Then they all came together into the place of counsel, and it is what they agreed, the headship of the Fianna of Ireland to be given to Finn.  And the king said to Goll, son of Morna:  “Well, Goll,” he said, “is it your choice to quit Ireland or to put your hand in Finn’s hand?” “By my word, I will give Finn my hand,” said Goll.

And when the charms that used to bring good luck had done their work, the chief men of the Fianna rose up and struck their hands in Finn’s hand, and Goll, son of Morna, was the first to give him his hand the way there would be less shame on the rest for doing it.

And Finn kept the headship of the Fianna until the end; and the place he lived in was Almhuin of Leinster, where the white dun was made by Nuada of the Tuatha de Danaan, that was as white as if all the lime in Ireland was put on it, and that got its name from the great herd of cattle that died fighting one time around the well, and that left their horns there, speckled horns and white.

And as to Finn himself, he was a king and a seer and a poet; a Druid and a knowledgeable man; and everything he said was sweet-sounding to his people.  And a better fighting man than Finn never struck his hand into a king’s hand, and whatever any one ever said of him, he was three times better.  And of his justice it used to be said, that if his enemy and his own son had come before him to be judged, it is a fair judgment he would have given between them.  And as to his generosity it used to be said, he never denied any man as long as he had a mouth to eat with, and legs to bring away what he gave him; and he left no woman without her bride-price, and no man without his pay; and he never promised at night what he would not fulfil on the morrow, and he never promised in the day what he would not fulfil at night, and he never forsook his right-hand friend.  And if he was quiet in peace he was angry in battle, and Oisin his son and Osgar his son’s son followed him in that.  There was a young man of Ulster came and claimed kinship with them one time, saying they were of the one blood.  “If that is so,” said Oisin, “it is from the men of Ulster we took the madness and the angry heart we have in battle.”  “That is so indeed,” said Finn.

CHAPTER II.  FINN’S HOUSEHOLD

And the number of the Fianna of Ireland at that time was seven score and ten chief men, every one of them having three times nine righting men under him.  And every man of them was bound to three things, to take no cattle by oppression, not to refuse any man, as to cattle or riches; no one of them to fall back before nine fighting men.  And there was no man taken into the Fianna until his tribe and his kindred would give securities for him, that even if they themselves were all killed he would not look for satisfaction for their death.  But if he himself would harm others, that harm was not to be avenged on his people.