He finally managed to get this lesson together, after going through several copies of various books of poetry. What the mimoths could possibly need with that much shredded paper, he would never know. "Today we'll begin our unit on Scottish poetry. Pay attention."

He went on to lecture on the two different classes of poets and bards, the traditional bardic clans, and then went on to outline the rann direach - precise/exact verse - in depressingly minute detail. He listed every one of the numerous technical elements to the perfect poem, including the number of syllables, assonance, chiming, internal rhyme schemes, even the classes of the vowels. Even the most diligent of students' eyes would glaze over somewhere before the third example.

The mun knows she did.

[[Sorry for the late. Time ran away from me. No OCD threads today. Feel free to nap through class, although Cammie might take it personally.]]

Seeing as one of his students has been arrested, another wasn't going to be in class because of the same, and a third hadn't come to class for the last week or so, Camulus threw in the towel. He hung a sign around the moose's neck and left.

'CLASS IS CANCELLED'

Camulus was looking a little wild-eyed. As if a horde of miniature mammoth-like creatures had infested his apartment and ate through half of his books, as well as attempting to nest in his sarcophagus. Not that they necessarily had, he just looked that way.

"Madainn mhath, a chlas," he began. "The Fianna. As I said before, while Fionn was their leader, they were not named for him. They were an elite group of warriors and it was extremely difficult to join their ranks. I had planned a few practical demonstrations of the Fianna trials, but I'm sure the administration wouldn't appreciate seriously maiming my students. Even in the pursuit of knowledge." Camulus looks very disgruntled at this fact. He goes on to the describe the maxims and trials of the Fianna, writing notes up on the board.

"Now, the chief warriors of the Fianna were the following men, each great in their deeds and so on. I'd like each of you to read up on a member of the Fianna from this list and give a short oral presentation next class. I'll cover whichever ones are left out, let me know who you are researching before you leave."

He wrote the list of names up on the board.

Caoilte mac Ronan
Goll mac Morna
Conan mac Morna - more commonly known as Conan Maol or Conan the Bald
Oisin mac Fionn
Oscar mac Oisin

"Diarmaid ui Duibhne was also one of the major Fenian warriors, but we've already covered his particular story."

[[Wikipedia is my friend. AFK until around 10 EST. Nevermind!]]

This would be one of Camulus's favourite lessons. Mainly because he was in it.

"And now, my dear class, we continue our look at the Fenian Cycle of Fionn mac Cumhall." He writes 'Cumhall' on the board and then writes his own beneath it. "The name Cumhall is a derivation of my own. I was a god of war in Scotland and Gaul, and in Ireland I was the father of the great hero Finn. Sadly, I never met the boy myself but his deeds added to my own fame." See? He loved talking about himself. So he proceeded to do so for the next fifteen minutes.

Eventually he reluctantly returned to Fionn, going over the stories of the birth and boyhood deeds of Fionn rather quickly.

"Any questions about anything we've covered this class?"

[[Sorry for lack of class the last couple of days. Life is eating my brain. I've found some summaries of the Fenian Cycle so you don't have to wade through the full versions.]]

[[I totally forgot about class today, my apologies, I'm here now!]]

"Now, before we begin class, you had an assignment due on Wednesday that I neglected to collect. Meaning you've had almost a week's extention so I expect it to be that much better. Hand them in on my desk."

He stood and pulled down a large map that bore absolutely no relation to any earthly coast. A dotted line traced some kind of path. "The Voyage of Maleduin. The bastard son of Aillil Edge-of-Battle and a nun goes on a voyage to avenge his father's death, but two of his cousins jumped on the ship at the last moment and put their numbers over that which had been prophesied. Doomed to wander from island to island until the tag-a-longs died.

"What I want from you is an idea as to the whys - why the seemingly unending progression of islands. Why the certain number. Parallels to any other stories we may have read or that you have read. Give me something."

"Ah, my dear class, good morning!" Camulus is always chipper when his students have just rolled out of bed, but today he's extra happy because he had a croissant for breakfast. Don't ask. "I hope that you all remembered that you had some reading to do on the stories of the Kings Cycle over the break, because today we will be discussing the Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedon which is also a really fun name to say - say it with me: Yockee. Five brothers, an evil stepmother, two tests to determine which of the five would be king over Ireland.

"I'd like you to notice the professions of two of the supporting characters - Sithchenn and Torna. Torna is the poet or bard of this particular kingdom, which is why he is the only one who can touch the child Niall, despite the orders of Mongfinn. A bard was one of the most powerful figures in ancient Celtic society. He could not be denied anything or - horrors of horrors - he might write a satirical poem about you. Which sounds ridiculous, but was a very real threat. You've already come across the power of the bards when Phoebe introduced you to the story of Deirdre of the Sorrows. Besides her foster parents, Deirdre lives with a bard, because he is he only person Conchobhar cannot order away. In the story of the Cattle Raid of Cooley, which we won't be covering this semester, bards ask the hero Cu Chulainn for his spear, and he has to give it to them." Camulus smirked. "Of course, he gave it to them right through the head, but the general principle stands. We may be looking closer at the roles of bards and bardic poetry later on.

"Next, Sithchenn, the smith whos smithy is set alight. Not only is he a smith, he's also a wizard and prophet. Not the most common of trades to be associated with wizardry. Anyone have any idea why this could be?"

[[OCD threads coming up. And I swear to Bog I will interact today >.<]]

Camulus is looking well-rested and very gloaty that people had to be in class this early on a Monday the first day back from break.

"Ah, my dear class. I hope Phoebe took good care of you during my absence. I will offer you an explanation as soon as I have one." He stood up and paced to the board, writing 'Kings Cycle' on the board. "Wednesday we will begin our look at the next cycle of Irish literature, the Kings Cycle. These stories deal with the historical rulers of Ireland - with a definitely helping of myth piled a top." He began writing a list of names and dates on the board, starting at Art mac Cuinn because omgsomanynames and ending with Muircheartach mac Erca which is the best name to say aloud."

When this was finished, he sat back down. "And that is all the real work you have to do today. For the rest of the class . . ." He smirked. "Tell me a story. It could be something you did over break. It could be something you did as a child. It could be one of the stories we told in class. Just tell me a story in true Celtic fashion."

[[OCD threads coming up.]]