The boat sped swiftly on, with the bird ever gaining. When near the land, the two champions sprang ashore, just as the bird turned the boat over and perched upon the hull. She saw them on the land and flew after them. The instant she struck the earth she became a woman. Rushing up to Finn she threw her arms around his neck.
“Come back with me and be my husband,” she begged. “You shall be the king of the White Nation.”
It made Dermot angry to see the actions of the woman who had caused them both so much trouble. He swung his sword against the hillside in anger. So great was the blow that a valley appeared where the sword struck. A great shower of dirt, far more than the seven shovelfuls, fell over Finn and the woman.
Finn put the enchantress from him. “I thank you, Dermot,” he said. “You have released me from her bonds.”
The woman gave a cry of rage, became an eagle once more and flew out over the ocean. Finn and Dermot hastened to join the Fenians.
THE WORTHLESS SERVANT
One day Finn and his companions, while out hunting, had stopped to cook some of the game. Dermot, Conan and several other Fenians were in the party. The horses had been put into an inclosure so that they might feed while the men rested. It was during the meal that the guard, who had been put upon a nearby hill to watch for the approach of an enemy, came rushing up with the news that a great giant was coming toward them from the south. The man had hardly time to tell the news when the giant, himself, appeared.
He was tall and ungainly, with joints that bent outward at each step, as though they had been fastened together with strings. He was dressed in the skins of animals, with the hairy side out. Covering his face was a growth of the same colored hair, so it was difficult to tell where the garments left off and the skin began.
His face seemed formed no more firmly than his body. His jaw hung loosely, showing a ragged set of huge teeth. One eye was higher than the other. His nose was as rough as a ridge of hills. In one hand he held a huge club, the end of which cut deep furrows in the earth as he dragged it along. From the other hand was a leading thong attached to the halter of a horse.
This animal was no better favored than the master. Its joints seemed just as loosely hung together. Its coat was the color of the soot from a chimney. Its backbone was like a knotted clothesline with a black rug hung over it. When the animal walked, its legs bent outward at the center, while its scraggly tail and many cornered head swayed from side to side in opposite directions.