who answers: "That which has clamoured
within thee is a fair-haired daughter, with fair locks, a majestic
glance, blue eyes, and cheeks purple as the fox-glove"; and he foretells
the woes she will cause among men. This girl is Derdriu; she is brought
up secretly and apart, in order to evade the prediction. One day, "she
beheld a raven drink blood on the snow." She said to Leborcham:

"The only man I could love would be one who united those three colours:
hair as black as the raven, cheeks red as blood, body as white as snow."

"Thou art lucky," answered Leborcham, "the man thou desirest is not far
to seek, he is near thee, in this very castle; it is Noise, son of
Usnech."

"I shall not be happy," returned Derdriu, "until I have seen him."

Noise justifies the young girl's expectations; he and his two brothers
are incomparably valiant in war, and so swift are they that they outrun
wild animals in the chase. Their songs are delightfully sweet. Noise is
aware of the druid's prophecy, and at first spurns Derdriu, but she
conquers him by force. They love each other. Pursued by their enemies
the three brothers and Derdriu emigrate to Scotland, and take refuge
with the king of Albion. One day the king's steward "sees Noise and his
wife sleeping side by side. He went at once and awoke the king.

"'Till now,' he said, 'never had we found a woman worthy of thee; but
the one who lies in the arms of Noise is the one for thee, king of the
West! Cause Noise to be put to death, and marry his wife.'

"'No,' answered the king; 'but bid her come to me daily in secret.'

"The steward obeyed the king's commands, but in vain; what he told
Derdriu by day she repeated to her husband the following night."

The sons of Usnech perish in an ambush. Conchobar seizes on Derdriu, but
she continues to love the dead. "Derdriu passed a year with Conchobar;
during that time never was a smile seen on her lips; she ate not, slept
not, raised not her head from off her knees. When the musicians and
jugglers tried to cheer her grief by their play, she told ..." she told
her sorrow, and all that had made the delight of her life "in a time
that was no more."

"I sleep not, I dye no more my nails with purple; lifeless is my soul,
for the sons of Usnech will return no more. I sleep not half the night
on my couch. My spirit travels around the multitudes. But I eat not,
neither do I smile."

Conchobar out of revenge delivers her over for a year to the m