140 DOG 



told was Fionii's aunt Tinen, who was changed l>y a hcan silhc 

 or fairy into a dog. 



Hunting, as is well known, was indulged in on a somewhat 

 extensive scale in the days of old, and here Bran was facile 

 princeps, "she would even overtake the wild geese, she was that 

 swift." As an Irish saying puts it, " bearradh Bran air na gaethibh- 

 fiadhaca bi si chondi luath riu." On one occasion the Feinn went 

 hunting with three thousand dogs, each dog killed two deer, but 

 Bran alone killed six thousand and one, bringing up the total to 

 the resj)ectable number of twelve thousand and one. The loss of 

 dogs, killed by one hundred boars secured on the occasion, was 

 one thousand, though it is somewhat satisfactory to learn that all 

 the boars were also slain outright. Bran was so famous that it is 

 frequently said of a dog showing unusual merits, " Mar e Bran is e 

 bhrathair" — If it be not Bran 'tis his brother. Another famous 

 feat of Bran comes to us in a narrative (Irish) of a fearful chase 

 engaged in by many famous hounds after a certain witch called 

 "a bhean mhor" or the great woman, Bran being the only one 

 that ever returned therefrom, her state being thus described : — 



Agus i suaidhte fliuch, 



Ag cul (gul) go caoin a's ag sgread gu cruaidh (truaigh) 

 Is cosmhail a choileain do radh Fionn 



Go bhfuil ar goineamhain de 'n t-saoghal i gcontabhairt 

 eruaidh. 



And she injured, fatigued and wet. 

 Crying, howling and shrieking piteously ; 

 It would seem, my doggie, said Fionn, 

 That our earthly destiny is in great danger. 



In Temora Bran and Luath are mentioned together, viz., 

 " Bran is howling at his (Oscar's) feet, gloomy Luath is sad, for 

 he (Oscar) had often led them to the chase, to tlie bounding roes 

 of the desert." Burns, no believer in Ossian — or for that matter 

 of any other Celt, naturally — has helped, it must be admitted, to 

 render CuchuUin's dog " Luath " more immortal if possible, as he 

 (Burns) says the poet's tyke is called 



*' After some dog in Highland (Celtic) sang 

 Was made langsyne — Gud kens hoc lang." 



A stone (according to the famous Dr Macpherson, late of 

 Sleat, Skye) is still shown at Dunsgathaich there to which 

 Cuchullin used to fasten Luath. The National Gallery boasts 

 of the painting of a fine dog called "Bran" which belonged to 

 the late Lord Colonsay, President of the Court of Session and 

 Lord Justice-General of Scotland. 



