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200 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
Daorghlas, who this /ear ccwl was, Fionn answered that his name
was now Caoilte. Here thoy got victorious arms, but they had to
be temj)ered in human blood. Fionn, by a stratagem, got the
smith's mother to take the place tliat fell to him by lot, and she
was unwittingly killed. And Fionn's own sword was tempered in
the smith'.s own blood.
" B'e Mac an Luin lann Mhic Cumhail,
Gum be Drithleannach lann Oscar,
'S b'i Chruaidh Ohosgarrach lann Chaoilte,
Gum b'i an Liomharrach lann Dhiannad,
Agam fein bha Gearr-nan-colann."
Every hero's sword had a name, as we see from this.
Distressed people came to the Feine for protection. In Macpherson,
nearly every other j)oem presents such, but in the ballads,
there is only one good INIacphersonic case. Tliis is found in
" Duan na h-Inghinn," or Essroy of the Dean of Lismore. The
daughter of the King of Under-waves Land flies from the love of
the son of the King of the Land of Light (Sorcha). She comes in
a gold " curach" to Fionn. Her lover follows on his steed riding on
the waves. He fights the heroes and falls. Some ballads
represent him as killing the Nighean, others that she was with
Fionn in the Feine a year. This is nearly exactly the same as
Macpherson's Maid of Oraca and Faine-soluis. It is the only
poem of his that agrees with the ballads in any satisfactory
respect.
same.
But his language differs widely, though the plot is the
Foreign invaders are numerous. Sometimes they are singlehanded,
as in the case of Deai'g, and his son Conn after him.
Other times there is a regular invasion. The stories of single
invaders are all of a type ; he comes, challenges the champions
and lays them low in ones, twos, tens, and liundreds. Then Goll
or Oscar goes, and after a stifl" fight annihilates him. Their
wounds are healed by Fionn. The Kings of Lochlinn are the
chief invaders. Manus we liave already considered. Earragon,
another Lochlinn king, got his wife stolen by Aide, one of
Fionn's men, and came to Scotland to fight them over it. The
ballad is called " Teanntachd JMhor Na Fein6," and forms the
groundwork of Macpherson's Battle of Lora, or as he says himself,
calling it Irish of course—
" It appears to have been founded
on tlie same story with the * Battle of Lora,' one of the poems of
the genuine Ossian" ! A most serious invasion of Ireland was
made by Dare Donn or Darius, King of the World, helped by all