So she told him where he was hiding, and he bade her to keep him in the cave till such time as he would come back with his men.

The old woman went back then, and it is what she did, she dipped her cloak in the sea-water before she went into the cave; and Diarmuid asked her why was her cloak so wet.  “It is,” she said, “that I never saw or never heard of the like of this day for cold and for storms.  There is frost on every hillside,” she said, “and there is not a smooth plain in all Elga where there is not a long rushing river between every two ridges.  And there is not a deer or a crow in the whole of Ireland can find a shelter in any place.”  And she was shaking the wet off her cloak, and she was making a complaint against the cold, and it is what she said: 

“Cold, cold, cold to-night is the wide plain of Lurg; the snow is higher than the mountains, the deer cannot get at their share of food.

“Cold for ever; the storm is spread over all; every furrow on the hillside is a river, every ford is a full pool, every full loch is a great sea; every pool is a full loch; horses cannot go through the ford of Ross any more than a man on his two feet.

“The fishes of Inisfail are going astray; there is no strand or no pen against the waves; there are no dwellings in the country, there is no bell heard, no crane is calling.

“The hounds of the wood of Cuan find no rest or no sleep in their dwelling-place; the little wren cannot find shelter in her nest on the slope of Lon.

“A sharp wind and cold ice have come on the little company of birds; the blackbird cannot get a ridge to her liking or shelter for her side in the woods of Cuan.

“It is steady our great pot hangs from its hook; it is broken the cabin is on the slope of Lon; the snow has made the woods smooth, it is hard to climb to the ridge of Bennait Bo.

“The ancient bird of Glen Ride gets grief from the bitter wind; it is great is her misery and her pain, the ice will be in her mouth.

“Mind well not to rise up from coverings and from down, mind this well; there would be no good sense in it.  Ice is heaped up in every ford; it is for that I am saying and ever saying ‘Cold.’”

The old woman went out after that, and when she was gone, Grania took hold of the cloak she had left there and she put her tongue to it, and found the taste of salt water on it.  “My grief, Diarmuid,” she said then, “the old woman has betrayed us.  And rise up now,” she said, “and put your fighting suit upon you.”

So Diarmuid did that, and he went out, and Grania along with him.  And no sooner were they outside than they saw Finn and the Fianna of Ireland coming towards them.  Then Diarmuid looked around him and he saw a little boat at hand in the shelter of the harbour, and he himself and Grania went into it.  And there was a man before them in the boat having beautiful clothes on him, and a wide embroidered golden-yellow cloak over his shoulders behind.  And they knew it was Angus was in it, that had come again to help them to escape from Finn, and they went back with him for a while to Brugh na Boinne, and Osgar came to them there.