"On the Kalends of August without fail, The forbidden things are enumerated: "To sue, to levy, to controvert debts,― Is not allowed to contending racers,— "That no man goes into the women's Airecht, That no women go into the Airecht of fair clean men; Nor repudiation of husbands or of wives "Whoever transgresses the law of the assembly- The music at the fair: "There are its many great privileges;— Trumpets, Cruits, wide-mouthed horns, The literary entertainment provided consisted of stories, philosophy, history, and so forth. "Fenian tales of Find,-an untiring entertainment,— Destructions, Cattle-preys, Courtships, Inscribed tablets, and books of trees, "Proverbs, maxims, royal precepts, And the truthful instructions of Fithal, "The Feasts, with the great Feast of Teamar, Annals there are verified, Every division into which Erin was divided; "The history of the household of Teamar-not insignificant— The knowledge of every territory in Erin, The history of the women of illustrious families, "The noble Testament of Cathair the Great To his descendants, to direct the steps of royal rule So that all attend to them to listen, listen. "Pipes, fiddles, chainmen, Bow-men, and tube-players, A crowd of babbling painted masks, "They all exert their utmost powers For the magnanimous king of the Barrow; "Elopements, slaughters, musical choruses, The accurate synchronisms of noble races, "Such is the arrangement of the fair, CHAPTER XIII FIONN AND THE FIAN It is only recently that we have realised the all-important part played by legendary lore in forming and stamping a nation's character. A people's character and a people's heritage of tradition act and react upon each other, down the ages, the outstanding qualities of both getting ever more and more alike—so long as their racial traditions are cherished as an intimate part of their life. But the people's character gets a new direction on the day that there comes into their life any influence which lessens their loving regard for the past. Than the Gaelic, the world has known but few races that were enriched with a richer heritage of legend-poetic, romantic, heroic, idealistic, wondrous, humorous-which in ancient ages sprang from the souls of the nation's noblest, and through all subsequent days nurtured the minds and souls of the multitude. In these wonderful traditions every ancient great poet and teacher lives, and leads his listening people, for all time. Of all the great bodies of ancient Irish legendary lore, none other, with the possible exception of the Red Branch cycle, has had such developing, uplifting, and educational effect upon the Irish people, through the ages, as the wonderful body of Fenian talesin both prose and verse, rich in quality and rich in quantity. Fionn MacCumail (Finn MacCool), leader of the Fian (Fenians), in the time of Cormac MacArt, is the great central figure of these tales. Fionn and the Fian were not figments of the ancient poets' fancy-as think some who know of this lore only by hearsay. The man Fionn lived and died in the third century of the Christian Era. The Four Masters chronicle his death on the Boyne, under A. D. 283-though he must have died some years earlier. Fionn's father Cumal, was chief of the Fian, in his day; and his grandfather, Treun-Mor, chief before that. In contrast to the Red Branch which was of Ulster, the Fian was of Munster and Leinster origin. Connaught with its Clan na Morna contributed largely to the body, later. 1 Fionn's clan, Clan na Baoiscne (which was the heart of the Fian) belonged in North Munster. It was in the reign of Conn, at the very end of the second, or beginning of the third century that was founded the Fian-a great standing army of picked and specially trained, daring warriors, whose duty was to carry out the mandates of the high-king-"To uphold justice and put down injustice, on the part of the kings and lords of Ireland—and to guard the harbors from foreign invaders." From this latter we might conjecture that an expected Roman invasion first called the Fian into existence. They were soldiers in time of war, and a national police in time of peace. We are informed that they prevented robberies, exacted fines and tributes, put down public enemies and every kind of evil that might afflict the country. Moreover they moved about from place to place, all over the island. During the summer and harvest, from Beltinne to Samain-May first till November first— they camped in the open, and lived by the chase. During the winter half-year they were quartered upon the people. But Fionn, being a chieftain himself in his own right, had a residence on the hill of Allen (Almuin) in Kildare. An old poem (quoted by O'Mahony) pictures it as a very palatial residence, indeed: "I feasted in the hall of Fionn, And at each banquet there I saw "And twelve great buildings once stood there, "And constantly there burned twelve fires, The Fianna recruited at the great fairs, especially at Tara, Uisnech, and Taillte. The greatest discrimination was used in choosing the eligible ones from amongst the candidate throngwhich throng included in plenty sons of chieftains and princes. But no candidate would be considered unless he, his family, and clan, were prepared philosophically to accept for him life or 2 Fianna, meaning bodies of the Fian, is the plural of the collective noun, Fian. death, all the daily hazards of a hazardous career-and that his family and his clan should, from the day he joined the Fian, renounce all claims to satisfaction or vengeance for his injuring or ending. His comrades must henceforth be his moral heirs and executors, who would seek and get the satisfaction due if he were wounded or killed by any means that violated the code of honor and justice. And, it should here be remarked that the high ethical code of the Red Branch Knights in the days of Christ was not any more admirable than the code of justice and of honor observed now, two centuries after, by the Fian. Many and hard were the tests for him who sought to be of the noble body. One of the first tests was literary: for no candidate was possible who had not mastered the twelve books of poetry. With this condition in mind one will no longer wonder that the Fian bequeathed to posterity ten thousand fragrant tales. In a trench, the depth of the knee, the candidate, with a shield and hazel staff only, must protect himself from nine warriors, casting javelins at him from nine ridges away. Given the start of a single tree, in a thick wood, he has to escape unwounded from fleet pursuers. So skilful must he be in wood-running, and so agile, that in the flight no single braid of his hair is loosed by a hanging branch. His step must be so light that underfoot he breaks no withered branch. In his course he must bound over branches the height of his forehead, and stoop under others the height of his knee, without delaying, or leaving a trembling branch behind. Without pausing in his flight he must pick from his foot the thorn that it has taken up. In facing the greatest odds the weapon must not shake in his hand. When a candidate had passed the tests, and was approved as fit for this heroic band, there were four geasa (vows of chivalry) laid upon him, as the final condition of his admission: I. 1. He shall marry his wife without portion-choosing her for her manners and her virtues. 2. He shall be gentle with all women. 3. He shall never reserve to himself anything which another person stands in need of. 4. He shall stand fight to all odds, as far as nine to one. |