#Diarmuid and Gráinne

[appointmentwithmryeats]

Diarmuid and Gráinne - The story (summarised)

Excerpted from The Translations of Seamus Heaney by Seamus Heaney and edited by Marco Sonzogni. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Copyright © 2022 by The Estate of Seamus Heaney. Introduction and editorial material copyright © 2022. All rights reserved.

[aquitainequeen]

Me, so physically exhausted that I am basically the equivalent of sloshed, stabbing the table with my finger for emphasis:

The point is. The point is. The point is. Everyone's always adapting Greek and Classical mythology, and Norse mythology. Maybe Egyptian, if you're lucky. More Chinese mythology now, that's good. But. They never do Irish mythology. Where's my adaptation of The Táin/The Cattle Raid of Cooley????? I want to see Cú Chulainn use the belly spear!!!!

[margridarnauds]

STUDY HARDER.

(Anyway, Tochmarc Ailbe. FINN AND GRÁINNE. TETHNA AND LOM LAINE. THE POEMS OF GEARÓID IARLA. Multiple folkloric variants.)

If people want to call Gráinne as a character manipulative for it, fine, but you can't claim that AND claim a deep respect and/or knowledge for the older material.

[altblock-tm]

The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne is one of the funniest pieces of literature I’ve read because it somehow managed to translate the phenomenon where anime protagonists are easy to spot in a crowd into writing

[sadbhkellett]

Last summer, I had the absolute privilege of discussing the elixir of feminism, Irish mythology, and Rossettian aesthetics that make up Katharine Tynan's poetic retelling of Tóraíocht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne at the Tate Britain. A highlight of 2023!

[labuenosairesfrancaise]

Woodlawn House

Hi guys!!

I'm sharing Woodlawn House. This is the 14th building for my English Collection.

It is in fact an Irish house, built before Ireland became independent.

I had to make some modifications and had no images to copy interiors.

History of the house: The history of Woodlawn goes back before recorded history, with the pre-medieval Diarmuid and Gráinne mound, currently undated.

Originally known as Mota or sometimes Moote, the village was renamed by Lord Ashtown, apparently for the simple reason that his post often ended up in Moate instead of Mota.  The countryside was flat, boggy in places but largely well-suited to farming and was used for tillage up until the 1930s when it was put to pasture.

Forestry is more recent addition to the landscape, with Coilte owning large tracts of the old Woodlawn estate.

Woodlawn House itself is a three storey palladian style country house of about 30,000sq.ft. originally built around 1760 by Frederick Trench, the first Baron Ashtown.  It was extensively remodelled in 1860 by his son the second Baron Ashtown to plans drawn up by James F. Kempster, the local County Surveyor.  It was also the second Baron Ashtown who was responsible for the building of the railway station and ensuring that the railway line passed through the estate as it was being constructed.

The house was finally sold by the fourth Lord Ashtown to Frederick Le Poer Trench in 1947.  The current owner is engaged in planning a complete restoration of the house and estate. 

For more info: https://www.woodlawn-estate.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Distribution

This house fits a 50x50 lot (I think if you lose the woods and entrance it can fit a 50x40 too)

I furnished just the principal rooms, so you get an idea. The rest is unfurnished so you create the interiors to your taste!

Hope you like it.

You will need the usual CC I use:

all Felixandre cc

all The Jim,

SYB

Anachrosims

Regal Sims

King Falcon railing

The Golden Sanctuary

Cliffou

Dndr recolors

Harrie cc

Tuds

Lili's palace cc

Please enjoy, comment if you like it and share pictures with me if you use my creations!

Early access: 07/18/2024

Download: https://www.patreon.com/posts/106463811

[darerendevil]

🔊

Breandán Ó Murchú said that while the media was obsessed with the success being enjoyed by his son Cillian at present, and while that was fine, there was more to it than that.

“There are so many things happening in the world, that we should be sensible about these things and that’s what he’s saying himself as well,” said Breandán.

“We’re very pleased with him and very happy that he’s getting on so well.”

When the news came through, Cillian was at home with his parents. “We were all here, there are four of us and each is as important to us as the other, we were all together and we had a cup of tea and the story came and we were delighted.”

Cillian’s father admitted to not being fond of the fuss or ‘puililiú’ that comes with his son’s fame but recalled his son’s early interest in drama during the interview.

“He was always lively, a lovely little fellow, full of chat, and he always liked to have an adventure going on in his imagination constantly – he was full of spirit and life and imagination.

“He loved being in the company of other children and I’d say he made up a lot of stories and they did a lot of wild things from time to time – he was very mature as a young person and, I’d say, when he was at school he annoyed a teacher or two as he found it difficult to sit still while in national school, you know the way with young lads.”

His early interest was in music and the rhythm of music, his father noticed. “It’s interesting that, as he grew older, he showed an interest in the old ‘Fiannaíocht’ stories about Diarmuid and Gráinne, that surprised me.

"Anything that was exaggerated or larger than life, he enjoyed that, and I suppose there’s a link between that and drama, I don’t know.”

His father recalled that Cillian didn’t seem to be very interested in his studies during the year but when he set his mind to it, he did very well in exams and so on. “He didn’t want to spend all his time studying and when he went to Presentation College, they were very good, there were one or two in particular who noticed his interest in literature and that he had an aptitude for writing.

"When they had a band, they gave Cillian and his friends an opportunity to go on stage, and there were a few people who helped him on, including the author Billy Wall.

“Cillian was lucky to meet him, he was also very interested in history.

“I don’t think he showed an interest in acting until he met Pat Kiernan and the gang in Corca Dorcha. “He told me then that he saw Clockwork Orange on stage and this had an enormous impact on him. “He said somewhere that we didn’t bring him to the theatre when he was young but he forgot that he had three younger siblings and that made it more difficult to go to plays.

“If I was starting again with him, I’d bring him to more plays because it’s clear that he had a deep interest.”

Meeting Pat Kiernan and Enda Walsh gave Cillian the confidence he needed to immerse himself in theatre, his father said. “He got the taste for it and followed his heart, he knew then this is what he wanted to do.

“He didn’t want to do it for publicity or anything, he just wanted to do it right, I must give him that.”

Mr Ó Murchú said that Cillian wanted to do things right and that was something that pleased his father. “That’s something you wouldn’t expect from young people – you know yourself about boys, he’d lose school bags and other things like all young lads but when he put his mind to it, you’d know he wanted to do it right and that helped him enormously.”

When Cillian made his breakthrough with the stage production of Disco Pigs, he was still a Law student in UCC and his parents were getting conflicting advice from different sources saying that he should pursue his career in theatre as he was so obviously talented, while others were saying that he would be foolish to abandon his studies for the stage.

They saw him on stage in his first production, Frank McGuinness’ Observe the Sons of Ulster. “He was very good in that, I thought, though I didn’t think he was better than others in the play or anything like it but we knew he was very serious and then Disco Pigs was a revelation for us because it was on a different level entirely.

“Pat and Enda, it was clear that they were on a different level as they were so creative, himself and Eileen Walsh, the professionalism of that work amazed us and there was no stop to him after that and he met with very nice people who helped him on the road and they helped him.

“We’re very pleased entirely for him, I don’t like to say we’re proud of him because it’s his achievement, not ours,” he said.

“We brought him into the world and we did our best but we don’t see at all that we had a hand in the work that he’s doing at present but we’re not going to lose our wits and neither is he.

“We don’t like to make too much fuss about him, he’s got a job like the sons and daughters of other people and the difference, he gets a lot of publicity. “All the same we’re so happy for him and pleased.”

He said that he and his wife were in an empty cinema when they went to a 5pm screening to see him on the big screen and were very impressed. Mr Murphy is looking forward to seeing Cillian’s newest film, Small Things Like These, which is based on a Clare Keegan book and said that his son learned a lot on the Ken Loach film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

“I remember he came home one evening after filming and he was very worried about something that happened during that day’s filming, as if it were something that really happened, and that’s down to how immersed in the work he was and the methods of Ken Loach, that work came from the heart for that movie, I felt.” He said that film allowed people, including Cillian’s mother’s people and his own family who were involved, to talk about that period.

At home, Cillian will talk about anything before he will talk about the movies and while his parents ask him questions from time to time, and he answers them, they don’t want to fuss too much.

As for going to the Oscars, Breandán and his wife don’t intend to travel. “If he’s nominated for a BAFTA, we will go there as it’s closer to home and when he comes home from the Oscars, we will make him a cake.”

[anarcho-sgathach]

Gráinne: how big is that dick

Diarmuid: small. leave me alone

[dark-mnjiro]

Touch of Divine Rush

A Collab Masterlist

a collection of stories where one is touched by a divine being whatever chaos, blessing, or curses that may bring.

DEADLINE: MARCH 30th 2023

STATUS: CLOSED

PARTICIPANTS

@dark-mnjiro - orpheus!yuuta x eurydice!afabreader

@knchins - dionysus!bachira x reader

@izunias - fallen angel!reader x human!itoshi rin

@ryndicate - narcissus!michael kaiser x reader

@lou-struck - bakugou katsuki x reader - pygmalion and galatea retelling

@i-am-tiny-sun - chigiri x reader :: the pursuit of diarmuid and gráinne retelling

@meggsngrits - artist!yuuji x fairy!reader :: leanan sidhe retelling

@yakshasslut - eros!chifuyu x reader :: based on eros and psyche myth

@the-fishing-basket - nemisis!dabi x reader

@chiffiorra - perseus!isagi x andromeda!reader

@chiffiorra - hades!hanma x persephone!reader

@kaidabakugou / @dynamy-tears - forest god vidar!bakugou x elf freader

@noelledleapier orpheus!nikko x eurydice!reader

stories will be added/linked as they are completed - masterlist is subject to change depending on writers ability to complete work for collab. please remember if you are unable to complete - just contact me. i totally understand and will also try to work with you in regards to this!

[ariadne-mouse]

More googling names from this Candela ep, results from Wikipedia:

The story of Gráinne and Diarmuid is one of a number of instances in Irish mythology of a love triangle between a young man, a young woman and an aging suitor, ...

"Gráinne’s character is always drawn with consistency in the myths. She is a shallow person, wilful, ruthless and passionate, and what in modern terms would be described as a neurotic."

If the mythological source is the inspiration, then it seems she is indeed a bit of a bitch

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

Hello I was just knee deep in your explanations about various aspects of Cú Chulainn and came across this "kissing in medieval irish lit is actually pretty rare? at some point i really want to do more research into any other scenarios in which there is kissing of any kind" in an ask. Could this relevance/ significance of kissing also be applied to the Diarmuid/Grainne tale? I know it's mentioned that Diarmuid kisses Grainne 3 times in front of the Fianna/Fionn. So that's basically not only significant but also kinda uncommon? Is it used to show some form of claim?

so i actually didn't get around to doing further research on this but i know @finnlongman is looking at it right now as a sidetrack to their PhD on friendship and affection. it's early days but they are probably the one to ask!

one thing i've noticed is that certain phrases to do with kissing come up a lot more in late texts though and diarmait+gráinne is pretty late so that might be part of it

[etymology-of-the-emblem]

Failnaught / フェイルノート

Failnaught (JP: フェイルノート; rōmaji: feirunōto) is the Hero's Relic tied to the Crest of Riegan. The name is more modern than you might expect: it was a creation of Hilaire Belloc's 1913 translation of The Romance of Tristan and Iseult, as retold by Joseph Bédier in 1900. In this Arthurian legend, the young knight Tristan defeated Morholt, an Irish warrior sent to King Mark of Cornwall to collect tribute. However, the duel left a poisonous barb in Tristan that was slowly killing him, so he was set in a boat to die at sea. Coincidentally, his craft shored on the beaches of Ireland, and he was saved by the princess Iseult who did not know who he was. He would return to Ireland when his king sought a wife, and would slay a chimerical dragon for the hand of Iseult. Though the princess was able to quickly identify Tristan has the killer of her uncle Morholt, she swiftly forgave him. Before they disembarked to bring King Mark his bride, Iseult's mother gifted her daughter a love potion to be drank by the husband and wife; this would quickly be mistaken as wine by one of the princess's servants, and would be shared with Tristan. Soon, they would elope, and King Mark and the soldiers of Cornwall began their hunt. It is for this premise that Tristan and Iseult is considered the English version of The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne.

It would be in the wood of Morois that Tristan made his bow Failnaught (or Fail-Not in some translations). In the original French, this name was "l'arc qui ne faut"—the bow that does not fail. As the name suggests, arrows launched from Failnaught always hit their target. In older tales that focus on Tristans' time as a Knight of the Round Table, "l'arc qui ne faut" was not the name of a bow, but referred to a trap to capture man or beast and fill them with arrows. Rather befitting the Master Tactician and his ploys, yeah? And whether or not its intentional, the lord less involved in the primary drama of Three Houses' story uses a Hero's Relic not related to a deity, but to a knight that gets involved in foreign affairs.

Despite his actions, King Mark maintained his respect for his nephew and the woman who should be his queen like he would a father to his children. However, both he and the lovers suffered nightmares of a bleak future; eventually they would peacefully convene and agree to let Iseult marry Mark and Tristan would be exiled. He would take a Brittany princess named Iseult for a wife. Some time later, Tristan would once more be poisoned and needs Iseult of Ireland to heal him. In a blatant reference to the Greek story of Theseus, the Brittany-bound ship was to fly white sails if she was on the ship, and black sails if she did not. When Iseult of Brittany lied to her husband that she sees black sails, Tristan died on the spot. The Queen of Cornwall arrived to find her lover dead, and she herself dies.

Failnaught's combat art, Fallen Star, is hard to connect to the story of Tristan. The Japanese name 落星 (rōmaji: rakusei) isn't too much better but there are a few possible interpretations. Like the localized name, it can be interpreted as "Falling Star". This could refer to the downfall of this pair of star-crossed lovers; though the phrase was coined by Shakespeare for Romeo and Juliet, the relationship between Tristan and Iseult is often considered the progenitor of the trope. Their story predates even similar forbidden romances in the Matter of Britain, those likely being modeled after Tristan and Iseult.

However, the kanji 落 is very flexible in meaning. It is most commonly used in the word 落ちる (rōmaji: ochiru), which typically means "to fall; to come down", but also has around twenty other definitions. Most stand-out is "to fall into (a trap); to fall for (a trick)" relating to the original "l'arc qui ne faut". Other definitions relevant to the story of Tristan and Isolde include "to fall (in love, asleep, etc.)" "to leave (a city, castle, etc.) [some Japanese dictionaries specify as moving to rural areas]; to (be defeated and) flee", and "to decline (of morals, character, etc.)". Additionally, the kanji 星 (rōmaji: hoshi) can refer not only to stars, but the bullseye of a target, but considering the bow fires arrows of light, its likely meant to refer to the former.

This was a segment from a larger document reviewing the name of most every weapon and item in Three Houses and Three Hopes. Click Here to read it in full.

[venicepearl]

"Grania questions the druid", illustration by Henry Justice Ford in The Book of Romance (1903)

Gráinne (Irish pronunciation: [ˈɡɾˠaːn̠ʲə]), sometimes anglicised Grania, is the daughter of king Cormac mac Airt in the Fianna Cycle of Irish mythology. She is one of the central figures in the Middle Irish text Finn and Gráinne, as well as the 17th-century tale The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne, which tells of her betrothal to Fionn mac Cumhaill, leader of the Fianna, and her subsequent elopement with Fionn's warrior Diarmuid Ua Duibhne.

[altblock-tm]

I think the thing that really intrigues me about Saber Lancelot is the fact that he so closely associates himself with the fall of Britain that he ignores whatever else he could be

(More ramblings/spoilers for Fate/Zero under the cut)

And I say that because Berserker Lancelot is the fallen knight of the Round Table. It’s clear that he’s associated with the fall of Britain, considering that he’s the shadow from King Arthur’s shining legend and all.

However, Saber Lancelot quite curiously associates himself with the fall too. Despite being a younger version of Lancelot, summoned in his prime as the strongest Round Table knight, he doesn’t feel he deserves the title or respect. Saber Lancelot himself says that it’s he who leads to the downfall of Britain, despite not being a Berserker.

But, as far as I know, no other Heroic Spirit does this.

The best example I can think of right now is Fionn mac Cumhaill. Fionn is summoned in his prime, a long time before the events of the Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne. Because of this, Fionn does not associate himself with the pursuit. (His Interlude admits that.)

(I’m sure there are other and better examples but I can’t think of them rn)

So why is Saber Lancelot different? If he’s supposed to be the peak of the Round Table, why is he so closely linked to its fall?

[my-blooming-darling]

This is a contribution for @dark-mnjiro! I hope it’s a good submission 😭

Categories: 🫧 (new work!); 🤝 (collabs!); 🚞 (smut); 🚺 (fem reader!), ❤️‍🩹 (angst towards the end)

Tw: there be smut somewhere down the line, but it’s not the central part of the fic! Character death occurs as well. Please tell me if I missed anything that requires tagging!

Disclaimer: Reader and Chigiri are sometimes referred to as Diarmuid and Gràinne! You are Gràinne! I hope this clears up any possible confusion 💕

You didn’t want to marry him.

Judging this man, you began to realize that you’d made the mistake of accepting his proposal to you. You figured that you hadn’t been resistant enough.

You only knew his nickname, which was Fionn. He was much older than you. You’d been presented to many suitors, several hundred of them in fact, and you liked none of them. When you saw his son, a very handsome man closer to your age, you began to wonder why he didn’t want you to marry his grandson instead. He selfishly claimed you for his spouse. Why did you think that this one was any different?

Eh, whatever. What’s done is done, you supposed.

You couldn’t back out now, not while there were so many people here for the feast. Even your good friend Bachira was next to you, gleefully telling you about some cockamamie tale of how he’d pulled his latest prank on poor Isagi. You could feel his eyes on you both…no doubt plotting how he was about to return the favor. You really couldn’t back out.

Or so you thought.

While Bachira was giggling away at the salty expression that was etched across Isagi’s face, you preoccupied yourself with looking around the room. Various foods, drinks, oh my goodness, that person’s hair looks terrible with that color of dress (and their shoes definitely didn’t match it either!), that pretty man with the red-pink hair-

Wait.

How did you not notice him until now? He was stunning, you really wanted to smack yourself for overlooking him. You wanted to braid his hair for him, maybe pin back the fringe that kept falling in his face. His rose colored eyes seemed to glow when he perched near the fireplace. You swore that you could cut your finger on his jawline alone.

“Bachira.”

He made a noise of disapproval when you pinched his arm, pinching you back in retaliation with a small hiss.

“Ow! Why’d you do that?”

You pointed in the direction of the mystery man near the fireplace, who was now talking to your other friend Kunigami.

“Who’s that over there? Tell me.”

“I’m telling Isagi you’re bullying me again!”

You both glanced at Isagi, who was now talking to Gagamaru. He noticed you both looking at him and gave you the “I’m watching you” gesture to Bachira. You didn’t like the smile on his face…it was sweet and cute as it normally was, but you and Bachira knew that he had ulterior motives.

“Yeah, something tells me he won’t believe you this time. Might wanna start talking.”

Bachira pinched you again.

“Hey!”

“Payback for pinching me a minute ago! Anyway, that princess looking guy by the fireplace is Chigiri Hyoma, and he’s your dear beloved old man’s right hand guy. People sometimes call him Diarmuid. Do you really wanna dip your toes into that pond?”

“First of all, don’t remind me…I shouldn’t have agreed to marry this old bat. Second of all, how’d you know?!”

“Uh, I’ve known you since we were kids? Don’t ask stupid questions!”

You stuck your tongue out at him and he responded in kind, but he tried to one-up you by crossing his eyes.

“You look so inappropriate right now, and I’m living for it.”

“I can make noises too if you want me to make this more interesting!”

“Not now! Wait until it’s dead silent!”

What you didn’t know was that you also captured Chigiri’s attention. He just did a better job of hiding it than you did. You were very beautiful, that he couldn’t deny at all. He’d only heard of you a few times in passing recently. He didn’t know what your name actually was, he just knew that you were sometimes referred to as Gráinne. Even he questioned the union between you and Fionn once he saw you. He was…quite a bit older than you. It was odd to him.

“I don’t get it either.”

Kunigami picked up on his behavior rather quickly. It was almost embarrassing…almost.

“He’s too old. Makes you wonder why he didn’t pass her off to his own son.”

Unable to deal with the looming reality that you would be married to a man who was about as old as any man related to you, you began to weigh your options. Your goal was to have everybody distracted enough that they wouldn’t notice you talking to Chigiri, but how? How would you do that?

You then remembered that you had a vast knowledge of plants, and you knew exactly which ones to use to create a powerful sedative. Bachira already had everyone distracted by his tale, one that you weren’t currently listening to, but it seemed interesting enough to keep everyone’s attention. You didn’t need to dismiss yourself this way, simply sneaking off to your room to search for the necessary herbs to create the sedative. You didn’t want them drowsy but awake, no. No, you didn’t want that.

You wanted them knocked the fuck out, and the key ingredient was the Scutellaria baicalensis: Baikal skullcap.

A little known fact about this pretty purple angiosperm of yours was that it contained high levels of melatonin, which only took about 20-50 minutes to kick in depending on the person. That was fine, you could wait, just as long as Chigiri didn’t ingest any himself. Not wanting to waste another second, you got to work on the extraction process. It didn’t take much time, surprisingly.

Now to spike all the drinks… you mentally apologized to Bachira, for he would also be affected by the potion.

Chigiri began to notice very quickly that everyone but him was beginning to feel drowsy. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but every person he’d spoken to cut the conversation short because they wanted to rest their eyes…yeah, they’re doing more than just resting their eyes.

He wasn’t feeling even remotely tired, and he noticed that you weren’t behaving the same way. In fact, you seemed to be getting closer to him…at least it seemed that way.

Well, until everyone was completely unconscious, and you were standing right in front of him.

“What happened? Why is everyone unconscious?”

Beautiful as it was, your smile chilled him to the core a bit.

“Nothing bad, I promise! They’ll wake up in a few hours from now…all I did was slip a little melatonin in the wine~!”

His blood ran cold at your sickly saccharine voice with your mischievous smile that made you scary, yet irresistibly adorable. Even Fionn was out cold, head resting against the mahogany table in a deep slumber, one that would probably leave an ache in his neck when he woke up. Chigiri was about to speak before your finger lightly pressed against his lips.

“Let’s cut to the chase here. I’m having immeasurable regrets about agreeing to marry him, and seeing your pretty face only helped me make up my mind. I don’t want to marry Fionn. It was a big mistake made by very, veeeery poor judgment on my end.”

You weren’t letting him speak yet. You wanted to get your piece out.

“I want to be with you, and I want you to run away with me-“

“AACK-“

Chigiri choked on air after inhaling too deeply in shock. You patted his back to try and get him situated, but he immediately began speaking like he’d been accused of a crime.

“You want to what?!”

“You heard me. I want to be with you. And I think we should run away from here.”

“No, I heard you the first time! Loud and clear! I’m just…you what?”

“I really don’t see what’s difficult about this.”

He swore you were possessed. You’d been cursed, he swore!

“I- you’re about to marry Fionn.”

“Correct. And I don’t want to.”

“We just met! How can you want me when we don’t even know each other’s names? And to want to run away with, no less…”

You readily tell him what your name was. He briefly stops rambling.

“Hyoma Chigiri. I’m still not running away with you. Fionn would kill us both, and I’m loyal to him. I can’t do this.”

Ah, you didn’t want to do this, but you were left with no other option. A geis was in order, and that’s exactly what you cast upon him. He stood no chance.

“Take me away from here.”

And who was he to deny you your wish?

Rage bubbled within Fionn as he regained consciousness and you were missing. You, who he’d so graciously claimed for his wife, gone. At first, he thought that you’d been abducted.

Well, until he noticed that Diarmuid was missing too. Not wanting to believe the reality that you’d simply run away with his loyal companion, Fionn tried to believe that someone’s taken you and his companion went off in search of you.

But he couldn’t ignore the fallen engagement ring. That very ring that signifies his claim to you, the very one resting on the mahogany table like it was discarded trash. You weren’t with it, Chigiri wasn’t here. He connected the dots minutes ago, but he didn’t want to believe it.

He had no choice.

Rousing the partygoers from their slumber, Fionn put together a search group. He would find you both, come hell or high water, regardless of the cost!

“Find them, find them now! We are not coming back until we’ve found them!!!”

You and Chigiri have been through a lot together. During the time spent fleeing from Fionn’s wrath, you two have never stayed in one place for long. Hopping from cottages to trees, to the forest across the River Shannon, there was always somewhere new for you both. Even his foster father, Aengus Óg, helped to conceal you both when Fionn came to his home in search of you.

“I haven’t seen Hyoma in years, and I certainly wouldn’t have missed Gràinne. He couldn’t have gone far, just keep looking!”

Asking Bachira was a dead end for Fionn. He wouldn’t give up his best friend for anything, even if he’d just seen you both hiding in his garden. No, it didn’t matter to him that you’d basically drugged him too. He found this too entertaining (and he cared about you).

“Nah, Gràinne and Diarmuid? I haven’t seen them since the party. Good luck though!”

Although he was still under the geis you’ve cast upon him, he was still free to produce his own thoughts. He just couldn’t go against the geis. Chigiri began to feel genuine love for you. Despite the circumstances, you were fun to be around, and he loosened up considerably during his time with you.

But he still hasn’t touched you. Not anything beyond kissing, at least, for a whole year. You were losing it! But what you didn’t know was that he too was conflicted. Chigiri wanted to touch you, he really did, but there was always the possibility that you would be found, and Fionn wanted his wife. If he found out that you’d been touched by another man, you’d both be killed. You were just lucky enough to not have been found yet, that people were willing to help you evade Fionn and his search party.

But you were making it so damn difficult to keep his urges to himself, swimming in the lake like you were meant to live in it.

“This lake is more exciting than you sometimes.”

“Excuse me?”

That damned smirk of yours.

“You heard me.”

“Don’t challenge me.”

You stuck your tongue out at him, and that was it for him. He chased you around the lake, splashing at you in response while you laughed. You two playfully wrestled and splashed each other until he trapped you in his arms.

“Do you forfeit?”

You leaned into him, resting your head on his shoulder.

“I fold!”

Hyoma Chigiri was beautiful with water dripping from his face and body. Staring into those rosy eyes of his, you knew it immediately. He loved you. He truly loved you.

“Gràinne.. I love you.”

‼️ Attenzione! This is where the smut begins! Scroll away if you don’t want to read this!‼️

You didn’t need to hear anything more. Once you’ve reached your destination, a quaint wee cottage in the woods where Aengus told you both to go, you two couldn’t keep your hands off each other. You pinned him down to the bed you shared many nights together, kissing from his lips to his neck. The noises that left his throat were like music to your ears, and you wanted to hear more from him. It didn’t take long to find that spot, the very one that connects his neck to his collarbone, the very one that made him tick. There it was, that sharp whine from his pretty lips.

“Aww, so pretty ~!”

Chigiri wanted to protest, but he couldn’t get the words out when you lightly tweaked his nipple. All he could get out now were soft and sweet little moans of pleasure that shot through his body from every touch you gave him. Neither of you were thinking about Fionn and his search party. That didn’t matter in this moment, all that mattered was this moment with just you two, together. You released a delighted gasp upon seeing the bulge in his pants, a wet spot forming where his tip would be. His cock sprung to life when you freed him from the restraints of the blue fabric, leaking and angry red at the tip.

“Poor thing, you’re so pent up!”

He released a shaky sigh when you began to very slowly jerk him off, your lips littering his neck with kisses and little nips. You didn’t like how quiet he was being. You wanted to hear him let go, so you slowly took him into your mouth, sucking him like he was your favorite sweet. He’d been so tense during the beginning of your journey, and you were about to make him lose control of himself.

And lose it, he did. There was no such thing as silence now, silence was no longer holy to Chigiri. You would let him touch you this time, you’d let him hold onto your head for stability. He needed it now with what you had planned for him. His cock twitched repeatedly in your mouth and you knew that this was a good time to stop.

“W-what? Why’d you stop? I was so close…”

He couldn’t bring himself to say anything else when you slid down onto his dripping cock, pinning his wrists to the bed. You felt too good and he was worried that you’d leave him high and dry if he talked back. Wanting him to lose his composure even more, you begin to ride him at a painfully slow pace.

“You’re my prettiest boy, Hyoma.”

Soft whines emit from his lips as he gently gropes and fondles your chest. Chigiri wants you, he wants all of you now. He needs you. The love he’d formed for you bloomed tenfold in his internal garden. He didn’t want anyone else. Your warmth, your kindness, how headstrong you are when you want to be. He loves all of you. Being inside of you, after a year of wanting you, was akin to ecstasy in his eyes.

You sped up your movements after seeing his composure beginning to crack. Good, it didn’t take too long. You wanted to corrupt him more. Pretty moans echoed throughout the room as you bounced on his throbbing cock, he was getting close again. You two only had one night in this cottage before you had to settle elsewhere, so you intended to make the most of it. He pulled you down to his level, kissing you desperately and deeply as he tried to match your pace. The love that blossomed between you exploded with every stroke, every caress.

Tears sprung to his rosy eyes as he gripped onto your hips. Chigiri was so needy, and you were more than happy to offer him the pleasure he sought from you. You picked up your speed until he bit into your neck with a loud moan. He held your hips in place and emptied his seed deep into your entrance, penetrating your very womb. That was enough for your release to make itself known.

“I love you too, by the way.”

But little did you two realize, Fionn was closing in, and Lord above help you when he eventually found you.

“Maybe a boar hunt will help take your mind off of them for awhile, sir?”

“Perhaps. We set off in the morning.”

You were confused by Chigiri’s odd behavior. He seemed to be listening in on your surroundings more than usual, and it was worrying you.

“Beloved? What’s wrong?”

“I have the feeling that something might happen.”

“Good or bad?”

“Very bad.”

Neither of you wanted to think about it. You continued on the path to another village, one that was obscured by a great many trees and shrubs. However, Chigiri paused as soon as he heard a rustling near the trees. The clamoring of men alerted you both of Fionn’s presence, he and his men…but you were pretty sure that men also didn’t snort.

A gargantuan, wild boar burst from the bush and charged straight towards you both. Chigiri, not thinking twice, lifted you into his arms and broke into a full sprint to get you to safety. You both could see Fionn and his men pursuing the boar when he spotted you both. You swore his eyes burned red with a lust for your blood, no longer focusing on the boar that was chasing you and Chigiri.

“You…”

He pointed his sword towards you both, fully prepared to kill you both along with the boar.

“After them! All of them! And don’t lose the boar!”

Fionn and his men gave chase to three targets now. Chigiri’s bad feeling was right all along. How could you not question it more?! He broke from the path and practically tossed you into a nearby bush…with a geis of his own.

“You can’t leave this bush until I’ve killed the boar!”

He didn’t respond to your protests as he charged the boar with his sword drawn, the two tearing into each other like one would tear multiple stacks of paper. You weren’t sure whose blood was flowing the most, you just knew that this would not end well. You tried desperately to break the geis, but it was no use. You were forced to watch as Chigiri and the boar slaughtered each other. The boar ravenously gored your lover with what was left of its life force, but you knew he wouldn’t die without taking it with him. With a quick slash of his blade, the boar’s head was lopped off. The geis was broken.

But so was your heart.

You rushed to Chigiri’s side as blood poured from his marred body, trying your best to stop the bleeding, but it wasn’t enough. He was losing too much blood, and Fionn and his men were rapidly approaching. You caught a glimpse of the horrified Bachira, who looked like he was about to be sick from the sight of Chigiri dying in your arms, blood staining your clothes and body. He gave you a bitter smile, tears mixing with the blood on his face, hand caressing your cheek weakly. You didn’t care much about the blood that would surely stain your face…you wanted your beloved to survive.

“Hey…you know I love you, right?”

“Stop! Don’t talk like that…don’t talk to me like you’re about to leave me!”

The men paused their pursuit. Fionn’s expression was unreadable for the most part, but you could see some degree of sadness in his withered eyes, no longer burning with unbridled rage for you both. He looked like he was breaking. Of course, Chigiri still meant something to him despite everything that happened.

“Diarmuid..”

The pleas spilled from your lips like wine from a shattered glass, pleading with him to save your beloved, pleading with him for forgiveness. Not for yourself, but for Chigiri. You knew he had the power to save him by letting him drink from his hands. Empathy filled his eyes, you could see it as he made his way towards the well, gathering water in his palms.

But his hands shook too much, the water spilled. He reached for another handful, but it spilled again. Fionn’s grandson, whose name you didn’t know, slapped his back and gripped his shoulders urgently.

“Get a grip. Breathe!”

Complying with his grandson’s urgency, Fionn was able to successfully carry a handful of water to you and Chigiri. He poured the water into his parted lips…but nothing happened. The worst has come.

“Hyoma���? Hey, wake up! Wake up!”

A heart wrenching, ear splitting wail emitted from your lips as the realization and grief set in that your lover didn’t make it. You couldn’t register Bachira hugging you tightly, trying his best to calm you down enough, but it wasn’t happening. You lost one Hyoma Chigiri, your Diarmuid, and you knew that you would never love again.

A/N: I want y’all to suffer with me (I say this lovingly, of course)

[finnlongman]

Hello, I'm the anon that asked about the Diarmuid and Grainne tale before and you gave such a great answer that I felt like it was safe to maybe send you an ask again? I've read more into the Ulster and Fenian tales and also came across the comparison between Diarmuid/ Grainne and Tristan/Isolde (a lot actually). Does that hold any evidence? Did the Tristan take evolve from Diarmuids story? I was thinking about maybe it up on JSTOR but you're definitely the less intimidating option. Have a great day

So, with the huge caveat that I am not a specialist in fíanaigecht material and also not an expert on Tristan material, this question did come at the only time when I might be able to answer it, because I literally read an article today about this topic. Having said that, I am still extremely not an expert!

First of all, I will say that this has definitely been a topic of discussion in academic scholarship on these texts. What the current consensus is on whether one text is drawing on the other, I can be less confident asserting, because I haven't read a lot of the scholarship on this topic. Although I'm not working on this topic directly, I'm currently looking substantially at the relationship between Arthurian romances and Early Modern* Irish texts (a category to which Diarmait & Gráinne belongs, although I'm working on the Ulster Cycle, so it's not in my corpus), so it's probably something I'll find myself coming back to. It's a very muddy area though -- although Arthurian scholars are often very ready to attribute details to the "Celtic" origins of a story and therefore imply that any similarities mean an Irish or Welsh text is the original blueprint, in this case, the surviving texts are late enough that you get a lot of influence coming back in from French and English sources via the Anglo-Normans and Ireland's general literary contact with the outside world.

When looking for articles on this kind of topic, JSTOR may be able to help, but I tend to find it's a bit limited for Irish material because so many articles and chapters in our field haven't been digitised. Which is a huge disadvantage. However, there are a few ways around this, at least in terms of identifying material (not so much getting access to it). I ran a search for tristan on BILL, the Bibliography of Irish Language & Literature, to see what had been published on the topic recently (but not super recently because BILL tends to be a few years behind with recent publications).

From there, I found Marie-Luise Theuerkauf's 2017 article in The Matter of Britain in Medieval Ireland: reassessments (Irish Texts Society Subsidiary Series 29, ed. John Carey): 'Tristan and early modern Irish romances: James Carney’s Ur-Tristan revisited.' This is a useful place to start. At least, it's where I started while reading today!

In this article, she discusses James Carney's controversial attempts (in the 1950s) to reconstruct an insular "ur-text" of the Tristan story that would have served as the source for later texts. In this study, Carney identifies a number of Irish texts that share motifs with Tristan stories, among them Tóruigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne. TDG probably dates to the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries, although the earliest manuscript of the text is from the seventeenth century. However, Carney believed that the original story underlying it dated to around 900, and therefore he can count it among his early, pre-Tristan texts.

It's true that there were definitely earlier versions of the story, since the (descriptive) title of one is found in tale lists: "The Elopement of Gráinne with Diarmaid". The text itself is lost, though, so we only have the title. Theuerkauf notes that "this proves that the love triangle story of Diarmaid, Gráinne and Fionn was known at a date anterior to the earliest Continental Tristan texts, we cannot automatically assume that the Aithed Gráinne story in exactly the same way as the Tóruigheacht does." In other words, a lot of the very specific motifs and similarities that the two texts share might be later, so which direction the influence is in becomes very muddy -- does Tristan get it from Diarmaid, or the other way around? Or do they both draw on a shared source? Or are they coincidental/more general folklore motifs from a common stock?

Theuerkauf cautions: "While it may be tempting to focus on the similarities which exist between the Tóruigheacht and Tristan, this focus has tended to lead to an over-simplification of the nature of the source material" and comments that although they're "very much alike in theme, they are often very different in execution or intent". She finishes by concluding that Carney is wrong about most things, if not everything, and introduces for consideration another 15th-century Irish text with close correspondences to the Tristan stories.

Another scholar who has worked on the relationship between the Tristan stories and the Irish material is Raymond J. Cormier. His article "Open Contrast: Tristan and Diarmaid" in Speculum 51/4 is available on JSTOR. I haven't read this one myself yet, but it looks based on Theuerkauf's citations that he tends to be quite critical of the connections between the two; among his criticisms is the fact that the late date of the surviving Irish texts means influences can enter directly from the French material, so shared motifs don't necessarily mean shared sources or Irish origins for those details.

He's also written about connections between Tristan narratives and the Naoise/Deirdre story, so looking at the love triangle motif in another Irish text. I haven't read this article yet, but it's here, if it's of interest (not sure if paywalled or not, sorry, I'm on institutional WiFi right now so it's bypassing all of that!)

Another article that looks valuable on this topic is Joseph Falaky Nagy, "Tristanic, Fenian, and lovers’ leaps" in Diasa díograise: aistí i gcuimhne ar Mháirtín Ó Briain (2009). Unfortunately, I can tell you nothing about this article because this book is not available to me. I have actually just requested that my library buy it because a couple of the other articles in there are relevant to me, but that means I can't advise on its contents yet!

Nagy has another article on the topic, 'The Celtic "Love Triangle" Revisited', in An XIV Comhdháil Idirnáisiúnta sa Léann Ceilteach, Maigh Nuad 2011: Imeachtaí (Dublin, 2015). Again, I have not read this one (although it looks like my library does actually have it), but it's also cited in Theuerkauf's article and sounds like it could be helpful.

I don't know if this answered your question at all, as I feel like the general vibe of what I just gave you was "ehh well they're definitely similar but the question is Why they're similar and that's more complicated" (ain't that always the way). But hopefully it might give you some sources to follow up on. I'm sorry I can't provide direct links to more of these -- the lack of open access and digitised scholarship in this field is a challenge.

*A point of terminology just to clarify in case anyone was confused: 13th-14th century may not sound "Early Modern" if you're used to thinking in purely historical terms, but linguistically, when it comes to Irish material this label tends to start from about 1300 (and obviously, being found in 17th century manuscripts positions this tale more solidly in the early modern period anyway).