Berrathon

Berrathon by James Macpherson (1765)

Berrathon is a poem in which Ossian, aged and near death, recalls the voyage he made with Toscar to free King Larthmor of Berrathon, and which opens with a lament for Toscar's daughter Malvina. Ossian asks that the stream of Lutha bend round the narrow plain where he will be laid, and he compares his own fading voice to a flower that withers and is searched for in vain. He calls for Malvina and is told by the son of Alpin that the daughters of the bow turned their faces away when asked about her. He then pictures her in the airy halls of her fathers, where Fingal greets her among the cloud-borne heroes and Ullin plays his harp. Fingal sends a breeze to sigh over her tomb, and her father Toscar's ghost appears and speaks of the sadness she felt when only Ossian remained of the heroes. Turning to the past, Ossian tells how Fingal sent him and Toscar to Berrathon, the isle of many storms. Larthmor had once feasted Fingal on his way to Starno's halls, in the days of Agandecca. When Larthmor grew old, his son Uthal, fair-haired and loved by a thousand maids, bound him and took his halls. Larthmor languished in a cave by the sea until Snitho, a friend of his youth, came to Selma and told Fingal. Fingal's wrath rose, but he held back and sent his son and Toscar instead. It was the first time the two had fought without Fingal's company. Sailing along the coast by night, they heard a mournful song and saw a maid alone on a rock. She was Nina-thoma, daughter of Tor-thoma. She sang that she had once lived in her father's hall, until Uthal came to her like the sun and then left her alone among the roaring waters. Ossian spoke words of peace and took her aboard, promising to carry her to Fin-thormo. At Rothma's bay, Ossian killed a boar, and Uthal's hunting party appeared with spears, bows and dogs. A gray-haired bard told the strangers that Uthal spread no feast and shed strangers' blood, and he urged them to send three youths to tell Fingal of their fall. Ossian answered in wrath that Fingal's presence would make kings vanish like mist. Battle began, and Uthal fell beneath Ossian's sword. The sons of Berrathon fled. Ossian wept at the beauty of the fallen man. Nina-thoma had stayed on the shore with Lethmal, the gray-haired bard of Selma. She heard the noise of death and lamented Uthal, though he had left her on the rock. When she saw his bloody shield in Ossian's hand, she ran distracted across the heath, found him, and died with a sigh. Ossian raised a tomb for the pair and sang a song of woe over it. The heroes of Berrathon gathered, and after two days Larthmor was brought back to his halls. A feast was spread, and Larthmor blessed the chiefs of Morven, not knowing his son was dead. On the fourth day the Morven heroes sailed. Larthmor saw the tomb on Rothma's heath and asked who lay there. He mourned Uthal despite his son's hand raised against him. Ossian returns to the present and says Toscar is on his cloud while he is alone at Lutha. He foresees the mist that will receive his ghost and asks the son of Alpin to lead him to his woods and bring his harp. He sings to Fingal in his airy hall, picturing the king as a dim form of mist, with a moon-like shield and a sword like half-kindled vapor, who still rides the winds. He hears Fingal call him to come away, and he answers that he comes. He tells the son of Fingal that all chiefs and peoples pass like leaves, but his fame will remain and grow like the oak of Morven.

By James Macpherson · First published 1765 · Genre: Epic poetry, Elegiac poetry, Literary forgery and pseudotranslation · 4,133 words

First lines

Argument. Fingal, in his voyage to Lochlin, whither he had been invited by Starno, the father of Agandecca, touched at Berrathon, an island of Scandinavia, where he was kindly entertained by Larthmor, the petty king of the place, who was a vassal of the supreme kings of Lochlin. The hospitality of Larthmor gained him Fingal's friendship, which that hero manifested, after the imprisonment of Larthmor by his own son, by sending Ossian and 1 oscar, the father of Malvina, so often mentioned, to rescue Larthmor, and to punish the unnatural behavior of Uthal. Uthal was handsome, and, by the ladies, much admired. Nina-thoma, the beautiful daughter of Tor-thoma, a neighboring prince, fell in love and fled with him. He proved inconstant; for another lady, whose name is not mentioned, gaining his affections, he confined Nina-thoma to a desert island, near the coast of Berrathon. She was relieved by Ossian, who, in company with Toscar, landing on Berrathon, defeated the forces of Uthal, and killed him in single combat. Nina-thoma, whose love not all the bad behavior of Uthal could erase, hearing of his death, died of grief. In the mean time Larthmor is restored, and Ossian and 1 oscar return in triumph to Fingal. The poem opens with an elegy on the death of Malvina, the daughter of Toscar, and closes with the presages of Ossian's death.

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Ossian · Fingal · Malvina · Toscar · Uthal · Larthmor · Nina-thoma · Elegy · Lament · Ancient heroic verse · Epic poetry · Old age and death

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