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

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 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 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 turn, and then she forced it to

turn 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, 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, Feirne 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.

 

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 Bairnech, 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 this 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 corner 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 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