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'It is truly told, replied Kemoc. Then Largnen was more wroth than before, and seizing the silver chain of Finola and Aed in the one hand, and the chain of Fiacra and Conn in the other, he dragged the birds from the altar and down the aisle, and it seemed as though he would leave the church. And in great fear did the Saint follow.
Two mottoes "non gregem aed ingratos," and "invitus desero" expressed his opinion of Dutch ingratitude and his own fidelity. The Hollanders, on their part, struck several medals to commemorate the same event, some of which were not destitute of invention.
Two mottoes "non gregem aed ingratos," and "invitus desero" expressed his opinion of Dutch ingratitude and his own fidelity. The Hollanders, on their part, struck several medals to commemorate the same event, some of which were not destitute of invention.
Fourteen years later "Leinster was five times devastated by the Ui-Neill," the descendants of Nial, and a battle was fought between the men of Connacht and Munster. Thus the lives of saints and warriors were interwoven. On very rare occasions the two lives of the race came into collision. Thus, a quarrel arose between Congus the Abbot and Aed Roin king of Ulad.
'Speak, said Finola to her brothers, 'speak, and say if these be not our own Dedannan folk. And Aed and Fiacra and Conn strained their eyes, and Aed answered, 'It seemeth, dear sister, to me, that it is indeed our own people. As the horsemen drew nearer and saw the four swans, each man shouted in the Gaelic tongue, 'Behold the children of Lir!
Heroes were slaughtered and bodies were hacked. Aed Allan and Aed, son of Colgan, king of Leinster, met each other, and Aed son of Colgan was slain by Aed Allan. The Leinstermen were killed, slaughtered, cut off, and dreadfully exterminated in this battle, so that there escaped of them but a small remnant and a few fugitives."
Congus summoned to his aid the chief of the Ui-Neill, Aed Allan by name, in these verses: "Say to the cold Aed Allan that I have been oppressed by a feeble enemy: Aed Roin insulted me last night at Cill Cunna of the sweet music." Aed Allan made these verses on his way to battle to avenge the insult: "For Cill Cunna the church of my spiritual father, I take this day a journey on the road.
They arrived in Tir-Eogain, and allotted the part of it north of Slieve Gullion, now the eastern part of Derry, to Nial Ua Lochlain for two hostages, and allotted the part of the country of the clan to the south of the mountain to Aed Ua Neill for two other hostages.
And when Aed and Fiacra and Conn were lulled to sleep, Finola's notes grew more and more faint and her head drooped, and soon she too slept peacefully in the warm sunlight. But few were the sunny days on the sea of Moyle, and many were the tempests that ruffled its waters. Still keener grew the winter frosts, and the misery of the four white swans was greater than ever before.
She told, too, how, beneath their snowy plumage, the human hearts of Finola, Aed, Fiacra, and Conn should still beat the hearts of the children of Lir. 'Stay with us to-night by the lone lake, she ended, 'and our music will steal to you across its moonlit waters and lull you into peaceful slumber. Stay, stay with us.
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