by Irish Myths
through Ui Chonaill Gabhra , and left-hand ways to Ros-da
Shoileach, and Diarmuid killed a wild deer that night, and they
had their fill of meat and of pure water, and they slept till the
morning of the morrow. And Muadhan rose up early, and spoke
to Diarmuid, and it is what he said, that he himself was going
away. "It is not right for you to do that," said Diarmuid, "for
everything I promised you I fulfilled it, without any dispute."
But he could not hinder him, and Muadhan said farewell to
them and left them there and then, and it is sorrowful and downhearted Diarmuid and Grania were after him.
After that they travelled on straight to the north, to Slieve
Echtge, and from that to the hundred of Ui Fiachrach; and when
they got there Grania was tired out, but she took courage and went
on walking beside Diannuid till they came to the wood of Dubhros.
Now, there was a wonderful quicken-tree in that wood, and
the way it came to be there is this:
There rose a dispute one time between two women of the
Tuatha de Danaan, Aine and Aoife, daughters of Manannan, son
of Lir, for Aoife had given her love to Lugaidh's Son, and Aine had
given her love to a man of her own race, and each of them said
her own man was a better hurler than the other. And it came from
that dispute that there was a great hurling match settled between
the Men of Dea and the Fianna of Ireland, and the place it was to
be played was on a beautiful plain near Loch Lein.
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They all came together there, and the highest men and the
most daring of the Tuatha de Danaan were there, the three Garbhs
of Slieve Mis, and the three Mases of Slieve Luachra, and the three
yellow-haired Murchadhs, and the three Eochaidhs of Aine, and
the three Fionns of the White House, and the three Sgals of Brugh
na Boinne, and the three Ronans of Ath na Riogh, and the
Suirgheach Suairc, the Pleasant Wooer from Lionan, and the Man
of Sweet Speech from the Boinn, and Ilbrec, the Many-Coloured,
son of Manannan, and N eamhanach, son of Angus Og, and Bodb
Dearg, son of the Dagda, and Manannan, son of Lir.
They themselves and the Fianna were playing the match
through the length of three days and three nights, from Leamhain
to the valley of the Fleisg, that is called the Crooked Valley of the
Fianna, and neither of them winning a goal. And when the Tuatha
de Danaan that were watching the game on each side of Leamhain saw it was so hard for their hurlers to win a goal against the Fianna, they thought it as well to go away again without playing
out the game.
Now the provision the Men of Dea had brought with them
from the Land of Promise was crimson nuts, and apples, and
sweet-smelling rowan berries. And as they were passing through
the district of Ui Fiachrach by the Muaidh, a berry of the rowan
berries fell from them, and a tree grew up from it. And there was
virtue in its berries, and no sickness or disease would ever come
on any person that would eat them, and those that would eat
them would feel the liveliness of wine and the satisfaction of
mead in them, and any old person of a hundred years that would
eat them would go back to be young again, and any young girl
that would eat them would grow to be a flower of beauty.
And it happened one time after the tree was grown, there were
messengers of the Tuatha de Danaan going through the wood of
Dubhros. And they heard a great noise of birds and of bees, and
they went where the noise was , and they saw the beautiful
Druid tree. They went back then and told what they had seen,
and all the chief men of the Tuatha de Danaan when they heard it
DlARMUID AND GRANlA
H 3
knew the tree must have grown from a berry of the Land of the
Ever-Living Living Ones. And they enquired among all their people , till they knew it was a young man of them , that was a musician, had dropped the berry.
And it is what they agreed, to send him in search of a man of
Lochlann that would guard the tree by day and sleep in it by
night. And the women of the Sidhe were very downhearted to see
him going from them, for there was no harper could play half so
sweetly on his harp as he could play on an ivy leaf.
He went on then till he came to Lochlann, and he sat down on
a bank and sleep came on him. And he slept till the rising of the
sun on the morrow; and when he awoke he saw a very big man
coming towards him, that asked him who was he. "I am a messenger from the Men of Dea," he said; "and I am come looking for some very strong man that would be willing to guard a Druid tree
that is in the wood of Dubhros. And here are some of the berries
he will be eating from morning to night," he said.
And when the big man had tasted the berries, he said: "I will
go and guard all the trees of the wood to get those berries."
And his name was the Searbhan Lochlannach, the Surly One of
Lochlann. Very black and ugly he was, having crooked teeth, and
one eye only in the middle of his forehead. And he had a thick
collar of iron around his body, and it was in the prophecy that he
would never die till there would be three strokes of the iron club
he had, struck upon himself. And he slept in the tree by night and
stopped near it in the daytime, and he made a wilderness of the
whole district about him, and none of the Fianna dared go hunt
there because of the dread of him that was on them.
But when Diarmuid came to the wood of Dubhros, he went
into it to where the Surly One was, and he made bonds of agreement with him, and got leave from him to go hunting in the wood, so long as he would not touch the berries of the tree. And
he made a cabin then for himself and for Grania in the wood.
As for Finn and his people, they were not long at Almhuin till
they saw fifty armed men coming towards them, and two that
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were taller and handsomer than the rest in the front of them. Finn
asked did any of his people know them. "We do not know them,"
they said, "but maybe you yourself know them, Finn. " "I do not,"
he said; "but it seems to be they are enemies to myself." The troop
of armed men came up to them then and they greeted him, and
Finn asked news of them, and from what country they came. "I
am Aonghus, son of Art Og of the children of Moma," one of
them said, "and this is Aodh, son of Andela; and we are enemies
of your own, and our fathers were at the killing of your father,
and they themselves died for that deed. And it is to ask peace we
are come now to you," they said. "Where were you the time my
father was killed?" "In our mothers' wombs," said they; "and our
mothers were two women of the Tuatha de Danaan, and it is time
for us now to get our father's place among the Fianna." "I will
give you that," said Finn, "but I must put a fine on you first in
satisfaction for my father's death." "We have neither gold or silver
or goods or cattle to give you, Finn," said they. "Do not put a fine
on them, Finn," said Oisin, "beyond the death of the
ir fathers for
your father. " "It is what I think," said Finn, "if any one killed
myself, Oisin, it would be easy to pay the fine you would ask. And
there will no one come among the Fianna," he said, "without giving what I ask in satisfaction for my fathers death." "What is it you are asking of us? " said Aonghus, son of Art Og. "I am asking
but the head of a champion, or the full of a fist of the berries of the
quicken-tree at Dubhros." "I will give you a good advice, children
of Moma," said Oisin, "to go back to the place you were reared,
and not to ask peace of Finn through the length of your lives. For
it is not an easy thing Finn is asking of you; and do you know
whose head he is asking you to bring him?" "We do not," said
they. "The head of Diarmuid, grandson of Duibhne, is the head he
is asking of you. And if you were twenty hundred men in their full
strength, Diarmuid would not let you take that head." "And what
are the berries Finn is asking of us? " they said then. "There is
nothing is harder for you to get than those berries," said Oisin.
He told them then the whole story of the tree, and of the
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345
Searbhan, the Surly One of Lochlann, that was put to mind it by
the Tuatha de Danaan. But Aodh, son of Andela, spoke then, and
it is what he said, that he would sooner get his death looking for
those berries than to go home again to his mother's country. And
he said to Oisin to care his people till he would come back again,
and if anything should happen himself and his brother in their
journey, to send them back again to the Land of Promise. And the
two said farewell then to Oisin and to the chief men of the
Fianna, and they went forward till they reached Dubhros. And
they went along the wood till they found a track, and they followed it to the door of the hunting-cabin where Diarmuid and Grania were.
Diarmuid heard them coming, and he put his hand on his
weapons and asked who was at the door. "We are of the children of
Morna," they said, "Aodh, son of Andela, and Aonghus, son of Art
Og." "What brings you to this wood?" said Diarmuid. "Finn, son
of Cumhal, that put us looking for your head, if you are Diarmuid,
grandson of Duibhne," said they. "I am indeed," said Diarmuid. "If
that is so," they said, "Finn will take nothing from us but your
head, or a fistful of the berries of the quicken-tree of Dubhros as
satisfaction for the death of his father." "It is not easy for you to get
either of those things," said Diarmuid, "and it is a pity for any one
to be under the power of that man. And besides that," he said, "I
know it was he himself made an end of your fathers, and that was
enough satisfaction for him to get; and if you do bring him what he
asks, it is likely he will not make peace with you in the end." "Is it
not enough for you," said Aodh, "to have brought his wife away
from Finn without speaking ill of him?" "It is not for the sake of
speaking ill of him I said that," said Diarmuid, "but to save yourselves from the danger he has sent you into. "
"What are those berries Finn is asking? " said Grania, "that
they cannot be got for him?"
Diarmuid told her then the whole story of the berry the Tuatha
de Danaan had lost, and of the tree that had sprung up from it,
and of the man of Lochlann that was keeping the tree. "And at the
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time Finn sent me hiding here and became my enemy," he said, "I
got leave from the Surly One to hunt, but he bade me never to
meddle with the berries. And now, sons of Moma," he said, "there
is your choice, to fight with me for my head, or to go asking the
berries of the Surly One." "I swear by the blood of my people,"
said each of them, "I will fight with yourself first."
With that the two young men made ready for the fight. And it
is what they chose, to fight with the strength of their hands alone.
And Diarmuid put them down and bound the two of them there
and then. "That is a good fight you made," said Grania. "But, by
my word," she said, "although the children of Moma do not go
looking for those berries, I will not lie in a bed for ever till I get a
share of them; and I will not live if I do not get them," she said.
"Do not make me break my peace with the Surly One," said Diarmuid, "for he will not let me take them." "Loose these tyings from us," said the two young men, "and we will go with you, and we
will give ourselves for your sake." "You must not come with me,"
said Diarmuid; "for if you got the full of your eyes of that terrible
one, you would be more likely to die than to live." "Well, do us
this kindness," they said then; "loosen these bonds on us, and
give us time to go by ourselves and see the fight before you strike
off our heads." So Diarmuid did that for them.
Then Diarmuid went to the Surly One, and he chanced to be
asleep before him, and he gave him a stroke of his foot the way he
lifted his head and looked up at him, and he said: "Have you a
mind to break our peace, Grandson of Duibhne?" "That is not
what I want," said Diarmuid; "but it is Grania, daughter of the
High King," he said, "has a desire to taste those berries, and it is
to ask a handful of them I am come." "I give my word," said he,
"if she is to die for it, she will never taste a berry of those berries."
"I would not do treachery on you," said Diarmuid; "and so I tell
you, willing or unwilling, I will take those berries from you."
When the Surly One heard that, he rose up on his feet and
lifted his club and struck three great blows on Diarmuid, that gave
him some little hurt in spite of his shield. But when Diarmuid saw
DIARMUID AND GRANIA
347
him not minding himself, he threw down his weapons, and made
a great leap and took hold of the club with his two hands. And
when he had a hold of the club he struck three great blows on
him that put his brains out through his head. And the two young
men of the sons of Moma were looking at the whole fight; and
when they saw the Surly One was killed they came out. And Diarmuid sat down, for he was spent with the dint of the fight, and he bid the young men to bury the body under the thickets of the
wood, the way Grania would not see it. "And after that," he said,
"let you go back to her and bring her here." So they dragged away
the body and buried it, and they went then for Grania and brought
her to Diarmuid.
"There are the berries you were asking, Grania," he said, "and
you may take what you like of them now. " "I give my word," said
Grania, "I will not taste a berry of those berries but the one your
own hand will pluck, Diarmuid. " Diarmuid rose up then and
plucked the berries for Grania, and for the children of Moma, and
they ate their fill of them. And he said then to the young men:
''Take all you can of these berries, and bring them with you to
Finn, and tell him it was yourselves made an end of the Surly One
of Lochlann." "We give you our word," said they, "we begrudge
giving any of them to Finn."
But Diarmuid plucked a load of the be
rries for them, and they
gave him great thanks for all he had done; and they went back to
where Finn was with the Fianna. And Diarmuid and Grania went
up into the top of the tree where the bed of the Surly One was.
And the berries below were but bitter berries beside the ones
above in the tree. And when the two young men came to Finn, he
asked news of them. "We have killed the Surly One of Lochlann,"
they said; "and we have brought you berries from the quickentree of Dubhros, in satisfaction for your father, that we may get peace from you." They gave the berries then into Finn's hand, and
he knew them, and he said to the young men: "I give you my
word," he said, "it was Diarmuid himself plucked those berries,
for I know the smell of his hand on them; and I know well it was
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he killed the Surly One, and I will go now and see is he himself
alive at the quicken-tree.
After that he called for the seven battalions of the Fianna, and
he set out and went forward to Dubhros. And they followed the
track of Diarmuid to the foot of the quicken-tree, and they found
the berries without protection, so they ate their fill of them. And
the great heat of the day came on them, and Finn said they would
stop where they were till the heat would be past; "for I know
well," he said, "Diarmuid is up in the quicken-tree." "It is a great
sign of jealousy in you, Finn," said Oisin, "to think that Diarmuid
would stop there up in the quicken-tree and he knowing you are
wanting to kill him. "
Finn asked for a chessboard after that, and he said to Oisin: "I
will play a game with you now on this." They sat down then,
Oisin and Osgar and Lugaidh's Son and Diorraing on the one side
of the board, and Finn on the other side.
And they were playing that game with great skill and knowledge, and Finn pressed Oisin so hard that he had no move to make but the one, and Finn said: "There is one move would win
the game for you, Oisin, and I defy all that are with you to show
you that move." Then Diarmuid said up in the tree where he was,
and no one heard him but Grania: "It is a pity you be in straits,
and without myself to show you that move." "It is worse off you
are yourself," said Grania, "to be in the bed of the Surly One of
Lochlann in the top of the quicken-tree, and the seven battalions
of the Fianna round about it to take your life."