ying dead and grey, like a blighted branch.

And as to Goll, he went away to a cave that was in a point stretching
out into the sea; and he thought to stop there till Finn's anger would
have passed.

And Osgar knew where he was, and he went to see him, that had been his
comrade in so many battles. But Goll thought it was as an enemy he came,
and he made a cast of his spear at him, and though Osgar got no wound by
it, it struck his shield and crushed it. And Finn took notice of the way
the shield was, and when he knew that Goll had made a cast at Osgar
there was greater anger again on him. And he sent out his men and bade
them to watch every path and every gap that led to the cave where Goll
was, the way they would make an end of him.

And when Goll knew Finn to be watching for his life that way, he made no
attempt to escape, but stopped where he was, without food, without
drink, and he blinded with the sand that was blowing into his eyes.

And his wife came to a rock where she could speak with him, and she
called to him to come to her. "Come over to me," she said; "and it is a
pity you to be blinded where you are, on the rocks of the waste sea,
with no drink but the salt water, a man that was first in every fight.
And come now to be sleeping beside me," she said; "and in place of the
hard sea-water I will nourish you from my own breast, and it is I will
do your healing. And the gold of your hair is my desire for ever," she
said, "and do not stop withering there like an herb in the winter-time,
and my heart black with grief within me."

But Goll would not leave the spot where he was for all she could say.
"It is best as it is," he said, "and I never took the advice of a woman
east or west, and I never will take it. And O sweet-voiced queen," he
said, "what ails you to be fretting after me; and remember now your
silver and your gold, and your silks and stuffs, and remember the seven
hounds I gave you at Cruadh Ceirrge, and every one of them without
slackness till he has killed the deer. And do not be crying tears after
me, queen with the white hands," he said; "but remember your constant
lover, Aodh, the son of the best woman of the world, that came out from
Spain asking for you, and that I fought at Corcar-an-Deirg; and go to
him now," he said, "for it is bad when a woman is in want of a good
man."

And he lay down on the rocks, and at the end of twelve days he died. And
his wife keened him there, and made a great