So they went to Lugh, and it all fell out as Turenn had told them, and
they went back to Turenn.

"Ye have done something towards the eric," said Turenn, "but not much.
Yet Lugh would be well pleased that ye brought him whatever might
serve him when the Fomorians come to the battle again, and well
pleased would he be that ye might get your death in bringing it. Go
now, my sons, and blessing and victory be with you."

Then the Sons of Turenn went down to the harbour on the Boyne river
where the Boat of Mananan was, and Ethne their sister with them. And
when they reached the place, Ethne broke into lamentations and
weeping; but Brian said, "Weep not, dear sister, but let us go forth
gaily to great deeds. Better a hundred deaths in the quest of honour
than to live and die as cowards and sluggards." But Ethne said, "ye
are banished from Erinn--never was there a sadder deed." Then they
put forth from the river-mouth of the Boyne and soon the fair coasts
of Erinn faded out of sight. "And now," said they among themselves,
"what course shall we steer?"

[Illustration: "'Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of
the Hesperides'"]

"No need to steer the Boat of Mananan," said Brian; and he whispered
to the Boat, "Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the
Hesperides"; and the spirit of the Boat heard him and it leaped
eagerly forward, lifting and dipping over the rollers and throwing up
an arch of spray each side of its bows wherein sat a rainbow when the
sun shone upon it; and so in no long time they drew nigh to the coast
where was the far-famed garden of the Golden Apples.