Fionn 4

The Mac Cumhail's training began.

Lia Lara taught Mac Cumhail a game. It required that she take a leafy branch in her hand, and the boy take another leafy branch in his hand. Then, each chased the other around two trees set apart. The touch of the leaves on his back meant that Lia Lara was gaining on him. When he heard the sound of her feet behind him, he would try to run faster in order to get away. But, no matter how hard he tried, Lara could run faster.

" I don't like this game," said the boy, one day. He had spent the morning feeling the touch of leaves on his back. "The more I run, the shorter my legs get," he complained. "Pretty soon they will be so short that I will not be able to walk."

Lara laughed out loud. "Och no, Mac Cumhail. Your legs are not getting shorter, although it might feel that way to you," she said. "They are getting stronger and each day you run a little bit faster and a little bit longer."

"But, why do I need to run faster? I can out run the mother fox, and she is the only one who chases me."

"You must learn to out run human enemies because they are a very different sort of fox," said Lara, very seriously.

"But, I have no human enemies," responded the child.

"None that you know of," replied Lara, "but, there are those who were enemies of your father, and they would not like it if they knew you lived here in the woods."

She told Mac Cumhail about the Clan Morna.

"Morna is a huge-shouldered, stern, and violent man. He is enemy to all good men. He uses tricks and dishonor when he fights," Lara said. "Goll Mac Morna, is his eldest son. He is as huge-shouldered as his father, and as fierce a fighter," she told him. "There is one thing about him that is lacking in the others of his clan. He is merry when his kinsmen and brothers are grim. He often bubbles with laughter that charms many who meet him. It causes men to like him even though they fear him."

Conan MacMorna is the second born son. He is as gruff as a badger, bearded like a boar and has a tongue that can manage to insult when other men cannot even stammer. He fears no man, but many fear him. The younger sons are Garv and Art. They are as rough and as untamable as the countryside they live in."

Knowledge of his father's enemies brought new purpose to Mac Cumhail's training. He ran faster each day to out run the dreaded branch, and oh,the joy when he first touched the back of Lia Lara with the branch that was held tightly in his hand. The day came when Lia could not catch Mac Cumhail. From then on, the only thing that could match him in speed was a deer in full flight.

Mac Cumhail listened earnestly to the stories of the world outside of the forest. He was fascinated by the wonders that lay beyond his forest home. But, the stories he loved most were of Cumhail, his father. How the child's face glowed when Bovmal and Lia Lara recited the stories of his every feat. Every night, as they gathered around the hearth fire, the aunts told him of the famous men of the Fianna.

"The Fianna were sworn to protect the people of the area and hunt for food. So great were their deeds that the High King once summoned them to the sacred hill of Tara. He bestowed great honors and declared them to be the finest fighting force in all of Ireland. Morna was there, and was jealous. The last day of their visit, the king had a great ceremony. A thousand candles were lit in the banquet hall. The High King presented your father with a beautiful golden torque because he was a great defender of the people of Ireland. It was also a sign of the king's friendship. Your father never removed the torque from his neck, except to sleep," Bovmal told the boy.

Lia laughed and added, "And sometimes, not even then."

They told him the motto of the Fianna:

Truth in our hearts.
Strength in our hands.
Consistency in our tongues.

Mac Cumhail dreamt of himself going step for step with the long-striding Cumhail, a son worthy of such a father. He practiced warfare with the shadows in the manner he imagined he would one day deal with the men of Morna. If the nettles hit at him in his play, he ferociously slashed into them with a stick to bring them low. His imagination turned Morna and his sons into fire eating dragons. Mac Cumhail and his trusty followers, the bear cub, the wolf cub and the crafty fox cub, all went forward through the trees to conquer and end the reign of Morna.

What Mac Cumhail didn't learn from the aunts, he learned from the animals. He chased the rabbits that hopped around the bumpy field. Up jumped a rabbit and up jumped the Mighty Mac Cumhail. Away went the two of them, hopping and popping across the field. Finally, he could jump better than any creature in the forest.

In those days every warrior knew how to swim. The aunts took him to a lake not far from the house for his lessons. Mac Cumhail loved the feel of the cool water on his skin. Soon, he was able to dive deep and snatch up the brown pebbles that lay at the bottom of the lake. He chased after the silvery fish. He wondered how the fish could disappear so fast. Up, down or any direction the fish could dart away. Mac Cumhail never caught a fish by swimming after it, but he tried very hard and soon he could jump into the water like an otter and slide through it like an eel.

One day Bovmal said to him, "It would be good to have a fat duck to cook for dinner. See if you can bring me one."

Mac Cumhail spent the morning trying to sneak up on a wild duck, but each time he got near one, it flew away. He became weary and frustrated, so he devised a plan. He dove into the lake and swam beneath the surface until he was under a fat duck. Then, he reached up and caught it by a leg. There was a fierce struggle and splashing of water, but in the end, Mac Cumhail emerged with the duck in his arms. The delighted aunts had been watching him and praised him as he walked proudly toward them.

"Your father caught a duck in the same way, when he was only a little older than you are now," Bovmal told him. "I was very young and sad because it was my birthday and our father was far away. Cumhail tried to make me smile, but I was very stubborn and determined to ruin everyone's day. Cumhail remembered that father had promised me a duck to roast for my birthday dinner, so off he went to catch one. Later that day, he returned to the house dripping wet with a fat duck in his arms." Bovmal smiled at the memory.

"I was so happy that I forgot to be angry and by the time mother roasted the duck, father had returned. It was the best birthday I ever had. Today is my birthday, Mac Cumhail," she told the delighted boy, "and now the son, like his father, has given me a duck." Mac Cumhail was very proud.

One misty day a man passed by.
He stopped at the house and asked for food.
The aunts fed him. As he sat at the table eating,
Mac Cumhail returned to the house. Before
he could enter, Lara shooed him away, but,
not fast enough for the man caught a glimpse
of the woodland boy. When the man finished
his meal, the women walked with him
a short distance.

On the way, the man saw the boy again,
sitting on a knoll near the house.
He lifted a hand and bent a knee, as was
the method of greeting in those times.

"Good day to you, young master,"
the man said to the boy.

A look passed between the aunts as the man continued to gaze at the boy.

"Dirty Alice once spoke of a strange woodland boy and a woman who gave her a shell necklace," he explained to them. "When we asked to see the necklace, she claimed to have lost it on her way back to the village. We thought it was one of her fanciful tales. But, now I see that it was true." He glanced at the fair haired child, the went on his way through the forest.

When Bovmal and Lia Lara returned to the house, they were mysterious and whispery. Late in the day, Lara went to where the boy was playing. "Mac Cumhail,I want to show you how a person can sleep in a tree. She led him to a large, leafy tree. He looked up and saw where three strong branches forked out from the trunk. Lia showed him how to position himself just right so that he could stay there without danger of falling.

"You must stay in the tree tonight, Mac Cumhail," said Lara.

"Why should I stay in the tree all night?" Mac Cumhail wondered.

"Bovmal and I are suspicious of the man who stopped by earlier. He might send word to Morna, and Morna uses the night-time to carry out his evil deeds. Tonight a tree is the safest place for you, "Lara reasoned."But, you must promise not to sing or whistle or cough or sneeze until daylight."

Mac Cumhail thought it was a good adventure to sleep in a tree. But, at the beginning of the night, he discovered that being silent was not a promise that he could not keep.He began to sneeze. He tried very hard not to sneeze but his nose felt ticklish and he just couldn't stop. He tucked himself into the fork of the tree the way Lara had told him. He passed the crawliest, tickliest,sneeziest hour he had ever known. Finally, the sneezing stopped. After that, he was as silent as a mouse and as watchful as a night owl.

He took notice of the twinkling,sparkling stars in the night sky. He wondered what might be the cause of them. Were they tiny faeries lighting up the night? Were they cracks in the ceiling of the land beyond? The boy did not know what they were but he composed many possibilities of what the tiny pinpoints of light might be. The night passed and no one came.

The next morning Lia Lara and Bovmal were still worried, so when a band of traveling poets chanced by that very day, the women prepared a meal for them and asked a favor. Mac Cumhail strained his ears to hear what the aunts said to the men, but all he could hear were the words, "The sons of Morna".

They arranged for the boy to go with the group of poets away from the little house.The aunts packed food and water for them to eat along the way. Lia Lara and Bovmal promised to come for him when the little house was safe once again.

The sons of Morna did come to the Slieve Bloom in search of the boy, but all they found was two lone women living in the little hut. Bovmal and Lara welcomed the men as if they had nothing to hide.

Goll Mac Morna's merry eyes took in
all that could be seen
in the small house. He suspected that the
women had outsmarted them and was
amused. His piercing gaze flitted here
and there, returning often to the beautiful,
blue eyes of Lara.

He had come to find
the son of an enemy,
but found instead, something that he would
think about many times in the future.
Lia Lara.

Conan Mac Morna looked suspiciously at the women and was angry. The younger brothers Garv and Art went into the woods and fields vowing that if the boy was there, they would find him. But, the boy was far away with the band of poets heading for the Galtee Mountains.