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

valleys; there is great longing on me to see one of my

kindred from the host.

 

"I left my own people that were brighter than lime or snow; their heart

was full of generosity to me, like the sun that is high above us; but

now they follow me angrily, to every harbour and every strand.

 

"I lost my people by you, and my lord, and my large bright ships on

every sea; I lost my treasure and my gold; it is hunger you gave me

through your love.

 

"I lost my country and my kindred; my men that were used to serve me; I

lost quietness and affection; I lost the men of Ireland and the Fianna

entirely.

 

"I lost delight and music; I lost my own right doing and my honour; I

lost the Fianna of Ireland, my great kinsmen, for the sake of the love

you gave me.

 

"O Grania, white as snow, it would have been a better choice for you to

have given hatred to me, or gentleness to the Head of the Fianna."

 

And Grania said: "O Diarmuid of the face like snow, or like the down of

the mountains, the sound of your voice was dearer to me than all the

riches of the leader of the Fianna.

 

"Your blue eye is dearer to me than his strength, and his gold and his

great hall; the love-spot on your forehead is better to me than honey in

streams; the time I first looked on it, it was more to me than the whole

host of the King of Ireland.

 

"My heart fell down there and then before your high beauty; when you

came beside me, it was like the whole of life in one day.

 

"O Diarmuid of the beautiful hands, take me now the same as before; it

was with me the fault was entirely; give me your promise not to leave

me."

 

But Diarmuid said: "How can I take you again, you are a woman too fond

of words; one day you give up the Head of the Fianna, and the next day

myself, and no lie in it.

 

"It is you parted me from Finn, the way I fell under sorrow and grief;

and then you left me yourself, the time I was full of affection."

 

And Grania said: "Do not leave me now this way, and my love for you ever

growing like the fresh branches of the tree with the kind long heat of

the day."

 

But Diarmuid would not give in to her, and he said: "You are a woman

full of words, and it is you have put me under sorrow. I took you with

myself, and you struck at me for the sake of the man of the Fomor."

 

They came then to a place where there was a cave, and water running by

it, and they stopped to rest; and Grania said: "Have you a mind to eat

bread and meat now, Diarmuid?"

 

"I would eat it indeed if I had it," said Diarmuid.

 

"Give me a knife, so," she said, "till I cut it." "Look for the knife in

the sheath where you put it yourself," said Diarmuid.

 

She saw then that the knife was in his thigh where she had struck it,

for he would not draw it out himself. So she drew it out then; and that

was the greatest shame that ever came upon her.

 

They stopped then in the cave. And the next day when they went on again,

Diarmuid did not leave unbroken bread like he had left every other day

as a sign to Finn that he had kept his faith with him, but it was broken

bread he left after him.

 

CHAPTER VI. (THE WANDERERS)

And they went on wandering after that, all through Ireland, hiding from

Finn in every place, sleeping under the cromlechs, or with no shelter at

all, and there was no place they would dare to stop long in. And

wherever they went Finn would follow them, for he knew by his divination

where they went. But one time he made out they were on a mountain, for

he saw them with heather under them; and it was beside the sea they

were, asleep on heather that Diarmuid had brought down from the hills

for their bed; and so he went searching the hills and did not find them.

 

And Grania would be watching over Diarmuid while he slept, and she would

make a sleepy song for him, and it is what she would be saying:

 

"Sleep a little, a little little, for there is nothing at all to fear,

Diarmuid, grandson of Duibhne; sleep here soundly, soundly, Diarmuid, to

whom I have given my love.

 

"It is I will keep watch for you, grandchild of shapely Duibhne; sleep a

little, a blessing on you, beside the well of the strong field; my lamb

from above the lake, from the banks of the strong streams.

 

"Let your sleep be like the sleep in the South, of Dedidach of the high

poets, the time he took away old Morann's daughter, for all Conall could

do against him.

 

"Let your sleep be like the sleep in the North, of fair comely

Fionnchadh of Ess Ruadh, the time he took Slaine with bravery as we

think, in spite of Failbhe of the Hard Head.

 

"Let your sleep be like the sleep in the West, of Aine, daughter of

Gailian, the time she went on a journey in the night with Dubhthach from

Doirinis, by the light of torches.

 

"Let your sleep be like the sleep in the East, of Deaghadh the proud,

the brave fighter, the time he took Coincheann, daughter of Binn, in

spite of fierce Decheall of Duibhreann.

 

"O heart of the valour of the lands to the west of Greece, my heart

will go near to breaking if I do not see you every day. The parting of

us two will be the parting of two children of the one house; it will be

the parting of life from the body, Diarmuid, hero of the bright lake of

Carman."

 

And then to rouse him she would make another song, and it is what she

would say: "Caoinche will be loosed on your track; it is not slow the

running of Caoilte will be; do not let death reach to you, do not give

yourself to sleep for ever.

 

"The stag to the east is not asleep, he does not cease from bellowing;

though he is in the woods of the blackbirds, sleep is not in his mind;

the hornless doe is not asleep, crying after her speckled fawn; she is

going over the bushes, she does not sleep in her home.

 

"The cuckoo is not asleep, the thrush is not asleep, the tops of the

trees are a noisy place; the duck is not asleep, she is made ready for

good swimming; the bog lark is not asleep to-night on the high stormy

bogs; the sound of her clear voice is sweet; she is not sleeping between

the streams."

 

One time they were in a cave of Beinn Edair, and there was an old woman

befriending them and helping them to keep a watch. And one day she

chanced to go up to the top of Beinn Edair, and she saw an armed man

coming towards her, and she did now know him to be Finn; and when he was

come near she asked what was he looking for. "It is looking for a woman

I am come," he said, "and for a woman's love. And will you do all I will

ask you?" he said.

 

"I will do that," she said; for she thought it was her own love he was

asking.

 

"Tell me then," he said, "where is Diarmuid, grandson of Duibhne?"

 

So she told him where he was hiding, and he bade her to keep him in the

cave till such time as he would come back with his men.

 

The old woman went back then, and it is what she did, she dipped her

cloak in the sea-water before she went into the cave; and Diarmuid asked

her why was her cloak so wet. "It is," she said, "that I never saw or

never heard of the like of this day for cold and for storms. There is

frost on every hillside," she said, "and there is not a smooth plain in

all Elga where there is not a long rushing river between every two

ridges. And there is not a deer or a crow in the whole of Ireland can

find a shelter in any place." And she was shaking the wet off her cloak,

and she was making a complaint against the cold, and it is what she

said:

 

"Cold, cold, cold to-night is the wide plain of Lurg; the snow is higher

than the mountains, the deer cannot get at their share of food.

 

"Cold for ever; the storm is spread over all; every furrow on the

hillside is a river, every ford is a full pool, every full loch is a

great sea; every pool is a full loch; horses cannot go through the ford

of Ross any more than a man on his two feet.

 

"The fishes of Inisfail are going astray; there is no strand or no pen

against the waves; there are no dwellings in the country, there is no

bell heard, no crane is calling.

 

"The hounds of the wood of Cuan find no rest or no sleep in their

dwelling-place; the little wren cannot find shelter in her nest on the

slope of Lon.

 

"A sharp wind and cold ice have come on the little company of birds; the

blackbird cannot get a ridge to her liking or shelter for her side in

the woods of Cuan.

 

"It is steady our great pot hangs from its hook; it is broken the cabin

is on the slope of Lon; the snow has made the woods smooth, it is hard

to climb to the ridge of Bennait Bo.

 

"The ancient bird of Glen Ride gets grief from the bitter wind; it is

great is her misery and her pain, the ice will be in her mouth.

 

"Mind well not to rise up from coverings and from down, mind this well;

there would be no good sense in it. Ice is heaped up in every ford; it

is for that I am saying and ever saying 'Cold.'"

 

The old woman went out after that, and when she was gone, Grania took

hold of the cloak she had left there and she put her tongue to it, and

found the taste of salt water on it. "My grief, Diarmuid," she said

then, "the old woman has betrayed us. And rise up now," she said, "and

put your fighting suit upon you."

 

So Diarmuid did that, and he went out, and Grania along with him. And no

sooner were they outside than they saw Finn and the Fianna of Ireland

coming towards them. Then Diarmuid looked around him and he saw a little

boat at hand in the shelter of the harbour, and he himself and Grania

went into it. And there was a man before them in the boat having

beautiful clothes on him, and a wide embroidered golden-yellow cloak

over his shoulders behind. And they knew it was Angus was in it, that

had come again to help them to escape from Finn, and they went back with

him for a while to Brugh na Boinne, and Osgar came to them there.

 

CHAPTER