Jump to content

Page:Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland (Curtin).djvu/337

From Wikisource
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Oisin in Tir na n-Og.
329

that time living on Knock an Ar, and she made her way to the place without delay and lived there a while; and when she saw Oisin, he pleased her; and when she found out that he was a son of Fin MacCumhail, she was always making up to him and coming towards him. And it was usual for the Fenians in those days to go out hunting on the hills and mountains and in the woods of Erin, and when one of them went he always took five or six men with him to bring home the game.

On a day Oisin set out with his men and dogs to the woods; and he went so far and killed so much game that when it was brought together, the men were so tired, weak, and hungry that they could n't carry it, but went away home and left him with the three dogs, Bran, Sciolán, and Buglén,[1] to shift for himself.

Now the daughter of the king of Tir na n-Og, who was herself the queen of Youth, followed closely in the hunt all that day, and when the men left Oisin she came up to him; and as he stood looking at the great pile of game and said, "I am very sorry to leave behind anything that I 've had the trouble of killing," she looked at him and said, "Tie up a bundle for me, and I 'll carry it to lighten the load off you."

Oisin gave her a bundle of the game to carry,

  1. Celebrated dogs of Fin MacCumhail.