The High Deeds of Finn MacCool Page 12

  ‘Finn the son of Cool the son of Trenmor O’Bascna; and with me the Leinster Fianna,’ came back the voice of Finn himself. ‘Open the door and come out to me now, and we will carve your flesh from your sinews and your sinews from your bones.’

  ‘This is my chosen door!’ cried Dearmid. And he bent himself on to his spears and sprang aloft in a mighty hero’s leap, out over the stockade and over the waiting warriors beyond, and with another bound was beyond reach of their weapons while they were still too shaken with surprise to follow.

  Then he sped away southward, never halting until he reached the Wood of the Two Sallows, near Limerick.

  And there he found Angus and Grania in a warm hut, roasting a wild boar on hazel spits over a blazing fire. Grania sprang up with a cry of joy when he appeared, and ran to fling her arms about him and draw him to the fire. So they ate their fill, and slept in peace until morning. Then Angus rose with the green dawn full of birdsong, and took his leave of them. ‘Finn will never be turned aside from his vengeance,’ said he, ‘for he grows old, and it is bitter for an old man to lose his bride to a young one. Therefore remember this advice which I leave you. Go not into a tree with only one trunk, nor into a cave with only one opening. Where you cook your food, do not bide to eat it in the same place, and where you eat, do not bide to sleep. And where you sleep tonight, do not sleep tomorrow night.’

  When Angus was gone, Dearmid and Grania went on westward till they reached the Stream of the Champions. Here they rested, and Dearmid speared a salmon, and built a fire on the near bank and fixed the salmon on hazel rods to broil. And when it was cooked, he carried both it and Grania across to the further bank before they ate. And when the meal was done, they moved further west before lying down to sleep, for they remembered the warning of Angus Ōg.

  So they went on, moving always about and about the country, and never settling half a day in one place lest Finn should come up with them, until at last they came to the Forest of Dooros in the district of Hi Ficna in Sligo, which was guarded by a giant named Sharvan the Surly.

  Now this is how Sharvan the Surly came to have the Forest of Dooros under his guardianship.

  Once, the Dananns and the Fianna played a game of hurley together among the lakes of Killarney. They played for three days and three nights, and neither could win a single goal from the other. And at the end of that time, the Dananns, finding that they could not overcome the Fianna, abandoned the game and went northward in a body.

  The Dananns had for food during the game and the journey, crimson nuts and arbutus apples and scarlet quicken berries, which they had brought with them from the Land of Promise. These were magic, and the Dananns took great care that no nut nor apple nor berry should touch the mortal soil of Erin. But as they were going through the Forest of Dooros, a single scarlet quicken berry fell to the ground unnoticed.

  From this berry grew a mighty quicken tree, and it with as much magic to it as ever there was to a quicken tree of Fairyland, for the berries tasted like honey, and if a man were a hundred and sixty years old, he had only to eat three of the berries to return to his prime.

  When the Dananns found what had happened, they sent a giant of their own people, Sharvan the Surly, to keep guard on it so that no mortal man should eat the magic berries.

  Sharvan made a powerful protector for the tree; he was huge and strong and very ugly with only one eye, and that a fiery red one in the middle of his forehead. And he was so skilled in magic arts fire could not burn him, water could not drown him and weapon could not wound him. Indeed the only way he could be killed at all was by three blows with his own iron-bound club. All day he sat at the foot of the tree, and at night he slept in a hut high in its branches.

  In this land, Dearmid knew that he and Grania might be safe from Finn, for Sharvan allowed no one, especially the Fianna, to hunt in the Forest of Dooros. So leaving Grania in hiding at a safe distance, he went boldly to Sharvan sitting at the foot of the quicken tree, and asked his leave to live in Dooros, and hunt there for himself and his woman.

  The giant turned his one red eye on him, and answered shortly and harshly that he might live and hunt where he pleased so long as he never made a single move to touch a single berry of the quicken tree.

  So Dearmid built a hunting bothie, and set up a stockade round it, and there for a while he and Grania lived in peace and safety.

  Finn did not abandon his pursuit of them, but he let it lie for a while, and went back to his own place, to Almu of the White Walls.

  And there came to him one day two splendid-seeming young warriors, who bowed low before him, and when he asked what brought them to Almu, the eldest said, ‘I am Angus the son of Art Mac Morna, and here beside me is Aedh the son of Andala Mac Morna. Our fathers fought against yours in the battle of Cnucha, for which, later, you slew them and outlawed us their sons, which was scarcely just, seeing that our fathers were but boys in the fighting-time, and we were not born until many years after the battle. But now we have come to ask that you make peace with us and give us our fathers’ places in the ranks of the Fianna.’

  ‘That I will do’, said Finn, ‘but first you shall pay me the death-fine for my father.’

  ‘Gladly would we pay, if we could,’ said the young men, ‘but we have neither gold nor silver nor cattle.’

  And Finn said, ‘The fine that I ask is not of gold, or silver, or cattle.’

  ‘Of what, then, great Captain?’

  ‘I ask only one of two things. The head of Dearmid O’Dyna, or a handful of berries from the Fairy quicken tree that grows in the Forest of Dooros!’

  ‘I have good counsel for you,’ said Oisĩn, standing by his father’s side, and he spoke kindly. ‘Go back to the place you came from, and forget that ever you came seeking peace with Finn Mac Cool and places in the Fianna.’

  ‘We would rather die in seeking this death-fine which the Fian Lord demands, than go back to the place we came from, defeated before even making the trial.’

  So they set out. They found the Wood of the Two Sallows, and from there they followed the trail to the Forest of Dooros, and so came at last to the hunting bothie.

  Dearmid, inside with Grania, heard their voices, and snatching up his spear, went to the door and demanded who was there.

  ‘We are Angus son of Art Mac Morna, and Aedh the son of Andala Mac Morna. And we come from Almu of the White Walls to get for Finn Mac Cool the head of Dearmid O’Dyna, or a handful of berries from the quicken tree of Dooros, for that is the death-fine he demands of us because our fathers had a hand in the slaying of his father.’

  Dearmid laughed, but somewhat grimly. ‘Alas! I am Dearmid O’Dyna, and I’ll not be giving you my head, for I’ve a use for it myself. And as for the berries, they will be as hard to come by as my head, for you will have to fight the giant Sharvan for them, he who can neither be burned in the fire nor drowned with water nor wounded with blade. But since you must be taking one or the other, which will you try for first?’

  ‘We will try first for your head.’

  So they made ready for the fight. They agreed to fight with their bare hands, and laid aside their weapons. And they agreed that if the Sons of Clan Morna were the winners, they should have Dearmid’s head to take back to Finn, and if Dearmid won, he should have their heads to hang on the roof beam of his bothie.

  They then set to, but the fight was a short one, and though Dearmid took them both together, they were soon overcome and at his mercy.

  Now, for a long while past, Grania had been filled with longing to taste the magic quicken berries, and until this day she had not spoken of her craving, for she knew the trouble that would come of it if she did. But when the fight was over, and the two young men bound and helpless, she told Dearmid how much she longed for the berries. And, ‘Three of you might succeed in overcoming the giant, where one could not,’ she said.

  ‘You do not know what you ask,’ Dearmid told her, standing over his captives. ‘Our sanctuary here depends on the f
riendship of Sharvan, and if I steal for you these berries that it is his life to guard, it will surely be the death of both of us!’

  ‘Indeed I do know, and so I have fought against my longing,’ Grania said. ‘Yet it grows greater day by day, and I think that if I do not taste the berries, I shall die in any case.’

  Dearmid was filled with grief and foreboding, but stronger than these was his fear that harm would come to Grania if she did not get the berries. So at last he said, ‘Well enough, then; I will get you the berries, but I will be going alone for them.’

  But when the two young men heard this, they cried out from the ground, ‘Unbind us, and we will go with you!’

  ‘It is little enough help that you would be to me,’ Dearmid said, ‘and in any case, this that I go on is my fight.’

  ‘Then let us come and stand by to watch,’ pleaded the young men, ‘for surely this will be fighting such as we have not seen before!’

  And in the end Dearmid agreed, and unbound them, and went to the quicken tree with the two following close behind him. He found the giant sleeping, and roused him by a blow with the flat of his sword.

  Sharvan glared up at him with his one red eye. ‘What is it you want, that you cannot let me sleep?’

  ‘The Princess Grania my wife longs for a taste of the quicken berries from the tree you guard. And if she does not get them, assuredly she will die. Therefore I pray you give me a few berries to save her life.’

  ‘Not one berry, not if she lay before me dying at this moment,’ growled the giant.

  Dearmid moved a step nearer and drew his sword. ‘Because you have dealt fairly by us, I have awakened you to ask for the berries, instead of stealing them while you slept. But before I leave this place, I will have them, whether you will or no.’

  Then the giant sprang up and seized his club and aimed three mighty blows at Dearmid, which he only just managed to turn on his upflung shield. But he knew that Sharvan expected him to attack with his sword, and so he flung it aside, and the shield with it, and leaping in beneath the giant’s guard, twisted his arms about the huge body, and heaving with all his might, flung him over his shoulder and crashing to the ground. Then he seized the giant’s great iron club and with it dealt him three mighty blows that drove the life out of him like the wind from a goatskin bellows.

  Dearmid sat down, far spent and sore at heart, and when the Sons of Morna came up, loud with rejoicing, bade them drag the giant aside into the thick of the trees, and bury him.

  Then Grania also came, and Dearmid reached up and picked the glowing berry-clusters for her until she had eaten her fill. Then he picked more clusters and gave them to the Sons of Morna, saying, ‘Take these to Finn, and tell him that it was you who slew the giant Sharvan.’

  ‘Our thanks to you, Dearmid O’Dyna,’ said Angus. ‘We could never have got for ourselves the berries to pay the death-fine, and though our heads are forfeit to you, you have most generously left them on our shoulders.’

  And so they went their way.

  But Dearmid and Grania, now that Sharvan was dead, and their safety lost to them, left the hunting bothie and lived in the hut which the giant had built among the branches of the quicken tree, where they were completely hidden from the ground.

  The two young warriors came back to Almu of the White Walls, and stood before Finn with the bright berries in their hands, and told him, ‘Sharvan the giant is dead, and here are the berries from the quicken tree of Dooros, the agreed death-fine for your father Cool.’

  Finn took the berries and smelled them three times. ‘These are indeed the berries of the magic quicken tree; but they have been in the hands of Dearmid O’Dyna, for I smell his touch on them. It was Dearmid, not you, who slew Sharvan and gathered these berries.’ His voice grew cold and terrible. ‘You did not get my father’s death-fine by your own strength and cunning, and you made friendship between yourselves and my sorest enemy. No peace do you get from me, nor a place among the Fianna!’

  Then he called together the Leinster Fianna, and marched into Hi Ficna, to the Forest of Dooros. The trackers found Dearmid’s trail to the foot of the quicken tree, and they found the magic berries unguarded, and ate their fill from the lower branches.

  ‘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 fr
om 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.’