ONE day Finn
and his people were hunting on Slieve Fuad, and a stag stood against them for
a while and fought with his great rough horns, and then he turned and ran, and
the Fianna followed after him till they came to the green hill of Liadhas, and
from that to rocky Cairgin. And there they lost him again for a while, till
Sceolan started him again, and he went back towards Slieve Fuad, and the Fianna
after him.
But Finn and Daire of the Songs, that were
together, went astray and lost the rest of their people, and they did not know
was it east or west they were going.
Finn sounded the Dord Fiann then, and
Daire played some sorrowful music to let their people know where they were.
But when the Fianna heard the music, it seemed to be a long way off; and
sometimes they thought it was in the north it was, and sometimes in the east,
and then it changed to the west, the way they did not know in the wide world
where was it coming from.
And as to Finn and Daire, a Druid mist
came about them, and they did not know what way they were going.
And after a while they met with a young
woman, comely and pleasant, and they asked who was she, and what brought her
there.
"Glanluadh is my name,"
she said, "and my husband is Lobharan; and we were travelling over the
plain together a while ago, and we heard the cry of hounds, and he left me and
went after the hunt, and I do not know where is he, or what way did he
go."
"Come on then with us,"
said Finn, "and we will take care of you, for we ourselves do not know
what way the hunt is gone, east or west." So they went on, and before
long they came to a hill, and they heard sleepy music of the Sidhe
beside them. And after that there came shouts and noises, and then the music
began again, and heavy sleep came on Finn and Daire.
And when they awoke from their sleep
they saw a very large lighted house before them, and a stormy blue sea around
it. Then they saw a very big grey man coming through the waves, and he took
hold of Finn and of Daire, and all their strength went from them, and he
brought them across the waves and into the house, and he shut the door of the
house with iron hooks.
"My welcome to you, Finn of the great
name," he said then in a very harsh voice; "it is long we are
waiting here for you."
They sat down then on the hard side of a
bed, and the woman of the house came to them, and they knew her to be Ailne,
wife of Meargach.
"It is long I am looking for you,
Finn," she said, "to get satisfaction for the treachery you did on
Meargach and on my two comely young sons, and on Tailc, son of Treon, and all
his people. And do you remember that, Finn?" she said.
"I remember well," said
Finn, "that they fell by the swords of the Fianna, not by treachery but
in fighting."
"It was by treachery they
fell," said the Grey Man then; "and it is our witness to it,
pleasant Ailne to be the way she is, and many a strong army under grief on
account of her."
"What is Ailne to you, man of the
rough voice?" said Finn. "I am her own brother," said the man.
With that he put bonds on the three, Finn
and Daire and Glanluadh, and he put them down into some deep shut place.
They were very sorrowful then, and they
stopped there to the end of five days and five nights, without food, without
drink, without music.
And Ailne went to see them then, and Finn
said to her: "O Ailne," he said, "bring to mind the time you
came to Cnoc-an-Air, and the way the Fianna treated you with generosity; and
it is not fitting for you," he said, "to keep us now under shame and
weakness and in danger of death."
"I know well I got kind treatment
from Grania,"
said Ailne in a sorrowful voice; "but for all that, Finn," she said,
"if all the Fianna were in that prison along with you under hard bonds,
it would please me well, and I would not pity their case. And what is it set
you following after Finn," she said then to Glanluadh, "for that is
not a fitting thing for you to do, and his own kind wife living yet."
Then Glanluadh told her the whole story,
and how she was walking the plain with Lobharan her husband, and he followed
the hunt, and the mist came about her that she did not know east from west,
and how she met then with Finn that she never saw before that time. "If
that is so," said Ailne, "it is not right for you to be under
punishment without cause."
She called then to her brother the Grey
Man, and bade him take the spells off Glanluadh. And when she was set free it
is sorry she was to leave Daire in bonds, and Finn. And when she had bidden
them farewell she went out with Ailne, and there was food brought to her, but
a cloud of weakness came on her of a sudden, that it was a pity to see the way
she was.
And when Ailne saw that, she brought out
an enchanted cup of the Sidhe and gave her a drink from it. And no sooner did
Glanluadh drink from the cup than her strength and her own appearance came
back to her again; but for all that, she was fretting after Finn and Daire in
their bonds.
"It seems to me, Glanluadh, you are
fretting after those two men," said Ailne. "I am sorry indeed,"
said Glanluadh, "the like of those men to be shut up without food or
drink."
"If it is pleasing to you to give
them food you may give it," said Ailne, "for I will not make an end
of them till I see can I get the rest of the Fianna into bonds along with
them."
The two women brought food and drink then
to Finn, and to Daire; and Glanluadh gave her blessing to Finn, and she cried
when she saw the way he was; but as to Ailne, she had no pity at all for the
King of the Fianna.
Now as to the Grey Man, he heard them
talking of the Fianna, and they were saying that Daire had a great name for
the sweetness of his music. "I have a mind to hear that sweet
music," said he.
So he went to the place where they
were, and he bade Daire to let him hear what sort of music he could make.
"My music pleased the Fianna well," said Daire; "but I think it
likely it would not please you."
"Play it for me now, till I know if
the report I heard of you is true," said the Grey Man. "Indeed, I
have no mind for music," said Daire, "being weak and downhearted the
way I am, through your spells that put down my courage."
"I will take my spells off you for so
long as you play for me," said the Grey Man. "I could never make
music seeing Finn in bonds the way he is," said Daire; "for it is
worse to me, he to be under trouble than myself."
"I will take the power of my spells
off Finn till you play for me," said the Grey Man.
He weakened the spells then, and gave them
food and drink, and it pleased him greatly the way Daire played the music, and
he called to Glanluadh and to Ailne to come and to listen to the sweetness of
it. And they were well pleased with it, and it is glad Glanluadh was, seeing
them not so discouraged as they were.
Now as to the Fianna, they were searching
for Finn and for Daire in every place they had ever stopped in. And when they
came to this place they could hear Daire’s sweet music; and at first they
were glad when they heard it, and then when they knew the way he himself and
Finn were, they made an attack on Ailne’s dun to release them.
But the Grey Man heard their shouts, and
he put the full power of his spells again on Finn and on Daire. And the Fianna
heard the music as if stammering, and then they heard a great noise like the
loud roaring of waves, and when they heard that, there was not one of them but
fell into a sleep and clouds of death, under those sorrowful spells.
And then the Grey Man and Ailne came out
quietly from where they were, and they brought the whole of the men of the
Fianna that were there into the dun. And they put hard bonds on them, and put
them where Finn and Daire were. And there was great grief on Finn and Daire
when they saw them, and they were all left there together for a while.
Then Glanluadh said to the Grey Man:
"If Daire’s music is pleasing to you, let him play it to us
now."
"If you have a mind for music,"
said the Grey Man, "Daire must play it for us, and for Finn and his army
as well."
They went then to where they were, and
bade Daire to play. "I could never play sweet music," said Daire,
"the time the Fianna are in any trouble; for when they are in trouble, I
myself am in trouble, and I could not sound any sweet string," he said,
"while there is trouble on any man of them."
The Grey Man weakened the spells on them
all, and Daire played first the strings of sweetness, and of the noise of
shouting, and then he sang his own grief and the grief of all the Fianna. And
at that the Grey Man said it would not be long before he would put the whole
of the Fianna to death; and then Daire played a tune of heavy shouts of
lamentation. And then at Finn’s bidding he played the music of sweet strings
for the Fianna.
They were kept, now, a long time in that
prison, and they got very hard treatment; and sometimes Ailne’s brother
would come in and strike the heads off some of them, for none of them
could rise up from the seats they were sitting on through his
enchantments.
But one time he was going to strike the
bald head off Conan and Conan made a great leap from the seat; but if he did,
he left strips of his skin hanging to it, that his back was left bare.
And then he came round the Grey Man with
his pitiful words: "Stop your hand now," he said, "for that is
enough for this time; and do not send me to my death yet awhile, and heal me
of my wounds first," he said, "before you make an end of me."
And the reason he said that was because he knew Ailne to have an enchanted cup
in the dun, that had cured Glanluadh.
And the Grey Man took pity on his case,
and he brought him out and bade Ailne to bring the cup to him and cure
his wounds.
"I will not bring it,"
said Ailne, "for it would be best give no time at all to him or to the
Fianna, but to make an end of them."
"It is not to be saved from death I
am asking, bright-faced Ailne," said Conan, "but only not go to my
death stripped bare the way I am."
When Ailne heard that, she brought a
sheepskin and she put it on Conan’s back, and it fitted and grew to him, and
covered his wounds.
"I will not put you to death,
Conan," said the Grey Man then, "but you can stop with myself to the
end of your life."
"You will never be without
grief and danger and the fear of treachery if you keep him with you,"
said Ailne; "for there is treachery in his heart the same as there is in
the rest of them."
"There is no fear of that," said
her brother, "for I will make no delay until I put the whole of the
Fianna to death." And with that he brought Conan to where the enchanted
cup was, and he put it in his hand. And just at that moment they heard Daire
playing very sweet sorrowful music, and the Grey Man went to listen to it,
very quick and proud. And Conan followed him there, and after a while the Grey
Man asked him what did he do with the enchanted cup. "I left it where I
found it, full of power," said Conan.
The Grey Man hurried back then to the
place where the treasures of the dun were. But no sooner was he gone than
Conan took out the cup that he had hidden, and he gave a drink from it to Finn
and to Osgar
and to the rest of the Fianna. And they that were withered and shaking,
without strength, without courage, got back their own appearance and their
strength again on the moment.
And when the Grey Man came back from
looking for the cup, and saw what had happened, he took his sword and made a
stroke at Conan. But Conan called to Osgar to defend him, and Osgar attacked
the Grey Man, and it was not long till he made him acquainted with death.
And when Ailne saw that, with the grief
and the dread that came on her, she fell dead then and there.
Then all the Fianna made a feast with what
they found of food and of drink, and they were very joyful and merry. But when
they rose up in the morning, there was no trace or tidings of the dun, but it
was on the bare grass they were lying.
But as to Conan, the sheepskin never left
him; and the wool used to grow on it every year, the same as it would on any
other skin.
source: Lady
Gregory - Gods And Fighting Men
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