"The best news I have," said Fergus, "is that Concobar has sent me to you with kindly greetings, to bring you back to Emain and restore you to your lands and homes, and to your places in the Red Branch; and I am myself a pledge for your safety." "It is not meet for them to go," said Deirdre: "for here they are under no man's rule; and their sway in Alban is even as great as the sway of Concobar in Erin." But Fergus said: "One's mother country is better than all else, and gloomy is life when a man sees not his home each morning." "Far dearer to me is Erin than Alban," said Naisi, "even though my sway should be greater here." It was not with Deirdre's consent he spoke these words: and she still earnestly opposed their return to Erin. But Fergus tried to re-assure her:--"If all the men of Erin were against you," said he, "it would avail nought once I have passed my word for your safety." "We trust in thee," said Naisi, "and we will go with thee to Erin." [Illustration: A gold box: 2-3/4 inches across: 1 inch deep. Found in a grave in Co. Cork. Use not known.] [Illustration: Ancient Irish bronze lamp. Found in a _crannoge_ (i.e. an island-dwelling in a lake) in Co. Roscommon. The vessel held the oil, and the wick projected from the pipe.] XIII. THE RETURN TO EMAIN. Going next morning on board their galleys, Fergus and his companions put out on the wide sea: and oar and wind bore them on swiftly till they landed on the shore of Erin near the house of Barach. And Deirdre, seating herself on a cliff, looked sadly over the waters at the blue headlands of Alban: and she uttered this farewell:-- I. "Dear to me is yon eastern land: Alban with its wonders. Beloved is Alban with its bright harbours and its pleasant hills of the green slopes. From that land I would never depart except to be with Naisi. II. Kil-Cuan, O Kil-Cuan,[67-1] whither Ainnli was wont to resort: short seemed the time to me while I sojourned there with Naisi on the margins of its streams and waterfalls. [67-1] This and the other places named in Deirdre's Farewell are all in the west of Scotland. III. "Glen-Lee, O Glen-Lee, where I slept happy under soft coverlets: fish and fowl, and the flesh of red deer and badgers; these were our fare in Glen-Lee. IV. "Glen-Masan, O Glen-Masan: tall its cresses of white stalks: often were we rocked to sleep in our curragh in the grassy harbour of Glen-Masan. V. "Glen-Orchy, O Glen-Orchy: over thy straight glen rises the smooth ridge that oft echoed to the voices of our hounds. No man of the clan was more light-hearted than my Naisi when following the chase in Glen-Orchy. VI. "Glen-Ettive, O Glen-Ettive: there it was that my first house was raised for me: lovely its woods in the smile of the early morn: the sun loves to shine on Glen-Ettive. VII. "Glen-da-Roy, O Glen-da-Roy: the memory of its people is dear to me: sweet is the cuckoo's note from the bending bough on the peak over Glen-da-Roy. VIII.