The High Deeds of Finn MacCool (17 page)

‘We have marched long and the day is hot,' said Finn. ‘I will rest a while here in the shade, for well I know that Dearmid is somewhere in the branches over our heads and cannot be escaping us while we keep the tree surrounded.'

‘Surely you are crazed with jealousy, my father,' Oisĩn protested, ‘if you think that Dearmid has waited for you, knowing that you must trail him here!'

But Finn took no notice, and called for a chess board and bade Oisĩn play with him. They played until the game reached a point at which Oisĩn thought that he was beaten. But Finn said, ‘You could win this game with one move, Oisĩn my son, but I challenge you to find what move it is.'

And Oisĩn frowned at the board and could not see any move that would help him.

Then Dearmid, who had been watching the game through the branches from his hiding place above, thought to himself, ‘Many times have you helped me, Oisĩn my sword-brother, and shall I not be helping you now?' And he plucked a single berry, and tossed it down with such skilful aim that it struck one of Oisĩn's chessmen, and bounced off to a certain square of the board. And Oisĩn moved that piece to the square where the quicken berry lay as bright as a bead of red coral, and with that move, he won the game.

And they played a second time, and again they reached a point at which Oisĩn could win the game with one move, and only one, and could not for the life of him see what the move should be. And again Dearmid dropped a berry that struck one of the
chessmen and flicked off on to a certain square of the board. And again Oisĩn moved that piece to the square where the quicken berry lay red as a hot spark – and won the game.

And a third time they played, and reached the same pass; and a third time Dearmid dropped a quicken berry, that struck and bounced off one of the pieces, and Oisĩn moved that piece to the square where the fallen berry lay red as a drop of blood, and won that game also.

‘You have become a better chess player than you used to be,' said Finn, ‘as good as Dearmid O'Dyna – or is it that Dearmid is guiding you from the branches above us?' And he flung back his angry head and shouted, ‘Are you there, then, Dearmid O'Dyna?'

And Dearmid answered, for it was against his honour to keep silence when his old Captain asked direct. ‘I am here, Finn Mac Cool, and with me the Princess Grania, my wife.'

And looking up they all saw him plainly, looking down at them through a gap in the leafy branches.

Then Grania, understanding their deadly danger, began to tremble and weep. And indeed she had good cause, for Finn now ordered his warriors to surround the tree in a circle and another circle outside that and another outside again, and so on until there was a broad band many warriors deep all about the quicken tree, hand-linked so as to leave no gap through which a hare could have escaped. And he offered fine body armour and weapons and a higher place than he already held in the Fianna to any man who would climb the tree and bring down the head of Dearmid O'Dyna.

Up sprang Garva of Slieve Cua. ‘I am your man! Dearmid's father slew my father, and now it is the time for vengeance!' And he began to climb the tree.

Now at that instant the knowledge came to Angus Ōg at Brugh-Na-Boyna that his foster-son was in deadly peril. And he spread his cloak and took the wings of the autumn wind, and the Fianna on guard about the quicken tree saw no more than a shadow as of wild swans flying overhead; but Dearmid and Grania saw to their joy and relief the tall Danann chieftain standing between them.

And as Garva, climbing from branch to branch, drew near, Dearmid struck out at him with his foot and sent him crashing to the ground. And Angus Ōg put the likeness of Dearmid upon him even as he fell, and the Fianna struck his head off almost before he reached the ground.

But a moment later a cry of grief and rage rose from them, as the body resumed its true likeness, and they knew who it was they had slain.

Then another champion came forward to climb the tree, and another and another. And each of them Dearmid and Angus dealt with in the same way, until nine headless bodies lay at the foot of the quicken tree, and Finn was half mad with grief and rage.

Then Angus said that the thing had gone on long enough, and he would take them out of that place of danger. But Dearmid replied much as he had done in the Wood of the Two Tents. ‘Let you take Grania. But as for me, I'll fight my own way out.' Then he kissed Grania tenderly, and said, ‘If I live till evening, I will follow you. And if not, then Angus my foster-father shall take you safe back to Tara.'

And Angus Ōg flung his cloak over Grania, and was gone, the Fianna seeing nothing but a moment of beating of wild swan's wings against the sky, and so bore her off to the safety of Brugh-Na-Boyna.

Left alone, Dearmid took up his spears and shouted to Finn, ‘Never was the Fianna in danger, that I did not share it. When we went to battle I went first, but came last when we left the field. But I see now that you will never turn from this hunting trail until I am slain. And why should I fear death more, now, than on some later day? Therefore I am coming down to you out of this tree; but it is fair warning I'm giving you, that I shall slay as many of the Fianna as I can lay blade to – aye, or my naked hands for that matter – before they pull me down to my death. So now, have my life if you will – and pay for it dearly with the lives of your men.'

Then young Osca spoke up. ‘Finn, my grandfather, Dearmid speaks truly of the perils he shared with you and all of us, and of his place in battle. Give him forgiveness for the ill doing that was forced upon him, for already he has suffered much.'

‘My peace and forgiveness be upon Dearmid when I have his head,' said Finn.

‘Then I, Osca, take his safety upon myself. And if any man harm Dearmid O'Dyna while he has the shelter of my shield, may the green earth open and swallow me, may the grey seas roll in and overwhelm me, may the stars of the sky fall upon me all together and crush me out of life with their weight of brightness.' And looking up into the tree he shouted, ‘Come down, Dearmid, and we will fight our way out of this together.'

But Dearmid chose the side of the tree where the men stood closest to the trunk, and walked out, hidden by the leaves and bright berry-clusters, along a thick branch, until it began to dip and sway beneath him. Then he sprang out and down, beyond the outermost circle of the waiting warriors, and leapt forward and away at such speed that in three heartbeats of time he was beyond range of their spears. And in seven heart-beats Osca was racing beside him; Osca looking back once at the Leinster Fianna with such a face that not one man dare to come after them.

So the two heroes held on their way until they came at last to Brugh-Na-Boyna and found Angus and Grania waiting for them.

As for Finn, sick with rage, he went back to the Hill of Almu, and bade his best and swiftest war-boat to be made ready and provisioned for a long voyage.

And when all was done as he had ordered, he went on board, and nothing more is known of him until he came to the Land of Promise, where his two foster-mothers now lived. He went to the one of them who had been a Druidess and possessed the Wise Craft, which folk call witchcraft nowadays, and told her all that had passed, and begged her help. ‘For,' said he, ‘it is beyond the strength and cunning of men to slay this Dearmid. Nothing save magic can touch him.'

‘Whatever you wish done, I will do, and whoever you wish harmed, I will harm, for your sake,' said the Witch-Woman. ‘For are you not my fosterling? And do I not love you better than ever woman loved child of her own?'

And next day she returned with him to Erin, to
Brugh-Na-Boyna, and no man saw them come, for she flung about them a magic mist, such as the Druid-kind were used to weave.

It chanced, that day, that Dearmid hunted in the woods alone, for Osca, having companied with him till he was in seeming safety, had returned to his place among the Fian chiefs. And when the Witch-Woman knew this she took a water-lily leaf and made a singing magic over it, so that it became a broad flat millstone with a hole in the centre. And seating herself on this, she rose into the air, floating over the treetops until she came directly over where Dearmid was. Then, standing up on the millstone, she began to aim poisoned darts at him through the hole in the middle of it. The darts pierced Dearmid's hunting leathers and his light shield as though they had been made of rotten birch bark, and each dart carried in its barbed point the sting of a hundred angry hornets, so that Dearmid in his agony, knew that unless he could slay the witch, and quickly, he must surely die. Then he seized the Ga-Derg, his great spear, and leaning far back, launched it upward with such deadly aim that it passed through the hole in the millstone and through the Witch-Woman's body as she leaned forward to hurl another dart, and with a shriek, she fell dead at his feet.

And he twisted one hand in her long tangled grey hair, and struck off her head, and took it back to Brugh-Na-Boyna, and told Angus and Grania what had passed.

Then Angus judged that the time had come at last, when Finn Mac Cool might be ready to make peace. And the next morning he rose and went to the Fian
Captain on the Hill of Almu and asked him if he would not now bury the feud.

And Finn, seeing that even witchcraft seemed unable to slay Dearmid, and that the quarrel had cost the lives of many of his men, and now even the life of his foster-mother, felt suddenly old and weary, and agreed to make peace.

Then Angus went to Tara, to Cormac Mac Art, and asked if he too would give Dearmid peace and pardon for taking the Princess Grania. And Cormac pulled his beard and said that it was hard to make peace with the man who had carried off the daughter of his house from her rightfully betrothed husband but none the less, he would do it, if Cairbri his son who would be King after him, was of the same mind.

And Cairbri, who already hated Finn in his heart for his power in the land, and had been angry with a deep and secret anger, that his sister should be given in marriage to the Fian Captain and so increase his power, said, ‘The quarrel was never mine, and I had sooner have one Dearmid than twenty Finn Mac Cools for marriage-kin. I give neither peace nor pardon, for I never broke the one, and I see no need of the other. Tell Dearmid that I am no more and no less his friend than I always have been.'

So Angus Ōg went back to Dearmid his foster-son and said, ‘Peace is better than war. Will you now have peace from Finn Mac Cool and from Cormac the High King, and believe that Cairbri who will be High King after him is no more and no less your friend than he always has been?'

‘Gladly will I do so!' said Dearmid. ‘But let them
grant me conditions that befit a champion of the Fianna and the husband of the Princess Grania.'

‘And what conditions are those?'

‘The lands that were my father's – the Holding of O'Dyna without rent or tribute to King or High King, and the Holding of Ben Damis in Leinster. These from Finn, and neither he nor the Fianna shall hunt over them without my leave. And from the High King, the Holding of Kesh-Carron as a dowry for his daughter.'

Finn and Cormac both agreed; and so the peace was made between them.

So Dearmid and Grania built themselves a home in Kesh-Carron, far from the places where the kings and heroes gathered. And there they lived happily enough, and Grania bore four sons to Dearmid. And Dearmid grew rich in cattle, and all went well with them for many years.

One day Finn and Oisĩn and a small company of the Fianna rode hunting among the lakes of Killarney. There were new faces among Finn's hunting companions, and some of the old ones lacking. Goll Mac Morna, his faithful friend ever since that morning on the ramparts of Tara, when he had accepted the new Fian Captain, had died the winter before, and Finn missed the grim old one-eyed champion so that even the joys of the hunt seemed a littled dulled because Goll was not hunting beside him.

But the early summer morning was as fair as a morning of the Land of Youth, the dew lying grey on the grass, save where the rising sun made rainbows in it; the thorn trees curdled white with honey-scented blossom, and the small birds singing to draw the heart out of the breast. The deer fled from the thickets and the hounds followed them in full cry, their trail-music at last stirring even Finn's heart to gladness.

But they had not long been at their hunting, when they saw a horse and rider coming towards them from the West, and as they drew nearer, the waiting Fianna saw before them a maiden mounted on a white steed. She drew rein as she came up with them, and the whole hunting party stood amazed. For never before had any of them seen a sight so lovely. Her yellow hair was bound back by a slender golden diadem from a
forehead as white as windflowers; her eyes were blue as the morning sky and clear as the dew sparkling on the fern fronds. Her mantle was of brown silk scattered with a skyful of golden stars, and fell from her shoulders to brush the ground. Her white horse was shod with pure yellow gold, his proud neck arching as a wave in the instant before it breaks; and she sat him more gracefully than a white swan on the waters of Killarney.