Ossian Collection > Original collection of the poems of Ossian, Orrann, Ulin, and other bards, who flourished in the same age

ISt THE COMBAT OF FINGAL AND GAIW,
let him come, and all his race: O strong are the
friends of Erin. Fair-smooth Raoine qnickly
broke off, as the lightning of a mountain in time
of storm; and dark Faolan, of furious rage, as
the black cloud in harvest, on the blue (canopy
of the sky. There was heard upon the moun-
tains of Erin, the loud roaring of the race
o( the sea, as a hundred rapid torrents from the
rock, as a hundred rocks tumbling down from
Ardbein; gloomy and rough, in good order, the
hosts of Lochlin descended from the heights.
Youth of the combat, rugged champion, here thoii
hast assembled all who were over sea. Surround-
ed by the w ater of the tempests thou art now come,
said Fingal, as f.hq dark shade of a mountain in the
desert. Let ns take thy hand in friendship ; thou
art the chief champion of battles: to-day let us
rest and be joyful, to-morrow let us fight the
strenuous combat, and cleave thesoundingshields.
To-morrow, Garv and Fingal, upon the ground,
shall have the feast.
O Ossian, of the most noble spear; Gaul, look
to thy sword, s^id Fingal; Faolan, let thy yew be
bent; Fergus, send a l)are dart through the sky:
lift up your shields like the moon; every ready
ypear direct quickly upwards, like lightning in
the gape of the hill. This is the day for cleaving
heads; O great hero, of the stoutest mind, iron-
targets shall be broken in shivers. As the wind
of the niiiht in the oak of Morven, as a hundred