Old Celtic Romances Part 65

NOTE 21.--_Brendan's Satchel._

The ancient Irish saints, when on their missionary journeys through the country, kept their precious books, as well as the portable sacred utensils, in leather satchels, which they brought with them from place to place. These satchels were often highly ornamented, and, like other relics, were held in extraordinary veneration after the death of the owners. The Gaelic term for this kind of satchel is _polaire_. (See Petrie, "Round Towers," page 336.)

NOTE 22.--_Cormac Mac Art._

Cormac Mac Art, the most ill.u.s.trious of the Irish kings, who began his reign A.D. 254, was the son of Art the Lonely, who was son of Conn the Hundred-fighter. During his reign flourished the Fena or militia, spoken of in the next note; and the old chroniclers never tire of dwelling on the magnificence of his court at Tara, and the prosperity of the country during his reign. He was renowned for learning and wisdom, and he wrote a book called _Tegusc-righ_, or instruction for kings, copies of which are extant in the Books of Leinster and Ballymote. He also caused the records of the kingdom to be collected and written down in one great book called the Psalter of Tara, but no portion of this book is now known to exist; and he established three schools at Tara--one for military science, one for law, and one for history and chronology. He spent the last years of his life in retirement and study at Cletty on the Boyne, and died A.D. 277, forty years after he had ascended the throne.

NOTE 23.--_Finn and the Fena._

The Fena or "Fena of Erin" were a sort of militia or standing army, permanently maintained by the monarch for the support of the throne, and regularly trained to military service. They attained their greatest glory in the reign of Cormac Mac Art (see previous note). Each province had its own militia under its own captain, but all were under the command of one general-in-chief. Their most renowned commander was Finn the son of c.u.mal, who of all the heroes of ancient Ireland is most vividly remembered in popular tradition. Finn had his palace on the top of the Hill of Allen, a remarkable flat-topped hill, lying about four miles to the right of the railway as you pa.s.s Newbridge and approach Kildare, rendered more conspicuous of late years by a tall pillar erected on the top, on the very site of Finn's palace. Before the erection of the pillar, there were considerable remains of the old fort on the hill, but at present nearly every vestige is obliterated, cleared away partly to make room for the foundation of the pillar, and partly by cultivation; for the land has been tilled and cropped to the very summit. The whole neighbourhood, however, teems with living traditions of Finn and the Fena.

The Fena were divided into distinct tribes or clanns, belonging to the several provinces, each under its own commander. Of these, the Clann Baskin of Leinster, under the immediate command of Finn; and the Clann Morna of Connaught, commanded by Gaul Mac Morna, were rival tribes, and, for reasons stated in note 27, regarded each other with hatred and distrust.

The following are some of the princ.i.p.al characters celebrated in the romantic literature of the Fena.

Finn the son of c.u.mal, commander-in-chief of the Fena under king Cormac Mac Art (see note 22); brave, wise, and far-seeing, a man of supreme military ability. His foresight seemed so extraordinary, that the people believed it was a preternatural gift of divination, and the shanachies invented a legend to account for it (see note 25). Like many great commanders, he had a little of the tyrant in his character, and was unforgiving to those who injured him. But in the story of Dermat and Grania, he is drawn in too unfavourable a light. In his old age he was killed by a fisherman at a place called Athbrea on the Boyne, A.D. 284, as recorded in the Annals of Tighernach, of the Four Masters, and of Innisfallen.

Oisin or Ossian, Finn's son, the renowned hero-poet, to whom the bards attribute many poems still extant.

Oscar, the son of Oisin, youthful and handsome, kind-hearted, and one of the most valiant of the Fena.

Dermat O'Dyna, n.o.ble-minded, generous, of untarnished honour, and the bravest of the brave. He was as handsome as he was valiant, whence he is often styled Dermat of the Bright Face, Dermat of the White Teeth, etc.

He was the idol of the ladies of Ireland, and hence he is often called Dermat-na-man, or Dermat of the Women (page 210). The Munster traditions represent him as a native of Kerry; but he was in reality a Leinsterman, though his descendants migrated to Munster at a very early period. Mr. O'Grady, in his edition of the story of Dermat and Grania (page 294), has given an ancient poetical genealogy of Dermat. This hero is equally celebrated in popular story in the Highlands of Scotland.

According to Highland tradition, the great and ill.u.s.trious Clann Campbell, represented by the Duke of Argyll, descend from him; and their crest is a boar's head, in memory of the manner of Dermat's death.[CLx.x.x.] Dermat O'Dyna is, on the whole, the finest type of hero among the Fena--as fine indeed as can be found in any literature; and his n.o.ble character is very well maintained throughout the Ossianic tales.

Kylta Mac Ronan, Finn's nephew, renowned for his fleetness of foot.

Dering, the son of Dobar O'Baskin, who was not only a brave warrior, but also "a man of knowledge," gifted with some insight into futurity.

Ligan Lumina, also celebrated for swiftness of foot.

Fergus Finnvel, poet, warrior, and frequent adviser of the Fena.

Gaul Mac Morna, the leader of the Clann Morna or Connaught Fena, one of the mightiest of all the heroes. He served under Finn, but the two chiefs bore no love to each other, for Gaul had slain Finn's father, c.u.mal, in the battle of Knocka (see note 27).

Conan Mail or Conan the Bald, the best-marked and best-sustained character in the Ossianic romances; large-bodied, a great boaster, a great coward, and a great glutton. He had a venomous tongue, and hardly ever spoke a good word of any one. He belonged to the Clann Morna, and was always reviling the Clann Baskin. He was the b.u.t.t for the gibes and mockery of the Fena, but they dreaded his foul tongue. The story-tellers never lose an opportunity of having a fling at Conan, and of turning him into ridicule for his cowardice, his big talk, and his gluttony.

NOTE 24.--_Cooking-Places._

The Fena, as related in the beginning of the story of the Gilla Dacker, were quartered on the princ.i.p.al householders during the winter half-year; and maintained themselves chiefly by the chase during the summer months. When they were on their hunting expeditions, we are told that they ate only one meal a day; and for this meal they cooked the flesh of the animals brought down in the chase, in the following manner.

They first dug a deep pit in the earth near their camping-place, and, having lighted a great fire beside it, they heated a number of round stones. They next covered the bottom of the pit with the hot stones, on which they placed the meat, bound up with sedge and gra.s.s ropes, and on this again they put another layer of heated stones; and, having closely covered up the whole with branches, they let it stand till the meat was sufficiently cooked. The remains of these old earth-ovens are still to be seen, and are called by the peasantry _fulachta-na-bhfiann_, the cooking-places of the Fena.

NOTE 25.--_Finn's Tooth of Knowledge._

It had been prophesied of old that a man named Finn would be the first to eat of the salmon of knowledge, which swam in the pool of Linn-Fec, in the Boyne (near the present village of Slane); and that he would thereby obtain the gifts of knowledge and of divination. A certain old poet named Finn, knowing this, hoped that he might be the lucky man; so he took up his abode on the sh.o.r.e of Linn-Fec; and he fished in the pool every day from morn till night, in the hope of catching the salmon of knowledge. At this time, Finn the son of c.u.mal was a boy, fleeing from place to place from his hereditary enemies, the Clann Morna, disguised, and bearing the a.s.sumed name of Demna; and, happening to come to Linn-Fec, the old poet took him as his servant.

After long watching and waiting, Finn the poet hooked the salmon at last, and gave it to Demna to broil, warning him very strictly not to eat or even taste of it. Demna proceeded to broil the fish; and soon the heat of the fire raised a great blister from its side, which the boy pressed with his thumb to keep it down, thereby scalding himself so severely that he unthinkingly thrust his thumb into his mouth.

When the salmon was cooked, the poet asked Demna had he eaten of it.

"No," replied the boy; "but I scalded my thumb on the fish, and put it into my mouth." "Thy name is not Demna, but Finn," exclaimed the poet: "in thee has the prophecy been fulfilled; and thou art now a diviner and a man of knowledge!"

In this manner Finn obtained the gift of divination, so that ever after, when he wished to look into futurity, he put his thumb under his tooth of knowledge, as he did when cooking the salmon of Linn-Fec, and the whole future was revealed to him. There appears to have been some sort of ceremony used, however (see page 339, _supra_); and it would seem that the process was attended with pain (page 194), so that it was only on very solemn and trying occasions he put his thumb under his tooth of knowledge.[CLx.x.xI.]

NOTE 26.--_The Game of Chess._

Chess-playing was one of the favourite amus.e.m.e.nts of the ancient Irish chiefs. The game is constantly mentioned in the very oldest Gaelic tales; as, for instance, in the "Cattle-Spoil of Cooley," in "The Book of the Dun Cow" (A.D. 1100). (See O'Donovan's "Introduction to the Book of Rights," page lxi.)

NOTE 27.--_Battle of Knocka._

The battle of Knocka or _Cnucha_ (now Castleknock, near Dublin) was fought in the reign of Conn the Hundred-fighter (see note 18). The contending parties were, on the one side, Conn with his royal forces, and the renowned hero, Gaul Mac Morna, with his Connaught Fena, the Clann Morna; and on the other side, c.u.mal, the father of Finn, with the Clann Baskin and the Leinster forces in general, aided by Owen More, heir to the throne of Munster, with a large army of Munstermen. The Leinster and Munster armies were defeated, chiefly through the valour of Gaul, who slew c.u.mal with his own hand. This was the cause of the irreconcilable enmity that existed ever after between the Clann Baskin and the Clann Morna.

When Finn the son of c.u.mal grew up to man's estate, he succeeded to the position held by his father as leader of the Fena. But though he made peace with Gaul Mac Morna, and though Gaul submitted to his command, there was always a feeling of ill-concealed hatred and distrust between them.

NOTE 28.--_Battle of Gavra._

When Carbri of the Liffey, son of Cormac Mac Art, ascended the throne of Ireland, one of his first acts was to disband and outlaw the Clann Baskin; and he took into his service in their place their rivals and deadly enemies, the Clann Morna from Connaught. Whereupon the Clann Baskin marched southwards, and entered the service of Fercorb, king of Munster, Finn's grandson, in direct disobedience to king Carbri's commands. This led to the b.l.o.o.d.y battle of Gavra, celebrated in Ossianic literature, which was fought A.D. 284, at Garristown, in the north-west of the county Dublin, where the rival clanns slaughtered each other almost to annihilation. In the heat of the battle, Carbri and Oscar met in single combat; and, after a long and terrible fight, the heroic Oscar fell pierced by Carbri's spear, and died on the evening of the same day.

But Carbri himself was dreadfully wounded; and, while retiring from the field, his own kinsman, Semeon, whom he had previously banished from Tara, fell on him, and despatched him with a single blow.

This battle is the subject of a poem which the bards ascribe to Oisin, and which has been published, with translation, in the first volume of the Ossianic Transactions. In this poem there is an affecting description of the death of Oscar, surrounded by his few surviving companions, and in presence of his father Oisin.

FOOTNOTES:

[CLx.x.x.] For a full account of the Highland traditions regarding Dermat, and of the Highland monuments that commemorate his name, see "Loch Etive and the Sons of Uisnach" (p. 255), a very valuable and interesting book, recently published, which came into my hands after I had written the above.

[CLx.x.xI.] The above legend is taken from "The Boyish Exploits of Finn Mac c.u.mal," published, with translation, by John O'Donovan, LL.D., in the fourth volume of the Ossianic Society's Transactions, from a MS.

_transcribed_ in 1453, now lying in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. But the internal evidence of the language shows that the piece is far more ancient than the fifteenth century. The legend of Finn and the Salmon of Knowledge is still current among the peasantry; and a modern popular version of it may be seen in the _Dublin Penny Journal_, Vol. I. page 110.

As to the process of putting his thumb under his tooth of knowledge, even the English-speaking peasantry of the south still retain a tradition that it was painful; for they say that Finn "chewed his thumb from the skin to the flesh, from the flesh to the bone, from the bone to the marrow, and from the marrow to the _smoosagh_."

THE END