Failinis

The puppy is referred to as the "whelp of the royal smith of Ioruath" but otherwise unnamed in the 12th century Lebor Gabála Érenn ("Book of Invasions") version of the story of the sorrows of the sons of Tuireann.^[b][2]

It is named Failinis in the lengthier, romance version of this story, Fate of the Children of Tuireann^[3] (Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann [ga], abbreviated OCT)^[4][c] of much later date,^[2] with the earliest manuscript dating to the 17th century.^[5]

Eugene O'Curry hypothesized the name Failinis to be a transposition of "Inis Fáil (Island of Fail)", an ancient name for Ireland;^[6] R. A. S. Macalister also stating that the name "sounds like an extra-ordinary mythological mix-up".^[7]

However this "mix-up" was far from modern. As Rudolf Thurneysen noted, a virtually identical name for the pup, Failinis^[8][d] or Ṡalinnis /Shalinnis,^[e][10] occurs in a medieval 11th or early 12th century^[11][9] ballad from the Fenian cycle.^[f][12]

The dog's name is Fer Mac^[13] (var. Fermac^[14]) in the prose version of the ballad's story in The Colloquy with the Ancients of the Fenian Cycle. Although names and circumstances differ, the link between the ballad and the Acallam have been made by A. G. van Hamel and Richard M. Scowcroft.^[15][9]

The hound was invincible in battle, caught every wild beast it encountered, and could magically change any running water it bathed in into wine.^[16]

It held dominion over all beasts,^[17] or hunted all sorts of game including fish.^[18][19][g]

The dog's ability to magically produce wine occurs in several sources. The ability to turn water into wine is mentioned in the "Book of Invasions" and the ballad, but not in the OCT.^[7] In the ballad, "mead or wine" emanated from the spring water that Failinis bathed in,^[20][21] whereas Fer Mac magically disgorged liquor from its mouth.^[22][23]

Failinis of the ballad was a "hound of the loveliest color",^[h] mighty and wonderful,^[21] while Fer Mac was described as parti-colored, displaying shades of every color including white, black, and blue.^[24][25]

The hound of ballad was huge by day (able to "overcome fifty men"), but was a "thunderbolt, ball of fire" (Old Irish: caer thened) by night.^[9][26] Similarly, Fer Mac was normally huge, of greater size than any hound,^[24] but when dispensing liquor from its mouth it dwindled to the size of a "pine marten on a queen's lap".^[27] Fer Mac also vomited quantities of gold and silver as needed.^[28][29]

Its gender is not consistently translated: cú of the ballad has been rendered as a "male dog" (German: Rüde),^[21] but Fer Mac is given as either a "bitch"^[30] or a "hound".^[31]

It was one of the prized treasures exacted by Lugh Lámhfhada from the children of Tuireann (Brían, Iuchar and Iucharba) as reparation for the slaying of Lugh's father Cian.^[32]

The hound was originally owned either by the royal smith of Iruaid^[i][2] or by the King of Iruaid^[j][33] in the Mythological Cycle. This Iruaid, variously spelled, is a mythical Scandinavian kingdom.^[1][k] The hound was taken by the children of Tuireann (Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba) and delivered over to Lugh Lámhfhada as part of reparations.^[2][34]

The same hound Failinis (Shalinnis) that once belonged to Lugh of the Mantles (Irish: Lugh na lenn)^[35] that the sons of Tuireann (meic Turend Bicrend^[21]) took from the king of Iruaid^[l] figures in the Fenian cycle, repackaged as a dog owned by a certain threesome from a foreign land. The owners are Sela, Dorait, Domnán in the ballad,^[10] and Dub ('Dark'), Ág ('Battle') and Ilar ('Eagle') ^[37][38] from "Irúaith in the East", in fact, three princes of Irúaith according to the prose work The Colloquy of the Elders.^[39]

In both the ballad and prose versions of the Fenian cycle story, the threesome slew the warrior(s) of the Fíanna who spied on them when they were secretly making their wine or heavy drink using their dog. The condemned peepers are Dubán mac Bresail in the ballad,^[21] and Donn and Dubán the two sons of the King of Ulster in The Colloquy.^[40][41]

In the ballad, Finn mac Cumhal uses the "tooth of wisdom" (Old Irish: dét fiss) and discovers the threesome (Sela, Dorait, Domnán) to be responsible for Dubán's death, and the threesome forfeit the dog Failinis as compensation. The threesome take a solemn oath never to transport the dog alive out of Ireland, but then they kill the hound and flay its hide (Old Irish: croccend, German: Fell), and carry it off into foreign lands.^{[m][21][15][9]}

In The Colloquy, the Fíanna form search parties of nine warriors and nine gillies each but fail to discover the whereabouts of the two Ulidian princes.^[42][43] And the threesome and the dog obtain Finn mac Cumhal's protection, even though some of the Fíanna had entertained designs on eliminating them.^[44][45]

The dog Fer Mac's modes of attack are elaborated upon in The Colloquy. It reacted to the spying Ultonian princes at its masters' bidding, summoning a wind of druidry by lifting its tail, causing the two spies to drop shield, spear and sword. The three warriors of Irúaith then killed the Ulstermen, and the bitch blew its breath on the bodies, turning them into dust and ashes, with neither blood nor flesh nor bone remaining.^[40][41] Later, the threesome and the dog provided mercenary work for the Fíanna, dispatching the three sons of Uár who were becoming a menace. After Dub of Irúaith pronounced a banishing Incantation, the dog raised a magic wind its tail that sent the enemies to sea, and the enemies were forced by the magic spell to fight one another, receiving fatal sword cuts to their heads.^[46][47]