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Now it chanced, as the feast went on, that Daire the poet was close to Grainne and they passed pleasant talk between them. After a while, Grainne said, 'Why have this Finn and his Fianna come here? And what means his questioning of me?'

Daire was mighty surprised at this and replied, 'Do you not know that he comes to take you as wife?'

She was a long time silent. Then she said, 'If Finn wished me for his son Oisin or for his youthful grandson Oscar, it would be no wonder. But I marvel that he wants me for himself. He is older than my father with many white hairs.'

Then she thought again, and she looked well around the table. 'This is good company,' she said, 'but I know not these men, apart from Oisin, son of Finn.'

So Daire named many heroes, and told her of their strength and boldness and high lineage, till she stopped him at a certain face.

'What is that youth of the sweet words,' she asked, 'with the fair, freckled cheeks and the raven-black curls?'

'That man is Diarmuid, grandson of Duibhne, and he is the best lover of a woman in the whole world.'

'That is good company indeed,' said Grainne.

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