d after him
there, and as Aillen was going in at the door he made a cast of the
spear that went through his heart. And he struck his head off then, and
brought it back to Teamhair, and fixed it on a crooked pole and left it
there till the rising of the sun over the heights and invers of the
country.

And Aillen's mother came to where his body was lying, and there was
great grief on her, and she made this complaint:--

"Ochone! Aillen is fallen, chief of the Sidhe of Beinn Boirche; the slow
clouds of death are come on him. Och! he was pleasant, Och! he was kind.
Aillen, son of Midhna of Slieve Fuad.

"Nine times he burned Teamhair. It is a great name he was always looking
for, Ochone, Ochone, Aillen!"

And at the breaking of day, the king and all the men of Ireland came out
upon the lawn at Teamhair where Finn was. "King," said Finn, "there is
the head of the man that burned Teamhair, and the pipe and the harp that
made his music. And it is what I think," he said, "that Teamhair and all
that is in it is saved."

Then they all came together into the place of counsel, and it is what
they agreed, the headship of the Fianna of Ireland to be given to Finn.
And the king said to Goll, son of Morna: "Well, Goll," he said, "is it
your choice to quit Ireland or to put your hand in Finn's hand?" "By my
word, I will give Finn my hand," said Goll.

And when the charms that used to bring good luck had done their work,
the chief men of the Fianna rose up and struck their hands in Finn's
hand, and Goll, son of Morna, was the first to give him his hand the way
there would be less shame on the rest for doing it.

And Finn kept the headship of the Fianna until the end; and the place he
lived in was Almhuin of Leinster, where the white dun was made by Nuada
of the Tuatha de Danaan, that was as white as if all the lime in Ireland
was put on it, and that got its name from the great herd of cattle that
died fighting one time around the well, and that left their horns there,
speckled horns and white.

And as to Finn himself, he was a king and a seer and a poet; a Druid and
a knowledgeable man; and everything he said was sweet-sounding to his
people. And a better fighting man than Finn never struck his hand into a
king's hand, and whatever any one ever said of him, he was three times
better. And of his justice it used to be said, that if his enemy and his
own son had come before him to be judged, it is a fair judgment he would
have giv