Conan Maol, son of Morna, sat usually. Fin gave this place to Conan
to keep him in humor. Conan grew enraged now, and said, “It is great
impudence for a stripling to sit in my place.”
“I know not who you are,” said Faolan, “but from what I hear you must be
Conan Maol, who has never a good word for any man; and I would break your
head on the wall, but I don’t wish to annoy people present.”
It was a custom of the Fenians in eating to set aside every bone that
had marrow for Oscar, and as Faolan had a thick marrow-bone in his hand,
he began to pick out the marrow, and eat it. This enraged Oscar, and he
said, “You must put that bone aside as the others put their bones; that
is my due, and I will have it.”
“As the meat is mine,” said Faolan, “so is the marrow.”
Oscar snatched at the youth, and caught the bone by one end. Faolan
held the other end. Both pulled till they broke the bone, then, seizing
each other, they went outside for a struggle. As the two were so nearly
related, the other men stopped them. Fin took Oscar aside then, and
asked, “How long could you live if we let the youth keep his grip on you?”
“If he kept his grip with the same strength, I could not live five
minutes longer.”
Fin took Faolan aside then, and asked the same question.
“I could live for twelve months, if he squeezed me no tighter.”
The two then kept peace with each other. All were very fond of Faolan,
especially Dyeermud, who was a good, loyal comrade; and he warned Faolan
to distrust and avoid Grainne, Fin’s wife, as much as he could. The youth
was learning, meanwhile, to practise feats of activity and bravery. At
the end of twelve months, the Fenians were setting out on a distant hunt,
for which they had long been preparing. On the eve of the hunt, Grainne
dropped on her knees before Fin, and begged him to leave Faolan with
her for company, until he and the rest would return. Fin consented, and
Faolan stayed with Grainne.
When all the others had gone to the great hunt, Faolan and Grainne went
also to hunt in the neighborhood. They did not go far, and returned.
After dinner, Grainne asked Faolan would he play a game of chess for a
small sentence. He said that he would. They played, and he won.
“What is your sentence on me?” asked Grainne.
“I have no sentence at this time,” replied Faolan.
They played again, and she won.
“Now put your sentence on me,” said the youth.
“You will think it soon enough when you hear it. You are not to eat two
meals off the same table, nor sleep two nights on the same bed, till
you bring me the tallow of the three oxen on Sliav Sein [Mountain of
Happiness].”
When he heard this sentence, he went off, threw himself face downward on
his bed, and remained there without eating or drinking till the Fenians
came back from the hunt. Fin and Dyeermud, not seeing Faolan when they
came, went in search of him.
“Have you found Faolan?” asked Dyeermud of Fin, when he met him soon
after.
“I have not,” answered Fin.
Dyeermud then went to see if he could find Faolan in bed. As the door of
his chamber was fastened, and no one gave answer, Dyeermud forced it, and
found Faolan on his face in the bed. After they had greeted each other,
Faolan told of the trouble that was on him.
“I gave you warning against Grainne,” said Dyeermud; “but did you win any
game of her?”
“I did; but have put no sentence on her yet.”
“I am glad,” answered Dyeermud; “and let me frame the sentence. I swear
by my sword to be loyal to you; and where you fall, I will fall also.
But be cheerful, and come to the feast.”
They went together, and Fin, seeing them, was glad. He knew, however,
that something had happened to Faolan. Dyeermud went to Fin, and told him
of the mishap to the youth. Fin was troubled at what had come on his son.
“I have sworn,” said Dyeermud, “to follow Faolan wherever he may be.”
“I will send with him,” said Fin, “the best man of the Fenians.”
Dyeermud, Oscar, and Goll, son of Morna, were summoned.
“What is your greatest feat?” inquired Fin of Goll.
“If I were to stand in the middle of a field with my sword in my hand on
the rainiest day that ever rose, I could keep my head dry with my sword,
not for that day alone, but for a day and a year,” answered Goll.
“That is a good feat,” said Fin. “What is your greatest feat, Oscar?”
“If I open a bag filled with feathers on a mountain-top of a stormy day,
and let the feathers fly with the wind, the last feather will barely be
out of the bag, when I will have every feather of them back into the bag
again.”
“That is a very good feat,” answered Fin, “but it is not enough yet.
Now, Dyeermud, what is your feat of swiftness?”
“If I were put on a space of seven hundred acres, and each acre with a
hedge around it, and there were seven hundred gaps in the hedge of each
acre, and seven hundred hares were put on each acre of the seven hundred,
I would not let one hare out of the seven hundred acres for a day and a
year.”
“That is a great feat,” remarked Fin; “that will do.”
“Chew your thumb, O Fin,” said Dyeermud, “and tell me if it is fated to
us to come back from the journey?”
Fin chewed his thumb. “You will come back; but the journey will be a hard
and a long one: you will be ankle deep in your own blood.”
Dyeermud went to Faolan, and told him what sentence to put upon Grainne.
On the following day, Fin led Grainne forth for her sentence; and Faolan
said, “You are to stand on the top of Sliav Iolar [Mount Eagle], till I
come back to Fintra; you are to hold in your hand a fine needle; you are
to have no drink saving what rain you can suck through the eye of that
needle, no food except what oats will be blown through the eye of that
very needle from a sheaf on Sliav Varhin; and Dyeermud will give three
blows of a flail to the sheaf to loosen the grain.”
Faolan and Dyeermud set out on their journey. They travelled three days,
and saw no house in which they could rest for the night.
“When we find a house,” said Dyeermud, “we will have from the people a
lodging, either with their good will, or in spite of them.”
“I will help you in that,” said Faolan.
On the evening of the fourth day, a large white-fronted castle appeared
in the distance. They went toward it, and knocked at the door. A fine
young woman welcomed them kindly, and kissed Faolan. “You and I,” said
she, “were born at the same hour, and betrothed at our birth. Your mother
married Fin to rescue her brothers, your uncles, from the bonds of
enchantment.”
They sat down to eat and drink, the young woman, Dyeermud, and Faolan;
they were not long eating when in came four champions, all torn, cut, and
bleeding. When Dyeermud saw these, he started up, and seized his sword.
“Have no fear,” said the young woman to Dyeermud.
“We are returning from battle with a wild hag in the neighborhood,” said
the four champions. “She is trying to take our land from us; and this is
the seventh year that we are battling with the hag. All of her warriors
that we kill in the daytime, she raises at night; and we have to fight
them again the next day.”
“No man killed by my sword revives; and these will not, if I kill them,”
said Dyeermud.
“They would revive after your sword,” said the four champions.
“Do you stay at home to-morrow,” said Dyeermud; “Faolan and I will give
battle to the hag and her forces; no one whom we slay will trouble you
hereafter.”
The four champions agreed, and gave every direction how to find the wild
hag and her army. Faolan and Dyeermud went to the field; one began at
one end, and one at the other, and fought till they met in the middle at
sunset, and slew all the hag’s warriors.
“Go back to the castle,” said Faolan to Dyeermud; “I will rest here
to-night, and see what gives life to the corpses.”
“I will stay,” replied Dyeermud, “and you may return.”
“No, I will stay here,” said Faolan; “if I want help, I will run to the
castle.”
Dyeermud went back to the castle. About midnight, Faolan heard the voice
of a man in the air just above him. “Is there any one living?” asked the
voice. Faolan, with a bound, grasped the man, and, drawing him down with
one hand, pierced him through with a sword in his other hand. The man
fell dead; and then, instead of the old man that he seemed at first, he
rose up a fresh young man of twenty two years. The young man embraced and
thanked Faolan. “I am your uncle,” said he, “brother of the poisonous
hound that you freed from enchantment at sea. I was fourteen years in
the power of the wild hag, and could not be freed till my father’s sword
pierced me. Give me that sword which belonged to my father. It was to
deliver me that your mother gave you that blade. I will give you a better
one still, since you are a greater champion than I. I will give you my
grandfather’s sword; here it is. When the wild hag grows uneasy at my
delay, she herself will hasten hither. She knew that you were to come and
release me, and she is preparing this long time to meet you. For seven
years, she has been making steel nails to tear you to pieces; and she has
sweet music which she will play when she sees you: that music makes every
man sleep when he hears it. When you feel the sleep coming, stab your leg
with your sword; that will keep you awake. She will then give you battle;
and if you chance to cut off her head, let not the head come to the body:
for if it comes on the body, all the world could not take it away. When
you cut off her head, grasp it in one hand, and hold it till all the
blood flows out; make two halves of the head, holding it in your hand
all the while; and I will remove the stone cover from a very deep well
here at hand; and do you throw the split head into that well, and put the
cover on again.”
The uncle went aside then; and soon the hag came through the air. Seeing
Faolan, she began to play strains of beautiful music, which were putting
him to sleep; but he thrust his new sword in the calf of his leg, and
kept away sleep. The wild hag, outwitted, attacked the youth fiercely,
and he went at her in earnest. Every time that she caught him with her
nails, she scraped skin and flesh from his head to his heels; and then,
remembering his mother, and being aroused by his uncle, he collected his
strength, and with one blow cut the head off the hag; but he was so spent
from the struggle that it took him some time to seize the head, and so
weak was he that he could not raise his hand to split it.
“Lay your sword on the head; the blade alone will split it!” cried the
uncle.
Faolan did this. The sword cut the head; and then Faolan threw the head
into the well. Just as he was going to cover the well, the head spoke,
and said, “I put you under bonds of heavy enchantment not to eat two
meals off the same table, nor sleep two nights on the same bed, till
you tell the Cat of Gray Fort that you destroyed the wild hag out of her
kingdom.”
The uncle embraced Faolan then, and said, “Now I will go to my sister,
your mother; but first I will guide you to this hag’s enchanted well: if
you bathe in its water, you will be as sound and well as ever.”
Faolan went, bathed in the well, and, when fully recovered, returned
to the castle. Thinking Gray Fort must be near by, he did not rouse
Dyeermud, but went alone in search of the cat. He travelled all day, and
at last saw a great fort with the tail of a cat sticking out of it. “This
may be the cat,” thought he, and he went around the whole fort to find
the head. He found it thrust out just beyond the tail.
“Are you the Cat of Gray Fort?” inquired Faolan.
“I am,” said the cat.
“If you are,” said Faolan, “I destroyed the wild hag out of her kingdom.”
“If you did,” said the cat, “you will kill no one else; for the hag was
my sister.”
The cat rushed at Faolan then; and, bad as the hag had been, the cat
was far worse. The two fought that night furiously, till the following
morning, when Faolan cut the cat in two halves across the middle. The
half that the head was on ran around trying to meet the other half; but
before it could do so, Faolan cut the head off the front half. Then the
head spoke, and said,—
“I put you under bonds of enchantment not to eat two meals off the one
table, nor sleep two nights on the one bed, till you tell the Kitten of
Cul MacKip that you killed the Cat of Gray Fort and destroyed the wild
hag out of her kingdom.”
Faolan then hurried forward to find the kitten. Thinking that her place
was near, he did not go back to the castle for Dyeermud, but held on the
whole day, walking always. Toward evening, he saw a castle, went toward
it, and entered it. When inside he saw half a loaf of barley-bread and a
quart of ale placed on the window. “Whoever owns these, I will use them,”
said the youth.
When he had eaten and drunk, he put down a fire for the night, and saw
a kitten lying near the ashes. “This may be the Kitten of Cul MacKip,”
thought he; and, shaking it, he asked, “Are you the Kitten of Cul MacKip?”
“I am,” said the kitten.
“If you are,” said Faolan, “then I tell you that I killed the Cat of Gray
Fort and destroyed the wild hag out of her kingdom.”
“If you did,” said the kitten, “you will never kill any one else,” and,
starting up, the kitten stretched, and was as big as a horse in a moment.
She sprang at Faolan, and he at her. They fought fiercely that night, and
the following day, but Faolan, toward evening, swept the head off the
kitten; but as he did, the head spoke, and said, “I put you under bonds
of heavy enchantment not to eat two meals off the same table, nor sleep
two nights on the same bed, till you tell the Dun Ox that you slew the
Kitten of Cul MacKip, killed the Cat of Gray Fort, and destroyed the wild
hag out of her kingdom.”
Before setting out, Faolan saw a brass ball on the window, and, taking
it, said to himself, “I may kill some game with this on the road.”
Away he went then, and walked on till he came to where the road lay
through a wood; near the road was a forester’s cabin. Out came the
forester with a hundred thousand welcomes.
“Glad am I to see you; gladder still would I be if your comrade,
Dyeermud, were with you,” said the forester.
“Can you tell me where the Dun Ox is?” asked Faolan.
“In this wood,” said the forester; “but do you bring your comrade to help
you against the Dun Ox; by no chance can you slay him alone. The Dun Ox
has only one eye, and that in the middle of his forehead; over that eye
is a shield of white metal; from that shield two bars of iron run back
to the tail of the ox. Behind him, two champions are on guard always;
and when any one nears him, the ox sniffs the stranger, and roars; the
champions lean on the bars then, and raise up the shield. When the one
eye of the ox sees the person approaching, that moment the person falls
dead. What are your chances of slaying that ox? Go back for your comrade.”
“I will not,” said Faolan; “the ox will fall by me, or I by the ox.”
“It is you that will fall,” said the forester.
Faolan entered the cabin, where the forester treated him well. Next
morning the forester showed the path that lay toward the place where the
ox was. Faolan had not gone far when the ox roared, and, looking in the
direction of the roar, he saw the two champions just seizing the bars
to raise up the shield, so, failing other means, he sent the ball, with
a well-aimed cast, and crushed in the forehead of the ox through the
shield. The ox fell dead, but, before falling, his eye turned on Faolan,
who dropped dead also.
Dyeermud slept a hero’s sleep of seven days and seven nights. When he
woke, and found no tidings of Faolan, he was furious; but the four
champions calmed him; and the young woman said, “The wild hag may have
killed him; but if as much as one bone of his body can be found, I will
bring him to life again.”
Dyeermud, Faolan’s betrothed, and her four brothers set out, and, coming
to the battle-field, found the army of the wild hag slain, but no trace
of Faolan. They went to the well then, and saw the split head there.
The six went to Gray Fort, and found the cat dead, the hind-part in one
place, the fore-part in a second, and the head in a third.
“The head must have sent him to the Kitten of Cul MacKip,” said the young
woman; “that kitten has twice as much witch power as the cat and the old
hag; all three are sisters.”
They went farther, and, finding the kitten dead, went to find the Dun
Ox; “for Faolan must be dead near him,” said the young woman. When they
came to his cabin, the forester greeted them, and gave a hundred thousand
welcomes to Dyeermud, who was surprised, and inquired, “How do you know
me? I have never been in this country before.”
“I know you well; for I saw you two years ago in combat with the Champion
of the Eastern World on Ventry Strand. Many persons were looking at that
combat, but you did not see them. I was there with the others.”
“Have you seen a young champion pass this way?” asked Dyeermud.
“I have,” said the forester; “but he must have perished by the Dun Ox,
for I have not heard the ox bellow this long time.”
The six spent that night at the forester’s cabin; and, setting out next
morning early, they soon found Faolan. The young woman bathed him with
some fluid from a vial, and, opening his mouth, poured the rest down
his throat. He rose up at once, as sound and healthy as ever. All went
to the ox, which they found lying dead, and the two champions also;
and, searching about, they found the brazen ball sunk in the earth
some distance away. Faolan took it up carefully. They went back to the
forester’s cabin, and enjoyed themselves well.
“Do you know where the Mountain of Happiness is?” inquired Dyeermud of
the forester, during the night.
“I do not,” said the forester; “but I know where the Black-Blue Giant
lives, and he knows every place in the world. That giant has never given
a meal or a night’s lodging to any man. He has an only daughter, who is
in love with you, since she saw you two years ago in combat with the
Champion of the Eastern World on Ventry Strand, although you did not see
her. This daughter is closely confined by the giant, fearing she may
escape to you; and if you succeed in reaching her, she is likely to know,
if her father knows, where the Mountain of Happiness is.”
“How did you get tidings of the giant’s daughter?” asked Dyeermud.
“I will not tell you now,” said the forester, “but I will go with you to
guide you to the giant, and I may give you assistance. Here are three
keys,—the keys of the castles of the Dun Ox, of the Kitten of Cul MacKip,
and of the Cat of Gray Fort; they are yours now.”
“Those keys are not mine,” said Dyeermud; “they belong to Faolan, who
slew the three owners.”
“If Faolan slew them,” said the forester, “he had assistance, which
caused you to come to him.”
“Keep the keys till we come back,” said Dyeermud.
The seven travelled on then, and were going ten days when they saw the
giant’s castle. Now this castle stood on one leg, and whirled around
always.
“I will use my strength on that castle, to know can I stop it,” said
Dyeermud.
“You cannot stop it,” said the forester. “I will stop it myself. Do you
watch the door of the castle, which is on the top of the roof, and, when
the castle stops, spring in through the door, and seize the giant, if he
is inside, and compel him to give a night’s lodging.”
The forester then made for the castle, and, placing his shoulder against
one of the corners, kept it standing still; and Dyeermud, leaping in
by the roof, came down before the giant, who had started up, knowing
something was wrong when the castle stood still.
Dyeermud and the giant grappled each other so fiercely, and fought with
such fury, that the castle was shivering. The giant’s wife begged them to
go out of the castle, and fight on the open, and not frighten the life
out of herself and the child in her arms.
Out went the Black-Blue Giant and Dyeermud, and fought until Dyeermud
brought down the giant and sprained his back. The giant let a roar out of
him, and begged there for quarter.
“Your head is mine,” answered Dyeermud.
“It is,” said the giant; “but spare me, and I will give you whatever you
ask for.”
“I want lodging for myself and my company.”
“You will get that,” said the giant.
All then went into the giant’s castle; and when they were sitting at
dinner, Dyeermud ate nothing.
“Why is this?” asked the giant.
“It is the custom of the Fenians of Erin,” said he, “not to eat at a
table where all the members of the house are not present.”
“All my people are here,” said the giant.
“They are not,” answered Dyeermud; “you have one daughter not present.”
The giant had to bring the daughter. They ate then. The forester talked
after dinner with Dyeermud, and said, “The giant’s daughter has a maid;
you must bribe her to give you the key of her mistress’s chamber; and
if you come by the young woman’s secrets, she may tell you where the
Mountain of Happiness is, if she knows.”
Dyeermud went to the maid. “You will not be here always,” said he;
“your mistress will marry me, and leave this castle; then you’ll have
no business here. I will take you with us if you give me the key of the
chamber.”
“The giant himself keeps that key under his pillow at night; he sleeps
only one nap, like a bird, but sleeps heavily that time. If you promise
to take me with my mistress, I’ll strive to bring the key hither.”
“I promise,” said Dyeermud.
The maid brought the key, and gave it on condition that she was to have
it again within an hour. Dyeermud went then to the giant’s daughter, and
when her first wonder was over, he asked, “Do you know where the Mountain
of Happiness is?”
“I do not. My father knows well, but for some reason he has never told
me, so he must have fared very badly there; but if you lay his head on a
block, and threaten to cut it off with your sword, he will tell you, if
you ask him; but otherwise he will not tell.”
“I will do that; and I will take you to Erin when I go,” answered
Dyeermud.
“Where is the Mountain of Happiness?” asked Dyeermud of the giant, next
morning.
He would not tell. Dyeermud caught the giant, who could not resist him
on account of his sprained back; he drew him out, placed his head on a
block, and said, “I will cut the head off you now, unless you tell me
what you know of the Mountain of Happiness. The Fenians of Erin have but
the one word, and it is useless for you to resist me; you must go with
us, and show us the way to the mountain.”
The giant, finding no escape possible, promised to go. They set out soon,
taking all the arms needed. As the mountain was not far distant, they
reached the place without great delay. The giant showed them the lair of
the oxen, but after a promise that he should be free to escape should
danger threaten.
“I know all the rest now,” said the forester. “Do you,” said he to
Dyeermud, “stand straight in front of the lair, and I, with Faolan, will
stand with drawn swords, one on each side of the entrance; and do you,”
said he to the four brothers, “knock down the entrance, and open the
place for the oxen to rush out. If the head of each ox is not cut off
when he stands in the entrance, the world would not kill him from that
out.”
All was done at the forester’s word. The entrance was not long open, when
out rushed an ox; but his head was knocked off by the forester. Faolan
slew the second ox; but the third ox followed the second so quickly that
he broke away, took Dyeermud on his horns, and went like a flash to the
top of the Mountain of Happiness. This mountain stood straight in front
of the lair, but was far away. On the mountain, the ox attacked Dyeermud;
and they fought for seven days and nights in a savage encounter. At the
end of seven days, Dyeermud remembered that there was no help for him
there, that he was far from his mother and sister, who were all he had
living, and that if he himself did not slay the fierce ox, he would never
see home again; so, with one final effort, he drove his sword through
the heart of the ox. He himself was so spent from the struggle and
blood-loss that he fainted, and would have died on the mountain, but for
his companions, who came now. They were seven days on the road over which
the ox passed in a very few minutes.
The forester rubbed Dyeermud with ointment, and all his strength came to
him. They opened the ox, took out all the tallow, and, going back to the
other two oxen, did in like manner, saving the tallow of each of them
separately. They went next to the castle of the Black-Blue Giant.
“Will you set out for home to-morrow?” asked the forester, turning to
Dyeermud.
“We will,” answered Dyeermud.