TABLE OF CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
| 1. | Mythology of Ireland | [9] |
| 2. | The Fenians | [15] |
| 3. | The Birth of Finn | [18] |
| 4. | Boyhood of Finn | [23] |
| 5. | Finn Claims His Inheritance | [28] |
| 6. | Finn and the Scottish Giant | [36] |
| 7. | The Story of Saba | [47] |
| 8. | Conan the Bald | [53] |
| 9. | Dermot of the Love Spot | [58] |
| 10. | Dermot Rescues Finn | [64] |
| 11. | The Worthless Servant | [101] |
| 12. | Dermot and Grainne | [126] |
| 13. | The Battle of Ventry Strand | [134] |
| 14. | The Death of Dermot | [148] |
| 15. | The Battle of Gowra | [155] |
That evening Cool climbed to the window
From Birth of Finn
MYTHOLOGY OF IRELAND
Every race of people has its myths and hero tales. With those of the Greeks most of us are familiar. We have heard of Hercules, Perseus, Atlas and others, ever since we started to school. The early stories of a race are always entertaining as well as instructive. For that reason our school libraries contain the folk stories of the Japanese, the Norsemen, the Russians, the English, the American Indian, the negro and many others. The one people, of whose stories Americans know little, is the Celtic race, the forefathers of the Scotch and Irish of today, and the ancestors of many of us. This book is intended to make you acquainted with the ancient heroes of the Celts.
Just as King Arthur is the early hero of the Anglo-Saxon people, so is Finn MacCool the renowned hero of the Celts. Like King Arthur he had gathered together a body of heroes, all of whom performed deeds of valor. In Scotland we find stories of this same hero, only the Scotch people call him Fingal.
Most of the stories which follow are tales of the adventures of Finn and his friend, Dermot. These tales are about events which are supposed to have taken place nearly two thousand years ago.
No doubt you wonder how we know anything about people who lived so long ago. The very name, folk stories, explains it. Folk stories are told by the folk, or people, of the country. Sometimes we find the tales written in an ancient book, but most of them come down through the centuries by one person telling the story to another.