Cuchulain was fain to deny her this, for he thought on Emer, and he dreaded her anger against Fand, if she should be aware of it. But when he saw the crystal-fair, witching face of Fand, and her ruby lips and eyes bright as stars on a summer’s night, he could not say her nay; and he made a tryst with her on the Strand of the Yew-tree’s Head, for a year and a day from then. And after that, they bade one another farewell.
So Cuchulain came home again, and Emer and Laeg and his friends greeted him right lovingly, and he told them that he had been in fairy-land, and of all its splendours and beauty he told them freely, but to Emer he said not anything of Fand.
Now when a year and a day were past, Cuchulain came to the place of tryst at the Strand of the Yew-tree’s Head, and he and Laeg sat beneath the ancient yew-tree playing chess, while waiting for the coming of Fand. It chanced that, as Emer walked that way with her fifty maidens to take the air beside the shore, she beheld approaching a dignified lady, radiant as the clearness of a day in June, who came with a troop of maidens towards Cuchulain. Very swiftly and softly they moved across the plain, as though they hardly touched the sod, and all the land was filled with their brightness.
It appeared to Emer that they had come across the lake, yet no sign of skiff or boat was to be seen, and the unknown queen came where Cuchulain sat, and he rose up and made a glad gentle greeting before her, and she sat down by him, and they talked pleasantly and lovingly together.
When Emer saw this, she was filled with jealousy and anger against the fairy-woman, and to herself she said, “This, then, O Cuchulain, was the cause that kept thee so long in fairy-land, when I made that feast to which thou earnest not.”
And anger and dark revenge filled Emer’s heart, and she turned to her maidens and said, “Bring me here sharp-bladed knives, for I myself will go softly behind them and I will kill the woman who talks with Cuchulain.”
Then they went and fetched thin gleaming knives, and they hid them beneath their mantles, and went stealthily behind the place where Cuchulain sat. Now Cuchulain saw not what was going forward, but Fand knew, for she sat over against Cuchulain, facing the way that Emer came. She said to Cuchulain, “Emer thy wife comes here, with fifty maidens, and there are sharp knives hidden beneath their cloaks.”
But he said, “Fear nothing, lady, I myself will speak to Emer, my own wife, and do thou wait here till my return.”
But Emer came close to Cuchulain and cried, “Why dost thou do me this dishonour, O Cuchulain, to leave me for a fairy maid? The women of Ulster will contemn me if they think that Cuchulain loves another woman better than his wife; and what have I done to displease thee, that thou shouldst need to talk with her? Never have I left thee for any other, and well and truly have I loved thee from the day thou earnest in thy chariot to the fort of Forgall the Wily, my father, till to-day; and for ever shall I love thee, and none other but thee alone.”
Then Cuchulain said, “You wrong me, Emer, and you wrong this fairy-maid. No thought at all of harm have we, nor can any other be to me what thou hast been. Fair and pure is this maiden, and a worthy mate for any monarch in the world. Her race is noble, her mind is firm and gentle and full of lofty thoughts, no harm or evil will be found in her or me. Moreover, she is betrothed to a noble spouse, Manannan of the Ocean Waves.”