Gods and Fighting MenCeltic MythologyLegend / Oral TraditionIrish source traditions arranged in EnglishShareGods and Fighting Men 88Project 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 Iv. Oisin'S LamentsGods and Fighting Men 88ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1And Oisin used to be making laments, and sometimes he would be making praises of the old times and of Finn; and these are some of them that are remembered yet:-- 2I saw the household of Finn; it was not the household of a soft race; I had a vision of that man yesterday. 3I saw the household of the High King, he with the brown, sweet-voiced son; I never saw a better man. 4I saw the household of Finn; no one saw it as I saw it; I saw Finn with the sword, Mac an Luin. Och! it was sorrowful to see it. 5I cannot tell out every harm that is on my head; free us from our trouble for ever; I have seen the household of Finn. 6It is a week from yesterday I last saw Finn; I never saw a braver man. A king of heavy blows; my law, my adviser, my sense and my wisdom, prince and poet, braver than kings, King of the Fianna, brave in all countries; golden salmon of the sea, clean hawk of the air, rightly taught, avoiding lies; strong in his doings, a right judge, ready in courage, a high messenger in bravery and in music. 7His skin lime-white, his hair golden; ready to work, gentle to women. His great green vessels full of rough sharp wine, it is rich the king was, the head of his people. 8Seven sides Finn's house had, and seven score shields on every side. Fifty fighting men he had about him having woollen cloaks; ten bright drinking-cups in his hall; ten blue vessels, ten golden horns. 9It is a good household Finn had, without grudging, without lust, without vain boasting, without chattering, without any slur on any one of the Fianna. 10Finn never refused any man; he never put away any one that came to his house. If the brown leaves falling in the woods were gold, if the white waves were silver, Finn would have given away the whole of it. 11Blackbird of Doire an Chairn, your voice is sweet; I never heard on any height of the world music was sweeter than your voice, and you at the foot of your nest. 12The music is sweetest in the world, it is a pity not to be listening to it for a while, O son of Calphurn of the sweet bells, and you would overtake your nones again. 13If you knew the story of the bird the way I know it, you would be crying lasting tears, and you would give no heed to your God for a while. 14In the country of Lochlann of the blue streams, Finn, son of Cumhal, of the red-gold cups, found that bird you hear now; I will tell you its story truly. 15Doire an Chairn, that wood there to the west, where the Fianna used to be delaying, it is there they put the blackbird, in the beauty of the pleasant trees. 16The stag of the heather of quiet Cruachan, the sorrowful croak from the ridge of the Two Lakes; the voice of the eagle of the Valley of the Shapes, the voice of the cuckoo on the Hill of Brambles. 17The voice of the hounds in the pleasant valley; the scream of the eagle on the edge of the wood; the early outcry of the hounds going over the Strand of the Red Stones. 18The time Finn lived and the Fianna, it was sweet to them to be listening to the whistle of the blackbird; the voice of the bells would not have been sweet to them. 19There was no one of the Fianna without his fine silken shirt and his soft coat, without bright armour, without shining stones on his head, two spears in his hand, and a shield that brought victory. 20If you were to search the world you would not find a harder man, best of blood, best in battle; no one got the upper hand of him. When he went out trying his white hound, which of us could be put beside Finn? 21One time we went hunting on Slieve-nam-ban; the sun was beautiful overhead, the voice of the hounds went east and west, from hill to hill. Finn and Bran sat for a while on the hill, every man was jealous for the hunt. We let out three thousand hounds from their golden chains; every hound of them brought down two deer. 22Patrick of the true crozier, did you ever see, east or west, a greater hunt than that hunt of Finn and the Fianna? O son of Calphurn of the bells, that day was better to me than to be listening to your lamentations in the church. 23There is no strength in my hands to-night, there is no power within me; it is no wonder I to be sorowful, being thrown down in the sorrow of old age. 24Everything is a grief to me beyond any other man on the face of the earth, to be dragging stones along to the church and the hill of the priests. 25I have a little story of our people. One time Finn had a mind to make a dun on the bald hill of Cuailgne, and he put it on the Fianna of Ireland to bring stones for building it; a third on the sons of Morna, a third on myself, and a third on the sons of Baiscne. 26I gave an answer to Finn, son of Cumhal; I said I would be under his sway no longer, and that I would obey him no more. 27When Finn heard that, he was silent a long time, the man without a He, without fear. And he said to me then: "You yourself will be dragging stones before your death comes to you." 28I rose up then with anger on me, and there followed me the fourth of the brave battalions of the Fianna. I gave my own judgments, there were many of the Fianna with me. 29Now my strength is gone from me, I that was adviser to the Fianna; my whole body is tired to-night, my hands, my feet, and my head, tired, tired, tired. 30It is bad the way I am after Finn of the Fianna; since he is gone away, every good is behind me. 31Without great people, without mannerly ways; it is sorrowful I am after our king that is gone. 32I am a shaking tree, my leaves gone from me; an empty nut, a horse without a bridle; a people without a dwelling-place, I Oisin, son of Finn. 33It is long the clouds are over me to-night! it is long last night was; although this day is long, yesterday was longer again to me; every day that comes is long to me! 34That is not the way I used to be, without fighting, without battles, without learning feats, without young girls, without music, without harps, without bruising bones, without great deeds; without increase of learning, without generosity, without drinking at feasts, without courting, without hunting, the two trades I was used to; without going out to battle, Ochone! the want of them is sorrowful to me. 35No hunting of deer or stag, it is not like that I would wish to be; no leashes for our hounds, no hounds; it is long the clouds are over me to-night! 36Without rising up to do bravery as we were used, without playing as we had a mind; without swimming of our fighting men in the lake; it is long the clouds are over me to-night! 37There is no one at all in the world the way I am; it is a pity the way I am; an old man dragging stones; it is long the clouds are over me to-night! 38I am the last of the Fianna, great Oisin, son of Finn, listening to the voice of bells; it is long the clouds are over me to-night! ‹Previous chapterGods and Fighting Men 87Similar 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. 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