The
crow of the grouse, the belling of stags, the bark of the hill-fox,
the swish of the great wings of the golden eagle, the song of birds,
the lilt of running water, the complaining of the wind through the
birches--all these things made music to Deirdre, to whom all things
were dear.

"_Is tu mein na Dearshul agha_"--"The tenderness of heartsweet
Deirdre"--so runs a line in an old, old Gaelic verse, and it is always
of her tenderness as well as her beauty that the old _Oea_ speak.

Sometimes she would hunt the red deer with Naoise and his brothers, up
the lonely glens, up through the clouds to the silent mountain tops,
and in the evening, when she was weary, her three loyal worshippers
would proudly bear her home upon their bucklers.

So the happy days passed away, and in Erin the angry heart of Conor
grew yet more angry when tidings came to him of the happiness of
Deirdre and the Sons of Usna. Rumour came to him that the king of
Alba had planned to come against Naoise, to slay him, and to take
Deirdre for his wife, but that ere he could come the Sons of Usna and
Deirdre had sailed yet further north in their galley, and that there,
in the land of his mother, Naoise ruled as a king. And not only on
Loch Etive, but on Loch Awe and Loch Fyne, Loch Striven, Loch Ard,
Loch Long, Loch Lomond and all along the sea-loch coast, the fame of
the Sons of Usna spread, and the wonder of the beauty of Deirdre,
fairest of women.

And ever the hatred of Conor grew, until one day there came into his
mind a plan of evil by which his burning thirst for revenge might be
handsomely assuaged.

He made, therefore, a great feast, at which all the heroes of the Red
Branch were present. When he had done them every honour, he asked them
if they were content. As one man: "Well content indeed!" answered
they.

"And that is what I am not," said the king. Then with the guile of
fair words he told them that to him it was great sorrow that the three
heroes, with whose deeds the Western Isles and the whole of the north
and west of Alba were ringing, should not be numbered amongst his
friends, sit at his board in peace and amity, and fight for the
Ultonians like all the other heroes of the Red Branch.

"They took from me the one who would have been my wife," he said, "yet
even that I can forgive, and if they would return to Erin, glad would
my welcome be."

At these words there was great rejoicing amongst the lords of the Red
Branch and all