On a day Fin went out hunting with his dog Bran, on Knock an Ar; and he
killed so much game that he didn't know what to do with it or how to
bring it home. As he stood looking and thinking, all at once he saw a
man running towards him, with a rope around his waist so long that half
his body was covered with it; and the man was of such size that, as he
ran, Fin could see the whole world between his legs and nothing between
his head and the sky. When he came up, the man saluted Fin, who answered
him most kindly. "Where are you going?" asked Fin. "I am out looking for
a master." "Well," said Fin, "I am in sore need of a man; what can you
do?" "Do you see this rope on my body? Whatever this rope will bind I
can carry." "If that is true," said Fin, "you are the man I want. Do you
see the game on this hillside?" "I do," said the man. "Well, put that
into the rope and carry it to my castle."
The man put all the game into the rope, made a great bundle, and threw
it on his back.
"Show me the way to the castle now," said he. Fin started on ahead, and
though he ran with all his might, he could not gain one step on the man
who followed with the game. The sentry on guard at the castle saw the
man running while yet far off. He stepped inside the gate and said:
"There is a man coming with a load on his back as big as a mountain."
Before he could come out again to his place the man was there and the
load off his back. When the game came to the ground, it shook the castle
to its foundations. Next day the man was sent to herd cows for a time,
and while he was gone, ConAin Maol said to Fin: "If you don't put this
cowherd to death, he will destroy all the Fenians of Erin." "How could I
put such a good man to death?" asked Fin. "Send him," said ConAin, "to
sow corn on the brink of a lake in the north of Erin. Now, in that lake
lives a serpent that never lets a person pass, but swallows every man
that goes that way." Fin agreed to this, and the next morning after
breakfast he called the man, gave him seven bullocks, a plough, and a
sack of grain, and sent him to the lake in the north of Erin to sow
corn. When he came to the lake, the man started to plough, drew one
furrow. The lake began to boil up, and as he was coming back, making the
second furrow, the serpent was on the field before him and swallowed the
seven bullocks and the plough up to the handles. But the man held fast
to what he had in his two hands, gave a pull, and dragged the plough and
six of the bullocks out of the belly of the serpent. The seventh one
remained inside. The serpent went at him and they fought for seven days
and nights. At the end of that time the serpent was as tame as a cat,
and the man drove him and the six bullocks home before him.
When he was in sight of Fin's castle, the sentry at the gate ran in and
cried: "That cowherd is coming with the size of a mountain before him!"
"Run out," said ConAin Maol, "and tell him to tie the serpent to that oak
out there."
They ran out, and the man tied the serpent to the oak-tree, then came in
and had a good supper.
Next morning the man went out to herd cows as before. "Well," said
ConAin Maol to Fin, "if you don't put this man to death, he'll destroy
you and me and all the Fenians of Erin."
"How could I put such a man to death?"
"There is," said ConAin, "a bullock in the north of Erin, and he drives
fog out of himself for seven days and then he draws it in for seven
other days. To-morrow is the last day for drawing it in. If any one man
comes near, he'll swallow him alive."
When the cowherd came to supper in the evening, Fin said to him: "I am
going to have a feast and need fresh beef. Now there is a bullock in
that same valley by the lake in the north of Erin where you punished the
serpent; and if you go there and bring the bullock to me, you'll have my
thanks."
"I'll go," said the man, "the first thing after breakfast in the
morning."
So off he went next morning; and when he came near the valley, he found
the bullock asleep and drawing in the last of the fog; and soon he found
himself going in with it. So he caught hold of a great oak-tree for
safety. The bullock woke up then and saw him, and letting a roar out of
himself, faced him, and gave him a pitch with his horn which sent him
seven miles over the top of a wood. And when he fell to the ground, the
bullock was on him again before he had time to rise, and gave him
another pitch which sent him back and broke three ribs in his body.
"This will never do," said the man, as he rose, and pulling up an
oak-tree by the roots for a club, he faced the bullock. And there they
were at one another for five days and nights, till the bullock was as
tame as a cat and the man drove him home to Fin's castle. The sentry
saw them coming and ran inside the gate with word. "Tell the man to tie
the bullock to that oak-tree beyond," said ConAin. "We don't want him
near this place." The cowherd tied the bullock, and told Fin to send
four of the best butchers in Erin to kill him with an axe; and the four
of them struck him one after another and any of them couldn't knock him.
"Give me an axe," said the man to the butchers. They gave him the axe,
and the first stroke he gave, he knocked the bullock. Then they began to
skin him; but the man didn't like the way they were doing the work, so
he took his sword and had three quarters of the bullock skinned before
they could skin one.
Next morning the cowherd went out with the cows; but he wasn't long gone
when ConAin Maol came to Fin and said: "If you don't put an end to that
man, he'll soon put an end to you and to me and to all of us, so there
won't be a man of the Fenians of Erin left alive."
"How could I put an end to a man like him?" asked Fin.
"There is in the north of Erin," said ConAin, "a wild sow who has two
great pigs of her own; and she and her two pigs have bags of poison in
their tails; and when they see any man, they run at him and shake their
poison bags; and if the smallest drop of the poison touches him, it is
death to him that minute. And, if by any chance he should escape the
wild sow and the pigs, there is a fox-man called the Gruagach, who has
but one eye and that in the middle of his forehead. The Gruagach carries
a club of a ton weight, and if the cowherd gets one welt of that club,
he'll never trouble the Fenians of Erin again."
Next morning Fin called up the cowherd and said, "I am going to have a
feast in this castle, and I would like to have some fresh pork. There is
a wild sow in the north of Erin with two pigs, and if you bring her to
me before the feast, you'll have my thanks."
"I'll go and bring her to you," said the cowherd. So after breakfast he
took his sword, went to the north of Erin, and stole up to the sow and
two pigs, and whipped the tails off the three of them, before they knew
he was in it. Then he faced the wild sow and fought with her for four
days and five nights, and on the morning of the fifth day he knocked her
dead. At the last blow, his sword stuck in her backbone and he couldn't
draw it out. But with one pull he broke the blade, and stood there over
her with only the hilt in his hand. Then he put his foot on one of her
jaws, took the other in his hands, and splitting her evenly from the
nose to the tail, made two halves of her.
He threw one half on his shoulder; and that minute the big Gruagach with
one eye in his head came along and made an offer of his club at him to
kill him. But the cowherd jumped aside, and catching the Gruagach by one
of his legs, threw him up on to the half of the wild sow on his
shoulder, and taking the other half of her from the ground, clapped that
on the top of the Gruagach, and ran away to Fin's castle as fast as his
legs could carry him.
The sentry at the castle gate ran in and said: "The cowherd is running
to the castle, and the size of a mountain on his back." "Go out now,"
said ConAin Maol, "and stop him where he is, or he'll throw down the
castle if he comes here with the load that's on him." But before the
sentry was back at his place, the cowherd was at the gate shaking the
load off his back and the castle to its foundations, so that every
dish and vessel in it was broken to bits.
The Gruagach jumped from the ground, rubbed his legs and every part of
him that was sore from the treatment he got. He was so much in dread of
the cowherd that he ran with all the strength that was in him, and never
stopped to look back till he was in the north of Erin.
Next morning the cowherd went out with the cows, drove them back in the
evening, and while picking the thigh-bone of a bullock for his supper,
Oscar, son of Oisin, the strongest man of the Fenians of Erin, came up
to him and took hold of the bone to pull it from his hand. The cowherd
held one end and Oscar the other, and pulled till they made two halves
of the bone. "What did you carry away?" asked the cowherd. "What I have
in my hand," said Oscar. "And I kept what I held in my fist," said the
cowherd. "There is that for you now," said Oscar, and he hit him a slap.
The cowherd said no word in answer, but next morning he asked his wages
of Fin. "Oh, then," said Fin, "I'll pay you and welcome, for you are the
best man I have ever had or met with."
Then the cowherd went away to Cahirciveen in Kerry where he had an
enchanted castle. But before he went he invited Fin MacCumhail and the
Fenians of Erin to have a great feast with him. "For," said he to Fin,
"I'm not a cowherd at all, but the son of the king of Alba, and I'll
give you good cheer."
When the Fenians came to the place, they found the finest castle that
could be seen. There were three fires in each room and seven spits at
every fire. When they had gone and sat down in their places, there was
but one fire in each room. "Rise up, every man of you," said Fin, "or
we are lost; for this is an enchanted place."
They tried to rise, but each man was fastened to his seat, and the seat
to the floor; and not one of them could stir. Then the last fire went
out and they were in darkness.
"Chew your thumb," said ConAin to Fin, "and try is there any way out of
here." Fin chewed his thumb and knew what trouble they were in. Then he
put his two hands into his mouth and blew the old-time whistle. And this
whistle was heard by PogAin and CeolAin, two sons of Fin who were in the
North at that time, one fishing and the other hurling.
When they heard the whistle, they said: "Our father and the Fenians of
Erin are in trouble." And they faced towards the sound and never stopped
till they knocked at the door of the enchanted castle of the son of Alba
at Cahirciveen.
"Who is there?" asked Fin.
"Your two sons," said one of them.
"Well," said Fin, "we are in danger of death to-night. That cowherd I
had in my service was no cowherd at all, but the son of the king of
Alba; and his father has said that he will not eat three meals off one
table without having my head. There is an army now on the road to kill
us to-night. There is no way in or out of this castle but by one ford,
and to that ford the army of the king of Alba is coming."
The two sons of Fin went out at nightfall and stood in the ford before
the army. The son of the king of Alba knew them well, and calling each
by name, said: "Won't you let us pass?" "We will not," said they; and
then the fight began. The two sons of Fin MacCumhail, PogAin and CeolAin,
destroyed the whole army and killed every man except the son of the
king of Alba.
After the battle the two went back to their father. "We have destroyed
the whole army at the ford," said they.
"There is a greater danger ahead," said Fin. "There is an old hag coming
with a little pot. She will dip her finger in the pot, touch the lips of
the dead men, and bring the whole army to life. But first of all there
will be music at the ford, and if you hear the music, you'll fall
asleep. Now go, but if you do not overpower the old hag, we are lost."
"We'll do the best we can," said the two sons of Fin.
They were not long at the ford when one said, "I am falling asleep from
that music." "So am I," said the other. "Knock your foot down on mine,"
said the first. The other kicked his foot and struck him, but no use.
Then each took his spear and drove it through the foot of the other, but
both fell asleep in spite of the spears.
The old hag went on touching the lips of the dead men, who stood up
alive; and she was crossing the ford at the head of the army when she
stumbled over the two sleeping brothers and spilt what was in the pot
over their bodies.
They sprang up fresh and well, and picking up two stones of a ton weight
each that were there in the ford, they made for the champions of Alban
and never stopped till they killed the last man of them; and then they
killed the old hag herself.
PogAin and CeolAin then knocked at the door of the castle.
"Who's there?" asked Fin.
"Your two sons," said they; "and we have killed all the champions of
Alban and the old hag as well." "You have more to do yet," said Fin.
"There are three kings in the north of Erin who have three silver
goblets. These kings are holding a feast in a fort to-day. You must go
and cut the heads off the three, put their blood in the goblets and
bring them here. When you come, rub the blood on the keyhole of the door
and it will open before you. When you come in, rub the seats and we
shall all be free."
The three goblets of blood were brought to Cahirciveen, the door of the
castle flew open, and light came into every room. The brothers rubbed
blood on the chairs of all the Fenians of Erin and freed them all,
except ConAin Maol, who had no chair, but sat on the floor with his back
to the wall. When they came to him the last drop of blood was gone.
All the Fenians of Erin were hurrying past, anxious to escape, and paid
no heed to ConAin, who had never a good word in his mouth for any man.
Then ConAin turned to Diarmuid, and said: "If a woman were here in place
of me, you wouldn't leave her to die this way." Then Diarmuid turned,
took him by one hand, and Goll MacMorna by the other, and pulling with
all their might, tore him from the wall and the floor. But if they did,
he left all the skin of his back from his head to his heels on the floor
and the wall behind him. But when they were going home through the hills
of Tralee, they found a sheep on the way, killed it, and clapped the
skin on ConAin. The sheepskin grew to his body; and he was so well and
strong that they sheared him every year, and got wool enough from his
back to make flannel and frieze for the Fenians of Erin ever after.