Turning next to the Finn Cycle, we find that in the story of Finn and the Man in the Tree, which is believed to date from the late eighth or early ninth century, the imbas forosnai is practised by Finn on two occasions. The story is given in the version of the Senchas Mór contained in H. 3. 18, where it is quoted as an example of the practice of imbas forosnai. According to this story, when the fian are on the brink of the Suir, Culdub comes out of a sid or ‘elf-mound,’ and steals their food three times in succession as it is being cooked. On the third occasion Finn ua Baiscne gives chase and catches up with him, and lays hold of him as he goes into the sid. At this point a woman seems to meet him as she is coming out of the sid, with a dripping vessel in her hand, having just distributed drink, and she jams the door against the sid! Finn squeezes his finger ( mer ) between the door of the sid and the post, and then sticks it into his mouth. When he takes it out again he begins to chant ( dicetal ). The imbas enlightens him ( fortnosmen an imbas ) and he recites a series of rhetorics.

Later in the same story, when he finds a man hiding in a tree, he and his followers fail to recognise him as his fugitive servant till ‘Finn puts his thumb into his mouth’. When he takes it out again, his imbas illumines him and he chants an incantation and says: ‘(rhetorics follow, cf, p. 11 above). (Is de dobert Finn a hordain ina beolo. Addonich as eisib afrithisi fortnosna a imbus – dichan dichetal co n– eipert).

A variant version of the story of the death of Culdub, dating, as is believed, from the ninth century, is also published and translated by Meyer with the title, ‘How Finn obtained Knowledge, and the Slaying of Cul Dub.’ The concluding lines of the story relate that after Finn had trapped his thumb ( ordain ) in the door he could hear and understand the language of the Side or Sid- folk. It is clear that in this way he acquired his supernatural knowledge – his imbas – and was enabled to chant his poem, which is here referred to as dichetal. It appears that yet another version of this story is contained in MS. H. 3. 18, a summary of which is given by O’Curry.

Reference may be made to a story which is believed also to date from the ninth century, and which relates to Finn, Ailill Aulom and MacCon. In this story Finn appears as a member of Lugaid Mac Con’s fian. During the hostilities between Ailill and Mac Con, Ailill sends Ferchess, an old Fian warrior and an aged member of his household, on the track of Mac COn’s wandering host for the purpose of slaying Mac Con himself. As Ferchess comes on the track, Finn says, using the incantation called imbas forosnai (triasa n-imbas forosnai): ‘A man on the track.’ Mac Con replies that they will be the more delighted by the addition to their number. ‘A man on the track,’ Finn repeats: ‘One man is always good sport’ says Mac Con. Meanwhile, however, Ferchess chants a spell upon his spear, saying, “Rincne,” etc., and casts it at Mac Con and slays him. Ultimately Ferchess is slain by Finn in vengeance for Mac Con. Finn again recites ‘triasa n-imbas forosnai,’ the poem already cited (p.106 above). The incident suggests that it is by means of this incantation that he has succeeded in tracking Ferchess to his abode. In this story it is clear that imbas forosnai gives to Finn the power of supernatural vision, and enables him to see the spirit world. A brief summary of the same story is given also in Cormac’s Glossary s.v. Rincne. Stokes translates from the text of the Bodleian fragment as follows:

‘Rincne, quasi quinque. Hence said Ferches, son of Mo Sechess, when Finn, grandson of Baiscne, was counting every five in turn of the host of Lugaid, the son of Mac-neit, to seek the champion Ferches. With that Ferches gave . . . past Finn, and cast the spear on Lugaid and killed him, and said thereat, Rincne cairincne ris (leg. rus?) rig, for that is what Finn used to say when he was numbering, every pentad in turn, Rincne, quasi quinque.’

It will be seen that the words triasa n-imbas forosnai, which are found in the version of the story referred to above, are absent from this version; but it is interesting to note that the words which Stokes has not translated are tren foachn-amai, (cf. ‘Imbas forosnai ), which arefound also in the text from Y.B.L. 289a and elsewhere. The reason why Stokes does not translate them are obvious: they do not stand in any syntactical relation to the sentence in which they occur. They are, in fact, a rubric or title of the charm recited by Ferchess over his spear before he casts it at Mac Con.

From the two versions of the story of Finn and Culdub it is clear that Finn obtained his imbas forosnai by means of uncooked or partially cooked food which became the property of the side, and by some part of his person (thumb or finger) entering the sid -mound, and after its withdrawal being placed by Finn in his mouth. The text of the story from the Senchas Mor suggests that the reason why Finn put his finger ( mer ) into his mouth was because some of the liquid from the dripping vessel had been spilt on to it. But it is not clear whether it was because he tasted this (presumably) sid liquid, or because his finger had been in the sid -mound, or because his finger was grazed and he sucked it (i.e. as raw-red-flesh) that he acquired his revelation. It is, however, clear from this story and from the slaying of Ferchess that it was by his imbas forosnai that Finn was enabled not only to see what was invisible to physical vision – i.e., he obtained second sight, but also to hear and understand the spirits as they conversed with one another.

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