"
It happened at the end of twenty-one years, Finn and the Fianna were at
their hunting in the hills, and they saw a Red-Haired Man coming
towards them, and he spoke to no one, but came and stood before Finn.
"What is it you are looking for?" said Finn. "I am looking for a master
for the next twenty-one years," he said. "What wages are you asking?"
said Finn. "No wages at all, but only if I die before the twenty-one
years are up, to bury me on Inis Caol, the Narrow Island." "I will do
that for you," said Finn.
So the Red-Haired Man served Finn well through the length of twenty
years. But in the twenty-first year he began to waste and to wither
away, and he died.
And when he was dead, the Fianna were no way inclined to go to Inis Caol
to bury him. But Finn said he would break his word for no man, and that
he himself would bring his body there. And he took an old white horse
that had been turned loose on the hills, and that had got younger and
not older since it was put out, and he put the body of the Red-Haired
Man on its back, and let it take its own way, and he himself followed
it, and twelve men of the Fianna.
And when they came to Inis Caol they saw no trace of the horse or of the
body. And there was an open house on the island, and they went in. And
there were seats for every man of them inside, and they sat down to rest
for a while.
But when they tried to rise up it failed them to do it, for there was
enchantment on them.
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