Literature of the Gaelic Landscape. John Murray

       4: Landscapes of Finn MacCoul

      - Fionn mac Chumhail

      Fionn mac Cumhail and the Fianna or Fenians were role models for the Gael. Their personal qualities were often expressed in proverbs (Newton 1999). For the Gael, they embodied ideal and semi-divine characteristics (Wiseman 2009). They were reknowned throughout Ireland and the Scottish Highlands as young warrior bands who protected Gaeldom during the Dark Ages, often from Norsemen. In Glen Lyon - Gleann Lìobhann, or the dark, bent Glen of the Stones - Chromgleann Dubh nan Clach, Fionn and his men had twelve castles from which to conduct their heroic deeds. ‘Bha dà chaisteal deug aig Fionn An Chromgleann Dubh nan Clach’ (in Watson 1937, xxxiii).

      Fian is cognate with the Latin venare, meaning to hunt (Meek 1998). Since hunting exercised both mind and body, it was an ideal training for young warriors. In Fenian ballads, prowess in the field flourished alongside praise poetry for hunting and eulogies for the natural arena in which their heroic pursuit was prosecuted. It was self evident that any eulogy for a chief had to celebrate his expertise as a hunter - a leader who held dominion over both nature and nurture (Wiseman 2009). During the Middle Ages the aristocracy of the highlands were preoccupied with the chase and its celebration (Menzies 2012). Hunting expressed noble status. It legitimised social bonding, authority and governance and was a test for the chief and his retainers. It signified a unity of land, culture and people – its heritage or dùthchas in Gaelic. Hunting was as much a a rite of passage for the aristocracy as it was for the Fianna (Wiseman 2009).

      The enjoyment of hunting is reflected in an anonymous composition praising the Isle of Arran. Amongst many other stories, it was attributed to Oisean the son of Fionn Mac Cumhail, who was one of the few survivors of this age of heroes. It was probably composed during the 12th century as part of a much longer ballad recording a conversation, Acallam na Seanórach – the Conversation of Old Men, between Oisean and St Patrick. Càilte or Caoilte, another survivor of the golden age, is the narrator. He was the swiftest runner amongst the Fianna, and his talent is mentioned in Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain. This is Caoilte’s reply to a question from Patrick, ‘What was the best hunt, whether in Ireland or Scotland, that the Fèinn (Fian or Fianna) ever took part in?’ (Bateman & McLeod 2007, 305).

      from Arran’s Hunting

      Arran of the many red deer,

      ocean reaching to her shoulders;

      island where warriors are nourished,

      ridge where blue spears are blooded …

      … Greyhounds running there and mastiffs

      brambles and dark sloes on blackthorn;

      close against woods her dwellings,

      deer scattered in her oak groves …

      … Delightful for them in fine weather,

      trout beneath the banks of her rivers,

      gulls around her white cliff replying,

      delightful at all times is Arran.

      (ibid 305-6)

      The Fenian hunt is embedded in nature. There is no distinction between man and the natural world. The hunter is as innocent as the quarry he pursues. A description of dwellings in Arran is included amongst references to the natural world. Such poetry is characterised by its close observation of nature, a symbiosis between man and his natural environment, joy tempered with sadness at the hunting of deer and nostalgia for a bygone era (Wiseman 2009). Traces of the heroic age on Arran can still be found amongst place-names in the mountains. Caisteal an Fhinn – Castle of the Fianna (NS953398) lies to the south of Beinn Nuis and Bealach an Fhir-Bhogha – Pass of the Bowman (NS963416) to the north of Beinn Tarsuinn – Mountain Athwart (the way). As late as the mid-18th century, when Highland society and land use were beginning to change radically, Donnchadh Bàn Macintyre in his Song to Homeland – Òran Dùthcha, was still praising hunting prowess as a defining quality of the Gael.

      Gu fiadhach a’ mhunaidh,

      No dh’ iasgach air buinne,

      Anns gach gnìomh a nì duine

      ’S mòr urram nan Gàidheal.

      For hunting the mountain,

      or fishing a current,

      for every task demanding manliness

      great is the Gaels’ distinction.

      (in MacLeod, A 1978, 233)

      The reverence Highland folk had for Fionn and the Fianna can be seen in an actual and recorded incident, which occurred at the beginning of the 18th century. After the Jacobite uprising of 1715 General Wade built a network of military roads though the southern Highlands. One ran between Crieff and Aberfeldy through the dramatic defile of the Sma’ Glen - An Caol-ghleann. It means the very narrow glen in Gaelic. (Adjectives coming before the noun in Gaelic emphasise their meaning and lenite the noun following). To avoid a costly diversion in such a tight landscape, the engineers elected to shift a large boulder blocking their plotted route. For local people the rock marked the grave of Ossian or Oisean, Fionn mac Cumhail’s son, and the blind poet, who was first to compose the songs and tales about his father’s exploits and adventures. Wordsworth heard about the story during his tour of Scotland in 1803. Interestingly, he uses a direct English translation of the Gaelic name for the Glen, rather than the Scots, Sma’ Glen.

      In this still place remote from men

      Sleeps Ossian, in the Narrow Glen …

      … He sung of battles and the breath

      Of stormy war and violent death,

      (Wordsworth 1803, 176)

      When the people of the glen heard that the soldiers had shifted the massive stone, they carried away the bones uncovered in the grave beneath the boulder to be reinterred somewhere further west in upper Glen Almond - Gleann Amain. A large party of clansmen bore the remains away to the sound of bagpipe music (Tranter 1971). The people were quite consciously remapping a landmark in the cognitive map of their territory. Curiously there is an Allt Chill Fhinn – Burn of Fionn’s Church (NN842378 – mapped as Allt Cill-Fhinn) on the south side of Glen Quaich, which may be connected to the tale. The large detached rock sitting mutely by the road in the Sma’ Glen, is still shown on the OS map as Ossian’s Grave (NN895906), despite the removal and reinterring of the remains, which it once concealed (plate 9).