Tell us now, Fergus,
Bard of Erin’s Feinn,
How did fare the day
In Gawra’s furious fight.
Not good, son of Cumhail,
The tidings from Gawra’s fight.
Dear Oscar lives no more,
He who bravely fought;
Caoilte’s seven sons are gone,
With the commons of Alvin’s Feinn.
The youth of the Feinn have fallen,
All in their warlike robes.
Mac Luy too is dead,
With six of thy father’s sons.
Fallen are the youth of Alvin,
Dead are the Feinn of Britain.[112]
Lochlin’s king’s son is dead,
Who came to give us aid,
He of the manly heart,
And arm at all times strong.
Tell them now, O Bard,
My son’s son, my delight,
How it was that Oscar
Hewed the helmets through.
It would be hard to tell,
’Twould be a heavy task,
To number all that fell,
Slain by the arms of Oscar.
No swifter is a cataract,
Or hawk in sweeping stoop,
Or rapids rushing fast,
Than in that fight was Oscar.
You saw him, last of all,
Like leaves in windy weather,
Or like a noble aspen,
When hewers strike its stem.
When Erin’s King he saw,
Still living ’midst the fight,
Oscar swift approached him,
As waves break on the strand.
When Cairbar this observed,
He shook his hungry spear,
And through him drove its point.
Chiefest of all our griefs!
Yet Oscar did not quail,
But made for Erin’s King;
With force he aimed a blow,
And smote him with his sword.
Then Art mac Cairbar fell,
Struck with the second blow.
So ’twas that Oscar perished,
With glory, as a King.
Fergus the bard am I,
I’ve travelled every land,
I grieve after the Feinn,
To have my tale to tell.
Tell.
[111] This is another of the compositions of Fergus, the son of Finn,
and brother of Ossian. It will be found to be an account of the death
of Oscar at the battle of Gaura. One composition on this subject by
Allan M’Rory has been given already. M’Rory’s appears to be the more
modern of the two, besides being inferior in many respects to this.
The account of Oscar’s death given here, is in the way of reply to an
inquiry of Finn.
[112] Here we have in this very ancient composition reference to the
Feinn of Britain, Britain including then as now England, Scotland, and
Wales. If the Feinn belonged to Britain as well as Ireland, they could
not have been a mere Irish militia.