As to Bodb Dearg and the Tuatha de Danaan they came to the shore of Loch
Dairbhreach, and they made their camp there to be listening to the music
of the swans.
And the Sons of the Gael used to be coming no less than the Men of Dea
to hear them from every part of Ireland, for there never was any music
or any delight heard in Ireland to compare with that music of the swans.
And they used to be telling stories, and to be talking with the men of
Ireland every day, and with their teachers and their fellow-pupils and
their friends. And every night they used to sing very sweet music of the
Sidhe; and every one that heard that music would sleep sound and quiet
whatever trouble or long sickness might be on him; for every one that
heard the music of the birds, it is happy and contented he would be
after it.
These two gatherings now of the Tuatha de Danaan and of the Sons of the
Gael stopped there around Loch Dairbhreach through the length of three
hundred years. And it is then Fionnuala said to her brothers: "Do you
know," she said, "we have spent all we have to spend of our time here,
but this one night only."
And there was great sorrow on the sons of Lir when they heard that, for
they thought it the same as to be living people again, to be talking
with their friends and their companions on Loch Dairbhreach, in
comparison with going on the cold, fretful sea of the Maoil in the
north.
And they came early on the morrow to speak with their father and with
their foster-father, and they bade them farewell, and Fionnuala made
this complaint:--
"Farewell to you, Bodb Dearg, the man with whom all knowledge is in
pledge.
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