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,” she said; “for it is seven years since you wedded with me, and from that night to this night I never got a hard word from you. 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 lamentation for her husband that had such a great name, and that was the second best of the Fenians of Ireland.
[The Death of Osgar]
And after a while, at noonday, they saw Finn coming towards them, and what was left of the Sun-banner raised on a spear-shaft. All of them saluted Finn then, but he made no answer, and he came up to the hill where Osgar was. And when Osgar saw him coming he saluted him, and he said, “I have got my desire in death, Finn of the sharp arms.” And Finn said, “It is worse the way you were, my son, on the day of the battle at Ben Edair, when the wild geese could swim on your breast, and it was my hand that gave you healing.” “There can no healing be done for me now for ever,” said Osgar, “since the King of Ireland put the spear of seven spells through my body.”
And Finn said, “it is a pity it was not I myself fell in sunny scarce Gabhra, and you going east and west at the head of the Fenians.” “And if it was yourself fell in the battle,” said Osgar, “you would not hear me keening after you; for no man ever knew any heart in me,” he said, “but a heart of twisted horn, and it covered with iron. But the howling of the dogs beside me,” he said, “and the keening of the old fighting men and the crying of the women one after another, those are the things that are vexing me.” And Finn said: “child of my child, calf of my calf, white and slender, it is a pity the way you are. And my heart is starting like a deer,” he said, “and I am weak after you and after the Fenians of Ireland. And misfortune has followed us,” he said, “and farewell now to battles and to a great name, and farewell to taking tributes; for every good thing I ever had is gone from me now, " he said. And when Osgar heard those words he stretched out his hands, and his eyelids closed. And Finn turned away from the rest, and he cried tears down; and he never shed a tear through the whole length of his lifetime but only for Osgar and for Bran.
[Oisin’s Vision]
I saw the household of Finn; it was not the household of a soft race; I had a vision of that man yesterday.
I saw the household of the High King, he with the brown sweet-voiced son; I never saw a better man.
I saw the household of Finn; no one saw it as I saw it; I saw Finn with the sword, Mac an Luin. Och! it was sorrowful to see it.