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Rolleston, T. W., 1857-1920

"The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland"

The Bag with its treasures was given to Lia, the
chief of Luachar in Connacht, who had the keeping of it before, for he
was the treasurer of Cumhal, and he was the first man who had wounded
Cumhal in the battle when he fell.
Cumhal's wife was named Murna, and she bore him two sons. The elder
was named Tulcha, and he fled from the country for fear of Goll and
took service with the King of Scotland. The younger was born after
Cumhal's death, and his name was called Demna. And because his mother
feared that the sons of Morna would find him out and kill him, she
gave him to a Druidess and another wise woman of Cumhal's household,
and bade them take him away and rear him as best they could. So they
took him into the wild woods on the Slieve Bloom Mountains, and there
they trained him to hunt and fish and to throw the spear, and he grew
strong, and as beautiful as a child of the Fairy Folk. If he were in
the same field with a hare he could run so that the hare could never
leave the field, for Demna was always before it. He could run down and
slay a stag with no dogs to help him, and he could kill a wild duck on
the wing with a stone from his sling. And the Druidess taught him the
learning of the time, and also the story of his race and nation, and
told him of his right to be captain of the Fianna of Erinn when his
day of destiny should come.


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