by Irish Myths
Duibhne?"
So she told him where he was hiding, and he bade her to keep
him in the cave till such time as he would come back with his men.
The old woman went back then, and it is what she did, she
dipped her cloak in the sea-water before she went into the cave;
and Diarmuid asked her why was her cloak so wet. "It is," she
said, "that I never saw or never heard of the like of this day for
cold and for storms. There is frost on every hillside," she said,
DlARMUID AND GRANlA
357
"and there is not a smooth plain in all Elga where there is not a
long rushing river between every two ridges. And there is not a
deer or a crow in the whole of Ireland can find a shelter in any
place." And she was shaking the wet off her cloak, and she was
making a complaint against the cold, and it is what she said:
"Cold, cold, cold to-night is the wide plain of Lurg; the snow
is higher than the mountains, the deer cannot get at their share
of food.
"Cold for ever; the storm is spread over all; every furrow on
the hillside is a river, every ford is a full pool, every full loch is a
great sea; every pool is a full loch; horses cannot go through the
ford of Ross any more than a man on his two feet.
"The fishes of Inisfail are going astray; there is no strand or no
pen against the waves; there are no dwellings in the country, there
is no bell heard, no crane is calling.
"The hounds of the wood of Cuan find no rest or no sleep in
their dwelling-place; the little wren cannot find shelter in her nest
on the slope of Lon.
"A sharp wind and cold ice have come on the little company
of birds; the blackbird cannot get a ridge to her liking or shelter
for her side in the woods of Cuan.
"It is steady our great pot hangs from its hook; it is broken the
cabin is on the slope of Lon; the snow has made the woods
smooth, it is hard to climb to the ridge of Bennait Bo.
"The ancient bird of Glen Ride gets grief from the bitter wind;
it is great is her misery and her pain, the ice will be in her mouth.
"Mind well not to rise up from coverings and from down,
mind this well; there would be no good sense in it. Ice is heaped
up in every ford; it is for that I am saying and ever saying 'Cold.' "
The old woman went out after that, and when she was gone,
Granis took hold of the cloak she had left there and she put her
tongue to it, and found the taste of salt water on it. "My grief,
Diarmuid," she said then, "the old woman has betrayed us. And
rise up now," she said, "and put your fighting suit upon you."
So Diarmuid did that, and he went out, and Grania along with
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him. And no sooner were they outside than they saw Finn and the
Fianna of Ireland coming towards them. Then Diarmuid looked
around him and he saw a little boat at hand in the shelter of the
harbour, and he himself and Grania went into it. And there was a
man before them in the boat having beautiful clothes on him, and
a wide embroidered golden-yellow cloak over his shoulders
behind. And they knew it was Angus was in it, that had come again
to help them to escape from Finn, and they went back with him for
a while to Brugh na Boinne, and Osgar came to them there.
CHAPTER VII.
FIGHTING AND PEACE
And after a while Finn bade his people to make his ship ready,
and to put a store of food and of drink in it. They did that, and he
himself and a thousand of his men went into the ship; and they
were nine days between sailing and rowing till they came to harbour in the north of Alban.
They bound the ship to the posts of the harbour then, and
Finn with five of his people went to the dun of the King of Alban,
and Finn struck a blow with the handwood on the door, and the
door-keeper asked who was in it, and they told him it was Finn,
son of Cumhal. "Let him in," said the king.
Then Finn and his people went in, and the king made them
welcome, and he bade Finn to sit down in his own place, and
they were given strong pleasant drinks, and the king sent for the
rest of Finn's people and bade them welcome to the dun.
Then Finn told what it was brought him there, and that it
was to ask help and advice against the grandson of Duibhne he
was come.
"And you have a right to give me your help," he said, "for it
was he that killed your father and your two brothers, and many of
your best men along with them."
"That is true," said the king; "and I will give you my own two
DIARMUID AND GRANIA
3 59
sons and a thousand men with each of them." Finn was glad
when he heard that, and he and his men took leave of the king
and of his household, and left wishes for life and health with
them, and the king did the same by them.
And it was near Brugh na Boinne Finn and his people came to
land, and Finn sent messengers to the house of Angus to give out
a challenge of battle against Diarmuid, grandson of Duibhne.
"What should I do about this, Osgar?" said Diarmuid.
"We will both go out and make a stand against them, and we
will not let a serving-man of them escape, but we will make an
end of them all," said Osgar.
So they rose up on the morning of the morrow and they put
their suits of battle on their comely bodies; and it would be a pity
for those, be they many or few, that would meet those two men,
and their anger on them. And they bound the rims of their shields
together the way they would not be parted from one another in
the fight. And the sons of the King of Alban said that they themselves and their people would go first to meet them. So they came to shore, and made a rush to meet Diarmuid and Osgar. But the
two fought so well that they beat them back and scattered them,
and made a great slaughter, and put great terror on them, so that
at the last there was not a man left to stand against them.
And after that, Finn went out again on the sea, and his people
with him, and there is no word of them till they came to the Land
of Promise where Finn's nurse was. And when she saw Finn coming she was very joyful before him. And Finn told her the whole story from beginning to end, and the cause of his quarrel with
Diarmuid; and he said it was to ask an advice from her he was
come, and that it was not possible to put him down by any
strength of an army, unless enchantment would put him down. "I
will go with you," said the old woman, "and I will do enchantment
on him." Finn was very glad when he heard that, and he stopped
there that night, and they set out for Ireland on the morrow.
And when they came to Brugh na Boinne, the nurse put a
Druid mist around Finn and the Fianna, the way no one could
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know they were there. Now the day before that, Osgar had parted
from Diarmuid, and Diarmuid was out hunting by himself. That
was shown to the hag, and she took a drowned leaf having a hole
in it, like the quern of a mill, and she rose with that
by her
enchantments on a blast of Druid wind over Diarmuid, and began
to aim at him through the hole with deadly spears, till she had
done him great harm, for all his arms and his clothing, and he
could not make away he was so hard pressed. And every danger
he was ever in was little beside that danger. And it is what he
thought, that unless he could strike the old woman through the
hole that was in the leaf, she would give him his death there and
then. And he lay down on his back, and the Gae Dearg, the Red
Spear, in his hand, and he made a great cast of the spear, that it
went through the hole, and the hag fell dead on the spot. And he
struck off her head and brought it back with him to Angus Og.
And the next morning early, Angus rose up, and he went
where Finn was, and he asked would he make peace with Diarmuid, and Finn said he would. And then he went to the King of Ireland to ask peace for Diarmuid, and he said he would
agree to it.
And then he went back to where Diarmuid and Grania were,
and asked him would he make peace with the High King and
with Finn. "I am willing," said Diarmuid, "if they will give the
conditions I will ask. " "What conditions are those?" said Angus.
"The district my father had," said Diarmuid, "that is, the
district of Ui Duibhne, without right of hunting to Finn, and
without rent or tribute to the King of Ireland, and with that the
district of Dumhais in Leinster, for they are the best in Ireland,
and the district of Ceis Corainn from the King of Ireland as a marriage portion with his daughter; and those are the conditions on which I will make peace with them." "Would you be peaceable if
you got those conditions? " said Angus. "It would go easier with
me to make peace if I got them," said Diarmuid.
Then Angus went with that news to where the King of Ireland
was with Finn. And they gave him all those conditions, and they
DIARMUID AND G RAN IA
36 1
forgave him all he had done through the whole of the time he had
been in his hiding, that was sixteen years.
And the place Diarmuid and Grania settled in was Rath Grania, in the district of Ceis Corainn, far away from Finn and from Teamhair. And Grania bore him children there, four sons and one
daughter. And they lived there in peace, and the people used to be
saying there was not a man living at the same time was richer as
to gold and to silver, as to cattle and to sheep, than Diarmuid.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BOAR OF BEINN GULBAIN
But at last one day Grania spoke to Diarmuid, and it is what she
said, that it was a shame on them, with all the people and the
household they had, and all their riches, the two best men in Ireland never to have come to the house, the High King, her father, and Finn, son of Cumhal. "Why do you say that, Grania," said
Diarmuid, "and they being enemies to me? "
"It is what I would wish," said Grania, "to give them a feast,
the way you would get their affection. " "I give leave for that,"
said Diarmuid.
So Grania was making ready a great feast through the length of
a year, and messengers were sent for the High King of Ireland,
and for Finn and the seven battalions of the Fianna; and they
came, and they were using the feast from day to day through the
length of a year.
And on the last night of the year, Diarmuid was in his sleep at
Rath Grania; and in the night he heard the voice of hounds
through his sleep, and he started up, and Grania caught him and
put her two arms about him, and asked what had startled him.
"The voice of a hound I heard," said he; "and it is a wonder to me
to hear that in the night." "Safe keeping on you," said Grania, "for
it is the Tuatha de Danaan are doing that on you, on account of
Angus of Brugh na Boinn, and lie down on the bed again." But for
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
all that no sleep came to him, and he heard the voice of the
hound again, and he started up a second time to follow after it.
But Grania caught hold of him the second time and bade him to
lie down, and she said it was no fitting thing to go after the voice
of a hound in the night. So he lay down again, and he fell asleep,
but the voice of the hound awakened him the third time. And the
day was come with its full light that time, and he said: "I will go
after the voice of the hound now, since the day is here." "If that is
so," said Grania, "bring the Mor-alltach, the Great Fierce One, the
sword of Manannan, with you, and the Gae Dearg. " "I will not,"
he said; "but I will take the Beag-alltach, the Little Fierce One,
and the Gae Buidhe in the one hand, and the hound Mac an
Chuill, the Son of the Hazel, in the other hand. "
Then Diarmuid went out of Rath Grania, and made no delay
till he came to the top of Beinn Gulbain, and he found Finn
before him there, without any one at all in his company. Diarmuid
gave him no greeting, but asked him was it he was making that
hunt. Finn said it was not a hunt he was making, but that he and
some of the Fianna had gone out after midnight; "and one of our
hounds that was loose beside us, came on the track of a wild
boar," he said, "and they were not able to bring him back yet. And
there is no use following that boar he is after," he said, "for it is
many a time the Fianna hunted him, and he went away from
them every time till now, and he has killed thirty of them this
morning. And he is coming up the mountain towards us," he
said, "and let us leave this hill to him now."
"I will not leave the hill through fear of him," said Diarmuid.
"It would be best for you, Diarmuid," said Finn, "for it is the earless Green Boar of Beinn Gulbain is in it, and it is by him you will come to your death, and Angus knew that well when he put
bonds on you not to go hunting pigs." "I never knew of those
bonds," said Diarmuid; "but however it is, I will not quit this
through fear of him. And let you leave Bran with me now," he
said, "along with Mac an Chuill." "I will not," said Finn, "for it is
often he met this boar before and could do nothing against him."
DIARMUID AND G RAN IA
3o 3
He went away then and left Diarmuid alone on the top of the hill.
"I give my word," said Diarmuid, "you made this hunt for my
death, Finn; and if it is here I am to find my death," he said, "I
have no use in going aside from it now."
The boar came up the face of the mountain then, and the
Fianna after him. Diarmuid loosed Mac an Chuill from his leash
then, but that did not serve him, for he did not wait for the boar,
but ran from him. "It is a pity not to follow the advice of a good
woman," said Diarmuid, "for Grania bade me this morning to
bring the Mor-alltach and the Gae Dearg with me." Then he put
his finger into the silken string of the Gae Buidhe, and took a
straight aim at the boar and hit him full in the face; but if he did,
the spear did not so much as give him a scratch. Diarmuid was
discouraged by that, but he drew the Beag-alltach, and made a full
stroke at the back of the boar, but neither did that make a wo
und
on him, but it made two halves of the sword. Then the boar made
a brave charge at Diarmuid, that cut the sod from under his feet
and brought him down; but Diarmuid caught hold of the boar on
rising, and held on to him, having one of his legs on each side of
him, and his face to his hinder parts. And the boar made away
headlong down the hill, but he could not rid himself of Diarmuid;
and he went on after that to Ess Ruadh, and when he came to the
red stream he gave three high leaps over it, backwards and forwards, but he could not put him from his back, and he went back by the same path till he went up the height of the mountain
again. And at last on the top of the mountain he freed himself,
and Diarmuid fell on the ground. And then the boar made a rush
at him, and ripped him open, that his bowels came out about his
feet. But if he did, Diarmuid made a cast at him with the hilt of
his sword that was in his hand yet, and dashed out his brains, so
that he fell dead there and then. And Rath na h-Amhrann, the
Rath of the Sword Hilt, is the name of that place to this day.
It was not long till Finn and the Fianna of Ireland came to the
place, and the pains of death were coming on Diarmuid at that
time. "It is well pleased I am to see you that way, Diarmuid," said
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Finn; "and it is a pity all the women of Ireland not to be looking at
you now, for your great beauty is turned to ugliness, and your
comely shape to uncomeliness." "For all that, you have power to
heal me , Finn," said Diarmuid, "if you had a mind to do it. "
"What way could I heal you ? " said Finn. "Easy enough," said
Diarmuid, "for the time you were given the great gift of knowledge at the Boinn, you got this gift with it, that any one you would give a drink to out of the palms of your hands would be young
and well again from any sickness after it. " "You are not deserving
of that drink from me," said Finn. "That is not true," said Diarmuid; "it is well I deserve it from you; for the time you went to the house of Deare, son of Donnarthadh, and your chief men with
you for a feast, your enemies came round the house, and gave out
three great shouts against you, and threw fire and firebrands into
it. And you rose up and would have gone out, but I bade you to
stop there at drinking and pleasure, for that I myself would go out