The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne

A tale from the Fianna Cycle of Irish mythology, it concerns a love triangle between the great warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, the beautiful princess Gráinne, and her paramour Diarmuid Ua Duibhne.

His men find that Gráinne, the daughter of High King Cormac mac Airt, is the worthiest of all women and arrangements are made for their wedding.

Commonly Diarmuid refuses to sleep with Gráinne at first out of respect for Fionn; in one version she teases that water that has splashed up her leg is more adventurous than he is.

[1] Another tale, Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin, includes an episode in which a young wife drugs everyone in her household besides her desired.

The hero, Tristan, falls in love with the Irish princess Iseult while escorting her to marry his uncle Mark of Cornwall.

They begin their affair behind Mark's back, but after they are discovered their adventures take on more similarities to the Irish story, including an episode in which lovers stay in a secret forest hideout.

In Ireland, many Neolithic stone monuments with flat roofs (such as court cairns, dolmens and wedge-shaped gallery graves) bear the local name "Diarmuid and Gráinne's Bed" (Leaba Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne), being viewed as one of the fugitive couple's campsites for the night.