Ossian Collection > Fictions of our forefathers

34 THE FICTIONS OF OCR FOREFATHERS.
SO Fearghoir, CaoUles giolla gives three shouts that might be
heard three cant reds otl", and the fugitives find themselves iuily
awake to their situation.
" Diarmuid heard Fearghoir, and awoke Grainne out of her sleep,
and what he said w as : ' I hear the herichraan of Caoilte Mac Ronain ;
and it is by Caoilte he is, and it is by Fionn that Caoilte is, and this
is a warning they are sending me before Fionn.' ' Take that warn-
ing,' said Grainne. ' I vvill not,' said Diarmuid, * for we shall not
leave this wood until Fionn and the Fenians of Erin overtake us :'
and fear and great dread seized Grainne when she heard that."
Aonghus of the Brugh on the Boyne was the son of Dagdae
a Danaan king of Ireland, who had reigned over the couiitry
for eighty years (a circumstance truly magical). He was tlie
devoted patron of Diarmuid, and had given him the dreadful
arras (veitomous is the Irish epithet), viz. the swords, Moraltagh
and BrgaUagh, and the javelins, the Ga-dearg, and the
Ga-btiidke. He now appears to the besieged pair, and
carries otl" Grainne in a fold of his mantle, but Diarmuid will
not condescend to that safe and inglorious mode of escape.
" After that, Aonghus put Grainne under the border of his mantle,
and went his ways without knowledge of Fiona or of the Fenians of
Erin, and no tale is told of them until they reached Rosdashoileach,
which is called Luinmeach* now.
Touching Diarmuid ; after that Aonghus and Grainne had departed
from him, he arose as a straight pillar, and stood upright, and girded
his arms, and his armour, and his various sliai-p weapons about him.
After that he drew near to a door of the seven wattied doors that
there were to the enclosure, and asked who was at it. ' No foe to
thee is any man who is at it,' said they [who were without] ; ' for
here are Oisin the son of Fionn, and Oscar the son of Oisin, and the
chieftains of the Clanna Baoisgne together with us; and come out
to us, and none will dare to do thee harm, hurt, or damage.' ' I will
not go to you,' said Diarmuid, ' until I see at which door Fionn him-
self is.' He drew near to another wattled door, and asked who was
at it. ' Caoilte the son of Crannachar Mac Ronain, and the Clanna
Ronain together with him ; and come out to us, and we will give
ourselves [fight and die] for tliy sake.' ' I will not go to you,' said
Diarmuid, • for I will not cause Fionn to be iingry with you for well-
• Luimneach was originally the name of the lower Shannon, e.g.
" N| beiTi luin)i)ecb po|t a b|iu]n)."
The Luimneach bears not on its bosom,
(Poem in Four Masters, A.D. 662.)
but about the year 830 the name was applied not to the river but to
the city. Ros da shoileach moans the promontory of the two sallows,
and was anciently the name of the site of the present city of Limerick
fvide O'FluherV/s OgygiuJ. (Tr.)
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