[33]
Glenshee, in Perthshire, is celebrated equally as a Fairy haunt and as a
favourite hunting-ground of the Fians. The Fians, indeed, were said to
have lived by deer-hunting, so much so that Campbell of Islay suggests
that their name signifies "the deer men"; and the deer, it is believed,
"were a fairy race."[34] The famous hound of the famous leader of the
Fians was "a Fairy or Elfin dog." In short, the connection between Fians
and Fairies, recognised in the Gaelic manuscript of eight or ten
centuries ago, is apparent throughout the traditions of the
Gaelic-speaking people.
But if the Fians were either identical with, or closely akin to the
Fairies, they must have been "little people." The belief that they were
so is supported by one traditional Fenian story. This is the well-known
tale of the visit of Fin, the famous chief of the Fians, to a country
known to him and his people as "The Land of the Big Men." The story
tells how Fin sailed from Dublin Bay in his skin-boat, crossed the sea
to that country, and shortly after landing was captured and taken to the
palace of the king, where he was appointed court dwarf,[35] and remained
for a considerable time the attached and faithful adherent of the king.
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