And I went
out, and put out the flames, and made three red rushes round the house,
and I killed fifty in every rush, and I came in again without a wound.
And it is glad and merry and in good courage you were that night,
Finn," he said, "and if it was that night I had asked a drink of you,
you would have given it; and it would be right for you to give it to me
now." "That is not so," said Finn; "it is badly you have earned a drink
or any good thing from me; for the night you went to Teamhair with me,
you took Grania away from me in the presence of all the men of Ireland,
and you being my own guard over her that night."
"Do not blame me for that, Finn," said Diarmuid, "for what did I ever do
against you, east or west, but that one thing; and you know well Grania
put bonds on me, and I would not fail in my bonds for the gold of the
whole world. And you will know it is well I have earned a drink from
you, if you bring to mind the night the feast was made in the House of
the Quicken Tree, and how you and all your men were bound there till I
heard of it, and came fighting and joyful, and loosed you with my own
blood, and with the blood of the Three Kings of the Island of the
Floods; and if I had asked a drink of you that night, Finn, you would
not have refused it. And I was with you in the smiting of Lon, son of
Liobhan, and you are the man that should not forsake me beyond any other
man. And many is the strait has overtaken yourself and the Fianna of
Ireland since I came among you, and I was ready every time to put my
body and my life in danger for your sake, and you ought not to do this
unkindness on me now.
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