Old Fingalian rhymes and proverbs having reference to dogs and the
hunting of the stag, as it was then pursued, are very common in
the Highlands, and show how devoted to the chase were our Celtic
ancestors. Our neighbour, the Rev. Mr. Clerk of Kilmallie, in his
splendid edition of Ossian, gives some of these old rhymes in his
very interesting and learned notes on Fingal. The following was
sent us a short time ago, and as it has never appeared in print, we
present it to the reader with a liberal translation. We are always
glad to be able to rescue from oblivion even the smallest shred of
the folk-lore of the olden time. The story goes that this rhyme was
first of all taught by a fairy to a gay young hunter "of the period,"
under the following circumstances:--Once upon a time, a sprightly,
green-robed fairy, a sort of princess in her way, fell in love with
a young Fingalian hunter, who had frequent occasion, on his way to
and from the chase, to pass the shian or green knoll in which the
fairy band of the glen had taken up their abode. The fairy and her
hunter lover had frequent opportunities of meeting in secret, until
some evil-disposed sister fairy divulged Brianag's--for that was the
fairy's name--imprudent and unfairy-like conduct to the powerful fairy
prince Aërlunn, who was himself over head and ears in love with the
beautiful Brianag, though she gave him no encouragement at all; on
the contrary, she flatly told him that, great and powerful as he was,
she did not love him in the least, and would have nothing to do with
him. On hearing how things were going on, Aërlunn was very jealous and
very angry, just as a mortal might be under similar circumstances, and
he issued an edict, as Prince of the Fairies of that glen, by which,
after reflecting severely on the unfairy-like conduct of Brianag and
others of the band, he prohibited Brianag from leaving the shian on
any pretence whatever, except for the one hour before midnight on the
night when the moon completed her first quarter--perfect liberty to
do as they like during this one hour in the month is every fairy's
birthright, and no power can deprive them of it. He would have done
something very dreadful to Brianag's lover, only the latter was
protected from any evil a fairy enemy could do to him by a talisman
of extraordinary value, which his uncle, a priest of the Druids,
had given him, and which he always carried on his person. Brianag
and her lover were thus able to meet for one hour in every month,
despite the opposition of the angry Aërlunn, whose jealousy became at
last so insupportable, that he resolved to shift his court and people
from that glen to another at a great distance. To this arrangement,
much as she regretted it, as it separated herself and her lover,
Brianag dare not object. It is a prerogative appertaining to the
Princes of Fairyland that they can shift their court at will, when
and whither they please. The fairy palace thus forsaken is still
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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