Diarmuid and Grania — Act 2

Dublin Magazine, April-June, 1951, pages 17-30, 6,825 words

 ACT II.

Diarmuid's house. A spinning wheel to left. Walls made of roughly hewed timber. Laban sitting before the spinning wheel. Cormac sitting near her. The twilight is slowly deepening. Enter Diarmuid and a shepherd carrying fleeces.

DIARMUID: We have not yet finished our shearing. There are a few more sheep and we shall be done. (Diarmuid and shepherd go out).

CORMAC: Every kind of sorrow has come upon this land:  the Fianna are divided, and the galleys of our enemies are drawn up upon the shore. Our kingdom will be over-run by the Lochlanders and the hunting of Diarmuid and Grania will begin again.

LABAN: Have your long talks with Diarmuid come to no better end than that?

CORMAC: I talked with Diarmuid late into the night and I could not persuade him. Old woman who has spoken nothing but lies, I told him that the kingdom I had given him would be taken from him, and that I could not save him from Finn, or Eri from the invader.

LABAN: I heard your voices, but I did not hear Grania's voice.

CORMAC: He said "Tell Finn to begone from my valley, let the sod be blown into flame again and the pursuit of Diarmuid and Grania begin again."

LABAN: And Grania stood by the door post watching the moon shining down the valley, looking to where Diarmuid's cattle were feeding and towards the encampment of Finn.

CORMAC: Yes, she stood there saying nothing. I turned to her often, saying, "If I take this message to Finn, you will have to fly into the woods again."

LABAN: And she answered nothing?

CORMAC: Only this: "Where will Laban go if we are driven from this valley?" She said, "Father, you brought her here to be near me and if we are driven into the woods you will see that no harm comes to her." But remember how near the Fianna were to hanging you from a rafter that night at Tara, and if I bring Diarmuid's message to Finn I may not know how to save you from them.

LABAN: They did not dare. The rope fell out of Goll's hand; and Conan told them they could not hang me but with a rope that I had spun, and they tried to make me spin one.

CORMAC: Yes, yes, but Finn has waited for three days. (Going to the door). This sunset ends the third day. The horses are waiting and Niall is at their heads. Speak if you have found any meaning in the thread.

LABAN: The thread keeps breaking as it runs from the distaff.

 CORMAC: Then the end of somebody is near; the end of Diarmuid or of Grania or of Finn... or the end of Eri. You must tell me before I go for I cannot wait any longer.

LABAN: The thread is breaking; I cannot find a whole thread in the flax.

CORMAC: You have lied to me, old woman. You brought me this long way that you might be near Grania. (She gets up front the wheel, Cormac puts her back again). But spin since there is flax in the distaff, the earth knows all things and the flax comes out of the earth.

LABAN: What would you know? If there be forgiveness in Finn's heart?

CORMAC: The men of Lochland have dragged up 70 galleys on to  the beach of Rury.

LABAN: You are troubled, being afraid that Caoelte and Usheen may not fight against the men of Lochland because  they are angry with Finn. You are afraid that Finn may begin the hunting of Diarmuid and Grania again? You are afraid that Diarmuid and Grania...

CORMAC: Old woman full of wisdom about everything but the danger that waits us, I have to carry Diarmuid's answer to Finn and I would know what will happen to Diarmuid and to my daughter. You sit silent. Will you answer me? (A long pause, the King walks up the stage slowly and when he turns Laban rises from the wheel).

LABAN: I see Diarmuid standing by Finn with his hand on Finn's shoulder.

CORMAC: Then they are friends.

LABAN: I see Diarmuid drawing his sword.

CORMAC: Against whom, Laban? And then....

LABAN: I can see Finn drawing his dagger.

CORMAC: His dagger — his sword — look again.

LABAN: It is a dagger that I see.

CORMAC: Now wind the thread tightly round the forefinger. Now hold the thread tightly and look, for the earth knows all and her knowledge is in the flax.

LABAN: The vision has passed from me, I see nothing else.

CORMAC: Spin again, spin another thread.

LABAN: I cannot see more than once, and the thread is broken again, you have broken it.

CORMAC: Then is ill luck in my hands. If  the thread had not broken we should know all. You say you saw Finn pull out his dagger, but was not Diarmuid standing by his side with his hand on Finn's shoulder? What is the meaning of this? If you do not tell me I will have you beaten and your wheel thrown into the lake. (Enter Grania).

GRANIA: Ah, my father, she can tell you nothing if you speak so loud.

CORMAC: She has told me strange things, things without meaning.

GRANIA: You never believe her words, father, when she speaks them, but afterwards you find out that she had spoken truly.

CORMAC: True or false it matters not since they do not help me. Where is Diarmuid? Does he speak to-day as he spoke last night?

GRANIA: He has said nothing to me. But a day and night have gone since you have spoken to him. His mind may have changed. (Going up the stage). This is the hour when the flock comes home. Diarmuid is thinking of the folding of his sheep. You will find him with the shepherd. Or shall I send Laban to bring him? (Laban gets up and goes out). The fold is not far from the house, it was brought nearer for the wolves carried off three of our sheep last week... Ah, I see him coming up the path, Laban is going to meet him. (Grania comes down the stage to Cormac). But, dear father, three days are not a long while to see you in, after seven years. You will come here again and forget the troubles that kingdom brings. You are lonely at Tara. I used to sing for you. Shall I come to Tara and sing for you again?

CORMAC: But Diarmuid and Finn — you cannot come to Tara until they have made peace. I have persuaded Finn to make peace and I have brought him here... But we go on saying this one thing again and again.

GRANIA: How will it all end? What a broil it has been since that night at Tara.

CORMAC: Never did men sleep as we slept that night over our ale. We sat at that table like stones till the cock crew. We woke together at the crowing of the cock, and Finn cried out, "Grania has been taken from me."

GRANIA: I thought that Finn did not love me, that you made the marriage that you might be stronger than any other king or than any invader.

CORMAC: Ah, Grania, you have your mother's eyes. Your mother was very beautiful, Grania.

GRANIA: I thought nothing but this: that a man should love me among the woods, far among the woods.

CORMAC: And Diarmuid has loved this fair face very dearly.

GRANIA: But in this valley love has become terrible and we are sometimes afraid of one another. And now I would have Diarmuid arm the shepherds and lead them against the Lochlanders and drive them into their galleys.

CORMAC: If you think like this, why did you stand looking down the valley and saying nothing? Diarmuid asked you, and I asked you.

GRANIA: If I had said "yes" to you, I should have said "no" to Diarmuid. I would say nothing but leave things to work out, whatever will may be in them. (Enter Niall and the King's councillors. Councillors stand in the background. Niall advances).

CORMAC: Yes, Niall, I have delayed too long.

GRANIA: (Going io Niall). You are going now, Niall, and I have had little time to speak with you, and I would have spoken to you about the days at Tara, when you were my only playfellow. How well I remember going with you, one spring morning to a little pool at the edge of the wood. We sat on the high bank fishing for roach. Have you forgotten?

NIALL: No, Princess, I have not forgotten. That same day I showed you a blackbird sitting on her nest. You had never seen a bird sitting on her nest before. But how many things have happened since then: you know the woodland now better than I.

GRANIA: Shall I ever see Tara again? I have wandered a long way.

CORMAC: Five days' journey from here, Grania. We must hurry, neither Niall nor I can keep the saddle for many hours at a time: Diarmuid's cattle are coming this way and their sides are heavy with  the rich grass of  the valley which I have given you, and the rooks are flying home. (Enter Diarmuid).

CORMAC: I shall be with Finn in half an hour and I would not say to him the words you bade me say last night. Do not send me to the man you wronged with the words you spoke last night.

DIARMUID: Tell him to be gone out of my valley.

CORMAC: Then farewell, dear daughter.

GRANIA: Father stay with us, Diarmuid do you not hear? Do you not understand?

CORMAC: Diarmuid knows how great Finn's anger will be when I bring him this answer.

DIARMUID: I have fought Finn and overthrown him. Did I not break out of the house with the seven doors when he had set a watch at all doors? I went out of the door where he himself held the watch and my sword struck the sword out of his hand.

CORMAC: If you will send me with this answer, so be it. I can say no more. Farewell to all here. (Exeunt Cormac, Niall and Councillors).

DIARMUID: We thought we should weary of the silence of this valley but it is of their voices that we weary. Why should we listen to anything except one another. But they are gone at last, and care is gone with them, and we are alone again with ourselves and our flocks and herds. Come to the door Grania and see my black bull in the meadow. (Corning down the stage to her). Do you not believe that care is gone with them?

GRANIA: You saw my father's face as he went out. His look has put a deep care into my heart.

DIARMUID: These northern raiders will not dare to move from their galleys. They will soon sail away, and should we give up our happiness because we fear they may carry off a few score of cattle?

GRANIA: Let it be as you wish it, Diarmuid.

DIARMUID: But oath upon oath is broken. I broke my oath to Finn, and now I break the oath which binds me to take up arms against all invaders. Grania, you would like to see Tara again. You would like to see Finn again.

GRANIA: I gave up Tara for your sake, Diarmuid, and that was easier than to live in this valley.

DIARMUID: Ah, you are weary of this valley. But Finn and I are divided, Grania, as by the sea, and if the peace your father has made between us is not to be broken, Finn must leave my valley. It is for your sake, Grania, that he would have me among his Fianna again.

GRANIA: He has not seen me for seven years.

DIARMUID: To see you once is enough, Grania.

GRANIA: I think that it is for Eri's sake he would have you among the Fianna again. He does not think of women. Why should a woman think of him? Have I not loved you for seven years, Diarmuid? And my father has told you that Finn is bound by an oath and that he has said, "Diarmuid has his love; let him keep her."

DIARMUID: He will not break his oath, but he will find some way out of it. There is always treachery behind his peacemaking.

GRANIA: He made peace with Goll and that peace is still unbroken. Yet it was Goll's father who plundered Finn's country and murdered his people.

DIARMUID: Goll does Finn's bidding although he might be chief man himself. But Finn has not forgiven. Usheen saw a look in his eyes at Tara.

GRANIA: Ah, how well you remember. That was seven years ago.

DIARMUID: And when I am dead it will be Goll's turn.

GRANIA: Unhappy brooding man, you will neither believe in Finn's oath nor in my love.

DIARMUID: Here we have everything we sought for. But in return for this kingdom your father would have me among the Fianna again. I thought we should live and die here, I thought our children would grow up about us here, if the gods accept my offering and give us children. (He goes up the stage). Come, look at the sleepy evening. These evenings are better than the evenings of battle long ago, and were I among my old companions again, Usheen, Goll, Caoelte, I should look back upon these quiet evenings when the flock came home and you gave me my supper in the dusk. (Comes down the stage). If I were to die, Grania, would you be Finn's wife?

GRANIA: How did such a thought come into your mind?

DIARMUID: My life began with you and it ends with you. Oh, that these breasts should belong to another, and the usage of this body. Life of my life, I knew you before I was born, I made a bargain with this brown hair before the beginning of time and it shall not be broken through unending time. And yet I shall sit alone upon that shore that is beyond the world — though all the gods are there, the shore shall be empty because one is not there, and I shall weep remembering how we wandered among the woods. But you say nothing Grania. You are weary of the shadows of these mountains and of the smell of the fold. It is many days since you came to my bed and it is many weeks since I have seen an ornament upon you. Your love is slipping from me, it slips away like the water in the brook, You do not answer, These silences make me afraid.

GRANIA: Then, Diarmuid, go to your old companions.

DIARMUID: My old companions? What shall I say to them?

GRANIA: You will fight shoulder to shoulder with Finn and Caoelte. You will listen to Usheen's harp playing, and I shall love you better when you come to me with the reek of battle upon you.

DIARMUID: We shall be again what we were to one another. You are not that Grania I wandered with among the woods.

GRANIA: You are no longer that Diarmuid who overthrew Finn at the house of the seven doors.

DIARMUID: You speak the truth, Grania. I should have gone to the Fianna. Now it is too late.

GRANIA: Cormac cannot have reached the ford, you will overtake him. (She goes to her chest and takes out an ornament).

DIARMUID: Who is the shepherd, Grania? I have never seen him before. Where has he come from?

GRANIA: What shepherd do you speak of?

DIARMUID: There, there in the doorway.

GRANIA: There is nobody there.

DIARMUID: He beckons me — I must follow — (He goes towards the door). I see him no longer. A mist must have come in my eyes. I see clearer now and there is no one. But I must follow.

GRANIA: Whom would you follow?

DIARMUID: I see no one now and yet there was a sudden darkening of the light and a shepherd carrying a hazel stick came into the doorway and beckoned me.

GRANIA: No, Diarmuid, nobody has come into that doorway.

DIARMUID: Nobody came for you, but one came for me. Let me go, Grania.

GRANIA: No, no, it is a warning that you must not go.

DIARMUID: That is not how I understand the warning. I am bidden to leave this valley. He beckoned me. I am bidden to the Fianna. (They go out. Enter Laban, who sits down at her wheel and begins to spin. Grania enters shortly after, she stands by the door looking after Diarmuid).

GRANIA: He is like one whose mind is shaken. His thoughts are far away and I do not know what they are.

LABAN: He is brooding over that story Conan told him at Tara — it has been in his mind all day.

GRANIA: And before he left me he saw a shepherd where there was nobody.

LABAN: A shepherd with a Druid hazel stick.

GRANIA: It is better that he should live among his old companions. He talks one moment of Finn's crookedness; and at another of my love as if it were waning... In a few minutes, Diarmuid and Finn will meet.

LABAN: In a few minutes, Finn will stand with his hand on Diarmuid's shoulder.

GRANIA: Then I have done well in sending him to Finn. I did it for Diarmuid's sake, and for my father's sake and for the sake of my father's kingdom. I chose Diarmuid because he was young and comely, but oh, how can I forget the greatness of Finn. He has gone to bring Finn to me. In a few minutes Finn and his Fianna will stand under this roof.

LABAN: That is true, my daughter, sit beside me here and tell me what happened to you when you left Tara.

GRANIA: When we left Tara we came to a little glade on the hillside and we heard there a sudden and a beautiful singing of birds, and we saw a red fox creeping in the grass.

LABAN: And then?

GRANIA: And then we saw a young man sitting in the long grass.

LABAN: What did he say?

GRANIA: He was but a herdsman's son seeking a master and so Diarmuid took him into his service, and yet, Mother, I think that he was greater than Diarmuid or I, for he gave us much good service, and so much good counsel. He never put us in a cave that had not two mouths, or let us take refuge in an island that had not two harbours, nor eat our food where we had cooked it, nor sleep where we had eaten it. He never let us lie for many hours in one place, and he often changed our sleeping places in the middle of the night.

LABAN: What name did he bid you call him?

GRANIA: He bid us call him. Mudham. But I think he had some great and beautiful name did we but know it. Have you ever seen him, Mother?

LABAN: It is said that none who have seen him have been long content with any mortal lover.

GRANIA: I have been content with Diarmuid nigh on seven years.

LABAN: Did you ever hear that beautiful singing of birds again?

GRANIA: Yes, I heard them sing by the banks of a river; I heard them when Diarmuid broke his oath to Finn. We had wandered by the banks of a river nine days, and Mudham fished for us, and every day we hung an uncooked salmon, on a tree as a token to Finn. On the tenth day we hung a cooked salmon, for on the ninth night a sword had not lain between us  — but Mother, I can tell you no more. I would have you tell me, you who know all things, what is passing in the valley. Have Finn and Diarmuid made friends? Has Diarmuid passed the fires of the Fianna without speaking?

LABAN: They have spoken, and they are on their way hither, so forget them for a while, and tell me if you are happy in this valley.

GRANIA: I stand by the door of this house, seeing the hours wane, waiting for Diarmuid to come home from his hunting. Nothing has happened until to-day, and now Diarmuid and Finn are walking up the valley together, reconciled at last. I had come to think I should never look on a stirring day again, and I had thought to send all the thread you would spin to be woven into a grass green web on which to embroider my wanderings with Diarmuid among the woods. I should have been many years embroidering it, but when it was done and hung round this room, I should have seen birds, beasts, and leaves which ever way I turned, and Diarmuid and myself wandering among them.

LABAN: But now you have thrown the doors wide open and the days are streaming in upon you again.

GRANIA: Yes, yes, have I done rightly? Had I not sent Diarmuid to Finn, the broil would have begun again... I must put on my jewels. The Fianna will be here in a moment, and Finn has never seen me in my jewels. Spin for me. Mother, spin for me; tell me I have done rightly. But no, they are coming I can hear their footsteps. Go to the serving men and bid them take the drinking horns and the flagons from the cupboard. (Exit Laban. Grania stands before a long brazen mirror that hangs upon the wall, and puts the gold circlet about her head and the heavy bracelets upon her arm, and the great many-coloured cloak upon her which she fastens with an emerald clasp. She puts a gold girdle about her waist. Enter Cormac, Finn, Caoelte, Diarmuid and others of the Fianna. Diarmuid is talking to Finn. Enter servants with flagons of ale, drinking horns and torches). Welcome Usheen, welcome Caoelte, welcome Goll and all the noble Fianna into my house. I am happy that such men shall stand under my roof. The shepherds of Ben Bulben will tell each other many years after we are dead that Finn, Usheen, Caoelte, and Goll stood under this roof. (Grania goes to her father and leads him to a high seat). You cannot go from us now, for I am too glad for leave taking.

CORMAC: I will stay a little while, and will drink a horn of ale with this noble company who will defend Eri against the men of Lochland.

DIARMUID: We have been here but three moons and have not had time to build a house great enough for ourselves and for our people. This winter we shall build a house of oak wood great enough for two hundred people to sleep under its pillars. All the Fianna who come shall sleep under our roof.

GRANIA: When you speak of their coming, you make us think of their leave-taking, and I would forget that they shall ever leave us.

CORMAC: Eri is safe now that her great men are united.

CAOELTE: For a long while when we lighted our fires at night, there was no fire at which some did not side with Finn, some with Diarmuid. But at last those that were of Finn's party and those that were of Diarmuid's party gathered about different fires. And this year the fires were lighted far apart.

USHEEN: And time wore on until one day the swords were out and the earth red underfoot.

FINN: If all Eri were red under foot, it was but Grania's due that men in coming times might know of the love she had put into men's hearts. (He puts his hand on Diarmuid's shoulder. Two serving men go round with ale. Grania stops them and takes the flagons from them).

 GRANIA: It is right that I should serve the ale on such a day as this.

CORMAC: My daughter must not pour out the ale.

USHEEN: If Grania pours out the ale we shall sleep sound to-night.

CORMAC: You have spoken folly, Usheen... I, I spoke out of a dream. Grania, since you have taken the flagons from your serving men, serve us. But I would you had not done this. (Grania goes round filling each one's horn with ale. Diarniuid and Finn are still standing together on the right. She pauses, considering for an instant, and then fills Finn's horn).

CAOELTE: Diarmuid, we have not spoken to you nor seen you these seven years.

GOLL: Have you no word for us?

USHEEN: We would drink with you. (Diarmuid goes up the stage and joins the group who are standing half way up the stage, near to where the King is sitting).

GRANIA: In this ale you will not drink sleep, but you will drink forgetfulness of me, and friendship for Diarmuid.

FINN: Had I known that you would speak like this I would not have come to your house.

GRANIA: But you have come here for this.

USHEEN: It is not enough for Finn and Diarmuid to drink together; they must be bound together by the blood bond. They must be made brothers before the gods. They must be bound together.

CAOELTE: Yes, yes, one of you there by the door — you Finmole — cut a sod of grass with your sword. They must be bound together.

DIARMUID: (As he comes down the stage, he draws his sword). Finn, draw blood out of your hand as I draw blood out of mine. (Finn pricks his hand with his dagger and goes towards Diarmuid and lets blood from his hand drop into Diarmuid's cup. Diarmuid lets the blood from his hand drop into the cup also. He gives the cup to Finn). Speak the holy words, Finn.

FINN: (Having drunk out of the cup).

This bond has bound us

Like son to father

Let him who breaks it

Be driven from the thresholds

Of God-kind and man-kind.

DIARMUID: (tTakes the cup and drinks).

Let the sea bear witness.

Let the wind bear witness.

Let the earth bear witness.

Let the fire bear witness,

Let the dew bear witness.

Let the stars bear witness,

FINN (Takes the cup and drinks).

Six that are deathless

Six holy creatures

Have witnessed the binding.

(A sod of grass is handed in through the door and from man to man till it comes to Usheen and Caoelte who hold it up one on each side. First Finn and then Diarmuid pass under it).

CAOELTE: They are of one blood.

USHEEN: They have been born again out of the womb of the earth.

CAOELTE: Give back the sod to the ground. Give the holy sod to the Goddess.

(The Fianna pass the sod from one to another and out through the door, each one speaking these words over it in a monotonous and half audible muttering: "Blessed is the Goddess. May the ground be blessed.").

GOLL: This bond has shown that Finn can forgive. It has been said falsely that he never forgives although he has forgiven me. Finn has forgiven Goll. (Finn turns to Goll effusively).

CORMAC: Now my errand is done and I shall bid Grania and Diarmuid and all this goodly company farewell. (He rises but lingers, talking with certain of his councillors).

DIARMUID: I have done this though you have followed me and hunted me through the woods of Eri for seven years.

FINN: I forgave you because we had need of you, Diarmuid. (Turning away). Although you left the Fianna for a woman.

DIARMUID: Grania, pour out the ale for Finn.

FINN: It is right for a man to have a time for love, but now you are with your old companions again.

DIARMUID: I did not accept the peace you offered me at once, because I had taken Grania from you.

FINN: (Looking at Grania). It seems a long while ago, Grania. You should have been my wife seven years ago.

GRANIA: Then it was not for me that you followed Diarmuid so many years. Why did you follow him? What reason could you have had, if it all seems so long ago.

FINN: Our marriage was to have mended an old crack in the land. It was to have joined the Fianna to the High King for ever, but it was not for this marriage's sake that I followed Diarmuid. I followed him because he had broken his oath.

DIARMUID: I shall make atonement for the breaking of my oath with fifty heads of cattle, and I will give you my black bull. Come to the door, and you will see him in the valley. He is grazing on the edge of the herd and you will see what a noble stride he has. But who is this with two of the Fianna, this fat man in the sheep skin. It is my enemy Conan. I shall be glad to drink a horn of ale with him to the forgetfulness of all enemity. (To the others). I have not seen you for seven years and seven years have changed some here a little. I would drink with every one of you. I would that you had but a single hand that I might hold it this day, this happy day. (Enter Conan with Griffan and Fergus and a shepherd).

CONAN: Keep your spears in your hands. We are only just in time... a great beast... come... come... we will be in front of him before he can run into the wood. (Exuent Conan and all the Fianna except Finn).

DIARMUID: I thought I had driven off the last of the wolves. (Diarmuid goes out. There are only Cormac, Finn, Grania and a shepherd on the stage).

SHEPHERD: He is not a wolf! He is not a wolf! He has gored twenty of my sheep. He broke out by the stepping stones. (He goes out).

GRANIA: The shepherd said it was not a wolf, ask him.

FINN: He said it has gored twenty of his sheep. It must be the boar I heard of as I came hither. It has come out of a dark wood to the eastward... a wood men are afraid of.

GRANIA: Then Diarmuid must not go to this hunting. I will call him. (She goes to the door). He is standing on the hillside. He is coming towards us. That is well. (Coming down the stage to Finn). So it was not for my sake that you followed Diarmuid. This flight and this pursuit for seven years were for no better reason than the breaking of an oath.

FINN: I followed Diarmuid because I hated him.

GRANIA: But now you have forgiven him. You are friends again. Yes, Finn, I would have you friends but my wish can be nothing to you. I was proud to think you followed Diarmuid for me. but you have said it was to avenge the breaking of an oath. This is a man's broil. No woman has part in it.

FINN: Cormac told me that it was you who persuaded Diarmuid to bring me to this house, and but for this, I would not have come.

GRANIA: It was well that you came. Men who are so great as Finn and Diarmuid must be friends. My father fears a landing of the men of Lochlann, and I am weary of this valley where there is nothing but the rising and the setting of the sun and the grazing of flocks and herds.

FINN: Did you send for me because you are weary of this valley?

GRANIA: I wanted to see you because of your greatness. I loved Diarmuid... he was young and comely and you seemed to me to be old, you were grey.

FINN: I am seven years older now, and my hair is greyer. I must seem very old to you now.

GRANIA: No, you seem younger. As you stand there, as you lean upon your spear, you seem to me a young man. I do not think of your grey hair any longer.

FINN: That day in Tara you would not wear your ornaments, but now you wear them. (Diarmuid comes slowly down the stage).

DIARMUID: What have you to say to one another; what were you saying to Grania, Finn? I can see by Grania's face that she is but little pleased to see me again.

GRANIA: Why do you say this? What has happened, Diarmuid? That shepherd said the wolf had killed twenty sheep.

DIARMUID: There is no wolf in the thicket; they do not know what they are hunting. (Enter Conan). No matter whether it be a wolf or a boar that is hiding there, I have come in to find you and Finn talking together in a way that is not to my liking. (Cormac and the Fianna enter).

FINN: Was it to watch me, Diarmuid, that you came back again? And would you not have me speak to Grania? As you will, then. (Turning to Conan). Conan is listening. What has he to say about this beast that has gored twenty sheep?

CONAN: And Diarmuid has come back again because he saw it was a boar and not a wolf, and he remembered that day in Tara, when I told him he is to go out hunting a boar and be killed by it, and Diarmuid is to be tom by the tusks, he is to be bloody, his face shall be foul because it shall be bloody. I told him these things in Tara, and he remembers them, that is why he has not gone out hunting.

DIARMUID: Finn has contrived the trap for me, but I shall not fall into it. There can be no peace between Finn and me. (He draws his sword).

FINN: (Who draws his sword). By the drawing of his sword, Diarmuid has broken the peace I gave him, and the sight of Grania has brought to mind all the wrongs he has done me.

GRANIA: To you, Finn, I say that I would not have sent for you had I thought that the broil would begin again. To you, Diarmuid, I say that I will speak to what man I please, that no man shall thwart me. Where is my father? (Turning suddenly towards them). No, I will not have you fight for me. Forbid them, father. (She goes to Cormac).

DIARMUID: Our swords shall decide between us, I shall slay you, Finn.

FINN: One of us two shall die. (They draw their swords, and the Fianna rush between them).

GOLL: Finn and Diarmuid cannot fight — fling up their swords, thrust the spear between them. Has Finn forgotten the blood bond? He who raises his hand against the blood bond raises his hand against the gods.

CONAN: (Coming towards them). If Finn and Diarmuid cannot fight with one another, let them hunt the boar, and let Grania be given to him who kills it. Aognhus, who watches over lovers and hunters shall decide between them. (Diarmuid lifts his sword to strike. Leaving her father, Grania comes forward).

GRANIA: He is not worthy enough for you to strike him — give me your sword.

FINN: (Standing in front of Conan). No, Grania, he shall not die, he has spoken the truth. Finn and Diarmuid love the one woman.

CONAN: A tale I once told him has given him no stomach for the hunting of a boar.

FERGUS: The boar is bigger than any beast I ever saw.

GRIFFAN: It is certainly no mortal beast.

DIARMUID: What was its colour, was it covered with bristles?

CONAN: I saw it; it was black and bristless. (He goes over and stands by Diarmuid). Finn, Caoelte, Usheen look at us; there is one terror in the heart of Diarmuid and Conan.

GRIFFAN: I saw it too, it was dark like the sea, and it made a noise like the sea in a storm.

FINN: We listen to the idle tales of spearmen. Whatever the colour of the beast may be, we shall slay it. (The Fianna move up the stage). Conan has spoken well. Diarmuid has little stomach for this hunting. Why did he ask for the blood bond? It was not I who went to him... it was he who came to me with his hand pricked with his dagger. These are the only wounds he will dare. This blood bond keeps him from my sword and he speaks of an old tale that he may not go to the hunt. Diarmuid is craven.

DIARMUID: Finn lies; he knows why I will not go to this hunt. He seeks my death because he loves Grania.

FERGUS: If Diarmuid does not go to this hunt, Diarmuid is craven.

GRIFFAN: Finn has said it, he is craven.

CAOELTE: Diarmuid must not go to this hunt. You have done wickedly this day, Conan, and after your kind.

FATHNA: He has a hare's heart. The gods have given him a hare's heart.

FINN: Take up your spears we will go against this beast, let him who will stay behind.

DIARMUID: Go against the boar, but it shall be as if you hunted the sea or the wind. Your spears shall break, and your hounds fly and whimper at your heels. (Exeunt all except Grania, Cormac, and Diarmuid. After a moment's pause a horn is heard in the distance. Diarmuid takes a spear from the wall).

GRANIA: Why do you take your spear... you will not go to this hunt?

DIARMUID: This beast came to slay us. This hunt will sweep over us. It is coming through the woods, and I shall be caught up like a leaf. (They bar the door and stand listening).

GRANIA: They said the boar ran into the woods — it will have gone into the mountain before this.

DIARMUID: The things to come are like the wind; they could sweep this house away. This image of death is coming like the wind — who knows what enchantment has called it out of the earth? It was not here yesterday; it was not here at noon. I have hunted deer in these woods and have not seen the slot of natural or unnatural swine. No, it will not bear thinking of. I am caught in this valley like a wolf in a pit... (Pause). Cormac, you sit there like a stone, why did you do this? You came here with a tale about the men of Lochlann, but you were on the gods' business.

CORMAC: I gave you this valley to be happy in.

 DIARMUID: When we are about to die, the gods give us more than we ask. There has been too much happiness here for our hunger, and I would roll up the broken meats in a sack for you to carry them away.

GRANIA: That tale has shaken your mind.

DIARMUID: Then you do not believe in it.

GRANIA: We believe, we disbelieve, and there is a time when we do not know what we think.

DIARMUID: We are always on the gods' business. Cormac in craftiness, you in lust; they put lust into women's bodies that men may not defy the gods who made them. I, too, shall be on their business in this hunting.

GRANIA: You are not going to this hunting.

DIARMUID: I see many ornaments upon you. How long is it since you have worn them for me? You have not worn them... we are common to one another night and day.

GRANIA: Take your Broad Edge, your heavy spear. Take your heavy shield.

DIARMUID: No man shall say Diarmuid went to this hunting with his battle gear upon him. (Exit).

GRANIA: He is gone to this hunting... he is gone that he may give me to Finn. (She turns her face towards the wall and weeps).

CORMAC: Have you ceased to love him? (Grania walks a few steps towards her father as if she were going to speak but her emotion overpowers her, and she returns to the same place). If you have not ceased to love him, follow him and bring him back.

GRANIA: I will follow him in the woods; he will take the path under the oak trees. (Exit Grania).

CORMAC: (Coming down the stage). Laban! Laban! (Going to the door at the side). They have all followed the hunters… there is nobody in the house… but Laban must be here. Laban! Laban! (He goes to the wheel and takes the distaff in his hand). There is no more flax in the distaff. (Exit).

Curtain

(End Act II)