right conduct I am

  telling you. Do not refuse to share your meat; do not have a niggard for your friend; do not force yourself on a great man or give him occasion to speak against you. Hold fast to your arms till the

  hard fight is well ended. Do not give up your opportunity, but

  with that follow after gentleness."

  That was good advice Finn gave, and he was well able to do

  that; for it was said of him that he had all the wisdom of a little

  child that is busy about the house, and the mother herself not

  understanding what he is doing; and that is the time she has most