Gods and Fighting MenCeltic MythologyLegend / Oral TraditionIrish source traditions arranged in EnglishShareGods and Fighting Men 47Project Gutenberg 1905 edition - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableProject Gutenberg 1905 editionLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Gods and Fighting Men 1Gods and Fighting Men 2Gods and Fighting Men 3Gods and Fighting Men 4Gods and Fighting Men 5Gods and Fighting Men 6Gods and Fighting Men 7Gods and Fighting Men 8Gods and Fighting Men 9Gods and Fighting Men 10Gods and Fighting Men 11Gods and Fighting Men 12Gods and Fighting Men 13Gods and Fighting Men 14Gods and Fighting Men 15Gods and Fighting Men 16Gods and Fighting Men 17Gods and Fighting Men 18Gods and Fighting Men 19Gods and Fighting Men 20Gods and Fighting Men 21Gods and Fighting Men 22Gods and Fighting Men 23Gods and Fighting Men 24Gods and Fighting Men 25Gods and Fighting Men 26Gods and Fighting Men 27Gods and Fighting Men 28Gods and Fighting Men 29Gods and Fighting Men 30Gods and Fighting Men 31Gods and Fighting Men 32Gods and Fighting Men 33Gods and Fighting Men 34Gods and Fighting Men 35Gods and Fighting Men 36Gods and Fighting Men 37Gods and Fighting Men 38Gods and Fighting Men 39Gods and Fighting Men 40Gods and Fighting Men 41Gods and Fighting Men 42Gods and Fighting Men 43Gods and Fighting Men 44Gods and Fighting Men 45Gods and Fighting Men 46Gods and Fighting Men 47Gods and Fighting Men 48Gods and Fighting Men 49Gods and Fighting Men 50Gods and Fighting Men 51Gods and Fighting Men 52Gods and Fighting Men 53Gods and Fighting Men 54Gods and Fighting Men 55Gods and Fighting Men 56Gods and Fighting Men 57Gods and Fighting Men 58Gods and Fighting Men 59Gods and Fighting Men 60Gods and Fighting Men 61Gods and Fighting Men 62Gods and Fighting Men 63Gods and Fighting Men 64Gods and Fighting Men 65Gods and Fighting Men 66Gods and Fighting Men 67Gods and Fighting Men 68Gods and Fighting Men 69Gods and Fighting Men 70Gods and Fighting Men 71Gods and Fighting Men 72Gods and Fighting Men 73Gods and Fighting Men 74Gods and Fighting Men 75Gods and Fighting Men 76Gods and Fighting Men 77Gods and Fighting Men 78Gods and Fighting Men 79Gods and Fighting Men 80Gods and Fighting Men 81Gods and Fighting Men 82Gods and Fighting Men 83Gods and Fighting Men 84Gods and Fighting Men 85Gods and Fighting Men 86Gods and Fighting Men 87Gods and Fighting Men 88›Chapter I. The King Of Britain'S SonGods and Fighting Men 47ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1Arthur, son of the King of Britain, came one time to take service with Finn, and three times nine men along with him. And they went hunting one day on Beinn Edair, and Finn took his place on the Cairn of the Fianna between the hill and the sea, and Arthur took his stand between the hunt and the sea, the way the deer would not escape by swimming. 2And while Arthur was there he took notice of three of Finn's hounds, Bran, and Sceolan and Adhnuall, and he made a plan in his mind to go away across the sea, himself and his three nines, bringing those three hounds along with him. So he did that, and he himself and his men brought away the hounds and crossed the sea, and the place where they landed was Inver Mara Gamiach on the coast of Britain. And after they landed, they went to the mountain of Lodan, son of Lir, to hunt on it. 3And as to the Fianna, after their hunting was done they gathered together on the hill; and as the custom was, all Finn's hounds were counted. Three hundred full-grown hounds he had, and two hundred whelps; and it is what the poets used to say, that to be counting them was like counting the branches on a tree. 4Now on this day when they were counted, Bran and Sceolan and Adhnuall were missing; and that was told to Finn. He bade his people to search again through the three battalions of the Fianna, but search as they would, the hounds were not to be found. 5Then Finn sent for a long-shaped basin of pale gold, and water in it, and he put his face in the water, and his hand over his face, and it was showed him what had happened, and he said: "The King of Britain's son has brought away the hound. And let nine men be chosen out to follow after them," he said. So nine men were chosen out, Diarmuid, grandson of Duibhne; Goll, son of Morna; Oisin, son of Finn; Faolan, the friend of the hounds, son of a woman that had come over the sea to give her love to Finn; Ferdoman, son of Bodb Dearg; two sons of Finn, Raighne Wide Eye and Cainche the Crimson-Red; Glas, son of Enchered Bera, with Caoilte and Lugaidh's Son. And their nine put their helmets on their heads, and took their long spears in their hands, and they felt sure they were a match for any four hundred men from the east to the west of the world. 6They set out then, till they came to the mountain of Lodan, son of Lir; and they were not long there till they heard talk of men that were hunting in that place. 7Arthur of Britain and his people were sitting on a hunting mound just at that time, and the nine men of the Fianna made an attack on them and killed all of them but Arthur, that Goll, son of Morna, put his two arms about and saved from death. Then they turned to go back to Ireland, bringing Arthur with them, and the three hounds. And as they were going, Goll chanced to look around him and he saw a dark-grey horse, having a bridle with fittings of worked gold. And then he looked to the left and saw a bay mare that was not easy to get hold of, and it having a bridle of silver rings and a golden bit. And Goll took hold of the two, and he gave them into Oisin's hand, and he gave them on to Diarmuid. 8They went back to Finn then, bringing his three hounds with them, and the King of Britain's son as a prisoner; and Arthur made bonds with Finn, and was his follower till he died. 9And as to the horse and the mare, they gave them to Finn; and the mare bred eight times, at every birth eight foals, and it is of that seed came all the horses of the fair Fianna of the Gael, for they had used no horses up to that time. 10And that was not the only time Finn was robbed of some of his hounds. For there was a daughter of Roman was woman-Druid to the Tuatha de Danaan, and she set her love on Finn. But Finn said, so long as there was another woman to be found in the world, he would not marry a witch. And one time, three times fifty of Finn's hounds passed by the hill where she was; and she breathed on the hounds and shut them up in the hill, and they never came out again. It was to spite Finn she did that, and the place got the name of Duma na Conn, the Mound of the Hounds. 11And as to Adhnuall, one of the hounds Finn thought most of, and that was brought back from the King of Britain's son, this is the way he came to his death afterwards. 12There was a great fight one time between the Fianna and Macoon, son of Macnia, at some place in the province of Leinster, and a great many of the Fianna were killed. And the hound Adhnuall went wandering northward from the battle and went astray; and three times he went round the whole of Ireland, and then he came back to the place of the battle, and to a hill where three young men of the Fianna that had fallen there were buried after their death, and three daughters of a King of Alban that had died for love of them. And when Adhnuall came to that hill, he gave three loud howls and he stretched himself out and died. ‹Previous chapterGods and Fighting Men 46Next chapterGods and Fighting Men 48›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg