by Irish Myths
Woman; "and if my three sons were here, they would stand up
against you." "Indeed it will be a bad day," said Finn, "when the
threat of a woman will put fear on myself or on the Fianna of Ireland. " With that he sounded his horn, and he said: "Let us all follow now, men and dogs, after that beast that we saw. "
He had no sooner said that word than the woman made a
great water-worm of herself, and made an attack on Finn, and she
would have killed him then and there just for Bran being with
him. Bran took a grip of the worm and shook it, and then it
wound itself round Bran's body, and would have crushed the life
out of her, but Finn thrust his sharp sword into its throat. "Keep
back your hand," said the worm then, "and you will not have the
curse of a lonely woman upon you . " "It is what I think," said
Finn, "that you would not leave me my life if you could take it
from me; but go out of my sight now," he said, "and that I may
never see you again."
Then she made herself into a Red Woman again, and went
away into the wood.
All the Fianna were gone on the track of the beast while Finn
was talking and fighting with the Red Woman; and he did not
know in what place they were, but he went following after them,
himself and Bran. It was late in the evening when he came up
with a share of them, and they still on the track of the beast. The
darkness of the night was coming on, but the two moons in the
sides of the beast gave a bright light, and they never lost it from
sight. They followed it on always; and about midnight they were
pressing on it, and it began to scatter blood after it, and it was not
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long till Finn and his men were red from head to foot. But that
did not hinder them, and they followed him on till they saw him
going in at the foot of Cnoc-na-righ at the breaking of day.
When they came to the foot of the hill the Red Woman was
standing there before them. "You did not take the beast," she said.
"We did not take it, but we know where it is," said Finn.
She took a Druid rod then, and she struck a blow on the side
of the hill, and on the moment a great door opened, and they
heard sweet music coming from within. "Come in now," said the
Red Woman, "till you see the wonderful beast." "Our clothing is
not clean," said Finn, "and we would not like to go in among a
company the way we are," he said.
She put a horn to her mouth and blew it, and on the moment
there came ten young men to her. "Bring water for washing," she
said, "and four times twenty suits of clothes, and a beautiful suit
and a crown of shining stones for Finn, son of Cumhal. " The
young men went away then, and they came back at the end of a
minute with water and with clothing.
When the Fianna were washed and dressed, the red Woman
brought them into a great hall, where there was the brightness of
the sun and of the moon on every side. From that she brought
them into another great room; and although Finn and his men
had seen many grand things up to that time, they had never seen
any sight so grand as what they saw in this place. There was a
king sitting in a golden chair, having clothes of gold and of green,
and his chief people were sitting around him, and his musicians
were playing. And no one could know what colour were the
dresses of the musicians, for every colour of the rainbow was in
them. And there was a great table in the middle of the room, having every sort of thing on it, one better than another.
The king rose up and gave a welcome to Finn and to his men,
and he bade them to sit down at the table; and they ate and drank
their fill, and that was wanting to them after the hunt they had
made. And then the Red Woman rose up, and she said: "King of
the Hill, if it is your will, Finn and his men have a mind to see the
HUNTINGS AND ENCHANTMENTS
28 1
wonderful beast, for they spent a long time following after it, and
that is what brought them here."
The king struck a blow then on his golden chair, and a door
opened behind him, and the beast came through it and stood
before the king. And it stooped down before him, and it said: "I
am going on towards my own country now; and there is not in
the world a runner so good as myself, and the sea is the same to
me as the land. And let whoever can come up with me come
now," it said, "for I am going. "
With that the beast went out from the hill as quick as a blast of
wind, and all the people that were in it went following after it. It
was not long till Finn and his men were before the rest, in the
front of the hunt, gaining on the beast.
And about midday Bran made the beast tum, and then she
forced it to tum a second time, and it began to put out cries, and
it was not long until its strength began to flag; and at last, just at
the setting of the sun, it fell dead, and Bran was at its side when
it fell.
Then Finn and his men came up, but in place of a beast it was
a tall man they saw lying dead before them. And the Red Woman
came up at the same time, and she said: "High King of the Fianna,
that is the King of the Firbolgs you have killed; and his people
will put great troubles on this country in the time to come, when
you yourself, Finn, and your people will be under the sod. And I
myself am going now to the Country of the Young," she said,
"and I will bring you with me if you have a mind to come." "We
give you our thanks for that," said Finn, "but we would not give
up our own country if we were to get the whole world as an
estate, and the Country of the Young along with it. " "That is
well," said the Red Woman; "but you are going home empty after
your hunt." "It is likely we will find a deer in Gleann-na-Smol,"
said Finn. "There is a fine deer at the foot of that tree beyond,"
said the Red Woman, "and I will rouse it for you." With that she
gave a cry, and the deer started out and away, and Finn and his
men after it, and it never stopped till it came to Gleann-na-Smol,
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but they could not come up with it. Then the Red Woman came
to them, and she said: "I think you are tired now with following
after the deer; and call your hounds off now," she said, "and I will
let out my own little dog after it." So Finn sounded a little horn
he had at his side, and on the moment the hounds came back to
him. And then the Red Woman brought out a little hound as
white as the snow of the mountains, and put it after the deer; and
it was not long till it had come up with the deer and killed it, and
then it came back and made a leap in under the cloak of the Red
Woman. There was great wonder on Finn; but before he could
ask a question of the Red Woman, she was gone out of sight. And
as to the deer, Finn knew there was enchantment on it, and so he
left it there after him. And it is tired and empty the Fianna were,
going back to Almhuin that night.
CHAPTER
XIII.
FINN AND THE PHANTOMS
Finn went to a gathering one time at Aonach Clochair, and a great
many of the men of Munster crowded to it. And the horses of the
Fianna were brought there, and the horses of the men of Munster,
and they ran races against one another.
And Fiachu, son of Eoghan, was in it; and when the games
were over he gave good presents to Finn, a lasting black horse
that won the three prizes of the gathering, and a chariot, and a
horse for the chariot-driver, and a spear, having a deadly spell,
and weapons of silver, and three comely hounds, Feime and Derchaem and Dialath, having collars of yellow gold and chains of white bronze.
And Finn rose up and gave his thanks to Fiachu , son of
Eoghan, and he and his people set out to the house of Cacher at
Cluain-da-loch. And they stopped three days feasting in Cacher's
house, and then Finn gave him the price of his feast and of his
ale, fifty rings, and fifty horses and fifty cows.
HUNTINGS AND ENCHANTMENTS
283
And he himself and the Fianna went on from that over
Luachair to the strand at Berramain. And Finn went trying his
black horse on the strand, and Caoilte and Oisin went racing
against him; but it was only folly for them to do that, for he gave a
blow to his horse, and away with him to Traigh Liath and over
the Plain of Health to the Old Yew of the Old Valley, and to the
inver of the Flesc and the inver of the Lemain to Loch Lein, till he
came to the hill of Baimech, and Caoilte and Oisin after him.
''Night is coming on us," said Finn then; "and go look for
some place where we can sleep," he said. He looked round then at
the rocks on his left hand and he saw a house, and a fire shining
out from it in the valley below. "I never knew of a house in the
valley," he said.
"It is best for us to go see it," said Caoilte, "for there are many
things we have no knowledge of. "
The three went on then to the house, and they heard screams
and crying from it; and when they came to the house, the people
of it were very fierce and rough; and a big grey man took hold of
their horses and brought them in and shut the door of the house
with iron hooks. "My welcome to you, Finn of the great name,"
he said then; "it is a long time you were in coming here."
They sat down then on the hard boards of a bed, and the grey
man kindled a fire, and he threw logs of elder-wood on it, till they
went near being smothered with the smoke. They saw a hag in
the house then having three heads on her lean neck; and there
was on the other side a man without a head, having one eye, and
it in his breast. "Rise up, you that are in the house, and make
music for the King of the Fianna," said the grey man then.
With that nine bodies rose up out of the comer nearest the
Fianna, and nine heads rose up on the other side of the bed, and
they raised nine harsh screeches together, that no one would like
to be listening to. And then the hag answered to them, and the
headless man answered; and if all of that music was harsh, there
was none of it that you would not wish to hear sooner than the
music of the one-eyed man. And the music that was sung went
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
near to breaking the bones of their heads; and indeed it is no
sweet music that was.
Then the big grey man rose up and took the axe that was for
cutting logs, and he began striking at the horses, flaying and
destroying them. Then there were brought fifty pointed spits of
the rowan-tree, and he put a piece of the horse's flesh on each one
of the spits, and settled them on the hearth. But when he took the
spits from the fire and put them before Finn, it is raw the flesh
was on them yet. "Take your food away," said Finn then, "for I
have never eaten meat that was raw, and I never will eat it because
of being without food for one day. " "If you are come into our
house to refuse our food," said the grey man, "we will surely go
against yourselves, Finn and Caoilte and Oisin. "
With that all in the house made an attack on the three; and
they were driving back into the comer, and the fire was quenched,
and the fight went on through the whole night in the darkness,
and but for Finn and the way he fought, they would have been
put down.
And when the sun rose and lighted up the house on the morrow, a mist came into the head of each of the three, so that they fell as if dead on the floor.
But after a while they rose up again, and there was nothing to
be seen of the house or of the people of the house, but they had
all vanished. And their horses were there, and they took them and
went on, very weak and tired, for a long way, till they came to the
strand of Berramain.
And those three that fought against them were the three
Shapes out of the Valley of the Yew Tree that came to avenge their
sister, Cuillen of the Wide Mouth.
Now as to Cuillen, she was a daughter of the King of Munster,
and her husband was the King of Ulster's son. And they had a son
that was called Fear Og, the Young Man; and there was hardly in
Ireland a man so good as himself in shape and in courage and in
casting a spear. And one time he j oined in a game with the
Fianna, and he did better than them all, and Finn gave him a
HUNTINGS AND ENCHANTMENTS
285
great reward. And after that he went out to a hunt they made, and
it was by him and by none of the Fianna the first blood was got of
pig or of deer. And when they came back, a heavy sickness fell on
the young man through the eyes and the envy of the Fianna, and
it left him without life at the end of nine days. And he was buried
under a green hill, and the shining stone he used to hold in his
hand, and he doing his feats, was put over his head.
And his mother, Cuillen, came to his grave keening him every
day through the length of a year. And one day she died there for
grief after her son, and they put her into the same green hill.
But as to Finn, he was afraid of no earthly thing, and he killed
many great serpents in Loch Cuilinn and Loch Neathach, and at
Beinn Edair; and Shadow-Shapes at Loch Lein and Drom Cleib
and Loch Liath, and a serpent and a cat in Ath Cliath.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PIGS OF ANGUS
Angus Og, son of the Dagda, made a feast one time at Brugh na
Boinne for Finn and the Fianna of the Gael. Ten hundred of them
were in it, and they wearing green clothing and crimson cloaks;
and as to the people of Angus' house, it is clothing of red silk they
had.
And Finn was sitting beside Angus in the beautiful house, and
it is long since the like of those two were seen in Ireland. And any
stranger would wonder to see the way the golden cups were going
from hand to hand.
And Angus said out in a loud voice that every one could hear:
"It is a better life this is than to be hunting. " There was anger on
Finn then, and he said: "It is a worse life than hunting to be here,<
br />
without hounds, without horses, without battalions, without the
shouting of armies." "Why are you talking like that, Finn?" said
Angus, "for as to the hounds you have," he said, "they would not
kill so much as one pig." "You have not yourself," said Finn, "and
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IRISH MYfHS AND LEGENDS
the whole host of the Tuatha de Danaan have not a pig that ever
went on dry land that Bran and Sceolan would not kill." "I will
send you a pig," said Angus, "that will go from you and your
hounds, and that will kill them in the end."
The steward of the house called out then in a loud voice: "Let
every one go now to his bed, before the lightness of drunkenness
comes on you." But Finn said to his people: "Let us make ready
and leave this; for we are but a few," he said, "among the Men of
Dea." So they set out and went westward till they came to Slieve
Fuad where the Fianna were at that time.
And through the whole length of a year after that, the Tuatha
de Danaan were boasting how they would get the better of the
Fianna, and the Fianna were thinking how they could do best in
the hunt. And at the end of that time Angus sent messengers to
Finn, asking him with great respect if he was ready to keep his
word. And Finn said he was, and the hounds were brought out,
and he himself was holding Bran and Sceolan, one in each hand,
and Caoilte had Adhnuall, and Oisin had Ablach, and merry Bran
Beag had Lonn, and Diarmuid was holding Eachtach, and Osgar
was holding Mac an Truim, and Garraidh was held by Faolan,
and Rith Fada, of the Long Run, by hungry Conan.
And they were not long there with their hounds till they saw
on the plain to the east a terrible herd of great pigs, every one of
them the height of a deer. And there was one pig out in front of
the rest was blacker than a smith's coal, and the bristles on its
head were like a thicket of thorn-trees.
Then Caoilte let out Adhnuall, and she was the first to kill a pig
of the herd. And then Bran made away from the leash that Finn
was holding, and the pigs ran their best, but she came up with
them, and took hold of a pig of them. And at that Angus said: "O
Bran, fosterling of fair-haired Fergus, it is not a right thing you are
doing, to kill my own son." But when Bran heard that, her ways
