Be redtom

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  • be damned!
  • Dermot: Diarmuid; in the Finnian tradition of Irish mythology, Diarmuid and Gráinne are the counterparts of Tristan and Isolde; Diarmuid was the nephew of the Irish hero Finn Mac Cool; Gráinne, the daughter of the High King, had been promised to Finn, but when she saw that he was too old she cast a love spell on Diarmuid and the two eloped; they ran away but Finn's pursuit prevented them from spending two consecutive nights in the same place; megalithic monuments in Ireland are still referred to as "the bed of Grainne and Diarmuid"
  • by bedtime
  • by red time: (i.e., by sunset, or if the rain signifies stormy weather, it is morning according to "red in the morning, sailors take warning")
  • be red tom: Grace O'Malley is often pictured with red hair + tom could be a reference to her taking on masculine qualities, as in 'tomboy' + a symbol of Ireland here as taking up the Irish component of the Tom, Dick, and Harry motif, see for example on page 8 → Touchole Fitz Tuomush, i.e., here she converts to Shem-Shaun