Heroes of the dawn/The Mysterious Hound
THE MYSTERIOUS HOUND
One sunny April morning Fionn woke up, troubled by a vague uneasiness, and think as he would he could find no reason for it. At last lie suddenly remembered one of his geasa-one, indeed, that he had forgotten for the time being—that he was not to sleep for more than nine nights in succession at the Hill of Allen, and this was the ninth night he had spent there. All the old kings and heroes had geasa, or prohibitions; that is, certain things which the Druids foretold as being unlucky or fatal for them to do. Some other of Fionn's geasa were that he must never look on a dead man, unless he had been killed by weapons; that he must never refuse a request; and a wise woman, a prophetess, put a prohibition on him never to drink out of a horn, foretelling that if he ever forgot that prohibition and did so drink the day of his death would be near.
He quickly dressed himself, and going to the door called Oisin, who was watching a number of long-legged young lambs gambolling in the meadows below.
"Only this moment have I remembered something that it would have been ill indeed for me to forget," said Fionn. "Nine nights I have slumbered here, and, as you know, I am forbidden to stay beyond that time. Now gather together a battalion of the Fianna, and we will visit the King of Munster. If we start at midday we can easily reach a good camping-ground before dusk."
At noon Fionn and his men, with a number of hounds, set out on their journey, but as they were passing a rath near the level plain of Femen they saw, sitting on its grassy slope, three young men, accompanied by an immense dog whose skin had all the colours of the rainbow over it.
"What a strange-looking hound!" said Fionn to Oisin; "never before have I seen one of that size and colour." Then he spoke to the men: "Who are you, young men, and where do you come from?"
"We are princes, sons of the King of Norway, and have travelled across the sea from the east to meet you, lord of the Fians," they answered.
"What do you seek, or what is your need?" asked Fionn.
"We have heard of your fame as a warrior, and we wish to take service with you," they replied.
"Are you good fighters?" questioned Fionn. "No one can enter the Fianna who has not strength in his arm and unfailing courage in his heart. He must be courteous to his enemies, and loyal to his friends, and truth must be on his tongue always. If a man enters the Fianna Eireann, and after entering fails in either of these things, then the Fians cast him out, and disgrace rests on him whereever he goes."
"We pledge you our word," said they, "that in neither of these things shall we ever fail. Nor are we without knowledge, for certain gifts are ours that may be of use to you some time or other."
"What are they?" asked Fionn.
"I will watch over and guard the Fianna of Ireland, both night and day," said one.
"That is a good thing for one man to be able to do," remarked Fionn; "though indeed it is not my Fians that need guarding, but their enemies."
"Well," said the second, "when they are in danger in any battle or fight I will promise that they are not overcome."
"That is a great thing for one man to promise; but each man of my Fianna is a hero, and has proved himself in many fights," said Fionn proudly. "Moreover, they are always the conquerors in any fight in which they take part."
"If anything should trouble you," said the third, "I will smooth the trouble away; and anything you ask of me I will do. I can promise that if you take us for your men the Fianna will never go hungry, for the hound we have with us is a great hunter, and as long as there are deer in Ireland he will hunt for you one night, and I will hunt the following night, for whatever time we are with you."
"Hitherto the Fianna have been able to hunt for themselves; and if they were not, I do not imagine that fat dog with you could overtake and kill our swift deer or the fierce boar." The brothers frowned, and Fionn added courteously: "However, do not think that I speak disparagingly of either your gifts or your dog; without doubt they will be very useful to us at some future time. Tell me now, before I admit you into the Fianna, whether you have any special conditions or vows to keep?"
"Three things we ask of you," they replied. "One is, that after twilight none must be allowed to come near our camp. Another is, that we do not wish you to give us food and drink; we are under a vow to provide everything for ourselves. Our third request is, that you give us that part of the country to hunt which contains the least game."
"Those are very curious demands," said Fionn. "I should like to know what reason you have for wishing to remain isolated after nightfall? It is a custom of the Fianna to be merry at night after the day's work, and if you hold to this condition you will be lonely while your comrades are feasting."
"We may not tell you our reasons," they answered, "and whether we travel together for a week or for years we must ask you to question us no more. One thing, however, we may tell you: every third night one of us seems to die, and the other two watch him till the dawn comes, for he must not be disturbed. Therefore we would have our camp at a distance from yours."
"I give you my word," said Fionn, "that I and my Fians will never seek to visit you at night-time. Besides, I am forbidden to see a dead man unless he has been killed by weapons."
So the three men entered the Fianna of Ireland; but Fionn, instead of proceeding on his journey, gave instructions to his men to camp by the side of the rath, saying they would stop there for some time and hunt through the country round them.
When they had been there a few days seven men of learning came to Fionn to recite a poem to him, and the fee they demanded afterwards was a hundred and fifty ounces of gold and the same weight of silver, which they wished to take to the king at Tara.
"I have not that amount of gold and silver with me," said Fionn; "and though your poem is good, I am making as good a one myself, and do not want the wealth of the world for it either. I have listened to yours, now I will recite mine to you"; and he began:
The may blooms fair on the high green hedges,
The moor-fowls nest in the reeds and sedges;
On chestnut trees the blackbirds are singing,
And over hills where the wild geese are winging
The furze blows golden and gay.
When the poets heard Fionn speak so contemptuously, as they thought, of their poem they were very indignant and would not listen to him, and said they certainly would not go away without their fee. One of the Norwegian princes, on hearing this, said:
"Well, makers of poems, must you have your fee this evening or will you wait until the morning?"
"If it is forthcoming in the morning we shall be content to wait," they replied.
The three men went away to their lonely camp, and called the hound, saying to it:
"Hound of wonder and magic, help us now."
Then the hound opened its mouth and breathed hard, and with each breath pieces of gold and silver rolled out more quickly than the princes could pick them up, and in the morning the poets received their fee and departed. But Fionn was amazed that the money was forthcoming, and said that the men of Norway were workers of wonders, and that henceforth the rath should be known as "the little rath of wonders."
This was not the only time the princes astonished the Fians by their deeds, for one very hot evening Fionn and his men, returning from a hunting expedition, found that the spring on which they relied for water had almost dried up, and they were far from any other stream or spring.
"What shall we do for water?" asked Fionn. "We could manage well enough if there was a house near that could give us ale; but even if there was we are so thirsty tonight that I think no house—except that of a king—could provide sufficient to quench our thirst."
"How many drinking-cups have you, chief?" asked one of the men of Norway.
"Three hundred and twelve altogether," answered Fionn.
"Pass the cups to me and I will see to the filling of them," said the man; "and do you all drink whatever is found in them."
Three times the cups were filled and emptied, and at the end of the third drinking a mist of enchantment covered the minds of the Fians. Each man beheld his comrade as some one most wonderful and noble, and it seemed to each man there that he was following a path which led to strange adventures—perchance to the hidden Land of the Ever-Young, where the apple-blossoms chimed and rang together like delicate silver bells; and where, whatever a man wished, his wish was fulfilled on the instant; or, if he thought of anything beautiful, his thought took form and shaped itself before his eyes. But in the morning the mist cleared from their minds, and only Fionn and Oisin and Caeilté, and one or two others, remembered that during the night they had been taken away to Tir-na-noge, the happy land where neither sorrow nor death nor anything unlovely has place.
For a year, or perhaps a little more, the three wonder-working princes of Norway were with Fionn wherever he went, and no man sought to intrude upon their solitude at night. They always camped apart, and at the dark of every day would surround their camp with a magic wall of fire, which flamed up high from the ground, hiding them from the sight of every one. Then one night it fell to Dorm and Dubhan, the King of Ulster's sons, to keep guard while the Fians slept. Three times they encircled the camp, and at the end of the third round they stood watching the fiery wall that guarded the camp of the three men.
"It is a curious thing," said Donn, "that for a year or more these young men with their hound have been with us, and no one has ever seen them after nightfall. I have a strong desire this night to pass that fire-wall and see what is happening inside. Will you come with me?"
An indefinable feeling of danger swept over Dubhan, and he was silent for a moment. At last he said:
"If you insist on going, surely I will accompany you; but my mind misgives me about this adventure. I fear it will bring evil to us."
Grasping their shields and spears firmly, they passed through the circle of leaping flames. Then a strange sight met their eyes: one of the three men lay stretched at full length on the ground, motionless and seemingly dead, while another stood beside him, leaning on a long bright sword; the third sat beside the hound, which, to the astonishment of Donn and Dubhan, had shrunk to the size of a small dog one could carry under one's arm. On the ground by its side were silver cups and dishes, and whenever either of the two princes wished for wine or ale, or any other refreshment, he spoke to the little animal, which immediately turned its head and breathed an encircling mist about it, and when it cleared away Donn and Dubhan saw that the cups and dishes contained whatever had been asked for.
The King of Ulster's sons looked and looked again, and forgot their danger in remaining in this place of magic. They forgot, also, that they had broken the promise of solitude Fionn had given on behalf of the Fians to the three men of Norway. In a moment or two, without turning round to look at them, the man sitting by the side of the dog said:
"O hound of wonder and power, the word given by Fionn has been set aside, and those who have broken it are near."
The hound rose, and suddenly assuming its gigantic size breathed hard in the direction of the brothers. Each breath was like a strong rushing wind; with one breath their shields were blown from their shoulders into the rampart of fire, with another their weapons were wrenched from their hands and destroyed also. Then the man who appeared to be
ONE OF THE THREE MEN LAY MOTIONLESS ON THE GROUND
dead rose from the ground, and the three brothers attacked Donn and Dubhan, who having no arms to defend themselves with, were killed.
"Breathe on them, hound, and make them as though they had never lived," said the men.
The hound blew a fiery breath on the bodies of Donn and Dubhan, and immediately they were burned into little heaps of ashes, which were blown hither and thither by the wind.
In the morning it was told to Fionn that Donn and his brother had disappeared, and he sent his men all through Ireland searching for them; but the Fians returned, saying there was no trace anywhere of the King of Ulster's sons. When Fionn heard that he placed his thumb of knowledge in his mouth, and divined instantly the dreadful death that had happened to Donn and Dubhan. Terrible then was the wrath that filled him against the King of Norway's sons—for Fionn alone had power to judge any misdeed or broken word of the Fianna—and taking his spear in his hand he went out to the camp of the men of Norway; but they and their hound had disappeared, nor were they ever seen or heard of in Ireland again.