This story is one told by the Irish peasants in explaining a bridge of
rock off the northern coast of their country. It is a typical Finn
story, showing that leader’s strength and his wisdom. The giant who had
a secret of strength is found in the folk lore of many nations. No doubt
you remember the Bible hero, Samson, who lost his strength with the
cutting of his long hair. You may compare him with the Scottish giant.
* * * * *
When Finn was not training his men or traveling in search of adventure,
he used to visit the old woman who had raised him. The stories do not
mention his ever having seen his real mother. The foster-mother takes
her place. Finn built a cottage for her in the northern part of the
country and saw to it that she never needed anything.
One day, while visiting the woman, he stood on the rocky coast looking
out over the ocean. Over on the coast of Scotland he saw a giant of
tremendous proportions. This fellow seemed to be driving pillars into
the ocean and was working very hard. He saw Finn in the distance and
called out:
“You might as well settle up your business, because when I get through
with you there will not be much of you left to talk about!”
The giant’s voice was a mighty roar which carried nicely over the miles
separating them. Now Finn had heard of this giant and the threat did not
frighten him in the least. He called back in a voice nearly as strong as
the giant’s own:
“Come over any time you like. You’ll need more than a bridge to take you
back after I get through with you.”
The giant said no more, so Finn went back to the cottage. He knew that
his men had boasted to the Scottish people about the great strength of
their leader. He also knew that the Scotch giant was anxious to settle
the question as to which was the better man. Now, Finn was afraid of no
man. Having bested every champion in Ireland he was always anxious to
try his strength against any new hero who appeared.
Each morning he went out and watched the giant building the bridge
across the channel. When the man began to get nearer, Finn got an idea
of his size. He was at least four times the size of the Irish hero and
the way he handled the great stone pillars showed that his strength was
tremendous. Finn saw that if the giant got hold of him as he did a rock
pillar, he would have little chance of escaping alive.
As I have told you, Finn was no coward. You also know that he was no
fool. He was noted for wisdom as well as strength. He saw that a combat
at close quarters with such a mountain of muscle would be foolish. He
began to devise plans for getting the better of the giant when the
bridge should be finished.
When he saw that the work would last but a few days more he no longer
went to the shore but kept at home out of sight. He enlisted the aid of
his foster-mother in the preparations for the giant’s arrival. He
brought in a large stone as big as a water bucket and placed it on a
shelf in the cottage. Then he had the woman make, from the whey of sour
milk, a ball large enough to fill his two hands. This he placed near the
rock.
Next he had the woman bake several cakes of meal. A few were just the
ordinary ones such as they ate regularly, but in the middle of the
others he had her put plates of solid iron. These cakes were placed in
the cupboard close at hand. When you see how these different things were
used you will see that Finn had a perfect plan worked out.
Then Finn told his foster-mother all the things she must do and in what
order each was to come.
“I fear that he will be too much for you,” said the woman.
“He would be as he is,” declared Finn. “By biting my thumb I learn that
the secret of his strength is in one of his fingers—which one I cannot
tell. It shall be your task to find out the finger.”
At last the day came on which the bridge was completed. A messenger was
sent out to give the giant directions for reaching the cottage, while
Finn himself, dressed as a baby, got into the big cradle he had built
for the purpose.
Soon the doorway darkened. The great giant stood there looking in. He
was an ugly and terrible looking fellow with two great teeth sticking
out of his jaw like those of a walrus. The doorway was a large one, but
the giant filled it, shutting out the light behind him.
“I am looking for the fellow who calls himself Finn MacCool,” roared the
giant in a voice that shook the walls of the house.
Finn’s foster-mother sat calmly rocking the cradle and working on some
clothes she was mending. To look at her one would have thought that the
visit of a giant was an everyday occurrence.
“And who might you be?” she asked.
“That’s no matter,” growled the giant. “I’ve come from Scotland to see
him and I’m in a hurry.”
“Oh, you must be that foolish fellow who thinks he wants to have a trial
with Finn,” suggested the woman.
“Foolish!” roared the giant. “Show me where he is and you will soon find
out which one is the foolish one!”
“Come right in,” said the woman. “I am very sorry, but Finn is away and
will not be back until tomorrow. He waited for you as long as he could.
You see, you were so long in coming he decided that you had become
frightened and had turned back, so he went off to attend to some
business. Just as he left he said to me, ‘If that fellow from Scotland
gets here while I am gone, treat him well and get him to stay. I would
not miss knocking a trial out of him at any cost.’”
“Well, he won’t miss me,” answered the giant. “I’ll wait.”
“Come right in then,” said the woman. “I will give you a bite to eat.”
The giant thrust himself through the doorway into the room. Inside,
where he could straighten himself up, he looked more terrible than
before. As there was no seat in the cottage big enough for him he leaned
against the wall, which bulged out with his weight. The woman busied
herself before the fire.
“Who is that?” asked the giant, pointing to Finn in the cradle.
“That’s Finn’s little baby,” answered the woman. “I wish you would be
more quiet while you are in here. The baby is just beginning to cut his
teeth, and he is very cross if he awakens suddenly.”
The giant really tried to soften his voice, but the result was very
funny. When he was speaking very softly, his voice was like that of a
fog horn in a coast light house.
“Dear me,” sighed the woman after a while. “This fire draws so poorly!
The wind is in the wrong direction. If Finn were here he would turn the
house around so that the fire would do better.”
“What Finn can do will be only a small task for me,” said the giant.
He went outside, took the house by one corner and turned it so that it
faced in a different direction. You can believe that the woman was
thoroughly frightened to see this exhibition of strength. She wondered
what chance Finn would have against such a man. Still she believed in
his wisdom, so she continued to carry out her instructions. When the
giant came back she seemed very calm.
“Well, how is that?” asked the giant when he came in again.
“The fire draws better,” she admitted, “but you did it very clumsily. I
thought you were going to shake the house to pieces. Finn lifts it
around so easily that he jars not a thing on the shelves. But of course
you are not nearly so strong as Finn.”
The giant was so crestfallen that he had nothing to say for some time.
“Oh, dear,” cried the woman a little later. “I am all out of water. Finn
promised to split open the rock of the spring before he left, but he
forgot all about it. I wonder if you could do it.”
“Of course I can,” said the giant. “Show me the rocks.”
The woman took up a bucket and led him to a place where two rocky hills
sent up their peaks very close together.
“That is the place,” she said. “Finn intended pulling them apart when he
had time so that we could have water nearby.”
The giant put a foot against one peak and took the other in his hands.
With a mighty heave he separated the two hills and let the water stream
out between them. The woman filled her bucket and went back to the
house, the giant following her.
“How did that suit you?” he asked.
“You did that very well,” said the woman. “But of course that is hardly
a man’s job.”
The giant seemed to feel keenly the fact that his strength made no
impression on the woman. He looked around the room to see if he could
find something else to talk about. He saw the big rock on the shelf.
“Perhaps you will tell me why you keep that rock on the shelf?” he
asked.
“Oh, that,” said the woman as if it could be of no importance, “that is
just a little trick of Finn’s. He uses it to practice on in the
mornings.”
“Ho! Ho!” laughed the giant. “Why should he practice with such a rock as
that?” He picked it up and tossed it from hand to hand as though it were
an orange.
“He keeps up the strength of his fingers with it,” answered the woman.
“Each morning he squeezes the water out of a rock. If you are the man
Finn is you can do the same.”
The giant took the stone in his two hands and squeezed with all his
might and main. Of course no water could come out of a solid rock. The
first finger of his right hand sank into the stone with his efforts.
“Your one finger has a little strength,” said the woman. “If the rest of
you had the force of that finger, you might get a few drops.”
“It is that finger which gives me my strength,” the foolish giant told
her. Once more he took up the rock and squeezed the rock harder than
ever with no result. The baby in the cradle set up a lusty cry.
“Poor baby,” said the woman. “He is sorry for you. His father lets him
practice on a small rock. See what he can do.”
She gave Finn the ball of whey. Finn took it in his two hands and
squeezed it, letting the water stream on the floor. The giant was
amazed.
“It’s a pretty strong baby,” he admitted.
“It would have to be to belong to Finn MacCool,” said the woman.
The giant seemed to be thinking deeply. Perhaps he doubted his wisdom in
coming to try conclusions with the father of such a baby.
Soon Finn’s foster-mother took one of the cakes from the cupboard and
handed it to the giant.
“Take this,” she said. “It will help stay your appetite until I get you
something better.”
The giant thanked her and bit down into the cake. As it was one of those
with the iron core, all he succeeded in doing was to break off two of
his teeth. He took the cake out of his mouth and felt his jaw.
“What’s the matter?” asked the woman. “Maybe those cakes are too hard
for you. Finn wouldn’t eat them because they were too soft. I’ll get you
another one.”
She passed the giant one more of the iron-filled cakes. Once more he bit
into it and again he lost some teeth. He went to the door to spit them
out. He did not seem to care for these cakes.
“You say Finn doesn’t like cakes as soft as that?” he asked.
“He won’t touch them,” she answered. “He leaves them for the baby.”
She took one of the ordinary cakes and gave it to Finn in the cradle.
The giant looked on to see what happened. Finn ate the cake ravenously.
The giant was more puzzled than ever. He called for another cake and bit
into it with all the strength of his jaws. It would be hard to tell just
how many teeth he lost this time, but he could not get a bite off the
cake. The woman gave Finn another and again it went down in a hurry.
“And you say he is just getting his teeth?” asked the giant.
“Just a few have come,” she answered.
“I’d like to have a feel of such teeth,” said the giant.
He put his strong finger in Finn’s mouth and felt for the teeth. This
was just what Finn had been waiting for. As soon as the finger was in
his mouth he clamped down his teeth and bit it off.
With the loss of his finger the giant’s extraordinary strength left him.
Finn tore off the bed clothes and set upon him like a whirlwind. The
walls bulged out. Most of the house was ruined. Finn’s foster-mother
watched from the outside of the house. Soon she had the satisfaction of
seeing the giant come dashing out of the house with Finn hammering him
as he ran.
Only the fact that the giant’s legs were very long saved him from a
worse beating. He got out on his bridge as fast as he could. Nor did he
slow down until he got a good distance from the Irish shore. Then he
threw down the pillars as fast as he could so that Finn would be unable
to follow him.
The giant never tried to come back. He cleared out all the pillars on
the Scottish side, but, you can well believe, he never went near the
Irish shore again. To this day you can still see them standing out into
the water, just as he left them in his hurry. People call the remaining
pillars “The Giant’s Causeway” and this is the story they tell as to how
it happens to be there.
[Illustration:
The Black Druid appeared in the form of Finn
From the Story of Saba]