Celtic Stories/The Palace of the Mountain Ash Trees
THE PALACE OF THE MOUNTAIN ASH TREES
In one of the battles of Erin against Lochlann the strength of Finn and his sons and companions prevailed, so that Colga the king was slain, and with him fell all the men of Lochlann save Midac, youngest son of the king. Finn took Midac home to the palace of Allen, where he was entertained and educated like a king's son. When he was a man and a warrior he was enrolled among the Fena, the company of Finn. He shared their battles, their hunting, and their feasts.
Nevertheless, Midac remembered that he was the son of the King of Lochlann, whom the Fena had destroyed. Like a spy he studied the Fena's country, their strong places and palaces, their ways of fighting. So one day at Finn's council it was decided that Midac should be given land suitable to his royalty, and allowed to rule there and dwell apart. A choice of land was offered to him, and he chose the country round about the Shannon at Limerick, and the mouth of the Fergus with its islands. There was no better place than this, if in the hands of a traitor, for an invader to penetrate Erin. Finn added to this gift all that was necessary to maintain a prince, and there Midac settled and lived fourteen years without visiting the Fena, or receiving a visit from them. Finn was too generous and too full of the labours of a hero to take notice of this. He hunted and feasted without thought of Midac.
One day the Fena were hunting near Midac's country, and Finn with a few more had pitched tents on the top of the hill. They were resting that day. The hill-top was to be a centre of rest for tired hunters, and from it men could watch the chase on the plains below. As Finn sat, now watching and now listening for hounds and hunters, a strange man saluted him. He was dressed like a warrior in a Lochlann coat of mail, and carried two spears and a long sword. He was a man of majesty and courtesy; Finn saluted him back, and for some time they talked together. More than once, the stranger put aside questions about his name and whence he had come.
'It is wonderful, said Finn, 'that such a hero should be in Erin, but unknown to me.'
At this Conan the son of Morna interrupted and spoke hotly, saying:
'O King, this man is Midac. He is one of the Fena, but an enemy. Fourteen years he has lived yonder in the land thou gavest him, and he has never come to see us or invited us to see him.'
Midac answered mildly:
'I am one of the Fena. Is there need of invitations among brethren? I have always had ready a feast worthy of you. Come now, then, to my Palace of the Mountain Ash Trees which is not far off, and feast with me.'
Midac pointed out the way, and went on rapidly ahead to make things ready for his guests. Ossian and five chieftains were to remain at the tents until the hunt returned. Finn and the others followed Midac, promising to send back news to the tents of what should happen.
Midac disappeared at a bend in the road, but they continued after him upon the descending path for some distance. Then they took a track branching out of it over rocks. This was very much like other tracks which they knew as hunters, and all had supposed that they were on well-known ground, when suddenly they saw the Palace of the Mountain Ash Trees. It stood up in front of them, not so much like a palace as like one of those groups of clouds in the sunset sky which resemble architecture upon enormous crags. It was huge and worthy of a great king, and it astonished them above all because they had neither seen nor heard of it before. All was silent. They hastened forward, wondering now why they had never even heard of so large a palace, and now whether it was a delusion of clouds. As they came close up to it, they saw that it stood in a copse of mountain ash trees. The scarlet berries in many places touched the walls, and a man might have thought either that the palace was deserted and the forest was closing round it, or that somehow the forest had not been disturbed either by the work of building or by the going to and fro of the inhabitants. At one side a green path led away among the trees, and then very steeply down among rocks to a broad river, at a place where there was a ford.
The palace and the copse were so silent that Finn had a thought of turning back. But one of the seven great doors was wide open, and they entered a hall more beautiful than any of them had seen before. A great fire was burning in the midst and perfuming the room without making smoke. Round about were couches strewn with soft furs. All was empty and silent. The Fena sat down upon the couches and waited in silence.
When Midac entered he said no word as he looked at them one by one. He went out without speaking and shut the great door behind him. For some time they sat waiting for his return, surprised but speechless. Finn at last broke the silence, saying that perhaps Midac's people had made the feast at his other palace, the Palace of the Island. Then one noticed that the fire was filling the hall, not with sweetness, but with foul soot and smoke. Another pointed out that the gorgeous walls were now only rough and unsightly planks. They found themselves sitting on the cold wet ground instead of choice furs. There was now only one little door to the hall, and that fast shut.
'Break open that door,' said Finn, 'I cannot abide in a house with one door only.'
Immediately Conan started to leap to his feet; he tried to raise himself up with his spear; but he did not and could not move, whatever he did. 'A spell!' he cried out, 'A spell has rooted me to the cold ground of this Palace of the Mountain Ash Trees.' The others also tried to rise, but all were fixed to the ground like trees. Finn put his thumb into his mouth under his tooth of knowledge, where he let it stay while he was thinking. He groaned as he took it out, for he had seen the truth.
'Midac,' he said, 'has plotted against us. In the Palace of the Island a host has assembled, under many foreign kings and princes. There are Sinsar the King of the World, and his son Borba the Haughty and the three Kings of the Island of the Torrent, and many more. These three are the enchanters. The clay in which we are rooted was taken from their enchanted Island of the Torrent. Soon the host will march against us. Nothing can break the spell which binds us, except the blood of the three kings sprinkled upon the clay.'
The heroes were furious because of their helplessness. They writhed like trees in a tempest. Some wept, some wildly lamented. Only Finn was not overcome. Instead of weeping or groaning or bellowing, he began to sing the war song of the Fena, and one by one the others gave up their lamentations and joined the song, until all were singing together. No spell could resist this song sung by a man with all his heart and soul, because it caused all other things to disappear so long as it sounded. The heroes became merely throats to sing, and ears to hear, the magnificent chant.
They were singing this song when two messengers from Ossian arrived outside the palace at nightfall to learn how they fared. One of these men, named Innsa, judged that all was well because they were singing; but Ficna the other knew that the slowness of the song meant ill. Finn heard and recognized their voices outside.
'We are spellbound here,' he told them, 'fastened to the ground by the enchantment of the three Kings of the Island of the Torrent. Beware. As for us, only their blood can deliver us. Save yourselves.'
'We will never save ourselves, except in your company,' they replied; and when he knew that they were resolved not to go away Finn told them that one good man could defend against a whole army the narrow entrance to the ford among the rocks below.
So Innsa took his stand between two rocks like pillars, while Ficna went forward to the Palace of the Island to see what he could see. But by another road one of the King of the World's chieftains came down with many knights and reached the ford. On the opposite side he saw what might have been a warrior or a tall rock, and he hailed it:
'Who is there?'
'Innsa, of Finn's household,' answered a voice.
'Lead us, then, that we may fetch the head of Finn for the King of the World.'
'You can get to Finn only over my body,' said Innsa.
Thereupon the knights rushed into the ford and began to attack Innsa with their swords. Innsa was a good warrior, and he had Finn and more than half of the Fena to defend; he stood above the enemy and their sword blades lighted him to their heads and breasts; and therefore he slew each man that approached him. The lightning and clashing of swords wakened the hawks on the rocks and reached the heroes sitting in the Palace of the Mountain Ash Trees. Innsa grew weary with reaping heads, and he leaned against one of the pillars. Then the chief himself furiously attacked him, and though the battle was long, Innsa was slain. Even so, the chief was afraid to go alone among the Fena; though fast bound by spells he dreaded them. He set out then to bring more men and to carry Innsa's head to the king. On his way Ficna encountered him.
'Whence do you come?' asked Ficna.
'From the ford of the Palace of the Mountain Ash Trees, where I have slain this champion.'
Ficna took the head and kissed it.
'Are you not then one of us?' asked the other.
'No!' cried Ficna, and fell upon him and killed him. When he had buried Innsa at the ford he carried up the enemy's head and told Finn his news.
Then Ficna returned and took Innsa's place between the rocks. Soon came the dead chief's brother to look for his friends, and he saw the bodies swelling the stream and Ficna guarding the ford. One by one the King of the World's men went up against Ficna, and he slew all that came near. Only one remained alive, and he took back word of the slaughter. Midac was enraged. He chose a band of warriors and himself went with them to the ford.
At first Midac spoke softly to Ficna, but Ficna answered him with reproaches for his ingratitude and with defiance.
'Quit the ford!' shouted Midac.
'I am only one,' Ficna laughed; 'you are a hundred, and surely it matters not to such a band whether I go or stay.'
Midac's knights now set upon Ficna. Not one of them got near enough except to be killed, until Midac himself crept up over their bodies. They were piled so high that he was upon a level with Ficna, and the two fought until they were on the other side of the ford. The noise of sword upon sword, and sword upon mail and bone reached to the palace where other messengers, Dermat and Fatha, had arrived from Ossian.
'I hear the war cry of Ficna,' said one, 'and I hear the ravens and the glen goblins calling for his blood. Hasten.'
They ran until they came above the ford, and looked down on the pavement of dead men and the two warriors fighting. Dermat hesitated with spear in hand lest he should kill Ficna instead of Midac with so long a cast. Then he threw it. He had made no mistake; the spear had pierced Midac's body. But before Dermat could cross the ford the wounded man had raised his spear for the last and worst throw and struck down Ficna. Ficna lay dying while Dermat smote off Midac's head. Leaving Fatha to guard the ford, he ran up to the palace and shouted and struck at the door with his bloody spear. Finn anxiously forbade him to enter the place of spells.
'What,' he asked, 'was the battle at the ford?'
Dermat told him the glorious and heavy news, and Finn answered:
'Thanks, Dermat. We are spellbound and powerless. Go down and keep the ford till the sun rise and the Fena come to your help.'
Then Conan cried out:
'My hunger and thirst sitting here still are greater than I can bear. Over there in the Palace of the Island there is plenty to eat and drink. Bring me wine and meat, O Dermat.'
'This is no time, Conan,' said Dermat, 'for thinking of eating and drinking.'
'Ah, Dermat, if this were a maiden's voice now,' said Conan, 'you would not refuse…'
So Dermat went down to Fatha and bade him defend the ford while he fetched meat and drink from the Palace of the Island. There he saw men deep in the feast. He slipped in and waited in a dark passage. He waylaid a cupbearer and striking off his head snatched the drinking cup. From under the king's eyes, amid a crowd of revellers, he carried off a full dish.
At the ford he found Fatha sleeping, and though he wondered at this he did not awaken him, but ran up with his burden. He threw the meat in at an opening in the wall to Conan. The drink he poured through a hole in the roof down into the dry sink of Conan's throat.
Rapidly descending he took his place beside the still sleeping Fatha. It was not long before the three Kings of the Island of the Torrent approached with their host. They greeted Dermat in a friendly manner, reminding him that they had been fellow pupils in warfare. But Dermat grasped his sword and stood upright between the rocks. The sound of the combat roused Fatha, and for one moment he set upon Dermat in anger that he had not awakened him. Then they turned upon the enemy and fought side by. side. No one went alive out of the whirling of their two swords. If one of them seemed to grow weary, lifting up his arm slowly as a mill sail rises up, he brought it down mightily as a mill sail plunges from on high. The three Kings of the Island of the Torrent could not terrify them with their dragon looks, and they slew all three. Quickly Dermat struck off their heads and bore them up to the palace.
'What news?' asked Finn.
'We have slain the kings and here are their heads,' he answered.
'Thanks and blessings, Dermat. Come, sprinkle this door with their blood.'
As Dermat sprinkled the blood the door flew open and he and Fatha ran in. They poured blood on the enchanted clay, and Finn and his companions rose up free. But they had not their old strength, nor would it return before dawn.
Once more Dermat and Fatha stood at the ford, and while it was yet only half light, Borba the Haughty came against them with a chosen band. They came straight onward until they reached the points of Dermat's and Fatha's swords. There, one by one, they stopped, tried to turn back, took half a step forward and fell down. The defenders plied their swords warily so as to outlast the night. At the point of daybreak strength returned to the warriors in the Palace. One was sent to call Ossian; the rest, led by Finn, came to the ford. Gaul the son of Morna met Borba the Haughty and slew him. The enemy no longer came up so rapidly to be killed. Some turned and fled. A messenger ran back to the King of the World.
The King of the World rode up only to see Ossian and the returned hunters at the top of the rocks above the ford. The King of the World did not venture to cross, but spread out his men upon the opposite plain. Then all the Fena in their ranks and under their beautiful banners came across to meet them, with long lances and heavy swords, broad shields and helmets with gems. As the sun destroyed the shadows among the rocks and once more wakened the hawks, where Dermat and Fatha had been standing, so Finn and his men destroyed the army of the King of the World and sent their spirits into the air. Oscar the son of Ossian slew the king himself. Every man of the enemy who could do anything ran, and the few who escaped took to their ships and sailed away. At midday Finn and the Fena lay down and rested, and the birds gathered the scarlet berries from the mountain ash trees above the ford.