the hill where she was the time she saw the silver vessel coming, and
down to the strand, and she and Bres and his people set out for the
country of the Fomor.

And when they came to that country they found a great plain with many
gatherings of people on it, and they went to the gathering that looked
the best, and the people asked where did they come from, and they said
they were come from Ireland. "Have you hounds with you?" they asked them
then, for it was the custom at that time, when strangers came to a
gathering, to give them some friendly challenge. "We have hounds," said
Bres. So the hounds were matched against one another, and the hounds of
the Tuatha de Danaan were better than the hounds of the Fomor. "Have you
horses for a race?" they asked then. "We have," said Bres. And the
horses of the Tuatha de Danaan beat the horses of the Fomor.

Then they asked was any one among them a good hand with the sword, and
they said Bres was the best. But when he put his hand to his sword,
Elathan, his father, that was among them, knew the ring, and he asked
who was this young man. Then his mother answered him and told the whole
story, and that Bres was his own son.

There was sorrow on his father then, and he said: "What was it drove you
out of the country you were king over?" And Bres said: "Nothing drove me
out but my own injustice and my own hardness; I took away their
treasures from the people, and their jewels, and their food itself. And
there were never taxes put on them before I was their king."

"That is bad," said his father; "it is of their prosperity you had a
right to think more than of your own kingship. And their good-will
would be better than their curses," he said; "and what is it you are