EOCHO BEC,[FN#43] the son of Corpre, reigning in the land of Clew,[FN#44] Dwelt in Coolny's[FN#45] fort; and fostered sons of princes not a few: Forty kine who grazed his pastures gave him milk to rear his wards; Royal blood his charges boasted, sprung from Munster's noblest lords. Maev and Ailill sought to meet him: heralds calling him they sent: "Seven days hence I come" said Eocho; and the heralds from him went. Now, as Eocho lay in slumber, in the night a vision came; By a youthful squire attended, rose to view a fairy dame: "Welcome be my greeting to you!" said the king: "Canst thou discern Who we are?" the fairy answered, "how didst thou our fashion learn?" "Surely," said the king, "aforetime near to me hath been thy place!" "Very near thee have we hovered, yet thou hast not seen my face." "Where do ye abide?" said Eocho. "Yonder dwell we, with the Shee:[FN#46] "In the Fairy Mound of Coolny!" "Wherefore come ye hereto me?" "We have come," she said, "a counsel as a gift to thee to bring!" "Speak! and tell me of the counsel ye have brought me," said the king. "Noble gifts," she said, "we offer that renown for thee shall gain When in foreign lands thou ridest; worship in thine own domain; For a troop shall circle round thee, riding close beside thy hand: Stately it shall be, with goodly horses from a foreign land!" "Tell me of that troop," said Eocho, "in what numbers should we ride? " Fifty horsemen is the number that befits thee," she replied: [FN#43] Pronounced Yeo-ho Bayc. [FN#44] Cliu, a district in Munster. [FN#45] Spelt Cuillne, in Y.B.L. it is Cuille. [FN#46] The Fairies, spelt Sidh. "Fifty horses, black in colour; gold and silver reins and bits; Fifty sets of gay equipment, such as fairies well befits; These at early dawn to-morrow shall my care for thee provide: Let thy foster-children with thee on the road thou makest ride! Rightly do we come to help thee, who so valiantly in fray Guardest for us soil and country!" And the fairy passed away. Eocho's folk at dawn have risen; fifty steeds they all behold: Black the horses seemed; the bridles, stiff with silver and with gold, Firmly to the gate were fastened; fifty silver breeches there Heaped together shone, encrusted all with gold the brooches were: There were fifty knightly vestments, bordered fair with golden thread: Fifty horses, white, and glowing on their ears with deepest red, Nigh them stood; of reddish purple were the sweeping tails and manes; Silver were the bits; their pasterns chained in front with brazen chains: And, of fair findruine[FN#47] fashioned, was for every horse a whip, Furnished with a golden handle, wherewithal the goad to grip. [FN#47] Pronounced "findroony."