"Take these berries now, friends, as much as you please, and pay your
eric to Finn; and you may, if you are so minded, tell him that it was
you who slew Sharvan the Surly, of Lochlann."
They answered, "We will bring to Finn as much as he demanded, one
handful and no more; and we grudge even so much."
Then they thanked Dermat very much; for he had given them the berries,
what they should never have been able to get for themselves; and though
their lives were forfeit to him, he had not so much as mentioned the
matter, but had allowed them to return freely. And after bidding Dermat
and Grania farewell, they went their ways.
After that Dermat left his hunting-booth, and he and Grania lived
thenceforth in Sharvan's hut among the branches. And they found the
berries on the top of the tree the most delicious of all; those on the
lower branches being as it were bitter in comparison.
When the sons of Morna reached Allen, Finn asked them how they had
fared, and whether they had brought him the eric: and they answered--
"Sharvan, the surly giant of Lochlann, is slain; and here we have
brought thee the berries of the quicken tree of Dooros as eric for the
death of thy father, Cumal, that we may have peace from thee, and be
placed in our due rank among the Fena."
Finn took the berries and knew them; and he smelled them three times,
and said--
"These, indeed, are the berries of the quicken tree of Dooros; but they
have passed through the hands of Dermat O'Dyna, for I smell his touch.
And sure I am that it was Dermat, and not you, who slew Sharvan, the
surly giant. It shall profit you nothing, indeed, to have brought me
these berries; neither will you get from me the peace you seek, nor your
place among the Fena, till you pay me fair eric for my father's death.
For you have gotten the berries not by your own strength; and you have,
besides, made peace with my enemy. And now I shall go to the Wood of
Dooros, to learn if Dermat abides near the quicken tree."
After this he gathered together the choice men of the seven battalions
of the Fena, and marched with them to Dooros of Hy Ficra. They followed
Dermat's track to the foot of the quicken tree, and found the berries
without any one to guard them; and they ate of them as much as they
pleased.
Now it was noon when they had come to the tree; and the sun shone hot,
and Finn said--
"We shall rest under this tree till evening come, and the heat pass
away; for well I know that Dermat O'Dyna is on the tree among the
branches."
And Oisin said, "Truly your mind must be blinded by jealousy, if you
think that Dermat O'Dyna has waited for you on that tree, since he knows
well that you seek his head."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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