And they never lost power from that time until the time of their last
battle, the sorrowful battle of Gabhra.
BOOK FOUR: HUNTINGS AND ENCHANTMENTS.
CHAPTER I. THE KING OF BRITAIN'S SON
Arthur, son of the King of Britain, came one time to take service with
Finn, and three times nine men along with him. And they went hunting one
day on Beinn Edair, and Finn took his place on the Cairn of the Fianna
between the hill and the sea, and Arthur took his stand between the hunt
and the sea, the way the deer would not escape by swimming.
And while Arthur was there he took notice of three of Finn's hounds,
Bran, and Sceolan and Adhnuall, and he made a plan in his mind to go
away across the sea, himself and his three nines, bringing those three
hounds along with him. So he did that, and he himself and his men
brought away the hounds and crossed the sea, and the place where they
landed was Inver Mara Gamiach on the coast of Britain. And after they
landed, they went to the mountain of Lodan, son of Lir, to hunt on it.
And as to the Fianna, after their hunting was done they gathered
together on the hill; and as the custom was, all Finn's hounds were
counted. Three hundred full-grown hounds he had, and two hundred whelps;
and it is what the poets used to say, that to be counting them was like
counting the branches on a tree.
Now on this day when they were counted, Bran and Sceolan and Adhnuall
were missing; and that was told to Finn.
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