“My grief! your spear and your sword; my grief! your gentleness and your love; my grief! your country and your home; my grief! you to be parted from my reach.

“My grief! my coasts and my harbours; my grief! my wealth and my prosperity; my grief! my greatness and my kingdom; my grief and my crying are until death.

“My grief! my luck altogether; my grief for you in time of battle; my grief! my gathering of armies; my grief! my three proud lions.

“My grief! my games and my drinking; my grief! my music and my delight; my grief! my sunny house and my women; my crying grief, you to be under defeat.

“My grief! my lands and my hunting; my grief! my three sure fighters; Och! my grief! they are my sorrow, to fall far off by the Fianna.

“I knew by the great host of the Sidhe that were fighting over the dun, giving battle to one another in the valleys of the air, that destruction would put down my three.

“I knew by the noise of the voices of the Sidhe coming into my ears, that a story of new sorrow was not far from me; it is your death it was foretelling.

“I knew at the beginning of the day when my three good men went from me, when I saw tears of blood on their cheeks, that they would not come back to me as winners.

“I knew by the voice of the battle-crow over your dun every evening, since you went from me comely and terrible, that misfortune and grief were at hand.

“It is well I remember, my three strong ones, how often I used to be telling you that if you would go to Ireland, I would not see the joy of victory on your faces.

“I knew by the voice of the raven every morning since you went from me, that your fall was sure and certain; that you would never come back to your own country.

“I knew, my three great ones, by your forgetting the thongs of your hounds, that you would not gain the day or escape from the treachery of the Fianna.

“I knew, Candles of Valour, by the stream near the dun turning to blood when you set out, that there would be treachery in Finn.

“I knew by the eagle coming every evening over the dun, that it would not be long till I would hear a story of bad news of my three.

“I knew by the withering of the tree before the dun, that you would never come back as conquerors from the treachery of Finn, son of Cumhal.”

When Grania, now, heard what the woman was saying, there was anger on her, and she said:  “Do not be speaking against Finn or the Fianna, Queen, for it was not by any treachery or any deceit your three men were brought to their end.”

But Ailne made her no answer and gave no heed to her, but she went on with her complaint, and she crying and ever crying.

“I knew, looking after you the day you went out from the dun, by the flight of the raven before you, there was no good sign of your coming back again.

“I knew by Ciardan’s hounds that were howling mournfully every evening, that it would not be long till I would have bad news of you.