and her
brothers. But they could not hear more, for they must hasten to fly from
the pleasant shores of Erin to the sea-stream of Moyle, which was their
doom. And as they flew, Finola sang, and faint floated her voice over
the kneeling host.

As the sad song grew fainter and more faint, the Dedannans wept aloud.
Then, as the snow-white birds faded from sight, the sorrowful company
turned the heads of their white steeds from the shore, and rode
southward to the home of Lir.

And when it was told there of the sufferings of Finola and her brothers,
great was the sorrow of the Dedannans. Yet was Lir glad that his
children were alive, and he thought of the day when the magic spell
would be broken, and those so dear to him would be freed from their
bitter woe.

Once more were ended three hundred years of doom, and glad were the four
white swans to leave the cruel sea of Moyle. Yet might they fly only to
the wild Western Sea, and tempest-tossed as before, here they in no way
escaped the pitiless fury of wind and wave. Worse than aught they had
before endured was a frost that drove the brothers to despair. Well-nigh
frozen to a rock, they one night cried aloud to Finola that they longed
for death. And she, too, would fain have died.

But that same night did a dream come to the swan-maiden, and, when she
awoke, she cried to her brothers to take heart. "Believe, dear brothers,
in the great God who hath created the earth with its fruits and the sea
with its terrible wonders. Trust in him, and he will yet save you." And
her brothers answered, "We will trust."

And Finola also put her trust in God, and they all fell into a deep
slumber.

When the children of Lir awoke, behold! the sun shone, and thereafter,
until the three hundred years on the Western Sea were ended, neither
wind nor wave nor rain nor frost did hurt the four swans.

On a grassy isle they lived and sang their wondrous songs by day, and by
night they nestled together on their soft couch, and awoke in the
morning to sunshine and to peace. And there on the grassy island was
their home, until the three hundred years were at an end. Then Finola
called to her brothers, and tremblingly she told, and tremblingly they
heard, that they might now fly eastward to seek their own old home.

Lightly did they rise on outstretched wings, and swiftly did they fly
until they reached land. There they alighted and gazed each at the
other, but too great for speech was their joy