Then she awoke and opened her eyes, which were blue as the sea, and when she saw that she was bound, she cried out with terror, ‘Loose me, man, loose me!’
Conchubar did not answer, so she said again, ‘Loose me, I beg thee!’ in a voice as sweet as the music of Hom Mooar, the Fairy Fiddler.
By this time Conchubar was feeling that he would give all he had to keep her. He answered, trembling, ‘Woman, my heart, who art thou?’
‘I am Teeval, Princess of the Ocean,’ said she. ‘Set me free, I pray thee.’
‘But if I set thee free,’ said Conchubar, ‘thou wilt leave me.’
‘I cannot stay with thee, Conchubar,’ she cried; ‘set me free, and I will give thee a precious gift.’
‘I will loose thee,’ answered Conchubar. ‘It is not for the gift, but because I cannot resist thee.’
He unfastened the girdle from her and she said, ‘My gift to thee is this: Go now to Culain who is making thy shield, and tell him that Teeval, Princess of the Ocean, bids him to put her figure on the shield and round it to grave her name. Then thou shalt wear it always in battle, and when thou shalt look on my face and call my name, thy enemies’ strength shall go from them and shall come into thee and thy men.’ When she had said this, she waved her white arm to Conchubar and plunged into the waves. He looked sadly for a long time at the spot where she had disappeared, and then walked slowly to the forge of Culain, and gave him the message.
Culain finished the mighty shield as the Princess had said, and forged also for Conchubar a golden-hilted magic sword, and a spear set with precious stones. Then Conchubar, in his crimson mantle and white gold-embroidered tunic, and armed with his great shield and his mighty weapons, went back to Ireland.
All that the Princess of the Ocean had said came true. When he went into battle he looked at the beautiful face in his shield and cried ‘Help, Teeval.’