Myths and Legends of the Celts (Penguin Reference) (30 page)
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Authors: James MacKillop
Fionn’s stories are known in all parts of Ireland, Gaelic Scotland, the Isle of Man and Gaelic-speaking Nova Scotia. His usual fortress or ‘palace’ is the Hill of Allen [OIr.
Almu
; ModIr.
Almhain
] in County Kildare, a claim not supported by archaeological research. Appearances in so many texts over centuries in different lands mean that Fionn has such a shifting persona he can sometimes appear to be an entirely different personage. Not surprisingly, there are more than twenty spellings of his usual name, including the anglicized Finn Mac-Cool. Many commentators prefer the classical Irish spellings Finn and Find, consistent with most others in this volume. The spelling ‘Fionn mac Cumhaill’ cited here is Modern Irish, in part because he is portrayed in more Modern Irish stories than other heroes, but also to distinguish him from the more than two dozen other early Irish figures named Finn or Find. And as with Cúchulainn, this is a name he acquires as he matures.
Chronicles assigned Fionn the death date of
AD
283, and Geoffrey Keating (
c
.1580–
c
.1645/50) sanctioned his historicity. He is thought to have lived during the reigns of the legendary kings Cormac mac Airt and his son Cairbre Lifechair. The lack of evidence for there ever having been such a person as Fionn did little to restrain the confidence of oral storytellers in his having once walked the byways of Ireland. In the early 1970s an Irish countryman soberly advised folklorist E. Estyn Evans that Fionn was not a giant, as some held, but actually stood at only five foot six.
Linguistically, Fionn’s antecedents are incalculably ancient. The gloss of his name as ‘fair’ or ‘light-haired one’ links him to a continental Celtic divinity Vindonnus – cf. Gaulish
vindos
[white] – whose name is cited in a dozen place-names from the Roman occupation, notably Vindabona along the Danube on the site of the modern Vienna. This is not to suggest that Fionn is directly descended from Vindonnus, but rather that the name of the continental deity is refracted in scores of names of figures from early Ireland and Wales, including the Welsh Gwynn ap Nudd, whose name is the equivalent of Fionn’s although the two are not exact counterparts.
A more immediate anticipation of the heroic figure is Find, the early Irish personification of wisdom suggested by the geographer Ptolemy (second century
AD
). According to Dáithí Ó hÓgáin (1988), this Find was venerated by Leinstermen in the Boyne valley who were driven from their homeland by the depredations of the Uí Néill dynasty from Ulster. Certain families among them, such as the Uí Fháilghe, then projected Fionn the poet-warrior-seer who lives in the countryside, prepared to defend his people while not ruling them. His continuing enmity is with the Uí Néill, the most powerful political force in pre-Norman Ireland. Fully formed as a persona as early as the sixth century, Fionn had been accommodated in Leinster genealogies by the seventh.
While his pedigree might have been fabricated, the names within it remain fixed, even when personalities behind them are almost vaporous. His father is always Cumhall, cited in the ubiquitous patronymic, mac Cumhaill, of the Clan Baíscne. Cumhall is killed by the rival Clan Morna, led by Goll mac Morna, even before Fionn is born. The young Fionn will enter upon a world in which bloody rivalry between the two clans is a given; his challenge will be to reunite them under his leadership. Fionn’s mother is Muirenn Muncháem [of the white neck] through whom the hero claims his most important ancestor, Nuadu Airgetlám [of the silver hand], king of the Tuatha Dé Danann; or perhaps it was only Nuadu Necht, a Leinster manifestation of Nuadu Airgetlám. When his widowed mother is unable to raise Fionn, she has him nursed by her sister Bodhmall, a druidess. Another family member, Fiacclach mac Conchinn, also fosters the boy, endowing him with a spear that never misses its mark.
From birth the hero is known as Demne Máel, a name implying short hair and associations with druids, craftsmen and poets. Like Cúchulainn, born Sétanta, or Heracles, born Alcides, he must win the name by which he will be known. His growth to young manhood is outlined in a short text
Macgnímartha Find
[The Youthful Exploits of Fionn], unmistakably modelled on the boyhood career of Cúchulainn as told in early sections of the
Táin Βó Cuailnge
. Setting out to seek his fortune, Demne comes to a group of boys on the plain of the Liffey and engages them in a series of athletic contests, including the early stick–ball game of hurling or hurley. No matter what the sport, young
Demne is victorious, even when all of the others are against him. The jealous chieftain of the nearby fortress urges the boys to be rid of the upstart by drowning him in a nearby lake, but Demne drowns nine of them. A spectator calls out, ‘Who is the fair boy?’ [ModIr.
Cé hé an giolla fionn?
]. And thus he becomes Fionn the son of Cumhall.
Young Fionn may excel at what all men must do, being a superior runner and jumper in a milieu that lacks cavalry, but he also gains from exploits denied to ordinary mortals. Among the most famous stories attached to him is how he acquired ‘knowledge’ – not erudition or learning, but what we would call occult or esoteric knowledge. While still a youth he becomes the pupil of the druid or seer Finnéces, who has been waiting seven years to find the Salmon of Knowledge at Linn Féic [Fiac’s Pool], along the Boyne River. A later tradition places this episode at the falls of Assaroe on the Erne in Co. Donegal. The druid’s name means ‘Finn the seer’, which might imply a link to old Find, the early personification of wisdom or a doubling with Fionn himself. Finnéces’ patience is rewarded when he at last catches the salmon, which he roasts on a spit over an open fire. Wanting the salmon’s power for himself, he asks the boy to leave it alone. But when Fionn touches it and burns his thumb, he thrusts the injured digit into his mouth. He has not eaten the fish, but merely tasting the salmon’s flesh is enough to deny Finnéces wishes. When the druid asks the boy his name he still answers ‘Demne’. Finnéces responds, ‘Your name is Fionn, for it was prophesied that a fair-haired man would eat the Salmon of Knowledge, and you are that fair-haired Fionn. Eternal knowledge is yours now, not mine.’ An alternative, less well-known story of the eighth century has Fionn gain superhuman knowledge when he catches his thumb in the door of an otherworldly dwelling on Sliab na mBan [Slievenamon], Co. Tipperary. The thumb motif is constant, however. Through a thousand stories Fionn can always summon up his special powers of knowledge by bringing his thumb to his mouth.
The Modern Irish name for Fionn’s esoteric knowledge is
fios
, which in other contexts may also denote second sight. Above this he is attributed powers of divination known by specific if cryptic names that were earlier seen as the province of the druids.
Díchetal do chennaib
[OIr. extempore incantation (?)] is a kind of spell or
incantation composed on the spot, often using the fingertips. It may have been a kind of clairvoyance or psychometry in which Fionn conveys his message in quatrain or verse. Druids and certain poets also possess this power, which St Patrick did not condemn because it did not involve pagan rites. Such rites are called for in
imbas forosnai
[poetic knowledge that illuminates], in which the practitioner chews a piece of red flesh from pig, dog or cat. He then sleeps for three days and nights, after having placed the flesh on a flagstone, chanting invocations to unnamed gods. He must also chant over his two palms, asking that his sleep be not disturbed. After the three-day sleep Fionn judges if
imbas forosnai
has come to him. This is a power shared by the highest rank of poet, the
ollam
. Lastly is the enigmatic
teinm laida
[OIr. breaking open of the pith], another chewing of the thumb with powers greater than
fios
, perhaps a combination of some of the others. St Patrick banned this as ‘giving offerings to demons’.
Like Cúchulainn, Fionn is trained by an amazonian tutor, Búanann, but he also studies with a male, Cethern mac Fintain. His unnamed spear that never misses its mark is not his only weapon; he also wields the famous sword Mac an Lúin. When charging into battle Fionn and his men intimidate their enemies by shouting the war cry of Dord Fían. When hunting, his favourite quarries are wild boar and deer. His favourite animal is the dog, and the two most associated with him, Bran and Sceolang, are his transformed cousins. He is described as slaying a serpent in nearly every body of water in Ireland, the Isle of Man and Gaelic Scotland.
Despite Fionn’s customary association with the countryside, and the hundreds of allusions to him in surviving, often remote place-names, the first great feat usually attributed to him is a defence of the seat of the
and rí
[high king] at Tara. Aillén mac Midgna, usually known as ‘the burner’, had been a fairy musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who lived at Sídh Finnachad in the north (also home to Lir, father of the swan children) or nearby Sliab Fúait [Slieve Fuad]. Each Samain Aillén would come to Tara, playing on his
timpán
, a kind of drum or tambourine. The sweetness of Aillén’s music concealed his darker motives. Once the men of Tara were lulled to sleep, even those suffering from wounds, Aillén would spew forth flaming rock from his mouth and burn the residence to the ground. Unresisting, the powers at Tara
allowed this to continue for twenty-three years. Each year they would dutifully rebuild the palace, and when Samain came they submitted to Aillén’s next visit. Sensing their despair, Fionn offers to rid them of Aillén if all those present at Tara – nobles, poets and druids – will guarantee his heritage, meaning the restoration of Clan Baiscne with Fionn at its head. They agree. The hero first makes himself immune to Aillén’s musical charms by inhaling the poison of his own spear, whose point is so venomous as to forbid sleep. This immunization against the allure of music evokes Odysseus’ resistance to the songs of the sirens in Book XII of the
Odyssey
. Aillén’s magic has the expected effect on the rest of the party, which falls into a deep sleep. When Aillén’s mouth opens to send out a great, engulfing flame, Fionn is prepared, thrusting forward his crimson, fringed cloak. The garment drives the fire downward, where it scorches a massive crater deep in the earth. Seeing his power thwarted, Aillén flees to his underground lair in the north with Fionn in hot pursuit. Before Aillén can reach safety, Fionn impales him with his spear. Quickly cutting off Aillén’s head, Fionn returns with it to Tara, where he fixes it on a pole for everyone to see the next dawn. Overjoyed at his deliverance, the king of Tara proclaims that Fionn son of Cumhall shall be the new chief or
rigfhéinnid
of the fianna. Goll mac Morna, slayer of Cumhall, agrees, striking his palm against Fionn’s, making himself the ally of the son of his old enemy. In subsequent tales Goll may be a cohort or a rival. Goll is also linked to Connacht, home of many of Fionn’s mortal rivals.
Fionn is a defender, never an invader. With fair hair, broad shoulders and a broad brow, he enjoys the good looks of a romantic hero, early or modern. His enemies may be from other parts of the Gaelic world, often Connacht, or Scandinavia, that is, Lochlainn. Sometimes his enemies are exotic, like ‘The King of Greece’ or ‘The King of the World’. Some with names implying darkness, Arca Dubh [Black Arky], Borba [harsh, arrogant], or Dealra Dubh [dark sheen], seem to pop up only so Fionn can knock them down. While highly mobile, Fionn is always portrayed on foot, never in a chariot like Cúchulainn. He is not assigned a favourite horse. John V. Kelleher once remarked that allusions to Fionn and the Fenians in local place-names are as common as ‘lover’s leap’ and ‘devils’ washtub’ are in North America. Often the
attribution implies giant strength such as the ‘Parallel Roads’ that line Glen Roy in Inverness-shire, which are actually markers from ancient glacial lakes. Fionn is thought to have cut mountain passes with his sword, but also lends his name to lesser landscape features such as caves and ‘fingerstones’ (bare, vertical rocks).
In still another class of stories Fionn tangles with the supernatural. Among the most common of these are many of the
bruidhean
[hostel, banqueting hall] type, in which Fionn and his men are lured into an attractive residence and find all exits closed once they are inside. Anne Ross (1967) has suggested that the fear associated with the
bruidhean
derives from the burning of human sacrifices in wickerwork images in pre-Christian times. The motif is not unique to the Fenian Cycle and a close parallel can be found in
Togail Bruidne Da Derga
[the Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel], part of either the Ulster or Mythological Cycle. Often, but not always, the seducer is a beautiful but treacherous woman. In the widely known (both Ireland and Scotland)
Bruidhean Chaorthainn
[Hostel of the Quicken Trees] the villain is Midac, a young man of Lochlainn who had been raised with the Fianna at the Hill of Allen. He invites his former benefactors to his residence along the Shannon River only in hopes of betraying them to the King of the World. Yet other stories are clearly allegorical, as in the fifteenth-century text where Fionn and his men encounter an old man, a ram, and a beautiful young woman. The ram who butts the men’s food from their table and will not be restrained is the world. The woman who tells Fionn he has had her already, as she rejects him, is youth. And the old man who makes quick work of the ram is old age, which eventually subdues all.
Among Fionn’s many powers is the ease he has with most women. Unlike Cúchulainn with Emer, he lacks a constant mate. Encounters with more than fifty named women produce innumerable progeny. One of the many named Áine swears she will sleep with no man except Fionn. The imposition of Christian ideas of monogamy classifies some of these women as ‘wives’ and others as ‘lovers’, a distinction not made by the original storytellers. The best remembered of these today, though not necessarily the most important, is Sadb the deer-maiden, also known as Saba or Blaí. Her story comes in two versions. In the first she has been enchanted into deer form by Fer Doirich the druid.
After the hounds Bran and Sceolang chase her into the Hill of Allen, Fionn gives the deer shelter and is delighted when it turns into a beautiful young woman. They become lovers, and she gives birth to the child Oisín, whose name is the diminutive of deer,
os
. When Fionn returns to hunting, Sadb is again enchanted by Fer Doirich, and so abandons her infant son. Seven years later Fionn finds him naked under a rowan tree near the storied mountain of Ben Bulben in Sligo. In the second version the lover, sometimes named Blaí, is usually a beautiful young woman married to Fionn who is transformed into a deer by a malicious but unnamed magician while her husband is away. Once again the mother abandons the child, only to have the father find him some years later. Oisín becomes an important member of the fianna though not necessarily as an heir of Fionn or as a leader of men. Within the older, Irish-language manuscript tradition the favoured offspring is Oisín’s son Oscar, Fionn’s grandson, the ‘Galahad of the Cycle’. In certain later narratives, to be considered in this chapter, Oisín becomes the lover and poet who inspired James Macpherson’s chicanery.