Ossian Collection > Waifs and strays of Celtic tradition > Volume 4

Ossicin after the Finns. 87
nected with him has a fairy and wonderful effulgence of
magic influence.
One of the poems or ballads which have been pre-
served among the people, and uniformly ascribed to
Ossian, and which every mind is open to form an
opinion about, is the " Lay of the Red Cataract" {''Eas
Rnrnth"). The poetic idea underlying this ballad
is one especially deserving of examination and close
attention. It solves many questions in regard to un-
written compositions, and their preservation for centuries
from one generation to another, the high opinion pre-
vailing as to the Gaelic bard, the merit ascribed to him,
and the rush which was made when Macpherson's work
appeared.
The ballad in question is outside the region of con-
troversy, and due praise might seem at first to be
exaggeration. The main idea of the ballad is that of a
young and beautiful princess rejecting the advances of
a bold and warlike prince. This idea is worked out by
the poet in a manner that makes the composition par-
ticularly noble and attractive. It is founded on the
calm of an early summer day, when nature's face is fair
and breaks into bloom and blossom, the beauty that
covers sea and land disappearing before a storm rising
in the daytime. When the young and haughty beauty
throws herself on the protection of Fionn, and the king
undertakes to defend her against all comers, and the
prince comes after her, and a fierce conflict ensues, we
have more than the elements of a beautiful poem. The
reader will condone the following further explanation of
the subject.
The princess is the daughter of King Under Waves
{Righ fo Thuinn), and the prince is a Son of the King
of Light {Mac Righ ua Svrcha). On a calm day all
nature seems reflected in the water, a person sees not
only himself, but houses, trees, mountains, and all the