At last she said that a journey from home might recover her, and she bade her chariot be yoked and set out, taking with her the four children.

Fionnuala was sorely unwilling to go with her on that journey, for she had a misgiving, and a prevision of treachery and of kin-slaying against her in the mind of Aoife.

Yet she was not able to avoid the mischief that was destined for her.
So Aoife journeyed away from the Hill of the White Field, and when she had come some way she spoke to her people and said, "Kill me, I pray ye, the four children of Lir, who have taken the love of their father from me, and ye may ask of me what reward ye will." "Not so," said they, "by us they shall never be killed; it is an evil deed that you have thought of, and evil it is but to have spoken of it." When they would not consent to her will, she drew a sword and would have slain the children herself, but her womanhood overcame her and she could not.

So they journeyed on westward till they came to the shores of Loch Derryvaragh, and there they made a halt and the horses were outspanned.

Aoife bade the children bathe and swim in the lake, and they did so.