DOG 139 



Another tale goes of how Bran conquered and captured a 

 wild boar which had slain all the other hounds of a party of 

 eight. This boar was a young woman of great beauty, under 

 spells. See E. O. Curry on the legend of Find MacCumhal, 

 Scathach, and her magical harp. 



One description of Bran gives him as being a Cu-sith or fairy 

 dog, as large as a two-year-old stirk, of a dark-green colour, ears 

 deep green, lighter towards feet ; or yellow feet, two sides black, 

 and belly white, green was the back of this hunting hound, his 

 two pointed ears blood-red. The foregoing meaning of the 

 name " Bran " as avalanche, etc., is supposed to have been given 

 him from a mythical tradition — mythical even in the third or 

 fourth century — as to a certain personage who was too large 

 to enter a house or go aboard a ship, and who, according to the 

 Mabinogi of Branwen, sat on the rock of Harlech. Bran is a 

 common name for a greyhound to this day. In the North of 

 Scotland it is a custom to give the names of the heroes mentioned 

 in "Fingal" to their dogs, at once showing a proof, if any be 

 necessary, that these heroes' names are familiar to the ear of 

 any one except an ignorant or prejudiced Saxon or Teuton, their 

 fame generally known and their high estimate of their dogs' worth 

 and value, though having a hfe only of some twelve years or so. 



Bran was supposed to be Fionn's relative. A certain king 

 of the Province of Leinster was named Brandubh, this may have 

 been the real relative. Still another description of Bran is found, 

 viz., " A ferocious, small headed, white-breasted, sleek-haunched 

 hound, having the eyes of a dragon, the claws of a wolf, the 

 vigour of a lion, and the venom of a serpent." Accounts vary as 

 to Bran's deatli, one being that it came about by witchcraft, for, 

 if he had the venom of, he had not all the wisdom attributed to, 

 a serpent, for he foolishly followed a witch deer, and plunged 

 over a crag into a loch after her whence he never rose. Bran 

 had the " venom of a serpent " in respect of his being an elfin 

 dog, with a venomous claw, which was kept covered except when 

 the dog was engaged in serious fight. This claw is called "shoe" 

 (from being covered probably) in the tale of " How Finn went to 

 the Kingdom of the Big Men," brog nimhe. In an Irish series of 

 Irish Fireside Tales, we are told that this " shoe " was of refined 

 silver and on Bran's right paw. Bran or Branno, in a note to 

 Enghsh Edition (1762) of Ossian's Carricthura, is said to mean a 

 mountain stream, Dubh-Bhran or bhranna, a dark mountain stream. 

 An Irish statement has it that Fionn or Fingal, or Finn na Baiscne, 

 the famous Fionn Mac-Cumhal, had kco favourite dogs. Bran and 

 Sgeolan or Sgeolaind; in an Irish tale in Myths and Folk-lore 

 of Ireland by J. Curtin — Birth of Fin MacCumhail, 'tis said that 

 a whelp there that ate some carpenter's clippings or shavings was 

 thereafter called " Bran " ! Another celebrated dog of Fionn's 

 was named " Buglen." The mother of Bran and Sgeolan we are 



