This story is one told by the Irish peasants in explaining a bridge of rock off the northern coast of their country. It is a typical Finn story, showing that leader’s strength and his wisdom. The giant who had a secret of strength is found in the folk lore of many nations. No doubt you remember the Bible hero, Samson, who lost his strength with the cutting of his long hair. You may compare him with the Scottish giant.

When Finn was not training his men or traveling in search of adventure, he used to visit the old woman who had raised him. The stories do not mention his ever having seen his real mother. The foster-mother takes her place. Finn built a cottage for her in the northern part of the country and saw to it that she never needed anything.

One day, while visiting the woman, he stood on the rocky coast looking out over the ocean. Over on the coast of Scotland he saw a giant of tremendous proportions. This fellow seemed to be driving pillars into the ocean and was working very hard. He saw Finn in the distance and called out:

“You might as well settle up your business, because when I get through with you there will not be much of you left to talk about!”

The giant’s voice was a mighty roar which carried nicely over the miles separating them. Now Finn had heard of this giant and the threat did not frighten him in the least. He called back in a voice nearly as strong as the giant’s own:

“Come over any time you like. You’ll need more than a bridge to take you back after I get through with you.”

The giant said no more, so Finn went back to the cottage. He knew that his men had boasted to the Scottish people about the great strength of their leader. He also knew that the Scotch giant was anxious to settle the question as to which was the better man. Now, Finn was afraid of no man. Having bested every champion in Ireland he was always anxious to try his strength against any new hero who appeared.

Each morning he went out and watched the giant building the bridge across the channel. When the man began to get nearer, Finn got an idea of his size. He was at least four times the size of the Irish hero and the way he handled the great stone pillars showed that his strength was tremendous. Finn saw that if the giant got hold of him as he did a rock pillar, he would have little chance of escaping alive.

As I have told you, Finn was no coward. You also know that he was no fool. He was noted for wisdom as well as strength. He saw that a combat at close quarters with such a mountain of muscle would be foolish. He began to devise plans for getting the better of the giant when the bridge should be finished.

When he saw that the work would last but a few days more he no longer went to the shore but kept at home out of sight. He enlisted the aid of his foster-mother in the preparations for the giant’s arrival. He brought in a large stone as big as a water bucket and placed it on a shelf in the cottage. Then he had the woman make, from the whey of sour milk, a ball large enough to fill his two hands. This he placed near the rock.

Next he had the woman bake several cakes of meal. A few were just the ordinary ones such as they ate regularly, but in the middle of the others he had her put plates of solid iron. These cakes were placed in the cupboard close at hand. When you see how these different things were used you will see that Finn had a perfect plan worked out.

Then Finn told his foster-mother all the things she must do and in what order each was to come.

“I fear that he will be too much for you,” said the woman.

“He would be as he is,” declared Finn. “By biting my thumb I learn that the secret of his strength is in one of his fingers—which one I cannot tell. It shall be your task to find out the finger.”

At last the day came on which the bridge was completed. A messenger was sent out to give the giant directions for reaching the cottage, while Finn himself, dressed as a baby, got into the big cradle he had built for the purpose.

Soon the doorway darkened. The great giant stood there looking in. He was an ugly and terrible looking fellow with two great teeth sticking out of his jaw like those of a walrus. The doorway was a large one, but the giant filled it, shutting out the light behind him.

“I am looking for the fellow who calls himself Finn MacCool,” roared the giant in a voice that shook the walls of the house.

Finn’s foster-mother sat calmly rocking the cradle and working on some clothes she was mending. To look at her one would have thought that the visit of a giant was an everyday occurrence.

“And who might you be?” she asked.

“That’s no matter,” growled the giant. “I’ve come from Scotland to see him and I’m in a hurry.”

“Oh, you must be that foolish fellow who thinks he wants to have a trial with Finn,” suggested the woman.

“Foolish!” roared the giant. “Show me where he is and you will soon find out which one is the foolish one!”

“Come right in,” said the woman. “I am very sorry, but Finn is away and will not be back until tomorrow. He waited for you as long as he could. You see, you were so long in coming he decided that you had become frightened and had turned back, so he went off to attend to some business. Just as he left he said to me, ‘If that fellow from Scotland gets here while I am gone, treat him well and get him to stay. I would not miss knocking a trial out of him at any cost.’”

“Well, he won’t miss me,” answered the giant. “I’ll wait.”

“Come right in then,” said the woman. “I will give you a bite to eat.”

The giant thrust himself through the doorway into the room. Inside, where he could straighten himself up, he looked more terrible than before. As there was no seat in the cottage big enough for him he leaned against the wall, which bulged out with his weight. The woman busied herself before the fire.

“Who is that?” asked the giant, pointing to Finn in the cradle.

“That’s Finn’s little baby,” answered the woman. “I wish you would be more quiet while you are in here. The baby is just beginning to cut his teeth, and he is very cross if he awakens suddenly.”

The giant really tried to soften his voice, but the result was very funny. When he was speaking very softly, his voice was like that of a fog horn in a coast light house.

“Dear me,” sighed the woman after a while. “This fire draws so poorly! The wind is in the wrong direction. If Finn were here he would turn the house around so that the fire would do better.”

“What Finn can do will be only a small task for me,” said the giant.

He went outside, took the house by one corner and turned it so that it faced in a different direction. You can believe that the woman was thoroughly frightened to see this exhibition of strength. She wondered what chance Finn would have against such a man. Still she believed in his wisdom, so she continued to carry out her instructions. When the giant came back she seemed very calm.

“Well, how is that?” asked the giant when he came in again.

“The fire draws better,” she admitted, “but you did it very clumsily. I thought you were going to shake the house to pieces. Finn lifts it around so easily that he jars not a thing on the shelves. But of course you are not nearly so strong as Finn.”

The giant was so crestfallen that he had nothing to say for some time.

“Oh, dear,” cried the woman a little later. “I am all out of water. Finn promised to split open the rock of the spring before he left, but he forgot all about it. I wonder if you could do it.”

“Of course I can,” said the giant. “Show me the rocks.”

The woman took up a bucket and led him to a place where two rocky hills sent up their peaks very close together.

“That is the place,” she said. “Finn intended pulling them apart when he had time so that we could have water nearby.”

The giant put a foot against one peak and took the other in his hands. With a mighty heave he separated the two hills and let the water stream out between them. The woman filled her bucket and went back to the house, the giant following her.

“How did that suit you?” he asked.

“You did that very well,” said the woman. “But of course that is hardly a man’s job.”

The giant seemed to feel keenly the fact that his strength made no impression on the woman. He looked around the room to see if he could find something else to talk about. He saw the big rock on the shelf.

“Perhaps you will tell me why you keep that rock on the shelf?” he asked.

“Oh, that,” said the woman as if it could be of no importance, “that is just a little trick of Finn’s. He uses it to practice on in the mornings.”

“Ho! Ho!” laughed the giant. “Why should he practice with such a rock as that?” He picked it up and tossed it from hand to hand as though it were an orange.

“He keeps up the strength of his fingers with it,” answered the woman. “Each morning he squeezes the water out of a rock. If you are the man Finn is you can do the same.”

The giant took the stone in his two hands and squeezed with all his might and main. Of course no water could come out of a solid rock. The first finger of his right hand sank into the stone with his efforts.

“Your one finger has a little strength,” said the woman. “If the rest of you had the force of that finger, you might get a few drops.”

“It is that finger which gives me my strength,” the foolish giant told her. Once more he took up the rock and squeezed the rock harder than ever with no result. The baby in the cradle set up a lusty cry.

“Poor baby,” said the woman. “He is sorry for you. His father lets him practice on a small rock. See what he can do.”

She gave Finn the ball of whey. Finn took it in his two hands and squeezed it, letting the water stream on the floor. The giant was amazed.

“It’s a pretty strong baby,” he admitted.

“It would have to be to belong to Finn MacCool,” said the woman.

The giant seemed to be thinking deeply. Perhaps he doubted his wisdom in coming to try conclusions with the father of such a baby.

Soon Finn’s foster-mother took one of the cakes from the cupboard and handed it to the giant.

“Take this,” she said. “It will help stay your appetite until I get you something better.”

The giant thanked her and bit down into the cake. As it was one of those with the iron core, all he succeeded in doing was to break off two of his teeth. He took the cake out of his mouth and felt his jaw.

“What’s the matter?” asked the woman. “Maybe those cakes are too hard for you. Finn wouldn’t eat them because they were too soft. I’ll get you another one.”

She passed the giant one more of the iron-filled cakes. Once more he bit into it and again he lost some teeth. He went to the door to spit them out. He did not seem to care for these cakes.

“You say Finn doesn’t like cakes as soft as that?” he asked.

“He won’t touch them,” she answered. “He leaves them for the baby.”

She took one of the ordinary cakes and gave it to Finn in the cradle. The giant looked on to see what happened. Finn ate the cake ravenously.

The giant was more puzzled than ever. He called for another cake and bit into it with all the strength of his jaws. It would be hard to tell just how many teeth he lost this time, but he could not get a bite off the cake. The woman gave Finn another and again it went down in a hurry.

“And you say he is just getting his teeth?” asked the giant.

“Just a few have come,” she answered.

“I’d like to have a feel of such teeth,” said the giant.

He put his strong finger in Finn’s mouth and felt for the teeth. This was just what Finn had been waiting for. As soon as the finger was in his mouth he clamped down his teeth and bit it off.

With the loss of his finger the giant’s extraordinary strength left him. Finn tore off the bed clothes and set upon him like a whirlwind. The walls bulged out. Most of the house was ruined. Finn’s foster-mother watched from the outside of the house. Soon she had the satisfaction of seeing the giant come dashing out of the house with Finn hammering him as he ran.

Only the fact that the giant’s legs were very long saved him from a worse beating. He got out on his bridge as fast as he could. Nor did he slow down until he got a good distance from the Irish shore. Then he threw down the pillars as fast as he could so that Finn would be unable to follow him.

The giant never tried to come back. He cleared out all the pillars on the Scottish side, but, you can well believe, he never went near the Irish shore again. To this day you can still see them standing out into the water, just as he left them in his hurry. People call the remaining pillars “The Giant’s Causeway” and this is the story they tell as to how it happens to be there.