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.That I know.Ask your god,Patrick, whether he has ever seen, in any place, men to equal theFianna.We of the Fianna were ever brave and we never lied.There isnot one of your priests, Patrick however sweetly they sing theirpsalms who is truer to his word than were the Fianna; and there isnot one of your priests, Patrick, who is more hospitable than Finn. Ask your god, Patrick, whether he has ever seen, in any place, men toequal the Fianna.''The Fianna may have been all these things, Oisin, but they havepassed like a mist and now lie in pain, powerless.God, who is my king,made the heavens and the world; it is He who gives strength to thewarrior; it is He who makes the trees and the flowers, the moon andthe stars; it is He who puts fish in the rivers and grass in the fields.'Oisin laughed a little.'Oh, Patrick, those deeds may be well enoughfor your god, but Finn would have taken no delight in them.Finn'sjoy was in fighting and hunting, in eating and drinking, in swimmingand playing at chess, in listening to poets and in giving gold.''And for this, Oisin, he is now in hell, and all the Fianna with him,'said Patrick quickly.'If that is so, then great is the shame of it to your god, that he does notrelease Finn,' said Oisin indignantly.*Were your god in bonds in ahouse of pain, then Finn would fight to release him, for Finn was evergenerous and kind.He left no man to suffer pain or distress, but gavehim gold or fought for him, until his troubles were over.''Cease from such foolishness, Oisin, and cease from mocking124OISIN, SON OF FINN MAC COOLGod,* said Patrick sternly.'Honour Him and pray to Him and He willyet pardon you your sins.'*I will offer no amends to you or to your god for what I have donethat displeases you both; and I would give you no thanks for pardon,either.And let me tell you this, Patrick from Rome, of the harsh faith,if in the days that are left to me, you hear me crying aloud or see meweeping, it will not be to your god or for my sins, but because Finnand the Fianna are gone and I am left alone.Now let me be, Patrick.As I have lived, so shall I die.'Strangely enough, though the tradition of Oisin in the Land of the EverYoung is very ancient, we have no written account of his adventures thereearlier than the poem ascribed to Michael Comyn and written about 1749,which is based on the old tales of the storytellers.There exists a group of legends telling how Keelta, head of the ClanRonan, and the fastest runner amongst the Fianna, also survived into Chris-tian times; but Keelta, unlike Oisin, was converted by Patrick whose goodfriend he became.The collection of mediaeval ballads usually known as The Dialogues ofOisin and Patrick, from which I have taken the last part of the story ofOisin, show a remarkable tolerance and an unexpected sympathy withOisin's point of view.The dignity ofOisins loyalty and his loving regretsfor Ins friends are a fitting close to the great cycle of legends concerning Finnand the Fianna: tales so many of which were already old when the Christiantales were new.In lands where they spread their recent faith, the early fathers of theChristian Church fixed their main festivals at those times of the year whenthe great pagan religious festivals were held: Christmas at the season of themidwinter festival; Easter and its message of resurrection at the ancientseed-sowing time, that season when spring returns to the world, arising again out of the darkness of winter.A number of the old gods were adopted, with necessary changes, info theChristian Church, as saints; but even after two thousand years some of themcan be recognized for what they once were.Of all such transmutations perhapsthe most obvious of all is an Irish saint, St Bridget, honoured in England as125CELTIC TALESSt Bride.Even her name is almost unaltered Brigit, daughter of the Dagda,sister to Angus and Midir
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