Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

ARGUMENT.
Fingal, in his voyage to Lochlin, whither he liad
been invited by Starno the father of Agandecca,
touched at Berrathon, an island of Scandinavia,
where he was kindly entertained by Larthmor,
the petty king of the place, who was a vassal of the
supreme kings of Lochlin. The hospitality of
Larthmor gained him Fingal's friendship, which
that hero manifested, after the imprisonment of
Larthmor by his own son, by sending Ossian and
Toscar, the father of Malvina, so often mentioned,
to rescue Larthmor, and to punisli the unnatural
behaviour of Uthal. Uthal was handsome, and,
by the ladies, much admired. Kina-thoma, the
beautiful daughter of Tor-thoma, a neighbouring
prince, fell in love and fled with him. He proved
inconstant ; for another lady, whose name is not
mentioned, gaining his aft'ections, he confined
Nina-thoma to a desert island near the coast of
Berrathon. She was relieved by Ossian, who,
in company with Toscar, landing on Berrathon,
defeated the forces of Uthal, and killed him in a
single combat. Nina-thoma, whose love not all
the bad behaviour of Uthal could erase, hearing
of his death, died of grief. In the mean time
Larthmor is restored, and Ossian and Toscar r
turn in triumph to Fingal.
The poem opens with an elegy on the death of
Malvina the daughter of Toscar, and closes with
presages of Ossian's death.