Challenge of the clans by Kenneth C Flint

myself! Would you be willing for me to keep company with you, lad? It's wild and lonely country we're heading into."
    Finn's impulse was to say that he wanted no company. But the little man seemed harmless, amiable, and anxious for companionship. And, to be honest with himself, he was in need of comrades, too, right now.
    "All right," he agreed. "But I was just going to rest for a bit and have some food. You wouldn't mind waiting?"
    "Go right ahead, lad," he said. "You that are still growing need your nourishment. "
    Finn sat down against the trunk of the oak and opened his bag. Gnu dropped down nearby and sat, cross-legged, watching him as he pulled bread, dried

    meat, and apples out. When Finn glanced up at him, he noted a hungry light in the little man's eye. His own store of food was small, and he had no idea how long it would have to susutain him. But he recalled Bodhmall's teaching that, to a warrior of Ireland, generosity was one of the greatest virtues.
    "Would you share some food with me?" he offered.
    Cnu smiled in delight. "It's a very fine young man you are for asking me. 1\\ have one of your apples, if youVe a mind to give it."
    Finn tossed one to him. "Are you certain that's all?"
    "More than enough for me," the little man assured him. "iVe a linnet's stomach, so I have. Though he's always after me to give it back."
    He laughed heartily at this, but Finn only stared blankly at him. Noting the reaction his bit of humor had received, Cnu sobered and shrugged.
    "Ah well," he said resignedly, "I never claimed to be a clown. "
    "What are you?" Finn inquired politely.
    "What am I?" he repeated, seemingly surprised by the question. "Why, I'm a musician, of course, traveling Ireland, trading a tune for a meal or a bit of gold. And couldn't you tell that when you heard my playing?"
    To illustrate, he took up the wooden tube and blew through one end, while his slender fingers flew up and down its length. A sprightly melody issued from it and Finn listened, feeling the merry spirit of it catch him up. His body began to sway and his foot to tap, unbidden by him.
    The Little Nut watched closely, then began playing with more energy. Finn was seized by an extraordinary need to move. The music tickled and teased at him, forcing him to rise. Soon he was capering about the clearing as if he had gone mad, throwing his legs high, waving his arms, whooping and whirling in time to the melody. He could not stop himself, but he had no desire to try, so fully possessed was he by the lively tune.
    At last Cnu stopped playing and watched, grinning

    widely, as an exhausted Finn, panting for breath, dropped down, staring in amazement at him.
    "A very fine jig that was!" he congratulated.
    "I don't even know what a jig is!" Finn answered in a bewildered way as he tried to understand what had happened.
    "No matter!" Cnu told him airily. 'The song knows how to do it for you. YouVe only to follow."
    "You mean it's you doing that? But how?"
    "It's a little gift I have," Cnu answered modestly. "I've music to make men laugh or weep, to love or hate, to make them sleep or make them dance their feet down to the stumps."
    "It's a wondrous skill to have," Finn said, eyeing the little man with a certain wariness, "and a terrible one."
    "It is, and it's done me good service many times. But don't fear, lad, I was only making a show of it to you. I'll not use it on you again unless you wish it."
    Finn looked more closely at the instrument that Cnu had used to weave his spell. "And what is that thing you made the tune upon?" he asked.
    "Why, it's my whistle, lad!" the man answered, amazed himself now. "Don't tell me that you've never seen one before?"
    "Liath told me some about musicians," he said, "but I've never seen one, nor his instruments." He realized that Cnu was giving him a curious look now. "I . . . ah ... come from a faraway land," he added quickly by way of explanation.
    "A strange land, indeed, to have no musicians in it," Cnu said musingly.