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| MacCool, Finn Malone, Edmund McAskill, Angus "Big Boy" M'Donald, Big Sam |
Middleton, John Murphy, the Irish Giant Nabontree, Shawn |
Who was Finn MacCool? Finn's father, Cumhail, engages Urgriu (er-gru) in battle for the position of Chieftain of the Fianna. Cumhail is wounded and his attacker carries off his pouch of magical objects. Lacking his pouch, Cumhail is slain by a member of the Morna clan, who beheads him. Slain, Cumhail leaves behind a pregnant wife, Muirne, who gives birth to a beautiful fair-haired boy. Fearing for her son's life at the hands of Clan Morna, she sends him to the forest to be raised by Bodhmal the Druidess and her sister, the warrior Liath Luachra. Reared by these strong, wise women and tutored by the Druid Finegas as well, Demne grew to become a fierce warrior skilled at weaponry and fighting as well as at the healing and magical arts. Unable to reveal his name lest clan Morna discover him, he becomes known as "Fionn", meaning "fair or fair-haired". The druid Finegas catches the Salmon of Knowledge and gives it to him to cook. Finn burns himself while doing so and sucks his thumb, thus acquiring the gift of prophecy, which he uses to ensure his survival, bring peace to his homeland, and inspire the Fianna to greatness. Fionn gains command of the Fianna by saving the life of the High King Cormac mac Airt, who much later promises his daughter Gráinne (grahn-ya) to him in gratitude for a lifetime of service. Gráinne, however, loves another man, with whom she flees. A large part of ballads and legends of Finn MacCool concern his sixteen-year pursuit of Gráinne and her lover. Eventually he makes peace with them; they set up house near Finn and have four sons and a daughter. He has a series of adventures involving hunting, fighting, sorcery, love, and passion. Finn has many romances but it is with the goddess Sadb that he begets his famous son, Oisín (Ossian). In one legend, he is the creator of the Giant's Causeway, a peculiar series of volcanic rock formations on the coast of Ireland. One day, Finn grows angry when he hears that a Scottish giant is mocking his fighting ability. He throws a rock across the Irish Sea to Scotland; the rock includes a challenge to the giant. The Scottish giant quickly throws a message in a rock back to Finn, stating he can't take up the challenge because he can't swim to reach Ireland. Finn doesn't let the Scottish giant off so easily. He tears down great pieces of volcanic rock that lay near the coast and stands the pieces upright, making them into pillars that form a causeway that sretches from Ireland to Scotland. The giant now has to accept the challenge. He comes to Finn's house. Finn, masquerading as a 18-foot baby, bites the Scottish giant's hand and then chases him back to Scotland, flinging huge lumps of earth after him. One of the large holes he creates fills with water and becomes Lough Neagh, the largest lake in Ireland. One large lump of earth misses the giant and falls into the Irish Sea; this lump is now known as the Isle of Man. There are varying accounts of Finn's death. One tale is that he is killed while stopping a fight between members of the Fianna. Another version is that he in fact does not die at all, but is sleeping in a cave, waiting to awaken and defend Ireland in her greatest hour of need. Malone, Edmund In the Philosophical Transactions for 1698, Dr. William Musgrave issued the following report on the Irish giant Edmund Malone:
Earlier, in 1684, the giant appeared before the Court of Charles II. The amazed king walked under his outstretched arm, an event that Malone mentioned thereafter in his handbills, as in the following: "The Gyant; or the Miracle of Nature. Being that so much admired young man, aged nineteen years last June, 1684. Born in Ireland, of such a prodigious height and bigness, and every way proportionable, the like hath not been seen since the memory of man: he hath been several times shown at court, and his majesty was pleased to walk under his arm, and he is grown very much since, he now reaches ten foot and a half, fathoms near eight foot, spans fifteen inches; and is believed to be as big as one of the giants in Guildhall. He is to be seen at the sign of the Catherine Wheell in Southwark fair. Vivat Rex."
Though McAskill continued to do some farm work, fishing was his favorite way of life. So, for those who lived on St. Ann's Bay, the giant on his sailboat71 became a familiar sight. He was on such a fishing trip in 1849, when the captain of a Yankee schooner spotted the towering young man at Neil's Harbour and sought to become his agent. After several meetings, the captain persuaded Angus and his family that fame and fortune awaited him in the outside world. For the next four years, he toured Lower Canada, the United States, the West Indies, Cuba, Newfoundland, and apparently England. James D. Gillis says in his book, The Cape Breton Giant, that Britain's Queen Victoria summoned McAskill to Windsor Castle to see for herself if stories of his astonishing height and amazing strength were true. Almon later disputed this audience before the queen because he could find no record of it. But Duncan McAskill, another of Angus' brothers, told Gillis that he indeed appeared before the queen and afterward received from her the gift of a highland costume. When his tour ended in 1853, McAskill returned to Cape Breton and bought a large grist mill at Munro's Point and opened a shop at Englishtown. He did well, but ten years later he suddenly took ill and soon after died from what his doctor called "brain fever." On his gravestone appears this inscription: Erected But after years of neglect this stone fell and in time grass and earth covered it. Many years later the provincial government authorities decided to replace the lost stone of their famous son with what could be remembered of his original epitaph. Later, however, some graveyard workers uncovered the original stone. It can be seen today at the Giant McAskill and Highland Pioneers' Museum located on the grounds of the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts overlooking St. Ann's Harbor. Among other exhibits at the museum are Angus' eight-foot bed, his great chair, and some of his clothing. And there also, from a large mural on the wall, Cape Breton's mighty giant, dressed in his highland costume, solemnly gazes down upon the museum's visitors. (For an account of Nova Scotia's other famous giant, see Swan, Anna Haining)
Who was Finn MacCool? Finn's father, Cumhail, engages Urgriu (er-gru) in battle for the position of Chieftain of the Fianna. Cumhail is wounded and his attacker carries off his pouch of magical objects. Lacking his pouch, Cumhail is slain by a member of the Morna clan, who beheads him. Slain, Cumhail leaves behind a pregnant wife, Muirne, who gives birth to a beautiful fair-haired boy. Fearing for her son's life at the hands of Clan Morna, she sends him to the forest to be raised by Bodhmal the Druidess and her sister, the warrior Liath Luachra. Reared by these strong, wise women and tutored by the Druid Finegas as well, Demne grew to become a fierce warrior skilled at weaponry and fighting as well as at the healing and magical arts. Unable to reveal his name lest clan Morna discover him, he becomes known as "Fionn", meaning "fair or fair-haired". The druid Finegas catches the Salmon of Knowledge and gives it to him to cook. Finn burns himself while doing so and sucks his thumb, thus acquiring the gift of prophecy, which he uses to ensure his survival, bring peace to his homeland, and inspire the Fianna to greatness. Fionn gains command of the Fianna by saving the life of the High King Cormac mac Airt, who much later promises his daughter Gráinne (grahn-ya) to him in gratitude for a lifetime of service. Gráinne, however, loves another man, with whom she flees. A large part of ballads and legends of Finn MacCool concern his sixteen-year pursuit of Gráinne and her lover. Eventually he makes peace with them; they set up house near Finn and have four sons and a daughter. He has a series of adventures involving hunting, fighting, sorcery, love, and passion. Finn has many romances but it is with the goddess Sadb that he begets his famous son, Oisín (Ossian). In one legend, he is the creator of the Giant's Causeway, a peculiar series of volcanic rock formations on the coast of Ireland. One day, Finn grows angry when he hears that a Scottish giant is mocking his fighting ability. He throws a rock across the Irish Sea to Scotland; the rock includes a challenge to the giant. The Scottish giant quickly throws a message in a rock back to Finn, stating he can't take up the challenge because he can't swim to reach Ireland. Finn doesn't let the Scottish giant off so easily. He tears down great pieces of volcanic rock that lay near the coast and stands the pieces upright, making them into pillars that form a causeway that sretches from Ireland to Scotland. The giant now has to accept the challenge. He comes to Finn's house. Finn, masquerading as a 18-foot baby, bites the Scottish giant's hand and then chases him back to Scotland, flinging huge lumps of earth after him. One of the large holes he creates fills with water and becomes Lough Neagh, the largest lake in Ireland. One large lump of earth misses the giant and falls into the Irish Sea; this lump is now known as the Isle of Man. There are varying accounts of Finn's death. One tale is that he is killed while stopping a fight between members of the Fianna. Another version is that he in fact does not die at all, but is sleeping in a cave, waiting to awaken and defend Ireland in her greatest hour of need. M'Donald, Big Sam Samuel M'Donald, of Lairg, in Sutherlandshire, who some claimed grew nearly eight feet high, served as a private in the Sutherland Fencibles in the latter years of the American Revolution. Later, after he became a fugleman with the Royals, he so impressed the Prince of Wales (afterward King George IV) that he was made lodge-porter at Carlton House. Big Sam, as he was commonly called, apparently did not take to this kind of life. So, after two years, he resigned and reenlisted with the Sutherland Fencibles with the rank of sergeant. In his Edinburgh Portraits, Kay writes that while Big Sam was in London some tried to persuade him to show himself for money. He declined to do so under his own name, but he agreed to dress up as a female and advertise himself as a "remarkably tall woman." He drew remarkably large crowds and soon became flush with money. Suspicious of his new spending power, Sam's colonel called him in for questioning and learned of the giant's profitable moonlighting. Besides his great height, nature also endowed Big Sam with great strength, as these two stories show. Once challenged by two soldiers who bragged the both of them could whip him, Big Sam at first demurred, but he finally agreed, provided they shook hands first-to show that no hard feelings existed between them. When the first stuck out his hand Big Sam seized it. But instead of a hand-shake, the giant-who also was sometimes referred to as the Scottish Hercules-raised the soldier off his feet, swung him around, and then threw him a great distance through the air. Seeing this, the astonished second soldier decided not to hang around. Another time, when a soldier in the barracks wanted him to retrieve an item from a shelf beyond his own reach, Big Sam caught him by the neck, raised him upwards, and told him to take it down himself.72 James Paris reports once seeing in London an Irishman from Medmenham, in the county of Bucks, who stood in his bare feet to a height of seven feet and eleven inches and wore shoes that measured fifteen inches.73 Middleton, John Born in 1578 in the chapelry of Hale just southwest of Manchester, John Middleton grew almost tall enough to look Goliath straight in the eye. He was also endowed with extraordinary strength -a trademark of the true giant. In 1620, Sir Gilbert Ireland, the sheriff of Lancashire, got the giant all dressed up and took him to London to meet King James I. On his return home, the fancy-dressed Middleton had his portrait painted. It is preserved in the library of Brasenose College at Oxord. The British naturalist Dr. Robert Plot, who later made measurements of the portrait, gave this report in his Staffordshire: "John Middleton, commonly called 'The Childe of Hale', whose hand from the carpus to the end of the middle finger was seventeen inches long, his palm eight inches and a half broad, and his whole height nine foot three inches, wanting but six inches of the height of Goliath, if that in Brasenose College Library (drawn at length, as 'tis said, in his just proportions) be a true piece of him."74 Middleton, who died at the age of 45, was buried in the Hale churchyard. On the twelve-foot-long stone covering his grave appears this epitaph: HERE LYETH
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