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"Tell the wife-loser that I will have the girl or I will have his head," said Fionn. Iollan set out then for Faery. He knew the way, and in no great time he came to the hill where Uct Dealv was. It was hard to get Uct Dealv to meet him, but at last she consented, and they met under the apple boughs of Faery. "Well!" said Uct Dealv. "Ah! Breaker of Vows and Traitor to Love," said she.
"Hail and a blessing," said Iollan humbly. "By my hand," she cried, "I will give you no blessing, for it was no blessing you left with me when we parted." "I am in danger," said Iollan. "What is that to me?" she replied fiercely. "Fionn may claim my head," he murmured. "Let him claim what he can take," said she. "No," said Iollan proudly, "he will claim what I can give."
Iollan had a past. He was not ashamed of it; he merely thought it was finished, although in truth it was only beginning, for it is that perpetual beginning of the past that we call the future. How often he had visited his sweetheart in Faery!
Or they stood dreaming together, locked in a clasping of arms and eyes, gazing up and down on each other, Iollan staring down into sweet grey wells that peeped and flickered under thin brows, and Uct Dealv looking up into great black ones that went dreamy and went hot in endless alternation.
News was brought to Tlr na n-Og of the marriage of Iollan and Tuiren, and when Uct Dealv heard that news her heart ceased to beat for a moment, and she closed her eyes. "Now!" said her sister of the Shi'. "That is how long the love of a mortal lasts," she added, in the voice of sad triumph which is proper to sisters.
"Give me your pledge," said Uct Dealv, "that if I save you from this danger you will keep me as your sweetheart until the end of life and time." "I give that pledge," said Iollan.
Iollan knew the appearance of Fionn's messenger, but he was surprised to see her. She saluted him. "Health and long life, my master.". "Health and good days," he replied. "What brings you here, dear heart?" "I come from Fionn." "And your message?" said he. "The royal captain intends to visit you." "He will be welcome," said Iollan. "We shall give him an Ulster feast."
He bound Iollan to return the lady if there should be occasion to think her unhappy, and Iollan agreed to do so. The sureties to this bargain were Caelte mac Ronan, Goll mac Morna, and Lugaidh. Lugaidh himself gave the bride away, but it was not a pleasant ceremony for him, because he also was in love with the lady, and he would have preferred keeping her to giving her away.
"They feel other things," she murmured; and an endless conversation recommenced. Then for some time Iollan did not come to Faery, and Uct Dealv marvelled at that, while her sister made an hundred surmises, each one worse than the last. "He is not dead or he would be here," she said. "He has forgotten you, my darling."
It was to an Ulster gentleman, Iollan Eachtach, that she gave her love, and this chief stated his rights and qualities and asked for her in marriage. Now Fionn did not dislike the man of Ulster, but either he did not know them well or else he knew them too well, for he made a curious stipulation before consenting to the marriage.
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