And besides his sword, Mac an Luin, Finn had a shield was called Sgiath
Gailbhinn, the Storm Shield; and when it called out it could be heard
all through Ireland.
And whether or not it was the Storm Shield, Finn had a wonderful shield
that he did great deeds with, and the story of it is this:
At the time of the battle of the Great Battle of Magh Tuireadh, Lugh,
after he had struck the head off Balor of the Evil Eye, hung it in the
fork of a hazel-tree. And the tree split, and the leaves fell from it
with the dint of the poison that dropped from the head. And through the
length of fifty years that tree was a dwelling-place of crows and of
ravens. And at the end of that time Manannan, son of Lir, was passing
by, and he took notice of the tree that it was split and withered, and
he bade his men to dig it up. And when they began to dig, a mist of
poison rose up from the roots, and nine of the men got their death from
it, and another nine after them, and the third nine were blinded. And
Luchtaine the Carpenter made a shield of the wood of that hazel for
Manannan. And after a while Manannan gave it, and a set of chessmen
along with it, to Tadg, son of Nuada; and from him it came to his
grandson, Finn, son of Muirne and of Cumhal.
CHAPTER VI. LOMNA'S HEAD
FINN took a wife one time of the Luigne of Midhe. And at the same time
there was in his household one Lomna, a fool.
Finn now went into Tethra, hunting with the Fianna, but Lomna stopped at
the house.
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