ROWN, AND GREY

Finn was hunting one time near Teamhair of the Kings, and he saw three
strange men coming towards him, and he asked what were their names.
"Dubh and Dun and Glasan, Black, Brown, and Grey, are our names," they
said, "and we are come to find Finn, son of Cumhal, Head of the Fianna,
and to take service with him."

So Finn took them into his service, and when evening came he said: "Let
each one of you watch through a third part of the night." And there was
a trunk of a tree there, and he bade them make three equal parts of it,
and he gave a part to each of the three men, and he said: "When each one
of you begins his watch, let him set fire to his own log, and as long as
the wood burns let him watch."

Then they drew lots, and the lot fell to Dubh to go on the first watch.
So he set fire to his log, and he went out around the place, and Bran
with him. He went farther and farther till at last he saw a bright
light, and when he came to the place where it was, he saw a large house.
He went inside, and there was a great company of very strange-looking
men in it, and they drinking out of a single cup. One of the men, that
seemed to be the highest, gave the cup to the man nearest him; and after
he had drunk his fill he passed it on to the next, and so on to the
last. And while it was going round, he said: "This is the great cup that
was taken from Finn, son of Cumhal, a hundred years ago, and however
many men may be together, every man of them can drink his fill from it,
of whatever sort of drink he has a mind for."

Dubh was sitting near the door, on the edge of the crowd, and when the
cup came to him he took a drink from it, and then he slipped away in the
dark, bringing it with him. And when he came to the place where Finn
was, his log was burned out.

Then it was the turn of Dun to go out, for the second lot had fallen on
him, and he put a light to his log, and went out, and Bran with him.

He walked on through the night till he saw a fire that was shining from
a large house, and when he went in he saw a crowd of men, and they
fighting. And a very old man that was in a high place above the rest
called out: "Stop fighting now, for I have a better gift for you than
the one you lost to-night." And with that he drew a knife out of his
belt and held it up, and said: "This is the wonderful knife, the small
knife of division, that was stolen from Finn, son of Cumhal, a hundred
years ago; and you have but to c