'That is so,' answered the King, 'and I will give you my two sons,
with a thousand men to each of them.' Joyful was Fionn to hear this,
and he departed with his company, and nothing was known of them till
they reached the Boyne, where Fionn challenged Diarmid and Angus to
battle.

'What shall I do touching this, O Oscar?' asked Diarmid.

'We will give them battle and slay them all,' answered Oscar.

On the morrow Diarmid and Oscar rose, and put on their armour and went
their way to the place of combat, where they bound the rims of their
shields together, so that they might not be parted in the fight. Next
they proclaimed battle against Fionn, and the Scots said they would
land and fight them first. They rushed together, and Diarmid passed
under them and through them and over them, as a whale would go through
small fish. And all of them fell by Diarmid and Oscar before night
came, while they themselves had neither cut nor wound.

When Fionn saw that great slaughter he and his men put out to sea, and
sailed to the cave where dwelt an old woman, Fionn's nurse. And he
told her his story from the beginning. 'I will go with you,' said she,
'and will practise magic against him.'

They came to the Boyne, and the witch threw magic over Fionn and his
Fenians, so that the men of Erin knew not they were there; and that
day Diarmid was hunting alone, for he had parted from Oscar the day
before. Now the witch knew this, and she flew to where a water-lily
leaf lay with a hole in the middle of it, and as the wind lifted the
leaf from the surface of the water she cast deadly darts at Diarmid
through the hole, and did him great hurt. And every evil that had come
upon him was little compared with that evil. Then he felt that unless
he could strike her through the hole in the leaf she would slay him on
the spot; so he lay down on his back and took his javelin in his hand,
and reached her through the hole, and she fell dead.

After that he cut off her head and carried it with him to Angus.

The next day Diarmid rose early and Angus with him, and they went to
Fionn and asked if he would make peace with Diarmid, and also to
Cormac, King of Erin, with a like question; and they agreed thereto,
and asked Diarmid what terms he wanted. Diarmid demanded several of
the best baronies in Ireland, and he got them, and they blotted out
all Diarmid had done during the sixteen years of his outlawry, and
Cormac gave his other daughter to Fionn t