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Plate 14: Ben Gulabin - Beinn Ghulbainn, Glen Shee, Perthshire.

Diarmaid Ó Duibhne, one of the Fianna, elopes with Fionn’s unloving wife Gràinne. She is the daughter of Cormac mac Airt, High King of Ireland. The two men appear reconciled, but Fionn has never completely forgiven his cousin. The treacherous Fionn sends Diarmaid on a hunt to slay the immortal boar of Beinn Ghulbainn, expecting his friend to be killed in the endeavour. The noise of the clamorous warriors awakens the beast of legend. Diarmaid attacks, and after the boar has broken his spear shaft three times, he eventually succeeds in slaying the brute with an ancient and trusty blade. Fionn, who had thought Diarmaid would be killed by the animal, now tells him to pace out its length from snout to tail. It is sixteen feet long. Fionn asks him to repeat the measurement from tail to snout, against the grain as it were. Whereupon a sharp bristle from the boar’s pelt pricks Diarmaid as he paces out the length of the beast again. Unfortunately, he has an ‘Achilles heel’ in the form of a mole on the sole of his foot and is poisoned by a bristle from the dead boar. As Diarmaid dies, Fionn asks what might make him feel better. Diarmaid replies; ‘A drink of water from your own hands’. This would have been a life-saving draught from Fionn’s healing cup. Fionn fetches water from a well, but as he returns he thinks jealously about Gràinne and begins to spill the healing draught. Then guilty thoughts return as he reflects on his mortally wounded old friend. He continues his mercy mission. Then his thoughts return to Grainne and he spills yet more of the precious panacea. Sadly, Fionn has delayed too long and Diarmaid expires.