Youth.[11] They are happy and gay and have no weariness or trouble,
save that you are not among them, and that they have not known where
you were since you left them at Lough Derryvaragh."

[11] A magic banquet which had the effect of preserving for
ever the youth of the People of Dana.

"That is not the tale of our lives," said Fionnuala.

After that the company of the Danaans departed and brought word of the
swans to Bóv the Red and to Lir, who were rejoiced to hear that they
were living, "for," said they, "the children shall obtain relief in
the end of time." And the swans went back to the tides of Moyle and
abode there till their time to be in that place had expired.

When that day had come, Fionnuala declared it to them, and they rose
up wheeling in the air, and flew westward across Ireland till they
came to the Bay of Erris, and there they abode as was ordained. Here
it happened that among those of mortal MEN whose dwellings bordered on
the bay was a young man of gentle blood, by name Evric, who having
heard the singing of the swans came down to speak with them, and
became their friend. After that he would often come to hear their
music, for it was very sweet to him; and he loved them greatly, and
they him. All their story they told him, and he it was who set it
down in order, even as it is here narrated.

Much hardship did they suffer from cold and tempest in the waters of
the Western Sea, yet not so much as they had to bear by the coasts of
the ever-stormy Moyle, and they knew that the day of redemption was
now drawing near. In the end of the time Fionnuala said, "Brothers,