by George Moore
DIARMUID. I must not listen or I will take her in my arms. I will awake Finn — Finn, Finn awake!
GRANIA. What would you tell him?
DIARMUID. That the world vanishes, that I see nothing but you.
GRANIA. Is it not said that Diarmuid never refused help to a woman, and who is more helpless than I?
DIARMUID. Had you not told me that you loved me, I would have helped you.
GRANIA. Help me, Diarmuid.
DIARMUID. Caoelte and Usheen have seen my trouble; they will tell
Finn of my trouble. She has asked me for help and I must give it.
GRANIA. [Standing at the door which she has thrown open]. Come,
Diarmuid, to the woods, the birds of Aonghus, the birds of love, the birds that the eye cannot see, sing joyously, sing fiercely, they clap their wings and sing.
DIARMUID. She asks for my help and I must give it.
USHEEN. From this night the Fianna are broken in two.
CAOELTE. And the kingdom that was to be made safe is in danger, and Diarmuid’s oath is broken.
DIARMUID. My oath is not broken, tell Finn that. Tell him that this sword shall guard her by day, and will lie between us at night. Tell him I will send some messenger, some token that shall say to him — Finn, I bring you word that so many hours or so many moons have passed by and that Diarmuid’s oath is unbroken.
GRANIA. The woods are sad with their summer sadness, and the birds of love have become silent, but they are not sleeping, their eyes are bright among the boughs...
[She goes out].
DIARMUID. I must follow her. Upon whose face shall I after this look in friendship again?
[He takes his shield from the wall and goes out].
USHEEN. [Goes to the door and looks after them]. They have gone westward to the woods.
CAOELTE. When Finn wakes, we must tell him that they have gone eastward towards the sea.
ACT II.
DIARMUID’S HOUSE. A spinning wheel to left. Walls made of roughly hewed timber. Laban sitting before the spinning wheel. Cormac sitting near her. The twilight is slowly deepening. Enter Diarmuid and a shepherd carrying fleeces.
DIARMUID. We have not yet finished our shearing. There are a few more sheep and we shall be done.
[Diarmuid and shepherd go out].
CORMAC. Every kind of sorrow has come upon this land: the Fianna are divided, and the galleys of our enemies are drawn up upon the shore. Our kingdom will be over-run by the Lochlanders and the hunting of Diarmuid and Grania will begin again.
LABAN. Have your long talks with Diarmuid come to no better end than that?
CORMAC. I talked with Diarmuid late into the night and I could not persuade him. Old woman who has spoken nothing but lies, I told him that the kingdom I had given him would be taken from him, and that I could not save him from Finn, or Eri from the invader.
LABAN. I heard your voices, but I did not hear Grania’s voice.
CORMAC. He said “Tell Finn to begone from my valley, let the sod be blown into flame again and the pursuit of Diarmuid and Grania begin again.”
LABAN. And Grania stood by the door post watching the moon shining down the valley, looking to where Diarmuid’s cattle were feeding and towards the encampment of Finn.
CORMAC. Yes, she stood there saying nothing. I turned to her often, saying, “If I take this message to Finn, you will have to fly into the woods again.”
LABAN. And she answered nothing?
CORMAC. Only this: “Where will Laban go if we are driven from this valley?” She said, “Father, you brought her here to be near me and if we are driven into the woods you will see that no harm comes to her.” But remember how near the Fianna were to hanging you from a rafter that night at Tara, and if I bring Diarmuid’s message to Finn I may not know how to save you from them.
LABAN. They did not dare. The rope fell out of Goll’s hand; and Conan told them they could not hang me but with a rope that I had spun, and they tried to make me spin one.
CORMAC. Yes, yes, but Finn has waited for three days. [Going to the door]. This sunset ends the third day. The horses are waiting and
Niall is at their heads. Speak if you have found any meaning in the thread.
LABAN. The thread keeps breaking as it runs from the distaff.
CORMAC. Then the end of somebody is near; the end of Diarmuid or of Grania or of Finn... or the end of Eri. You must tell me before
I go for I cannot wait any longer.
LABAN. The thread is breaking; I cannot find a whole thread in the flax.
CORMAC. You have lied to me, old woman. You brought me this long way that you might be near Grania. [She gets up from the wheel, Cormac puts her back again]. But spin since there is flax in the distaff, the earth knows all things and the flax comes out of the earth.
LABAN. What would you know? If there be forgiveness in Finn’s heart?
CORMAC. The men of Lochland have dragged up 70 galleys on to the beach of Rury.
LABAN. You are troubled, being afraid that Caoelte and Usheen may not fight against the men of Lochland because they are angry with
Finn. You are afraid that Finn may begin the hunting of Diarmuid and Grania again? You are afraid that Diarmuid and Grania...
CORMAC. Old woman full of wisdom about everything but the danger that waits us, I have to carry Diarmuid’s answer to Finn and I would know what will happen to Diarmuid and to my daughter.
You sit silent. Will you answer me?
[A long pause, the King walks up the stage slowly and when he turns Laban rises from the wheel],
LABAN. I see Diarmuid standing by Finn with his hand on Finn’s shoulder.
CORMAC. Then they are friends.
LABAN. I see Diarmuid drawing his sword.
CORMAC. Against whom, Laban? And then....
LABAN. I can see Finn drawing his dagger.
CORMAC. His dagger — his sword — look again.
LABAN. It is a dagger that I see.
CORMAC. NOW wind the thread tightly round the forefinger. Now hold the thread tightly and look, for the earth knows all and her knowledge is in the flax.
LABAN. The vision has passed from me, I see nothing else.
CORMAC. Spin again, spin another thread.
LABAN. I cannot see more than once, and the thread is broken again, you have broken it.
CORMAC. Then is ill luck in my hands. If the thread had not broken we should know all. You say you saw Finn pull out his dagger, but was not Diarmuid standing by his side with his hand on Finn’s shoulder? What is the meaning of this? If you do not tell me I will have you beaten and your wheel thrown into the lake.
[Enter Grania].
GRANIA. Ah, my father, she can tell you nothing if you speak so loud.
CORMAC. She has told me strange things, things without meaning.
GRANIA. YOU never believe her words, father, when she speaks them, but afterwards you find out that she had spoken truly.
CORMAC. True or false it matters not since they do not help me.
Where is Diarmuid? Does he speak to-day as he spoke last night?
GRANIA. He has said nothing to me. But a day and night have gone since you have spoken to him. His mind may have changed. [Going up the stage]. This is the hour when the flock comes home. Diarmuid is thinking of the folding of his sheep. You will find him with the shepherd. Or shall I send Laban to bring him? [Laban gets up and goes out]. The fold is not far from the house. It was brought nearer for the wolves carried off three of our sheep last week... Ah, I see him coming up the path, Laban is going to meet him. [Grania comes down the stage to Cormac]. But, dear father, three days are not a long while to see you in, after seven years. You will come here again and forget the troubles that kingdom brings. You are lonely at Tara. I used to sing for you. Shall I come to Tara and sing for you again?
CORMAC. But Diarmuid and Finn — you cannot come to Tara until they have made peace. I have persuaded Finn to make peace and I have brought him here... But we go
on saying this one thing again and again.
GRANIA. HOW will it all end? What a broil it has been since that night at Tara.
CORMAC. Never did men sleep as we slept that night over our ale. We sat at that table like stones till the cock crew. We woke together at the crowing of the cock, and Finn cried out, “Grania has been taken from me.”
GRANIA. I thought that Finn did not love me, that you made the marriage that you might be stronger than any other king or than any invader.
CORMAC. Ah, Grania, you have your mother’s eyes. Your mother was very beautiful, Grania.
GRANIA. I thought nothing but this: that a man should love me among the woods, far among the woods.
CORMAC. And Diarmuid has loved this fair face very dearly.
GRANIA. But in this valley love has become terrible and we are sometimes afraid of one another. And now I would have Diarmuid arm the shepherds and lead them against the Lochlanders and drive them into their galleys.
CORMAC. If you think like this, why did you stand looking down the valley and saying nothing? Diarmuid asked you, and I asked you.
GRANIA. If I had said “yes” to you, I should have said “no” to Diarmuid. I would say nothing but leave things to work out, whatever will may be in them.
[Enter Niall and the King’s Councillors. Councillors stand in the background. Niall advances].
CORMAC. Yes, Niall, I have delayed too long.
GRANIA. [Going to Niall]. You are going now, Niall, and I have had little time to speak with you, and I would have spoken to you about the days at Tara, when you were my only playfellow. How well I remember going with you, one spring morning to a little pool at the edge of the wood. We sat on the high bank fishing for roach. Have you forgotten?
NIALL. NO, Princess, I have not forgotten. That same day I showed you a blackbird sitting on her nest. You had never seen a bird sitting on her nest before. But how many things have happened since then: you know the woodland now better than I.
GRANIA. Shall I ever see Tara again? I have wandered a long way.
CORMAC. Five days’ journey from here, Grania. We must hurry, neither Niall nor I can keep the saddle for many hours at a time: Diarmuid’s cattle are coming this way and their sides are heavy with the rich grass of the valley which I have given you, and the rooks are flying home.
[Enter Diarmuid].
CORMAC. I shall be with Finn in half an hour and I would not say to him the words you bade me say last night. Do not send me to the man you wronged with the words you spoke last night.
DIARMUID. Tell him to be gone out of my valley.
CORMAC. Then farewell, dear daughter.
GRANIA. Father stay with us; Diarmuid, do you not hear? Do you not understand?
CORMAC. Diarmuid knows how great Finn’s anger will be when I bring him this answer.
DIARMUID. I have fought Finn and overthrown him. Did I not break out of the house with the seven doors when he had set a watch at all doors? I went out of the door where he himself held the watch and my sword struck the sword out of his hand.
CORMAC. If you will send me with this answer, so be it. I can say no more. Farewell to all here.
[Exeunt Cormac, Niall and Councillors].
DIARMUID. We thought we should weary of the silence of this valley but it is of their voices that we weary. Why should we listen to anything except one another. But they are gone at last, and care is gone with them, and we are alone again with ourselves and our flocks and herds. Come to the door Grania and see my black bull in the meadow. [Coming down the stage to her]. Do you not believe that care is gone with them?
GRANIA. YOU saw my father’s face as he went out. His look has put a deep care into my heart.
DIARMUID. These northern raiders will not dare to move from their galleys. They will soon sail away, and should we give up our happiness because we fear they may carry off a few score of cattle?
GRANIA. Let it be as you wish it, Diarmuid.
DIARMUID. But oath upon oath is broken. I broke my oath to Finn, and now I break the oath which binds me to take up arms against all invaders. Grania, you would like to see Tara again. You would like to see Finn again.
GRANIA. I gave up Tara for your sake, Diarmuid, and that was easier than to live in this valley.
DIARMUID. Ah, you are weary of this valley. But Finn and I are divided, Grania, as by the sea, and if the peace your father has made between us is not to be broken, Finn must leave my valley. It is for your sake, Grania, that he would have me among his Fianna again.
GRANIA. He has not seen me for seven years.
DIARMUID. TO see you once is enough, Grania.
GRANIA. I think that it is for Eri’s sake he would have you among the
Fianna again. He does not think of women. Why should a woman think of him? Have I not loved you for seven years, Diarmuid? And my father has told you that Finn is bound by an oath and that he has said, “Diarmuid has his love; let him keep her.”
DIARMUID. He will not break his oath, but he will find some way out of it. There is always treachery behind his peacemaking.
GRANIA. He made peace with Goll and that peace is still unbroken.
Yet it was Goll’s father who plundered Finn’s country and murdered his people.
DIARMUID. Goll does Finn’s bidding although he might be chief man himself. But Finn has not forgiven. Usheen saw a look in his eyes at Tara.
GRANIA. Ah, how well you remember. That was seven years ago.
DIARMUID. And when I am dead it will be Goll’s turn.
GRANIA. Unhappy brooding man, you will neither believe in Finn’s oath nor in my love.
DIARMUID. Here we have everything we sought for. But in return for this kingdom your father would have me among the Fianna again.
I thought we should live and die here, I thought our children would grow up about us here, if the gods accept my offering and give us children. [He goes up the stage]. Come, look at the sleepy evening. These evenings are better than the evenings of battle long ago, and were I among my old companions again, Usheen, Goll,
Caoelte, I should look back upon these quiet evenings when the flock came home and you gave me my supper in the dusk. [Comes down the stage]. If I were to die, Grania, would you be Finn’s wife?
GRANIA. HOW did such a thought come into your mind?
DIARMUID. My life began with you and it ends with you. Oh, that these breasts should belong to another, and the usage of this body. Life of my life, I knew you before I was born, I made a bargain with this brown hair before the beginning of time and it shall not be broken through unending time. And yet I shall sit alone upon that shore that is beyond the world — though all the gods are there, the shore shall be empty because one is not there, and I shall weep remembering how we wandered among the woods. But you say nothing Grania. You are weary of the shadows of these mountains and of the smell of the fold. It is many days since you came to my bed and it is many weeks since I have seen an ornament upon you. Your love is slipping from me, it slips away like the water in the brook. You do not answer. These silences make me afraid.
GRANIA. Then, Diarmuid, go to your old companions.
DIARMUID. My old companions? What shall I say to them?
GRANIA. You will fight shoulder to shoulder with Finn and Caoelte.
You will listen to Usheen’s harp playing, and I shall love you better when you come to me with the reek of battle upon you.
DIARMUID. We shall be again what we were to one another. You are not that Grania I wandered with among the woods.
GRANIA. You are no longer that Diarmuid who overthrew Finn at the house of the seven doors.
DIARMUID. You speak the truth, Grania. I should have gone to the
Fianna. Now it is too late.
GRANIA. Cormac cannot have reached the ford, you will overtake him.
[She goes to her chest and takes out an ornament],
DIARMUID. Who is the shepherd, Grania? I have never seen him before. Where has he come from?
GRANIA. What shepherd do you speak of?
DIARMUID. There, there in the doorway.
GRANIA. There is nobody there.
DIARMUID. He beckons me — I must follow — [He goes towards the door], I see him no longer. A mist must have come in my eyes. I see clearer now and there is no one. But I must follow.
GRANIA. Whom would you follow?
DIARMUID. I see no one now and yet there was a sudden darkening of the light and a shepherd carrying a hazel stick came into the doorway and beckoned me.
GRANIA. NO, Diarmuid, nobody has come into that doorway.
DIARMUID. Nobody came for you, but one came for me. Let me go, Grania.
GRANIA. NO, no, it is a warning that you must not go.
DIARMUID. That is not how I understand the warning. I am bidden to leave this valley. He beckoned me. I am bidden to the Fianna.
[They go out. Enter Laban, who sits down at her wheel and begins to spin. Grania enters shortly after, she stands by the door looking after Diarmuid].
GRANIA. He is like one whose mind is shaken. His thoughts are far away and I do not know what they are.
LABAN. He is brooding over that story Conan told him at Tara — it has been in his mind all day.
GRANIA. And before he left me he saw a shepherd where there was nobody.
LABAN. A shepherd with a Druid hazel stick.
GRANIA. It is better that he should live among his old companions.
He talks one moment of Finn’s crookedness; and at another of my love as if it were waning... In a few minutes, Diarmuid and Finn will meet.
