The High Deeds of Finn MacCool (10 page)

Before him spread woods and thickets of fair and shady trees ringing with birdsong, and cool to the ear with the sound of running streams. And beyond the woods showed level grasslands gay with flowers of white and crimson and blue and yellow. Dearmid looked about him, and seeing still no sign of the Giolla Dacker or his horse, he thought that his best course was to walk straight on through the woods, for maybe in the open land on the far side he would find people who could tell him where to look for them.

So he left the cliff behind him and took to the trees, walking straight on, so far as he could judge his direction among their slender trunks and mazy branches, until at last he came out on the other side. And there ahead of him in the midst of a green meadow as smooth as a lawn, he saw a tall broad-headed apple tree heavy with fruit. Nine standing stones made a circle about it, and close beside it, in the centre of the circle, stood another stone, taller than all the rest. At the foot of this tallest stone, a spring of clear water bubbled up and flowed away in a looping stream across the meadow.

Dearmid was hot and thirsty after his climb, and he hurried towards the spring, and knelt to cup the water in his hands and drink. But as his lips touched the water he heard a low menacing murmur, the jink of weapons, the heavy tramp of feet, as though a whole war host were coming upon him across the plain. He let the water run back through his fingers, and starting up, looked about him. But the sounds had stopped on the instant, and there was nothing to be seen.

He stooped to drink again, and again came the sounds of an approaching war host. A second time Dearmid sprang up and looked all about him, and saw nothing, no one. But this time, chancing to glance up to the top of the pillar-stone, he saw lying there a beautiful speckled drinking horn, bound and rimmed with yellow gold and curiously enriched with jewels and coloured enamels.

‘Maybe the well will not allow any man to drink its waters except from this horn,' thought Dearmid, and he reached up and took down the horn, dipped it into the water, and drank. This time he heard no sound of an advancing war host, but no sooner had he drained the last drop, then he saw coming towards him a tall man in a cloak of poppy red. A band of red gold held his dark hair back from from his forehead, and under it his face was dark with anger, so that he seemed altogther black-bloomed like a thunder cloud.

‘Dearmid O'Dyna,' said the strange champion, ‘is not Erin green and wide enough, and running with streams enough for your drinking, that you must come here into my broad green country, and take my drinking horn and drink from my well?'

‘Surely this is a sorry welcome!' Dearmid said.

‘You should not insult your host by making free with his hospitality if you want a better!' said the champion, and advanced on Dearmid with his sword out. Dearmid met him half-way, his own sword in his hand, and knee to knee, they fought like antler-locked stags in the autumn season.

All that day they fought, neither gaining any advantage over the other; all day till evening came. And as the sun was sinking, suddenly the champion sprang backward into the very centre of the pool and sank from sight, as though the spring had swallowed him.

Dearmid, very weary, stood on the brink, leaning on his sword and staring at the place where the champion had disappeared. Then (for he knew the ways of the Danann People), he spread his cloak under the apple tree, and lay down to sleep, until the champion of the spring, who had gone with the sun should come back with the sun again.

When he woke, the sun was just showing above the edge of the world, and already the champion of the spring stood ready beside the tall pillar-stone.

All that day they fought, as they had fought the day before, and at sunset, just as before, the champion sprang backward into the pool and sank from sight, and Dearmid spread his cloak under the apple tree and slept until sunrise. The third day it all happened just as before, and each morning the champion looked more darkly terrible than he had done the previous evening. But as the fourth day drew to a close, Dearmid was well prepared, and as the dark champion made his backward leap, the Fian warrior sprang
forward and flung his arms round him so that they sank together.

Down and down they went, the light growing small like a green bubble overhead, into a darkness that was full of strange shifting shadows. Dearmid felt the shadows brushing against him though he could not see them, and it seemed to him that they had been sinking for long years of time and must go on sinking for ever, when he saw another green bubble, beneath their feet this time, very small but growing larger as they sank towards it. Then it was as though they pricked the bubble with their feet, and it burst, and in place of the evening light that they had left behind, the cool light of morning flooded in upon them, and they were standing on solid ground once more.

The instant their feet touched the ground, the dark champion tore himself away from Dearmid's grasp and rushed away. Dearmid would have followed, but the weariness and the wounds of his four day's fighting suddenly rose up and engulfed him, and before he had taken three paces, he sank to the ground and into the deepest and purest and most refreshing sleep that he had known since he was a boy, with the Boyne singing to him all night long as it flowed past his sleeping place.

He was awakened by a light blow on the shoulder, and opened his eyes to see a young man with hair that clung close about his head and neck like a helmet of red gold, an air of command about him such as marked the greatest of the Fian Chiefs in Erin, and in his hand a naked sword. Dearmid sprang to his feet and reached for his own sword, but the young man smiled, and sheathed his blade.

‘I am no enemy. I touched you with the flat of my blade to rouse you, for you are sleeping in a dangerous place. Come with me and you shall find somewhere better and safer to have your sleep out.'

‘This is a better welcome than I had from another warrior a while back,' said Dearmid, and he and the young man set out together.

If the world above on the island had seemed fair, the world through which Dearmid now walked was fairer still; the birdsong sweeter, the colours of leaf and flower so brilliant that they glimmered as though formed of rainbow light. After a while they came to a splendid dun, whose white walls seemed to shine of themselves as white flowers do at twilight, and where apple trees clustered about the outer walls carrying silver blossom and golden fruit at the same time. They went in, and the young man led Dearmid by side ways that avoided the crowded courts and all the places where people were, to an inner chamber somewhere behind the hall. It seemed that he was the lord of the dun, for when he shouted for servants to heat up water in the biggest cauldron and make all ready for a guest-bath, they came running to do his will; and in no time at all the fire was blown up, and soft linen towels and jars of sweet-smelling unguents were brought in while the water was heating in a great bronze cauldron. When it was hot enough and swung clear of the fire, the young man himself scattered into it balsams and healing herbs, so that when Dearmid stepped into it, instantly his wounds knit up and his weariness fell away from him, and when he had bathed, and stepped out again, he felt as though he had never been weary in all his life and could never be weary in all the rest
of it. Meanwhile the lord of the dun had caused Dearmid's tattered and battle-stained clothes to be gathered up and thrown away, and a fine shirt of saffron silk with breeks of the softest chequered stuff and a mantle of crimson silk to be brought in their place. And while Dearmid put them on, they talked together.

‘Forgive me if I am asking many questions,' Dearmid said. ‘So many strange things have chanced that the very ground seems unsure beneath my feet, and not until I know the who and the where and the why of it, will the ground grow solid again.'

‘Ask then, and I will forgive the number of the questions,' said the lord of the dun, smiling.

‘What land is this, then? And who was the champion I fought with through four days, at the pool? And, young lord, who are you, who give me the hospitality of your house?'

The other laughed. ‘That is three questions to be going on with, and I will answer each in turn. This land is Tir-fa-Thonn, the Land under the Sea, and the champion who you fought with at the pool is its King. As for myself, I am the King's brother – look, and you will remember me, for not long since I took service for a year and a day with Finn Mac Cool, though indeed I served but little of the agreed time.'

As he spoke, he gazed fixedly at Dearmid, and Dearmid returning the gaze, seemed to see someone else forming behind his eyes: a huge fat man with bow legs and a face all over hair, and him dragging a hideous old black horse behind him.

‘Why, you – you are the Giolla Dacker!'

‘I am indeed,' said the Prince.

‘Then here is another question for you. Where are the fifteen of my Fian brothers who you carried off on the back and clinging to the tail of your horse?'

‘Safe and well, as you shall see in a while when we gather for this evening's feasting in my hall.'

‘And why were you carrying them off at all?'

‘Because I had need of them, and of you and the rest of the war-boat's crew that I knew Finn Mac Cool would bring seeking them.'

‘What need would that be?' demanded Dearmid.

‘Half this kingdom is mine by right, but when our father left the kingship, my brother, who was older and stronger than I, seized my heritage along with his own. But here with me I have seven score heroes who are loyal to me, and here, also, see, I have summoned the very flower of the warriors of Erin. With your help, if you will but give it to me, I shall win back my kingdom and all that was reft from me by my brother. And after, each and every one of you shall claim from me whatever you most desire.'

‘For myself, it is a bargain,' Dearmid said. ‘My comrades must speak for themselves.'

So Dearmid and the Prince of Tir-fa-Thonn struck hands as men sealing a bargain, and swore faith and loyalty, each to the other.

Meanwhile Finn and the rest of the Fianna who had sailed with him, having waited five days for Dearmid's return, determined to go in search of him. They took all the cables and ropes in the ship, and knotted them together until they had a rope long enough to reach from the bottom to the top of the cliff. Then the two best climbers among them went up the cliff-face,
following the way that Dearmid had taken, and carrying the end of the rope with them. And reaching the top at last, they made fast the rope to a jut of rock, so that the rest could climb after them.

When the last warrior was standing safely on the cliff-top grass, they set out through the woods, just as Dearmid had done, but they came out at another point, and so never saw the magic spring that had led Dearmid to his adventure. Instead, they came to a cave among the last of the trees, and since the sun was sinking, they entered it to see if it would make a good shelter for the night.

‘It looks both warm and dry,' said Finn, ‘but it is never well to sleep in such a place without first finding the far end, lest any danger lurk in the further depths.' So they went in further – and further – and further still, but the cave went on and on, seemingly without any end at all. And they were just about to give up and turn back to camp in the open, when they saw daylight glimmering far ahead of them. So they pushed on towards it, but whereas they had left behind them the honey-glow of sunset, they stepped out from the cave into a cool clear flood of early morning light.

‘That is strange,' said Finn. ‘We have not been a whole night in the cave, I am as sure of that as I am that the High King of Erin holds his court at Tara.'

But the others were already looking ahead of them, to where at some distance they could see the white walls of a dun on its hill set among apple trees on which the blossom shone silver while the apples were already golden.

On the green grass before the dun, warriors were at practice with swords and shields and spears, and as they drew nearer they saw that among them were Dearmid and the fifteen who had been carried off by the Giolla Dacker. These saw them at the same instant, and set up a great shout, and tossing up their spears came running to meet them.

Great was the gladness and rejoicing on both sides. Then Dearmid brought Finn and his comrades back to the warriors on the practice-ground, and the seven score tall Danann warriors greeted them with courtesy, both they and their women, all in mantles of scarlet silk, who had come out to watch the warrior-play. And at the head of the warriors came the Prince himself, to bid them welcome.

So Finn and the war-boat's crew heard, as the others had done already, the story of why they had been drawn out of Erin to Tir-fa Thonn, and each and every one of them struck hands with the Prince and swore to keep faith with him in the fighting which was to come. And that evening they feasted royally in the Prince's hall, Fian and Danann warriors together, eating from the same dish and drinking from the same wine cup, while the leaping harp-notes hummed under the rafters, as sweetly as the notes of the Dagda's harp itself in the green years when the three Worlds were young.

And next morning, with Finn and the Prince at their head, Fian and Danann warriors together marched out to attack the royal dun.

But Dearmid's old enemy had had word of their march from his scouts, and advanced to meet them. So they came together midway. And the King's war
host was many times greater than the war host of the Prince his brother. But the Prince's war host had in it one-and-thirty champions of the Fianna of Erin.

When the two war hosts came in sight of each other, they checked, and drew up their battle line facing each other across a shallow valley, and in the same instant the war horns of Tir-fa-Thonn sang from one side of the valley, and on the other, Finn tossed up his spear glittering in the sunlight, and shouted the Dord Fian, the Fian war cry that was taken up by every voice in the Prince's war host, Danann as well as Fian, and the two battle lines rolled towards each other, while the white dust rose above the warriors and the spear-points rose above the dust.