rd
as mythical the capture and enthralment of any one of these three
"little Fins." If Fin of the Fians, therefore, was a typical Fian, they
were little people.[40]

In regarding the Fians as a race of dwarfs, I do not overlook the fact
that they are also spoken of as "giants." But to assume them to have
been of gigantic stature is both totally at variance with the bulk of
the evidence regarding them, and at variance with the fact that the word
"giant" has very frequently been used to denote a savage, or a
cave-dweller.[41] No more appropriate illustration of this can be found
than the local tradition that a certain artificially hollowed rock in
the island of Hoy, Orkney, was the abode of "a giant and his wife." Now,
this same "giant" is also remembered as a "dwarf," and the largest cell
in his dwelling is only 5 feet 8 inches long. Similarly, there is in
Iceland a certain _Troellakyrkia_ (literally "the dwarfs' church") which
is translated "the _giants'_ church."[42] For these reasons, then, I do
not regard any reference to the Fians as "giants" as indicating that
they were of tall stature; although I see no objection to the assumption
that they were savages and cave-dwellers.

Fians, then, are closely connected with the "little people" called
"Fairies." The connection between Fians and Picts is equally well
marked.

Regarding them historically, Dr. Skene identifies the Fians with one or
other of two historical races believed to have occupied Ireland before
the coming of the Gaels. These two races are known in Irish story as the
Tuatha De and the Cruithne.[43] Now, the Tuatha De _are_ the Fairies of
Ireland.[44] Therefore, according to Dr. Skene, the Fians were either
Fairies or Cruithne. Now, Cruithne is simply a Gaelic name for the
Picts. Consequently, the Fians were either Fairies or Picts--according
to Dr. Skene. In one traditional story, already referred to, the Fians
seem to be unhesitatingly regarded as Picts. This story, obtained in
Sutherlandshire, tells how a certain king lived for a year with a
_banshee_, or fairy woman,[45] by whom he had a son. When this son grew
up he went to the country of the Fians,[46] and there he entered into
the service of their king, who was no other than the celebrated Oisin.
The Gaelic narrator calls him "Oisin, Righ na Feinne," that is, "Ossian,
King of the Fians"; but the collector of the story,[47] who had no doubt
obtained the translation on the spot, renders _Righ na Fein