I would meet him with welcome hand,
And shield him beneath my brand.
These are indeed noble sentiments and precepts from a semi-barbarian monarch such as Finn is supposed to have been. It may fairly be questioned whether this is not one of the more recent productions. One line, “’na aobhar shininn mo lamh”—in his cause, &c., reminds us of Christian conceptions. Such a word as aobhar, cause, does not, so far as I am aware, occur in the purely heathen poems.
The ballads on the deaths of Diarmad and of Oscar are among the best, and have been [great favourites] with popular reciters. The Lay of Diarmad seems to have given names to many places in Scotland and Ireland. The names of the heroes of the Féinn in general we find embedded in the nomenclature of the soil, especially the name of Finn, their great leader. This is evidence of the early era in which they lived, as well as of the affection with which the people cherished their memories. The death of Oscar is a very long ballad. What follows is a free rendering of upwards of the first half:—
The feast was over and the morn
Shed round its brilliant blaze;
The halls of Cairber gleamed afar
Beneath the sheen of rays;
The light within lit up the face
Of heroes stout and tall,