e apt to give than to deny, and follow after gentleness, O son
of Luga."[22]

[22] I have in the main borrowed Standish Hayes O'Grady's vivid
and racy translation of these adages of the Fianna. (SILVA
GADELICA, Engl. transl., p. 115.)

And the son of Luga, it is written, heeded these counsels and gave up
his bad ways, and he became one of the best of Finn's men.

Such-like things also Finn taught to all his followers, and the best
of them became like himself in valour and gentleness and generosity.
Each of them loved the repute of his comrades more than his own, and
each would say that for all noble qualities there was no man in the
breadth of the world worthy to be thought of beside Finn.

It was said of him that "he gave away gold as if it were the leaves of
the woodland, and silver as if it were the foam of the sea," and that
whatever he had bestowed upon any man, if he fell out with him
afterwards, he was never known to bring it against him.

Sang the poet Oisin of him once to St Patrick:--

"These are the things that were dear to Finn--
The din of battle, the banquet's glee,
The bay of his hounds through the rough glen ringing.
And the blackbird singing in Letter Lee,

"The shingle grinding along the shore
When they dragged his war-boats down to sea,
The dawn-wind whistling his spears among,
And the magic song of his minstrels three."

In the time of Finn no one was ever admitted to be one of the Fianna
of Erinn unless he could pass through many severe tests of his
worthiness. He must be versed in the Twelve Books of Poetry and must
himself be skilled to make verse in the rime and metre of the masters
of Gaelic poesy. Then he was buried to his middle in the earth, and
must, with a shield and a hazel stick, there defend himself against
nine warriors casting spears at him, and if he were wounded he was
not accepted. Then his hair was woven into braids and he was chased
through the forest by the Fians. If he were overtaken, or if a braid
of his hair were disturbed, or if a dry stick cracked under his foot,
he was not accepted. He must be able to leap over a lath level with
his brow and to run at full speed under level with his knee, and he
must be able while running to draw out a thorn from his foot and never
slacken speed. He must take no dowry with a wife.

It was said that one of the Fians, namely Keelta, lived on to a great
age, and saw St Patrick, by whom he was baptized into