J. F. Campbell Collection > Selections from the Gaelic bards

150 ANCIENT GAELIC BARDS.
And my coming chances strain my ear,
And almost blind my eye."
"When heroes rush together,
When battle wakes around
With clash and clang and crushing blows
I hear my sweetest sound."
So Oscar spoke. — Thus Diarmad said,
" When in my secret ear
Sweet woman whispers love for me.
My best loved sound I hear."
"When first I catch my good hounds' cry,
Where the proud stag stamps the ground,
And stands at bay," MacLuy said,
"I hear my sweetest sound."
Then Fingal said, "My music is
The banner's fluttering fold
When winds blow free, and the brave I see
Beneath its streaming gold."
Alas! alas! my sweetest sound
Was once in Fingal's hall;
To hear bards sing, and heroes speak.
And now they 've perished all!
As these men spoke so admirably in character, we may think
that they all answered well ; except perhaps the rash and impul-
sive Conan. He is always prompt, testy, and fool-hardy, and
never appears possessed of much judgment. Diannad is gay and
gallant, as might be expected in the lovely hero, of whom the
prose tales say, he had an irresistible beauty-spot on his forehead,
on Avhich, whoever looked, loved him. Another ballad appropri-
ately represents the last words of Diarmad to have been, " Fare-