Bran and Sceólang

Bran and Sceólang ("raven" and "survivor"^[1]) are the hounds of Fionn mac Cumhaill in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology.

The dogs are described as being mostly white, with purple haunches, a crimson tail, blue feet, and standing as tall as Fionn's shoulder.^[2] Bran is normally male, while Sceólang is normally female, although there definitely is a version by Soinbhe Lally, where Bran is female, and Sceolang's sex is uncofirmed.^[3] Bran is also sometimes described as a merle. The hounds' mother, Uirne, was transformed into a dog while pregnant, hence the canine birth of her twin children.^[4] While Uirne is returned to full humanity after giving birth to her pups, Bran and Sceólang remain hounds throughout the duration of their mythos.^[5] As Uirne is the sister of Fionn's mother Muirne, Bran and Sceólang would be their masters' cousins.^[6]

The dogs appear throughout the Fenian Cycle. In particular, throughout Fionn's hunts, it is mentioned that Bran is always by his side, while certain later folk tales suggest that the dogs grew up alongside each other.^[7] Per legend, they were the first to discover Fionn's son Oisín wandering naked in the forest.^[8] Sceólang eventually dies in the 'Chase of Thrush Glen', after pursuing a half-black and half-white doe. (Thrush Glen is Glenasmole, in the mountains of south Co Dublin, favourite hunting place of the Fianna, and also where Fionn's son Oisín is reputed to have returned to Ireland from Tír na nÓg.) Bran, meanwhile, chooses to die by drowning after being struck by Fionn in an impulsive moment.^[9]

References

1. Sayers, William (1997). "Gunnar, His Irish Wolfhound Sámr, and the Passing of the Old Heroic Order in Njáls saga". Arkiv för nordisk filologi. 112: 43–66. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
2. Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí (1988). Fionn Mac Cumhaill: Images of the Gaelic Hero. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-717-11532-7. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
3. FitzGerald, Lord Walter (October 1907). "Notes on the Feena-Erin, Finn MacCoole, and the latter's principal abode—The Hill of Allen in the County Kildare". Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society. 1 (4): 5–22. doi:10.2307/27727797. JSTOR 27727797. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
4. Nagy, Joseph Falaky (1985). The Wisdom of the Outlaw: The Boyhood Deeds of Finn in Gaelic Narrative Tradition. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. p. 95. ISBN 0-520-05284-6. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
5. Runge, Roane (Summer 2019). "Survival, Power, and Panic: The Agency of Human-Animal Figures in Some Medieval Irish Texts" (PDF). ESharp (27): 45–52. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
6. MacKillop, James (1986). Fionn mac Cumhaill: Celtic Myth in English Literature. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-8156-2344-5. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
7. Chadbourne, Kate (1996). "The Beagle's Cry: Dogs in the Finn Ballads and Tales". Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium. 16/17: 1–14. JSTOR 20557312. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
8. Court, Franklin E. (Spring 1996). "Clark's 'The Wind and the Snow of Winter' and Celtic Oisin". Studies in Short Fiction. 33 (2): 219–228.
9. Reinhard, John R.; Hull, Vernam E. (January 1936). "Bran and Sceolang". Speculum. 11 (1): 42–58. doi:10.2307/2846874. JSTOR 2846874. S2CID 161192720. Retrieved 19 March 2021.