Search was made, and at last they found the letter of the prince under the pillow of the couch. The queen was now glad, and proud of the child.
Next day she assembled all her forces, her giants and guards; and when she had them drawn up in line, the army was seven miles long from van to rear. The queen opened through the river of fire a safe way for the host, and led it on till she came to the castle of the king of Erin. She held all the land near the castle, so the king had the sea on one side, and the army of the queen of Tubber Tintye on the other, ready to destroy him and all that he had. The queen sent a herald for the king to come down.
"What are you going to do?" asked the king when he came to her tent. "I have had trouble enough in my life already, without having more of it now."
"Find for me," said the queen, "the man who came to my castle and entered the golden chamber of Tubber Tintye while I slept, or I'll sweep you and all you have from the face of the earth."
The king of Erin called down his elder son, and asked: "Did you enter the chamber of the queen of Tubber Tintye?"
"I did."
"Go, then, and tell her so, and save us."
He went; and when he told the queen, she said: "If you entered my chamber, then mount my gray steed."
He mounted the steed; and if he did, the steed rose in the air with a bound, hurled him off his back, in a moment, threw him on a rock, and dashed the brains out of his head.
The king called down his second son, who said that he had been in the golden chamber. Then he mounted the gray steed, which killed him as it had his brother.