A Book of Myths, by Jean Lang - Umnet

salt brine, and the white foam, With these his children have their home.
In the sweet days of long ago, Soft-clad we wandered to and fro: But
now cold winds of dawn and night Pierce deep our feathers thin and
light.
* * * * *
Beneath my wings my brothers lie When the fierce ice-winds hurtle by;
On either side and 'neath my breast Lîr's sons have known no other
rest."
Fiona Macleod (William Sharp).
Only once during those dreary three hundred years did the children of
Lîr see any of their friends. When they saw, riding down to the shore at
the mouth of the Bann on the north coast of Erin, a company in gallant
attire, with glittering arms, and mounted on white horses, the swans
hastened to meet them. And glad were their hearts that day, for the
company was led by two sons of Bodb the Red, who had searched for
the swans along the rocky coast of Erin for many a day, and who
brought them loving greetings from the good king of the Dedannans
and from their father Lîr.
At length the three hundred years on the Sea of Moyle came to an end,
and the swans flew to Ivros Domnann and the Isle of Glora in the
western sea. And there they had sufferings and hardships to bear that
were even more grievous than those that they had endured on the Sea of
Moyle, and one night the snow that drifted down upon them from the
ice was scourged on by a north-west wind, and there came a moment
when the three brothers felt that they could endure no more.
But Finola said to them:
"It is the great God of truth who made both land and sea who alone can
succour us, for He alone can wholly understand the sorrows of our
hearts. Put your trust in Him, dear brothers, and He will send us
comfort and help."