And he pushed it out, and it was driven by wind and waves till at last she saw two birds flying, having a dead one between them.  And the two living birds let down the dead one on an island; and it was not long till it rose up living, and the three went away together.

And when Manannan’s daughter saw that, she said:  “There might be some cure for my man on the island, the way there was for that dead bird.”

And the sea brought the boat to the island, and she went searching around, but all she could find was a tree having green leaves.  “It might be in these leaves the cure is,” she said; and she took some of the leaves and brought them to where the Lad of the Skins was, and put them about him.  And on that moment he stood up as well and as sound as ever he was.

They went back then to Ireland, and they came to Almhuin at midnight, and the Lad of the Skins knocked at the door, and he said:  “Put me out my wages.”  “There is no man, living or dead, has wages on me but the Lad of the Skins,” said Finn; “and I would sooner see him here to-night,” he said, “than the wages of three men.”  “If that is so, rise up and you will see him,” said he.

So Finn rose up and saw him, and gave him a great welcome, and paid him his wages.

And after that he went away and his wife with him to wherever his own country was; but there were some said he was gone to the country of his wife’s father, Manannan, Son of the Sea.

CHAPTER II.  BLACK, BROWN, AND GREY

Finn was hunting one time near Teamhair of the Kings, and he saw three strange men coming towards him, and he asked what were their names.  “Dubh and Dun and Glasan, Black, Brown, and Grey, are our names,” they said, “and we are come to find Finn, son of Cumhal, Head of the Fianna, and to take service with him.”

So Finn took them into his service, and when evening came he said:  “Let each one of you watch through a third part of the night.”  And there was a trunk of a tree there, and he bade them make three equal parts of it, and he gave a part to each of the three men, and he said:  “When each one of you begins his watch, let him set fire to his own log, and as long as the wood burns let him watch.”

Then they drew lots, and the lot fell to Dubh to go on the first watch.  So he set fire to his log, and he went out around the place, and Bran with him.  He went farther and farther till at last he saw a bright light, and when he came to the place where it was, he saw a large house.  He went inside, and there was a great company of very strange-looking men in it, and they drinking out of a single cup.  One of the men, that seemed to be the highest, gave the cup to the man nearest him; and after he had drunk his fill he passed it on to the next, and so on to the last.  And while it was going round, he said:  “This is the great cup that was taken from Finn, son of Cumhal, a hundred years ago, and however many men may be together, every man of them can drink his fill from it, of whatever sort of drink he has a mind for.”