Heroes of the dawn/Fionn
FIONN
About the middle of the fifth century a very holy man, who was known as St. Patrick, was walking over Ireland with a number of his pupils, some of whom were ordered by him to write down the various events which happened to them as they journeyed through the land, bringing to people a new religion to replace their worship of the ancient gods.
One day they were gathered together on a rath where, two or three centuries before, Fionn mac Cumall with his hero-hunters had often rested, and as they looked out over the plain they saw approaching them a little band of very tall and ancient men, accompanied by huge wolf-hounds. So tall were they that the tallest of Patrick's men reached only to their waists. Patrick and his followers grew afraid as they looked on the old men, for they thought these were surely the shadows of mighty beings who had lived on the earth long ages before. With slow and heavy footsteps the ancients drew nearer, until they stood before St. Patrick.
They looked at each other in silence, then St. Patrick questioned them:
"Who and what are you?" he asked. "Are you living, or have you returned from the land of the dead?"
"I am Caeilté mac Ronan, a chief of the Fianna Eireann," said the leader of the little band. "My friends were the noble Fionn, brown-haired Diarmuid, and Oscur the brave. Alas, but few of us remain; only Oisin with nine men, I and my nine men: soon we, too, shall join our comrades in the Isles of Promise."
Patrick and his people listened to Caeilté's words with great astonishment, and wondered that any one could live so long. Some of them were inclined to disbelieve him, but the wise Patrick knew that he spoke the truth, and for many months kept Caeilté with him as he travelled to and fro through Ireland. As they came to one after another of the places where Fionn and his famous warriors had hunted or battled, Caeilté would stop and narrate to Patrick the history of the place, and tell of the deeds wrought by Fionn and his heroes, and of the adventures which befell them. Then Patrick would tell his chief scribe Brogan to write down all that Caeilté said, so that the memory of the noble Fionn and his Fianna should be preserved to the people that came after.
To make the following stories more interesting to you I will tell you something about the Fianna Eireann and Fionn's boyhood.
At the beginning of the second century there was a famous body of warrior-hunters—known as the Fians, or Fianna Eireann in Ireland. Of the Fianna two clans were preeminent: these were the Clan Basna, or Leinster Fians, over whom the hero Cumall was chief; and the Clan Morna, or Connaught Fians, who were under the chieftainship of Goll mac Morna. Often these two clans were at enmity with each other, striving for the leadership of the Fianna Eireann, and sometimes one would conquer, sometimes the other.
At this time Conn of the Hundred Battles was high king over Ireland and over the provincial kings; but Owen Mor, king of the southern province, rebelled and declared war on him, and Cumall with his Fians fought for Owen against Conn and the Fians of Goll mac Morna. The battle was held at Castle Knock, near Dublin, where the southern king was defeated and Cumall with many of his Fians were slain. The remnant of the Clan Basna fled to the hills and deep forests, but the Clan Morna pursued and destroyed them wherever they were found.
Fionn, the son of Cumall his—real name was Deimne, but I will tell you later how he gained the name of Fionn—was a small baby when his father was killed, and he, too, would have surely fallen a victim to the swords of the Clan Morna had not two Druidesses mysteriously appeared one day, and carried him away with them to the heights and forest fastnesses of the Slieve Bloom mountains. There, in almost complete solitude, Fionn mac Cumall was reared—he who in future years was to raise the Fianna Eireann to undreamt-of power, and whose great deeds inspired the bards of this and other countries to sing unnumbered songs in his honour.
Six years passed away, then word was sent to Fionn's mother Muireen—who was said to belong to the faery people of the Sidhe (Shee)—that her boy was safe. In great secrecy and haste, over bog and hill and plain, she travelled till she reached the hut that sheltered her little boy and his guardians, and found him lying peacefully asleep on his bed of skins and rushes. She would gladly have taken him home with her, but the Clan Morna still vowed hostility against any of the Clan Basna who might be living, and on account of her little son Muireen held them in fear. When she bade farewell to the Druidesses she asked them to still protect her child, and teach him all that a Fian should know, so that when he grew older he could take vengeance on the Clan Morna for the death of his father Cumall.
Soon after Muireen returned home it came to the Clan Morna's knowledge that a son of Cumall still lived, and far and near they sought for him to kill him. The wise Druidesses had foreknowledge of this, and long before the Clan Morna searched the Slieve Bloom mountains Fionn had been hurried south and hidden safely away in the Galtees; but when the Clan Morna gave up the search and returned to Tara this small child, who was hunted so relentlessly by his enemies, was carried back again by the Druidesses to his mountain home.
Though very young, Fionn already showed signs of that bravery and undaunted courage for which he became so famous in after years, and fear was unknown to him. As a child he would go hunting by himself through forest and over mountain, and return to the Druidesses laden with hares or wild fowl; when he grew older he would hunt and run down the swift deer on foot, and stand up unafraid before the fiercest boar.
Year after year passed by, and when the Druidesses had taught Fionn all their ancient wisdom—had taught him also to be noble and
THEY FOUND HIM LYING PEACEFULLY ASLEEP ON HIS BED OF SKINS AND RUSHES
courteous in deed and speech—he left them and wandered hither and thither through the land, serving the kings and chiefs of whatever province he chanced to be in. During this period he had many adventures, and gained great fame as a warrior, though he was still a lad in years, and unknown as the son of Cumall. Finally he came to the old poet Finnegas, to learn the art of poetry and all that was known of the past history of his country.
For seven years Finnegas had lived on the Boyne, watching for an old prophecy to be fulfilled; and this prophecy was that one day there would appear up the Boyne a mysterious fish known as the "Salmon of Knowledge," and that whoever caught and partook of that fish first would know all things, both past and present. It was furthermore predicted that one named Fionn should capture this fish, and the old poet, believing that to him the prophecy applied, waited patiently year after year for its fulfilment.
So Fionn had his dwelling with Finnegas, but the old poet knew him only by his name of Deimne. Day after day, as the old man instructed Fionn in the making of verses and other learning, they watched the stream. Then one afternoon, in the spring of the year, with many rushes and leaps a magnificent salmon came up stream, and stopped in the deep and beautiful pool of Feic, which they were sitting by.
"Surely this must be the fish which the prophecy speaks of," said Finnegas. "It is more beautiful than any I have ever seen before. Catch it for me, Deimne, for you are strong, and when it is caught, roast it by the fire. But I put you under geasa (vow) not to taste any portion of it; bring it to me when it is cooked."
Fionn roasted the salmon, and afterwards carried it to Finnegas.
"Have you eaten any of it, Deimne?" asked the old man.
"No," said the youth; "I gave you my word, and never yet have I broken my promise. But in turning the fish before the fire I burnt my thumb on its hot skin and placed it in my mouth to ease the smart."
"Then by you is the prophecy fulfilled, not by me," said the old man sorrowfully, "and Fionn must be your name."
Henceforth Deimne was mostly called Fionn, and sometimes the "Golden Salmon of Knowledge," because the story says that from the time he touched the salmon he had knowledge of both the past and the future. When he wished to divine any special thing he would place his thumb in his mouth, and nothing was hidden from him.
The foregoing is a legend which is told in many old books of how Fionn gained his wisdom. You will remember that I have already told you a little about Fintann, the ancient Tuatha de Danann god, who was called the "Salmon of Knowledge," and who is said to have appeared in the guise of a salmon age after age. This legend seems to be the record of his last visible appearance on earth; afterwards he clothed himself with the Faed Fia—the Veil of Invisibility—and retired to the Land of the Ever-Living Ones.
When Fionn had finished his education by perfecting his knowledge on the banks of the Boyne he went forth boldly into all parts of Ireland, without fear of the hostile Clan Morna. Though the Clan Basna was supposed to have been exterminated by the Clan Morna at and in the years following the battle of Castle Knock, yet towards the close of the second century—when Conn's son, Art the Lonely, was reigning over Ireland—we find the Clan Basna re-arisen to greater power, under the leadership of Fionn, than it ever held before. So powerful indeed were they, and so great was Fionn's fame throughout Ireland on account of his wisdom and heroic deeds, that Art—some accounts say Conn the Hundred-Fighter—gave him the chieftainship of the Fianna Eireann; and Goll mac Morna with his Fians, putting their ancient enmity with the Clan Basna aside, placed their hands in Fionn's and vowed to serve him and be faithful to him as long as they lived.
Now, too, came the Fianna of other provinces, who took vows of faithfulness also, and the legends tell us that strong and mighty warriors came from Scotland and Britain and far-off countries, craving to be admitted into Fionn's Fianna. But before Fionn would admit them they had to undergo many severe tests, demanding great courage and endurance and chivalry; if they failed in any one of these they could not belong to the Fianna.
As the bodily strength and endurance of the Fians had to be greater than other men's so, too, had they to possess certain qualities and virtues. To the Fians a promise was sacred—no matter what its fulfilment involved it could not be set aside or broken. Splendid, too, was their chivalry towards enemies and appreciation of the brave deeds of opponents; while their immense pride in noble qualities is portrayed, for instance, in these words spoken by Oisin:
We, the Fianna of Eireann, never uttered lies,
Falsehood was never attributed to us:
By courage and the strength of our hands
We used to come out of every difficulty.
To the Fians the telling of a lie would have been as repugnant, and as great an act of cowardice, as turning their backs on an enemy, which they never did.
Nor was there any meanness among the Fianna a great generosity was characteristic of them all. Of Fionn especially it is said he was so generous that:
Were but the brown leaf that the wood sheds from it gold,
Were but the white billow silver,
Fionn would have given it all away.
Though from the legendary accounts Fionn and his Fians appear to have spent a great portion of their time in hunting, yet they had a very definite work to perform, for they were appointed by the high king to be the keepers of peace in the land, and to repel the invaders who often came from over sea to make war on Ireland. It is for that reason they had so many camping-places on the coast, and kept watch and ward both over sea and land.
For six months in the year, from May to November, they lived in camps, hunting and supporting themselves, and moving from one province to another as they chose. From November to May some of the Fianna were quartered on the people throughout Ireland; but there was always a standing army of Fianna at Tara as a guard to the high king—we find them spoken of as the "Four Pillars of Tara"—and always there appears to have been a great number of Fians at Fionn's dim on the Hill of Allen.
For many, many years, through the reign of Art the Lonely, his son Cormac and grandson Cairbre, the Fianna Eireann continued their glad and powerful career, light-hearted and joyful alike in time of peace or in war. But Fionn was now very old, and trouble began to brood between the southern king and the high king—the weak and easily-led Cairbre. The king of Munster prepared to make war on Cairbre, and the Clan Morna, their old enmity and jealousy against the Clan Basna reawakening, chose this period to desert from the Fianna Eireann, and by one means and another gained the favour of King Cairbre for themselves.
Now the remainder of the Fianna Eireann entered into the service of the Munster king, and with him marched to the plain of Gabhra, which lies near Tara, and opened battle on Cairbre and his army. But the star of power for the Fianna Eireann had set, and though they conquered Cairbre with his multitudes yet were the Fian-heroes nearly all slain. The story says that of all those who went into the battle only Fionn's son Oisin, and Caeilté mac Ronan, with a score or two of warriors, survived. These, so the legends tell us, lived among the Ever-Living Ones until they reappeared to St. Patrick two centuries later, and narrated to him the life and deeds of Fionn and his heroes.
So, at the battle of Gabhra, in the year 283, died the Fianna Eireann, a band of the bravest and most knightly warriors who ever lived.