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 when Goll lay down to sleep, he was so covered with wounds that he feared he would be easily conquered on the morrow.

But help was nearer to him than he imagined; even then Fionn and his comrades were hurrying to his aid from the place where the woman of the spells thought they were still in safe keeping. And this is how the spell that bound them was broken.

Among the men guarding the Fians was one who had a beautiful daughter, called Ethne, and often at night she would sit near the Fians and listen as they spoke of past wars and adventures. She seemed so gentle and sweet, so unlike the witch and her companions, that each time Diarmuid O'Duibhne saw her he loved her more deeply; and one evening, as they were pacing up and down the sands, he said:

"Were I free from these evil bonds, Ethne, I would ask you to leave your people, and come to my home with me, for I love you, and had I the choice of all the women in the world it is you I would choose for my wife. But, much as I and my companions try, we