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

wrong," said Conan.

 

With that Cairell rose up and gave a furious blow of his fist to Conan,

and Conan took it with no great patience, but gave him back a blow in

his teeth, and from that they went on to worse blows again. And the two

sons of Goll rose up to help Conan, and Osgar went to the help of

Cairell, and it was not long till many of the chief men of the Fianna

were fighting on the one side or the other, on the side of Finn or on

the side of the sons of Morna.

 

But then Fergus of the True Lips rose up, and the rest of the poets of

the Fianna along with him, and they sang their songs and their poems to

check and to quiet them. And they left off their fighting at the sound

of the poets' songs, and they let their weapons fall on the floor, and

the poets took them up, and made peace between the fighters; and they

put bonds on Finn and on Goll to keep the peace for a while, till they

could ask for a judgment from the High King of Ireland. And that was the

end for that time of the little quarrel at Almhuin.

 

But it broke out again, one time there was a falling out between Finn

and Goll as to the dividing of a pig of the pigs of Manannan. And at

Daire Tardha, the Oak Wood of Bulls, in the province of Connacht, there

was a great fight between Finn's men and the sons of Morna. And the sons

of Morna were worsted, and fifteen of their men were killed; and they

made their mind up that from that time they would set themselves against

any friends of Finn or of his people. And it was Conan the Bald gave

them that advice, for he was always bitter, and a maker of quarrels and

of mischief in every place.

 

And they kept to their word, and spared no one. There was a

yellow-haired queen that Finn loved, Berach Brec her name was, and she

was wise and comely and worthy of any good man, and she had her house

full of treasures, and never refused the asking of any. And any one that

came to her house at Samhain time might stay till Beltaine, and have his

choice then to go or to stay. And the sons of Morna had fostered her,

and they went where she was and bade her to give up Finn and she need be

in no dread of them. But she said she would not give up her kind lover

to please them; and she was going away from them to her ship, and Art,

son of Morna, made a cast of his spear that went through her body, that

she died, and her people brought her up from the strand and buried her.

 

And as to Goll, he took a little hound that Finn thought a great deal

of, Conbeg its name was, and he drowned it in the sea; and its body was

brought up to shore by a wave afterwards, and it was buried under a

little green hill by the Fianna. And Caoilte made a complaint over it,

and he said how swift the little hound was after deer, or wild pigs, and

how good at killing them, and that it was a pity it to have died, out on

the cold green waves. And about that time, nine women of the Tuatha de

Danaan came to meet with nine men of the Fianna, and the sons of Morna

saw them coming and made an end of them.

 

And when Caoilte met with Goll, he made a cast of his spear at him that

struck the golden helmet off his head and a piece of his flesh along

with it. But Goll took it very proudly, and put on the helmet again and

took up his weapons, and called out to his brothers that he was no way

ashamed.

 

And Finn went looking for the sons of Morna in every place to do

vengeance on them. They were doing robbery and destruction one time in

Slieve Echtge, that got its name from Echtge, daughter of Nuada of the

Silver Hand, and Finn and the Fianna were to the west, at Slieve Cairn

in the district of Corcomruadh. And Finn was in doubt if the sons of

Morna were gone southward into Munster or north into Connacht. So he

sent Aedan and Cahal, two sons of the King of Ulster, and two hundred

righting men with them, into the beautiful pleasant province of

Connacht, and every day they used to go looking for the sons of Morna

from place to place. But after a while the three battalions of the

Fianna that were in Corcomruadh saw the track of a troop of men, and

they thought it to be the track of the sons of Morna; and they closed

round them at night, and made an end of them all. But when the full

light came on the morrow, they knew them to be their own people, that

were with the King of Ulster's sons, and they gave three great heavy

cries, keening the friends they had killed in mistake.

 

And Caoilte and Oisin went to Rath Medba and brought a great stone and

put it over the king's sons, and it was called Lia an Imracail, the

Stone of the Mistake. And the place where Goll brought his men the time

he parted from Finn in anger got the name of Druimscarha, the Parting

Hill of Heroes.

CHAPTER II. (DEATH OF GOLL)

And at last it chanced that Goll and Cairell, son of Finn, met with one

another, and said sharp words, and they fought in the sea near the

strand, and Cairell got his death by Goll. And there was great anger and

great grief on Finn, seeing his son, that was so strong and comely,

lying dead and grey, like a blighted branch.

 

And as to Goll, he went away to a cave that was in a point stretching

out into the sea; and he thought to stop there till Finn's anger would

have passed.

 

And Osgar knew where he was, and he went to see him, that had been his

comrade in so many battles. But Goll thought it was as an enemy he came,

and he made a cast of his spear at him, and though Osgar got no wound by

it, it struck his shield and crushed it. And Finn took notice of the way

the shield was, and when he knew that Goll had made a cast at Osgar

there was greater anger again on him. And he sent out his men and bade

them to watch every path and every gap that led to the cave where Goll

was, the way they would make an end of him.

 

And when Goll knew Finn to be watching for his life that way, he made no

attempt to escape, but stopped where he was, without food, without

drink, and he blinded with the sand that was blowing into his eyes.

 

And his wife came to a rock where she could speak with him, and she

called to him to come to her. "Come over to me," she said; "and it is a

pity you to be blinded where you are, on the rocks of the waste sea,

with no drink but the salt water, a man that was first in every fight.

And come now to be sleeping beside me," she said; "and in place of the

hard sea-water I will nourish you from my own breast, and it is I will

do your healing. And the gold of your hair is my desire for ever," she

said, "and do not stop withering there like an herb in the winter-time,

and my heart black with grief within me."

 

But Goll would not leave the spot where he was for all she could say.

"It is best as it is," he said, "and I never took the advice of a woman

east or west, and I never will take it. And O sweet-voiced queen," he

said, "what ails you to be fretting after me; and remember now your

silver and your gold, and your silks and stuffs, and remember the seven

hounds I gave you at Cruadh Ceirrge, and every one of them without

slackness till he has killed the deer. And do not be crying tears after

me, queen with the white hands," he said; "but remember your constant

lover, Aodh, the son of the best woman of the world, that came out from

Spain asking for you, and that I fought at Corcar-an-Deirg; and go to

him now," he said, "for it is bad when a woman is in want of a good

man."

 

And he lay down on the rocks, and at the end of twelve days he died. And

his wife keened him there, and made a great lamentation for her husband

that had such a great name, and that was the second best of the Fianna

of Ireland.

 

And when Conan heard of the death of Goll his brother, there was great

anger on him, and he went to Garraidh, and asked him to go with him to

Finn to ask satisfaction for Goll. "I am not willing to go," said

Garraidh, "since we could get no satisfaction for the great son of

Morna." "Whether you have a mind to go or not, I will go," said Conan;

"and I will make an end of every man I meet with, for the sake of

yellow-haired Goll; I will have the life of Oisin, Finn's great son, and

of Osgar and of Caoilte and of Daire of the Songs; I will have no

forgiveness for them; we must show no respect for Finn, although we may

die in the fight, having no help from Goll. And let us take that work in

hand, and make no delay," he said; "for if Finn is there, his strength

will be there, until we put him under his flag-stone."

 

But it is not likely Garraidh went with him, and he after speaking such

foolish words.

 

And what happened Conan in the end is not known. But there is a cairn of

stones on a hill of Burren, near to Corcomruadh, and the people of

Connacht say it is there he is buried, and that there was a stone found

there one time, having on it in the old writing: "Conan the

swift-footed, the bare-footed." But the Munster people say it is on

their own side of Burren he is buried.

 

CHAPTER III. (THE BATTLE OF GABHRA)

Now, with one thing and another, the High King of Ireland had got to be

someway bitter against Finn and the Fianna; and one time that he had a

gathering of his people he spoke out to them, and he bade them to

remember all the harm that had been done them through the Fianna, and

all their pride, and the tribute they asked. "And as to myself," he

said, "I would sooner die fighting the Fianna, if I could bring them

down along with me, than live with Ireland under