Gods and Fighting Men, Lady I. A Gregory [best e books to read TXT] 📗

his

knee, and till he had taken a thorn out from his foot with his nail,

and he running his fastest. But if he had done all these things, he was

of Finn's people.

 

It was good wages Finn and the Fianna got at that time; in every

district a townland, in every house the fostering of a pup or a whelp

from Samhain to Beltaine, and a great many things along with that. But

good as the pay was, the hardships and the dangers they went through for

it were greater. For they had to hinder the strangers and robbers from

beyond the seas, and every bad thing, from coming into Ireland. And they

had hard work enough in doing that.

 

And besides the fighting men, Finn had with him his five Druids, the

best that ever came into the west, Cainnelsciath, of the Shining Shield,

one of them was, that used to bring down knowledge from the clouds in

the sky before Finn, and that could foretell battles. And he had his

five wonderful physicians, four of them belonging to Ireland, and one

that came over the sea from the east. And he had his five high poets and

his twelve musicians, that had among them Daighre, son of Morna, and

Suanach, son of Senshenn, that was Finn's teller of old stories, the

sweetest that ever took a harp in his hand in Ireland or in Alban. And

he had his three cup-bearers and his six door-keepers and his

horn-players and the stewards of his house and his huntsman, Comhrag of

the five hundred hounds, and his serving-men that were under

Garbhcronan, of the Rough Buzzing; and a great troop of others along

with them.

 

And there were fifty of the best sewing-women in Ireland brought

together in a rath on Magh Feman, under the charge of a daughter of the

King of Britain, and they used to be making clothing for the Fianna

through the whole of the year. And three of them, that were a king's

daughters, used to be making music for the rest on a little silver

harp; and there was a very great candlestick of stone in the middle of

the rath, for they were not willing to kindle a fire more than three

times in the year for fear the smoke and the ashes might harm the

needlework.

 

And of all his musicians the one Finn thought most of was Cnu Deireoil,

the Little Nut, that came to him from the Sidhe.

 

It was at Slieve-nam-ban, for hunting, Finn was the time he came to him.

Sitting down he was on the turf-built grave that is there; and when he

looked around him he saw a small little man about four feet in height

standing on the grass. Light yellow hair he had, hanging down to his

waist, and he playing music on his harp. And the music he was making had

no fault in it at all, and it is much that the whole of the Fianna did

not fall asleep with the sweetness of its sound. He came up then, and

put his hand in Finn's hand. "Where do you come from, little one,

yourself and your sweet music?" said Finn. "I am come," he said, "out of

the place of the Sidhe in Slieve-nam-ban, where ale is drunk and made;

and it is to be in your company for a while I am come here." "You will

get good rewards from me, and riches and red gold," said Finn, "and my

full friendship, for I like you well." "That is the best luck ever came

to you, Finn," said all the rest of the Fianna, for they were well

pleased to have him in their company. And they gave him the name of the

Little Nut; and he was good in speaking, and he had so good a memory he

never forgot anything he heard east or west; and there was no one but

must listen to his music, and all the Fianna liked him well. And there

were some said he was a son of Lugh Lamh-Fada, of the Long Hand.

 

And the five musicians of the Fianna were brought to him, to learn the

music of the Sidhe he had brought from that other place; for there was

never any music heard on earth but his was better. These were the three

best things Finn ever got, Bran and Sceolan that were without fault, and

the Little Nut from the House of the Sidhe in Slieve-nam-ban.

 

CHAPTER III. (BIRTH OF BRAN.)

This, now, is the story of the birth of Bran.

 

Finn's mother, Muirne, came one time to Almhuin, and she brought with

her Tuiren, her sister. And Iollan Eachtach, a chief man of the Fianna

of Ulster, was at Almhuin at the time, and he gave his love to Tuiren,

and asked her in marriage, and brought her to his own house. But before

they went, Finn made him gave his word he would bring her back safe and

sound if ever he asked for her, and he bade him find sureties for

himself among the chief men of the Fianna. And Iollan did that, and the

sureties he got were Caoilte and Goll and Lugaidh Lamha, and it was

Lugaidh gave her into the hand of Iollan Eachtach.

 

But before Iollan made that marriage, he had a sweetheart of the Sidhe,

Uchtdealb of the Fair Breast; and there came great jealousy on her when

she knew he had taken a wife. And she took the appearance of Finn's

woman-messenger, and she came to the house where Tuiren was, and she

said: "Finn sends health and long life to you, queen, and he bids you to

make a great feast; and come with me now," she said, "till I speak a few

words with you, for there is hurry on me."

 

So Tuiren went out with her, and when they were away from the house the

woman of the Sidhe took out her dark Druid rod from under her cloak and

gave her a blow of it that changed her into a hound, the most beautiful

that was ever seen. And then she went on, bringing the hound with her,

to the house of Fergus Fionnliath, king of the harbour of Gallimh. And

it is the way Fergus was, he was the most unfriendly man to dogs in the

whole world, and he would not let one stop in the same house with him.

But it is what Uchtdealb said to him: "Finn wishes you life and health,

Fergus, and he says to you to take good care of his hound till he comes

himself; and mind her well," she said, "for she is with young, and do

not let her go hunting when her time is near, or Finn will be no way

thankful to you." "I wonder at that message," said Fergus, "for Finn

knows well there is not in the world a man has less liking for dogs than

myself. But for all that," he said, "I will not refuse Finn the first

time he sent a hound to me."

 

And when he brought the hound out to try her, she was the best he ever

knew, and she never saw the wild creature she would not run down; and

Fergus took a great liking for hounds from that out.

 

And when her time came near, they did not let her go hunting any more,

and she gave birth to two whelps.

 

And as to Finn, when he heard his mother's sister was not living with

Iollan Eachtach, he called to him for the fulfilment of the pledge that

was given to the Fianna. And Iollan asked time to go looking for Tuiren,

and he gave his word that if he did not find her, he would give himself

up in satisfaction for her. So they agreed to that, and Iollan went to

the hill where Uchtdealb was, his sweetheart of the Sidhe, and told her

the way things were with him, and the promise he had made to give

himself up to the Fianna. "If that is so," said she, "and if you will

give me your pledge to keep me as your sweetheart to the end of your

life, I will free you from that danger." So Iollan gave her his promise,

and she went to the house of Fergus Fionnliath, and she brought Tuiren

away and put her own shape on her again, and gave her up to Finn. And

Finn gave her to Lugaidh Lamha that asked her in marriage.

 

And as to the two whelps, they stopped always with Finn, and the names

he gave them were Bran and Sceolan.

 

CHAPTER IV. (OISIN'S MOTHER.)

It happened one time Finn and his men were coming back from the hunting,

a beautiful fawn started up before them, and they followed after it, men

and dogs, till at last they were all tired and fell back, all but Finn

himself and Bran and Sceolan. And suddenly as they were going through a

valley, the fawn stopped and lay down on the smooth grass, and Bran and

Sceolan came up with it, and they did not harm it at all, but went

playing about it, licking its neck and its face.

 

There was wonder on Finn when he saw that, and he went on home to

Almhuin, and the fawn followed after him playing with the hounds, and it

came with them into the house at Almhuin. And when Finn was alone late

that evening, a beautiful young woman having a rich dress came before

him, and she told him it was she herself was the fawn he was after

hunting that day. "And it is for refusing the love of Fear Doirche, the

Dark Druid of the Men of Dea," she said, "I was put in this shape. And

through the length of three years," she said, "I have lived the life of

a wild deer in a far part of Ireland, and I am hunted like a wild deer.

And a serving-man of the Dark Druid took pity on me," she said, "and he

said that if I was once within the dun of the Fianna of Ireland, the

Druid would have no more power over me. So I made away, and I never

stopped through the whole length of a day till I came into the district

of Almhuin. And I never stopped then till there was no one after me but

only Bran and Sceolan, that have human wits; and I was safe with them,

for they knew my nature to be like their own."

 

Then Finn gave her his love, and took her as his wife, and she stopped

in Almhuin. And so great was his love for her, he gave up his hunting

and all the things he used to take pleasure in, and gave his mind to no

other thing but herself.

 

But at last the men of Lochlann came against Ireland, and their ships

were in the bay below Beinn Edair, and they landed there.

 

And Finn and the battalions of the Fianna went out against them, and

drove them back. And at the end of seven days Finn came back home, and

he went quickly over the plain