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Fenian Cycle:

The Fenian Cycle is made up of stories about the adventures of a group of warriors called the Fianna, and their heroic leader, Finn Mac Cumhaill. The Fianna was formed by Conn Cetchath, the king of Ireland.

There were two main clans who made up the Fianna, Clan Baiscne and Clan Morna, and the leader of the Fianna would come from one of those two tribes.



Storaidean:

Challenge of the clans: the leader of the Fianna, Cumhail, of the Clan Baiscne, fell in love with Muirenn, the daughter of a Tadg, who was a druid and an advisor to the king of ireland. Her father didn't want her to marry a mortal, but the two got married anyways. This made Tadg angry, so he turned the king against Cumhail. Tadg and the king conspired to have Goll, from the Clan morna, challenge Cumhail for his position as head of the Fianna. Goll was happy to help, and sent out a challenge to Cumhail. A big battle ensued, and, with the help of Tadg's powerful sorcery, the clan Morna defeated Cumhail and the clan Baiscne.



Along Comes Finn: Muirenn was pregnant before Cumhail went off to battle, so when she knew (through her druid super-powers) that Cumhaill was dead, she fled to safety to have her child. she had a son, and named him demna, who went by his nickname, Finn ("fair one") for his whole life. But she couldn't stick around for too long because she was afraid that Goll and his buddies would come and kill her and her son. So she left him with some nurses, while she went and married the king of Munster. Well, it wasn't long before the nurses figured out that Finn's destiny in life was to avenge his father's death. They tried to teach him some stuff about his clan heritage, and hunting and being nice, but they knew that he really needed to become a warrior. So they sent him away to learn how to go through the difficult tests to become a chieftan.

*Along the way, Finn defeated Lia, the sorcerer who helped the morna clan defeat finn's father

*Finn met up with his father's brother, and some other Baiscne clan people who survived the battle; they train him to fight Fianna-style

*They told Finn that he needed to learn some barding and poetry skills to be able to be a clan chieftan, and the guy he needed to see for that was Finneces.

*When Finn met Finneces, Finneces was busy trying to catch a special fish called the "salmon of knowledge"....which he'd been trying to catch for 20 years. Fortunately, after finn got there, finneces was able to catch the fish, and was so happy that he told finn he'd teach him if finn would cook the fish for him. He made sure to tell finn not to eat ANY of the fish. Finn burned his thumb while cooking the fish, and put his thumb in his mouth. When he revealed this to finneces, the old man decided that finn might as well eat the whole fish. So finn ate the whole fish and gained the unique ability to aquire knowledge whenever he put his thumb in his mouth. So with all this knowledge, finn no longer needed finneces' help.

*Finn went to Tara, where the Great Fair was being held. One of the special things about the great fair was that people couldn't be arrested, and they all got a chance to make their cases before the Great Assembly. So Finn decided to put forth a request for him to become cheif the Clan Baiscne and a member of the Fianna.

*To get to be a chieftan, Finn had three tests to pass, and pass them he did!

*A month or two later, Finn heard about a magical goblin who would wreak havoc on Tara on every eve of samhain (halloween). This goblin had never been defeated because it would play enchanting music on its harp, rendering any would-be heroes entranced and helpless. So Finn convinced the high king to make him the Captain of the fianna IF he kills the goblin. One of Finn's buddies was in possession of a magical spear, but he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Thanks to the "salmon of knowledge," finn is able to figure out that all he needs to do is touch the blade of the spear to his head, and the goblin's music wouldn't affect him. By using this spear, Finn is able to defeat the goblin, and replaces Goll as captain of the fianna.

Time for a Tragic Love Affair: Finn was out hunting with his two hounds and some friends, when they saw a beautiful fawn, so beautiful, in fact, that Finn sent his two hounds to go attack it. Oddly enough, the hounds decided to play with the fawn, rather than kill it. Finn decided to follow his hounds' lead, and refrained from killing it. Relieved, the fawn followed them back home. That night, Finn woke up to find that the fawn had turned into a beautiful woman. This woman, named Sadb, was the daughter of a king from the Otherworld. Three years ago, she had rejected an evil druid, who, deeply hurt, turned her into a fawn. (Unrequited love can be a dangerous thing.) Well, naturally, Finn and Sadb fell in love and got married, and lived happily... but not quite happily ever after. Unfortunately, Finn had to go off and fight, and leave his Sadb behind. While he was gone the evil druid came and turned Sadb back into a fawn, and kidnapped her. Upon his return, Finn was heartbroken to find his wife missing, so he sent out search parties looking for her. But alas! It was all in vain. She was nowhere to be found. Except one fine day, about seven years later, a boy was found. It turned out that this boy was finn's son. Finn named him Oisin, meaning "little fawn."

A battle and some stuff: Bolcan, a princess of France fell in love with Finn, and ran away to Ireland. Well, her husband wasn't too happy with that, and, since he was the "king of the world", he gathered a huge army to defeat Finn and his Fianna. So there was a big battle and lots of people were killed, but in the end Finn and the Fianna were victorious, with Finn killing the King of the World.

When King Colgan, from Scandinavia, attacked Ireland, Finn and his Fianna defeated them in another epic battle, with Oscar, Finn's grandson, personally killing Colgan. All of King Colgan's men either ran away or were killed except for one: Colgan's youngest son, Midac. Midac was brought up by Finn as a prince and a fian warrior. When he grew old enough, he was told that he could set up his own household and he would be given land and servants. Midac, plotting to avenge his family's death, chose to live up north, in a strategic location for a renewed invasion of Ireland. One day, when Finn was in the neighbourhood, Midac invited him to his house for a banquet. When Finn and his crew got there, they found that no one was there, so they decided to sit and wait on a couch. When they got tired of waiting, and decided to go find Midac, they realized that they were magically trapped on the couch. Finn consulted his thumb, and found out that Midac had a very big army with a lot of allies, that some warriors would be coming to kill them, and that they'd be trapped on the couch for ever more unless the blood of the three Isle of Torrent kings was spilled there. So, stuck on Midac's couch, they started singing, in hopes that the rest of the fianna would hear them and come rescue them.

*Some people come to try to rescue them, some people come to try to kill them, fighting ensues.

*blood of three kings is sprikled on the floor. Finn & Co. rescued.

*More fighting. Fianna wins.



Diarmait and Grainne: By the time this story takes place, Finn is getting fairly old, but wants to get married. So his son and his friends decide that he should marry Grainne, the daughter of the high king of Ireland. She agrees to marry Finn, but when she meets Finn, she is disappointed by the fact that he's old enough to be her grandfather. So she runs away with one of Finn's companions, named Diarmait. Finn is very upset and sends out warriors to kill Diarmait and get Grainne back, and tries lots of sneaky tricks to kill Diarmait and get Grainne back, but none of them work, so eventually he and Diarmait make peace with each other. Years later, Finn deliberately leads Diarmait into danger and then refuses to help him, so Diarmait dies. At first Grainne is terribly upset, and asks her sons to avenge their father, but eventually Finn wins her affection and they get married.



Battle of Gabrha: When Cairbre took over the Irish throne, he decided that the Fianna should be disbanded because they were becoming too powerful and expensive. Big battle. Fianna defeated.



Caoilte--one of Finn's most trusted friends...told the stories to St. Patrick, who wrote them down