CHAPTER VI
Just as at one time he could not be parted from Saeve,so now he could not be separated from this boy.He had a thousand names for him,each one more tender than the last:"My Fawn,My Pulse,My Secret Little Treasure,"or he would call him "My Music,My Blossoming Branch,My Store in the Heart,My Soul."And the dogs were as wild for the boy as Fionn was.He could sit in safety among a pack that would have torn any man to pieces,and the reason was that Bran and Sceo'lan,with their three whelps,followed him about like shadows.When he was with the pack these five were with him,and woeful indeed was the eye they turned on their comrades when these pushed too closely or were not properly humble.They thrashed the pack severally and collectively until every hound in Fionn's kennels knew that the little lad was their master,and that there was nothing in the world so sacred as he was.
In no long time the five wise hounds could have given over their guardianship,so complete was the recognition of their young lord.But they did not so give over,for it was not love they gave the lad but adoration.
Fionn even may have been embarrassed by their too close attendance.If he had been able to do so he might have spoken harshly to his dogs,but he could not;it was unthinkable that he should;and the boy might have spoken harshly to him if he had dared to do it.For this was the order of Fionn's affection:
first there was the boy;next,Bran and Sceo'lan with their three whelps;then Caelte mac Rona'n,and from him down through the champions.He loved them all,but it was along that precedence his affections ran.The thorn that went into Bran's foot ran into Fionn's also.The world knew it,and there was not a champion but admitted sorrowfully that there was reason for his love.
Little by little the boy came to understand their speech and to speak it himself,and at last he was able to tell his story to Fionn.
There were many blanks in the tale,for a young child does not remember very well.Deeds grow old in a day and are buried in a night.New memories come crowding on old ones,and one must learn to forget as well as to remember.A whole new life had come on this boy,a life that was instant and memorable,so that his present memories blended into and obscured the past,and he could not be quite sure if that which he told of had happened in this world or in the world he had left.
CHAPTER VII
"I used to live,"he said,"in a wide,beautiful place.There were hills and valleys there,and woods and streams,but in whatever direction I went I came always to a cliff,so tall it seemed to lean against the sky,and so straight that even a goat would not have imagined to climb it.""I do not know of any such place,"Fionn mused.
"There is no such place in Ireland,"said Caelte,"but in the Shi'there is such a place.""There is in truth,"said Fionn.
"I used to eat fruits and roots in the summer,"the boy continued,"but in the winter food was left for me in a cave.""Was there no one with you?"Fionn asked.
"No one but a deer that loved me,and that I loved.""Ah me!"cried Fionn in anguish,"tell me your tale,my son.""A dark stern man came often after us,and he used to speak with the deer.Sometimes he talked gently and softly and coaxingly,but at times again he would shout loudly and in a harsh,angry voice.But whatever way he talked the deer would draw away from him in dread,and he always left her at last furiously.""It is the Dark Magician of the Men of God,"cried Fionn despairingly.
"It is indeed,my soul,"said Caelte.
"The last time I saw the deer,"the child continued,"the dark man was speaking to her.He spoke for a long time.He spoke gently and angrily,and gently and angrily,so that I thought he would never stop talking,but in the end he struck her with a hazel rod,so that she was forced to follow him when he went away.She was looking back at me all the time and she was crying so bitterly that any one would pity her.I tried to follow her also,but I could not move,and I cried after her too,with rage and grief,until I could see her no more and hear her no more.
Then I fell on the grass,my senses went away from me,and when Iawoke I was on the hill in the middle of the hounds where you found me."That was the boy whom the Fianna called Oisi'n,or the Little Fawn.He grew to be a great fighter afterwards,and he was the chief maker of poems in the world.But he was not yet finished with the Shi.He was to go back into Faery when the time came,and to come thence again to tell these tales,for it was by him these tales were told.