Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

A POEM. 2^7
and withered now, like the oak of Lano. I have no
Son to meet thee with joy, or to carry thee to the halls
of his fathers. Argon is pale in the tomb, and Ruro
is no more. My daughter is in the hall of strangers,
and longs to behold my tomb. Her spouse shakes ten
thousand spears ; and comes ' like a cloud of death from
Lano. Come thou to share the feast of Annir, son of
echoing Morven."
7 hree days they feasted together; on the fourth x\n-
nir I.^ard the name of Oscar'*. They rejoiced in the
shell ^ ; and pursued the bears of Runa. Beside the
fount of mossy stones, the weary heroes rest. The
tear steals in secret from Annir : and he broke the ris-
ing sigh. *' Here darkly rest," the hero said, '* the
children of my youth. This stone is the tomb of Ruro :
that tree sounds over the grave of Argon. Do ye hear
my voice, O my sons, within vour narrow house ? Or
do ye speak in these rustling leaves, when the winds of
the desart rise ?
" King of Inis-thona,'* said Oscar, " how fell the
children of youth ? The wild boar often rushes over
their tombs, but he does not disturb the hunters. They
pursue deer-^ formed of clouds, and bend their airy-bow.
They still love the sport of their youth ; and mount the
wind with joy."
" Cormalo," replied the king, " is chief of ten thou-
sand spears ; he dwells as the dark-rolling waters of La-
no^; which stnd forth the cloud of death. He came
t_o Runa's echoing halls, and sought the honour of the
c Cormalo had resolved on a war against his father-in-law, Annir, king of Inis-thona,
in or.'iL-r ;■.. ieprive Jiim of his kingdom. The injustice of his designs was so much re-
sented byFingol, that he sent his z'-n-'son Oscar, to the assistance of Annir. Both
armies ca^ae to a battle, in whi- • •'■ r ' - •. r.nri valour of Oscar obtained a complet-
-victory. ^•in end was put to •^' -i. nf Cormalo, who fell in a single come
bat, by Ostnr's hand. Thus i : ilir.vn by ir'ailition ; theugh the poet,
to raise the character of his -olf propose iho expedition.
d itwas thought, i'l thoi. . !ir:ir:^.,T.ei;t upon the laws of hospi-
tality, t'j asjt the p • " . I a ihree days in the great hall
of the family. ' > ■ ■= to this day, an approbrious
term, applied, in ;
e ' To rejoice im t lously, and drinking treely.
/ The notion of ., : -itsed, was the same with that
of the ancient Greeks -nd Honiqns. Tht y i.na^ji'd tn.;' ihe soul pursued, in their se-
parate state, the employments and pleasures of their former life.
' g Lano was a lake of Scandinavia, rema.kabie in the days of Ossian, for emitting a
pestilential /apour in autumn, " And thou, O \-aliant Duchomar, like the mist of mai--
shy Lano, whea it sails over the plains of autumn, and brings death to the people."'
f ingSl, B. J.