The door-keeper went and gave the message.
"Let them be brought in," said the king, "for it is to seek a good and bountiful master whom they may serve faithfully that they have come so far from Erin."
The sons of Turenn were accordingly led in to the banquet hall, where sat the king surrounded by his nobles; and, bowing low, they saluted him; and he saluted them in return, and welcomed them. They sat at the table among the company, and joined the feast at once, drinking and making merry like the others; and they thought they had never seen a banquet hall so grand, or a household so numerous and mirthful.
At the proper time the king's poets arose, according to custom, to recite their poems and their lays for the company. And when they had come to an end, Brian, speaking low, said to his brothers—
"As we have come here as poets, it is meet that we should practise the poetic art like the others; therefore now arise, and recite a poem for the king."
"We have no poems," they replied, "and we do not wish to practise any art except the art we have learned and practised from our youth, namely, to fight like brave champions, and to take by valour and force of arms that which we want, if we be stronger than our enemies, or to fall in battle if they be the stronger."
"That is not a pleasant way of making poetry," said Brian; and with that he arose and requested attention for his poem. And when they sat listening, he said—
To praise thee, O Tuis, we've come to this land:
Like an oak among shrubs, over kings thou dost stand:
Thy bounty, great monarch, shall gladden the bard;
And the Imnocta-fessa I claim as reward.
Two neighbours shall war, with an O to an O;
A bard unrequited—how dreadful a foe!
Thy bounty shall add to thy wealth and thy fame;
And the Imnocta-fessa is all that I claim.