[FN#11] Pronounced Sheed; Sid is the fairy mound.
All at nine, next morrow,
Gazed, for back he came,
Round their darling pressing
Many a fairy dame:
Brave he seemed, for healing
All his wounds had got;
None could find a blemish,
None a sear or spot.
Fifty fairies round him,
Like in age and grace;
Like each form and bearing;
Like each lovely face.
All in fairy garments,
All alike were dressed;
None was found unequal;
None surpassed the rest.
And the men who stood round, as they neared them,
Were struck with a marvellous awe;
They were moved at the sight, and they feared them,
And hardly their breath they could draw.
At the Liss all the fairies departed,
But on Fraech, as they vanished, they cried:
And the sound floated in of their wailing,
And it thrilled through the men, and they sighed.
Then first that mournful measure,
"The Ban-Shee[FN#12] Wail," was heard;
All hearts with grief and pleasure
That air, when harped, hath stirred.
[FN#12] Spelt "Ban Side," the fairy women.
To the dun came Fraech, and the hosts arose, and welcome by all was
shown:
For it seemed as if then was his birth among men, from a world to the
earth unknown!
Up rose for him Maev and King Ailill, their fault they confessed, and
for grace they prayed,
And a penance they did, and for all that assault they were pardoned,
and peace was made.
And now free from all dread, they the banquet spread, the banqueting
straight began:
But a thought came to Fraech, and from out of his folk he called to his
side a man.