When all was ready, and the curragh out in the tide, Tadg said to his people:  “Let us set out now on the high sea, looking for our own people that are away from us this long time.”

They set out then over the stormy, heavy flood, till at last they saw no land before them or behind them, but only the hillsides of the great sea.  And farther on again they heard the singing of a great flock of unknown birds; and pleasant white-bellied salmon were leaping about the curragh on every side, and seals, very big and dark, were coming after them, breaking through the shining wash of the oars; and great whales after them again, so that the young men liked to be looking at them, for they were not used to see the like before.

They went on rowing through twenty days and twenty nights, and at the end of that time they got sight of a high land, having a smooth coast.  And when they reached it they all landed, and they pulled up the curragh and lit their fires, and food was given out to them, and they were not long making an end of it.  They made beds for themselves then on the beautiful green grass, and enjoyed their sleep till the rising of the sun on the morrow.

Tadg rose up then and put on his arms, and went out, and thirty of his men along with him, to search the whole island.

They went all through it, but they found no living thing on it, man or beast, but only flocks of sheep.  And the size of the sheep was past all telling, as big as horses they were, and the whole island was filled with their wool.  And there was one great flock beyond all the others, all of very big rams, and one of them was biggest of all, nine horns he had, and he charged on Tadg’s chief men, attacking them and butting at them.

There was vexation on them then, and they attacked him again, and there was a struggle between them.  And at the first the ram broke through five of their shields.  But Tadg took his spear that there was no escape from, and made a lucky cast at the ram and killed him.  And they brought the ram to the curragh and made it ready for the young men to eat, and they stopped three nights on the island, and every night it was a sheep they had for their food.  And they gathered a good share of the wool and put it in the curragh because of the wonder and the beauty of it.  And they found the bones of very big men on the island, but whether they died of sickness or were killed by the rams they did not know.

They left that island then and went forward till they found two strange islands where there were great flocks of wonderful birds, like blackbirds, and some of them the size of eagles or of cranes, and they red with green heads on them, and the eggs they had were blue and pure crimson.  And some of the men began eating the eggs, and on the moment feathers began to grow out on them.  But they went bathing after that, and the feathers dropped off them again as quick as they came.