When Finn saw that there came great dread
on him, and the man at the door saw it, and he bade him to come over to
him, and to put his head in his breast and to sleep. Finn did that, and
the hag took her covering off the four men, the way that when Finn awoke
they were in their own shape again, and it is well pleased he was to see
that.
"Is there wonder on you, Finn?" said the man at the door, "at the ways
of this house?" "I never wondered more at anything I ever saw," said
Finn. "I will tell you the meaning of them, so," said the man. "As to
the giant you saw first," he said, "having the squealing pig in the
prongs of his fork, Sluggishness is his name; and the girl here beside
me that was shoving him along is Liveliness, for liveliness pushes on
sluggishness, and liveliness goes farther in the winking of an eye than
the foot can travel in a year. The old man there beyond with the twelve
bright eyes betokens the World, and he is stronger than any other, and
he showed that when he made nothing of the ram. The ram you saw betokens
the Desires of Men. The hag is Old Age, and her gown withered up your
four comrades. And the two wells you drank the two draughts out of," he
said, "betoken Lying and Truth; for it is sweet to people to be telling
a lie, but it is bitter in the end. And as to myself," he said, "Cuanna
from Innistuil is my name, and it is not here I am used to be, but I
took a very great love for you, Finn, because of your wisdom and your
great name, and so I put these things in your way that I might see you.
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