Scottish Folk Tales

Fionn's Journey to Lochlan

There is a wonderfully rich heritage of folktales to be found from the Gaelic oral tradition of the Scottish Highlands and islands. Many of these tales are of what we call the Ossianic tradition, concerning the adventures of Fionn and the Fianna. Often the Fianna are portrayed as giants, guardians of the land who journey to a place called Lochlann and battle with the inhabitants there. In modern Gaelic the word Lochlann means Scandinavia, and the men of Lochlann have been identified by many writers with the Norsemen who held sway over the islands in the ninth and tenth centuries.

However, these tales of the Fianna must surely go much further back than the Norse invasions. They have their origins in the misty realms of prehistory, where myth and magic mingle, and where Time slips by in fleeting moments that pass as hundreds of years in the 'real' world. They are in fact tales of Otherworld adventures, where strange things can and do happen. Certain codes of behaviour must be observed while journeying through these lands. Restrictions are often placed upon the visitors, who may be required to complete a number of tasks before they are able to return to their homeland.

The following tale, called in Gaelic Turus Fhinn do Lochlann, Fionn's Journey to Lochlann, comes from the oral traditions of Argyll, and is to be found in Lord Archibald Campbell's Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, volume 3. These tales were taken down in the Gaelic from the storyteller Alexander Cameron, and then translated on the following pages into English. I have drawn out some of the meanings that lie behind the symbolism of the story, however there is certainly much more to be found. Delving into the deeper realms of our myths and legends is a wonderful way of expanding our knowledge and understanding of our heritage, of which there is a lifetime's study. It is also interesting that no two people will ever see things in quite the same way. What each of us draws out of the myths and tales is in many ways reflective of our own inner psyche.

The story opens with Fionn and the Fianna out hunting on a hill (though we are not told, the hill is probably a Sidhe mound). As they were going home, they saw a lad coming towards them who said: "Is Gille mi a thainig o'n ear agus o'n iar a dh' iarraidh Maistir" (he had come from the east and from the west seeking a master). Fionn asked what he would want as a reward for his service at the end of a year and a day if he hired him, to which the lad replied:

"I only ask that at the end of the day and year thou wilt go with me by invitation to a feast and a night's entertainment to the palace of the King of Lochlann; and thou must not take with thee a dog or a man, a calf or a child, a weapon or an adversary but thyself."

There are several interesting points to note here. The terms of hire and payment are based on the timespan of "a year and a day". This is frequently found in the legends - it is a Celtic way of reckoning a period of completion. Why a year and a day? It is to ensure that you have in fact reached the point where you were at the previous year and have passed safely beyond it. We also find another time reckoning in the lad's words - that of "a feast and a night's entertainment". The Celts saw the complete cycle of the sun in a day and a night as symbolic of eternity itself. This was how Angus Og tricked his father the Dagda into giving him Brugh na Boyne for all time.

Moving on to consider the prohibitions that the lad places on Fionn, we note that he must not take a dog with him. Hunting hounds were the main companions of the Fianna, and also their guardians. It would be unheard of for them to travel anywhere without their hounds, and Fionn was devoted to Bran and Sceolan. Immediately we are aware that Fionn is being required to place himself in a rather vulnerable state. This is carried even further by the fact that Fionn must go alone, with neither weapon nor fellow warrior of the Fianna. Again, this would be unheard of, since the Fianna travelled around Ireland and Scotland in warbands, and no warrior would consider going into a place unarmed.

At the same time, however, we must not forget that Fionn is being invited to a feast, to which certain rules apply. If you accept hospitality from a host you are required to leave your weapons outside the door, to show that you come in friendship and trust. The host is then under obligation to protect his guests for the duration of their stay in the same manner as the rest of his household. Nor is Fionn permitted to bring an adversary with him, for it was forbidden under the Brehon laws to fight or quarrel at a feast.

The calf is symbolic of food and sustenance of the earthly realms. The cow is a Celtic personification of the earth's bounty. Wealth and status were measured according to the ownership of cattle. Therefore Fionn is forbidden to take with him any sustenance from this world, for to do so would be to offend the hospitality offered by his hosts. However, there is a paradox here, for to accept food and drink in the Otherworld is to surrender to the power of your host to keep you there indefinitely if they so wish.

To return to our story...At the end of a year and a day Fionn said he would fulfil his promise to the lad, but with the warning that if he did not return home within a year and a day, his men would come to the Great Strand of Lochlann to avenge his death.

Two interesting points are worthy of note here. Firstly, Fionn was only required to spend a night and a day in Lochlann, yet his men must wait a year and a day before taking any action. These cycles of completion are obviously of great importance. Secondly, it is to the strand that his men would come, which is the shoreline, a place where the two worlds meet.

Then Fionn talks with an t-Amadan, the Fool, sitting by the fire, who offers him his advice. He tells Fionn to take Bran's chain with him in his pocket.

The Fool is a very important figure in Celtic tradition. It is said that the Triple Muse can: "make fools of wise men, and wise men of fools". Who among us can tell the difference, if any? It is the Fool who becomes King for a day at Beltaine. Fionn takes the advice of the Fool without hesitation, saying to him: "oir is minic a bha chomhairl' an righ ann an ceann an amadain". (Often has the advice of the King been in the head of the Fool). Another detail to note is that the Fool is sitting by the fire, a place where Celtic seers often seek Otherworld vision by looking through the flames.

So Fionn followed the Big Lad who had been waiting at the door (the door is a gateway or entrance to the Otherworld). Fionn was swift, but even so he could barely keep up. As he rounded one mountain pass the Big Lad would already be crossing the next up ahead, so that he never got within reach of him.

This is a common feature of Otherworld journeys, where we are led by our guide, but we are never quite able to catch up with them (as in the Brythonic tales of the Mabinogion, where Pwyll, no matter how fast he rides his horse, is never within reach of the elusive Rhiannon).

The story continues..."They went in to the palace of the King of Lochlann, and Fionn sat down weariedly, heavily, sadly. But, instead of a feast awaiting him, the chiefs and nobles of the King of Lochlann were sitting within putting their heads together to see what disgraceful death they would decree him. One would say we will hang him, another would say we will burn him, a third would say we will drown him."

We notice in the legends that so many things are referred to in triplets. When people greet one another, they do so in three ways, such as "frankly, energetically, fluently". Here Fionn has obviously realised as soon as he enters that he has been tricked, and the storyteller, wishing to convey the three levels of Fionn's sadness, gives three descriptive words to describe his reaction: "shuidh Fionn a sios gu sgith, trom, airsnealach".

With regard to the chiefs and nobles of Lochlann, it is important to realise that they are plotting a 'death' for Fionn through the elements of air, water and fire. The element of Earth is not mentioned, because events here are taking place within the Otherworld realms of Earth. The Celts believed that a death penalty, to be effective, had to be a trial by the elements. So, too, were their warrior initiation rites. To my mind, this passage refers to an Otherworld initiation for Fionn, rather than his death. One more point I would like to make is that the Celts swore their oaths by the gods of their tribe and by the power of the elements, saying something like: "If I swear falsely, may the seas rise up and drown me, may the Earth swallow me, and may the sky fall on my head".

One amongst the chiefs and nobles stood up and said they would send Fionn up to the Great Glen, where he would be put to death by the Grey Dog (Cu Glas). Glas is usually translated as grey, but it can also mean green. Hence it is really a rather ambiguous, indescribable colour, like the Otherworld mist, so this tells us that we are dealing with a hound of the Sidhe. There could be nothing more disgraceful for a Fenian warrior than to fall by a dog. Dogs are their guardians, companions and protectors.

So they went up to the glen with Fionn, and when they saw the dog they all fled, leaving Fionn alone with it. Now, if Fionn had run away he would be killed (besides, no Fenian would consider running away!). So he decided to stay, for he preferred to fall by the dog than by his enemies.

"The Grey Dog was coming with his mouth open, and his tongue out on one side of his mouth. Every snort which he sent from his nostrils was scorching for three miles before him and on each side of him." Fionn could not tolerate the heat of the dog's breath any longer and so took out the chain, and shook it towards the dog. The dog stood still and immediately began to wag its tail, and it licked Fionn's sores to heal them. Fionn put Bran's chain about the Grey Dog's neck and went down out of the glen. He came upon an old man and an old woman who used to feed the dog. The old woman was at the door (on the threshold between the worlds, for she is in fact a seer, as we soon discover). She ran inside to tell her husband what she had seen, and he knew that it must be Fionn, King of the Fianna, and the dog with Bran's chain of gold around its neck.

The old man went out and saluted Fionn, who told him the reason why he was there. The old man invited him inside to offer him food and drink. The old woman was delighted to see Fionn and said that he was welcome to stay in her house to the end of a day and a year.

It seems strange that Fionn would accept this invitation, knowing that at the end of that time his men would come looking for him. Perhaps Fionn had no choice but to stay for the complete cycle.

The next passage of the story describes how the old woman, standing on a Sidhe mound, is able to foresee in a vision the coming of the Fianna:

"At the end of a day and a year the Old Woman went out, and stood on a knoll near the house. She was a while looking at everything she could see, and listening to every sound that she could hear. At last she gave a look down in the direction of the shore, and beheld an exceedingly great host standing on the Great Strand of Lochlann..."

This is remarkably similar in detail to traditional descriptions of the frith, a Highland system of augury that draws signs and omens from the sights and sounds of the natural world on which the seer rests his or her gaze. We note, once again, that it is on the shore that she sees the host gathered. She is alarmed by one of the Fianna in particular, exclaiming: "tha aon fhear claon ruadh ann, agus chan eil mi smaointeachadh gu bheil a cheile comhraig an nochd fo na rionnagaibh." (there is a squint-eyed, red-haired man and I do not think that there is a match for him in combat this night under the stars).

The Fenian warrior she saw was Oscar. In frith augury it is considered an ill omen indeed to see a red-haired woman or man approaching, due to the traditional associations between red hair and the power of enchantment. Oscar is also "squint-eyed", in other words he has one eye closed, which is a magical preparatory state for the casting of spells.

Fionn then went down with the Grey Dog to greet them. The Grey Dog is in fact the brother of his own hound, Bran, "that was taken from him from the castle". After this we are told that the Fianna took vengeance on the men of Lochlann, before returning home to a great, joyful, merry feast which was kept up for -yes, you guessed it - a day and a year!

[(c) Dalriada Celtic Heritage Trust]

[Author: L. MacDonald 1994]

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