"
"What are those berries Finn is asking?" said Grania, "that they cannot
be got for him?"
Diarmuid told her then the whole story of the berry the Tuatha de Danaan
had lost, and of the tree that had sprung up from it, and of the man of
Lochlann that was keeping the tree. "And at the time Finn sent me hiding
here and became my enemy," he said, "I got leave from the Surly One to
hunt, but he bade me never to meddle with the berries. And now, sons of
Morna," he said, "there is your choice, to fight with me for my head, or
to go asking the berries of the Surly One." "I swear by the blood of my
people," said each of them, "I will fight with yourself first."
With that the two young men made ready for the fight. And it is what
they chose, to fight with the strength of their hands alone. And
Diarmuid put them down and bound the two of them there and then. "That
is a good fight you made," said Grania. "But, by my word," she said,
"although the children of Morna do not go looking for those berries, I
will not lie in a bed for ever till I get a share of them; and I will
not live if I do not get them," she said. "Do not make me break my peace
with the Surly One," said Diarmuid, "for he will not let me take them."
"Loose these tyings from us," said the two young men, "and we will go
with you, and we will give ourselves for your sake." "You must not come
with me," said Diarmuid; "for if you got the full of your eyes of that
terrible one, you would be more likely to die than to live.
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