by Irish Myths
So he got the pup, and he brought it away with him.
At the fall of night Diarmuid came back to the house, and the
greyhound met him at the door and gave a yell when she saw
him, and he looked for the pups, and one of them was gone.
There was anger on him then, and he said to the woman: "If you
had brought to mind the way you were when I let you in, and
your hair hanging, you would not have let the pup be brought
away from me. " "You ought not to say that, Diarmuid," said she.
"I ask your pardon for saying it," said Diarmuid. And they forgave
one another, and he spent the night in the house.
On the morrow Diarmuid went back again to his comrades,
and the woman stopped at the house, and after a while she saw
Oisin coming towards her. She gave him a welcome, and asked
him into the house , and he said he would come if he would
get his request. And what he asked was another of the pups of
the greyhound.
So she gave him that, and he went away bringing the pup with
him. And when Diarmuid came back that night the greyhound
met him, and she cried out twice. And he knew that another of
the pups was gone, and he said to the greyhound, and the woman
standing there, "If she had remembered the way she was when she
came to me, she would not have let the pup be brought away."
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The next day he went back again to the Fianna, and when he
was gone, the woman saw Caoilte coming towards her, and he
would not come in to take a drink from her till he had got the
promise of one of the pups the same as the others.
And when Diarmuid came back that night the greyhound met
him and gave three yells, the most terrible that ever were heard.
There was great anger on him then, when he saw all the pups
gone, and he said the third time: "If this woman remembered the
way she was when I found her, and her hair down to her heels,
she would not have let the pup go." "O Diarmuid, what is it you
are after saying?" she said. He asked forgiveness of her then, and
he thought to go into the house, but it was gone and the woman
was gone on the moment, and it was on the bare ground he awoke
on the morrow. There was great sorrow on him then, and he said
he would search in every place till he would find her again.
So he set out through the lonely valleys, and the first thing he
saw was the greyhound lying dead, and he put her on his shoulder and would not leave her because of the love he had for her.
And after a while he met with a cowherd, and he asked him did
he see a woman going the way: "I saw a woman early in the morning of yesterday, and she walking hard," said the cowherd. "What way was she going? " said Diarmuid. "Down that path below to
the strand, and I saw her no more after that," he said.
So he followed the path she took down to the strand till he
could go no farther, and then he saw a ship, and he leaned on the
handle of his spear and made a light leap on to the ship, and it
went on till it came to land, and then he got out and lay down on
the side of a hill and fell asleep, and when he awoke there was no
ship to be seen. "It is a pity for me to be here," he said, "for I see
no way of getting from it again. "
But after a while he saw a boat coming, and a man in the boat
rowing it, and he went down and got into the boat, and brought
the greyhound with him. And the boat went out over the sea, and
then down below it; and Diarmuid, when he went down, found
himself on a plain. And he went walking along it, and it was not
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305
long before he met with a drop of blood. He took it up and put it
in a napkin. "It is the greyhound lost this," he said. And after a
while he met with another drop of blood, and then with a third,
and he put them in the napkin. And after that again he saw a
woman, and she gathering rushes as if she had lost her wits.
He went towards her and asked her what news had she . "I
cannot tell it till I gather the rushes," she said. "Be telling it while
you are gathering them," said Diarmuid. "There is great haste on
me," she said. "What is this place where we are?" said Diarmuid.
"It is Land-under-Wave," said she. "And what use have you for
the rushes when they are gathered? " "The daughter of King
Under-Wave is come home," she said, "and she was for seven
years under enchantment, and there is sickness on her now, and
all the physicians are gathered together and none of them can do
her any good, and a bed of rushes is what she finds the wholesomest." "Will you show me where the king's daughter is?" said Diarmuid. "I will do that," said the woman; "I will put you in the
sheaf of rushes, and I will put the rushes under you and over you,
and I will carry you to her on my back." "This is a thing you cannot do," said Diarmuid. But she put the rushes about him, and lifted him on her back, and when she got to the room she let
down the bundle. "O come here to me," said the daughter of King
Under-Wave, and Diarmuid went over to her, and they took one
another's hands, and were very joyful at that meeting. "Three
parts of my sickness is gone from me now," she said then; "but I
am not well yet, and I never will be, for every time I thought of
you, Diarmuid, on my journey, I lost a drop of the blood of my
heart. " "I have got those three drops here in this napkin," said
Diarmuid, "and take them now in a drink and you will be healed
of your sickness. " "They would do nothing for me," she said,
"since I have not the one thing in the world that I want, and that
is the thing I will never get," she said. "What thing is that? " said
Diarmuid. "It is the thing you will never get, nor any man in the
world," she said, "for it is a long time they have failed to get it. "
"If it is in any place on the whole ridge of the world I will get it,"
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said Diarmuid. "It is three draughts from the cup of the King of
Magh an Ionganaidh, the Plain of Wonder," she said, "and no
man ever got it or ever will bet it." "Tell me where that cup is to
be found," said Diarmuid, "for there are not as many men as will
keep it from me on the whole ridge of the world." "That country
is not far from the boundary of my father's country," she said; "but
there is a little river between, and you would be sailing on that
river in a ship, having the wind behind it, for a year and a day
before you would reach to the Plain of Wonder. "
Diarmuid set out then, and he came to the little river, and he
was a good while walking beside it, and he saw no way to cross it.
But at last he saw a low-sized, reddish man that was standing in
the middle of the river. "You are in straits, Diarmuid, grandson of
Duibhne," he said; "and come here and put your foot in the palm
of my hand and I will bring you through. " Diarmuid did as he
bade him, and put his foot in the red man's palm, and he brought
him across the river. "It is going to the King of the Plain of
Wonder you are," he said, "to bring away his cup from him; and I
&n
bsp; myself will go with you."
They went on then till they came to the king's dun, and Diarmuid called out that the cup should be sent out to him, or else champions to fight with him should be sent out. It was not the
cup was sent out, but twice eight hundred fighting men; and in
three hours there was not one of them left to stand against him.
Then twice nine hundred better fighters again were sent out
against him, and within four hours there was not one of them left
to stand against him. Then the king himself came out, and he
stood in the great door, and he said: "Where did the man come
from that has brought destruction on the whole of my kingdom?"
"I will tell you that," said he ; "I am Diarmuid, a man of the
Fianna of Ireland. " "It is a pity you not to have sent a messenger
telling me that," said the king, "and I would not have spent my
men upon you; for seven years before you were born it was put in
the prophecy that you would come to destroy them. And what is
it you are asking now? " he said. "It is the cup of healing from
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307
your own hand I am asking," said Diarmuid. "No man ever got
that cup from me but yourself," said the king, "but it is easy for
me to give it to you, whether or not there is healing in it. "
Then the King of the Plain of Wonder gave Diarmuid the cup,
and they parted froAi one another; and Diarmuid went on till he
came to the river, and it was then he thought of the red man, that
he had given no thought to while he was at the kings house. But
he was there before him, and took his foot in the palm of his hand
and brought him over the river. "I know where it is you are going,
Diarmuid," he said then; "it is to heal the daughter of King Under
Wave that you have given your love to. And it is to a well I will
give you the signs of you should go," he said, "and bring a share of
the water of that well with you. And when you come where the
woman is, it is what you have to do, to put that water in the cup,
and one of the drops of blood in it, and she will drink it, and the
same with the second drop and the third, and her sickness will be
gone from her from that time. But there is another thing will be
gone along with it," he said, "and that is the love you have for her."
"That will not go from me," said Diarmuid. "It will go from
you," said the man; "and it will be best for you make no secret of
it, for she will know, and the king will know, that you think no
more of her then than of any other woman. And King Under
Wave will come to you," he said, "and will offer you great riches
for healing his daughter. But take nothing from him," he said,
"but ask only a ship to bring you home again to Ireland. And do
you know who am I myself?" he said. "I do not know," said Diarmuid. "I am the messenger from beyond the world," he said; "and I came to your help because your own heart is hot to come to the
help of another."
So Diarrnuid did as he bade him, and he brought the water
and the cup and the drops of blood to the woman, and she drank
them, and at the third draught she was healed. And no sooner
was she healed than the love he had for her was gone, and he
turned away from her. "O Diarmuid," she said, "your love is gone
from me. " "O, it is gone indeed," said he.
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Then there was music made in the whole place, and the
lamenting was stopped, because of the healing of the king's
daughter. And as to Diarmuid, he would take no reward and he
would not stop there, but he asked for a ship to bring him home
to Ireland, to Finn and the Fianna. And when he came where they
were, there was a joyful welcome before him.
CHAPTER IV.
THE HARD SERVANT
The Fianna went hunting one time in the two proud provinces of
Munster. They went out from Almhuin by the nearest paths till
they came to the Brosna river in Slieve Bladhma, and from there
to the twelve mountains of Eiblinne, and on to Aine Cliach, the
harp of Aine.
They scattered themselves then and hunted through the borders of the forest that is called Magh Breogain, through blind trackless places and through broken lands, over beautiful level
plains and the high hills of Desmumum, under pleasant Slieve
Crot and smooth Slieve na Muc, along the level banks of the blue
Siuir and over the green plain of Fernan and the rough plain of
Eithne, and the dark woods of Belach Gabrain.
And Finn was at the side of a hill, and the chief men of the
Fianna along with him, to watch the hunting; for they liked to
be listening to the outcry of the hounds and the hurried cries of
the boys, and the noise and the whistling and the shouts of the
strong men.
Finn asked then which of the men that were with him would
go and keep watch on the side of the hill where they were. And
Finnbane, son of Bresel, said he would go. And he went on to the
top of the hill, where he could see about him on all sides. And he
was not long there till he saw coming from the east a very big
man, ugly and gloomy and deformed; and it is how he was, a
dark-coloured shield on his back, a wide sword on his crooked
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309
left thigh, two spears on his shoulder, a tom loose cloak over his
limbs, that were as black as a quenched coal. A sulky horse he
had with him that had no good appearance, bony and thin as to
body, and weak in the legs, and he leading it with a rough iron
halter; and it was a great wonder the head was not pulled from
the horse's body, or the arms pulled out of his owner, with the
sudden stands and stops and the jerks it made. And the big man
was striking blows on the horse with an iron cudgel to try and
knock some going out of him, and the sound of the blows was
like the breaking of strong waves.
And when Finnbane saw all that, he thought to himself it
would not be right to let the like of that stranger go up unknown
to Finn and the Fianna, and he ran back in haste to where they
were and told them all he had seen.
And when he had told his story, they saw the big man coming
towards them; but as short as he was from them he was long in
coming, from the badness of his walk and his going.
And when he came into Finn's presence he saluted him, and
bowed his head and bent his knee, making signs of humility.
Finn raised his hand over his head then, and asked news of
him, and if he was of the noble or of the mean blood of the great
world. He answered that he had no knowledge who he came
from, but only that he was a man of the Fomor, travelling in
search of wages to the kings of the earth, "and I heard," he said,
"that Finn never refused wages to any man." "I never did indeed,"
said Finn, "and I will not refuse you. But why is it," he said, "you
are without a boy to mind your horse? " "I have a good reason for
that," said the big man; "there is nothing in the world is worse to
me than a boy to be with me; for it is a hundred men's share of
food," he said, "that serves me for one d
ay, and it is little enough I
think it, and I would begrudge a boy to be sharing it with me."
"What is the name you have?" said Finn. "The name I have is the
Gilla Decair, the Hard Servant," said he. "Why did you get that
name?" said Finn. "There is a good reason for that," said the big
man, "for there is nothing in the world is harder to me than to do
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anything at all for my master, or whatever person I am with. And
tell me this, Conan, son of Moma," he said, "who gets the best
wages, a horseman or a man afoot? " "A horseman gets twice as
much," said Conan. "Then I call you to witness, Conan," he said,
"that I am a horseman, and that it was as a horseman I came to
the Fianna. And give me your guarantee now, Finn, son of Cumhal, and the guarantee of the Fianna, and I will tum out my horse with your horses. " "Let him out then," said Finn.
The big man pulled off the iron halter then from his horse,
and it made off as hard as it could go, till it came where the horses
of the Fianna were; and it began to tear and to kick and to bite at
them, killing and maiming. "Take your horse out of that, big
man," said Conan; "and by the earth and the sky," he said, "only
it was on the guarantee of Finn and the Fianna you took the halter off him, I would let out his brains through the windows of his head; and many as is the bad prize Finn has found in Ireland," he
said, "he never got one as bad as yourself. " "And I swear by earth
and sky as well as yourself," said the big man, "I will never bring
him out of that; for I have no serving-boy to do it for me, and it is
not work for me to be leading my horse by the hand. "
Conan, son of Moma, rose up then and took the halter and
put it on the horse, and led it back to where Finn was, and held it
with his hand. "You would never have done a horse-boy's service,
Conan," said Finn, "to any one of the Fianna, however far he
might be beyond this Fomor. And if you will do what I advise,"
he said, "you will get up on the horse now, and search out with
him all the hills and hollows and flowery plains of Ireland, till his
heart is broken in his body in payment for the way he destroyed
the horses of the Fianna."
Conan made a leap then on to the horse, and struck his heels
hard into him, but with all that the horse would not stir. "I know
what ails him," said Finn, "he will not stir till he has the same
