Coul left one son behind him and he, being in dread of Goll, who now served the King of Ireland, went into Scotland and took service there with a King. And another son was born to Coul's wife after her husband was killed. She gave him the name of Demna and being fearful that Goll or some of his friends would hear of his existence and kill him she gave the child into the charge of a wise woman.

This woman carried the little child through solitude after solitude until she came to the Sleeve Bloom mountains in the middle of Ireland. She built a hut there and reared Demna in a wood. He was soon able to race the hare in the meadow and capture the wild duck and her brood on the lake. One day he ran down a deer and caught it and brought it back to the hut. And when the wise woman saw him return with his capture she knew that he was fit to go into the world to seek his own. So she told him of his father and bade him go forth and win for himself the captainship of the noble Fianna of Ireland.

So young Demna went through the woods and plains of Ireland eating wild fruits and catching the deer and the hare for his food. He came near the place where Dublin now stands, and there on a green level place he saw hurley a-playing, twelve a side. And with the stick he had in his hand young Demna joined in the game. He kept the ball so much to himself that the youths sent six of the players against him, but in spite of such odds Demna won the game. The youths told the Prince of the strange boy who was so strong and so active and the Prince asked them to describe him.

"He is fair-haired," they said.

Then the Prince named the boy "Finn," that is, fair-haired. The next day when he appeared the youths called out, "Here is Finn," and that was the way he got his name.

Well, they saw he was going to enter the game again and so they sent eight against him. Finn played against the eight boys and won the game. He went away after that, but the next day he appeared again and this time the twenty-four boys defended a goal against him. But he won past them for all their efforts. Then the boys raised their hurl-sticks and attacked him, but Finn laid about him so well with his hurl that he laid several prostrate on the ground.

He went towards the south then, and came to a blacksmith's house where he stayed for a time.

"Make me two spears," he said to the smith.

The smith made him the spears and Finn when he got them into his hands started off. The smith warned him not to take a certain path through the forest, for there was a boar there that had destroyed half a county. Finn took the pass and came upon the boar. He plunged at the beast and killed him with his spear. Then he brought the dead boar back to the smith as payment for the spears.

While Finn was in that country he took service with a prince. While he was in that service he showed such strength and such courage that the prince often said:—

"Only I know that Coul left only one son and that he is in service with the King of Scotland, I would think that this boy was the son of Coul and the grandson of Trenmor."

And everything the boy did showed such that the prince was at last convinced that Finn was the son of Coul and the rightful captain of the Fianna of Ireland.

Then he called the boy to him and told him that he would like him to leave his service. Many, he said, thought he was the son of Coul and the prince would not like that he was killed while under his protection. Finn then asked for some information about his father's friends and followers and he was told that in Connacht an old man named Crimmal was living and that this Crimmal was the last of Coul's friends who had survived the cruelty of Goll and Goll's friends.

So young Finn MacCoul set out for Connacht, and I can tell you that he met with many adventures on the way. One day he came upon a woman weeping as if every tear she shed was a drop of blood.

Finn asked her why she wept like that.

"I weep because my son has been slain," she said. "A man who passed this way has killed him. My grief is great because I know no one who would avenge my son."

Finn went upon the track of the slayer of the young man. He came upon him cleaning his sword by a stream, and when he saw Finn he ran at him with the naked sword in his hand. But the boy guarded himself well with the spear, and his skill and strength of arm were such that he was able to give the man the death-thrust.

"Thou art a hero indeed," said the man, "and I deserve to be slain by the hand of a stranger, for I forsook my chief Coul, the son of Trenmor and took his treasure with me. Take from my breast, young man," said he, "a bag you shall find. It was made from the skin of a heron and in it are the magical weapons which were given to Trenmor by the people of the Fairy Race."

Finn took the bag and went singing the song of his victory along the ways to Connacht.

Crimmal was old and no longer able to hunt and there was little to eat in the hut he had built for himself. He was sorrowful then when a youth came into his hut and asked for hospitality.

"Alas," he said, "I have nothing here but roots and water."

Then the youth went outside and brought in a deer which he had killed and offered to share the meat with Crimmal in return for the shelter of the hut.

"If Coul, my chief, had left a son I would say that you are he," said the old man to Finn.

Then Finn told him that he was indeed the son of Coul and related how he had been reared by a wise woman in the Sleeve Bloom mountains, and the adventures that had happened to him since he left his first home.

"I ask no other proof than your appearance, your strength, your courage and your generosity," Crimmal said. "And if you had the skin bag that belongs to the race of Trenmor, then in a while you could set out to obtain that which rightfully belongs to you, the Captainship of the Fianna of Ireland."

Finn drew from his breast the wonderful bag and showed Crimmal the magical things that were in it. Everything had fallen out so lucky for the youth that Crimmal was satisfied that he would come into his own.

Once again Finn was being trained in a hut in the woods. This time he was instructed by Crimmal in everything befitting a youth who would come to be Captain of the noble Fianna of Ireland. No one who was ignorant of the art of poetry was permitted to enter the Fianna. Crimmal taught Finn the art and when he had composed a poem upon May Day, Crimmal said to him:—

"You have nothing more to learn of me and you are now of an age to strive with the world. Go forth, therefore, and win what belongs to you—the captainship of the noble Fianna of Ireland."

And so Finn bade good-bye to Crimmal and he went to Tara, to the court of Conn, the High King of Ireland. And Conn received him well, for the appearance of Finn was noble, and his strength and skill and courage were manifest to all. And on the recommendation of the High King the youth was received into the ranks of the Fianna of Ireland. And it began to be rumoured that the youth was the son of Coul and the grandson of Trenmor.

There was a danger now that he would be slaughtered by Goll or one of Goll's friends, but the High King took him under his protection and Finn's life was safe as long as the Fianna were at Tara.

One night after the banquet, King Conn said, "Tonight I am afraid."

And all who were there except Finn knew why the King was afraid. The morrow would be the festival of November, and on the eve of that festival every year for three years past a goblin used to come down from the hills and burn a portion of the royal mansion of Tara. None of the King's men could withstand this goblin.

When Finn heard the reason of the King's terror he said, "Will none of the noble Fianna guard the royal mansion from this goblin?"

"No man can face the goblin, and this evening, surely, Tara will be destroyed."

Then said Finn, "If I face and overcome this goblin will you, O King, give me what is my right and my due—the Captainship of the Fianna of Ireland?" And all who were present were astonished at the bold words of the young man.

Then Finn went on and declared himself the son of Coul and the grandson of Trenmor, and he cared not that the friends of Goll MacMorna had their hands upon their swords.

Then said Goll, "Let this braggart youth face the goblin, O King, and if he overcomes him I will let him take the captainship of the Fianna of Ireland, and I myself and all my clan and friends will give him our allegiance."

And the King praised the words of Goll MacMorna and bade Finn make himself ready for the conflict with the goblin.

As he went out of the banqueting hall Finn remembered the advice of Crimmal. It was that in any conflict with a supernatural being he was to put upon his spear-shaft the spear-head that was in the heron-skin bag. So he changed the spear-head and stood on guard on the rampart that was before the King's mansion. And before dawn something that had the appearance of a bull with eyes blazing like torches tried to rush past him. Finn struck the thing on the forehead with the magical spear-head. It changed and became a great serpent that tried to crush Finn with its coils. Again Finn struck it with the spear-head. Then the thing became an eagle that rose with blazing wings towards the roof of the mansion. Finn hurled his spear and pierced its wing. It fell to the ground, and when Finn ran to the spot where it fell, something in the appearance of a man rose and ran towards the wood. And as Finn ran down the wild deer in the forests and on the hills of Ireland so he ran down the goblin. Before he had entered the dark wood, Finn had captured him. He became a tree then with roots in the earth and Finn tore off the branches. In the morning he entered the banqueting-hall with the branches in his arms. No one in the company had ever expected to see him again, for all throught he had been carried off by the goblin.

"The goblin will never threaten royal Tara again, and the branches that I throw upon the ground are his limbs."

He threw them in the middle of the flagged floor and immediately they went into a great blaze.

Then the King was satisfied that the goblin had been overcome, and he held Goll MacMorna to the word he had spoken as Captain of the Fianna of Ireland—a word that could never be gainsaid—that he would give his allegiance to Finn MacCoul as captain of the Fianna.

And so the youthful Finn MacCoul became head of the noble Fianna of Ireland, and while he lived our country had strength and prosperity; and if I were to tell you all the great things he did and the wonderful events that happened to him I should keep talking to you from the Feast of Saint Bridget in February to the feast of Sowain before November Day.