Gods and Fighting Men, Lady I. A Gregory [best e books to read TXT] 📗

all by their names. And

they saw no one in the house but the old man and a young girl and a cat.

And the old man bade the girl to make food ready for the Fianna of

Ireland, for there was great hunger on them.

 

And when the food was ready and put on the table, there came a great

wether that was fastened up in the back of the house, and he rose up on

the table where they were eating, and when they saw that, they looked at

one another. "Rise up, Conan," said Goll, "and fasten that wether in

the place it was before." Conan rose up and took hold of it, but the

wether gave itself a shake that threw Conan under one of its feet. The

rest were looking at that, and Goll said: "Let you rise up, Diarmuid,

and fasten up the wether." So Diarmuid rose up and took hold of it, but

it gave itself a shake the same way as before; and when Diarmuid was

down it put one of its feet on him. Goll and Osgar looked at one another

then, and shame came on them, a wether to have done so much as that. And

Osgar got up, but the wether put him down under one of his feet, so that

it had now the three men under him. Then Goll rose up and took hold of

it and threw it down; but if he did, it rose up again in spite of him,

and put Goll under his fourth foot.

 

"It is a great shame," said the old man then, "the like of that to be

done to the Fianna of Ireland. And rise up now, cat," he said, "and tie

the wether in the place where he was." The cat rose up then and took

hold of the wether, and brought it over and tied it in its place at the

end of the house.

 

The men rose up then, but they had no mind to go on eating, for there

was shame on them at what the wether had done to them. "You may go on

eating," said the old man; "and when you are done I will show you that

now you are the bravest men of the world." So they ate their fill then,

and the old man spoke to them, and it is what he said: "Goll," he said,

"you are the bravest of all the men of the world, for you have wrestled

with the world and you threw it down. The strength of the world is in

the wether, but death will come to the world itself; and that is death,"

he said, showing them the cat.

 

They were talking together then, and they had their food eaten, and the

old man said their beds were ready for them that they could go to sleep.

The four of them went then into the one room, and when they were in

their beds the young girl came to sleep in the same room with them, and

the light of her beauty was shining on the walls like as if it was the

light of a candle.

 

And when Conan saw her he went over to the side of the bed where she

was.

 

Now, it was Youth the young girl was, and when she saw Conan coming to

her: "Go back to your bed, Conan," she said; "I belonged to you once,

and I will never belong to you again." Conan went back to his bed then,

and Osgar had a mind to go over where she was. Then she said to him:

"Where are you going?" "I am going over to yourself for a while," said

he.

 

"Go back again, Osgar," she said; "I belonged to you once, and I will

never belong to you again."

 

Then Diarmuid rose up to go to her: "Where are you going, Diarmuid?" she

said. "I am going over to yourself for a while," said he. "O Diarmuid,"

she said, "that cannot be; I belonged to you once, and I can never

belong to you again; but come over here to me, Diarmuid," she said, "and

I will put a love-spot on you, that no woman will ever see without

giving you her love." So Diarmuid went over to her, and she put her hand

on his forehead, and she left the love-spot there, and no woman that

ever saw him after that was able to refuse him her love.

 

CHAPTER III. (THE DAUGHTER OF KING UNDER-WAVE)

One snowy night of winter the Fianna were come into the house after

their hunting. And about midnight they heard a knocking at the door, and

there came in a woman very wild and ugly, and her hair hanging to her

heels. She went to the place Finn was lying, and she asked him to let

her in under the border of his covering. But when he saw her so strange

and so ugly and so wild-looking he would not let her in. She gave a

great cry then, and she went to where Oisin was, and asked him to let

her shelter under the border of his covering. But Oisin refused her the

same way. Then she gave another great scream, and she went over where

Diarmuid was. "Let me in," she said, "under the border of your

covering." Diarmuid looked at her, and he said: "You are strange-looking

and wild and ugly, and your hair is down to your heels. But come in for

all that," he said.

 

So she came in under the border of his covering.

 

"O Diarmuid," she said then, "I have been travelling over sea and ocean

through the length of seven years, and in all that time I never got

shelter any night till this night. And let me to the warmth of the fire

now," she said. So Diarmuid brought her over to the fire, and all the

Fianna that were sitting there went away from it seeing her so ugly and

so dreadful to look at. And she was not long at the fire when she said:

"Let me go under the warmth of the covering with you now." "It is asking

too much you are," said Diarmuid; "first it was to come under the border

you asked, and then to come to the fire, and now it is under the

bed-covering with me you want to be. But for all that you may come," he

said.

 

So she came in under the covering, and he turned a fold of it between

them. But it was not long till he looked at her, and what he saw was a

beautiful young woman beside him, and she asleep. He called to the

others then to come over, and he said: "Is not this the most beautiful

woman that ever was seen?" "She is that," they said, and they covered

her up and did not awaken her.

 

But after a while she stirred, and she said: "Are you awake, Diarmuid?"

"I am awake," he said. "Where would you like to see the best house

built that ever was built?" she said. "Up there on the hillside, if I

had my choice," said he, and with that he fell asleep.

 

And in the morning two men of the Fianna came in, and they said they

were after seeing a great house up on the hill, where there was not a

house before. "Rise up, Diarmuid," said the strange woman then; "do not

be lying there any longer, but go up to your house, and look out now and

see it," she said. So he looked out and he saw the great house that was

ready, and he said: "I will go to it, if you will come along with me."

"I will do that," she said, "if you will make me a promise not to say to

me three times what way I was when I came to you." "I will never say it

to you for ever," said Diarmuid.

 

They went up then to the house, and it was ready for them, with food and

servants; and everything they could wish for they had it. They stopped

there for three days, and when the three days were ended, she said: "You

are getting to be sorrowful because you are away from your comrades of

the Fianna." "I am not sorrowful indeed," said Diarmuid. "It will be

best for you to go to them; and your food and your drink will be no

worse when you come back than they are now," said she. "Who will take

care of my greyhound bitch and her three pups if I go?" said Diarmuid.

"There is no fear for them," said she.

 

So when he heard that, he took leave of her and went back to the Fianna,

and there was a great welcome before him. But for all that they were not

well pleased but were someway envious, Diarmuid to have got that grand

house and her love from the woman they themselves had turned away.

 

Now as to the woman, she was outside the house for a while after

Diarmuid going away, and she saw Finn, son of Cumhal, coming towards

her, and she bade him welcome. "You are vexed with me, Queen?" he said.

"I am not indeed," she said; "and come in now and take a drink of wine

from me." "I will go in if I get my request," said Finn. "What request

is there that you would not get?" said she. "It is what I am asking, one

of the pups of Diarmuid's greyhound bitch." "That is no great thing to

ask," she said; "and whichever one you choose of them you may bring it

away."

 

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."

 

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.