--- title: "The Birth of Bran" story_id: "9ffb5212-8e91-42a6-93c0-4019d7af2930" text_id: "eea1e545-ea47-4e98-a5a4-798f066e4aa3" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 1 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-birth-of-bran" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-birth-of-bran" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # The Birth of Bran > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-birth-of-bran) Version: Modernized Fionn loves his hounds, but Fergus cannot bear the sight of a dog. When a woman from the fairy world casts a jealous spell, their lives become linked in an unexpected way. James Stephens retells the Irish legend of the birth of Bran and Sceo’lan. **Content warning:** This tale includes cruelty towards dogs, threats of violence and a forced transformation. ## Chapter I ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/75b1e52e-6d69-473a-833f-3e48a4bce949) There are people who do not like dogs a bit—but in this story there is a man who did not like dogs. In fact, he hated them. When he saw one he used to go black in the face, and he threw rocks at it until it got out of sight. But the Power that protects all creatures had made this man cross-eyed, so he always threw wide of the mark. ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/520d8746-e663-4112-aae1-8dd8e556c7ad) This gentleman’s name was Fergus Fionnliath, and his stronghold was near the harbour of Galway. Whenever a dog barked he would leap out of his seat, and he would throw everything that he owned out of the window in the direction of the bark. He gave prizes to servants who disliked dogs, and when he heard that a man had killed a litter of puppies he used to visit that person and try to marry his daughter. Now Fionn, son of Uail, was the exact opposite of Fergus Fionnliath in this, for he delighted in dogs, and he knew everything about them from the setting of the first little white tooth to the rocking of the last long yellow one. He knew a dog’s natural likes and dislikes. He knew how much obedience could be taught without robbing dogs of their noble qualities or making them fearful and suspicious servants. He knew the hopes that moved them, the fears that tingled in their blood, and all that could be asked of—or forgiven in—a paw, an ear, a nose, an eye or a tooth. He understood these things because he loved dogs, for only through love do we understand anything. Among the three hundred dogs which Fionn owned there were two to whom he gave a special tenderness, and who were his daily and nightly companions. These two were Bran and Sceo’lan, but if a person were to guess for twenty years he would not find out why Fionn loved these two dogs and why he would never be separated from them. Fionn’s mother, Muirne, went to wide Allen of Leinster to visit her son, and she brought her young sister Tuiren with her. The mother and aunt of the great captain were well treated among the Fianna, Fionn’s band of warriors, first, because they were Fionn’s close family, and second, because they were beautiful and noble women. No words can describe how delightful Muirne was—she outshone everyone; and as to Tuiren, a man could not look at her without becoming angry or dejected. Her face was fresh as a spring morning; her voice more cheerful than the cuckoo calling from the branch that is highest in the hedge; and her form swayed like a reed and flowed like a river, so that each person thought she would surely flow to him. Men who had wives of their own grew moody and downcast because they could not hope to marry her, while the bachelors of the Fianna stared at each other with fierce, bloodshot eyes, and then they gazed on Tuiren so gently that she may have imagined she was being beamed on by the mild eyes of the dawn. It was to an Ulster gentleman, Iollan Eachtach, that she gave her love, and this chief set out his claims and merits and asked for her in marriage. Now Fionn did not dislike the men of Ulster, but either he did not know them well or else he knew them too well, for he set an unusual condition before consenting to the marriage. He made Iollan promise to return the lady if there was reason to think her unhappy, and Iollan agreed to do so. The men who guaranteed this agreement were Caelte mac Ronan, Goll mac Morna, and Lugaidh. Lugaidh himself gave the bride away, but it was not a pleasant ceremony for him, because he also was in love with the lady, and he would have preferred keeping her to giving her away. When she had gone he made a poem about her, beginning: There is no more light in the sky— And hundreds of sad people learned the poem by heart. ## Chapter II When Iollan and Tuiren were married they went to Ulster, and they lived together very happily. But the law of life is change. Nothing stays the same for long. Happiness gives way to unhappiness, which in turn gives way to joy again. The past also must be reckoned with; it is seldom as far behind us as we could wish: it is more often in front, blocking the way, and the future trips over it just when we think that the road is clear and joy our own. Iollan had a past. He was not ashamed of it; he merely thought it was finished, although in truth it was only beginning, for it is that perpetual beginning of the past that we call the future. Before he joined the Fianna he had been in love with a lady of the Shi’, the fairy people, named Uct Dealv (Fair Breast), and they had been sweethearts for years. How often he had visited his sweetheart in Faery! With what eagerness and anticipation he had gone there; the lover’s whistle that he used to give was known to every person in that Shi’, and he had been discussed by more than one of the delicate sweet ladies of Faery. “That is your whistle, Fair Breast,” her sister of the Shi’ would say. And Uct Dealv would reply: “Yes, that is my mortal, my lover, my pulse, and my one treasure.” She laid her spinning aside, or her embroidery if she was at that. If she was baking a cake of fine wheat bread mixed with honey, she would leave it to bake itself and fly to Iollan. Then they went hand in hand in the country that smells of apple-blossom and honey, looking on heavy-boughed trees and on dancing and beaming clouds. Or they stood dreaming together, locked in a clasping of arms and eyes, gazing up and down on each other, Iollan staring down into sweet grey wells that peeped and flickered under thin brows, and Uct Dealv looking up into great black ones that went dreamy and went hot in endless alternation. ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/0acd6b1c-bf4a-41f9-ac29-3284837b9676) Then Iollan would go back to the world of men, and Uct Dealv would return to her occupations in the Land of the Ever Young. “What did he say?” her sister of the Shi’ would ask. “He said I was the Berry of the Mountain, the Star of Knowledge, and the Blossom of the Raspberry.” “They always say the same thing,” her sister pouted. “But their eyes say other things,” Uct Dealv insisted. “They feel other things,” she murmured; and an endless conversation recommenced. Then for some time Iollan did not come to Faery, and Uct Dealv marvelled at that, while her sister made a hundred guesses, each one worse than the last. “He is not dead or he would be here,” she said. “He has forgotten you, my darling.” News was brought to Tir na n-Og, the Land of the Ever Young, of the marriage of Iollan and Tuiren, and when Uct Dealv heard that news her heart ceased to beat for a moment, and she closed her eyes. “Now!” said her sister of the Shi’. “That is how long the love of a mortal lasts,” she added, in the voice of sad triumph which is proper to sisters. But Uct Dealv was swept by jealousy and despair such as no one in the Shi’ had ever known. From that moment she was capable of any evil deed; for there are two things not easily controlled, and they are hunger and jealousy. She determined that the woman who had taken her place in Iollan’s heart would bitterly regret it. She sat alone, bitter but controlled, brooding on revenge until at last she had a plan. She understood the arts of magic and shape-changing, so she changed her shape into that of Fionn’s female messenger, the best-known woman in Ireland; then she set out from Faery and appeared in the world. She travelled in the direction of Iollan’s stronghold. Iollan knew the appearance of Fionn’s messenger, but he was surprised to see her. She saluted him. “Health and long life, my master.” “Health and good days,” he replied. “What brings you here, dear heart?” “I come from Fionn.” “And your message?” said he. “The royal captain intends to visit you.” “He will be welcome,” said Iollan. “We shall give him an Ulster feast.” “The world knows what that is,” said the messenger courteously. “And now,” she continued, “I have messages for your queen.” Tuiren walked out with the messenger. A short distance from the house, Uct Dealv drew a hazel rod from her cloak and struck the queen’s shoulder. At once Tuiren trembled and quivered. Her body whirled inwards and downwards, changing into a hound. It was sad to see the beautiful, slender dog standing shivering and astonished, and sad to see the lovely eyes that looked out pitifully in terror and amazement. But Uct Dealv did not feel sad. She clasped a chain about the hound’s neck, and they set off westward towards the house of Fergus Fionnliath, who was reputed to be the unfriendliest man in the world to a dog. It was because of his reputation that Uct Dealv was bringing the hound to him. She did not want a good home for this dog: she wanted the worst home that could be found in the world, and she thought Fergus would take revenge on Tuiren for her rage and jealousy. ## Chapter III As they walked, Uct Dealv bitterly insulted the hound and shook and jerked her chain. The hound gave many a sharp cry on that journey, many a soft, sorrowful whine. “Ah, you who stole my place! Ah, taker of another girl’s sweetheart!” said Uct Dealv fiercely. “How would your lover take it if he could see you now? How would he look if he saw your pointy ears, your long thin snout, your shivering, skinny legs, and your long grey tail. He would not love you now, bad girl!” “Have you heard of Fergus Fionnliath,” she said again, “the man who does not like dogs?” Tuiren had indeed heard of him. “It is to Fergus I shall bring you,” cried Uct Dealv. “He will throw stones at you. You have never had a stone thrown at you. Ah, bad girl! You do not know how a stone sounds as it nips the ear with a whirling buzz, nor how jagged and heavy it feels as it thumps against a skinny leg. Robber! Mortal! Bad girl! You have never been whipped, but you will be whipped now. You shall feel the lash of a whip. You shall dig up old bones stealthily at night, and chew them to keep from starving. You shall whine and squeal at the moon, and shiver in the cold, and you will never take another girl’s sweetheart again.” And it was in those terms and in that tone that she spoke to Tuiren as they journeyed forward, so that the hound trembled and shrank, and whined pitifully and in despair. They came to Fergus Fionnliath’s stronghold, and Uct Dealv demanded to be let in. “Leave that dog outside,” said the servant. “I will not do so,” said the pretended messenger. “You can come in without the dog, or you can stay out with the dog,” said the surly guardian. “By my hand,” cried Uct Dealv, “I will come in with this dog, or your master shall answer for it to Fionn.” At the name of Fionn the servant nearly fell over. He rushed to tell his master, and Fergus himself came to the great door of the stronghold. “By my faith,” he cried in amazement, “it is a dog.” “A dog it is,” growled the glum servant. “Go away,” said Fergus to Uct Dealv, “and when you have killed the dog come back to me and I will give you a present.” “Life and health, my good master, from Fionn, the son of Uail, the son of Baiscne,” said she to Fergus. “Life and health back to Fionn,” he replied. “Come into the house and give your message, but leave the dog outside, for I don’t like dogs.” “The dog comes in,” the messenger replied. “How is that?” cried Fergus angrily. “Fionn sends you this hound to take care of until he comes for her,” said the messenger. “I wonder at that,” Fergus growled, “for Fionn knows well that no man in the world likes dogs less than I do.” “However that may be, master, I have given Fionn’s message, and here at my heel is the dog. Do you take her or refuse her?” “If I could refuse anything to Fionn it would be a dog,” said Fergus, “but I could not refuse anything to Fionn, so give me the hound.” Uct Dealv put the chain in his hand. “Ah, bad dog!” said she. And then she went away well satisfied with her revenge, and returned to her own people in the Shi. ## Chapter IV On the following day Fergus called his servant. “Has that dog stopped shivering yet?” he asked. “It has not, sir,” said the servant. “Bring the beast here,” said his master, “for whoever else is dissatisfied Fionn must be satisfied.” The dog was brought, and he examined it with a suspicious, bitter gaze. “It has the shivers indeed,” he said. “The shivers it has,” said the servant. “How do you cure the shivers?” his master demanded, for he thought that if the animal’s legs dropped off Fionn would not be satisfied. “There is a way,” said the servant doubtfully. “If there is a way, tell it to me,” cried his master angrily. “If you were to take the beast up in your arms and hug it and kiss it, the shivers would stop,” said the man. “Do you mean—?” his master thundered, and he stretched his hand for a club. “I heard that,” said the servant humbly. “Take that dog up,” Fergus commanded, “and hug it and kiss it, and if I find a single shiver left in the beast I’ll break your head.” The man bent to the hound, but it bit his hand and nearly caught his nose as well. “That dog doesn’t like me,” said the man. “Nor do I,” roared Fergus; “get out of my sight.” The man went away and Fergus was left alone with the hound, but the poor creature was so terrified that it began to tremble ten times worse than before. “Its legs will drop off,” said Fergus. “Fionn will blame me,” he cried in despair. He walked to the hound. “If you snap at my nose, or if you put as much as the start of a tooth into the beginning of a finger!” he growled. He picked up the dog, but it did not snap, it only trembled. He held it gingerly for a few moments. “If it has to be hugged,” he said, “I’ll hug it. I’d do more than that for Fionn.” He tucked the animal tightly against his chest, and marched moodily up and down the room. The dog’s nose lay along his breast under his chin, and as he gave it dutiful hugs, one hug to every five paces, the dog put out its tongue and licked him timidly under the chin. “Stop,” roared Fergus, “stop that forever,” and he grew very red in the face, and glared fiercely down along his nose. A soft brown eye looked up at him and the shy tongue touched again on his chin. “If it has to be kissed,” said Fergus gloomily, “I’ll kiss it; I’d do more than that for Fionn,” he groaned. He bent his head, shut his eyes, and brought the dog’s jaw against his lips. And at that the dog gave little wriggles in his arms, and little barks, and little licks, so that he could scarcely hold her. He put the hound down at last. “There is not a single shiver left in her,” he said. And that was true. Everywhere he walked the dog followed him, giving little prances and little pats against him, and keeping her eyes fixed on his with such eagerness and intelligence that he marvelled. “That dog likes me,” he murmured in amazement. “By my hand,” he cried next day, “I like that dog.” The day after that he was calling her “My One Treasure, My Little Branch.” And within a week he could not bear her to be out of his sight for an instant. He was tormented by the idea that some evil person might throw a stone at the hound, so he assembled his servants and household followers and addressed them. He told them that the hound was the Queen of Creatures, the Pulse of his Heart, and the Apple of his Eye, and he warned that anyone who even looked at her unkindly or made her shiver would be punished with pain and humiliation. He listed such cruel and elaborate punishments for anyone who harmed the hound that the men’s blood ran cold and the women of the household fainted where they stood. ## Chapter V In course of time the news came to Fionn that his mother’s sister was not living with Iollan. He immediately sent a messenger demanding that the promise to the Fianna be kept and Tuiren returned at once. Iollan was in a sad condition when this demand was made. He guessed that Uct Dealv had a hand in the disappearance of his queen, and he begged that time should be given him in which to find the lost girl. He promised that if he could not find her within an agreed time, he would place himself in Fionn’s hands and accept whatever judgement Fionn gave. The great captain agreed to that. “Tell the wife-loser that I will have the girl or I will have his head,” said Fionn. Iollan set out then for Faery. He knew the way, and before long he came to the hill where Uct Dealv was. It was hard to get Uct Dealv to meet him, but at last she consented, and they met under the apple boughs of Faery. “Well!” said Uct Dealv. “Ah! Breaker of Vows and Traitor to Love,” said she. “Greetings and a blessing,” said Iollan humbly. “By my hand,” she cried, “I will give you no blessing, for it was no blessing you left with me when we parted.” “I am in danger,” said Iollan. “What is that to me?” she replied fiercely. “Fionn may claim my head,” he murmured. “Let him claim what he can take,” said she. “No,” said Iollan proudly, “he will claim what I can give.” “Tell me your tale,” said she coldly. Iollan told his story then, and, he concluded, “I am certain that you have hidden the girl.” “If I save your head from Fionn,” the woman of the Shi’ replied, “then your head will belong to me.” “That is true,” said Iollan. “And if your head is mine, the body that goes under it is mine. Do you agree to that?” “I do,” said Iollan. “Give me your pledge,” said Uct Dealv, “that if I save you from this danger you will keep me as your sweetheart until the end of life and time.” “I give that pledge,” said Iollan. Uct Dealv went to Fergus Fionnliath’s house and broke the hound’s enchantment. Tuiren regained her own shape. But the spell could not be broken for the two small puppies she had borne as a hound, so they had to stay as they were. These two puppies were Bran and Sceo’lan. They were sent to Fionn, and he loved them for ever after, for they were loyal and affectionate, as only dogs can be, and they were as intelligent as human beings. Besides that, they were Fionn’s own cousins. Tuiren was then asked in marriage by Lugaidh who had loved her so long. He had to prove that he was no other woman’s sweetheart. Once he had proved it, they married and lived happily ever after, which is the proper way to live. He wrote a poem beginning: Lovely the day. Dear is the eye of the dawn— And a thousand merry people learned it after him. As for Fergus Fionnliath, he took to his bed for a year and a day, heartbroken at losing his dog. He would have died there if Fionn had not sent him a special puppy. Within a week the young hound had become the Star of Fortune and the very Pulse of his Heart. Fergus recovered, and he too lived happily ever after. ## Modernization notes - —they are usually women— → —: An unfounded generalisation about women is omitted. The narrator’s comic portrait of Fergus and his dislike of dogs remain. - it snapped a piece out of his hand, and nearly bit his nose off as well. → it bit his hand and nearly caught his nose as well.: The bite and danger to the servant remain; the graphic injury is softened. - He recited a list of calamities which would befall such a miscreant, and these woes began with flaying and ended with dismemberment, and had inside bits of such complicated and ingenious torment that the blood of the men who heard it ran chill in their veins, and the women of the household fainted where they stood. → He listed such cruel and elaborate punishments for anyone who harmed the hound that the men’s blood ran cold and the women of the household fainted where they stood.: The threat and the household’s terrified reaction remain. Graphic descriptions of torture are omitted for younger readers. - You shall hear the song of a lash as it curls forward and bites inward and drags backward. → You shall feel the lash of a whip.: The threat of whipping remains, without the graphic description of the lash. - had drowned a litter of pups → had killed a litter of puppies: The death of the puppies remains, without describing the method. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text Irish Fairy Tales, 1920, Macmillan and Co., London - author: James Stephens ## Illustration [Arthur Rackham](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/75b1e52e-6d69-473a-833f-3e48a4bce949) — Irish Fairy Tales, 1920, Macmillan and Co., London [Arthur Rackham](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/520d8746-e663-4112-aae1-8dd8e556c7ad) — Irish Fairy Tales, 1920, Macmillan and Co., London [Arthur Rackham](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/0acd6b1c-bf4a-41f9-ac29-3284837b9676) — Irish Fairy Tales, 1920, Macmillan and Co., London ## Reading music Carolan’s Draught Turlough O’Carolan Sláinte (ensemble) [CC BY-SA 3.0 US](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/) ## Quiz ### Who illustrated the 1920 edition of Irish Fairy Tales? - Arthur Rackham (Correct answer) - Gustave Doré - Willy Pogány Arthur Rackham supplied the illustrations for James Stephens’s 1920 collection. [University of Colorado Boulder — The Birth of Bran](https://www.colorado.edu/projects/fairy-tales/irish-fairy-tales/birth-of-bran) ### Which sense is especially powerful in dogs? - Their sense of smell (Correct answer) - Their ability to see every colour - Their sense of taste alone Dogs use their powerful noses to gather information and follow scent trails. [American Kennel Club — A dog’s sense of smell](https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/lifestyle/how-to-unleash-your-dogs-super-sense-of-smell/) ### What grows on a real hazel tree? - Coconuts - Hazelnuts (Correct answer) - Pineapples Hazel trees produce hazelnuts; their flexible branches also appear in many traditional stories. [Woodland Trust — Hazel](https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/hazel/) ### How do dogs release much of their body heat? - By panting (Correct answer) - By changing their fur colour - By flapping their ears like wings Panting lets moisture evaporate and helps dogs release heat. [American Kennel Club — Do Dogs Sweat?](https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/do-dogs-sweat/) ### On which side of Ireland is Galway? - The eastern coast - The western coast (Correct answer) - The northernmost tip Galway lies on Ireland’s west coast, beside the Atlantic Ocean. [European Commission — Galway 2017](https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/urban-environment/european-green-capital-award/winning-cities/galway-2017_en) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)