Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

A i> o E M, giy
Three days they feafted together ; on the fourth Annii*
heard the name of Ofcar*. They rejoiced in the Ihell f ;
and purlued the boars of Runa. BeJide the fount of mof-
fy jR:ones, the weary heroes re{l. The tear fheals in fecret
from Annir : and he broke the rifing figh. " Here dark-
ly reft," the hero faid, " the children of my youth. This
lione is the tomb of Ruro: that tree founds over the grave
of Argon. Do ye hear my voice, O my fons, within
your narrow houfe? Or do ye fpeak in thefe ruftling leaves,
v/hen the winds of the defart rife ?"
" King of Inis-thona," faid Ofcar, "hov/ fell the children
of youth? The v\'ild-boar often rufhes over their tombs,
but he does not difturb the hunters. They purfue deer it
formed of clouds, and bend their airy-bow. They ftill
love the fport of their youth ; and mount the wind with
" Cormalo," replied the king, " is chief of ten thou-
fand fpears ; he dwells at the dark-rolling waters of La-
no § ; v/hich fend forth the cloud of death. _ He came to
Runa's echoing halls, and fought the honour of the
fpear j| . The youth was lovely as the luR beam of the fun ;
and fev/ were they who could meet him in fight I My
heroes yielded to Cormalo : and my daughter loved the
fon of Lano. Argon and Ruro returned from the chafe ;
the tears of their pride defcended : They rolled their fi-
lent eyes on Runa's heroes, becaufe they yielded to a
llranger : three days they feafied v/ith Cormalo : on the
fourth
much refented by Fingal, that he fent his gi-andfon, Ofcar, to the afTiflance of
Annir. Both armies came focn to a battle, in which the condiift and valour of
Ofcar obtained a complete vi<flo;-y. An end was pat to the war by the death of
Cormalo, who fell in a finale combat, by Ofcar's hand. Thus is the ilory deli-
vered down by tradition ; though the poet, to rajfe the charader of his fon, makes
Ofcar himfi'Ifpr pofe tlie expedition.
* It was thought, in thofe days of heroifm, an infringement upon the laws of
hofpitality, to afk the name of a ftranger, before he had feaded three days in the
great hall of the family. He that ajks the name of the /lm?iger, is, to this day, an
opprobrious term applied, in the north, to the inhofpitable.
t To rejoice in thepdl is a phrafe for ftafting fumptuoully, and drinking freely.
\ The notion of Qjfian concerning the ftate of the deceal'ed, was the fame with,
that of the ancient Greeks and Ilomans. They imagined that the fouls puriued,
in their feparate ftate, the employments and pleafures of their former life.
§ Lano was a lake of Scandinavia, remarkable, in the days of Olllan, for emit-
ting a peftilcntial vapour in autumn. And thon, 'valiant Duchomar, like the mill
of nia^Jhy Lano; when it fails over the plains of autumn, and brings death to the
people. Fingal, B. I.
11 By the honour of the fpear ii meant a kind of tournamsnt pra<rtifed among the
aucieiu .northern nations.