UK 010  Finn McCool

Okay. In old Ireland there lived a great worrier called  Finn McCool. And he was the greatest of worriers and the bravest of the brave. And throughout all Ireland he was known for his courage, his bravery and his kindness. One day came word that in the shores of Ireland had been found a giant. Who was reeking havoc across the country. Throughout Ireland people were leaving their homes and running away. The giant was causing most problems that anyone had ever seen. He was so big that he would uproot all the trees as he walked through the land. He was so hungry that he would eat all the animals, as he traveled across the field. He was so thirsty that he would drink all of the wine, all of the beer, and all of the water, as he traveled across Ireland.

Finn McCool who was also, decided to be the bravest and the wisest of his time, was asked to come together with the men of his village and decide how to overcome the giant.
Finn McCool thought and thought. And the more he thought the harder it became to come up with an idea. Luckily for Finn his wife was a wise women. And she took him outside and said �gI have an idea.�h

They owned a magic cauldron, and the magic cauldron was such that, if you said the magic words and stirred the porridge that was with in it, the porridge would last forever and ever. And you could eat as much as you want and there would never be an end to it.
So she told Finn to challenge the giant to a series of trails. And using the magic cauldron, she would defeat him though her knowledge of magic. 

So Finn contacted the giant, who being a brave and a bold giant, wanted to test himself against the strongest of the Irish men.
�gFirst of all�h Finn said �gwe�fll run a foot race�h. 
So the giant got ready rubbed his hands together, and Finn said.
�gHow far should we run? We�fll run across Ireland and back�h
And when they said the word go they ran as fast as they could the giant was faster than anyone Finn had ever seen. Every step he took was ten leagues long.
And soon he had out stripped Finn, He ran out to the au,, eh... edge of Ireland, and all the way back.

Moments later Finn came huffing up behind him and the giant said �gOh than Finn, it looks like I�fm stronger than you in running.�h

The next thing they decided to do was to through a spear as far as they could. And both of them stout out their spears both six foot in high, and set their feet, pulled their arms back and through the spears. Finn�fs travels hundreds of miles, all the way out to the west coast of Ireland. The giant looked at him and through his and it went even further and landed in the sea. �glooks like I�fve won again�h Said the giant.

The last trial he wanted to take Finn on at was wrestling. So the two of them stripped to the waist, rubbed their hands together with dirt so that they could get a grip and set themselves against one another. And they wrestled and fought and wrestled and fought for days and nights and weeks and months and years. Neither could get the advantage to the other, until they wrestled themselves to a standstill. At that point Finn Said to the giant, �gIt looks like you�fre winning. There�fs one more trial I�fd like us to take�h And the giant said �gOkay let�fs try it.�h

So Finn said �gcome in to my house.�h And the giant bowed his head went in to Finn�fs hall as a guest, And there in front of him was a small cauldron bubbling in the fire, and in the cauldron was porridge. And the giant said �gWhat manner of trick is this?�h
And Finn said �gThere is no trick here at all, All I want you to do is to see who can eat the most porridge.�h And so the giant said �gWell I�fll go first�h

Finn said �gNo no no let me go first, Ill clear the cauldron before you.�h 
So Finn started to eat. He ate all the porridge that he could and he kept eating the porridge and the porridge kept filling up in the cauldron, but his wife said the magic words, and stopped the cauldron bubbling. And so soon after a couple of hours Finn had finished all of the porridge.

The giant looked in the cauldron and said �gI could do better than that.�h
And he sat down took his spoon out of his waist and started to eat. 

And Finn�fs wife said the magic words to make the cauldron bubble and bubble and be full of porridge and the giant ate and ate and ate and after an hour a day after a week after a month after a year he still hadn�ft finished. And eventually even the giant was full and he sat back, blew out his cheeks and said �gI give up�h. And from that moment on, Finn McCool was decided to be the bravest and the wisest of the men in Ireland, and the giant became his friend.