DIARMUID
and Conan and Goll
and Osgar
went one day hunting, and they went so far they could not get home in the
evening, and they spent the first part of the night walking through the woods
and pulling berries and eating them. And when it was about midnight they saw a
light, and they went towards it and they found a little house before them, and
the light shining from it. They went in then, and they saw an old man there,
and he bade them welcome, and he called them all by their names. And they saw
no one in the house but the old man and a young girl and a cat. And the old
man bade the girl to make food ready for the Fianna
of Ireland, for there was great hunger on them.
And when the food was ready and put on the
table, there came a great wether that was fastened up in the back of the house,
and he rose up on the table where they were eating, and when they saw that, they
looked at one another. "Rise up, Conan," said Goll, "and fasten
that wether in the place it was before." Conan rose up and took hold of it,
but the wether gave itself a shake that threw Conan under one of its feet. The
rest were looking at that, and Goll said: "Let you rise up, Diarmuid, and
fasten up the wether." So Diarmuid rose up and took hold of it, but it gave
itself a shake the same way as before; and when Diarmuid was down it put one of
its feet on him. Goll and Osgar looked at one another then, and shame came on
them, a wether to have done so much as that. And Osgar got up, but the wether
put him down under one of his feet, so that it had now the three men under him.
Then Goll rose up and took hold of it and threw it down; but if he did, it rose
up again in spite of him, and put Goll under his fourth foot.
"It is a great shame," said the
old man then, "the like of that to be done to the Fianna of Ireland. And
rise up now, cat," he said, "and tie the wether in the place where he
was." The cat rose up then and took hold of the wether, and brought it over
and tied it in its place at the end of the house.
The men rose up then, but they had no mind
to go on eating, for there was shame on them at what the wether had done to
them. "You may go on eating," said the old man; "and when you are
done I will show you that now you are the bravest men of the world." So
they ate their fill then, and the old man spoke to them, and it is what he said:
"Goll," he said, "you are the bravest of all the men of the
world, for you have wrestled with the world and you threw it down. The strength
of the world is in the wether, but death will come to the world itself; and that
is death," he said, showing them the cat.
They were talking together then, and they
had their food eaten, and the old man said their beds were ready for them that
they could go to sleep. The four of them went then into the one room, and when
they were in their beds the young girl came to sleep in the same room with them,
and the light of her beauty was shining on the walls like as if it was the light
of a candle.
And when Conan saw her he went over to the
side of the bed where she was.
Now, it was Youth the young girl was, and
when she saw Conan coming to her: "Go back to your bed, Conan," she
said; "I belonged to you once, and I will never belong to you again."
Conan went back to his bed then, and Osgar had a mind to go over where she was.
Then she said to him: "Where are you going?" "I am going over to
yourself for a while," said he.
"Go back again, Osgar," she said;
"I belonged to you once, and I will never belong to you again."
Then Diarmuid rose up to go to her:
"Where are you going, Diarmuid?" she said. "I am going over to
yourself for a while," said he. "O Diarmuid," she said,
"that cannot be; I belonged to you once, and I can never belong to you
again; but come over here to me, Diarmuid," she said, "and I will put
a love-spot on you, that no woman will ever see without giving you her
love." So Diarmuid went over to her, and she put her hand on his forehead,
and she left the love-spot there, and no woman that ever saw him after that was
able to refuse him her love.
