“Those birds will go with you,” Cliodna said then; “they will give you guidance on your way, and they will make music for you, and there will be neither sorrow or sadness on you, by land or by sea, till you come to Ireland.  And bring away this beautiful green cup with you,” she said, “for there is power in it, and if you do but pour water into it, it will be turned to wine on the moment.  And do not let it out of your hand,” she said, “but keep it with you; for at whatever time it will escape from you, your death will not be far away.  And it is where you will meet your death, in the green valley at the side of the Boinn; and it is a wandering wild deer will give you a wound, and after that, it is strangers will put an end to you.  And I myself will bury your body, and there will be a hill over it, and the name it will get is Croidhe Essu.”

They went out of the shining house then, and Cliodna of the Fair Hair went with them to the place they had left their ship, and she bade their comrades a kindly welcome; and she asked them how long had they been in that country.  “It seems to us,” they said, “we are not in it but one day only.”  “You are in it through the whole length of a year,” said she, “and through all that time you used neither food nor drink.  But however long you would stop here,” she said, “cold or hunger would never come on you.”  “It would be a good thing to live this way always,” said Tadg’s people when they heard that.  But he himself said:  “It is best for us to go on and to look for our people.  And we must leave this country, although it is displeasing to us to leave it.”

Then Cliodna and Tadg bade farewell to one another, and she gave her blessing to him and to his people.  And they set out then over the ridges of the sea; and they were downhearted after leaving that country until the birds began to sing for them, and then their courage rose up, and they were glad and light-hearted.

And when they looked back they could not see the island they had come from, because of a Druid mist that came on it and hid it from them.

Then by the leading of the birds they came to the country of Fresen, and they were in a deep sleep through the whole voyage.  And then they attacked the foreigners and got the better of them, and Tadg killed Cathmann, the king, after a hard fight; and Liban his wife made no delay, and came to meet her husband and her sweetheart, and it is glad she was to see him.

And after they had rested a while they faced the sea again, and Tadg and his wife Liban, and his two brothers, and a great many other treasures along with them, and they came home to Ireland safely at the last.

CHAPTER XV.  LAEGAIRE IN THE HAPPY PLAIN

And another that went to visit Magh Mell, the Happy Plain, was Laegaire, son of the King of Connacht, Crimthan Cass.

He was out one day with the king, his father, near Loch na-n Ean, the Lake of Birds, and the men of Connacht with them, and they saw a man coming to them through the mist.  Long golden-yellow hair he had, and it streaming after him, and at his belt a gold-hilted sword, and in his hand two five-barbed darts, a gold-rimmed shield on his back, a five-folded crimson cloak about his shoulders.