DeDanaan

Filed by Aine MacDermot

MacCool, Finn (MacCumhaill) : Finn MacCool (Fingal) is a traditional Irish folk hero who actually may have lived in the 3rd century but who figures heavily in Irish mythology. A leader of a band of warriors, Finn is often portrayed as a giant with great strength and wisdom. According to folk tradition, Finn assembled a rock formation known as the Giants’ Causeway along the coast of Northern Ireland to enable other giants to travel between Scotland and Ireland. He and his son, Oisin, appear in the Fenian Cycle of ancient Irish tales, the most famous of which is “The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne.” Grainne, who loves Oisin, is pressured to marry the father instead, but escapes by eloping with Diarmuid, Finn’s nephew. Finn pursues them, Diarmuid is slain by a giant boar, and ultimately, Grainne becomes Finn’s wife.

In the 1760’s, the Scottish poet James Macpherson (1736-1796) claimed dubiously to have discovered and translated tales written by Finn’s son, Oisin, whom he called Ossian. Two of his popular books are Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books (1762) and Temore (1763), an epic that he claimed was translated from the Gaelic of Ossian. Both Finn and his son frequently appear in Irish myth and literature, most notably in the poetry of William Butler Yeats.