He knew well that he could put the
stone on the car alone. It was no larger than the stones that the
Fenians used to throw for sport.
"He came near and leaned down from his saddle to lift the stone for
the men. He took hold of it and began to raise it, but with the weight
the girth of his saddle broke, the saddle slipped around on the horse,
Oisin fell, and the horse ran away. Oisin lay there on the ground of
Erin, which the Princess had forbidden him to touch, an old man, weak,
helpless, blind, hollow-cheeked, wrinkled, white-haired.
"The men took him up and carried him to St. Patrick, who welcomed him
kindly and kept him for a while in his own house. Many times the saint
talked with him and tried to make him a Christian, but Oisin could
think of nothing but the grand days of the Fenians. When St. Patrick
talked with him he would begin to tell of these, and he would make the
poems about them that have been kept till now and give us what we know
of Finn McCool and his heroes. And these poems Patrick would have
written down.
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