Tales Told#
In this section, I will attempt to keep a record of the order in which I originally told the tales, or first heard them having embarked upon this journey.
Order in which I first told each tale, along with notes:
Oisín and Tír na nÓg, Waverley folk night, 2022-??-??: telling this first provides an entry point into how the tales came to be recorded, e.g. via St Patrick, as well as anchoring the tales to the Other World and setting up Oisín’s origin story (for his name means: little fawn/little deer). We are introduced to Finn as the father of Oisín, and the Fianna as a band of warriors that Oisín was a part of. We also have a natural path to the preceding battle of Gavra and the loss of Oisín’s son, Oscar. In passing, we might note a similarity to the tale of Thomas the Rhymer.
The Birth of Oisín, Waverley folk night, 2022-??-??: an onomastic tale (“toponymy is a hyponym of onomastics”) that explains Oisín’s name, this followed on from the previous story I’d told previously at the Waverley. Oisín’s heritage perhaps also helps explain how he came to be known in that other place. Finn is introduced by proxy, as are his two favourite dogs, Bran and Sceolan. We can introduce the idea of the Fianna as warriors who hunted on foot, rather than on horseback, with packs of dogs.
Woodland Cottage: Fianna Heroes meet Strength/Death/Youth, by Way of Diarmuid’s Love Spot, Waverley folk night, 2022-08-03 (6 minutes): I had intended to tell of Fionn’s childhood and the salmon of knowledge next, but after hearing the tale of cottage encountered by Conan (surly, foulmouthed; I forgot to say he was bald), Cuilthe (the fastest of the Fianna), Diarmuid (who in other tales appears as a ladies man; and we shall soon learn why) and Goll mac Morna (one-eyed, who killed Finn’s father to take over leadership of the Fianna, but when Finn reclaimed the leadership, Goll became his staunchest ally; noting also that I kept forgetting Goll’s name) and their meeting with the strength of the world (goat), death (cat) and youth (fair maiden), as told by Kate Corkery at FATE a couple of weeks previously, I was moved to tell that. It further establishes fairy credentials, but also serves to introduce four key characters in the Fianna. I messed up by sating Conan was “a warrior’s warrior”: that really should have been “was not a warrrior’s warrior”, because he his characterised more as a coward.
Fionn and Aillén. Waverley folk night, 2022-11-09 (6 minutes?): it being just passed samhain, it felt timely to tell this, although I had been meaning to do the youth of Fionn, or the salmon of knowledge, next. In preparing this story, the variously accented spellings and possible pronunciations for Allien presented some challenges, ranging from allien mac mithna to allyan mac meerna. I think I went for the latter. I also opted for fee uck a; there are in possible interesting twists in various versions I found of the tale, such as where the character who gives Fionn the spear is the self-same bandit who looked after Fionn as a youth, or where the spear was stolen originally from Aillén by Fionn’s father.