all.

Now when news of the green Fenians that were bound by Diarmid reached
Fionn he summoned his men, and they took the shortest ways till they
reached the hill of slaughter. Then Fionn spoke, and what he said was,
'O Ossian, loose the three chiefs for me.'

'I will not,' replied Ossian, 'for Diarmid bound me not to loose any
warrior that he should bind.'

'O Oscar, loose them,' said Fionn.

'Nay,' answered Oscar, 'rather would I place more bands upon them.'
And so said the other two, and, before their eyes, the chiefs died of
their bondage. So Fionn ordered their graves to be dug, and their flag
laid upon their stone, and the heart of Fionn was heavy.

He raised his head and saw drawing near Deirdre, the witch, her legs
trembling, her tongue raving, and her eyes dropping out of her head.
'I have great and evil tidings for you,' said she, and she told him of
all the slaughter Diarmid had made, and how she herself had hardly
escaped.

'Whither went the son of O'Dowd?' asked Fionn.

'I know not,' said she. At that Fionn and his Fenians departed, and
wandered far before they could hear news of Diarmid.

On the road that led to the county of Galway, Fionn saw fifty stout
warriors coming towards him. 'I know not who they are,' said Fionn,
'yet I think they are enemies of mine'; and, indeed, this proved to be
so, for the leaders of the company told Fionn that his father and
their fathers had fought in battle. 'Then you must give me payment for
the death of my father,' said Fionn, 'and in return you shall have
power among the Fenians.'

'But we have neither silver, nor gold, nor herds, O Fionn,' answered
the two young men.

'I want none of these,' replied Fionn; 'the payment I ask is but the
head of a warrior, or a handful of berries from the magic tree of
Dooros.'

'Take counsel from me,' cried Ossian, 'for it is no light matter to
bring to Fionn that which he asks of you. The head is the head of
Diarmid, son of Dowd, and if there were two thousand of you instead of
fifty, Diarmid would not let it go.'

'And what are the berries that Fionn asks of us?' said they.

'Those berries would never have been heard of but for the jealousy of
two women of different tribes, each of whom swore that her husband
could hurl a pole farther than the other. So all the rest of the
tribes came out to take part in the goaling match, and the game lasted
long, and neither won a goal. At last the tribe of the Tuatha De
Denann saw