“There is none of thy gems that can aid her,”
Said Ailill, “nor aught thou canst give;
There is one thing alone that shall save her;
If the ring be restored, she shall live!

Said Finnabar; “Thy treasure
To yield no power is mine: 
Do thou thy cruel pleasure,
For strength, I know, is thine.”

“By the god whom our Connaught land haileth,
I swear,” answered Ailill the king,
“That the life on thy lips glowing faileth,
If thou place in my hand not the ring!”
And that hard,” he laughed softly, “the winning
Of that jewel shall be, know I well;
They who died since the world had beginning
Shall come back to the spot where they fell
Ere that ring she can find, and can bear it
To my hand from the spot where ’twas tossed,
And as knowing this well, have I dared her
To restore what for aye hath been lost!”

“No ring for treasure thus despised,”
She said, “exchanged should be;
Yet since the king its worth hath prized,
I’ll find the gem for thee!”

Not thus shalt thou fly,” said the king, “to thy maid let the quest of the ring be bid!” And his daughter obeyed, and to one whom she sent she told where the ring was hid: 

“But,” Finnabar cried, “by my country’s god I swear that from out this hour, Will I leave this land, and my father’s hand shall no more on my life have power, And no feasting shall tempt me to stay, no draughts of wine my resolve shall shake!” “No reproach would I bring, if as spouse,” said the king, “thou a groom from my stalls would’st take!  But that ring must be found ere thou goest!  “Then back came her maid, and a dish she bore:  And there lay a salmon well broiled, as sauce with honey ’twas garnished o’er:  By the daughter of Ailill herself with skill had the honey-sweet sauce been made.  And high on the breast of the fish, the ring of gold that they sought was laid.  King Ailill and Maev at the ring gazed hard; Fraech looked, in his purse he felt:  Now it seemeth,” he said, “’twas to prove my host that I left on the bank my belt,

And Ailill now I challenge
All truth, as king to tell;
What deed his cunning fashioned,
And what that ring befell.”

“There is naught to be hidden,” said Ailill;
“It was mine, in thy purse though it lay
And my daughter I knew as its giver: 
So to river I hurled it away.

Now Fraech in turn I challenge
By life and honour’s claim: 
Say how from yon dark water
That ring to draw ye came.”

“There is naught to be hidden,” he answered,
“The first day that I came, on the earth,
Near the court round thy house, was that jewel;
And I saw all its beauty and worth: 

In my purse then I hid it; thy daughter,
Who had lost it, with care for it sought;
And the day that I went to that water
Was the news of her search to me brought: 

And I asked what reward she would give me,
If the gem in her hand should be placed;
And she answered that I, if I found it,
For a year by her love should be graced.