The First Travellers of Ireland
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"Why do we travel?" the little girl asked, her dark eyes gleaming in the firelight. "Why don't we stay in one place, like the Settled People? Where did it all begin?" "Easy to tell: Finn was High King of all Ireland when the first Travellers took to the road. Grania was to be the wife of Finn, but she had no desire to marry a man older than her own father. No, her love was for one, and one only: Diarmuid, the favorite warrior-poet and best friend of Finn. Diarmuid was gifted with art, and his hair was dark and curly, like most of our Folk today, and he was young, and he was handsome, and he seemed more fit, to Grania, to be her husband. So she put the geasa on him, that he be bound to take to the road with her. Now, Diarmuid, with his gifts of art, and his handsome face, also was not without honour. His first allegiance was that to Finn, but he asked the other men of the court what he should do, and they all felt it would be a dishonourable act not to keep the geasa bestowed by a lady, especially one such as Grania, and so it was that they took to the road. Overcome with jealousy, Finn followed soon after. And thus began the pursuit of us Travellers by the Settled People. After a bit of the road, Grania became tired, so she suggested that they take some of her father's horses, and a vardo. So Diarmuid went to fetch the horses and the vardo, to pacify her. But a bit further along, he told her that it would be much easier for Finn to track them, what with the horses and the wagon tracks. And so she agreed to leave them behind. Now, Diarmuid was wise in the ways of the road, and he took them down a river a-ways, afore he left the horses, one to one bank, and t'other to t'other bank, and the vardo in the river between, and they walked on a-ways in the water afore they took to the road again, to throw the hounds off their scent. And we do that to this day, when we need to get the Settled People off our trail! And when they cooked their meals, Diarmuid knew to bury the coals under the sod afore they took off again from the spot, and when they went to sleep, he slept light, with one eye open and one ear listening. So they travelled the road this way for quite some time, but at last, Finn caught up with them. And when he was upon them, all that saved them was Oengus the Young, that protector of lovers, whose kisses, 'twas said, turned into birds. He took pity on them, and he spirited Grania away under his cloak, and Diarmuid promised, if he were still alive at the break of day, to meet them wherever it was they hid. Now, in all this time, Diarmuid had not broken faith with Finn by taking Grania as his bride, but Finn did not know this, and so, he was fighting mad. But rather than come to blows with his friend, Diarmuid used his Traveller's ways, and outsmarted Finn's company, and went to meet with Grania and Oengus where they hid a-ways off in the darkness of a wood. And they ate their dinner there, and rested a bit, and on the morrow, afore leaving, Oengus said to them, he did, himself: 'Do not rest yerselves in a tree what has only one trunk, and Finn hot on your heels, and do not rest yerselves in a cave in the earth what has only one door, and do not rest yerselves on an isle of the sea what has only one harbour. And wherever you cook yer food, stay not long enough to eat it there, but take it with you to the road; and wherever you eat it, see yer moving whilst ye do; and wherever ye rest yerselves for the night, see that the morning find ye not in the same place!' And so it is to this day that we do not Settle, for once you're settled, you're no longer free. You're tied down, and there's no escaping anything. And so it is that when we eat our food, we take it with us to the road. And when we rest for the night, we pack up early in the morning, and we move on, even still. For the words of Oengus the Young protected those first Travellers, Diarmuid and Grania, and they protect us still, if we keep to 'em. So they took the advice of Oengus the Young, and whenever they cooked their food on one bank of the river, they did not eat it until they'd reached t'other, and when they rested for the night, they rose afore the coming day, that morning would not find them still there. And so they eluded Finn for a very long time. But eventually they tired of the road, and they longed to go back to their old ways, and the Settled Life, as some of our people do even today. So they built themselves a cabin afar back in a wood, and forgot about Finn for a time. 'Twas there Finn found them a second time. 'Twas Oengus the Young, again, who saved them. And he spirited them to Brugh Na Boyne, where they rested a piece afore setting out again on the road. One night, they took shelter in a cave by the sea. Now, in this cave there lived a Fomor, and he was huge and he was dark and he was evil, as most Fomor were, and he challenged Diarmuid to a game of chess, with Grania as the prize. Remember, Diarmuid was a man of art, and he was wise in many things, and one of the things in which he was wisest was chess, so he felt sure he would win the game. He lost. And the Fomor took Grania up in his arms, to make away with her as a wife. Diarmuid drew his sword then, to deal him a killing blow, but Grania would have none of killing, and she tried to stop Diarmuid, and in the attempt, she hurt his person as well as his heart, for she stabbed him in the thigh with his own dagger. Diarmuid fled to the road, out into a raging storm. Grania was quick to follow. She found him by a river, and nearby, a heron a-crying out. And she said to Diarmuid, she did, herself: 'Why does she cry out so?' And he responded to her, he did, himself: 'She cries for she is frozen to the rock and cannot fly away.' So it is that we sing laments even now when we are forced to settle. Then Grania begged his forgiveness, but he said to her, he did, himself: 'Woman, with your pretty hair, Next to spring are you more fair; Yet love fades like night with day's glare, And what you bid, I can't bear! Woman, I am a wild deer, A beast run astray in fear, Running ever, there to here; Torn am I from those held dear. 'Twas you took me from my clan, Who called me friend, to a man! Generous once, without ban, Now they hunt me stone to strand! You have put me to the road! Lost my home, my lord, my gold! No comrades and no abode; Traded all for one girl's goad! I'm without country or kin, Without safety; affection! Because of your woman's sin, I've traded my gold for tin! Without music or delight, The road's now my bed by night! I've lost both honour and right; From my own clan I take flight! 'Twas for your beauty I ran, And left behind home and clan; 'Twas better hate had been your plan, or you had loved Finn. Woman!' And she responded to him, then, she did, herself: 'Diarmuid, 'tis for your sweet face, Your soft voice so full of grace, That I go the road apace; You are worth this dark disgrace! Your blue eyes, richer than gold; Rare to me, each freckled mole; Nothing for me does Tara hold: All beds without you are cold. Hear the keen of the banshee For my heart felled by beauty! A day is a life with thee; One moment, all eternity. I was wrong for what I did: Your own life to you forbid. Graw, my love could not be hid! Do not leave me, Diarmuid!' But Diarmuid felt that he had been wronged, and that she was naught but a fickle girl, and he told her so, then and there, he did: 'You have put me to the road! And for what? No love you've showed! You'd give to me what Finn is owed; Next to someone else bestowed!' But she begged and she begged, as women sometimes do (and men, too for that matter!), until finally, she could beg no more, and then she begged his dagger, for she knew not what else to do, besides kill herself then and get it over! So she asked if he would have bread and meat, for which he'd need the knife to cut 'em, and he said yes. So she said to him, she did, herself: 'Then it give it to me now, that I might cut 'em," Knowing full and well the only thing she meant to cut was herself! And he pointed it to it then, still sheathed within the skin of his very thigh, for he had not the heart to remove it, where she'd struck him so deep. She drew it out then, and 'twas great shame she felt in the doing of that thing, and he saw the tears in her eyes, and knew that her heart was not as false as he had thought. They stopped that night in a cave, and before the break of day, they set off again, but this time as husband and wife. And they wandered on after that, down the road, and wherever they took shelter, now there stands a dolmen, and this is why we call these the "wedding bed of Diarmuid and Grania." Wherever they went, Finn was not far behind them. But whenever he would catch up to them, always Oengus The Young, the protector of we Travellers ever since, would be there to spirit them away to safety at Brugh Na Boyne. Eventually, Finn grew tired of the chase, and they all made their peace. Grania stayed with Diarmuid, and they kept to the road, and raised there their children, and their children's children, right until they're dying day, just as we raise our children still, here on the road. But we've not forgotten the hardships suffered by Diarmuid and Grania at the hands of the Settled People, nor have such hardships ended. And we still keep to the lessons in their tale, especially those taught by Oengus the Young, who protects us Travellers still. And that is why we travel, mo gawthrins. That is how it all began, and who knows how it shall end? Daalyon djonawdu gyay thoo! God go with ya!" The words in itallics are authentic Shelta, the language of the Travellers. They mean love, children, and God go with ya!, respectively. |
