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

131 THE BLACK DOG,
may behold a fair engagement bet\Yeen Bran and
the black dog. Beautiful was the form of Bran ;
the hair of his tendons was far from his head :
his middle broad, his breast low, joints bowed,
and crooked houghs; the feet of Bran were of a
yellow hue, his two sides black, and his belly
white; his back green, about which the beasts of
the chace often lay; his steep folding ears of the
colour of purple. They set the dogs nose to nose,
and blood was shed among the host; the fierce
strong conflict ensued, before the black dog was
killed by Bran. Said EvanOssian, from the
mountain of dogs, I thought that there was not
among the Fingalians one dog able to wound
Forr, let his prowess be ever so great. And were
it not for the cunning methods, and artful turns
used by Bran, and his greatness of strength, never
was a dog bound by a thong, which could have
left Forr dead west at the Dun. Many are the
ivory-teethed virgins, of the sweetest voice, and
bluest eyes, who dwell in the land of Tore, and
who this night would feed my dog. The true ge-
nerous hero, in a narrow bed of clay, had buried
his dog; and in the Dun, to the west, were buried
by the Fingalians one hundred and fifty dogs.
For amusement, and the joy of the shell, we went
with the son of Comhal, of the golden horns, to the
Dun. Joyful and plentiful was our house; though
this night the voice of none of them is heard in the
tower. That night, in the hall of Fingal, happy