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Rolleston, T. W., 1857-1920

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

Thus it is told that Conan, son of the Lord of
Luachar, him who had the Treasure Bag and whom Finn slew at Rath
Luachar, was for seven years an outlaw and marauder, harrying the
Fians, and killing here a man and there a hound, and firing their
dwellings, and raiding their cattle. At last they ran him to a corner
at Cam Lewy in Munster, and when he saw that he could escape no more
he stole upon Finn as he sat down after a chase, and flung his arms
round him from behind, holding him fast and motionless. Finn knew who
held him thus and said, "What wilt thou Conan?" Conan said, "To make a
covenant of service and fealty with thee, for I may no longer evade
thy wrath." So Finn laughed and said, "Be it so, Conan, and if thou
prove faithful and valiant, I also will keep faith." And Conan served
him for thirty years, and no man of all the Fianna was keener and
hardier in fight. There was also another Conan, namely, mac Morna,
who was big and bald, and unwieldy in manly exercises, but whose
tongue was bitter and scurrilous; no high brave thing was done that
Conan the Bald did not mock and belittle. It is said that when he was
stripped he showed down his back and buttocks a black sheep's fleece
instead of a man's skin, and this is the way it came about. One day
when Conan and certain others of the Fianna were hunting in the forest
they came to a stately Dun, white-walled, with coloured thatching on
the roof, and they entered it to seek hospitality.


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