The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne: Myths of Ireland

Part 9 of Myths of Ireland: a king’s daughter promised to the ageing Fionn, a young warrior bound by a sacred oath to run away with her, sixteen years of flight across Ireland, and a hunt on Ben Bulben that ends in tragedy. Modals of past regret (he should have…, he could have saved him), wish / if only, and the language of loyalty and betrayal, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.

Before you read

Tara, the forests of Ireland, and Ben Bulben in Sligo

The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne (Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne) is the best-known tale of the Fenian Cycle. Written versions survive from the 16th century and later, but the story is much older and was known in the 10th century. It has inspired poets, playwrights (Yeats and George Moore wrote a play about it in 1901) and many place names: all over Ireland, ancient stone tombs called dolmens are known as “the beds of Diarmuid and Gráinne”, where the lovers are said to have slept.

Gráinne, daughter of the high king Cormac mac Airt, was promised to Fionn, who was by then older than her father. At the feast at Tara, she put a sleeping drink into the cups of the guests and laid a geis, a binding magical obligation, on Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, the handsomest of the Fianna, to take her away. Diarmuid was loyal to Fionn, but he could not refuse. They fled, helped by the god Aonghus Óg, Diarmuid’s foster-father, and for sixteen years Fionn pursued them. At last peace was made.

Years later, Fionn invited Diarmuid to hunt a wild boar on Ben Bulben in Sligo, although Diarmuid was under a geis never to hunt boar. The boar wounded him fatally. Fionn had the power to heal any wound by bringing water in his hands. Twice he brought water, and twice he let it slip through his fingers, remembering Gráinne. The third time he hurried, but it was too late: Diarmuid was dead. The story leaves us with a question: was it jealousy, or grief, that made Fionn’s hands shake?

Loyalty, love and jealousy pull us in different directions; the choice is still ours.

The story

Retold for this lesson from Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne and Lady Gregory’s Gods and Fighting Men (1904).

When Fionn mac Cumhaill was old and his wife had died, he asked the high king Cormac for the hand of his daughter, Gráinne, the most beautiful woman in Ireland. Cormac agreed, and a great wedding feast was held at Tara. But when Gráinne looked at Fionn, she saw a man older than her own father, and when she looked at the young warriors of the Fianna, her eyes stopped on Diarmuid, with his dark curling hair and the love spot on his forehead that made every woman who saw it love him.

Gráinne sent her maid around the hall with a golden cup full of a sleeping drink, and soon Fionn and the king and most of the guests were asleep. Then she went to Diarmuid and said: “I put you under a geis, a sacred bond, to take me away from here tonight.” Diarmuid was horrified. Fionn was his leader and his friend. But no warrior could break a geis without losing his honour, and the other warriors told him so. That night, Diarmuid and Gráinne left Tara together.

For sixteen years Fionn hunted them through the forests and mountains of Ireland. They never slept two nights in the same place, and never ate their food where they cooked it. Diarmuid’s foster-father, the god Aonghus Óg, rescued them again and again. At last Aonghus made peace between them, and Diarmuid and Gráinne lived quietly for many years and had children.

Then one day Fionn invited Diarmuid to hunt a great wild boar on Ben Bulben, though everyone knew that Diarmuid was forbidden by a geis ever to hunt boar. Diarmuid went, and the boar ripped him open with its tusks, and he lay dying on the mountain. “You can save me, Fionn,” he said. “Whoever drinks water from your hands is healed.” Fionn went to a spring and brought water in his hands, but as he walked back he remembered Gráinne, and let it slip through his fingers. A second time he brought it, and a second time he let it fall. His own grandson, Oscar, shouted at him in anger. The third time, Fionn ran, but when he reached Diarmuid, Diarmuid was dead.

PHILO

King Saul was jealous of young David, who was loved by everyone, and hunted him through the wilderness for years. Twice David could have killed Saul while he slept in a cave, and twice he spared him. Here the young man showed mercy. In the Irish story, it is the old man who could have shown mercy, and didn’t.

SOPHIA

And Paris ran away with Helen, the wife of a Greek king, and a thousand ships followed them to Troy. A young lover, a powerful older man, a long pursuit: the Greeks knew this story too, and it ended in fire.

Words and forms	Use	Example
should / shouldn’t have + past participle	regret, criticism	He shouldn’t have let the water fall.
could have + past participle	possible but didn’t happen	Fionn could have saved him.
might have / would have	possibility / imaginary past result	He might have lived.
wish / if only + past perfect	regret	If only he had hurried!
loyal, betray, vow, pursue, rival	loyalty words	Diarmuid was loyal to Fionn.

Talk and write

Discussion and writing

The trial of Fionn. In groups, put Fionn on trial: did he let Diarmuid die on purpose? Prosecution and defence use should have, could have and might have.

Discuss. 1. Who is most to blame in this story: Gráinne, Diarmuid, Fionn or Cormac? 2. Can loyalty and love ever be reconciled? 3. Was Fionn’s hesitation jealousy, grief, or something else?

Write (150–180 words). Fionn’s regret. Years later, the old Fionn remembers Ben Bulben. Write his thoughts, using should have, could have and wish / if only.

The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne

Before you read

The story

Practice

A · The story

B · Grammar and vocabulary

C · Right or wrong?

Talk and write