I used to be in Aoife's country when I had my eyesight.

BARACH.

That was before you went on shipboard and were blinded for putting a
curse on the wind?

FINTAIN.

Queen Aoife had a son that was red haired and pale faced like herself,
and everyone said that he would kill Cuchullain some day, but I would
not have that spoken of.

BARACH.

Nobody could do that. Who was his father?

FINTAIN.

Nobody but Aoife knew that, not even he himself.

BARACH.

Not even he himself! Was Aoife a goddess & lecherous?

FINTAIN.

I overheard her telling that she never had but one lover, and that he
was the only man who overcame her in battle. There were some who
thought him one of the Riders of the Sidhe, because the child was
great of limb and strong beyond others. The child was begotten over
the mountains; but come nearer and I will tell you something.

BARACH.

You have thought something?

FINTAIN.

When I hear the young girls talking about the colour of Cuchullain's
eyes, & how they have seven colours, I have thought about it. That
young man has Aoife's face and hair, but he has Cuchullain's eyes.

BARACH.

How can he have Cuchullain's eyes?

FINTAIN.

He is Cuchullain's son.

BARACH.

And his mother has sent him hither to fight his father.

FINTAIN.

It is all quite plain. Cuchullain went into Aoife's country when he
was a young man that he might learn skill in arms, and there he became
Aoife's lover.

BARACH.

And now she hates him because he went away, and has sent the son to
kill the father. I knew she was a goddess.

FINTAIN.

And she never told him who his father was, that he might do it. I have
thought it all out, fool. I know a great many things because I
listen when nobody is noticing and I keep my wits awake. What ails you
now?

BARACH.

I have remembered that I am hungry.

FINTAIN.

Well, forget it again, and I will tell you about Aoife's country. It
is full of wonders. There are a great many Queens there who can change
themselves into wolves and into swine and into white hares, and when
they are in their own shapes they are stronger than almost any man;
and there are young men there who have cat's eyes and if a bird
chirrup or a mouse squeak they cannot keep them shut even though it is
bedtime and they sleepy; and listen, for this is a great wonder, a
very great wonder, there is a long narrow b