"There are three times fifty far islands in the ocean to the west of us,
and every one of them twice or three times more than Ireland.
"It is not to all of you I am speaking, though I have made all these
wonders known. Let Bran listen from the crowd of the world to all the
wisdom that has been told him.
"Do not fall upon a bed of sloth; do not be overcome by drunkenness; set
out on your voyage over the clear sea, and you may chance to come to the
Land of Women."
With that the woman went from them, and they did not know where she
went. And she brought away her branch with her, for it leaped into her
hand from Bran's hand, and he had not the strength to hold it.
Then on the morrow Bran set out upon the sea, and three companies of
nine along with him; and one of his foster-brothers and comrades was set
over each company of nine.
And when they had been rowing for two days and two nights, they saw a
man coming towards them in a chariot, over the sea. And the man made
himself known to them, and he said that he was Manannan, son of Lir.
And then Manannan spoke to him in a song, and it is what he said:
"It is what Bran thinks, he is going in his curragh over the wonderful,
beautiful clear sea; but to me, from far off in my chariot, it is a
flowery plain he is riding on.
"What is a clear sea to the good boat Bran is in, is a happy plain with
many flowers to me in my two-wheeled chariot.
"It is what Bran sees, many waves beating across the clear sea; it is
what I myself see, red flowers without any fault.
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