disembarked, and stood looking around them in wonder, for even in their dreams they had never beheld such an enchanted land as this. A golden light was over everything, and faery towers and palaces of crystal brightness lifted themselves above the groves of flowering trees which surrounded them. The spreading green lawns were covered with flowers, which shone like amethysts and sapphires and all manner of precious stones; and sweet singing-birds flew about, fearlessly perching on the heroes' shoulders or hands as they stood there±for this was the Land of Promise, the land of everlasting youth, where death and sorrow and evil were unknown.
After a time Fionn and his men began to walk towards a house showing between the trees, but at that moment a tall, handsome man, with long fair hair falling over his shoulders, and wearing a cloak of purple silk, fastened at the shoulder with a gold brooch, came towards them. He was followed by a number of warriors who, when they saw Fionn and his heroes, shouted with joy; for these were the Fians who had been carried
