"Why shouldn't I be?" said Fin. "A spirit spoke to me from the spring
outside, and told me I must give back the cup to the king of the Flood,
or give him battle in place of it. Now Gilla's time is up, and I don't
know what to do."
"Well," said Conan Maol, "do you go now and speak to him, and maybe
he'll do you a good turn."
Fin went to Gilla na Grakin, and told him what happened at the spring.
"My time is up, as you know," said Gilla, "and I cannot serve on time
that is past; but if you want me to go, you must watch my wife ScA(C)hide
ni WAinanan on Friday night; and in the middle of the night, when she is
combing her hair, any request you'll make of her she can't refuse. The
request you'll make is that she'll let me go with you to the king of the
Flood, to take the cup to his castle and bring it back again."
Fin watched the time closely, and when the middle of Friday night came,
he looked through a hole in the door and saw ScA(C)hide combing her hair.
Then he asked his request of her.
"Well," answered she, "I can't refuse, but you must promise me to bring
back Gilla, dead or alive."
Fin promised her that.
Next morning Fin MacCumhail and Gilla na Grakin set out for the castle
of the king of the Flood, taking the cup with them.
They walked over Erin till they came to the shore of the sea. There
Gilla caught up two pieces of wood, and putting one across the other,
struck them a tip of his fingers, and out of them rose a fine ship. He
and Fin went on board, sailed away, and never stopped till they cast
anchor outside all the ships, under the castle of the king of the Flood.
The two walked on from deck to deck till they stood on shore.
They went a short distance from the castle of the king and pitched a
tent.
Said Gilla to Fin, "Now we are hungry, and I must find food for you and
myself."
So Gilla na Grakin went to the castle and asked food of the king of the
Flood.
"You'll get nothing to eat from me. I have no food in this place to give
you or the like of you; but there is a wild bull in the wood outside.
Find him: if you kill him, you'll have something to eat; if not you'll
go fasting," said the king of the Flood to Gilla na Grakin.
Gilla went out to the wood, and when the wild bull saw a man coming
towards him he drove his horns into the ground, and put an acre of land
over his own back. Then he threw up an oak-tree, roots and all, till it
nearly reached the sky, and made at Gilla na Grakin. But if he did,
Gilla was ready for him and faced him, and when the bull came up, he
caught him by the horns and threw him to the ground; then putting a foot
on one horn, he took the other in his two hands, split the bull from
muzzle to tail, and made two halves of him.
Gilla carried the carcass to the tent, and when he had taken off the
skin he said to Fin, "We have no pot to boil the meat in. Well, I'll go
to the king again."
So off he went and knocked at the castle door.
"What do you want now?" asked the king.
"I want a pot," said Gilla, "to boil the wild bull."
"Well," said the king, "I have no pot for you but that big pot back in
the yard, in which we boil stuff for the pigs. I'll give you the loan of
that if you are able to carry it."
"It's good to get that itself from a bad person," said Gilla na Grakin,
and away he went to look for the pot behind the castle.
At last he found it, and when he put it down at the tent he said to Fin,
"We have nothing now to boil the pot with, nothing to make a fire."
Then he went a third time to the castle, knocked at the door, and out
came the king. "What do you want now?" asked he.
"Fire to boil the bull."
"Go to the wood and get firewood for yourself, or do without it. You'll
get no firewood from me," said the king of the Flood.
Gilla went out, got plenty of wood and boiled the whole bull.
"We are well off now," said he to Fin; "we have plenty to eat."
Next morning Gilla na Grakin went to the castle and knocked.
"Who is that?" asked the king, without opening the door.
"I want no chat nor questions from you," said Gilla, "but get me a
breakfast." "I have no breakfast now," said the king; "but wait a
minute and you'll get a hot breakfast from me."
That moment the signal was sounded for the armies of the king of the
Flood to take Gilla na Grakin and his master.
When the armies stood ready Gilla began and went through them as a hawk
through sparrows. He made one heap of their heads and another of their
weapons,--didn't leave a man living. Then he went into the castle and
taking the king of the Flood in one hand and the queen in the other, he
killed each of them against the other.
Now all was quiet at the castle. Gilla na Grakin struck the tent and
went to the ship with Fin MacCumhail, who had the cup that was never
dry.
They raised the sails and went over the sea toward Erin, till they saw a
large ship on one side of them.
"If it's going to help us that ship is," said Fin, "'tis all the better
for us, but if 'tis going against us she is, that's the bad part of it."
As the ship came near, Gilla na Grakin looked at her sharply, and said
to Fin, "I think it's Lun Dubh that's on that ship."
"Well," said Fin, "maybe he'll not know you in a strange dress."
When Lun Dubh came alongside, he called out: "I know you well, and it's
not by your dress that I know you, CA(C)sa MacRi na Tulach." Then Lun Dubh
sprang on deck, raised his hand, struck Gilla, and stretched him dead.
Fin sailed away with the body of Gilla na Grakin, and when he came in
sight of the shore of Erin he raised a black flag; for he had promised
Gilla's wife to raise a white flag if her husband was well, but a black
one if he was dead.
When he came to the shore, ScA(C)hide ni WAinanan was there before him, and
she had a large, roomy box. When she saw Fin she said, "You have him
dead with you?"
"I have," said Fin.
"What will you do with him now?" asked she.
"I will bury him decently," said Fin.
"You will not," said she; "you will put him in this box."
Then Fin put him in the box. She went aside and got some fresh shamrock
and went into the box with Gilla. Then she told Fin to push the box out
to sea, and putting down the cover fastened it inside.
Fin pushed the box out into the sea, and away it went driven by wind and
waves, till one day ScA(C)hide looked out through a hole and saw two
sparrows flying and a dead one between them. The two living sparrows let
the dead one down on an island. Soon they rose up again, and the dead
one was living.
Said ScA(C)hide to herself, "There might be something on that island that
would cure my husband as it cured the dead bird."
Now the sea put the box in on the island. ScA(C)hide unfastened the cover,
came out, and walked around the island. Nothing could she find but a
small spring of water in a rock. "It's in this the cure may be," thought
she, as she looked at the water. Then taking off one of her shoes she
put it full of the water, took it to the box, and poured it on Gilla na
Grakin. That moment he stood up alive and well. Gilla walked along the
shore till he found two pieces of wood. He threw one across the other,
gave them a tip of his hand, a fine large ship stood there at the shore,
and in it he sailed with ScA(C)hide back to Erin.
When they landed he turned the vessel into two sticks again with a tip
of the hand, and set out with his wife for the castle of Fin MacCumhail
in TirConal.
They came to the castle of Fin at midnight. Gilla knocked and said, "Put
my wages out to me."
"Well," said Fin inside, "there is no man, alive or dead, that has wages
on me but Gilla na Grakin, and I would rather see that fellow here than
the wages of three men."
"Well, rise up now and you'll see him," said Gilla.
Fin rose up, saw his man, gave him his wages with thanks and Gilla
departed.
At the break of day they saw a great house before them. A man walked out
with a kerchief bound on his head.
When Gilla na Grakin came up, he knew the man, and raising his hand,
struck him dead with a blow.
"I have satisfaction on Lun Dubh, now," said Gilla to the wife. The two
went into the house and stayed there, and may be there yet for anything
we know. We are the luck and they are the winners.