us, and we have yet to give the three shouts upon the hill."

"We cannot stir," said Iuchar and Iucharba. Then Brian rose to his
knees and to his feet, and he lifted up his two brothers while the
blood of all three streamed down to their feet, and they raised their
voices as best they might, and gave three hoarse cries upon the Hill
of Mochaen. And thus was the last of the epic fulfilled.

Then they bound up their wounds, and Brian placed himself between the
two brothers, and slowly and painfully they made their way to the
boat, and put out to sea for Ireland. And as they lay in the stupor of
faintness in the boat, one murmured to himself, "I see the Cape of Ben
Edar and the coast of Turenn, and Tara of the Kings." Then Iuchar and
Iucharba entreated Brian to lift their heads upon his breast. "Let us
but see the land of Erinn again," said they, "the hills around
Tailtin, and the dewy plain of Bregia, and the quiet waters of the
Boyne and our father's Dun thereby, and healing will come to us; or if
death come we can endure it after that." Then Brian raised them up;
and they saw that they were now near by under Ben Edar; and at the
Strand of the Bull[18] they took land. They were then conveyed to the
Dun of Turenn, and life was still in them when they were laid in their
father's hall.

[18] Cluan Tarbh, Clontarf; so called from the roaring of the
waves on the strand.

And Brian said to Turenn, "Go now, dear father, with all speed to Lugh
at Tara. Give him the cooking-spit, and tell how thou hast found us
after giving our three shouts upon the Hill of Mochaen. Then beseech
him that he yield thee the loan of the pigskin of the King of Greece,
for if it be laid upon us while the life is yet in us, we shall
recover. We have won the eric, and it may be that he will not pursue
us to our death."

Turenn went to Lugh and gave him the spit of the sea-nymphs, and
besought him for the lives of his sons.

Lugh was silent for a while, but his countenance did not change, and
he said, "Thou, old man, seest nought but the cloud of sorrow wherein
thou art encompassed. But I hear from above it the singing of the
Immortal Ones, who tell to one another the story of this land. Thy
sons must die; yet have I shown to them more mercy than they showed to
Kian. I have forgiven them; nor shall they live to slay their own
immortality, but the royal bards of Erinn and the old men in the
chimney corners shall tell of their glory and their