Princess Mary and King Haakon. Part 2, Finandus of Skye

On the Isle of Skye, there lived a clan of people called the MacKinnons. The MacKinnons were a quiet folk who lived around the part of the island closest to Scotland, where the narrow waters of the Kyle edge between these two ancient lands. They kept themselves to themselves and spent most of their time fishing in the Kyle and hunting in the great forest of Sleat.  There was one MacKinnon, a young man called Findanus, who was not content to live out his life in this quiet, green corner of Skye. Findanus, or Fin to his friends, was the chief of the Clan MacKinnon. He was tall and strong with long red hair and a big red beard, tied into three pig-tails. There was nothing Fin enjoyed more than travelling and seeing the world and this is how our story begins, with Fin journeying to the far off land of Norway.

Fin was going to meet King Haakon, a great Viking king, and to take part in the strongman contest held every year in Norway. It was here that he met and fell in love with Princess Mary, the daughter of King Haakon. She was now a bonny girl with long golden hair and blue eyes, but it was here wits that truly set her apart. Mary was a clever lass who had outfoxed the greatest of her town’s men folk on many an occasion and could beat anyone who dared to challenge her at chess.

Mary was but sixteen summers old when Fin first saw her. As he pulled his boat up onto the beach in front of King Haakon’s village, the great Viking already running down the sands to meet him, from out of the longhouse stepped Mary. Haakon flew to Fin and hugged him. Fin was caught, not just by the strong arms of the King, but by the beauty of Mary, who stood at the top of the beach pulling him like a deep, strong current. “Beauty is yours. But for a price.” He sighed.

With those words, first spoken in a dream and long since forgotten, King Haakon shuddered like the thunder, shuddered like the thunder on the night of Mary’s birth, the night of the dream. He remembered now the words the stranger in the dream had spoken and he knew that Mary would leave with this man, Findanus MacKinnon.

The next day marked the beginning of the strongman contest. For Fin this contest now meant nothing, he no longer cared about winning the prize of gold, love was the prize he valued now. The love of Princess Mary. Without really trying, Fin won all his contests. He threw an anchor and chain farther than any man, farther even than Thor ‘keelbreaker’ Dahl who had once stopped an escaping pirate ship by sinking it with an anchor he had thrown. No one could drag a boat up the beach faster than him, not even Morten Brohlin the giant of Lapland. And of all the men present, Fin could chop down trees the fastest, faster even than Siggy Heddle, the man who had once wrestled a walrus for a bet and won. No, none of these heroes, not one of these fine Norsemen could best Findanus, chief of the clan MacKinnon. He was the winner!

It was the custom for the winner of the contest to be given any item of his choosing from the household treasure of the King. That evening all the strongmen crushed into the longhouse to drink, eat and to see the winner pick his prize. This was a male only event and had been known to boil over into a wrestling match. As well as fighting there was always lots of gossip and plenty of gambling about the final choice of prize the champion would make. Last year Siggy Heddle had claimed the golden shield from the King’s wall. The year before a bald Siberian called Biakal shocked the gathering by making off with the ring from King Haakon’s finger! It had taken all night, plenty of whale fat and a little bit of blood before the ring had come off. The Siberian was not invited back.

King Haakon enjoyed the company of men and on this occasion he was glad that Mary could not attend. She had the spirit of a warrior and often tagged along on hunting trips, or turned up at the back of the great council of elders telling them they were all old fools who needed to change their ways. He knew there would be nothing she would enjoy more than to watch the prize giving. But tonight Mary was a prize the King feared he was close to loosing; a golden treasure too precious to risk.

That night in the longhouse the men gathered as they had done for countless years. King Haakon finished his speech and invited the new champion to rise and claim his prize. King Haakon had reminded the crowd about the story of his ring and the Siberian and stressed he would not, could not refuse any request the winner made. He could have any of his golden treasures in the hall. The roaring of the strongmen quickly hushed as Fin rose to his feet. His eyes moved around the room. He saw the helmet of the Angles, his gaze rested on the chain armour which Caesar was said to have worn, his eye lingered on the Saxon sword. He paused, then in a strong clear voice he pointed to the door at the corner of the hall and said “I claim my prize, I claim the King’s greatest treasure as my own!” Every eye flew like an arrow from the end of Fin’s finger to door. There they struck a shadow. With the hall in silence the shadow melted as Mary stepped forward into the light. King Haakon slumped into his seat as the tears began to roll from his eyes. His greatest treasure, his greatest loss.

Fin and Mary were married on the windswept Norwegian beach at dawn the next day then set off for their new home together on the Isle of Skye. They waved at the shrinking figures on the horizon until they were all gone. Mary wept for the rest of the journey and sang sad songs about leaving her home and family. When they finally arrived in Skye, Chief MacKinnon carried the exhausted Princess wrapped in  wolf skins, from the boat, up to the bed-chamber at the top of Castle Moil, and there they lay alone and undisturbed for six whole days.