Oifa laughed and said: "Never shall ye be free until the woman from the south be united to the man from the north, until Lairgnen of Connaught wed Deoch of Munster; nor shall any have power to bring you out of these forms. Nine hundred years shall you wander over the lakes and streams of Erin. This only I will grant unto you: that you retain your own speech, and there shall be no music in the world equal to yours, the plaintive music you shall sing." This she said because repentance seized her for the evil she had done. And then she spake this lay: "Away from me, ye children of Lir, Henceforth the sport of the wild winds Until Lairgnen and Deoch come together, Until ye are on the north-west of Red Erin. "A sword of treachery is through the heart of Lir, Of Lir the mighty champion, Yet though I have driven a sword. My victory cuts me to the heart." Then she turned her steeds and went on to the Hall of Dearg the king. The nobles of the court asked her where were the children of Lir, and Oifa said: "Lir will not trust them to Dearg the king." But Dearg thought in his own mind that the woman had played some treachery upon them, and he accordingly sent messengers to the Hall of the White Field. Lir asked the messengers: "Wherefore are ye come?" "To fetch thy children, Lir," said they. "Have they not reached you with Oifa?" said Lir. [Illustration: CHILDREN OF LIR] "They have not," said the messengers; "and Oifa said it was you would not let the children go with her." Then was Lir melancholy and sad at heart, hearing these things, for he knew that Oifa had done wrong upon his children, and he set out towards the Lake of the Red Eye. And when the children of Lir saw him coming Fingula sang the lay: "Welcome the cavalcade of steeds Approaching the Lake of the Red Eye, A company dread and magical Surely seek after us. "Let us move to the shore, O Aod, Fiachra and comely Conn, No host under heaven can those horsemen be But King Lir with his mighty household." Now as she said this King Lir had come to the shores of the lake and heard the swans speaking with human voices. And he spake to the swans and asked them who they were. Fingula answered and said: "We are thy own children, ruined by thy wife, sister of our own mother, through her ill mind and her jealousy." "For how long is the spell to be upon you?" said Lir. "None can relieve us till the woman from the south and the man from the north come together, till Lairgnen of Connaught wed Deoch of Munster."