Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

xiv INTRODUCTORY NOTE
of the "Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Glasgow,"
recently published. This last is an excellent synthesis
of the chief views on the subject, comprising as it does
criticisms of Professor Zimmer, Mr Nutt, and other
eminent specialists. I will quote his conclusion, as it
probably represents the view held by the majority of
those who have studied the subject :
"We come now to the conclusion of the whole
matter. We have found that the Feinn history is
nothing but heroic sagas, the leading features of
which are reproduced among other Aryan nations,
and we have found, moreover, that the most popular
portions are purely fairy or nursery tales — pure
Marchen, to employ the German word. Was there
really a historical personage called Fionn ? In his
case, we may emphatically say — what cannot always
be said of these heroic figures— that there was no
Fionn : at least, little or no Fionn. The histories,
we saw, reject him and his band. His connection
with King Cormac is factitious and fictitious. This
monarch is the most popular that appears in early
Irish history, and it is natural that the hero about
whom the national legends were gathered should
be fixed in his reign and indeed become connected
with him by marriage.
"If Fionn is not a historical character, then how
can we account for his existence as the national
hero of the Gael ? To answer this is to have the
"key of all the mythologies." How do the heroes
and demi-gods of mythology arise? Fionn is, like
Hecales, Theseus, Perseus, and other such persons of
Greek myth, a culture hero — probably originally a
local deity raised to a national place. He is an in-
carnation of the chief deity of the race — the Mercury,
whom Caesar tells us the Gauls worshipped — a god
of a literary and mercantile character. His grandson
Oscar is a reflection of the war god, and the other