I know a little tale of Finn,
A tale that we should not despise,
Of Cumhal’s son, the valorous,
Which our memory still preserves.
Once we were a little band,
At Essaroy,[76] of gentle streams,
Near the coast was under sail,
A currach, in which sat a maid;
Fifty men stood by the King,
Brave in any fight or field,
Sad for them who faced their right arm,
For we ruled in every land.
All of us rose up in haste,
Save Finn of the Feine and Gaul,
To welcome the boat as it sped,
Cleaving the waves in its course.
It never ceased its onward way
Until it reached the wonted port.
Then when it had touched the land,
The maid did from her seat arise,
Fairer than a sunbeam’s sheen,
Of finest mould and gentlest mien.
Then before this stranger maid,
We stood and showed courtesy;
“Come to the tent of Finn with us.”
With grace she all of us salutes;
’Twas Cumhal’s son himself replied,
And salutes her in return.
Then did the King of noblest mien
Ask of the maid of fairest face,
“Whence is it thou hast come, fair maid?
Give us now in brief thy tale.”
“The King of the land beneath the waves,[77]
My father is, such is my fate,
Through all lands where the sun revolves,
Thee and thy men I long have sought.”
“Princess, who hast searched each land,
Youthful maid of beauteous form,
The reason why thou cam’st so far,
Tell us now, and tell us all.”
“If thou be Finn, I ask defence,”[78]
So now did speak the youthful maid,
“Thou of soft speech, and purest race,
Grant me protection, grant it now.”
Then spoke the wise and knowing King,
“Tell us now from whom thou flee’st;
Protection I thee grant, fair maid,
’Gainst every man that dares thee hurt.”
“There comes in wrath across the sea,
Swift in pursuit, a warrior brave,
The well-armed son of Sorcha’s King,
He whose name is Daire the fierce.[79]
I laid me under heavy bonds[80]
That Finn should from the sea me have,
But that his wife I ne’er should be,
Though famed his beauty and his deeds.”
Then Oscar spoke, of hasty speech,
The warlike conqueror of Kings,
“Though Finn should not thy pledge sustain,
Never shalt thou with him wed.”
Then do we see borne by his steed[81]
A hero of unequalled size,
Travelling with speed across the sea,
Following the maiden in her course;
His helmet close about the head
Of this brave and dauntless man;
His right arm bore a round black shield,
The surface of its back engraved;
A heavy, large, broad-bladed sword,
Tightly bound, hung by his side;
He comes in attitudes of fence,
As where we stood he swift approached;
Two javelins, with victory rich,
Rest on the shoulder of his shield;
For strength, for skill, for bravery,
Nowhere could his match be found.
A hero’s look,--the eye of a king
Shone in that head of noblest mould,
Ruddy his face, his teeth pearl-white,
No stream ran swifter than his steed.
Then did his steed bound on the shore,
And he in whom we saw no fear.
Of us did fifty warriors then
Approach him as he came to us;
Fear of the hero as he neared us
Filled the bravest of them all.
Now as he landed from the waves,
Our famous King the question put,
“Can’st thou tell me now, fair maid,
Is that the man of whom thou spak’st?”
“I know him well, Finn Cumhal’s son,
Nor does his coming bode you good;
Me he will rudely strive to seize,
Despite thy strength, O noble Finn.”
Then Oscar and Gaul arose,
The fiercest of all in the fight,
Near to the men they firmly stood,
Between the giant and our chief.
The well-formed warrior then approached,
In rage sustained by his great strength,
The maid he rudely bears away,
Though by Finn’s shoulder she had stood.
The Son of Morne then hurled his spear,
With wonted force, as he bore off;
No gentle cast was that, in truth,
The hero’s shield was split in twain.
The wrathful Oscar then did shake
The red-dyed belt from his left arm,[82]
And killed the hero’s prancing steed,
A deed most worthy of great fame.
Then, when the steed fell on the plain,
He on us turned in fiercest wrath,
And battle does, the onset mad,
With all our fifty warriors brave.
On the same side with me and Finn,
The fifty stood in front of him:
Yet though they oft stood firm in fight,
His arm did now them force to yield.
Two blows, and only two he gave,
With vigour to each sep’rate man,
When we were stretched upon the earth,
Each man of us with whom he fought.
Three vanquished nines he tightly bound,
Ere from the furious fight he ceased.
Firmly the three smalls’[83] usual tie
On each of these he firmly placed.
Then did the manly Gaul advance,
The conquering hero to assail.
Whoe’er he was could see them then,
The struggle and the fight were fierce.
Then did Mac Morne slay with his arm
The King of Sorcha’s son, most strange!
Sad was the coming of the maid,
Now that the brave in fight had fallen.
And now that he had fallen thus,
Beside the sea, a sad event,
She of the land beneath the waves,
With Finn and his Feine remained a year.
Flann, son of Morne, in battle brave,
Was killed, it is a piteous tale;
None of all our men escaped,
Whose body was not full of wounds,
Except my noble Father, Finn,
The generous friend of all distressed.
And now at last the deed is done.
Of Finn this little tale I know.
I know a little tale of Finn.
As our fifty warriors brave[84]
Were now subject to his arms,
Helpless were we in his hands,
Our precious rights were all now lost.
His sword without a single check,
Did hack our bodies and our shields.
Any fighting like to his,
In my day never have I seen.
We buried then close to the fall
This noble, brave, and powerful man.
And on each finger’s ruddy point
A ring was placed in honour of the King.
For ten long years his conquering arms,
To the victor did the King forbid;
For all that time the son of Morne
Was healing with Finn of the Feine.
[75] This composition is known usually by the name of “Fainesoluis,”
or the sunbeam, derived manifestly from the comparison of the sunbeam
in the twenty-first line. In Ireland it is called “Laoidh an Mhoighre
Bhoirb,” or “The song of Mayre Borb.” The “Mayre” of Ireland will be
found to be “Daire” in Scotland.
[76] The topography of these poems is a subject of very deep interest
to the student of our national antiquities. In the valley of the Roy
in Lochaber, so famous for its parallel roads, is a waterfall called
“Eas ruaidh,” or “Essaroy,” the “fall of Roy.” Was this the scene of
the story of Fainesoluis? It may be objected that from there the sea
lies at a distance of fifteen miles. On the Earn, near Ballyshannon,
in the county of Donegal, is “Assaroe,” or “Eas Aoidh Ruaidh,” “The
waterfall of Hugh the red,” who was drowned there. This is nearer the
sea; but at the period ascribed to Ossian, the name could not have been
given to the spot, as the death of Aedh ruadh mac Badhairn, from whom
the cascade was named, occurred, according to the Four Masters, in A.M.
4518.
[77] Kings among the Celts were, at an early period, persons of much
less consequence than the name would now seem to imply. In Ireland,
there were four provincial sovereignties besides the national one.
But even this does not give an accurate representation of the Celtic
polity. The fact is, every ruler of a district and leader of an army
was called a King. Of this we have ample evidence in Cæsar’s account of
the state of Britain at the period of the Roman invasion. In Scotland,
tradition points to several kingdoms. In the Western Highlands the
Island of Mull is said to have formed a kingdom by itself, called
“Rioghachd na Drealluin,” “the Kingdom of Drealinn,” from “dreall,” a
“bar” or “sneck,” applied to the Sound of Mull, which shuts out all
strangers from the Island. Islay was called “Rioghachd Modheadh,”
or the “Southwest Kingdom,” from its position. Morvern was called
“Iorruaidh,” to which frequent reference is made both in Scottish and
Irish Celtic tradition. Ardnamurchan was called “Sorcha,” the kingdom
of Daire Borb’s father, from its mountainous character, “Sorcha”
meaning “high,” whence “sorchan,” “a tripod.” “Tir bàr fo thuinn,” or
the land beneath the waves, was Tyree, from the lowness of the land
appearing from a distance as if its surface were on a level with the
sea. If there be any historical accuracy in these traditions, which
have been gathered up from an intelligent old Highlander, skilled in
the lore of his country, this story of Fainesoluis is one in which a
daughter of the ruler of the Island of Tyree is pursued by a son of the
ruler of Ardnamurchan. Poetry gives a consequence and magnitude to the
event, which in all probability the naked reality did not possess.
[78] “Mo chomraich ort,” “my protection be on thee,” was an appeal
which the Celtic warrior could never reject when made by the weak and
helpless. In Christian times, the word “Comraich” came to be applied to
the “girths” or “sanctuaries” around places of worship and other sacred
spots, where accused persons might flee for security. Hence the Gaelic
name of the parish of Applecross in Rosshire, “A Chomraich,” or “the
Sanctuary,” formed round the church dedicated to St. Malrube, an early
Christian missionary.
[79] As already observed, this name is in Irish editions of the poem
“Mayre.” See Miss Brooks’ “_Reliques of Irish Poetry_.”
[80] “Geasan,” “bonds.” The word here appears to mean a simple pledge,
although in most cases it implies the exercise of some magical power.
In those cases of metamorphosis so common in Celtic tales, the persons
who have been made to undergo the change are said to be “fo gheasaibh,”
“under spells.” The mythology of the Celts has much in common with that
of Eastern nations.
[81] The magical steed of Daire borb was capable of carrying its master
over sea and land. In many ancient Celtic Tales we read of ships which
could also traverse sea and land.
[82] The word in the original here is “criss zerk,” the “red belt.”
This is, however, in all probability, a mistake of the Dean’s for
“craoiseach,” a “javelin.” It is not easy to see what could be meant by
the “red belt” on Oscar’s left arm. It could hardly signify the straps
of the shield. If it be “craoiseach,” the bard would seem to indicate
that Oscar was left-handed, like the sons of Benjamin.
[83] “Na tri caoil,” or the “three smalls,” were the neck, the ankles,
and the wrists. Prisoners of war had this triple binding applied to
them.
[84] These supplementary lines would appear to be either additional
lines or various readings. There are two given in the Gaelic, which
are not translated, as being of little consequence, and which seem
intended to come in between the ninety-eighth and ninety-ninth lines.
The first eight lines of this additional fragment are probably intended
to fall in between the hundred and twenty-eighth and the hundred and
twenty-ninth lines, the last eight to close the poem. Dr. Smith, in the
Report on Ossian’s Poems given in to the Highland Society, states, that
the Edition given in this supplement is inconsistent with that in the
body of the Poem, and must be held to contain various readings.