at Tara. Give him the cooking-spit, and tell how thou hast found us
after giving our three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen. Then beseech
him that he yield thee the loan of the pigskin of the King of Greece,
for if it be laid upon us while the life is yet in us, we shall
recover. We have won the eric, and it may be that he will not pursue
us to our death."

Turenn went to Lugh and gave him the spit of the sea-nymphs, and
besought him for the lives of his sons.

Lugh was silent for a while, but his countenance did not change, and
he said, "Thou, old man, seest nought but the cloud of sorrow wherein
thou art encompassed. But I hear from above it the singing of the
Immortal Ones, who tell to one another the story of this land. Thy
sons must die; yet have I shown to them more mercy than they showed to
Kian. I have forgiven them; nor shall they live to slay their own
immortality, but the royal bards of Erinn and the old men in the
chimney corners shall tell of their glory and their fate as long as
the land shall endure."

Then Turenn bowed his white head and went sorrowfully back to Dún
Turenn; and he told his sons of the words that Lugh had said. And
with that the sons of Turenn kissed each other, and the breath of life
departed from them, and they died. And Turenn died also, for his heart
was broken in him; and Ethne his daughter buried them in one grave.
Thus, then, ends the tale of the Quest of the Eric and the Fate of the
Sons of Turenn.