en of Erin, in memory of the children of Lir
and of the good things they had wrought by the magic of their music,
made a law, and proclaimed it throughout all the land, that from that
time forth no man of their land should harm a swan.

Weary were the great white wings of the children of Lir when they
reached the jagged rocks by the side of the fierce grey sea of Moyle,
whose turbulent waves fought angrily together. And the days that came
to them there were days of weariness, of loneliness, and of hardship.
Very cold were they often, very hungry, and yet the sweetness of their
song pierced through the vicious shriek of the tempest and the sullen
boom and crash of the great billows that flung themselves against the
cliffs or thundered in devouring majesty over the wrack-strewn shore,
like a thread of silver that runs through a pall. One night a tempest
drove across and down the Sea of Moyle from the north-east, and lashed
it into fury. And the mirk darkness and the sleet that drove in the
teeth of the gale like bullets of ice, and the huge, irresistible
breakers that threshed the shore, filled the hearts of the children of
Lir with dread. For always they had desired love and beauty, and the
ugliness of unrestrained cruelty and fury made them sick at soul.

To her brothers Finola said: "Beloved ones, of a surety the storm must
drive us apart. Let us, then, appoint a place of meeting, lest we
never look upon each other again."

And, knowing that she spoke wisely and well, the three brothers
appointed as their meeting-place the rock of Carricknarone.

Never did a fiercer storm rage on the sea between Alba and Erin than
the storm that raged that night. Thunderous, murky clouds blotted out
stars and moon, nor was there any dividing line between sky and sea,
but both churned themselves up together in a passion of destruction.
When the lightning flashed, it showed only the fury of the cruel seas,
the shattered victims of the destroying storm. Very soon the swans
were driven one from another and scattered over the face of the angry
deep. Scarcely could their souls cling to their bodies while they
struggled with the winds and waves. When the long, long night came to
an end, in the grey and cheerless dawn Finola swam to the rock of
Carricknarone. But no swans were there, only the greedy gulls that
sought after wreckage, and the terns that cried very dolorously.

Then great grief came upon Finola, for she feared she would see h