Lady Augusta Gregory
Page 25
pride in him.
And as to Ligaidh's Son, that advice stayed always with him,
and he changed his ways, and after a while he got a great name
among the poets of Ireland and of Alban, and whenever they
would praise Finn in their poems, they would praise him as well.
And Aoife, daughter of the King of Lochlann, that was married
to Mal, son of Aiel, King of Alban, heard the great praise the poets
were giving to Lugaidh's Son, and she set her love on him for the
sake of those stories.
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185
And one time Mal her husband and his young men went hunting to Slieve-mor-Monaidh in the north of Alban. And when he was gone Aoife made a plan in her sunny house where she was, to
go over to Ireland, herself and her nine foster-sisters. And they set
out and went over the manes of the sea till they came to Beinn
Edair, and there they landed.
And it chanced on that day there was a hunting going on, from
Slieve Bladhma to Beinn Edair. And Finn was in his hunting seat,
and his fosterling, brown-haired Duibruinn, beside him. And the
little lad was looking about him on every side, and he saw a ship
coming to the strand, and a queen with modest looks in the ship,
and nine women along with her. They landed then, and they
came up to where Finn was, bringing every sort of present with
them, and Aoife sat down beside him. And Finn asked news of
her, and she told him the whole story, and how she had given her
love to Lugaidh's Son, and was come over the sea looking for him;
and Finn made her welcome.
And when the hunting was over, the chief men of the Fianna
came back to where Finn was, and every one asked who was the
queen that was with him. And Finn told them her name, and
what it was brought her to Ireland. "We welcome her that made
that journey," said they all; "for there is not in Ireland or in Alban a better man than the man she is come looking for, unless Finn himself."
And as to Lugaidhs Son, it was on the far side of Slieve Bladhma
he was hunting that day, and he was the last to come in. And he
went into Finn's tent, and when he saw the woman beside him he
questioned Finn the same as the others had done, and Finn told
him the whole story. "And it is to you she is come," he said; "and
here she is to you out of my hand, and all the war and the battles
she brings with her; but it will not fall heavier on you," he said,
"than on the rest of the Fianna. "
And she was with Lugaidh's Son a month and a year without
being asked for. But one day the three battalions of the Fianna
were on the Hill of the Poet in Leinster, and they saw three armed
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
battalions equal to themselves coming, against them, and they
asked who was bringing them. "It is Mal, son of Aiel, is bringing
them," said Finn, "to avenge his wife on the Fianna. And it is a
good time they are come," he said, "when we are gathered together at the one spot. "
Then the two armies went towards one another, and Mal, son
of Aiel, took hold of his arms, and three times he broke through
the Fianna, and every time a hundred fell by him. And in the
middle of the battle he and Lugaidh's Son met, and they fought
against one another with spear and sword. And whether the fight
was short or long, it was Mal fell by Lugaidh's Son at the last.
And Aoife stood on a hill near by, as long as the battle lasted.
And from that out she belonged to Lugaidh's Son, and was a
mother of children to him.
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B O O K T w o :
FINN'S HELPERS
CHAPTER I.
THE LAD OF THE SKINS
Besides all the men Finn had in his household, there were some
that would come and join him from one place or another.
One time a young man wearing a dress of skins came to Finn's
house at Almhuin, and his wife along with him, and he asked to
take service with Finn.
And in the morning, as they were going to their hunting, the
Lad of the Skins said to Finn: "Let me have no one with me but
myself, and let me go into one part of the country by myself. and
you yourself with all your men go to another part. " "Is it on the
dry ridge you will go," said Finn, "or is it in the deep bogs and
marshes, where there is danger of drowning? " "I will go in the
deep boggy places," said he.
So they all went out from Almhuin, Finn and the Fianna to
one part, and the Lad of the Skins to another part, and they
hunted through the day. And when they came back at evening,
the Lad of the Skins had killed more than Finn and all his
men together.
When Finn saw that, he was glad to have so good a servant.
But Conan said to him: "The Lad of the Skins will destroy ourselves and the whole of the Fianna of Ireland unless you will find some way to rid yourself of him." "I never had a good man with
me yet, Conan," said Finn, "but you wanted me to put him away;
and how could I put away a man like that?" he said. "The way to
put him away," said Conan, "is to send him to the King of the
Floods to take from him the great cauldron that is never without meat, but that has always enough in it to feed the whole world. And let him bring that cauldron back here with him to
Almhuin," he said.
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
So Finn called to the lad of the Skins, and he said: "Go from
me now to the King of the Floods and get the great cauldron that
is never empty from him, and bring it here to me." "So long as I
am in your service I must do your work," said the lad of the
Skins. With that he set out, leaping over the hills and valleys till
he came to the shore of the sea. And then he took up two sticks
and put one of them across the other, and a great ship rose out of
the two sticks. The Lad of the Skins went into the ship then, and
put up the sails and set out over the sea; and he heard nothing
but the whistling of eels in the sea and the calling of gulls in the
air till he came to the house of the King of the Floods. And at that
time there were hundreds of ships waiting near the shore; and he
left his ship outside them all, and then he stepped from ship to
ship till he stood on land.
There was a great feast going on at that time in the king's
house, and the lad of the Skins went up to the door, but he could
get no farther because of the crowd. So he stood outside the door
for a while, and no one looked at him, and he called out at last:
"This is a hospitable house indeed, and these are mannerly ways,
not to ask a stranger if there is hunger on him or thirst." "That is
true," said the king; "and give the cauldron of plenty now to this
stranger," he said, "till he eats his fill.
So his people did that, and no sooner did the lad of the Skins
get a hold of the cauldron than he made away to the ship and put
it safe into it. But when he had done that he said: "There is no use
in taking the pot by my swiftness , if I do not take it by my
strength." And with that he turned and went to land again. And
the whol
e of the men of the army of the King of the Floods were
ready to fight; but if they were, so was the lad of the Skins, and
he went through them and over them all till the whole place was
quiet.
He went back to his ship then and raised the sails and set out
again for Ireland, and the ship went rushing back to the place
where he made it. And when he came there, he gave a touch of
his hand to the ship, and there was nothing left of it but the two
FINN'S HELPERS
189
sticks he made it from, and they lying on the strand before him,
and the cauldron of plenty with them. And he took up the cauldron on his back, and brought it to Finn, son of Cumhal, at Almhuin. And Finn gave him his thanks for the work he had done.
One day, now, Finn was washing himself at the well, and a
voice spoke out of the water, and it said: "You must give back the
cauldron, Finn, to the King of the Floods, or you must give him
battle in place of it. "
Finn told that to the Lad of the Skins, but the answer he got
from him was that his time was up, and that he could not serve
on time that was past. "But if you want me to go with you," he
said, "let you watch my wife, that is Manannan's daughter, through
the night; and in the middle of the night, when she will be combing her hair, any request you make of her, she cannot refuse it.
And the request you will make is that she will let me go with you
to the King of the Floods, to bring the cauldron to his house and
to bring it back again. "
So Finn watched Manannan's daughter through the night, and
when he saw her combing her hair, he made his request of her. "I
have no power to refuse you," she said; "but you must promise
me one thing, to bring my husband back to me, alive or dead.
And if he is alive," she said, "put up a grey-green flag on the ship
coming back; but if he is dead, put up a red flag."
So Finn promised to do that, and he himself and the Lad of the
Skins set out together for the dun of the King of the Floods,
bringing the cauldron with them.
No sooner did the king see them than he gave word to all his
armies to make ready. But the Lad of the Skins made for them and
overthrew them, and he went into the king's dun, and Finn with
him, and they overcame him and brought away again the cauldron that was never empty.
But as they were going back to Ireland, they saw a great ship
coming towards them. And when the Lad of the Skins looked at
the ship, he said: "I think it is an old enemy of my own is in that
ship, that is trying to bring me to my death, because of my wife
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
that refused him her love." And when the ship came alongside,
the man that was in it called out: "I know you well, and it is not
by your dress I know you, son of the King of the Hills." And with
that he made a leap on to the ship, and the two fought a great battle together, and they took every shape; they began young like two little boys, and fought till they were two old men; they fought
from being two young pups until they were two old dogs; from
being two young horses till they were two old horses. And then
they began to fight in the shape of birds, and it is in that shape
they killed one another at the last. And Finn threw the one bird
into the water, but the other, that was the Lad of the Skins, he
brought with him in the ship. And when he came in sight of Ireland, he raised a red flag as he had promised the woman.
And when he came to the strand, she was there before him,
and when she saw Finn, she said: "It is dead you have brought
him back to me. " And Finn gave her the bird, and she asked was
that what she was to get in the place of her husband. And she was
crying over the bird, and she brought it into a little boat with her,
and she bade Finn to push out the boat to sea.
And he pushed it out, and it was driven by wind and waves
till at last she saw two birds flying, having a dead one between
them. And the two living birds let down the dead one on an
island; and it was not long till it rose up living, and the three went
away together.
And when Manannan's daughter saw that, she said "There
might be some cure for my man on the island, the way there was
for that dead bird."
And the sea brought the boat to the island, and she went
searching around, but all she could find was a tree having green
leaves. "It might be in these leaves the cure is," she said; and she
took some of the leaves and brought them to where the Lad of the
Skins was, and put them about him. And on that moment he
stood up as well and as sound as ever he was.
They went back then to Ireland, and they came to Almhuin at
midnight, and the Lad of the Skins knocked at the door, and he
FINN'S HELPERS
1 9 1
said: "Put me out my wages." "There is no man, living or dead,
has wages on me but the Lad of the Skins," said Finn; "and I
would sooner see him here to-night," he said, "than the wages of
three men. " "If that is so, rise up and you will see him," said he.
So Finn rose up and saw him, and gave him a great welcome,
and paid him his wages.
And after that he went away and his wife with him to wherever his own country was; but there were some said he was gone to the country of his wife's father, Manannan, Son of the Sea.
CHAPTER II.
BLACK, BROWN, AND GREY
Finn was hunting one time near Teamhair of the Kings, and he
saw three strange men coming towards him, and he asked what
were their names. "Dubh and Dun and Glasan, Black, Brown, and
Grey, are our names," they said, "and we are come to find Finn,
son of Cumhal, Head of the Fianna, and to take service with him."
So Finn took them into his service, and when evening came he
said: "Let each one of you watch through a third part of the
night. " And there was a trunk of a tree there, and he bade them
make three equal parts of it, and he gave a part to each of the
three men, and he said: "When each one of you begins his watch,
let him set fire to his own log, and as long as the wood burns let
him watch."
Then they drew lots, and the lot fell to Dubh to go on the first
watch. So he set fire to his log, and he went out around the place,
and Bran with him. He went farther and farther till at last he saw
a bright light, and when he came to the place where it was, he
saw a large house. He went inside, and there was a great company
of very strange-looking men in it, and they drinking out of a single cup. One of the men, that seemed to be the highest, gave the cup to the man nearest him; and after he had drunk his fill he
passed it on to the next, and so on to the last. And while it was
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
going round, he said: "This is the great cup that was taken from
Finn, son of Cumhal, a hundred years ago, and however many
men may be together, every man of them can drink his fill from it,
of whatever sort of drink he has a mind for."
Dubh was sitting near the door, on the edge of the crowd, and
when the cup came to him h
e took a drink from it, and then he
slipped away in the dark, bringing it with him. And when he
came to the place where Finn was, his log was burned out.
Then it was the tum of Dun to go out, for the second lot had
fallen on him, and he put a light to his log, and went out, and
Bran with him.
He walked on through the night till he saw a fire that was
shining from a large house, and when he went in he saw a crowd
of men, and they fighting. And a very old man that was in a high
place above the rest called out: "Stop fighting now, for I have a
better gift for you than the one you lost to-night." And with that
he drew a knife out of his belt, and held it up, and said: "This is
the wonderful knife, the small knife of division, that was stolen
from Finn, son of Cumhal, a hundred years ago; and you have
but to cut on a bone with that knife and you will get your fill of
the best meat in the world. " Then he gave the knife to the man
nearest him, and a bare bone with it, and the man began to cut,
and there came off the bone slices of the best meat in the world.
The knife and the bone were sent round then from man to man
till they came to Dun, and as soon as he had the knife in his hand
he slipped out unknown and hurried back, and he had just got to
the well where Finn was, when his part of the log burned out.
Then Glasan lighted his log and went out on his watch till he
came to the house, the same way the others did. And he looked in
and he saw the floor full of dead bodies, and he thought to himself: "There must be some great wonder here. And if I lie down on the floor and put some of the bodies over me," he said, "I will be
able to see all that happens."
So he lay down and pulled some of the bodies over him, and
he was not long there till he saw an old hag coming into the
FINN'S HELPERS
193
house, having one leg and one arm and one upper tooth, that was
long enough to serve her in place of a crutch. And when she came
inside the door she took up the first dead body she met with,
and threw it aside, for it was lean. And as she went on, she took
two bites out of every fat body she met with, and threw away
every lean one.
She had her fill of flesh and blood before she came to Glasan,
and she dropped down on the floor and fell asleep, and Glasan