And now Oisin saw
before him a shore of yellow sand, lapped by the ripples of a summer
sea. Inland, there rose before his eye wooded hills amid which he
could discern the roofs and towers of a noble city. The white horse
bore them swiftly to the shore and Oisin and the maiden lighted down.
And Oisin marvelled at everything around him, for never was water so
blue or trees so stately as those he saw, and the forest was alive
with the hum of bees and the song of birds, and the creatures that are
wild in other lands, the deer and the red squirrel and the wood-dove,
came, without fear, to be caressed. Soon, as they went forward, the
walls of a city came in sight, and folk began to meet them on the
road, some riding, some afoot, all of whom were either youths or
maidens, all looking as joyous as if the morning of happy life had
just begun for them, and no old or feeble person was to be seen. Niam
led her companion through a towered gateway built of white and red
marble, and there they were met by a glittering company of a hundred
riders on black steeds and a hundred on white, and Oisin mounted a
black horse and Niam her white, and they rode up to a stately palace
where the King of the Land of Youth had his dwelling. And there he
received them, saying in a loud voice that all the folk could hear,
"Welcome, Oisin, son of Finn.
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