148 COBNISH DEDICATIONS. 



Meantime his companions and attendants were sore troubled 

 at his not appearing, and the j)rince of the country suspecting 

 foul play, arrested them, and threatened them with death unless 

 they produced Fingar. They represented to the prince that it was 

 anticedently improbable that they should murder their leader on 

 whom they all depended, and that they were obviously incapaci- 

 tated from finding him if they were locked up in prison. The 

 prince having a mind open to an argument, yielded and bade them 

 scour the country and find Fingar. They searched, and at length 

 came on him in his improvised cell by the fountain. The Prince 

 or Duke was brought to the spot, and as Fingar professed his 

 resolution not to return to the world, he was granted the whole 

 territory round, free of impost for ever. This is almost certainly 

 the very extensive district of Plouvinger. The name itself indi- 

 cates it as the place where Fingar established his clan or plehs. 

 It now contains nine daughter churches, the mother church is dedi- 

 cated to S. Fingar, and his sacred fountain is shown near it. 



After some time the desire came over him to return to his 

 native land. He accordingly sailed for Ireland, and on arriving, 

 found that his father was dead, and the members of the sept 

 desired that he should be their chief. To this he would not 

 hearken, but advised that his sister Kiara (the Brythonic form 

 is Piala) should be married to some noble and that her husband 

 should be elected king. But Kiara would not consent to this, she 

 had but one ambition, to join her brother in a religious life. 

 Fingar then advised the sept to leave it to chance, in other words 

 let there be a general scrimmage, to decide who should be their 

 sovereign ; as for himself, he would abandon the country. 



Accordingly, at the head of seven hundred and seventy-seven 

 men, seven bishops, and with his sister Kiara, he sailed to return 

 to Armorica, but was carried by the winds towards Cornwall. 



I may be permitted her.e to quote the grotesque version of 

 the story as given by Lobineau, 



"Etant retourne dans son pays, avec le dessin de convertir k 

 Jesus Christ ses compatriotes, il y refusa la couronne que le mort 

 venait a enlever a son pere, et que ses sujets lui presentaient avec 

 un empressement qui marquait bien que ceux qui professent la 

 veritable foi ne manquent jamais de fidelite a leurs souverain 

 legitime," 



