Lady Augusta Gregory

by Irish Myths

  thought that every breath she drew would bring down the roof on

  his head. He rose up then and looked at her, and wondered at the

  bulk of her body. And at last he drew his sword and hit her a slash

  that killed her; but if he did, three young men leaped out of her

  body. And Glasan made a stroke that killed the first of them, and

  Bran killed the second, but the third made his escape.

  Glasan made his way back then, and just when he got to

  where Finn was, his log of wood was burned out, and the day was

  beginning to break.

  And when Finn rose up in the morning he asked news of the

  three watchers, and they gave him the cup and the knife and told

  him all they had seen, and he gave great praise to Dubh and to

  Dun; but to Glasan he said: "It might have been as well for you to

  have left that old hag alone, for I am in dread the third young

  man may bring trouble on us all."

  It happened at the end of twenty-one years, Finn and the

  Fianna were at their hunting in the hills, and they saw a Red­

  Haired Man coming towards them, and he spoke to no one, but

  came and stood before Finn. "What is it you are looking for?" said

  Finn. "I am looking for a master for the next twenty-one years," he

  said. "What wages are you asking?" said Finn. "No wages at all,

  but only if I die before the twenty-one years are up, to bury me on

  Inis Caol, the Narrow Island. " "I will do that for you," said Finn.

  So the Red-Haired Man served Finn well through the length of

  twenty years. But in the twenty-first year he began to waste and to

  wither away, and he died.

  And when he was dead, the Fianna were no way inclined to go

  194

  IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  to Inis Caol to bury him. But Finn said he would break his word

  for no man, and that he himself would bring his body there. And

  he took an old white horse that had been turned loose on the hills,

  and that had got younger and not older since it was put out, and he

  put the body of the Red-Haired Man on its back, and let it take its

  own way, and he himself followed it, and twelve men of the Fianna.

  And when they came to Inis Caol they saw no trace of the

  horse or of the body. And there was an open house on the island,

  and they went in. And there were seats for every man of them

  inside, and they sat down to rest for a while.

  But when they tried to rise up it failed them to do it, for there

  was enchantment on them. And they saw the Red-Haired Man

  standing before them in that moment.

  "The time is come now," he said, "for me to get satisfaction

  from you for the death of my mother and my two brothers that

  were killed by Glasan in the house of the dead bodies. " He began

  to make an attack on them then, and he would have made an end

  of them all, but Finn took hold of the Dord Fiann, and blew a

  great blast on it.

  And before the Red-Haired Man was able to kill more than

  three of them, Diarmuid, grandson of Duibhne, that had heard the

  sound of the Dord Fiann, came into the house and made an end of

  him, and put an end to the enchantment. And Finn, with the nine

  that were left of the Fianna, came back again to Almhuin.

  CHAPTER III.

  THE HOUND

  One day the three battalions of the Fianna came to Magh Femen,

  and there they saw three young men waiting for them, having a

  hound with them; and there was not a colour in the world but

  was on that hound, and it was bigger than any other hound.

  "Where do you come from, young men?" said Finn. "Out of

  the greater Iruath in the east," said they; "and our names are

  FINN'S HELPERS

  195

  Dubh, the Dark, and Agh, the Battle, and Ilar, the Eagle." "What

  is it you came for? " "To enter into service, and your friendship,"

  said they. "What good will it do us, you to be with us?" said Finn.

  "We are three," said they, "and you can make a different use of

  each one of us." "What uses are those?" said Finn. "I will do the

  watching for all the Fianna of Ireland and of Alban," said one of

  them. "I will take the weight of every fight and every battle that

  will come to them, the way they can keep themselves in quiet,"

  said the second. "I will meet every troublesome thing that might

  come to my master," said the third; "and let all the wants of the

  world be told to me and I will satisfy them. And I have a pipe

  with me," he said; "and all the men of the world would sleep at

  the sound of it, and they in their sickness. And as to the hound,"

  he said, "as long as there are deer in Ireland he will get provision

  for the Fianna every second night. And I myself," he said, "will get

  it on the other nights." "What will you ask of us to be with us like

  that?" said Finn. "We will ask three things," they said: "no one to

  come near to the place where we have our lodging after the fall of

  night; nothing to be given out to us, but we to provide for ourselves; and the worst places to be given to us in the hunting." "Tell me by your oath now," said Finn, "why is it you will let no one see

  you after nightfall? " "We have a reason," said they; "but do not ask

  it of us, whether we are short or long on the one path with you.

  But we will tell you this much," they said, "every third night, one

  of us three is dead and the other two are watching him, and we

  have no mind for any one to be looking at us."

  So Finn promised that; but if he did there were some of the

  Fianna were not well pleased because of the ways of those three

  men, living as they did by themselves, and having a wall of fire

  about them, and they would have made an end of them but for

  Finn protecting them.

  About that time there came seven men of poetry belonging

  to the people of Cithruadh, asking the fee for a poem, three

  times fifty ounces of gold and the same of silver to bring back to

  Cithruadh at Teamhair. "Whatever way we get it, we must find

  1 96

  IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  some way to get that," said a man of the Fianna. Then the three

  young men from Iruath said: "Well, men of learning," they said,

  "would you sooner get the fee for your poem to-night or tomorrow? " "To-morrow will be time enough," said they.

  And the three young men went to the place where the hound

  had his bed a little way off from the path, and the hound threw

  out of his mouth before them the three times fifty ounces of gold

  and three times fifty of silver, and they gave them to the men of

  poetry, and they went away.

  Another time Finn said: "What can the three battalions of the

  Fianna do to-night, having no water? " And one of the men of

  Iruath said: "How many drinking-horns are with you?" "Three

  hundred and twelve," said Caoilte. "Give me the horns into my

  hand," said the young man, "and whatever you will find in them

  after that, you may drink it. " He filled the horns then with beer

  and they drank it, and he did that a second and a third time; and

  with the third time of filling they were talkative and their wits

  confused. "This is a wonderful mending of the feast," said Finn
.

  And they gave the place where all that happened the name of the

  Little Rath of Wonders.

  And one time after that again there came to Finn three bald

  red clowns, holding three red hounds in their hands, and three

  deadly spears. And there was poison on their clothes and on their

  hands and their feet, and on everything they touched. And Finn

  asked them who were they. And they said they were three sons of

  Uar, son of Indast of the Tuatha de Danaan; and it was by a man

  of the Fianna, Caoilte, son of Ronan, their father was killed in the

  battle of the Tuatha de Danaan on Slieve nan Ean, the Mountain

  of Birds, in the east. "And let Caoilte son of Ronan give us the

  blood-fine for him now," they said. "What are your names?" said

  Finn. "Aincel and Digbail and Espaid; Ill-wishing and Hann and

  Want are our names. And what answer do you give us now, Finn?"

  they said. "No one before me ever gave a blood-fine for a man

  killed in battle, and I will not give it," said Finn. "We will do

  revenge and robbery on you so ," said they. "What revenge is

  FINN'S HELPERS

  197

  that?" said Finn. "It is what I will do," said Aincel, "if I meet with

  two or three or four of the Fianna, I will take their feet and their

  hands from them." "It is what I will do," said Digbail, "I will not

  leave a day without loss of a hound or a serving-boy or a fighting

  man to the Fianna of Ireland. " "And I myself will be always leaving them in want of people, or of a hand, or of an eye," said Espaid.

  "Without we get some help against them," said Caoilte, "there will

  not be one of us living at the end of a year." "Well," said Finn, "we

  will make a dun and stop here for a while, for I will not be going

  through Ireland and these men following after me, till I find who

  are the strongest, themselves or ourselves."

  So the Fianna made little raths for themselves all about Slieve

  Mis, and they stopped there through a month and a quarter and a

  year. And through all that time the three red bald-headed men

  were doing every sort of hurt and harm upon them.

  But the three sons of the King of Iruath came to speak with

  Finn, and it is what they said: "It is our wish, Finn, to send the

  hound that is with us to go around you three times in every day,

  and however many may be trying to hurt or to rob you, they will

  not have power to do it after that. But let there be neither fire nor

  arms nor any other dog in the house he goes into," they said. "I

  will let none of these things go into the one house with him," said

  Finn, "and he will go safe back to you." So every day the hound

  would be sent to Finn, having his chain of ridges of red gold

  around his neck, and he would go three times around Finn, and

  three times he would put his tongue upon him. And to the people

  that were nearest to the hound when he came into the house it

  would seem like as if a vat of mead was being strained, and to

  others there would come the sweet smell of an apple garden.

  And every harm and sickness the three sons of Uar would

  bring on the Fianna, the three sons of the King of Iruath would

  take it off them with their herbs and their help and their healing.

  And after a while the High King of Ireland came to Slieve Mis

  with a great troop of his men, to join with Finn and the Fianna.

  And they told the High King the whole story, and how the sons of

  198

  IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  Uar were destroying them, and the three sons of the King of

  Iruath were helping them against them. "Why would not the men

  that can do all that find some good spell that would drive the sons

  of Uar out of Ireland?" said the High King.

  With that Caoilte went looking for the three young men from

  Iruath and brought them to the High King. "These are comely

  men," said the High King, "good in their shape and having a good

  name. And could you find any charm, my sons," he said, "that

  will drive out these three enemies that are destroying the Fianna

  of Ireland? " "We would do that if we could find those men near

  us," said they; "and it is where they are now," they said, "at Daire's

  Cairn at the end of the raths . " "Where are Garb-Cronan, the

  Rough Buzzing One, and Saltran of the Long Heel? " said Finn.

  "Here we are, King of the Fianna," said they. "Go out to those

  men beyond; and tell them I will give according to the judgment

  of the King of Ireland in satisfaction for their father. " The messengers went out then and brought them in, and they sat down on the bank of the rath.

  Then the High King said: "Rise up, Dubh, son of the King of

  Iruath, and command these sons of Uar with a spell to quit Ireland. " And Dubh rose up, and he said: "Go out through the strength of this spell and this charm, you three enemies of the

  Fianna, one-eyed, lame-thighed, left-handed, of the bad race. And

  go out on the deep bitter sea," he said, "and let each one of you

  strike a blow of his sword on the head of his brothers. For it is

  long enough you are doing harm and destruction on the King of

  the Fianna, Finn, son of Cumhal. "

  With that the hound sent a blast o f wind under them that

  brought them out into the fierce green sea, and each of them

  struck a blow on the head of the others. And that was the last that

  was seen of the three destroying sons of Uar, Aincel and Digbail

  and Espaid.

  But after the time of the Fianna, there came three times in the

  one year, into West Munster, three flocks of birds from the western sea having beaks of bone and fiery breath, and the wind from

  FINN'S HELPERS

  199

  their wings was as cold as the wind of spring. And the first time

  they came was at reaping time, and every one of them brought

  away an ear of com from the field. And the next time they came

  they did not leave apple on tree, or nut on bush, or berry on the

  rowan; and the third time they spared no live thing they could lift

  from the ground, young bird or fawn or silly little child. And the

  first day they came was the same day of the year the three sons of

  Uar were put out in the sea.

  And when Caoilte, that was one of the last of the Fianna, and

  that was living yet, heard of them, he remembered the sons of

  Uar, and he made a spell that drove them out into the sea again,

  and they perished there by one another.

  It was about the length of a year the three sons of the King of

  Iruath stopped with Finn. And at the end of that time Donn and

  Dubhan, two sons of the King of Ulster, came out of the north to

  Munster. And one night they kept watch for the Fianna, and three

  times they made a round of the camp. And it is the way the young

  men from Iruath used to be, in a place by themselves apart from

  the Fianna, and their hound in the middle between them; and at

  the fall of night there used a wall of fire to be around them, the

  way no one could look at them.

  And the third time the sons of the King of Ulster made the

  round of the camp, they saw the fiery wall, and Donn said: "It is a

  wonder the way those three young men are through the length of
>
  a year now, and their hound along with them, and no one getting

  leave to look at them. "

  With that he himself and his brother took their arms in their

  hands, and went inside the wall of fire, and they began looking at

  the three men and at the hound. And the great hound they used

  to see every day at the hunting was at this time no bigger than a

  lap-dog that would be with a queen or a high person. And one of

  the young men was watching over the dog, and his sword in his

  hand, and another of them was holding a vessel of white silver to

  the mouth of the dog; and any drink any one of the three would

  ask for, the dog would put it out of his mouth into the vessel.

  200

  IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS

  Then one of the young men said to the hound: "Well, noble

  one and brave one and just one, take notice of the treachery that

  is done to you by Finn. " When the dog heard that he turned to

  the King of Ulster's sons, and there rose a dark Druid wind that

  blew away the shields from their shoulders and the swords from

  their sides into the wall of fire. And then the three men came out

  and made an end of them; and when that was done the dog came

  and breathed on them, and they turned into ashes on the moment,

  and there was never blood or flesh or bone of them found after.

  And the three battalions of the Fianna divided themselves into

  companies of nine, and went searching through every part of Ireland for the King of Ulster's two sons.

  And as to Finn, he went to Teamhair Luachra, and no one

  with him but the serving-lads and the followers of the army. And

  the companies of nine that were looking for the King of Ulster's

  sons came back to him there in the one night; but they brought

  no word of them, if they were dead or living.

  But as to the three sons of the King of Iruath and the hound that

  was with them, they were seen no more by Finn and the Fianna.

  CHAPTER IV

  RED RIDGE

  There was another young man came and served Finn for a while;

  out of Connacht he came, and he was very daring, and the Red

  Ridge was the name they gave him. And he all but went from

  Finn one time, because of his wages that were too long in coming

  to him. And the three battalions of the Fianna came trying to

  quiet him, but he would not stay for them. And at the last Finn

  himself came, for it is a power he had, if he would make but three