"I do indeed," said Fin.
"What wages will you give me for a year and a day?" asked Gilla.
"What yourself will ask," replied Fin.
"I won't ask much," said Gilla; "five pounds for myself, and a room in
the castle for my wife."
"You shall have both," said Fin.
"I'm your man now," said Gilla. The whole company spent the first part
of that night in ease, the second in sport, and the third in a short
sleep.
The next morning all the Fenians of Erin were going to hunt, as the day
before, and Fin said to Gilla na Grakin: "Will you take any man to help
you?"
"I'll take no man with me but myself; and do you let me go in one part
of the country alone, and go yourself with all your men in another
part."
"Well," said Fin, "will you find dry glens of ridges, or go in deep
boggy places where there is danger of drowning?"
"I will go in deep boggy places."
All left the castle to hunt. Fin and the Fenians of Erin went in one
direction, and Gilla na Grakin in another, and hunted all day.
When they came home in the evening Gilla na Grakin had a thousand times
more game than Fin and all his men together.
When Fin saw this he was glad to have such a good man, and was pleased
beyond measure with Gilla na Grakin. The whole company spent that night
as they had the night before,--in ease and sport and sleep.
Next day Conan Maol was outside with Fin, and he said: "Gilla na Grakin
will destroy the Fenians of Erin and put you and all of us to death,
unless you banish him in some way from this castle."
"Well;" said Fin to Conan Maol, "I've never had a good man but you
wanted me to put him away. And how could I banish such a man as this if
I tried?"
"The way to banish him," said Conan Maol, "is to send him to the king of
Lochlin to take from him the pot of plenty that's never without meat,
but has always enough in it to feed the whole world, and bring that pot
to this castle."
Fin called Gilla na Grakin, and said: "You'll have to go for me now to
the king of Lochlin, and get from him the pot of plenty that is never
without meat, and bring it here to me."
"Well," said Gilla, "as long as I'm in your service I can't refuse to do
your work."
So away went Gilla. He took a glen at a step and a hill at a leap till
he came to the shore of the sea, where he caught up two sticks, put one
across the other, then gave them a tip of the hand, and a fine vessel
rose out of the two pieces of wood.
Gilla na Grakin went on board the vessel, hoisted the sails, and off he
went in a straight line. The music he heard on his way was the whistling
of eels in the sea and the calling of gulls in the air, till he came
under the king's castle in Lochlin. When he came, there were hundreds of
ships standing near the shore, and he had to anchor outside them all;
then he stepped from ship to ship till he stood on land.
What should there be at the time he landed but a great feast in the
castle of the king. So Gilla went to the front of the castle and stood
outside at the door; but he could go no further for the crowd, and no
one looked at him. At last he shouted: "This is a very hospitable feast,
and you are a people of fine manners not to ask a stranger is he hungry
or thirsty."
"You are right," said the king, who turned to the people and said: "Give
the pot of plenty to the stranger till he eats his fill."
The people obeyed the king, and when Gilla na Grakin got hold of the pot
he made for the ship, and never stopped till he was on board. He put
the pot in a safe place below. Then standing on deck he said to himself:
"It is no use to take the pot by my swiftness unless I take it by my
strength."
So he turned and went to land again. All the heroes and champions of the
king of Lochlin and his whole army were ready to fight, but if they were
so was Gilla na Grakin.
When he came up to the army he began and went through it as a hawk goes
through a flock of swallows, till he made one heap of their heads and
another heap of their weapons. Then he went to the castle, caught the
king in one hand and the queen in the other, and putting them under his
two arms brought them out in front of the castle and killed each with
the other.
All was quiet and still at the castle. There wasn't a man alive to stand
up against Gilla na Grakin, who went to his ship, raised the sails, and
started for Erin. All he heard was the spouting of whales, the whistling
of eels, the calling of gulls, and the roar of the wind, as the ship
rushed back to the place where he had made it in Erin. When he reached
that place he gave the ship a tip of his hand, and there before him was
the pot of plenty, and with it the two sticks which he had found on the
shore of the sea when he was going to the castle of the king of Lochlin.
He left the sticks where he found them, put the pot on his back, and
hurried away to the castle of Fin MacCumhail.
Fin and all the Fenians of Erin were glad to see Gilla na Grakin, and
Fin thanked him for the work he had done.
The first part of that night they spent in ease, the second in sport,
the third in a hurried sleep.
Next morning they rose and had breakfast from the pot. From that day
out they hunted for pleasure alone. They had enough and to spare from
the pot of plenty.
Another day Conan Maol was outside the castle with Fin, and he said:
"Gilla na Grakin will destroy you and me and all of us unless we find
some way of putting him to death."
"What do you want him to do now?" asked Fin.
"Let him go," said Conan Maol, to the king of the Flood, "and bring back
the cup that is never drained."
Fin went to the castle and called up Gilla na Grakin. "I want you to go
now," said he, "to the king of the Flood, and bring me his cup that is
never dry."
When he heard Fin's words, Gilla went off without delay; he took a glen
at a step, and a hill at a leap, till he came to the sea. There he took
up two sticks of wood, threw one across the other, and they became a
fine large ship.
Away he sailed in a straight line, listening as he went to the spouting
of whales, the whistling of eels and the calling of gulls, and never
stopped till he anchored outside the castle of the king of the Flood.
There was many a ship at land before him, so he stopped outside them
all, and stepped from ship to ship till he reached the shore.
The king of the Flood was giving a great feast that day. Gilla na Grakin
went to the castle, but could not enter, so great was the throng. He
stood at the door a while, and then called out, "You are an ill-mannered
people, not to ask a stranger is he hungry or dry!"
The king heard these words, and said, "You are right;" and turning to
his people said, "Give this stranger the cup till he drinks his fill."
As soon as ever Gilla got the cup in his hands, he made for the ship and
never stopped till he put the cup in the hold of the vessel. Then he
came on deck, and thought, "It's no use to take the cup with my
swiftness, unless I take it with my strength."
So back he turned to the castle, and when he reached land, the whole
army and all the champions of the king of the Flood stood ready to
oppose him. When he came up, he went through them as a hawk through a
flock of swallows. He made a heap of their heads in one place, and a
heap of their weapons in another, and then went back to the ship without
thinking of the king and the queen of the Flood--forgot them.
He raised his sails and went away, listening to music on the sea till he
touched land in Erin. Then he took the cup in one hand, struck the ship
with the other, turned it into the two sticks which he had found on the
shore, and travelled on till he came to the castle of Fin MacCumhail and
gave up the cup.
"You're the best man I have ever had," said Fin; "and I give you my
thanks and praise for the work you have done."
In the castle they spent the first part of that night in ease, the
second in sport, and the third in a hurried sleep.
Next morning said Fin to the Fenians of Erin, "We needn't leave the
house now unless we like. We have the best of eating from the pot, and
the best of drinking from the cup. The one is never empty, and the other
is never dry, and we'll go hunting in future only to pass the time for
ourselves."
One day Conan Maol was out with Fin a third time, and said he: "If we
don't find some way to kill Gilla na Grakin, he'll destroy you and me,
and all the Fenians of Erin."
"Well," asked Fin, "where do you want to send him this time?"
"I want him to go to the eastern world, and find out what was it that
left the Gruagach with but the one hair on his head."
Fin went to the castle, called up Gilla na Grakin, and said:
"You must go for me now to the eastern world, to know what was it that
left the Gruagach with the one hair on his head."
"Well," said Gilla, "I never knew that you wanted to put me to death
till this minute; I know it now. But still so long as I'm in your
service I can't refuse to do your work."
Then Gilla na Grakin stepped out of the castle door, and away he went to
the eastern world. He took a glen at a step, a hill at a leap, and lochs
and seas at a bound till he entered the Gruagach's house in the eastern
world.
"What is your errand to me," asked the Gruagach, "and why have you come
to my house?"
"I have come," said Gilla, "to know what was it that left you with the
one hair on your head."
"Sit down here and rest yourself to-night, and if you are a good man,
I'll tell you to-morrow," said the Gruagach.
When bedtime came the Gruagach said: "There is an iron harrow there
beyond, with teeth on both sides of it; go now and stretch yourself on
that harrow, and sleep till morning."
When daylight came, the Gruagach was on his feet, and asked Gilla was he
up.
"I am," said he. After they had eaten breakfast, the Gruagach went to
another room and brought out two iron loops. One of these he put on
Gilla's neck, and the other on his own, and then they began to jerk the
loops and pull one another and they fought till late in the afternoon;
neither had the upper hand, but if one man was weaker than the other,
that man was Gilla na Grakin.
"And now," thought he to himself, "the Gruagach will take my life, and
my wife will never know what became of me." The thought gave him
strength and power, so up he sprang, and with the first pull he gave he
put the Gruagach to his knees in the ground, with the second he put him
to his waist, with the third to his shoulders.
"Indeed," said Gilla, "it would be easier for me to strike the head off
you now, than to let you go; but if I took your head I shouldn't have my
master's work done."
"If you let me go," said the Gruagach, "I'll tell you what happened to
me, and why I have but the one hair on my head."
Gilla set him free, then the two sat down together, and the Gruagach
began:--
"I was living here, without trouble or annoyance from any man, till one
day a hare ran in, made an unseemly noise under that table there, and
insulted us. I was here myself at the time with my wife and my son and
my daughter; and we had a hound, a beagle, and a black horse.
"The hare ran out from under the table, and I made after the hare, and
my wife and son and daughter, with the horse and the two dogs, followed
me.
"When the hare was on the top of a hill, I had almost hold of his hind
legs, but I never caught him.
"When night was near, the hare came to the walls of a great castle, and
as he was jumping over, I hit him a blow on the hind leg with a stick,
but in he went to the castle.
"Out came an old hag, and screamed, 'Who is it that worried the pet of
this castle!'
"I said it was myself that did it. Then she faced me, and made at me and
the fight began between us. We fought all that night, and the next day
till near evening. Then she turned around and pulled a Druidic rod out
of herself, ran from me and struck my wife and son and daughter and the
two hounds and the horse with the Druidic rod and made stones of them.
"Then she turned on me again and there wasn't but the one hair left on
my head from the desperate fighting, and she looked at me, and said:
"'I'll let you go this time but I'll give you a good payment before you
leave.' She caught hold of me then in the grip of her one hand and with
the other she took a sharp knife and stripped all the skin and flesh off
my back, from my waist to my heels. Then, taking the skin of a rough
shaggy goat, she clapped it on to me in place of my own skin and flesh,
and told me to go my way.
"I left the old hag and the castle behind, but the skin grew to me and I
wear it to this day." And here the Gruagach turned to Gilla na Grakin
and showed him the goatskin growing on his body in place of his own skin
and flesh.
"Well," said Gilla, when he saw the shaggy back of the Gruagach, "does
that hare come here to insult you yet?"
"He does, indeed," said the Gruagach, "but I haven't taken a bite nor a
sup off that table since his first visit." "Let us sit down there now,"
said Gilla na Grakin.
They sat down at the table, but they were not sitting long till the hare
came, repeated the insult, and ran out.
Gilla na Grakin made after the hare, and the Gruagach after Gilla.
Gilla ran as fast as ever his legs could carry him, and he was often
that near that he used to stretch his arm out after the hare, and almost
catch him; but he never touched him till near night, when he was
clearing the wall. Then Gilla caught him by the two hind legs, and,
swinging him over his own shoulder, dashed him against the wall, tore
the head from the body, and sent it bounding across the courtyard of the
castle.
Out rushed an old hag that minute. She had but one tooth and that in her
upper jaw, and she used this tooth for a crutch.
"Who has killed the pet of this castle!" shrieked she.
"It was I that killed him," said Gilla na Grakin. Then the two made at
one another,--the hag and Gilla. They fought all that night and next
day. With their fighting they made the hard rocks soft, and water to
spring out through the middle of them. All the land of the eastern world
was trembling as the evening drew near, and if one of the two was
getting weak from the struggle and tired, that one was Gilla na Grakin.
When he saw this he thought to himself, "Isn't it a pity if an old hag
puts me to death, me, who has put to death many a strong hero."
At this thought he sprang up and seized the hag. With the first thrust
which he gave her into the ground he put her to the knees, with the
second to her waist, with the third to her shoulders.
"Now," said the old hag to Gilla, "don't kill me, and I'll give you the
rod of druidism (_enchantment_), which I have between my skin and
flesh."
"Oh, you wicked old wretch! I'll have that after your death, and no
thanks to you," said Gilla. With that he swept the head off of her with
a single blow.
Then the head jumped at the body, and tried to get its place again, but
Gilla stood between them, and kept the head off till the body was cold.
Then he took out the rod of enchantment from between the skin and the
flesh, and threw the body and the head of the old hag aside.
The Gruagach came up, and Gilla said, "Show me now the stones which were
once your wife and children, your dogs and your horse."
The Gruagach went with him to the stones. Gilla struck each with the
rod, and the wife, the son, the daughter, the hounds and the horse of
the Gruagach were alive again.
When this was done, Gilla turned to the Gruagach, struck the goatskin
from his body, and gave him his own skin and flesh back again with the
power of the rod.
When all were restored, they started for the Gruagach's house, and when
there the Gruagach said to Gilla na Grakin,--
"Stay here with me till you get your rest. We won't leave this place for
a year and a day, and then I'll go with you to the castle of Fin
MacCumhail and give witness to Fin of all that has happened to me and
all you have done."
"Oh," said Gilla na Grakin, "I can't stay to rest, I must go now!"
The Gruagach was so glad that he had got back all his family and his
own flesh that he followed Gilla, and they set out for the castle of Fin
MacCumhail in Erin.
They took a glen at a step, a hill at a leap, and the sea at a bound.
Conan Maol, who was outside the castle when they came in sight, ran in
and said to Fin, "Gilla na Grakin and the Gruagach are coming, and
they'll destroy all that's about the castle, and all that's inside as
well!"
"If they do," said Fin, "it's your own fault, and you have no one to
blame but yourself."
"Well," said Conan Maol, "I'll lie down here in the cradle, and put a
steel cap on my head."
Conan lay down in the cradle. Gilla and the Gruagach came into the
castle. The Gruagach sat down near the cradle. Then he said to Fin, "I
came here with Gilla na Grakin to bear witness to you of all that has
happened to me, and of all he has done."
Then he told Fin the whole story of what they had gone through and what
they had done.
With that the Gruagach put his hand behind him and asked: "How old is
this child lying here in the cradle?"
"Only three years," said Fin's wife.
Then the Gruagach took the steel cap between his thumb and fingers,
thinking it was the head of the child, and squeezed till the steel
cracked with a loud snap, but the child didn't cry.
"Oh, there's the making of a man in him. If he gets age he'll be a
champion," said the Gruagach.
Next day the Gruagach left Fin's castle and went to his own place and
family.
Gilla na Grakin's time was now up, for he had served a year and a day.
Fin went out to wash himself in a spring near the castle, and when he
looked into the spring a spirit spoke up out of the water to him and
said:
"You must give back his cup to the king of the Flood, or you must give
him battle in its place."
Fin went back to the castle, lamenting the state he was in.