Post by Heretic on May 1, 2007 19:18:12 GMT -5
Of Cernan Mac Uathach and the Birth of Finn Mac Cernan
How was it that Finn was born? It is soon told.
There was once a great king in Scotland named Cernan Mac Uathach, who ruled over the Isle of Man. His father Uathach Mac Cet had been a man full of vigor, a man of troops and swords, a man of wine and feasts, a humble and modest man who was ever at the front of the charge, and where his men killed four hundred men, he had killed a share of foes for fifteen men. His sword became famous, and its name is Ruadhthach, or Red Tongue. He married Fand daughter of Dubhthach, and they had many fine children.
One day Uathach and Fand were riding to a feast with all their children and their fighting men. They were attacked by Irish raiders and slain, though many foes fell by the hand of Uathach before he himself was slain with arrows, and Cernan his eldest son took up a sword from the ground, though he was but thirteen years, and defended his brothers and sisters until he was struck upon the head and fell in darkness. When he awoke all the fighting men were dead, his brothers had been slain, his sisters dragged away, his father and mother killed, and Ruadhtach taken. He stayed there for seven days and seven nights, neither sleeping nor eating, until he had raised a great cairn over his parents and brothers and fighting men, and he made lament over them and swore that none in all his land should fear death by the sword again.
When he returned the people wept and proclaimed him king, and he reigned over them, proving to be wise and strong in all ways. He was a man full of vigor, a man of troops and swords, a man of wine and feasts, a humble and modest man who was ever at the front of the charge, and where his men killed four hundred men, he had killed a share of foes for fifteen men. If his father was like six good kings, he was like seven good kings. Despite this he did not marry or take a woman into his bed.
In his day there were many raids from the kings of Ireland, who would fall upon his villages with great force, slaughtering many men and carrying off the women, so that there was never a single night and day in the entire land where tears were not shed.
So Cernan, remembering his oath at the cairn of his father, gathered together all the heroes and warriors and fighting men he could muster and crossed the waters in great anger. He fell upon the kings of Ireland and drove them before him with great slaughter. In one day his men killed nine hundred men, and there was never a single night and day in the whole of that land where blood was not shed.
Bude Mac Aengus came against him with a great army, but as they came through the forest many flocks of birds were frightened and flew up, so that Cernan learned of their approach and made ready his men at the fords where Bude was to cross and sent a great many others to hide in the woods across the fords.
When Bude and his host approached the fords, their appearance was terrifying; they were all clad in mail and red cloaks, their swords were bright and long, their hair was bound in braids, their red shields were arrayed like a stone wall, and they made a great clamor that sent the beasts of the woods running hither and thither in great fear.
But Cernan attacked when only a few were across the fords, raining arrows and stones and javelins upon them and falling upon them so that many fell to their fierce swords and the air was a mist of blood. The men he had hidden in the woods then attacked from the woods with their great axes, driving the Irish into the fords, where they were cut down by the fierce warriors. Not one of Bude's men escaped that day, and their bodies were piled upon the shore.
Cernan was wounded, however. He was pierced by the spears of the sons of Bude as they defended their father's body, who had fallen to Cernan's blade. As Cernan fell, he came down upon his own sword, and it broke beneath him. Then the sons of Bude fell by their father's side as the fighting men attacked them, and all of them perished.
The Scots thought that Cernan was dead, and they made great lament over his body. They bore him out of the water and washed his wounds, which were great, and they arrayed him upon a pyre. But even as the torch touched the wood he awoke and cried out in a loud voice, and spoke this chant.
Blood spilled this day,
A good reward for Bude's slaughter.
Never again will he slay my people.
Crows exult over the flesh of men
Glutting on dark blood in the earth.
A good reward for Bude's slaughter.
Never again will he slay my people.
Crows exult over the flesh of men
Glutting on dark blood in the earth.
Then he said, "A stone hall lies not far from here. It holds the sword of my father, called Ruadhthach. I beheld it in a dream while I wandered in my wounds." So a great host of high-hearted heroes went out and took the sword back to him.
His men rejoiced at his recovery and every man sent his wife and daughters to him to heal him. They sang to him every night with sweet voices and tended his wounds with gentle hands, and swiftly he healed under their care. But one girl especially loved him, and when all other women had gone she would sit by his bed and talk to him and sing to him, and they delighted in one another's company. She was the daughter of a Welsh druid named Myrddin, and when Cernan had healed he went to Myrddin, and he granted that they might be married. Her name was Li Ban.
And so they were married in Cernan's drinking-hall in the spring, and she soon was with child. Every day she seemed more beautiful, and Cernan loved her along with all the people. Those were days of peace and plenty, and the gods blessed the land, and it seemed as if every meadow bloomed with sweet flowers, and every hill was anointed with the blossoming heather, and every tree grew strong and green.
But when it came time for Li Ban to give birth, it was difficult, and there was much bleeding, and though she bore her child, she exhaled with a sigh and breathed no more.
When Cernan, who had been in the room next to hers, praying and weeping with her screams, heard the women weeping and making a lament, he broke the door to pieces with his fist and came into the room like a god. He beheld the body of his wife and his heart burst asunder within him, and kissing her upon the mouth he chanted:
Arise, weepers of my house!
Shed your tears, rend your flesh for Li Ban
No more shall she bring laughter to my heart
Or lighten the faces of children.
Never did I begrudge her the slightest happiness.
Woe! Woe and weeping!
What should have been my greatest joy has become my greatest grief.
Shed your tears, rend your flesh for Li Ban
No more shall she bring laughter to my heart
Or lighten the faces of children.
Never did I begrudge her the slightest happiness.
Woe! Woe and weeping!
What should have been my greatest joy has become my greatest grief.
"The child is named Finn," he said, and uttering a great cry he fled from the fortress onto the great green hill beside the river, and none would withstand him in his grief. When he reached the crown of the hill, he implored the gods to protect his son, and drawing out his sword Ruadhthach he set the hilts into the ground and cast himself upon it, and thus ended his life.
There was great weeping throughout the land, and the bodies of both king and queen were burned with honor and their ashes interred under great cairns of stone. All the people wept aloud and even the birds and beasts went wild and roamed bellowing throughout the land.
But Myrddin, mourning the death of his only daughter, took Finn, for he foresaw in a vision many dark years of strife and the sword ahead. And indeed, when the Irish chiefs heard of Cernan's death, they invaded in great numbers, slaying men and dragging away women and girls, and there was never and single night and day in that land in which tears and blood were not shed.