the Celtic character--vivacity, valour, kindness,
tenderness, as well as boastfulness and fiery temper. Though dating from
pagan times, the saga throws little light upon pagan beliefs, but
reveals much concerning the manners of the period. Here, as always in
early Celtdom, woman is more than a mere chattel, and occupies a
comparatively high place. The various parts of the saga, like those of
the Finnish _Kalevala_, always existed separately, never as one complete
epos, though always bearing a certain relation to each other. Lonnrot,
in Finland, was able, by adding a few connecting links of his own, to
give unity to the _Kalevala_, and had MacPherson been content to do this
for the Fionn saga, instead of inventing, transforming, and serving up
the whole in the manner of the sentimental eighteenth century, what a
boon would he have conferred on Celtic literature. The various parts of
the saga belong to different centuries and come from different authors,
all, however, imbued with the spirit of the Fionn tradition.

A date cannot be given to the beginnings of the saga, and additions have
been made to it even down to the eighteenth century, Michael Comyn's
poem of Oisin in Tir na n-Og being as genuine a part of it as any of the
earlier pieces. Its contents are in part written, but much more oral.
Much of it is in prose, and there is a large poetic literature of the
ballad kind, as well as _Maerchen_ of the universal stock made purely
Celtic, with Fionn and the rest of the heroic band as protagonists. The
saga embodies Celtic ideals and hopes; it was the literature of the
Celtic folk on which was spent all the riches of the Celtic imagination;
a world of dream and fancy into which they could enter at all times and
disport themselves. Yet, in spite of its immense variety, the saga
preserves a certain unity, and it is provided with a definite framework,
recounting the origin of the heroes, the great events in which they were
concerned, their deaths or final appearances, and the breaking up of the
Fionn band.

The historic view of the Fians is taken by the annalists, by Keating,
O'Curry, Dr. Joyce, and Dr. Douglas Hyde.[506] According to this view,
they were a species of militia maintained by the Irish kings for the
support of the throne and the defence of the country. From Samhain to
Beltane they were quartered on the people, and from Beltane to Samhain
they lived by hunting. How far the people welcomed this billeting, we
ar