The woman cast anchor, sprang ashore, and saluted Fin, when he came to the strand. Fin returned the salute, and, after a while, she asked, “Will you play a game of chess for a sentence?”
“I will,” answered Fin.
They played, and she won.
“What is your sentence on me?” inquired Fin.
“I sentence you, under bonds of heavy enchantment,” said she, “to take me for your wife.”
Fin had to marry the woman. After a time, she said, “I must leave you now for a season.”
Fin drove his sword then, with one mighty blow, into a tree-stump, and said, “Call your son Faolan [little wolf], and never send him to me until he is able to draw the sword from this stump.”
She took the stump with her, and sailed away homeward. She nursed her son for only three days, and preserved the rest of the milk for a different use. The boy was called Faolan, was trained well in the use of all arms, and when ten years of age, he was skilled beyond any master. One day there was a game of hurley, and Faolan played alone, against twenty one others. The rule of that game was that whoever won was to get three blows of his club on each one who played against him. Faolan gave three blows to each of the twenty-one men; among them was one who was very much hurt by the blows, and he began to say harsh words to Faolan, and added, “You don’t know your own father.”
Faolan was greatly offended at this. He went home to his mother, in tears, and asked, “Who is my father? I will never stop nor stay till I find him.”