A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

The three men land near Howth and create a house from small materials: one commands pebbles to become the building, another transforms a slate into its roofing and the third turns shavings into timber. They claim to have been sent by the King of the Big Men to challenge the Fians. Fin, concealing his own identity, binds them to remain until his return and travels overseas to investigate their alleged commission.

The king later denies sending them. He says they court three fairy women who gave them shirts, each garment granting its wearer the fighting power of a hundred men. The shirts must be taken off at night, leaving their owners vulnerable. Fin returns with a soothsayer, thief and climber who together remove the garments while the men sleep. Without them the challengers confess and receive pardon after swearing future loyalty. The story does not say their bodies naturally possess hundredfold strength, nor does it establish that the earlier house-making magic has the same garment-based cause. Those powers are therefore described separately.

House-making commandsStrength bestowed by fairy shirtsPower lost when garments are removed
01

Origins & earliest records

Jacobs attributes this tale to Campbell’s The Fians, pp. 175–192. The selected 1895 narrative explicitly corrects the strangers’ own claim of royal authority. Its provenance is Scottish Gaelic Fenian storytelling rather than a historical account of invading soldiers.

02

Records & interpretation

The created house, fairy gifts and weakened state after theft are textual evidence of three particular enchanted champions. The hundred-man comparison is story language, not a physical measurement. The unnamed fairy donors are not assigned invented biographies.

In the literature

“their shirts are spread on the back of chairs”
Joseph Jacobs, compiler and adapter · More Celtic Fairy Tales
How Fin went to the Kingdom of the Big Men; p203; theft opportunity

Three visitors conjure a house from pebbles, slate and shavings and falsely say the Big Men’s king sent them to challenge the Fians. Fin restrains them while travelling to investigate. The text does not identify them as the monster family or servants acting under a genuine royal order.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    More Celtic Fairy Tales: How Fin went to the Kingdom of the Big Men, pp. 194–195, 201–203; note XLIII

    Joseph Jacobs (compiler and adapter) · Selected print edition 1895

    Selected episode and relevant source note inspected. Earlier works named by Jacobs are attributed references, not falsely claimed as independently collated texts.

  2. 02

    More Celtic Fairy Tales

    Joseph Jacobs, compiler and adapter · 1895

    Jacobs, More Celtic Fairy Tales, selected1895 Nutt/Putnam edition, PG34453. Complete How Fin went to the Kingdom of the Big Men, pp194–204, and relevant noteXLIII independently read.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

More Celtic Fairy Tales

Jacobs, More Celtic Fairy Tales, selected1895 Nutt/Putnam edition, PG34453. Complete How Fin went to the Kingdom of the Big Men, pp194–204, and relevant noteXLIII independently read.

  1. Three visitors conjure a house from pebbles, slate and shavings and falsely say the Big Men’s king sent them to challenge the Fians. Fin restrains them while travelling to investigate. The text does not identify them as the monster family or servants acting under a genuine royal order.

    How Fin went to the Kingdom of the Big Men, pp194–204; Magic-built lodging and false royal mandate

  2. The king explains that three fairy women gave their courting men shirts granting hundred-man combat power. Fin’s new soothsayer, thief and climber exploit nightly removal to steal them. The weakened men confess, are spared, and swear future service. Courtship does not establish marriages.

    How Fin went to the Kingdom of the Big Men, pp194–204; Gifted shirts, theft and sworn service

Narrated family, literal dialogue, deception and figurative comparisons distinguished. No song or ritual-formula excerpts.

Primary source witness

Jacobs, More Celtic Fairy Tales, selected1895 Nutt/Putnam edition, PG34453. Complete How Fin went to the Kingdom of the Big Men, pp194–204, and relevant noteXLIII independently read.

  1. Jacobs credits J. G. Campbell’s The Fians, Waifs and StraysIV pp175–192. His suggestion that Swift might have remembered such a tale as an Irish child is speculative comparison, not evidence of an independently checked transmission chain.

    XLIII. HOW FIN WENT TO THE KINGDOM OF THE BIG MEN, Source and comparison

No direct Campbell-page collation or Swift borrowing proof claimed.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textMore Celtic Fairy Tales, selected 1895 edition: How Fin went to the Kingdom of the Big Men, pp. 194–195, 201–203; note XLIIIResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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