Bruidhean Chaorthainn

Bruidhean Chaorthainn (Hostel of Rowan), a bruidhean or hostel tale of the Fionn cycle. Fionn and his warrior-band are enticed by enchantment to a magical hostel by the Viking king. Immobilized, they sound the Dord Fiann which brings help from Diarmaid [see Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne].

Irish titles for the Fenian prose narrative known most often in English as The Hostel, Palace, or Fairy Palace of the Quicken or Rowan Tree. The story has been collected from several oral sources in different parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, where it is known as Bruighean Caorthuinn. As early as 1633 Geoffrey Keating cited it as typical of the ‘unhistorical’ (i.e. magical, not to be believed) Fenian tales.

Midac (or Miodhac, etc.), the son of the villainous Colgán of Lochlainn [Norway], is a boy whom the Fianna have raised as one of their own after they found him during the defeat of the invader. Upon reaching manhood Midac leaves the hospitality of the Hill of Allen and takes up residence in his hostel ‘of the Quicken or Rowan Trees’ on the Shannon. Midac's dinner invitation to Fionn and his men is only a lure to the enchanted trap. Once inside, the men find that they cannot cry out or raise themselves from their chairs. Midac's wish is to decapitate Fionn and bring his head to the *King of the World. Instead, the Fianna, led by Diarmait, bring Fionn the head of the King and release the leader from enchantment. P. H. Pearse edited an Irish version in Sgéal Fiannaidheachta (Dublin, 1908). A Scottish Gaelic text with translation is in Leabhar na Feinne (London, 1872); another Scottish version from a later oral source is titled Fionn an Tigh a' Bhláir-Bhuidhe …, ed. J. M. L. (Glasgow, 1920). P. W. Joyce's translation in Old Celtic Romances (Dublin, 1879) has been often reprinted and is perhaps the most widely known.