BOOK ELEVEN:  OISIN AND PATRICK.

CHAPTER I. OISIN’S STORY

As to Oisin, it was a long time after he was brought away by Niamh that he came back again to Ireland.  Some say it was hundreds of years he was in the Country of the Young, and some say it was thousands of years he was in it; but whatever time it was, it seemed short to him.

And whatever happened him through the time he was away, it is a withered old man he was found after coming back to Ireland, and his white horse going away from him, and he lying on the ground.

And it was S. Patrick had power at that time, and it was to him Oisin was brought; and he kept him in his house, and used to be teaching him and questioning him.  And Oisin was no way pleased with the way Ireland was then, but he used to be talking of the old times, and fretting after the Fianna.

And Patrick bade him to tell what happened him the time he left Finn and the Fianna and went away with Niamh.  And it is the story Oisin told:—­“The time I went away with golden-haired Niamh, we turned our backs to the land, and our faces westward, and the sea was going away before us, and filling up in waves after us.  And we saw wonderful things on our journey,” he said, “cities and courts and duns and lime-white houses, and shining sunny-houses and palaces.  And one time we saw beside us a hornless deer running hard, and an eager white red-eared hound following after it.  And another time we saw a young girl on a horse and having a golden apple in her right hand, and she going over the tops of the waves; and there was following after her a young man riding a white horse, and having a crimson cloak and a gold-hilted sword in his right hand.”

“Follow on with your story, pleasant Oisin,” said Patrick, “for you did not tell us yet what was the country you went to.”

“The Country of the Young, the Country of Victory, it was,” said Oisin.  “And O Patrick,” he said, “there is no lie in that name; and if there are grandeurs in your Heaven the same as there are there, I would give my friendship to God.

“We turned our backs then to the dun,” he said, “and the horse under us was quicker than the spring wind on the backs of the mountains.  And it was not long till the sky darkened, and the wind rose in every part, and the sea was as if on fire, and there was nothing to be seen of the sun.

“But after we were looking at the clouds and the stars for a while the wind went down, and the storm, and the sun brightened.  And we saw before us a very delightful country under full blossom, and smooth plains in it, and a king’s dun that was very grand, and that had every colour in it, and sunny-houses beside it, and palaces of shining stones, made by skilled men.  And we saw coming out to meet us three fifties of armed men, very lively and handsome.  And I asked Niamh was this the Country of the Young, and she said it was.  ‘And indeed, Oisin,’ she said, ’I told you no lie about it, and you will see all I promised you before you for ever.’