²¹Kinsella, Thomas, and le Brocquy, Louis. The Tain. Oxford [Eng.: University, 1969. 150-51.xiii.
Pillar stones are frequently used to identify an action with a specific place. These stones, already ancient at the time of the Tain, often are used as a scene of violence. Kinsella presents, as an example, a scene when a court fool and a girl arrive to deceive Cúchulainn (p. 141): "...Cúchulainn went to meet them and knew by the man's speech that he was the camp fool. He shot a sling-stone from his hand and pierced the fool's head and knocked out his brains. Cúchulainn went up to the girl and cut off her two long tresses and thrust a pillar-stone under her cloak and tunic. He thrust another pillar stone up through the fool's middle. Their two standing-stones are there still, Finnabiar's Pillar-Stone and the Fool's Pillar-Stone. Cúchulainn left them like that."