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There are
many heroic legends surrounding Finn MacCool, comparisons have been drawn
between him and the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table. Finn was reputed as being the leader of the Fianna, the guardians of
the King of Ireland whom he formed from a rough bunch of warriors in an
elite group of men who transformed under his command
into the manifestation of justice and honour, they were
the people's heroes. Finn's famous son whose mother was
the goddess Sadb, is said to be buried in Glenaan.
It is worth noting that many of the great legends of
Ireland are based or linked to the north coast of
Ulster, There must be some correlation between
this and the fact that Whitepark Bay was where man first
settled in Ireland.
However in
this section we will concentrate on his role in
building the Giants Causeway. The story goes thus:-
Finn
a renown warrior was going about his daily duties on the north coast
when one of his adversary, a Scottish giant called Benandonner started
shouting and ridiculing Finn's fighting prowess. This angered Finn who
lifted a lump of earth and pelted it to Scotland as a challenge to
this giant. The Scottish giant retaliated with a rock back to Finn
shouting that if he could get his hand on him, he would make sure that
Finn would never fight again adding that unfortunately he could not
swim the short distance across the Channel, so Finn would be spared
that fate. Finn got enraged by this and tore large pieces from the
cliffs, he worked for over a week pushing these into the ocean bed and
made a sturdy causeway to Scotland, when he had finished he shouted
'Now you'll had no excuse' to come over and do your best. Fearing to
lose his own reputation and pride the Scottish giant had no alternative
but come over the causeway. Finn was tired, having not slept for the
week he worked on the causeway and did not feel ready for fighting. He
thought about how he could buy some time and recuperate to face the
Scottish giant and came up with an ingenious plan. Quickly he made a
large cot and disguised himself as a baby ...... and waited. The
Scottish giant arrived at Finn's house shouting, 'Where is that coward
MacCool', Finn's wife said the he was away but sure sit down and have a
cup of tea, he'll not be long. the tea arrived with a cake in which
Finn's wife had placed some stones. Benandonner took a bite and broke
one of his teeth, and thought to himself, this Finn must be a tough
boyo to eat cakes like this, not to be outdone, he finished off the
cake and tea, breaking two more teeth in the process.
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He noticed the
baby cot and the baby inside it and his eyes widened in fear, he
thought to himself, my goodness if this is the size of the baby? What
size is the Father? He reached his hand in to touch the sleeping baby,
half out of curiosity and half as a sign of affection, Finn bit the
tip of his finger off. Benandonner was shocked by this and thought to
himself, if this is what the baby is capable of, what must the father
be capable of and what could he not do! This thought terrified him, the
fear got the better of him and took to his heels and ran like he had
never ran before, back across the causeway to Scotland destroying it as
he went. Well.....that is one version of the story, there are many
more to choose from, including one of love and romance.
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