Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER VI: TALES OF THE OSSIANIC CYCLE 241Slievegallion, and found there a wretched and palsied old man,whom they questioned, but who could do nothing but beat hisbreast and moan. At last, beckoning Keelta to come near, theaged man whispered faintly some words into his ear, and lo, itwas Finn himself! When the Fianna had ceased from their criesof wonder and lamentation, Finn whispered to Keelta the tale ofhis enchantment, and told them that the author of it must be thedaughter of Cullan the Smith, who dwelt in the Fairy Mound ofSlievegallion. The Fianna, bearing Finn on a litter, immediatelywent to the Mound and began to dig fiercely. For three daysand nights they dug at the Fairy Mound, and at last penetrated toits inmost recesses, when a maiden suddenly stood before themholding a drinking-horn of red gold. It was given to Finn. Hedrank from it, and at once his beauty and form were restored tohim, but his hair still remained white as silver. This too wouldhave been restored by another draught, but Finn let it stay as itwas, and silver-white his hair remained to the day of his death.The tale has been made the subject of a very striking allegorical [281]drama, “The Masque of Finn,” by Mr. Standish O'Grady,who, rightly no doubt, interprets the story as symbolising theacquisition of wisdom and understanding through suffering. Aleader of men must descend into the lake of tears and knowfeebleness and despair before his spirit can sway them to greatends.There is an antique sepulchral monument on the mountain-topwhich the peasantry of the district still regard—or did in thedays before Board schools—as the abode of the “Witch of theLake”; and a mysterious beaten path, which was never wornby the passage of human feet, and which leads from the rocksepulchre to the lake-side, is ascribed to the going to and fro ofthis supernatural being.The “Colloquy of the Ancients”One of the most interesting and attractive of the relics ofOssianic literature is the “Colloquy of the Ancients,” Agallamh