The Birth of Bran

There  are  people  who  do  not  like  dogs  a  bit.  They  are  usually  women.  But  in  this  story  there  is  a  man  who  did  not  like  dogs.  In  fact,  he  hated  them.  When  he  saw  one,  he  used  to  go  black  in  the  face  and  he  threw  rocks  at  it  until  it  got  out  of  sight.

But  the  power  that  protects  all  creatures  had  put  a  squint  into  this  man's  eye,  so  that  he  always  threw  crook  it.  This  gentleman's  name  was  Fergus  Fionlayath  and  his  stronghold  was  near  the  harbor  of  Galway.  Whenever  a  dog  barked,  he  would  leap  out  of  his  seat  and  he  would  throw  everything  that  he  owned  out  of  the  window  in  the  direction  of  the  bark.  He  gave  prizes  to  servants  who  disliked  dogs,  and  when  he  heard  that  a  man  had  drowned  a  litter  of  pups,  he  used  to  visit  that  person  and  try  to  marry  his  daughter.  Now,  Fion,  the  son  of  Weil,  was  the  reverse  of  Fergus  Fionlieth  in  this  matter,  for  he  delighted  in  dogs,  and  he  knew  everything  about  them,  from  the  setting  of  the  first  little  white  tooth  to  the  rocking  of  the  first  little  white  tooth  to  the  rocking  of  the  last  long  yellow  one.

He  knew  the  affections  and  antipathies  which  are  proper  in  a  dog,  the  degree  of  obedience  to  which  dogs  may  be  trained  without  losing  their  honorable  qualities  or  becoming  servile  and  suspicious.  He  knew  the  hopes  that  animate  them,  the  apprehensions  which  tingle  in  their  blood,  and  all  that  is  to  be  demanded  from  or  forgiven  in  a  paw,  an  ear,  a  nose,  an  eye  or  a  tooth.  And  he  understood  these  things  because  he  loved  dogs.  For  it  is  by  love  alone  that  we  understand.  Among  the  300  dogs  which  Fianne  owned,  there  were  two  to  whom  he  gave  an  especial  tenderness  and  who  were  his  daily  and  nightly  companions.

These  two  were  Bran  and  Ceolan.  But  if  a  person  were  to  guess  for  20  years,  he  would  not  find  out  why  Fion  loved  these  two  dogs  and  why  he  would  never  be  separated  from  them.  The  birth  of  Braun  Fion's  mother,  Muirne,  went  to  wide  Allen  of  Leinster  to  visit  her  son,  and  she  brought  her  young  sister  Tuiren  with  her.  The  mother  and  aunt  of  the  great  captain  were  well  treated  among  the  Fianna  first,  because  they  were  parents  to  Fion,  and  second,  because  they  were  beautiful  and  noble  women.  No  words  can  describe  how  delightful  Muirn  was.

She  took  the  branch  and  as  to  Tuiren,  a  man  could  not  look  at  her  without  becoming  angry  or  dejected.  Her  face  was  fresh  as  a  spring  morning,  her  voice  more  cheerful  than  the  cuckoo  calling  from  the  branch  that  is  highest  in  the  hedge.  And  her  form  swayed  like  a  reed  and  flowed  like  a  reaver,  so  that  each  person  thought  she  would  surely  flow  to  him.