When Fionn and all that were in Tara awoke and found that Diarmid and
Grania were not among them, a burning rage seized upon Fionn. At once
he sent out trackers before him, and he followed them himself with
his men, till they reached the land of Connaught. 'Ah, well I know
where Grania and Diarmid shall be sought,' cried Fionn. And Ossian and
Dearing heard him, and said to each other, 'We must send Diarmid a
warning, lest he should be taken. Look where Bran is, the hound of
Fionn, and he shall take it, for he does not love Fionn better than he
loves Diarmid, so, Oscar, tell him to go to Diarmid who is in Derry.'
And Oscar told that to Bran, and Bran understood, and stole round to
the back part of the army where Fionn might not see him; then he
bounded away to Derry and thrust his head into Diarmid's bosom as he
lay asleep.
At that Diarmid awoke and sprang up and woke Grania, and told her that
Bran had come, which was a token that Fionn himself was coming. 'Fly
then,' said Grania; but Diarmid would not fly. 'He may take me now,'
said he, 'seeing he must take me some time.' At his words Grania shook
with fear, and Bran departed.
All this while the friends of Diarmid took counsel together, and they
dreaded lest Bran had not found them, and they resolved to give them
another warning. So they bade the henchman Feargus to give three
shouts, for every shout could be heard over three counties. And
Diarmid heard them, and awoke Grania, and told her that it was a
warning they had sent him of Fionn. 'Then take that warning,' said
she. 'I will not,' answered Diarmid, 'but will stay in this wood till
Fionn comes.' And Grania trembled when she heard him.
By-and-by the trackers came back to Fionn with news that they had seen
Diarmid and Grania, and though Ossian and Diarmid's friends tried to
persuade Fionn that the men had been mistaken, Fionn was not to be
deceived. 'Well did I know the meaning of the three shouts of Feargus,
and why you sent Bran, my own hound, away. But it shall profit him
nothing, for Diarmid shall not leave Derry till he has paid me for
every slight he has put upon me.'
'Great foolishness it is of you, O Fionn,' said Oscar, 'to think that
Diarmid would stay in this plain waiting to have his head taken from
him.'
'Who else would have cut down the trees, and have made a palisade of
them, and cut seven doors in it? Speak, O Diarmid, is the truth with
me or with Oscar?'
'With you, O Fionn,' said Diarmid, 'and truly I and Grania are here.'
When he heard this, Fionn bade his men surround Diarmid and take him,
and Diarmid rose up and kissed Grania three times in presence of Fionn
and his men, and Fionn, seeing that, swore that Diarmid should pay for
those kisses with his head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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