“You will not need to find his home, for I am Finn himself,” he answered.
“Then I am indeed lucky,” said the woman. “I have come to play a game with Finn. I have heard that he never refuses to play for a sentence, and that he honorably lives up to his agreements.”
It flattered Finn to be praised by a beautiful woman. Like most of the heroes of history his wisdom deserted him when dealing with a woman. It was true that he and the other Fenians took great delight in playing a game for a wager. These wagers were usually in the form of sentences. That is, they would play a game and at the end the winner would set a task for the loser to perform. Sometimes these tasks required years of labor and much suffering, but no Fenian ever refused to carry out a sentence imposed upon him.
“I would willingly play if I had my board and chessmen,” said Finn.
“I have them as good as your own,” answered the woman. To prove it she pulled out a beautiful board and a set of silver and gold chessmen. She had Finn sit on the seat near her to play. At the end of the first game Finn was the winner.
“You have beaten me,” she said with a dazzling smile. “What is the sentence you are to pronounce?”
Now Finn had not quite made up his mind as to what manner of woman it was who was playing with him. She looked and dressed like a king’s daughter, but an enchantress could assume that appearance. To prove it he made a sentence that would prove very difficult for anyone not able to use the arts of magic.
“I put you under bonds,” he said, “not to eat twice in the same place or sleep twice in the same bed until you have brought me a white horse with a saddle and bridle of red leather for myself and each of the Fenians with me today.”
The woman smiled again. “Look behind you,” she said.
Finn looked toward the shore. There were the beautiful steeds he had ordered, handsome in their saddles and bridles of red leather. In the lead was one much finer than the others.