by Irish Myths
King of the World struck back at Arcallach, and made two halves
of him.
Then Finn and the King of the World turned on one another.
And when the king saw the sword and the shield in Finn's hand,
he knew those were the weapons that were to bring him to his
death, and great dread came on him, and his comeliness left him,
and his fingers were shaking, and his feet were unsteady, and the
sight of his eyes was weakened.
And then the two fought a great fight, striking at one another
like two days of judgment for the possession of the world.
But the king, that had never met with a wound before, began
to be greatly weakened in the fight. And Finn gave great strokes
that broke his shield and his sword, and that cut off his left foot,
and at the last he struck off his head. But if he did, he himself fell
into a faint of weakness with the dint of the wounds he had got.
Then Finnachta of the Teeth, the first man of the household
of the King of the World, took hold of the royal crown of the king,
and brought it where Conmail his son was, and put it on his head.
"That this may bring you success in many battles, my son," he
said. And he gave him his father's weapons along with it; and the
young man went through the battle looking for Finn, and three
fifties of the men of the Fianna fell by him. Then Goll Garbh the
Rough, son of the King of Alban, saw him and attacked him, and
they fought a hard fight. But the King of Albain's son gave him a
THE BATTLE OF THE WHITE STRAND
233
blow under the shelter of the shield, in his left side, that made an
end of him.
Finnachta of the Teeth saw that, and he made another rush at
the royal crown, and brought it to where Ogarmach was, the
daughter of the King of Greece. "Put on that crown, Ogarmach,"
he said, "as it is in the prophecy the world will be owned by a
woman; and it will never be owned by any woman higher than
yourself," he said.
She went then to look for Finn in the battle, and Fergus of the
True Lips saw her, and he went where Finn was. "O King of the
Fianna," he said then, "bring to mind the good fight you made
against the King of the World and all your victories before that;
for it is a great danger is coming to you now," he said, "and that is
Ogarmach, daughter of the King of Greece. "
With that the woman-fighter came towards him. " O Finn," she
said, "it is little satisfaction you are to me for all the kings and
lords that have fallen by you and by your people; but for all that,"
she said, "there is nothing better for me to get than your own self
and whatever is left of your people. " "You will not get that," said
Finn, "for I will lay your head in its bed of blood the same as I did
to every other one." Then those two attacked one another like as
if there had risen to smother one another the flooded wave of
Cliodna, and the seeking wave of Tuaigh, and the big brave wave
of Rudraighe. And though the woman-warrior fought for a long
time, a blow from Finn reached to her at last and cut through the
royal crown, and with a second blow he struck her head off. And
then he fell himself in his bed of blood, and was the same as dead,
but that he rose again.
And the armies of the World and the Fianna of Ireland were
fallen side by side there, and there were none left to stand but
Cael, son of Crimthan of the Harbours, and the chief man of the
household of the King of the World, Finnachta of the Teeth. And
Finnachta went among the dead bodies and lifted up the body of
the King of the World and brought it with him to his ship, and he
said: "Fianna of Ireland," he said, "although it is bad this battle
234
IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
was for the armies of the World, it was worse for yourselves; and I
am going back to tell that in the East of the World," he said. Finn
heard him saying that, and he lying on the ground in his blood,
and the best men of the sons of Baiscne about him, and he said:
"It is a pity I not to have found death before I heard the foreigner
saying those words. And nothing I myself have done , or the
Fianna of Ireland, is worth anything since there is left a man of
the foreigners alive to go back into the great world again to tell
that story. And is there any one left living near me?" he said. "I
am," said Fergus of the True Lips. "What way is the battle now? "
said Finn. "It is a pity the way it is," said Fergus, "for, by my
word," he said, "since the armies met together to-day, no man of
the foreigners or of the men of Ireland took a step backward from
one another till they all fell foot to foot, and sole to sole. And
there is not so much as a blade of grass or a grain of sand to be
seen," he said, "with the bodies of fighting men that are stretched
on them; and there is no man of the two armies that is not
stretched in that bed of blood, but only the chief man of the
household of the King of the World, and your own foster-son,
Cael, son of Crimthan of the Harbours. " "Rise up and go to him,"
said Finn. So Fergus went where Cael was, and asked what way
was he. "It is a pity the way I am," said Cael, "for I swear by my
word that if my helmet and my armour were taken from me, there
is no part of my body but would fall from the other; and by my
oath," he said, "it is worse to me to see that man beyond going
away alive than I myself to be the way I am. And I leave my blessing to you, Fergus," he said; "and take me on your back to the sea till I swim after the foreigner, and it is glad I would be the foreigner to fall by me before the life goes out from my body. " Fergus lifted him up then and brought him to the sea, and put him
swimming after the foreigner. And Finnachta waited for him to
reach the ship, for he thought he was one of his own people. And
Cael raised himself up when he came beside the ship , and
Finnachta stretched out his hand to him. And Cael took hold of it
at the wrist, and clasped his fingers round it, and gave a very
THE BATTLE OF THE WHITE STRAND
235
strong pull at him, that brought him over the side. Then their
hands shut across one another's bodies, and they went down to
the sand and the gravel of the clear sea.
CHAPTER XIII.
CREDHE'S LAMENT
Then there came the women and the musicians and the singers
and the physicians of the Fianna of Ireland to search out the kings
and the princes of the Fianna, and to bury them; and every one
that might be healed was brought to a place of healing.
And Credhe, wife of Cael, came with the others, and went
looking through the bodies for her comely comrade, and crying
as she went. And as she was searching, she saw a crane of the
meadows and her two nestlings, and the cunning beast the fox
watching the nestlings; and when the crane covered one of the
birds to save it, he would make a rush at the other bird, the way
she had to stretch herself out over the birds; and she would
sooner have got her own death by the fox than her nestlings to
be
killed by him. And Credhe was looking at that, and she said: "It is
no wonder I to have such love for my comely sweetheart, and the
bird in that distress about her nestlings."
Then she heard a stag in Druim Ruighlenn above the harbour,
that was making great lamentations for his hind from place to
place, for they had been nine years together, and had lived in the
wood at the foot of the harbour, Fidh Leis, and Finn had killed
the hind, and the stag was nineteen days without tasting grass or
water, lamenting after the hind. "It is no shame for me," said
Credhe, "I to die for grief after Cael, since the stag is shortening
his life sorrowing after the hind. "
Then she met with Fergus o f the True Lips. "Have you news of
Cael for me, Fergus?" she said. "I have news," said Fergus, "for he
and the last man that was left of the foreigners, Finnachta Fiaclach, are after drowning one another in the sea. "
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
And at that time the waves had put Cael back on the strand, and
the women and the men of the Fianna that were looking for him
raised him up, and brought him to the south of the White Strand.
And Credhe came to where he was, and she keened him and
cried over him, and she made this complaint:-
"The harbour roars, 0 the harbour roars, over the rushing race
of the Headland of the Two Storms, the drowning of the hero of
the Lake of the Two Dogs that is what the waves are keening on
the strand.
"Sweet-voiced is the crane, 0 sweet-voiced is the crane in the
marshes of the Ridge of the Two Strong Men; it is she cannot save
her nestlings, the wild dog of two colours is taking her little ones.
"Pitiful the cry, pitiful the cry the thrush is making in the Pleasant Ridge, sorrowful is the cry of the blackbird in the Leiter Laeig.
"Sorrowful the call, 0 sorrowful the call of the deer in the
Ridge of Two Lights; the doe is lying dead in Druim Silenn, the
mighty stag cries after her.
"Sorrowful to me, 0 sorrowful to me the death of the hero that
lay beside me; the son of the woman of the Wood of the Two
Thickets, to be with a bunch of grass under his head.
"Sore to me, 0 sore to me Cael to be a dead man beside me,
the waves to have gone over his white body, it is his pleasantness
that has put my wits astray.
"A woeful shout, 0 a woeful shout the waves are making on
the strand; they that took hold of comely Cael, a pity it is he went
to meet them.
"A woeful crash, 0 a woeful crash the waves are making on
the strand to the north, breaking against the smooth rock, crying
after Cael now he is gone.
"A sorrowful fight, 0 a sorrowful fight, the sea is making with
the strand to the north; my beauty is lessened; the end of my life
is measured.
"A song of grief, 0 a song of grief is made by the waves of
Tulcha Leis; all I had is gone since this story came to me. Since
the son of Crimthann is drowned I will love no one after him for
THE BATTLE OF THE WHITE STRAND
237
ever; many a king fell by his hand; his shield never cried out in
the battle. "
After she had made that complaint, Credhe laid herself down
beside Cael and died for grief after him. And they were put in the
one grave, and it was Caoilte moved the stone over them.
And after that great battle of the White Strand, that lasted a
year and a day, there was many a sword and shield left broken,
and many a dead body lying on the ground, and many a fighting
man left with a foolish smile on his face.
And the great name that was on the armies of the World went
from them to the Fianna of Ireland; and they took the ships and
the gold and the silver and all the spoils of the armies of the
World. And from that time the Fianna had charge of the whole of
Ireland, to keep it from the Fomor and from any that might come
against it.
And they never lost power from that time until the time of
their last battle, the sorrowful battle of Gabhra.
238
B O OK F O U R :
HUNTINGS AND ENCHANTMENTS
CHAPTER I.
THE KING OF BRITAIN'S SON
Arthur, son of the King of Britain, came one time to take service
with Finn, and three times nine men along with him. And they
went hunting one day on Beinn Edair, and Finn took his place on
the Cairn of the Fianna between the hill and the sea, and Arthur
took his stand between the hunt and the sea, the way the deer
would not escape by swimming.
And while Arthur was there he took notice of three of Finn's
hounds, Bran, and Sceolan, and Adhnuall, and he made a plan in
his mind to go away across the sea, himself and his three nines,
bringing those three hounds along with him. So he did that, and
he himself and his men brought away the hounds and crossed the
sea, and the place where they landed was Inver Mara Gamiach on
the coast of Britain. And after they landed, they went to the mountain of Lodan, son of Lir, to hunt on it.
And as to the Fianna, after their hunting was done they gathered together on the hill; and as the custom was, all Finn's hounds were counted. Three hundred full-grown hounds he had, and two
hundred whelps; and it is what the poets used to say, that to be
counting them was like counting the branches on a tree.
Now on this day when they were counted, Bran and Sceolan
and Adhnuall were missing; and that was told to Finn . He
bade his people to search again through the three battalions of
the Fianna, but search as they would, the hounds were not to
be found.
Then Finn sent for a long-shaped basin of pale gold and water
in it, and he put his face in the water, and his hand over his face,
and it was showed him what had happened, and he said: "The
King of Britain's son has brought away the hound. And let nine
HUNTINGS AND ENCHANTMENTS
239
men be chosen out to follow after them," he said. So nine men
were chosen out, Diarmuid, grandson of Duibhne; Goll, son of
Moma; Oisin, son of Finn; Faolan, the friend of the hounds, son
of a woman that had come over the sea to give her love to Finn;
Ferdoman, son of Bodb Dearg; two sons of Finn, Raighne Wide
Eye and Vainche the Crimson-Red; Glas, son of Enchered Bera,
with Caoilte and Lugaidh's Son. And their nine put their helmets
on their heads, and took their long spears in their hands, and they
felt sure they were a match for any four hundred men from the
east to the west of the world.
They set out then, till they came to the mountain of Lodan,
son of Lir; and they were not long there till they heard talk of men
that were hunting in that place.
Arthur of Britain and his people were sitting on a hunting
mound just at that time, and the nine men of the Fianna made an
attack on them and killed all of them but Arthur, that Goll, son of
Morna, put his two arms about and saved from death. Then they
turned to go back to Ireland, bringing Arthur with them, and the
three hounds. And as they we
re going, Goll chanced to look
around him and he saw a dark-grey horse, having a bridle with
fitting of worked gold. And then he looked to the left and saw a
bay mare that was not easy to get hold of, and it having a bridle of
silver rings and a golden bit. And Goll took hold of the two, and
he put them into Oisin's hand, and he gave them on to Diarmuid.
They went back to Finn them, bringing his three hounds with
them, and the King of Britain's son as a prisoner; and Arthur
made bonds with Finn, and was his follower till he died .
And as to the horse and the mare, they gave them to Finn; and
the mare bred eight times, at every birth eight foals, and it is of
that seed came all the horses of the fair Fianna of Gael, for they
had used no horses up to that time.
And that was not the only time Finn was robbed of some of
his hounds. For there was a daughter of Roman was woman
Druid to the Tuatha de Danaan, and she set her love on Finn. But
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Finn said, so long as there was another woman to be found in the
world, he would not marry a witch. And one time, three times
fifty of Finn's hounds passed by the hill where she was; and she
breathed on the hounds and shut them up in the hill, and they
never came out again. It was to spite Finn she did that, and the
place got the name of Duma na Conn, the Mound of the Hounds.
And as to Adhnuall, one of the hounds Finn thought most of,
and that was brought back from the King of Britain's son, this is
the way he came to his death afterwards.
There was a great fight one time between Fianna and Macoon,
Son of Macnia, at some place in the province of Leinster, and a
great many of the Fianna were killed. And the hound Adhnuall
went wandering northward from the battle and went astray; and
three times he went round the whole of Ireland, and then he
came back to the place of the battle, and to a hill where three
young men of the Fianna that had fallen there were buried after
their death, and three daughters of a King of Alban had died for
love of them. And when Adhnuall came to that hill, he gave three
loud howls and he stretched himself out and died.
CHAPTER II.
THE CAVE OF CEISCORAN
Finn called for a great hunt one time on the plains of Magh