Here the sighing of the wind among the reeds no longer soothed their
sorrow, but the roar of the breaking surf struck fresh terror in their
souls.
In misery and terror did their days pass, until one night the black,
lowering clouds overhead told that a great tempest was nigh. Then did
Finola call to her Aed, Fiacra, and Conn. 'Beloved brothers, a great fear
is at my heart, for, in the fury of the coming gale, we may be driven the
one from the other. Therefore, let us say where we may hope to meet when
the storm is spent.'
And Aed answered, 'Wise art thou, dear, gentle sister. If we be driven
apart, may it be to meet again on the rocky isle that has ofttimes been
our haven, for well known is it to us all, and from far can it be seen.'
Darker grew the night, louder raged the wind, as the four swans dived and
rose again on the giant billows. Yet fiercer blew the gale, until at
midnight loud bursts of thunder mingled with the roaring wind, but, in the
glare of the blue lightning's flashes, the children of Lir beheld each the
snowy form of the other. The mad fury of the hurricane yet increased, and
the force of it lifted one swan from its wild home on the billows, and
swept it through the blackness of the night. Another blue lightning flash,
and each swan saw its loneliness, and uttered a great cry of desolation.
Tossed hither and thither, by wind and wave, the white birds were
well-nigh dead when dawn broke.
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