It was some time after the pursuit of the Worthless Servant that the events of this story took place. Finn, knowing that sooner or later his forces would have to meet those of the High King of the World, spent most of his time building up the numbers of his Fenians, so that he would have a force sufficient when the time came for the great struggle.

This angered Cormack, High King of Tara, to whom Finn owed allegiance. Cormack had been very jealous of the power of the Fenians and of the hold Finn had upon them. Sometimes these Fenians did make demands on the people of the country, and some of these demands were unreasonable. You see, Finn was getting to be quite an old man. While his courage and his wisdom were as great as of old, he was not with his men as constantly as he had been in his earlier years. Probably they took advantage of this fact and did things he would not have allowed had he known of them.

Cormack made up his mind that the overbearing conduct of some of the Fenians was caused by the fact that Finn had no respect for the authority of the High King. Then, when Finn began to bend every effort to increase the fighting strength of the Fenians, Cormack got the idea that his leader was about to take the kingdom away from him.

The quarrel began to grow serious. Some of the friends of both men, however, urged that a stronger alliance be formed between the two to make a serious break impossible. This was to be accomplished by having Finn marry Grainne, the daughter of Cormack.

The two men finally agreed that this wedding should take place, in spite of the fact that Finn had a grandson older than the girl who was to be his wife. Cormack was willing because he really feared Finn’s power if used against him. Finn was willing because he knew of the struggle which was coming, and he wanted no quarrels at home to interfere with his preparations.

Now, Grainne had never seen this mighty leader. She knew him only from the stories of his many deeds of valor. To have such a noted hero for a husband seemed quite the proper thing, especially when she was told that the marriage was arranged for the good of Erin. She told her father that she was willing to have Finn for a husband.

So, the Fenian chief, attended by his son, Ossian, his grandson, Oscar, his friend, Dermot, and a guard of honor, went to the hall at Tara for the wedding celebration. A great feast for the men of both parties was held in the banquet hall. During the meal Cormack and Finn discussed their differences and plans for a better understanding.

Naturally the young girl was anxious to have a look at the man who was to be her husband. While the feast was in progress she came to the door of the hall with her maid, who was to point out Finn to her mistress. The maid did so. Grainne was amazed.

“Surely not that old man!” she exclaimed.

The maid told her that there could be no mistake. Then she named over all the rest of the party in turn. Grainne made up her mind that she would not go on with the ceremony.

“My father did not tell me that he was mating me with a man old enough to be my grandfather,” she said. “If he had, I should never have consented. What can that old man want with a wife?”

“The marriage is to bind the Fenians more closely to the throne,” said the maid.

“That could be done in other ways,” replied Grainne. “If Finn sought me for a wife for his son, I would be willing to go on with the match.”

The maid explained that Ossian already had a wife and could not take another.

“Well, the grandson would be still better,” insisted Grainne. “But I will never marry that old man; never, never, never!”

“Then it would be best for you to so inform your father immediately,” advised the maid. “Even now your refusal will cause more bitter feeling.”

“No,” said Grainne. “My father would insist upon the match. If I get out of this marriage it will have to be by my own efforts.”

Then the girl went to her rooms in the palace and prepared a jug of wine, putting in a drug which would bring a heavy sleep to all who tasted of it. This she gave to the maid, telling her to go to the hall and give a sip from the bride’s cup to everyone except Oscar and Dermot. To these she was to refuse it.

The maid followed her instructions. All to whom it was offered took a sip of the drugged liquor. When they were asleep Grainne, dressed in her most beautiful robes, entered the hall and went straight to Oscar and Dermot. She asked Oscar to marry her and take her away. Oscar indignantly refused to be false to the man who was both his chief and his grandfather.

But now Grainne had looked upon the Love Spot. She forgot all about Oscar in her new love for this young Fenian hero. She now pled with Dermot to marry her and take her away.

Dermot threw off her arms from around his neck.

“Think you that I would cast aside my honor and lose my place with the Fenians?” he cried. “Never shall it be said that Dermot was false to a friend! Death would be better than that!”

But Grainne was not to be denied. She forgot everything but her love for this man. She used a trick to compel Dermot to take her, the same ruse that Teasa had used to force Finn to take her to Erin.

“If you will not have me for your wife, I put you under bonds to save me from this marriage, which is distasteful to me. I bind you, by your Fenian oath, to take me away and guard me from all pursuers until I release you.”

Poor Dermot was sorely puzzled. Whichever course he took he must lose his honor. He must either break his vow to give protection to a woman whenever it was asked, or he must be disloyal to Finn.

“What can I do?” he asked Oscar.

“To give you advice is the thing I would gladly refuse,” answered Oscar. “Since you ask it, I must tell you that your honor binds you to do as she asks.”

So Dermot and Grainne went out through the little gate in the palace wall and fled into the forest, accompanied only by Dermot’s faithful hound.

II.

When the men awoke from their drugged sleep, and Oscar told Finn and Cormack what had happened, both men were exceedingly angry. They immediately ordered a pursuit of the fugitives. For days Finn and his men followed the trail of the two. While they often came upon campfires that still smouldered, showing where the pursued pair had stopped, they never were able to catch up with them. Dermot was caring for Grainne with what food he could procure in the forest. He was kind to her, but steadily resisted all her efforts to get him to marry her. At each camping place he left a sign that Finn would recognize as a pledge that he was not fleeing of his own free will, but because the maiden had put him under bonds.

This treatment, however, did not please Grainne. All her pleading for his love met with no response. At last she appealed to a Druid for help. These Druids had great magical power, if they could be prevailed upon to use them. Grainne did not tell him who she was. She played a part calculated to excite the pity of the magician.

“I am in deep trouble,” she told him. “I fear that only you can be of assistance to me. I can tell by the kindness of your face that you are always willing to help a maiden in distress.”

The Druid was flattered by this artful speech.

“What can I do for you, O maiden?” he asked.

“I have just been married, and my husband is falling in love with another maiden,” lied Grainne. “I would have you do something to make me more beautiful, so that my husband will love me again.”

“I could not make you more beautiful than you are already,” said the Druid. He was something of a flatterer himself.

“Then give me something to kill me,” wailed Grainne. “I cannot live without my husband’s love.” At this point she burst into a violent sobbing. The heart of the Druid was touched by her pretended grief.

“But if I cannot make you more beautiful, there is something else I can do for you,” he said.

“What is that?” asked Grainne, drying her eyes.

“I can give you a liquid to pour into the drink of your husband. As long as the effect lasts, he will love you better than anything else in the world.”

“Give it to me at once,” said Grainne. “If I can but win back his love, I will keep his heart forever.”

So the Druid gave her the love charm, and Grainne administered it to Dermot in his food. Immediately he became wildly in love with her and yielded to her pleadings to marry her at once.

Finn’s pursuit had daily become less insistent. He had never been strongly in favor of marrying Grainne, and his anger against Dermot became less keen. When he heard that the two were married he abandoned the pursuit entirely. He sent word to Dermot that if he kept out of his way he would no longer seek to punish him, but that he had been expelled from the Fenians for disloyalty to his leader.

And so it happened that Finn lost his best friend and his companion in his adventures. The Fenians, also, lost their best fighter. This is the reason why, in the next story, which tells of the greatest battle the army ever engaged in, Dermot was not there to help.