Heroes of the dawn/The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair
THE PURSUIT OF THE GILLA DECAIR
I
The beech leaves were turning brown and crimson and gold when Fionn mac Cumall, with some of the Fianna, left the Hill of Allen to hunt through the forests of Munster. One day, however, Fionn, instead of following the chase, sat on a sunny hillside with a few of his men, and among them was Conan mac Morna, who had a more bitter and abusive tongue than all the rest of the Fianna together.
After resting there quietly for a time, listening to the pleasant baying of the hounds and the calling of his men, Fionn said:
"No guard has yet been set on the hill to tell us when friend or enemy approaches. Finnbane, son of Bresal, will you keep watch and ward so that none can come upon us unawares?"
"I will, chief," answered Finnbane, and rising he ascended to the hill-top, from whence he could watch the paths leading north and south, east and west. He had not been long there, when he saw, coming from the east towards him, a very tall man, more ugly and misshapen than any one he had ever seen before. His two arms were not the same length, and one leg was shorter than the other; even his eyes looked different ways, and, to make his appearance worse, he was as black-looking as though he had been dipped in bog-mud. He was dragging a feeble, miserable-looking grey horse along by a thick, rough rope, and when Finnbane saw the thinness of the animal he felt very sorry for it. Sometimes the horse would stop, then the man would tug at its head and hit its ribs—which were nearly sticking out through its skin—with a big stick, and each time that he struck the horse it sounded like the beating of a drum.
Finnbane watched this strange couple till they came nearer, then he hurried down the hillside to tell Fionn about them. Before he could speak Fionn said:
"What is that noise I hear? It is like the sound of sticks on a stretched skin."
"It is that indeed," said Finnbane angrily, "and I wish I had the maker of that noise under my hands for a few minutes."
Just then the big man, still tugging at his slow-moving horse, came into sight, and the Fians watched him with great amusement as he approached. When at last he reached them he bent his knee before Fionn in greeting, and Fionn, after regarding him in silent astonishment for a moment, said:
"Surely you do not belong to this country, for in all our years of wandering we have never seen one like you before. Tell us, what is the name of your clan?"
"I do not know much of my clan," the stranger replied gruffly, "nor do I want to; it is quite enough for me to mind myself and this sulky old horse, without troubling about any clan at all."
"Truly that horse is a wonder to look upon," interrupted Conan mac Morna, "and care should be taken that nothing evil happens to it. It must be a queer country that produced both you and that extraordinary animal at the same time."
The big man glared with one eye at Conan, at the same time turning the other eye round to look at his horse, which was snapping away with its long teeth at his back. Then he continued:
"I am a descendant of the Fomorians, and I have come to you for employment, Fionn mac Cumall, because I have heard that in the matter of payment you are not at all mean, and never yet denied to any man what he was worth."
"I have not," said Fionn, "nor will I now. But I wonder you travel without a boy to attend to your horse, which seems rather troublesome."
"Nothing would worry me more than to have a boy with me," said the man. "Every day I need as much food as would serve a hundred men, and even that I count very little for myself. If I had a boy he would only be meddling with it, and eating it himself, and that would cause me much vexation."
All the Fians laughed out loud; but Fionn continued:
"By what name are you known?"
"You can call me the Gilla Decair," the man replied.
"But that means the Unwilling Servant!" exclaimed Fionn, in a surprised manner. "Why have you chosen such an unpleasant name?"
"I chose it," the man answered, "because any work I have to do for whoever is my master for the time being comes harder to me than anything else in the whole world. But tell me," he said, turning to Conan mac Morna, "among the Fianna do the horsemen or the footmen have the greater wage?"
"The horsemen have twice as much as the footmen," said Conan.
"Then I shall be a horseman, Conan, and if any one doubts my word I shall expect you to testify that I came among you with a horse——"
"A horse!" repeated Conan scornfully. "I wonder you are not ashamed to be seen with it, though indeed you are just as bad-looking yourself. I hope," he said, turning to Fionn, "you are not going to disgrace the Fianna by taking that ill-favoured wretch there into it, and putting his bag of bones—calls it a horse, indeed!—among our horses."
"As a horseman I come to you, Fionn mac Cumall, and a horseman's wages I expect," said the Gilla Decair. "If you can pledge your word that nothing shall happen to my horse, I will turn him out among yours, and not heed what that abusive man there says."
"Turn him out by all means, and let him eat something," said Fionn.
"I take you at your word," said the Gilla Decair, and he took the halter from the horse's head. The animal immediately galloped away as fast as he could, until it came to where the Fians' horses were grazing; then it began to work the most tremendous havoc among them. It bit their eyes out with its long vicious teeth, and snapped off their ears, and broke their legs with its hard kicks, until the frightened creatures that still had power to move fled away from it in terror.
"Take your vicious beast away from our horses," cried Conan; "take that demon away, I say. By the heaven above and the earth beneath I swear, had not Fionn told you to put him there, that nothing would prevent me from splitting his head with my sword and letting his wicked brains loose on the ground. As for you, Fionn," he said, turning to the chief, "out of all the bad people you have picked up at one time and another, you never had, and you never will have, a worse man than this."
"By the heaven above and the earth beneath I swear too," said the Gilla Decair, "that not one hand will I lift to take him away. I am a Fian now, and it would be undignified for me to lead my horse by hand."
Conan mac Morna rose in terrible wrath, and going over to the horse put its halter on, and brought it away from the other horses. All the Fians laughed when they saw Conan holding this animal—which looked so feeble and spiritless, and yet possessed the temper of a demon not daring to let it loose again because of further mischief it might do.
"Oh, Conan, never have I seen you do horse-boy's work before for any of the Fianna," said Fionn, "yet now you are doing it for this miserable Fomorian, who is far inferior in every way to your companions. Now, if you'll heed my words, you will mount that horse, and gallop him up the hills, and down the valleys, and over the fields and streams until his heart is broken in his body and he dies. In that way we shall exact payment from the Fomorian for the destruction his horse has wrought on ours."
"For once you have given good advice," said Conan, as he vaulted on the horse's back, with great fury striking it and digging his heels into its ribs, but it never stirred.
"I know what is the matter with him," said Fionn. "He is accustomed to carry the great weight of his Fomorian master, and he won't move unless he has on his back an equal weight."
One Fian after another went over to the horse and mounted, until there were thirteen at the back of Conan. At that the horse lay down on the ground, then suddenly jerked up again, and all the Fians, both on the horse and off, laughed so much and so loud that you could have heard them miles away.
"You are treating my horse with ridicule," said the Gilla Decair, "and putting scorn on me. As for you, Fionn, when I see your great frivolity, I should pity myself if I stopped with you. Moreover, I perceive that all the good reports I have heard of you are false, and I shall think all the better of myself when I have parted company with you."
The Gilla Decair turned away, and in a very weak and weary manner proceeded to ascend a little hill before him. But no sooner was he on the other side, out of sight of the Fians, than he fastened his coat up round his waist, and ran as quickly as the stars shooting through the sky on a frosty night, or as an arrow flies from the bow that is drawn by a strong arm.
When the horse saw that his master had forsaken him, he took to galloping after him as hard as he could, and would not be stopped. Fionn and the Fians laughed and shouted with delight at sight of those thirteen men hanging closely on behind Conan; but he, perceiving that he could not dismount, screamed and called to the Fians to stop that demon of a horse, and not let them be carried away by that hideous and terrible man, of whom they had no knowledge.
"O Fionn," he cried, "may all ill happen to you by sea and by land; may some one who is worse than you—if that be possible—deprive you of life and cut off your head, if you do not follow us to whatever part of the world that man shall take us, and bring us safely back to Ireland again."
"I will do that," said Fionn, and he and his men immediately set out, following the Gilla Decair and his horse over hills, through valleys, and across rivers until they came to the sea; then just as the horse was dashing into the water after its master one of the Fians, called Liagan Luath, caught up to it and held it by the tail, thinking that would stop its flight. Still the horse continued its journey into the sea, pulling Liagan after it; and always as they went the sea divided before them, showing a clean dry path ahead, but rolled its foaming waves behind them, and both horse and men vanished from the Fians' sight.
Fionn was greatly concerned that so many of his men were taken away from him in such a manner, though Conan had put him under promise to recover them.
"What are we to do now?" asked Oisin.
"What shall we do," Fionn answered, "except follow them to wherever the Fomorian has taken them, and by some means or other contrive to set them free?"
"But we have neither ship nor boat," said Oisin, "and even if we had, how could we trace them across the shifting water?"
"I remember," said Fionn, " hat the Tuatha de Danann at one time gave to the Gael a faery ship, that would carry all who used it wherever they wished to journey. We will go straight to Ben Edar, where we shall find this ship."
The Fians turned to go, but as Fionn gave a last look over the sea he saw, coming towards him over the wet grey sands, two very tall men, with bright-bladed swords and shields wonderfully engraved with lions and leopards and other fierce beasts. They bowed their heads and bent their knees in greeting to the Fian chief, and in answer to Fionn's questions one of them said he was Feradach the Champion, and he and his companion had come from a far Eastern land to proffer their services to him.
"What can you do?" asked Fionn.
"Two things of power I possess an axe and a sling," said Feradach. "If there were as many as three thousand of your men waiting to sail over the sea, yet with three blows of my axe upon the sling-holder I could produce enough ships to hold them all. The only request I would make is that they should not look upon me while I strike those blows."
"That is a marvellous feat," said Fionn. "Is your companion able to perform wonders also?"
"My art is this," said the other man, "that I can follow the trail of any living creature over mountains and bogs and through forests, and discover where it hides itself, and it is as easy for me to do this on water as on land."
"I think," said Fionn, "that beyond all others you are the men we stand most in need of at the present moment," and he told them how the Gilla Decair had captured fifteen of his people.
Feradach said he would gladly help Fionn, and the Fians covered their eyes with their cloaks while he struck his sling-stick three times with his axe; when the Fians uncovered their eyes they saw in the water before them a large ship, with masts and sails ready set for a voyage.
Caeilté rose then and shouted loudly, so that wherever in Ireland the Fianna were they heard those shouts, and hastened to Fionn, for they feared some great danger or peril threatened him.
When the Fianna had all gathered they held counsel together, and it was agreed that Fionn, with fifteen of his men, should go in pursuit of the Gilla Decair; and during his absence Oisin should have command of the Fianna and keep guard over Ireland. As soon as Fionn had given all his instructions to Oisin, he and his men boarded the ship, which passed over the high waves as swiftly as a sea-gull flies.
Three days and three nights they journeyed without seeing land, but on the morning of the fourth day one of the Fians climbed a mast, and far over the tossing sea descried an island, with huge cliffs rising sheer from the ocean. Soon the ship drew near to the island, and stopped of its own accord; but the Fians, seeing how little foothold the high slippery rocks afforded, wondered how they would ever climb them. Then Fergus Truelips, one of the Fians' Druids, spoke and said to Diarmuid, grandson of Duibhne:
"Though in your youth you were the companion of Angus Oge, and the wise and kingly Manannan brought you up in his Land of Promise, there teaching you many druidical and magic arts, yet you seem impotent to help in the hour of need, and lack that skill and courage one would expect from you, who have had the immortal gods for your friends and teachers. Is it not possible for you to devise some way whereby we can land on this rock-encircled island, and search for our lost comrades?"
Diarmuid's face grew red with indignation at being spoken to so scornfully, but he said nothing. He looked from the ship to the cliff, and considered for a moment, then he made a sudden mighty leap, and landed on a jutting ledge of rock far above his head. His comrades, however, could not accomplish that leap, so Diarmuid called to them that he would explore the island, and bring them word if the Fians were there.
He walked away from the rock and through a thick wood full of blossoming trees, until he came to a wide plain. He stood on the edge of the wood and surveyed the plain for some sign of life, but in all the space before him there was not one being to be seen. Only in the midst of the plain stood an immense leafy tree, and under the tree a deep clear spring of running water bubbled, and by the side of it an amber-coloured drinking-cup was lying on a big stone. Diarmuid walked over to it and picked up the cup, but as he was filling it there came a loud murmuring from the well, and he knew then that some magician had placed spells on it.
"All the same," he said aloud, "I will drink as much as I want of it," and he drank one cupful after another.
He bent down to replace the cup on the stone, and when he stood up again he saw before him a stern-looking man with a drawn sword in his hand.
"You have no right here," said the man, "walking on my land and drinking my water without permission." With that he slashed at Diarmuid's head, but did not touch him.
"It is an unchivalrous act, and one that the Fians have never done, to attack a man before he is ready," said Diarmuid as he drew his sword.
All through the day they fought, and many hard blows they exchanged, but when dusk began to fall the magician—as Diarmuid imagined him to be—dived into the well and disappeared, and to Diarmuid this was a grief, for his fighting madness was just coming on
A DEEP CLEAR SPRING OF RUNNING WATER BUBBLED. DIARMUID WALKED OVER TO IT
him. The next morning, however, the magician appeared again, and the fight was continued till evening, when he again disappeared. The same thing occurred on the following day, but when the magician would have dived into the well as before, Diarmuid seized him round the neck, and they both fell in together.
Down they dropped through the clear water, and when the bottom was reached Diarmuid was so astonished at the sight before his eyes that he loosened his grip on the magician, who escaped as quickly as he could.
The well had widened out into a broad lake, with little waves breaking on golden sands, and rippling over Diarmuid's feet. He stood there, wondering what country of the Sidhe he had reached, for before him stretched a wide green plain, with beautiful flowers growing over it, and shining white palaces standing in its midst, and before the largest of the palaces a multitude of armed men were gathered. Then Diarmuid saw the magician passing through this warlike host, and raising the battle shout of the Fianna he ran quickly after him. But the magician escaped through the gates into the palace, and the whole army turned to do battle with the Fian.
Though Diarmuid was so greatly outnumbered he felt no fear, for his battle-fury rose in him stronger than ever. Again and again, sword in hand, he went through the host, and wherever he passed he left a laneway of dead and dying warriors. At last his enemies fled from him in terror, leaving him alone on the battle-field; and he, exhausted and full of wounds, sank down on the ground and fell asleep.
After a time he was awakened by a touch on the shoulder, and grasping his weapons in his hands, he rose to his feet.
"I can still fight," he cried, facing the big man who had disturbed him.
"Not so quick, Diarmuid ua Duibhne," said the man. "I have not come to harm you, but to warn you that your enemies' ground is an ill place for you to rest upon. Come with me, and I will show you a safer place to sleep in, and one where you can be healed of your wounds."
The Druid, for such he was, conducted Diarmuid a long distance through the country until at last they came to a high castle surrounded by woods, and tended him so well that at the end of three days he was completely healed. Diarmuid then inquired what country he had come to, and who was the head of it. The man replied:
"This is Tir-fa-tonn—the Land under the Waves—and he whom you fought with is its king, and an ancient enemy of mine; for that reason, also because from your manner of fighting I knew you to be one of Fionn's champions, I determined to aid you. I myself was with Fionn for a year long ago, and a better master and a nobler man than he never lived. Now tell me what brought you here?"
Diarmuid then related to the Druid the story of the Gilla Decair and the Fians, and of the search that was being made for them.
II
In the meantime Fionn had grown very uneasy at the prolonged absence of Diarmuid. At last he told his men to cut down the masts of the ship and make ladders from them and the ropes of the sails, and with the aid of the ladders they climbed the precipitous cliff. When the Fians came to the edge of the wood they knew that Diarmuid had been there, for they saw the bed of green leaves he had made for himself, but beyond that they found no trace of him.
Presently, as Fionn was looking over the plain, considering what next he should do, he heard the muffled sound of a horse's hoofs beating on the grass, and soon a horseman came into sight; when he drew near to Fionn they welcomed each other, and the man invited Fionn and his warriors to his dun, offering them hospitality for as long as they would stay.
That evening, when supper was over, Fionn said to his host:
"Tell me now what country this is, and who is its king?"
"This is the country called Sorcha, and I am its king. But, alas! a foreign ruler has cast a covetous eye upon my little kingdom, and I hear that he has set forth with a great number of warriors to conquer my small army."
Just then a messenger came hastily to the king, saying:
"O King, the sea is covered with ships as thickly as the grass is flecked with blown apple blossoms in spring-time, and armed men are ravaging the country-side and plundering the people."
The King of Sorcha sighed, and said despondently:
"How can I hope to withstand this invader? Almost every country in the world is under tribute to him, and I fear that my small kingdom too must fall."
Fionn laughed in a cheerful manner, and said:
"Have no fear, king. When I was a boy I vowed that wherever I found an oppressed people, or one unjustly treated, I would fight for them, and never yet have I broken my word. I will hold your country for you as long as I am here." Then he turned to his little band of Fians: "Are you willing to fight on behalf of this king?"
Their eyes gleamed, and they shouted with joy at thought of the coming battle; they would follow their chief gladly, even though he led them to death.
The next morning the Fians, and the King of Sorcha with his army, sought the invaders, and on the wide open plain gave them battle. That day the Fians were like destroying eagles among a flock of delicate lambs, and by sunset the destruction of the foreigners was so great that only a few escaped to tell their king they were defeated.
"But who are these fighters?" asked the foreign king angrily. "Never before have I heard of the valiant deeds of these Irishmen—no, not even in tradition—nor do I believe it now. Buckle on my armour, for I will go against them myself, and destroy them so that there shall not be one left."
When this speech came to Fionn's ears he laughed, though he was very angry, and gathering his Fians together he made a terrible onslaught on his enemies, driving all that were left alive to the shore, where they hurriedly embarked on their ships and sailed away: nor did they ever seek to wage war on the King of Sorcha again.
After the battle was over Fionn said to the king:
"I have helped you against your enemies, now I must depart on my own affairs, for the Fians would cry shame on me did I not continue my search for their comrades."
The king inquired whom Fionn was searching for, and on hearing the tale of the Gilla Decair and of Diarmuid's long absence, said:
"Delay your departure a little while, O Fionn, for to-morrow a great feast will take place, and all my people will gather to thank you for your help, and give you homage. When that is over, I and my men will help you in your search for Diarmuid, nor will I leave you till he is found."
So Fionn waited, and on the morrow, as they were all feasting outside the dun, a great company of warriors, armed with keen battle-swords and tall sharp spears, came marching across the plain, and Fionn gave a shout of welcome when he saw that, foremost of all, walked Diarmuid with a Druid by his side.
"You have come at the right time, Diarmuid," said Fionn; "in another few hours we should all have been searching for you. But who are the people with you, and tell me have you any news of your comrades?"
"I have news, O chief, and it was told me by this Druid, who by his magic art has discovered where the Fians are. The man who carried them off—he who called himself the Gilla Decair—is Abartach, a prince in the Land of Promise; and how you will get them away from that country I do not know," said Diarmuid.
Fionn sat still, pondering what course to pursue now, then suddenly he rose up from the banquet, and went to a lonely place in a wood near by, where in secrecy and with words of power he invoked the aid of Manannan, supreme lord of the Hidden Lands in the western sea. When he had ended his invocation he heard a sound like the rumbling of sea-waves in hollow places, and a shimmering many-coloured mist gathered about him; then in the midst of this mist the sea-god, covered with a blue mantle, in which glittered a myriad star-like lights, appeared and promised his aid to Fionn.
When the morning dawned Fionn and his warriors bade farewell to the King of Sorcha, who gave them many rare and precious gifts in token of his friendship and gratitude, and set forth for the sea-coast. As they approached the sea they saw a wonderful ship with a shining white hull and sails of gold, rocking gently to and fro on the sunlit waves. In all the world there was no other ship like it; for this was the Ocean-Sweeper of Manannan, the magic ship which needed no hand to guide it, but of its own accord sought and found the desired haven, and was not hindered by any tempest or storm-tossed sea.
The Fians boarded the ship, and just as a swallow spreads its wings and sweeps through the air, so the golden sails unfurled and the ship skimmed over the water. Then, when the sun had set, and the blue shadows of twilight were falling, the ship slackened speed; and it seemed to the Fians that, as they looked before them, a beautiful island rose out of the sea almost under the ship's prow. Silently they disembarked, and stood looking around them in wonder, for even in their dreams they had never beheld such an enchanted land as this. A golden light was over everything, and faery towers and palaces of crystal brightness lifted themselves above the groves of flowering trees which surrounded them. The spreading green lawns were covered with flowers, which shone like amethysts and sapphires and all manner of precious stones; and sweet singing-birds flew about, fearlessly perching on the heroes' shoulders or hands as they stood there±for this was the Land of Promise, the land of everlasting youth, where death and sorrow and evil were unknown.
After a time Fionn and his men began to walk towards a house showing between the trees, but at that moment a tall, handsome man, with long fair hair falling over his shoulders, and wearing a cloak of purple silk, fastened at the shoulder with a gold brooch, came towards them. He was followed by a number of warriors who, when they saw Fionn and his heroes, shouted with joy; for these were the Fians who had been carried away on the demon horse, and often they had feared they would never see their country or their friends again.
"I bring you your men, Fionn," said the man, "and of them all there isn't a man I wouldn't like for my own, except Conan mac Morna, who night and day unceasingly abuses and reviles every one near him. And sorry I am, Fionn, that a gentle and generous man like you should have such a scurrilous and loud-voiced person as that son of Morna in your Fianna, for his tongue is like the clapper of a bell that is constantly blown by the wind."
The Fians laughed, and Fionn looked intently at the speaker, but failed to recognise him. Then he said:
"Tell me now who you are, for surely if I had met you before I should remember that meeting?"
Hefore the stranger could speak Conan said, scornfully:
"He was the Gilla Decair once, and well was he named that. Now he calls himself the Prince Abartach. Prince indeed! In that long lanky body of his he hasn't the soul or the wit of a fly, and truly I shall be glad to get away from him; for bad as you are, Fionn, he is worse, and little of generosity or princeliness is there in his nature."
"If you are the Gilla Decair," said Fionn, "you must make amends to me for the trouble I have had in searching for my Fians."
"Whatever trouble you have had, Fionn," said Abartach, "is nothing compared to the annoyance I have undergone at the tongue of that man Conan." Then, as Conan began to abuse him again, he continued: "Take him away quickly, I implore you, for I am weary of the sound of his voice."
Even as he spoke the last word he disappeared, and whether he went up into the air, or down into the ground, neither Fionn nor his Fians ever knew, for they never saw him again.
Then the Ocean-Sweeper carried them back to their own country, and this is how the pursuit of the Gilla Decair ended, and how Fionn recovered his men from the Land of Promise.