FINDING FINN IN SCOTLAND ©
by Joanne McLain
I have been wondering about the many places in Scotland that are named after Finn or others associated with him. The Scots came from Ireland, of course, so it makes sense that they would tell stories of the old country, but it seems that there are far more Scottish stories about Finn than any other figure from Irish tales. Beyond that, the Scottish people have definitely claimed him for their own: the stories are all set in Scotland. Some are versions of the Irish tales, such as Finn’s pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainne, but they seem to have traveled over much of the Highlands and Islands, not the Irish countryside. Others are unique to each glen and island. It is quite likely that Finn, with or without the Fianna, might have visited Scotland, but, given the limitations of the contemporary modes of travel, it is not likely at all that Finn spent enough time in Scotland to achieve even a small percentage of the adventures attributed to him. He, and the others who accompany him in story, have been translocated to meet the needs of the people who looked (and still look) to him as a hero.
An interesting source for Scottish tales of Finn is Scottish Folk-tales and Legends retold by Barbara Ker Wilson. These tales are intimately connected to the Scottish landscape.
Popular Tales of the West Highlands by J.F. Cambell is a rambling scholarly discourse about Finn and the Fianna in Scottish stories, songs and poetry. He goes in depth about the controversy of James MacPherson’s "translation" of the "Ossianic Poems" which have some basis in the old legends of Finn (whom MacPherson calls Fingal) but are primarily MacPherson’s poetic retelling of the old tales. The stories of Finn and the Fianna have great power to have survived throughout the centuries and through multiple sources and versions.
Cambell mentions popular Scottish legends to illustrate Finn’s role in the popular imagination:
"It is told that a Jura man, who owned a small vessel, once met a man on the pier at Greenock, who engaged the ship at a certain freight, to carry him and a cargo to the westward of Islay. The bargain was struck, and the cargo put on board, and they sailed round the Mull of Cantire, and through the Sound of Islay, where a thick fog came on. They got through the Sound and bore away to the westward, and, after a few days, they found themselves one morning close to land. They cast anchor and went to sleep, and when they awoke the man and his cargo were gone. The Jura skipper did not like to lose his freight, landed, and walked up to a large house, where he found "sean duine mor cròsgach"--a large, big-boned old man-seated in an arm-chair, who offered him a drink. The drinking vessels were so large that the skipper could not lift them, so the big man called his daughter to give him a draught, and a girl came in and raised the vessel ("soitheach"), and he took a long drink of beer. He told his story, and the big man asked him if he could recognise the man who had engaged the ship. He said he could, and a number of people were sent for, and passed in review before him. At last the delinquent appeared, and was recognised, and made to pay the freight, upon which he thrust his finger into the skipper's eye, and put it out, saying, ‘If I had done that to thee before, thou wouldst not have known me.’"
"The inhabitants then made the Jura men brush every particle of the dust of the island from their feet, and sent them away with their money; and when they sailed, the island seemed to disappear in a mist. This Jura man, it is said, was well known afterwards, and was blind of an eye, and the big man is supposed to be ‘FIONN.’
"In Berneray, near Harris, a similar story is told of men still alive, but it wants much of the marvellous element. The men, as it is said, took a cargo from Stornoway to an island, supposed to be Eilean uaine, the green isle. They sailed westwards, and left the cargo, part of which was salt, got their money, and returned, after being required by the inhabitants to shake off every particle of the dust of the island which stuck to them."
Here is a panoramic view of the Sound of Islay.
It took me awhile to find my copy of Magic Mountains by Rennie McOwan, an interesting account of odd and mystical places found while hill walking in Scotland. It eluded me in the vast forest of books here, but I finally tracked it to its hiding place atop a set of the Waverly novels. McOwan devotes a chapter to place names derived from the Fianna, which are scattered across the Highlands and Islands.
Here are some links I found to a few of the places associated with Finn in Scotland:
The Cuillins of Rum, which Finn leaped over in order to wash his feet in the sea.
http://www.road-to-the-isles.org.uk/rum.html
Glen Roy with "Parallel Roads" (glacial scores) that are reputed to be the hunting tracks of the Fianna.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/roybridge/glenroy/index.html
According to legends, Glen Orchy hides a cave with a hunting horn that, if blown, will wake Finn and the Fianna from their centuries long sleep to aid Scotland in some hour of peril.
http://www.fife.50megs.com/tour-glen-orchy.htm
Sgurr nam Fiannaidh (Rocky Peak of Fianna) near Glen Coe, is where the Fianna camped while defending Scotland from King Earragan of Lochlann.
http://www.munromagic.com/MountainInfo.cfm/188
Glen Geusachan was the hunting grounds of the Fianna. A deep corrie above the glen is called the Corrie of the Battle of the Fingalians (Coire Cath nam Fiann).
http://www.trekkingbritain.com/braeriachfromlinnofdee.htm
Beinn Bhrotain (Hill of Brotan the Mastiff) is named after a jet-black hound owned by Finn that chased the white fairy deer:
http://walking.visitscotland.com/munros/cairngorms/beinn_bhrotain
Tobar Leac nan Fiann is a spring on ithe island of Jura:
http://www.theisleofjura.co.uk/web_365/Tobar%20Leac%20nan%20Fiann.html
Diarmaid’s Grave is the remains of a megalithic stone monument in Glenelg:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=16581
Glenelg is a village with several local tales of Finn: (http://www.glenelg.co.uk/archives/glenelg_parish_history.shtml).
"I may, however, recall the traditional tales of the Fingalians which associate them with these ancient structures. I use the word "Fingalians," although it is anything but correct, to describe the "Fiann," the warrior-band of Fionn. The tradition is that Fionn and his followers lived in these brochs and often went hunting in Skye. According to the version of the story recorded by the late W. C. Mackenzie, the Fingalian women were careful never to take food in the presence of their men-folk, but nevertheless managed to remain 'comely and well-favoured." The men wondered how the women managed to live on so little nourishment. One day, therefore, one of the warrior-band, Gairidh, was left at home while the other men went to Skye to hunt. Gairidh feigned illness and lay on his bed so that he could watch the women. He fell asleep, however, and the women promptly took strong wooden pegs and fastened Gairidh's seven locks tightly to the bottom of the bed, to keep him out of the way, and then they proceeded to feast on the finest food that glen or river could produce. Gairidh suddenly awoke, was irritated to find he was fastened to the bed, leapt to his feet with a mighty effort, and in so doing left every lock of his hair and the skin of his skull on the bed. Mad with pain, Gairidh rushed out, gathered brush-wood which he placed around the locked door, and set fire to the dwelling with the women inside, so that none escaped. Meanwhile, over in Skye, Fionn and his hunting men saw the pall of smoke arise and suspected all was not well at home. They hurried back, vaulting over the "narrows" of Kylerhea on their spears. One of them, Reithe, failed "to make it" and was drowned, whence the name "Caol-Reithe" (Kylerhea). Fionn and his men found their women dead and Gairidh missing. At last he was discovered skulking in a cave and was suitably dealt with.
There are just two things I might add to the story. One is that at Kylerhea they point out the mark of the feet where the Fingalians took off as they vaulted over the narrows. The other is that near the Kylerhea narrows is a site called "lomair nam Fear M6ra" (The ridge of the big men), alleged to be the burying-place of the Fingalians. It is said that once upon a time a bold man began ploughing up the place, in defiance of local warnings. He turned up a human skull, which was so big that it easily fitted over the head of the biggest man present (alleged to be the Rev. Cohn Maclver, minister of Glenelg from 1782 to 1829). Just at that point, however, a terrible storm of thunder and lightning arose, and the ploughing speedily ceased and the skull of ‘Gairidh’ or some other Fingalian was promptly buried again."
Perhaps the most famous Scottish place associated with Finn is Fingal’s Cave, on the island of Staffa, an outcropping of basalt pillars. (http://www.fingals-cave-staffa.co.uk/fingal-cave.asp).
Here is a video shot inside Fingal’s Cave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_pNg1KIF8g&feature=related
Finding Finn in Scotland copyright © 2008 by Joanne McLain, all rights reserved. Used with permission. Top of Page
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