ength or bravery or a great name; and there is many a book written
down,' they said, 'by the sweet poets of the Gael, about his doings and
the doings of the Fianna, and it would be hard for us to tell you all
of them. And we heard Finn had a son,' they said, 'that was beautiful
and shining, and that there came a young girl looking for him, and he
went away with her to the Country of the Young.'

"And when I knew by their talk that Finn was not living or any of the
Fianna, it is downhearted I was, and tired, and very sorrowful after
them. And I made no delay, but I turned my face and went on to Almhuin
of Leinster. And there was great wonder on me when I came there to see
no sign at all of Finn's great dun, and his great hall, and nothing in
the place where it was but weeds and nettles."

And there was grief on Oisin then, and he said: "Och, Patrick! Och,
ochone, my grief! It is a bad journey that was to me; and to be without
tidings of Finn or the Fianna has left me under pain through my
lifetime."

"Leave off fretting, Oisin," said Patrick, "and shed your tears to the
God of grace. Finn and the Fianna are slack enough now, and they will
get no help for ever." "It is a great pity that would be," said Oisin,
"Finn to be in pain for ever; and who was it gained the victory over
him, when his own hand had made an end of so many a hard fighter?"

"It is God gained the victory over Finn," said Patrick, "and not the
strong hand of an enemy; and as to the Fianna, they are condemned to
hell along with him, and tormented for ever."

"O Patrick," said Oisin, "show me the place where Finn and his people
are, and there is not a hell or a heaven there but I will put it down.
And if Osgar, my own son, is there," he said, "the hero that was bravest
in heavy battles, there is not in hell or in the Heaven of God a troop
so great that he could not destroy it."

"Let us leave off quarrelling on each side now," said Patrick; "and go
on, Oisin, with your story. What happened you after you knew the Fianna
to be at an end?"

"I will tell you that, Patrick," said Oisin. "I was turning to go away,
and I saw the stone trough that the Fianna used to be putting their
hands in, and it full of water. And when I saw it I had such a wish and
such a feeling for it that I forgot what I was told, and I got off the
horse. And in the minute all the years came on me, and I was lying on
the ground, and the horse took fright and went away and left me th