And it was not long till I saw a great troop of riders, men and women,
coming towards me from the west. And when they came near they wished me
good health; and there was wonder on them all when they looked at me,
seeing me so unlike themselves, and so big and so tall.
"I asked them then did they hear if Finn was still living, or any other
one of the Fianna, or what had happened them. 'We often heard of Finn
that lived long ago,' said they, 'and that there never was his equal for
strength or bravery or a great name; and there is many a book written
down,' they said, 'by the sweet poets of the Gael, about his doings and
the doings of the Fianna, and it would be hard for us to tell you all
of them. And we heard Finn had a son,' they said, 'that was beautiful
and shining, and that there came a young girl looking for him, and he
went away with her to the Country of the Young.'
"And when I knew by their talk that Finn was not living or any of the
Fianna, it is downhearted I was, and tired, and very sorrowful after
them. And I made no delay, but I turned my face and went on to Almhuin
of Leinster. And there was great wonder on me when I came there to see
no sign at all of Finn's great dun, and his great hall, and nothing in
the place where it was but weeds and nettles."
And there was grief on Oisin then, and he said: "Och, Patrick! Och,
ochone, my grief! It is a bad journey that was to me; and to be without
tidings of Finn or the Fianna has left me under pain through my
lifetime.
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