by Irish Myths
was near, and he was looking about him, east and west, north and
south. He was not long there till he saw a great fleet of ships
coming from the west, straight to the bottom of the hill where he
was. And when they were come to land, nine times nine of the
chief men of the ships came on shore, and Diarmuid went down
and greeted them, and asked news of them, and to what country
they belonged.
"Three kings we are of the Green Champions of Muir-nalocht," said they; "and Finn, son of Cumhal, sent looking for us by cause of a thief of the woods, and an enemy of his own that
has gone hiding from him; and it is to hinder him we are come.
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And we are twenty hundred good fighting men, and every one of
us is a match for a hundred, and besides that," he said, "we have
three deadly hounds with us; fire will not bum them, and water
will not drown them, and arms will not redden on them, and we
will lay them on his track, and it will be short till we get news of
him. And tell us who you are yourself? " they said, "and have you
any word of the grandson of Duibhne?" "I saw him yesterday,"
said Diarmuid; "and I myself," he said, "am but a fighting man,
walking the world by the strength of my hand and by the hardness of my sword. And by my word," he said, "you will know Diarmuid's hand when you will meet it. " "Well, we found no one
up to this," said they. "What are your own names?" said Diarmuid. " Dubh-chosach, the Black-footed, Fionn-chosach, the Fair-footed, and Treun-chosach, the Strong-footed," they said.
"Is there wine in your ships?" said Diarmuid. "There is," said
they. "If you have a mind to bring out a tun of wine," said Diarmuid, "I will do a trick for you." They sent men to get the tun, and when it came Diarmuid took it between his two hands and drank
a drink out of it, and the others drank what was left of it. Diarmuid took up the tun after that, and brought it to the top of the hill, and he went up himself on the tun, and let it go down the
steep of the hill till it was at the bottom. And then he brought the
tun up the hill again, and he himself on it coming and going, and
he did that trick three times before the strangers. But they said he
was a man had never seen a good trick when he called that a trick;
and with that a man of them went up on the tun, but Diarmuid
gave a stroke of his foot at it and the young man fell from it before
it began to move, and it rolled over him and crushed him, that he
died. And another man went on it, and another after him again, till
fifty of them were killed trying to do Diarmuid's trick, and as many
of them as were not killed went back to their ships that night.
Diarmuid went back then to where he left Grania; and Muadhan put the hair and the hook on the rod till he killed three salmon; and they ate their meal that night, and he kept watch for
them the same way he did before.
DIARMUID AND GRANIA
3 3 5
Diarmuid went out early the next day again to the hill, and it
was not long till he saw the three strangers coming towards him,
and he asked them would they like to see any more tricks. They
said they would sooner get news of the grandson of Duibhne. "I
saw a man that saw him yesterday," said Diarmuid. And with that
he put off his arms and his clothes, all but the shirt that was next
his skin, and he struck the Crann Buidhe, the spear of Manannan,
into the earth with the point upwards. And then he rose with a
leap and lit on the point of the spear as light as a bird, and came
down off it again without a wound on him. Then a young man of
the Green Champions said: "It is a man has never seen feats that
would call that a feat" ; and he put off his clothing and made a
leap, and if he did he came down heavily on the point of the
spear, and it went through his heart, and he fell to the ground.
The next day Diarmuid came again, and he brought two forked
poles out of the wood and put them standing upright on the hill,
and he put the sword of Angus Og, the Mor-alltach, the Big-fierce
one, between the two forks on its edge. Then he raised himself
lightly over it, and walked on the sword three times from the hilt
to the point, and he came down and asked was there a man of
them could do that feat.
"That is a foolish question," said a man of them then, "for
there was never any feat done in Ireland but a man of our own
would do it." And with that he rose up to walk on the sword; but
it is what happened, he came down heavily on it the way he was
cut in two halves.
The rest of the champions bade him take away his sword then,
before any more of their people would fall by it; and they asked
him had he any word of the grandson of Duibhne. "I saw a man
that saw him to-day," said Diarmuid, "and I will go ask news of
him to-night."
He went back then to where Grania was, and Muadhan killed
three salmon for their supper, and kept a watch for them through
the night. And Diarmuid rose up at the early break of day, and he
put his battle clothes on him, that no weapon could go through,
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
and he took the sword of Angus, that left no leavings after it, at
his left side, and his two thick-handled spears, the Gae Buidhe
and the Gae Dearg, the Yellow and the Red, that gave wounds
there was no healing for. And then he wakened Grania, and he
bade her to keep watch for Muadhan, and he himself would go
out and take a look around.
When Grania saw him looking so brave, and dressed in his
clothes of anger and of battle, great fear took hold of her, and she
asked what was he going to do. "It is for fear of meeting my enemies I am like this," said he. That quieted Grania, and then Diarmuid went out to meet the Green Champions.
They came to land then, and they asked had he news of the
grandson of Duibhne. "I saw him not long ago," said Diarmuid.
"If that is so, let us know where is he," said they, "till we bring his
head to Finn, son of Cumhal." "I would be keeping bad watch for
him if I did that," said Diarmuid, "for his life and his body are
under the protection of my valour, and by reason of that I will do
no treachery on him." "Is that true?" said they. "It is true indeed,"
said Diarmuid. "Let you yourself quit this place, so," they said, "or
we will bring your head to Finn since you are an enemy to him."
"It is in bonds I would be," said Diarmuid, "the time I would leave
my head with you." And with that he drew his sword the Mor-alltach out of its sheath, and he made a fierce blow at the head nearest him that put it in two halves. Then he made an attack on
the whole host of the Green Champions, and began to destroy
them, cutting through the beautiful shining armour of the men of
Muir-na-locht till there was hardly a man but got shortening of life
and the sorrow of death, or that could go back to give news of the
fight, but only the three kings and a few of their people that made
their escape back to their ships. Diarmuid turned back then without wound or hurt on him, and he went to where Grania and Muadhan were. They bade him welcome, and Grania asked him
did he hear any news of Finn an
d the Fianna of Ireland, and he
said he did not, and they ate their food and spent the night there.
He rose up again with the early light of the morrow and went
DIARM U I D A N D G RA N IA
7
back to the hill, and when he got there he struck a great hlow on
his shield that set the strand shaking with the sound. And Duhhchosach heard it, and he said he himself would go fight with Diarmuid, and he went on shore there and then.
And he and Diarmuid threw the arms out of their hands and
rushed on one another like wrestlers, straining their arms and
their sinews, knotting their hands on one another's backs, fighting
like bulls in madness, or like two daring hawks on the edge of a
cliff. But at the last Diarmuid raised up Dubh-chosach on his
shoulder and threw his body to the ground, and bound him fast
and firm on the spot. And Fionn-chosach and Treun-chosach
came one after the other to fight with him then, and he put the
same binding on them; and he said he would strike the heads off
them, only he thought it a worse punishment to leave them in
those bonds. "For there is no one can free you," he said. And he
left them there, worn out and sorrowful.
The next morning after that, Diarmuid told Grania the whole
story of the strangers from beginning to end, and of all he had
done to them, and how on the fifth day he had put their kings in
bonds. "And they have three fierce hounds in a chain ready to
hunt me," he said. "Did you take the heads off those three kings?"
said Grania. "I did not," said Diarmuid, "for there is no man of
the heroes of Ireland can loosen those bonds but four only, Oisin,
son of Finn, and Osgar, son of Oisin, and Lugaidh's Son of the
Strong Hand, and Conan, son of Morna; and I know well ," he
said, "none of those four will do it. But all the same, it is short till
Finn will get news of them, and it is best for us to be going from
this cave, or Finn and the three hounds might come on us. "
After that they left the cave, and they went on till they came to
the bog of Finnliath. Grania began to fall behind them, and
Muadhan put her on his back and carried her till they came to the
great Slieve Luachra. Then Diarmuid sat down on the brink of the
stream that was flowing through the heart of the mountain, and
Grania was washing her hands, and she asked his knife from him
to cut her nails with.
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
As to the strangers, as many of them as were alive yet, they
came to the hill where their three leaders were bound, and they
thought to loose them; but it is the way those bonds were, all they
did by meddling with them was to draw them tighter.
And they were not long there till they saw a woman coming
towards them with the quickness of a swallow or a weasel or a
blast of wind over bare mountain-tops. And she asked them who
was it had done that great slaughter on them. "Who are you that is
asking that? " said they. "I am the Woman of the Black Mountain,
the woman-messenger of Finn, son of Cumhal," she said; "and it is
looking for you Finn sent me." "Indeed we do not know who it
was did this slaughter," they said, "but we will tell you his appearance. A young man he was, having dark curling hair and ruddy cheeks. And it is worse again to us," they said, "our three leaders
to be bound this way, and we not able to loose them." "What way
did that young man go from you?" said the woman. "It was late
last night he left us," they said, "and we do not know where is he
gone." "I give you my word," she said, "it was Diarmuid himself
that was in it; and take your hounds now and lay them on his
track, and I will send Finn and the Fianna of Ireland to you."
They left a woman-Druid then attending on the three champions that were bound, and they brought their three hounds out of the ship and laid them on Diarmuid's track, and followed them till
they came to the opening of the cave, and they went into the far
part of it and found the beds where Diarmuid and Grania had
slept. Then they went on westward till they came to the Carrthach river, and to the bog of Finnliath, and so on to the great Slieve Luachra.
But Diarmuid did not know they were after him till he got
sight of them with their banners of soft silk and their three
wicked hounds in the front of the troop and three strong champions holding them in chains. And when he saw them coming like that he was filled with great hatred of them.
There was one of them had a well-coloured green cloak on
him, and he came out far beyond the others, and Grania gave the
DIARMUID AND GRANIA
3 39
knife back to Diarmuid. "I think you have not much love for that
young man of the green cloak, Grania," said Diarmuid. "I have
not indeed," said Grania; "and it would be better if I had never
given love to any man at all to this day. " Diarmuid put the knife
in the sheath then, and went on; and Muadhan put Grania on his
back and carried her on into the mountain.
It was not long till a hound of the three hounds was loosed
after Diarmuid, and Muadhan said to him to follow Grania, and
he himself would check the hound. Then Muadhan turned back,
and he took a whelp out of his belt, and put it on the flat of his
hand. And when the whelp saw the hound rushing towards him,
and its jaws open, he rose up and made a leap from Muadhan's
hand into the throat of the hound, and came out of its side, bringing the heart with it, and he leaped back again to Muadhan's hand, and left the hound dead after him.
Muadhan went on then after Diarmuid and Grania, and he
took up Grania again and carried her a bit of the way into the
mountain. Then another hound was loosened after them, and
Diarmuid said to Muadhan: "I often heard there is nothing can
stand against weapons of Druid wounding, and the throat of no
beast can be made safe from them. And will you stand now," he
said, "till I put the Gae Dearg, the Red Spear, through that hound."
Then Muadhan and Grania stopped to see the cast. And Diarmuid made a cast at the hound, and the spear went through its body and brought out its bowels; and he took up the spear again,
and they went forward.
It was not long after that the third hound was loosed. And
Grania said then: "This is the one is fiercest of them, and there is
great fear on me, and mind yourself now, Diarmuid."
It was not long till the hound overtook them, and the place he
overtook them was Lie Dhubhain, the flag-stone of Dubhan, on
Slieve Luachra. He rose with a light leap over Diarmuid, as if he
had a mind to seize on Grania, but Diarmuid took him by the
two hind legs, and struck a blow of his carcase against the side of
the rock was nearest, till he had let out his brains through the
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IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS
openings of his head and of his ears. And then Diarmuid took up
his arms and his battle clothes, and put his narrow-topped finger
into the silken string of the Gae Dearg, and he made a good cast
at the young man of the green cloak that was at the head of the
troop that killed him. Then he made another cast at the second
is not the custom to stand after leaders are fallen, the strangers
when they saw what had happened took to flight.
And Diarmuid followed after them, killing and scattering, so
that unless any man of them got away over the forests, or into the
green earth, or under the waters, there was not a man or messenger of them left to tell the news, but only the Woman-messenger of the Black Mountain, that kept moving around about when
Diarmuid was putting down the strangers.
And it was not long till Finn saw her coming towards him
where he was, her legs failing, and her tongue muttering, and her
eyes drooping, and he asked news of her. "It is very bad news I
have to tell you," she said; "and it is what I think, that it is a person without a lord I am. " Then she told Finn the whole story from beginning to end, of the destruction Diarmuid had done,
and how the three deadly hounds had fallen by him. "And it is
hardly I myself got away," she said. "What place did the grandson
of Duibhne go to?" said Finn. "I do not know that," she said.
And when Finn heard of the Kings of the Green Champions
that were bound by Diarmuid, he called his men to him, and they
went by every short way and every straight path till they reached
the hill, and it was torment to the heart of Finn to see the way
they were. Then he said: "Oisin," he said, "loosen those three
kings for me." "I will not loosen them," said Oisin, "for Diarmuid
put bonds on me not to loosen any man he would bind." "Loosen
them, Osgar," said Finn then. "I give my word," said Osgar, "it is
more bonds I would wish to put on them sooner than to loosen
them. " Neither would Conan help them, or Lugaidh's Son. And
any way, they were not long talking about it till the three kings
died under the hardness of the bonds that were on them.
DIARMUID AND GRANIA
34 1
Then Finn made three wide-sodded graves for them, and a
flag-stone was put over them, and another stone raised over that
again, and their names were written in branching Ogham, and it
is tired and heavy-hearted Finn was after that; and he and his
people went back to Almhuin of Leinster.
CHAPTER IV.
THE WOOD OF DUBHROS
And as to Diarmuid and Grania and Muadhan, they went on
