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

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 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." "That 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," 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 get 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 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 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 from 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 king's 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 Diarmuid 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.

 

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 Feman 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