Folk Tales of Scotland (23 page)

They walked toward a large house in the glen above the beach. As they came near it the Young Hero came to meet them.

‘Dearest of all men in the world, have you come?’ he said, and threw his arms about Finn’s neck.

In the house, after their hunger and thirst were satisfied, the Young Hero told them his story:

‘Six years ago, my wife had a baby. But a large hand came down the chimney and took the child away. Three years ago, the same thing happened. Tonight my wife is going to have another baby,
and I have been told you are the only man in the world who can keep my children for me.’

Finn told his men to stretch themselves on the floor, and he would keep watch. He sat by the fire. He had an iron bar in the fire, and when his eyes began to close he pushed the bar against his
palms to keep himself awake.

About midnight the baby was born, and immediately the Hand came down the chimney. Finn called the Gripper, who sprang to his feet and grasped the Hand, pulling the Giant in as far as the
eyebrows. The Hand pulled the Gripper out as far as the top of his shoulders. The Gripper pulled the Hand out again, and brought it in as far as the neck. The Hand pulled the Gripper, and brought
him out as far as his waist. The Gripper pulled the Hand, and brought it in as far as the two armpits. The Hand pulled the Gripper, and brought him out as far as the soles of his two feet. Then the
Gripper gave a great pull on the Hand and it came out of the shoulder. When it fell on the floor the pull of seven horses was in it. But the big Giant put his other hand down the chimney, and took
the child away.

They were all very sorry for the loss of the child. But Finn said:

‘We will not give in. I and my men will go after the Hand before sunrise.’

At dawn, Finn and his men launched the ship. The Tracker went to the bow, and Finn steered. The Tracker told Finn to keep her in that direction, or keep her in this direction. They sailed
without seeing anything but the ocean. At sunset there was a black spot in the sea ahead. Finn thought it was too small for an island and too big for a bird, but he steered toward
it. At dusk they reached it, and it was a rock. On top of it was a castle thatched with eelskins.

They landed on the rock, but the castle had neither window nor door, except on the roof, and the thatch was slippery.

‘I’ll not be long in climbing it,’ cried the Climber.

He sprang toward the castle, and in a moment was on the roof. He looked in, took note of everything he saw, and slid down where the others were waiting.

‘What did you see?’ Finn asked.

‘I saw a big Giant lying on a bed, a silk covering over him, and a satin sheet under him. An infant slept in his out-stretched hand. Two boys were playing shinty on the floor with sticks
of gold and a silver ball. A very large deer-hound was lying beside the fire nursing her two pups.’

‘I don’t know how we’ll bring the children out,’ said Finn.

‘I’ll not be long fetching them out,’ said the Thief.

‘Come on to my back and I’ll take you to the door,’ said the Climber. The Thief did so, and went into the castle.

He fetched the child from the Giant’s hand, the two boys who were playing, the silk cover from over the Giant, and the satin sheet from under him. Then he fetched the sticks of gold and
the silver ball, and the two pups from their mother. There was nothing else of value, so he left the Giant sleeping and came away.

They put everything into the ship and sailed away. Soon after that the Listener stood up.

‘I hear him,’ said he.

‘What do you hear?’ said Finn.

‘The Giant has just wakened,’ said the Listener, ‘and missed everything we stole. He is very angry. He’s sending the deer-hound. He’s telling her that if she
won’t go he’ll go himself. It’s the hound that’s coming.’

Soon behind them they saw the hound coming. She was swimming so fast, red sparks were coming from her. They were afraid.

‘Throw out one of the pups,’ said Finn. ‘Maybe when she sees the pup drowning, she’ll go back with it.’ They threw out the pup, and she went
back with it.

Soon after the Listener stood up, trembling.

‘I hear him,’ he said.

‘What do you hear?’ said Finn.

‘The Giant is sending the hound again. But she won’t go, so he’s coming himself.’

After they heard this, their eyes were always behind them. At last they saw him coming, and the ocean rose no farther than his thighs. They were terribly afraid, and didn’t know what to
do. But Finn remembered his wisdom tooth, and put his finger under it. He learned that the Giant was immortal, except for a mole on the palm of his right hand.

‘If I catch one glimpse of the mole, I’ll have him,’ said the Marksman.

The Giant waded through the sea to the side of the ship. He put up his right hand to seize the top of the mast, to sink the ship. But when his hand was up, the Marksman saw the mole and shot an
arrow which hit the spot, and the Giant fell dead into the sea.

They turned about, and sailed back to the castle. The Thief again stole the pup, and they took it along with the one they had. They returned to the Young Hero. In the haven they leaped ashore,
and pulled the ship to dry land.

Then Finn went to the Young Hero’s house, taking with him the Young Hero’s sons and everything he and his men had taken out of the Giant’s castle.

‘What reward do you want?’ asked the Young Hero.

‘I ask for nothing but my choice of the two pups we took from the castle,’ said Finn.

The pup was Bran, and his brother, which the Young Hero kept, was the Grey Dog.

The Young Hero took Finn and his men into his house, and made a merry feast which lasted a year and a day, and if the last day was not the best, it was not the worst.

NE
day Finn and his men were hunting on the hill. They had killed many deer, and when they
were preparing to go home, they saw a tall lad coming. He greeted Finn, and Finn returned his greeting. Finn asked him where he came from and what he wanted.

‘I have come from the east and from the west, seeking a master,’ he said.

‘I need a lad,’ said Finn, ‘and if we can agree, I’ll employ you. What reward do you want at the end of a year and a day?’

‘Not much,’ said the lad, ‘only that you go with me, at the end of the year and the day, to feast at the palace of the King of Lochlan.’

Finn engaged the lad, and the lad served him faithfully to the end of a year and a day.

On the morning of the last day, the Tall Lad asked Finn if he was satisfied with him. Finn said he was perfectly satisfied.

‘Well,’ said the lad, ‘I hope I shall have my reward, and that you’ll go with me as you promised.’

‘You’ll have your reward,’ said Finn, ‘and I’ll go with you.’

‘It is the day I have to keep my promise to the lad,’ Finn told his men, ‘and I don’t know when I shall return. But if I am not back within a year and a day, let the man
who is not whetting his sword be bending his bow to revenge me on the shore of Lochlan.’

When he had said this, he bade them farewell and went into his house. His Fool was sitting by the fire.

‘Are you sorry I am going away?’ Finn asked.

‘I am sorry you are going that way,’ said the Fool, weeping, ‘but I’ll give you advice if you’ll take it.’

‘Yes,’ said Finn, ‘for often the King’s wisdom comes from the Fool’s head. What is your advice?’

‘It is to take Bran’s chain in your pocket,’ said the Fool.

Finn did so, said goodbye to him and went away. He found the Tall Lad waiting for him at the door.

‘Are you ready to go?’ asked the lad.

‘I am ready,’ said Finn. ‘Lead the way, you know the road better than I do.’

The Tall Lad set off, and Finn followed. Yet, though Finn was swift, he could not touch the Tall Lad with a stick all the way. When the Tall Lad was disappearing through a gap in the mountains,
Finn would be appearing on the ridge behind him. They kept that distance between them till their journey’s end.

They entered the palace of the King of Lochlan, and Finn sat down wearily. But instead of a feast, the lords of the King of Lochlan were considering how to bring about his death.

‘Hang him!’ said one. ‘Burn him!’ said another. ‘Drown him!’ said a third. ‘Send him to Glenmore!’ said another. ‘He’ll not go far
there before he’s killed by the Grey Dog. There would be no death more disgraceful, in the opinion of the Feinne, than the death of their King by a cur.’

They all clapped their hands and agreed with this suggestion.

At once they took Finn to the glen where the Grey Dog was. They had not gone far up the glen before they heard the Dog howling. When the men of Lochlan saw the Dog, they said it was time to run.
So they ran and left Finn at the Dog’s mercy.

If Finn ran away, the men of Lochlan would kill him, if he stayed the Dog would kill him. He decided it would be better to be killed by the Dog than by his enemies. So he stayed.

The Grey Dog came with his mouth open and his tongue hanging to one side. Every breath from his nostrils burned everything three miles in front of him and on both sides of
him. Finn was tortured by the heat, and knew he could not stand it long. If Bran’s chain was going to be of any use, now was the time to take it out. He put his hand in his pocket, and when
the Dog was near him he took the chain and shook it. The Grey Dog stopped at once, and wagged his tail. He came to Finn, and licked all his wounds from head to foot, healing with his tongue what he
had burned with his breath. At length, Finn put Bran’s chain round the Grey Dog’s neck and he went down the glen with the Dog on a leash.

An old man and woman, who had fed the Grey Dog, lived at the foot of the glen. The old woman was at the door, and when she saw Finn coming with the Dog she went into the house, calling to her
husband.

‘What have you seen?’ said the old man.

‘I saw the tallest and most handsome man I’ve ever seen, coming down the glen with the Grey Dog on a leash.’

‘If all the people of Lochlan and Ireland were together,’ said the old man, ‘not one man of them could do that, but Finn, King of the Feinne, with Bran’s golden
chain.’

‘Whether it’s he or not, he’s coming,’ replied the old woman.

‘We’ll soon know,’ said the old man, going out.

He met Finn, and they greeted each other. Finn told him why he was there, and the old man invited him into the house for a rest and a meal. The old woman told Finn he was very welcome to stay
for a year and a day, and Finn accepted the invitation.

At the end of the year and a day, the old woman was standing on a knowe near the house. She looked toward the shore and saw a great army of men on the beach of Lochlan. She ran into the house,
her eyes big with fear.

‘What did you see?’ asked the old man.

‘I saw something I have never seen before. There’s a great army of men on the beach, and among them a red-haired man with a squint. I don’t think
there’s his equal, as a fighter, this night under the stars.’

‘They are my companions, the Feinne,’ said Finn. ‘Let me go to meet them.’

Finn and the Grey Dog went down to the shore. When his men saw him coming they shouted, so that it was heard in the four corners of Lochlan. The Feinne and Finn, their King, greeted each other,
and no less friendly was the greeting between Bran and the Grey Dog, for they were brothers, taken together from the same castle by Finn when he had rescued the Young Hero’s children from the
giant.

The Feinne took vengeance on the men of Lochlan for their treatment of Finn. They began at one end of Lochlan and did not stop till they were out at the other end.

After they had conquered Lochlan they went home, and in the Hall of Finn they made a great feast that lasted a year and a day.

INN
and his men had been hunting deer all day. They had killed many. Now they sat and
rested on the hillside, and discussed where they should hunt next day. As they talked, Finn looked down the glen and saw a big lad coming towards them.