Part 33 (1/2)

Next morning the man went out to herd cows as before. ”Well,” said Conan Maol to Fin, ”if you don't put this man to death, he'll destroy you and me and all the Fenians of Erin.”

”How could I put such a man to death?”

”There is,” said Conan, ”a bullock in the north of Erin, and he drives fog out of himself for seven days and then he draws it in for seven other days. To-morrow is the last day for drawing it in. If any one man comes near, he'll swallow him alive.”

When the cowherd came to supper in the evening, Fin said to him: ”I am going to have a feast and need fresh beef. Now there is a bullock in that same valley by the lake in the north of Erin where you punished the serpent; and if you go there and bring the bullock to me, you'll have my thanks.”

”I'll go,” said the man, ”the first thing after breakfast in the morning.”

So off he went next morning; and when he came near the valley, he found the bullock asleep and drawing in the last of the fog; and soon he found himself going in with it. So he caught hold of a great oak-tree for safety. The bullock woke up then and saw him, and letting a roar out of himself, faced him, and gave him a pitch with his horn which sent him seven miles over the top of a wood. And when he fell to the ground, the bullock was on him again before he had time to rise, and gave him another pitch which sent him back and broke three ribs in his body.

”This will never do,” said the man, as he rose, and pulling up an oak-tree by the roots for a club, he faced the bullock. And there they were at one another for five days and nights, till the bullock was as tame as a cat and the man drove him home to Fin's castle. The sentry saw them coming and ran inside the gate with word. ”Tell the man to tie the bullock to that oak-tree beyond,” said Conan. ”We don't want him near this place.” The cowherd tied the bullock, and told Fin to send four of the best butchers in Erin to kill him with an axe; and the four of them struck him one after another and any of them couldn't knock him.

”Give me an axe,” said the man to the butchers. They gave him the axe, and the first stroke he gave, he knocked the bullock. Then they began to skin him; but the man didn't like the way they were doing the work, so he took his sword and had three quarters of the bullock skinned before they could skin one.

Next morning the cowherd went out with the cows; but he wasn't long gone when Conan Maol came to Fin and said: ”If you don't put an end to that man, he'll soon put an end to you and to me and to all of us, so there won't be a man of the Fenians of Erin left alive.”

”How could I put an end to a man like him?” asked Fin.

”There is in the north of Erin,” said Conan, ”a wild sow who has two great pigs of her own; and she and her two pigs have bags of poison in their tails; and when they see any man, they run at him and shake their poison bags; and if the smallest drop of the poison touches him, it is death to him that minute. And, if by any chance he should escape the wild sow and the pigs, there is a fox-man called the Gruagach, who has but one eye and that in the middle of his forehead. The Gruagach carries a club of a ton weight, and if the cowherd gets one welt of that club, he'll never trouble the Fenians of Erin again.”

Next morning Fin called up the cowherd and said, ”I am going to have a feast in this castle, and I would like to have some fresh pork. There is a wild sow in the north of Erin with two pigs, and if you bring her to me before the feast, you'll have my thanks.”

”I'll go and bring her to you,” said the cowherd. So after breakfast he took his sword, went to the north of Erin, and stole up to the sow and two pigs, and whipped the tails off the three of them, before they knew he was in it. Then he faced the wild sow and fought with her for four days and five nights, and on the morning of the fifth day he knocked her dead. At the last blow, his sword stuck in her backbone and he couldn't draw it out. But with one pull he broke the blade, and stood there over her with only the hilt in his hand. Then he put his foot on one of her jaws, took the other in his hands, and splitting her evenly from the nose to the tail, made two halves of her.

He threw one half on his shoulder; and that minute the big Gruagach with one eye in his head came along and made an offer of his club at him to kill him. But the cowherd jumped aside, and catching the Gruagach by one of his legs, threw him up on to the half of the wild sow on his shoulder, and taking the other half of her from the ground, clapped that on the top of the Gruagach, and ran away to Fin's castle as fast as his legs could carry him.

The sentry at the castle gate ran in and said: ”The cowherd is running to the castle, and the size of a mountain on his back.” ”Go out now,”

said Conan Maol, ”and stop him where he is, or he'll throw down the castle if he comes here with the load that's on him.” But before the sentry was back at his place, the cowherd was at the gate shaking the load off his back and the castle to its foundations, so that every dish and vessel in it was broken to bits.

The Gruagach jumped from the ground, rubbed his legs and every part of him that was sore from the treatment he got. He was so much in dread of the cowherd that he ran with all the strength that was in him, and never stopped to look back till he was in the north of Erin.

Next morning the cowherd went out with the cows, drove them back in the evening, and while picking the thigh-bone of a bullock for his supper, Oscar, son of Oisin, the strongest man of the Fenians of Erin, came up to him and took hold of the bone to pull it from his hand. The cowherd held one end and Oscar the other, and pulled till they made two halves of the bone. ”What did you carry away?” asked the cowherd. ”What I have in my hand,” said Oscar. ”And I kept what I held in my fist,” said the cowherd. ”There is that for you now,” said Oscar, and he hit him a slap.

The cowherd said no word in answer, but next morning he asked his wages of Fin. ”Oh, then,” said Fin, ”I'll pay you and welcome, for you are the best man I have ever had or met with.”

Then the cowherd went away to Cahirciveen in Kerry where he had an enchanted castle. But before he went he invited Fin Macc.u.mhail and the Fenians of Erin to have a great feast with him. ”For,” said he to Fin, ”I'm not a cowherd at all, but the son of the king of Alba, and I'll give you good cheer.”

When the Fenians came to the place, they found the finest castle that could be seen. There were three fires in each room and seven spits at every fire. When they had gone and sat down in their places, there was but one fire in each room. ”Rise up, every man of you,” said Fin, ”or we are lost; for this is an enchanted place.”

They tried to rise, but each man was fastened to his seat, and the seat to the floor; and not one of them could stir. Then the last fire went out and they were in darkness.

”Chew your thumb,” said Conan to Fin, ”and try is there any way out of here.” Fin chewed his thumb and knew what trouble they were in. Then he put his two hands into his mouth and blew the old-time whistle. And this whistle was heard by Pogan and Ceolan, two sons of Fin who were in the North at that time, one fis.h.i.+ng and the other hurling.

When they heard the whistle, they said: ”Our father and the Fenians of Erin are in trouble.” And they faced towards the sound and never stopped till they knocked at the door of the enchanted castle of the son of Alba at Cahirciveen.

”Who is there?” asked Fin.

”Your two sons,” said one of them.