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Carmina Gadelica, Volume 2, by Alexander Carmicheal, [1900], at sacred-texts.com
'FĀTH-FĪTH' and 'fīth-fāth' are interchangeable terms and indiscriminately used. They are applied to the occult power which rendered a person invisible to mortal eyes and which transformed one object into another. Men and women were made invisible, or men were transformed into horses, bulls, or stags, while women were transformed into cats, hares, or hinds. These transmutations were sometimes voluntary, sometimes involuntary. The 'fīth-fāth' was especially serviceable to hunters, warriors, and travellers, rendering them invisible or unrecognisable to enemies and to animals.
Fionn had a fairy sweetheart, a daughter of the people of the mounds, but Fionn forsook her and married a daughter of the sons of men. The fairy was angry at the slight put upon her, and she placed the wife of Fionn under the 'fīth-fāth' spell in the form of a hind of the hill. The wife of Fionn bore a son in the island of Sanndraigh in Loch-nan-ceall in Arasaig. The mother possessed so much of the nature of the hind that she licked the temple of the child when he was born, but she possessed so much of the nature of the woman that she only gave one lick. But hair like the hair of a fawn grew on the part of the temple of the child which the tongue of the hind-mother had touched. And because of this patch of fawn's hair on his temple the child was called 'Oisein,' the fawn. While still a boy Ossian followed Fionn and the Feinne to the hunting-hill to chase the mountain deer. In the midst of the chase a magic mist darker than night came down upon the hunters, blinding them from one another and from their surroundings--no one knew where was another or where he was himself. Hunt-wandering came over Ossian, and he wandered wearily alone, and at last found himself in a deep green glen surrounded by high blue hills. As he walked along he saw a timid hind browsing in a green corrie before him. And Ossian thought to himself that he had never seen a creature so lovely as this timid hind, and he stood gazing upon her with joy. But the spirit of the hunt was strong upon Ossian, and the blood of the hunter was hot in his veins, and he drew his spear to throw it at the hind. The hind turned and looked at Ossian and gazed upon him with her full wistful grey eyes, more lovely and alluring than the blue eyes of love. 'Do not hurt me, Ossian,' said the hind; 'I am thy mother under the "fīth-fāth," in the form of a hind abroad and in the form of a woman at home. Thou art hungry and thirsty and weary. Come thou home with me, thou fawn of my heart.' And Ossian accompanied the hind step by step till they reached a rock in the base of the hill. The hind opened a leaf in a door in the rock where no door seemed to be, and she went in, and Ossian went in after her. She closed the door-leaf in the rock and there was no appearance of a door. And the graceful hind became transformed into a beautiful woman, like the lovely woman of the green kirtle and the locks of gold. There was light in the bower in the bosom of the ben like the light of 'trath-nona la leth an
t-samhraidh'--noontide on midsummer day. Nor was it the light of the sun, nor was it the light of the moon, nor was it the light of the star of guidance. His mother prepared food and drink and music for Ossian. And she placed food in a place of eating for him, and she placed drink in a place of drinking for him, and she placed music in a place of hearing for him. Ossian took of the food and of the drink and of the music till he was full satisfied--his seven full satiations. After feasting, Ossian said to his mother, 'I am going, mother, to see what Fionn and the Feinne are doing in the hunting-hill.' And his mother placed her arm around his neck and kissed Ossian with the three kisses of a mother, and then she opened the door-leaf in the door of the bower and allowed him out. When she closed it there was no appearance of a door in the rock.
Ossian had been feasting on food and drink and music in the bower with his mother for the space of three days, as he thought, but he had been in the bower for the space of three years instead. And he made a song, the first song he made, warning his mother against the men and the hounds of the Feinne.
In his Leabhar Na Feinne Iain Campbell of Islay says that he had received fourteen versions of this song of Ossian. Six of these had been sent to him by the present writer. One of these versions was obtained from Oirig Nic Iain--Effric or Effie Mac Iain--lineally descended, she said, from Alexander Mac Iain, chief of the massacred Macdonalds of Glencoe.
Effric Mac Iain was not tall, but she was very beautiful, intelligent, and pleasant. I obtained a silver brooch from her which, she said, had come down like herself through the generations from the massacred chief of Glencoe. The brooch is circular and beautifully chased, though much worn.
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‘SANAS OISEIN D’A MHATHAIR 'MA ’s tu mo mhathair ’s gur a fiadh thu, Ma ’s tu mo mhathair ’s gur a fiadh thu, Ma ’s tu mo mhathair ’s gur a fiadh thu, Ma ’s tu mo mhathair ’s gur a fiadh thu, Ma theid thu do choiribh dona, |
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OSSIAN'S WARNING TO HIS MOTHER IF thou be my mother and thou a deer, If thou be my mother and thou a deer, If thou be my mother and thou a deer, If thou be my mother and thou a deer, If thou shouldst go to hurtful corries, |
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Seachainn Caoilte, seachainn Luath, Ma theid thu do ghleannaibh iosal, |
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Avoid 'Caoilte,' avoid 'Luath, Shouldst thou go to low glens, |
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Ma theid thu do bheannaibh mora, Ma theid thu do bheannaibh arda, Ma theid thu gu fairir frithe, |
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Shouldst thou go to the great bens, Shouldst thou go to the high bens, Shouldst thou go to the haze-land forest, |
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FATH fith |
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FATH fith |
