Welcome to my weekly blog,  SATURDAY SESSIONS!

In this blog, for the perusal of all our students, past, present and future, I include an extract from our interactive presentation Course, Ireland and its Culture.

If you wish to ask me any question about the text, by the way, just send me an e-mail at greg@bluefeather.ie

The Love Story of Diarmuid and Gráinne

Gráinne was said to be the most beautiful woman in Ireland.

She was also the daughter of Cormac, the High King of Ireland.

She was courted by Ireland's princes and chieftains - including the famous, but now ageing, chieftain, Fionn MacCumhaill. Fionn wanted the young woman to be his second wife.

He asked her to marry him and she agreed. 

A great feast was set up to celebrate the newly-engaged couple.

It was on that very night that Gráinne met Diarmuid, one of Fionn's best warriors.  She fell in love with him at first sight.  Indeed, Gráinne was prepared to go to any lengths to get her man, so she drugged the entire party.

Soon, they were all fast asleep, everyone except Diarmuid and Gráinne, of course.

With Diarmuid all to herself now, Gráinne confessed her love for him. Diarmuid backed off and refused to accept her love, as he was loyal to his leader Fionn. But Gráinne was very persuasive and before the night was out, Diarmuid had fallen in love with Gráinne.

The two lovers had eloped before anybody was awake.

The next morning, Fionn was furious and he and his men got on their horses and pursued them all over Ireland. Diarmuid and Gráinne hid in caves, woods, hills and mountains, relentlessly pursued by Fionn and the Fianna. Still out of loyalty to Fionn, Diarmuid - although he loved her very much- would not sleep with Gráinne.

One morning, when they were washing in a stream, water splashed up her leg and she teased him that the water was more adventurous than he was!

Friends of Diarmuid in the Fianna all around Ireland secretly helped them to run and survive. The two lovers became very close.

And so the years passed until Gráinne became pregnant with Diarmuid's child. 

One day, out in the wilderness near Sligo, Diarmuid and Gráinne were hiding in the long grass at the edge of a wood, when they heard the sounds of horses in the distance. They kept their heads down and waited in silence until the danger had passed.

Just then, Diarmuid heard a grunt and looking behind him, saw that a wild boar had come out of the wood and was running at high speed towards them. The fearless Diarmuid suddenly panicked, but not only because he was fearful that the boar might injure his beloved Gráinne, now heavily pregnant with their baby; it was because he suddenly remembered being told when he was a child that the only living thing that would ever harm him was a wild boar!

The wild animal charged. Diarmuid threw himself at the boar, wrestled him to the ground and killed him with his sword.  But in the struggle, the boar had gored him in the stomach and as Gráinne watched on in horror, Diarmuid was now bleeding to death. She cried out in sorrow and despair.

Fionn and his men heard the commotion from a distance. They quickly rode up to see the dead boar stretched out in the grass and the fearless Diarmuid, dying in Gráinne's arms.

Gráinne was in despair. But she knew that there was only one man in Ireland who could save her lover and that man was Fionn. Fionn was not only a great warrior but also a healer; if a wounded man drank water from his hands, his wound would be healed.

She implored Fionn to show mercy and save his former friend and great warrior of the Fianna by going to the well and allowing Diarmuid to drink water from his hands.

But Fionn refused, still deeply hurt that his best friend and loyal warrior of the Fianna had kidnapped his bride. Fionn's men begged him to go to the well and reluctantly, he did.

He returned with the water cupped in his hands, but as soon as got to the dying Diarmuid, he let the water slip through his fingers and onto the ground.

Enraged, the Fianna shouted at their leader to save their friend, return to the well and let Diarmuid drink the water from his hands.

Fionn went to the well a second time and for the second time, baulked, as he approached Diarmuid's mouth, the water trickling once again through his fingers and onto the wounded man's chest. The Fianna shouted and wept.

Ossian, the son of Fionn, drew his sword and swore that he would kill him, his own father, if he failed to do his duty and heal Diarmuid with the magic water.

Fionn was shocked and disturbed by this. 

He ran back to the well, the great man himself now in tears. He scooped up the water in his cupped hands and carefully returned with it to heal his young friend. He would now forgive him, he would forgive Gráinne and he would forgive his son for the outburst, and all would be well again.

But alas, it was too late. By the time Fionn arrived back with the water, Diarmuid had died in Gráinne's arms.