The prevailing theme in the legends of Finn Mac Cool and his men is the affirmation of such values as loyalty, justice, courage, and comradeship. These folktales developed, like many similar legends, to appeal to the communal spirit of the "folk" who both heard and created them. They also celebrate the extraordinary qualities of a particular hero who comes to symbolize certain ideal national characteristics. Thus, while the stories recounted in The High Deeds of Finn Mac Cool bear the conventional marks of all folk legends and herotales, they are decidedly Irish.

Typically Irish details appear in descriptions of the landscape and the animals and plants that inhabit it. The game that young Finn plays—hurley, also known as hurling—is an old Irish game that resembles lacrosse. Both the Druids and the fairy-people are charac teristically Irish, and the heroic but...