In no long time thereafter he saw an armed warrior of hostile aspect coming towards him through the wood.  No courteous greeting did he give to Dermot, but began to revile him for roaming in his wood and wilderness, and for drinking his water.  Thereupon they fought, and for the rest of the afternoon they took and gave hard blows neither subduing the other, till at last as darkness began to fall the warrior suddenly dived into the well and was seen no more.  Dermot, vexed at this ending of the combat, then made him ready to spend the night in that place, but first he slew a deer in the wood, and made a fire, whereat he roasted pieces of the deer’s flesh on spits of white hazel, and drank abundantly of the well-water, and then slept soundly through the night.

Next morning when he awakened and went to the well he found the Champion of the Well standing there and awaiting him.  “It is not enough, Dermot,” said he angrily, “for thee to traverse my woods at will and to drink my water, but thou must even also slay my deer.”  Then they closed in combat again, and dealt each other blow for blow and wound for wound till evening parted them, and the champion dived into the well as before.

On the third day it went even so; but as evening came on Dermot, watching closely, rushed at the champion just as he was about to plunge into the well, and gripped him in his arms.  But none the less the Champion of the Well made his dive, and took down Dermot with him.  And a darkness and faintness came over Dermot, but when he awoke, he found himself in a wide, open country, flowery and fair, and before him the walls and towers of a royal city.  Thither the champion, sorely wounded, was now borne off, while a crowd of his people came round Dermot, and beat and wounded him, leaving him on the ground for dead.

After night had fallen, when all the people of the city in the Land Undersea had departed, a stalwart champion, well-armed and of bold appearance, came upon Dermot and stirred him with his foot.  Dermot thereon awoke from his swoon and, warrior-like, reached out his hand for his arms.  But the champion said, “Wait awhile, my son, I have not come to do thee hurt or harm.  Thou hast chosen an ill place to rest and slumber in, before the city of thine enemy.  Rise and follow me, and I shall bestow thee far better than that.”  Dermot then rose and followed the champion, and long and far they journeyed until they came to a high-towered fortress, wherein were thrice fifty valiant men-at-arms and fair women; and the daughter of that champion, a white-toothed, rosy-cheeked, smooth-handed, and black-eyebrowed maid, received Dermot, kindly and welcomefully, and applied healing herbs to his wounds, and in no long time he was made as good a man as ever.  And thus he remained, and was entertained most royally with the best of viands and of liquors.  The first part of every night those in that Dun were wont to spend in feasting, and the second in recreation and entertainment of the mind, with music and with poetry and bardic tales, and the third part in sound and healthful slumber, till the sun in his fiery journey rose over the heavy-clodded earth on the morrow morn.