Page:Studies on the legend of the Holy Grail.djvu/215

Rh forth on the quest. In Campbell's LXXVII LXXXII ., "How the Een was set up," Fionn applies for his sword to Ullamh Lamhfhada (Ullamh the Longhanded), who gives him the most likely sword and the best he found. The hero takes it, shakes it, casts it out of the wooden handle and discards it. Thrice is this repeated, and when the right weapon is in Fionn's hand, he quells utterly all he sees. Now how had Fionn obtained this sword originally? By slaying black Arcan, his father's slayer. It may, I think, be looked upon as certain that in an earlier form of the story, the weapon in question would turn out to be the one with which the treacherous deed was done, and Fionn, a counterpart of Peredur in his bringing up, would also be his counterpart in this incident. For the sword with which Partinal slew Goon Desert is treasured up for the use of Perceval, but only after a repeated essay is he held worthy of it.

The sword incident reappears in a tale of Campbell's, Manus (Vol. III.), which presents some very remarkable analogies with the romances. Manus is driven into various adventures by his aunt;